One of the most rewarding aspects of being an academic is seeing past students thrive in their chosen careers. UNELaw’s Associate Professor Cameron Moore has been lucky enough to recently work with past honour’s student Marc Lawrence. Marc is a Navy Legal Officer and he reviewed the draft of Cameron’s new book. Clearly this is an example of how life often comes full circle. Not long-ago Cameron was commenting on Marc’s thesis work relating to military law!!
Cameron’s book is the culmination of his career’s work. Before Covid struck, Cameron travelled to the South China Sea on many occasions. He saw first-hand the tensions which have been brewing over a period of time in the region. Cameron notes ‘there have been several near misses and tensions relating to the South China Sea.’ One of the factors which may have led to these tensions is a lack of clarity in terms of the legal obligations and standing of countries. Cameron notes, ‘My book will inform the various actors of their legal obligations and will hopefully help avoid unnecessary tensions and miscalculations. If a country wants to use force and be provocative, knowledge of their legal understanding and obligations will not help this situation. But for those entities and nations which do want to adhere to their legal obligations, the increase in clarity will help. My book will likely not stop a war, but it may diffuse some incidents if people are clear about what they can do.’
Cameron started his naval career as a Seaman Officer where he learnt to navigate warships. He then became a Legal Officer and has worked on issues relating to the defence force for most of life. He worked full time in the Navy from 1996 for 7 years. Since then he has continued his affiliation with the Navy as a reservist. Now his primary role relates to providing legal advice and writing manuals.
Cameron’s book is aimed at a large audience. It is fair to say the book will be used as an essential reference for government lawyers and navy personnel. It will also be useful for students studying international law, the law of the sea, security studies and international relations.
Cameron’s book is being launched online on the 30th March at 1pm via Webinex.
