The 60 anniversary of the German Constitution provided the backdrop for a Conference at the Australian National University on 22 and 23 May 2009, bringing together Australian and German constitutional scholars to discuss core features of the constitutions of both countries. The following issues were presented and discussed from an Australian and German perspective respectively: Federalism as both countries are organized as federations; the concept of human dignity which is a central pillar in the German constitutional and legal system but not mentioned in the Commonwealth Constitution at all; international cooperation and integration as a challenge for any constitutional system in the globalised world; the German