Month: December 2007

The publication of the Full Federal Court’s decision in the case of Mohamed Haneef last week might well have been a relief to civil libertarians but they nonetheless reveal how weak the separation of powers are in Australia and how vulnerable individuals are in the face of executive power. Haneef came to Australia from India in 2006 to a job as a doctor at Southport Hospital. In June 2007 two of his second cousins were arrested in the Britain following attempted terrorist bombings in London and Glasgow. Haneef was charged with helping terrorists by providing a SIM card to them and taken into custody.

Politically, it was great stuff for the Government. Its campaign of fear suggesting only the Coalition could be trusted with national security was bolstered, at least temporarily.

Selective leaking ensured the public would think a major terrorist had been caught on Australian soil.

Then it transpired that between them the British and Australian police had been too enthusiastic with the facts. The SIM card was found nowhere near the bomb scenes. And there was an innocent explanation for it. Haneef was heading overseas, so, of course, he might give the card with some unexpired credit on it to a relative.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 29 December 2007 haneef”

The federal, state and territory governments face some constitutional as well as ethical difficulties over same-sex unions.

The debate has flared again after ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell vowed to push ahead with legislation similar to that vetoed by the Howard Government. Initial indications were that the new Federal Labor Government would not veto it. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Federal Labor was not in the business of over-ruling territory law. State and territory governments were answerable to their own electorates.

But federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland later indicated that he would like to see uniform legislation along the lines of that in Tasmania. That would mean a register, rather than a system of formal ceremonies in which same-sex couples make a legal pledge to each other before an official as proposed by the ACT Civil Partnerships Bill. It would also mean gay couples would not be discriminated against under federal law, other than, perhaps, not being able to be called themselves “married”.

Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 22 December 2007 gay unions”

It is a mark of Australian affluence that such as question is asked. In an affluent society such as Australia many people have everything they need or want. If during the year they want something they just buy it, so come Christmas time there is no obvious thing to buy them.

Sure, there are plenty of people not so well off who might have quite a large Christmas list. But in Australia, my guess is that most of it would be stuff people do not really need — stuff that would find its way into landfill before very long.

One of the great lies in the last election campaign was that a great chunk of Australians are “doing it tough”. Comparatively, they might be. They might not have a widescreen TV like the Joneses, or a car for every teenager in the family like the Smiths, but they are not “doing it tough”.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 15 December 2007 foreign aid”

There is only one thing worse than a public monopoly, and that’s a private one.

Before the new Government could even have its first Cabinet meeting, Telstra was flexing its privatised muscles this week. One of its aggressive US executives, Group Managing Director. Phil Burgess, said he wanted Telstra to be a “premium provider charging premium prices”.

We all know about Telstra’s premium prices, especially when it is providing a service that no-one else can provide because it has got a monopoly on the network – whether it is a twisted copper wire to the home, the fibre to the node or the Next G tower in a rural area.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 8 December 2007 telstra”

The temporary arrangement for the Prime Minister’s accommodation should come to an end.

Eighty years is far too long for the head of government to be shacked up in a temporary residence.

This week we had some uncertainty as to whether the Rudds would move into the Lodge fuelled by an unfortunate phrase by the Prime Minister-elect’s wife, Therese Rein, who said she was in the capital to investigate possible schools for their son Marcus “if” they were to move to Canberra.

It was later clarified by her husband who said that the family would definitely be moving to Canberra, as is Labor policy.

From the very earliest days in Canberra the Federal Capital Commission recognised that the city would have a modest start but it planned for greater things.
Continue reading “Forum for Saturday 1 December 2007 lodge”