Uncategorized | Crispin Hull

Australia’s degraded volksgeist

The German jurist Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779-1861) introduced the concept of “volksgeist” into legal and political thinking.

The “volksgeist” was the national spirit, or national character. Savigny argued that law and policy could not be seen in the abstract but as the product of people living in society and they are the outcome of a culture of a society – the “volksgeist”.

Saturday’s referendum revealed a lot about Australia’s”volksgeist”, or national character, as did the demonstrations over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You do not have to scratch very deeply to find racism.

Corporations behaving badly

Behaving badly is literally in the DNA of large corporations, if you make the reasonable assumption that a corporation’s DNA is its articles of association.

This is because the articles of association put the maximising of shareholder value as the primary aim of the corporation. So, the directors and managers look after themselves and the shareholders whereas consumers, employees, and the environment can go to hell.

Seselja no help to Liberals

Former ACT Liberal Senator Zed Seselja’s attempted comeback to politics via a NSW Senate vacancy highlights yet again the Liberal Party’s identity conundrum – is it a “broad church” or a conservative party.

Threat to good government

On 7 June, 2022, shortly after the election, I wrote in this space http://www.crispinhull.com.au/2022/06/07/risk-of-going-too-early-with-voice/#more-12486 that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ran a big risk if he went to the referendum too early because, since the 90 per cent pro-Indigenous vote in 1967, too many underlying myths had built up, namely that, since Mabo, Sorry, and massive government spending, Indigenous people had become privileged with special treatment, and did not deserve any more special treatment.

Ukraine is big deterrent to China

In at least one respect, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been helpful to western democracies.

This is because the top brass and the political class they advise in nearly all countries usually fight the current war based upon the experience of recent past wars – invariably with poor results.

No rights for territories

Legally and constitutionally, the Federal Parliament has the power to overturn the ACT’s laws which provide that a person caught with illicit drugs within an allowable amount will either be given a $100 fine or be sent to a diversion program.

The question is should it, or should it respect the democratic will of the people of the ACT as expressed in the laws passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly?

A sign of governmental failure

There it appeared on one of the many entrances to Port Douglas’s iconic Four Mile Beach – literally overnight – a shiny new, expensive metal sign extolling the virtues of fishing and advising people how to catch them.

Then there was the real catch. The sign told us that the money for the signage had been provided by the Federal Government. A bit of digging tells us that applications under the grants scheme closed in September 2021 and the grants were made in February 2022, just before the start of the caretaker period before the federal election.

A different voice to parliament

The polls are showing the Indigenous Voice declining from easy win to likely defeat after naïve acceptance of an onslaught of misinformation and outright lies by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and the Murdoch media. Meanwhile, the real Voice to Parliament continues quietly unimpeded.

Ineptitude shows China threat exaggerated

We fret and worry about the Chinese threat, but events of the past week must make any observer question China’s diplomatic and economic competence. And further wonder whether “the rise of China” is a bit like “the Soviet menace” – a house of cards that can come tumbling down any minute.

And make us further wonder whether a fearful Australia is squandering too much treasure on meeting an exaggerated threat.

Super example of good public policy

The true prescience of one of Australia’s greatest public-policy successes was revealed in the sixth Inter-Generational Report published last week.

Thirty-one years ago, despite vehement opposition from the Liberal and National Parties and deep scepticism from business, Labor’s Superannuation Guarantee legislation passed the Parliament.

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