Crispin Hull

The rule of law is perhaps one of the greatest achievements of humankind this millennium and will profoundly affect the next.

The rule of law has come in both science and society, replacing myth, superstition and arbitrary power. The rule of law has redefined the place of humans in the universe.

No longer are humans on a flat earth in the centre of the universe, uniquely created. No longer is it normal for some humans have unaccountable power over other humans, or even own them as slaves.

The Greeks and the Romans got to the verge of this achievement, without actually reaching it, but this millennium saw a transformation of society based upon the replacement of personal power by impersonal power. The former was individualist and stemmed in theory from the divine right of kings and in practice through the possession of force. The latter is universal and based on words.

At the beginning of the millennium in nearly every part of the world human conduct was governed by arbitrary personal power. Where one fitted in the hierarchy determined one’s rights, down to slaves and serfs at the bottom.
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What will the new millennium bring? And what of the old one? Today we bring you a Canberra Times special: The Last Word — an A to Z of the major events and human achievements this millennium; a review of Australia’s history and politics this century; and look a sport, the arts and music.

Tomorrow, in a special keepsake datelined Saturday January 1 2000, we look at the future: of society, technology, cars, sport and entertainment, what young people think and what would be the best books to take into the new millennium.
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The Nullarbor is a pilgrimage for Australians. Everyone must do the Nullarbor, even if you misspell it.

It is from the Latin, nullus (no) arbor (trees), named by the South Australian explorer Edmund Delisser.

It is not an Aboriginal word, though Aboriginal people have now regained their land along much of the route.

People do it for different reasons.

Some because it is there — you should cross the continent you live in. Others cross for work or family.

Let me tell you of a few.
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ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell has won a High Court appeal brought by a former Canberra medical practitioner, Dr Arnold Mann.

Dr Mann asserted he had been defamed by Mrs Carnell in correspondence she sent to Independent MLA Michael Moore in 1997.

The correspondence was in reply to a query by Mr Moore as to whether the ACT Government had wasted money in the conduct and settlement of earlier litigation by Dr Mann against the ACT and some public officials and other practitioners for breach of contract and defamation.
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The death in Canberra this week of three people in a car driven by a man in his early 20s should have shocked the territory, if not the nation. It was half the toll of last year’s Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race — a toll which occupied the nation’s minds and media space for quite some time.

The photograph of the wrecked car and skid marks would make anyone wonder how could anyone be killed at such a benign place. It is not as if a sudden storm came up, or a tree blew over the road. Even if some other car or pedestrian suddenly came out or a tyre suddenly blew out or some other sudden mechanical defect took place. The sad and obvious conclusion in most car crashes like this is that the driver was going too fast for the conditions.

This accident pushes the ACT’s road toll past last year’s. The ACT now joins NSW and Victoria in that. Together they push Australia’s overall road toll past last year’s, which itself was almost exactly the same as the previous years.
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The greatest reservation about the ACT having its own jail is that the magistrates and judges might set about filling it up. At present ACT prisoners are sent to NSW jails. The prospect of sending someone to the NSW prison system — a modern day form of transportation — might affect judicial minds so that they weigh on the side of non-custodial sentences. If a jail were built in the ACT, judges and magistrates in borderline cases go for imprisonment.

On the other hand, the fact that ACT residents have go to NSW is the strongest reason for having a jail in the ACT. Once a person convicted in the ACT is sent to NSW, contact with family is made more difficult, ACT authorities lose all control over them, rehabilitation and parole are out of the hands of the judicial and administrative system that did the sentencing. At present ACT prisoners go all over NSW, not just nearby Goulburn which is a high-security jail.

For quite some time, the ACT was too small to justify its own jail, on cost grounds alone. Moreover, the detriments of transportation did not outweigh possibility that a jail within the borders of the ACT would encourage more imprisonment. Those arguments no longer hold. Other developments have probably swung the balance to having a jail within the ACT.
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The statistic profile of Australian Public Service published this week reveals yet another sad example of the influence of the Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers — those born between the end of World War II and 1960 — have aggressively pushed those older out into retirement; created elite jobs for themselves and denied younger people the same opportunities that they had themselves.

The Baby Boomers are now aged 39 to 54. The average age of a male public servant is 42 years and three months; the average female public servant is 38 years one month. Those averages are not a problem in themselves. The problem is that they hide the narrowing of the age spread. The Public Service is no longer a place where young people, particularly those coming out of university (let alone school) can aspire to work. In a staff of 113,268 only 75 are under the age of 20 and only 3597 are under 25. At the beginning of the decade it employed four and a half times as many people under 25.

Under-20s comprised 12 per cent of appointments at the beginning of decade; now it is just over 1 per cent.
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ACTION, the ACT’s public bus system, is faced with cutting services just 10 months after introducing a new timetable and fare structure called Network 99. After some initial grumbles, Network 99 settled in and resulted in increased patronage of about 6 per cent.

Unfortunately, Network 99 is not sustainable in the eyes of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission and ACTION itself. The increased patronage has not resulted in high enough revenue. Nor has a new enterprise bargaining agreement resulted in big enough reductions in costs. Low patronage school services are to be amalgamated. Some frequencies will go from 30 minutes to 40 minutes and others from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. The service cuts will be made in February.

A draft report by the commission issued last week agreed with the service cuts.
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A writer to the Letters to the Editor column observed after rain fell of the day of the weddings of media heirs Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer that there were some things money just could not buy.

And last week the Federal Court ruled that there was another thing that money just could not buy — the spectacle of the New Year’s Eve fireworks on the Syndey Harbour Bridge. Kerry Packer’s Nine network took actionin the Federal Court to prevent the ABC from broadcasting the event. The Nine Network argued that it had paid $450,000 in sponsorship to the City of Sydney and so should get exclusivity. It argued it had copyright in the artwork of the “”Smiley face” and the word “”Eternity” that would be depicted by the fireworks on the bridge. Failing an injunction the Nien Network demanded that the ABC give it frequent acknowledgement thtoughout the telecast.

The Nine Network will return to court for a damages action, but the court refused to prevent the ABC’s telecast.

In making the ruling Justice Donald Hill made some significant points. He said that Australians looked to the ABC as the public broadcaster for advertisement-free information on significant events. It was in the public interest for the ABC to broadcast.
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The Government’s proposals for the introduction of digital television are far too prescriptive. They give too much to the existing television networks. They shut out variety and diversity of services that would be available to consumers if the Government rethought its regime.

It seems as if the Government has tried to please all of the people all of the time and may end up pleasing none.

It is a question of rationing airspace. Before digital technology there was only room for the present five television networks (ABC, SBS and the three commercials) broadcasting analogue. Now digital can broadcast between the analogue bands and at either end of it. Much more spectrum has become available. That spectrum could be used by existing and new players to broadcast many more channels of television, data and/or higher quality signals. The higher quality signal come in two forms: standard digital definition television and high-definition television.
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