Crispin Hull

The defamation action running in the ACT Supreme Court is taking on some of the characteristics of films made by actors of the same name as the plaintiffs.

On Wednesday former Labor Foreign Minister and Governor-General Bill Mr Hayden appeared as a witness in a defamation case brought by Treasurer Peter Costello, Employment Services Minister Tony Abbott and their wives. He told the court about the damage false sexual smears could do, using detailed examples of false rumours about former Prime Minister Paul Keating.

Yesterday he expressed dismay and shock at the widespread media coverage his evidence received.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_leader23oct hayden defo”

Independent MLA Michael Moore is to move in the Assembly next week for an increase in the size of the Assembly and for four-year terms to replace the current three-year term.

Both moves have profound affects for our democracy. This is aside from the fact the Mr Moore will be pre-empting a select committee set up by the Assembly to consider these issues among others.

At present it requires an Act of the Federal Parliament to change the size of the Assembly, but the Assembly itself can change the length of the term of the Assembly. Both these arrangements are unsatisfactory.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_leader21oct act assembly”

Prime Minister John Howard has made the correct observation, albeit belatedly, that becoming a republic would not hurt Australia. He made the observation when reaffirming his commitment to hold a referendum late next year on the republic in accordance with the model decided at this year’s constitutional convention.

He said, “I am of the view that whatever the outcome of that referendum, and I frankly don’t know what the outcome of the referendum will be, the fabric of the Australian community is not going to be any way damaged or hurt by the process.”

He is quite right. Australians are mature enough to debate the change and if there is to be one, which seems likely, those who voted against change would still uphold the Australian Constitution, is as much the same way that patriotic Australians embraced Advance Australia Fair after the event, even though they had supported God Save the Queen to remain as anthem.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_leader17oct repub”

Local councils in NSW look like adopting a sensible response approach to bank closures in their districts. Hitherto, councils and others in the regional, and now suburban, Australia have bemoaned bank closures and demanded they be stopped. But it was an unheard cry, and rightly so. Why should the banks run unprofitable branches in regional towns and the suburbs? The banks are not charities. Not unexpectedly, the banks have ignored pleas to keep branches open.

Now three Sydney councils have threatened to withdraw $100 million in business with the Commonwealth Bank if they close local branches. It is not so much a statement of blackmail, as a statement of condition of business. If you want the business of this council you must have a local branch is the message. Banks, of course, like big customers with large sums of money be transferred in each transaction. Now when they look at the profitability of a suburban branch they have to look not only at small local customers, but large local customers in the form of councils.

In short, the councils are using the very market forces and economic pressure that the banks have been using in closing small branches.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_leader15oct bank closures”

John Howard is now a politically crippled Prime Minister. His claims of an embrace, an avalanche and a mandate are absurd and grandiloquent. The reality, as distinct from the view from Kirribilli, is that he will have only a very narrow majority in the House of Representatives. That majority might be so narrow that it cannot be relied up to pass the legislation for the GST. Several National Party MPs are determined against it, or are at least determined against a GST on essentials. And even if he gets it through his own party room and the House of Representatives, it faces an impossible hurdle in the Senate.

The Democrats have done very well in the Senate. They appear to have picked up a certain two and more likely three seats to take their tally to 10 senators. It is a balance of power in its own right. After the new senators take their place on July 1 next year, the Democrats can side with either major party to form a majority to pass or block legislation.

The gain is significant enough for Democrats leader Meg Lees to claim a mandate to insist that the GST exempt food. The pertinence of her claim will be her power to give effect to it. If the Democrats insist on the food exemption, Mr Howard will have to yield to it, or surrender his beloved GST altogether. After Saturday night’s effort, he could not possibly contemplate and early double dissolution. Far too many Liberal MPs hold their seats by very small margins indeed to permit that. Moreover, the performance of Opposition Leader Kim Beazley in the campaign is a formidable obstacle.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_leader05oct”

Senate election results are likely to face constitutional challenge if any result swings on split-preference tickets.

A successful challenge to the tickets would damn Democrat Rick Farley’s chances because he must rely on preferences from Labor Senator Kate Lundy’s split-ticket preferences.

The national president of the Proportional Representation Society, Bogey Musidlak, advised voters yesterday that the only way to be sure was to vote below the line, numbering every square consecutively.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_invalid votes”

Mind cf heart and eyes.

Downer..osborne flex…moore with libs even on an education issue (shows no longer any need for kate to keep him in line).

Leg overturns exec on an exec matter… and money matter.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_forum kate gary”

The table reveals how the Senate count went and how close it was.

After the count of the first preferences, a quota is struck of one-third of the votes plus one. If two candidates get that much, no other candidate can get more so those two are elected. The quota was 65,679 votes. Labor’s Kate Lundy got 83,090, or 1.265 quotas. She was elected.

The Liberal’s Margaret Reid was about 4300 votes (or 2.3 percentage points) shy of a quota. It was her worse vote in the seven elections she has stood in since 1983. In 1984 she got 31.9 per cent — the only other time she has been run to preferences.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_final senate count”

Section 51 of the Constitution provides that the Commonwealth Parliament has the power to make laws “”with respect to weights and measures”.

I have been reminded of this most mornings in the past three weeks around 5.30am when the sun has woken me up and Radio National has told me that it is a sensible 6.30am in Tasmania.

Like most urban dwellers light between 5.30am and 6.30am (two hours or more before work and business begins) is not as valuable to me as light after work hours.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_daylight forum”

People hate tax. They will attempt to avoid it.

And so thousands of Canberrans have forsaken pubs which have to pay full federal company taxes and full ACT rates and other levies and flocked to clubs which pay little federal or ACT tax and which serve cheap food and booze.

In theory a club is a group of people with a community of interest pursuing a worthy aim. Before poker machines, that was the case. They raised money from chook raffles and the like. Then poker machines were permitted in the ACT, largely because huge sums were going across the border to Queanbeyan.
Continue reading “1998_10_october_clubs for forum”