Crispin Hull

The Premier of Tasmania, Ray Groom, condemned yesterday what he called “”coercive federalism” to give the central government more power.

He said coercive federalism had come about in two ways: the Commonwealth’s “”ruthless” use of its superior financial power and the High Court’s redefinition of the Commonwealth-State balance of power.

He was speaking at a conference on “”Constitutional Changes in the 1990s” held by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory.
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In the European sense she works for the Catholic Church whose missionaries set up St Teresa’s school on the island in 1911. In reality, she works for the Tiwi (Aboriginal) people. She will retire in the next few years, and in due course she will be replaced as principal.

The miracle, not in any sense recognised by the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints, is that Sister Anne will be replaced by a Tiwi.

It will be the culmination of her mission and many years of training Tiwi teachers at the school through the teachers’ college at Batchelor. Indeed, the name of the school was changed three years ago from St Teresa’s to Murrupurtiyanuwu Catholic School in honour of Murrupurtiyanuwu, the first Tiwi to qualify as a teacher, who since died of a brain tumour. Her name means the wave that pushed against a boat.
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The High Court’s judgment on Wednesday on the broadcasting ban has been greeted enthusiastically as upholding the “”right to free speech”.

Alas, it does no such thing. The reasoning is not directed at all towards an individual’s right to free speech, nor even to the right of a commercial television station to broadcast freely.

The judgment has also been greeted as laying the groundwork for some implied Bill of Rights in the Australian Constitution. Once again, it does no such thing.
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Every electiontide, boring commentators and analysts say things like, “”This is the most important election since the war.” Or this is the most important election since 1949, or whatever.

Importance is more a mantle for historians to bestow than for journalists to predict. Obviously, an election is likely to be important if there is a change of government and if the new government takes a machete to the existing jungle, carving a new way forward.

In that respect 1949 and 1972 were important, whereas the changes of government in 1975 and 1983 much less so.
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A. Nourlangie Rock, Kakadu National Park.

B. The repainting was done at Nourlangie in 1964. It shows the story of Namandjolg, top centre, who broke the incest law with his sister and turned into Ginah the saltwater crocodile. Namarrgon the lightning man, top right, married Barrginj, mid-left, and had children called Aljurr the insects that white men call Liechhardt’s grasshopper that comes before the rain. Below are the men an women on their way to a ceremony.

C. This very early painting of unadorned white and red ochre is at Nourlangie. It shows the hunting of what must have been a huge kangaroo, bigger than the man and therefore of a size not seen in Kakadu or anywhere else in Australia today, unless, of course, the hunter was exaggerating.
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The figures are painted high on the rock overhang. Too high for anyone to have reached them, so they must have been painted by spirits.

Thus goes the Aboriginal legend to explain how the rock art got so high. No-one had any ladders or any way to get up that high. The figures are in the crude style with unadorned colours. Presumably they were the earliest.

There is another possibility. They were painted so long ago that the ground was closer to them, less than a man’s height, perhaps.
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Pipes or news ed. please put in featuresed and send message to bill goodall to say it is there. he wants it first thing Friday. Also can you send a message to macklin to water my indoor plants. ta

The earth circles the sun and we have 10 fingers. The combination of these two facts has an inexplicable power in human activity. We mark anniversaries in lots of 10 encirclings of the earth around the sun.

The anniversaries garner us into activity, into pledges, into acknowledgment of change. Four tens make middle age; six tens make retirement and one hundred tens, beyond the lifespan of nearly all humans, garners even greater cause for reflection, celebration or mourning, and commitment to renewal.
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The Big Republicans are not satisfied with pencilling out the word “”Queen” in the Constitution and substituting it with “”President”. They want a fresh start with a completely new Constitution, putting sovereignty firmly in the hands of the people, not in any way derivative of the British Crown and the divine rights of kings.

The small republicans, on the other hand, seek the smallest change possible. This is the view of the Australian Republican Movement. It seeks only one thing: that the highest office in the land under our Constitution should not be filled by a foreigner.

The small republicans are headed, among others, by Donald Horne who wrote a book called (I think, from memory) The Lucky Monarchy.
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A former secretary to five Governors-General, Sir David Smith, condemned the Prime Minister, Paul Keating, for accusing monarchy supporters as being un-Australian, unpatriotic, even disloyal.

He said patriotism and pride in being Australian were not the sole preserve of only one side of politics.

Sir David accepted that if a majority wanted a republic, then change must happen _ that was the democratic ideal.
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The Canberra Women’s Health Centre has applied for legal aid to pay for private lawyers for its defence against an allegation of sex discrimination brought last year, even though the ACT Government Solicitor was willing to represent the centre.

The bill could reach as much at $51,000.

This was revealed by documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and subsequent inquiries.
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