Crispin Hull

NSW should appeal to the High Court against this week’s Full Federal Court judgment in the World Youth Day case.

The court held invalid regulations made by a NSW Minister that provided for fines of up to $5500 for people who “annoyed” participants in World Youth Day. Continue reading “Federal Court’s free-speech blunder”

Less than a week after the ACT Government Service coming into being, events have shown that the ACT Government (and perhaps the Assembly as a whole) got it at least partially wrong.

The Public Sector Management Act provides that the Chief Minister can appoint heads of department and move them from one department to another without process. That much is fine. However, the Act provides for permanency for heads of ACT departments and that they cannot be removed without process.

In the past two days we have seen the appointment of Treasury head David Rosalky as new head of the Chief Minister’s department, the ACT’s highest bureaucrat, after a long period with Jeff Townsend acting in the job. The time lapse indicated that a selection process was being undertaken.
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Mark Twain said, “Buy land young man they are not making any more of it.” Some years later he also filed for bankruptcy.

That happens with booms heading to busts. One sign is the emergence of crazy financing schemes. Remember the inter-generational loans during the Japanese property boom of late 1980s – just before it crashed.

So those who have missed out on the most recent property boom should be wary of the new scheme publicised this week by Wizard, Australia’s largest non-bank lender — not just because it might be harbinger of a crash, but because it might not be a good investment.

There may not be a crash. Normally, people pay a deposit and borrow around 80 per cent of value. The lending institution holds a mortgage (from the old French meaning dead hand). You cannot sell without paying the money back.

It is safe for the bank. It can always put a for-sale sign up and sell for 80 per cent of value within a few days.

But with rising prices, people cannot afford the deposit or repayments. So Wizard comes to the rescue. People need only 70 per cent of the usually deposit and 70 per cent of the repayments. In return, Wizard takes 30 per cent of the ownership (or equity). When the house is sold, however, Wizard takes 60 per cent of the capital gain. Note, not 30 per cent which would match their equity share.
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I was one of six children brought up in country Victoria in the 1960s in the unremitting poverty of my father’s Anglican clergyman’s stipend.

It was, however, mitigated by two things. The first was that along with the stipend came the occupancy of the Anglican Rectory and its substantial grounds – substantial enough for us to run a small subsistence farm with chooks, a cow, a goat and a large vegetable garden. We may have eaten a lot of sausages and Spam, but at least the dairy and vegies were healthy. Continue reading “Property to cause more Anglican friction than theology”

Majority will often does not prevail. Some issues excite such passion that the minority will change their vote on that issue alone. Moreover, they will campaign with time and money against politicians who dare support the majority view.

Euthanasia is a good example.

Opinion polls suggest a fairly large majority is in favour. But a dedicated group of vehement opponents who will assuredly campaign against it. Continue reading “Justins case no anti-euthanasia argument”

The total record on getting referendums through is poor, just eight in 44, but Labor’s record is appalling, just one in 24.

And that one was a no-brainer for even the dullest Australian voter. It said do you agree that the Commonwealth should have the power to give you more money in social security payments. Yes or No? More money. Too easy. Continue reading “Local government needs constitutional caution”

Petrol prices, grocery prices and bank fees are causing a little political pain at the moment.

You cannot mention them without mentioning the word “competition”, so perhaps Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should have a look the way football works. I don’t want to draw some crass football-mateship-team-spirit analogy. Rather we should look at the economic model of football. And comparing Australia with Europe might help. Continue reading “Football gives Rudd competition lesson”

How deep is the shlook that Warren Entsch is in?

I use the word shlook because that was the word used by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley in the House on Thursday last week. Schlock is low-grade material, rubbish, particularly low-grade entertainment.

But Mr Beazley was more interested in its depth than shallowness. And it is quite deep, despite the best efforts of Prime Minister John Howard and Attorney-General Daryl Williams to extract him from it (the low-grade material, that is).

It is fairly apparent that Entsch breached Howard’s code of conduct for minister’s, but as the code is administered by Howard himself, and Howard regard the breach as a technical slip nothing will happen on that score.
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In the past week or so we have seen emerge the first couple of cases under the reformed 2006 uniform defamation law.

Alas, the law is not much reformed, nor is it entirely uniform.

The cases were high profile because they involved celebrities, insofar as one would regard Mercedes Corby, the sister of a convicted drug smuggler, a “celebrity”. The plaintiff in the other case was Judy Davis, an accomplished Australian actress. Continue reading “Corby case leaves us no wiser”