Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"In a recent article "PM not for turning on a Bill of Rights", the Australian's editor-at-large told us of the Prime Minister's attitude to a Bill of Rights. Presumably the author obtained his information from the Prime Minister who, he claimed, has redefined the debate. Unsurprisingly, the article is extremely laudatory of the Prime Minister. It presents him not as a conniving politician but as a philosopher statesman, effectively a home-grown, homespun Great Helmsman who personifies and articulates the values of the common man in contrast to the "lawyers, media and civil liberty activists", often scorned as the "elite", who apparently lack any understanding of or respect for ordinary people. What hypocrisy!" Tony Fitzgerald

"It pays to be wary of governments tinkering with electoral systems. We have almost no constitutional protections and hence court review of those laws. Leaving politicians in charge of the rules governing their hold on power may be akin to leaving the kids in charge of the pantry. When you seize a castle, there is the temptation to burn the ladders and raise the drawbridge to keep later rivals out." Graeme Orr

"Officially European states are distancing themselves from the hard-knuckled American fight against terrorism. Germany and France do not want to have anything to do with Guantanamo and the so-called Black Sites, where torture of suspects takes place, according to human rights groups. ... On the other hand, international cooperation in this conflict is indispensable and for this reason the German government has dispatched an official of the Federal Intelligence agency, as well as a representative of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. They attend the regular Camolin meetings in a barracks on the outskirts of Paris... Canada and Australia are involved." Translated from Der Spiegal by Alun Breward

"In the absence of any domestic human rights instrument and in light of limited judicial review, it is clear that effective parliamentary review of the antiterrorism laws is all the more important. Indeed, it was the Senate committee process that successfully toned down many of the worst parts of the antiterrorism legislation introduced by the Howard government in 2002-2004. However, with both Houses of Parliament now under Coalition control, the process of reviewing legislation before it is enacted is unlikely to continue to provide effective and adequate safeguards." Christopher Michaelsen

"However on one of my explorations I went alone... to Bobigny, a decrepit and ugly suburb, filled with a mixture of shabby old apartments and hideous modern apartments, crammed together in a frightful urban slum. Even a Francophile (Parisophile?) like me found this shocking. I suppose being dark and dressed in casual clothing I didn't stand out from the locals and exercising caution I walked around and saw the frightful conditions in which the black and Arab residents lived. I found a crowded coffee shop and bought some coffee and (excellent) Arab pastries, and shared a table with an older man of my age, a former Algerian who spoke English (my terrible French would have been useless) and who told me of the bleak existence of most residents in these ghettos on the north-western side of the city." Brian McKinlay

"In considering this proposed legislation, it is important to remember that in Australia there is no effective human rights framework surrounding the new anti-terrorism legislation. Unlike other western democracies, we have no Bill of Rights and therefore no check upon extreme legislation of this type other than what can be found in the Constitution. The Australian Constitution contains no significant human rights clauses and the few that are there have been so read down by the High Court as to be almost meaningless....the media at least, has become inured to governmental attacks upon our liberties, or to take a more sinister view, that it or parts of it are engaging in self censorship...I regard the role of the Opposition as even more worrying than the role of the Government. It would appear that a more critical role is being played by the Government's own backbench and the Fairfax press than by the Opposition. Even worse is the behaviour of the States and Territories who have delivered a trump card to the Government that may even be sufficient to overcome the fragile protection that the Constitution offers." The Honourable Alastair Nicholson AO RFD QC

Andrews: That is what Work Choices is all about – securing the future prosperity of Australian individuals and families. ... Work Choices does this by accommodating the greater demand for choice and flexibility in our workplaces. It continues a process of evolution, begun over a decade ago, towards a system that trusts Australian men and women to make their own decisions in the workplace and to do so in a way that best suits them.

Beazley: It is the product of an extreme, outdated ideology. An ideology that has nothing to do with the challenges Australia faces in the first quarter of the 21^st century - nothing to do with the nation's economic needs. ... It's the most savage attack on the values of Australian society and the security of working families that I've seen in 25 years in this Parliament.

Senator BOB BROWN - Had Mr Parkin ever taken part in a violent or dangerous protest-that you are aware of?
(ASIO Chief) Mr O'Sullivan - While he was in Australia, do you mean?
Senator BOB BROWN - In Australia or elsewhere.
Mr O'Sullivan - I understand there was some background while he was in the United States, but I believe the answer to your question in respect of Australia is no.

"I mentioned previously there was a very concerning aspect of the stop, question and search powers. It is the provision that decisions leading to the exercise of the powers is not reviewable and cannot be challenged on any grounds whatsoever in any legal proceedings. It sounds over dramatic to say that the proposed laws are of the kind that may identify a police state, but let us reflect for a moment on this proposition. The defining characteristic of a police state is that the police exercise power on behalf of the executive, and the conduct of the police cannot be effectively challenged through the justice system of the state. Regrettably this is exactly what the laws which are currently under debate will achieve. The Government's response to criticism of the wide ranging powers given to them by the ASIO laws has been, in effect, to say: "Trust us. We are a responsible organization, and we would only ever use these heavy powers if they were really necessary. We must have these powers, and you can be assured we will not abuse them." The difficulty with that approach, as experience has shown, not only in places like South Africa, but even here in Australia, is that reality turns out otherwise. The revelations of the Palmer Report demonstrate how abuses of power occur where there is no accessible and realistic way people can question what is happening to them. What happened to our trust in this situation? What happened to Cornelia Rau's trust or Vivian Solon's? Do they still trust our government?" Jon von Doussa, HEROC

My partner and I had just completed our weekly shop at the local supermarket. We returned home to drop off the groceries and take off again to pick up her youngster from school. It was then back home for a family fish and chip and video evening. Two plain clothed policemen greeted me at the gate. They asked me to accompany them. When I asked what this was in connection with they assured me that we were just going up the road and back. I knew I had nothing more to worry about than an overlooked traffic fine so, with curiosity and without concern I complied. Ten minutes later I was being held at the Maribynong Detention Centre." Stephan Willis

"I'm standing here today with deep disillusionment. I had the misapprehension that I was among idealists; among people who cared for the interests of people who don't have a voice, legally or otherwise. I thought you were all slaving away, with rings under your eyes, doing pro-bono work in your spare time and caring for the little guy (or girl). ... This illusion was shattered last week when a column by Janet Albrechtson in The Australian set me straight. I'm onto you. Now we're told that public interest lawyers like you really use "civil liberties" as a "smokescreen", according to Albrechtson. She writes that while you dupe a gullible media, you hijack the term civil liberties: "as a feel-good phrase ... intended to hide political and personal agendas cunningly camouflaged as community welfare." I believe her. She's a lawyer. What's more, she's on the ABC board!" Chris Rau

"Mars hasn't given up its secrets easily, proving a graveyard for space probes; over half of all probes sent by both the US and the USSR failing. However it has now been the site of the most ambitious and successful space probe lander mission ever: the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Roving Mars is the story of this extraordinary project." Malcolm Street

"If Australians are to once again see their government as the instrument of the nation's collective will, and their national parliament as the place consensus is forged, then we have to learn again from Henry Parkes the importance of direct democracy. As Parkes said in here in 1889, it is through democracy that governments gain legitimacy. As our nineteenth century political institutions creak and groan with the effort to keep up with changing times, we are experiencing an increasing deficit of democracy.The apathy and anger that marks our modern Australian democracy is a sign that the deficit of democracy is becoming a lack of legitimacy." John Faulkner

"The COAG Agreement states that the "[l]eaders agreed that any strengthened counter-terrorism law must...contain appropriate safeguards against abuse, such as. ..judicial review"... Given the importance of the principle of judicial oversight in the COAG Agreement, this paper briefly explains the proper role of judicial oversight in relation to anti-terrorism laws and the necessary conditions for effective judicial oversight. It then details why the provisions of the draft Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005 (Cth) dealing with control orders and preventive detention orders fall short of providing effective judicial oversight." Joo-Cheong Tham

"Although COAG and the ministerial councils facilitate intergovernmental cooperation and policy coordination, as the Stanhope example shows they raise some questions about the transparency of decision-making. COAG can limit parliamentary scrutiny of key national policy positions as Premiers and Chief Ministers commit their governments to action without first exposing policy positions to examination by their respective legislatures, and by extension to the broader community." Linda Botterill

Breaking news.

"How did multiculturalism go from being hailed as an antidote to alienation to being accused of aiding and abetting terrorism, the scourge of the new century?" Petro Georgiou MP

"It is now  a well established aspect of Australian history that Catholic Social Teaching, particularly Pope Leo XIII's  teaching on the just wage in Rerum Novarum, was a significant  influence on Australian policy makers a century ago when an Industrial Relations system and mechanism was set up to balance the interests of workers and businesses. ... The Howard Government is currently proposing sweeping changes to the Australian industrial relations landscape. For the first time the Government has the numbers in the Senate to bring in such changes without the support of minor party and independent senators who held the balance of power in the Senate for over two decades. These changes have the capacity to fundamentally alter the fabric of Australian workplaces and society at large. This briefing paper aims to outline the basic changes being put forward and in light of Catholic Social Teaching offer critical comment on the changes and their likely effects." Social Action Office, Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes, Queensland.

"The demonstrated and manifest incompetence and contempt by authorities when exercising powers over citizens (Tampa, Rau, Solon) means that the powers conferred in these laws will deprive innocent people of their personal freedom and security. And if freedom and security is undermined by the State, where else can we look to find it?" Brian Walters SC

"As a new world country Australia, like the US, is a melting pot. But for all our travel and our formal recognition of multiculturalism, how well do we know and understand the rest of the world? Many of us can find our way into Times Square and out of Piccadilly Circus, but after repeated assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11, I have a sense that, culturally, more gulfs separate us than there are bridges that link us meaningfully with cultures that we now need to understand so much more intimately than ever before." Paul McGeough

"ICAN is all about returning Australian parliaments to the people and putting representation back into politics in this country. The best way to do this is to encourage people to stand as true independents who will represent their electorates free of the vested interest of a party. Parties are about getting and keeping power for themselves. Representation and the voters come second." Peter Andren

"Bill Farmer has been nominated by Howard as Australia's next Ambassador to Indonesia, which is one of Australia's most important diplomatic posts. To be Ambassador requires judgment and management skills of a high order. Terrorism has created a new volatility in the relationship. A high order of diplomatic advice and judgment to the Australian government is required at all times." Bruce Haigh

"In May of this year I announced in Parliament the framework of the Government’s proposals to reform Australia’s workplace relations system. Today the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and I are delighted to release ‘WorkChoices – A New Workplace Relations System’ which explains, in detail, how the new workplace relations system will work." Prime Minister, John Howard

"After three lovely months of traveling through Australia and meeting people, one Wednesday afternoon during the second week of September I was called by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, or ASIO, and asked to come in for an interview. I asked if I was required to do so and the woman at the other end of the phone said "No, you are not obliged too." I then asked if this would affect the remaining two weeks of my time in Australia and she said she couldn't say. I should have listened with closer attention to that non-answer." Scott Parkin

"I come to this forum as a consumer of media and as someone who’s been fortunate enough to sit a little on the inside and observe aspects of how it appears to work. At my first real job at the Small Arms Factory in Lithgow I bought the Daily Mirror every afternoon on my way home. I used to savour the football and cricket think pieces from the likes of Phil Tressider and Ian Heads and Geoff Prenter and they brought me up to speed with the notion of cliché. At the time I had no idea that this would be my career-making preparation ... " John Doyle

"Brendan Nelson? To be fair, he did not begin the game of Squeeze and Hassle the universities. John Dawkins, Minister for Ed in the Keating government, did a fine old job of pushing universities into mergers and into marketing. He had vice-chancellors, deans and professors writhing in knots. Did they deserve Dawkins? Were they so stodgy and protective of privilege that they had to be tortured and forced to mend their ways? Probably -- a little." Harry Robinson

The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Prof. John McMillan, today released the report, prepared by Mr Neil Comrie AO APM, into the circumstances of the Vivian Alvarez matter.

"If you think the whole ‘rotten, infested’ lump of politics can’t be changed, read a little history. I suggest you catch up on the victory of the suffragettes, the abolition of slavery, or the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. None of those breakthroughs came from giving up or copping out of politics. All of them involved committed people, just like us, getting involved in and transforming the hopelessly unfair, rotten, stinking politics of their day." Bob Brown

"If it is possible to induce an additional 80,000 people to enter the work-force through modifications of the personal income tax situation, then perhaps the haphazard and individually punitive approach of changing pensioners over to Newstart Allowance, while at the same time introducing all sorts of one-off exemptions, was a really silly way to go about the Prime Minister's ambitious adventure." Marie Coleman

"The Old Right in Australia was often seen as a single force, labeled "conservatism" but it was actually an amalgam of different political ideas and trends, some of which now oppose the current neo-liberal and neo-conservative hegemony. The great icon of Australian Right, Sir Robert Menzies, for example, supported social justice and the welfare state. The Liberal MP who now holds Menzies' old parliamentary seat, Petro Georgiou, points out that "pro-market purists" in the modern Liberal Party damn any notion of social justice as a 'Labor plot' when it was in fact a foundation stone for the Liberal Party." David McKnight