http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/david-flint/ David Flint is an emeritus professor of law. Formerly chairman of the Australian Press Council and the Australian Broadcasting Authority, he is national convenor of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lets-ditch-preferential-voting-but-only-in-the-house/ If our election on 21 August had been held under British, Canadian, Indian or American rules, we wouldn’t have had to wait. We would have known the results that evening.  It would have been a landslide to the Coalition.  Their majority would have been about the same size as that of the Rudd government. The three independents would have had no role in the formation of the government, and neither the Green MP nor Mr. Willkie would have been there. There is no perfect electoral system, and none is sacrosanct. Politicians being human, they prefer the system which they think will favour them. But circumstances change. What favours a party at one time can disadvantage them at another.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (David Flint) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lets-ditch-preferential-voting-but-only-in-the-house/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lets-ditch-preferential-voting-but-only-in-the-house/#item4183 Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:45:25 +0000 David Flint | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/trivial-independents-miss-chance-at-making-history/ A hung parliament is a golden opportunity for serious reform. The independents should not waste their extraordinary power on ephemeral trivia such as the black holes issue. (This is essentially about whether Treasury’s long term predictions are reliable. They are not.) They should do something for which they will be immortalised in the nation’s pantheon. They should propose fundamental reform to our system of government, making it more democratic. Why do the people have to wait three or four years to pass judgement on a failed government?  Why shouldn’t they block a law they do not like? feedback@thepunch.com.au (David Flint) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/trivial-independents-miss-chance-at-making-history/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/trivial-independents-miss-chance-at-making-history/#item3970 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:00:39 +0000 David Flint | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-tony-abbott-i-know/ Tony Abbott is an unusual politician. Let me give an example. Some years ago I was invited to join a delegation to cabinet ministers about the unfair impact on judicial pensions of a particular Howard government proposal. Tony Abbott saw us alone, without the usual cast of advisers who take notes to use against media exposure and whose presence is essentially to ensure that nothing a minister says is of any consequence. Instead he spoke openly and honestly. About the same time a friend told me he had seen Tony on a 389 bus in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. He wondered why he wasn’t using a ministerial car. feedback@thepunch.com.au (David Flint) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-tony-abbott-i-know/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-tony-abbott-i-know/#item3830 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:00:50 +0000 David Flint | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/frasers-late-blow-against-a-man-unable-to-defend-himself/ In an extraordinary attack on the memory of the late Governor-General Sir John Kerr, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser claims the Governor-General telephoned him on the morning of 11 November 1975 before the then Prime Minister EG Whitlam saw the Governor-General to seek an early half Senate election. The states were unlikely to offer their necessary co-operation in holding an early half Senate election and in any event the new senators would not take office for eight months. The Governor–General could not see this as a solution to the Senate’s withholding of of supply to the government. Accordingly, he dismissed Mr. Whitlam on the ancient principle that no government may rule without supply being granted by Parliament. Shortly afterwards, the Governor-General commissioned the Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister pending an election on 10 December. feedback@thepunch.com.au (David Flint) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/frasers-late-blow-against-a-man-unable-to-defend-himself/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/frasers-late-blow-against-a-man-unable-to-defend-himself/#item2460 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:35:11 +0000 David Flint | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-prince-william-effect-republican-celebrity-converts/ Prince William’s coming visit seems to have resulted in the dramatic conversion of a republican celebrity. This is none other than the editor and media personality Ms. Ita Clare Buttrose AO OBE, who campaigned for the politicians’ republic during the 1999 referendum. Readers of the Wentworth Courier, which circulates in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, were surprised then by her harsh dismissal of the No case and indeed of constitutional monarchists. Ms Buttrose was the founding editor of Cleo which, with its nude male centrefolds, was aimed at young single women. She later edited the more conservative Australian Women’s Weekly and the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs. feedback@thepunch.com.au (David Flint) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-prince-william-effect-republican-celebrity-converts/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-prince-william-effect-republican-celebrity-converts/#item2171 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:35:15 +0000 David Flint | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/republican-losers-would-scrap-our-oldest-holiday/ The losers in 1999 have the utter gall to demand we abandon our oldest public holiday celebrating our oldest institution, one central to our Westminster system. On almost every Queen’s Birthday republicans usually rush into the media. This year they’re saying putting republicanism on the political agenda will help the nation recover from the recession. Without a scintilla of evidence, they say the growing interest in Anzac Day is because of republican sentiment. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. In the nineties they were saying a republic would overcome unemployment, improve trade, free artistic talent, increase immigration, and enhance our standing in Asia. feedback@thepunch.com.au (David Flint) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/republican-losers-would-scrap-our-oldest-holiday/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/republican-losers-would-scrap-our-oldest-holiday/#item260 Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:50:55 +0000 David Flint | Author bios | The Punch