Civil Liberties
At a guess you could probably assume that none of our seven High Court judges lives in Merrylands, in Sydney’s west, where the Nomads and Hells Angels are engaged in what the police reassuringly describe not as a bikie gang war but merely “tit for tat violence”.
It is also unlikely that any of these eminent jurists lives in Northmead, where an innocent woman had her house strafed with bullets while she was sleeping last week in a zany address mix-up by a bikie who was having trouble reading his UBD.
Presumably, none of the judges lives in Adelaide’s north-western suburb of Semaphore where an 11-year-old boy, the son of a former member of the Finks, was shot in the leg while he slept during a home invasion last month.
Continue reading "How the High Court exposed suburbia to biker mayhem" »
The latest move by the Federal Government to make smoking a habit of the past is the latest salvo in the rapid expansion of the nanny state.
Recently the Health Minister Nicola Roxon re‑announced the government’s intention to force tobacco companies to adopt plain packaging for all cigarette brands.
From next year, smokers will be greeted with a standard olive‑green packet emblazoned with graphic health warnings screaming that “every cigarette is doing you damage”.
Continue reading "Nanny state’s thriving on tax harvested from smokers" »
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Josh says:
...Most narrow minded opinion ever, think about the raise in crime because children cant eat because their parents spent 400$ in a week on smokes.. goto another country and spend 4$.. the government is just trying to revenue raise because of all the mismanaged money they have lost in the… Read more »
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Jeremy says:
Try doing some research before you speak James… It is a fact the revenue raised well and truely pays for all of the hospital costs…. IT IS A MYTH that it doesn’t… It is a means of scarring non-smokers into fighting the cause by deception…. Tails I agree with your… Read more »
Smokers. The unthinkable may become a disagreeable reality. Smoking may be banned in private homes and apartments.
Scoff if you like about improbability of home smoking bans. How they would not only be unfair but unenforceable. Dismiss the concept as ridiculous.
Huff and puff about civil liberties, individual freedom of choice and the home being the family castle. Thump the table about government interference and intervention. About the spidery intrusion of the nanny state. But ignore the looming reality at your peril. The smokers’ nagging fear, that their final bastion will be invaded by smoke police, is already here.
Continue reading "The cigarette police are coming to get you - at home" »
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Kev says:
Second hand smoke affects me as it seeps into my apartment. Just now recovering from a week off work due to chest infection brought on by smoke. The only exposure to cigarette smoke I have is in my home, the one I’m paying off with more than half my income.… Read more »
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Chau Vu says:
I agree that people have a right to smoke but this right cannot extent to harming others. I support the expansion of second-hand smoke free zone. Read more »
The recent call by Dr John Irvine to consider charging parents for crimes committed by children under the age of 10 highlights a fundamental social challenge.
Juvenile crime and delinquency is a growing problem within our schools and the wider community – costing millions of dollars each year. Recent Bureau of Crime and Statistics research indicates a 44% rise in juvenile offences since 2001.
Dr Irvine thinks that the ability to charge parents for the crimes their offspring commit “would help” and therefore it’s certainly worthy of debate and discussion. It’s hard to dispute his assertion that the Labor Government is too soft when it comes to dealing with the guardians of troubled children under 10.
Continue reading "How can we legislate against loveless and lawless parents?" »
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Ana says:
I am a single mother. I work a middle management job and do not rely on government handouts. My daughter is, according to her teachers, one of the best behaved kids in her class and is very confident, loving and affectionate. The reason I’m a single mother? I refused to… Read more »
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Jason says:
“How can we legislate against loveless and lawless parents?” Simple, the cycle needs to stop. In my opinion the best way to achieve this is to stop wasting time on getting the parents to change, and attempt to install love and discipline in the child or children though the education… Read more »
Impartiality is everything in journalism but at the risk of sounding slightly biased it’s fair to say that if the NSW Government were a dog you would take it down to the bottom of the yard and shoot it.
Discussing the innate and irreversible badness of the NSW Government is about the most banal thing you can do these days. If anything this may be its most evil legacy – the cruelling of casual political discussion.
It’s like the inspired Gary Larson cartoon featuring nerds in hell - “Hot enough for ya?” – where remarking that NSW seems to be in political strife is as profound and insightful as noting that Germany has a bit of a chequered history, the Cuban economy could probably be doing better, or that Afghanistan has historically under-invested in infrastructure.
Continue reading "Moral lectures from the ethically challenged" »
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Arios says:
As someone who never has anything to hide and never drinks myself silly, but definitely enjoys a couple of drinks in moderation every now and then, I wouldn’t mind if police came up to me and had a chat, good on them for caring and keeping an eye on things.… Read more »
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cats says:
Maybe if they made Weed legal (like it should be) the problem with alcohol will lessen somewhat. When people smoke weed, it is very, very unlikely they are going to harm someone else, it is almost impossible to overdose on, doesn’t give you a hangover, and if people smoke it… Read more »
REMEMBER this name - or if you’re drunk, get a friend to write it on the back of a beer coaster and stick it to your forehead for future reference. It’s going to be important later on.
Not next week. Not in a month’s time. But in a few years, when shouts are banned, shots are illegal, when you are limited, by law, to a maximum of four purchases of spirits, liqueurs and/or fortified beverages within a 24-hour period at any licensed establishment.
When it’s illegal to drink in the presence of minors. Illegal to drink at any sporting event. Illegal to drink at a picnic.
Continue reading "The right of consenting adults to really tie one on" »
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Donyell says:
AFAIC that’s the best ansewr so far! Read more »
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Shinsengumi says:
M Of 04:26pm, 27/08/09: Beautiful! Beautiful work! *standing ovation* Such truer truth ne’er were spoken! I too, want to see who and where the Trash abides. I want trash, to be trash around other trash, hopefully they’ll all trash each other. Far too long in our society have we been… Read more »
There’s one civil liberty which is being glossed over In the debate over the response to street crime in the Melbourne CBD. The freedom to do your job without having the crap kicked out of you.
The sickening attack on a plain clothes officer in Little Bourke Street early yesterday - the copper had his jaw broken by a drunken yobbo who king-hit him from behind - has prompted calls from the Victorian Police Union for mandatory jail time for anyone found guilty of assaulting police.
The proposal will no doubt be criticised by civil libertarians as a draconian over-reaction.
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still waiting even after telling george brouwer says:
Justice only exists with the protected” blue koala” if you catch him/her down a back lane on your own.You have aboslutely no hope if the middle class whiteshoe perspective of justice is dished out. The middle class judicial system of whom the freemason membership is mandatory if male, and if… Read more »
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Suzana Vuksanovic says:
Don’t become a cop if you’re not prepared to take the risks inherent in such a job. They like to dish it out but take it? Not so much. Read more »
I couldn’t agree more with David Penberthy’s claim last week that the National Press Club “damaged journalism” by giving a platform to motorcycle riders.
The damage is not, as Penberthy thinks, to the grand institution of journalism. After all, a profession that has survived, adapted and flourished over hundreds of years is hardly going to be scarred by the ramblings of a bloke from Blacktown.
No. The damage to journalism caused by Wednesday’s Press Club address is simply that the news media were not – at least for the 60 minutes of the live broadcast – able to control the public’s perceptions of bikers.
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www.thepunch.com.au says:
We bikies deserve a hearing.. Keen Read more »
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www.thepunch.com.au says:
We bikies deserve a hearing.. May I repost it? Read more »
What a sin! The National Press Club actually had the temerity to invite bikers and, an even worse devil, an academic, to address their members! After decades of weekly rants from pompous politicians and bloated businessmen they broke from tradition and dived into the dark side.
Even worse the bikers and academic questioned the wisdom of politicians making stupid laws. As if our moral and upright legislators would ever push the “lock them up and throw away the key button” just to win over the law and order vote.
But make no mistake the South Australian and New South Wales laws are particularly stupid. Forget about the blatant violation that these laws bring to the justice system and just think about their consequences.
Continue reading "Devils, bikers and the National Press Club" »
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T.K.Barnes says:
I live in South Australia and back in June I was pulled over bay an unmarked police vehicle some 300 meters from home. I had just gone down from home to fuel up and on leaving the servo all hell broke loose sirens and lights blazing. I pulled over and… Read more »
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Terry Wright says:
Crime fighting laws made in haste for political point scoring always miss the real problem and achieve bugger all. All that really happens is that we loose more of our rights and anonymity whilst that political vote winner called “Tough on Crime” (aka “Tough on Drugs”) is dragged out at… Read more »
The National Press Club has debased itself and damaged journalism by letting bikie gangs use its forum to indulge in an hour-long orgy of hysteria and lies about the proposed laws of criminal association.
Central to this non-debate - led by a fellow called Ferret, from the Finks - was the laughable assertion that the media somehow over-reacted in its coverage of the sickening bashing murder of Hells Angel Anthony Zervas in broad daylight at Sydney Airport earlier this year.
With a couple of exceptions among the journos - and with the audience heavily stacked with tattooed ratbags - Ferret and his friends were allowed to misrepresent this deserved coverage without challenge.
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G says:
My my my many of you have written about these terrible bikies and how the law should be worded to single out one particular group. How many of you actually know any ‘bikies’ ? Indeed what is a ‘bikie’? many have called me a bikie even my parents because of… Read more »
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Sean Patrick says:
Blanket laws like this association based rubbish have been used around the world many times throughout recent history…and guess what .. repealed in no time because it always made the ‘problem’ worse. One example you might wish to have a gander at ( if knowledge is what you like to… Read more »
The reputation of Western Australia as a frontier state received another unwelcome boost today with revelations that an Aboriginal man was set on fire after being shot with a taser gun while sniffing petrol.
At issue is whether the taser gun started the fire, or whether the man, who was violent and threatening to set himself and the police alight, started it inadvertently with his cigarette lighter.
But even before the case is investigated, it’s been declared case closed by the state’s top cop.
Continue reading "Out west, tasering petrol sniffers isn’t an issue" »
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Bob says:
To DP, thank you for your comments about life as a cop in these areas. This is a poorly researched article, strong on hyperbole and designed to create outrage rather than address the issues. The only thing I can see in this to complain about is the apparent lack of… Read more »
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Mick Gold Coast QLD says:
Who wrote this rubbish? Have you all gone mad over in WA? You don’t deserve a police force - put the petrol sniffers in charge of law and order and self immolate with them, swiftly. What a bunch of self righteous, hand wringing, grief stricken lunatics! Read more »
I would never presume to pre-empt the outcome of the Royal Commission into the Victorian bushfires, the worst natural disaster Australia has endured.
The speed and ferocity of the blazes that engulfed those quiet rural towns, and shattered so many lives and families remains beyond comprehension.
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People who haven’t seen such devastation first-hand still find it difficult to imagine. Those who endured that day will find it impossible to forget.
My first experience as a witness to the devastation caused by bushfire was back in 1983, in the aftermath of Ash Wednesday
Continue reading "Bugging the firebugs: when safety trumps civil liberties" »
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Jeremy says:
I’m glad I don’t live in a state with a Premier with such a cavalier attitude to civil liberties. Shameful. Read more »
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Scott says:
Mike, your prose style is really very ordinary. Please get one of your flacks to write these pieces for you. I have recently been reading the ‘Yes Minister’ books and there’s a lot of Jim Hacker in Mike Rann. Sad but true. Read more »
Civil libertarians around the country have condemned my new anti-crime gang laws aimed at outlaw bikie gangs. Defence lawyers and pseudo-academics have lined up to tell the public that the bikie gangs are a harmless sub-culture comprised of grandparents who simply like a ride on big bikes.
Following the passing of our most recent law, we’ve seen demonstrations by hundreds of bikies from around the country converging on Adelaide in so-called “Freedom Rides”, an insulting reprise of the civil rights movement in the US.
But for outlaw motorcycle gangs, it’s a different kind of freedom.
Continue reading "Defending the right of bikers to bash, kill, steal, deal" »
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brian says:
what has ruined the bike culture in recent years is this the old skool were filthy an were out numbered to let these arabs or lebs in an now the ol skool is paying the price for what the nieve have done ,i hope freedom is not sacrificed here because… Read more »
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Buckets says:
History will judge you and your ilk very badly Mr Rann. These laws are not “Anti-bikie” laws, no matter how often you tell that lie, for the words bikie do not appear in the legislation at all. So I am calling this a bald faced lie. They are however laws… Read more »
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