Constitutional Law
A common response to any suggestion that the Constitution needs reform is “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”. But the fact is that the document is broke, and increasingly so.
The latest example concerns the School Chaplain program, started by the Howard government, and retained and extended by the Rudd and Gillard governments. This clearly offended one Queensland parent, who managed to find sufficient support for a High Court appeal against the whole program.
He put two arguments against the Chaplain program funded by the federal government. He claimed it interfered with a principle of separation of church and state. The High Court unanimously rejected this.
Continue reading "Chaplaincy challenge exposes Constitutional cracks" »
When Labor goes to the High Court, it has on critical occasions been condemned by sod’s law, and that is why the Government is trying to deal with sea arrivals by asylum seekers without its preferred option being available.
It’s a heavy burden for Julia Gillard. However, Tony Abbott, too, is not in as strong a position as he might think as demands grow this week for a compromise on asylum seekers between the Government and the Opposition.
The Greens would never help the Government revive asylum seeker processing in third countries, and the alternative to a Labor/Liberal unity ticket could be more wholesale drownings of people trying to get here.
Continue reading "The treacherous legal waters of an asylum seeker solution" »
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kazza says:
As the Coalition and the Government both support offshore processing and the Greens never have I think those closest in policy should be the ones to find the solution. The opposition is against Malaysia because it is not a signatory yet it completely ignores that neither was Nauru for the… Read more »
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kazza says:
Ian5 Can you explain the steep drop in arrivals after the Malaysian Solution was announced and the sharp rise after the High Court challenge? That alone should show it was worth a chance. Read more »
In the lottery that is (public) life, being appointed Governor-General is akin to winning the jackpot. Candidates for the job – none of whom are struggling for a quid in the first place – receive a generous $394,000 a year and, as today’s investigation in the Sunday newspapers shows, enjoy lavish pensions which follow them to the grave.
It’s not a bad arrangement for a position which, under our funny constitutional arrangements, requires that you don’t really do anything.
The job rarely invites too much scrutiny, save for those rare moments in our history when the appointee is accused of exceeding their constitutional role, or finds themself mired in an unrelated scandal which leaves them unable to do their job.
Continue reading "Money for (almost) nothing - are we too good to our GGs?" »
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Bob H says:
Can we get over the idea that GGs work very hard. I have never seen one sweat from effort, a few shaken hands a day and walking slowly is hardly taxing. Everything laid on and even their schedule is organised by others so it must be hard sitting in a… Read more »
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Chris says:
I’ll take it on, for 3 or 4 years, no worries. I’ll start at $65, 000, and would accept an annual pay rise of inflation + 1.5% of the previous year’s wage. Ditch the pension - my 9% Super will do me fine, thanks; and I can even save them… Read more »
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