Complicity, obligation and mutual respect
When we look at a map of the world’s major trouble spots we see or at least I see, a white footprint superimposed over each and every one of these…
When we look at a map of the world’s major trouble spots we see or at least I see, a white footprint superimposed over each and every one of these…
The following article appeared in Friday’s Jakarta Post: Maj. Gen. Wisnu Bawatenaya has been appointed to become commander of the Indonesian Army Special Forces (Kopassus) replacing Maj. Gen. Lodewijk F…
The following is a modified version of an article which first appeared in the Fiji Sun on 12 September, 2011 and which Blak and Black has linked to since publishing…
Callahan and colleagues (2002)[i] suggested that organizations must focus on three trust-building tactics – accountability, reliance, and aspiration – to cultivate helpful internal whistleblowing procedures. These principles provide people and…
It was pointed out to me last night that I had missed Mr Gary Lee-Rogers from my list of serving AFP/APS officers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for insisting…
“A State cannot claim to be operating under the rule of law unless laws are administered fairly, rationally, predictably, consistently and impartially.” (Chief Justice Spigelman, as he then was, in…
On 30 November 2010, the International Court of Justice delivered its Judgment in the case of Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v. Democratic Republic of the Congo). The International…
I’m writing this post in response to some comments that have been left on Blak and Black over the last week or so. The comments are interesting from a number…
I have borrowed the title from Michael Stolleis' oxymoronically titled book Justice within Injustice which is about, oxymoronically, justice in the Third Reich. After having read Stolleis' essays, in which…
In the 1960s Donald Horne observed, "Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck." This observation was followed in the 1990s by Paul Keating when…
Racism, and in particular anti-black racism, is a part of our community’s psyche. A significant segment of our community holds overtly racist views. A much larger segment subconsciously operates on…
In fact, the worst offender of institutionalised discrimination and marginalisation of Aboriginal people is the government.—Neil Gillespie, head of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Inc, South Australia ('Poor health, racism…
I was contacted over the weekend by a colleague in the United States who pointed out to me the similarities in the nature of the crimes I described in my…
21) After coffee was served Mr and Mrs King [i] and I were discussing Mrs (name removed on legal advice) dog Sooty and all of his aliments when a dark…
The resource sector is expected to spend an historic $76 billion on mining projects next financial year, with mining investment accounting for six per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product…
Well thank god for that! Like all good rats, the king of spin is the first to abandon the sinking ship of state the Australian Capital Territory. Yes, strictly speaking…
In 1991-1992 the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU conducted a national survey of 1522 Australians and asked them about their attitude to rights. The report Rights in Australia…
What a combination, but what do they have to do with Blak and Black? To steal a line from Gore Vidal’s Caligula, “everything and nothing”. Nothing, because Blak and Black…
As a prelude to this post I would like to congratulate former Solomon Islands’ Attorney-General Julian Moti on his win in the High Court. On Friday 8th April 2011 the…
“I'm not sure it's the law that would do it [silence political dissent], it's more the climate that does it. I've been critical, openly critical of aspects of government policy…