Former ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has been lauded as a champion of human rights, but an examination of his actions reveals a dissonance between his proclaimed values and the realities of his political decisions
Labor has led government for two decades in the Australian Capital Territory. With the impending election on October 17 many Canberrans should be considering what substantive benefits their leaders have…
Why was Mullins fitted-up for seeking a missing public interest disclosure and why does the Barr Government not ensure transparency?
“Jon Stanhope appeared to see the world as both binary and polar. All that is good in the world was embodied by the Labor party, and all that is bad…
The most recent public airing of a racist attack on a Korean man and his aunt visiting from his homeland has prompted another round of self-reflection on the Australian psyche.…
''Quite often before they get there [to court] they have done something quite serious. It becomes quite difficult because the offending behaviour is the first point that you've got to…
David Hicks and Lex Wotton, two of Australia’s notorious. No I’m not suggesting that they are members of that Sydney based pseudo-outlaw bikie gang allegedly connected with the Ibrahim family,…
If I could share a meal at a table with a small group of people from any time in history, Isabella Baumfree would be one of them. Perhaps, just perhaps,…
Misogyny is a nasty word. It implies much more than sexism; it indicates a hatred of women. That’s why, in the overall view of the current political debates I must…
FAUSTUS: Ah, Faustus. Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, And then thou must be damn'd perpetually! Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven, That time may cease,…
On August 30 last year Blak and Black lodged a petition on the GoPetition website calling for a Royal Commission into the Australian Federal Police (“AFP”). Blak and Black has…
One of my pet issues on Blak and Black is what befell the former Commissioner for ACT Revenue (“the Commissioner”), a Wiradjuri and member of the Stolen Generation(s), which made…
Following is a press release issued by the YIndjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation on 4 August, 2011. Under the heading: THE FACTS ABOUT FMG’s PROPOSED ‘SOLOMON HUB’ IN YINDJIBARNDI COUNTRY. I have…
“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…
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…
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…