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An old legal maxim is 'hard cases make bad law'. Maybe complex cases compromise policy. Refugee law and policy is complex and the Malaysian agreement signed this week is another example of a compromise on human rights principles for political expedience.
Jesuit Social Services recently set up a project in Alice Springs to resource the local parish and local Aborigines who want to take more control of their own lives. If we are to get our teeth into issues of acute injustice, we need to eyeball both the decision makers and those affected by those decisions.
The litigation against Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt shows the limitation of a court-focused, plaintiff-led approach to racial vilification. There are alternative ways of responding to racial and religious vilification that do not involve litigation.
Adversarial politics can be seen as a necessary and positive aspect of Westminster style parliamentary politics. This does not include needless aggression that is expressed in a nasty tone and apparent anger.
The situation in Afghanistan is far more complex than the Australian parliamentary debate seems to credit. The international community and the Afghan government should be starting a bigger conversation about how a more transparent and accountable political culture can be encouraged.
Deals struck between Prime Minister Gillard and Independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott saw hospitals in their electorates receive preferential treatment ahead of regions with greater needs. Pork-barrelling has always been part of politics, but that does not make it any less of a scandal.
Tim Fischer, Australian Ambassador to the Vatican, has a vital role in a state he calls a hub of power and intelligence. One can't help but wonder if Cardinal George Pell thinks he, rather than Fischer, should be Rudd's man in the Vatican.
Most indigenous Australians appreciated Labor's wide consultation. Some were angered by elements of Brendan Nelson's speech. But he did well do bring the Liberal and National Parties with him, ensuring they did not rain on the national parade as they had in 1988 and 1997. (February 2008)
Kevin Rudd has a patchy record of bipartisanship. Although Rudd and Turnbull together offer the best chance yet for the republican movement, they have traded blows over bipartisan approaches to this and to the the economic crisis.
'Lee and Christine Rush are your average Ozzie couple, except that their teenage son Scott is on death row in Bali having been convicted of being a hapless drug mule. It will not go down well on the streets of Jakarta if Australians are baying for the blood of the Bali bombers one month and then pleading to save our sons and daughters the next month.'
Not all Malcolm Turnbull's Coalition colleages wish him success. Influential Liberals from Melbourne will have their doubts following Turnbull's failure to realise that the Roosters rugby league team do not play AFL.
The text is from Professor Frank Brennan's 2008 Institute of Justice Studies Oration from 22 May 2008.
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