• Judge • QC • DPP •
It seems like only yesterday that we were subjected to one of the most ignominious days in the history of our State Parliament. When led by SA-BEST, our politicians, to the utter disbelief and dismay of the SA public, decided that they would no longer be answerable to the ICAC for mismanagement or maladministration. Asking ...
ICAC Changes: Why the Greens Are Wrong The Greens have published their rationale for voting in favour of changes to the ICAC. In a glossy, colourful release complete with photographs of no less than 27 carefree, happy, smiling faces we are told that all is well and that despite the changes, the ICAC is as strong as ...
Wake up calls are sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious. A continent on fire, people dying, homes lost, wildlife decimated. To me, this comes into the obvious category. We have seen that a leadership vacuum cannot be filled by a part time pastor and that in these times sterner stuff is needed for our nation to see ...
If the first few weeks are anything to go by, this election seems to have been reduced to a slanging match between the clown and the headmaster. The clown has nothing else to say other than ‘beware the bogey man’ and the headmaster has nothing else to say other than ‘the clown isn’t funny any more’. When ...
The appalling Ristevski sentence highlights a real problem in our criminal justice system and serious consideration should be given to amending aspects of our criminal procedure. A person accused of a crime who pleads guilty, is often given the benefit of a reduction in sentence as consideration for his guilty plea. It is dependent upon ...
When political parties seek the approval of the people to govern in Australia, they do so with the implicit if not explicitly stated promise that they will provide certain basic fundamental services that are expected in modern democracies. These include, amongst others, a decent health system, transport system, education system and an affordable legal system that ...
It is a well entrenched principle of sentencing in the criminal law that certain features of a case may be regarded as mitigatory in their effect on punishment. Such features might include a plea of guilty, a demonstration of remorse, forgiveness by the victim or assistance given to the investigating authorities. The absence of these features does ...
For better or worse the involvement of the British Empire in the settling of Australia has left us with many of the trappings of British, and particularly English, life. We have benefited as a nation from a heritage of parliamentary democracy, our legal system and, of course, cricket. However we have had good cause to question the ...
The South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet has published a document entitled: “CARETAKER CONVENTIONS AND PRE-ELECTION PRACTICES” The document explicitly recognises that after the dissolution of Parliament, the business of government MUST CONTINUE and that “ORDINARY MATTERS OF ADMINISTRATION” must be addressed. Government departments are expected to operate normally. The only restrictions on government during this period ...
Well, did you see it? SABest's TV ad or Playschool for the rhythmically challenged? There are two positives that come out of that affront to our intelligence. Now we know why SAB is a policy free zone – because the absolute best that they can come up with is to think that this election can be won ...