Wheezle posted:

So Stephen Smith's trying to do a Can Do.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-13/stephen-smith-pledges-challenge-wa-labor-if-caucus-support/7243052

Gorilla Salad posted:

So, hands up anyone who feels justice was done here and it wasn't, in fact, the old boys' club closing ranks?

LibertyCat posted:

I fully understand why some USA citizens cling to their constitution. Once Rights are gone they will never, ever be given back.

Buck Turgidson posted:

There are a couple of things that ought to be mentioned here. Apprehended bias is about conduct, not about outcomes. You are basically looking for instances of conduct that would indicate prejudice or a bringing a pre-concluded mind to a decision. If Street expressed strong views about about migrants or particular applicants etc that were out of keeping with the sort of detachment expected from judges, then you would have a problem. Statistical arguments are unlikely to be successful, especially in a situation like this where it is probably reasonable to conclude that he decided the cases correctly. This is the Migration Act we are talking about here. It is one of the "best" example of legislators restricting grounds for judicial review. For example, it exhaustively and restrictively states how certain rules of natural justice, which if denied in other contexts could ground judicial review of a ministerial or tribunal decision, apply to decisions made under the Act, limiting your ability to appeal decisions made against you. It has a privative clause provision, which prohibits (or attempts to prohibit) ANY judicial review or challenge for certain decisions made under the Act. It is completely hosed up but I wouldn't be surprised if he did indeed decide all of those cases correctly against the applicants.

Gorilla Salad posted:

Let me see if I've got this right, in the form of a little narrative:



Refugee: Please sir, can I stay in Australia?

Judge Street: gently caress you. Go die in a hole.

Refugee: But, if I get sent back, they'll torture me and rape my children.

Judge Street: Shut up. No one cares.

[repeat this 252 times]



Refugee: This is hosed up. This guy must be biased. Let's get a judicial review going here.


Group of judges: Okay, we can only get this guy if he's not following the law. What does the relevant section of the Migration Act say?

code:

MIGRATION ACT 1958

Section 420 Refugee Review Tribunal's way of operating

(1)  gently caress you.  Go die in a hole.

(2)  Shut up.  No one cares.

Group of judges: Okay, we find Judge Street has acted according to the law. Case closed.

SeekOtherCandidate posted:

stephen smith voted to lock up and torture refugees but he gets points for this http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/518774.html

Negligent posted:

bit of a dick move by Stephen Smith, Colin Barnett is deeply unpopular and Labor are probably going to get in

Gorilla Salad posted:

Let me see if I've got this right, in the form of a little narrative:

...

Lid posted:

Stephen Smith is infamously ambitious, when he was Defence Minister everyone in Defence hated him as his main priority was how to become PM. When he left the federal government a lot of people scratched their heads as his ambition for the top job was well known.

Negligent posted:

even if the judge can't actually do anything except review whether the correct procedure was followed, its highly unlikely immigration have not hosed up at least once. this is border farce we're talking about here.

Brown Paper Bag posted:

I'm not sure Stephen Smith is going to increase the ALP's chances - he's more high profile

freebooter posted:

Until yesterday I had no idea he was even in state parliament.

Anidav posted:

Rob Pyne's resignation shows North Queensland is a state of mind

One of the mistakes of our federation is that North Queensland is not a separate state. Politicians from north of Capricorn have long complained about the neglect of tropical Queensland by Brisbane-based governments.

Last week former Labor MP now independent Member for Cairns Rob Pyne complained that: "Far north Queensland has been the victim of historic neglect over recent years...We have double digit unemployment and youth unemployment of over 20 per cent, and we are badly in need of state funding for important infrastructure, like our local schools."

Nothing new here. In 1948 the redoubtable Tommy Aikens, the Independent member for Mundingburra (1944-1977), complained that "…in North Queensland working-class families of long standing are preparing to leave the North and its long slack period unemployment, and migrate to Brisbane with its near-permanence of employment and abundant and varied recreation during the long week-ends".

Indeed, how can the leaders of the Queensland government, ensconced in the outer urban Struggle Street seat of Inala, and the inner urban Uber-connected seat South Brisbane, understand the needs of provincial city electorates in the tropics, "a thousand miles away"?

History tells us that long serving, successful premiers in Queensland are those who come from the north. 'Red Ted' Theodore, premier 1919-25 came from Chillagoe; William Forgan Smith, premier 1932-42, was the member for Mackay, Peter Beattie, premier 1998-2007, was raised in Atherton.

History also tells us that northern Independents have longevity. Aikens was a railwayman elected in the state seat of Mundingburra (later Townsville South) in 1944, who held the seat until 1977. He founded the Hermit Park branch of the ALP in 1940 but was booted by the anti-communist ALP Queensland Central Executive in 1941 for his pro-Soviet views. His branch soon followed, and together they formed the North Queensland Labor Party, successfully contesting the 1944 state poll.

Tommy was a parliamentary rabble rouser. He and Ted Walsh (ALP Bundaberg) went several rounds in the lobby of the Legislative Assembly in 1944. His obituary records that he once told an unnamed premier: "You are so narrow-minded you could look through a keyhole with both eyes."

The "Voice of the North", as he was known, advocated castration for sex offenders long before Russ Hinze's infamous comment was made, criticised militant trade unions, and called on universities to expel students taking part in demonstrations.

While there is no suggestion that former left faction member Pyne shares these views, he does share the North Queensland cargo cult mindset that delivers government goodies not on the basis of need but simply because they are for North Queensland.

Pyne told Brisbane Times last week, "It doesn't matter whether it has been schools in the Cairns electorate, or hospital in Atherton … for far north Queensland. I'll be putting my hand up for the people of Cairns and be a very powerful advocate for my city, and hopefully achieve a number of more significant wins in terms of service and infrastructure".

quote:

Former Australian prime minister John Howard has re-entered the US gun debate, declaring it is "incontestable" gun-related homicides fell significantly after he introduced strict laws following the Port Arthur massacre.

Speaking on CBS' Sunday Morning TV news program, Mr Howard said he was compelled to act after 35 people were gunned down at the Tasmanian historical site in 1996.

"It is incontestable that gun-related homicides have fallen quite significantly in Australia, incontestable," Mr Howard said.

"I mean, if you had 13 mass shootings before Port Arthur and you had none since, isn't that evidence?

"And you had a 74 per cent fall in the gun-related suicide rates, isn't that evidence?

"Or are we expected to believe that that was all magically going to happen? Come on."

The gun debate has become one of the hottest topics in the US presidential campaign, with Republican frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz staunchly defending Americans' constitutional right to own firearms.

Senator Cruz falsely claimed in one US radio interview sexual assaults on women in Australia went up significantly after the strict gun laws were introduced.

Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton and US President Barack Obama have said the US should look at Australia as an example.

"People used to say to me, 'You violated my human rights by taking away my gun,' " Mr Howard, who is regularly called upon by the US media to explain Australia's gun laws, said.

"And I'd [say], 'I understand that. Will you please understand the argument, the greatest human right of all is to live a safe life without fear of random murder.' "

CBS also interviewed pro-gun Australian senator David Leyonhjelm, Australian lawyer and wine-maker Greg Melick and Port Arthur survivor Carolyn Loughton, who lost her 15-year-old daughter Sarah in the massacre.

"I don't think there's any relationship between the availability of guns and the level of violence," Senator Leyonhjelm said.

Asked if Australia could provide a lesson to the US, Ms Loughton replied: "I am loath to comment, but my question is, 'How is it going for you over there?' "

The most startling interview for Americans was probably that with Mr Melick who is pro-gun, but agreed with the strict laws that took some of his high-powered guns away and forced him to lock up his weapons in different safes on his rural Australian property.

Mr Melick said he viewed gun ownership as a privilege, not a right.

"It's just bizarre the number of people getting killed in the United States and you have these ridiculous arguments: 'Well, people carry guns so they can defend themselves,' " Mr Melick told CBS journalist Seth Doane.

iajanus posted:

The only way I'd accept splitting Queensland into 2 states is if they only collectively have the same number of senators as they do now, split proportionately. By my estimates (231,628 people in NQ, 280,638 in FNQ, 4.691 mil in the state) that'll give them about 1.2 senators for their entire new state.

Seems like a pretty good arrangement for them

Of course that does depend on where we draw the line; for simplicity I drew it at North and Far North Qld from

Birdstrike posted:

we all know the answer is

Birdstrike posted:

we all know the answer is

Vladimir Poutine posted:

bowmore posted:

but imagine Queensland as it's own country

freebooter posted:

Lol. What makes him think he deserves to be ambitious? He has less personality than Shorten.

Lid posted:

Imagine Tony Abbott 20 years down the line trying to do this with Stopping The Boats as his greatest contribution.

Brown Paper Bag posted:

Sounds like Smith is kind of hosed. Two MPs who were linked to his candidacy have backed McGowan, and no active WA Labor politician is supporting him.

I wonder what the hell he was thinking bringing this on.

quote:

The Australian Christian Lobby and the senator Eric Abetz have rejected modelling suggesting the “true cost” of the same-sex marriage plebiscite is $525m.

The accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia (PwC) calculated the real cost of the plebiscite at $525m, based on its estimates of $281m for the time cost of voting, $158m to conduct voting, $66m for campaigning and $20m for mental health harms to 50,000 LGBTI Australians.

An Australian Christian Lobby spokesman said PwC was not a neutral organisation because it was a public supporter of same-sex marriage and Australian Marriage Equality, who are working on the “yes” case for the plebiscite.

Brown Paper Bag posted:

Sounds like Smith is kind of hosed. Two MPs who were linked to his candidacy have backed McGowan, and no active WA Labor politician is supporting him.

I wonder what the hell he was thinking bringing this on.

fiery_valkyrie posted:

Lol.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/14/marriage-equality-votes-true-cost-attacked-by-conservatives

quote:

And of course it doesn't take into account the costs on the other side of this debate - people who feel strongly, who will feel depressed about a change if it were to occur as a result of a plebiscite.

Doctor Spaceman posted:

The funniest bit is Abetz claiming that