Animal rights activist group PETA has released a shocking, graphic video of shearers abusing sheep: “The footage shows the workers violently punching sheep in the face, stomping and standing on the animal’s necks, and also beating them in the face with electric clippers and even a hammer.” They say the incidents were secretly filmed in Australian shearing sheds over the past year, and are calling on the RSPCA to prosecute the offenders, and on consumers to stop buying and wearing wool. At the same time, the Victorian Farmers Federation is lobbying for laws to crack down on activists secretly filming on farms—known in the US as “ag-gag” laws—and the Napthine Government has promised to introduce legislation this year.
Immigration Minister plans to toss a coin on torture
The Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, has introduced a bill to make it easier to deport asylum seekers who face a risk of torture or death in their country of origin. The proposed changes are in response to statutory interpretation of the Migration Act that the government disagrees with. The Explanatory Memorandum to the bill states: “The Full Federal Court’s decision in Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v SZQRB … found that the threshold to be applied to assessing complementary protection claims is whether there is a ‘real chance’ of significant harm, the same threshold that applies to the assessment of claims under the Refugees Convention. The Government’s position is that the risk threshold applicable to the non-refoulement obligations … is ‘more likely than not’. ‘More likely than not’ means that there would be a greater than fifty percent chance that a person would suffer significant harm in the receiving country.” The Age columnist Tony Wright translates the legal language as follows: “In short, if there is a mere 49 to 50 per cent chance of … being hung by one’s thumbs from meathooks while being thrashed by a length of electrical flex, that’s good enough for Mr Morrison. They can be sent to whatever fate might await them.”
High Court upholds offshore detention of asylum seekers
A High Court challenge to Australia’s policy of sending asylum seekers to be detained and processed in Papua New Guinea was unanimously rejected today. In Plaintiff S156/2013 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, The High Court ruled that the legislation was valid under the “aliens” power in s 51(xix) of the Constitution, adopting a broad interpretation of the word. It also ruled that the designation of PNG as a “regional processing country” was valid, because the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) was amended after the successful challenge to the so-called Malaysia Solution, giving the Minister much broader discretion.
Uni fee changes to hit law students; face possible challenge
The cost of becoming a lawyer is likely to dramatically increase under the Commonwealth budget’s deregulation of university fees. An advisor to the Abbott Government on higher education, Andrew Norton, predicts that fees will almost quadruple to equal the price charged to international students: “This would see annual fees for a law degree rise, on average, from $9792 a year to $37,831 a year.” While other estimates are lower, they nevertheless predict that “we can expect fees to rise more steeply in degrees with high private benefits and strong international demand, such as law”. The increased fees will mean law students are in debt for much longer: “The payback period for a four year professional degree such as Law will stretch from 14 years now to 20 to 25 years, depending on which university you choose.” Students will also be required to pay a higher rate of interest over the life of the debt. However, some of the plans might not be easily implemented. The government says the new interest arrangements will apply retrospectively to former students, but Monash law professor Justin Malbon questions whether that would be legal: “At its heart there’s an arguable case that it is a contract, and there’s an arguable case that taking into account the terms of the original legislation that they cannot later come along and unilaterally vary the contract to add in terms that never existed in the first place.”
Tougher penalties planned for drink-drivers
An interlock device is a breath-testing machine that prevents a car being started if the driver has alcohol in their breath. Under current Victorian law, “disqualified drivers found to be over 0.15, repeat offenders or those under the age of 26 who record 0.07 are required to have the devices fitted”. However, the Government has introduced the Road Safety Amendment Bill 2014 into the Legislative Assembly, which would tighten the rules so that they apply to disqualified drivers over 0.07, first offenders over 0.07, and probationary licence holders over the legal limit. According to the Transport Minister, Terry Mulder, “drink-drivers are responsible for 25 to 30 percent of deaths and 11 percent of serious injuries on our roads, while repeat drink-drivers make up 20 percent. Thirty per cent of drink-drivers involved in fatal crashes are repeat offenders.”
Brandis backing down on race law changes
Attorney-General George Brandis is reportedly “preparing to water down a controversial plan to scrap sections of the Racial Discrimination Act that restrict racist insults and hate speech”. A draft bill was released for public comment in March. As a result of lobbying, protests, petitions and written submissions, the Attorney-General is now rewriting the proposal, saying, “We did not engage in a period of both private and public consultation without intending to listen to what people had to say to us“. The government received more than 5300 submissions on the bill. (My submission is available here.)
Budget prompts constitutional hypotheticals
The Commonwealth Government will deliver its budget today, but legal experts have raised questions about how key aspects will be passed through parliament. For example, the opposition parties have signalled their intention to block the government’s climate change policies, and in response Environment Minister Greg Hunt suggested he would include them as part of the budget. As professor Anne Twomey explains, constitutional rules about how the Senate deals with appropriation bills could lead to a crisis if neither side backed down. Similarly, the Clerk of the Senate, Rosemary Laing, said that including a new “deficit levy” in a supply bill would be legally problematic, as the constitution requires supply and taxation to be dealt with in separate bills. However, these remain hypothetical problems until the budget bills are revealed.
Independent to move private member’s bill on abortion
The independent MP for Frankston, Geoff Shaw, has announced his intention to introduce a private member’s bill on abortion. Abortion was decriminalised in 2008 on the recommendation of the Victorian Law Reform Commission. Shaw’s proposals include “end[ing] the obligation for anti-abortion doctors to refer women to specialists who performed the procedure”, requiring “doctors to provide pain relief for fetuses during procedures, and for doctors to resuscitate babies who survive abortion attempts. He also wants counselling for families and informed consent included in the Act.” In an interview on ABC radio, Shaw struggled to explain why the changes were necessary.
“Massive memory fail” brings down Premier
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell resigned last week, after it was discovered that he had failed to declare receiving a $3000 bottle of wine from a lobbyist. O’Farrell told the inquisitorial Independent Commission Against Corruption he had suffered a “massive memory fail”: he had no recollection of receiving the wine, despite making a phone call to the lobbyist the evening it was delivered, and hand-writing a thank you note. Although ICAC’s lawyers say found “no evidence of corrupt behaviour” as a result of the gift, journalists are questioning why the lobbyist was subsequently appointed to a government board. Economists say even small gifts can influence decision-makers: “we find it hard not to be nice to someone who has just been nice to us, even if we know it’s a trick.”
Liberal MPs push for optional preferential votes
A parliamentary committee has released its report on the Future of Victoria’s Electoral Administration, including a recommendation to adopt optional preferential voting for Legislative Assembly elections. Under full preferential voting, people must number every box on the ballot paper. Under an optional preferential system, voters would have to indicate their first choice, and then choose how many further preferences to allocate. The ABC’s electoral analyst, Antony Green, suggests the proposal might be driven by politics, as it would advantage the Liberal party. Although the recommendation was included in the final report, it was only supported by the two Liberal MPs on the committee. The three Labor and National MPs submitted minority reports rejecting the plan.