Saturday, June 21, 2014 1:26:46 AM
High Court rules against Scott Morrison's refugee protection visa cap
Date June 20, 2014
Michael Gordon
Political editor, The Age
[interactive image inside]
Number of displaced people worldwide exceeds 50 million: UN report .. the one this replies to ..
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/number-of-displaced-people-worldwide-exceeds-50-million-un-report-20140620-3aizd.html
The High Court has issued a stunning rebuke to the Abbott government's border protection policy, striking down its decision to refuse to give refugees who arrive by boat permanent protection visas.
In two unanimous decisions, with implications for thousands of boats arrivals, the full court ruled that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's decision to impose a cap on the number of places in Australia's refugee intake for boat arrivals was invalid.
David Manne led the legal team that took action against the government's cap on refugee intake. Photo: Paul Rovere
The government's determination to deny permanent protection visas will now rest with the Senate, where the Palmer United Party will control the balance of power from next month.
Advertisement
The party's leader, Clive Palmer, has spoken out strongly in support of refugees, but told Fairfax Media the party would study the High Court judgment and any decision on allowing temporary protection visas would be made by his party room.
Mr Morrison re-imposed the refugee intake cap in March after the Senate voted down his attempt to re-introduce temporary protection visas (TPVs) for boat arrivals, declaring that the Coalition would "not give an inch when it comes to protecting our borders".
He vowed then to take "every step necessary to ensure that people who arrive illegally by boat are not rewarded with permanent visas". Mr Morrison, who has presided as minister over six months without a boat arrival, was travelling when the judgment was handed down and was unavailable for comment.
His March decision effectively imposed a freeze on the grant of permanent protection visas to about 1400 asylum seekers who had already been found to be refugees and has implications for many thousands more whose claims have not yet been decided.
"This is a very significant victory for the rule of law being brought to bear on the plight of refugees in our country," said lawyer David Manne, who led the legal team representing an Ethiopian teenager who arrived in Australia without a visa last year, after stowing away on a cargo ship.
A second decision upheld a challenge on behalf of a Pakistani national who arrived by boat at Christmas Island in 2012.
In both cases, the court ordered Mr Morrison as minister to consider and determine the asylum seekers' applications for a protection visa according the law as it stands.
Labor and the Greens welcomed the decision, with Labor's immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, saying: "Putting a freeze on the issuing of protection visas just because the Senate rejected the government's TPVs was always an act of petulance which caused great misery."
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described the ruling as "a win for fairness and decency", saying: "The court has ruled that the Abbott government's cruelty for cruelty sake is illegal. This decision will allow refugees to start rebuilding their lives here in Australia."
Sister Brigid Arthur, who acted as "litigation guardian" for the Ethiopian boy, said it was "very good that he will now have some certainty about his future".
Mr Manne, who also led the legal team that successfully challenged the Labor government's "Malaysian solution", said the latest decision had "potentially major implications" for thousands of refugees who arrived by boat.
"The law of Australia is that there is only one protection visa, and that's a permanent protection visa for refugees. What this means is that the government must get on with the grant of a visa which our client is entitled to as a refugee," he said.
He said the life of the boy had been in limbo since Mr Morrison imposed the freeze.
In their written judgment, justices Hayne and Kiefel said they had taken into account the consequences for the detention of those who came unlawfully and the time limits for determining protection visas.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/high-court-rules-against-scott-morrisons-refugee-protection-visa-cap-20140620-3ajpx.html
===
Abbott government faces backlash over race hate law changes
Date March 26, 2014
James Massola and Jonathan Swan
Attorney-General George Brandis. Photo: Andrew Meares
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is facing a storm of protest from religious and ethnic groups, human rights organisations and sections of his own backbench over sweeping changes to race hate laws that have pleased right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt.
Under changes proposed by Attorney-General George Brandis, Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful for someone to act in a manner likely to ''offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate'' someone because of their race or ethnicity, will be repealed.
Section 18D, which provides protections for freedom of speech, will also be removed and replaced by a new section in the act that removes the words ''offend, insult and humiliate'', leaves ''intimidate'' and adds the word ''vilify'' for the first time. Two further sections of the law would also be repealed, which include provisions that can make employers liable for race hate speech.
Mr Abbott argued on Tuesday the changes were designed to give the ''red light'' to bigotry and strengthen free speech protections in Australia, but several Liberal MPs, human rights lawyers and ethnic groups were concerned about a broad exemption contained in the discussion paper - which exempts words and images ''in public discussion of any political, social, cultural, religious,
''What the government is attempting to do, as carefully, as collegially and as consultatively as we can, is to get the balance right,'' Mr Abbott told Parliament on Tuesday.
''This is draft legislation which has gone out for consultation with the community. We think that the legislation gets the balance right.''
Liberal MPs Sarah Henderson and Jason Wood added their voices to growing concern among Coalition MPs during the government's party room meeting. Liberal MPs David Coleman and Craig Laundy, who represent electorates with a high proportion of multicultural constituents have previously signalled their concerns, as has indigenous MP Ken Wyatt.
Labor, the Greens and ethnic groups criticised Senator Brandis' ''public discussion'' exemption, while the Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs argued the exemption was ''so broad it is difficult to see any circumstances in public that these protections would apply''.
The commission will make a detailed submission and questioned why the ''intimidation'' provision would be limited to physical intimidation and would not cover psychological or emotional damage.
Labor's legal affairs spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, accused the government of giving a ''green light to bigotry'' and asked Mr Abbott to name a single community group that supported the changes.
Mr Abbott was unable to name a group but said: ''Let us see what various community organisations say in response to the exposure legislation.''
The changes would not pass through the current Senate and will struggle to get through the new Senate, which forms on July 1.
News Corp columnist Bolt, whose 2011 legal case prompted the changes, said he thought the Abbott government had done the right thing. The proposals, he said, should ''permit us to ban what is truly wicked while leaving us free to punish the rest with the safest sanction of all - our free speech''.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-government-faces-backlash-over-race-hate-law-changes-20140325-35gie.html
See also:
Abbott’s Ministry – One woman, no science, 12,000 jobs
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92119880
39 degrees - Sydney braces for its hottest October day on record [this excerpt is down a bit]
"The Climate Institute noted on Tuesday that if the Coalition wanted to reach even a 5 per cent reduction target, then it would have to rely on regulation, just like Barrack Obama.
But to get some idea on the Coalition’s position on regulation, it is worth recapping Abbott’s speech to the IPA’s 70th birthday party back in April, where he sat alongside Rupert Murdoch and Gina Rinehart, and other noted climate denialists like Bolt, Hugh Morgan, and Cardinal George Pell, and what Crikey described as .. http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/04/05/abbott-bolt-rinehart-fawn-in-the-ipa-court-of-king-murdoch/ .. a sea of “elderly Caucasian males.” He was joined by Corey Bernardi, Greg Hunt, George Brandis and Victorian Premier Dennis Napthine, Crikey reported.
Abbott’s praise was effusive: “The IPA, I want to say, has been freedom’s discerning friend. It has supported capitalism, but capitalism with a conscience. Not for the IPA, a single-minded dogmatism or opposition to all restraint; rather a sophisticated appreciation that freedom requires a social context and that much is expected from those to whom so much has been given. You’ve understood that freedom is both an end and a means; a good in itself, as well as necessary for full human flourishing. I particularly congratulate the IPA and its marvelous director, John Roskam, for your work in defence of Western civilisation.”"
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92857587
Date June 20, 2014
Michael Gordon
Political editor, The Age
[interactive image inside]
Number of displaced people worldwide exceeds 50 million: UN report .. the one this replies to ..
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/number-of-displaced-people-worldwide-exceeds-50-million-un-report-20140620-3aizd.html
The High Court has issued a stunning rebuke to the Abbott government's border protection policy, striking down its decision to refuse to give refugees who arrive by boat permanent protection visas.
In two unanimous decisions, with implications for thousands of boats arrivals, the full court ruled that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's decision to impose a cap on the number of places in Australia's refugee intake for boat arrivals was invalid.
David Manne led the legal team that took action against the government's cap on refugee intake. Photo: Paul Rovere
The government's determination to deny permanent protection visas will now rest with the Senate, where the Palmer United Party will control the balance of power from next month.
Advertisement
The party's leader, Clive Palmer, has spoken out strongly in support of refugees, but told Fairfax Media the party would study the High Court judgment and any decision on allowing temporary protection visas would be made by his party room.
Mr Morrison re-imposed the refugee intake cap in March after the Senate voted down his attempt to re-introduce temporary protection visas (TPVs) for boat arrivals, declaring that the Coalition would "not give an inch when it comes to protecting our borders".
He vowed then to take "every step necessary to ensure that people who arrive illegally by boat are not rewarded with permanent visas". Mr Morrison, who has presided as minister over six months without a boat arrival, was travelling when the judgment was handed down and was unavailable for comment.
His March decision effectively imposed a freeze on the grant of permanent protection visas to about 1400 asylum seekers who had already been found to be refugees and has implications for many thousands more whose claims have not yet been decided.
"This is a very significant victory for the rule of law being brought to bear on the plight of refugees in our country," said lawyer David Manne, who led the legal team representing an Ethiopian teenager who arrived in Australia without a visa last year, after stowing away on a cargo ship.
A second decision upheld a challenge on behalf of a Pakistani national who arrived by boat at Christmas Island in 2012.
In both cases, the court ordered Mr Morrison as minister to consider and determine the asylum seekers' applications for a protection visa according the law as it stands.
Labor and the Greens welcomed the decision, with Labor's immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, saying: "Putting a freeze on the issuing of protection visas just because the Senate rejected the government's TPVs was always an act of petulance which caused great misery."
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described the ruling as "a win for fairness and decency", saying: "The court has ruled that the Abbott government's cruelty for cruelty sake is illegal. This decision will allow refugees to start rebuilding their lives here in Australia."
Sister Brigid Arthur, who acted as "litigation guardian" for the Ethiopian boy, said it was "very good that he will now have some certainty about his future".
Mr Manne, who also led the legal team that successfully challenged the Labor government's "Malaysian solution", said the latest decision had "potentially major implications" for thousands of refugees who arrived by boat.
"The law of Australia is that there is only one protection visa, and that's a permanent protection visa for refugees. What this means is that the government must get on with the grant of a visa which our client is entitled to as a refugee," he said.
He said the life of the boy had been in limbo since Mr Morrison imposed the freeze.
In their written judgment, justices Hayne and Kiefel said they had taken into account the consequences for the detention of those who came unlawfully and the time limits for determining protection visas.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/high-court-rules-against-scott-morrisons-refugee-protection-visa-cap-20140620-3ajpx.html
===
Abbott government faces backlash over race hate law changes
Date March 26, 2014
James Massola and Jonathan Swan
Attorney-General George Brandis. Photo: Andrew Meares
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is facing a storm of protest from religious and ethnic groups, human rights organisations and sections of his own backbench over sweeping changes to race hate laws that have pleased right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt.
Under changes proposed by Attorney-General George Brandis, Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful for someone to act in a manner likely to ''offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate'' someone because of their race or ethnicity, will be repealed.
Section 18D, which provides protections for freedom of speech, will also be removed and replaced by a new section in the act that removes the words ''offend, insult and humiliate'', leaves ''intimidate'' and adds the word ''vilify'' for the first time. Two further sections of the law would also be repealed, which include provisions that can make employers liable for race hate speech.
Mr Abbott argued on Tuesday the changes were designed to give the ''red light'' to bigotry and strengthen free speech protections in Australia, but several Liberal MPs, human rights lawyers and ethnic groups were concerned about a broad exemption contained in the discussion paper - which exempts words and images ''in public discussion of any political, social, cultural, religious,
''What the government is attempting to do, as carefully, as collegially and as consultatively as we can, is to get the balance right,'' Mr Abbott told Parliament on Tuesday.
''This is draft legislation which has gone out for consultation with the community. We think that the legislation gets the balance right.''
Liberal MPs Sarah Henderson and Jason Wood added their voices to growing concern among Coalition MPs during the government's party room meeting. Liberal MPs David Coleman and Craig Laundy, who represent electorates with a high proportion of multicultural constituents have previously signalled their concerns, as has indigenous MP Ken Wyatt.
Labor, the Greens and ethnic groups criticised Senator Brandis' ''public discussion'' exemption, while the Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs argued the exemption was ''so broad it is difficult to see any circumstances in public that these protections would apply''.
The commission will make a detailed submission and questioned why the ''intimidation'' provision would be limited to physical intimidation and would not cover psychological or emotional damage.
Labor's legal affairs spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, accused the government of giving a ''green light to bigotry'' and asked Mr Abbott to name a single community group that supported the changes.
Mr Abbott was unable to name a group but said: ''Let us see what various community organisations say in response to the exposure legislation.''
The changes would not pass through the current Senate and will struggle to get through the new Senate, which forms on July 1.
News Corp columnist Bolt, whose 2011 legal case prompted the changes, said he thought the Abbott government had done the right thing. The proposals, he said, should ''permit us to ban what is truly wicked while leaving us free to punish the rest with the safest sanction of all - our free speech''.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-government-faces-backlash-over-race-hate-law-changes-20140325-35gie.html
See also:
Abbott’s Ministry – One woman, no science, 12,000 jobs
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92119880
39 degrees - Sydney braces for its hottest October day on record [this excerpt is down a bit]
"The Climate Institute noted on Tuesday that if the Coalition wanted to reach even a 5 per cent reduction target, then it would have to rely on regulation, just like Barrack Obama.
But to get some idea on the Coalition’s position on regulation, it is worth recapping Abbott’s speech to the IPA’s 70th birthday party back in April, where he sat alongside Rupert Murdoch and Gina Rinehart, and other noted climate denialists like Bolt, Hugh Morgan, and Cardinal George Pell, and what Crikey described as .. http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/04/05/abbott-bolt-rinehart-fawn-in-the-ipa-court-of-king-murdoch/ .. a sea of “elderly Caucasian males.” He was joined by Corey Bernardi, Greg Hunt, George Brandis and Victorian Premier Dennis Napthine, Crikey reported.
Abbott’s praise was effusive: “The IPA, I want to say, has been freedom’s discerning friend. It has supported capitalism, but capitalism with a conscience. Not for the IPA, a single-minded dogmatism or opposition to all restraint; rather a sophisticated appreciation that freedom requires a social context and that much is expected from those to whom so much has been given. You’ve understood that freedom is both an end and a means; a good in itself, as well as necessary for full human flourishing. I particularly congratulate the IPA and its marvelous director, John Roskam, for your work in defence of Western civilisation.”"
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92857587
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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