Latest Articles
We are encouraged to rely more and more on government officials to do for us what we could equally well do for ourselves—and, maybe more importantly, not to do what might help us solve our own problems.
Sep 08 2024
10 mins
If we imagine a metric called the Pinocchio Scale, which measures the number of lies told by a politician as a percentage of his or her overall public statements, our current prime minister (for want of a better description), Airbus Albo, has moved well into uncharted territory.
Sep 06 2024
5 mins
Lawyerly Caste Turns Left
My wife and I arrived in Brisbane from Dunedin at the start of 2005. After writing a few pieces in the Australian, I was recruited to speak at the annual Samuel Griffith Society conference of 2006. I have been a member of the Society ever since, and I consider myself very lucky indeed to have been associated with this stalwart organisation whose aims include fostering a sane, interpretively conservative approach to our written Constitution—which if we’re talking continuously operating, full-size countries is the fourth-oldest after the US, Switzerland and Canada.
Very few legal academics in Australia are prepared or inclined to join the Samuel Griffith Society or, if last year is anything to go by, even to speak at our conference, given that we tried to entice “Yes” advocates for the Voice to come and make their case and managed but half an acceptance.
The Society was, as far as I know, the only major legal organisation that was for “No”—not the Bar Councils, not the…
We are encouraged to rely more and more on government officials to do for us what we could equally well do for ourselves—and, maybe more importantly, not to do what might help us solve our own problems.
Sep 08 2024
10 mins
If we imagine a metric called the Pinocchio Scale, which measures the number of lies told by a politician as a percentage of his or her overall public statements, our current prime minister (for want of a better description), Airbus Albo, has moved well into uncharted territory.
Sep 06 2024
5 mins
By referring to eye-witness accounts, I happen to believe that I am on firm ground. It is impossible to believe that the early Christian martyrs went to their deaths in service of unsubstantiated hearsay.
Sep 01 2024
4 mins
