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Lies, damned lies and implied repeal …

Club Troppo - July 21, 2010 - 10:58pm

Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey must be hoping that very few voters have any understanding of the basic principles of statutory interpretation. Any who did would instantly realise that the Coalition’s promise to amend the Electoral Act to force unions to repay the Australian Electoral Commission for the costs of running union ballots effectively renders completely meaningless Abbott’s more general promise not to change Labor’s Fair Work Act. The latter is, of course, designed to negate Labor’s scare campaign that the Coalition has secret plans to resuscitate Work Choices.

The parties currently seem to be engaged in a game of duelling senior counsel, with Labor trotting out Bret Walker SC to assert that “if the Coalition changed the Electoral Act, it would be impossible not to affect the Fair Work legislation …” while the Coalition relies on academic constitutional lawyer Andrew Lynch:

But it’s so obvious

An Onymous Lefty - July 9, 2010 - 8:11am

Up before a court: what to do for a five year old girl, whose two parents have (or have had) serious problems.

Father: a conviction for “wilful and obscene exposure”, which placed him on the sex offenders list; a heroin addiction evidence shows he appears to be overcoming; a knife and sword collection. Living on disability pension.

Mother: ongoing heroin and marijuana use, fails drug tests and lies to the court, filthy house, shoplifting and prostitution convictions.

Court well aware that all the research shows that taking children from their parents does long-term psychological harm, and it should therefore only ever be a very last resort.

Piss-easy, you say! Only a stupid moronic court filled with soft lefty hippy scum could have any difficulty figuring out what to do! Read more »

Call to new PM on net censorship

Skepticlawyer - June 25, 2010 - 12:50pm

Heath Gibson reminded me in a post this morning that we have a renewed opportunity to persuade the Labor party to drop its ridiculous bid to impose net censorship. As he notes, because of the change in leadership, the party can now back away from previous policies without losing so much face (as it has with the mining tax).

I’ve just been reading Robert Cialdini’s book Influence on the advice of Jacques Chester (thanks, Jacques, a great book). And the following paragraph leaped out at me. Read more »

Border Protection

Skepticlawyer - June 22, 2010 - 10:16am

Did you ever play “chasey” as a child? If you ran around in the wild blue yonder, you were fair game for any roving pursuer, but usually, there was an area which was “safe” (in my school yard it was called “barlee“). If you were touching the “safe” tree, you couldn’t be caught. If someone did tag you, you’d shout, “Barlee!” in outraged tones. Read more »

The weight of the law

Skepticlawyer - June 20, 2010 - 10:50am

I read yesterday that Japanese law stipulates that the waistline must be below a certain diameter:

In Japan, being thin isn’t just the price you pay for fashion or social acceptance. It’s the law.

So before the fat police could throw her in pudgy purgatory, Miki Yabe, 39, a manager at a major transportation corporation, went on a crash diet. In the week before her company’s annual health check-up, Yabe ate 21 consecutive meals of vegetable soup and hit the gym for 30 minutes a day of running and swimming.

”It’s scary,” said Yabe, who is 160 centimetres tall and weighs 60 kilograms. ”I gained two kilos this year.”

In Japan, already the slimmest industrialised nation, people are fighting fat to ward off dreaded metabolic syndrome and comply with a government-imposed waistline standard. Read more »

Videos now available for “Who Owns The News?” seminar

Core Econ - July 11, 2010 - 5:35pm

Click Image for Video Album

Last week MBS hosted a public seminar on “Who Owns the News?” exploring the impact of the internet on the news industry. The event was organized by IPRIA, CMCL and MBS CITE. It serves to clarify the key issues and lays the groundwork for a discussion of these issues. I had fun and hope that the 110+ people who attended it did too. Read more »

Will GetUp!’s satire GetIt! in trouble?

MinimalState - July 8, 2010 - 2:10am

With an election likely to be called in the next few months, advocacy group GetUp! has launched a campaign encouraging people to ensure they are enrolled to vote. A key element of this campaign is a YouTube clip portraying the electoral battle as if it were the latest Hollywood action movie.

The clip is cleverly put together – superimposing the faces of political figures on to the bodies of Hollywood action heroes amd tying together action sequences with a dramatic soundtrack interspaced by political ‘sound-bites’. It looks and feels like a genuine Hollywood movie trailer, no doubt helped by the fact that GetUp! have utilised footage from actual blockbusters such as The Matrix and The Fifth Element.

Which raises the question of whether this video will land GetUp! trouble for copyright infringement?

Top Italian Scientists Who Failed to Predict 2009 Earthquake Now Face Manslaughter Charges

Popular Science - June 25, 2010 - 3:05am

Aquila, 2009 TheWiz83

Scientists who research natural hazards walk a precarious line when it comes to predicting disasters. They're often criticized for over-hyping the situation and disrupting residents' lives. But if they fail to predict a catastrophic event, they're accused of failing to give the public adequate warning. It's a classic case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"Damned if you don't" is the situation that seven of Italy's top seismologists now find themselves in -- the scientists face manslaughter charges for failing to predict the April 2009 earthquake that struck the town of L'Aquila in central Italy. Read more »

Blue Balls Epidemic in Italy

Skepticlawyer - June 21, 2010 - 3:16am

A batch of about 70,000 mozzarella balls which turned blue upon opening has been confiscated by food authorities in Italy, officials say.

The health ministry said it had activated the European “rapid alert” system to warn of possible contamination, and announced emergency control measures on the cheese.

The cheese – made in Germany for an Italian company – has been removed from shelves and samples sent for testing.

Mozzarella is Italy’s favourite cheese. About 60% of Italians regularly eat the soft, white cheese, according to the Italian farmers’ group, Coldiretti.

The tainted mozzarella was spotted by a shopper in Turin, who noticed it take on a bluish tint when it was exposed to the air.

The woman then called the police, national media reported.

- BBC News

Jus ad bellum

Skepticlawyer - June 18, 2010 - 9:02pm

Many people don’t realise that going to war (or other, ancillary military activities) in Australia doesn’t require legislative approval; the executive — that is, the Prime Minister and Cabinet — can make the decision without involving all our elected representatives. This is relatively common around the world, although it is also common to find countries that require parliamentary approval in some or other form.

The issue has become a live one again because — as Robert Merkel over at LP points out — the former chief of the Australian Army, Peter Leahy, has called for parliamentary approval to be instituted. This would represent a serious shift in Australia’s jus ad bellum (‘laws to war’) and is, I think, a good idea. It would prevent excesses like Iraq, but still allow deployments where there is considerable popular support for participation. Robert notes: Read more »