ZEG

In his latest offering, conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG thinks the new leader of the Labor party has learnt nothing. 


    


Shorten under pressure on carbon tax


Shorten looks like a little weasel.  Won't last

THE federal government is pushing new Labor leader Bill Shorten to support legislation scrapping the carbon tax.

"This is an early test for Mr Shorten," Environment Minister Greg Hunt told ABC radio on Monday.

The government has flagged it will ask parliament to repeal Labor's carbon pricing regime before Christmas.

"Only Mr Shorten can stand between Australians and lower electricity prices," Mr Hunt said.

Labor and the Australian Greens together have the numbers in the Senate to stymie any repeal legislation before a likely more compliant upper house operates from July 2014.

Mr Shorten said after his election as Labor leader on Sunday that he supported a price on carbon, prompting a pledge from Mr Hunt: "We will not stop until the carbon tax is repealed."

Australian Greens leader Christine Milne urged Mr Shorten to hold his ground on carbon pricing, saying "the writing is on the wall" regarding climate change, with extreme fires, floods, droughts and heatwaves.

"Tony Abbott may have a mandate to lead the government of the nation, but he doesn't have one to stand by and watch it swelter and burn," she said in a statement.

Labor MP Michelle Rowland said the party supported a market mechanism for pricing carbon and had gone to the past three elections arguing it was the best approach for tackling climate change.

"I can't see us not supporting that," she told Sky News.

Parliamentary secretary Steve Ciobo said Labor wasn't listening to voters who had clearly indicated they wanted the carbon price scrapped.

"We've indicated we will go to a double dissolution, and we'll get the Australian people to have their say for a second time," he said.

Mr Shorten said he didn't have to support Prime Minister Tony Abbott's campaign to dump the carbon tax.

"He has a mandate to form a government of Australia, but there is nothing in Australian democracy that says that Labor has to be a rubber stamp for every coalition proposition," he told Fairfax Radio in Melbourne.

Mr Shorten said he would consult with caucus before making a big policy statement but he backed a price on carbon pollution.

"I don't support the coalition putting off until tomorrow and next week and next year tackling issues of climate change and carbon pollution and leaving this issue for our kids to solve."

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Some more multiculturalism for Australia

 A CHILD bride forced to ­illegally wed at 14 has won a disturbing custody fight that shines rare light on arranged unions in suburban Australia.

Married off as a schoolgirl to a 21-year-old groom by her Muslim parents, the woman endured years of violence and abuse before walking out with their young daughter.

The Federal Circuit Court heard the bride's mum pushed her into the Islamic ceremony, telling the then-teen she'd get to attend theme parks and movies and eat lollies and ice- cream with her new husband.

But once the girl moved in to the man's outer-Sydney home she was locked inside, let out only to attend high school.

The court heard evidence her husband used to burn her homework, and made her drop out of classes entirely after about a year.

He also stopped her watching her favourite TV shows - Home and Away and Neighbours - instead screening a ­violent DVD showing soldiers taken hostage and blown up with grenades.

In a decision published last week, Judge Joe Harman ­described the man as "a most heinous, capricious and ­revolting misogynist".

The judge stressed that he accepted all of the wife's ­evidence, and expressed his concern that while the girl ­apparently reported her predicament to a teacher, mandatory reporting laws appeared not to have protected her.

In his decision the judge ­invited authorities, such as police, wishing to investigate the serious matters raised during the case to apply to the court to obtain material from the file.

Legal restrictions prevent the Herald Sun from identifying the parties.

The woman, now 24, can only be referred to by the pseudonym "Ms Elia", and the man, now 31, as "Mr Essey".

Ms Elia fell pregnant at age 17 and gave birth to a daughter, now 6, who was the subject of the custody proceedings.

Her affidavit included a claim Mr Essey had once threatened to marry off their young daughter when she turned 14.

The judge found that the couple's illegal marriage ceremony had taken place "with the full knowledge, if not connivance and co-operation, of her parents".

Ms Elia was subjected to ­violence, including being kicked, punched, stamped on and thrown into walls, and their daughter was also attacked, he found.

The court heard claims that Mr Essey was involved in ­regular criminal activity, ­including robberies and ­assaults and was a routine user, if not a dealer, of drugs.

The couple separated in early 2009. She has since found a new partner.

Ms Elia gave evidence she'd stopped speaking to her parents after her divorce.

"My father has said to me, 'So what if he raped you? So what if he bashed you?'

"He has also said, 'The only way you can come back to me is in a coffin to pray on you'."

Judge Harman ordered Ms Elia have sole ­responsibility for the child and that Mr Essey be restrained from having all contact with them.

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Indonesia changes tack as asylum-seekers returned

INDONESIA has been accepting asylum-seekers rescued at sea by Australian authorities, boosting hopes that Jakarta may be prepared to shoulder a greater share of the burden of dealing with the people-smuggling trade.

Australian officials have been taking advantage of Jakarta's goodwill by trying -- on at least two occasions in recent weeks -- to intercept asylum-seeker boats further north as soon as calls for help are received.

In both cases, the transfer of asylum-seekers was done at sea and came after Australian officials requested Indonesia's search and rescue agency, Basarnas, take them.

As a result, Customs and Border Protection vessels have been operating slightly further north of Christmas Island than they have in the past.

The returns have a similar effect on asylum-seekers as turning back boats -- the most controversial element of the Coalition's policies -- but avoid any possibility of a diplomatic stoush with Jakarta.

Although they do not represent a formal policy, the returns are understood to be a priority for the Abbott government, which has long held the view that Australia is not obliged to receive every boatload of asylum-seekers rescued by Australian authorities.

Australian and Indonesian officials have been engaging in talks aimed at deepening co-operation on a range of anti-smuggling measures.

The talks followed the visit two weeks ago by Tony Abbott to Jakarta, where the Prime Minister met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Although there has been a lull in arrivals, authorities intercepted an asylum boat carrying 55 people on Wednesday afternoon.

The boat, which was carrying Iranians, Afghans and Sri Lankans, was unloaded at Christmas Island on Saturday morning, just two days after another boat bearing Sri Lankan asylum-seekers arrived off Cocos Island.

The Australian has been told there are encouraging signs Jakarta is now prepared to accept asylum-seekers intercepted by Australian authorities during rescues.

Senior Australian officials are understood to be heartened by what they see as a new-found willingness among the upper echelons of Indonesia's political and bureaucratic elite to co-operate with Australia, particularly during rescues.

Last week, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Tony Negus offered an insight into the type of co-operation between the AFP and its Indonesian counterparts, saying more than 550 asylum-seekers had been prevented from boarding boats.

It is understood the high tempo of disruptions is in part the result of a request by Kevin Rudd, who after reclaiming the Labor leadership in June petitioned Dr Yudhoyono to increase law enforcement efforts against the smugglers. Indonesia's ocean-faring boats, the ones capable of mounting rescues in high seas, are deployed to the country's north for strategic reasons, meaning Jakarta struggles to mount rescues within its southern search-and-rescue zones.

Its civil maritime assets are ill-equipped to operate far from shore, effectively leaving Australia responsible for co-ordinating, or even conducting, rescues that occur between Indonesia and Christmas Island.

But given the rescues occur within Indonesia's search-and-rescue area, there is scope for returning asylum-seekers to the custody of Indonesian authorities lawfully and without any loss of face.

One source familiar with the present situation said the SOLAS, or safety-of-life-at-sea conventions, "were being pushed to their limits" by Australia's new government.

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Vic Students to face fast-track expulsion

Parents may not be warned when their child is suspended from school and principals will have greater power to expel students - even for being "unproductive" - under a discipline crackdown by the state government.

In a move critics fear could exacerbate drop-out rates, students may also have to fend for themselves once they are kicked out because principals will no longer be required to help them find another school.

The Coalition went to the state election promising to give principals more authority to deal with unruly students. But leaked department documents reveal how extensive those powers will be, sparking concerns from families, welfare advocates, and the state opposition. Among the proposed changes seen by Fairfax Media:

 * Students could be kicked out regardless of whether they present an "actual" or "perceived" danger, and if they "consistently behave in an unproductive manner" that interferes with other students.

* Principals will no longer be required to schedule a meeting with another school or training organisation that could take on the expelled student.

 * Department staff could stand in for parents or guardians if they are being "unco-operative" or delay the expulsion/suspension process.

 * Principals will no longer have to convene special support meetings, designed to inform students and their parents that suspension is being considered.

 * Schools will have more grounds to throw out students for bad behaviour while travelling to and from school, and on school premises.

Education Minister Martin Dixon said the changes were still being finalised by his department, but the government's aim was to make schools safer for teachers and students.

"This is about trust. I know that principals are not just going to expel a child without any good reason, without any good process, and totally disregard the future of that child just to get them out of their schools," he said.

But parents say that children who break disciplinary rules should have the right to a fair and lawful process, just as their teachers would, and the right to have their well-being protected in the long term.

"Exclusion, long or short-term, may remove or relieve the problem and stress in the interim … but it does not change the incident, harm or trauma that has been experienced by those affected or sorting it all out," said Parents Victoria executive officer Gail McHardy.

Figures show that 11,876 students were suspended in government schools last year, and a further 150 were expelled. But the proposals have raised fears parents will have less of a say when their child is kicked out.

For instance, under the old guidelines, schools were required to convene a special meeting to inform students and their families about an expulsion. Under the proposed changes, a new "behaviour review conference" will be held before the decision to expel, but principals will ultimately have the ability to make on-the-spot decisions in the interest of the rest of the school. The new guidelines don't say whether parents take part in the behaviour review conference.

Opposition parliamentary spokesman for education Colin Brooks accused the government of placing vulnerable young people at even greater risk: "This tick-and-flick approach to school expulsion and suspension will see many kids fall through the cracks and disengage from education."

Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Emma King said she would have "enormous concerns" if students were not properly supported once they were expelled.

But Frank Sal, president of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals, welcomed the changes, saying they would give schools greater flexibility to deal with unruly students.

The guidelines will form part of a new ministerial order being developed by the Education Department. In another bid to expedite the process, it will no longer be a requirement to inform the department's regional directors before an expulsion takes place.

Students will retain the right to appeal an expulsion, but parents do not have that right. Mr Dixon said this was consistent with legislation introduced by the former Labor government.

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An obnoxious Muslim

Then there is this curious Federal Court case in which the judge deleted any reference to the religion, language and birthplace of the two parties before him, and even gave them Anglo-Saxon pseudonyms (Mr & Mrs Irvine) although every detail suggests Islam is the issue.  One wonder exactly WHY the religion is seen as in need of protection:

    This is a wholly extraordinary case. I hope I never have another like it. For reasons which I hope will become apparent, it has been a proceeding almost impossible properly to control, essentially because of the position adopted by the respondent husband, a position unique in my experience on the Court…

    On 27 February 2013 the wife filed an Application for Divorce… The application asserted that the applicant wife was born on (omitted) 1967 in (country omitted) and had lived in Australia since (omitted) 1970. It affirmed that the husband was born on (omitted) 1964 also in (country omitted) and had started living in Australia on (omitted) 1989…

    The application further revealed that the husband did not regard Australia as his home, was an Australian citizen by grant of citizenship but had not lived in Australia for the previous twelve months…

    On 22 March 2013, the wife filed a Notice of Child Abuse, Family Violence, or Risk of Family Violence form. This asserted an assault by the husband on the wife in January 2010. It also asserted that in January 2012, a further daughter, U, had been threatened by the father in (country omitted) by pointing a knife to her neck and had had her Australian passport destroyed…

    She alleged that the husband verbally, psychologically and financially abused her and used all his earnings for himself and bought properties in (country omitted) and in (country omitted)…

    On 11 April 2013, a Divorce Order was made in standard terms by a Registrar of the Court… I note that at paragraph 27, the wife deposed:

        “I believe that the Respondent Husband may be avoiding service because he does not believe that under (religion omitted) I have grounds to seek a divorce."…

    The respondent husband was served with the Initiating Application and supporting documents ... by the applicant’s solicitor. On 22 May 2013 the matter returned before the Court…

    First of all, Mr Irvine stated in the clearest of terms that the Court did not have jurisdiction to entertain the applications before it. This was because, as he put it, his marriage was governed by a contract entered into pursuant to (religion omitted), and it was not open to this Court to interfere with it… It will be noted that the husband repeatedly refused to answer very straightforward direct questions put to him, such as whether he was an Australian citizen or not…

    The affidavit filed by Mr Irvine asserts at paragraph 7 that:

        “he holds firmly to the fact that his religious beliefs, customs and practices are absolute perfect, sacred and honoured”. He also asserted at paragraph 8: “no other belief, laws or way of life and practices may be regarded as applicable, nor equal or superior and may not be allowed to go or act contrary to, violate or contravene the Commandments and Orders of (omitted)”.

    The affidavit went on to say at paragraph 11:

        “(religion omitted) must be governed at all times and in all circumstances & conditions, only in accordance with (religion omitted) as a mandatory basis of our religious faith and belief”.

    At paragraph 14, the affidavit states:

        “(religion omitted) is the only form of law that may be applicable for the conduct, governing and jurisdiction of a (omitted), what is generally termed as a “(omitted)” (marital) relationship between (religion omitted). The official power to make lawful and legal decisions, judgments and the extent of this power, is explicitly limited to the parties who are contractually bound to its terms and conditions in (religion omitted)”.

    Paragraph 19 of the affidavit relevantly says:

        “… The sole “Parties” to a contract in (omitted) are the (religion omitted) man and (religion omitted) woman only and no third party or entity of any type is a party to any (omitted) contract. Any party wishing to interfere outside is deemed as absent jurisdiction, a third party interloper and any court magistrate or parties acting in such regard commits a tort. ...”

    The husband purported to say that he did not understand the proceedings. Nonetheless, it should be noted that his command of English is excellent and he is an educated man… The husband purported to express a lack of understanding as to what was happening both on the day and previously. I should record that while such matters must be approached with caution, everything Mr Irvine did and the way that he did it suggests to me that he is a highly intelligent man who is engaged in an extensive filibuster with a view to enforcing his basic position that the Court does not have jurisdiction…

    The wife went on to say that she was being terrorised by the two elder children, V and X…

    It is quite apparent from the materials that the husband has filed that it is his view that the wife, under (religion omitted), has no capacity or entitlement to make any decisions, although she is required to be consulted. I indicated on 22 May 2013 that it would be appropriate to give (religion omitted) such consideration as is appropriate in considering the children’s best interests in the final trial. As things have turned out the only emphasis given by the husband to (religion omitted) has been his essential proposition that this Court should not inter-meddle in the matter at all.

    It is quite impossible to evaluate the force and effect that should be given to the (religion omitted) background of the parties given the paucity of evidence in this case.

The judge ended up giving the woman all she asked

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The ironies of Australia's public health policy regarding "obesity"

Jeremy Sammut

This week the CIS' WasteWatch blog focused on a new taxpayer-funded growth industry - the ever increasing number of reports into Australia's obesity 'epidemic'.

This is a very lucrative business for public health academics, especially now that the National Preventive Health Agency is able to fund research into the stubborn problems of over-eating and sedentary lifestyles.

However, the proliferation of obesity-related reports reflects the hard truth of public health policy - we have next to no idea about what actually works in terms of getting people off the couch and out of the takeaway shops.

The evidence regarding the effectiveness of the billions of dollars that Australian governments already spend on the promotion of healthy lifestyles is very weak.

This was the central finding of the UK Wanless review of public health policy, which found, in particular, that 'there is little evidence about what works among disadvantaged groups to tackle some of the key determinants of health inequalities.'

The lack of evidence reflects the fact that in a free society, governments rightly have limited authority over unhealthy lifestyle behaviours and lack the ability to micro-manage daily dietary and exercise habits.

Achieving lifestyle change is also extremely difficult as it ultimately depends on personal qualities - will, self-discipline, and impulse control - that public health policies struggle to instil in people who do not already possess them.

Not for nothing, therefore, have anti-obesity campaigns been accurately described as a 'policy looking for an evidence base.'

Obesity invites endless investigation and report after report after report.

Herein lies a greater irony. Those who endlessly warn the community about the perils of eating too much junk food have much in common with so-called 'vice industries' they love to attack.

Like those who trade in fatty foods and sugary and alcoholic drinks, the public health lobby is equally dependent on the flaws and weaknesses inherent in human nature to justify its call on public resources.

Rather than continuing to pour money into public health research that implausibly seeks to straighten the crooked timber of humanity, policy makers would be better off recognising the limits of government activity in relation to obesity.

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Australian researchers reveal upside to gaming

The benefits of playing video games may offset the negative impact of exposure to screen violence, according to Australian-led research.

Experts are divided over whether brutal games increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour and desensitise people to violence.

The chief executive of the young and well co-operative research centre at the University of Melbourne, Jane Burns, said gaming could provide stress relief and social engagement for adolescents.

"Moderate gaming can reduce stress and improve health and wellbeing," she said. "It also helps young people form connections with peers because gaming creates a sense of community, mutual participation and a shared passion. That's the kind of thing that young people could harness to improve their mental health."

While there were risks associated with "extreme" gaming, she said the vast majority of young Australians were not in that category.

A professor of community, child and family health at the University of Newcastle, Graham Vimpani, said there were conflicting views about the dangers associated with violent video games.

In a presentation to the Australian Council on Children and the Media conference in Sydney last week, he said the Australian government had reviewed the evidence and found it to be inconclusive, but the American Academy of Paediatrics said screen violence "represents a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents".

Research presented at the conference claimed exposure to screen violence in adolescence changed the development of young people's brains, leading to increased aggression, reckless behaviour and decreased empathy. The chief executive of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association of Australia, Ron Curry, said there was no "strong evidence that violent video games can cause long-term effects on aggressive behaviour".

Research commissioned by the association found 68 per cent of games submitted to the Australian Classification Board for rating in the first eight months of this year were either G or PG rated.

Morgan Tear, a social psychology researcher at the University of Queensland, said playing violent video games was one of many activities which could produce negative effects on social behaviour.

"As a society we say it's OK for children to play contact sports which can be very aggressive and inflict real pain but at the same time worry about the impact of violent video games," he said.

"I'm not sure we should be so concerned about violent video games when there are a number of other activities which could be just as bad."

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The future is not bright for the deeply divided Green Party

ARE the Greens finished? Christine Milne, explaining the poor election result, says minor parties build up their political capital in opposition and spend it in alliance with governments.

But an alternative explanation is that the Greens are in terminal decline, suffering voter capital punishment rather than cycles of political capital. Which is it?

One thing is certain: events in the past few weeks demonstrate that the Greens are no different from any other political party. All parties contain internal divisions which they struggle to overcome. Some have Left and Right, some have "Rudd and Gillard", some have Victoria and NSW, but the Greens have all of these and more. So extensive are the divisions inside the Greens parliamentary party that the party's future must be bleak.

One rift of significance is a generational one, between Sarah Hanson-Young and Milne.

Milne is a hard warrior learning her craft in the heat of activist battle. She adopts what is called a strong ecological modernisation stance. This approach says that dirty industries are ruining the planet and must be fundamentally transformed.

Milne has no time for fossil-fuel industries such as the electricity industry. For her, these industries must be transformed root and branch. They are beyond saving. Get rid of them.

By contrast, the younger generation, supporters of Bob Brown, are weak ecological modernisers, parliamentarians, negotiators, conciliators. Like Brown, they are deal brokers who consider dirty industries to be salvageable with the right incentives for renewables. They are also interested in issues beyond the environment, such as asylum-seekers and cancer victims among firefighters.

The question of what to do about industries becomes critical now that there is a new Coalition government committed to an approach to climate change that it calls Direct Action.

Direct Action, unlike carbon pricing, discriminates against industries, quarantining some, such as the electricity industry, from emissions reduction. The rationale is to protect consumers from electricity price rises. Direct Action will open up these divisions within the Greens.

Old versus young, weak ecological modernisers versus strong ecological modernisers, as well as Tasmania versus the mainland - not to mention the NSW watermelons (Green on the outside, red on the inside) versus the rest. The rifts that lay hidden within the Greens are revealed.

Milne can say the party is united but the leadership challenges ahead are acute. Not only does she have to manage the divisions within her own party but she has to retain the support of the broader environmental movement. The Greens' decision to join Julia Gillard's multi-party climate change committee opened up divisions between the Greens and the broader environmental movement, contributing to a fall in support for the party at this year's election.

The Greens leadership has to decide which way to go: co-operate with Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt on Direct Action or continue the carbon-price fight? Either way, it will be difficult to contain the divisions within the parliamentary party and with the broader environmental movement.

In politics, context is everything. The context has changed. The Greens must lead the environmental movement to accept that there is more than one way to reduce emissions. The obsession with a carbon price does not fit the times. Direct Action is an acceptable alternative to a carbon price aiming to reduce emissions by capping the amount spent on greenhouse gas reduction rather than capping the emissions themselves.

The Greens will be able to contribute to a reduction in emissions, and save themselves from destructive divisions internally, if they are able to adjust to the changed political and policy context in Australia. However, this will take formidable leadership skills inside the party.

Nikita Khrushchev said to John F. Kennedy that the two of them should not pull tightly on each end of a rope, for that would tighten a knot that would then have to be cut. Last week, Hanson-Young and Milne each pulled on the rope and tightened the knot of division. This knot will have to be cut. Either she goes, or she goes? That is the question for the Greens as they work out how to deal with the weak ecological modernisation of Hunt and Direct Action.

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Australian Doctor Could Be Fired For Refusing To Abort Baby Girl

Australian doctor Mark Hobart might be losing his job after refusing to perform a sex-selective abortion.

A woman who was nearly five months pregnant came to Melbourne doctor Mark Hobart seeking an abortion on her unborn baby girl because her husband did not want a daughter. Hobart refused to perform the abortion, saying he had a moral dilemma over performing an abortion on an otherwise-healthy girl. He refused to refer the couple to another doctor, as he is legally required to do under Australia’s Abortion Law Reform Act 2008, claiming he did not know a doctor who would be willing to perform an abortion for sex selection reasons.

As a result of his refusal to perform the abortion or to refer the couple, Hobart has been under investigation by the Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency for months. He is now at risk of being stripped of his medical license. Hobart has been practicing medicine for 27 years.

Abortion is legal in Australia until 24 weeks gestation. The woman in question was 19 weeks pregnant, and got an abortion a few days after being denied one by Hobart.

According to Hobart, the woman requesting the abortion was of Indian descent. India has one of the worst sex ratios in the world: for every thousand male births, only 893 females are born. In some areas of the country, the ratio is as low as 751 female births for every thousand male births.

An act that would ban the practice of sex-selection abortions in the United States was rejected in the House of Representatives last year.

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Banned painkiller sold under names of Di-Gesic and Doloxene to remain on sale in Australia

I have used Di-gesic for post-operative pain and found it ideal.  I was most put out when it was banned

A controversial painkiller which has been banned in several countries will still be sold in Australia.

In 2011, the Therapeutic Goods Administration de-listed painkillers sold under the brand names Di-Gesic and Doloxene, saying "the safety of those medicines was unacceptable".

There were concerns about the medication as it can cause heart arrhythmias and death in high doses.

But drug manufacturer Aspen Pharmaceuticals took to the decision to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). It ruled that the drugs could be sold under strict conditions.

In a statement, the Therapeutic Goods Administration says it will not seek leave to appeal the AAT decision.

Medical experts say caution should be used when administering the drug, particularly with the elderly and with patients who may also be using tranquillisers, antidepressants or excess alcohol.

Under the new arrangements, doctors and dentists will need to sign a form when prescribing the drugs, confirming they are only available for patients who cannot be treated with other analgesics and who understand the restrictions placed on the drug.

They must also be convinced that the patient is not at risk of accidental or intentional self-harm.

Pharmacists who want to dispense the drug must also fulfil special requirements.

Some patients had lobbied for the drug to remain on the market, saying it is the only medication that gives them good pain relief.

But emergency physicians in Australia had asked for the drug to be withdrawn.

In a submission to the TGA, the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) says "emergency physicians are acutely aware of the toxicity of this agent".

It says there is insufficient evidence to accept that products containing including Di-Gesic and Doloxene can be used safely for the relief of pain.

ACEM spokeswoman Dr Sally McCarthy wrote in the submission that there are no adequate measures that have been identified to sufficiently minimise the safety issues posed by the drugs.

"The medications have been associated with numerous deaths in the UK and has a high abuse potential," she said.

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High Court backs people smuggler laws

THE High Court has upheld the validity of mandatory prison terms for convicted people smugglers.

The case, brought by the crew member of a boat carrying 52 asylum seekers in 2010, was seen as a test case for mandatory sentencing.

The court, by a majority, ruled the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence was not inconsistent with the institutional integrity of the courts and did not involve the imposition of an arbitrary sentence.

The court ruled the mandatory sentencing provision in the Migration Act was lawful, saying it was not beyond the legislative power of the Commonwealth parliament and did not confer judicial power on prosecuting authorities.

Bonan Darius Magaming appealed his five-year imprisonment, the mandatory minimum sentence, after being convicted of an aggravated form of people smuggling.

He argued that in circumstances where prosecuting authorities could choose between a charge that carried a mandatory minimum sentence and one that did not, they wrongly exercised judicial power.

The court held that although prosecuting authorities had a choice, it did not involve an exercise of judicial power or confer an ability to determine the punishment to be imposed for the same conduct.

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Same-sex marriage law High Court challenge confirmed

The ACT government has vowed to fight an Abbott government challenge in the High Court to the territory's same-sex marriage laws.

Attorney-General Simon Corbell said on Thursday the government believed its laws were valid and "attempts to stymie, block or prevent reform will only lead to an even greater impetus for it".

Attorney-General George Brandis described the territory laws on Thursday as "a threat" to the "well-established position" that marriage laws should be nationally consistent and were the domain of the Commonwealth.

Senator Brandis informed the ACT government of the legal challenge in a phone call on Wednesday night before confirming the move at a meeting of state and territory attorneys-general on Thursday.

The ACT government says it will "robustly defend" its laws, which are expected to pass at the October sitting of the ACT Legislative Assembly with the support of all eight Labor MLAs and Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury.

The federal government will ask for an expedited High Court hearing and has called on the ACT government not to pass its laws until their constitutional validity is tested. Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said on Twitter that the ACT government had declined that request.

"It would be very distressing to individuals who may enter into a ceremony of marriage under the new ACT law, and to their families, to find that their marriages were invalid," Senator Brandis said.

He said the advice of the acting federal Solicitor-General was that the ACT's marriage equality bill was invalid because it was inconsistent with the Commonwealth Marriage Act.

"Irrespective of anyone's views on the desirability or otherwise of same-sex marriage, it is clearly in Australia's interests that there be nationally consistent marriage laws," he said.

"At the moment, the Commonwealth Marriage Act provides that consistency. The ACT's proposed law is a threat to that well-established position. It has been understood for more than half a century that there is a single Commonwealth law governing marriage in Australia. The Abbott government believes that that should continue to be the case."

Mr Corbell said on Thursday: "I'm not surprised but I'm disappointed that there is a failure to acknowledge that this fundamental matter of inequality needs to be addressed.

"Attempts to stymie, block or prevent reform will only lead to an even greater impetus for it," he said.

Mr Corbell said there "are still battles to be fought" and reiterated the ACT government's intention to "robustly defend our law in the court". "The Commonwealth have confirmed … that they will be commencing legal proceedings in the High Court once our laws become operational," Mr Corbell said. "They argue it's inconsistent. I indicated the territory's view, legal advice and the advice of other constitutional law experts differed from that and we will be robustly defend our law in the court."

Mr Corbell said Coalition-aligned state and territory governments had indicated they would support the federal position.

He said that included NSW, whose same-sex marriage bill served as the basis for the territory's legislation.

Mr Corbell said the federal government would assert that its view of marriage covers all aspects of that matter and that it was not open to states and territories to legislate for same-sex marriage. "We assert that our bill is capable of concurrent operation and is therefore not inconsistent."

A Tasmanian Institute of Law Reform report on same-sex marriage, published on Thursday, concluded there was "no legal impediment to states enacting marriage laws" because marriage powers were shared by the states and the federal government.

The report said it was uncertain whether a High Court challenge to same-sex marriage laws would succeed.

The report's author, Amelia Higgs, said the study "clearly dispelled the idea that the states can't do this".

She said the outcome of a High Court challenge would come down to whether or not "the states can enact a marriage power that doesn't clash with the Commonwealth".

"I think what some people don't realise, or conveniently forget, is that opposite-sex marriage used to be regulated by the states," Miss Higgs said. "It wouldn't be an unusual thing for the states to be the ones to get the ball rolling [for same-sex marriage]".

Mr Corbell said the report showed that the validity of the ACT laws was "a contested and open question".

"There is just as much prospect that our law will be found to be valid as there is that it will be found to be invalid," he said.

"No one can be certain what the High Court will decide."

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APEC summit wraps up with new commitments to free trade

Tony Abbott has acknowledged that his government needs to do a lot more work to sell the idea to Australians that a new, United States-sponsored free trade agreement is a good idea.

But after speaking with American secretary of state John Kerry at the tail end of the APEC meeting yesterday, Mr Abbott said he thought a deal could be done on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement within the next three months.

The APEC summit in Indonesia wrapped up yesterday with new commitments to freeing trade in the region and building infrastructure.

Mr Abbott will visit the Bali bombing memorial in downtown Kuta on Wednesday morning, and then flies out to the another international conference, the East Asia Summit in neighbouring Brunei.

The Prime Minister declined to comment on his own success or otherwise at his first big international conference, saying: "I'm not in the business of big-noting myself and I'll let others judge, but certainly I've very much appreciated the chance to meet . . . with the significant leaders of our region."

Among his exchanges over two days was an apology to the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for things said about his country during the political dispute over Labor’s Malaysia Solution.

Mr Abbott also said he had confirmed with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill the "strength of our commitment to working together", after jarring the relationship with his suspicion of former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s PNG solution.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of APEC, wrangling continued into the third year over the "pluri-lateral" TPP trade pact, which some suspect is as much a projection of US foreign policy as a free trade agreement.

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, which involves Australia among 12 nations representing 800 million people and 40 per cent of the global economy seeks to cut tariffs and non-tariff barriers. But it also contains a number of contentious elements from the US foreign policy wishlist including extended benefits for big pharma and copyright holders, the right of private businesses to sue governments over their policies, as well as environmental and labour safeguards.

A communique released late on Wednesday said the leaders of the 12 nations would push for an agreement by the end of the year. But deep divisions remain.

Mr Abbott said after his meeting with Mr Kerry that "there’s a lot of painstaking negotiations still left", but if the TPP could be completed, it would "represent an historic trade breakthrough".

"Nevertheless, I think the public do need to get their head around the fact that we're talking . . . about this pluri-lateral agreement,"Mr Abbott said.

Australian civil society groups are sceptical about the deal, with Dr Patricia Ranald from the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said "extreme US demands" would likely push out the timetable.

"The US wants to impose regulatory frameworks in the TPP which suit its largest industries and corporations, but tie the hands of other governments . . . and these are rightly being resisted," Dr Ranald said.

The fact that president Obama was not in the negotiating room cast a pall over proceedings. Despite this, Mr Kerry urged the TPP nations (which do not include China or the APEC host, Indonesia) to hasten towards a deal.

However, Malaysian Prime Minister Razak, who is inside the TPP tent, said on Monday that some of the areas encompassed by the proposal "impinge fundamentally the sovereign right of the country to make regulation and policy".

"That is a tricky part and that is why we ask for flexibility," he said.

And Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that the world should work together towards a "regional co-operation framework" and avoid the "spaghetti bowl effect" of different, overlapping agreements.

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Time for a quiet word about rowdy classes

EVEN the students admit it: Australian schools tend to be on the rowdy side.

About one-third of 15-year-old high school students say their class often ignores what their teacher is saying and about two in five characterise their classrooms as noisy and disorderly.

For almost one in five students, their classroom is so disruptive they find it difficult to work.

Among the 65 countries surveyed by the OECD group of industrialised nations, Australia ranks No 34, just above the average level of disciplined classrooms but behind the US and Britain as well as many Asian and eastern European countries.

Australian classrooms are slightly worse than the average in terms of listening to the teacher, as is Finland, which is one of the top nations in international literacy and numeracy tests including those run by the OECD.

In fact, Finnish classrooms are some of the noisiest in the world, with half the students reporting noise and disorder occurs frequently, bucking the trend that an orderly and quiet classroom is most conducive to high student performance.

The OECD's monthly newsletter focusing on findings from its three-yearly test of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science -- known as the Program for International Student Assessment -- says the test results show students in orderly classrooms tend to perform better. The impact is more marked for students from socially disadvantaged families, where a well-managed classroom can help students close the gap on their more affluent peers.

Teachers such as Reema Ali say the key to an orderly classroom is ensuring students are engaged in what they are learning.

A social sciences teacher at Randwick Girls High in Sydney's east, Ms Ali says a noisy and out-of-control classroom is more a reflection on the teacher than the students. "I thoroughly believe that classroom management goes hand-in-hand with a range of teaching strategies," she said yesterday. "I care for all types of students, and I adapt what I do for individual students. I try to meet every student's needs."

Some schools that have radically changed the way they teach in recent years, introducing open-plan classrooms enabling students to work in small groups on projects, have counter-intuitively resulted in quieter schools and better behaved students.

For Australian teachers, noise is not necessarily a bad thing; the distinction is between noise that is disruptive from students mucking up, and noise that is constructive from students talking about their work. After more than 40 years teaching, Parramatta Marist High School principal Brother Pat Howlett has had to adjust his expectations of acceptable decibel levels in the classroom.

"I used to think that a quiet classroom was a good classroom, but it gives you no earthly idea to gauge what they're learning," he said.

The deputy principal at Randwick Girls High School, Lance Raskall, agrees. "It's a fine line. You don't want a hush-hush classroom, and constructive noise is good. Engaged students are going to ask questions of the teacher and each other," he said.

Mr Raskall said the technological invasion of schools, particularly the introduction of laptops and interactive whiteboards, had improved students' interest in their lessons, but also raised noise levels.

"It's not chalk and talk anymore; students are exploring as they're talking, they're using the internet and finding out what you're talking about while you're talking," he said. "They're very engaged because it's very relevant and it's in front of them. It's immediate."

Mr Raskall said disadvantaged students were often the highest performers and best behaved, because they knew education was a way to improve their lives, while some students that came from private schools "have not been the best students in the class by any stretch".

The OECD survey is conducted among students who are mostly in Year 9, widely acknowledged as the most challenging year for managing student behaviour and keeping them interested in school.

To address this, Parramatta Marist introduced "project-based learning" in Year 9 about five years ago, in which students work in small groups on projects in their subjects or across more than one subject over a period of weeks. It has been so successful, the school has since expanded the approach to years 7, 8 and 10.

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Dr Karl’s klimate krap

(Karl Kruszelnicki is an Australian-based Jewish funnyman who frequently broadcasts on scientific matters.  He sometimes broadcasts for the ABC, Australia's major public broadcaster)

Every science presenter on the ABC is a fully paid-up climate alarmist.

But because of the 16-year temperature stasis that nobody wants to acknowledge, Dr (for a doctor he is*) Karl resorts to spouting krap:

Even before this report was released, some of the news media (such as the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom) recklessly claimed that this latest IPCC report revealed that global warming was over — and that in fact, the world was now cooling. This was very wrong.

Krap. The four major temperature series, GISS, HadCRUT, UAH and RSS (take note, Dr Suzuki) all show either stasis, imperceptible warming or cooling (see image below). And whether global warming is “over” or not is irrelevant – that’s just a tabloid newpaper making a story.


The real issue is why there has been such a divergence between models and real-world temperature. Despite fudging the graph in the IPCC Summary for Policymakers to give the impression that the models are still on track, the truth is that the models have spectacularly failed to predict the current stasis in global temperatures. Climate sensitivity to CO2 has been overestimated and natural forces ignored.

For one thing, nine of the 10 hottest years on record have happened in the last decade.

True, but irrelevant. Yes, the planet is warming, and has been for a couple of centuries, so it’s no great surprise that each decade is, generally, warmer than the last. The old “on record” chestnut is wheeled out, despite the fact that records barely cover 150 years. Dispassionate? Krap!

The trouble is, the surface of our planet has many many square metres. So that extra heat reflected back down to the ground is roughly equivalent to exploding a few hundred thousand Hiroshima-sized nuclear weapons in our atmosphere — every day.

This is recycled krap. Recycled by Dr Karl, from John Cook of Un-Skeptical Pseudo-Science, who in turn recycled it from James Hansen. Despite sounding terrifying, because the Sun is so powerful and the Earth so huge, this amount of energy approximates to half a watt per square metre (your average light globe is 60 watts), which would be lost in the downwelling radiation of approximately half a kilowatt. Cheap alarmist krap.

The overwhelming majority of the heat trapped by the extra carbon dioxide in our atmosphere enters the oceans.


Since 2007, we have been monitoring the oceans with small drifting oceanic probes — ARGO probes. Today, there are some 3,600 of these robotic probes in the oceans of the world. They continuously float up and down, rising to the surface and then diving down to a depth of 2 kilometres on a roughly 10-day cycle.


These ARGO probes have measured the heating of the oceans caused by that 93.5 per cent of the heat energy reflected back down by the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It turns out that about two thirds remains in the upper ocean between the surface and a depth of 700 metres, while the remaining one third of that heat energy goes deeper into the ocean — between 700 and 2000 metres.

Dr Karl trots out the buzzword du jour (see yesterday), ocean heat. The dog ate my warming. They seek it here, they seek it here, they seek it everywhere. Everywhere it can’t be measured, that is.


The ARGO probes have been around less than a decade, and the changes in temperature are of the order of a few hundredths of a degree. But here’s a thought – perhaps the warming over the last twenty years was caused by the oceans releasing heat (that couldn’t be measured) into the atmosphere, and was nothing to do with CO2?


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Aussies the world's richest people: Credit Suisse

Australians remain the richest people in the world, by one measure at least.  The median wealth of adult Australians stands at $US219,505 ($233,504) - the highest level in the world, according to the Credit Suisse 2013 Global Wealth Report, released on Wednesday.

Median wealth is the midpoint between richest and poorest, meaning that 50 per cent of the population has more than $233,504, and 50 per cent less than that.

By the measure of average wealth, Australians fall back to second with $US402,578 per person, ranking behind the Swiss who were the world’s richest on $US513,000.

Credit Suisse chief investment strategist, Australia, David McDonald said the nation’s household wealth per adult grew by 2.6 per cent in the past year. That was slower than the global average of 4.6 per cent, but Australia still had the best distribution of wealth among developed nations.

"Although we are up there at a high level of wealth per adult we’ve also got a better spread than a lot of the other developed countries including, obviously, the Swiss, but also places like the US," Mr McDonald said.

The number of Australian millionaires increased by 38,000 to 1.123 million people. About half of the rise in  Australian wealth is due to exchange rate appreciation.

The millionaire calculation includes the value of real estate owned outright.

Australians were shown to have a much higher level of wealth held in property and non-financial assets - 58.5 per cent compared to the world average of 45 per cent and just 38 per cent in the US.

The US remains the millionaire capital of the world, with 13.2 million people topping the seven-figure mark and nearly 46,000 people in the ultra-high net worth $US50 million-plus category.

Australia has 2,059 ultra-high net worth individuals, 2.1 per cent of the global total.

While the Land Down Under has maintained its place at the top in median terms for three years running now, Credit Suisse reported that North America has regained its title as the wealthiest region in the world.

Rising house prices and stock markets fuelled a 12 per cent rise in North American wealth to $US78.9 trillion from mid-2012 to mid-2013, putting the region ahead of the Asia Pacific and Europe for the first time since before the global financial crisis.

Credit Suisse global head of research for private banking, Giles Keating, said Japan’s economic slump had dragged down the Asia-Pacific region.

"The fourth annual Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report shows an $US11 trillion rise in (global) wealth to $US241 trillion, with the US as the clear winner, overtaking Europe, while Asia Pacific fell back due to sharp depreciation of the yen," Mr Keating said.

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No more dole, Tony Abbott warns the under-30s

TONY Abbott has proposed banning the dole for people under 30 in a bid to entice the unemployed to head west and fill massive skill shortages in the booming resources sector.

The Opposition Leader made the controversial remarks during a two-hour meeting with about 15 senior resources industry leaders in Perth on Monday night.

Mr Abbott told the roundtable briefing he believed stopping dole payments to able-bodied young people would take pressure off the welfare system and reduce the need to bring in large numbers of skilled migrants to staff mining projects.

His comments were attacked last night by Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes, who described them as "Hansonesque".

"If he genuinely thinks you are going to solve an economically crippling skills shortage by taking punitive measures against welfare recipients, he has clearly never lived in the real world," Mr Howes said.

"You can't just get any old Joe off the street and plonk them into a mine, and think that's going to mean they can work."

Six of the attendees confirmed yesterday that Mr Abbott had raised the idea of banning welfare payments for young people to encourage them to fill the thousands of jobs emerging in states such as Western Australia and Queensland.

"He said he was thinking more and more about it, with a view to formulating something on it," said one of the participants, who asked not to be named.

Another recalled: "He definitely said it was something he was considering as a policy."

A third executive said: "It certainly wasn't a throwaway line. He brought up the issue twice during the meeting."

Mr Abbott also told the business leaders that safety mechanisms would be needed under such a scheme to protect disabled people or those with mental health problems. And he raised the possibility that employers would need to be given funding to train the unemployed, according to those present.

Some of the business leaders were surprised by the remarks, while others were impressed Mr Abbott was considering new measures to address the labour shortages in Western Australia that threaten to crimp the next resources boom.

"I thought to myself: here is a guy who thinks outside the square," said one participant.

The Minerals Council of Australia said the number of workers in the resources sector would need to grow by about 86,000 in the next decade to maintain Australia's share of global minerals markets.  It said 31,000 of those workers would need to be skilled tradespeople.

The demand for labour is expected to be most severe in Western Australia, which has about $200 billion in resources projects either under way or in the pipeline.

This is led by the $43bn Gorgon liquefied natural gas project on Barrow Island and the planned expansion of Woodside Petroleum's Pluto gas plant near Karratha.

Among the attendees at Mr Abbott's roundtable were BHP Billiton iron ore chief executive Ian Ashby, Rio Tinto's Pilbara managing director Greg Lilleyman, Woodside general counsel Rob Cole, Fortescue Metals Group director Graeme Rowley, Gindalbie Metals chief executive Garret Dixon and Inpex's Australian head, Seiya Ito.

Mr Abbott's views echo comments he made as employment services minister in 2000 when he announced that people on the dole in South Australia's Riverland would be required to seek fruit harvest work before receiving benefits.

Last night a spokeswoman for Mr Abbott confirmed he had made the remarks about the dole to the mining leaders.

The spokeswoman said Mr Abbott had posed a question about the dole for the benefit of the argument and the debate at the meeting.  But, she said, Mr Abbott's comments did not mean the approach was Coalition policy.

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Perth Anglicans vote to ignore Bible

(See Romans chap. 1)

Anglicans in Perth have voted to have same-sex relationships recognised.

The church synod voted by a two-thirds majority to call for legal acknowledgment of civil unions between people of the same sex.

Rector of Darlington-Bellevue Anglican parish, the Reverend Chris Bedding, presented the motion to the synod.

"We presented a motion saying that the Anglican Church and the Diocese of Perth would like to acknowledge that legal recognition of same-sex relations can coexist with legal recognition of marriage between a man and a woman," he said.

"That had already come last year, it had essentially been vetoed by the Archbishop and it came back this year and the bar was set even higher.

"We needed a two-third majority amongst both the clergy and the laity to get it passed.  "And, I thought there was no way that the motion would be passed.  "Strangely enough the synod, via quite a convincing majority, [decided] to make that acknowledgment.

"As a church, we are not ready to have marriage-like ceremonies for same-sex couples in our churches yet, but we wanted to say that if the government has civil recognition of unions or equality, then we are comfortable with that."

Australian Marriage Equality's acting director Ivan Hinton says it is an encouraging step forward.  "I think this is a great moment to recognise that Christianity in Australian culture is far more diverse than what has been expressed on the political level for a very long time," he said.

The motion needs the support of the Archbishop of Perth, Roger Herft, before it is officially adopted. Archbishop Herft has 30 days to assent or dissent to the vote.

A similar motion last year was vetoed by the Archbishop, but Reverend Bedding says this year may be different.  "Things might have changed in a year or they might not. The one thing that did change was that the vote increased amongst both laity and clergy," he said.

"So a lot of people changed their mind in a year.  "It's possible that the Archbishop has changed his mind over the last year."

Gay Christians like Graham Douglas-Meyer are worried the Archbishop will not endorse the vote.  "I think it would actually be a slap in the face of the people of Perth. It would be saying that 'I know better than you'," he said.  "I think he (the Archbishop) really does need to give his reason, and a good reason to the people.

"It would be distressing for them, specifically if they are from an Anglican background themselves, because they are actually being put into position where they're being told, once again, that their relationship is unacceptable."

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NSW Students stop taking Asian languages in senior years

Asian languages are just too hard for Anglos

Senior high school students in NSW are giving up on Asian languages at an astonishing rate, despite growth among younger students.

Between 2010 and 2012, the number of high school students learning Chinese grew by 42 per cent to almost 10,000. Yet, over the same period, the number of HSC students studying the language shrunk by 27 per cent. And figures released last week show just 902 HSC students studied Chinese this year, a 5 per cent drop from last year.

The president of the Board of Studies NSW, Tom Alegounarias, said it was likely students were not convinced a language gave them the competitive edge it once did.

"To the extent that studying a language is a functional advantage for interacting globally, the paradox is that as the world globalises, you don't need another language and people are aware of that," he said. "Everyone that goes to China knows you can get around pretty well with English."

Figures provided by the NSW Department of Education and Communities show primary and secondary enrolments in all four of the state's priority Asian languages grew between 2010 and 2012. A large proportion of those high school students would have learnt the language as part of the state's compulsory 12-month course.

But the proportion of students continuing to more advanced study in the senior years continues to slide, with Fairfax Media revealing last week that the rate of students studying a foreign language for the HSC is at a historic low of just 8 per cent.

The director of the Chinese Teacher Training Centre at the University of Melbourne, Jane Orton, said that when it came to the high-stakes HSC exams students are deterred by having to compete with classmates who have grown up around the language.

"There are kids who would like to go on but they just literally can't afford it for their futures," she said. "It's like having a race for the under 12s. You can't have long-legged 15-year-olds racing down. Of course they're going to win."

She said the continued push for Asian languages by successive governments was not having the desired effects.

"They seem to throw money at it rather than invest money in it," she said. "If they are doing it for national interest, they need to hothouse just as they do for sport."

Mr Alegounarias says the challenging nature of Asian languages might also partly account for the drop-off.

"There is a different cultural and theoretical linguistic underpinning which actually makes it harder to study those languages, particularly if you’re competing with students of that background," he said.

A senior lecturer in linguistics at the University of New England, Dr Liz Ellis, says "the closer a  language is in structure and general orientation, the easier it tends to be to learn."

French, for example, would typically be easier and quicker for an English speaker to learn than Mandarin.

This year 663 HSC students took French as a beginner, while only 52 students took Chinese as a beginner.

Dr Ellis there is a lot of evidence that bilingualism can enhance cognitive abilities. 

"There certainly is research that shows [a link between bilingualism and academic performance] because it expands their facility for thinking and their understanding and ability to think creatively," she said.

Dr Orton says more parents need to value the learning of language, beyond just employment opportunities.  "A lot of parents take an increasingly utilitarian view of school, so it’s a question of will it get you a job," she said.

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Tasmania has a killer prosecutor

LAWYERS for Director of Public Prosecutions Timothy James Ellis SC say they want a Tasmanian magistrate to hear the case.

Mr Ellis, 58, yesterday pleaded not guilty to causing the death of another person by negligent driving over a crash in which a Launceston woman died.

The state's top prosecutor -- whose leg was badly broken in the collision -- appeared on crutches in the Hobart Magistrates Court yesterday.

His lawyer Michael O'Farrell SC told Chief Magistrate Michael Hill: "Mr Ellis will enter a plea of not guilty" to the single charge.

Mr Ellis' Mercedes and a Toyota hatchback driven by 27-year-old Natalia Pearn, of West Launceston, collided near Lovely Banks about 6pm on March 24. Ms Pearn was killed and Mr Ellis suffered serious leg injuries.

Mr Hill told Mr O'Farrell that every Tasmanian magistrate had disqualified themselves from hearing the case.

The Chief Magistrate said he had a "personal difficulty" with the matter and was troubled by the issue of public confidence in the system should the case be heard by a local.

Mr Hill said steps had been taken to appoint an interstate judicial officer to preside over Mr Ellis' trial, but Mr O'Farrell said the defence team had identified at least five local magistrates who could hear it without difficulty.

"Mr Ellis, like any citizen, is entitled to be given due process according to the laws of the state and for all of the magistrates of the state to excuse themselves -- without hearing from Mr Ellis -- is not due process," he said.

Police allege that Mr Ellis was negligent for: failing to keep a proper lookout; failing to drive with due care and attention; failing to keep his vehicle to the left; failing to keep his vehicle from crossing to the wrong side of the road; failing to return to the correct side of the road, failing to manoeuvre to avoid a collision; driving without reasonable consideration for other road users and failing to pay sufficient concentration to the task of driving.

Mr Hill adjourned the case until November 11 to allow the defence and prosecution to negotiate how the case might proceed.

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Tony Abbott offers 'act of contrition' to Malaysia over asylum seeker criticism

Tony Abbott has apologised to an Asian leader for the second time in a week over his robust political campaigning before he was elected, offering an "act of contrition" for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

The Australian Prime Minister acknowledged in a meeting with Mr Najib at the APEC conference late on Monday that in Australia, "we play our politics very hard".

"I offered an act of contrition, if you like, to Prime Minister Najib for the way Malaysia got caught up in what was a very intense and at times somewhat rancorous debate in Australia. He knows we play our politics pretty hard in our country," Mr Abbott said.

When in opposition, the Coalition heavily criticised the Gillard government's proposed "Malaysia Solution" for asylum seekers, with immigration spokesman Scott Morrison arguing in 2011 that Malaysia could not guarantee the human rights of people sent to that country under the program.
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"Our criticism was never of Malaysia, it was of the former government. I guess you might say that, in my own way, I offered an apology because I appreciate this was a difficult situation for Malaysia and it was only in that difficult situation because, in its own way, it had tried to help out a friend," Mr Abbott said.

Mr Abbott also apologised to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta last week for the fact that Australian politicians should have "said less and done more" about asylum seekers passing through Indonesia to Australia.

Mr Abbott declined to comment in detail about Mr Najib's response, saying only, "I think he understood".

Moving to repair another regional relationship damaged by Australia's jarring asylum seeker debate, Mr Abbott also met Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill on Tuesday, saying he would "take full advantage" of Labor's PNG solution.

"I have indicated to Prime Minister O'Neill that I am grateful for the assistance that he is giving to Australia in its hour of need," Mr Abbott said.

"I have indicated to him that we certainly want to take full advantage of PNG's offer to host, if necessary, very significant numbers of illegal arrivals by boat in Manus."

During the election campaign his then shadow ministers criticised the PNG arrangement as unworkable, characterising it as paying off a third-world nation to handle Australia's problems.

Mr Abbott said at the time he would "salvage what we can" from the arrangement, which now appears to be every aspect of the PNG Solution negotiated by Labor.

In return, Mr Abbott also said 50 Australian Federal Police officers would be seconded to PNG by Christmas.

"They are helping us out with the boat people issue. They have certain domestic issues that they believe we can assist with, and we are," he said.

Mr Abbott also met on Monday Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and said the pair agreed to disagree over human rights issues in Sri Lanka.

Mr Harper is boycotting the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the country, saying he was deeply concerned about the situation in Sri Lanka, pointing to the impeachment this year of the Sri Lankan Chief Justice, along with reports of judicial killings, the intimidation of political leaders and journalists, and the harassment of minorities.

"It is clear that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth's core values, which are cherished by Canadians," Mr Harper said on the sidelines of APEC.

But Mr Abbott is determined to attend CHOGM. In his meeting with Mr Harper he said the issue had been discussed but not in detail.

"He knows where I stand and I think there is just an acceptance as there ought to be with friends that at different times we'll take a different approach," Mr Abbott said.

Australia's position is that Sri Lanka's human rights situation is benign enough to mean that refugees fleeing the country to Australia are able to be immediately repatriated.

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God and Allah to be scrapped from court oaths in South Australia

A SHORTLIST is being drawn up for a simple and inclusive new oath for witnesses in South Australian courts, which could also remove references to God and Allah.

The proposed reforms would lead to a single statement for witnesses to pledge to tell the truth in South Australian courts.

There are several forms offered to witnesses preparing to give evidence in court, such as swearing on the Bible or Koran, or a non-religious "affirmation".

Attorney-General John Rau has asked the SA Law Reform Institute to create a shortlist that would contain new wordings for a uniform court statement.

Former Thinker In Residence Judge Peggy Hora has argued some people would not be bound to tell the truth under the current oath because it did not hold any meaning.

Law Reform Institute Deputy Director Helen Wighton said one example of people who would not necessarily feel bound by current wording would be residents of tribal Aboriginal lands.

Of the 3000 people who live in the APY Lands, in the State's Far North, a majority do not speak English and live a semi-traditional lifestyle.

The State Government changes will be released as a discussion paper for public comment later this month and aim to design one oath suitable for all aspects of the community to provide binding and truthful evidence in court.

Ms Wighton said she hoped there would be comments from a range of people, including those who could give an insight into the type of statement that would bind all people to tell the truth.

"We are hoping that we will get responses not just from lawyers and judges who have direct experience but religious groups and cultural groups and linguists," she said.

"I hope to hear from psychologists and people like that who understand how much saying something which you can identify encourages the telling of the truth, let alone comprehending what they are saying."

Ms Wighton said Mr Rau had told the institute he wanted one oath which would bind all people.

Ms Wighton said the issues paper would be released after being presented to Mr Rau later this month.

"We have identified where the oath or affirmation comes from, where the principles are and what the current practice is, and what it is elsewhere," she said. Uniting Church SA moderator Rob Williams said the solution would be two oaths, one religious and one not.

"It would seem to make more sense to have one affirmation for people who are not religious and also one for people who would prefer to swear on the Bible or Koran," he said.

A spokesman for Mr Rau declined to comment.

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Subsidies, federation 'stifle next big sectors to boom'

The report below is patchy.  Getting rid of subsidies to uncompetitive industries is a no-brainer and the potential of tourism is undoubted.  Australia can offer magic tropical destinations where you can safely drink the water and you don't have to press 1 for English!  But the idea of feeding Asia is  unlikely to be realized.  China itself is already a net food EXPORTER under capitalism.  Those Chinese farmers are good!

WASTEFUL industry subsidies, a lack of skilled migrants and a "creaking" federation are stopping businesses from reaping maximum benefit from five "super-growth" industries that can bolster Australia's enviable prosperity as the mining boom wanes.

A Deloitte report argues Asia's increasingly prosperous nations will make farming, gas exports, tourism, education and wealth - where Australia already has advantages - potential boom industries over the next 20 years.

"Exceptional growth in these five sectors would add an additional $25 billion to Australia's GDP in 2033," said Deloitte Access Economics director and report author Chris Richardson.

"The reality is that we need new growth drivers - several new waves - and the first place to look is markets that can be expected to grow significantly faster than the global economy as a whole over the next 10 or 20 years."

Co-author Mehrdad Baghai, managing director at Alchemy Growth Partners, said: "The multi-billion-dollar question is where will global growth and Australia's natural advantage next intersect?"

Farming or "agribusiness" - Australia's "forgotten hero", which offers the greatest economic potential among the five - will be buoyed by a global trend towards higher protein diets coupled with the dollar's anticipated fall to US80c in coming years.

The report recommends "encouraging the consolidation of mature or declining industries, and winding back poorly directed subsidies (as) specifically directed government help can often miss its mark" - advice that defies the Abbott government's plans to prop up the ailing car industry.

The report slams Australia's "creaking federation, with overlapping responsibilities at every level of government leading to wasted spending and atrocious efficiency outcomes".

The potential for education and tourism made sense to visiting English tourist Claire Stokes, who is studying for a year in Melbourne and was yesterday enjoying the sunshine in Cairns, after a week-long east coast bus tour.

Ms Stokes said she was lured to Australia by its natural beauty, a drawcard identified by the Deloitte report, which highlighted the country's 60,000km of shoreline and 3000 average hours of sunshine each year.

"We just visited Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays and it was paradise," Ms Stokes said.

"Australia is my ultimate destination in a lot of ways: it's got great weather and its natural destinations are stunning."

Ms Stokes is studying international development at Melbourne's Monash University. Deloitte pinpointed the teaching of foreign students as Australia's fourth-biggest export earner.

The report says the industry generates $15bn a year and employs 100,000, figures expected to grow as demand intensifies.

Ms Stokes chose to study for one year in Australia, rather than backpack here for two weeks, so she could fit in as much travel as possible. "I don't want to go home without seeing absolutely everything I can," she said.

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Ken Morrison said the report emphasised the need for governments not to take for granted tourism's potential.

He said: "Tourism generates more than $100bn in expenditure every year, directly employs more than 530,000 Australians across the country and is Australia's largest services export."

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No excuses for Aboriginal brutality to women and children

Gary Johns

IN 2010, Ernest Munda of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia killed his common law wife of 16 years, with whom he had four children. He was sentenced to prison for seven years and nine months, with a non-parole period of three years and three months.

The taxpayer funded an appeal to the High Court that his sentence was too harsh. He claimed that the Court of Appeal of Western Australia failed to have "proper regard" to his personal circumstances as a "traditional" Aboriginal man. In particular, "an environment in which the abuse of alcohol is endemic in indigenous communities", was not taken into account.

The High Court knocked him back. The court reiterated that while a person's background could play a part in mitigation, it needed to be "weighed by the sentencing judge". At present, judges have discretion, but in future, if Aboriginal culture is recognised in the Constitution, do not be surprised if the likes of Ernest Munda get lighter sentences.

The desire among many for Aboriginal recognition in the Constitution is genuine and there is a very real possibility of a "yes" case succeeding. The task ahead for sensible people is to draft a yes case that eliminates the risk that bad behaviour will be excused.

The "experts" who advised the Gillard government, recommended, among other things, "respecting the continuing cultures, languages and heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples". This inclusion will increase the likelihood of a "Munda appeal" succeeding.

Just so the foolishness of the cultural recognition proposition is understood, here are the facts of the Munda case.

Munda and his common law wife were drunk and Munda had used cannabis. The pair argued. Munda punched his wife, threw her about the bedroom and repeatedly rammed her head into the walls. Munda "caused the deceased to fall on to a bed mattress". He then stood over her and repeatedly punched her in the face. The next morning, Munda had sexual intercourse with his wife. He then left the house to get some tea. When Munda returned, his wife was dead.

She had died from traumatic brain injury. She also had a fracture to her left jaw and broken ribs. In 2009, Munda had been sentenced to 12 months' jail, suspended for 12 months, for "unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm" to his wife. The injuries included a fractured femur, tibia and right radius as well as deep lacerations to her forehead inflicted by a metal shovel. Earlier in 2009, Munda was also sentenced to six months' jail, suspended for 12 months, for common assault upon his 13-year-old niece and the ex-partner of Munda's sister.

This is a sick culture. And it is a weak society that pays for this person to go to the High Court of Australia to attempt to get less than three years and three months in jail for his horrific crime. Politicians and Aboriginal leaders who want you to vote to change the Constitution to make it possible for the likes of Munda to spend less time in jail should be ashamed.

These cases are not rare. In 2005, a "traditional" man who anally raped his 14-year-old promised bride was convicted to 24 months for "assault and unlawful sexual intercourse", which in effect had him released after one month. The Court of Criminal Appeal of the Northern Territory heard the appeal and marginally increased the sentence.

Sitting in the old man's settlement of Yarralin for sentencing, Brian Martin, then chief justice of the NT Supreme Court, made the following sentencing remarks to the convicted man. "I accept that these offences occurred because the young child had been promised to you. This is not a case where you simply sought out a young child for sexual gratification ... I have a great deal of sympathy for you and the difficulties attached to transition from traditional Aboriginal culture and laws as you understand them to be, to obeying the Northern Territory law."

An alternative yes case is to recognise the historical truth in a preamble to the Constitution: that an Aboriginal people lived on the continent before its settlement by the British.

The experts also recommended "recognising that the continent and its islands now known as Australia were first occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples". This is sensible, as long as it sits in a preamble. The Constitution is not a storybook, it is a rule book, and every Australian should play by the same rules.

Presently, judges have discretion in sentencing. If you want to look after the Ernest Mundas of the world, go ahead and vote yes for "cultural" recognition. If you are for human rights, then vote yes for "historic" recognition.

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Abbott Government in crime crackdown on asylum seekers

ALMOST 30 asylum seekers released into the community have been charged with offences ranging from people smuggling to pedophilia and murder.

The Coalition will launch a new behaviour crackdown for bridging visa holders and community detainees who will be automatically returned to detention if they are charged with an offence.

Under the previous government some asylum seekers remained in the community while facing charges with revocations considered on a case-by-case basis.

Since the election ten asylum seekers of 14 who have had their bridging visas revoked since May have been returned to detention.

Another 14 asylum seekers in community detention have been returned since mid-2011 after being accused of serious offences.

Most of the alleged offences have occurred in NSW with 11, four in Queensland and South Australia, three in Victoria, two in the ACT and the NT and one in WA.

The alleged offences against children include the sexual assault of a child, indecent assault of a child, indecent act with a child under 16 and physical assault of a child.

Asylum seekers in the community have also been accused of rape, stalking, acts of indecency and torture.

An asylum seeker is also facing charges of murder while others have allegedly committed armed robbery with assault, aggravated burglaries and assaults, domestic violence, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault while armed, threatening to kill and drink driving.

Mr Morrison called for behaviour protocols in February after Sri Lankan boat arrival Daxchan Selvarajah, 21 was charged with the indecent assault of a Macquarie University student in her dorm.

He lost an appeal against the cancellation of his bridging visa in May. At a bail hearing earlier this year his lawyer said the 21-year-old denied the charges and that the case against him was weak.  A court is yet to determine the case.

Mr Morrison said yesterday while the offences were not "disproportionate for these groups" with about 20,000 people in the community he would have a "zero tolerance attitude for those who violate the trust given by granting them permission to live in the community."

"The escalating number of these serious offences is of great concern to the new government and we are putting strong controls in place," he said.  "Visas are being cancelled for those charged and they are being taken back into detention."

The Coalition has also moved to provide address details of asylum seekers living in the community to police.

State police and police unions had requested the information but were only provided postcodes under the previous government which attacked Mr Morrison's behavioural protocol policy.

Mr Morrison said the "mandatory behaviour protocols" for bridging visa holders and community detainees were being developed.

Last month an Afghan asylum seeker allegedly stabbed to death another asylum seeker at Berala.

Another asylum seeker was charged over the alleged indecent assault of a visually impaired woman on a Sydney train in July.

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Clive Palmer an overnight political force

THEY came from nowhere, obscure, multicultural, unfinished but ambitious people, wanting a shot in Clive's Army. Most have disappeared back from where they came, for now, but the Palmer United Party has won enough seats to give them the balance of power in the Senate.

Now Tony Abbott needs Clive Palmer, whose candidates are more naturally aligned to him than Labor, to deliver him the power to pass laws through both houses of parliament when the new Senate takes its place from July next year.

Labor and the Greens together have 35 Senate seats.

Abbott has 33. But if you include the three new PUP senators-elect, and another three new independent senators who are either loosely or extremely Right, Abbott's got it sewn up. He just has to be nice to Clive.

Palmer offered people an unprecedented shot at instant party power, herding candidates into every one of the 150 lower house seats in the country, and into all Senate races.

There were no arduous preselection campaigns. Nominees filled in a form stating their health status, criminal history, previous political affiliations, any history of bankruptcy, military and academic record, and were asked to provide three referees.

It appears the party took just about anyone who put up their hand. Better candidates were given up to $8000, asked to acquaint themselves with the party's key policies and told: go for it. Sure-fire losers got budgets of $3000 or less, to be spent on printing and ads.

There was a big name or two, such as ex-rugby player Glenn Lazarus (now Queensland senator-elect Lazarus), and older sporting heroes like the AFL's Doug Hawkins and boxer Barry Michael, but most were complete unknowns.

It became clear after meeting some PUP candidates that all they had in common was an admiration for Palmer and a desire to get into parliament.

Palmer had five key policies: abolishing the carbon tax; building refineries to process minerals at home; and requiring that a portion of wealth flowed directly back to any community from where it was generated.

His refugee policy was unfathomable, and his vendetta against political lobbyists (no.1 on his policy list) was of little interest to Palmer.

There was no defence policy. No foreign policy. On asylum seekers, anyone who wanted to come to Australia should get a passport, pay $800 for a flight, land at an airport, have their claim heard on the spot, and if it was rejected they'd be sent home on the next flight. That would stop the boats, said Palmer.

Bikkar Singh Brar, 68, a former lieutenant-colonel in the Indian army, was notified less than three weeks out from the election that he would be the candidate in Alexander Downer's old seat of Mayo, in South Australia, after the previous PUP candidate was shifted to another seat at the last moment.

The PUP jammed anyone it could find into seats and Brar didn't have a hope. "I didn't know any single person in that electorate at the time of my nomination," he says, without complaint.

Yet Brar, who does not live in the electorate, somehow picked up 3434 votes. This willingness to vote for a total stranger was happening all across Australia, and it was a personal endorsement of Palmer.

Brar liked Palmer's uncosted promise to find $80 billion to improve Australia's health system. Brar had travelled back home to India to get two root canals and six fillings at the cost of $180. He said the same treatment would have cost $4000 in Australia.

"The gentleman is concerned about Australia," said Brar of Palmer. "He wants to see Australia as a leading country in the world. He is a passionate person. He does not seek his employment by becoming a politician."

The chance of entering parliament brought out people such as Doug Te Wake, 42, a long-serving member of the special forces, who only left the Afghanistan battlefield in 2012 after serving with the 2 Commando Regiment.

Te Wake was strongly against Labor's carbon tax, and what he sees as the Coalition's complicity in allowing it through (though they voted against it in both houses).

When Te Wake says he went through a preselection process for an NT Senate seat, he really means that he filled out the form and was notified by party headquarters in Queensland that he'd got the nomination.

He agrees that if by some freak the party had won a big number of lower house seats, rather than Palmer's (likely) sole victory in Fairfax, the party would have arrived without any true ideological alignment.

That situation remains true for the three new PUP senators, who now must confer to see if they share any true common ground beyond being united under Palmer and his core policies, most of which are so generic in nature that are open to freewheeling interpretation.

"I agree there isn't a nucleus within the party, but the reason is that it is so new," says Te Wake, who missed out on a seat but announced himself with about 7 per cent of the vote.

"It's just the start for me," he says. "The party will be contesting the various state and territory elections as they come up. We are serious. We're not a flash in the pan. We're sticking around for the long haul."

What can be said for certain about PUP candidates, successful or otherwise, is they share two unique characteristics: they don't expect to be bullied by party headquarters; and they all believe in Clive.

Whether that is basis for unity remains to be seen. But it cannot be disputed Australia found itself with its fourth-largest political party almost overnight.

Wayne Slattery, 42, the CEO of the Good Samaritans, sick of both major parties, contested an ACT Senate seat for the PUP and lost. He agrees that the party's policies must become a "deeper thing".

Most Australians, even those who've spent time reading PUP policies, would be hard pressed to say what the party really stands for, except for offering a non-Green alternative.

Slattery says PUP policy will evolve naturally. "Clive did a lot of research, about increasing pensions and making governments more accountable in their spending," he says. "It's all just common sense stuff."

But there is something of America's uncompromising Tea Party about them, an obstinate view that after winning 700,000-plus of the national vote they are entitled.

They are powerful already, but not yet dangerous. We will know once Palmer starts instructing his three senators on how to vote, from July next year. We will learn, then, whether they have the discipline to be party people and follow his wishes, or are really three new independents in disguise.

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Fracking too hot a topic till after Vic election

A decision to end a ban on the controversial practice known as fracking could be deferred until after the state election in a bid to avoid a regional backlash.

As The Sunday Age reported last week, the Napthine government is headed for a showdown between farmers, miners and environmentalists as it decides whether to lift the moratorium and allow the expansion of coal seam gas (CSG) in Victoria.

Tensions over CSG have reignited as the government awaits a review from former federal minister Peter Reith, which is expected to recommend developing an unconventional gas industry in the face of future price rises.

But with the Coalition at risk of angering voters in country seats - and potentially causing a split between Liberals and Nationals within its ranks - the government has signalled it might delay the process until after the November 2014 poll in an attempt to neutralise political sensitivities.

Days after Premier Denis Napthine said he was ''in no hurry when it comes to unconventional gas'', Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said: ''It will take as long as it takes; we're not trying to time it to a calendar.

''To do that would be a bad mistake and would fly in the face of our approach: that we have to do justice to this issue and accommodate all the concerns from the community.''

Mr Ryan's Gippsland South seat is one of several under fire from CSG opponents.

Fracking is the practice in which gas is extracted by injecting water mixed with sand and chemicals underground. While coal seam gas has been mined and used in parts of Australia for nearly 30 years, farmers and environmentalists fear that fracking could contaminate aquifers and result in gas escaping into drinking water as it rises to the surface.

The government says it has not yet received Mr Reith's review, but well-placed sources believe it is likely to recommend lifting the moratorium on fracking, which was put in place last year, and explore the development of CSG and other types of unconventional gas in Victoria. The review is also expected to suggest giving farmers royalties for the use of their wells.

Last week Mr Reith said community concerns about water contamination were understandable, but at the same time action had to be taken in Victoria to avoid future gas shortages and rising prices.

''Just a straight-out ban to me is not an approach which suggests a sort of rational consideration,'' he said.

Concerns have been raised that the taskforce assisting Mr Reith is heavily weighted towards industry. It includes representatives from Dow Chemicals, the Australian Pipeline Industry Association, Energy Australia, the Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, Origin Energy, and Australian Industry Group. Newly elected federal Liberal MP Angus Taylor was also enlisted.

Documents obtained by Labor MP Lily D'Ambrosio under freedom of information laws show that Mr Reith is being paid at a rate of $2000 a day (capped at 30 days) to chair the review.

Prior to the moratorium, dozens of licences had been granted for unconventional gas exploration around the state, including in Dr Napthine's electorate on Victoria's south-west coast, Mr Ryan's electorate, and parts of western Victoria.

In the Nationals heartland of Gippsland, Lakes Oil, which is partly owned by Gina Rinehart, has already fracked 11 sites, and is ready to frack another - the Wombat gasfield - as soon as the moratorium is lifted.

Gerald Leach from the Victorian Farmers Federation said farmers should be given the right to veto mining on private land. This would be better than paying them royalties, he said, because it would allow farmers to negotiate for a share of future profits.

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Australia's leaky submarine program

This week some interesting leaks have suggested that Australia's six Collins Class submarines are facing serious (read expensive) risks that might make extending their operating life difficult (read really expensive) or even impossible.

Originally the first Collins Class submarine was scheduled to be retired in 2024, with the remainder to be decommissioned by 2031. They were to be replaced by 12 Future Submarines, which have a largely bespoke or developmental design, and will be assembled in Adelaide.

The Future Submarine was the centrepiece of the 2009 Defence White Paper. The implementation of this ambitious plan to reorganise the nation's defences has languished due to systemic underfunding and heel dragging on the part of government decision makers. Nowhere was the delay more evident than the Future Submarine project.

It takes 15 or more years to bring the first boat of a developmental class to operational status. If work on the Future Submarine had begun promptly in 2009, it would have been theoretically possible to meet the original timeframe. But it didn't.

By the end of 2012 many fundamental decisions and preparatory steps still had not been taken. The likelihood that the Future Submarine would be in service before the Collins Class became obsolete was very low.

It was at this time that the Gillard government released findings that the Collins Class service life could be extended for another full operating cycle (seven years), regaining the four years they had wasted through inaction since the 2009 Defence White Paper. It was a fortuitous finding, but what would the cost of the extension program be?

The Collins Class has very low reliability and high costs compared to its rivals (as detailed in my 2012 report). With the news that 68 major systems aboard the submarines pose a high to extreme risk of preventing the fleet from reaching its life expectancy or being extended, it seems that the bill for keeping the Collins Class subs operational will get even larger.

The Defence Department has commented that 'identify[ing] potential issues and risks ... is a common and normal process to be followed if consideration is being given to the life-extension of any system.'

If this was a common and normal process, why was the existence of these risks (and the expected cost of dealing with them) not released to the public before the election? Operational security should not be invoked as a shield to hide poorly performing defence programs from public scrutiny.

Taxpayers are entitled to know whether the Collins Class currently represents value for money. They are entitled to ask whether the service life extension of the Collins is a good investment, before we commit tens of billions of dollars to replicate the Collins Class process for the Future Submarine.

They are also entitled to ask whether there are other options, but that is a story for another day.

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