Terrorism
and truth
By Rodney Allen
This article explores the issue of whether there can be any objectivity to ascriptions of terrorism. It argues that there is a coherent and generally applicable concept of terrorism, in terms of which particular ascriptions can be objectively true or false. The article also examines the similarities and differences between terrorist and genocidal crimes.
Which Truth?
Australian identity - culture and politics
by Cheryl Simpson
Australia has for many years recognised the importance of fostering a mutual understanding of its cultural values with other countries. Australia has been represented as a tolerant, multicultural and open society. Recent representation of a 'new Australia' at major international events such as the last Olympic Games has continued to foster these images. At odds with this, however, is the manner in which government has dealt with asylum seekers. The media coverage of this ongoing issue represents Australia in a very different light. The tough approach taken by Australia in this instance seems to be inconsistent with a tolerant multicultural society. With the range of diverse cultural images of Australia being portrayed by government, it must be asked, Which Truth prevails in the national arena?
Australia's
child asylum seekers
by Judith Bessant
Australia is the only country in the world to compulsorily 'detain' asylum seekers who arrive without valid documentation. This involves an exercise of state power which in tandem with the suspension of normal legal protections that are available to others, brings Australia uncomfortably close to examples of what happens when state regimes extinguish fundamental legal and constitutional rights understood to constitute the rule of law.
In this article the author outlines the kinds of criteria normally used to assess the welfare of all children and young people and what those criteria would imply when considering the circumstances of those children and young people currently in Australian detention centres.
The idea that government ought itself
to be subject to the rule of law is a long standing and widely held liberal
principle employed to guard against the arbitrary exercise of power. The main
argument being made is that the criteria for identifying when the welfare of
children is at risk which are found in some 12 separate and current Australian
legislative enactments, points unequivocally to the serious plight of young
people in Australia's immigration detentions centres.
The wife as
legal subject in equity and commercial law
by Renata Grossi
This article takes arguments made
in feminist jurisprudence in relation to women and the law and applies them
to wives. It argues that if women experience a disadvantage by the way they
are represented by our laws, this is many times more true of women who are wives,
and many times more true of wives who come into contact with commercial law.
Privatisation:
Lessons from the war
by Graeme Hodge
Pressures for reforms to government continue, including the application of a range of privatisation activities to attack public sector problems. With strong ideological overtones accompanying this technique, though, one could be forgiven for seeing privatisation as a war. With decades of global experience in contracting-out operations, selling off assets and establishing services markets from health to electricity, it is timely that we now take stock and review learnings to date.
This article aims to separate the privatisation rhetoric offered by political and investment actors from the empirical realities of citizens and consumers living on the battlefield. The aim is to learn from our empirical experience in an even-handed manner, and determine who typically wins and loses in these reforms and the degree to which gains or other impacts occur. The article articulates common threads through our global privatisation experience in order to develop a series of policy lessons.
One particular country examined
throughout is Australia, which has been keen on privatisation over the past
decade. The state of Victoria, for instance, saw AUD$33b in sell-offs, and led
the world during the 1990s on the basis of sales proceeds as a proportion of
GNP. This state also saw AUD$11b of services redirected to private contractors
for the next two decades. But what do we know from Victoria's experiment, and
what has 20 years of privatisation around the world taught us? Much, if we throw
away the political rhetoric, the economic dogma and the quick one liner and
learn from the evidence.
Prostitution
law reform
by Thomas Crofts
The article addresses the issue of prostitution law reform, again on the agenda in Western Australia since the lapse of the Prostitution Act 2000 (WA). It explores the changes recently made in Germany in this area and asks whether there are any useful insights for Western Australia.
Koori
Courts: A responsive justice system
by Rob Hulls MP
A pilot project triling two Koori courts commences in Victoria in September 2002. The Attorney General describes how the sytem will work and the reasons behind its establishment.
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