Law & Crime

Occasionally something happens that turns our collective minds to history. That happened this week when Nazis dominated Australian headlines for possibly the first time since the end of World War II. Australia’s Nazis are rattling the cage, trying to transform themselves from a secretive, mask-wearing sect into a political movement that influences our political ideas and controls the streets through violence.

Australia’s multicultural affairs minister, Anne Aly, has no doubt the March for Australia rallies that dominated much of the political debate during the week were organised by Nazis with the main purpose of protesting ‘immigration from countries that have brown people’ … The politics of race and immigration is a dangerously combustible commodity, which helps to explain not only the tenor of the prime minister’s response but also the government’s handling of the announcement of a $400 million deal to deport former migrant detainees to Nauru.

Drama, often confected, is never far from the theatre of democratic politics, but there was nothing synthetic about the sombre mood that gripped the suddenly called news conference in the prime minister’s courtyard on Tuesday.

When Tim Fischer called High Court judges ‘pissants’ in the ’90s, after they recognised native title and overturned terra nullius, he created the rare spectacle of a government minister excoriating a member of the judiciary in the media … This year, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Lia Finocchiaro, publicly dismissed a damning coronial report into yet another Black death in custody.

It has been a difficult two years for Australia. This much is clear. The values we hold dear and the ties that have for generations bound our community of communities have been tested like never before. These challenges are not unique to Australia. We see the same fracturing in societies across our like-minded allies in Europe.

Pretaped testimony allows victim-survivors to give evidence much earlier on, enabling them to move on with their lives and focus on their wellbeing. Seeking justice should be a healing path, and prerecorded testimony aims to safeguard against the reopening of wounds.

Trump has bluffed his way into two presidencies, and may be trying to orchestrate the possibility of a third. His strange alt world seems finally to be losing its magical glow for millions of captivated Americans, however.

If you are indeed giving aid and comfort to Vladimir Putin, a foreign enemy, are you not a traitor and are you not in blatant violation of article III, section 3 of the constitution?

Transparency and integrity are ideals imbued with symbolism, but they have very real practical meaning in our democracy … Together, they mean a government free from corruption and wrongdoing – or at least, a government where wrongdoers are held to account.

This month’s High Court ruling on Indigenous property rights confirms the full humanity of First Nations people.