<< I was having a poke at the Newman govt in Qld...which appears to be developing an interesting hue of fascist police state about it. >>

Poirot, there are just so many aspects of law and liberties that have become really sloppy in this country. There is thus enormous scope for a bit of tightening up. I think Newman is striving to do this. Good on him. There’s nothing fascist about that in my view.

I was appalled at the reaction to Newman’s comments about the judiciary recently.

< He was concerned about the (bikie-related) decision and wanted the state's judiciary to "start realising what the community wants and act accordingly". >

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/30/judge-adjourns-newman-bikie-commentsl

A judge condemned him for that and suspended a hearing accordingly!

That’s atrocious! If Newman is not free to make a comment like that, then we are in big trouble! Basic freedom of speech would go out the window.

We are all free to be highly critical of government. Government is free to be critical of any individual or business or group of any sort….. except the judiciary??

And what he said is eminently sensible – of course the courts should be making decisions that reflect the will of the people, as far as the law will allow.

Sheesh!

It is not the job of the Court to reflect the will of the people but to apply the law as it is written and approved by Parliament and within such parameters as are allowed by law.

Nothing more, nothing less.

i agree with..is mise

welcome to stalin grade
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/fare-evasion-blitz-on-trams-buses-20130424-2ie3s.html

<< It is not the job of the Court to reflect the will of the people but to apply the law as it is written and approved by Parliament and within such parameters as are allowed by law. >>

Is Mise, the will of the people and the application of the law as written are not mutually exclusive.

The parameters within which a judge can make a decision are mostly quite broad.

Newman was simply saying that judges should be a bit harsher when dealing with bikie-related criminal activities, wasn’t he?

It is not unreasonable for him to say that this is the will of the people.

And it was certainly not unreasonable for him to publicly implore judges to consider this!

No good telling police about agressive drivers behind you, unless you have visual proof. A camera costs around 50$ and is worth a whole lot more. As people get close enough to see what you have they back off just as quick.

<< No good telling police about agressive drivers behind you, unless you have visual proof. >>

579, I wonder if the police would be any more interested in a complaint if you said you had caught the incident on an in-car camera?

I have got the impression that the cops are just not interested in things like that at all, end of story. I had one glaring incident, at the Casino police station in northern NSW, where as soon as I mentioned the incident that I wished to report, which was really quite bizarre and serious, they were not interested…. before I had given any details whatsoever.

Meanwhile, if you report someone for doing absolutely nothing wrong but just appearing a bit unusual, as part of Neighbourhood Watch, they’ll jump to it straight away. No evidence required.

Quite frankly, I’ve completely lost it with the police. I don’t ever want to go anywhere near them ever again for any reason!

I would love to be able to my citizen's duty to help with road safety, and all manner of laws, but it would have to be through some other management regime than the police.

If the Dept of Transport or the RACQ could administer road safety law, then I'd be right into doing my bit. But with the police being the official (and only) authority for this sort of thing, then forget it.

They are nothing more than a brickwall to the improvement of roadsafety!!