The Federal Court has overturned Minister for Immigration Kevin Andrews decision to rescind Dr Haneefs visa, on the grounds that he applied the wrong test.

Given the general air of farce that has surrounded this case from the get go, can Andrews claim any credibility as a responsible Minister?

Of course not - however, he was just doing his master's bidding.

How much compensation do you think Dr Haneef will be awarded, should he decide to sue the Federal government for the various injustices that he has clearly suffered at their hands?

If the decision is upheld on appeal (and I'm running with the thought that the government cannot afford to leave it alone), then there is probably going to be at least loss of income, as well as compensation for the loss of dwellings and so on.

Whether there are punitive damages is another question.

Obviosly the whole thing has turned into a farce but one would assume that Andrews had legal advise that he was acting legally. If so then I don't see why he should resign. However if he acted without legal advise he should resign.

It not just the legal aspect here. Andrews basically circumvented the judicial process, regardless of any protests that immigration is a seperate process to the judicial system. Rather than waiting for the process to work its way through, he put himself above the judicial system. This is not something we want in a Minister.

Good Grief.... we have James the aspiring politician, Peppy the Muslim and the 'leftoid'... (thats you CJ) no 'religious nutters' here... I better fix that.

But frivolity out of the way, I don't know why everyone is acting like they know all the ins and outs of this case when they are in fact acting only on 'drip feed' information.

I cannot see why the AFP would release ALL information about the case, because it might jeapordize their methods of gathering intelligence.

Is there a possibility that 'political expedience' played a role in the case ? well.. more like this, it is highly unlikely that it did not.

What fascinates me though, is that those who criticize the government handling of the affair, seem to do so more for political advantage rather than any sense of justice, though they would be loathe to admit it.

I also doubt that any replacement government in the form of the critics of the current Gov, would 'handle' things in the same way if the subject in question was more an object of loathing to the 'left' or if he symbolized some issue which the left enjoys capitalizing on.

Bottom line, I'm cynical about ALL government, whether left or right, and I'm more cynical about those who from one side or the other, criticize the incumbents.

"He who is without sin...cast the first stone"

The best criticism and the most believable, comes from those who clearly have no vested interest in destroying the incumbent government. I'm yet to see such from any quarter.