I don’t always get to my The Law Report podcasts in a timely manner. So it was only last night that I was able to listen to the show from 23 May 2006.

A fascinating program, as always, this time with relevence to what I am- opinionated.

It seems, according to the highly experienced Ron Merkel, who had ten years in the Federal Court and 25 years prior to that as a barrister with an extensive practice in public law, my opinion is enshrined in Law.

“Damien Carrick: There has of course been quite a history of stoushes between judges and the current Attorney General, who was for many years the Immigration minister. I remember at one point Philip Ruddock, when he was Immigration minister, saying something along the lines of ‘Even when legislation is amended’ (he was talking about migration legislation) ‘the Federal Court judges are always going to try to deal themselves back into the review game’. He was basically saying, (these are my words, not his) ‘You engage in a bit of traditional activism here’.”

“Ron Merkel: I suppose the wonderful thing about living in a democracy is everyone, including the Attorney General, is entitled to have an opinion.” (Bold is mine)

Image from here

Prime Minister HoWARd had the numbers and Costello didn’t. Costello is not a man who settles for less and recent interviews show that he gets tetchy…

“Doesn’t matter what I feel, that’s the outcome, and that’s the important thing. This has been resolved. It’s been resolved so that everybody knows where they stand. We’re going into an election probably within 12 months and the good thing is that we all know where we stand. And that’s the best thing that we could hope for. The party can now buckle down for the election and I certainly can get on, hopefully, in future press conferences without having to face barrages of these questions over and over again.
I’m not going to go into my expectation, it doesn’t matter what my expectation is. What counts is what his intention is, and you’ll have to ask him his intention.” -Peter Costello

A kneeling treasurer, will it work?

Image from here