Sorry, Didn't See That Speed Sign!
Just imagine getting a Speed Camera ticket and all you have to do to get the charges dropped is apologise for not noticing which speed zone you were in. Like THAT ever happens, right? This is because the Camera Photo is clear proof of the 'the guilty act' (Prima Facie evidence).
So, imagine our surprise to find out three Coalition Government ministers got 3 Prima Facie aggravated contempt and 3 breach of sub judice charges dropped simply by apologizing for failing to pay attention. Here's the scoop.
A few weeks ago, The Three Stooges publicly criticised Victorian Court of Appeal judges, sparking fears their comments might erode confidence in the judiciary. Wait... which confidence would that be? If ANU stats are anything to go by less than 30% of Australia took any notice of what was said, but pretty much everyone now knows the Stooges got off charges that nobody else could have.
It's favoritism like this that erodes confidence in the judiciary. And ironically, perhaps even laughably, the criticism leveled at the judges was intended to publicly embarrass them into going harder on everyone else! (Which they ended up doing by the way)
Anyhoo, what ever the judges were banging on about in the press was already a moot point because, according to the ANU, Australian confidence in both the government and judiciary was already at record-lows more than two elections ago, and is still declining.
Interestingly, the Australian government has concluded confidence is low because it isn't punitive enough. Wait... which part of "Nanny State" do they not comprehend, exactly? It's not meant to be taken as a compliment!
This could be a long shot but, perhaps the decline was triggered when our NO referendum to give council powers resulted in councils having powers anyway which caused our homes to be sold out from underneath us, or when the government start behaving like the KGB and operating under new secrecy laws.
And if that only effected a few, 7 year jail sentences for environmental activism, while child rapists were getting less than 6 months (some wholly suspended) certainly turned a few more heads.
And there's no saying how many 'alternative music' fans out there gave the government the thumbs down for listing them as a potential terrorist threat. Or how many parents were cut off from family payments based on their medical preferences and how many doctors could potentially go to jail for 10 years for protecting the life of a vaccine-damaged child.
A few more heads were turned when more than 300 breeches of our UN treaties came to light and a few more when infringements of fundamental democratic mechanisms like open justice and separation of powers were perpetrated.
And a few more when robo-debt started and a few more again when the government gave themselves a pay rise from the billions it clawed back from the poor and more again when it blamed the unemployed for lack of jobs.
We could be here all day listing every infringement on our democracy that directly impacted some sub-group of the population or another to date, suffice to say it all adds up to over 80% of Australia having no faith left in either the government or the judiciary.
And what happened when more than 80% of Australia, in favour of renewables, said NO to fracking? Many were arrested and the rest were silenced.
'Straya mate! Where nobody's above the law except the government and the unelected judiciary.