Nicola Roxon’s appointment as Australia’s first female Attorney-General presents several opportunities to address issues handled poorly by Robert McClelland.
McClelland’s period as Attorney-General was characterised by an apparent readiness to accede to virtually any demands for greater regulation that emerged from the Commonwealth bureaucracy. ASIO’s powers were extended — in an blatant effort to enable to spy on WikiLeaks — and a bill to enable foreign governments to obtain information about what Australians have been doing online and with mobile phone services remains under parliamentary consideration, despite criticism from the government’s own MPs. McClelland also appeared unable to comprehend the basic requirements of his role as First Law Officer, when he arbitrarily concluded that Julian Assange had acted illegally in relation to WikiLeaks’s US diplomatic cables, before an Australian Federal Police investigation concluded he was wrong.
Roxon, who has a strong legal background, would do well to commence her spell at attorney-general by taking a far more sceptical view of bureaucratic demands for ever-greater powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. She could start by reading the bipartisan report of the Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety’s report on the Cybercrime Bill, which while inadequate, spells out a number of flaws in that bill.
She could also make an unequivocal statement that Julian Assange is, once his legal obligations in Sweden are exhausted one way or another, welcome to return to Australia where he will be afforded the full legal protection to which an Australian citizen is entitled.
Roxon has also inherited privacy from Brendan O’Connor, who was Australia’s first minister for privacy. O’Connor himself was a diligent advocate for privacy and a discussion paper on a statutory right to privacy remains on foot. But the government’s overall willingness to protect privacy must be strongly questioned, courtesy of its willingness to sign up to US-inspired trade treaties that remove basic privacy protections at the behest of the copyright industry, and its ongoing consideration of ISP data retention laws.
Roxon could send a strong signal that privacy is an important issue for the government, and that it is prepared to work to protect Australians’ privacy, including in the face of attempts by other countries to erode it.
I’ve been impressed with Nicola Roxon’s performance so far, and more than disappointed by McClelland’s, so I’m hoping for good things to come from the Attorney-General’s department after this change.
I’m sure AG Roxon will make up her own mind about where she intends to take the Ministry. There is little comparison between her and former AG McClelland. Two completely different personalities and while McClelland seemed to prefer avoiding hard decisions and was a somewhat timid if nice man, Roxon is certainly not timid and nice is not a description those who have done battle with her previously, would readily use. If her energy and determination to get things done in the Health portfolio are any indication, the Attorney Generals Dept is in for a rude awakening from its slumber.
Incidentally if the yobo shadow Health spokesperson Dutton thinks his luck has changed for the better with Roxons departure, best he thinks again. Minister Plibersek is no wimp for the taking. He will probably find the only thing that has changed is the name of the Minister, otherwise it is business as usual.
Her first acts need to be to repeal the horrendous Al Kateb which she loudly condemned when shadow in immigration. Al Kateb allows for the permanent jailing of innocent people without charge just because they have asked to be deported but are stateless or can’t receive permission.
This hideous law should not ever be on the books of any country on earth and DIAC have been openly misusing it by jailing Indonesian children as young as 13 in adult jails under it’s permanent prison formula.
Metcalfe said so in estimates last year and no media bothered to care.
She has to repeal the nonsense of mandatory detention for people just because they come by sea – this is a frigging island and it is quite legal to come here by sea.
She needs to curb the racist attempts to over ride the high court and pack refugees off to parts dangerous.
In all she needs to uphold the law which is the job of the first law officer, not to break it as McClelland was only to happy to do.
Couldn’t agree more with your comments about McLelland! Never has the AG’s Department pulled the wool over an AG’s eyes more effectively than with him. The place had been stacked with neo-con lawyers who had a field day with the Howard Government and couldn’t believe their luck when they got McLelland. Very much keep your own counsel Ms Roxon.
She will be orders of magnitude better than Mr PotatoHead who never questioned a bureaucratic decision and showed all the independent thought of…. errr… NOTHING.
Who knows, she might even find in the buried files the application for the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (aka a Pardon) sought by that Customs bloke eviscerated and sent broke by the Rodent over Sydney airport security. It’s only been duck shoved back & forth for over two years so, start as you mean to go on Ms Roxon. Lotsa luck!