Drug plan is failing: new trial needed

In October 2016, what was then the largest drug haul for 2016 was achieved when approximately one tonne of crystal MDMA was saved from entering the community. At the end of December 2016, 500 kilograms of cocaine was halted in NSW and 600 kilograms was intercepted in Tahiti. Most recently a boat was intercepted off the coast of Tasmania carrying 186 kilograms of cocaine (“Arrests follow seizure of cocaine”, Canberra Times, 19 Jan, p14). No matter the size of drug seizures, the amount of drugs on the streets continually increases. One would think if seizures were having a positive impactContinue reading

Protect the whistlers, don’t punish them

Letter to Senator Xenophon: The article in the Age 161230 describes how whistleblower Brian Hood has had to sell his home because he could not gain further employment after becoming a whistleblower  about behaviour at the Reserve Bank. He is one of many. It is utterly disgraceful that individuals who are so courageous as to risk everything, including jeopardising their future careers, are so poorly looked after. The article states that in Britain, the head of the Serious Fraud Office, David Green, says that financially rewarding whistleblowers ‘seems slightly distasteful’. (Presumably he has never had to contemplate anything to distasteful,Continue reading

From our separate hells to sing of Paradise

In his letter ‘Matters of life or death’, Greg Cornwell (Canberra Times, 9 Jan 2017) poses a confusing question: “Do people who oppose the death penalty also oppose euthanasia?” Clearly, the death penalty is a punitive act by the State following a court decision, while euthanasia is a humane option for terminally ill people with no quality of life, to be granted legal endorsement for their right to die with dignity, at a time and place of their choosing, often with medical assistance. There is no evidence or reason to bind these two life-ending acts into a given endorsement orContinue reading