Pica Pica

Particularly not in the Government of New South Wales. They would know better than to let this happen.

Yesterday Richard Ackland wrote a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald on Bikie laws sideline the rule of law. In order to appear to be “doing something” the Rees government has rushed in new laws. This is because there is criminal activity here – hardly a surprise, with 4 million people in Sydney alone. Some of those criminals are in “bikie gangs”. Yes, I know, some are also in bowls clubs, but be reasonable, they are not so noticeable. Now we do have laws against beating people to death here, and there are laws against criminal organizations. But the existing laws against crime are not always well enforced. (Anyone for a debate on resources? OK, maybe not.) But bringing in some new laws that give the police yet more power to act, with greater freedom, with less supervision, with greater secrecy and with fewer of those irritating stumbling blocks like the annoying “right of appeal” in the way – now that’s a vote catcher!

Now the precise way in which this new legislation sidesteps the basic protections of civilized and humane society is just a tad subtle, and I urge you to read the article itself (link above). It would also be good to read the paper referenced by Ackland, said to be on Nicholas Cowdery’s website – Nicholas Cowdery is the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions. So far I have not found it – can anyone supply the link?

Germans, whether from the east with more recent memories of the “Ministry for State Security (Stasi)”, or from the west with memories of the earlier 20th century, would be more likely to realize how precious the rule of law is, and how insidiously citizens’ rights can be chipped away as the powers of the police and other security forces are reinforced to deal with difficult situations. The road to hell is proverbially paved with good intentions. There are people in power too short-sighted to see that this proverb is serious.