Here’s one for our Queanbeyan readers!
Well done, Queanbeyan Police Station (and, it seems, the NSW Government) for refusing entry to some UN human rights inspectors who, it has been reported, turned up unannounced and tried to barge in to inspect the cells there.
To me, it is ridiculous that the relevant UN human rights body is currently out in Australia to look into our prison system. They voted 14 to 12 to refuse to do anything about gross human rights abuses in the Chinese Communist Party-run concentration camps imprisoning 1 million Muslim Uyghurs in western China, or about abuses in Russia, North Korea and Iran. Compared to those countries’ prison systems, Australia’s is paradise on earth, despite whatever faults it may have.
One wonders why we bother with the UN with its clearly anti-Western bias and blatant hypocrisy, which, it seems, knows no bounds. However, I suppose some of its agencies do good work with refugees and aid to struggling Third World countries (largely with donated Western money). Whilst ineffective against the aggression of major powers, it has had some limited success in facilitating mediation of some disputes which could have escalated otherwise. As Churchill once said: “Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.”
Talking of hypocrisy, I note the Federal Greens – who are very vocal in support of an integrity commission, and who have relentlessly pursued Coalition members for any impropriety shown – have been very coy and quiet about Lidia Thorpe, the flamboyant Senator for Victoria and their former deputy leader, who got into a spot of bother over a conflict of interest involving a committee she was on which investigated organised crime and bikie gangs whilst she had a concurrent friendship with a former bikie gang boss. Not a good look! Former NSW Liberal Premier Barry O’Farrell had to resign over a bottle of wine he forgot to declare. Talk about double standards! Indeed, there have been lots of calls by sections of the media and other politicians for her to resign from the Senate.
Numerous people have questioned whether Senator Thorpe was in fact sworn in properly, as she had to take the oath twice, and even then didn’t do it correctly. My understanding is that a new Senator cannot sit in the Senate unless they take a proper oath. This needs to be checked further. If it turns out that Senator Thorpe has not taken a proper oath, she should be barred from the Senate, and the next Green on the ticket takes her place. If Senator Thorpe can’t abide by the rules of the Federal Parliament, she should not be there.
I don’t think there has been anything remotely like this in our ACT Assembly. Everyone has taken a proper oath. Maybe local Green Shane Rattenbury had his own little rebellion of sorts by not wearing a tie when he first started, but that’s nothing. Shane now wears a tie, dresses immaculately, and looks positively ministerial.
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Canberra Daily.
