Week@TheKnees ... February 21 to February 27 ... Brandis may have misled parliament on Bell scandal ... The Department of Bullies dooms asylum seekers' applications to failure ... Child sex offenders still receive financial assistance from the Catholic Church ... Ditch coal, Australia should export rule of law, says Warren CJ ... No culture problem at Seven West Media? ... Fair Work Commission finds not all burgers were created equal ... Compiled by Sohini Mehta
Mischin: with GPS ankle braclet
ATTORNEY-GENERAL George Brandis was involved in the Bell Group matter one month earlier than he said he was, according to his West Australian counterpart Michael Mischin.
Brandis told ABC's 7.30 on Thursday (Feb. 23) he couldn’t remember any conversations with Mischin about the litigation in early February last year.
Brandis has denied claims he wanted the Commonwealth to run dead in a High Court case to let the WA Government seize control of the Bell Group liquidation ahead of other creditors, including the ATO.
If Mischin's claims are true, Brandis may have misled Parliament when he said he first became personally involved in the Bell matter in March 2016.
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The Department of Immigration has drastically shortened the deadline by which asylum seekers must apply for protection visas from one year to 60 days.
The "legacy caseload" of around 11,000 asylum seekers in the community who arrived by boat in Australia before July 2013 are being issued with warning notices and told they risk losing their welfare payments, bridging visas and right to seek asylum if they don't apply for protection visas within 60 days.
Lawyers say most applicants don't speak English and the applications are doomed to fail if they're rushed or completed without legal assistance.
"Expecting people who have no legal background, are often traumatised and have memory deprivation [to do this] ... it's unreasonable, and too challenging when it takes a lawyer 10 to 15 hours to assist one person," said Refugee Advice and Casework Centre executive director Tanya Jackson-Vaughan.
The Refugee Council of Australia warns that the decision may worsen the psychological distress of asylum seekers and increase the presently high rates of suicide among the group.
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Chettle: blown awayVictorian County Court judge Geoffrey Chettle said he is "blown away" that the Catholic Church continues to fund the legal defence for 76-year-old Brother Robert Best, who is convicted of sex offences against 11 boys over a 20-year period and pleaded guilty to a further 24 counts of indecent assault on boys aged between eight and eleven years.
Province leader Brother Peter Clinch said the Christian Brothers review funding for brothers accused of child sex abuse on a case-by-case basis, despite having spent at least $1.53 million on Best's legal portfolio so far.
At a public hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Friday (Feb. 24), Sydney Catholic archbishop Anthony Fisher said the church has a responsibility to financially support abusive priests who have served their sentences, even if they've been laicised.
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Unapologetic ex-MP and newly exiled Liberal Party member Ross Cameron has quoted Mahatma Gandhi and invoked the Holocaust in an impassioned defence of free speech that he insists has "got nothing to do" with him.
On Friday (Feb. 24) night the NSW Liberal party state executive voted to suspend Mr Cameron's membership for four-and-a-half years over critical public comments about the then-Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian's opposition to the introduction of plebiscites to give branch members a vote in the preselection of state and federal candidates.
"I believe it was Mahatma Gandhi who said that there is no virtue in obeying an unjust law; in fact it is your duty to disobey an unjust law," Cameron said on his Sky News program Outsiders.
"We know what happened in 1945. I'm saying to you the greater crime of the Holocaust would not have taken place if national socialism had not first suppressed free opinion."
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Brandis: Dance to the music of time
Since Rosie Batty's term as Australian of the Year ended 13 months ago, she's had no direct contact from the federal government as it firms to cut essential services for women and children at risk of domestic violence.
Community legal centres face a funding cliff when amounts under their five-year partnership agreement will fall from around $40 million a year to $30 million.
By contrast, the Commonwealth Government spent $792.4 million on its own legal work in 2015–16.
The Productivity Commission determined an extra $120 million from the federal government, plus another $80 million from state and territory governments, was needed to prop up the under-resourced legal aid sector.
In response, the Coalition pledged a measly $10 million a year to fund legal assistance for domestic violence victims only.
"I do not know how to get through to George Brandis," Batty told The Sydney Morning Herald.
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Warren CJ: a stable seatDonald Trump's presidency and Brexit offer Australian courts an opportunity to build prominence as a stable seat to resolve global disputes, Victoria's Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said on the 90th anniversary of the Law Society of Western Australia.
"As a staunch advocate of the rule of law, Australia may need to pick-up some of the slack if the US retreats from the role it has played in encouraging countries to play by the rules," the Chief Justice said.
In his first month in office, President Donald Trump sacked acting attorney general Sally Yates for "betraying" the administration and denigrated Judge James Robart, who stalled his executive order to temporarily stop immigration from seven nations, as a "so-called judge".
Warren also encouraged Australia's lawyers to undertake more work offshore and absorb lessons from foreign jurisdictions on human rights law and approaches to dispute resolution:
"Opening up to the world and absorbing what it has to offer will assist Australia's courts and legal profession in their goal of providing, and being seen to provide, equal justice to foreign parties and to all members of Australia's diverse community."
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Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, Seven Group Holdings chief executive Ryan Stokes insisted the media section of the family empire benefits from "a strong culture".
As Stokes spoke, the latest instalment of the Tim Worner v Amber Harrison saga was playing out in the NSW Supreme Court and the Seven West Media stock price fell again on Tuesday (Feb. 21).
His comments follow the Australian Financial Review’s report last Monday (Feb. 20) that an internal report into culture at Seven West Media's WA operations found a boys' club which perpetuates "negative attitudes".
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Paul's must pay 150 percent Sunday penalty rates
On Thursday (Feb. 23), the Fair Work Commission (FWC) cut Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for hospitality, fast food and retail workers after finding they were no longer a "fair and relevant" safety net.
Cafes and restaurant owners have missed out on the cuts to Sunday penalty rates but the FWC has offered the restaurant and catering industry another opportunity to prove its case next month providing it delivers "significantly more extensive" evidence of positive employment effects following the FWC’s cut to penalty rates in 2014.
As things stand, fast food burger chains will benefit from a lower Sunday penalty rate at 125 per cent. Meanwhile, Sydney's Sylvania institution Paul's Famous Hamburgers must pay its cafe workers 150 per cent penalty rates on Sundays.