Menzies House

PQ Wolves Want A Vote On Eating Anglo Sheep For Dinner

And so all things come to pass.

Thankfully, the most repugnant thing in Canada today has come to pass, at least for the time being, as the Quebec PQ Government, headed by socialist xenophobe Pauline Marois, heads to the polls on 7 April.

On a Queensland House of Review

March 24, 2012 was a historic day in Queensland's history, writes Michael Smyth

Not only due to the utter devastation for the ALP, but also due to its ushering in of "conservative" rule in this state; a sign that the Right in Queensland has shaken off the spectre of Joh.

Before the apologists of Joh get outraged by such a statement, I want to clarify what I mean.

Joh did some good things for Queensland, but his government was ultimately undone by the shortcomings of some of its members.

VOTE ‘NO’ TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFERENDUM GROUP FORMED MEDIA RELEASE

“Australians opposed to the local government referendum have officially formed and welcome the support of any Australian opposed to Canberra’s power grab”, said spokesperson Peter Reith.

Mr Reith’s comments follow the introduction of the Referendum Alteration (Local Government) Bill into the House of Representatives last week. Former Councillor, Julian Leeser, will be Convenor of the Vote ‘No’ campaign, with the support of Mr Reith, Dr Gary Johns, Nick Minchin and Tim Wilson.

“We welcome any Australian who wants to stand up to Canberra’s power grab”, Mr Reith said.

“Anyone opposed to this local government referendum can register their interest at:

www.nopowergrab.com.au

Why strengthening the state weakens humanity

Highlighting one international judge's view on State-sanctioned attrocities

Cross-posted from Major Karnage

I have just had to read through the entire ICJ decision on the Jurisdictional Immunities (Germany v Italy) case, including the mammoth dissent by Brazilian Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, which was longer than the leading judgment and all of the other separate and dissenting opinions combined. I’ve been reading up on the guy a little and it sounds like he’s the ICJ version of Michael Kirby (anyone who has studied law in Australia would know what I mean).

I did come across one portion of his judgment that I thought would be worth reproducing. The case in general concerned judgments made in Italy against Germany for war crimes committed between 1943 and 1945. The issue was whether Italy had the right to put Germany on trial for war crimes or whether Germany had state immunity.

Trinidade thought they should, and he spent 88 pages constructing a legal system where the interests of humanity prevail over the interests of States and people subjected to massacres and slave labour would be entitled to justice in any legal jurisdiction. Fanciful? Maybe, but definitely compelling.

This is the best point that he made IMO, it concerns how the State creates a collective identity that dehumanises the individual to the point where atrocities like the ones committed by Nazi Germany can occur. These acts could never have been carried-out by

It’s time for more “State” governments

The process of decentralising government in Australia should begin in North Queensland, writes Paul McCormack.

As a conservative who has watched the events of the past fortnight in Victoria with a considerable degree of renewed hope, it should come as no surprise that I am an advocate for an increased number of ‘State’ governments in Australia. However, I am not arguing for more State governments because they have been successful; I am arguing for more of them for the reason that State governments are not truly representative of the regions in a geographical or social context. However, current State governments are so enshrined in the Constitution that the changes made must be incremental rather than revolutionary. For this reason, advocates of regional government for the future must adopt the language of “States” to pursue our objectives and the Constitution is obviously the only means to achieve this end.

Why have the Social Democrats monopolised State Government over recent years?

Matt Kelly analyses why the centre-right has not been able to fully connect with the wider voting public.

Education and health issues would appear to be the reason that slick union-backed marketing campaigns headed by mouthy Marxist apologists have convinced electors that they are better off with the high taxing 'consensus' policy choices of the ALP rather than the alternative.

But honestly, where has the centre-right gone wrong in selling the message that it has a better approach based on competency and integrity? Take NSW as an example: the last time NSW had a centre right government the youngest voter was born in 1978. That voter is now 32 and has on average 2.3 children. Why don't they wish to see an alternative government?

States Rights or Euthanasia Debate?

Senator Cory Bernardi questions whether the Greens are truly interested in the rights of the states.

The divisive Greens Party have opened up a new campaign on euthanasia, this time dressed up in the cloak of 'states rights'. Although on this occasion it is a territory (whose citizens don’t want it to be a state) that the Greens are demanding states rights for. Confused? Well so are Bob Brown and the Greens Party.

Under our Constitution, there is a sensible separation of powers between the states and Commonwealth. Sometimes these separations become blurred with the Commonwealth playing a stronger role in influencing state policy than it should, but there are limits as defined in the Australian Constitution. This is not the case in regard to the two territories. Whilst they have self government, they do not have the status of states in our Constitution and thus Federal Parliament can make laws that more directly apply to them.