by Chris Merritt | Mar 13, 2023 | Chris Merritt, Media Article, The Voice: Uluru Statement
The slide in support for the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament has given Anthony Albanese little option but to accept that the plan he unveiled at last July’s Garma festival is a dud. Despite the prime minister’s best efforts, the Garma provision has failed to...
by Chris Merritt | Mar 4, 2023 | Chris Merritt, Media Article, The Voice: Uluru Statement
The current debate about the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament is impossible to separate from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which is where everything began. This document, drawn up in May 2017, outlines an agenda for change that has been endorsed by the...
by Chris Merritt | Feb 24, 2023 | Chris Merritt, Media Article, The Voice: Uluru Statement
If Anthony Albanese is truly open to making concessions about the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament, there is still hope for this referendum. But without change, it is a recipe for disaster. Even if the referendum succeeds, the current proposal would divide the...
by Chris Merritt | Feb 17, 2023 | Chris Merritt, Commentary, Defamation, Freedom of Speech, Media Article
On February 7 The Australian Financial Review lost a defamation case. Some saw it as an attack on journalism. This seems to be how it was viewed by Michael Stutchbury, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. He said the loss “highlights how Australia’s defamation laws pose a...
by Chris Merritt | Feb 2, 2023 | Commentary, Media Article, The Voice: Uluru Statement
The real issue at this year’s indigenous voice referendum is a question of principle: Will we abandon the egalitarian nature of Australian democracy? Will we, in other words, join the crackpots of history by introducing into our Constitution the concept of racial...
by Chris Merritt | Jan 20, 2023 | Commentary, ICAC, Media Article
Just before Christmas, when John Maitland was finally acquitted of ICAC-related charges, the fate of this former union leader drove home a lesson that supporters of anti-corruption show trials seem incapable of grasping. It’s this: these commissions resolve nothing....
