Alternative Law Journal

Opinion

In each issue of the Alternative Law Journal, we run an Opinion. Although not necessarily the Opinion of the issue editors, sometimes it will be an editorial which attempts to unify the issue theme, and will point to issues raised in the edition. Other times, the Opinion will be a controversial piece designed to publicise or encourage discussion on a particular topic. But, no matter what, our Opinions are always worth reading. Here are the Opinions that we have published recently.

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Using the law to turn down the Vulnerability Thermostat

Graeme Innes

I was a lucky teenager. My family didn’t ‘wrap me in cotton wool’ because of my disability, and I knew the career I wanted when I ‘grew up’. The law.

I had a solidly middle-class family, with strong Christian ethics and values. While recognising the strengths of Australian society, I was not content. I saw ‘vulnerability’ and ‘disadvantage’. I wasn’t sure what I could do, but I knew the law would help.

Forty odd years later, as I complete my term as Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner, I can reflect on our society — how it has changed, and whether it has improved. Such reflection is appropriate in this edition of the AltLJ, dealing with vulnerability.

Cite as

(2014) 39(2) AltLJ 72

Category: Opinion

Forty years of the Alternative Law Journal

Stephen Keim

In 1974, the Legal Service Bulletin commenced publication as a voice of Fitzroy Legal Service. It quickly became a voice that went well beyond even the community legal service movement as a whole. I still had two full-time and two part-time years of my Arts/Law degree to go.

In Queensland, January 1974 is remembered for the Australia Day floods.

Twelve months later, on the same weekend, Denise and I got married.

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(2014) 39(1) AltLJ 2

Category: Opinion

Law reform — or law deform?

Melissa Castan

The rule of law is often called upon, but less often understood. The High Court’s Chief Justice Gleeson said, in 2001, that ‘the rule of law is such a powerful rhetorical weapon, both in legal and political argument, that care is needed in its deployment.’ So what does it actually mean? The classic modern statement of the meaning of the rule of law was offered by the late Lord Bingham who said, in The Rule of Law (2011), ‘that all persons and authorities within the state, whether public or private, should be bound by and entitled to the benefit of laws publicly made, taking effect (generally) in the future and publicly administered in the courts.’ He went on to explain eight key principles, which included that the ‘the laws of the land should apply equally to all’, and that ‘the law must afford adequate protection of fundamental human rights’.

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(2013) 38(4) AltLJ 208

Category: Opinion

Local Government Referendum

Anne Twomey

sroth local council referendum sml The calling of an early election on 7 September has stymied the simultaneous holding of the local government referendum. But the referendum could still be held by a new government up until mid December (six months after it was passed by Parliament). If it is held, what is it all about and what factors should influence voters?

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(2013) 38(3) AltLJ 142

Category: Opinion

Inhabiting The Neoliberal University

Margaret Thornton

By May 2013, a succession of federal government cuts to higher education in a little over a year amounted to almost $4 billion. These cuts represent yet another step in the neoliberal striptease of the state. While we can cope with the privatisation of utilities and transport, higher education is neither a service nor a commodity. It is a public good of which the university is the traditional custodian.

Cite as

(2013) 38(2) AltLJ 72

Category: Opinion