Originally Posted by
Lead Balloon
That didn't happen. What happened was even more morally egregious.
The Federal Court (not High Court) action was settled without the Commonwealth admitting liability. That's so that the government could claim - and of course has claimed - that no court has found the extortion racket to be unlawful.
A few of the victims had earlier taken the Commonwealth to the AAT, and the Commonwealth would capitulate before any adverse finding. There were plenty of warnings from the AAT, but of course the AAT is not a court...
I stand corrected....... and in no surprise or shock that it was worse than I had stated.... as for the AAT, it's a well known fact that occasionally, governments of all persuasions nominate or appoint their 'mates' to government bodies - but since 2013, the Federal Government has practically changed the complexion of the AAT by appointing anyone with any link to the LNP - at least one person I can think of in NSW was appointed who's qualifications were allegedly being a Flight Attendant with a major airline and a dedicated supporter of Tony Abbott. I'm not saying the person was a bad individual, just that if the bar has been lowered to that extent, what background or basis are individuals using for their decisions on the AAT.
Fair Work Australia is another example, where the Feds have effectively increased the size of the Fair Work Commission so people of their 'line of thought' or ideology now dominate it. As I stated above, both parties have been known to appoint the occasional mate (Hawke appointing the opposition leader he replaced as GG, etc., McGowan appointing Kim Beazely as State Governor, etc.) but like with so many other things, this current federal government has elevated it to an art form.
Let me see, stealing money off poor people, locking up a family on an island at the cost of millions then finally issuing visas only to leave one of them out (a child) so they can say they did a compassionate thing when they know they did it in a way to obfuscate as usual, doing nothing about Aged Care, cutting funding to everything they don't like, stacking tribunals and courts with their apologists, knowing there's a problem, doing nothing then ducking for cover, refusing to sack a person with a giant question mark over them, then when asked if he has any comment saying "I'm not his boss anymore", rorting every cent that can quietly rort to basically buy votes in marginal LNP seats.
No wonder they don't want a Federal ICAC.......