The Great Legal Debate

For masochists who found the Great Debate between Howard and Latham to be rivetting television, and who have an interest in matters legal, you may wish to view the webcast of the Great Legal Debate between Coalition cadaver and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock and his Labor counterpart Nicola Roxon. It was an event conducted by the Gilbert and Tobin Centre of Public Law a couple of days ago in Sydney. The debate was chaired by the Centre’s Director George Williams (who I’m reliably informed isn’t Clive Hamilton under a pseudonym) and the contestants were quizzed (not very aggressively or even entertainingly) by a panel. I confess I didn’t find it especially exciting, but others conceivably might.

About Ken Parish

Ken Parish is a legal academic, with research areas in public law (constitutional and administrative law), civil procedure and teaching & learning theory and practice. He has been a legal academic for almost 20 years. Before that he ran a legal practice in Darwin for 15 years and was a Member of the NT Legislative Assembly for almost 4 years in the early 1990s.
This entry was posted in Law. Bookmark the permalink.
3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
L.F. Brown
2024 years ago

Well, you did warn us. It was not very interesting and only a little more so than a reading of their policy papers. Ruddock was bland and Roxon quite smug. And not much of a debate either. I had mostly forgotten what they said as soon as the next question came up. There should have been a segment where they could throw questions at each other or at least follow up on their other answers (eg. when Ruddock wanted to interject about the Hicks issue near the end.) I don’t expect a “And Justice for All” moment, but something to think about.

Would I want these people to be my lawyer or on my side? Not really from the contents of this “debate.” An online debate would be good, with a chance for more extended answers.

And what was she talking about on the third question about the appointment/advertising of senior positions in the judiciary when she mentioned her “Mexican credentials”?

Ken Parish
Ken Parish
2024 years ago

I presume she meant Victorian i.e. south of the border. Queenslanders refer to settlers from anywhere “down south” (including NSW and Victoria) as “Mexicans”.

L.F. Brown
2024 years ago

Which would make Queenslanders Texan. Okay.