Brandis: a gentle trot
April 29: Unproductive response to Productivity Commission's report on access of justice
Eighteen months after the Productivity Commission released its report on access to justice, attorney general Brandis announced the government's response to its recommendations.
The commission examined the the use of alternative forms of dispute resolution, the regulation of the legal profession and the structure and operations of ombudsmen, tribunals and courts.
In volume 2 of its report private funding of litigation, the provision of legal aid, both broadly, and specifically to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, were discussed.
Brandis' announcement of April 29 did not address these issues. He merely insisted that the government was doing a great job funding community legal centres and legal aid commissions through the National Partnership Agreement.
As the Greens legal affairs spokesperson Senator Nick McKimm points out Brandis did not announce anything at all and has failed to address the Productivity Commission's findings and recommendations - probably because the legal profession and the judges didn't like much of it.
Labor's Mark Dreyfus asks:
"When was the last time Senator Brandis set foot inside a CLC and spoke to those who are working so hard to keep them going?"
April 28: Coalition: we know how to look after human rights
AG Brandis kicks off the government's law and justice agenda - distressed that Labor won't appoint more Freedom Boys to the Human Rights Commission. He says the government is to appoint new commissioners for disability discrimination and age discrimination - two jobs that are currently done by Susan Ryan, plus "an eminently qualified Australian" to replace Tim Wilson as Human Right Commissioner.
Brandis had spent the first part of his time as attorney general relentless attacking the HRC for not sufficiently looking after "individual freedoms".
There has not been a full-time disability discrimination commissioner since the Graeme Innes was sacked in 2014. His removal allowed the government to appoint Liberal Party member Tim Wilson as a commissioner and "freedom advocate".
Wilson successfully used the job as a platform to lift his profile and secure Liberal preselection for the safe seat of Goldstein.
Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus said that Brandis' announcement that the Coalition would restore a full-time commissioner for disability discrimination came shortly after Labor announced the same thing.