Contempt of Parliament and George Pell

I agree with Irfan Yusuf, Pell shouldn't be the focus of an inquiry into Contempt of Parliament in NSW. Andrew Bartlett has a longer post describing what Contempt of Parliament is. There is an argument in my opinion for that kind of executive and judicial enforcement to be removed from parliament itself and only housed in the executive. If a legislator feels they have been coerced, and the executive will not inquire into the circumstances then they should be able to sue the executive through the judicial to have their grievance heard.

The big problem in the Australian system is that legislators can be in the executive too, and the mixing of separation of powers means that an inquiry could be an executive function, especially if it only contains members of cabinet. So once again separation of powers screws that up.

The legislative does need some judicial powers, mainly so they can enforce their constitutional powers of oversight upon the executive, but outside of that check and balance, I don't see why the legislative needs judicial powers.

Permalink, Contempt of Parliament and George Pell, Jun 2007, cam

gilmae: I am unable to fathom exactly how advising MPs that they should re-consider their participating in a religious rite is somehow more coercive or contemptuous of Parliament than advising MPs that they will be voted out if they vote a certain way. For career politicians I imagine the latter is considerably more of a threat than the former.

George Pell is a nob but an irrelevant one with very little real power. Lee Rhiannon, on the other hand, is in a position to exert actual power - hobbled only by a lack of credibility - and as such should be thinking very hard before she starts trying to mau-mau dissenting opinion.

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Between 2004 and 2009 this site, southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues. One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:

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Who Is Cam Riley

I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident. I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end. I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.

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