tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/michael-sukkar-39710/articlesMichael Sukkar – The Conversation2019-04-15T09:17:34Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1154742019-04-15T09:17:34Z2019-04-15T09:17:34ZView from The Hill: Peter Dutton – Labor’s not-so-secret weapon against Hunt and Sukkar<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269277/original/file-20190415-147511-1dwwsvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=311%2C288%2C3159%2C1789&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Screenshot from Labor Party advertisement linking Peter Dutton to Liberal candidates. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/AustralianLabor/status/1117585830250467328">Australian Labor Party</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>While Peter Dutton is fighting for his political life in his marginal Brisbane seat of Dickson, he is being “weaponised” by Labor in its efforts to defeat two of his strongest Victorian supporters, Greg Hunt and Michael Sukkar, despite their relatively solid margins.</p>
<p>Last August, a clutch of Victorian Liberals including Hunt and Sukkar thought the government collectively, and in some cases they individually, would be better off with the rightwinger from Queensland as prime minister.</p>
<p>Greg Hunt aspired to be Dutton’s deputy. If he and Dutton had won their respective ballots Hunt, rather than Josh Frydenberg, would now be treasurer.</p>
<p>Instead, he remains health minister and is facing a tough contest in Flinders, made more difficult by crossbencher Julia Banks running there as an independent. Banks, the Liberal defector who formerly occupied Chisholm, was particularly angered by the overthrow of Malcolm Turnbull and has made a feature of Hunt’s disloyalty.</p>
<p>Sukkar, the member for Deakin, a hard line conservative who was an assistant minister before the coup and a backbencher after it, did numbers for Dutton.</p>
<p>On Monday Labor launched a social media campaign weaponising Peter Dutton in the fight to unseat Hunt and Sukkar in Flinders and Deakin.</p>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1117585830250467328"}"></div></p>
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<p>The targeting is based on internal tracking research showing Dutton is especially toxic in those two seats.</p>
<p>Quotes from the Labor focus groups included:</p>
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<p>Even though I normally vote Liberal I’d love to see Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott stitched up</p>
<p>I am a Liberal voter but this time I can’t because of what Peter Dutton did to Malcolm Turnbull</p>
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<p>In usual circumstances Deakin (on 6.4%) and Flinders (7%) should be safe. But after the November state rout of the Liberals – when the overthrow of Turnbull was a major factor and Dutton’s face had been on billboards – nothing is certain.</p>
<p>The Liberals think some of this anger has abated but the Victorian situation remains grim, with a number of seats at risk in a state John Howard has called the Massachusetts of Australia.</p>
<p>Labor has around ten seats on its “target” list for attention. While Dutton may be featured in other seats, there is less of a “hook” for him than in those of Hunt and Sukkar.</p>
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<p>When Scott Morrison announced the election last Thursday, Bill Shorten delivered his speech later from a suburban home in Deakin.</p>
<p>On Monday Morrison was campaigning with Sukkar - who was anxious to leave most of the talking to the Prime Minister.</p>
<p>Asked how much Sukkar’s support for Dutton had contributed to the problems the government was facing in Deakin and Victoria, Morrison stonewalled: “That is such a bubble question, I’m just going to leave that one in the bubble”.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269253/original/file-20190415-147525-9lpm8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269253/original/file-20190415-147525-9lpm8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269253/original/file-20190415-147525-9lpm8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269253/original/file-20190415-147525-9lpm8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269253/original/file-20190415-147525-9lpm8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269253/original/file-20190415-147525-9lpm8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269253/original/file-20190415-147525-9lpm8f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">One of the Labor posters that will appear in the Victorian seats of Deakin and Flinders.</span>
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<p>In the video Labor targets Dutton over a broad range of issues, including his support, as health minister under Tony Abbott, for a proposed $7 Medicare co-payment, which was later dumped. </p>
<p>His co-payment history is expected to get a wider outing in a campaign in which Labor is running heavily on health.</p>
<p>The video asks</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How much will Peter Dutton and the Liberals stand up for Victoria? Let’s check. He tried to give a $17 billion tax cut to the banks, cut $14 billion from Australian public schools</p>
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<p>It says </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Peter Dutton was the health minister who tried to cut more than $50 billion from public hospitals and also tried to introduce the $7 GP tax. He made fun of climate change victims and voted against the banking royal commission 24 times. </p>
<p>And with the other right-wing Liberals he plotted to dump Malcolm Turnbull and voted to make himself prime minister, twice.Right-winger Peter Dutton for the top end of town and himself.“ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are also customised posters in Victoria featuring Dutton, especially for Deakin and Flinders.</p>
<p>Dutton has played into Labor’s hands in the early days of the campaign, with his remark last week attacking his opponent, amputee Ali France, for not moving into Dickson, accusing her of using her disability as an excuse.</p>
<p>"A lot of people have raised this with me. I think they are quite angry that Ms France is using her disability as an excuse for not moving into our electorate,” he said.</p>
<p>“Ali has been telling people that even if she won the election she won’t move into our electorate. She has now changed that position, but I don’t think it is credible.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-dutton-suffers-reflux-after-tasty-chinese-meal-115150">View from The Hill: Dutton suffers reflux after tasty Chinese meal</a>
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<p>Morrison initially defended Dutton, claiming he was taken out of context and was just reflecting what his constituents had said to him.</p>
<p>Subsequently Dutton apologised.
On Monday Morrison too had changed his tune. “Peter has made his apology appropriately. What I don’t want to see happen in this election campaign is, I don’t want to see people playing politics with disabilities. I have very strong personal views about this topic”.</p>
<p>Nationally, Peter Dutton will have a big footprint in the campaign. It won’t be a helpful one for Morrison.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While Peter Dutton is fighting for his political life in his marginal Brisbane seat of Dickson, he is being “weaponised” by Labor in its efforts to defeat two of his strongest Victorian supporters, Greg…Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/794872017-06-15T06:41:55Z2017-06-15T06:41:55ZExplainer: why three government ministers might face contempt of court charges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173899/original/file-20170614-15456-lmgphf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Greg Hunt is one of three Turnbull government ministers ordered to appear before Victoria's Supreme Court on Friday.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Victoria’s Supreme Court <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-14/ministers-called-to-court-to-defend-comments-on-judiciary/8618502">has ordered</a> three Turnbull government ministers to appear before it on Friday to explain why they should not be referred for prosecution for contempt of court. A journalist and newspaper editor who reported their remarks have also been ordered to attend.</p>
<p>The ministers – Greg Hunt, Alan Tudge and Michael Sukkar – <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ministers-to-be-hauled-before-supreme-court-after-criticising-terror-sentencing-20170614-gwr6t0.html">had made comments</a> critical of what they saw as Victorian judges’ leniency when it came to sentencing terror offenders. Sukkar was quoted as claiming the judges’ approach “has eroded any trust that remained in our legal system”, and that:</p>
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<p>Labor’s continued appointment of hard-left activist judges has come back to bite Victorians.</p>
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<p>Hunt was <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ministers-to-be-hauled-before-supreme-court-after-criticising-terror-sentencing-20170614-gwr6t0.html">reported as warning</a> that the courts:</p>
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<p>… should not be places for ideological experiments in the face of global and local threats from Islamic extremism.</p>
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<p>These comments were made in the context of Victoria’s Court of Appeal hearing appeals last week against the leniency of sentences imposed on three men convicted of terror-related offences. This included an appeal against the ten-year jail sentence <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/jail-sentences-for-men-guilty-of-terrorrelated-offences-too-lenient-court-told-20170609-gwnxtd.html">imposed on Sevdet Besim</a>, who was convicted of plotting to behead a police officer during the 2015 Anzac Day parade. The court had reserved its decision.</p>
<p>The judicial registrar, Ian Irving, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ministers-to-be-hauled-before-supreme-court-after-criticising-terror-sentencing-20170614-gwr6t0.html">has said in a letter</a> to Attorney-General George Brandis that the statements:</p>
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<p>… appear to intend to bring the court into disrepute, to assert the judges have and will apply an ideologically based predisposition in deciding the case or cases and that the judges will not apply the law.</p>
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<h2>What is contempt of court?</h2>
<p>Contempt of court is an offence designed to protect the proper administration of justice and uphold the court’s authority. </p>
<p>The power to punish contempt is part of the inherent jurisdiction of the state supreme courts. The <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/num_reg/sccpr2015n103o2015514/s75.11.html">penalty for contempt</a> may be imprisonment and/or a fine. However, the offence is unusual in that no maximum penalty applies.</p>
<p>The reported comments appear to potentially be an example of contempt by publication. There are two types of contempt by publication – <em>sub judice</em> contempt and scandalising the court.</p>
<h2>Sub judice contempt</h2>
<p><em>Sub judice</em> contempt refers to publications that interfere with a specific proceeding that is currently before the court. This would apply in this case if the comments are viewed as referring to last week’s Court of Appeal hearings. </p>
<p>For contempt to be found, the publication <a href="http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showbyHandle/1/233327">has to have</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… a real and definite tendency in practical reality to preclude or prejudice the fair and effective administration of justice.</p>
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<p>The Judicial Conference of Australia <a href="http://www.jca.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/P18_01_49-Media-release-Grossly-improper-attack-on-Vic-judiciary-13-June-2017.pdf">has suggested</a> the ministerial remarks:</p>
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<p>… could be misinterpreted as an attempt to influence the Court of Appeal in determining the CDPP’s [Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions] appeal. </p>
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<p>This needs to be weighed against two key factors. </p>
<p>The first is the recognised defence of public interest, which surely must be given great weight in this case when the topic of discussion is as important as terrorism and national security.</p>
<p>It may have been prudent for the ministers not to have commented until after the reserved decision had been handed down. But, the unfortunate reality is that terrorism-related prosecutions are almost a continuous feature of the modern Australian legal landscape. </p>
<p>Punishing general comments about sentences for terrorism-related offences as contempt risks seriously curtailing public discussion about one of the most important issues presently facing both Australia and the world.</p>
<p>The second factor is that the relevant court proceeding was an appeal before judges, and not a trial by jury. Judges are expected to put prejudicial material to one side, and are not considered to be at risk of improper influence to the same extent as jurors. To find <em>sub judice</em> contempt in such a case would be unusual.</p>
<h2>Scandalising the court</h2>
<p>Scandalising the court is a more general form of contempt. It applies to publications seen as interfering with the continuing administration of justice by undermining public confidence in the courts. </p>
<p>A publication may be held in contempt <a href="http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/downloadPdf/1935/HCA/34">if it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… aims at lowering the authority of the court as a whole or that of its judges and excites misgivings as to the integrity, propriety and impartiality brought to the exercise of the judicial office.</p>
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<p>This is a jurisdiction that should only be exercised in exceptional cases. <a href="http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showbyHandle/1/233606">It is recognised</a> that “the good sense of the community is ordinarily a sufficient safeguard” against improper judicial criticisms.</p>
<p>The general comments that were made about judicial appointments and “ideological experiments” arguably fall into this category. Justice Robert Beech-Jones <a href="http://www.jca.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/P18_01_49-Media-release-Grossly-improper-attack-on-Vic-judiciary-13-June-2017.pdf">described the comments</a> as “a slur on the character of the Victorian judiciary”. He noted that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… they should have never have been stated by any minister but especially by a minister in a government about a decision involving that government which is before the court. </p>
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<p>Criticising the ministerial comments as being incorrect or unfounded is one thing. But this response seems to go further, and comes dangerously close to suggesting that any ministerial criticism of judicial appointments inevitably risks undermining public confidence in the judiciary. </p>
<p>Scandalising the court is a contempt that should only be applied in exceptional cases. Anything less than this results in the judiciary being perceived as effectively exempted from criticism, which itself runs the risk of undermining public confidence in the justice system.</p>
<h2>What’s at stake?</h2>
<p>This case is extremely unusual. It is one thing to criticise the statements the ministers made – and the Judicial Conference of Australia was quick to do so. It is quite another for the court to threaten contempt proceedings. </p>
<p>It is obviously important to protect the institutional integrity and independence of the judiciary.</p>
<p>However, it is also important that the judiciary and judicial decisions are not immune from criticism – particularly when the issues concerned involve matters of such high public importance as Australia’s response to terrorism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorraine Finlay is affiliated with the Liberal Party of Australia, being a member of the WA Division.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Forrester receives an Australian Postgraduate Award.</span></em></p>It is obviously important to protect the institutional integrity and independence of the judiciary – but the judiciary and judicial decisions should not be immune from criticism.Lorraine Finlay, Lecturer in Law, Murdoch UniversityJoshua Forrester, PhD Candidate in Law, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.