Another fundamental duty society expects our judicial system to perform is to protect us and our property from government overreach, from an abuse of power by our executive arm and from dishonest politicians. This is check on power is a fundamental component of a functioning representative democracy and government for the people by the people. Our judiciary is not performing this role, not even close.
For example: It is apparent that some of our class of career politicians will say and do anything in campaigning for office, despite having no intention to do (or not do) what they committed to do (or not do), and then once in office do not do what they said they will do (or not do). Some would go so far as calling those individuals to be pathological liars. Nevertheless, those dishonest politicians once in government do not have a mandate from the people to the opposite of what they undertook. It is fundamental to our system oof government that politicians adhere to their responsibility to represent the interests of the people and adhere to their wishes and directives. Our judicial should not allow politicians to ‘go rogue’ – to go against the wishes of the majority. Classic Liberals will ensure that our courts declare any such legislation will be unenforceable.
Another example: Fundamental to a functioning representative democracy is having checks on the exercise of government power. We expect and need our judiciary to hold our public officials, public servants and politicians to account – to ensure that they obey the law and do not abuse their powers. In doing so, it should protect individuals who alert the public to unlawful behaviour and abuses of power. Our courts are not doing so. In fact, they appear to be doing the opposite. A Classic Liberals government will ensure better protection for whistleblowers.
During the Covid ‘pandemic’ our judiciary allowed our Federal and State governments to impose draconian restrictions on us despite their being scant evidence to justify such restrictions; to allow our government to effectively mandate that we be injected with an experimental mRNA Covid jab, and put restrictions on those who failed or refused to have the Covid jab. Within a very short time after Covid-19 moved from Wuhan it was apparent to anyone willing to do a 20-minute web search that the virus posed negligible risk on those with healthy immune systems and that the so-called vaccines were neither safe nor effective. Any judiciary protecting the people from government overreach would not have allowed our State and Federal government do what they did. We should bear in mind that every dictatorship, fascist, totalitarian and authoritarian regime in history was supported by a compliant judiciary. We, Australians, cannot tolerate that situation. It is imperative that we have a system of government that effectively checks power. A Classic Liberals government will ensure it. If our judiciary lacks the necessary authority, it will be given the authority. If it is unwilling to perform the role, we need to change our judiciary.
Our judiciary is failing so abysmally in protecting us from abuse of power by government that it is apparent our judiciary is either not willing or not able to perform that role. If it does not have the power to perform that role, Classic Liberals will give them that role. If they are unwilling to perform that role, Classic Liberals will ensure the judiciary is changed.
Suppression (non-publication) orders to protect public officials, public servants and government bodies, should be a rarity. Generally, in relation to such orders: While open justice is essential for the integrity of our courts, suppression (non-publication) orders are becoming increasingly common. Thousands could be granted, but the number granted appears to be unknown – since the figures are not collected throughout Australia. Classic Liberals will ensure these figures are collected and analysed. Also, different States have different rules in determining whether a suppression order should be granted, leading to some States (Victoria) granting significantly more than others. A Classic Liberals government will ensure uniform rules around the country and ensure that the court provides justification for the order, its terms and the period for which it is granted. This information should also be recorded in the national register.