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Background: in relation to the suicide of Benjamin, a 15 year old Indigenous orphan who was imprisoned at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre after stealing $90 worth of school supplies for himself, and committed suicide whilst in mandatory detention. See: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/mar/30/limited-mental-health-programs-at-don-dale-even-after-death-of-15-year-old-inquiry-hears

Discuss: in light of that mandatory imprisonment for juveniles continues in NT and WA: "We have, of course, canvassed the question of our international obligations, concluding that the Commonwealth does have the constitutional power to override the Northern Territory legislation...
In light of the weight of evidence and opinion that the laws as they stand do breach the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and arguably the ICCPR, then if the operation of the Northern Territory mandatory sentencing laws remains incompatible with our international obligations I recommend the Commonwealth government should intervene to override them. These are not statements I make lightly. They will not be popular in some quarters. But I did not come here to be popular; I came here to do the right thing."

From: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber%2Fhansards%2F2000-03-13%2F0149;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansards%2F2000-03-13%2F0000%22

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Discuss: "The High Court’s 2019 decision in Clubb v Edwards is... a major development because it represents the first time that the concept of dignity has been used to help interpret the Australian Constitution. The case involved a challenge to the constitutional validity of Tasmanian and Victorian legislation prohibiting protests held outside facilities where abortions are provided. The plaintiffs contended that these laws infringed the implied freedom of political communication. The Court dismissed the challenge, with a number of judges holding that the laws were enacted for the purpose of protecting the dignity of persons accessing the facilities and that this purpose is compatible with the constitutionally prescribed system of representative and responsible government. The protection of dignity thus now appears to be a principle with a degree of constitutional recognition in Australia, capable of justifying the imposition of restrictions on the implied freedom."

From: Stephenson, p 370

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Discuss: "Ultimately, however, all these considerations: lack of control over the harm (as opposed to the tiny contribution to the risk), the conduct of countless others around the world, the lack of any special vulnerability, and lack of reliance, are really only features or reflections of the essential problem for the respondents: the relationship that founds the duty is one between the government and the governed and lacks the relevant nearness and proximity necessary for the imposition of a duty of care... At one level of abstraction we all rely on an elected government to develop and implement wise policy in the interests of all Australians, in one sense especially the children of the country who are its future.... It is the foundation of responsible democratic government."

From: Minister for the Environment v Sharma [2022] FCAFC 35 [344]; https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/full/2022/2022fcafc0035

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Discuss (in relation to pre-selection): "decisions of party organisations, which precede choice by the electorate, now are central to the integrity of the representative process as a whole"

and
"Direct participation, in the sense of a vote on substantive issues by the electorate itself, is often portrayed as incompatible with or even hostile to representative democracy"

From reading: Saunders, p 52, p 54

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Discuss: "through a tortuous process of reasoning, Acts of Parliament are deemed to represent the 'will of the people.'"

From reading: Law-makers: Parliament

cf: "the art of Party warfare is turning into the art of bribing and confusing voters."

From: https://theconversation.com/changing-the-australian-constitution-was-always-meant-to-be-difficult-heres-why-119162