Richard Ackland
Richard Ackland publishes the law journals Justinian and the Gazette of Law and Journalism. He writes a regular column on legal affairs, law and society and the media. He has been a journalist with The Australian Financial Review and a presenter of ABC TV's Media Watch and Radio National's Late Night Live and Breakfast programs.
Welcome back to White Australia
Richard Ackland Before our eyes, day by day, Scott Morrison becomes the hollow man. His face tightens and twists, his eyes are dead, and his words strangled with jargon.
Richard Ackland: As it happens, crime does pay ... and it always will
Richard Ackland Here's hoping we'll see Mike Willesee get the camera in close on Our Schapelle. Who knows, it might be as revealing as his GST birthday cake interview in 1993 with John Hewson.
Heydon royal commission into unions aims for jackpot
Richard Ackland Throughout the nation lawyers gasped as they tried to absorb the pages of print that spell out the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into Rotten Unions and their Connection to the ALP.
Mandatory minimum sentences are a legal and judicial muddle
Richard Ackland It's comforting to know the Shooters Party in NSW supports mandatory sentences for gun offences. It doesn't want guns going off in a dangerous fashion, except possibly in national parks.
Big tobacco goes up in smoke
Richard Ackland Earlier this month the three giant cigarette corporations of America reached agreement with the US government on publishing nationwide ''corrective statements'' - in newspapers, on TV, on the...
Prongs of Premier Barry O'Farrell's alcohol plan aren't very sharp
Richard Ackland Last Friday, NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell promised a ''four-pronged'' plan to combat alcohol-related violence in Kings Cross, Oxford Street, Darling Harbour, The Rocks and the central business...
Meddling with act fraught with peril
Richard Ackland Come back, George. Where's that lovely, cuddly old version of George Brandis who, three years ago, wrote in the Herald that politicians must defend the multicultural project?
Richard Ackland: Joining the dots could produce red faces among our spymasters
Richard Ackland Let's try to join a few dots.
George Brandis' security clean-up leaves out messy questions
Richard Ackland Loose ends tend to clutter our lives and, supposedly, a new year is a good time to tidy them up or burn them to cinders.
The law could do with a bit more spit - and polish
Richard Ackland "I consider that these costs were within parliamentary entitlements, since they were incurred in the course of attendance at a function primarily for work-related purposes."
Tim Wilson's appointment to Human Rights Commission has nothing to do with 'rebalancing'
Richard Ackland Chris Berg must be livid. He's the man who's done the heavy lifting on free speech at the Institute of Public Affairs and authored the official text, In Defence of Freedom of Speech (subtitle: From...
Freedoms locked behind quaint white picket fence
Richard Ackland To the relief of tub-thumping Christians and the former altar boys who muster in the federal cabinet, gay marriage in the provinces is off the boil - for now.
Richard Ackland: Term 'in national interest' misused as cover for spooky behaviour
Richard Ackland I am still trying to work out how impeding an international dispute resolution process in The Hague fits into protecting our ''national interest'' and our ''national security''.
Simon Gittany case a tough judge-alone trial
Richard Ackland One of the puzzles of the Simon Gittany case was why such a high-profile murder trial was heard in the Supreme Court without a jury.
Howling of the hacks confronted by some real news
Richard Ackland Angry protests rise from the Murdoch camp about the publication by The Guardian Australia and the ABC of the scoop news that the Australian government is tapping the phone of the Indonesian...
Voyager survivors' compensation all at sea
Richard Ackland February 10 next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the sinking of HMAS Voyager off Jervis Bay. It had sailed under the bow of the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne during manoeuvres, was cut in...
NSW Premier to introduce mandatory sentencing for gang members
Richard Ackland Yawn, stretch. Here we go again. Barry O'Farrell is getting tough on gangs. Mandatory sentences for gang members caught with a shooter.
Compliant media fed on leak soup and other titbits
Richard Ackland Images of The Secret Seven come to mind. The exact number of journalists who came to Tony Abbott's dinner at Kirribilli last Saturday is a state secret.
Scales of justice still quite white
Richard Ackland Step off the train at Parramatta and you could be in a different country. At least that's the way it looks to a white-bread boy from the eastern suburbs.
Court plays it safe on Aboriginality
Richard Ackland For a nasty moment, I thought the commercial radio shock jocks and the Terrorgraph would have a field day.
