Greg Barns

1 month ago | johnmenadue.com | Greg Barns

Australia doesn’t mind imposing sanctions on nations or groups it regards as being deserving of punishment for their nefarious activities, Russia, Iran and Zimbabwe to name a few. But Israel, the nation that is currently starving men, women and children, and which is committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, is not on the list. It is unconscionable and demonstrates the moral cowardice of a nation that once led the world in opposing another form of evil – apartheid South Africa.

1 month ago | johnmenadue.com | Greg Barns

In his term as attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus failed to address many big issues. Dreyfus’ legacy as attorney-general is, at best, very modest. In fact, come to think of it, he was perfectly suited to the style of the Albanese Government. Incremental change and a refusal, post the Voice referendum loss, to embark on any of what the great former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating called “big picture” initiatives.

1 month ago | counterweights.ca | Greg Barns

GREG BARNS SC. HOBART, MELBOURNE, BRISBANE, PERTH, AUSTRALIA. MONDAY, MAY 5, 2025. Newly minted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberals have something in common with the winner of Australia’s national election on Saturday, Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Both brought their governments back from the brink of defeat partly because of the Trumpian tinge of the conservative opposition parties.

1 month ago | johnmenadue.com | Greg Barns

If I were attorney-general of the Commonwealth after Saturday’s election there is one person I would seek to emulate, the Whitlam era’s Lionel Murphy. Murphy, the most reformist attorney-general in Australian history. Think legal aid, the Family Law Act, trade practices legislation and an attempt to pass a human rights act. His brief period in office, 1972 to early 1975, when he took up a seat on the High Court, was impressive in its scope.

2 months ago | johnmenadue.com | Greg Barns

Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, and now its seizing of their land is the worst example of genocide since the horrors of the genocides of Darfur in Sudan in 2003 and Rwanda in the 1990s. Candidates running in the 2025 federal election, particularly those in marginal seats, must be held accountable for their actions and attitudes concerning the conduct of one of Australia’s closest allies.