David Solomon

David Solomon is a former legal and political correspondent. He has degrees in Arts and Law and a Doctorate of Letters. He was Queensland Integrity Commissioner 2009-2014.

David's recent articles

Morrison's government: the most amoral in 50 years

It is extraordinary that a Liberal Party leadership manages to be outside the bubble when anything might go wrong. Concepts of right and wrong have no place in what it does, and even what it says it does. Its only concern is the exercise of power, to satisfy its current whimsies and to excuse and cover up mistakes, blunders and policy errors.

Quarantine: States also have powers to make laws

Commentators have repeatedly drawn attention to the section of the Commonwealth Constitution that apparently makes the Federal Government responsible for quarantine. However, this is not an exclusive Commonwealth power.

The mechanics of elections to suit the major parties

The Commonwealth Parliament has a very long-standing practice of requiring its Joint Committee on Electoral Matters to conduct a post-mortem after every federal election not about how it was won or lost (that has already been done in the media and elsewhere) but how the electoral mechanics worked and what changes might be made to make it better for the major political parties in future elections independents dont get a look in on these reviews.

You'll need a vaccine whether you like it or not

Sixty-plus years ago when, as a student, I was making my first overseas trip, there was more hassle involved in getting the required international certificates of vaccination certificate (issued by the Department of Health on behalf of the World Health Organisation) than there was in obtaining a passport. The little yellow booklet also received more careful inspection by airline and immigration/quarantine officers, before travel and on arrival overseas, than did my passport.

No winners in Clive Palmer's border war with WA

Clive Palmer had a spectacular loss in his High Court challenge to Western Australias border restrictions but he has probably helped influence the easing of those restrictions, beginning from the middle of this month.

Queenslanders are different

Annastacia Palaszczuk had an extraordinary victory at the Queensland election. While the (very few) polls suggested Labor might cling on to government for an unlikely third consecutive term, she managed not only to win seats but increase Labors primary vote by about 5 per cent for its highest primary vote since 2009.

Morrison Government is running scared of a federal integrity body

This week's trials of Gladys Berejiklian only confirm the Morrison Government's largely unspoken fears that a federal ICAC would do the government a lot more harm than good.

Morrison governing from the rear

At the end of all the announcements in the budget of tax cuts and give-aways to the private sector to promote an industry-led recovery, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had a somewhat unsettling (though it was not intended as such) rallying call: The road to recovery will be hard but there is hope. The Morrison governments message to Australians is that we have your back.

Lobbyland. Fixing corruption risks in lobbying

'A lot of money can depend on the success or failure of a lobbyist's representations to Government.' That statement, in a report by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1990, was about lobbying by property developers, particularly in local government, but it is true of a great deal of lobbying at national, State and local levels.

NSW Nationals self-destructing?

For at least the last 50 years, pundits have been predicting the imminent end of the National Party or the Country Party as it was half a century ago.

Planning in the age of the virus

Are we getting to the point where the public simply tunes out when one of our political leaders outlines their latest plan, or road map, or framework for the way the nation or their state will deal with the virus? Hasn't the public seen enough experienced enough in the past seven or eight months to appreciate that it is almost impossible to predict what the situation will be next month, let alone in two, three or six months' time?

Defending border protections

Diversity not unity is what federalism is about. Australia is a federation and that is not going to change.

Queensland's election in the shadow of the virus

Queensland faces a full state election on 31 October. Unlike recent state and federal by-elections, this election will be severely effected by the Coronavirus. And as with the virus, just what will happen in 11 weeks time is anybodys guess.

Disagreeing with the US over China

The AUSMIN talks are an important first, demonstrating that the Australian government wont go all the way with Trumps USA. The next step (if only) would be for the Prime Minister to change his telephone number.

The Palace Letters show that the Palace effectively encouraged John Kerr to remove the Prime Minister.

The Palace letters provided two crucial elements of the dismissal by Governor-General Sir John Kerr of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on 11 November 1975. The first was to stiffen Kerrs resolve - to give him the backbone - to sack Whitlam. The second was to ensure that Kerr gave Whitlam no fore-warning of what he was about to do.

National Cabinet fractures

There is a serious split in the national cabinet manifest in the current border wars. It has been apparent for a few weeks now but the decisions by a number of states to deny Victorians (or some of them) access through their re-opened borders has brought it to a head.

David Solomon. Black Lives Matter here, too.

I hate the way we so often slavishly follow whatever fashion is currently gripping the American people. But I make an exception for the protest movement that has taken to the streets prompted by the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the United States.

DAVID SOLOMON. How the Queen and Kerr were blind-sided

It was both fortunate and fortuitous. The scheming of the Queen and Sir John Kerr to keep their correspondence secret was defeated not on the merits but by accident and thanks to legislation that came into being long after their arrangements were put in place.

DAVID SOLOMON. They should have said: No Minister

One of the worst aspects of the sports rorts affair is the way elements of the public service turned a deliberate blind eye to what was known, or assumed, to be a failure by the Minister to be bound by the requirements of the law governing the way the grants could be approved.

DAVID SOLOMON. The triumph of federalism?

How good is federalism Australian style? Until the coronavirus crisis struck, the verdict would have been: pretty ordinary, at best. But at the moment it is flourishing. Can this outbreak of good health last?

DAVID SOLOMON. Privacy should be protected

If I thought my privacy would genuinely be protected, I would have little hesitation in downloading the coronavirus tracing app being developed for the national cabinet.

DAVID SOLOMON. Planning for a better future

Its time to think about and plan for what will be on the other side of this coronavirus bridge the Prime Minister keeps talking about. It may be 12, 18 or 24 months away, but the thinking and planning for life after COVID-19 should start now.

DAVID SOLOMON. The Government could do better

Theres a simple way for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to assert some real leadership and focus the attention of the nation on how the corona virus pandemic should be confronted: he should sack the two Ministers who have demonstrated most publicly their incompetence in dealing with it.

DAVID SOLOMON. Don't panic. The economy is fine.

The economy is in good shape. Got that?

DAVID SOLOMON. Sports rorts - illegal, unconstitutional and shonky

Illegal, unconstitutional and shonky. The sports rorts affair, like climate change, is not fading away. Both raise major political challenges for the government, but in somewhat different ways.

DAVID SOLOMON. Aliens in a racist Constitution.

Almost all the arguments against constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders went out the window on Tuesday, courtesy of a decision by the High Court (Love v The Commonwealth).

Audit exposes Government's trust deficit

Trust is a crucial element of government, in two different but related ways.

Morrison's scary words on deployment of troops

Although you can no longer believe everything Scott Morrison says, its necessary to take everything he says seriously and examine his utterances carefully just in case in a particular instance he will follow through on what he has said.

DAVID SOLOMON. Morrison mis-fires. Leadership or Photo Opportunities!

Since Scott Morrison declared, back in November, that this was not the time to be talking about climate change, people have been talking about nothing else but the fires, and climate change, and Scott Morrisons attempts to pretend (or pray) them out of existence. But in the past week or so its all gone wrong for him, through his own deeds and his own words. With just a little help from his political allies.

DAVID SOLOMON. Religious freedom.

Just 10 days after the Sydney Morning Herald/Age revealed at the end of last month that the major religious groups had rejected the draft Religious Discrimination Act circulated for public comment by the Morrison Government, the Prime Minister made public a new draft, that will go a long way towards meeting their demands. Its purpose and content would be better understood if its title were the Religious Protection and Licence to Discriminate Bill.

DAVID SOLOMON. Taylor's numbers crunched.

When should a minister stand aside (that is, be stood aside); when should a minister resign (be sacked)? Prime Minister Morrison has provided his answer in the case of Angus Taylor, his Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Not now. But not ever? we will see.

DAVID SOLOMON. The climate strikes.

The political consensus on climate change is changing has already changed. Prime Minister Scott Morrison knows it, but is in an awful, strangling bind. He knows he has to adopt policies that recognise climate change and will help alleviate its impact (all the while remaining reluctant to join those countries trying to reduce its seemingly inevitable progress). But he is trapped by his coalition partner and, more important, the baying hounds within the Liberal Partys parliamentary ranks and their media whippers, who could destroy him if he were to give any significant ground.

DAVID SOLOMON. Whither Labor

Labors post-election post-mortem demonstrates conclusively that Scott Morrisons victory was no miracle. It also shows why so many people thought it was.

DAVID SOLOMON. Lobbying? Check the definition.

Let us be clear about this nonsense ban on lobbying contained in the Prime Ministers ministerial guidelines. Its pretty meaningless. The fact is, as the Code of Conduct for lobbyists explains, the only people who are considered to be lobbyists, are third party professional lobbyists. These are people or organisations that sell their lobbying services to others. It does not, repeat not, apply to not for profits like, for example, the Minerals Council of Australia lobbying on behalf of their members, nor to firms (like BHP) lobbying on their own behalf.

DAVID SOLOMON. Vote earlier.

Am I missing something? Voting early is becoming increasingly popular, yet the politicians are thinking of cutting it back, and/or making it more difficult. I thought politicians were in the business of picking up, or at least reflecting, the public mood. But somehow, they believe they should resist this particular trend - this very strong trend that has gained the approval of more than a third of voters from across the political spectrum.

DAVID SOLOMON. A hidden agenda

Extract from notes for a victory speech by Prime Minister Morrison to the Coalition party room: I want to make special mention of the contribution to our victory by my Cabinet colleagues. Now Josh, you had a special role. As Treasurer, you had to let the people know that Treasury didnt like anything that the Labor party was planning to do because it would hurt the economy. Now we all know that Treasury may or may not have thought that, but you weret put off by that. You knew, without asking, what Treasury would have said if you had asked....

DAVID SOLOMON. Rubbishing the electorate.

A golfing friend told me this week that he had been door-knocked during the campaign by Peter Dutton himself. He wondered why the sitting MP would visit him, but quickly worked it out. He had filled in a form for a postal vote a form sent out by, and then returned to, the Liberal National Party.

DAVID SOLOMON. Who can be an MP?

I find it difficult to believe that there were people nominating for this election who had not made absolutely certain that they would not fall foul of the disqualification provisions of section 44 of the Constitution. It is even more astounding that the political party they sought to represent had not carried out an exhaustive check of their constitutional bona fides, even if the candidate had little chance of being elected. Accidents can happen.

DAVID SOLOMON. A strange election with some unknowns in Queensland

This is the weirdest starting point for a federal election that I can recall. Here in Queensland there are nine seats held by the LNP with a two-party preferred margin of 6 per cent or less. Depending on which betting market you prefer, in eight or nine of them the punters reckon that the Labor Party challenger will win.

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