Peter Maywald
Peter Maywald worked in senior commonwealth and state administrative positions (Ombudsman and human rights) for over 15 years and was Secretary to the Government of Norfolk Island for 7 years.
Recent articles by Peter Maywald
22 December 2024
Imperial Australia still lives
It is almost exactly two years since I wrote more in sorrow than in anger about Australia’s neocolonial treatment of its offshore territories, especially Norfolk, Christmas and Cocos Islands. At the time, Australia had achieved the dubious distinction of being the last colonial power in the Pacific and Indian Oceans which had steadfastly refused to grant some level of democracy in the territories it purported to possess.
27 December 2022
A watchdog without bark or bite
There was a time when Australias principal statutory review agencies such as the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission were fiercely independent and effective agencies protecting individuals from the excesses of executive government and promoting the democratic rights of all citizens.
11 December 2022
Australia the last colonial power?
Its time to take a closer look at how the origins of Australias relationship with its three island territories is structured by past centuries of colonialism.