Scott Morrison fails the test, outed as a bully

Just when you thought the asylum seeker issue could not get any worse, we had the embarassing spectacle of the $800 Knob himself, the oleaginously and publicly pious Scott Morrison, very average former head of Tourism Australia, currently in charge of the network of concentration camps which house asylum seekers who arrive by boat, fronting the AHRC (Australian Human Rights Commission) with his Department secretary as willing spear-carrier, to take on one of the most formidable and forensic lawyers in Australia, Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs, President of the AHRC.

Watch the video of the AHRC hearing into children in detention here

And you can read The World Today‘s transcript here.

A New Matilda reader also took a transcript.

Public hearing ACT – National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention

Minister Scott Morrison and Department secretary Martin Bowles are involved from time segment 7:30 (full context starting at time segment 1:24:54).

The section related to the end sentence in this New Matilda article is:

Triggs: “…I’ve been there three times, you cannot get into any of the sections without going through armed guards, etc etc”
Bowles: “we do not have armed guards”
Triggs: “…I don’t need to (garbled)…”
Bowles: “we do not have armed guards”
Triggs: “…to describe them as not prisons…”
Bowles: “we do not have armed guards President, I’d like you to acknowledge that”
Triggs: “I’m not sure, but I’m, I’m, um, aahhhh”
Bowles: “I’d like you to acknowledge that, we do not have armed guards”
Triggs: “I will check that with my clients then because some of those guards are armed…”
Bowles: “well I, again, again President, I would like you to check that and I would like you to retract that”
Triggs: “well I ah”
Morrison: “I’d just like to understand what the president is suggesting”
Triggs: “The point I’m making is…”
…
Triggs: “…on any analysis that is either locked detention or a prison”
Morrison: “well Madam President you would’ve been to many gaols and prisons…”
Triggs: “indeed”
Morrison: “…and are you suggesting that Long Bay Gaol is the same as a pool fenced Alternative Place Of Detention at Phosphate Hill on Christmas Island”?
Triggs: “…………um, I would like to move on but basically I have been a practicing lawyer since I was 22 years old so I know a prison when I see it”
Morrison: “Madam President, I’ve just asked you, you’ve said that these places are prisons, now you’ve been in prisons, so you’re telling me that the Phosphate Hill Compound on Christmas Island is the same as Long Bay Gaol?”
Triggs: “I’m not saying they’re equivalent, I’m saying that the, the, prison facilities…”
Morrison: “Well, we can move on then I think Madam President”
Triggs: “Ok…”

So Morrison doesn’t believe that immigration detention is not imprisonment? And bluster-master Morrison thinks it is OK to talk over the top of one of the country’s most respected public servants?

Then he’d better try our random vision test. Ten mixed photographs of prisons and detention facilities. Can you spot the difference?

We cannot. Morrison deludes himself yet again.

The trouble with Tim

From a recent radio interview   How does Tim Wilson stack up against the other Commissioners at AHRC?

Lets take a look

President – Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs

Solicitor and barrister, former Dean of the Sydney Law School and Challis Professor of International Law, distinguished jurist with an international reputation

Mick Gooda – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

Elder of the Gangalu people of Central Queensland, 25 years experience as an advocate and activist in Indigenous communities, former Chief Executive Officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health

Susan Ryan AO – Age Discrimination Commissioner Former Senator in the Hawke Government, Women’s Ambassador for ActionAid Australia, Independent Chair of the IAG and NRMA Superannuation Plan

Megan Mitchell – Children’s Commissioner Qualifications in social policy, psychology and education. Public servant and academic – previous roles include NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People, Executive Director of the ACT Office for Children, Youth and Family Support, Executive Director for Out-of-Home Care in the NSW Department of Community Services and CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service.

Graeme Innes AM – Disability Discrimination Commissioner Solicitor specialising in human rights. Former member of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal; the NSW Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal; and the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia and Vision Australia.

Tim Soutphommasane – Race Discrimination Commissioner Academic in the field of philosophy and ethics. Ph. D from Oxford. Political philosopher at the University of Sydney. Opinion columnist with The Age and The Weekend Australian and radio presenter with ABC Radio National. Author of three books.

Elizabeth Broderick – Sex Discrimination Commissioner Solicitor. Appointed  as Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, to lead the Commission’s Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Australian Defence Force. Partner and head of legal technology at a law firm, Blake Dawson Waldron. Facilitated a nearly 600 per cent increase in the number of women appointed to ASX 200 boards.

and last  Tim Wilson – “Freedom Commissioner” ?? Institute of Public Affairs frat boy and friend of George Brandis. Dedicated to gutting the effectiveness of Section 18C of the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act.

 We hope all those marginalised and discriminated against “freedumbs” “freedoms” running around out there living miserable lives are suitably grateful