Federal government in balancing act between reopening COVID borders and keeping key votes

[Neferti]

Federal government in balancing act between reopening COVID borders and keeping key votes

Making predictions about the way the highest court in the land will rule is a fraught game.

Just ask Malcolm Turnbull.

"The High Court will so hold!" the then prime minister declared to the House in August 2017, as he defended the integrity of his alleged Kiwi deputy Barnaby Joyce.

SPOILER ALERT: if you haven't caught up on the blockbuster political saga that was "The Citizenship Seven: Show Us Your Papers".

The High Court did not so hold.

In the era of coronavirus, the domestic debate is more state of origin — whether that's about where certain outbreaks started or how each Premier and Chief Minister is responding to a pandemic that's crippled the world.

That's why federal Attorney-General Michaelia Cash's foray into the issue of border closures on Wednesday is curious from both a legal and a political basis.

In the pages of The Australian newspaper, Senator Cash pointed to last year's High Court ruling in billionaire businessman Clive Palmer's challenge to WA's hard border.

The esteemed legal minds dismissed the mining baron's case, finding the WA government's decision to effectively shut off the state from the rest of the federation was fair.
This decision was made when there was no vaccine in use anywhere in Australia.

"When you jump forward to where we are today, a lot has changed since last November," Senator Cash told the ABC.

It's an interesting point from the Attorney-General who, since Mathias Cormann's decision to swap Perth for Paris and become Secretary-General of the OECD, is now the most senior West Australian sitting at Scott Morrison's Cabinet table.

So, would the High Court now rule differently, as the Senator seems to be suggesting?

Here's the thing.

In the current environment, any attempt by the Attorney-General to launch such a case would be about as politically popular as a chesty cough on a crowded train.

And she's been at pains to stress the Commonwealth won't be briefing its lawyers to do so.

The Coalition continues its campaign to get state and territory leaders to lift restrictions, once vaccination thresholds of 70 and then 80 per cent of over 16-year-olds being double dosed are reached.

Senator Cash's home state is locked off from most of the country and, if Premier Mark McGowan is to be believed, will continue to be something of a hermit state for the foreseeable future, even as vaccination rates rise.

It might be frustrating for West Australian expats, living over east, to not be able to get home and see family and friends.

The same could be said of Queenslanders or South Australians.
But the freedoms being enjoyed in those closed off states, compared to the restrictions in place in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT, are something locals are quite happy to savour and protect.

West Australians get to quench their thirst with beer fresh from a tap at the pub. They're boasting about hosting rights for the 2021 the AFL Grand Final – the "Greatest Show in Perth", as the parochial West Australian newspaper proclaimed on Wednesday morning.

Good luck to anyone who wants to rip that away through the High Court.

"Court challenges are ridiculous," Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said.

"When Clive Palmer wanted to take the Western Australian Government to court, I think he united every Western Australian against him."
She noted the Morrison Government originally joined Mr Palmer's challenge, supporting his position.

Less than two months later, the Commonwealth pulled out of the case.

With an election looming, the Coalition in Canberra is walking a tightrope between getting the nation as a whole out of its deep coronavirus induced rut, and not angering voters in certain states vital to their political success.

To stay in government, whenever an election is called, Scott Morrison needs to hold seats in WA if not gain more. The same can be said for Queensland, where some suggest the Liberal National Party's 2019 results could be a high watermark.

By setting out the case, but refusing to prosecute it, Senator Cash is having a bet each way.

But giving a wink and nod to a High Court challenge from a cashed-up litigant may have political peril.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-01/ ... /100424040

[Black Orchid]

And of course they want people to line up and vote? Actually leave their home and stand in a crowd? For them?

We haven't been able to leave home for months but they'll unlock the doors so we can go out and vote?

[Bobby]

Dan would not allow it.
No voting.

[Neferti]

And of course they want people to line up and vote? Actually leave their home and stand in a crowd? For them?

We haven't been able to leave home for months but they'll unlock the doors so we can go out and vote?

They'll make you do a postal vote or vote online. You are on the Roll so they know where you live.