Judgment Watch

CLAIRE MARHSALL
Volume 1, Issue 4 (Originally Published 19 March 2012)
 
McLindon and Katter's Australian Party (Qld Division) v The Electoral Commission of Queensland [2012] QSC 44 - Katter, ballots and bigotry 
Everyone's favourite banana- blocking, ultra-conservative climate change denier Bob Katter and his colleague Aidan McLindon quietly sought an injunction to stop the Electoral Commission of Queensland printing ballot papers they claimed are invalid. The ballots list 'The Australian Party' rather than 'Katter's Australian Party' and the claimants alleged this is an unauthorised abbreviation pertaining to the State and Federal Electoral Acts.
 
In the Supreme Court of Queensland, Atkinson J found that the claims were largely unsubstantiated and that the election would go ahead; despite the requests of Katter's party that it be deferred to allow the ballot papers to be amended.
 
Atkinson J deftly stated that 'it is in the public interest in a parliamentary democracy for democracy for elections to take place' and refused the injunction. The case will continue to the High Court as the claimants are also alleging that s 102(2)(g) of the Queensland Electoral Act, which allows for the use of abbreviations, is void for inconsistency with the equivalent Federal legislation, and that it also presents an impermissible burden on freedom of political communication.
 
Atkinson J, who is swiftly finding a place in my top ten serving judges, repeatedly stated that although he should refrain from expressing so he thought the arguments were null.
 
It's been a big couple of weeks for Katter — his rampantly homophobic ad campaigns, mining tax disputes and now a High Court challenge must be getting him all sweaty under his novelty-sized cowboy hat. It would be comical if his insufferable form of prejudice wasn't so popular.
 
Omari v Omari [2012] ACTSC 33 – Gender bias and will making
The daughter of a Canberran woman has challenged her mother's will that saw her bequeathed only half of what her brothers were granted. The defendants alleged that Muslim tradition requires sons get twice the shares of daughters, and that the deceased was deeply religious.
 
The two sons stated they'd explained the will to their ailing mother who couldn't read English before she signed it with her thumbprint. The court found that the deceased wanted the will made in accordance with her faith, but concluded that due to her lack of testamentary capacity caused by a dementing illness the will was invalid.
 
The estate was granted to the Public Trustee to sort between the feuding siblings.
 
A Monaro, recklessness and marriage.
A Geelong man was caught travelling 130km/h in an 80km/h zone by an unmarked police car and charged with exceeding the limit and reckless conduct endangering life.
 
He told the court that he'd had an argument with his wife on the phone and that she'd given him an ultimatum: to be home immediately or face divorce.
Romance, it seems, has no limits: speed or otherwise.
 
Claire Marshall