A judge has agreed to block parts of Arizona’s controversial anti-migration law, which is opposed by the Obama Administration, from coming into force today. The Arizona law could be doomed to failure, writes Greg Barns.
Articles by Greg Barns 
Obama could still strike down Arizona’s anti-migration law
Crikey Subscriber / Greg Barns / Thursday, 29 July 2010 / 1
Listen to Sri Lankan government on asylum seekers? Not a smart move
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 12 July 2010 / 1
It would be very unwise for Australian security agencies to not test independently the veracity of anything they are told publicly or privately by the Sri Lankan government, given its track record.
Should Kevin Andrews be personally liable if he’s defamed Haneef?
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 5 July 2010 / 19
Dr Haneef intends to sure for false imprisonment and defamation. To defend the suit Kevin Andrews will have to convince Robert McClelland that the claims against him fit the Commonwealth guidelines for ministerial indemnity.
Aid workers will face terror charges after new US court ruling
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Bringing warring terrorist groups to the negotiating table and using them to help deliver aid is a desirable means of reducing conflict. But a US Supreme Court ruling has just made it a whole lot harder.
Trial by media goes for the doctor: come up empty handed
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 11 May 2010
The highly competitive atmosphere in which the media work these days unfortunately makes trial by media inevitable as the print and electronic media chase “big stories”.
Cory Bernardi’s sinister plot to ban the burqa
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 7 May 2010
Senator Corey Bernadi’s call to ban the burqa is more sinister than many other similar calls around the world. Do his comments amount to religious vilification?
Barns: anti-people smuggling law flawed and innocents will suffer
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 27 April 2010
ASIO’s powers will be greatly expanded under the government’s new anti-people smuggling laws. Courts have to send people to jail for no less than three years or five years if they are involved in people smuggling.
Health reform debate ignores non-vote winning mental health issues
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Mental health services are being ignored in the health reform debate in favour of sexy, headline-grabbing issues like aged care, hospital beds and surgery waiting times.
Arbiter of asylum claims casts doubt on Rudd’s application freeze
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Foreign minister Stephen Smith’s claim over the weekend that conditions are improving in Sri Lanka is a sweeping generalisation that ignores the reality for each person. The Tamil Tigers are still a threat.
Porous borders would save millions in terms of people smuggling
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Making people smuggling legal and properly regulated would be a winner for the Australian economy and save billions on silly games such as Christmas Island.
‘Stop and search’ is racial profiling by any other name
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Stop and search powers given to police — now in use in Victoria, and coming soon to South Australia and Western Australia — lead to racial discrimination. The evidence can be found overseas.
Give jurors background, Rann says, despite all the evidence against
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 8 March 2010
Electioneering politicians in South Australia back a proposal to allow jurors to hear about “relevant” prior convictions of the accused. Yet overseas examples show it leads to unsafe verdicts.
Letter from...: Vancouver: where the party is over, to all in tents and …
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 4 March 2010
The Olympics tent has packed up and gone home, but another tent city remains in Vancouver as a symbol of abject poverty and disadvantage. Will they get the dividend of the past two weeks of celebration?
Human rights not on the Rudd Team Jellyback’s agenda
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 17 February 2010
In those jurisdictions where a human rights law exists, each day thousands of citizens are able to ensure they get better treatment from government. Perhaps this is why the Rudd government is so scared of a Human Rights Act?
At a loss to understand prophet Barnaby? Read this
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 10 February 2010
There is nothing new in Barnaby Joyce’s rhetoric and any idea that he is simply loose mouthed and doesn’t mean what he is saying, should be scotched immediately. He knows exactly what he is on about.
iiNet decision: time for film industry to face the music
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 5 February 2010
The film industry has not woken up to the fact that their business model is no longer valid, despite the latest iiNet legal win.
Secrecy in SA: one law for MPs and another for the punters
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 3 February 2010
The Labor government of Mike Rann in South Australia has a long track record of curtailing freedoms and rights. It seems, when it comes to secrecy there is one law for MPs in South Australia, and another for the punters.
Productivity Commission report reveals chronic overcrowding in our jails
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 29 January 2010
The Productivity Commission’s annual Report on Government Services was released today, finding that Australia’s prisons are overcrowded, warehouses for Indigenous Australians, and ineffective in tackling the causes of crime.
The minister for the respect agenda is anything but
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 21 January 2010
Victorian Premier John Brumby is making his planning minister Justin Madden the minister for the “respect agenda” — a well-meaning plan unlikely to have any real impact.
Australia lags behind new Czech stance on drugs
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 21 December 2009
The police don’t arrest people with an addiction to alcohol, gambling or sex, so why do we make criminals of people who just happen to be addicted to drugs?
Allies suspected of war crimes should not be above the law
Crikey / Greg Barns / Thursday, 17 December 2009
Australian authorities, even when armed with the Goldstone Report, will not lift a finger to take action against someone who is suspected of committing war crimes.
Australia has form on deporting the sick and mentally ill
Crikey / Greg Barns / Friday, 11 December 2009
Australia’s immoral migration system is at odds with the nation’s liberal democratic values — and yet we allow our government to get away with this cruelty.
Australia needs criminal case review committees
Crikey / Greg Barns / Tuesday, 8 December 2009
The criminal justice system in Australia is fallible and innocent people go to jail, as shown in the latest case with Farah Jama finally having his rape conviction overturned after 16 months in jail.
Feeling anti-social in WA? Go directly to jail
Crikey / Greg Barns / Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Is heavy-handed Anti-Social Behaviours Orders (ASBO) legislation really needed in Western Australia? Particularly since they don’t work and mainly just force vulnerable people with mental illness into the prison system.
New law gives police the right to frisk anyone, anywhere
Crikey / Greg Barns / Monday, 30 November 2009
Under a New law in Victoria, police can search anyone without having to show reasonable cause. The use of a similar power in the UK has been abandoned this year because it has been found to undermine relations between the police and communities.
