CCF – States
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, most of the Australian States and one Territory closed their borders to people from other States. The two states with the highest number of cases, NSW and Victoria, did not close their borders. The ACT also did not close its border.
During a pandemic, when lives are at risk, we want the Government to protect us, no matter what. This raises important public policy questions. Should we still strictly apply the law, or does an emergency justify a Government acting outside the law?
People have been asking recently whether it is constitutionally valid for the States to close their borders to residents of other States. Doesn’t the Constitution guarantee freedom of movement or prevent States from discriminating against people from other States?
Thank-you Dr Oscar Roos for your comment on the article we published earlier this week titled: A functioning Parliament during a time of crisis.
A new Governor was sworn in for New South Wales yesterday. Margaret Beazley takes over the role after former Governor David Hurley agreed to become our next Commonwealth Governor-General.
Governor Beazley stated in her swearing-in address:
Western Australia has never really been sure about being part of Australia. They were the last colony to hold a referendum asking the people if they would like to join the new federation.
A lot has happened in the defence and security space this week. On Monday it was announced by the Prime Minister that the defence force would more easily be able to be called into domestic terrorism incidents.
The South Australian State Government last week introduced a major bank levy in their 2017 budget. This new levy is expected to raise $370 million for the State Government over four years and comes on top of the bank tax introduced by the Federal Government in their May 2017 budget.
Here at CEFA we have recently written a couple of articles explaining the restrictions on government spending.
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