We must get Bill right
I WRITE to inform your readers about the federal government’s decision to seek clarification on the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill.
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Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton informed the public last Thursday that the government was seeking advice of the Solicitor-General in relation to the potential for a High Court challenge.
An amendment is likely to be made to strengthen the bill. The Government is clearly listening to the Independents in Parliament and taken steps to ensure the legislation meets a higher standard.
This legislation had been expected to be presented to the House of Representatives for a vote on several occasions during the sitting week. I acknowledge the decision to seek further legal advice on this important piece of legislation.
Speaking to the bill last Tuesday, one of my primary concerns was the uncertainty over the constitutional viability of the bill. University of Sydney constitutional law Professor Anne Twomey and constitutional lawyer George Williams have raised their concerns about the Bill being vulnerable to a challenge.
The retrospective provision in the legislation is another major concern. Our processes and procedures must work to ensure that we have the highest possible standards of government and the best outcomes for the people of Australia.
CATHY MCGOWAN, Independent Member for Indi
Give us good news
IT MUST be concerning for devout Muslims to continue to see the awful headlines, almost daily, about the acts of violence, death and barbarity that some Muslims commit in the name of Islam.
Well, it's the same for non-Muslims as well.
I am hungry to see better headlines, ones depicting human kindness, grace, compassion, forbearance and peace like the ones Islam proclaims it represents – however I just don't see them.
Can you please start contributing to these more desirable global headlines ?
Over to you.
GEORGE KROOGLIK, Albury
So much for service
SUSSAN Ley announced a $570,000 revamp of the myGov office in Albury, incorporating the Wodonga Medicare centre.
As far as I am concerned it is a step backwards. On paying a rather large medical bill recently (from a provider with no Medicare banking links) I went to the Wodonga Medicare Office to obtain a refund, only to find it had closed and relocated to Albury, so I put it away till I next visited Albury.
At the myGov office in Albury, I couldn’t find a Medicare sign anywhere and I suspect this is part of the Liberals strategy towards eliminating Medicare – they have been against universal health care ever since Gough Whitlam suggested it.
I stood in a queue of people and someone with an iPad came up and asked me, in front of everyone in the queue, why I was there (so much for privacy). I was then directed to a seat and told I would be called.
There were three others in my seating area. After the first disappeared for 10 minutes, I asked the others how long they had been waiting. Ten minutes prior to the last call was one answer. I decided I didn’t have time to wait so got up and left. The longest I ever waited in the past would have been five minutes.
How I long for the days where you go to a local Medicare outlet, drop in and get served immediately.
It seems so much harder now but I guess it means the government keeps my money for a bit longer before I get a refund. Multiply this by the millions of claims a year and that adds up to a lot of interest they gain – at our expense. Finally I guess the new couches put into the newly revamped office are really needed now, for those asked to wait around.
