Have a read and decide if you your views are similar to Michael Atkinson’s. Would you obstruct the issue in question? Or do you agree with him? Did common sense prevail?
You decide.
But first a little background on the honorable member of Croydon, SA.
Michael John Atkinson is an Australian politician who was first elected to parliament in 1989 and from then till 2002, served a variety of Shadow Portfolios. Since the State Labor Party won the 2002 election, he has taken the positions of current South Australian Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, and Minister for Multicultural Affairs in the Rann Labor Government. He represents the electorate of Croydon in the South Australian House of Assembly.
Most outside of South Australia are unlikely to know much about Mr. Atkinson. Having been in the job and the public eye for almost eight years, what else has happened during his time in office?
Date: June to August 2003
Issue: Ashbourne/Clarke Affair
Overview: Early in his tenure, Michael Atkinson had been entangled in the “Ashbourne/Clarke affair”, involving Premier Mike Rann’s former media advisor, Randall Ashbourne, and former Labor deputy leader, Ralph Clarke.
Ashbourne allegedly offered settlement of defamation actions between Clarke and Atkinson, where Clarke was supposedly to be offered lucrative statutory board positions.
While Ashbourne was charged and lost his job over the affair (though acquitted in June 2005), Atkinson stood down between June and August 2003. However, the DPP found that there was insufficient evidence to charge Atkinson. Clarke didn’t publicly comment until November 2005, where he told an upper house inquiry that Ashbourne suggested positions might be available "in the future, although no timeline was suggested", and that he understood that Ashboune was speaking as Atkinson's "emissary or conduit”.
Source
Date: 3 May 2007
Issue: Sale of X Rated Movies in South Australia
Overview: In 2007, the Federal Government supported a regulated retail environment for the sale of X rated movies.
However, South Australia still prohibited their sale. “Federal Labor policy now firmly states that adults in South Australia have a right to purchase adult material as long as it is not sold to minors, is not sold through family areas and as long as there is no degrading or demeaning imagery in it," said Eros Foundation chief executive Fiona Patten, “All these criteria are met by selling X18+ films through the restricted adult shop network that already exists in South Australia”.
Ms Patten claimed that if Michael Atkinson was serious about the prohibition of adult films then he should extend bans to include buying and possession, and not just outlaw the sale.
Source
Date: 12 August 2009
Issue: Defamation Case Against Atkinson
Overview: Michael Atkinson, the most senior legal authority in South Australia, was sued by the second most senior legal authority in South Australia, Deputy Chief Magistrate, Dr Andrew Cannon, for defamation.
Dr Cannon claimed that Atkinson had labeled him “daft” and “delusional” for suggesting that overcrowded jails should be taken into account when sentences were being handed out, which was apparently suggesting that lighter sentences could solve the problem of overcrowded jails.
While a public apology in March came out of the blue, Atkinson avoided a court date with an out-of-court settlement. Unfortunately, it was the tax payers that would be footing the $200,000 bill covering compensation and legal fees.
Source
Date: 18 September 2009
Issue: Asbestos Laws in South Australia
Overview: Independent Senator for South Australia, Nick Xenaphon, and South Australian Independent, John Darley, joined with asbestos victims and their families at the old James Hardie site to rally for asbestos regulation reforms.
Secretary of SA Unions, Janet Giles, who also attended the rally, had this to say: “In 2007 we asked the Attorney General Michael Atkinson to fix the regulations as a matter of urgency. In May 2008 we made a submission to the state government suggesting the date be set at 1960. It’s now September 2009 and the Attorney has yet to act”.
Source
Date: 25 September 2009
Issue: Bikie Laws in South Australia
Overview: Following the Bikie Gang fight in Sydney Airport in March 2009, the Australian states moved for laws to be introduced regarding the declaration of criminal organisations.
Legislation was introduced in South Australia, that empowered the Attorney-General (currently Atkinson) to declare any group a criminal organisation. Subsequently, the Finks motorcycle club was declared a criminal organisation in May and eight members became subject to control orders.
Two members challenged the laws in the Supreme Court, and it was found that the new laws were unconstitutional. The court ordered that the tax payers fund the legal expenses of the two bikie club members, and the bill was estimated to have cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Source
Date: 13 October 2009
Issue: Aboriginal Gangs are “Pure Evil” – Atkinson
Overview: Prominent Aboriginal community leaders were outraged by Michael Atkinson’s comments that the members of the Gang of 49 would be better off in jail rather than “"glorying in their criminal rampage".
He also claimed that they would have a better life in state detention where they would receive regular meals and an education.
“They are resistant, immune to any rehabilitative programs at this time in their lives," Mr Atkinson said, “This hard core needs to be put behind bars and kept there. We are dealing with an evil phenomenon” and that “Many of the Gang of 49, we know, are youths and under 18, and indeed some of the leaders of the gang we know are juveniles and teenagers".
He continued, "But rehabilitation is not going to do anything. We have to keep them away from society as long as we can.”
The chief executive of South Australia's Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, Neil Gillespie and former ATSIC chair, Lowitja O'Donohue were among the prominent figures to speak out against these comments.
Mr Gillespie said that the "criminal mindset within a jail made things worse. We should be working with these kids so that they don't reoffend”.
Source
Date: 3 December 2009
Issue: Allegations of Corruption
Overview: Independent MP, David Winderlich led a motion for an Ombudsmen enquiry into the St Clair (a suburb in South Australia) land swap and the allegations that the residents of this area were intimidated by the staff members of Michael Atkinson.
Mr Winderlich claimed, under parliamentary privilege, that four complaints had been made to police about Mr Atkinson or "people closely associated to him" and had revealed testimony from people who feel "personally threatened by the Attorney-General”.
Mr Winderlich also relayed an allegation that one "councillor who had opposed the land swap recently changed his vote late in the piece’’
“Residents assert that this is because he has been promised the Honourable Michael Atkinson's support for a Labor seat," Mr Winderlich told parliament, and he also revealed claims that another councillor was offered a position as a council committee chair and attracting payment of $3000 if he rejoined the ALP.
Furthermore, he quoted from an email sent by a resident who claimed an internet forum discussing the St Clair land swap had been hacked and forced to shut down. The resident claimed Mr Atkinson had visited the site and had attacked residents for engaging in community conversation about the land. Mr Atkinson denied the allegations and said he would initiate legal proceedings if it was “necessary” and would do so at no expense to the taxpayer.
Source
Date: 15 January 2010
Issue: Censorship of R18 Movie Boxes
Overview: The film industry was shocked when a new law was quietly passed in South Australia, restricting the promotion and display of R18 movies.
Announced by the office of Michael Atkinson, the law came into affect on 10 January 2010 and applied to titles for sale or rent. Titles ‘quarantined’ from all other audiovisual materials, in an area signposted with a warning were accepted from this law.
The law only applies to premises that sell other related products that are rated lower than R18, namely other films, and not adult-only premises. Many distributors expressed their surprise at this introduction, as they were “gobsmacked” that it had flown completely under the radar and that plain packaging would prevent customers from making informed decisions.
“It's certainly discouraging people to look for these films, discouraging shops from stocking them and creates an extra hassle for distributors," Potential Films managing director, Mark Spratt said. It also had the potential to harm retailers in South Australia, as consumers who wanted to buy the titles with their packaging intact would shop interstate or online.
Source
Date: 3 February 2010
Issue: Internet Anonymity Laws in South Australia
Overview: In January 2010, Michael Atkinson enacted laws in South Australia that required bloggers and posters commenting on the March 20 state election to leave a real name and address.
Under this law, anyone found to be posting false information would face fines of up to $1250 for individuals and $5000 for businesses. After severe public and political backlash, Atkinson tried to justify the laws by telling DMG radio that the laws were needed because people such as Aaron Formation were plants for the Liberal Party.
“I'll give you an example; repeatedly in the Adelaide Now website one will see commentary from Aaron Fornarino of West Croydon. That person doesn't exist” he said along with, “That name has been created by the Liberal Party in order to run Liberal Party commentary”.
Incidentally, not only did Aaron Fornarino exist, he lived a few hundred metres away from Atkinson’s electoral office. Furthermore, Mr Fornarino claimed that he doesn’t care much for either the Labour or Liberal Party. Humiliated, Atkinson was forced to repeal the laws.
The shadow Attorney-General, Vickie Chapman, welcomed the removal of the laws but was much less complimentary of Atkinson and the Labor government’s handling of the issue. She further went to explain “All parties had supported the bill when it passed through parliament, but it had been explained that the legislation would target trivial issues”.
She claimed that “No sooner is the ink dry than the attorney-general is announcing every site will be exposed to this," and “That is completely contrary to the information that was given to us”. Believing that the Liberals and other members of the parliament had been misled and that the minister had diminished the reputation of a member of the public, Ms Chapman called for Mr Atkinson’s resignation or for the Premier, Mike Ran, to sack him for a breach in ministerial conduct.
“Mr Atkinson's true intent, incompetence and lack of disclosure about the laws had been exposed,” Ms Chapman said.
Source
Date: 5 March 2010
Issue: Funding a Video Game ‘Cancer’ Group
As news broke that 55,000 submissions had been made to the Attorney-General’s public consultation on video game classifications, the most ever for a public consultation, it has been reported that Atkinson had made annual grants estimated $33,000 worth of donations to the Australian Council on Children and the Media through their trading name, Young Media Australia.
"The South Australian Attorney-General recently provided $33,000 for the project ‘Know Before You Go’," fellow Labor Party MP, Gay Thompson, told parliament in 2006. The ‘Know Before You Go’ project had the council reviewing just how suitable some movies were for different aged children.
CEO Barbara Biggins said the funding from Mr Atkinson's department had nothing to do with the council's view on video games. “It's the only project that's funded by him and it's been funded for years now. And I think good on him for helping parents to understand the classification system better," she said.
This statement comes in light of an expert from the council telling a TV news program the link between violent games and youth violence was stronger than tobacco and cancer. “It’s much greater than the effect of smoking on lung cancer,” psychologist Dr Wayne Warburton said.
Source
And, now, a challenge for our readers.
These are just a few amongst all the issues that Michael Atkinson has been involved in. Can you find any others? And, in particular, can you find any others where you agree with him?
Please post in our forums below.
Loading...
