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How did a QC from the conservative end of a conservative profession become the public voice of Australia’s voiceless refugees. For Julian Burnside it came down to a sudden realisation for which he has been preparing all his life. When delivering the Sir Ninian Stephen Lecture, The Practice of Law: Justice or Just a Job?, Julian observed:
Taking a stand is not without its cost. But as Arundhati Roy has said: A thing, once seen, cannot be unseesn, and when you have seen a great moral crime, to remain silent is as much a political act as is to speak against it.
Julian shares with Czechoslovak born Tom Stoppard the view that we are all born with an instinct for justice. In Professional Foul, one of his characters tells of the child who in the playground cries “It’s not fair” and thus gives voice to ‘an impulse which precedes utterance’. Our perception of justice may be blunted by exposure to its processes. At the start of a career as a law student, we see law and justice as synonymous; later we fall into cynicism or despair as clients complain that Law and Justice seem unrelated. We might remember the observation of Bismarck, in a different context, saying “He who likes sausages or law should not see them in the making” be it in the NSW Parliamentary Library or the Public Accounts Committee.
Thomas Keneally wrote his latest book, The Tyrant’s Novel, after his visits to the Villawood Detention Centre Once Upon a Time, in 1980 AD certain Central Europeans referred fondly to the piece of soil in Villawood as their Australian Hollywood


Tracking Trends Great & Small: Final shot at the top
Big Brother went to work quickly when a Dubbo-based water efficiency use adviser, Terrance Loughlin, sent out a last goodbye via email to staffers in the NSW Department of Primary Industries last Friday.
With Politicisation of the public service in the subject line, Loughlin expressed his disappointment about the way that the old NSW Agriculture, now part of DPI, and other rural agencies were being "totally gutted by the NSW Labour government.
In eras past this would not have happened because the executives of these rural agencies would have had the gumption to stand up to opportunistic politicians and their snivelling advisers.
The email was quickly removed and Loughlin was politely informed he should remove himself quick smart.
Shortly afterwards another email went out from the big boss, Barry Buffier, DPI's director-general. He said Loughlin's message "cannot be mistaken for anything other than a political stunt on his last day of duty".
Given that Loughlin is the Greens-endorsed candidate for Parkes, Buffier might have a point, although Loughlin reckons it was a "stunt" but not a political one. By Monday morning DPI staff had an edict in their in-boxes. Thanks to Loughlin no one can send a broadcast email unless Buffier, one of his deputies, or an executive director approves it.
• Politicisation of the public service
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