JUSTICE IS REPRESENTED BY SCALES, IT IS ABOUT WEIGHING UP BOTH SIDES OF AN ARGUMENT AND FINDING THE JUST ANSWER.
WHAT IS ONE SIDE IS WEIGHED DOWN?
So where did justice jump ship?
Australia began its legal system by adopting common law from
the United Kingdom, quite a good system, we enjoyed the presumption of
innocence, the right to remain silent, the courts were open courts of record to
ensure transparency and trial by way of a jury of our peers ensured legal precedents
moved forward in line with social values and community expectations.
The Constitution was written to define the roles of the
courts and the parliaments both state and commonwealth, to ensure a separation of
powers, and it was written with common law in mind.
Just over 100 years later, all that is gone, when did that
happen? Who changed it and why are very pertinent questions. Could common-law
still be there, just ignored with the intent of empowering those who benefit
from its silence?
The writers of the constitution would never have thought
that parliament itself would at some stage in the future try and undermine justice,
the constitution and our system of common-law, because if they had, just maybe
they would have ensured more refined protections were included in our founding
document.
To control the legal system, all they need do is take away
our protections, take away the presumption of innocence, trial by jury, the
right to remain silent and override common-law precedent with laws of the
parliament, and this they have achieved.
Going further it became important that the people do not
know what is going on, and that savvy educated individuals could not beat their
corrupted system. This best is achieved by ensuring no records are kept and
that access to the courts could be controlled, taking away any witnesses to
injustice and support for those who dare fight to protect their innocence.
In recent times people have recorded what goes on and
released that on the internet, so now most if not all courts have electronic
jamming devices to ensure their secrecy is kept, and they now deny entry to
anyone other than the defendant.
So let’s say you are in court, witness corruption or
ignorance of the law, you have no proof, making it easy to label you a sore
loser, if you expose what happened, because there may be no record or witnesses
to the truth.
When parliament started writing law, through every
increasing and complex legislation, those who dare fight to prove their
innocence would have little chance of understanding their written law, and if
they did learn or in-fact beat the system, parliament need only make changes to
ensure that never happened again, going as far as removing the presumption of innocence,
the right to remain silent, the right to have support (Mckenzies friend) even
the right to face and question ones accuser.
The nasty side effect of all this, is that not only do we
have no rights or protections, but with so many new laws being written every
week, we can break one before we even knew it existed.
Justice cannot work under secrecy, it cannot be written into
legislation, nor can it operate with in a court system that has its hands bound
by self-interest.
Most legislation now presumes you are guilty leaving you to
prove otherwise, for instance traffic law, you are guilty of speeding, and if
the police follow procedure you have no defence, if you are caught driving un
registered, there is simply no defence under the legislation, even if it is
another’s car or you checked the vehicle was registered in the morning, this is
further complicated by the fact we no longer have the protection of a
registration label, which once needed to be returned before registration could
be cancelled.
Making matters worse, if the police prosecution find out you
have evidence against them, they can simply come to your home and seize
everything, paper work, videos, computers and mobile phones, leaving you in the
court without paper work or supporting evidence.
Laws passed in SA (SOCCA) allow secret evidence to be used
against you, so you cannot even dispute allegations or face/question your
accuser.
The courts are also now used as a tool by many authorities
including the police to intimidate or simply undermine your good name, they can
press charges without any hope of success and drag you along for the ride,
simply dropping the case just before trial, and you are left with the legal bills.
Other authorities can use the court process to improve their
financial position, they keep on adjourning until you run out of money, then go
for a plea bargain, or in the case of the RSPCA they can charge exorbitant
storage fees, in a recent case those fees have near reached 1 million dollars without
a trial date in sight.
Recent legislation has been produced to protect the very
people abusing the system, just in case they are caught out, just like the
politicians themselves enjoy parliamentary priviledge.
The big boys just can’t lose, if the RSPCA fails in the
courts, and there is a credible damages claim against them, the government are responsible
as their inspectors are working for the government, leaving the tax payer to
cover the costs, the same applies for the police; they have nothing to lose if
they mismanage a case or simply use dodgy charges as a method to intimidate,
because once again you pay through your taxes.
If you were to dispute a fine, spend the huge money required
to win the case therefore proving your innocence, there is no avenues in many jurisdictions
to reclaim costs, so the winner fast becomes a loser in every case.
In more important cases, where your only safety from the
possibly of corruption in the courts is to choose trial by jury, again there
are many reports of these avenues being denied.
Interestingly if you dare bring up the constitution in our
courts, the best you will get is a laugh, if you bring up the equally
opportunity act, the United Nations declaration of human rights or any other document that purports to protect your rights,
expect to be laughed out of court.
The only option we have to remedy all this is a Bill of
rights, that we attach to the constitution, it must be retrospective on all
legislation, so as to restore justice, but that my friends is also controlled
by parliament and the judiciary, the very people that have worked tirelessly to
take the idea of justice away from you.
Mark Aldridge