Australia's new national environmental standards
"Former ACCC chair condemns proposed exemption allowing minister to approve projects that don’t comply with law. Samuel, who led a 2020 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, also argued a loophole that effectively exempts native forest logging from the laws “shouldn’t be there”.
“Logging operations should be subject to the same rules as mining, agriculture, urban development and so on." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/14/graeme-samuel-calls-for-labor-to-ditch-national-interest-workaround-for-environment-laws
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act)
The problem of ministerial discretion and “national interest” exemptions. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528660854362227
Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528971744822369
#EPBCAct #biodiversity #NationalInterest #law #exemption #MinisterialDiscretion #FastTrackApprovals #VestedInterest #ParliamentaryScrutiny #EnvironmentalLaw #conservation #regulation #governance #democracy #NSWLogging #landclearing #DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #LoggingImpacts
A quotation from Hannah Arendt
The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together, for it implied — as had been said at Nuremberg over and over again by the defendants and their counsels — that this new type of criminal, who is in actual fact hostis generis humani [enemy of humanity], commits his crimes under circumstances that make it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he is doing wrong.Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Epilogue (1963)
More about this quote: wist.info/arendt-hannah/42625/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hannaharendt #arendt #clearconscience #commonman #crimesagainsthumanity #criminal #enemy #evil #Holocaust #ignorance #immorality #naivete #normalcy #normality #responsibility #warcrime #wrongdoing
The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more…
Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.
Lawlessness dressed up as law.
" The ‘dual state’ framework explains how a dictator can exercise power while life appears mostly ordinary.
The court is adjusting the law to make place for arbitrary power.
In a dual state, the high “court’s role is in creating affordances within the law that operate as off switches for the law…
This is precisely why the dual state is so dangerous: It allows the would-be autocrat to consolidate power under the cloak of democracy and norms. "
>>
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/dual-state-supreme-court/
The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dual_State
#DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #VibeShift #democracy
A quotation from Samuel Johnson
That familiarity produces neglect, has been long observed. The effect of all external objects, however great or splendid, ceases with their novelty; the courtier stands without emotion in the royal presence; the rustick tramples under his foot the beauties of the spring with little attention to their colours or their fragrance; and the inhabitant of the coast darts his eye upon the immense diffusion of waters, without awe, wonder, or terrour.Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1753-06-26), The Adventurer, No. 67
More info about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/79944…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #background #banality #commonness #familiarity #neglect #normalcy #novelty #staleness
A quotation from Douglas Adams
I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humourist, screenwriter
The Salmon of Doubt, Part 2 “The Universe” (2002) [ed. Peter Guzzardi]
More info about this quote: wist.info/adams-douglas/66399/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #douglasadams #age #aging #gettingold, growingold #henoed #innovation #naturalorder #normalcy #perspective #progress #technology #luddite
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Circles,” Essays: First Series, No. 10
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/emerson-ralph-waldo/…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ralphwaldoemerson #sloth #calm #challenge #change #comfortzone #complaisance #discomfort #life #living #normalcy #settle #statusquo #surprise #unsettling
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
Sartor Resartus, Book 3, ch. 8 (1834)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/carlyle-thomas/63317…
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