Elise Archer,Attorney-General
In another embarrassing gaffe for Labor, Shadow Attorney-General, Ella Haddad, has demonstrated she doesn't actually understand the role the Attorney-General plays as First Law Officer of Tasmania.
Cleary pressured by her union masters in question time today, Ms Haddad has embarrassed herself in, once again, failing to understand that it is critical the Government ensures Tasmania's laws are interpreted appropriately.
Our court system operates on the basis that a court will have two parties before it to put forward opposing views – this assists the court to determine the proper interpretation of the law.
In cases such as this, where there is no proper party to put an opposing view, it falls to the Attorney-General to appear and fulfil that role as contradictor.
In the case raised by Labor today, it was the Australian Workers Union who did not wish to be represented.
The appeal to the Full Bench of the Supreme Court is a legal matter in relation to whether the Tasmanian Industrial Commission has jurisdiction to determine whether industrial matters (such as wages agreements) can cover former employees as well as current employees.
This is an important principle to be determined as it has wide application to many previous wage agreements and would apply to many former employees – a potentially costly, administratively complex and unintended consequence of the Supreme Court decision.
I would advise Ms Haddad to brush up on her knowledge of the law if she wants to be taken seriously as Shadow Attorney-General.
