"These people are simply not armies and the notion of them threatening Australia in the same way the Mongols threatened Asia and Europe and the Arabs threatened and took so much of North Africa and Spain etc. Well, that is true protecting people is not simply taking away all their freedoms, surrounding them with police facing in and soldiers facing out, and saying 'now you are safe'. "One hears that the first duty of the government is to protect one's people. The Commonwealth of Australia is not in danger our Constitution is not at risk because of what these ghastly people are doing with their knives and their guns and their bombs. "When I say absurdly pretentious I don't know how anyone can see these people as an existential threat to Australia. "We are not going to compromise really critical values, of which the rule of law is one, in order to deal with these absurdly pretentious, horrible, maladjusted individuals. However, "one thing you are not going to do is give up values compromise traditions that, as it happens – not coincidentally – are the very values and traditions that these unspeakable bastards despise. That is not going to get rid of the phenomenon any more than murder has been abolished." "There is not going to be an abolition of terrorism by the accumulation of laws, for God's sake, or even the attempted enforcement of laws. I must say that that leads me to the view that given nothing is going to be perfectly effective, and it's not alone in life's experiences in that regard, the one thing you won't discard is principle." Like, say, the rule of law, and that someone is innocent until proven guilty. "It doesn't lend itself to any clear solution. "It's a wicked problem," he acknowledges. Updated, it means requiring a criminal conviction for terrorism-related offences before the government considers cancelling the citizenship of any dual citizen. This dates back to the 800-year-old Magna Carta. We swap a few homilies about the not quite unalloyed joys of fatherhood before my guest takes control: "So where do you want to start?"Ĭutting to the chase while sipping beer and inhaling oysters, he speaks in measured but forceful tones about the need to maintain the constitutional separation of the courts and state. In contrast with some other "bastions" of the Sydney bar – no names, no pack drill – there is, however, no hint of hauteur from the eminent lawyer, although he can, according to other legal eagles, be occasionally sniffy in his chambers.īefore you could say Paul Bocuse, 11 natural oysters arrive, accompanied by two Trumer Pils beers, and soon followed by a bottle of Bass Estate Pinot Noir from South Gippsland in Victoria. The night before our lunch he had appeared on the ABC program, Q&A, and by the end of the week he was still on the front page, this time attacking the government over its "absurd" handling of the citizenship debate. Louise KennerleyĪrriving at his favourite eatery – although one quick look at the bill tells you it ain't no staff cafeteria – Bret Walker seems to take in his stride his homme du jour status on domestic terrorism, and his staunch defence of legal due process.Īs we sit down to eat, Bret Walker-linked stories are dominating the media. He worries about what kind of official messages will be sent about our legal processes by the Abbott government's stance on revoking citizenship.
CML was, in fact, the former occupant of this magnificent art deco building at 66 Hunter Street, Sydney, before uber chef-cum-foodies' page darling, one-time pony-tailed Neil Perry, moved in with a CBD-friendly version of his successful Rockpool model six years ago.īastion of the bar, Bret Walker, at lunch at Sydney's Rockpool Bar and Grill. But instead it's man of the moment, Bret Walker SC.ĭressed in a dark grey suit, light blue shirt and jagged coloured tie, he looks like an executive from an insurance company like, say, Colonial Mutual Life. You feel Superman could burst out of one of the close-fitting suits on the Clark Kent-style waiters and their Fitness First-bodies. Rockpool Bar & Grill has a Gotham City vibe, from a soaring atrium, to green-veined Scagliola columns, large reflected-glass panels, and black tables and chairs.
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