Derryn Hinch To Enter Politics With The “Justice Party”; Promises To Make Politics Even More Shouty
Yay! Another niche political party led by an amorphous male blob of white-hot rage.
Presumably noting a distinct lack of controversial and opinionated old white men in the Senate, broadcaster Derryn Hinch has officially announced his intention to enter politics. After five decades in print journalism, TV and radio, the 71-year-old has now started the Justice Party: a national party which will stand candidates across the country at next year’s federal election with Hinch himself gunning for a seat in the Victorian Senate.
Preemptively refuting claims they’re a single-issue party, the Justice Party have outlined their goals in seven points: a public register of convicted sex offenders, longer sentencing for violent crimes, bail reform, domestic violence law reform, parole reform, animal justice and equal rights.
“The timing is right,” Hinch said in a press release this morning. “Australians are fed up with the quality, or lack of quality, in our judicial system … They’re also fed up with the major parties.”
“I’ve been campaigning on some of these issues for more than 30 years. I’ve been jailed, fined, done community service, served time in solitary confinement and months under house arrest. And been sacked for it. So now a tilt at federal politics? To steal from Gough Whitlam — it’s time!”
He then made a surreal announcement video which doesn’t feel unlike someone recording their own obituary for the news.
Though the shock jock is best known for his near-unrivaled ability to get fired up over nothing (including but not limited to the wardrobe choices of Yumi Styne’s baby) and then literally get fired (he’s been sacked an epic 16 times over his career), he also has a long history of activism around the criminal justice system.
In the 1980s, Hinch chose to publicly identify a priest being trialed for the sexual assault of a minor in an attempt to warn those associated with the church. As this was willfully prejudicial to the man’s trial, Hinch was imprisoned for 12 days. Undeterred, this is a practice he continued throughout his career. In 2008, he named two more alleged sex offenders at a public rally and was soon sentenced to five months’ home detention, and just last year he was given further jail time when purposefully breaking a suppression order on naming Jill Meagher’s killer.
“Here we go again,” he said at the time. “I’ll go to jail for 50 days to draw attention to all the suspended sentences for crimes of violence and child pornography, the obscenely short jail terms given to kid killers.”
Outside of this focus on sentencing and bail reform, Hinch has also campaigned regularly on Oscar’s Law in an attempt to banish puppy farms and increase pet adoption, and has more recently become a vocal supporter of marriage equality. After a change of heart on the issue in 2010, Hinch declared discriminatory legislation “morally reprehensible” and now advocates for “equal rights for all Australians”.
Of course, much of this sounds great! Marriage equality and adorable puppies finding good homes is something we can all get behind. There are also strong arguments to be made for harsher criminal sentencing and parole allowances — particularly when speaking about crimes against women. However, many are rightfully questioning whether Hinch is the right person to get any of this done.
I have to tell you, from one human to another, a Senate run would be wasting both your and our time. You have 1 life, Dezza @HumanHeadline
— Preston Bayswater (@bayswaterp) October 12, 2015
God, if Derryn Hinch and Salim Mahger are the future of Australian politics – I am genuinely scared for our future.
— Monique (@_moniquesw) October 11, 2015
Some important things to consider:
— Hinch is a septuagenarian liver cancer survivor who was told he had just one year to live four years ago. Though he’s now had a liver transplant, the six-year term he’s seeking in the Senate is ambitious. He’s only one year younger than Father of the Parliament Philip Ruddock.
— As noble as he feels his actions may be, publicly outing alleged sex offenders jeopardises their trials and serves as a serious obstacle to justice for each of their victims.
— If he were elected, he would be granted parliamentary privilege allowing him certain protection from these laws. Almost every parliamentary debate would no doubt be spent reeling off alleged offenders names with all of the damage and none of the consequences.
— He’s Derryn Hinch.
