Activist defends failed constitutional challenge against Frydenberg

Michael Staindl has mixed feelings about his controversial and failed attempt to unseat Treasurer Josh Frydenberg from Parliament.

Michael Staindl leaves the Federal Court after the case was heard in February.

It's two weeks since his legal challenge to Frydenberg's eligibility on the basis of dual-citizenship was dismissed by the Federal Court. Staindl alleged Frydenberg had inherited Hungarian citizenship from his mother, Erica Strausz, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, and as such should be disqualified from Parliament.

The full bench, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, was unanimous in dismissing the claim. Its judgment made pointed reference to the backdrop of “catastrophe, anti-Jewish violence and terror” which Strauz's family escaped and noted the “niceties of proof of the production or issue of documents ... can be put aside when one recognises the realities of 1949".

The judges went on to say there was "no evidence to support" the claim and ordered Staindl to pay Frydenberg's costs – likely to amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Treasurer has refused to comment on the case even after it was resolved, but his supporters have been less restrained.

Read the story from The Age by Samantha Hutchinson - “Activist defends failed constitutional challenge against Frydenberg.”

I want children - but my fear for the planet fill me with doubt

‘I feel that it would be unfair of me to bring a child
 into what I see as in all likelihood a precarious future.’ 

My partner of the last seven years and I have always been fairly ambivalent about the idea of having children. 

However, over the last couple of years, notably since the birth of my youngest nephew, I have found myself wavering. My sister emigrated before she had children and I now feel a profound sadness that I can only have a limited involvement in their childhoods. The feelings have become so strong that looking at photos of them causes me to well up.

If I were to tell my partner straight out that I wanted a child, I think he would probably agree to go ahead, but my own feelings are so mixed that there’s little point even raising the subject. (My partner doesn’t know how to handle emotional uncertainty whereas I have found that if I take and present a position on something, discussion is much easier.)

There are the usual concerns about finances, work, and whether we would be any good at being parents, but fundamentally, my mixed feelings stem from my belief that we are coming into an era of huge uncertainty – climate change is a reality and is likely to cause huge upheaval and mass migration of peoples, resources are becoming more scarce and I think the search for them will eventually lead to (greater) armed conflict.

Species are becoming extinct at an accelerating rate and populism and insularity are on the rise. It’s not a matter of whether these things will happen, because they are happening now, but rather how bad they will be and whether we can do anything to halt or mitigate them.

Read Annalisa Barbieri’s story on The Guardian - “I want children - but my fear for the planet fill me with doubt”