Barrister and writer. Columnist with Hobart Mercury and Pearls and Irritations. Author of The Rise of the Right (Hardie Grant Publishing 2019)

Joined June 2011
356 Photos and videos
Thats @TasLiberal government for you. Prop up a government business that has been insolvent themercury.com.au/news/tasma…

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Greg Barns SC retweeted
A budget detail many missed last night was how the Albanese Labor government is addressing what it calls social cohesion. It is cutting $9 million from the Australian Human Rights Commission, the independent body that protects and serves every community equally.
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When did @jeremyrockliff know this policy was bullshit? Did he lie in the election campaign? themercury.com.au/news/tasma…

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Another case of @jeremyrockliff handing out taxpayers funds to corporations themercury.com.au/news/tasma…

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Greg Barns SC retweeted
Apr 23
Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has been imprisoned in Israel for 24 years.Systematically tortured and oppressed,a freedom fighter,not terrorist, says Free Palestine Melbourne @FPMelbourne@Robert_Martin72@BarnsGreg @MichaelWestbiz @MattH093 @purplepingers
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Greg Barns SC retweeted
Replying to @Mon4Kooyong
davidshoebridge: 'You need to know about these laws. You don't have to do anything wrong and ASIO can question you for 24 hours. You can be strip searched, put in restraints. If you don't answer questions you can go to jail. It you tell anyone, you can go to jail.' #auspol
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Greg Barns SC retweeted
Today is World Press Freedom Day. In Australia, Mary Kostakidis is under pressure for speaking out.
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Unbelievable. Taxpayers fund a highly paid basketball coach to make a few speeches while homelessness has never been worse. themercury.com.au/news/tasma…

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The mendicant corporate play book. Threaten closure to get the taxpayer on the hook. themercury.com.au/news/tasma…

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Members of Tasmania' Legislative Council rewarding the incompetence of @UTAS_ themercury.com.au/news/tasma…

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Greg Barns SC retweeted
When will the media start hitting Hanson with these facts. Her anti-immigration agenda is based on total distortions, exaggerations and lies and ignores the fundamental importance of immigration to Australia's economy and social advancement. It uses division to seek power.
Now One Nation is running the same play — campaigning to cut immigration by over 570,000, capped at 130,000. The actual data: net migration was 306,000 in 2024-25, already falling for the second consecutive year — and that figure includes temporary students and workers who leave. The permanent intake was 185,000 — mostly skilled workers already here, already contributing. The biggest driver of that headline number? International students — 157,000 people who pay upfront and leave after graduating. They contributed $53.6 billion to Australia’s economy in 2024-25. Our fourth largest export after iron ore, gas, and coal. 31.5% of Australians were born overseas. 48% have at least one parent born overseas. Immigration is not a threat to Australia. It IS Australia — with one critical exception. Aboriginal people are the only Indigenous Australians. Everyone else arrived from somewhere else. And One Nation has consistently opposed Aboriginal people too — native title, the Voice, the NIAA. Their hostility to black and brown people doesn’t begin and end with immigration. It never has. So what is One Nation’s actual plan? They vote against housing affordability measures and have no plan to increase supply or fix planning laws. Migration is a small piece of the housing puzzle. The crisis is decades of underbuilding. One Nation has no answer for that. Just a scapegoat.
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Greg Barns SC retweeted
Too many of the voters just don’t bother to vote, especially at local govt. Wide open for motivated activist takeover.
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