On restorative justice

Despite having very different political, ideological and socio-cultural foundations, Norway and China have both achieved comparatively low recidivism rates. Both of these countries share a large degree of commitment to restorative justice when compared with much of the rest of the world, but implement it differently.

Somehow in all its theatre and emphasis on legalism, much of the Parliament has forgotten that criminals are people too. For all the emphasis on 'personal responsibility', much of the Parliament also seems to be experiencing short-term memory loss, and throughout most of this year continued to speak over not only each other but also the Speaker. I wonder whether any MP's have felt the irony of deeming people who have committed serious crimes irredeemable when they constantly waste taxpayer funds through theatrical points of order, dorothy dixers and performances designed for point-scoring for the next election or other dishonourable and inconsequential purposes. 

Quantification of deservingness has been a key basis for the political theology of both the Labor and Liberal parties since neoliberalism (economic [ir]rationalism) was introduced to Australia - the era when Australia sold it's dignity to the highest bidding oligarchs. It would be nice to know how much taxpayer money has been spent on inconsequential, dishonourable and disruptive performativity in Parliament, and despite the final figure, I will still believe that each MP is redeemable after they reflect on this phenomenon and the figure attached to it themselves, and whether that time could've been spent better.