Decades ago there was a tax case where the judge said that the ITAA (
Income Tax Assessment Act 1936) should be specific and if it was not, then the taxpayer could claim whatever they wanted (broadly speaking).
This, of course, was nonsense and it was not possible to do. So, the Govt brought in Part IVA of the ITAA..
Guess what happened. The Judges did not want to be told what to do by the Govt so in another case, the learned Judge did not follow the precedent set by the previous Judge and the then existing anti-avoidance provisions were applied - ie Part IVA was not required.
Something similar needs to be done here - maybe like saying if anyone is convicted of this, that or the other, they WILL be deported and there will be zero discretion for Judges. IMHO, the Judge that set free Elawad should be "disciplined", maybe change that to MUST - but I guess our pollies are gutless wonders!
