Several matters I have been remiss in mentioning, and thanks to everyone who has been keeping me updated on Paris Hilton's decision recently to stop pretending she's dumb. And no, I don't think she did see our show in the comedy festival, although obviously her talent agency has.

Second item on the agenda is not unrelated to the above. In the High Court of Australia at the moment, one of my favourite judges (from a nerdier time, when I followed such things) is hearing a (potentially very important) case about whether or not it is discriminatory that people in jail are not allowed to vote (especially with a view to the percentage of indigenous people incarcerated in our jails). So, with that possibly very inaccurate and wildly generalised description of the case, let's hear what it has to do with Paris Hilton:

KIRBY J: I thought recently there was a case in the Australian Capital Territory where somebody was convicted of a statutory offence of treason, but anyway, it is not very common in this country.

MR MERKEL: That may be right - if that was, I understand it might be the first time if it falls into that definition, but that is our response to that subsection. I was going to say under section 93(8AA) the amending legislation defines "sentence of imprisonment". That is at page 7. This was also a significant amendment because prior to this amendment there was a question about whether home detention or parole would be caught by the disqualification. So this amendment made it clear that you had to be in detention on a full-time basis. So that is in the extrinsic materials. So there was no question if someone on parole or on home detention would not be caught by the disqualification and that comes out as a result of that definition.

Can I take your Honours next to Part VIII of the Act starting at page 122 dealing with - - -

KIRBY J: So Paris Hilton would now be disqualified, but last week for a short time she would have been entitled to vote?

MR MERKEL: Yes, your Honour, and she would have been entitled if she were in Australia and an Australian citizen to be standing here unburdened by the five-year point at least.

KIRBY J: I just wanted you to know that I follow these things.

... Justice Kirby, keeping up with the peeps on the streets...

And the final item on the agenda is that I saw a young man today walking down the street reading a book and carrying a case containing an instrument, possibly a saxaphone, and walking a dog. My previous boastings about being able to simply read while walking down the street have now been cast into a rather humiliating shadow.