Why Mick Gooda should have been disqualified from NT Royal Commission

The past week has certainly reinforced my personal suspicion that Four Corners is now the sole effectively functioning arm of the federal government. Everywhere else, breathtaking incompetence rules.

Really, it didn't need to be this hard. We don't usually hear much about the Commonwealth Attorney-General, whose main job is to oil the legal wheels of government. Instead, George Brandis has made an art form of turning simple tasks into disaster, then doubling down and making things worse.

Thanks to George, the universally acclaimed decision to establish a fast-moving royal commission to investigate the Northern Territory's juvenile "justice" system devolved almost instantly into a mismanaged farce.