AQ: Australian Quarterly 87.1 by AQ: Australian Quarterly

VOL 87 ISSUE 1 JAN–MAR 2016

Indefinite Disinformation: The Political Capital of Fear INCLUDING: JULIAN BURNSIDE | PROF WENDI ROGERS | DR DAVID TUFFLEY | DR AINSLEY NEWSON

A ROUGH CLIMATE FOR MIGRATION

BEING HUMAN: Genome Editing

ETHICS IN THE INFORMATION AGE

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CONTENTS

AQ VOL 87 ISSUE 1 JAN–MAR 2016

Being Human:

Ethics in the Information Age

On the Cutting Edge:

DR DAVID TUFFLEY & DR AMY ANTONIO

PROF WENDY ROGERS

Indefinite Disinformation:

A Rough Climate for Migration:

Australian Party Think Tanks:

The Political Capital of Fear

Ethics, Climate Change and Forced Migration

Symptoms of Party Malaise and Party Resilience

DR ELAINE KELLY

DR NARELLE MIRAGLIOTTA

The Ethics, Law, and Scientific Progress of Genome Editing DR AINSLEY NEWSON & DR ANTHONY WRIGLEY

JULIAN BURNSIDE AO QC

IMAGE CREDITS: Please see article placements

Ethics and Surgical Innovation

40 References COVER IMAGE: © Fotolia - jorgenmac100

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A WORD

Australian Quarterly

n a world of lightning fast information, where competition for resources now occurs on a global scale, where innovation is progressing faster than any other time in human history: is the slow, considered application of ethical principles still relevant? Or do ethics burden the already self-regulating principles of the free-market with impractical philosophy?

Welcome to a truly bumper issue of AQ. In this year’s Special Edition we look at what role ethics still has to play in our lives, from climate change, to medicine, through to the depths of the internet. How does the concept of ethics play into our everyday, where is it critical that ethical standard remain enforced and where have we let our ethical responsibilities be usurped by politicking and fear? We are very lucky to have Julian Burnside QC returning to the pages of AQ, providing a long, hard look at the last 15 years of Australia’s border policy. The piece is a powerful reminder of how far we have strayed from the Aussie values of the fair go that we, perhaps wrongly, still wear as a badge of national pride. In recent years the field of genome editing has been thrown open by the development of simpler, cheaper and more accurate methods of altering the DNA of any living organism. Prominent bioethicists, Dr Ainsley Newson and Dr Anthony Wrigley walk us through the issues in an area of science that could fundamentally change the idea of what it is to be human. Australia’s two biggest political footballs continue to be ‘refugees’ and ‘climate change’. But what happens when the two become one, and we begin seeing climate-refugees, those that have been pushed off their land by rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns? How will Australia react, and should our ethical responsibilities to these people begin before they even leave their home country? We also examine whether ethics can or should be applied to IT and the internet, investigate the balancing act between ethics and innovation, and take a look at the history of Australia’s political party Think Tanks. It’s an exciting issue that I hope will entertain as well as challenge. Share your thoughts via our Facebook (@AQAustralianQuarterly) or Twitter (@AQjournal).

Grant Mills

Editor

NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS AQ welcomes submissions of articles and manuscripts on contemporary economic, political, social and philosophical issues, especially where scientific insights have a bearing and where the issues impact on Australian and global public life. All contributions are unpaid. Manuscripts should be original and have not been submitted or published elsewhere, although in negotiation with the Editor, revised prior publications or presentations may be included. Submissions may be subject to peer review. Word length is between 1000 and 3000 words. Longer and shorter lengths may be considered. Articles should be written and argued clearly so they can be easily read by an informed, but non-specialist, readership. A short biographical note of up to 50 words should accompany the work. The Editor welcomes accompanying images. Authors of published articles are required to assign copyright to the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, including signing of a License to Publish which includes acceptance of online archiving and access through JSTOR (from 2010) or other online publication as negotiated by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. In return, authors have a non exclusive license to publish the paper elsewhere at a future date. The inclusion of references and endnotes is the option of the author. Our preference is for these to be available from the author on request. Otherwise, references, endnotes and abbreviations should be used sparingly and kept to a minimum. Articles appearing in AQ are indexed ABC POL SCI: A Bibliography of Contents: Political Science and Government. The International Political Science Abstracts publishes abstracts of political science articles appearing in AQ. Copyright is owned by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. Persons wishing to reproduce an article, or part thereof, must obtain the Institute’s permission. Contributions should be emailed to: The Editor at info@aips.net.au

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EDITOR: Grant Mills ASSISTANT EDITOR: Camille Thomson DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: Art Graphic Design, Canberra PRINTING: Newstyle Printing, SA SUBSCRIPTIONS: www.aips.net.au/aq-magazine/ subscribe ENQUIRIES TO: Camille Thomson, General Manager, AIPS, PO Box M145, Missenden Road NSW 2050 Australia Phone: +61 (02) 9036 9995 Fax: +61 (02) 9036 9960 Email: info@aips.net.au Website: www.aips.net.au/ aq-magazine/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/ AQAustralianQuarterly ISSN 1443-3605 AQ (Australian Quarterly) is published by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. This project is supported by the Commonwealth Government through a grant-in-aid administered by the Department of Finance and Deregulation. ACN 000 025 507 The AIPS is an independent body which promotes discussion and understanding of political, social and scientific issues in Australia. It is not connected with any political party or sectional group. Opinions expressed in AQ are those of the authors. DIRECTORS OF THE AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF POLICY AND SCIENCE: Richard G McLean (Chair) Leon R Beswick Andrew Goodsall Maria Kavallaris Janelle Kyd Suresh Mahalingam Ross McKinnon Peter M McMahon Peter D Rathjen Robert Wells

This paper draws on a Background Paper on Genome Editing, which the authors prepared for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (UK). The report can be accessed online.1

Being Human:

The Ethics, Law, and Scientific Progress of Genome Editing Genome editing can be viewed as a disruptive technology – fundamentally changing how scientists alter genomes. Despite the technique remaining imperfect, there is now a real possibility that we can precisely and accurately change almost any part of any genome, including plants, animals, and human beings. The question is, should we?

ARTICLE BY: DR AINSLEY NEWSON & DR ANTHONY WRIGLEY

enetic engineering in itself is, of course, not new – various techniques that allow scientists to modify genes have been around for some time. But the difference with genome editing is that it is simple, cheap, and accurate; thereby opening up the potentials of genetic engineering on a hitherto unseen scale. Genome editing has a broad range of possible applications in areas such as novel medical treatments, vaccine development,

IMAGE: © Dave Fayram - Flickr

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BEING HUMAN

recipient cell’s inherent DNA-repair machinery then repairs the cut and in so doing, introduces the designed change. These changes can comprise anything from a single base pair change to the insertion or deletion of whole genes.3,4 CRISPR-Cas9 is a very flexible system What is CRISPR-Cas9? and can be used without expert protein Editing a genome involves introducengineering expertise. The nature of the ing a change to a chosen target within a method also means that several changes cell’s DNA. The change can take numerous can be introduced to a cell simultaneously. forms, from introducing a small deletion to Scientific publications using this system are effecting a precise sequence change. rapidly increasing; with over 800 citations There are several methods of genome in the database PubMed as at November editing, but CRISPR-Cas9 is currently the 2015. easiest to set up and use. The CRISPR-Cas9 However, despite its simplicity and relatechnique was first published in 2012,2 tively low cost, CRISPR-Cas9 is not perfect. but is based on a knowledge of short Problems can arise, such as ‘off target’ cleavDNA sequences found in simple cells; age, which occurs when the endonuclease around since the 1980s. “CRISPR” stands attaches to and cuts at the wrong site in for “clustered regularly interspaced short the DNA helix. There are also concerns that palindromic repeats”. unwanted DNA repair events will occur. One paper in particular among In April 2015, a Chinese research team the increasing literature has published the first (albeit not very successful) led to significant use of CRISPR-Cas9 in human embryos; debate. In April with the aim of engineering out the mutation 2015, a Chinese that causes β-thalassemia. research team published the first (albeit not very The technique involves two main steps. successful) use of CRISPR-Cas9 in human First, components of a custom-designed embryos; with the aim of engineering out nuclease (called an endonuclease) are the mutation that causes β-thalassemia.5 introduced to a recipient cell, whereupon If these embryos were implanted (which they self-assemble. This endonuclease was not the intention of this work) they then targets and cuts one or both strands could have led to the birth of humans with of a chosen DNA sequence. Second, the an engineered germ-line – meaning that crop innovation and environmental remediation. A variety of approaches fit the genome editing moniker, but the emergence of CRISPR-Cas9 has captured the most attention.

IMAGE: © Mike Towber-Flickr

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the changes could be passed to future generations. The experiment was subject to criticism on both scientific and ethical grounds and soon after, the National Institutes of Health in the United States announced that it would not fund research that used genome editing in human embryos.6 Caplan et al rightly point out, however, that our examination of ethical aspects of CRISPR-Cas9 should not become too narrow in focus.7 While genome editing in embryos is ethically significant, issues also arise in other applications: generating transgenic animals; developing novel therapies in humans and releasing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). CRISPR-Cas9 may represent a ‘tipping point’ for ethics; a point we return to below.

What Role for Bioethics? The power and precision of this technology means that it’s no surprise that everyone involved recognises how its implications could be profound. The issue is getting the balance right between responsible deliberation and governance; and facilitating the development of promising interventions. Bioethics has historically been a discipline in which philosophers have developed arguments on key concepts or developments in science, health and medicine. Other disciplines, such as law and sociology have also entered the fray, resulting in an ongoing debate over the scope and methods of bioethics and the nature of expertise within the field. Sitting

Indefinite Disinformation: The Political Capital of Fear

The arrival of the Tampa in Australian waters in 2001 marked a dramatic turning point in Australia’s response to boat people. Judgment in the Tampa litigation was handed down at 2.15pm (Melbourne time) on 11 September 2001. Nine hours later the attack on America happened, and John Howard had a potent new political weapon.

ARTICLE BY: JULIAN BURNSIDE AO QC

uddenly there were no terrorists: only Muslim terrorists. And no boat people: only Muslim boat people. Suddenly, boat people were “illegals”. And suddenly, we were persuaded to be mortally afraid of terrorism. Suddenly, fear and loathing were part of Australia’s political dynamics. But we are a complex country, full of contradictions. Ned Kelly – an Australian folk hero – was also a terrorist by our modern definition. Ian Jones’ latest theory of Ned Kelly is that his murderous exploits were motivated by his wish to establish a

IMAGE: © Kate Ausburn - Flickr

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INDEFINITE DISINFORMATION

Recently, the government flagged its intention to extend the use of control orders to children as young as 14. republic in north-east Victoria. Laudable as that aim may have been, it had the ideological element needed to convert ordinary criminal conduct into a terrorist offence. Reading the Jerilderie letter gives a useful reminder that Kelly was a man who wanted to overthrow the existing order, by force if necessary. He criticises many aspects of the colonial police force:

… A PARCEL OF BIG UGLY FAT-NECKED WOMBAT HEADED BIG BELLIED MAGPIE LEGGED NARROW HIPPED SPLAY-FOOTED SONS OF IRISH BAILIFFS OR ENGLISH LANDLORDS WHICH IS BETTER KNOWN AS … THE VICTORIA POLICE … The Jerilderie letter ends with a promise not to kill those members of the Victoria Police who promise to throw down their weapons and leave the force, and insists “... my orders must be obeyed”. If an ultimatum like that had been delivered by Osama Bin Laden, it would be held up as a mark of his depravity. That it was delivered by Ned Kelly, now revered as a folk hero, and remembered in the idiom “as game as Ned Kelly”, must tell us something about the complexity of our national values. Likewise the Eureka uprising, celebrated in December each year. By any standard it was a terrorist event. Its leader, Peter Lalor, later became Speaker of the Victorian Parliament. Any attempt to identify Australian Values will have to take account

IMAGE: © UK Department for International Development

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Ethics in the Information Age Most Internet users love what they can do with it; access information on any conceivable topic at almost the speed of light. It is enormously useful at making everyday life easier, but there is also the dark side. Spies, paedophiles and drug dealers; a whole cast of shadowy figures lurking in virtual back alleys. George Orwell’s dystopian vision of 1984 seems prescient; governments and others now have a window into almost everything we do. Our public and private lives open to scrutiny. It conjures the unsavoury image of a voyeur peering in at one’s window, camera in hand.

Technologists are powerful change agents Behind it all are the technologists who make it happen. Technologists in the 21st Century are among the most powerful people in the world. Hundreds, even thousands of years in the future, it is likely that the technological advances of the late 20th and 21st centuries will be recognised as pivotal in the history of humanity, the point at which the exponential growth of digital technology really began.

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A Rough Climate for Migration: Ethics, Climate Change and Forced Migration A short time ago a journalist with a major Australian news organisation called me. She wanted an opinion on how Australia should deal with the impending influx of ‘climate refugees’. I drew a long breath. She had sent me a few questions in an email with an attachment to a new journal article that, she claimed, provided evidence of future mass migration as a result of climate change. ARTICLE BY: DR ELAINE KELLY

n preparation for our conversation I read the journal article. It was a complex piece which outlined the various survival strategies people, families and communities employ in the face of environmental upheaval. There was a small percentage, it noted, that drew on already existing family connections in other parts of the home country, and migrated to join them if all other options

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A ROUGH CLIMATE FOR MIGRATION

There is no legal basis for the term ‘climate refugee’. Migration is infrequently the first option people will turn to. Displacement internal to the particular country is a far more likely scenario.

appeared dismal. Unsurprisingly this hardly amounted to a future flood of ‘climate refugees’ heading toward Australia. I talked to the journalist. I repeated information I have memorised over the past five years during the course of my research project on the topic. There is no legal basis for the term ‘climate refugee’.1 Migration is infrequently the first option people will turn to. Displacement internal to the particular country is a far more likely scenario.2 The issues concerning climate change that we will have to deal with include migration, sure, but largely these concerns will

be focused on providing rights for the displaced and dispossessed internally. How can we protect people when they are displaced as a result of flooding, drought, storm surges and so on? Migration registers as an issue, I insisted, but it should be planned migration in the first instance and, after that, equitable burden sharing in response to emergency contexts. Finally, we should really avoid the frightening language of ‘floods’ or ‘waves’ of people on the move. We need to get a bit more creative with how we organise immigration for victims of climate destruction.

And just as importantly, I urged the journalist, we need to be a bit more imaginative in the stories we tell about the issue and the language we use to tell them. I heard the moment when the journalist’s heart sank and imagined the glazed look in her eyes. I had bombed out. This was not a story. Her tone told me that she had already decided to can this news; start afresh with something more compelling. I tried to hook her in one final time. But there is still a story here, I said, it is the story of our responsibility. How can we prepare and respond in socially and ecologically appropriate ways to emerging issues of migration? What should the ethical principles be that guide our thinking here?

The State of Ethics The ethics of climate migration is a complex and contentious topic in the context of world politics, based as it is on the primacy of the sovereign nation-state. It is impossible, therefore, to consider the role of ethics without first appreciating the centrality of practices of sovereignty. Indeed, the framing of migration issues through a Statist lens has meant that historically the movement of peoples has been viewed as an economic and legal issue, rather than an ethical consideration. However, ethics has long been part of the conversation when it comes to the treatment of foreigners arriving in one’s city or lands. Indeed, all the way back in 1795 Immanuel Kant proposed ‘rights to hospitality’ in his infamous text, Perpetual Peace.3 Kant didn’t go so far as to announce an unconditional right to enter another State, but he did insist that in the event

IMAGE: NASA's Earth Observatory

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On the Cutting Edge:

Ethics and Surgical Innovation ARTICLE BY: PROF WENDY ROGERS

Surgery is such a central part of contemporary health care that we take much of it for granted. Joint replacements, once innovative, are now commonplace, while laparoscopic, or ‘keyhole’ surgery has become the norm for many surgical procedures. Developments like these are the result of innovation. Successful innovation can be highly beneficial to patients. Prior to the use of stents for coronary artery disease, many patients underwent invasive open heart surgery; while organ transplants have transformed the lives of countless recipients. Yet surgical innovation has a dark side. Sometimes trying something new can have catastrophic effects.

n 2006 surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford used a device called a morcellator in a routine elective operation on a five-year-old girl, who died during the procedure. The device had not previously been used in children, and nor had it been used for the operation in question. At the inquest, the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust acknowledged that use of the morcellator should have been identified as a novel surgical technique, and that they should have had an effective protocol to protect patients and practitioners during the introduction of new techniques.1 This example illustrates the tension at the heart of surgery. On one hand, we want

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safe and effective surgical interventions. On the other hand, we want pioneering surgeons who think creatively and develop new techniques and devices to improve current practice or treat previously untreatable conditions. There is a challenge in reaching the right balance between these two alternatives. We don’t want to stifle innovation, but nor do we want an overly experimental ethos where anything goes. What is ethical best practice in the field of innovative surgery? Part of the challenge lies in understanding just what innovative surgery is and where it lies on the spectrum between research and routine practice. At one end of the spectrum, a new procedure may

IMAGE: Insert

Australian Party Think Tanks:

Symptoms of Party Malaise and Party Resilience Australian political parties are distinctive compared to their Anglo-American counterparts in having official party think tanks funded by the state. There are four such entities aligned to the main parliamentary parties at the current time: the Chifley Research Centre, related to Labor; the Green Institute associated with the Australian Greens, the Menzies Research Centre attached to the Liberal Party; and the Page Research Centre, which is affiliated to the National Party. This essay explores the phenomenon of party think tanks in Australia and it suggests that their existence is a symptom of party malaise but also party resilience.

ARTICLE BY: DR NARELLE MIRAGLIOTTA

Political Think Tanks We can distinguish between two periods of political think tank activity in Australia. The first period occurred in the decades between the 1940s and the 1980s. During this time, particular think tanks emerged that were closely associated with the labor and non-labor party groupings but which remained formally and operationally separate from their kindred party. The best-known example of a political

IMAGE: ÂŠ JJ Harrison-Wiki Commons

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