Sources of law.

Legislation adopted by the States of Jersey.

Jersey's legislature, the States Assembly makes legislation affecting most areas of activity.

Laws.

The highest form of legislation made by the States is 'laws'. If a proposed Law is likely to be controversial, the general desirability of having new legislation on the topic may be debated before the law is drafted. The procedure for making laws is set out in the Standing Orders of the States of Jersey. Once the law is in draft from, it starts the legislative process as a "projet de loi", which may be introduced to the States by a minister, any States member, a scrutiny panel or the Comité des Connétables. At the stage known as 'first reading', the title of the projet is read out and the projet is 'lodged au Greffe' providing a two to six week breathing space for members to read the draft law. Under Article 16 of the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000, the minister or other person lodging the projet au Greffe must make a written statement that the provisions of the projet are compatible with Convention rights or "make a statement that although [he or she] is unable to make a statement of compatibility, [he or she] nevertheless wants the States to proceed with the projet". At the next'second reading' stage, there is a formal debate in the States chamber during which members consider the principle of the projet and then scrutinise the draft in detail. At 'third reading' stage there is an opportunity for minor drafting errors to be corrected. Finally, members vote to adopt the law.  The law is then submitted via the Lieutenant Governor's office for transmission to London, where officials in the Ministry of Justice examine the law. In 2010, the House of Commons Justice Committee was highly critical of the UK Government's approach, finding that "The islands are more than adequately advised by their own law officers and parliamentary counsel. It seems a strange use of Ministry of Justice resources... to engage in a kind of legislative oversight which does not restrict itself to the constitutional grounds for scrutiny". This process may take several months. In an unusual move in 2011, campaigners against a law that sought to reduce the number of senators in the States petitioned the Privy Council to advise the Queen to refuse royal assent. Once official scrutiny is complete in London, the law is formally presented to Her Majesty for royal assent at a meeting of the Privy Council, usually held at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle.  After a law receives royal assent, the final step is for it be registered with the Royal Court of Jersey. At this point it is 'passed'. The law is then brought into force at a date decided by the relevant Jersey minister. There may be a considerable delay between a law being passed and it becoming legally effective if, for example, civil servants need to be trained, computer systems put in place or money found to pay for the new scheme.  Laws adopted and passed are published in print as "Recueil de Lois" de Jersey and online by the Jersey Legal Information Board on the Jersey Law website.

Other types of legislation.

In Jersey, there are other types of legislation in addition to laws.

Customary law.

Custom is a source of law in the Jersey legal system. It has been described as "the product of generally accepted usage and practice. It has no formal sanction or authority behind it other than the general consensus of opinion within the community". It differs from English common law where rules stated by a judge of a senior court are binding law "because" they are stated by a judge. In customary law, the role of the judiciary is to look for evidence of what is "generally accepted usage and practice".  Many rules of customary law have crystallised to such an extent (through repeated acknowledgment by the Royal Court and in the way people conduct their affairs) that everyone accepts them as binding without discussion. The boundaries of the parishes, the existence of the office of Bailiff, and various rules relating to possession of land and inheritance fall into this category. Many rules of customary law are to be found discussed in the texts of the 'commentators' and the case law of the Jersey courts. Where the works of the commentators do not deal with situation, the Jersey courts look at factual evidence to work out is the "generally accepted usage and practice".  The customary law of the Duchy of Normandy is particularly influential as a source of law in Jersey, even though Jersey ceased to part of Normandy in 1204. Norman law developed in two main epochs – the "Ancienne coutume" (1199–1538) and the "Coutume reformée" (1538–1804).

Ancienne coutume of Normandy.

The northern and western regions of medieval Europe "were a patchwork of territorial areas in which the main source of law was customs, usages and practices which had become relatively fixed and settled". Norman law was based on oral tradition and repeated practices in feudal society. The earliest known written account of the Ancienne coutume of Normandy is the "Très-ancienne coutume", first set down in Latin manuscript around 1199 to 1223. It was translated into French, probably in about 1230. It is thought to be the work of scholars or court officials, designed to be a manual for legal practitioners. A modern edition was compiled from various sources in 1903 by Professor E. J. Tardiff.  When in 1309 Edward II of England sent Justices to Jersey, the people of Jersey were "asked by what law they claimed to be governed, the law of England, of Normandy, or by some special customs of their own? They answered 'By the law of Normandy, and referred the Justices to the "Summa of Malcael" [the Jersey name for the Grand Coutumier], where the Norman laws are well embodied'... But they added, and this a clause that caused much trouble later, 'except that we have certain customs used in this island from time immemorial.  In the 16th century, two commentaries on the Grand Coutumier, written in Normandy, have been influential in Jersey law. (also known as Le Rouillé) was the author of "Le Grant Coustumier du pays & duché de Normendie : tres utile & profitable a tous practiciens" (1534; 1539). He also produced commentary on the neighbouring province of Maine (pictured).  Guillaume Terrien's "Commentaires du droit civil, tant public que privé, observé au pays et Duché de Normandie" was first published in 1574. Dawes explains: "Terrien's own work comprised the selecting of texts from the "Grand Coutumier", putting them into an order which suited his scheme (even to the point of cutting and pasting quite disparate texts) and then commenting on the resulting amalgam. To this commentary a further author added notes headed 'Additio', more often than not in Latin".  Two modern versions of the text of the Grand Coutumier have been produced. The first was by Jurat William Laurence de Gruchy entitled "L'Ancienne Coutume de Normandie: Réimpression, éditée avec de légères annotations" (1881), based on Le Rouillé's 1539 edition, using a double-column format setting out the Latin and French texts side by side. In 2009, an English translation of the Latin text by J. A. Everard was published.

Coutume Reformée of Normandy.

The second period in the development of Norman custom was between 1583 and 1804 and is known as the "Coutume reformée" (the reformed custom). In 1453, Charles VII of France issued orders that all the customary laws of France should be "redacted", in other words set out systematically and approved under royal authority. The Duchy of Normandy was the last part of France to comply with this order but the new text was eventually prepared and received royal approval in 1585 by Henry III of France.  There are two reasons why the Coutume reformée might be thought to have little relevance to Jersey: it was created 380 years after Jersey had ceased formally to be part of the Duchy of Normandy and it was a text sanctioned by the king of France. Nonetheless, Jersey lawyers and courts made frequent references to the Coutume reformée and by virtue of its assimilation into Jersey law over the centuries it is regarded as a source of the island's law.  Commentators on the Coutume reformée include:  Within France, customary law was abolished in 1804 with the introduction of uniform codes of civil and criminal law across the whole of France.

Jersey commentators on custom.

As well as relying on commentaries produced in France, Jersey has an indigenous legal literature on custom. In the 17th century, Jean Poingdestre (1609–1691) and Philippe Le Geyt (1635–1716) wrote several works. Some chapters of C. S. Le Gros' 20th-century work, "Traité du Droit Coutumier d l'Ile de Jersey" also remain relevant.

Legislative reforms of custom.

Many rules of customary law have been amended or abolished by legislation in the later 19th and 20th centuries. Examples of this include:

Influence of English and French law.

Some fields of Jersey, such as negligence and administrative law, are heavily influenced by English common law. In other branches of law, notably contract, Jersey courts may have regard to French civil law.

Human rights.

The Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000, based closely on the United Kingdom's Human Rights Act 1998, requires Jersey courts so far as possible to interpret legislation so that it is compatible with rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. Jersey public bodies are required to act in conformity with Convention rights.  In January 2012, Jersey introduced laws to recognise same-sex civil partnerships.

Language of Jersey law.

During the 20th century, the main working language of the Jersey legal system changed from French to English. Before the 1930s, almost all legislation passed by the States Assembly was in French. Since then, French is used only where new legislation makes amendments to legislation originally drafted in French.  The conveyancing of immoveable property was carried out using contracts drafted in French until October 2006, after which contracts were required to be in English. Several French words and expressions used in Jersey differ from Standard French.

Precedent and law reporting.

The Jersey legal system does not follow the strict rules of binding precedent that exist in common law jurisdictions such as England and Wales. The Royal Court is not bound by its own previous decisions on a point of law but it will generally follow them unless persuaded that the earlier decision was wrongly decided. A similar approach is taken by the Court of Appeal. All Jersey courts are, however, bound by points of law decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in previous Jersey appeals to that court.  During the 19th and 20th centuries a series of improvements to the system of writing and reporting judgments was put in place. In 1885, the Royal Court began to publish the "Tables des Décisions de la Cour Royal de Jersey" – a subject index to decided cases, prepared by the Greffier.  In 1950, Charles Thomas Le Quesne KC returned to Jersey from practice at the English Bar and was appointed Lieutenant Bailiff. Up to this point, the Royal Court's judgments were in the French style of "jugements motivés", written in French by the Greffier rather than the judge, and expressing the reasons for the court's decision only very briefly. Le Quesne changed the language of judgments to English and adopted the common law style of judgments, where the judge gives detailed reasons for accepting or rejecting the rival submissions made at trial by counsel. Between 1950 and 1984, the Royal Court published its and the Court of Appeal judgments in a series of law reports known as the "Jersey Judgments" (eleven volumes in total). From 1984, judgments have been published a new series of law reports known as the "Jersey Law Reports".  In 2004, the Jersey Legal Information Board (JLIB) was set up to promote "accessibility of the written law and legal processes to the public and of an integrated and efficient legal system, through the use of information technology and by other means". Judgments of the Royal Court and Court of Appeal are published online on www.jerseylaw.je, with open access to "unreported" judgments as part of the Free Access to Law Movement.

Judiciary.

The head of the judiciary in Jersey is the Bailiff, who as well as performing the judicial functions of a chief justice is also the President (presiding officer) of the States of Jersey and has certain civic, ceremonial and executive functions. The Bailiff's functions may be exercised by the Deputy Bailiff.

Judicial appointments processes.

The posts of Bailiff and Deputy Bailiff are Crown appointments, formally made by Her Majesty the Queen, on advice of the UK government's Secretary of State for Justice.  An appointment process has developed in recent years, without a legislative basis, for vacancies for the Deputy Bailiff, Attorney General for Jersey and Solicitor General for Jersey. This involves advertising for candidates and the preparation of a shortlist by a selection panel consisting of the Bailiff (in the chair), the senior Jurat and the chairman of the Jersey Appointments Commission. A process of consultation is then carried out, including the Jurats, the States Consultative Panel (which includes the Chief Minister), a number of elected members of the States, senior lawyers (the Bâtonnier, the President of the Law Society, the former President of the Law Society of Jersey and the President of the Chambre des Ecrivains), the other Crown Officers and the local Commissioner of the Royal Court. All candidates on the shortlist are then interviewed by the selection panel. A single name is then sent by the Lieutenant Governor to the Secretary of State for Justice.  This process has not been used for appointment to the office of Bailiff on the basis that "The Secretary of State has accepted that the position of Deputy Bailiff is a training ground for the position of Bailiff, and that, therefore, all things being equal, you would expect to move up, assuming of course that you have performed to everyone's satisfaction".  Jurats are elected by an electoral college consisting of the Bailiff, the Jurats, the Connétables, the elected members of the states, advocates and solicitors of the Royal Court. Voting is by secret ballot.  Commissioners of the Royal Court are appointed by the Bailiff for the hearing of a specified cause or matter or a specified term.  The Bailiff appoints the Magistrate and the Assistant Magistrate (who hold full-time salaried posts) and part-time Relief Magistrates (legal practitioners who carry out duties on a daily fee-paid basis). It is now normal for the Bailiff to convene a panel to advise on salaried appointments.

Removal from office.

The Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff and members of the Jersey Court of Appeal 'hold office during good behaviour'. Whereas senior judges in England and Wales who are appointed by Crown may only be removed from office with the consent of both Houses of Parliament, the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Justice may dismiss a Jersey judge appointed by the Crown without the agreement States of Jersey. This happened in 1992, when the then Deputy Bailiff Vernon Tomes was dismissed from office by the Home Secretary (the UK minister who at the time was responsible for the Crown Dependencies) on grounds of his delays in producing written judgments.  Jurats hold office up to the age of 72 years. A Jurat who 'in the opinion of the Court, is permanently unable, through physical or mental incapacity, or for any other reason, efficiently to carry out the duties of the office, may be called upon by the Court to resign'. A Jurat who refuses to resign may be removed from office by Order of Her Majesty in Council on the petition of the Superior Number (the Bailiff and five or more Jurats) of the Royal Court.  The Bailiff may if he 'thinks fit, terminate the appointment of a Commissioner on the ground of incapacity or misbehaviour'.  The Magistrates, who are also appointed by the Bailiff not the Crown, may not be removed from office 'except by virtue of an Order of Her Majesty in Council'. In June 2008, the Chief Minister informed the States of Jersey that the Magistrate-Designate, Ian Christmas, has 'agreed not to sit as a judge following a discussion with the former Bailiff as a result of a criminal investigation into an alleged fraud'. Mr Christmas was subsequently convicted of one count of fraud and sentenced to fifteen months in prison. It has been reported that the Bailiff's Office has asked the United Kingdom Ministry of Justice to arrange for a UK judge to undertake a disciplinary investigation.

Judicial independence in Jersey.

Code of Conduct.

All judges in Jersey are bound by a code of conduct promulgated by the Jersey Judicial Association in 2007. This requires judges to 'uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary and perform their duties with competence, diligence and dedication'.

ECHR Article 6.

All courts in Jersey are required under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights to be 'independent and impartial'. In 2000, the European Court of Human Rights held in "McGonnell v United Kingdom" that there was a breach of Article 6 in "Guernsey" where the Bailiff or Deputy Bailiff sat as President of the States of Guernsey when proposed legislation was being debated and then subsequently sat as a judge of the Royal Court of Guernsey in a case where that legislation was relevant. The Court, noting that there was no suggestion that the Bailiff 'was subjectively biased', stated that the'mere fact' that this happened was capable of casting doubt on the Bailiff's impartiality. A Bailiff and Deputy Bailiff in Jersey is able to avoid a "McGonnell" situation simply by not sitting in the Royal Court in cases concerned with legislation that was debated when he presided in the States. The current Bailiff, Mr Michael Birt has conceded that 'we probably need to improve our systems to be very compliant with "McGonnell" and that one probably ought to keep a running list of those statutes where I have presided so at least I could invite the parties to consider whether they wanted to object or not'. In a recent review chaired by Lord Carswell, set up by the States of Jersey, a legal opinion was commissioned from Rabinder Singh QC in which he expressed the view that 'there is no reason in law why the present constitutional arrangements in respect of the Bailiff should be altered. However, the trend suggests that the tide of history is in favour of reform and that the legal position will be different in 10 years time'. The report of Lord Carswell's inquiry concluded that Mr Singh's opinion 'provides an additional reason why the Bailiff should cease to be the President of the States'. The States of Jersey have not accepted this aspect of the Carswell report. Many prominent islanders do not believe that any change is necessary or desirable.

Stuart Syvret litigation.

From 2009 to 2015, a former States member Stuart Syvret has argued in legal proceedings in England and Jersey that all members of the Jersey judiciary lack the appearance of independence and impartiality. In March 2009, the High Court in London refused him permission to commence a judicial review claim against Home Secretary Jack Straw. In Jersey, subsequent proceedings related to a criminal prosecution for a data protection offence (he named a former nurse on his blog, who he said was guilty of murdering patients), judicial reviews and appeals relating to that criminal case, and a separate civil action brought by Syvret against fellow politicians and Law Officers in connection with his removal from office as minister for health. Syvret argues that he cannot have a fair trial in the island and there is a lack of appearance of independence and impartiality because judges are appointed by the Bailiff and the other judges have attended social events with the Bailiff. Syvret's arguments relating to lack of independence and impartiality have been rejected by the Royal Court and Court of Appeal in Jersey on a number of occasions between 2009 and 2015.

Jersey legal profession.

The Jersey legal profession has three types of Jersey-qualified lawyers – advocates, solicitors and notaries public. Advocates have rights of audience to represent clients in all courts. Jersey solicitors have no general rights of audience. Notaries have no rights of audience. The Law Society of Jersey is the professional body responsible for professional conduct. Notaries are regulated by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury through the Dean of the Arches, referred to as the Master of the Faculties, who is normally an English QC.  Some law firms focus on legal practice relating to Jersey's finance industry, the largest being: Appleby; Bedell Cristin; Carey Olsen; Mourant Ozannes; and Ogier, all of which are regarded as part of the "offshore magic circle". Smaller firms and sole practitioners also provide a wide range of legal services. Several law firms now have offices in both Jersey and Guernsey but the legal professions of the two islands are separate, as they are separate from those in England, Wales and Scotland. Most notaries in Jersey are employed by, or are partners in, local firms of Jersey advocates or solicitors, although some are in English solicitors firms or practising purely as notaries, independent of the general legal profession. There is a local Jersey Notaries Society.  The Law Officers of the Crown are responsible for criminal prosecution work and for providing legal advice to the Crown, ministers and other members of the Assembly of the States of Jersey. The Attorney General and his deputy, the Solicitor General, are non-voting members of the States Assembly.  The process of qualifying as a Jersey lawyer is regulated by the Advocates and Solicitors (Jersey) Law 1997 and is similar for both advocates and solicitors. Since 2009, candidates for the Jersey law examinations are required to enrol on the Jersey Law Course run by the Institute of Law, Jersey. They are required to take five compulsory papers: (i) Jersey legal system and constitutional Law; (ii) Law of contract and the law relating to security on moveable property and bankruptcy; (iii) testate and intestate succession; law of immoveable property and conveyancing; and civil and criminal procedure. In addition, candidates must take one of three option papers: (i) company law; (ii) trusts law; or (iii) family law.  The admission of lawyers as notaries in Jersey is governed by an order of the Master of the Faculties. It is necessary to show that a prospective notary has been in actual practise in Jersey as a Jersey-qualified Advocate or Solicitor for a period of 5 years and is required to pass an examination in notarial practice. The Master does however retain a discretion to admit those who are not so qualified "...in appropriate circumstances".

Legal aid.

There is no publicly funded legal aid system in Jersey, though the States of Jersey may exercise discretion to pay defence legal fees in serious criminal trials and in cases involving children. During their first 15 years of practice, Jersey Advocates and Solicitors, but not Notaries, are required to participate in a scheme organised by the profession to ensure so far as possible that people without sufficient resources are not prevented from pursuing or defending civil and criminal cases in the island's courts. The scheme is administered on behalf by the Bâtonnier (a senior member of the profession). Cases accepted by the Bâtonnier as eligible are allocated to lawyers on the basis of the 'Tour de Rôle' (i.e. according to one's turn). Depending on the litigants' income and assets, lawyers may work pro bono or charge a reasonable fee in accordance with published guidelines. A lawyer assigned a legal aid case may choose to pay another lawyer to handle the case and several firms have established specialist legal aid departments. There have been numerous and long-standing calls for reform of the present system.

Law reform.

The Jersey Law Commission was established by the States of Jersey in 1996 to keep Jersey law under review and bring forward proposals for law reform.

The law of Jersey has been influenced by several different legal traditions, in particular Norman customary law, English common law and modern French civil law. The Bailiwick of Jersey is a separate jurisdiction from that of the United Kingdom, and is also distinct from that of the other Channel Islands such as Guernsey, although they do share some historical developments. Jersey's legal system is'mixed' or 'pluralistic', and sources of law are in French and English languages, although since the 1950s the main working language of the legal system is English.

Le droit jersiais a été influencé par plusieurs traditions légales différentes, dont la coutume de Normandie, la "common law" britannique et le droit civil français moderne. Le bailliage de Jersey est une juridiction séparée du Royaume-Uni et se distingue des juridictions des autres îles Anglo-Normandes dont Guernesey, bien qu'elles partagent des similarités historiques. Le droit jersiais est un droit mixte. Les sources du droit sont en anglais et en français bien que depuis les années 1950, la langue de travail principale soit l'anglais.


Personal life.

Kepa is originally from Lomanikoro, Rewa, and has maternal links to Nadroga. She graduated from the University of the South Pacific with a Bachelor of Arts, and served as Principal of Corpus Christi College and then as a students' coordinator at the University of the South Pacific.  She succeeded her late sister, former Ro Lady Lala Mara, as "Roko Tui Dreketi," or Paramount Chief of Burebasaga, in 2004. This is considered to be the highest title in the Burebasaga Confederacy, one of three "confederacies", or tribal networks, of Fijian chiefs.  Ro Teimumu Kepa is the widow of Sailosi Kepa, a former High Commissioner to London, Minister of Justice and Attorney General (1988–1992), who went on to become a High Court Judge, Ombudsman, and first chairman of Fiji's Human Rights Commission.  In July 2016, Kepa was awarded a Peace Award by the Universal Peace Federation in Nepal and was accorded as a Global Peace Ambassador or Ambassador for Peace.

Political career.

In 1999 Kepa was appointed to the Senate. Following the 2000 Fijian coup d'état she was appointed as Minister for Women, Culture, and Social Welfare in the interim government of Laisenia Qarase. She contested the 2001 election as a candidate for the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua in the Rewa communal constituency, winning it with 2,636 votes. Following the election she was appointed as Minister for Education.  On 5 May 2005 she was elected as chairperson of the Rewa Provincial Council, a position previously held by her sister Ro Lady Lala Mara. This led to claims that she had forfeited her seat in Parliament, resulting in her resigning from the council in August 2005.  In October 2005, Kepa was elected to the executive board of UNESCO, to which the Fijian government had nominated her in late September.  Kepa stood again for Rewa in the 2006 election, defeating her nephew, Ro Filipe Tuisawau. She was reappointed as Minister for Education, Youth and Sports in the multi-party cabinet. When the Qarase government was deposed by the 2006 Fijian coup d'état, Kepa joined a court case challenging the legality of the coup. She also used her position in the Great Council of Chiefs to oppose the coup, and was instrumental in the Council's 2007 rejection of Epeli Nailatikau nomination as Vice-President. As a result, the Council was suspended.  In May 2007, Kepa was threatened by the military over her opposition to the coup. However she continued to speak out against the regime and its People's Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. In July 2009 she was arrested and charged with breaching public emergency regulations and conspiracy to cause disorder after offering that her province would host the annual conference of the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma, which the military regime had banned. The charges were later dropped. In 2011 the military regime suspended the Rewa Provincial Council in another effort to silence her.  In March 2014 Kepa was elected leader of the newly formed Social Democratic Liberal Party. She led the party into the 2014 election. The party won 15 of the 50 parliamentary seats; Kepa, who won 49,485 votes in her own name, was the second-highest ranked candidate behind Bainimarama. On 6 October 2014 Kepa was appointed Leader of the Opposition.  In June 2016, Kepa announced that she was standing down as leader of SODELPA. She was replaced by former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. She was re-elected in the 2018 elections, winning 6,036 votes, the second-highest of any female candidate.

Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa (born 18 December 1945) is a Fijian chief, Member of the Parliament of Fiji, and former leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party. She was the first Fijian woman to serve as Leader of the Opposition. She previously held the position of deputy Prime Minister in the Qarase-led Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL) government from 2001 to 2006. As the paramount chief of the Burebasaga Confederacy, she holds the title "Roko Tui Dreketi".

Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa est une chef traditionnelle et femme politique fidjienne. Issue de l'aristocratie autochtone (ce qui lui confère le titre de noblesse "Ro"), elle est la chef suprême traditionnelle ("Roko Tui Dreketi") de la population autochtone de la province de Rewa. Elle est l'une des trois seules personnes aux Fidji dotées d'un titre héréditaire de chef suprême. Elle est par ailleurs à la tête du parti conservateur Sodelpa de à, et chef de l'opposition parlementaire depuis.


Discovery and naming.

"Thecocoelurus" is known only from half of a single cervical vertebra, discovered by the Rev. William Darwin Fox on the Isle of Wight during the 19th century. After his death the "Fox Collection" was acquired by the British Museum of Natural History. William Davies was the first to notice the specimen and assumed a close affinity with "Coelurus".  It was described by Harry Govier Seeley in 1888. Seeley named the fossil "Thecospondylus daviesi", referring it to a genus he had named earlier for the incomplete cast of a sacrum. However, in 1901 Baron Franz Nopcsa renamed it "Coelurus daviesi". In 1923 Friedrich von Huene decided that it should be removed from either "Thecospondylus" or "Coelurus" and given its own genus, "Thecocoelurus". The generic name is a contraction of "Thecospondylus" and "Coelurus".  The holotype, NHMUK PV R181, was found in debris from a layer of the Wessex Formation, dating from the Barremian. It consists of the anterior end, about a third, of a cervical vertebra estimated by Seeley to have been nine centimetres long.

Classification.

Von Huene originally assigned "Thecocoelurus" to the Coeluridae, but in 1926 speculated that due to the not inconsiderable size and typical structure of the vertebra it might belong to a member of the Ornithomimidae. Though it has been since been typically identified as an indeterminate "coelurian" theropod, "Thecocoelurus" was reidentified by Darren Naish and colleagues in 2001 as a member of the Oviraptorosauria, a group of omnivorous maniraptoran theropods, which would make it the only oviraptorosaur fossil that has ever been found in Europe. Numerous detailed similarities are shared by the specimen and the cervical vertebrae of caenagnathid oviraptorosaurs. Naish "et al." also considered "Thecocoelurus" to be a "nomen dubium". In 2004 it was theorized by James Kirkland that "Thecocoelurus" might not be an oviraptorosaur, but a member of the therizinosaur lineage instead, closely related to "Falcarius", again a unique occurrence for Europe.  A 2014 re-evaluation comparing the specimens with European ornithomimosaur fossils found that "Thecocoelurus" was likely one of the oldest known ornithomimosaurs, and a possible senior synonym of "Valdoraptor". However, researchers Micky Mortimer and Darren Naish have expressed doubt on its ornithomimosaur affinities.

Thecocoelurus is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period of England. It is paleontologically significant for being one of the first ornithomimosaur specimens known from England and represents the earliest record of Ornithomimosauria in Europe.

Thecocoelurus est un genre de dinosaures théropodes du Crétacé retrouvé en Angleterre. Avec "Valdoraptor", il est l'un des deux premiers spécimens d'ornithomimosaure d'Angleterre. L'espèce-type, "Thecocoelurus daviesi", a été nommée Thecospondylus daviensi par Harry Govier Seeley en 1888.


The formation of Federation Party and the 1965 conference.

The formation of the Federation Party was a direct consequence of the dispute between cane farmers and the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) in 1960 regarding the new cane contract. It contested the 1963 Legislative Council election under the banner of Citizens Federation, which was reconstituted as the Federation Party on 21 June 1964, with A.D. Patel as President and Sidiq Koya as Vice-president. The merger took place in time for the party to participate in the 1965 constitutional conference which was called to map out a path towards independence from the United Kingdom. The British Government decided to introduce cross-voting as a compromise between the Fijian and European delegates on one side and the Indians on the other; nine of the 36 seats on the Legislative Council would be elected by universal suffrage, but allocated by ethnicity, divided equally among Fijians, Indians, and general electors (Caucasians, Chinese, and other minorities). The Legislative Council was enlarged to 36 members, consisting of 14 Fijians (9 elected on communal roll, 3 on cross-voting roll and two nominated by the Great Council of Chiefs), 12 Indians (9 elected on communal roll and 3 on cross-voting roll) and 10 Europeans (7 elected on communal roll and 3 on cross-voting roll). Some of the non-contentious proposals by the Federation Party were accepted. These were the establishment of Public Service Commission, Police Service Commission and Judicial and Legal Services Commission and a Bill of Rights.

From 1966 until the death of A.D. Patel.

The outcome of the constitutional conference was a major issue during the election, which was the first election in Fiji contested on Party lines. The Federation Party was expected to win at least the three cross-voting seats in the western division because of its predominantly Indian population but managed to win only the 9 Indian communal seats. The Alliance Party won 22 seats but the three independents and the two Council of Chiefs nominees joined it to give it a total strength of 27. Ratu Kamisese Mara of the Alliance Party became the Chief Minister and A.D. Patel became the Leader of the Opposition.  Ethnic tensions escalated following the adoption of responsible government in 1967, when Patel's arch-rival, the Lauan chief Ratu Kamisese Mara was appointed Chief Minister on 20 September. Mara's Alliance Party was a coalition of indigenous and European factions, with minimal Indo-Fijian participation. Patel and the NFP were consigned to the opposition benches. In protest at the new government's refusal to call a second constitutional conference, Patel led the nine Federation Party legislators in a mass walkout in September 1967. Missing two consecutive sections of the Legislative Council resulted in the forfeit of their seats, forcing by-elections. The ensuing by-elections were marked by inter-ethnic violence. All nine Federation Party legislators were returned with increased majorities, winning 78.55% of the votes cast. A.D. Patel won by 7903 votes to 2772 for Manikam Pillai. There were demonstrations by ethnic Fijians and calls to not renew native land leases and extreme elements called for Indians to be deported from Fiji. Relations between the Indo-Fijian and indigenous communities were at a new low.

The Formation of the National Federation Party.

In November 1968, the Federation merged with the National Democratic Party to form the National Federation Party. Patel and Koya became the President and Vice-President, respectively, of the merged party. Apisai Tora and Isikeli Nadalo, both indigenous Fijians, were leading figures in the NDP, and the merger brought well-known Fijians into the party for the first time. The attempt to position itself as a multi-racial party failed to translate into significant electoral support in the indigenous Fijian community. The NFP never succeeded in getting ten percent of the Fijian vote at any poll. It did, however, manage to elect several Fijians to what became the House of Representatives after independence in 1970, owing to cross-voting in the renamed national constituencies.  Less than a year after the founding of the NFP, Patel died suddenly on 1 October 1969. His deputy, Sidiq Koya, succeeded him as party leader.

NFP under the leadership of Sidiq Koya.

NFP and Alliance work together to attain independence.

The party played an important role in the negotiations that led to Fiji's independence from the United Kingdom in 1970. Their original demand for a universal franchise threatened to stall the independence process, but at a conference in London in April 1970, Sidiq Koya, eventually negotiated a compromise with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the leader of the Alliance Party, the main ethnic Fijian-dominated party. According to this compromise, ethnic Fijians and Indo-Fijians would each be allocated 22 seats, with 12 representing "Communal constituencies" (comprising voters registered as members of a particular ethnic group) and a further 10 representing "National constituencies" (distributed by ethnicity but elected by universal suffrage) in the 52 member House of Representatives. A further 8 seats would be reserved for General electors (Europeans, Chinese, and other minorities); 3 of these would be "communal" and 5 "national."  With the leaders of both major ethnic groups working together for the first time in Fiji's history, the transition to independence was peaceful and the euphoria of independence continued for some time. Sidiq Koya travelled with the Prime Minister to India and the United Nations and there was talk of a coalition government. There were those within the National Federation Party (NFP) who were not happy with the close relationship between Sidiq Koya and Ratu Kamisese Mara, the most notable of whom was R. D. Patel, but for the time being dissent was not being expressed openly.

The 1972 general election.

The first general election since independence was held in May 1972 without the ethnic tension characteristic of the 1966 general election and the 1968 by-elections. The NFP won only 19 of the 52 seats in the House of Representatives, with Alliance Party actually increasing its share of the Indian vote. After the election, R.D. Patel, one of Koya's critics within the NFP, was elected speaker of the House of Representatives.

Worsening relationship between Koya and Mara.

From mid-1975, the relationship between Koya and Mara worsened. This was firstly due to the announcement by the Minister of Education that the Government would not subsidise school fees for non-Fijians. Sidiq Koya called this "a blatant piece of racial injustice". Secondly when a former Alliance member moved a motion calling for the repatriation of people of Indian origin back to India, Koya was not happy with the measured response of the Alliance Government and accused it of "having elements which wanted to do legally what the Fijian Nationalist Party Leader, Sakeasi Butadroka, was trying to do illegally." Thirdly, the Prime Minister rejected the recommendations of the Royal Commission which investigated the voting system, claiming that implementation of the recommendation would cause bloodshed in the country.

Split within NFP.

The inability of the NFP to make significant inroads into the ethnic Fijian vote kept the party in opposition in the years following independence. In the March 1977 election, however, a split in the ethnic Fijian vote enabled the NFP to win a plurality in the House of Representatives. Internal dissension, however, prevented the party from forming a government, as the party fractured over disputes about the leadership and the allocation of ministerial positions. The Governor-General, "Ratu Sir" George Cakobau, reappointed the defeated Prime Minister, Ratu Mara, and ordered a new election for September that year, in which the NFP was heavily defeated. For more information, see Fiji Constitutional Crisis of 1977.

NFP under the leadership of Jai Ram Reddy.

A second election to resolve the impasse was held in September that year, resulting in a heavy defeat for the NFP after it had split into two factions known as the Dove and Flower factions. Koya lost his parliamentary seat to Jai Ram Reddy, who became the new leader of the NFP. Koya's Dove faction had won only 3 seats compared to 12 won by the Flower faction.  Reddy followed a policy, which had been tried once before by Koya, that of moderation in which he sought to work with the Alliance Party to bring about change instead of resorting to the divisive policies of A.D. Patel and the later years of Koya's leadership. He enjoyed a brief period of honeymoon with the Alliance and there was again talk of a coalition. Relations between the two sides deteriorated as the Alliance used its massive majority to push through legislations seen to be anti-Indian. In 1980, after Reddy criticised, Alliance's policy of reserving Crown land for use by ethnic Fijians only, he and Ratu Kamisese Mara were no longer on speaking terms.  The NFP re-united for the 1982 elections and came close to winning the election by winning 24 seats in coalition with the Western United Front (WUF). Reddy's disagreement with the Alliance Speaker of the House led to his walkout in December 1983 and to resignation from parliament in April 1984.

Sidiq Koya's second term as party leader.

Sidiq Koya, who had returned to Parliament in 1982 under a unified NFP, was elected the leader following Reddy's resignation. He was not far from controversy, and was accused of favouring his own supporters for crucial appointments within the party. He barred the NFP Youth Wing from a Working Committee meeting further raising allegations of dictatorial rule.  Internal dissension reached a climax when a Koya supporter from Ba, Dr Balwant Singh Rakkha, was selected to contest the Lautoka seat vacated by Reddy's resignation. The NFP Youth Wing, put up its own candidate, Davendra Singh, a little-known small businessman. The NFP Youth Wing had the support of the former Flower faction and also claimed Reddy's support. For his part, Reddy did not openly campaign for either candidate. During the campaign, Koya turned the election into a referendum on himself, and threatened to resign if Rakkha lost. The result was a win for Singh by a narrow margin but Koya did not go ahead with his threat.  With the emergence of Fiji Labour Party (FLP), the NFP lost further ground. In the Suva City Council election of October 1985, it failed to field any candidate and the FLP won most seats and occupied the Lord Mayor's chair. In the by-election for the North Central National Seat (based in Ba district), brought about by the resignation of Vijay R. Singh, the Alliance won by a narrow margin over the FLP candidate, Mahendra Chaudhry. NFP was placed last. In December 1985, three prominent NFP parliamentarians resigned.  With his party falling apart, Koya resigned from the leadership of the NFP and was replaced by Harish Sharma.

Coalition with FLP.

For the 1987 election, therefore, they formed an electoral coalition with the Fiji Labour Party under the leadership of Timoci Bavadra, an ethnic Fijian. The coalition won the election, but the new government was overthrown a month later in a military coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka.  A new Constitution was promulgated, providing for a built-in ethnic Fijian majority in the legislature. This condemned the NFP to permanent opposition status. When the government agreed to revise the Constitution in 1997, however, the NFP, now led by Jai Ram Reddy, played a key role in the ensuing negotiations, which resulted in the removal of the guaranteed ethnic Fijian majority from Parliament. In the election that followed in 1999, the NFP surprised many observers by forming an electoral coalition with the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei, led by their former enemy, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. This may have been a tactical mistake: many Indo-Fijians had not forgiven Rabuka for his role in the overthrow of the Bavadra government and the subsequent drafting of a constitution that they widely considered to be racist, and the NFP, for the first time in 36 years, lost all of its seats in the House of Representatives.

2000 - 2006.

The NFP contested the 2001 election, on a platform calling for the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into the Fiji coup of 2000, which had deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the removal of Value added tax from basic items, reduction of telephone and postal bills, national healthcare insurance for all workers, and consolidation of the independence of the judiciary. Its fortunes sank further, however. The NFP ended up with only about ten percent of the popular vote and only one parliamentary seat – which it subsequently lost in a court challenge. The party's refusal to agree to a preference deal with its one-time ally, the Fiji Labour Party, also worked against it. (At the time, Fiji had a system of preferential voting, similar to Australia's).  There were subsequently signs of a modest revival of fortunes for the NFP. Municipal elections in October 2003, for which the party formed an electoral coalition with Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL), gave the party control of six municipalities, either in its own right or together with the SDL. Its more significant victories included gaining control of the Nadi Town Council and re-electing Chandu Umaria as Mayor of Suva. In the 2005 municipal polls, their performance was more modest, but Ba and Nadi remained in NFP hands, while an NFP/SDL coalition retained its hold on Sigatoka. In Suva, despite losing some seats, the NFP still out-polled the Fiji Labour Party, its arch-rival for the Indo-Fijian vote.  In the early 2000s, the party attempted to modernise itself. Under the presidency of Dorsami Naidu, the party made an effort to broaden its appeal to women and the disadvantaged. On 11 April 2005, Naidu announced that the NFP now regarded itself as a multiracial party and would attempt to win the support of all ethnic communities in Fiji.

The Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill.

In 2005, the NFP was at the forefront of opposition to the government's controversial proposal to establish a Reconciliation and Unity Commission, with the power (subject to presidential approval), to grant compensation to victims of the coup d'état that deposed the elected government in 2000, and amnesty to persons convicted of offences related to it. On 14 May 2005, Naidu called legislation to establish the commission "an act of terrorism", and on 20 May he went on to call for public demonstrations against the bill, which he said was ""just a cover for providing amnesty to people who committed the May 2000 coup crime acts."" On 27 June, Naidu announced that the NFP had started a petition against the bill, and expected to gather 150,000 signatures. The party was sending copies of the petition, along with a statement of the party's objections to the bill in English, Fijian, and Hindustani to all schools, other organisations, and islands in Fiji. Naidu said the party was opposed not only to the amnesty provisions of the legislation, but also to its compensation provisions, saying that the taxpayer should not have to foot the bill. ""Those part and parcel of the 2000 coup should have their properties seized and sold to pay compensation to those affected,"" Naidu said. He thought, moreover, that those wanting to claim compensation should do so through the courts. He said that the petition would be presented to the parliamentary committee on Justice, Law and Order, along with the party's submission.

Party conference, July 2005.

Naidu resigned from the presidency of the party in July 2005, following his arrest on common assault and sexual assault charges. At the party's annual conference attended by more than 600 delegates in Nausori on 31 July, Raman Pratap Singh, a lawyer and former parliamentarian, was elected to replace him.

Towards 2006.

A priority for the NFP was to attempt to revive sufficient support to gain Parliamentary representation in the general election scheduled for 2006. On 12 August 2005, Pramod Rae said the party was experiencing financial difficulties. Speaking on Radio Sargam, he denied perceptions that the NFP was a "rich man's party" and said that sometimes it could not afford telephone bills, and was having to go door to door asking for donations to keep it going. Many businessmen who had once supported the NFP were now supporting the Fiji Labour Party (FLP), he lamented.  Under Fiji's so-called alternative ballot system, votes cast for low-polling candidates may be transferred to higher-polling candidates, as specified by the candidates. These transferred votes are known as "preferences." Rae said on 20 August that in pursuing negotiations with other parties for exchanges of preferences, the NFP would aim to hold the centre ground in Fijian politics and would forge alliances with parties that shared its philosophy. NFP Treasurer Ashok Bal Govind said on 21 October that neither the FLP nor the SDL had "good policies," and that the NFP would wait to see whether parties with "better policies" emerged before deciding on any electoral pacts. In the end, the NFP made arrangements with FLP candidates in some constituencies, and with SDL candidates in others.

Negotiations with the SDL.

At the August conference, the party decided that a preference deal with the ruling SDL in the parliamentary election scheduled for 2006 would be conditional on the government withdrawing its Reconciliation and Unity Bill. In the last election in 2001, a similar deal, which allowed votes cast for low-polling NFP candidates to be transferred to the SDL, was crucial to the SDL victory under Fiji's transferable voting system. ""You are in power today because of our preferential votes NFP gave you in 2001,"" said Pramod Rae, the general secretary of the party. ""If you are going to pass this bill, do not count on us. We will not support you if you rail road this evil bill in Parliament.""  Fiji Village reported on 9 March 2006 that Prime Minister Qarase had offered the NFP Cabinet posts, assuming the party won parliamentary representation, in exchange for a preference deal.

Negotiations with the FLP.

A meeting, described as a "courtesy call", took place between officials of the NFP and the FLP on 18 August 2005. Preferential voting was among the topics discussed, but no serious negotiations were entered into, with both parties indicating that such a move would be premature. Nevertheless, a flurry of media speculation followed, with several major news services reporting in early September that the two parties were close to reaching a deal. Comments by FLP officials led credence to these rumours. On 19 September, however, Pratap Singh distanced himself and his party from the speculation that a deal with the FLP was likely. The NFP did not believe that the FLP truly represented the Indo-Fijian community, he said, who had gained nothing from what he called the "confrontational" posturing of the FLP.  According to the Fiji Sun (27 February 2006), NFP trustee Attar Singh accused the FLP of having stolen the NFP's 1982 election manifesto and using it for the 1999 election. FLP Parliamentarian Lekh Ram Vayshnoi rejected the charge as false.

2006 election result.

The election, which was finally held on 6–13 May 2006, was a disaster for the NFP. Its share of the popular vote fell to 6 percent, its lowest ever, and the party again failed to win parliamentary representation.

Post 2006.

In 2006 the Fijian government was overthrown and the Fijian parliament dissolved in a military coup. In January 2013 the military regime promulgated new regulations governing the registration of political parties, requiring all parties to have at least 5,000 members. The NFP applied for registration on 14 February, becoming one of only two existing parties to do so. Registration was granted on 3 May 2013.  The NFP elected Biman Prasad, Professor of Economics at the University of the South Pacific, as its new leader in March 2014, while Roko Tupou Draunidalo, scion of a distinguished political and chiefly family, was elected President of the party. Three NFP candidates, including Prasad and Draunidalo, were returned in the 2014 elections, the first since the 2006 coup. Prasad is now the leader of NFP caucus in Parliament, Shadow Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.  In June 2016, Draunidalo made remarks against the Fijian Minister for Education, Mahendra Reddy asking him if he thought the opposition side were "dumb natives" for which she was taken to the Privileges Committee who recommended that she was suspended from parliament for the remainder of the term of Parliament which ends in 2018. In January 2017 she resigned from the NFP and from parliament. Her seat was taken by Parmod Chand.  The party ran 51 candidates in the 2018 elections, ten of which were women. It gained 33,515 votes, increasing its vote share to 7.38%, but gained just three seats.

The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party. Though it claimed to represent all Fiji Islanders, it was supported, in practice, almost exclusively by Indo-Fijians whose ancestors had come to Fiji, mostly as indentured labourers, between 1879 and 1916. However, in the 2018 General elections the party recorded a considerable change in its support base as a consequent of the inclusion of more indigenous Fijian candidates.

Le Parti de la fédération nationale () est un parti politique fidjien. Représentant historiquement les intérêts de la communauté rurale indo-fidjienne, c'est le plus vieux des partis fidjiens actuellement en exercice.


Early life.

Smith grew up in the Maryhill district of Glasgow and was educated at Allan Glen's School, Glasgow.  After leaving school in 1963, Smith failed his first-year English exams at the University of Glasgow. He turned to a career in accountancy and was articled to Robb Ferguson & Company and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1968.

Professional career.

Smith moved to ICFC, later known as 3i, until 1982 and joined the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1983. From 1985 to 1989 he was managing director of Charterhouse Development Capital Ltd. He also held the posts of chairman and CEO with Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, CEO of Morgan Grenfell Asset Management and was Vice Chairman of its successor, Deutsche Asset Management, between 2000 and 2002. He has held various positions as Director of MFI Furniture Group plc, Stakis plc (where he was also chairman from 1998 to 1999), the Bank of Scotland, Tip Europe plc and Network Rail. From 1 July 2002 to 31 December 2013 Smith was Chairman of The Weir Group.  Smith was a member of the Financial Services Authority from 1997 to 2000 and is a member of the Financial Reporting Council. As Chairman of the FRC Group on Audit Committees Combined Code Guidance he was responsible for "The Smith Report" (2003).

Business commitments.

Smith was Chairman of Scottish and Southern Energy, The Weir Group plc Government-backed UK Green Investment Bank and a non-Executive Director of Standard Bank Group Limited. He was also Patron of Foundation Scotland until 2015.  On 8 February 2008, Smith was appointed as Chair of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games organising company. He was announced as the first Chair of the British Green Investment Bank in May 2012.  On 19 September 2014, Smith was appointed as Chair of the newly formed Scotland Devolution Commission, following the "No vote" in the Scottish independence referendum.  He is a Past President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and was chairman of the board of Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland from 1993 until 2002 and was a member (1988–1998) and vice-chairman (1996–1998) of the Museums and Galleries Commission.  Smith was a President of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland and also Regent of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and was Chairman of the Smith Group (advising Scottish Government on educational issues, especially 16- to 19-year-olds not in education, employment or training).

Personal life.

Smith married Alison Marjorie Bell in 1969; initially Mrs Alison Smith, she formally became Lady Smith when her husband received a knighthood in 1999, and then The Lady Smith of Kelvin when her husband received his peerage. They have two daughters.  Lord and Lady Smith own the island of Inchmarnock, situated off the west coast of the Isle of Bute in the Firth of Clyde, where he breeds Highland cattle. He also owns a vineyard and guesthouse in South Africa.

Recognition.

Smith has been conferred honorary degrees by the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and also Paisley, where he was installed as Chancellor in 2003 serving for 10 years. Smith's time at the University of Paisley oversaw the merger with Bell College in Hamilton, intended to create the biggest new university in Scotland. The University of Paisley changed its name to the University of the West of Scotland in November 2007.  In 2010, the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors awarded Smith an Honorary Fellowship at the Annual Scottish Conference in recognition of his long-term support of the internal audit profession.  In 2014 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, allowing him to use the Post Nominal Letters "FRSGS". Smith was the 2015 winner of the Royal Society of Edinburgh/Adam Smith Medal, for his business leadership and his outstanding contribution to public service through his Chairmanship of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 and was then elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2016

Honours.

Lord Smith of Kelvin sits as a crossbench Life Peer in the House of Lords.  He was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for public service, particularly in Scotland.

Robert Haldane Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin, (born 8 August 1944) is a British businessman and former Governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Smith was knighted in 1999, appointed to the House of Lords as an independent crossbench peer in 2008, and appointed Knight of the Thistle in the 2014 New Year Honours. He was also appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2016.

Robert Haldane Smith, né le à Glasgow, baron Smith de Kelvin, est un homme politique britannique et l'ex-président du Weir Group.


Early years.

Dutton was born in the northern Brisbane suburb of Boondall, the eldest of five children, with one brother and three sisters. His mother Ailsa Leitch worked in childcare and his father Bruce Dutton was a builder. Dutton finished high school at the Anglican St Paul's School, Bald Hills.  Dutton joined the Young Liberals in 1988. He became the policy vice-chair of the Bayside Young Liberals the following year and chair of the branch in 1990. At the 1989 Queensland state election, the 19-year-old Dutton ran unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate against Tom Burns (former state ALP leader) in the safe Labor seat of Lytton.  Dutton graduated from the Queensland Police Academy in 1990. He was a Queensland Police officer for nine years, working in the Drug Squad in Brisbane in the early 1990s. He also worked in the Sex Offenders Squad and the National Crime Authority. As a second job, he worked with his father in a building business.  In 1999, Dutton left the Queensland Police. Allegations were made that his departure was due to an incident of'misconduct'. Documentation filed in the District Court of Queensland in 2000 describes Dutton's resignation as being prompted by a loss of driving confidence resulting from an incident on 4 August 1998. Dutton was driving an unmarked Mazda 626 during a covert surveillance operation. Dutton rolled his car while in pursuit of an escaped prisoner who was driving erratically. Dutton also suffered numerous physical injuries during the accident, was hospitalised briefly and bedridden for a week. Dutton had sought damages of $250,000 from the escaped prisoner's insurance company but dropped the claim in 2005.  He went on to become a businessman, completing a Bachelor of Business at the Queensland University of Technology. He and his father founded the business Dutton Holdings, which was registered in 2000; it operated under six different trading and business names. The company bought, renovated, and converted buildings into childcare centres, and in 2002 it sold three childcare centres to the now defunct ABC Learning. ABC Learning continued to pay rent to Dutton Holdings for a commercial lease until at least 2007. Dutton Holdings continues to trade under the name Dutton Building & Development.

Howard Government (2001–07).

Dutton was elected to the Division of Dickson at the 2001 election, defeating Labor's Cheryl Kernot. He was elevated to the ministry after the 2004 election as Minister for Workforce Participation, a position he held until January 2006. He was then appointed Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Revenue. He successfully retained Dickson at the 2007 election, which saw the government lose office. However, his margin was reduced to just 217 votes more than Labor's Fiona McNamara.

Opposition (2007–13).

Following the 2007 election, Dutton was promoted to shadow cabinet by the new Liberal leader Brendan Nelson, as Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation. In 2008, he chose not to be present in the chamber during the apology to the Stolen Generations, which enjoyed bipartisan support. He said "I regarded it as something which was not going to deliver tangible outcomes to kids who are being raped and tortured in communities in the 21st century." Later, in a 2014 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Dutton said he regretted boycotting the apology: "I underestimated the symbolic and cultural significance of it."  In September 2008, Nelson was replaced as Liberal leader by Malcolm Turnbull, who appointed Dutton as Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing. He retained that position when Tony Abbott succeeded Turnbull as leader in December 2009. In June 2010, Dutton released the Coalition's mental health policy. "The Australian" described it as "the most significant announcement by any political party in relation to a targeted, evidence-based investment in mental health", but not all experts agreed. Dutton retained his seat with a positive swing at the 2010 federal election, despite an unfavourable redistribution. In the lead-up to the 2013 federal election, he announced a range of Coalition health policies, which were received favourably by industry groups. The Australian Medical Association said "the Coalition has delivered a strong package of practical, affordable health policies that would strengthen general practice", while Cancer Council Australia said that "Dutton's promise to finalise the bowel cancer screening program by 2020 would save an additional 35,000 lives over the next 40 years."

Attempted seat shift.

As the 2010 election approached, it looked like Dutton would lose to the Labor candidate due to a redistribution of division boundaries that had erased his majority and made Dickson notionally Labor. To safeguard himself, Dutton sought pre-selection for the merged Liberal National Party in the safe Liberal seat of McPherson on the Gold Coast (despite not living in or near McPherson). Some constituents complained, "The abandoning of a seat by a sitting MP halfway through a parliamentary term to contest pre-selection in a seat over 100 kilometres to the south is not looked upon favourably."  Dutton lost the McPherson pre-selection to Karen Andrews, reportedly due to misgivings from former Nationals in the area. He then asked the LNP to "deliver him a seat for which he doesn't have to fight other preselection candidates." Liberal MP Alex Somlyay (the chief Opposition whip of the time) said that Dutton's expectation of an uncontested preselection was "unusual." When the state executive didn't provide Dutton an unchallenged preselection, Dutton reluctantly returned to campaign for the seat of Dickson.

Cabinet minister (2013–present).

Minister for Health.

Dutton retained his seat at the 2013 election. He was appointed to the Ministry by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and served as Minister for Health and Minister for Sport.  As Health Minister, Dutton announced the world-leading $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund. As announced, the capital and any ongoing capital gains of the Medical Research Future Fund will be preserved in perpetuity.  Under Minister Dutton, projected funding in the health portfolio increased in the 2014–15 Budget to $66.9 billion, an increase of 7.5 percent from $62.2 billion in 2012–13, the final full year of the Labor Government. Projected expenditure on Medicare increased over 9.5 percent from $18.5 billion in 2012–13 under Labor to a projected $20.32 billion in 2014–15 under Dutton. Funding for public hospital services increased by nearly 14 percent under Dutton in the 2014–15 Budget to a projected $15.12 billion compared to $13.28 billion in the last full year of the Labor Government in 2012–13.  In a 2015 poll by "Australian Doctor" magazine, based on votes from over 1,100 doctors, Dutton was voted the worst health minister in the last 35 years by 46 percent of respondents.

Minister for Immigration (2014–17).

On 23 December 2014, Dutton was sworn in as the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection after a cabinet reshuffle.  In September 2015, Dutton cancelled the visa of anti-abortion activist Troy Newman, over remarks in his 2000 book "Their Blood Cries Out".  In 2016, News Corp Sunday political editor Samantha Maiden wrote a column critical of Jamie Briggs. Dutton drafted a text message to Briggs describing Maiden as a "mad fucking witch" but inadvertently sent it to Maiden. Maiden accepted an apology from Dutton.  Before the 2016 election Dutton said of refugees "many... won't be numerate or literate in their own language let alone English", and "These people would be taking Australian jobs". Turnbull defended Dutton by stating he is an "outstanding Immigration Minister". Against a statewide swing against the government of 2.9 points, Dutton's margin fell from 6.7 to 1.6 points, leaving him with a margin of fewer than 3,000 votes against Labor candidate Linda Lavarch.

Sarah Hanson-Young.

On 5 June 2015, Dutton denied claims made by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young that she was spied on during a visit to Nauru. At the same time he called into question her credibility saying "I have evidence that Senator Hanson-Young over-states every issue. She gets her facts wrong most of the time. And I just think you need to look at it in the light of experience with Senator Hanson-Young. If she's got evidence, produce it." He also claimed that "What Sarah Hanson-Young is about is publicity. She loves the camera and she loves to see her own name in the paper. That's the start and finish of Sarah Hanson-Young." Hanson-Young responded that "Peter Dutton can attack and insult me as much as he likes, but nothing will change the fact that my work has revealed systemic child abuse and the rape of young women on Nauru under his watch." The spying claims were later confirmed by the Immigration Department and Wilson Security who carried out the spying operation.

Au pair cases.

In June 2015, an au pair who was detained at Brisbane Airport made a phone call and had her tourist visa reinstated. In November, in a second case, Dutton granted a visa to another au pair, despite his department warning him that she was at risk of breaching her work conditions on her tourist visa. Dutton indicated that he knew neither tourist. In August 2018, Roman Quaedvlieg indicated that he had personal knowledge of one of the cases, and was seeking to correct Hansard if it did not match his knowledge. A third au pair was granted a visa due to lobbying by AFL chief Gillon McLachlan, she was due to stay with his relative Callum Maclachlan. Dutton's department again warned him there were indications that she was intending to work for Callum's family. A Senate inquiry into two of the cases published a report on 11 September 2018. It recommended "that the Senate consider censuring the Minister for Home Affairs (the Hon Peter Dutton MP)... for failing to observe fairness in making official decisions as required by the Statement of Ministerial Standards."

Rising seas joke.

On 11 September 2015, Dutton was overheard on an open microphone, before a community meeting on Syrian refugees, joking about rising sea levels in the Pacific Islands. He said "time doesn't mean anything when you're about to have water lapping at your door". Dutton initially refused to apologise, saying it was a private conversation, but later apologised. The foreign minister of the Marshall Islands at the time, Tony deBrum, responded by writing the "insensitivity knows no bounds in the big polluting island down [south]" and the "Next time waves are battering my home [and] my kids are scared, I'll ask Peter Dutton to come over, and he is still probably laughing,"

Comments on Lebanese immigration.

In November 2016, Dutton said it was a mistake by the Malcolm Fraser administration to have admitted Lebanese Muslim immigrants. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Dutton was making a specific point about those charged with terrorism offences. "He made it quite clear that he respects and appreciates the contribution that the Lebanese community make in Australia."

Manus Island.

On 15 April 2017 shots were fired by the Papua New Guinea defence force into the Manus Island Detention Centre. Dutton responded saying "There was difficulty, as I understand it, in the community. There was an alleged incident where three asylum seekers were alleged to be leading a local five-year old boy back toward the facility and there was a lot of angst around that, if you like, within the local PNG community." "I think there was concern about why the boy was being led or for what purpose he was being led away back into the regional processing centre. So I think it's fair to say that the mood had elevated quite quickly. I think some of the local residents were quite angry about this particular incident and another alleged sexual assault."  However, the regional police commander on Manus Island said a young boy who was 10, not five, had gone to the centre two weeks earlier to ask for food. He said "It's a total separate incident altogether" The Greens senator Nick McKim said Dutton had been caught telling an outrageous lie. "This has disturbing echoes of the children overboard affair lies."  On 31 October 2017, the Papuan Government closed down the Manus Island regional processing centre. However, 600 men residing in the processing centre refused to be moved to alternative accommodation in the town of Lorengau and staged a protest. Dutton defended the closure of the processing centre and asserted that the Papuan authorities had given notice of the camp's impending closure in May 2017. He also rejected Australian Greens Senator Nick McKim's report that there was no safe alternative accommodation available as false and claimed McKim was inciting trouble. Following a prolonged standoff with Papuan security forces, the remaining men were evacuated, many forcibly, to new accommodation. Arrangements have been made to resettle an unspecified number of the asylum seekers in the United States. The others will be moved to either a different part of Papua New Guinea or a different country.  In mid November 2017, Dutton rejected an offer by the newly-elected New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to resettle 150 asylum seekers from the Manus Island detention centre in New Zealand and warned that it would have repercussions for the two countries' bilateral relations. He also claimed that New Zealand's offer would encourage people smugglers. Dutton also criticised a New Zealand offer to provide $3 million for services for asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru as a "waste of money" that could be spend elsewhere, such as displaced people in Indonesia. In addition, Dutton criticised Australia's Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's call for Australia to accept the New Zealand offer as an attempt to appease the Labor Left with "cheap political stunts and mealy-mouthed words".

Minister for Home Affairs (2017–present).

On 20 December 2017, Dutton was appointed the Minister for Home Affairs with responsibilities of overseeing the Department of Home Affairs which was established on 20 December 2017 by Administrative Arrangement Order. The Home Affairs portfolio is a major re-arrangement of national security, law enforcement, emergency management, transport security, border control, and immigration functions.

South African farm attacks.

In March 2018 Dutton made calls to treat white South African farmers as refugees, stating that "they need help from a civilised country". However, his offer was rejected by Afrikaner rights organisation AfriForum, which stated that the future of Afrikaners was in Africa, as well as by the survivalist group the Suidlanders, which took credit for bringing the issue of a purported "white genocide" to international attention and for Dutton's decision, and was met with "regret" by the South African foreign ministry. The Australian High Commissioner was subsequently summoned by the South African foreign ministry, which expressed its offence at Dutton's statements, and demanded a "full retraction".  His proposal got support from some of his party's backbenchers and Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm with Leyonhjelm later clarifying that he thought that South African farmers should be admitted under existing visa programmes, and could not be regarded as refugees. National Party of Australia MP Andrew Broad warned that the mass migration of South African farmers would result in food shortages in South Africa. Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema encouraged white farmers to take up Dutton's offer. After initially leaving the door open to changes, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop subsequently ruled out any special deals for white South African farmers, emphasising the non-discriminatory nature of Australia's humanitarian visa programme. In a subsequent interview, Dutton vowed to push forward with his plans, saying that his critics were "dead to me".  Later, in April 2018, it emerged that Dutton's department had previously blocked asylum applications by a white farmer, and another white South African woman, with the decisions upheld by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Immigration from New Zealand.

As both Immigration Minister and Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton has defended an amendment to the Migration Act 1958 that facilitates the denial or cancellation of Australian visas for non-citizens on "character" grounds. This stringent "character test" also affects non-citizens who have lived most of their lives in Australia or who have families living in the country. New Zealand nationals living in Australia were disproportionately affected by this "character test" with over 1,300 New Zealanders having been deported from Australia in the period between January 2015 and July 2018. According to a Home Affairs Department report, 620 New Zealanders had their visas cancelled on character grounds in 2017 alone.  In July 2017, Dutton's Department of Immigration and Border Protection introduced a special Skilled Independent subclass 189 visa to provide a pathway for New Zealanders holding a Special Category Visa to acquire Australian citizenship. The visa requires NZ nationals to have held a Special Category Visa for five years and to maintain an annual income of $53,900. Between 60,000 and 80,000 New Zealanders residing in Australia are eligible for the Skilled Independent subclass 189 visa. By February 2018, 1,512 skilled independent visas had been issued by late February 2018 with another 7,500 visas still being processed. The Skilled Independent subclass 189 visa was criticised by Australian Greens Senator Nick McKim as a stealth means of favouring "English-speaking, white and wealthy" migrants.  In early July 2018, Dutton ordered the deportation of controversial New Zealand Baptist Pastor Logan Robertson, who had disrupted services at two mosques in Kuraby and Darra in Brisbane. Dutton approved Robertson's visa cancellation on the grounds that he had violated the conditions of his visa, stating that "we have a wonderful tradition in our country of freedom of speech, but we're not going to tolerate people going to a place of worship and harassing others." Robertson had early drawn controversy in New Zealand for his homophobic remarks and opposition to same-sex marriage.  In mid-July 2018, Dutton's immigration "character test" became the subject of a controversial Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, entitled "Don't Call Australia Home", focusing on New Zealanders who had been deported from Australia. In response, Dutton issued a tweet defending his deportation policy and claiming that deporting 184 "bikies" saved Australia A$116 million. In response, the New Zealand Minister of Justice Andrew Little, who also appeared in the documentary, criticised Australia's deportation laws for lacking "humanitarian ideals." The documentary's release also coincided with the release of a 17-year-old New Zealand youth from an Australian detention centre, which had caused friction between the two governments. In response, Dutton defended his Government's policy of deporting non-citizen criminals and chastised New Zealand for not contributing enough to assist Australian naval patrols intercepting the "people smugglers."  In mid-July 2019, Dutton defended Australia's right to deport criminal non-citizens in response to concerns raised by the visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, stating: In response, Professor Patrick Keyzer and Dave Martin of La Trobe University criticized Dutton's pedophilia remarks as misleading and contended that most deportees from Australia had spent most of their lives in Australia and had little ties to New Zealand.

Protests.

In October and November 2019, Dutton expressed his views on protesters and police response. He stated that when protesters break the law "There needs to be mandatory or minimum sentences imposed... A community expectation is that these people are heavily fined or jailed." He also agreed with an on-air statement made by conservative 2GB radio presenter Ray Hadley that protesters should not receive social security payments. Leader of the Australian Greens Richard Di Natale responded by saying that "Peter Dutton doesn’t know what living in a democracy means" and claimed that he's "starting to sound more like a dictator than he is an elected politician. Because somebody says something that he doesn’t like, that he doesn’t support, he’s saying we’re going to strip away income support.”  In November 2019, Dutton said that the States should make protesters pay for the cost of police response to demonstrations. He said of protesters: "For many of them they don't even believe in democracy... These people are completely against our way of life. These people can protest peacefully, as many people do, but the disruption that they seek to cause, the disharmony that they seek to sow within our society is unacceptable."

Policing.

In December 2019, Dutton announced that airport security measures were to be increased to detect, deter and respond to potential threats to aviation safety. Measures include greater use of canines and the deployment of extra protective services personnel armed with MK18 short-barreled rifles. Dutton appeared in a video alongside police personnel to announce the policy, sparking criticism of the potential use of police for political purposes.  In March 2019, the Australian Federal Police Association had claimed that the AFP should be removed from the Department of Home Affairs to preserve its integrity and its ability to carry out investigations without government influence. Association president Angela Smith described it as “an embarrassing situation... We look the least independent police force in Australia, surely the other police forces are laughing at us.”

Leadership challenges.

On 21 August 2018, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called a snap ballot of the leadership of the Liberal Party following several days of feverish leadership speculation, of which Dutton was at the centre. Dutton responded to Turnbull's ballot call by formally challenging for the leadership of the party and won 35 of 83 votes available, 7 short of a majority. Dutton then resigned from the Ministry despite being offered by Turnbull to retain his position of Minister for Home Affairs, and the media speculated that Dutton and his conservative backers in the party were likely to challenge for the leadership again in the near future. Three days later, Dutton called for another leadership spill, and Malcolm Turnbull tendered his resignation to the Governor-General. Dutton was defeated by Treasurer and Acting Home Affairs Minister Scott Morrison by 45 votes to 40. Doubts surrounding Dutton's eligibility to be elected to parliament emerged on the grounds of section 44(v) of the Australian Constitution, as the family trust owned by Dutton operated a child care centre that received over $5.6 million in funding from the Commonwealth Government, in a situation similar to Bob Day's case. Although Dutton had received legal advice stating that he was not in breach of section 44(v), Labor had received contrary advice; at Turnbull's request, the Attorney-General referred the matter to the Solicitor-General. On 23 August, Labor attempted to move a motion to refer Dutton's eligibility as an MP to the High Court, in a similar manner to referrals made during the recent parliamentary citizenship crisis. The motion failed by 69 votes to 68. On 24 August, the Solicitor-General advised that in terms of section 44(v) Dutton was "not incapable" of sitting as an MP, although he added that he had been provided with limited factual information and that, owing to differences of judicial opinion in earlier decisions of the High Court on section 44(v), Dutton's legal position could not be entirely clear without a referral to the High Court. Dutton was reappointed to his former Home Affairs portfolio by Scott Morrison in the Morrison Ministry, however the duty of Immigration was stripped from the role and was assigned to David Coleman.

2019 federal election.

Dutton was re-elected at the 2019 federal election. The political think tank GetUp! identified Dutton as "Australia's most unwanted hard-right politician" after surveying more than "30,000 members". GetUp! mounted a campaign in an attempt to defeat Dutton in Dickson. In response, Dutton said GetUp! was, "deceptive", "undemocratic" and "unrepresentative" and that he would back "parliamentary processes to bring the activist group to heel." GetUp! has defended the effectiveness of its campaigning in Dutton's electorate.

Political views.

Dutton is aligned with the right-wing, conservative faction of the Liberal Party. He has been described as a right-wing populist, and is opposed to an Australian republic. In December 2018, Dutton told Sky News that for the prior seventeen years he had regarded "parliament as a disadvantage for sitting governments".

Violence.

Dutton said that people in Melbourne are scared of going out because of "African gang violence", leading to him being ridiculed by people who live in Melbourne.

Same-sex marriage.

Dutton opposes same-sex marriage. In March 2017 it was reported in "The Sydney Morning Herald" that Dutton "said privately it was inevitable that same-sex marriage would become law in Australia so it would be better for the Coalition, rather than Labor, to control the process". Dutton's actions publicly have been in opposition to same-sex advocates and "the forcefulness of Mr Dutton's attack on corporate chief executives last week – in which he told them to'stick to their knitting' – has aroused suspicion among some colleagues who believed he was committed to achieving a breakthrough on [same-sex marriage]". The following month "The Daily Telegraph" reported that Dutton was asked by a lesbian for clarification on his position, and he "told her he had been clear that he was against same-sex marriage". In his political career, Dutton has voted "very strongly against same sex marriage". However, he voted in favour of the "Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017", which legalised same-sex marriage; 65 percent of his constituency voted "Yes" in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey.  In March 2017, 31 CEOs signed a letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calling for a free vote in the Australian Parliament on same-sex marriage. In response to this letter, on 16 March 2017, Dutton said that the CEOs "shouldn't shove their views down our throats" and that CEOs who were "doing the wrong thing" should "be publicly shamed". Dutton repeated his criticism at a speech to the LNP State Council in Queensland on 18 March.  Dutton's comments were heavily criticised as an attempt to censor expressions of support for same-sex marriage, with some commenters also accusing him of hypocrisy given his support for changing. Former New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally said that according to Dutton, "Free speech is great and should be expanded, unless it's an Australian corporate CEO speaking about same-sex marriage. Then they need to shut up." Liberal MPs and ministers Julie Bishop and Simon Birmingham also expressed disagreement with Dutton's comments.  On 9 May 2017, a 67-year-old man pushed a pie into the face of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce while Joyce was speaking at a function in Perth. The next day, the assailant confirmed that the attack was to protest against Joyce's support for same-sex marriage. Dutton had singled out Joyce in his criticism of pro-same-sex marriage CEOs, leading some LGBTI advocates to hold him partially responsible for the attack. Dutton condemned the attack on Twitter.

Negative gearing.

Dutton, who owns six properties with his wife, including a shopping centre in Townsville, opposes any changes to negative gearing which currently offers tax breaks to property investors, stating that changing it would harm the economy.

South African farmers.

Dutton has been accused of supporting and promoting the white genocide myth. In 2018, he declared that Boers required refugee status in Australia because of "the horrific circumstances they face" in South Africa. BBC News reported that the Suidlanders group's "message of white genocide" had "resonated" with Dutton, prompting him to offer fast-track visas to white South African farmers due to their being "persecuted", claiming they needed help from a "civilised" country. Meanwhile, local media contribution from The Greens leader Richard Di Natale labelled the process of bringing white South African farmers to Australia as thoroughly racist. He also labelled it as a policy that would restore the semblance of policy that was not dissimilar to that enacted under the White Australia Policy.

Personal life.

Dutton married his first wife when he was 22 years of age; however, the marriage ended after a few months. His eldest child, a daughter, was born in 2002 to another partner, and splits time between her parents in a shared parenting arrangement. In 2003 Dutton married his second wife, Kirilly (), with whom he has two sons.  On 13 March 2020, Dutton announced that he tested positive for COVID-19, becoming one of the first high-profile cases of the pandemic in Australia. Earlier in March 2020, he had travelled to Washington, D.C., where he met with Five Eyes security ministers, US Attorney General William Barr, and Ivanka Trump on 6 March.

Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian Liberal Party politician serving as Minister for Home Affairs since 2017, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dickson since 2001. Dutton served as Minister for Health and Sport from 2013 to 2014, and Minister for Immigration from 2014 to 2017 in the Abbott and Turnbull Government.

The Rocks est le plus ancien quartier de la cité de Sydney, en Australie, situé sur le côté ouest de Sydney Cove, non loin du Circular Quay, lieu où la ville est officiellement fondée par le capitaine Arthur Phillip en 1788.


Geography.

Wilkes Land fronts on the southern Indian Ocean between Queen Mary Coast and Adelie Land, extending from Cape Hordern in 100°31' E to Pourquoi Pas Point, in 136°11' E. The region extends as a sector about 2600 km towards the South Pole, with an estimated land area of 2,600,000 km2, mostly glaciated.

Subdivisions.

It is further subdivided in the following coastal areas which can also be thought of as sectors extending to the South Pole:  In a wider sense, Wilkes Land extends further East to Point Alden in 142°02' E, thereby including Adélie Land, which is claimed by France.

Name.

Wilkes Land is named after Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (later a rear admiral), the American explorer who commanded the 1838–42 United States Exploring Expedition. The naming is in recognition of Wilkes' discovery of the continental margin over a distance of 2,400 km (1,500 miles) of coast, thus providing substantial proof that Antarctica is a continent. This definition of extent excludes the area east of 142°02' E, George V Land, which was sighted by Wilkes but has been shown by later expeditions to be further south than the positions originally assigned by him.

Geology.

In 2006 a team of researchers led by Ralph von Frese and Laramie Potts used gravity measurements by NASA's GRACE satellites to discover the 300-mile-wide Wilkes Land crater, which probably formed about 250 million years ago.

In popular culture.

Wilkes Land is featured prominently in the 1998 film "The X-Files". Fox Mulder journeys to Antarctica to save his partner Dana Scully, who is being held there against her will. In the process, they discover a huge secret lab under the surface run by the Cigarette-Smoking Man.

Arthur Eugene "Art" Arfons (February 3, 1926 – December 3, 2007) was the world land speed record holder three times from 1964 to 1965 with his "Green Monster" series of jet-powered cars, after a series of "Green Monster" piston-engine and jet-engined dragsters. He subsequently went on to field a succession of "Green Monster" turbine-engined pulling tractors, before returning to land speed record racing. He was announced as a 2008 inductee in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame three days after his death.

Arthur Eugene Arfons, surnommé Art Arfons, né le à Akron (Ohio) et mort le à Springfield Township (Ohio), est un pilote automobile américain.


Early life.

Brancato was born in Bogotá, Colombia. Adopted when he was four months old, he was raised by Italian-American parents, Lillo Sr. (a construction worker), and Domenica (an electrolysist), in Yonkers, New York. Brancato studied at Mount Saint Michael Academy. His adoptive brother, Vinny, briefly worked as a fashion model and now works as a Yonkers civil servant.  Although he was born in Colombia, Brancato has said, "I consider myself Italian. I was raised to eat pasta". Brancato was discovered in 1992, while swimming at New York’s Jones Beach, by a talent scout who noticed Brancato's resemblance to Robert De Niro. Brancato was a fan of De Niro and impressed the scout with an impression of Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver". This won him the role of De Niro's son in "A Bronx Tale".

Career.

Brancato acted in three films in the mid-1990s, prior to joining the cast of "The Sopranos". In the 1993 film "A Bronx Tale", he played the main character Calogero 'C' Anello, a teenager torn between his father and a mob boss who befriended him as a child. (According to "New York Magazine", Brancato earned $25,000 ($ today) for the role.) He appeared in the 1994 movie "Renaissance Man", followed by a minor but climactic role as a radio operator in the 1995 film "Crimson Tide".  In the second season of "The Sopranos", which HBO broadcast in 2000, Brancato starred as Matthew Bevilaqua, a young mobster associated with Tony Soprano's crime syndicate. Bevilaqua first appeared in the second-season premiere, "Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office...", and appeared in five more episodes, the last one being "Bust Out", However, his character was murdered in the previous episode, "From Where to Eternity". Brancato also played a mobster in the TV series "Falcone", which debuted in 2000. In 2001, Brancato starred in "'R Xmas", appearing with fellow "Sopranos" cast member Drea de Matteo.  Brancato’s last film before being charged in 2005 for first-degree burglary (see below) was "Saturday Morning", released in 2007. The director, whose brother-in-law is a policeman, edited down all of Brancato’s scenes during post-production.  After his 2013 release from prison, Brancato’s first feature film was the production "Back in The Day" (2016), which received poor reviews during its theatrical release, quickly moving to video on demand.

Arrests, conviction, and incarceration.

Brancato started using drugs and alcohol shortly after his introduction to show business in 1992. He was addicted to cocaine and heroin by his mid-20s.  On June 10, 2005, Brancato was arrested by the Yonkers Police Department, in Yonkers, New York. Officers originally pulled Brancato over for having a rear brake light out and found he had an expired registration and no other papers for the vehicle. He gave police permission to look in a cigarette box, where they found four bags of heroin. He was charged with a seventh-degree Class A misdemeanor for criminal possession of a controlled substance.  Six months later, on December 10, 2005, Brancato was arrested by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in the Bronx for the murder of 28-year-old police officer Daniel Enchautegui, who was at home and off-duty at the time of his death. Enchautegui had served with the NYPD for three years and was assigned to the 40th Precinct in the Bronx. Enchautegui confronted Brancato (then 29) and his accomplice, Steven Armento (48), outside a vacant house located at 3119 Arnow Place, next to his own, after hearing glass break. While Enchautegui waited for backup, a gunfight erupted and Enchautegui was shot. He was later taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where he died. Police arrested Brancato and Armento in the vicinity, both with multiple gunshot wounds and in critical condition.  Armento, who was the father of Brancato's girlfriend Stefanie, was convicted of first-degree murder on October 30, 2008 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.  Brancato was charged with second-degree murder, and his trial began on November 17, 2008. On December 22, 2008, a jury found him not guilty of murder, but found him guilty of first-degree attempted burglary. On January 9, 2009, a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison.  Brancato was incarcerated as state inmate #09A0227 in the Oneida Correctional Facility in Rome, New York, and was subsequently transferred to the Hudson Correctional Facility. While in prison, Brancato continued his drug use, suffering a heroin overdose on at least one occasion. On December 31, 2013, he was released on parole.

Lillo Brancato Jr. (born August 30, 1976) is an American actor, known for his performance as Calogero Anello in Robert De Niro's 1993 directorial debut, "A Bronx Tale." He also played Matthew Bevilaqua, a young mobster on "The Sopranos".

Lillo Brancato est un acteur américain né le, à Bogota,en Colombie. Il a été adopté à l'âge de 4 mois par un couple d'Italo-américains, Lillo et Domenica Brancato.


Organization.

The event is hosted by the Vancouver International Marathon Society (VIMS), a non-profit organization run by a volunteer Board of Directors, and managed by staff of the Society.  Each year, VIMS recruit volunteers to help with pre-race preparations and race day operation. In total, about 4000 volunteers help to run the marathon smoothly. Volunteers help in areas such as water stations, medical stations, set-up/take down, food services, given out shirts & medals to runners.

Event details.

A free Friendship Run organized by the Running Room is held during the race week for those who wish to participate.

Expo.

The Marathon is kicked off by an Expo where runners to pick up their information packages and to receive promotional materials from various sponsors and athletic associations.

Race Day.

All participants start off using a staggered time system to ensure timing accuracy. Along the race course, various safety officials are on course, including paramedics and amateur radio operators from VECTOR (Vancouver Emergency Community Telecommunications Organization).  The award ceremony are held on race day. Cash prizes will be presented to the top three male and female full and half marathon runners while merchandise will be awarded to the fastest relay team.

Current World Records established at the Vancouver Marathon.

MARATHON  HALF MARATHON

Race Dates.

The race is held on the first Sunday of May each year.

Controversy.

After the 2015 Vancouver Marathon, a video surfaced regarding the lack of coordination with traffic police. Runners were stopped mid-race at intersections. The Marathon director addressed the video and as of 2016, the race no longer begins in waves. Now all runners begin once the gun goes off.

The BMO Vancouver Marathon is an annual race held on the first Sunday of May each year in Vancouver, British Columbia. As the second largest international marathon in Canada, it has a certified running distance of 26 miles and 385 yards long. The marathon saw over 14,000 people participate on May 4, 2014, with over 3700 completing the marathon distance. This marathon is certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations & Association of International Marathons and Distance Races as a qualifying marathon race.

Le marathon de Vancouver (en anglais: "Vancouver Marathon") est une épreuve de course à pied d'une distance de dans la ville de Vancouver, au Canada. Elle est organisée par la Banque de Montréal (BMO). En parallèle du marathon, se court aussi le même jour, un semi-marathon.