That we are now happily contemplating expanding our (flawed) control order laws and locking up 14-year-olds on suspicion (not proof) of what they may do is a fascinating reflection of how far we've come, writes Michael Bradley (managing partner of Marque Lawyers)

It's timely to recall that one of the key justifications put up by the Federal Government for introducing its data retention law was that it was necessary to prevent another Lindt Café.

The inconvenient facts, that Man Haron Monis had been under close surveillance, which the police had dropped, and that they could already have obtained his data under existing laws but didn't, were discarded in the legislative rush.

Here we are again - new Prime Minister and less strident language notwithstanding - being played for fools.

Farhad Jabar's awful crime in Parramatta, or more specifically that he happened to be 15 years old, is being used to justify the next wave of draconian laws designed to protect or terrify us, depending on your perspective.

Malcolm Turnbull has announced that the minimum age for control orders will be reduced from 16 to 14, and the control order regime will be beefed up further by allowing monitoring of the person and introducing provisions that will prevent them from having access to some of the evidence being relied on to support the order. NSW Premier Mike Baird also wants the current maximum detention period to be extended from eight to 28 days.......
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-15/bradley-control-orders-a-step-closer-to-police-state/6855636

All things being equal, someone with a PhD has practised higher levels of critical thinking than one without, as they have had to undergo the relatively arduous process of a literature review & research (on average 3.5 to 4 years), which is all about building an argument founded in reason, logic & evidence then subject it to scrutiny by a panel of far more educated people in that particular field.
So since they have practiced such critical thinking, then yes I do consider their opinion more worthy than others because I expect them to have put more effort into their thinking on the facets of said issue.

On a related note, there is a saying amongst academics & scientists "opinions are like assholes - everyone's got one". Basically meaning that unless you publish in peer review, your opinion is worthless.