Australian internet filter dead in water 6 Aug 2010 Forners may not be aware of an extremely boring federal election in Australia right now. Indeed, few Australians seem aware of this. This is as it should be. Elections that are Interesting usually turn out to be Dangerous. But there is one good that has come out of this. The Coalition of conservative parties has decided not to support the mandatory internet filter. Given that the party most likely to hold the balance of power in the upper house, the Greens, is opposed to it, the filter is dead no matter who wins the election. Excellent outcome, I hear you say in my head. And yes, it is. But there remains a deeper problem: Australian censorship is among the most draconian and pervasive in the western world, and both major parties have reiterated their devotion to it. This means that any attorney general can refuse a classification to a game, a book, a video that they dislike for no stated reason, and it becomes a crime to own it then and there. And right now, the religious own both major parties. Even though 70% of Australians want no censorship apart from violent and child exploitative material, there is no option. We will be treated like criminal children until proven innocent. This is why I am voting for the Australian Sex Party. Not because I am a major consumer of pornography or terrorist materials, but because, if it harm none, nobody has the right to tell me what I may or may not see as an adult citizen. The ASP is the only party whose priorities are in the right order: freedom, secularism, and humour. Forgive my suggesting to my six Australian readers that they vote this way too. Administrative Australian stuff Censorship Internet filtering Politics Administrative
Censorship New Australian censorship stuff 11 Dec 2008 At the other blog here and here , the latter a plea for a Human Rights Act. Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity Primate researcher in Brazil gets 14 years for a permit problem 7 Jul 2007 Naturalised Brazilian, Dutch biologist Marc van Roosmalen, has been sentenced to 14 years jail in Brazil for running a monkey refuge without a permit from Ibama, the local environmental agency. Not that he didn’t apply, mark you, but Ibama didn’t respond, and the received local wisdom is that if they don’t within 45 days, it’s approved. Read More
Censorship More developments on internet filtering: the religious connection 28 Oct 20084 Oct 2017 As I feared, the internet filtering issue has now been taken up by special interests. The conservative Christian political party Family First, run largely by the Hillsong evangelical denomination, has one senator, but the balance of power is so tight they wield disproportionate power, and as PM Kevin Rudd and… Read More
“This is why I am voting for the Australian Sex Party.” You HAVE one of those? I’m Ammerikan, but can I join anyway?
Every time we vote for a political party all we ever end up with is more and more politics, so I’ve decided to change my approach and vote for the Australian Sex Party.
“Who the deuce are our rulers to enforce their opinions about sin on us?” — C.S. Lewis. I really liked the article from the sex party that you linked to recently, and it may well influence my vote – not in a dramatic way, but in inducing some adjustment of my preferences below the line. In any case, the sex party will be respectably ranked – well above either of the major parties. You might extrapolate on the relative merits of the sex party and the secular party. I would not want either in charge of, say, economics (they both have libertarian leanings that I don’t like), but I approve of both of them as balance restorers, and feel that a vote for either sends the right message. You might also include links re news on filter.
Here’s a link http://www.itwire.com/it-policy-news/regulation/40965-coalition-to-block-internet-filter-hockey
I am currently leaning towards voting this way: https://www.belowtheline.org.au/editor.html#sa-KLzAuvwqrstMNDEOPklopghixyIJabmncdBCefFGHj
Thanks Kel, you answered my question before I’d asked it. Greens then. Isn’t Australia turning into an appalling prudish moralistic sanctimonious religion-ridden desert….Apart from that, it’s perfect!
Good to hear! I have been telling people that the Australian sex party has some of the most sane policies (on issues for which they have policies) out there, and it is nice to see others are thinking the same way.