The Australian Constitution does not have any express provision relating to freedom of speech. In theory, therefore, the Commonwealth Parliament may restrict or censor speech through censorship legislation or other laws, as long as they are otherwise within constitutional power. The Constitution consists mainly of provisions relating to the structure of the Commonwealth Parliament, executive [...]
Jade Lotus Tantra massage is a three step massage course designed to ‘tap into each person’s sensuality, and help them discover parts of themselves that they didn’t know existed or had long forgotten about‘. Sound vague? You betcha, but here’s a bit more of a detailed explanation into the three steps of the Jade Lotus [...]
“I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the Wikileaks website. It’s a grossly irresponsible thing to do and an illegal thing to do The foundation stone of it is an illegal act.” -Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia on Wikileaks When Julia Gillard told reporters the above, the natural followup question was ‘what [...]
Earlier this year discussions about Labor’s proposed mandatory internet filter between search engine giant Google and Australia’s Minister for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), Stephen Conroy, completely broke down. Naturally the Conroy camp were in favour of the filter whilst Google actively campaigned against it. The discussions between the two [...]
Democracy as I know it, or more accurately understand it is the government working for the people. Somewhere along the line however this has since turned into layer upon layer of secrecy, backhand dealings and outright withholding of information from the public. So long as the tax dollars keep rolling in, why should governments feel [...]
Stephen Conroy. The very name conjures up images of censorship, refused classification, information blackouts, technological incompetence, verbal gaffes and a general absolute discontent for the Australian general public. In his latest assault on Australians, Conroy now sees himself possibly in contempt of the Australian Senate and just today he outright walked out of chamber during [...]
Before the 2010 federal election there were two major Labor policies hanging in the balance, the mandatory internet filter and the National Broadband Network (NBN). Both were potentially to be up in jeopardy if Labor lost but fortunately for both policies, they won. With the election now over, the Department of Broadband Communications and the [...]
The Australian public also rightly demands transparent government. That’s why the Rudd Government promised at the election to “restore trust and integrity in the use of Commonwealth Government information, promoting a pro-disclosure culture and protecting the public interest through genuine reform”. We’re working hard to fulfil these commitments. -Joe Ludwig, Cabinet Secretary and Special Minister [...]
It was hard to keep sight of Conroy’s temporary internet filter backflip yesterday amidst all the other backflips Labor has been pulling lately. From Asylum seeker policy (which is several backflips in itself), to resource taxes to now the internet filter, it’s getting hard to keep track of what exactly Labor’s policies are. As far [...]
Senator Kate Lundy wrote a blog post earlier this month in which she outlined her plans to present an opt-in and opt-out model of Stephen Conroy’s proposed internet filter. Opt-in requiring Australian internet users to put their hands up to have their internet censored and opt-out giving users the option to literally opt-out of a [...]