3 May 2002
Last century, a referendum proposed to outlaw the Communist Party.
Australians voted "no", rightly rejecting the anti-pinko hysteria
of the day.
In the new millennium, the government isn't giving us a choice. Instead,
the Coalition is submitting six new laws directly to Parliament. Ostensibly
they're intended to keep us safe from (unspecified) terrorists. The
reality is rather more Orwellian:
"You do not have to be a terrorist. You
do not have to be an adult. You do not even have to be a suspect.
But under proposed Australian laws, you could still be jailed indefinitely.
Continuous detention--without contact with the outside world and without
a lawyer present during any interrogation--is just one of the many
controversial elements of a Federal Government plan...
"ASIO would also have much stronger powers;
the attorney-general would be allowed to ban any groups or organisations;
the right to silence would be removed; and people could be jailed
for life for possessing a 'thing' connected to terrorism, even if
they had no idea that the thing would be used for the purposes of
terrorism." [read
the rest of the article]
Hurrah for Margo Kingston and her community of meeja watchers, who
have been kicking up a stink in the Sydney Morning Herald: article
1, article
2, article
3, article
4.
The Law Report on ABC Radio National (bless its cotton socks) examines
the proposed legislation and its implications for human rights. There's
a transcript
on the web site.
On In The National Interest (RN again), some thoughtful comments came
from Justice John Dowd, Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
and president of the Australian Section of the International Commission
of Jurists. No transcript, but there is a Real
Audio file available until the end of May 2002.
Makes a joke of open
government and participatory democracy, dunnit.
Meanwhile the federal Department of Education, Science and Training
wants your submission to
its Higher Education Review. Papers are due on 28 June, so start
scribbling.
The review's title, "Higher Education at the Crossroads",
suggests that somebody thinks we're consorting
with the Dark Side already.
Contrary to what you might expect, Irish crossroads can have five
directions and cross-making
at Lithuanian crossroads is a matter of world heritage.
Crossroads don't
have to be on land. Many cultures have superstitions
about crossroads. To negotiate more metaphorical crossroads, apparently
all
you need is God and mustard seeds.
Many chickens have attempted to cross roads. There was the philosophical
chicken, the
political chicken, additional political chickens,
the Singaporean
chicken, the celebrity
chicken and her
mates, even the US
Air Force chicken--which is different from either
variety of the jet
engine test chicken (that, by the way, may have been fired from
a real chicken
gun)--but as far as I know only one avian has based
an Internet business on the experience.
As the
hunchback said, "Crossroads! The devil created them to torment
the living."
-
Phillip Ruddock: I don't care why the chicken crossed the
road. It should be sent back to where it came from. Who knows what
might happen if we keep letting any old chicken cross the road.
We could be inundated with them. Send them to the farmer up the
road a bit and we can pay him to deal with the problem.
-
Jeff Kennett: If the chicken did cross the road it should
have been fitted with an etag and should pay the same toll as all
other road users.
-
John Brumby: Regional chickens should have the same opportunities
to cross roads as chickens living in Melbourne.
-
John Howard: The chick never crossed the road. And it was
not forcibly removed from its mother! Anyway, that's a matter for
the states and is of no interest to us. The United Nations should
back off.
-
Kim Beazley: There WAS a chicken and it DID cross the road.
This is a deliberate act by the government to hide the fact that
chickens continue to cross Australian roads.
-
Natasha Stott-Despoja: What if it was not a chicken but
a bantam? Minority sectors of our community shouldn't be discriminated
against based purely on the size of their eggs and legs.
-
Evelyn Scott: To demonstrate a commitment to reconciliation
with indigenous chickens.
-
Peter Costello: According to documentation submitted to
the Live Foods Processing Authority, the chicken in question was
uncooked at the time of its journey and therefore will not incur
a GST charge. However, if that chicken actually crossed the road
for profit, regardless of its raw/cooked status, the road crossing
would be considered by the ATO to be a service for which GST will
be imposed. We'll want to see the chicken's business activity statement
before making an assessment.
|
2004 flipsocks:
17 Dec: the
sock has flipped
10 Dec: anything anywhere any time
3 Dec: instant
flattery
26 Nov: the steamroller
of branding
19 Nov: fried
v rice
5 Nov: the page
with no name
29 Oct: and then
there were none
22 Oct: filled
with naughty laughter
15 Oct: get
souls and disconcert the public
8 Oct: ooh,
aah, ooh
1 Oct: pinch
and a punch
24 Sep: design
is the new art
17 Sep: footsteps
of Aeneas
10 Sep: slow
art, viral aesthetic
3 Sep: I
can see your house from here
27 Aug: forever
blowing bubbles
20 Aug: jargon
for the digital age
13 Aug: beautiful
plumage, the Norwegian blue
6 Aug: brokenated
terribility
23 Jul: Alice
underground
16 Jul: color-coded
2 Jul: for
so long treated as nouns
25 Jun: looking
for love, echidna-style
18 Jun: joy-to-stuff
ratio
11 Jun: fun's
fun but a girl can't dance all night
4 Jun: pink dinosaur
28 May: two
people every minute
21 May: incompitnce [sic]
14 May: zygomatic smile
5 May: mailbox
30 Apr: bananaguard
23 Apr: mmmmmWAH!
15 Apr: playtime
8 Apr: googlewhack
2 Apr: we
wish to inform you...
18 Mar: daffy dills
12 Mar: echo
chamber
9 Jan: refund profologies
Also on this site:
about this site
home page
articles:
who
is geoffrey ebert?
testing
for the fun factor
chicken
at the (higher education) crossroads
crawford's theory of interactivity
froghunting
home-page
real-estate wars
the eagle
has landed
listmania:
must-reads
for web people
recent reads
pop-culture
quotes
neology:
they shoulda been words
recipe:
lemon and
rosemary risotto
reviews:
Written
In Blood by Chris Lawson
The
Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams
Without whom (web):
frankenstein
journal (Chris)
tbn97 (Troy)
webster's encyclopedia [sic]
science playwiths
(Peter)
neroliwesley.com.au (Neroli)
Fraser
Jonathan
Maverick IT network consultants
(Rick)
Look! There's a castle!
(Brent)
Cairns Corporation (Gerald)
Homosapien Books (Julie and
Bruce)
Southern Sky Watch
(Ian)
Panda's Thumb (Ian again)
ABC Science-Matters
(official)
science-matters (unofficial)
chisig
Bovios
Disinfo.com (Alex Burns)
Lee Battersby
Little Malop Gallery
Digest of Usability Resources and
News (Dey)
WooWooWoo (Andrew)
Without whom (also):
Ramona P Lovechild
Dombardo
Katherine with a K
Katherine (no relation)
Catherine
Teresa
Corey
Claire
Claire (no relation)
Helsbels
Iain
Toby and Jann
Andrew
Paul, Warren, Dr K and The New Reality
Stephen
Tania
Trevor
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