Bloody Ridiculous
Rant-o-meter for this post: "run for the hills"
I understand that not everyone is particularly interested in the goings-on of Parliament House, and I keep myself to only the occasional rant because of this, but what is happening at the moment just cannot go unnoticed. It makes me sick to read about it.
The new anti-terrorist laws bill, much discussed in the media by politicians, political commentators and just about every constitutional law expert one could hope to wheel out onto our TV screens and radio, will be introduced into the House of Representatives on Tuesday next week (i.e. Melbourne Cup). It would be the boldest of political commentators to argue that this is anything but a deliberate ploy to avoid public scrutiny by ensuring the biggest news item of the day is about a horse, rather than any potential dents in our civil liberties. While this is bad enough, I am willing to concede that this is as much a reflection on how easy the public is distracted, as it is about dodgy politics.
However ...
.. on the same day the government plans on introducing these substantial changes to the laws and judicial powers that currently exist, some of which will have a significant impact on the rights of all Australians citizens, the House of Representatives is also expected to vote on the bill. This is completely unacceptable.
In fact, its worse than this. The government plans on introducing the bill 90 minutes after the Melbourne Cup, at which point it will immediately call for a debate on the issue, giving MP's just 10 minutes to examine the bill.
It is worth remembering that the only reason we have any idea what is in the bill at all is because the ACT chief minister (and fellow "Belco" Mall shopper), Jon Stanhope, published the draft on his website, against the wishes of John Howard. Without this draft, politicians would have no idea what to expect. Think about how many issues and problems have been pointed out after that draft was released.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand what is happening. Regardless of your view on the legislation (and from many reports, a reasonable percentage of Australians are supportive of the changes, which surprises me), this is a blatant attempt to get the bill passed as quickly and quietly as possible, at the expense of the very thing that should be central to such an important issue (or any issue for that matter): debate and scrutiny.
Surely all Australians agree that our elected representatives need more than a couple of hours to view, debate and vote on such an important bill. The usual time for such things is around two weeks!
Surely, this bill is important enough! The fact that the top experts in this area appear to have varying opinions on the issue, only further strengthens the point that open and frank debate and discussion is crucial in the decision making process.
Surely!
What's the point of spending hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars on a big building with a flag pole, built precisely for the purpose of debate and discussion, when we don't even use it !?
Parliament (excerpt from wikipedia): The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler (to speak) : a parlement is a talk, a discussion, hence a meeting (an assembly, a court) where people discuss matters.
posted by macca at 3:25 PM
3 Comments:
Here here!
(rant- o - meter - hop on a bullet train :)
I must say the more I learn the more powerless I feel. It is very discouraging how blatent politicians have become about using propaganda and underhanded tactics to do whaterver they will - and how obvious it is they have absolutley no respect - even disrespect for the will of the people they represent. I.e. - they don't want to know what we think. John Howard's style of government is very patriacal - as in - sit still, shut up and do as your told! You can't possibley grasp the full situation and I know what's best for you so don't worry your pretty little heads about it. I think the power may have go to his.
They seem more concerned about ensureing no one has the opportunity to form an opinion than presenting their arguments to legitimate debate.
And I could rant on about how our media is saturated with fear messages which all play into the hands of a government who wants to fast track laws without properly addressing concerns of the people they will affect. Us.
I guess the irony for them is the thing I am most afraid of now is this government of ours.
Affrica
10/27/2005 03:25:00 PM
What you and Aff said.
What annoys me about all this is just how much of a nonissue domestic terrorism is in Australia. 120 people are murdered in domestic violence each and every damn year. How many Australians have died as the result of terrorism conducted in Australia? Ever? Zero. That's right, nobody has *ever* died in Australia as the result of a terrorist attack.
And yet, we're supposed to let governments lock people up on a whim, in secret, to protect against a miniscule threat that our government doesn't even trust us enough to tell us about!
What really gives me the screaming shits, however, is the pathetic efforts of the Labor Premiers in just rolling over on the issue. Just once, could one of the Labor state premiers put principle over political expediency and tell the feds where to stick their draconian and unnecessary laws?
10/27/2005 09:17:00 PM
"The object of war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the struture of society intact." - George Orwell
It would appear that the War Against Terror is conveniently not related to territory - except when that territory contains large oil deposits - and can therefore be portrayed as threatening our territory even when there is no history of it. Much misuse of law can therefore be justified.
10/30/2005 06:01:00 PM
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