August 5, 2010
I managed to get a few minutes to interview Greens WA Senator Scott Ludlam after a forum we both spoke at regarding internet censorship.
The most obvious question for a Greens Senator for WA, considering that state’s mineral wealth and the Greens’ … green-ness, is regarding the mining tax. A similar tax had been proposed by the Greens months ahead of Labor’s announcement of the policy, so naturally the Greens support the mining tax. Senator Ludlam described the response to the mining tax as “an extraordinary example of very well resourced and very well executed corporate bullying”.
This ‘bullying’ . . . → :: Read More ::
July 22, 2010
Labor’s proposed Mandatory Internet Filter has made a lot of enemies for the party, particularly as a policy that seemed to be more something one would expect of the Howard-era socially conservative Coalition. The potential for the expanded filter, as currently proposed, to be abused is of great concern to almost anyone interested in civil rights. But it didn’t start out quite so bad for Labor, who took to the 2007 election a proposal to block child pornography. Techies were concerned about the potential for a filter to be detrimental to network performance, but the general populace didn’t pay . . . → :: Read More ::
July 20, 2010
In the last year, before the beginning of the official campaign, parties from across the political spectrum have been attempting to tap into the youth voter demographic, primarily through social media. It must be said that I say ‘primarily’ because this youth voter has not seen anything outside social media, and if it exists, I haven’t seen it (which given I go searching for this stuff, means it’s been a failure). Some parties are just throwing things in a social media-ish direction and hoping something will stick.
Some parties have had more success than others. . . . → :: Read More ::
July 9, 2010
For quite a while now, progressives across the country – along with the tiny handful of actual journalists left – have been commenting on the ‘race to the bottom’ between Labor and the Coalition. From refugees and censorship through to how fast to bend over for the big mining companies, Labor has been mounting an unashamed invasion of the Coalition’s traditional territory.
Some hoped that Gillard taking the helm would mark a change in this respect. Most were sorely disappointed.
It shouldn’t be terribly surprising that not much changed. The simple – and arguably unfortunate – truth is that . . . → :: Read More ::
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