Pixelated Semantics

A schizotypical inventory

Feeling bugged? Take a bus to Bondi....

Proving that in opposition it's more than willing to help our extreme conservative government enact its Big Brother fantasies, the ALP is set to support legislation allowing law enforcement agencies to access stored e-mail, SMS and voicemail communications without warrant "but only for a year" - and neither the reporter nor the government even bothers to mention "terrorism" as the pretext this time. This legislation, previously rejected by the Senate, will allow agencies to access private communications without a warrant and without the knowledge of the individual involved. Just the slightest hint of bias shows in the SMH's statement that "Australian Greens senator Bob Brown has called for yet another inquiry into the revamped bill" - there is nothing "balanced" about adding the phrase "yet another" as if the process of protecting democratic rights from erosion by those "elected" to maintain them, is somehow tiresome and intrusive.

Australia's Human Rights record is being newly whitewashed too - while Justice Minister Chris Ellison concedes "progress at reducing Aboriginal deaths in custody has been slow" he dismisses the problem by seeing the "answer" in "a broad range of grassroots programs aimed at juvenile justice diversion and substance abuse rather than in the narrow question of incarceration" - although the families of those who have died in custody are unlikely to see it as a only "narrow question" but the critical point of the whole issue. The NSW government is set to join the minority-bashing party too, with its "plan to redevelop Redfern" involving "seizing control of Aboriginal housing on the Block and letting private developers take over two-thirds of the area's public housing estates". The Herald again without a hint of concern reports that

"In a major piece of social engineering, 20,000 new private renters and owners will be brought in to balance out the 7000 public housing tenants in the area, many of whom are poor, old and disabled."

And the "plan" for open space would be laughable were it not set to seriously impact on the environment and lives of Sydney's poorest citizens:

"Residents who now have only half the open space of other inner-city suburbs will have only a quarter of the space once the population is doubled... The Government has been advised to provide additional transport to take these overcrowded residents to places like Bondi Beach."

Note to the ALP: a bus to Bondi is not a substitute for quality of life.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 3:56 pm ::