There have been a couple of disturbing incidents over the past couple of weeks that has compelled me to write about protecting our rights.
The first incident was hearing of the arbitrary decision of the NSW Government, with the full complicity of the NSW Opposition, to enact new laws that make it illegal for someone to annoy a World Youth Day pilgrim. What a farce! There already exists enough laws for the NSW police to prevent WYD pilgrims from being annoyed.
The real problems is the continued diminution of our civil liberties. These laws have effectively silenced free speech and the right to peacefully protest. There are those that think these laws are justified but why should we the citizenry accept laws that further reduce the burden of proof so that the police can more easily arrest and detain people?
The second incident was while I was in Adelaide and heard about recent changes to laws in South Australia. It would seem that the South Australian Government, with the complicity of the SA Opposition, decided to further diminish civil liberties for South Australians. The government decided to give the state’s police force stronger powers to deal with the so-called bikie threat. The reality is that the laws give the police extraordinary powers to stop, detain, search and arrest people, even though there are enough existing laws for police to use.
Amazing how easily our civil liberties have been eroded over the past 7 years. But you won’t hear much coming from the federal government about these abuses of civil liberties. The federal government is in full support of the so-called anti-terrorism laws, which we saw spectacularly fail in the ‘Haneef’ case, that have significantly eroded civil liberties in Australia. So it’s not too strange to see the state governments following the lead of the federal mob. If we then can’t rely on the state governments and oppositions to protect our civil liberties and human rights who will protect our rights? Perhaps it’s time to exercise our vote (before that becomes illegal) and change the way we vote.
Otherwise, I didn’t like having civil liberties anyway.
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As found on
Alex’s Choice News- Climate sceptics versus spin versus science November 13, 2009The media storm over climate sceptics in the Coalition, triggered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Lowy Institute speech last Friday and the ABC's Four Corners program on Monday night, is bringing much needed rain for a government whose climate credentials were looking very dry. It has very effectively framed the debate in the Government's super […]
- Why is Rudd going to Copenhagen? November 13, 2009Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said: "Unless and until Mr Rudd is willing to step up to the plate and commit to the safe climate target of 40% emissions cuts, his presence at Copenhagen will only serve to hold back progress towards a meaningful global agreement. "Mr Rudd and his fellow leaders of the rich world are increa […]
- No Road Tunnel, No Freeway rally November 13, 2009
- Climate sceptics versus spin versus science November 13, 2009
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