Conroy and mandatory Internet filtering

December 24, 2009 in Campaigns, Rants & Raves
Tags: accountability, ALP, Australia, Australian Greens, ballot box, censorship, civil liberties, content filtering, democracy, federal government, Greens, human rights, information, Internet, Internet censorship, Internet filtering, Kevin Rudd, Liberals, No Clean Feed, online activism, political parties, politics, public policy, transparency, voters

The Internet filtering ‘debate’ is pretty much dead in the water.

However with the announcement of the mandatory ISP-level internet filter proceeding, the interwebs nearly melted down. Australians on Twitter and Facebook began decrying the further erosion of our civil liberties. But just as quickly began an erroneous debate about what to name the ‘hash tag’ for online censorship resistance. Here to it illustrates just how fragmented the debate is – further eroded by some labelling it a debate about a ‘brand’.

Why NZ is a better regional peace keeper

December 16, 2009 in Rants & Raves, Thoughts
Tags: Australia, diplomacy, Indonesia, international, international affairs, international relations, New Zealand, Oceanic, Pacific, politics, region, theangle.org

New Zealand is much better placed to be a stronger regional partner, or “peace keeper” or “sheriff” than Australia. Some will decry me as being “un-Australian” or worse but in my humble opinion our neighbours from across the ditch are better placed for successful regional diplomacy than Australia. While there’s a very heathly (if not bordering on obsessive) rivalry between our nations, this is one area the Kiwis easily trump Australia.

Human Rights Day 2009

December 10, 2009 in Rants & Raves, Thoughts
Tags: accountability, Australia, Australian Human Rights Commission, Bloggers Unite, democracy, human rights, Human Rights Day, international, international affairs, politics, transparency, United Nations

Today marks Human Rights Day.

Human Rights Day marks the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted on December 10, 1948 that set down the basic principles at the very heart of the human rights movement. The UDHR has enabled remarkable progress in human rights, inspiring international human rights standards, laws and institutions that have improved the lives of many around the world. The day is a high point in the calendar of United Nations and is normally marked by both high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues.