The Australian Protectionist Party (APP) has declared itself and states it will be applying for status as a registered political party.A quick look at its website points to the possibility that this is yet another far-right group which would be fairly comfortable with everyone from Howard to Hanson and perhaps even the late, unlamented Oswald Moseley.
However, it appears on first glance to avoid defamation, sedition, hate speech or incitement to violence as defined by legislation.
So in a democratic society it would normally expect to be tolerated as political opinion or dissent, even swimming against the tide as it does with a platform opposing multiculturalism and political correctness.
Or would it?
According to ABC Radio National Background Briefing on 15 March 2009 this potential political party URL is on the Australian Parliament/Websense blacklist.
Also reported to be on the blacklist is E-evolution, an online news site for the gay community.
It seems that Australian MPs are such delicate flowers that they must be protected from news about a significant group of citizens in many electorates.
The Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, has baldly stated that national mandatory ISP-level filtering will be installed (whether the majority of Australians want it or not).
He is also on record as including what he terms 'unwanted' and 'inappropriate' material in content which would be subject to mandatory filtering by secret blacklist.
His lack of transparency in relation to the introduction of national Internet censorship does not impress and, his attempt to 'blame' the larger ISPs for their non-inclusion in his live filtering test and his calls to have faith in government integrity are falling on deaf ears in this house because I'm old enough to remember the prolonged fall-out from political witch hunts in the decade after World War Two.
There is nothing that Senator Conroy has put forward so far which gives me any confidence that the Rudd Government (or subsequent federal governments) would resist turning mandatory censorship to their own political or socio-economic ends.
Conroy's Clean Feed [producer/presenter Wendy Carlisle]:
1 comment:
I think it may be useful to take a further look at the Australian Protectionist Party.
As a pro-Aussie organisation, it is neither right nor left, but above (i.e. beyond the left-right trap). I wouldn't characterise it as "far right".
You are incorrect in saying that APP would "comfortable" with "perhaps even the late, unlamented Oswald Moseley" as Oswald Mosley [correct spelling] was a fascist, whereas APP is clearly pro-democracy, in fact even more so than Liberal and Labor.
The closest we have to fascists in current times are the multiculturalists who want to lock up people who write opinions that oppose their ideology.
I suggest people read the articles mentioning democracy on the APP site (http://www.protectionist.net) and on the Destiny magazine site (eg http://www.destinymagazine.info/contents/02guilddemocracy.htm) rather than assume a groups views based upon your own political prejudices.
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