Stephen Conroy ignores the elephant herd as it files through his office

Stephen Conroy's Digital Economy Future Directions departmental blog has been up and running for the last nine days or so.

In his welcome post Lindsay Tanner said:

We are also genuine about wanting to use online consultation to improve government-citizen relationships around public policy. We want real outcomes from online consultation, not a new channel to distribute a press release.

We hear you... posted this blog on 12 December.

Really? Then why does this particular post try to avoid mentioning the hundreds of anti-Internet censorship comments that were lodged on the blog.
According to Conroy's spin meisters all is rosy in the garden, despite most of the comments received being considered irrelevant by their calculations. Using a coy and corny tactic to inform us of the fact - FDB suggested.

The majority of the 744 comments on Minister Tanner's welcome were against mandatory national ISP-level filtering.

What does the digital economy encompass? What does it mean for Australians? post is littered with criticism of Internet filtering.

Open access to public sector information contains anti-censorship comment.

Everyone had given up by the time Setting the right regulatory framework was published - not a soul had commented by mid-afternoon last Tuesday.

Ogugu Obama email scam

Here's an email scam with a slight difference - a very famous surname.
The American Embassy in Ouagadougou is bound to get a call or two about this one, if the gullible latch onto the Obama name.

"Dear Friend,

I know that this message will come to you as a surprise.

I am the Auditing and Accounting section manager with African Development Bank, Ouagadougou Burkina faso.

I Hope that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families.

I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($39.5)million to your account within 10 or 14 banking days.

This money has been dormant for years in our Bank without claim.

I want the bank to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer late Mr.George Small who died along with his supposed next of kin in an aircrash since October 31st 1999.

I don't want the money to go into government treasury as an abondom fund, So this is the reason why I am contacting you so that the bank can release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer.

Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will give you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have 30% of the above mentioned sum if you agree to handle this business with me.

I am expecting your urgent response as soon as you receive my message

Best Regard,

Mr.Ogugu Obama"

This Christmas the Northern Rivers has its own Grinch

For a number of rural industry-related workers on the NSW North Coast this month is not looking too rosy.

A local employer, who loves to spend his money on a very expensive thoroughbred stud and racing stable, has laid off certain workers.

This same employer has a reputation as a serial offender against freedom of association and industrial relations legislation and, a rumoured predilection for setting up dummy contracting companies to make sure that sacked workers leave with the minimum amount of money.

It seems that the Grinch is alive and well and still stealing Christmas.

An open letter to Kevin Rudd from Samlara.......

I came across a copy of this Northern Rivers open letter at Write Across Media:

15^th December 2008

Dear Prime Minister,

My name is Samlara Canin-Henkel. I met you at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali several times.

I followed your campaign back in 2007 from Clunes, New South Wales. I got right into the Kevin '07 vibe and wore your t-shirts with pride to school. I assisted my local member, Janelle Saffin, in her campaign and did scrutineering. I am a friend of Jenny Dowell, mayor of Lismore, and also helped her in her successful campaign earlier this year.

I am 16 years old. And I have your poster on my wall.

I was ecstatic when I got the opportunity to meet you in Bali and was incredibly proud to call myself Australian when you ratified the Kyoto Protocol. You featured in my parents' documentary "The Burning Season" (which has just won an IF award) and every time I hear your speech I cannot help but smile. Your campaign poster claims "New Leadership" in large letters and I was excited by the promises you were making, especially in regards to Climate Change. I believed that new leadership had finally arrived.

About 10 minutes ago I was informed that you have committed to a 5-15% reduction of carbon emissions by 2020.

I am assuming, Mr Rudd, that you have bought land on the Moon and will be relocating there when the Earth can no longer sustain human life.

I will not go into the severe effects of climate change- you have advisors and Greenpeace and Bob Brown and other environmental organisations to pester you about that. What I will say is this: your campaign promised "New Leadership". Your speeches promised hope. Your actions in Bali symbolised a new beginning for Australians. This emissions target is just not enough.

Your response will be predictable I'm sure... "We need to maintain solid economic growth during this financial crisis" or something along those lines.

Quite frankly, "economic growth" will mean nothing if the Earth's temperate continues to increase, if the Great Barrier Reef continues to die and if carbon emissions continue to rise.

You claim "New Leadership" Mr Rudd but this is not new at all. There is nothing new or promising about this decision. It is old and conservative, something I would have expected from the previous government.

In fact, this kind of leadership is not leadership at all. You should be taking a lead on this issue, not waiting to see what the rest of the world does. Do not wait until you have to respond to a disaster. Take action to prevent it.

Although climate change has gone far and beyond what is comfortable to think about, you can at least do everything in your power to reduce the effects it will have on our planet.

In 2002, when I was 10 years old, I wrote a letter to Prime Minister John Howard demanding to know why we were sending troops to Iraq. I received wide press coverage including an interview on the "Today Show". I really thought my 'writing letters to the PM' days were over.

It seems not.

Please Mr Rudd, don't make me take your poster off my wall. Don't make me sigh and change the channel when my Prime Minister comes on TV, like I did under the Howard Government.

Don't make me lose the pride I have in our country for choosing you as our leader.

I hope that somehow, this letter makes it past your secretaries and ends up in your hands.

I'll be seeing you in Copenhagen in 2009. Please Mr Rudd, don't let planet Earth down. Don't let the Australian people down.

Don't let me down.

Yours sincerely,

Samlara Canin-Henkel

Is Obamas about to bomb?

It's a minute to midnight before the final rundown to the 2009 inauguration of a new U.S. president and the floorboards are creaking as a real scandal creeps towards Barack Obama.

He tried to deflect the question with an internal investigation, but rumours about the FBI tapes continue:

"FBI wiretaps recorded the president-elect's incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, discussing the seat with the Blagojevich administration in 21 different conversations undermined Obama's earlier assertions that his team would not get involved in selecting his replacement."

Obama is even trying a little 'bullying' of one journalist by warning him not to waste his question.

Unfortunately for the President-Elect, this will not stop speculation about what other contact his team may have had with the disgraced Illinois governor or what may surface during any impeachment process.
Chicago politics is notorious for its pay to play mentality.
Does anyone seriously consider that Obama got to where he is without participating at some stage?

Amendments to the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws - General Law Reform) Bill 2008

On 15 December 2008 the Australian Attorney-General circulated amendments to the Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws - General Law Reform) Bill 2008.

Amendments cover many aspects of legal discrimination against same-sex couples and addresses some rights and obligations, including those of children of the relationship.

Explanatory Statement at ComLaw here.

Carbon Emissions Reduction 2008: Kevin explains his climate change scenario to the rest of Australia