Stephen Conroy gets his ISP 'filtering' report

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, has just received the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) report on proposed censorship at ISP level. 

"This report investigates developments in internet filtering technologies and other safety initiatives to protect consumers, including minors, who access content on the internet. The report was prepared in response to a ministerial direction received in June 2007. ACMA will report annually on its findings for three years. This is the first report."

Not surprisingly the ACMA report points out that the mandatory ISP filtering that Senator Conroy, and his Coalition predecessor, wanted relies on a somewhat simplistic view of the Internet and goes on to list current Australian programs encouraging voluntary filtering by households and businesses.

In the end, this report is nothing more than busy work for bureaucrats, as legislated and regulatory mechanisms are already in place to deal with offensive content.

The Minister's own media release has more than a hint of embarrassment about it when he speaks of "no silver bullets".

It's all a bad dream! MPs who are loathe to let go

This last week Opposition MPs have shown by their behaviour in the parliament that they still see themselves as 'de guvmint'.

 

Member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull is one such, with his blog site still carrying the following at the end of the bio page yesterday;

"Malcolm was elected as the Federal Member for Wentworth at the general election on 9 October, 2004. Malcolm has had a long interest in water policy and water conservation in particular. Malcolm was appointed Minister for the Environment and Water Resources on 30 January 2007 having held the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister since 27 January 2006. Prior to that Malcolm was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and the House of Representatives Standing Committees on Economics, Health and Ageing and Legal and Constitutional Affairs"

 

The Member for Warringah Tony Abbott is another, with his website still carrying this at the bottom of his bio page;

"In January 2001, Tony was promoted to Cabinet as Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. Following the 2001 election he was appointed Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Leader of the House and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service

Tony was appointed Minister for Health and Ageing on the 7 October 2003."

 

While the Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker is in such deep denial that his bio page stops before his elevation to the Opposition shadow ministry;

"He presently sits on the House of Representatives Standing committee on the Ageing and the House of Representatives Standing committee for Employment and Workplace Relations.

Additionally, he also sits on both the backbench committee for health and ageing and tourism."

 

Wakeup and smell the roses, gentlemen.

Parliamentary conventions may be neither rules nor law, but the authority of the Speaker is the lynch pin of Parliament

I listened with mouth agape in disbelief yesterday, as Coalition MPs on the Opposition benches deliberately colluded to disrupt a House of Representatives sitting day and openly, repeatedly defied the Speaker.

 

With not a thought for conventions, precedent, or the fact that over hundreds of years good men struggled and sometimes died so that the institution of Parliament could exist, former Howard Government ministers and frontbenchers brought their parliamentary parties into disrepute and the House into peril.

Having lost government with good reason in a democratic election, the Liberal and Nationals MPs chose to disregard this fact and attempted to bully the Speaker and Deputy-Speaker into bending to their will.

 

The demonstration that these neo-fascists put on for public consumption had an international as well as domestic audience.

The US Secretary of Defense and Deputy-Secretary of State arrived in Canberra yesterday for the annual AUSMIN talks.

 

For all their pretended outrage at the change to sitting days, I do not think that it is sheer coincidence that the Opposition brought the House to anarchy yesterday as these US officials arrived.

Coalition parties see a conservative, Republican US Administration as a natural ally that they have been able to spook in the past by talking up the idea of a Labour federal government as bogeyman.

 

A blatant attempt to create an impression of a destabilised government may have worked to their advantage in the 1970s, but this set of Opposition MPs will find that they can't try the same confidence trick twice.

 

I remind those wilful and arrogant Opposition members that parliamentary conventions may be neither rules nor law, but the authority of the Speaker is the lynch pin of Parliament no matter who holds government and attempts to weaken that authority lead the House down a dangerous path.

Institutions exist at the will and pleasure of the society.

Societies have been known to dismantle institutions in which they no longer have confidence.

Parliaments are no exception.

Will NSW North Coast Area Health Service cost-cutting put lives at risk?

The Iemma Government fiscal madness continues and it is not only the nurses' union that need answers.

It has been reported that six beds are being removed from daily use at both Grafton and Maclean hospitals. Less nurses will be on duty during each shift.

The NSW North Coast already sees specialist services concentrated in two of the larger hospitals with little or no specialist services or full-time medical staff available at the smaller hospitals.

Local communities often experience these hospitals trying to discharge elderly patients early, often to highly inappropriate home circumstances.

This new policy has the potential to see unnecessary deaths occurring at home, because criteria for admission is based on annual budgets rather than the community's need.

North Coast communities deserve an adequate health service and an honest explanation as to why a second-class service is being perpetuated.

The Daily Examiner yesterday reported the NSW Nurses Association as saying that North Coast Area Health Service documents show that this service expects to save an estimated $253,000 at every public hospital implementing the 'surge bed' regime.

It also reported the association as stating that no additional resources have been put into community health so it could cope with the extra demand created by those who were discharged from hospital early under this policy.

Memo to Luke Hartsuyker, Nationals Member for Cowper

Dear Luke,

On November 24 last year the Coalition lost federal government.

However on a two-party preferred basis, the majority of Cowper voters elected you to represent their interests.

Not the National Party's interests, not the Coalition's interests, Cowper's interests.

So stop being a horse's ar*e in Canberra and get on with it.

TTFN,

Pete

Maclean's 104th Highland Gathering

Readers, make sure these dates are marked on your calendars:

21st -22nd March 2008

Maclean's 104th Highland Gathering will be held on the Easter Weekend at the Maclean Showground.

Maclean is a very friendly town and it's very proud of its Scottish Heritage. The town has a population of only 3,254, which swells to around 6,500 over the Easter weekend, when people flock to the town to attend the annual Highland Games. This year the town will explode with colour, sight and sound to mark the 104th Highland Games. The games are contested on the Maclean Showground, known as one of the most spectacular venues in the world to hold such a Highland event. This picturesque ground overlooks the river and mountains beyond, creating a picture that reflects the beautiful lochs of Scotland.

Maclean is only a short 15 minute drive away from the popular beach resorts of Yamba and Angourie.

Read more details about this year's Gathering at

http://www.macleanhighlandgathering.com.au/

How's the form of Federal Opposition MPs?

Today's sitting of the House of Representatives was disrupted and eventually suspended when a number of vocal and rowdy members of the Opposition ignored the calls of the Speaker and later the Deputy Speaker to adhere to their directions.

The Opposition is obviously not happy with new sitting arrangement for the House of Reps which now sits on Fridays but does not have a period of Question Time. It seems the Opposition is not too keen on working a full week, instead they prefer to be part-timers.

During the morning session of parliament a number of Opposition members were called to order by the Speaker, but they elected to do their "own thing" and ignore the Speaker.

Not unexpectedly, the Speaker ordered the Liberal MP Steven Ciobo to leave the house. Ciobo was escorted from the house by the Sergeant-at-Arms.

Later, the Deputy Speaker ordered Nationals MP Luke Hartsuyker from the house after he held up a cut-out of Mr Rudd.

Hartsuyker refused to leave the house and after a period of further dissent and unruly behaviour by Opposition MPs the house was suspended.

What a fine example these MPs are setting! NOT!!!

Read the Sydney Morning Herald's report at: http://news.smh.com.au/parliament-uproar-as-mp-forcibly-removed/20080222-1trt.html

Global warming impacts on the NSW North Coast

Yesterday The Northern Star reported on expected coastline changes and innundation due to climate change. 

The Federal Government has given $2 million towards assisting NSW North Coast councils to plan for negative impacts such as sea-level rises.

"It is estimated that the sea will rise by at least one metre in the next 100 years, claiming about 100 metres of the shoreline.

It would see the destruction of multi-million-dollar coastal real estate at places like Belongil and Lennox Head, more frequent severe floods, and land become swampy in low-lying places like Ballina. ----

Dr Peter Cowell, senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, said hundreds of thousands of homes faced possible inundation resulting from climate change over the next 20 to 30 years.

He said Byron Bay and Ballina were areas expected to be among the hardest hit, as well as Cairns in north Queensland, Wamberal on the NSW Central Coast and Narrabeen on Sydney's northern beaches.

"With places like Belongil, it's not a matter of 'if', but 'when'," he said.

"Existing hazards which happen occasionally will start to happen more often. As the sea level rises nuisance floods will happen so often they'll create dysfunction in the community."

 

Unfortunately for North Coast residents, most elected councillors do not fully understand the processes or timelines involved in permanent seawater inundation or rises in the water table and salt levels.

Throwing money at local councils will not result in adequate planning, because both State and local governments are in the thrall of coastal developers.

If the Rudd Government truly wants to help the North Coast plan for climate change it needs to insist that the NSW Government (and other state governments) put in place legislation prohibiting further development in identified vulnerable areas and all coastal estuaries.

It should do so, not just because of the high population numbers living on the coast, but because coastal economies significantly contribute to the nation's wealth and it would be foolish to allow continued public or business infrastructure growth in high risk areas.

Local economic disruption from increased severe storms, flooding, and inundation would have a flow-on effect for the national economy.

The sun never sets for the Attorney-General

Attorney-General Robert McClelland wants to extend the sunset clause in the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (the TIA Act) by another 18 months.

Call me stupid, but isn't a sunset clause often included by Parliament when there is some concern about the need for or ramifications of certain legislation.

In this case it was probably the ability to monitor the phone or trawl the stored communications of anyone having even passing contact with a telephone number, internet connection or person named in a relevant warrant.

According to its blurb, the new bill covers changes which will amend the TIA Act to "extend sunset provisions which relate to activities that can be lawfully undertaken by network administrators of specific public sector agencies to protect their corporate networks and maintain the professional standards of employees."

However, this is not the only change contained in McClelland's bill. It seems the Attorney-General feels that provisions concerning warrants and telecommunication devices are too onerous and wants these provisions relaxed a bit.

Thus making it easier for everyone from ASIO through to AFP to snoop past June this year.

There was a change of government on 24 November wasn't there - or did I just dream it?

Oh, I forgot, Robert McClelland and Labor supported this act and subsequent amendments during its passage through Parliament.

The Speaker finally gets serious

The new Speaker of the House of Reps Harry Jenkins spent a lot of time during the first parliamentary sitting days smiling and chortling at the words and antics of certain MPs.

Predicably he found himself with a noisy, back chatting and often disrespectful House.

Question Time yesterday saw him finally decide that enough was enough.

However he didn't convince the Liberals Joe Hockey, who continued to abuse points of order with gay abandon.

Perhaps the Speaker will have more success when the House resumes after its break.

He can practice in the mirror at keeping the grin off his face while he waits.

"The New York Times" defends Internet free speech

It seems the battle for the Internet is hotting up with a San Francisco judge ordering the 'locking' of a website specialising in leaked information.

The New York Times published this deliciously subversive article yesterday.

"The site, Wikileaks.org, invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging "unethical behavior" by corporations and governments.---
The case in San Francisco was brought by a Cayman Islands bank, Julius Baer Bank and Trust. In court papers, the bank said that "a disgruntled ex-employee who has engaged in a harassment and terror campaign" provided stolen documents to Wikileaks in violation of a confidentiality agreement and banking laws. According to Wikileaks, "the documents allegedly reveal secret Julius Baer trust structures used for asset hiding, money laundering and tax evasion." ---
On Friday, Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco granted a permanent injunction ordering Dynadot, the site's domain name registrar, to disable the Wikileaks.org domain name. The order had the effect of locking the front door to the site — a largely ineffectual action that kept back doors to the site, and several copies of it, available to sophisticated Web users who knew where to look."

Techtree.com also reports the current availability of this site.

Perhaps Senator Conway should take note, and spare Federal Labor the negative perceptions it would attract if his pet plan to censor the Internet by stealth came before Parliament.