Sending journos and ‘whistlers’ to jail
The federal government plans more draconian security legislation, even as the cabinet documents farce mocks its own rhetoric. These are more over-the-top laws we don’t need.
ASIS-ASIO are Govt’s bully boys
Read an extraordinary tale of spook intrigue, bugging foreign cabinet ministers, raid on lawyer’s office, denials, duck-shoves, spurious spin…all in the name of Australia, but deeply un-Australian. 17 June 2015
We must hang on to essential freedoms
There’s a danger we could sleepwalk our way into losing our liberties, Michael Cornish says, as he examines some disturbing trends in how people are being treated. 10 April 2015
Terror laws: some good, some unneeded
Delivering the Lionel Murphy memorial lecture for 2014, Prof George Williams gave this excellent rundown of the status of Australia’s terror laws. MPs, please take note. 6 Nov 2014
No privacy, no effective democracy
Without privacy, other key freedoms also disappear, and democracy itself disintegrates, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has told the UN. She has called for a new UN-run internet.
FOI cause off on a dummy run
Just under way is the government’s latest move to close down public access to information. Dr Allan Hawke, known for his knowledge of dummy runs on the Canberra Raiders board, has started to review Australia’s FOI and Privacy regime, with clear ‘wink an…
WikiLeaks: leaking OK only when Govt does it
The Attorney-General’s criticism of WikiLeaks is classical double standards: apparently, it was OK for the government of the day to leak against whistleblower Andrew Wilkie, but anyone leaking against the then-or-now Australian Government commits a hein…
PM asked to support Assange
Wouldn’t it be good if, on Australia Day, PM Julia Gillard spoke out in support of the right to freedom of speech of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks? If she spoke up, it would prove the accuracy of Michael’s Parkinson’s Australia Day comment that he had se…
Be afraid of helping Assange!
Be afraid, be very afraid!. That’s how the US Government and, by extension, the Australian Government wants you to be in relation to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald reveals a long-running government strategy of intimidation, which…
Qui Tam…do we need it here?
Qui Tam is basically a legal action which encourages whistleblowing around government waste. It works well in America, where individuals can earn massive payouts for reporting rip-offs. Should we have it here, Tony Nikolic asks?
Qui Tam…taking actio…