Will federal public servants ban people’s right to free expression in Geelong, at the Community Cabinet meeting in December, as they did in Adelaide in August? There, according to the South Australian Police Minister Michael Wright, public servants from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet posted notices on the school gates banning anyone taking a sign or banner into the meeting.
Media release
Thursday 4 December 2008
Federal public servants ban people’s right to free expression
Will federal public servants ban people’s right to free expression this Sunday in Geelong, as they did in Adelaide in August?
Sunday will see an event staged for maximum positive publicity for PM Rudd and his government – the Corio Community Cabinet – at Corio Bay Senior College, in Goldsworthy Rd, Corio.
At an equivalent event in Adelaide, federal public servants wouldn’t allow anyone into the Hallett Cove school gymnasium with a banner or sign. Staff of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) posted notices on the school gate saying that it was a condition of entry to the gym that no banners or signs were permitted.
It is believed that the PM’s own public servants may act in such a high-handed fashion again, because the government fears a backlash over plans to introduce mandatory internet filtering…having promised before the 2007 election to make it an opt-in internet censorship system.
“Who gives a federal public servant the right to decide how Australians will express themselves at a community event?” Civil Liberties Australia asks.
“Is the ban on signs and banners a directive from the Prime Minister, or is the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet going out on its own in deciding the rights of Australian citizens in a democracy,” CLA asks.
“The right to hold up a sign of your own choice at a supposedly community event is surely part of our Aussie right to a fair go.”
The staged forum in Geelong runs from 1-2pm, with a set-piece address by PM Rudd, followed by a Q&A session from the hand-picked audience. There was a window of a few days two weeks ago to formally pre-register if you wanted to attend, and pre-registration was also necessary to talk to a Cabinet Minister in the one hour after the ‘public’ event.
And on Sunday anyone registered to attend has to show photo ID to get in. The PM&C department has warned that large bags are likely to searched “so reconsider bringing such items”.
“The extent of real and genuine ‘community’ input can be gauged by a selected audience being told whether they are permitted to attend, what they can and cannot do in terms of signs and banners, and what bags to bring,” CLA says.
“Next, public servants will be telling people what they are permitted to say. Governments usually try to control the media, but the Rudd Government is taking things further, towards mass population control by public servants,” CLA says.
ENDS ENDS ENDS
Read the South Australian Police Minister’s letter regarding the Adelaide event.