It’s a federal election year – and although a date hasn’t yet been set, all the political ducks are starting to line up in rows as the triennial wooing of the Australian voter begins. They aren’t really wooing ‘us’ of course – what they actually want is our votes. And with the focus put on polls by both politicians and the media, you’d be
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Equality and freedom are two core component of democracy. Whether it’s me, you or Malcolm Turnbull walking into that polling booth on election day – everybody’s vote is equal and we are free to vote however we like. But there’s s lot more to democracy than that. In the often quoted words of American President Abraham Lincoln: Democracy is government of the people,
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As we all know, good government started six months ago – following Abbott’s near demise as our Prime Minister. And this last parliamentary sitting fortnight in Canberra has been another stellar example of this. There’s been press conferences galore, leaky cabinets and question-time performances worthy of entry into the Tonies (pun intended). We also learned this week that one of the government’s key
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“Heads should roll“ declared Abbott a few weeks back, after the ABC dared to do what every other TV channel was doing by replaying Zaky Mallah’s appearance on Q and A. A few days later, Abbott told us that his government will be putting forward a Bill to facilitate “the modern form of banishment“, allowing the Government to strip away citizenship from
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Conclusion: Be alert and alarmed,
Whilst Abbott is unlikely to be seen sporting a short mustache anytime soon, his Government’s policies are chipping away at our personal freedoms. This is a far greater risk to our way of life than any terrorist army on the other side of the world.
At the last federal election, a guy in Brisbane set up a site called dontbeafuckingidiot.com, which the author described as being a ‘sweary, angry, yet accurate comparison of policy’. He received nearly half a million hits. Old news now – but it’s relevance today is the letter he wrote following the election. Here’s some of what he said: The strength
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