Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

@Eorl,

It's certainly sounding like a back-down to me, Eorl.
That's how a number of media commentators are seeing it.
A haven't heard any further comments from Julia on this today. I presume Conroy would have consulted with her? :

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/conroy-backs-down-on-net-filters-20100709-10381.html?autostart=1

1 Reply

@jeeprs,

Sigh.
I wish Labor would slow down a bit with the policy announcements.
The asylum seeker statement ("the Timor Solution" ) is making them look quite amateurish..
Why couldn't Labor have waited till actual consultations with East Timor were underway? :

Quote:

PM tries to unscramble asylum message
By chief political correspondent Lyndal Curtis/ABC news online
Updated 1 hour 8 minutes ago

Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plan for a regional processing centre for asylum seekers is struggling for traction and credibility.

While East Timorese politicians have given a lukewarm response to the idea of hosting the centre, Ms Gillard's real trouble has come from her own words.

Ms Gillard's scrambled asylum seeker message - combined with a failed egging attempt on the Prime Minister in Perth this morning - is another indication she is not getting the continuing dream run her backers had hoped for. ....<cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/09/2949815.htm

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@msolga,

I reckon it's everyone else - mainly the media - who should slow down, and let the government sort all of this out. I also thought the East Timor declaration was premature, but if you actually go back and listen to what Gillard said on the day, it wasn't announced as fait accompli. It was floated as a possible solution.

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@jeeprs,

Jeeprs, I'm sorry, but I understood that there was a "Timor solution" after Julia's announcement on Tuesaday. So did quite a number of other people, apparently. Check out the Age/SMH poll. And the ABC article above. There didn't appear to be any problem with that perception till the unfavourable East Timorese response.

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Video: Clarke & Dawe on asylum seekers, from last night's 7:30 Report:

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/

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Have you seen GetUp's election trailer?
Very funny.:

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So Paul Howes is now not pleased with Julia Gillard's asylum seekers policy (after not being pleased with Kevin Rudd) ...

Honestly! Rolling Eyes

:

Quote:

Gillard undeterred by asylum plan's critics
Updated 8 hours 37 minutes ago/ABC news ..

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been busy talking down suggestions that her plan on asylum seekers is facing imminent demise.

Australian officials in Dili have begun formal discussions with East Timor about the country being home to the Government's vision for a regional refugee processing centre.

"Those critics who want to declare the approach dead in a week are mistaken," Ms Gillard said.

That list of critics now includes a key union player who helped deliver Ms Gillard the leadership, Australian Workers Union head Paul Howes.

When she took over as prime minister he said every single union leader was not just supportive, but excited.

But he is less pleased with her border protection policy, designed to be tougher than Kevin Rudd's approach. ...<cont>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/10/2949961.htm

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Another update on Labor's internet filter controversy (following Conroy's announcement yesterday).
Now it's looking like an indefinite deferral. (Good!)
Maybe by next week it will be off the radar altogether? Wink

:

Quote:

Gillard dodges flak on filter
July 10, 2010/the Age

AS JULIA Gillard clears the decks for an election that could be called as soon as next weekend, she has moved to limit the political fallout from Labor’s controversial plans to filter internet pages by putting the proposals off indefinitely. .....

http://www.theage.com.au/national/gillard-dodges-flak-on-filter-20100709-1046r.html

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Latest update on the so-called " Timor Solution".:

Quote:

Not on our soil: East Timor leaders
TOM ALLARD DILI AND MICHELLE GRATTAN
July 10, 2010/the AGE

EAST Timor's parliament is planning to make its disapproval of a refugee processing centre on its soil known by sending a strongly-worded condemnation of the proposal to Prime Minister Julia Gillard. ...<cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/national/not-on-our-soil-east-timor-leaders-20100709-1046a.html

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http://images.theage.com.au/2010/07/09/1683536/dyson09cod-620x0.jpg

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@msolga,

msolga wrote:

It's certainly sounding like a back-down to me, Eorl.
I presume Conroy would have consulted with her? :

Oh sure it's a backdown, though I don't know if "consult with her" would have been the way of it. I imagine it went like this;

Gillard: "Get me Conroy"
Conroy: "What"
Gillard: "Make this stupid filter die if you want a portfolio post electon"
Conroy: "I can't, I'm welded to it"
Gillard: "Well I certainly can't kill it. I'm a sinning childless commie atheist with red hair. I have to be seen to support it"
Conroy: "but how?"
Gillard: "I don't care. Just make it go away slowly but surely. Talk to the industry, they'll help you escape if they get their way. I'll say I have confidence in your decisions, while supporting the concept of the filter. Just kill it for now. Kill it with cool quiet fire"
Conroy: "but Fielding will stop doing that thing I like..."
Gillard: <click>

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Gillard: "Get me Conroy"
Conroy: "What"
Gillard: "Make this stupid filter die if you want a portfolio post electon"
Conroy: "I can't, I'm welded to it"
Gillard: press delete
Conroy: Whats delete?
Gillard: on your keyboard
Conroy: Keyboard?
Gillard: Click

1 Reply

@dadpad,

Ha!

And all of this after vowing to block the 'dark side of net", a mere two days before!
Julia is truly amazing! Very Happy

1 Reply

@msolga,

OZ is no dark side

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@Pepijn Sweep,

I'll go along with that, Pepi! Smile

But the (proposed & now hopefully shelved forever) internet filter certainly did!

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I believe the internet should be regulated, but I don't believe it will ever happen. I have two sons, fortunately they show not the least interest in online pornography. But there are millions of people addicted to it, seeking help in clinics, and the like. There is plenty of evil material and imagery freely available in any house in the nation. Of course in an ideal society, it would be completely self-regulating, and people would be sufficiently mature to make their own choices. But if my child had become obsessed with internet pornography or joined some bizarre sect or got involved with cyberterrorism, I would have a far less sanguine view. And a lot of it is driven by grubby commercial interests who make huge money from the strip-mining of human sexuality. But I know the argument is already lost, and nothing I say will ever make a difference.

1 Reply

@jeeprs,

Does this come a bit closer to addressing some of your concerns, jeeprs?

Quote:

... In the meantime, major ISPs - including Optus, Telstra and iPrimus - have pledged to block child-abuse websites voluntarily. This narrower, voluntary approach has long been advocated by internet experts and brings Australia into line with other countries such as Britain.

"It will be just child porn, and that will be consistent with best practice in Scandinavia and Europe," Peter Coroneos, chief executive of the Internet Industry Association, said. ...

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/conroy-backs-down-on-net-filters-20100709-10381.html

1 Reply

@msolga,

well it's encouraging, but the thing that depressed me about the debate were the howls of outrage about the fact that the dreaded filter would also prevent delivery of 'regular gay and straight porn'. (I should own up that I am a social conservative, although I don't support political conservatism.) It's just that the sheer volume of material out there and the numbers of people being affected by it is really mind-boggling. There are a lot of boys growing up now whose whole sexuality will have been molded by 'the industry'. You do wonder how they are going to get along when they have to settle down to life with an actual woman. Practically the only material that is taboo is that involving children and animals, and in fact nobody says too much about the latter. It is all pretty gross in my view, and I am dismayed by the fact that so many people seem to think it is a civil rights issue.

1 Reply

@jeeprs,

jeeprs wrote:

It is all pretty gross in my view, and I am dismayed by the fact that so many people seem to think it is a civil rights issue.

Of course it's a civil rights issue. That's beyond arguing. People have the civil right to (insert whatever) or they don't.

You think "It is all pretty gross in my view" should translate to "nobody shall see it". By what authority do you claim to know what's best for all? And even if you do, you'd impose it by force?? Who the hell made you (or Conroy or Rudd or freakin' Family First for that matter) the sex police??

If you think I sound annoyed, it's because I am. You're the kind of person that would have sat back and let the filter happen. The path to hell is paved with good intentions just like yours.

1 Reply

@Eorl,

Be annoyed, I don't give a c***

1 Reply

Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

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