I don’t have a lot of time at the moment to really explore this issue at any depth, but it is one that I think ought to be debated, so this is my attempt to open such a debate. I am referring to Howard’s new proposal to overhaul the Senate Committee system by reducing it from 16 to between 8 and 10, and placing a government member at the head of each new committee.
Beazley has come out and labelled the proposal as “evil“, which is probably a little unhelpful in that it is inflammatory rather than substantive criticism, but I do believe that this really is quite an ominous act by the government.
Continue reading ‘The slow erosion of democracy?’
I sat down to watch Insight last night out of a keen interest over the issue of same-sex marriage. I was feeling very positive about the introduction of the Civil Unions Act in the ACT, and a perceptible shift in social attitudes towards same-sex couples in Australia (despite the Prime Minister’s own revolting attitude on the issue).
As it turned out, I couldn’t sit through the whole show uninterrupted. I found myself getting incredibly upset and angry at the bigoted and discriminatory attitudes displayed by members of the audience who were anti-same-sex marriage. I yelled at the television, I switched channels on several occasions in order to calm down, and I generally got quite worked up.
One of the most frustrating features of their arguments, was something that MrLefty has already summed up quite nicely:
Whenever a direct question was put to the conservatives - ie, “this is an example of the way the laws discriminate against gay and lesbian couples - are you in favour of this?” - they refused to answer it, instead immediately diverting off on an irrelevant and stupid “if you look at the tradition of marriage, it’s about a man and a woman raising a child” rant.
Continue reading ‘Discrimination and Same-Sex Marriage’
P. and I sat up in front of the TV last night to watch Beazley’s budget reply. I have to admit that I wasn’t feeling very optimistic and didn’t actually expect to be inspired.
As the speech went on, however, I allowed myself to get my hopes up. I kept thinking that, at any moment, the speech would pick up and that Beazley would say something dramatically different. I started to dream that Labor would spell out a vision for Australia’s future that I could relate to, that could inspire me.
Alas, it was not to be.
Continue reading ‘The Bomber Replies’
Please accept a warm invitation to the Australian Human Rights Centre Annual Public Lecture:
Human rights, human security: protecting rights in the national interest
by Professor Conor Gearty, Rausing Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights and
Professor of Human Rights Law, London School of Economics. The NSW Attorney-General,
the Honourable Bob Debus, MP, will open the lecture and introduce Professor Gearty.
Date: Tuesday 16 May 2006
Time: 6:00pm
Where: Metcalfe Auditorium, State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney
Cost: $25/$10 concession (payable at the door)
Please join us for drinks after the lecture.
RSVP: Register Online by 12 May 2006 (limited seating)
t: (02) 9385 2543 [enquiries]
The AHRC is an inter-disciplinary centre located in the Faculty of Law, UNSW.
Our thanks to the Gilbert+Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW for their contribution to Professor Gearty’s visit
I find Anzac Day quite confronting. I am never sure how to react to it.
On the one hand, I have a lot of respect for the men and women whose lives have been touched by the wars that Australia has participated in - those in the armed services, their families, their friends, and all the civilians who were caught up in the wars. I have no desire to detract from the sacrifices that have been made or the opportunity that Anzac Day presents to celebrate the lives of those who have been lost, and to remember. On the other hand, I find war unsettling and I find the growing sense of nationalism that seems to be accompanying Anzac Day even more unsettling. I wish that there was another way in which to honour the fallen and to remember the sacrifices and pain experienced by so many in a way that didn’t seem to focus so much on the military and was not so infused with the spirit of nationalism.
It is particularly the nationalism that has come to be so closely associated with Anzac Day that concerns me. When I moved to the USA in high school, I was surprised by the nationalism and patriotism expressed by the Americans that I met. While I respected the positive ways in which taking pride in one’s country could be expressed (by fighting to uphold its democratic traditions, or to fulfil its promise of freedom and equal for all - such as through the civil rights movement), I was also quite disturbed by the way that it seemed to cloud people’s ability to critically judge their country. Many Americans that I met were completely unwilling to be critical of their country; they defended the lack of social security and health care from comparison with other countries, out of a dogged belief that America was by definition the best country in the world and anyone who said otherwise was suspect. Another thing that was frequently defended was US foreign policy - either through willing ignorance and (more disturbingly) a glowing pride in the nuclear capacity of their country. Statements like “well, we could nuke your country out of the water” were not an uncommon conclusion to an argument about the superiority of the US.
Continue reading ‘Anzac Day and Nationalism’
Does anyone know much about the situation in Darwin at the moment? Have people already started heading for the cyclone shelters?
Update at 8:00am: Just spoke to my mum and the weather is currently calm in Darwin. Monica is now predicted to head further south and has been downgraded to a category 2. Very good news for people in Darwin.
Apparently “Pope Benedict has asked senior theologians and scientists to prepare a document discussing the use of condoms as a means of preventing the transmission of HIV”.
I have to admit to expecting this Pope to be even more conservative than the last on this issue and to being pleasantly surprised by this news. Of course, the real test will be what the study says and what the Pope decides to do in response. Regardless, it seems like a move in the right direction and that can only be a good thing.
Is anyone else as offended as I am by the new Tooheys New television commercial ‘Catapult’?
For those of you either lucky enough to have missed it, or who are just not sure what I am talking about, it shows a group of guys catapulting various items into the sky with a large catapult. First they send up various large bags of beer ingredients, then they send up two young attractive women, then they send up a stag, and then beer rains from the sky. To me it harks back to the idea of sending ‘virgin sacrifices’ to the gods, and I find it really offensive not only that Lion Nathan and Saatchi & Saatchi thought that this was a great idea for a commercial, but that it was considered to be acceptable for Australian television. The underlying message is so sexist and revolting.
I keep reminding myself to write a letter of complaint to the Advertising Standards Bureau, but there is only 35 minutes until BB6 comes on, so I’ll do it tomorrow.
[Yes, I do realise the contradictions in my last sentence.]
Congratulations to the students, young people and unions of France for soundly defeating the First Job Contract law. That is such a fantastic victory and shows what people can achieve when they are determined and do not back down. If only we had taken a similar approach (with, perhaps, less violence) here in Australia we might not have to deal with ‘Workchoices‘ today.
It also looks like Romano Prodi might be victorious over Berlusconi in the Italian elections, which would be another piece of good news in world politics. I don’t want to get prematurely excited, but I think that the tide is turning against the Right.
We can only hope.
[Cross-posted at two peas, no pod]
Update: Well, now Romano Prodi is claiming victory, but this is being contested by Berlusconi’s party since the vote in the lower house is currently split 49.8% v 49.7% in the lower house. Apparently, “[s]ince both chambers have equal powers, a split control of parliament could deadlock legislation and force the country back to the polls.” My fingers are crossed for Prodi.
Many of you will remember the scandal that came out in 2004 over Jessica Cutler’s Washingtonienne blog, which got her fired in a record two short weeks and lead to the unfortunate publication of a book by the same name.
Well, now Robert Steinbuch, a former legal counsel to the Ohio Republican senator Mike DeWine, is suing Ms Cutler for breach of privacy for detailing explicit details of their sexual encounters on her blog. As I understand it, Ms Cutler only ever referred to him by his initials, but I would assume that his identity has been publicised by now or he wouldn’t be so stupid as to do it himself with this legal action.
Mr Steinbuch’s claim is that Ms Cutler’s “outrageous actions, setting before anyone in the world with access to the internet intimate and private facts regarding [him], constituted a gross invasion of his privacy, subjecting him to humiliation and anguish”. Unfortunately for him, the trial judge has already ruled that postings made more than a year before the start of legal proceedings could not be considered, so it seems unlikely that his action is going to be successful.
I am not sure what I think of this case in principle. I mean I think that her blog, and subsequent book, were pretty tacky and I would personally hate to have my personal life exposed in that way, but since the stories in question were also the details of her life, and no one appears to be claiming that she detailed them inaccurately, should anyone have the right to constrain her from revealing them to the world?
A number of years ago now I was travelling in Nepal and was lucky enough to meet a couple of local lads with whom a friend and I shared dinner one night. These two guys were in their early twenties, came from poor village families and were just full of spunk. Over the meal they discussed their impressive dreams for the future, and one of them shared with us his desire to become a filmmaker. He went on to detail his commitment to the craft of film making, the lengths that he had gone to in order to get experience in the field, and his ambition to one day make his own film that would be just like his favourite film of all time.
“Do you want to know which film that is?” he asked.
I was impressed by his commitment to film making and his ability to dream so big in the face of a country that was sliding into civil war and further and further into poverty. I racked my brains for a film that was independent and bold enough to possibly be this guy’s favourite film, but didn’t guess because I thought that it was probably a Bollywood film that I had never seen.
“Titanic,” he announced, with a big cheesy smile. “You know this film?”
Continue reading ‘A sinking feeling’
A somewhat unrelated post has turned into a slightly heated discussion about Freud - the historical value of his theories and his continued relevance. This debate was something that struck me when I moved to the US in high school. Freud was certainly given a lot more prominence over there than he was in Australia at the time and I found it really interesting to see teenagers constantly referring to his theories and how they related to contemporary issues that we were studying at the time.
I thought that since this was an interesting topic that others who didn’t read the original post might want to take part in, I would open up a new thread for just such a purpose. For those that don’t want to trawl back through the thread, here are some highlights (apologies if I have misrepresented anyone by abbreviating their comments - please refer to the originals before making too many assumptions):
Continue reading ‘Freud discussion’
For those of you who will be in Sydney and might be interested, the University of New South Wales is hosting a Public Lecture for Law Week. Oddly enough it links back nicely to our earlier discussion about the apparent link between drinking lattes and being ‘irrelevant’.
Law, lawyers and lattes: the (ir)relevance of the chattering classes in a time of insecurity
Continue reading ‘“Law, lawyers and lattes: the (ir)relevance of the chattering classes in a time of insecurityâ€?’
Dave Lenihan, a radio presenter in St Louis, Missouri, was fired for accidently using the word “coon” in relation to Condoleezza Rice.
He was actually arguing that she would be a great commissioner for the National Football League, apparently one of the most prestigious positions in American sport, when the ’slip of the tongue’ occured:
“She’s got the patent resumé of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football, she’s African-American, which would be kind of a big coon. Oh my God - I totally, totally, totally, totally am sorry for that. I didn’t mean that.”
Continue reading ‘Slip of tongue loses Radio presenter his job’
I am intrigued by the response of the French government to last year’s riots and their apparent link to high levels of youth unemployment in France, which is an average of 23% and up to 50% in some areas. In an effort to get more young people into jobs, the government has introduced a bill that gives employers carte blanche to fire young employees (those who are under 26 years old) within the first 2 years of their employment.
The bill, known as the CPE first job contract, has sparked protests from students and unions across France, shutting down 18 universities and igniting calls for a nation-wide strike. The protesters claim that the bill strips young people of their labour rights and takes away their job security. The Prime Minister has responded that these are simply the sacrifices that must be made in order to get more young people out of unemployment. In an attempt to find a compromise, the French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has suggested that the law could be introduced for a trial period of 6 months.
Continue reading ‘Youth unemployment - taking the French road’
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