Australian Gov't Claims Internet Filter Legislation Still In Play

Dracophile writes "Contrary to yesterday's article about The Australian's report that the Australian government had put on the back burner plans to introduce Internet filter legislation before the next election, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the government rejected claims that it had abandoned such plans, and that 'a spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the government remained committed to the policy.' Unless the Australian Labor Party abandons the plan altogether, will the timing make any difference to voters?"

I'm a voter...

[dwarfsoft]

I'm a voter and it makes all the difference to me, so to answer your question... yes.

Re:I'm a voter and...

[adona1]

No, no they didn't. They stated they were supporting an opt-in filter. This was in all their media releases. If they slipped in a mention of it being mandatory prior to the election, it was either (deliberately) under the radar or they think if they repeat it often enough we'll all believe it.

Pro-tip - we don't.

Re:Voting.

[Merls the Sneaky]

Tony Abbot on Q&A only talked about technical issues. He's all for it.

Re:I'm a voter...

[dwarfsoft]

We do have a constitution [comlaw.gov.au]. The bill of rights, however, is not in existence. We don't have anything similar to what the US has though. Probably due to having a completely different form of democracy.

Re:What do you expect from a union hack?

[Joakal]

Why the hell would you elect someone you don't know? Did you know there's 21 federal parties such as the Liberal Democratic party? Non-custodial parents party? Here's a list of Political parties in Australia [wikipedia.org] or officially from your independent electoral site: Current register of Federal parties [aec.gov.au]

Our system is far better than USA with Preferential voting [wikipedia.org] and Proportional representation [wikipedia.org]. I'll give a quick example:

• Awesome party: 25% votes
• Excitement party: 35% votes
• Plain party: 40% votes

Guess who wins with USA's system? Plain party. With Australia's system, and Awesome party transfers 25% to Excitement party, Excitement party gets elected at 60%. A really good example in real life is 2007 Federal Election: South Australia [abc.net.au]

The independent electoral system works here. There's information provided if you simply google their websites. The media seems to not wish to report minor parties (probably because a few of them seem quiet). Voting for some unknown because you think you have no idea is just bloody stupid.

There's also a website to promoting awareness of other parties (Disclaimer: My website). There is:

• Federal parties list [shockseat.com]
• Issues [shockseat.com] Want to know party positions of MySchool.edu.au? It's there.
• Safe Seat [shockseat.com] One of the political articles.
• About [ShockSeat] [shockseat.com] I'm tackling the ridiculous apathy and there's a youth study that shows non-normative intentions are on the rise. Non-normative means non-peaceful protests.

I'm currently having trouble [shockseat.com] trying to get information from federal parties themselves. If you have any influence, ask them to respond to the contacts I have sent out. It may be because I have no power, or the like. I have only received one refused response so far. It would be greatly appreciated!

I implore you, please make a valid formal vote to a party that almost if not fully represents you.