Kasz216 said:
Freedom of speech violations all abound. Weird censoring for "peoples protection" even with some groups wanting to pass an Internet filter? There are other examples as well in general of Australia's general censorship problems. For example the banning of X18 matieral in basically every area, and not even all movies being able to get that status! This is partially possible because unlike most of the western world, there actually is no constiutional like law that expressly protects freedom of speech like you'd have in the US or UK.
http://www.aph.gov.au/LIBRARY/pubs/rn/2001-02/02rn42.htm "The Australian Constitution does not have any express provision relating to freedom of speech. In theory, therefore, the Commonwealth Parliament may restrict or censor speech through censorship legislation or other laws, as long as they are otherwise within constitutional power. The Constitution consists mainly of provisions relating to the structure of the Commonwealth Parliament, executive government and the federal judicial system.(6) There is no list of personal rights or freedoms which may be enforced in the courts. There are however some provisions relating to personal rights such as the right to trial by jury (section 80), and the right to freedom of religion (section 116). Since 1992 decisions of the High Court have indicated that there are implied rights to free speech and communication on matters concerning politics and government, e.g. permitting political advertising during election campaigns.(7) This is known as the 'implied freedom of political communication'. Issues arising from these decisions include defining when communication is 'political' and when the freedom should prevail over competing public interests.(8) In 1942 a Constitutional Convention held in Canberra recommended that the Constitution be amended to include a new section 116A preventing the Commonwealth or a State passing laws which curtailed freedom of speech or of the press.(9) The government did not accept this proposal and it was not included in the referendum on 19 August 1944, when other constitutional amendments were proposed. The advantage of having such rights written into the Constitution is that they are 'entrenched' and cannot be amended or removed by any government without the overwhelming approval of the people voting at a referendum to amend the Constitution.(10) Rights contained in other legislation, such as the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, are not entrenched. They may be amended or repealed by any government with the consent of Parliament. " |
I see - I thought there may have been some same sex marriage or adoption reforms in the US that I hadn't heard of. But you're absolutely right. There's a wave of self-righteous baby boomers acting in their own interests imposing regulations and legislations in order to 'protect' and control us. In following many anti-internet filter activist sites there was a prominent quote in circulation;
“The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.” – Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler)
