(Thanks to definatalie for salvaging this blog post that I accidentally deleted – Nicholas)
Newly elected Premier Anna Bligh has come out fighting today in an attempt to crack down on the evil scourge of Australia, the Bikie Gangs! Reports of her announcement should ring alarm bells for any ordinary Queenslander with news that the new laws will strike “to the heart of the right of association.” This should worry you deeply.
“Why”? I hear you ask? “Won’t this just affect the criminal bikie gangs and not little ol’ me?” Wrong!
You’ve never heard of scope creep, have you?
Scope creep is where you have laws in place for one thing but through small changes in laws they morph into something else. Look at the internet censorship laws as a case in point. The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Act 1999 brought into law that any content held overseas that was either Restricted Content or X18+ was prohibited (note: not illegal). Anything R18+ was fine – the ACMA could not add these sites to any blacklist.
Thanks to the Communications Legislation Amendment (Content Services) Act 2007, R18+ content now falls into this ‘prohibited’ category. Did you hear Kevin Rudd and Stephen Conroy running around mentioning that during the election? No. Did they even mention it during the Senate Committee inquiry/report for the bill? No. What about in the Explanatory Notes? No! (Graham 2009)
So what is to stop similar things happening with the new Bikie Gang laws? I don’t imagine Anna Bligh as a tyrant but what if someone else gets in who is? We have a unicameral legislature – that means we don’t have an upper house to play the important role of checking what happens in the lower house. We have just one legislature and what they pass is law. (Well, the Governor’s accent is needed, but that’s not really a problem if you can select your own Governor).
We need to crack down on the crimes that these Bikie Gangs are committing, not on stopping groups from congregating. So perhaps I could get into power and add the CWA to the list? If in a powerful enough position, any premier could do such a preposterous thing so easily with these laws in place.
That is far fetched, but lets extend it to terror groups. Should we ban groups of Muslim men from gathering together? What about Christian men who are considered a threat? Could we see political groups or other hardcore political groups sidelined through these laws? All it takes is another ‘crisis’ and we have the need to modify the legislation oh so slightly.
Once passed, it’s harder to get them off the books. We must stand up now – our rights are on the line. Together as a state and say NO to restricting our right to associate. You cannot nanny us, Anna Bligh and the ALP.
So welcome to day 3 of Election ‘09. Or is that two days? That’s neither here or there. What is important is a look back at the last few days of the election. At the end of the day, it is important to remember that we people are smarter than to believe the drivel from the election adverts.
We see Anna Bligh talking about stability during long projects. What the? Just because Anna isn’t there holding the reins doesn’t mean the Gateway Duplication (or any other number of projects) are going to fall over. Sure, they might change a few projects (like getting rid of the stupid Traveston Crossing Dam).
Then you get to listen to Lawrence Springborg sitting in an office telling us that Health, Education and Flying Pigs are important to his re-election bid. Perhaps he will hop on the back of said Flying Pig (not to be confused with Spider Pig (and the Borg remix) and visit the entire state in 26 days.
You know, at the end of the day it feels like only this much has happened. No running out of the blocks. I haven’t heard wall to wall Anna and Borg. Where are the perennial Green candidates on street corners? Where are the Independents kissing babies?
Why doesn’t Father Peter Kennedy run for South Brisbane? Surely he would oust Anna Bligh? I think at this stage, who cares?
So it’s time for Election ‘09! ALP v NLP. Bligh v Springborg. The electors of Queensland, sick of the tired Labor government will do the only thing it can. Re-elect Anna Bligh.
Does that sound a little strange to you? Well it should.
You see I have always been a staunch conservative when it comes to my politics. I have voted Liberal federally every election since I turned 18 – except the last election. I just had to vote for Kevin Rudd. Was it my politics that had changed? No, I felt the government was tired. We needed change.
Public Transport is a major issue in Election (Source: mythoto@flickr)
The state government is tired too. Public transport is overrun and underwhelming to say the least, there have been a number of scandals involving ministers, nine retirements in the last few weeks and the economic ‘meltdown’ (which isn’t as bad as it could be) has thrown the budget into a spin. So why do I think they will win?
Look at the Opposition. They couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. No one seems to take Lawrence Springborg seriously. Who goes around calling themselves “The Borg” for crying out loud? Yes I know we need a change of government badly, but can Lawrence do the job?
I’m really not sure and that makes me sad. So what can you do?
Get into the ears of your friends and neighbours. Talk about the real issues of the election, not the politicking and the pork barrelling that will come from the Federal Government’s stimulus package. Think about the schools, the public transport, jobs, housing affordability, climate change.
Think about health, dental plans for all, giving our kids the best chance of success. Why do we have to pick and choose just because the parties are always at two opposite ends of the scale? Why can’t we just pick the best people for the job and be done with it.
Vote for the best person to be your local member. If they are from the Greens, an Independent, Democrat (if they come out of the woodwork) or whatever – elect them on their ability. Even if you don’t agree with the party politics, vote for the best person with the best plan for your area.
If we all did that for a change, perhaps we would have a parliament that leads, rather than a parliament that squabbles and fights.
