Slashdot Mirror
Internet Censorship Back On Australian Agenda
New submitter aberglas writes "The conservative government's George Brandis wants to force ISPs to block sites that might infringe copyright. Brandis said he stood firmly on the side of content creators (a.k.a. Hollywood). Ban gross violators today, obscure ones tomorrow, porn sites, far left sites the day after..." From the article, too, this snippet: "The federal government is also considering implementing a "graduated response scheme" that could lead to consumers' internet accounts being temporarily suspended if they ignore notifications to stop downloading illegal content." Shades of the Copyright Alert System.
I've always wondered why a person is always able to join a party, but I don't think I've ever seen a party kick someone out.
If you are an Aussie then you need to pay a bit more attention to who is who.
Most of those booted out of the major party are not MP's at the time. Recent example - "Billionaire miner" Clive Palmer who was at one time the Lib's largest financial sponsor was publically kicked out of the Liberal party prior to the last election. He formed the PUP party and narrowly won a senate seat in the last election and it is likely he will hold the balance of power when the new senate is seated (mid-2014). Clive Palmer recently gained federal permission to dump millions of tons of dredgings from his $30 billion coal port project into a nearby marine park on the reef. If your average Aussie threw a chip packet in the same park they would be heavily fined.
MP's normally resign their post and keep their party membership, Victorian state politician Tony Shaw uses this to his advantage and has recently forced the resignation of a premier and a house speaker. Liberals have kicked him out of the party and labour refuses to "negotiate" with him, but Shaw still has his seat and still has the balance of power. Shaw and Palmer demonstrate one of the few downsides of having a healthy population of independents elected.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.