Author adminPosted on Categories Human rights, Liberty 2 Comments on The federal government’s social media big brother bill
“It is not difficult to deprive the great majority of independent thought. But the minority who will retain an inclination to criticize must also be silenced….Public criticism or even expressions of doubt must be suppressed because they tend to weaken pubic support….When the doubt or fear expressed concerns not the success of a particular enterprise but of the whole social plan, it must be treated even more as sabotage.”
― Friedrich August von Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
“The principle that the end justifies the means is in individualist ethics regarded as the denial of all morals. In collectivist ethics it becomes necessarily the supreme rule.”
― Friedrich Hayek
“It is one of the saddest spectacles of our time to see a great democratic movement support a policy which must lead to the destruction of democracy and which meanwhile can benefit only a minority of the masses who support it. Yet it is this support from the Left of the tendencies toward monopoly which make them so irresistible and the prospects of the future so dark.”
― Friedrich August von Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
“Our faith in freedom does not rest on the foreseeable results in particular circumstances but on the belief that it will, on balance, release more forces for the good than for the bad.”
― Friedrich A. Hayek
The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023 (“The Bill“) if passed will allow the government to monitor social media content it disapproves of and to conscript social media companies to do their dirty work of curtailing such content through the Australian Communications and Media Authority (“ACMA”).
As such, the Bill represents a dangerous threat to freedom of online discourse.
Continue reading “The federal government’s social media big brother bill”
Author adminPosted on Categories Human rights Leave a comment on Comedian Isaac Butterfield taken to Court over offensive jokes
Newcastle based YouTube personality Isaac Butterfield is being taken to Court for making jokes which some people found offensive.
Long time readers of this website may not be surprised to know that the pro-pedophile ‘Human Rights’ Commission has been involved in this push to supress the human right of free speech.
In this topsy-turvy world in which we live in, don’t be surprised if Liberty Victoria, supposedly a civil liberties organisation, sides with those who are complaining against Isaac Butterfield’s civil liberties.
“War is peace / freedom is slavery [and] ignorance is strength”, as George Orwell warned us many many years ago.
Author adminPosted on Categories Human rights 2 Comments on Further revelations of Public Trustee of Queensland’s gouging of estates
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”
The Public Trustee of Queensland is a public body charged with managing the finances of some of the most vulnerable members of the community, including those lacking capacity and prisoners.
Continue reading “Further revelations of Public Trustee of Queensland’s gouging of estates”
Author adminPosted on Categories Human rights 2 Comments on Treatment Authorities under the Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld)
A treatment authority is an order made by an authorised doctor for the treatment of a person with a mental illness without that person’s consent. A treatment authority order can authorise the involuntary detention of the person receiving treatment at a mental health facility, or community-based treatment.
Continue reading “Treatment Authorities under the Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld)”
Author adminPosted on Categories Criminal law, Human rights 2 Comments on Why you shouldn’t talk to the police
Outside of the legal realm, telling your side of the story at the earliest opportunity may be often a good idea. But in legal matters, things work very differently. In many situations, saying less is better than saying more, and saying nothing at all is better than saying anything.
Continue reading “Why you shouldn’t talk to the police”
Author adminPosted on Categories Criminal law, Human rights 2 Comments on District Court permanently stays Volkers prosecution The District Court has decided to not allow charges of indecent dealing to proceed due to the long history and unreasonable delays in the matter.
On 26 March 2002, Scott Volkers was arrested in relation to alleged indecently dealing of a 12 year old female swimmer in 1987.
On 16 June 2002, Volkers was charged with indecently dealing of a 13 year old female swimmer in 1984 and 1985.
On 25 July 2002, he was committed to stand trial on seven counts of indecent dealing involving the two complainants. Continue reading “District Court permanently stays Volkers prosecution”
Author adminPosted on Categories Human rights, Liberty Leave a comment on The Australian Federal Police’s raids on press freedom
On 4 June 2019, the Australian Federal Police raided the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst after she revealed in April last year that the Defence and Home Affairs departments had been discussing monitoring Australian citizens for the first time.
The following day, the Australian Federal Police raided the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Sydney offices as well after a number of stories known as the Afghan Files revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan and were based on hundreds of pages of secret Defence documents leaked to the ABC. Continue reading “The Australian Federal Police’s raids on press freedom”
Author adminPosted on Categories Human rights, Industrial relations, Liberty, litigation, Unfair dismissal 2 Comments on Professor Peter Ridd wins dismissal case against James Cook University
Last year, Professor Peter Ridd was sacked by James Cook University after speaking out on issues relating to climate change research.
He took James Cook University to the Federal Circuit Court, arguing his termination of employment was unlawful.
Today, Ridd has won his case, with the Court awarding judgment in his favour:
“Handing down his decision today, judge Salvatore Vasta said that the 17 findings used by the university to justify the sacking were unlawful.
“The Court rules that the 17 findings made by the University, the two speech directions, the five confidentiality directions, the no satire direction, the censure and the final censure given by the University and the termination of employment of Professor Ridd by the University were all unlawful,” Judge Vasta said.
A penalty hearing will be set for a later date.
At a hearing last month, Professor Ridd’s barrister Stuart Wood argued his client was entitled to criticise his colleagues and the university’s perceived lack of quality assurance processes.”
This is a win for free speech and academic freedom.
Author adminPosted on Categories Bill of Rights, Criminal law, Human rights, Industrial relations 2 Comments on The pro-pedophile, out of touch ‘Human Rights’ Commission The Human Rights Commission’s decision to award compensation to a man convicted of child pornography offences shows that it is an out of touch organisation that sides with pedophiles over businesses.
The Australian ‘Human Rights’ Commission has courted significant controversy in recent years as a result of its decision to delay an enquiry into children in immigration detention until after the Liberal-National Coalition was elected in 2013, its former President’s repeatedly false and misleading evidence in Senate estimates and its failure to notify the students in the QUT case that a complaint had been made against them for 14 months.
The most recent controversy is the Commission’s awarding of compensation of $2,500 against bank and insurance company Suncorp for refusing to employ a man convicted and sentenced to 12 months’ jail in 2008 for accessing child pornography via a “carriage service” and for possession of child pornography.
To make matters worse, when applying for the role the man intentionally failed to disclose his criminal history.
If any organisation (other than the EU) typifies the foolish and dangerous worldview of the elites, it is the ‘Human Rights’ Commission. This organisation seems not to realise that people with serious criminal convictions usually are not of good character, particularly if they then try to deceive or mislead prospective employers as the man in this case did.
According to the Commission, a person convicted of accessing and viewing child porn should not be ‘discriminated against’ by employers when applying for jobs. On the other hand, students who complain on Facebook about being kicked out of an Indigenous only computer lab, and columnists and cartoonists who dare to express controversial opinions about Indigenous affairs should be sued, punished, dragged through the Commission’s Kaffkaesque processes and/or silenced.
This is precisely the sort of outcome we can expect more of if the ‘Human Rights’ Commission is given real power, or a Bill of Rights is ever implemented, as we warned some time ago. The ‘human rights’ of criminals, illegal immigrants and extremists will inevitably take precedence over the rights and interests of others.
Author adminPosted on Categories Human rights, Industrial relations, Liberty, Unfair dismissal 1 Comment on JCU in Court for adverse actions against academic freedom
Climate blogger Jennifer Marohasy provides an interesting report on Dr Peter Ridd’s case against James Cook University in the Federal Circuit Court. Ridd’s employment as an academic of the university was terminated in May due to him speaking out and defying a gag order imposed by the university.
Continue reading “JCU in Court for adverse actions against academic freedom”
