You may well have thought that a certain once-potent political party, the Australian Democrats, imploded around the turn of the 21st century, and you’d be right. But they’re back, with a podcast titled Keep the Bastards Honest. This week I became their first non-party guest.
We spoke about a bunch of cybersecurity and other internet-related legislation that’s either recently been passed or is in the process of being debated. Things that might have slipped under everyone’s radar with everything else that’s been going on.
And I told a few stories about the party’s leader 1986–1990, the late Janine Haines.
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Episode Links
I haven’t provided as many detailed links as I normally would, but we covered so many things. Anyway, I’m sure you can use The Google.
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The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia's largest minor party from its formation in 1977 through to 2004 and frequently held the balance of power in the Senate during that time.
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On this episode we welcomed our first guest! Stilgherrian is a freelancer writer who’s been covering internet policy and all the cyber things for a decade and a half, primarily for tech news site ZDNet and before that Crikey. He also produces and presents the podcast The 9pm Edict.
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[25 October 2021] With just three weeks of parliamentary sittings remaining in 2021, I thought I’d compile a list of legislation and inquiries that are making their way through the system which are relevant to my interests — and perhaps yours. I need to catch up on a few of these.
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Janine Winton Haines, AM (née Carter, 8 May 1945 – 20 November 2004) was an Australian politician who was a Senator for South Australia from 1977 to 1978 and again from 1981 to 1990. She represented the Australian Democrats, and served as the party's leader from 1986 to 1990, becoming the first female federal parliamentary leader of an Australian political party. She was pivotal in "shaping the Australian Democrats into a powerful political entity that held the balance of power in the Senate".
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[19 January 2021] The government agrees: Australia needs a whole new electronic surveillance Act to sort out the mess. But a bunch of ad hoc laws are already making their way through parliament.
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It's the government's actual job to protect our rights and freedoms, but when it comes to online it simply can't be bothered.
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As another critic says, the government's 'incredibly reckless' idea would strip the shield of anonymity from myriad vulnerable groups because 'a few white men are uncomfortable' with criticism online.
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The Australia Card was a proposal for a national identification card for Australian citizens and resident foreigners. The proposal was made in 1985, and abandoned in 1987.
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If Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants to weed out anonymous trolls on social media, he might want to start with his own government, writes Andrew P Street.
If the links aren’t showing up, try here.