Australia’s Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock says new laws will give a limited form of protection to journalists who comply with their code of ethics by refusing to reveal their sources in court. Like all such things, I’m sure the devil will be in the details… watch this space!
The Bush administration’s Must-Do List
The New York Times has just published, as their editorial, a list of things that need to be done to “reverse the unwise and lawless policies of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.”
Saturday Night Trivia, Question 1
Call yourself an Australian? Cool. Does the name Vincent Lingiari mean anything? No? Well, OK, doesn’t to me either.
But, you know, I just heard Archie Roach and Sara Storer singing his story on RockWiz. And bugger me, it turns out he’s one of the country’s most important human rights activists.
Bloody embarrassing not to know that, eh?
I mean, you’re probably more likely to remember, oh, that woman on a bus, who was she again?
Fed Police chief proposes “Reprogramming”
You probably missed it, but last week Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty actually proposed forcibly “reprogramming” people’s political beliefs.
Speaking on ABC TV’s Lateline on 8 March, Keelty says we should look at techniques which have been used “successfully” in such bastions of human rights as Indonesia, Singapore and Pakistan — even referring to it as “best practice”.
Keelty equates reprogramming people to convincing an informer to give evidence, and says this is the next step… to re-program somebody who has a belief or holds a belief. It has already been discussed with the government in the context of anti-terrorism control orders.
Commissioner Keelty, just in case you’ve forgotten Articles 18 and 19 of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, here’s a refresher…
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