Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Four Christian leaders in Camden, Australia, have spoken against the construction of a Muslim school. Their attack goes beyond the logistics of this particular project to condemn Islam itself.
Most astonishing (to me, anyway) is that one of the Christians leaders is Anglican.
Calling the religion an ideology driven by world domination, a submission to the [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Christianity, Islam
1 Comment »
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Turkey’s ambassador has officially complained to the Australian government over a speech a state cabinet minister made to 40 people at a Greek community function. What did South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson say that prompted Turkey to go ballistic?
He recalled the bloody past of Turkey’s national hero.
The Turks are seething over remarks Mr Atkinson [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, International
1 Comment »
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
The list of websites banned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) was supposed to be a big secret. No more: The list was leaked to and posted at Wikileaks. ACMA responded by blacklisting the whistle-blower website. Any Australian internet site that links to Wikileaks risks a fine of A$11,000 per [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Computers and technology
1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) threatened to fine a company up to $11,000 per day over a link to an anti-abortion site on ACMA’s list of verboten websites. Nowhere does the lengthy news story in The Australian address the issue of why an anti-abortion site is on the “top-secret list of banned [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Computers and technology, Media and Journalism
4 Comments »
Friday, February 13th, 2009
A lesbian couple sued their obstetrician after twin babies were born by IVF instead of only the one they requested. It seems they had just enough love for one.
A LESBIAN couple who said having two IVF babies instead of one damaged their relationship have won an appeal against their doctor and been awarded $317,000 [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Life Issues
1 Comment »
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
Many Australians are angrily accusing government of contributing to deadly wildfires through policies that impede removing trees and clearing away brush.
During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs Creek on Melbourne’s northern fringe, Warwick Spooner — whose mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their home in the Strathewen blaze — criticised [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Worldview Issues
Comments Off
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
Harry Nicolaides, an Australian expatriate living in Thailand, has been sentenced to three years for lèse-majesté. He was arrested last August and charged with insulting the monarchy in a single paragraph of his 2005 novel Verisimilitude. At trial this week, Mr Nicolaides was initially sentenced to six years, but his term was halved because [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Law Crime and Legal Issues, Media and Journalism
1 Comment »
Friday, January 9th, 2009
Check out this headline at The Australian online newspaper:
Australia’s No2 with people-smugglers
So, who’s No. 1?
PAKISTANI people-smugglers recommend Australia as the second-best destination for seeking asylum after Canada, according to one of the 134 Asian and Middle Eastern asylum-seekers intercepted off the Australian coast since October.
Sadiq Bahram, an ethnic Hazara from Afghanistan who has reached Australian [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Canada, In a Jocular Vein
1 Comment »
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
In Australia, as in Canada, “liberals”, far more than conservatives, promote restrictions on free expression and the free flow of information.
The Australian left isn’t saying much about it, so it falls to the libertarians at Britain’s spiked to spread the news: The proposed scheme to impose compulsory filtering on Australia’s internet originated with “progressive” Clive [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Media and Journalism
3 Comments »
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Red ink is too “aggressive”. It might offend the kids’ delicate sensibilities.
Queensland’s Deputy Opposition Leader Mark McArdle told parliament today that teachers were being advised to reconsider their pen choice because it may offend children.
[…]
“Given your 10-year-old Labor government presides over the lowest numeracy and literacy standards of any state in Australia, don’t you think [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific
1 Comment »
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Australia’s proposed nation-wide compulsory internet filter will cause a major reduction in web access speeds. Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is the point man for mandatory internet censorship down under.
The key shortcoming is ISP filtering will slow down the web to all Australians by as much as 60 per [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Computers and technology, Media and Journalism
4 Comments »
Monday, November 17th, 2008
A provincial government in Australia wants to re-name a mountain that has an allegedly offensive name. Some aboriginals, however, find the proposed new name equally as offensive.
AN Aboriginal group plans to sue the Victorian Government for ignoring its heritage in the renaming of Mount Niggerhead, a mountain in the Alpine National Park.
[…]
State Environment Minister Gavin [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific
1 Comment »
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
Is another Western democracy about to sacrifice freedoms of speech and the press to government nannies?
THE Federal Government is planning to make internet censorship compulsory for all Australians and could ban controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.
Australia’s level of net censorship will put it in the same league as countries including China, Cuba, Iran and [...]
Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Computers and technology, Media and Journalism
3 Comments »