Archive for November, 2009
Censoring criticism of government policies
On October 1st, new laws came into effect in Australia that censor government officials from criticising government policy.
Censorship push raises ire of MPS
It’s the result of the Auditor-General’s criticism of a $300 million parliamentary entitlements scheme. All government handouts now need to be cleared by the Department of Finance before being distributed. The problem is, that the Department of Finance are including the editing of material to prevent criticism of government policies.
Since most of these government handouts are used to educate people about government mismanagement, by censoring them they’re preventing Australians from becoming aware of potential issues or problems within government policy.
How do you feel about this?
Where is it likely to go? If it’s now illegal for the government to criticise government policies, how soon will it become illegal for the public to criticise government policy?
Holiday time is almost here
In December, I’ll be going for a drive around Victoria, ending up in Adelaide, and then back home again to Canberra. This image (below) shows the route I’ll be taking over 10 days.
I’ll be traveling along the coast for most of it, but coming back via the River Murray. I’m hoping for some very nice scenic shots along the way, with beaches, cliffs, lakes, rivers, mountains and miscellaneous scenery…
It’s going to be exciting! I’ll be doing it by myself too, although that just might change, depending on what the near future holds.
I’ll be departing on 12th December, returning home on 22nd December. If you can think of interesting places along that route that you think I’d like to see and take photos of, please tell me about them in the comments section.
