Young Australian Skeptics

It can hardly have escaped the notice of even the most vaguely politically inclined that the current state of affairs with our de-​​facto two party system is less than ideal for the left-​​leaning voter. We have, in simple terms, a decision between Tony Abbott’s Super-​​Catholic Hooray Party and our current mob, who are steadily transforming into the Censorship Party. In this post, I’ll provide a summary of some of the issues around Censorship, both recent and ongoing.

First off, we have a brand new law which affects the South Australian State Election (March 20, for those who didn’t know). It will be illegal to publish any materials commenting on election matters without also publishing one’s real name and post-​​code, once the writs have been issued. Fines of thousands of dollars are threatened for those who infringe. See In A Strange Land for the relevant section of legislation and commentary. South Australians will be unsurprised to learn that the man associated with this pernicious piece of lawmaking is apparently Mr. Michael Atkinson. In effect, this means that to comment on the election, one must necessarily expose oneself to the dangers of putting too much information on the internet, or break the law. It is not clear, at this stage, whether blogs are covered by this legislation. The legislation does not specifically state that they are, but Atkinson’s comments seem to suggest as much. Electronic Frontiers Australia attempt to decipher the issue.

Update: After an almost universally negative response, Atkinson has decided to eliminate this law. Calling the backdown ‘humiliating’, he said “that’s politics in a democracy and I’ll take my lumps”. While this does not excuse the law in the first place, it does give some motivation to keep protesting regarding the issues below; sometimes things do change for the better!

We also have the current government plan to censor the internet. In brief, this involves an ISP level filter which, if implemented, would block any sites on a top-​​secret government blacklist. The rationale is, of course, “Won’t somebody please think of the children!” Visit NoCleanFeed to learn more and see what you can do.

Returning to Michael Atkinson, South Australians were recently delighted to discover that R18 films can no longer be displayed alongside regular films in stores. I say ‘discover’, because the law came into effect with no discussion or notification whatsoever, leaving retailers scrambling to comply. The covers of R18 films, apparently, are too offensive. This is despite the fact that many lesser rated films have more violent and provocative covers. This picture is now deemed unsavory enough to be in its own, separate section.

An issue that’s close to my heart; Australia lacks an R18 rating for video games. This means that many games are Refused Classification (summarily banned) when the Office of Film and Literature Classification deem them unsuitable for fifteen year olds (to whom our highest available rating caters). A unanimous agreement of the Attorneys General is required to amend this law, again allegedly halted by a man who is fast becoming my least favourite person in the whole world; Michael Atkinson. A government discussion paper on the matter was recently made available to the public: you can have your say here. Also, see Gamers4Croydon, the political party attempting to unseat Atkinson in Croydon, South Australia.

Atkinson also recently notoriously implied that most (all?) gamers were criminals and tricksters, saying: ”“I assume the Gamers4Croydon campaign will involve criminal activities and dirty tricks, which is what I’ve come to expect from gamers.”

Finally, pornography. Specific types of pornography are being Refused Classification (effectively banned) in Australia; those which feature small-​​breasted women (who allegedly too closely resemble children) and those which feature female ejaculation. I know very little about this one, but please check it out here for news and commentary.

Please feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made, or add other relevant news. The question now is; what can one do? The obvious answer is vote. Any other suggestions?

Tags: Atkinson, Australian government, Censorship, Games, R18

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Censorship, Daniel Carabellese, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.