No apologies for internet filter: Rudd

Raindog (New user):

"saying it wouldn't apologise for pushing ahead with the plan."

This from a party that says it's listening. Labor isn't listening to the voting public, Labor isn't listening to industry, Labor isn't listening to anyone but it's own inner circle.

It's OK Kevin, you don't need to apologise, just like the voters of Australia wont need to apologise for voting an end to the reign of your bumbling, inept and self serving government!


” he (K.Rudd) said. “Look, it’s not like that. People out there, mums and dads, they know where the balance lies.”

We sure know where the balance is Keven and its no where near Conroy's manipulated website or labor effort to stifle any adverse public comment.
Balance is nowhere near millions spent on an NBN that is no closer to deliver than a Labor NSW rail line.
Balance is nowhere near Labor's meddling and divisive destruction of long term businesses within the insulation industry.
Balance is nowhere near Labors free ride handout of millions to Toyota, balance is nowhere near the political expediency of wholesale illegal immigration.

There is an election soon, let the balance begin!

Tin (User):

So he can appologise for things he wasn't responsible for... But if he was involved with the idea, he's right and therefore can't can it and say he was wrong.

apt.pupil (New user):

heh. so much for thinking that this govt. was gonna change with a change of policies.

this is heading down the same sewer system that Johnnie Howard was sending us down.

We still have a classification system that still regards video games as an entertainment medium for children and teenagers.
We have Senator Conroy who is pro censorship- but anti- censorship discussion, a filter advertised to the ignorant audience as the solution to all the internet problems of the world- when all who have even the faintest inkling of knowledge are calling pointless and foul play on tax payer dollars, and finally we have the what appears to be worsening laws. SA and TAS have adopted laws in which you need to either identify yourself by address or postcode and full name when posting online comments in forums and bulletin Boards regarding to Australian political issues.

Whatever happened to the beautiful country i spent most of my youth growing up in? it seems as i come closer to coming of age(21 atm), i am not seeing a beautiful country anymore, but a country painted in shades of grey.

Even worse than that- i honestly do not know who to vote for next time.

The pirate party is just absurd, and adds more fuel to the Australian jokes i hear often

Family First are just as trustworthy as the Labor government from what i have seen. hiding beneath their iedeals of a positive change, i see the heavily religious takes on trivial matters. Take the small- breasted skin flicks facing censorship with the new internet filter for example. Now im gonna find it hard to get amateur skin flicks for a laugh at night- because the only ways for me to get it is through P2P and bittorrent(and we all know how much filth is actually lurking there)

I grew up with labor- supporting Kiwi Parents, but was raised 9/10ths of my life in Australia, and so i naturally supported a labor party policy, since they are supposed to be putting a focus on healthcare and labor trade. I havent seen a change in that, but have been approached by 2 retail unions now asking for me to become a member.

i made a lot of KRuddy jokes after labor won, god did i jinx us or what?

Tin (User):

Quoting apt.pupil:
Family First are just as trustworthy as the Labor government from what i have seen.


Preferences go that way too, don't they?


Simple thing is not to vote parties. Party members tend to be told what to do, and if the party line is something controversial, too bad. Independants have nothing to gain but continued employment.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Tin:
Simple thing is not to vote parties.

A government of independents is a rabble, a government where the balance of power is held by independents is a recipe for pork barreling.


Quoting Tin:
Party members tend to be told what to do

Parties aren't such a bad thing, the real problem lies in Australians failing to keep those parties accountable and failing to punish parties who are not. Next time i hear a stupid comment like don't vote it only encourages them I may be wish to exercise the Renai LeMay cricket bat re-education technique.

apt.pupil (New user):

Quoting Raindog:
Australians failing to keep those parties accountable and failing to punish parties who are not

that is it in a nutshell.

you cant go marching down in canberra protesting when there is onyl 2 or 3 people, and short of not voting for them in the enxt election, i do not see what other power we have as mere Denizens of Labor

Raindog (New user):

Quoting apt.pupil:
you cant go marching down in canberra protesting when there is onyl 2 or 3 people

Shouting at buildings was never and will never be an effective way to get a point across. Never was never will be.


Quoting apt.pupil:
short of not voting for them in the enxt election, i do not see what other power we have

what more power do you need? There are lots of effective ways of putting opinions forward. Sane and considered letters to sitting members both and opposition candidate. Well though through Letters to the editor. Taking the time to dispel the myths and unwind and decipher the rhetoric in conversations, all work if people can be bothered to do so.

apt.pupil (New user):

Quoting Raindog:
Taking the time to dispel the myths and unwind and decipher the rhetoric in conversations, all work if people can be bothered to do so.

too much effort for the little spare time i have when it comes down to it.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting apt.pupil:
too much effort for the little spare time I have

What your saying is "cannot be bothered"! How many people do you think will have your interests at heart if you cannot even be bothered yourself? Hint: the answer is less than one.

Attitudes like you express are the reasons we have to suffer self-serving governments like we have. If you cannot be bothered you have no right to complain! (And no I do not want an explanation of how busy the life of a 40 hrs per week wage slave and PC gamer is.)

TV Bis (New user):

Quoting Raindog:
the real problem lies in Australians failing to keep those parties accountable and failing to punish parties who are not.

I honestly don't know why Australians voted Labour in the last elections?
I feel that voters are very much like little kids - If they don't get what they want they cry all the way to the next election.
To vote in the party that they voted against last time even when the opposition hasn't change except for the leader is a bit crazy!
I don't regard Internet filtering as a major turning or voting point for a Government when there are so many other issues that are far more important to Australia.
If the Australian Government has to change every four years due to broken promises then we truly have a major problem here. Australians have to stop being so gullible when it comes to promises - look at the overall party not just the image of the leader.......

Raindog (New user):

Quoting TV Bis:
I honestly don't know why Australians voted Labour in the last elections?

Neither do I, at the time you were flat out finding someone who didn't say they voted in Kev, two and a bit years on and your flat out getting people to admit they did. The real reason is public disinterest a jingoism that people don't often believe that being sucked into. The "vote for John Howard is a vote for Peter Costello" type rubbish, people bought it but if asked are hard pressed to explain a reason why.


Quoting TV Bis:
I feel that voters are very much like little kids - If they don't get what they want they cry all the way to the next election.

Like kids yes, with election in recent times being a popularity contest of feel good ideals rather than a sensible analysis of policy options. That and a hell of a lot of greed, fibre to every household sounds such a grand idea until you look at the cost reality of scrapping everything else and having it installed by expensive and bungled government schemes. Labor cant even effectively contract the installation of pink bats, for pity's sake, What is the chance of this same team ever building expansive technical infrastructure, or the chance of their NSW counterparts ever expanding a rail network, or of Queensland ever having adequate drinking water.

Quoting TV Bis:
To vote in the party that they voted against last time even when the opposition hasn't change except for the leader is a bit crazy!

I wouldn't be so sure of that, these parties and their think tanks are already certain, based on precedent, that they will always get two terms. More frequent changes could well remind Parties who they are accountable to.


Quoting TV Bis:
I don't regard Internet filtering as a major turning or voting point for a Government when there are so many other issues that are far more important to Australia.

In isolation very few issues like filters or or char-grilled insulation installers are in isolation decision changing issues. Sit back for a second however and cast a wider look at Conroy's trail of blunders, look at the hollow rhetoric, look at the Billions spent for zero effective outcome, and look at the failed promises and at the contempt show towards the public. After that the decision is a whole lot easier to make.


Quoting TV Bis:
If the Australian Government has to change every four years due to broken promises then we truly have a major problem here.

Every three years! Heaven forbid we'd have to suffer another year of Cardboard Kev answering his own questions. The four year terms apply to state politics, and as NSW voter are now all too aware it's too long to wait.


Quoting TV Bis:
Australians have to stop being so gullible when it comes to promises - look at the overall party not just the image of the leader.......

And with that you've nailed the problem, making the effort to understand the problems and the costs and effects of their solutions is what's required. Don't rely on media we've seen how many of them have boosted their own interests by a touch of political bias.
It's all a question of how much individuals have to hurt before they will take an interest, government regardless of party should be in the interests if the population. If we let parties govern in nothing but party interest and and do not hold them to account, or if we take the stance of voter victims then we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting TV Bis:
I honestly don't know why Australians voted Labour in the last elections?

What can I say other than, Australia, I warned you this would happen!


Quoting TV Bis:
voters are very much like little kids - If they don't get what they want they cry all the way to the next election.

The problem is in most cases they don't know what they want, a have even less clue what they need. And of cause voters need to take a few second out to work what cost and effect shiny promises and giveaways will have.


Quoting TV Bis:
To vote in the party that they voted against last time even when the opposition hasn't change except for the leader is a bit crazy!

I wouldn't be so sure about that, parties have become lazy believing they are always ensured of a second term, a wake up call at the ballot box may have these parties becoming a little bit more responsive to voter wishes.


Quoting TV Bis:
I don't regard Internet filtering as a major turning or voting point

Agreed, but with almost every promise undelivered, with minister in permanent apology mode still ignorant of public feeling, and with Conroy on a regime of Blunder a day, the vote turning is sure gaining momentum.


Quoting TV Bis:
f the Australian Government has to change every four years due to broken promises then we truly have a major problem here.

It's three years, four years of sufferance only applies to state politics. Regular change is not necessarily a problem, particularly if it gets parties out of a mindset that lacks urgency and responsibility towards those who gave them their vote.


Quoting TV Bis:
Australians have to stop being so gullible when it comes to promises - look at the overall party not just the image of the leader.......

Spot on. People have to look further than the promises and the tired and mostly irrelevant ideology. We need accountable and efficient government and we wont ever get that by a nothing you can do attitude.

Jeff (New user):

Quoting Raindog:
A government of independents is a rabble, a government where the balance of power is held by independents is a recipe for pork barreling.


And how would this be any worse than the bunch of bungling buffoons we have?

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Jeff:
And how would this be any worse than the bunch of bungling buffoons we have?

Think about it! And imagine for a second the power K Rudd holds now in the hands of single issue independents or worse still left up to loonies like the Greens. All the two party system requires is a return to real public accountability. As a voter its something that should be demanded.

The Rudd years show that something appearing too good to be true usually is, their isn't the funds for another three year experiment.

Tin (User):

Quoting Raindog:
And imagine for a second the power K Rudd holds now in the hands of single issue independents


There'd still be 150 of them, and votes would still take place. It's not like they all become the "Independent Party" and suddenly have to vote the way their leader says.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Tin:
There'd still be 150 of them

At an election by the end of the year? Be realistic.


Quoting Tin:
It's not like they all become the "Independent Party"

Exactly and how the hell would anything ever get done? Independent "A" wants us to crush cars and live in cave, Independent "B" the city phone service to provide zero subsidisation to the bush. Independent "C" wants to privatise everything, how would anything of worth ever get done?


Quoting Tin:
and suddenly have to vote the way their leader says.

You've got the puppet thing around the wrong way, KR may be shouting orders to the ministry, but it's the factions that are telling KR what to shout. Its the factional controls that have overstepped their influence due to the apathy of others that are the real problems. KR has shown us what populism does. He's spent a little bit everywhere and three years on all there is to show for it is a great big labor debt, no grand NBN, now new hospitals, assembly halls beside still overloaded classrooms.

Our two party system works, but it's being undermined by lack of accountability, and politicians who have lost touch with the community. Look at the independents we have now, could you honestly say they were any more in touch, and still keep a straight face?

The Rudd experiment is a costly mess and they deserve to be turfed out on their ears, but that doesn't mean the government that succeeds them should be any less accountable. It's up to everyone to make sure that their governments are accountable.

ToshiBoy (New user):

... and I won't apologize for voting for someone else at the next election.

Ivote (New user):

Kevin Rudd Lies Blatantly to Australians on National television.

RC content or Refused Classification material is material that has been submitted by the:
Film-Makers/Authors/Publishers/Film distributors/Video-game distributors etc , To The Australian Classification Board,
and has subsequently been Refused Classification.

Child Pornographers and Paedophiles do not submit their material to the Classification board.

Child Porn -Child Sexual Abuse/Molestation images/video- Cannot be classed as Refused Classification material because it never was submitted to the Classification Board by it's original Producers in the first place.

Child Porn is Illegal and Criminal material, RC material is Not!

The Lies and Half-Truths being told initially by Conroy and now Repeated Verbatim by Rudd to try to Blur the Lines between Legal and Illegal material in order to sell the Internet Filter are Appalling, and a Blight on Australian Democracy.

Zig (New user):

That's alright Kevin, I won't need to apologise to you when I vote against you in this year's election.

After the anti-filter movement has taken the balance of power in the senate, or you lose the unlosable election completely, you will have plenty of time to reflect on the fact that Australia is a democracy, and maybe go and live in China since you like their authoritarian regime's policies so much.

Zig (New user):

z

todd_h86 (New user):

QUOTE - “Look, it’s not like that. People out there, mums and dads, they know where the balance lies.”

Then why do they need a filter to tell them? Kevin, every time you speak you contradict yourself mate. You are becoming the new Bush of comedic speakers, intentional or not.

 x  (New user):

Wow guys!
I see a lot of labor vs liberal BS, which makes a really nice distraction from the real issue.
We have a system where one party can screw up so badly that the welcome the ‘opposing’ criminals as they walk through the door.
And the more the damage these guys do, the sooner we want the old (and quickly forgiven) team back in.
This filter needs to be stopped. The other party would be doing something just as evil, if not the same, had they been voted in.
Clearly there is more to this filter when it’s being pushed ahead despite over 90% public disapproval, it goes without saying this is not what the people want. This filter is a tool that can easily be abused, I don’t believe anyone trusts their government so much.
This filter will not stop the criminals, it will not save the children. I will slow most people down, block sites that should not be blocked, and so create a hassle for the average Joe.
Ironically, the criminals and tech savvy will not be affected by this filter except that it would slow down their web speeds.
To say something is “for the children” has for some time now been a political tool for manipulation, and should be questioned every time you hear it.
Once up a time it was a parent’s responsibility to teach their children what is right and wrong, and how to avoid what is inappropriate or dangerous.

propagandalf (New user):

g

propagandalf (New user):

Appeal to Fear is a well known propaganda technique, which the politicians appear to be using in order to promote their filter. Feel free to look it up.

Do comments along these lines sound familiar?:
"But it's child abuse. Surely you agree that we must use whatever means necessary to help prevent it?"

Maybe they're trying to use the "bandwagon" technique as well.

From watching far too many crime shows, one thing is clear: law enforcement agencies all over the world are struggling to cope with child porn rings, people trafficking, and the like. Yet the Rudd government seems to think they can bullsh*t the public into believing that they can make a real difference with simple website filtering.

This begs the question: what is their real motive? And the inescapable conclusion is that the government simply wants more control over the information that the public is able to receive. Scary stuff.

Raindog (New user):

A message to Kevin.

Here's a quick poll to send Kevin a message on how Australia feels about his not apologising
.