Menzies House

The watery grave that Labor dug

Writers of political weeklies can’t possibly be topical given the rapid change in Labor’s pandemonium as the noose of electoral execution tightens by the day, if not hour.

Political chess moves of Rudd, Shorten and Tony Sheldon seem unlikely to cause any stay of the hangman’s scaffold. A two-party-preferred result according to surveys, have remained rather stable for more than a year. Any re-arrangement of deck chairs might save a handful of seats but won’t affect the outcome. To put it nicely—Labor is stuffed—in a manner unprecedented.

For the past 18 months voter concern about the nation’s porous borders has been marching toward top billing. And now, with the latest drowning of more than 50 off Western Australia’s coast, any hope and all spin Labor might use to camouflage reality perished with that craft and those poor souls on it.

IPA's James Paterson hits a goal

This short video clip is worth watching. It exemplifies the calibre of Labor politicians and their understanding of laws they make. GC.Ed.

Big back down on Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 - but the fight is still far from over.

This week on the ABC's Q&A program the IPA's James Paterson forcefully summed up the case the IPA has been making against the Gillard government's draft Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 since the day the draft Bill was released: the draft Bill is a threat to Australians' freedom of speech and fundamental legal rights. Watch James here:

 freedomwatch.ipa.org.au

The draft Bill that can’t be cured

Simon Breheny at IPA's FreedomWatch offers insight to Nocola Roxon's dangerourous and now totally screwed up mess with her anti-discrimination proposal. GC.Ed.

Attorney-General Nicola Roxon’s back down is a welcome development in the debate over the government’s anti-discrimination proposal. But it falls well short of what is needed – the complete abandonment of this ill-conceived consolidation project.

Roxon has announced that the phrase “offends, insults or intimidates” may be removed from the definition of discrimination under the exposure draft Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012.

But these changes don’t come close to going far enough. Merely taking out a few words from a fundamentally flawed proposal will not cure the deep deficiencies contained in the draft Bill.

Read More:http://freedomwatch.ipa.org.au/the-draft-bill-that-cant-be-cured/

The tyranny of tender feelings and the war on free speech

The ramifications of Labor's proposed anti-discrimination laws are being exposed as the fine print is examined. First cab off the rank to sue could be Trish Crossin who was dumped in Gillard's "captain's pick" to push Nova Peris into parliament because she is Aboriginal. Is this a race based decision? GC.Ed

Put it all together, and Labor is presiding over the greatest assault on Australians’ free speech in our lives:

- it has held an inquiry into what the Greens dubbed the “hate media” - particularly critics of the government

- it is promising new privacy rules affecting the media

- it is threatening new laws to control who owns the media - a response to conservatives such as Gina Rinehart buying into media assets

- it is considering tough new laws to regulate “bias” and reporting, applying tougher controls - back by threats of jail - on everything from big newspapers to even small blogs.

- it has punished News Ltd for its critical coverage by twice over-ruling the decision of an independent panel to award News the tender for the Australia Network.

Read more:http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/

the_tyranny_of_tender_feelings/

Roxon's socialist laws may be unconstitutional

Nicola Roxon defends laws on offence

In their blind haste to control Australians with a zeal unimagined by previous generations Labor defends its intent to trample upon our freedoms and Constitution. While Roxon, Wong, et al spin like tops they seem bent on ignoring senior legal advice and opinion. Power and control is taking on an ugly face in Australia. GC.Ed.

The exposure draft of the law has been criticised by media companies and retired NSW chief judge and ABC chairman Jim Spigelman on free speech grounds, as it would allow a discrimination claim over conduct that insulted or offended a person in relation to "protected attributes" including political opinion and religion.

Read more:http://www.equalitylaw.org.au/elrp-media/nicola-roxon-defends-laws-on-offence

Free speech is a double-edged sword

As Muslims in particular use our anti-hate laws to their best advantage under the orchestral arrangement of multiculturalism, "fools rush in" like Barry O'Farrell and Nicola Roxon to establish a greater Nanny State making it easier to lodge complaint. With The Australian Human Rights Commission adjudicating, and vying for relevance, biased findings are surely a forgone conclusion? GC.Ed.

In the week before the Cronulla riot, Jones described the young Muslim men who for years had been sexually harassing women on the beach as ''vermin'' and ''mongrels'' who ''rape and pillage''. That was the context of his comments, a context which dropped away entirely as a prosecution for hate speech by the Administrative Decisions Tribunal dragged on for seven years. No mention was made in Sunday's news reports of the far more sinister and contemporaneous example of public hate speech on September 15 last year.

During a demonstration that turned violent in Sydney, some protesters carried provocative placards including one infamous message, ''Behead those who insult the Prophet''. Many wore headbands with Arabic script exhorting jihad. Among the chants was, ''Our dead are in paradise, your dead are in hell''.

 Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/racial-hatred-bill-offers-open-slather-to-obnoxious-20130113-2cnf1.html#ixzz2HtIAA6CI

Happy New Year! Food for thought, or cause for a hangover

James Allan writes in the Quadrant about his passion for free speech. James is right when he thinks former Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court was a bit limp in his recent Oration. GC.Ed.

Friend, foe, men, women, listen to this. I come to query Mr. Spigelman, not to praise him.

Read more:http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/allan/2012/12/spigelman-s-gag-reflex

*******************************************************************************************

To herald the New Year, media and self-appointed experts are attacking the death rate caused by Quad bikes. One death is too many. But, accidents do and will continue to happen. Now they want to bans and re-engineering to the machines. Nothing about parental responsibility and teaching. There are about 220,000 quad bikes in use. Over 11 years 160 people have been killed. Is 0.0065% enough for legislators to make law that can't be enforced? Ask a farmer. GC. Ed.

Death sparks call for quad bike ban

FARM health and safety advocates are pushing for a total ban on children riding quad bikes following the death of a seven-year-old girl in South Australia.

Seventeen people died riding quad bikes last year, while 23 deaths were recorded in 2011. There have been more than 160 quad-bike-related deaths since 2001.

Read more:http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/death-sparks-call-for-quad-bike-ban/story-e6frg6nf-1226545872626

*******************************************************************************************

The Greens of this world have rushed to intensive care! GC. Ed.

Kyoto climate change treaty sputters to a sorry end

Kyoto Protocol aimed for 5% cut in carbon emissions — instead, we got a 58% increase

Read more:http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/12/20/pol-kyoto-protocol-part-one-ends.html

 

Law firm has no record of Gillard files on slush fund

This might be the script for a "B" grade movie, written by a monkey. Are we supposed to believe this nonsense?

FILES detailing Julia Gillard's role in helping set up a union slush fund, from which her former boyfriend stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, have disappeared.

The law firm Slater & Gordon said yesterday it could find no documents relating to the work done by Ms Gillard, a former salaried partner of the firm, in establishing the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association in 1992.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/law-firm-has-no-record-of-gillard-files-on-slush-fund-20121016-27pj0.html#ixzz29UZ83mVF