eSafety: Australian MPs still act like warders governing convicts

"In one of his early Australian tours, [actor and humorist] Peter Ustinov was asked by a reporter, 'Are you worried about being in the land of the convicts?'  He replied, 'I'm more worried about being in the land of the warders.'  This neatly describes the political divide in Australia, ever since European settlement [...]," wrote Australian politician, Barry Jones.[1]  I was reminded of this when I was confronted by a video of Julian Hill MP ALP opining in some vaguely official capacity on a need for Australia to censor X.com, in order to protect Australians from stuff the government thought should upset us. Then a whole slew of strutting politicians joined in, including Prime Minister Albanese, who personalised his attack on the owner of X.com, Elon Musk, calling him arrogant and out of touch with the public.  You would have thought Albanese was describing himself.

The context was that someone had posted film of an Australian-Syrian priest being stabbed by a youth as he conducted a mass. Since Australia seems not to be bothered by being associated with Nazis in Ukraine and untold violence in Israel, and Assange being locked in a dungeon in London, and shocking war-crimes in Syria, which often included killing Christian priests, why would we particularly object to this unscripted news item? Apparently the priest in question has survived and has chipped in to say that he doesn't think that X should be censored. 

Whilst still frothing at the mouth, I fired off the following letter to Mr Julian Hill, since he was the first I heard on the subject. And you can watch him in the debate below.

Dear Mr Hill,

I have just listened to your opinions about film being shown on X.com about a stabbing in a Sydney Church.  I have not looked at this film, but I feel that you should know that this Australian citizen is extremely grateful to X and to other relatively uncensored international sites, such as rumble.com, for the access they give to information about events all over the world, without states interfering in this access.

You talk about democracy and parliamentary rule, but the Australian government makes most important decisions in secret, in cabinet, and the rules in parliament are grossly rigged against expression of diverse opinion via motions - such as your own on behalf of Julian Assange.

It therefore sounds very hollow to me when you talk about free speech and democracy in this country.

It also sounds hollow when you talk about violence and racism, because I have been shocked at how our government, since the Ukraine war, has propagandistically, in cahoots with corporate and public media, urged people to take sides against Russia, and now against Palestine, in the most racist and imperialist way, and at violent cost to many lives, total destruction of economies and land.

At the moment there is an application before the ICC to have Australia's Prime Minister prosecuted for complicity in genocide.  Our government has not asked parliament or the people whether we should be involved in war, and has entrenched an alliance with the United States, arguably one of the most aggressive and warlike pseudo-democracies in the world, which would have us treating China as an enemy, along with Russia - a dangerous and stupid attitude which would isolate us from dynamic trade with BRICS countries that we have more in common with than the United States. 

And, with regard to violence, no parliamentarian who does not shout loudly against Australia's growing involvement in the arms trade, manufacture, and military bases, has any right to tell the rest of us that, because of violence, that we should not inform ourselves as we need to via alternative media that has managed to escape the sway of the legacy public and corporate media.

A little over 30 years ago, an acquaintance became an MP with the ALP. At the time she expressed shock at how the party rules had become such that she was truly unable to express an individual opinion. Everything had to be vetted via ALP heads.  Parliamentarians basically move in lockstep.  It used not to be quite so bad.

Please lay off X.com.

Sheila Newman

Sociologist

NOTES

[1] Barry Jones, A Thinking Reed, Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2006, p. 132.