You know when the captains of industry and their cabin boys in parliament call for hearings to be held in private that what they are really hoping for is a Clayton’s corruption commission.
For many of us, this type of privacy – ridding the internet of yourself – is out of reach. We need this public part of the internet – or feel as if we need it. The true elites do not need the internet. The true expression of elitism is privacy.
The possibility of corruption exists wherever a dishonest public official has power or authority to grant benefits ... And dishonesty is a common human flaw.
What is almost as damaging to civil society as random and irrational or organised acts of violence is the hounding and persecution, jailing, the bending of the law against innocent people.
The Victorian Open Courts Act is in keeping with Orwellian traditions, and has exactly the opposite effect to that suggested by its title. The NSW model is more wordy and even less worthy.
They took everyone, including me, violently, to the buses that waited. When anyone resisted, they tied their hands with plastic handcuffs. We were scared.
According to the polls, when it comes to one of the Coalition’s favourite mantras of ‘returning the budget to surplus’, the electorate is of little faith.