Australia Blog

australia is statistically proven to be the most regulated country in the world Fact. Everyday a minority or people make decisions that affect our daily lives, often with no consultation or regard to the "democracy" we live in. Premier Carr has stated he wants to search our bags, the PM says he wants to introduce an id card possibly with biometric? components, our liberties and freedoms are whittled away daily by a minority of people. Problem is we won't miss many of these freedoms until it is the individual who is exposed to them.We already have cctv in just about every street and venue across the country. Fair enough in most circumstances too for our safety is something we should not disregard. However, a persons right to travel about the country unhindered is an Australian principle. Regarding biometric measures in our licenses, passports etc we as a "Democracy" need to be very careful how much power we give to our government. If you think these measures are only going to be used to protect us then the media panic mongering and politicians "security" speel is working well. However, if you look at the U.S's Patriot act you will unnderstand how scary and probing these acts can be. They can,will and do probe deeply into your life often with no justification. Many of our leaders need to remember the meaning of democracy, freedom and what it is to be Australian. Not use recent worldwide events (which I agree are horrific and cowardly) to place restrictions and regulations over our freedoms. Yes we may be next to be attacked but having a card with your dna or fingerprint will never prevent this. Big brother is alive and well in this country and if it doesn't concern you maybe you should look at projected realities such as the "minority report" fiction I know but from a civil liberty point extremely scary. The more power we give to our democratic government the less democratic we actually become. Look at the changes proposed to our new I.R laws, thousands march but the government arrogantly came out and said we don't care we're changing them anyway. Democracy? I think not. Be careful what we allow our 4 year thinking politicians to enact your freedoms, the freedoms of your children depend on us saying no firmly when we believe it is not genuinely in our best interest. I for one do not want a card that can track everywhere I go, what I spend my money on, who I visit, how I travel, how I earn my money etc. Paranoid? mayhaps, but my grand parents never had these cards nor thier parents and I'm sure I don't want my children to provide prints and dna just to be able to travel on the public system (it will happen)
Remember of the 22 million australians only an infantile percentage can harm us, but the government can change our lives dramatically by introducing non democratic regulations.

Whether we want it or not, it will happen, by stealth or by guise. To call this country a democracy is a farce, two major parties and one small party trying to stand up on Telstra. You have a Liberal majority in upper and lower houses, you can pass anything, ie. IR reform. Do we actually have a choice? With everyone having a TFN all they need is a tax card...smart card technology is in place already, why badge the card an ID card when you could call it something else. Why not a credit card? ...Whats stopping them?