Arrogance - thy name is Abbott

The following is a quote from the Australian Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott in response to the latest polls showing the coalition is trailing behind the Labor party:

“I remain reasonably optimistic … the public have a right to vote for whomsoever they wish and they have a right, if they wish, to replace a good Government with an inept opposition,” he said

This is from the same person who accused the Australian public of “sleep walking” into the next election because the polls showed support for the opposition!

And the coalition wonders why the public percieves them as being arrogant!!!!!

Australian Students Data given to Authorities without their notice.

According to a report from ABC, confidential students and staff data from The University of Technology, Sydney, were given to the NSW Police Force, Australian Federal Police and the Australian Taxation Office, without notifying the people concerned. The same has also happened to students from the University of Sydney.

The report carried comments from General Secretary of the Sydney University Student Representative Council, Lucy Saunders, who said “the university has broken the trust of students by supplying this information without any consultation”. In another SMH article, she also said “such acts create a climate of fear assuming police have a right to get any type of information they want without justification or consultation.”

David Bernie, the vice-president of the NSW Council of Civil Liberties, also said the police could get a warrant easily before a judge or magistrate if they require such information. This disclosure follows recent allegations that ASIO and NSW Police had been spying on student activists.

The Australian government should recognise that universities are not only simply teaching and learning grounds; but often and rightfully hotbed for political activism which provides a training platform for future political leaders, human rights activists, academics and lawyers. When the police and security agencies are allowed to obtain confidential student and staff data without the consent of those affected, it is just a slippery slope away from using these information for highly questionable activities.

Such disturbing methods would create a climate of fear, promote self-censorship, silence dissent and curtail free speech. It certainly does not promote the much desired intellectual climate and culture for Australian universities.

Red Mosque Incident Sparks off More Protests in Pakistan.

As we drove in silence, I thought of how easy it is from positions of safety and comfort to denounce fundamentalism, how often I have done just that. But who are we targeting when we make such statements? I have no trouble denouncing the bin Ladens and al-Zawahiris, or the Bushs and Robertsons, and critiquing their twisted worldview. But what of the ordinary people struggling against the elites who ignore the cries of the suffering? When those people take up a fundamentalist theology that we Western left/progressives reject, must we not highlight the inequality we also say we oppose?

- Robert Jensen, Lessons from the Lal Masjid Tragedy