11 March 2011

Legislative Assembly to control what you can hear on the radio?

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times has an astonishing piece on efforts by Labor MLA John Hargreaves for the Legislative Assembly to start issuing directions to radio stations on what can be broadcast.

Labor backbencher John Hargreaves tabled a petition in the Assembly yesterday calling on the chamber to support policies that monitor broadcasts for material that is racist or incites racist sentiment.

The petition also calls on the Assembly to write to 2CC, ”stating that Chris Smith’s afternoon show is inappropriate for the local audience”.

2CC isn’t my cup of tea, but given they’re already regulated by ACMA do you want to London Circuit Soviet dictating appropriate content?

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LSWCHP said :

spinact said :

flatwhiteleft said :

He tabled a petition. Gary Humphries (Sen.) tabled a petition to end Muslim immigration. They will both say they are doing their duty to the electorate.

Yep, crazy petitions are tabled all the time, especially in Federal Parliament. They mean nothing and elected officials who table them as part of their duty to their constituents rarely agree with the subject matter. They’re as close to being law as any of the ranting threads here on RiotAct

Are you saying that my opinions won’t eventually be turned into law? Outrageous!!!

Yep. Sad but true

spinact said :

flatwhiteleft said :

He tabled a petition. Gary Humphries (Sen.) tabled a petition to end Muslim immigration. They will both say they are doing their duty to the electorate.

Yep, crazy petitions are tabled all the time, especially in Federal Parliament. They mean nothing and elected officials who table them as part of their duty to their constituents rarely agree with the subject matter. They’re as close to being law as any of the ranting threads here on RiotAct

Are you saying that my opinions won’t eventually be turned into law? Outrageous!!!

flatwhiteleft said :

He tabled a petition. Gary Humphries (Sen.) tabled a petition to end Muslim immigration. They will both say they are doing their duty to the electorate.

Yep, crazy petitions are tabled all the time, especially in Federal Parliament. They mean nothing and elected officials who table them as part of their duty to their constituents rarely agree with the subject matter. They’re as close to being law as any of the ranting threads here on RiotAct

I await our new communist overlords with anticipation.

All decent will be crushed.

Jeez Thumper, I’ve always thought I’m a decent bloke, so that seems pretty harsh. 🙂

And FWIW, I’ve never heard of Chris Smith until today.

Nothing quite screams nanny state like telling the citizens they can’t be trusted to resist the content of messages being transmitted on airwaves, and nor can they think for themselves.
Radios have this neat feature, its called an off switch.

Expressing disappointment that someone else in the country -may- have violated the ACMA Code of Practice is well and good, but trying to refer it to the Human Rights Commissioner is quite a dickmove.

By the way, suitable defences, so long as the act occurred reasonably and in good faith, are covered under the Racial Discrimination Act (Part IIa – Prohibition of Offensive Behaviour Based on Racial Hatred) are:
a – performance, exhibition or distribution of an artistic work (“Its just entertainment”)
b – any statement, publication, discussion or debate made or held for any genuine academic, artistic or scientific purpose or any other genuine purpose in the public interest (“It was for public interest\discussion of current events\to encourage debate”)
c – making or publishing:
(i) a fair and accurate report of any event or matter of public interest; or
(ii) a fair comment on any event or matter of public interest if the comment is an expression of a genuine belief held by the person making the comment.

Burden lies with the complainant to prove their claim,.

Wow, imaging the stamping of tiny feet in the Assembly if Chris Smith has asked:
How many MLA’s have gone DUI since self government? or
How many MLA’s have resigned a front bench position because they became tired of their drinking habits making news?

merlin bodega4:27 pm 11 Mar 11

So nobody heard Chris Smith offering a prize for anyone who could call in to his radio station and guess the correct number of coffins that went in the ground that day to bury the Christmas Island asylum seekers killed when the ship that Customs somehow or other didn’t see crashed on the rocks? The Legislative Assembly has plenty of numpties I agree but at least they’re numpties who will never go around sticking yellow stars on people. Good for them.

Waiting For Godot4:01 pm 11 Mar 11

facet said :

Yeah Canberra really needs more shock jocks like Neil Mitchell and Alan Jones to straighten out those over educated Canberrans.
Might as well sack ACMA’s 690 staff they are useless.

Erm, Neil Mitchell’s show isn’t even broadcast in Canberra.

georgesgenitals3:51 pm 11 Mar 11

Settle down komrades – I’m sure people are capable of choosing what radio station they listen to!

This reinforces my thoughts that Hargeaves is an ignorant, bullying idiot – come to think of it, so are the rest of them.

Ian said :

umm, if you don’t want to hear Chris Smith’s rantings, last time I checked radios do have an off switch and even a dial that lets you select other stations.

Slow down there, you mean to say media delivering devices have OFF switches???
Here I thought the way to deal with things I heard or saw but didn’t like was to make a general nuisance of myself until the whole world follows my point of view only…

People still listen to the radio?

umm, if you don’t want to hear Chris Smith’s rantings, last time I checked radios do have an off switch and even a dial that lets you select other stations.

Yeah Canberra really needs more shock jocks like Neil Mitchell and Alan Jones to straighten out those over educated Canberrans.
Might as well sack ACMA’s 690 staff they are useless.

flatwhiteleft11:58 am 11 Mar 11

He tabled a petition. Gary Humphries (Sen.) tabled a petition to end Muslim immigration. They will both say they are doing their duty to the electorate.

the sooner these jumped up shire councillors get back to running the shire and providing basic services and amenities rather than grandstanding on the (small) world stage that is the ACT the better. So many napolean complexes in one small room….

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