Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

Aussies get shafted

In what can only be described as an afront to the democratic process, Australia's parliament has passed the bill that will restrict access to social media for under-16-year-olds.

If you think politics on this side of the ditch is bad, you won't believe what they're doing in Oz.

Aussie politicians don't like working too hard so the parliament doesn't sit at all in December. This means they fastracked some 36 bills yesterday in order to ram them through before the last session of the year.

That left just 15 minutes for debate on those bills, including the under-16-year-old ban on social media.

How can democracy be served when such an important piece of legislation is effectively passed without due process -- all because the highly paid representatives want to get away on holiday?

But wait, it's worse.

There has been resounding public outrage at this bill with opposing politicians pointing out that it's nothing but an excuse to force Digital ID on all Australians and even visitors to the country.

The degree of this farce was made absolutely clear when one member pointed out, to the embarasment of the government, that although the bill prohibited under-16-year-olds from accessing sites like YouTube, Facebook and Tiktok -- it did not prohibit them from accessing porn sites such as Pornhub.

Clearly, this law has nothing to do with protecting children and everything to do with increasing the power and oversight of the state.

It is indeed a dark day for freedoms, rights and political honesty in Australia.

When I look at how things are going in Oz and also in the UK, I can't help but wonder if this isn't simply a fallout from the CV19 pandemic.

During that pandemic, governments exercised unprecedented power over their citizens -- confining them to their homes and forcing them from their jobs if they refused to be vaccinated. Could it be that, having had a taste of this totalitarian power, some Western governments have now become emboldened and feel that they can do whatever the hell they want, regardless of public opinion or outcry?

I think it's pretty safe to say that power is an aphrodisiac and that it corrupts. Even though many of our elected representatives may have entered politics with the best of intentions, once they're exposed to the trappings of such power, it seems to alter their perspectives, values and agendas in a decidedly negative way.

I wonder how long before the New Zealand government decides that it would like a slice of this totalitarian pie and begins to assert its authority in decidedly undemocratic ways?

A reminder that perhaps my paper on Recoverable Proxy has never been more relevant than it is today.

Carpe Diem folks!

Please visit the sponsor!

Here is a PERMANENT link to this column

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font