A new blog, SA Votes 2010 Uncensored, will defy new South Australian laws banning anonymous political speech at election time. The blog will mainly post links to stories about the SA election but will allow anonymous comments on the election, without forcing commenters to publish real names or postcodes, and without forcing commenters to provide their address to the blog publisher.
The new law means that anyone commenting on a “journal”, including journals published on the Internet, must leave their real name and postcode, and the journal must collect and hold for six months their name and address. This law is so easily defied that it can easily be made unworkable, which is the point of the new blog.
Congrats on excellent rapid response!
It’s congratulations all around, as I have just heard on Adelaide radio that the Attorney General Michael Atkinson (DLPerish)will repeal the provisions.
Congrats around indeed!: When mass murdoch instructs the pollies jump!
SOUTH Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson late last night backed down on online media censorship laws. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sa-attorney-general-backs-down-on-political-blogging/story-e6frg6nf-1225826154732
On Adelaide radio yesterday, Liberal spokespeople (notably,Vicki Chapman) were revoking their support for the provisions that only passed with their vote a few weeks ago. The Liberals, (state and Fed.) are found repeatedly to be asleep at the wheel, as the ALP introduces its anti-political, anti-democratic, pro-major party electoral ‘reforms’.
Ohh, for P.R., multi-member electorates, and an awake opposition so that they don’t support things like this in the first place. Or as they have done previously giving bi-partisan support to officially hindering advocacy of things like vote informal campaigns. (tri-partisan support here Dem., Lib., ALP., all supporting s126 – which is the SA equivalent of S329A)
This is bringing back that I heard somewhere that it has been made illegal to reproduce an image of an electoral provision during the election period. I gathered that it is aimed at stopping the kind of ad we/Neither! ran in the 1996 election urging people to give equal last preferences to Tweedledum and Tweedledee? Can’t recall now if this was Cwlth or state??
As noted by informally yours, Adelaide Now commenters have already won this battle
Atkinson, South Australia’s Attorney General:
Rann, South Australia’s Premier, tweeted:
btw the reason Atkinson is despised is that he alone is the reason why Australia does not have an R18+ rating for video games (R18+ site ). Such a classification requires unanimous state support and Atkinson is the only opposition.
Hmmm that WAS quick!!!
I last heard Attorney General, Michael Atkinson, thanking Vicki Chapman for coming up with the idea to amend by way of exempting bloggers from the provision.