Last Tuesday News: It’s not just the world of video games that has felt the wrath of South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson. New details have come to light concerning his role in the recent attempt by the South Australian government to prohibit anonymous political commentary on the internet. In a report that aired on the ABC’s Media Watch last night, it was revealed that a particular post made on the AdelaideNow website on December 8 drew Atkinson’s ire. The post referred to Atkinson as a ‘crook’, and was swiftly taken down, with an apology posted in its...

Too late for that but here we go: Tasmania’s Liberals are now backing mandatory sentencing for serious assaults against police and emergency service workers. Oh it’s AGAINST not from. Last month, both the Liberal and Labor parties rejected calls by the Police Association for minimum sentencing laws for assaults. Heheh. The Liberal Leader, Will Hodgman, says he has changed his mind after seeing how new laws have been applied in Western Australia. If the Liberals win government, he says an assault involving bodily harm will attract a minimum penalty of six months in prison. “I’ve...

The Queensland Government will consider the Federal Government’s $50 billion plan to take over health services, but the Opposition has rejected it. The Queensland Government is doing maths! OH MY GOD! Premier Anna Bligh says the changes will take weeks to digest, but her first response is positive. “Finally a government federally that will accept responsibility for growth – that is a good news part of this package,” she said. She only says that because she’s Labor. Health Minister Paul Lucas acknowledges it is big cut in Good and Services Tax (GST) revenue. “We...

Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he takes heart from a new opinion poll that shows the Coalition is level pegging with Labor. The poll of New South Wales voters in today’s Fairfax newspapers shows the Coalition is equal with Labor on a two-party preferred basis. However, Kevin Rudd remains the preferred prime minister at 53 per cent compared to Mr Abbott’s 40 per cent. Bugger. Mr Abbott welcomed the poll result but said the Coalition had a long way to go to win government. About 13 “I’m not making too much of this poll,” he told Channel Ten. I’m unhappy...

First of all, I really don’t like the title of this post, what the hell is knife culture? Second, it’s in Vic, let them lead by example and the rest of the states do the same. The Victorian Government has announced plans to give Consumer Affairs inspectors the power to seize knives that are being sold illegally across the state. The announcement follows the latest knife incident in which a 27-year-old man was slashed across the face as he tried to stop gatecrashers from entering a 16th birthday party at East Bentleigh. The Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson says he is appalled...

The Federal Government is under pressure to refer new claims concerning the mismanagement of its home insulation program to the Auditor General. The Federal Opposition is calling for an independent inquiry into whether Environment Minister Peter Garrett ignored warnings from his own department about potential problems with the home insulation program. The Opposition’s call comes after Mr Garrett was yesterday stripped of his responsibility for overseeing the troubled scheme. Government frontbencher Greg Combet has been handed the job of winding up the old insulation program and rolling out...

Tasmania’s political leaders have attempted to woo the information technology sector at a forum in Hobart. The Premier, David Bartlett spoke first promising to create a new minister for innovations, science and information technology if re-elected. He also pledged almost $5 million to boost health and education programs linked to the proposed national broadband network. The Opposition leader, Will Hodgman is promising to appointment a chief technology officer and chief information officer to drive progress in the sector. He says the Liberals new advisory body, Infrastructure Tasmania, would...

Anyone nominate these experts for receiving a medal? Victoria Police say there were 13 incidents involving knives in Melbourne at the weekend, most of which were alcohol or drug-related and involved young men. The director of the Alfred Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Centre, Dr De Villiers Smit, says the past weekend is one he will never forget. “I worked this weekend and to the best of my knowledge I can’t remember it being so busy with regard to stabbings,” he said. “We see quite a variety of injuries – on the weekend specifically we saw some stabbings to...

Fairly old news but I found a bumper sticker on a car with the above slogan. Here’s an article on how it came around – and how they got fined: SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian hire firm which painted “Save a Whale–Harpoon a Jap” on the side of one its camping vans was accused by a senior politician Thursday of racism and risking a tourist backlash. Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said she was concerned that Japanese tourists should feel welcome in the state. Money brought in by Japanese visitors is an important part of Australia’s tourism earnings, despite...

Fingers crossed he’s forced to resign. STEPHEN Conroy has been a guest of the three commercial television networks at some of Australia’s biggest sporting events during his time as Communications Minister. The extent of the largesse received by the sports-loving minister adds to the appearance of a conflict of interest after his decision to offer a rebate to the free-to-air TV networks worth $250 million over the next two years. Parliamentary documents reveal that Senator Conroy has attended football, AFL, motor racing and horse-racing events as guests of the commercial TV networks...