South Australia Shadow Attorney General Vickie Chapman

Mick Atkinson’s triple pike

Victor P Taffa

South Australia Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has performed an incredible double back flip and demonstrated he is unfit for office.

The Attorney-General yesterday criticised everyone from members of the public, every political party and news outlets, for opposing his changes to the Electoral Act which require all political material on the internet during an election campaign to have a name and address.

The Advertiser yesterday published comments from Mr Atkinson which stated:

“The Adelaide Now website is not just a sewer of criminal defamation, it is a sewer of identity theft and fraud.”

Later in the day he reversed his position and declared the law was inappropriate and people should be able to publish comments on the internet anonymously.

Mr Atkinson dismissed calls from the Liberal Party to immediately institute regulations which would protect anonymous bloggers until the law could be changed after the election and told ABC 891 listeners:

“We can’t just suspend the operation of the law, as Vickie Chapman … seems to think we can do … its unlawful …”

However less than three hours later Mr Atkinson changed his position and announced he would be adopting South Australia Shadow Attorney-General Vickie Chapman’s demand.

Ms Chapman says Mr Atkinson’s stunning double back flip has exposed he is a liability to the people of South Australia.

“Michael Atkinson isn’t just a liability to the Rann Government he is a liability to the general public.

“He makes off the cuff comments which are unnecessary and in some cases cost the tax payer money. Michael Atkinson’s comments and actions during the past 48 hours have again demonstrated he is unfit for office.” Vickie Chapman said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the Rann Government contemplates changes to the Electoral Act the whole issue of the Internet should be kept in perspective.

The Southern Thunderer general on-line newspaper went OFF-LINE ‘mysteriously’ between Sunday 29 November 2009 and Monday 7 December 2009.

Immediately prior to this period articles appeared in The Southern Thunderer that were highly critical of then NSW Rees Government plans to build its pet Metro Rail project. Further to this were articles criticising the Rudd Government Carbon Emissions Trading Taxation Scheme. The position taken by The Southern Thunderer was correct at the time and both these policy positions are deeply flawed.

Despite questions of a legal firm in Sydney the name of the person(s) who were responsible for the sabotage of this publication was suppressed from Editor Victor P Taffa.

Prior to The Southern Thunderer going mysteriously OFF-LINE correspondence had been sent to Federal Minister for Communications Victorian Senator Stephen Conroy in three separate emails. The Minister never bothered to acknowledged receipt of the correspondence.

For the I.T. Industry in Australia the biggest noise that comes from the Federal Government is to censor websites but when consumers are concerned there is no regulation in place as to who actually owns a website. The whole legal position of consumers is left to wordy terms and conditions and in the event of a dispute the only response is to “Take the matter to court.”

Who has the time and money to go to court every time a dispute arises with a web developer?

The Federal Government has an obligation to protect consumers with Industry regulation and Senator Conroy is in complete denial of the seriousness of the situation. The Rudd Government made much fanfare of the future of the internet in the lead up to the 2007 Federal election however is deafening in its silence when it comes to protecting consumers.

The attitude that “We want to keep the Internet free” is a fallacy as the Federal Government continues to censor the Internet and leave consumers to fend for themselves.

To keep I.T. regulation in perspective when the motor car was introduced and accidents began to occur traffic lights were invented and road rules introduced.

The first set of traffic lights in Sydney was at the intersection of Market and Kent Streets and was switched on in 1914.

While the internet is a global concern and computer hacking an increasing problem it would appear that when it comes to consumer protection the Federal Government does not care and is derelict in its duty in failing to act.

 

It would seem that “Labor has more spin cycles than a washing machine.”