Full marks to Dr Ameer Ali, president of the national Federation of Islamic Councils, when he says that Islamic extremists should not be banned.
“The best thing is to expose these people and marginalise them. As long as they are out in the open we know what they are thinking,” […] Continue Reading…
August 23, 2005 | Graham
Religious vilification
Posted by Graham at 3:57 pm |
Comments (10)
August 21, 2005 | Graham
Bob Quinn loses in by-elections?
Could Bob Quinn lose his job as a result of winning the Queensland by-elections? That’s the seemingly bizarre analysis running around the Queensland Liberal Party. It goes like this.
Michael Caltabiano, the winner in Chatsworth, has entered Parliament with the express intention of becoming Parliamentary Leader. Not only is he […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 11:40 pm |
Comments (2)
August 21, 2005 | Graham
Two significant victories
The Queensland Liberal Party has had two significant victories in the Redcliffe and Chatsworth by-elections. With swings in Redcliffe of around 7% and 12% in Chatsworth voters have told Premier Beattie to fix the health system. They have also put in place the first building blocks of a decent […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 6:11 pm |
Comments (1)
August 20, 2005 | Graham
Galvanising the fourth estate
The media is the other missing ingredient in the eDemocracy tiramisu (see my blog post of 16th August for the context). That was part of the theme of a joint presentation by Terry Flew and me given on the third day of the eDemocracy conference. While it was […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 6:30 pm |
Comments Off on Galvanising the fourth estate
August 17, 2005 | Graham
Only the Liberals are under real pressure in the by-elections
In the Redcliffe and Chatsworth by-elections, only the Liberal Party is under real pressure.
For Peter Beattie a loss would be a good management tool. It would say to his back-benchers that his government is not impregnable, so they should be careful how they behave. He would also be able […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 2:44 pm |
Comments (1)
August 16, 2005 | Graham
eDemocracy or eBureaucracy
Who or what is eDemocracy about? That’s a question I posed to a panel at the United Nations International Conference on Engaging Communities currently being held in Brisbane. I’ve been to a few conferences on eDemocracy recently and one thing always strikes me – there are generally no politicians […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 11:54 am |
Comments (4)
August 11, 2005 | Graham
Five tips to reduce terrorism
I came across this piece in Open Democracy by Scilla Elworthy a couple of weeks ago. In it’s own context it is not that different from the advice that I would give a political combatant in a domestic legislative scrap, so it resonates with me.
Elworthy has five principles to […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 10:11 pm |
Comments (5)
August 08, 2005 | Graham
Labor should pay back public funding money
According to the ABC, Tim Gartrell, National Secretary of the ALP, “wants the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to investigate whether it is possible to stop political candidates making money from the election process”.
His concern is that Pauline Hanson made $164,000 from public funding in her last attempt to gain […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 11:20 pm |
Comments (2)
August 06, 2005 | Graham
Redneck Radio
The best thing about Graeme Gilbert is that he spells “Grayam” differently from the way that I spell it. He’s using my name and he’s wearing it out.This man is as big a threat to our way of life as the Islamo-fascists he criticises.
I subjected myself to at least […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 10:03 pm |
Comments (7)
August 04, 2005 | Graham
How good is Telstra in the cities?
While the National Party is busy demanding broadband access to every homestead, along with a tar seal on the road, two new dams for every property over 1000 hectares, and reticulated water everywhere but the Simpson Desert, I wonder whether Telecoms services in the city are really up to […] Continue Reading…
Posted by Graham at 5:53 am |
Comments (6)