Rupert Murdoch's Australian operatives do not want us to have a Bill of Rights

Engaging with any of his publications on this, or any other issue for that matter, is a waste of your energy.

By engaging, we mean:

giving them your hard earned cash to read their putrid propaganda, or to advertise in their pages;

using your intellect and time to write an opinion piece which lends them the credibility they don't deserve;

firing off letters to the editor, or;

participating in their on-line forums.

As Geoffrey Robertson in his latest book 'The Statute of Liberty: How Australians can take back their rights' pointed out:

"It may be that the editors of The Australian have become confused by reading their own newspaper. In its comment pages, hardly a week goes by without Janet Albrechtsen or James Allan attacking bills of rights and those who support them. Albrechtsen sees them as a left-wing plot - 'a leftoid [sic] symbol of disdain for the people's choices'. Her articles alternate abuse with apoplectic predictions drawn from Cold War hyperbole: 'A new war on democracy is taking hold across the west. It's been launched by activist judges trying to overturn the will of the people. These
'hoons' have 'plotted out a stealth strategy aimed at duping us into believing a charter is harmless'. The judges in her Spielberg horror scenario 'armed with a charter to hijack government policy' are 'high octane law-makers', a 'galloping imperial judiciary' who dismount to write 'judicial graffiti'. Ms Albrechtsen's prose is so purple it's practically puce, but when she recovers from her own mixed metaphors - one moment it's high octane judicial tanks on her lawn, the next it's hoon judges besieging her mind, the next she's being attacked by the galloping judicial cavalry - her message is simplistic: 'You may disagree with some government policies, but at least you can boot out politicans when they get things wrong.' No, you can't - not for three or four years, and then for reasons that relate to the economy, not to human rights. You can't boot them out because the public service has denied your child a place at school, or has sent your private details to commercial marketers, or has refused your partner a benefit he or she deserves. Who cares, when MPs don't? A charter gives the courts adequate power to protect individuals from government and public service abuses. That is their role in democracy."

If you are concerned about matters of public interest and are worried about what's going on around you and you feel compelled to let others know, consider starting your own community newsletter. Local and independent is the future as the neocon project comes unspun.

"Another urgent challenge is to expose the corporate media for the boardroom bulletin that it really is. We need to create a universe of alternative information. We need to support independent media like Democracy Now!, Alternative Radio, and South End Press."

Arundhati Roy (From her 2003 speech: 'Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free)')