<story><title>Australians ‘complacent’ to rapid growth in digital surveillance</title><url>https://www.innovationaus.com/australians-complacent-to-rapid-growth-in-digital-surveillance/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ImTheMaddest</author><text>We can&amp;#x27;t blame the LNP for all of this. All of the surveillance related bills passed in the last 10 years have been bipartisan.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d also go as far as to say this is what Australians want. Many people believe these laws won&amp;#x27;t be used against regular citizens and will assist in law enforcement efforts.</text></item><item><author>stephen_g</author><text>It’s a fairly complex situation. Most people just don’t realise all the encroaching police state laws even exist (I refer to the real ones Federally, not the temporary State-Government health orders that some people have tried to blow out of proportion).&lt;p&gt;We have very little media diversity. The few billionaires who own the few outlets enjoy the continuing tax cuts, random free grants, advertising spend, etc. from the conservative Government, so run what some critics have called a ‘protection racket for the Liberal National Party’. Almost &lt;i&gt;nothing&lt;/i&gt; about any of the mass surveillance laws then really gets into the media, and if something is mentioned, it’s mostly presented in light of the Government’s line on it.&lt;p&gt;The times any of this does get into the news is if there is any opposition from the Opposition party (Labor), who theoretically could get the numbers to block laws in the Senate by one vote. If it looks like they might not allow the Government to sweep them through, the Government then does what we call ‘wedging’ the Labor party. This is where they say “Labor wants the terrorists to win” or “Labor is voting in the interests of paedophiles”, and the media amplifies that narrative.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately it works because nobody knows what the laws are about (even though human rights groups, law groups, civil society groups, often even the Government’s own security legislation review committee have raised serious flaws, tried to get them out in the open but are ignored by the media).&lt;p&gt;The Government also makes a mockery of any due process - sometimes having a public consultation period but ignoring it when basically every submission is negative and it’s clear nobody actually wants the laws (it’s just a box ticking exercise - if people bring it up later, they will seriously claim “but we consulted the public and experts” even though they ignored all of them). Some of these laws they have pushed through both Houses of Parliament in one or two days, with basically no debate.&lt;p&gt;It’s a truly atrocious situation. There is an election coming up, but with most of the media enthusiastically running the protection racket and pushing basically just lies about politics, and only fairly actively politically informed people knowing what’s actually going on (that’s a small proportion of the population - the conservative party relies on that a lot), things may not improve.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>stephen_g</author><text>They’re the main ones pushing all these laws in. I am disgusted at Labor for their part but the core responsibility is 100% with the current Government.&lt;p&gt;Just look at what’s happening now - in the last few days - Morrison and Joyce claimed they’re going to bring a bill to outlaw anonymous posting on social media sites - for the &lt;i&gt;sole reason&lt;/i&gt; that some people were talking about a rumour that the just departed NSW deputy Premier was allegedly having an affair with Joyce’s daughter… That’s just an insane basis for legislation!</text></comment>
<story><title>Australians ‘complacent’ to rapid growth in digital surveillance</title><url>https://www.innovationaus.com/australians-complacent-to-rapid-growth-in-digital-surveillance/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ImTheMaddest</author><text>We can&amp;#x27;t blame the LNP for all of this. All of the surveillance related bills passed in the last 10 years have been bipartisan.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d also go as far as to say this is what Australians want. Many people believe these laws won&amp;#x27;t be used against regular citizens and will assist in law enforcement efforts.</text></item><item><author>stephen_g</author><text>It’s a fairly complex situation. Most people just don’t realise all the encroaching police state laws even exist (I refer to the real ones Federally, not the temporary State-Government health orders that some people have tried to blow out of proportion).&lt;p&gt;We have very little media diversity. The few billionaires who own the few outlets enjoy the continuing tax cuts, random free grants, advertising spend, etc. from the conservative Government, so run what some critics have called a ‘protection racket for the Liberal National Party’. Almost &lt;i&gt;nothing&lt;/i&gt; about any of the mass surveillance laws then really gets into the media, and if something is mentioned, it’s mostly presented in light of the Government’s line on it.&lt;p&gt;The times any of this does get into the news is if there is any opposition from the Opposition party (Labor), who theoretically could get the numbers to block laws in the Senate by one vote. If it looks like they might not allow the Government to sweep them through, the Government then does what we call ‘wedging’ the Labor party. This is where they say “Labor wants the terrorists to win” or “Labor is voting in the interests of paedophiles”, and the media amplifies that narrative.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately it works because nobody knows what the laws are about (even though human rights groups, law groups, civil society groups, often even the Government’s own security legislation review committee have raised serious flaws, tried to get them out in the open but are ignored by the media).&lt;p&gt;The Government also makes a mockery of any due process - sometimes having a public consultation period but ignoring it when basically every submission is negative and it’s clear nobody actually wants the laws (it’s just a box ticking exercise - if people bring it up later, they will seriously claim “but we consulted the public and experts” even though they ignored all of them). Some of these laws they have pushed through both Houses of Parliament in one or two days, with basically no debate.&lt;p&gt;It’s a truly atrocious situation. There is an election coming up, but with most of the media enthusiastically running the protection racket and pushing basically just lies about politics, and only fairly actively politically informed people knowing what’s actually going on (that’s a small proportion of the population - the conservative party relies on that a lot), things may not improve.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>caf</author><text>We absolutely can blame the LNP, because they are the Goverment, they draft the laws, they introduce them as Government bills in the parliament, they put them on the notice paper, they determine the sitting schedule that allows them to be debated and passed, they have the majority on the House committees that scrutinise them and they direct the Governor-General to provide royal assent.&lt;p&gt;They also are the the Ministers that promulgate regulations under those bills and direct their Departments to implement them.&lt;p&gt;The LNP owns this.</text></comment>