Government to censor the Internet

[SGB]

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd being a "control freak" is very debatable, as that would allude to the Prime Minister operating in a manor of a Dictator and I'd find it hard to believe that his coworkers, and the greater ALP for that matter, would just sit on their hands and take that.

He's definitely a control freak from what I've heard. ALPers are "taking that" (for now) because they risk getting disendorsed if they speak out against him (or any official ALP policy) or try to act against him.

That could soon change, though; I hear many within the ALP have gotten very sick of him and, using his poor polls as an excuse, will attempt to push him out a few months after the next election should he win it. Why do you think there's talk of Gillard being handed the reins?

If the ALP didn't want the filter I would find it also very hard to believe that only 2 members would stand in the way of the rest of the party dropping it

As I said earlier, if any ALPer speaks against Rudd or his policies, they risk getting disendorsed and losing their candidacy for their seat at the next election.

Kate Lundy's the only Federal ALPer who's been brave enough to say she doesn't agree with the mandatory aspect of the filter. She's tried to get her colleagues to push for the filter to be optional, but Rudd and Conroy vetoed that, and Rudd gave her a major lashing for daring to speak against the filter.

[Hursticon]

He's definitely a control freak from what I've heard. ALPers are "taking that" (for now) because they risk getting disendorsed if they speak out against him (or any official ALP policy) or try to act against him.

That could soon change, though; I hear many within the ALP have gotten very sick of him and, using his poor polls as an excuse, will attempt to push him out a few months after the next election should he win it. Why do you think there's talk of Gillard being handed the reins?

I doubt that very highly because for 1. He doesn't hold that much power and certainly not enough to dis-endorse and remove an entire party from their seats (that's just ridiculous). 2. the polls that you speak of are a sample of 1000 anonymous people which doesn't represent a National view, i.e. statistically statistics disprove statistics, and as for the talk about Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard taking the reins - the media will talk all sorts of crap, hell they did for 2 years with Former Treasurer Peter Costello and look what became of that.

Kate Lundy's the only Federal ALPer who's been brave enough to say she doesn't agree with the mandatory aspect of the filter. She's tried to get her colleagues to push for the filter to be optional, but Rudd and Conroy vetoed that, and Rudd gave her a major lashing for daring to speak against the filter.

Have you got a source for that? as I'd like to read it.
At any rate good on her for speaking out against it because a non-mandatory filter would be a far better approach.

[SGB]

I doubt that very highly because for 1. He doesn't hold that much power

He's in charge of the ALP, so he does have a degree of power despite him having no factional support. The ALP's strict disciplinary system also plays a part in many ALPers not speaking out against the leader or party policies.

the polls that you speak of are a sample of 1000 anonymous people which doesn't represent a National view, i.e. statistically statistics disprove statistics

I do agree that 1000 is not really statistically valid (which is why I tend to ignore most polls). I was just merely pointing out that ALPers could use any poor polling as an excuse to oust Rudd.

and as for the talk about Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard taking the reins - the media will talk all sorts of crap

I agree, the media do tend to talk crap. But the timing of the talk of Gillard being handed the reins is certainly interesting, especially considering she's seemingly more popular than Rudd.

Have you got a source for that? as I'd like to read it.

There's no reports to refer to as it was never publicised in the media.

At any rate good on her for speaking out against it because a non-mandatory filter would be a far better approach.

Lundy's been against mandatory filters for years. She spoke out against the idea when she was in Opposition.

Penny Sharpe is the only other ALPer to have spoken out against the filter. She's a state MP though, so I doubt anything she says against the idea will influence or resonate with any federal ALPers.

[Hursticon]

He's in charge of the ALP, so he does have a degree of power despite him having no factional support. The ALP's strict disciplinary system also plays a part in many ALPers not speaking out against the leader or party policies.

This is probable, the disciplinary system that is, but if a majority of members are against a policy, or a significant portion, you would have to agree that the odds of penalties being issued without serious consideration of the argument would lead to a party collapse. There for the threat is essentially null and void.

I do agree that 1000 is not really statistically valid (which is why I tend to ignore most polls). I was just merely pointing out that ALPers could use any poor polling as an excuse to oust Rudd.

I'd doubt this too as for the very same reason we agree on, polls mean nothing. Poor polling is what the Liberals use as an excuse, 3 Leaders in almost as many years?.

I agree, the media do tend to talk crap. But the timing of the talk of Gillard being handed the reins is certainly interesting, especially considering she's seemingly more popular than Rudd.

The timing is only relevant because a poll was put to, another 1000 people, who they would prefer, the Prime Minister or the Deputy? which was only issued when the poll of preferred Prime Minister showed that Kevin Rudd was down. The same sort of thing was done each time a new Leader of the opposition was to be instated.

I agree that Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is popular, for many reasons apart from being a woman, but her popularity was only shown in a poll of 1000 people and as we agree, trust polls with a grain of salt. That and she has also said that she is very happy with what she is doing at the moment, this says to me that she most likely has aspirations of the "top job" but is only going to accept it a certain way.

There's no reports to refer to as it was never publicised in the media.

How do you know what happened then? You must of heard or seen it somewhere?.

Lundy's been against mandatory filters for years. She spoke out against the idea when she was in Opposition.

Penny Sharpe is the only other ALPer to have spoken out against the filter. She's a state MP though, so I doubt anything she says against the idea will influence or resonate with any federal ALPers.

I agree that State members probably hold very little influence, mind you if Former Leader of The Liberal Party Malcolm Turnbull had run for NSW Premier this might not of been the case.

It's a pity too because I probably would've voted for him because NSW State Labor at the moment is an absolute joke, though, what the Seven Television Network did to Minister David Campbell is truly despicable - Wollongong City Council ran without issue and Wollongong was a better and safer place when he was Lord Mayor, it's sad to see good people's lives destroyed like that.

[SGB]

I agree that Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is popular, for many reasons apart from being a woman, but her popularity was only shown in a poll of 1000 people and as we agree, trust polls with a grain of salt.

Which is why I said "seemingly".

That and she has also said that she is very happy with what she is doing at the moment, this says to me that she most likely has aspirations of the "top job" but is only going to accept it a certain way.

IMO her saying she's happy where she is is just to try and defuse public talk of leadership challenge.

As an aside, Gillard is one of the ALPers who's unhappy with Rudd and wants him gone.

How do you know what happened then? You must of heard or seen it somewhere?

Heard it from a reputable source.

NSW State Labor at the moment is an absolute joke

I agree. Especially with a premier who's just a puppet. She's hawt though.

though, what the Seven Television Network did to Minister David Campbell is truly despicable

Aside from the questionable journalistic actions, I feel a bit different about that. Given pollies love to pry into people's private lives, I think it's only fair they get a taste of their own medicine.

[Hursticon]

Which is why I said "seemingly".

Fair enough.

IMO her saying she's happy where she is is just to try and defuse public talk of leadership challenge.

That's a given, no sense in useless speculation.

As an aside, Gillard is one of the ALPers who's unhappy with Rudd and wants him gone.

Really? , I guess you-

Heard it from a reputable source.

I agree. Especially with a premier who's just a puppet. She's hawt though.

lol, another thing we agree on.

Aside from the questionable journalistic actions, I feel a bit different about that. Given pollies love to pry into people's private lives, I think it's only fair they get a taste of their own medicine.

I agree so far as to say so long as those doing the prying are the one's who are pried upon, but I don't believe that Minister David Campbell fell into this category.

Now, bringing the focus back to the topic at hand, lol.
Let's forget the blame game and lets just focus on lobbying the Independents in the Senate to vote against this abysmal attempt at filtering.

This I think we can all agree upon.

[SGB]

Really? , I guess you-

Heard rumors about it; plus it wasn't hard to come to such a conclusion when I read one online article recently that implied no-one in the ALP likes Rudd and that's he's done too much damage for anyone to like him again.

The article was on the Canberra Times website, if I recall correctly.

Now, bringing the focus back to the topic at hand, lol.
Let's forget the blame game and lets just focus on lobbying the Independents in the Senate to vote against this abysmal attempt at filtering.

This I think we can all agree upon.

I think so too.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

3 things here...
1: You don't have to vote, just show up at a polling place and get your name ticked off on election day. Bonus points for showing up drunk.
2: Gillard over Rudd anyday, Rudd bores me to tears like Howard before him, but Gillard has moments of being fun to watch on TV.
3: The best bet for getting the Opposition to send this to legislative hell like it deserves (since the Greens/Independents can't do it alone) is through the Nationals. They're the more electorally endangered of the two Coalition parties, since most of their constituency is in regional areas where internet access is pretty substandard already they're more concerned with keeping the 'net as fast as is possible, and with the recent inter-party battles in Queensland (IIRC) it'd be an issue they could put some weight into to make a show of being an equal Coalition partner (which they're not, but appearance is everything in politics).

Try Barnaby Joyce, as the politics junkies amongst us will know he's the Shadow Minister for Regional Development/Infrastructure, a high-up member of the Federal Coalition, and likes a good bandwagon to jump on.

[Hursticon]

3 things here...
1: You don't have to vote, just show up at a polling place and get your name ticked off on election day. Bonus points for showing up drunk.
2: Gillard over Rudd anyday, Rudd bores me to tears like Howard before him, but Gillard has moments of being fun to watch on TV.
3: The best bet for getting the Opposition to send this to legislative hell like it deserves (since the Greens/Independents can't do it alone) is through the Nationals. They're the more electorally endangered of the two Coalition parties, since most of their constituency is in regional areas where internet access is pretty substandard already they're more concerned with keeping the 'net as fast as is possible, and with the recent inter-party battles in Queensland (IIRC) it'd be an issue they could put some weight into to make a show of being an equal Coalition partner (which they're not, but appearance is everything in politics).

Try Barnaby Joyce, as the politics junkies amongst us will know he's the Shadow Minister for Regional Development/Infrastructure, a high-up member of the Federal Coalition, and likes a good bandwagon to jump on.

You bring up some very valid points Odey, but man... (shows anguish), Barnaby?, lol, man that guy is as funny as hell.

[Golden Phoenix]

It doesn't really matter if Rudd is pulling conroy's strings or if it's his idea or not, getting it pinned to rudd gets the same result regardless.

If it is his idea and he is pulling strings then the mess will make him dump it so he can try to save face
If it isn't then he will dump it to distance himself.

If he supports it he will force him to vocalise his opinion and he will put his foot in it