Regulating blogging in Australia

So, the Finkelstein Inquiry has recommended regulation of "news" blogs that get 15,000 hits a year. Thats a bit over 40 a day. If more that 40 people read this post, apparently that would mean this post, cross-posted with my Google+ and my facebook page, may qualify me for regulation.

Ignoring the faint sound of marching jackboots, and the dampening effect on anonymous commentary, who the hell is going to pay the armies of regulators to peer over our shoulders.

Please comment so I know if I'm at risk of being regulated for the sin of posting topical and often political material.

Australia Day

Well, it is Australia Day. There are things to celebrate, like Governor Arthur Phillip's formal extension of religious tolerance to Catholic transportees, his assertion of the illegality of slavery and his early attempts to treat the Aboriginal people with respect and extend to them the protection of law.

There is much to regret, from the invasion and enclosure of Aboriginal lands echoing the tragic mistreatment of the Scots and Irish before them to the disgrace of blackbirding compounded by the insult of The White Australia policy.

Australia is still, despite the efforts of some, a secular, religiously and racially and culturally diverse nation of immigrants and outcasts brought together by common belief in a fair go and honest dealing.

Each of us has much to celebrate, and much to contemplate, we can revel in our achievements without forgetting te mistakes made along the way.

The Australian Dream

It used to mean that everyone aspired to home ownership of a detached dwelling in the suburban fringe. In the 90s various factors reduced it to maybe a semi-detached or a flat. In the 21st Century the meaning of the word dream has switched from aspiration to dim hope.

This means in practice that 50% of the current generation of new entrants to the workforce will never own a home. They will be tenants, for life.

In Queensland, various reforms to the rental environment coupled with a sort of institutionalized land-lord sneer mean that leases are short, 6 or 12 months and are often not renewed (churning tenants lets them raise rent more than 5% or so a year that is considered reasonable on a renewal). Additionally tenants live under rules that are more like those that apply to guests in hotels or boarding houses. No hanging pictures, even with Blue Tac. No redecorating, no leaving one's imprint on ones home. No permanence, which means effectively no accumulating more possessions than you can afford to move every year or two.

There is no right or even expectation of pet ownership. There is no right to run even a hobby business from home. Many leases ban parking commercial vehicles on the property. Inspections are often every 3 months, and passing or failing is often subjective and arbitrary.

Legislation is overwhelmingly in the landlords favour. House washed away by flood, tenant pays rent until they lodge the forms to terminate the lease due to the premises being uninhabitable. Basic maintenance not done, the default response of the regulator is to offer the Tenant the option to terminate the lease without penalty, rather than enforcing minimum standards of habitability.

Australia needs to overhaul the concept of residential tenancy over the next decade to give the growing underclass the opportunity to establish roots and connections to their community.

Corporationism

Someone in the US has noticed, but doesn't seem to have heard of National Socialism. The fascists in Germany in the 1930s called their party and system National Socialist. Like Mussolini in Italy, Hitler felt that the Government needed only the rich and the working class... Don't blame socialism which is working quite well in Australia where the AUD is high, crime rates are low and there is universal unemployment payments without time limits and a universal healthcare safety net. From a government that costs no more than that of the US.

Dylan Ratigan writes:

The Cost of Corporate Communism

Can we afford the Carbon Tax

Australia is thrashing around in preparation for some sort of Carbon trading/tax/fairytale scheme. Gillard promised a Labor government would not push through in this term with such a scheme, but having been forced into (effectively) a coalition with the Greens and Country Independents, all bets are off.

Numbers between $600 and $1,100 per year are thrown around in the article below based on $30 or $40 a tonne Carbon Tax and the question of including Petrol. There is much talk of offset payments, but even if those are a lump sum, efficient appliance grants and a rise to the rate of Pensions, Unemployment Benefit, Youth Allowance and AustStudy, they are unlikely to maintain even the poorest Australians at their current level.

Treasury releases carbon tax estimates

Privatization of electricity supply and generation has seen prices skyrocket, despite coal being cheaper and the private companies not spending money on maintenance. Profits to share holders are high and salaries to the bloated plutocrats are, of course, obscene. So compared to the increased efficiencies of privatization, the carbon tax will have a moderate impact on electricity prices, and even at 440/tonne is unlikely to push alternative energy investment mush faster than it is currently growing. At 1/3kg/kWh (1) $30/tonne is 10c/kWh is a large increase now (40% where I am, much less in less fortunate areas) but with prices predicted to double before years end, the impact will be lessened.

Currently distribution companies charge a premium for "green" power, but don't reduce your bill if they oversell and have to dig into the coal fired system to keep your lights burning. I wonder how that little money maker will go when the carbon price/tax comes in. They also pay quite poorly for co-generated power fed back to the grid from domestic photovoltaic systems.

I can say fairly certainly that the richest 1% of the worlds population will somehow be better off and I'll be able to afford meat less often.