[LINK] Ministers' Letters in Australian IT p.49

[Roger Clarke]

Buried in The Australian IT Pages today are letters from Fahey defending
against Lundy's assault re outsourcing, and from Williams defending the
many and varied recent attacks on his Privacy Amendment Bill.

Barefaced Lie:
"It has been developed in consultation with representatives from industry
and consumer organisations ...".  [He told the Core Consultative Group that
government policy was already clear;  reserved the right to ignore the
outcomes of that process;  and proceeded to do so]

Silly Assertion:
"I reject claims that this bill legitimises privacy-invasive practices.
The fact is that is creates rights for Australians where no rights
currently exist".  [It's true that there are no rights at present.  But the
Bill legitimises existing practices that have never been and are not
acceptable to the public.  Its effect is to enable privacy-invaders to now
claim that they have the authority of parliament for their actions.  So
Williams has granted unprecedented rights to the organisations that fund
his party, not to people]

Conventional but Silly Argument
" ... the use of the Internet raises privacy concerns ...  The basic
privacy issues do, however, remain the same. and it is for this reason that
the bill has been drafted in a technologically neutral way"  [I submitted
that the 'technology neutrality' idea popular among A/G's officers was a
vain hope and that specific legislation would be needed in some areas once
generic protections, i.e. not this Bill, were in place]

Blatant Inconsistency:
"Specific laws to regulate the Internet are not necessary".  [What a twit
the man is!  He wrote that at the same time as his government was trying to
get a Bill through to put a moratorium on Internet gambling -
unsuccessfully, as it turns out - for once Flabour actually woke up and
opposed something;  and EFA may want to quote this back to him some time in
the context of censorship]

Honest Statement:
"There is no denying that this bill involves competing public and private
interests".  [Subtext:  and we'll jolly well make sure that companies gain
the powers and protections that they need, in order to avoid people
spoiling a perfectly good economy]


Roger Clarke              http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

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