BBC: "Australia to block gay unions"(John Howard uses another Bushie ploy)

[Nothing Without Hope]

John Howard's government has been doing some ugly things that should sound quite familiar to those who oppose the Bush Administration's fascist policies. They have their own version of the Patriot Act, they've whipped up "terrorist" fears to get support for power grabs and destruction of civil liberties. So this move to capitalize on gay demonization should not be surprising. The same cards are being played for the same purpose: hyping public fears in order to push incremental fascist power grabs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4859706.stm
ast Updated: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 06:39 GMT 07:39 UK

Australia to block gay unions

Caption: Mr Howard's government formalised marriage laws in 2004

The Australian government has said it will oppose any new laws legalising gay civil unions.

Prime Minister John Howard said he did not intend to allow the institution of marriage "to be in any way undermined".

The authorities in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which includes the capital Canberra, introduced a bill on same-sex civil unions last week.

If the legislation is passed, it will be the first such law in Australia, but federal government can overturn it.

(snip)

Some earlier articles & threads on John Howard's Bush-like policies in Australia:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1810200
thread title (9/27/05): ASIO watching 800 extremists (Aust)
(See Reply #2 for an article on the new Patriot Act-like powers)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5286157
thread title (11/7/05): Australia govt accused of security (terra) scare campaign

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4413338.stm
BBC article Nov 7 2005 - Australia plans army terror role

There is even the carefully timed "we foiled a major terrorist attack" ploy:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1907307
thread title (11/7/05): Australia foils major attack

[Nothing Without Hope]

1. one kick for what's left of the night. See, it's not just BUSH, this

fascist movement has tentacles all over the world.

[Random_Australian]

2. Too right. (see downthread for more) n/t

[Random_Australian]

3. Yeh. Freaking little Johnnie has got his tongue planted frimly in

*'s kyhber pass (That is ryhming slang), free trade agreement, terrorists, consume, war, WMD, crap like that. And what's more our compulsory voting system has given us very competent crooks... err politicians.

The worst is just starting now: Industrial Relations Reform: Sick leave, holidays, overtime, working hours, every right of the Australian workers is now no longer garanteed. F*ck.

Starting about 2 days ago actually.

Edit: oh yeah, the PBS which has given Australians affordable medication is at last coming down, but it has some life in it yet! All the power gain now is for Big Pharm to 'request' an 'independant enquiry'... as if Big Pharm would stop there... it's the beginning of the end.

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. It's very sad to hear how Australia is going down this terrible path too.

Hitler's approach still works - scare them enough and they will let you take away all their rights and protections and allow unspeakable cruelty. The looting by the world fascists is picking up speed.

Thank you for your comments.

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. From the wording of the article, I conclude that John Howard's government

fixed the legal language on marriage being "only between a man and a woman" back in 2004 and that he is now saying that his government will block a current attempt to remove that language. He sounds like another monster in the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld... image.

[foreigncorrespondent]

6. Yes...

...discrimination was written into our constitution in 2004, with the law declaring that marriage ie between one man and ne woman. It passed because the Labor party (the lefties) helped it to pass. However it was left up to state rights for what the states would do. Now my take on this article is that they are planning on not allowing the states to have their own rights with regards to civil unions. Which by the way have the support of the majority of the country.

The majority of the people here would like to something introduced like the U.K introduced last year. Unfortunately with Little Johnnie Bush Lover holding the top job, that won't be happening.

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. Question: are national elections as corrupted in Australia as they are

in the US? Both the 2000 and the 2004 presidential (and many congressional) elections were stolen outright by Bush supporters, using a combination of electronic vote hacking, secret massive voter registration purges, and various other ploys. How safe from election fraud is the national vote in Australia? If John Howard becomes truly unpopular, can he and his cabal be voted out in favor of better people?

[foreigncorrespondent]

9. Well thankfully...

...ours are still a paper ballot. Although the last election (2004) it was pretty suspect to me. Latham the Labor Leader running for the top job was ahead in all the polls. The night before the election was the debate, and Latham lead all the way in that, yet some how Howard still managed to win the election. Go figure!

As for having him ousted, well they can do it illegally like the did with Gough Whitlam back in 1975, when they had the Attorney General (the Queens representative here) dismiss him from duties. Or they can do it like they did with Bob Hawke in 1991 when his own party (The Australian Labor Party) moved to oust him (much like what can be done in the U.K.) But as for an actual election to have him outed won't happen unless he calls it himself. And he isn't likely to do that right now considering the Liberal Party is behind the Labor Party in the polls.

And trust me, with his Industrial Relations Laws introduced just this past Monday, he really is pretty unpopular right now.

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. Thanks. So there's no time limit beyond which he has to run for re-

election?

Thank goodness you still have paper ballots, at least. (But the massive secret voter purges that happened in the US would affect the outcome even with paper ballots.)

[BlooInBloo]

7. ROFL! At first I thought this was talking about gay LABOR unions!

And I was sayin to myself: They've got enough gay folks to make one? Wow!

Think it's nap time again....