From a speech on the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979, Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja notes that in 2003, Australia issued 75% more wiretap warrants than the US did and this was 26 times greater than the US on a per capita basis.
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Bad government from Executive despotism and tyranny have highly destructive effects. Zimbabwe shows how quickly a stable state can fall into chaos. The international system was designed for nation-state to be separate and self-contained political entities, consequently help is difficult to bring across political borders. Numerous methods have been tried; military intervention such as Iraq; multinational aid such as through the United Nations; covert intervention such as CIA involvement in establishing leaders; and diplomatic pressure. None has really worked and all have had blowback issues. There is no real answer to this at the moment. (more)
Michael Fullilove in his compilation of great Australian speeches lamented that the art of the speech is getting lost in the sound-bite, "media grab and press release". The Senate adjournment speeches tend to be of a high quality anyway, but this little corker of a eulogy by Ian Campbell can be enjoyed for its subject, rythym and ending.
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Georgiou desperately needs his own website where he can post his speeches and thoughts. His speech to the Murray Hill Society at Adelaide University is significant for a couple of reasons; from a policy perspective because he points out that citizenship test is bad policy and has no empirical grounding. He is also another voice concerned about the increasing control of executive (and party) discipline on legislative independence.
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John Singleton made a Fabian Society speech on Labor's chances of winning in 2007. Unfortunately the speech is not online, so I cannot read it directly, instead I am reduced to quoting Alan Ramsey in an smh op-ed. In the speech Singleton argued that Beazley was another "lazarus on a triple bypass", he should have just done away with the pretence, and called our political system a waitocracy.
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