Further great news for lobbyists. It was proved again this morning — put on enough pressure and this Labor government will weaken. At the very least it will postpone an unpopular decision until after the next election.
The example this time is whether to allow the 142 metre fishing trawler Abel Tasman to operate in Australian waters.
The owners of the vessel had complied with existing environmental laws and been lawfully awarded a quota of fish that the Australian Fishing Management Authority deemed would be within sustainable limits. Enter a few worried recreational fishing people and some environmental groups with a bias against anything that looks like a big business and the rules were changed.
New laws will be introduced into parliament today that will effectively put this fishing venture on hold for a couple of years
Watch out First Dog. Be careful what you draw — the politicians are out for revenge. Indian cartoonist Aseem Trivedi is in jail facing charges of sedition for insulting national symbols through anti-corruption cartoons on his website.
The national symbol
The allegedly seditious cartoon
The Times of India reports that bowing to protests by activists and strong criticism from legal experts, the state home department on Monday nudged the city police to give up custody of the Kanpur-based cartoonist.
A day after he was placed in police remand for seven days, the cops produced Trivedi in the Bandra magistrate’s court and said further custody was not required as their investigations were over. At 4.45pm, additional chief metropolitan magistrate V S Patil sent Trivedi to judicial custody till September 24.
Dressed in a black kurta, 25-year-old Trivedi again refrained from contesting the charges or applying for bail. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I will not apply for bail till the sedition charges are dropped,” he said before being taken to Arthur Road prison.
In the debate his arrest has sparked, most experts are shocked at the sedition charge slapped on him, but they also feel that he may have gone a bit too far with his creativity.
First Dog — watch that creativity business.
And the winner will be? Forget about all that Gallup polling business I included in my snippets yesterday. As part of the best coverage of the US Presidential election I have come across, The Onion has once again joined with 7Eleven to produce its coffee cup indicator which has correctly predicted the last three results. This morning Obama is leading Romney by 58% to 42%.
And now for a brief example of how the satirists tend to tell us the truth about campaign matters:
I recommend putting The Onion political coverage on your daily must read list.
News and views noted along the way:
- Arctic archaeological sites are now falling into the sea.
- Public Health versus Private Freedom? Peter Singer writes of cigarettes.
- How Apple’s iPhone 5 could singlehandedly rescue the U.S. economy.
- Is US economic growth over? Faltering innovation confronts the six headwinds.
- Norman Lamb second new health minister to call for reform of assisted dying laws.
- In which countries did Paralympians outperform Olympians?.
Your comment on trawling was one of the better attempts at trolling I’ve seen Richard.
Very good to see this commendation for The Onion. A bigger problem in Australia is that we can’t see that wonderful program The Daily Show without subscribing to Foxtel. It used to be on SBS, but was taken by pay TV and now resides with Fox. It’s the best commentary on the US elections, and we need it back!