The Fundamental List 8/7/2009
This week they have a stand-in host in the ACT Director Ben Williams. They rehash what he does and he tries to be more factual and less hyperbolic than the regular co-hosts.
Human Rights forum in Parliament House
Three days of consultations were held in Parliament House last week. They rehash what a Charter of Rights is and why they don’t like it. They mention Victoria and how it’s supposedly effecting their exemptions. This stuff has been discussed so many times before I won’t go into it further.
Jim Wallace’s talking points were that he was sceptical about whether a Charter would actually protect rights (mentioning that Victoria’s and the ACT’s Charter doesn’t give blastocytes a right to life is as much as he could muster on this point) and that it would be an activist’s Charter. He mentioned that some in the UK call their Charter a criminal’s Charter, his fear is that activist groups here like people who think that religion should not be able to impose its moral codes on others would be able to challenge unjust laws that are currently on the books.
No action.
Greens’ Marriage Equality Bill
A Galaxy poll last week found that 60% of Australians now support equal marriage (a fact that naturally they don’t mention) up from just 46% 5years ago. To give a bit of traction to the poll Senator Hanson-Young from South Australia as put up a private member’s Bill in the Senate to bring in marriage equality in Australia, similar to one that was put up a couple of years ago by then Senator Kerry Nettle (also from the Greens).
After a brief summary of the Bill they try to justify their position opposing it by a slippery slope argument asking why not allow polygamy after all people in polygamous relations might love each other too. The difference is of course there is a power imbalance in polygamous relationships that reinforces patriarchy and as numerous cases in the US show they are often very deleterious for both the women and the children in these relationships.
The will be a Senate enquiry about the Bill and they encourage people to make submissions where they start taking them.
Euthanasia Enquiry in Tasmania
There’s a Parliamentary enquiry in to euthanasia in Tasmania as a result of a Greens Bill seeking to legalise it. We get a snide comment from one of the regular presenters that the Greens seem to be less about trees and more about “undermining marriage and family” and “important issues of life” – not exactly a comment consistent with their claim to be partisan.
The deadline for submissions is 31st July and they want people to go to their website where they will have a campaign running on the issue. Non Tasmanians can also put in a submission.
A New Book on Girls’ Sexualisation
A new book called “Getting Real – Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls” is coming out in September on the sexualisation girls edited by a Director of the Christian Right lobby group the Women’s Forum of Australia, Melinda Tankard Reist.
After extolling Melinda they urge people to buy the book (cash for comment perhaps?). What they don’t mention is that the publisher of the book, Spinifex Press is run by Susan Hawthorne and Renate Klein, the latter being one of the best-known and longest-established 'pro-life feminists' in Australia. Interestingly they often publish books by lesbians 'across fiction, non-fiction and poetry’; something that I’m sure would horrify most of the listeners to the podcast.
Human Rights forum in Parliament House
Three days of consultations were held in Parliament House last week. They rehash what a Charter of Rights is and why they don’t like it. They mention Victoria and how it’s supposedly effecting their exemptions. This stuff has been discussed so many times before I won’t go into it further.
Jim Wallace’s talking points were that he was sceptical about whether a Charter would actually protect rights (mentioning that Victoria’s and the ACT’s Charter doesn’t give blastocytes a right to life is as much as he could muster on this point) and that it would be an activist’s Charter. He mentioned that some in the UK call their Charter a criminal’s Charter, his fear is that activist groups here like people who think that religion should not be able to impose its moral codes on others would be able to challenge unjust laws that are currently on the books.
No action.
Greens’ Marriage Equality Bill
A Galaxy poll last week found that 60% of Australians now support equal marriage (a fact that naturally they don’t mention) up from just 46% 5years ago. To give a bit of traction to the poll Senator Hanson-Young from South Australia as put up a private member’s Bill in the Senate to bring in marriage equality in Australia, similar to one that was put up a couple of years ago by then Senator Kerry Nettle (also from the Greens).
After a brief summary of the Bill they try to justify their position opposing it by a slippery slope argument asking why not allow polygamy after all people in polygamous relations might love each other too. The difference is of course there is a power imbalance in polygamous relationships that reinforces patriarchy and as numerous cases in the US show they are often very deleterious for both the women and the children in these relationships.
The will be a Senate enquiry about the Bill and they encourage people to make submissions where they start taking them.
Euthanasia Enquiry in Tasmania
There’s a Parliamentary enquiry in to euthanasia in Tasmania as a result of a Greens Bill seeking to legalise it. We get a snide comment from one of the regular presenters that the Greens seem to be less about trees and more about “undermining marriage and family” and “important issues of life” – not exactly a comment consistent with their claim to be partisan.
The deadline for submissions is 31st July and they want people to go to their website where they will have a campaign running on the issue. Non Tasmanians can also put in a submission.
A New Book on Girls’ Sexualisation
A new book called “Getting Real – Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls” is coming out in September on the sexualisation girls edited by a Director of the Christian Right lobby group the Women’s Forum of Australia, Melinda Tankard Reist.
After extolling Melinda they urge people to buy the book (cash for comment perhaps?). What they don’t mention is that the publisher of the book, Spinifex Press is run by Susan Hawthorne and Renate Klein, the latter being one of the best-known and longest-established 'pro-life feminists' in Australia. Interestingly they often publish books by lesbians 'across fiction, non-fiction and poetry’; something that I’m sure would horrify most of the listeners to the podcast.