Maybe the SMH is not liberal enough to labour over interests of parties here concerning the national interest.

They could page this site if they are affronted.

Interest rates would get more attention on the back page, old sport.

To have information of this magnitude behind the front page indicates the extent to which governments are influencing media response to vital social information. Does this raise a question with regard the powers of the electoral commision, their effectivness or indicate the government's power over them?

Does "Freedom of Speech" permit an elected government to lie to it's constituents?

Does not "Freedom of Speech" imply timely dissemination of factual information to enable the public to make informed decisions?

Where does this place the Electoral Commission and the Reserve Bank of Australia in terms of social ethics and responsibility?

Does this reflect government control and intimidation of the institutions entrusted to provide "truth" in a democracy?

A government that frames an election in terms of "truth" and "financial security" and democracy in terms of "freedom of speech" while lying and preventing socially supported institutions from exercising their duty of care, is incapable of building this democracy to the benefit of all Australians by "reform".

The strategy of faking civil activity

Perhaps the most beautiful achievement of political life in the late twentieth century was the international movement for democracy that brought down several dozen dictatorships of every possible description - authoritarian, communist, fascist, military. It happened on all continents, and it happened peacefully. It began in the 1970s, with the collapse of the Greek junta and of the right-wing regimes in Portugal and Spain; it continued in the 1980s, mysteriously jumping the Atlantic, with the collapse of dictatorships in Argentina, Chile and Brazil; then, vaulting the Pacific, it claimed the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. Finally, in the early '90s, it spread to South Africa, where the white apartheid regime yielded to majority rule, and returned to the Eurasian continent where the great Soviet empire itself shuffled off history's stage.

However ... How do we expose the strategy of faking civil activity?

Jozef
Virtual Reference

Thought-provoking scenarios:

At a time when dissatisfaction with politicians is glaringly evident, the solution is not less democracy, of course; it is deeper democracy. Citizens and governments: stroppy adversaries or partners in deliberation? ;

Jozef
Virtual Reference

Interesting historical notes there Jozef. So, what have we done? Our democracy has used its democratic right to elect a virtual dictatorship for the next 4 years.

As well as Howard's claims that interest would not increase with a Liberal Government and the subsequent Reserve bank expose, I note with respect to 'Labor can't control Interest Rates' claimed by Howard all through the last election campaign that the big interest period in Labor's last terms was in 1990. If my memory serves me right, it was at the time that Hawke floated the Aussie dollar which was hailed by the business community as one of the best things that ever happened to the country, and possibly a fairly natural phenomenon. What nobody said was that interest rates by 1992 were 6.5%, by 1994, 5.5%, at the time of Howards takeover in 1996 they were 7% and have been around 5 or 6% throughout the Howard terms. Labor through Keating did manage to reduce interest rates at a very difficult national period but it never gets a mention. Howard picked up a windfall in 1996 and now the porkies are flying at .25% on after the most obscene property boom in history.

Totally agree Max but much of the media seems to be filled with youngsters, wet behind the ears, who are absorbed in "raconting" stories about Brad and Jennifer, rather than expose the true history of interest rates..., filled with old nags on their last leg wanting a favour from Johnnee at their funeral, and filled with prissy misses who hypocritically think feminism means you want their jobs... Apart from a few gutsy fellows and strong women, the media is filled with liberals scribes who think the same way as one voter said in the paper today (SMH 10/04/05) :

" I voted for them, Neil Cameron, and the reason? Somewhere along the road of our proud history we went from a fair go for all to a free go for some. There is no incentive for the less-well-off. Sit on your backside and get all your safety nets. Safety net for income, for rent, for Medicare.

It is time people took responsibility for running their lives and stopped expecting someone to do it all for them. That is the real joke." ...

Just mention the words "proud history" do not mention "stolen generation..."
Fair go to a free for some?

This sort of stuff seems to make sense but is totally pervasive. It assumes that we are all capable to take care of ourselves in all degree, including building our own roads for our home-made weapon-ladden tanks?

This stuff leads to a society like in America where 27,000 murders are committed on an average year by hand-guns alone. This stuff leads to a society like in the US where about 30% of the population has seen the inside of a jail and nearly one per cent is still in it. This stuff leads to society where people have to front up at check outs with food coupons. This stuff leads to society where charity is more important that social equity. This sort of stuff removes all opportunities for those who are still destitute by making it harder to get education for their kids.

Yes, taking responsibility when you are against the wall, often leads to depression despair suicide, theft and murders especially when you see high flyers getting away with huge company pay-outs for services not worth two bob.

Media collusion of the highest degree ... waste of time to try to point it out on the papers.