[Green-Activist] Control by Rudd - Worrying news

[frank]

Dear Anne,

What did u expect???????????  The Labor party is shit and Rudd is a crud.

frank brown

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anne Goddard" <anne at globalclimatechangeaction.org>
To: <green-activist at lists.altnews.com.au>; 
<green-global at lists.altnews.com.au>
Cc: <GreenLeft_Discussion at yahoogroups.com>; <LoveAndRage at yahoogroups.com>; 
<GreenInternational at yahoogroups.com>; "Group 1" 
<ClimateChangeAction at yahoogroups.com.au>; 
<eco-feministwomen at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 8:44 AM
Subject: [Green-Activist] Control by Rudd - Worrying news


> Thanks to Philip Sutton of Greenleap for the following two articles, 
> please
> distribute widely.
> Archive:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greenleap/messages
>
> From the SMH
> http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rudd-takes-control-to-new-highs/2007/12/20/1197740472726.html
> or use
> http://tinyurl.com/24xepg
>
> Rudd takes control to new highs
> Phillip Coorey - Chief Political Correspondent
> December 21, 2007
>
> SOME of Australia's major institutions will have their media releases 
> vetted
> by the Rudd Government to make sure they reflect Labor's "key messages".
>
> A directive was issued this week by the Department of Innovation, 
> Industry,
> Science and Research to about a dozen statutory agencies.
>
> Recipients include the CSIRO, the Australian Institute of Marine Science,
> the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian
> Research Council, the Co-operative Research Centres and Invest Australia.
> Even the Questacon science museum in Canberra was sent the directive.
>
> It says the Prime Minister's office has instructed that "all strategic 
> media
> releases which relate to the Government's key messages" must be forwarded 
> to
> the department which will then submit them to the office of the minister,
> Kim Carr.
> If necessary, Senator Carr would send the release to the Prime Minister's
> office. The department would contact the agency "regarding required
> changes".
>
> The directive says releases "of a more pedestrian nature" need not be 
> vetted
> but anything to do with climate change, industrial relations policy,
> education and science reform, tax policy, national security and health 
> must
> be submitted. It has caused concerns within the statutory authorities 
> which
> were never subject to such conditions under the Howard government.
>
> One former Liberal minister called the Rudd Government "control freaks".
> "The CSIRO sent out a lot of things that were quite contrary to our 
> position
> on climate change. We just gritted our teeth and wore it," he said.
>
> A Government spokesman said vetting the releases was a temporary measure
> until ministerial staff were in place.
> The secretary of the department, Mark Paterson, said there was nothing
> unusual about the directive, especially in the early days of a new
> government.
>
> Only 30 per cent of the public service had experienced a change of
> government and a number of agencies had sought "guidance on how to deal 
> with
> media release issues", he said.
>
> Mr Paterson said statutory authorities should not be immune.
> "There's a mindset with some that statutory authorities are independent 
> for
> all purposes. They're not," he said.
> "They are created to undertake a particular task. That doesn't give them
> free range or nor should it."...<snip>
>
> From the ABC:
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/21/2124888.htm
>
> CSIRO told to clear media releases via PM
> December 21, 2007
>
> Government bodies like the CSIRO have been told to clear their media
> releases through Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's office.
>
> Industry Department head Mark Paterson has issued a directive for the
> agencies to have significant media releases checked by the Prime 
> Minister's
> office.
>
> Mr Paterson says it is not about controlling the message, it is about
> consistency.
>
> "It was something that we were asked for from those agencies so that they
> were certain as to how to deal with media releases," he said.
>
> "The essence of the message was that the Government wanted to ensure a
> degree of consistency in message on key messages and therefore wanted
> to clear key messages through the Prime Minister's office."
>
> Mr Paterson says it is not unusual. "I at no stage, nor was the guidance
> that
> was given, was the word vetting used nor was the concept of vetting used,"
> he said.
>
> "This is not about constraining academic observation or comment in an
> independent area, this is not about independent commentary from 
> scientists,
> this is about institutional media releases."
>
>
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