Political goings on

What a busy day…

First of all, I read in

baralier

  ‘s journal that the Australian government has decided our athletes shouldn’t wear human rights T-shirts to China. As he so beautifully points out, once upon a time, we engaged in boycotts and sanctions over this sort of thing. But can’t have anyone interfering with a country we have economic ties with, what?

Then I read this horrendous article in The Age about rape in marriage in north-east Victoria with a whole lot of people wringing their hands and saying “we had no idea this was so common”. Uh, it’s a crime… has been for a few years… can we have some action on it now please? Sorry to do this to you but I feel a need to quote:

Researchers interviewed one woman whose back was broken while being anally raped and another whose husband hit her around the head and then held a pillow over her face while he raped her.

But I have some good news!

crazyjane13

  tell us:

… the Federal Court has overturned the proposed ‘nuisance’ laws for World Youth Day (which I posted about here). The ‘No to Pope’ coalition brought the legal challenge on the grounds that arresting and fining people for voicing opinions that might offend the participants was a violation of the right to free speech.

The Federal Court agreed. The laws have been struck down, and protests, t-shirts and condom distribution will reportedly go ahead as originally planned.

Which, as I just gleefully noted on her journal, means the Federal Court just conferred a right of free speech on the Australian populace we haven’t previously had… because as far as I know, up until this decision, Australians *had* no enshrined right to free speech, only an interpreted right to expression of religion (constitutionally, at least). And even more beautifully, it’s explicitly a freedom of speech that *limits* an abuse of a freedom of religion. Glorious!