Free Republic

VIDEOSouth Australia has gone into full emergency alert as the first COVID-19 death since April 2021 is reported.

Australia offers a cautionary tale of how an open and free society will quickly become dystopian because of fear.In a tweet that has gone viral, someone asked what the world’s largest prison looks like from space. The answer was a map of Australia. It seems a farfetched claim at first. But seeing the draconian restrictions the Australian government has put in place due to COVID-19, the tweet makes perfect sense.Before March 2020, Australia was often celebrated as a role model of liberal democracy, with free elections, a free press, an independent judiciary, a functioning political system, and a market-based economy....

Hi Andrea, You cannot leave the house to walk the dog or to exercise.

The South Australian Government been forced to beg fossil fuel operators to bring mothballed plants back online, to contain wild swings in electricity spot price caused by unstable renewable production, prices which last month peaked at $14,000 / MWh – up from more normal prices of $100 / MWh which prevailed before political favouritism towards renewables messed up the market. ------------------------------------------- South Australia intervenes in electricity market as prices hit $14,000MWh Turmoil in South Australia’s heavily wind-reliant electricity market has forced the state government to plead with the owner of a mothballed gas-fired power station to turn it back on....

LABOR won power in 2007 on a Ruddslide, but looks like losing power in 2013 in a Ruddbath. The popularity of Kevin Rudd, which won Labor a swathe of seats in Queensland, is turning into voter retribution that has the ALP facing a worse result on Saturday than Paul Keating's loss to John Howard in 1996. The "unelectable" Tony Abbott is now preferred prime minister, and the great campaigning "comeback kid" Prime Minister is more unpopular than he ever has been. With a primary vote of just 33 per cent in the last week of the election campaign, the legitimate...

Two proposals to legalize same-sex marriage in the Australian federal parliament last week were strongly defeated. On Sept. 19 the House of Representatives voted on a proposal by backbencher Stephen Jones, of the Australian Labor Party, the party currently in power at the federal level, to legalize same-sex “marriage.” The Labor Party allowed a free vote on the proposal, while the coalition of opposition parties, led by Tony Abbott, held to their promise of voting against any attempt to introduce same-sex “marriage.” The vote was 42 in favour of legalization and 98 against. Both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition...

The election of South Australian backbencher, Jon Rau, as the state's Attorney-General (AG) has been hailed a breakthrough for higher classification reform for video games. Rau will assume control of the Justice and Tourism portfolios handed down at a Labor party meeting. Outgoing AG and one of the country’s hardest violent video game critics, Michael Atkinson, announced his resignation Monday after suffering a 14.3 percent swing vote against him in the state elections last weekend. He said he would exit ‘before’ the next election in 2014 to pave the way for new Labor blood. Atkinson has vetoed previous attempts to...

One of the country’s hardest violent video game critics, South Australian Attorney-General (AG), Michael Atkinson, has resigned to pave the way for new Labor blood. The AG resigned despite winning his seat in the recent state election. It is unknown who will replace Atkinson after he leaves office before the next state election in 2014. Games associations aren’t yet celebrating a reform win for the much-debated introduction of a video game R18+ classification, but they do see Atkinson’s resignation as the removal of a major roadblock.

THE state is facing its worst fire danger day of the season, as authorities warn conditions will be similar to those during Victoria's Black Saturday disaster. Country Fire Service has declared "catastrophic" conditions in 10 of the state's 15 fire districts as temperatures reach up to 45C and wind gusts of up to 50km/h are expected. CFS chief officer Euan Ferguson said today was a day of the "greatest severity" for fire danger and all of the state's thousands of firefighters were on stand-by. Conditions have been likened to those of the Eyre Peninsula bushfires, which claimed the lives of...

YEAR six and seven students have been banned from mixed-sex consensual hugging at a primary school in South Australia for fear it would set a "bad example" to younger students. YEAR six and seven students have been banned from mixed-sex consensual hugging at a primary school in South Australia for fear it would set a "bad example" to younger students, AdelaideNow reports. Following complaints from parents at Largs Bay Primary School, the school has banned hugging and other displays of affection for "boyfriends or girlfriends" in the two senior grades. "Hugging is not banned (between friends) at Largs Bay Primary...

SOUTH Australia's Parliament has voted to block the internet version of a speech from Australian Democrats MP Sandra Kanck which detailed ways to commit suicide. The Government last night presented a motion to Parliament's upper house which called for Ms Kanck's comments not to be displayed on Parliament's website. The motion was passed 10 votes to nine, with the Liberal opposition voting against the proposal on the grounds it would set a dangerous precedent. The speech will be included in the Parliament's hansard but deleted from the Hansard version placed on the internet. The vote followed a decision by state...

Jesus Christ would vote for the Australian Greens in the South Australian election, the party says. In a veiled shot at Christian party Family First, Greens candidate Mark Parnell said if Jesus was voting at Saturday's state election, he would not choose a party that discriminated against people on the basis of sexuality or religion. Mr Parnell also criticised Labor's policy to publicly name and shame young offenders and said Jesus would not support "simply writing them off as worthless reprobates". Nor would Jesus vote for the Democrats, with their dirty campaign tactics and undermining of others to get ahead...