You can imagine the media scream that would have gone up if it was Paul Keating's Govt. that was implementing this Goebbels' move. Howard's push for an Authoritarian Australia is certainly being given an armchair ride by Murdoch, Packer , MacDonald et al. Laurie Laurie and Desley Forde [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: Trudy Bray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: news-clip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, July 27, 1999 10:35 AM Subject: The Advertiser: Parliament may ban 'offensive' journalists Another step toward authoritarianism... --- Trudy ==================================== Parliament may ban 'offensive' journalists 27jul99 JOURNALISTS who offend the Government could be banned from Parliament House. The Commonwealth has demanded the right to order newspapers, television and radio stations not to employ any journalists in Parliament it does not agree with. It also wants all staff employed by news groups to undergo Federal Police background checks. The regulations are buried in a new licence document handed to organisations that work out of the parliamentary press gallery. Clause 25A1 says: "The Commonwealth may in its discretion after consulting with the licensee notify the licensee that it must not employ or continue to employ a particular person at Parliament House. The licensee will cease so to employ that person immediately upon receiving the notice." Network Ten political editor Paul Bongiorno, the president of the press gallery, said the move was unprecedented. "Journalists are not employees of the Commonwealth; they are the custodians of free speech," he said. "Hypothetically, if a journalist is pursuing the Prime Minister or a senior minister, under this agreement the Commonwealth - i.e. the Government - can phone the journalist's owner and demand their sacking." He said the gallery had been assured by Senate President Senator Margaret Reid and Speaker Mr Neil Andrew - who are responsible for the running of Parliament - the new licence agreement would not change the relationship between journalists and Parliament. News organisations have been given four weeks to raise any concerns over the restrictions, or it will be assumed the licence document is agreed to. Senator Reid and Mr Andrew were unavailable for comment last night. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
