*rant*

Our government has no decency.

It has worked to assist other nations in war crimes and crimes against humanity. And yeah, that's happened in places where we've been meant to "help out" such as East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.

It's colluded in the illegal incarceration of people without trial (Why we should take Hicks' allegations very seriously by The Contrarian).

It has lied repeatedly about things that are important. Children overboard, WMDs, the Tampa, GST, and I'd be willing to bet that this "terrorist threat" is a load of codswallop.

By its silence, it has supported torture and abuse. Zimbabwe? Let's not say too much about that - we shall send our cricketers to have a nice tour there instead! But no comment on Mugabe's government killing people, destroying towns, etc. Abu Grahib, anyone? Guantanamo Bay? Oh, or would speaking out against those sort of things mean that George Dubya wouldn't like us as much? What a loss *that* would be...

Basic human rights have been disregarded when it suits them - think of David Hicks. Think of the "anti-terror" laws that are trying to be pushed through. Think of refugees and "illegal" immigrants (of which there are no such thing, legally - that's just a term that's been slapped on which is used as an excuse to lock people up).

It continually tries to sweep the faults it has that are pointed out under the rug - currently I'm thinking of all of the bungles, bribery and blackmail that have gone on with refugees/immigrants. Apparently there are Australian people who have been locked in detention centres for years, in much the same way as Cornelia Rau was. Missing a relative? Check Baxter... But instead of reviewing processes, they just say, "No, you're wrong, we're right, those people should have been locked up anyway."

Messing with university funding and thereby increasing costs of education for students. Education is now no longer for everyone, as it had been the dream of politicians in the past (ahh, Gough... lovely work). Now it's just for the rich, really. The costs could be inhibitive for people who don't have that much money. What this will do to our future job market is yet to be seen. I'd say there might be a shortage of people who are trained in important stuff like medicine, science, etc.

Using our tax dollars for advertising that should be paid for from Liberal party funds.

Ignoring what ordinary Australians want. Not many wanted to be involved with the invasion of Iraq, but all protests were dismissed as being "unaustralian" or in support of Saddam. Rubbish. There are other ways to go about it. Now strikes about work conditions seem to be under threat with the industrial relations laws. People shouldn't be stopped from having a voice, even if it disagrees with one's own. This is the point of democracy.

Disregard for protection of the environment and not making any attempts to work with the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. No attempts to save the environment in Tasmania - in fact, quite the opposite, it would seem, with the last election.

Disregard for our Aboriginal people, shown not only in the desire to not say sorry, but also in the way that Aboriginal people have extremely high domestic violence rates, die much earlier than the rest of the Australian population does, lack opportunities that most of the rest of us get, etc, and nothing seems to be done about it.