I’ll admit straight off the bat that I’ve never been a big fan of the Greens. I applaud their having a pet issue (the environment…if, for some magical reason, you didn’t know that) and really making a massive song and dance out of it – it has done some cheap viagra good over the years.
That said, somewhere along the line they seem to have lost the plot and gone a bit…stupid.
Let me explain.
At the beginning of this year, during all the heightened discussion about the possibly of the Marriage Act being amended to as not to exclude couples who are not of the heterosexual persuasion, they helped put not one, not two, but three bills before parliament on the issue. At the same time.
Firstly, what does that accomplish? Secondly, what does that accomplish? And, thirdly, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK does that accomplish? Forgetting for the moment that no amendment to the Marriage Act will pass both the House of Representatives or the Senate in their current configurations for a moment – just how does having three separate bills (all by and large saying the same thing) further your cause? How does having the same debate, up to six times, help?
It’s just a waste of time and it’s utterly stupid.
And now tonight, I’ve been made aware of two more little legislative gems that the Greens have put forward.
The first one is called Protecting Children from Junk Food Advertising (Broadcasting and Telecommunications Amendment) Bill 2011. Protecting children from junk food advertising. Superb. Because, we all know, junk food advertising is out there, attacking our children and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Nope. It needs to be legislated against. Because legislating against it, making it illegal, is a sure fire way to stop it happening. It works every single time. Every time. Always.
What an absolute load. This proposal will accomplish exactly nothing. It takes into account nothing about people’s lifestyles or their choices.
Also, as is pointed out by Geordie Guy on his blog, there’s a lovely little subclause that is generally pretty bad as far as the whole “free speech” thing goes:
A person must not upload, or cause, permit or authorise the uploading of, material on the internet that constitutes or contains an unhealthy food advertisement that is directed to children.
Uh huh. Awesome. What a stupid fucking bill.
The second gem comes in the form of Special Broadcasting Service Amendment (Natural Program Breaks and Disruptive Advertising) Bill 2012. This legislation proposes to control how many breaks that SBS is allowed to insert into their programming.
Why is this proposed? Fuck knows. Why target SBS specifically? Fuck knows.
Given that SBS relies on advertising to make up for the fact that the level of funding they receive from the public purse is not adequate, this seems absolutely fucking stupid. SBS are not the worst offender when it comes to mid-program ad-breaks by a couple of fucking miles (<cough> OneHD </cough>
.
There is no need for this legislation to exist. It serves no purpose. It is only going to waste the parliament’s time. It is stupid.
I just….urgh. Stupid. That’s really the only word I’ve got for it.
Shot in the dark: the most likely reason for the SBS-specific regulation is it’s applicable to SBS, but not to the other TV networks. Probably because the regulations would only apply to government-owned or controlled TV networks, and only one of those has ad breaks.