The whole apparatus of the state is moving towards more secrecy and less accountability. There is the concept of 'plausible deniability'. The Howard government's survival and longevity are built around 'the Ministers were not informed'. The Departments have been given coded instructions when to inform and when not. They also get a wink about when to bend the rules and pervert process. If a Department makes a big stuff up eg Immigration deporting Australian citizens, no-one is to blame. Big business is looked after, and media moguls repay the favour by placing commentators that deride the government's critics. It goes on at state level too, but not with the same polish. If a government wants to introduce an unjust policy, it has at its disposal oceans of taxpayers funds with which to blanket advertise with a misleading message. There is the appearance of democracy, but the methods of subverting it are more sophisticated than ever.

An excellent and accurate article.
For an addition to your nightmare try talking to the E.P.A.
No major polluter may operate without a license from the E.P.A. so they know who the major polluters are.
The E.P.A. is not allowed to tell the public who holds such licenses or where they operate.

Relating this to Nick Gruen's article on "churning", one of the worst aspects of churning is the size of the bureaucracy needed for it. Bureaucrats have strong incentives for self-perpetuation, empire-building and seeking promotion through building the edifice and supporting the edifice-builders rather than through dedicated attention to the public interest. This leads to Kafkaesque behaviour as regards sharing information, monitoring impacts, etc, heading off any action which could lead to pruning of deadwood and superfluous activities, supported by covert action against those who don't play these self-interested games. This is worse in my experience at the State level than at the Federal one, although I don't have recent Commonwealth experience.

Sometimes I feel alone out here watching our world head into what feels like a medieval time when the common person hasn't a chance for real justice. Where those in power take our money from us but don't return an equal value. The castle walls are lined with boiling oil and may the Lord help anyone who dares to attempt a breach. Our only chance is to resist, even if our fates are sealed, and our ultimate death would only favor the State.
Thank you once again for this article. It's good to know I'm not alone.

What planet do you live on, Miss Satanic Feminist?

Things are fine here on earth.

The most "Kafkaesque" absurdity about the new anti teror laws Mr Adam Ferguson, is that had Australia kept out of our country people from troublesome religious and ethnic groups, they would never have been necessary in the first place.

I love the way people like you think. You create an intractable problem by your insistence upon the observance of a moral absolute, then you complain about the inevitable social consequences that arise because of it. To add insult to injury, you then try to blame the people who opposed your viewpoint all along, and then criticise them for thinking up practical solutions to the social problems you and your ilk created.

Naturally. your criticism is couched in an artistic way in order to display your presumed social, intellectual and moral superiority. Got news for ya bub. Modern Art is so bad that the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney had to make entry to it's hallowed halls free because nobody ever went in the wretched place. If it was not for government "Arts Grants", most of the so called "artists" of today would have to have a real job.

I would love to see your MRI brainscan image, it probably resembles something by Jackson Pollack