Ludwig,
You are right.

Dear David,
Thank you for your reply and acceptance.
I do not mention the ALP, as i do not support them, they are too much like minded with the coalition, and they are also led by a man with no integrity.
I agree that Australians fears need to be addressed, fear is a natural ingredient of the human recipe, and necessary for survival, flight or fight, and fear of real or imagined things in our habitat.
Fears and superstitions are just as prevalent today as they were thousands of years ago. For instance a large percent of todays people believe that there is a bloke with a beard who lives in the sky above us. This in itself is an accepted form of madness, but a very effective tool for the manipulation of people's fears, by those who have nothing to lose, but much to gain.
Reality has become a weasel word, just as truth is. Lies can be converted to truth just by using repetitive messages to a god fearing audience using the very best of technology for broadcasting them on a regular basis, such as regulated times of every day.
In our "real world" technology is used for capturing our attention, via television, radio and other goodies, much like our very young, being soothed by their mother's familiar voice, which has the effect of them feeling relaxed and comfortable.
Reality and truth become co-joined.
In the comfort of our homes, we see the world through our own eyes, or so we think, in our comfort zone, we are seduced and cajoled, by the use of the full range of emotions, for our reassurance, to be sold anything from goods to consume, to feeling that no harm will come to us from outside forces of evil, and that we do not to need to think about anything, because what we are watching or listening to, is the truth including news and current affairs.
Freedom of speech, who needs it?.

I, like most Australians support "freedom of speech/expression/the right to protest" in all it's various forms, but I am becoming increasingly disturbed in the manner in which these freedoms are being expressed.Recently during a protest march in London against the Israelies,some of the most horrendous placards were being carried by masked protesters, To quote some of them; BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM;
MASSACRE THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM ; PREPARE FOR THE REAL HOLOCAUST; YOUR 9/11 IS ON ITS WAY; ETC ETC, to quote some of them. One photograph showed a London Bobby standing next to a placard (not intentionally I'm sure).
Unless this right to make a group's views known has some strict control it will surely be seen in Sydney as well as London.The wearing of masks and displaying placards of the type seen in London should be strictly banned in this country

The Australian Press Council hasn't done nearly enough to support free speach and a free press in Australia. There opposition to such laws as those that prohibit interviewing asylum seekers in detention centers and criminals in prison has been minimal.

(further to my last post)

But whether the powers that be view this in a positive way and change their way of thinking accordingly, or whether they ignore it... or move to suppress it, remains to be seen

The question I ponder is , the removal of which liberty will cause enough anger in enough people to effect a change in direction ?
We don't have much protection from oppressive governence other than what we're prepared to do ourselves , Considering that we're all fairly wealthy by world standards the fear of loosing what we individually have is enough to keep us subdued .
If only we had an opposition in the federal parliment that opposed .
The Howard government have no challengers . I call it the Howard government because that is what it is , John Howard plus a bunch of compliant obedient seat occupiers , About as close as it gets to a dictatorship without being allowed to call it a dictatorship .
Of course all is the product of a biased electoral process .
Ludwig is correct about compulsory preferences , the votes mostly just roll back to the two larger parties . Thats the whole idea .
What makes the rort work so well is compulsory attendence .
With our compulsory voting system there is no need to please the individual , one individual is also every individual , no need to give you a reason to vote , This is what is missing .
It doesn't matter how ticked off we are we'll still turn up & vote & the compulsory preference system will roll the votes back to where the major parties want them to go .