Australia Strangles Free Speech to Protect Carbon Tax

Then you would support million dollar fines for politicians lying? Let me guess, they are suppose to lie. I guess when those on the left accuse "W" of lying when he went to war with Iraq are OK with the status quo. Excellent!! Just don't complain to me next time nor for the past.

So what is worse? Is it worse to lie about cap and trade, assuming they are lies, and giving it bad press or is it worse lying about a war and having hundreds of thousands dead and trillions of dollars more in debt?

All I can say is, get a clue. The worse abuses come from those who dictate to everyone else, and that means Big Brother.

 

Sure you can. You can make anyone do anything, assuming you have the authority. Maybe they still have those concentration camps FDR set up for those Japenese Americans he imprisoned.

 

No but if the customer thinks they are being ripped off right royally they have the right to go to the ACCC and complain - this is just the ACCC letting us Aussies know that that is an option. Look they are NOT going to be interested in 10 cent surcharge - but they will be interested if prices suddenly double

 

Lying about the war cost lives - no contest with that one

You are probably wondering why we are not more upset - we knew this tax was coming - that is why we voted the greens in in so many numbers. We knew that Labor would have to bow to the Greens and get some form of carbon pricing in. At least it is less of an issue than the bloody GST was AND Howard promised he would not bring THAT tax in either

 

Why would we Aussies want to use some Yank concentration camp??

 

You just don't get it, do you? This is but one small example of what happens when you have a government without checks and balances. So go ahead and attack the private sector for lying but turning a blind eye to government who does the same but, at the same time, holds the private sector to a higher standard.

Of course, I still say that cap and trade can do nothing but raise prices. The money has to come from somewhere. So even if you can't articulate it or have the evidence or debate intellectuals the state hires to brow beat you in court, that in no way means you are wrong.

 

No-one is suggesting anything about divulging the cost structure, although it wouldn't be hard to work it out. This is about the restaurant not lying about costs.

 

Looks like an interesting, but completely different, issue. The point made was that "free speech" is under threat. It has been shown that it's not, that it's simply a requirement to businesses not to tell lies to their customers about business costs.

 

With the threat looming of government goons lingering around to sue you for millions of dollars, would you speak the truth if you believed it to be the truth or think twice about it?

As for the government goons, they pay no penalty for false accusations against you, so its no sweat off their brow.

So how is government not being sued for lying a different issue?

 

In wartime yes you get government without checks and balances and just for the record both the UK and Australlia also had internment camps.

But in peacetime that's not the case so you've overblowing it a bit there. Government is subject to the normal checks and balances of any underpinning constitution and/or legal setup.

 

But in this day and age, we are in a perpetual war. I guess you failed to notice that club Gitmo was still open and that Obama recently passed teh NDAA which basically takes our Constitutional freedoms away if they deem it necessary.

So if government checks and balances are up and running, where is the penalties for lying that we see in the private sector, or is it OK so long as they are at war?

 

I take the point about the perpetual war concept. Having done so I have to get back to the original point. Elmer Fudd suggested that "free speech" was under threat in Australia. It isn't and that has been demonstrated.

If you want to discuss lies in government (do we have sufficient bandwidth?) or corruption in government (that should load the forum up nicely) no worries, but that's a different topic.

 

So if I pass a law saying that if you tell an untruth on line here that you must pay a million dollar fine, do you think you will keep posting? Would you take the risk? And if you did take the risk, would you post what you wished to post?

Make no mistake, these goons intend on curbing free speech.

 

I'm reckless sometimes, yes I'd take the risk but I'd be pretty circumspect about my postings. I'd make sure I was either quite correct or I'd make sure that I hedged my post with sufficient conditions to protect myself from the forum wrath and a big fine.

In the instance we're discussing in the thread this is about stoppng misrepresentation. I'm quite supportive of that idea. I don't believe any business should be allowed to misrepresent anything about its business to its customers, clients, providers etc.

 

You have to remember that American conservatives think that businesses should be allowed to do anything that they want. That's what they mean when they say people should be left alone to make their own decisions.

 

That would be akin to representing yourself in court. Before posting anything you would be a fool unless you consulted a lawyer first.

 

Scary, isn't it? A business that lives or dies by word of mouth.

 

Yes, it is scary that people such as yourself think that businesses should be allowed to lie.

No, no nut products in that food.

 

They can blame the high prices on Dr. Suess for all I care. All I know is that if they raise their prices then I shop around regardless of what their reasons are.

 

So there we are, Australia has taken the radical step of requiring businesses not to misrepresent their costs, that is, to tell lies. Again we are in the vanguard!

 

I think the problem lies in the fact you are not familiar with our system and the ACCC in particular - lets look at their website

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/142

Actually, but the looks of this you are more at risk if you have been selling shonky curtains LOL!!

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1039030#heading4

The ACCC is not going to go after Uncle Joe's burger joint for the extra 50 cents on his burger but they sure as (*)(*)(*)(*) will be investigating Woolworths if THEY put an extra 25% on all food stuffs and try to blame it on the carbon tax.

What they cannot do and this is where the thread is a fail, is action on anyone putting up a sign saying "Bloody carbon tax have caused a bloody price rise" because that could well be the truth

 

Somehow the US managed to survive all these years without the ACCC and with a much better economy to boot. Amazing!!

And really success is the best argument. That is why those on the left are rabid about snuffing out any anti-statist economies. They simply cannot afford to be shown they are wrong, otherwise everyone will demand change.

 

You go Mr. Vangaurd!! Enjoy your world of "truthiness" according to the ACCC.

 

Hate to break it to you but Australia is not part of the USA and our economy currently is in a far far better place than yours

in other words - it is not all about you

 

Don't be obtuse...

There ARE regulations re. divulging the contents of food, health data, etc. Anything to do with the public health and safety is already covered. THIS law requires they divulge COSTS of doing business.......