1. So this is the e-petition I signed! It is called Save the Net. I chose to sign this e-petition because it was something I actually agreed with, AND the website it was on (GetUp! Campaign Actions)also seems legit-which can not be said for some other sites that I visited.
"The Federal Government is planning to force all Australian servers to filter internet traffic and block any material the Government deems ‘inappropriate’. Under the plan, the Government can add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist." http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442
Also, here is a link to a Fact Sheet about Government Censorship of the Internet and its effect on democracy that I found on this site. I skim read it because I began to fall asleep (I do not intentionally find it dull). But it is rather interesting.
2. I responded to a blog called "The Vulture" written by the entertainment editor at The Age newspaper in Melbourne. Thankfully I have a vested interest in the entertainment industry so this was at least a little interesting! I responded to his most recent blog post about the whole Harry-Connick-Jnr-outrage-at-racist-sketch-on-hey-hey-reunion. It was very nicely written, and I agreed with him on every count. To check out my comment go here: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/blogs/the-vulture/black-faces-harry-connick-jr-had-no-choice-but-outrage/20091008-go2v.html?posted=sucessful. My screen name is LM. They are currently approving my comment! WOOHOO! I suppose this blog was actually about censorship too...hmmm HOT TOPIC it would seem.
3. OKAY, so I am kind of unsure as to why Stephen Stockwell wanted us to find out what Barack Obama was doing today, but I checked his FaceBook (Barack's not Stephen's) and it doesn't really tell you what he is doing every day, so I googled the question: what is Barack Obama doing today? and I found THIS WEBSITE: WHAT IS BARACK DOING? It is INTENSE. Like, totally intense. It has links to every internet outlet you could possibly follow what Barack Obama is doing on: NYTimes, YouTube, WhiteHouse Blog, Time Magazine....EVERYTHING. WOW. I am impressed and creeped out all at once...
P.s. I found out Barack Obama had won the Nobel Prize because Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) tweeted about it on Twitter and was engaging in mass discussion about whether or not he deserved it. So Twitter can be informative can't it!
4. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to find who my local member of parliament was?? Turns out had I searched "local MEMBER of parliament", rather than "local REPRESENTATIVE" I would have wasted far less time. However, in searching this I discovered who my state representative was! Weird. Anyway I discovered that my state representative, is MP Peter Lawlor, the member for Southport. I found this out HERE, a fact sheet from the Gold Coast council website. I also just found the Queensland Parliament website which also has a list of MPs here. Here is a picture of Peter Lawlor, just in case you want to say Hi if you see him on the street:
Peter LawlorFinding my local representative was easy once I had a look at THIS factsheet which is about the levels of government. I found it on the QLD parliament website. After searching for the local member, and finding the state one instead I realised I was probably searching for representatives using the wrong terms, and this factsheet informed me that my local rep is a councillor. Duh. Ergo, I searched "councillor carrara" and BAM, found the answer! I know right? I'm actually learning something.
Robert La CastraMy local councillor is Robert La Castra who looks after Division 8 which includes Ashmore (south of Cotlew Street), Nerang East, Merridown, Merrimac, Carrara, Boonooroo and Clear Island Waters. I found this info at the GCCC website.
As far as federal representatives go, here is a LIST that I found on the GCCC Website again of Local Federal Government Members. Steven Ciobo is our federal member of parliament for the electorate of Moncrieff and our senator for QLD is Joe Ludwig.
Steven Ciobo
Joe LudwigSeriously, thank goodness I found that factsheet on the three levels of parliament (link above), otherwise this would've taken me years!
5. So I decided to check out the Hansard on the QLD Parliament website where I searched this Index for Feb 2009 to find when Peter Lawlor spoke, and discovered that he spoke on page 276 of THIS transcript of the parliament session on 12 Feb 2009. Coincidently he made a speech about the new hospital being built at Griffith! Reading the facts/stats he presented made me feel a little more than a little bad about complaining about the constant construction work going on. This hospital is obviously going to benefit Gold Coasters a LOT, and will help us keep up with the increasing need for hospital beds!
If I wanted to respond to Peter Lawlor in regards to his speech I could email him here: southport@parliament.qld.gov.au. However, I don't really have anything to respond to him so I thought it best not to clutter his email...I found this email here: http://www.peterlawlor.com.au/index.php.
No comments:
Post a Comment