Politics

Former NSW Christian Democrat MLC and Family First NSW leader Dr Gordon Moyes has warned that Christian fundamentalists who want to impose religious laws on society are operating in Australia.

Dominionism is a new cult, started in USA, but today is present in Australia, Moyes warned in a recent newsletter.

Dominionism is not a new denomination. Rather [it is] an interrelated mindset followed by some members of a wide range of extreme fundamentalist and some Pentecostal Protestants.

Dominionism is a term used to describe the tendency among some politically active conservative Christians to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action, with the goal of a nation governed by a conservative Christian understanding of Old Testament law. Their aim is to control ‘the seven mountains’ — the peak bodies of business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, family and religion — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hundreds of privately contracted police officers are working for forces across the country despite being unaccountable to the watchdog responsible for investigating deaths in custody, public complaints and allegations of wrongdoing, an investigation by The Independent has found.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has no automatic power to discipline privately contracted staff even if individual failures or misconduct contribute to the death or serious injury of a detainee — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Liberal MP Andrew Laming has used the right-wing Australian Tea Party’s Facebook page, which features comments encouraging violence against US President Barack Obama during his tour next month, to gather feedback and promote the Coalition.

The Australian Tea Party Facebook page contains anti-Gillard, anti-Obama and anti-Left rhetoric — one poster said: Burn in hell left wingers.

Posts on the page promise a warm Tea-Party welcome when President Obama visits Australia in mid-November but protest details are being kept secret.

Comments on the page include: I encourage you to throw things at obama when he steps off the plane in australia… bottles… rocks… fruit… veggies whatever you can find [sic]

Another says please take him on safari for salt water crocodiles while several others encourage the President and Julia Gillard to go on a walkabout in the desert and never come back — via redwolf.newsvine.com

*Choose one: Courageous, Cunning, Principled, Dangerous, Pragmatic, Misunderstood.

At the same time as Hanson wittered on about how good Aborigines in Australia had it, an openly gay man with no children stood in an almost empty Senate to deliver his vision. In his deep and reassuring voice, like rain on a tin roof, Bob Brown outlined the enormous challenges we faced living on a planet collapsing under the weight of human activity. “The future will either be green,” he stated, “or not at all.” Hanson’s speech sparked a bushfire, while his was barely reported, and now all that remains of her is a charred stump.

It’s the Greens, led by Brown, that are the new political reality in Australia, a seemingly permanent, menacing force for the once cosy two-party system, mauling Labor’s left flank and gnawing away at softer morsels of conservative flesh. In 1996 fewer than 350,000 Australians voted Green in the Senate. By the last election, that had grown four-fold to almost 1.7 million votes, compared to 4.5 million for Labor and 4.9 million for the conservatives. The Greens hold the balance of power in the Senate with nine senators and a crucial seat in the lower house. And now each week that parliament sits, Bob Brown gets to plonk his sensible shoes beneath Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s desk for a cup of tea and a chat about the direction of the nation.

“I am having a ball,” says Brown, 66, as we talk in his Parliament House office. He’s a man who often forgets to eat and so his face is all sinew and smile. “I am having too much fun to retire.” He flippantly says that Rupert Murdoch – his nemesis – is somewhat of an icon, still going strong at 80 — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The Independent Commission Against Corruption will begin one of the most extensive corruption inquiries it has undertaken in more than 20 years next week with hearings involving more than two-thirds of NSW councils and an unknown number of government agencies.

ICAC will begin hearings on Tuesday into 110 councils and government agencies including the Roads and Traffic Authority about allegations staff have received gift cards and other items in return for placing orders and continuing business relationships with several companies supplying industrial and safety products.

Sydney councils involved include the City of Sydney, Botany Bay, Liverpool, Waverley and Burwood and regional and rural councils include Lithgow, Ballina, Orange, Walgett, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Byron Bay and Narrandera. In notices to be released today, ICAC says it is investigating allegations staff at these councils received the gift cards and other items from companies including Hilindi Pty Ltd which trades as R&R Tape Supplies, Momar Australia Pty Ltd and NCH Australia. R&R Tape Supplies provides products including packaging and barrier tapes, safety glasses, respirators, welding clothing and footwear — via redwolf.newsvine.com