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Comment by pilgrimfff | Hacker News Reader

As soon as I saw the headline, figured it was Australia. It's a real stretch to call it a liberal democracy at this point.

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Come now, citizen. We don't want to allow this dangerous "Emoji Extremism" to proliferate!

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-teacher-fined-using-emojis-uk...

Yeah because everyone has the right to impede on others freedoms. Would you prefer,

1) Limited access to electronic devices or 2) Incarceration?

They got a pretty good deal wouldn't you say?

Hardly, given they're still awaiting trial.

Yeah it’s called being out on bail. Lets pretend to be horrified that these people have had certain restrictions placed on them as a part of their bail conditions.

Oh jog on,

While I'm hardly impressed with this action from NSW State government, it does not represent Australia as an entirety.

Further, while unusual and new, these are bail conditions. I challenge you to find a US state that does not engage in bail conditions similarly draconian.

This is like seeing NYC or Cali Gun restrictions and saying the US isn't a liberal democracy because of them.

Exactly, they could have just refused this guy bail and nobody on hacker news would have ever heard of it or cared if they did. But mention the word encryption and the world is falling down.

People do care. The criminal justice system is a common topic on HN.

Refusing him bail for a non-violent crime would be insane

Refused bail for non-violent protest might just stir up some conversation here on HN...

(I believe) Australia is used by the US as a western testing ground for some of the more draconian freedom-restriction laws, especially vis-a-vis encryption. What gets accepted here will find its way over there.

She'll be right mate...

The conditions of his arrest sound ridiculous in the first place.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/24/i-neve...

https://www.queenslandjudgments.com.au/caselaw/qdc/2020/331

He was charged for "interfering with a railway" because of a tripod suspended over a rail line? It sounds like he was basically pissed off some powerful coal people, got thrown in jail for that, and now his phone is police property..

Coming from a country thats not all that democratic in the first place, i think its important to at least understand that the appearance of "due process" e.g being charged with something or having a bail condition imposed does not by itself mean anything.. even Russia makes up some official charge before arresting someone.

This is all the long tail of the corrupt-as-hell Scott Morrison government which was just evicted pretty soundly (after too bloody long though, and somehow Dutton is still in). NSW in particular once ICAC took a look had Gladys Berejiklian suddenly resign (as all these state level criminals do the second they get called before it), and the notable events surrounding why the Australian Federal Police Fixated Persons Unit arrested the producer of FriendlyJordies (political YouTuber) who was being sued by her Deputy Premier John Barilaro for defamation, who also is being investigated for corruption right now when a job was invented and given to him when he decided to exit politics (on account of "definitely going down for corruption as well").

Which is a long way to say that if the current Labor government has any sense, Federal ICAC will be done, and strong, soon (they say October) because switching the lights on in Parliament House is going to send a lot of cockroaches scurrying. Just need to make sure we get them with the boot.

The years-long delay, attempts to water-down the powers, and eventual failure to implement Federal ICAC by the Liberal government is both an oddly silent but screamingly obvious indicator that there's a significant "cockroach" problem. The mainstream media barely mentions it, which is also an indicator of the scale of the problem.

I hope Labour implement it, with appropriate strength and enforcement powers, but they're still politicians at heart, so who knows. Can't be more corrupt than Morrison's selected cabinet of philanderers though.

similar new draconian anti-protest laws were introduced by the victorian state labor government and applied against citizen-science forest action. - this cannot be pinned on sQumo or the libs.

this is not about the bad man who used to be in charge.

the mistreatment of civic minded protestors in ausfailure is an enactment of bipartisan determination to squeeze more wealth out of the planet as long as they can.

I agree with you! My issue isn't with the criticism of the bail conditions or his arrest, both of which are absurd.

My issue is the incredibly broad statements about the political situation in Australia. Variations of this became commonplace during COVID lockdowns (which the overwhelming majority of Australians supported) and always seems to come up in relation to firearm regulation discussion. Australia has many many many problems, but to say it is not a liberal democracy is just false.

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