Australia 1984

People often accuse the Prime Minister John Winston Howard of being in the 1950s.I think that there is more in parallel with our society and Orwell's 1984 with increasing: state control, propaganda and a state of perpetual war. Is John Winston Howard our Big Brother?

1. State Control over riding individual rights ...we have seen the Australian Federal Government become more involved in more issues than ever eg childbirth, local government. overturned euthanasia legislation in Northern Territory plus ACT on gay marriage. It has brought in workplace laws that some say eroded worker rights

2. Propaganda as evidenced by:

• The Federal Government spending $100 million a year on advertising making it globally the fifth biggest spender on government ads.
• the government gagging anyone who may criticise them eg Universities and CSIRO
• continual criticism of and control over the National Broadcaster (ABC)
  
• media ownership laws allowing less diverse media ownership (eg of 12 capital city and national daily newspapers, seven are owned by Murdoch's News Corporation and three by Fairfax. Two are officially independent)
  
• dismantling student unionism
  
• Wiki Scanner discovering that John Howard's staff edited entries in the online Wikipedia to remove potentially damaging details.-- boy would they love to work in the Ministry of Truth rewriting history
  

3. A state of perpetual war

PRIME Minister John Howard has warned Australians that the war on terrorism is a never-ending battle that will go on for decades,"Mr Howard said the threat posed by the “menace of Islamic fanaticism” was real, constant and insidious." He warned the nation to wake-up to the reality such “borderless assault” was a global threat to society and the carefree lifestyle that Australians cherish". Sue Neales, The Australian July 14, 2007