Thursday 18 October 2007

Censorship and posting


A "K B James" (wow, imagine have 'KB' and 'James' in your name, what a co-incidence!) who resides in a PO Box, scribed a note to the Cairns Post.
KB says that he (assumption, I know) has tried twice before to post a comment on this Blog but it was removed.
For the record, I have only ever removed 3 comments that were simply silly or derogatory, and added no addition to the original thread of the discussion. I also edited 2 other "anon" to remove defamatory words. When comments are removed, they are recorded publicly that this action has occurred.
I have never removed a comment as indicated in KB's letter to the Cairns Post. Searching through the postings, I cannot locate any posting by a person with that signature.
This Blog's Posting Comments Policy has been available for sometime and is standard for most open online discussion forums.
I have to say, I agree with the thrust of what he stated. The Mayor and the Mayoress, as public figures, should be expected to be scrutinised about their actions. We have a fundamental right to question and engage in public debate about public expenditure. That is the simply mission of this forum. Where you can find a personal attack on here is beyond me. We have also never attacked the Mayor's "character", whatever that means. We have left that up to him at the annual Chamber luncheon to do that.
When you take up public office, you should be robust enough to allow and encourage free speech. You should be up for the job of defending decisions and spending from the public purse. It's what democracy is founded on.
Yet we have a consistent pattern that this Mayor does nor tolerate difference of opinion and is infamous for suing people with the weight of Council's lawyers, being funding by our rates, behind him. What other public official do you know does this? We're not in China last time I checked.
Any motivated and ratepayer that cares about our region would do the same. There are many locals that are fed up with a Council that continues to ignore residents and railroad decisions. All we've set out to do is raise the level of discussion and encourage those that are relatively new residents to Cairns, know a little history.
In a town with one primary print media outlet, it makes this role all the more important to facilitate such forums. People are screaming out to be heard and contribute to the debate.
We are doing a public service.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

You claim the mayor 'is infamous for suing people with the weight of Council's lawyers'

Name one.

Also advise why you think that the lawyers that wrote to you on the mayor's behalf are also "the council's lawyers". They aren't.

Anonymous said...

The defamation laws in this country work are susceptible to a fairly straightforward class analysis, in my opinion.

They pose no threat at all to powerful media interests such as the Murdoch Empire, who have pockets deep enough to withstand any legal loss.

They do, however, pose a major threat to small, independent media.

Only the rich (or those backed up by wealthy institutions) can afford to bring defamation cases.

The poor and politically weak are defamed and have little opportunity for redress.

The current laws speak volumes about gross disparities in political and economic power in this country - and the conformism of the major political parties which have legislated to suit a minority of Australians while disadvantaging the majority.

Anonymous said...

I believe there is a "K.James" at CCC who is i think secretary to a KB? Coincidence?

Anonymous said...

Sometimes when you are too slow composing your comment, it wont go through the first time, you need to redo the scrambled letters again and wait till your comment is noted.
I am sure this has happened to a few people, me included!
Good luck with your next comment!

Anonymous said...

Heavens, why then if they arent the Councils lawyers, did KB want Mike to apologise to the councillors as well as to him?

Yes the council should not pay for legal representation at all if the Mayor is only doing this for himself, and if Mike has to pay compensation to KB, and the council has paid for it then the council should keep the money Mike has paid.

Anonymous said...

PS.....KB after seeing you on the news and in The Cairns Post....all I want to say is ON YOUR BIKE!!!

Anonymous said...

Mike
There wouldnt be much room in that PO Box to live, let alone swing a cat?
And I thought CCC workers made reasonable money, guess I was wrong.

Anonymous said...

Dennis Quick is the secretary, you idiot.

You see a K and/or a B and you immediately relate it to the Mayor.

Val Schier would totally stop all development in Cairns - destroying jobs, homes and lifestyles.

Kevin Byrne has been a great asset to this town.

Anonymous said...

t.h. you have 2 letters too many in the word 'asset'.

Anonymous said...

Kevin Byrne has been a disaster, a dictator and a bully.....

Anonymous said...

Dear t h, I do not believe myself to be an idiot. I believe the details below, taken directly from an email to me, show that I was correct in my above post and it may be yourself who is proven to be a idiot? There is a K.James who is a secretary to KB. This is no doubt purely an interesting coincidence.

K James
Personal Assistant to the Mayor
Cairns City Council

Anonymous said...

To Fact checker at the top of these comments, you wanted names that KB has threatened to sue. I can name more than one, How about Tony Hillier, Brian Law. Whether or not he did so with council funds is beside the point. The fact that he has done so , and continues to do so whenever someone manages to expose him publicly as a pathetic mayor, is the real issue. Coem march it will be goodbye KB, goodbye Unity team, goodbye the Quicks etc etc. Cairns can finally have a future that is worth looking forward to.

Anonymous said...

What exactly is the Mayor doing trawling through China for anyway?

Anonymous said...

Re K Byrne winning next election: According to KB on the John MacKenzie talk back show on Wednesday, he told a Cow Bay resident that after he wins the council election he will install a diesel generator at Cow Bay. Cocky or what?

Anonymous said...

Hee Hee. This has really touched a nerve in the inner domain. Mike, keep up the good work . . . it seems to be unnerving them.

Anonymous said...

Unnerving them.......we need to unseat the b*stards.
Give Cairns back to the residents and let them have a say in how our city is to evolve.