Chasers War on Everything, the ABC comedy show, must have had an all-time high on ratings last night with their clip showing their trip into the APEC exclusion zone posing as a Canadian motorcade. Here it is on YouTube.
Apart from the cultural value of expressing Australian identity in terms of larrikin behaviour, the stunt served another basic purpose: the test of assumptions around security. Good one!
A stream of spam emails has just found its way into my inbox, under the guise of a press release about John Howard’s recent heart attack. A heart attack that hasn’t actually happened.
Here’s the text:
“SYDNEY, February 18, 2007 08:56pm (AEDT) - The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard have survived a heart attack. Mr Howard, 67 years old, was at Kirribilli House in Sydney, his prime residence, when he was suddenly stricken. Mr Howard was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital where the best surgeons of Australia are struggling for his life.”
Readers are asked to click on links to get the latest information on the health of the Prime Minister, a link which appears to be for The Australian but is in fact a Canadian-registered site, no doubt hosting trojan software for harvesting email addresses for future spam. The three addresses I saw, theaunews.com, theau-news.org, austr-news.com, all were registered on February 14.
Thanks to Angus Kidman at IT Wire for the fast work on this.
BTW, to find information on who’s registered a site, use any of the large number of “who is” sites available, such as http://www.whois.net, remembering not to include the “http://www.” part.
Hey I’m back. Still Pacific Highlander. But now an Australian citizen. Yes - this morning, on Australia Day, I took the pledge with my family at an outdoor ceremony.
The Australian Citizenship Pledge
From this time forward, under God, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.
There are actually two versions of the pledge. The version we said, with 15 other people, includes with words “under God”. The second version, said by three new citizens, omits those words.
So why did I join up? As a permanent resident of Australia for six years I have had no problems taking part in Australian life except for a few areas.
Being an Australian citizen gives me the right to live in Australia, apply for an Australian passport and to leave and re-enter Australia without applying for a resident return visa, seek assistance from Australian diplomatic representatives while overseas, vote to help elect Australia’s governments, stand for Parliament, work in the public service, serve in the armed forces, register as Australian citizens by descent any of my children born overseas after I become an Australian citizen.
As a citizen I am required to obey Australian laws, enrol on Federal and state/territory electoral registers, vote in elections, defend Australia should the need arise, and serve on a jury if called to do so.
Being an Australian citizen does not require me to relinquish my New Zealand citizenship or passport.
Today was a last of its kind in many ways. My certificate of Australian citizenship is signed by Amanda Vanstone as minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. She has just been replaced by Kevin Andrews, the new Minister for Department of Immigration and Citizenship. It remains to be seen how the federal government approaches multiculturalism.
When we applied for citizenship we had an interview with two very helpful DIMA officers. Apparently in future applicants will be trained and assessed in citizenship at local TAFE colleges.
