{"id":2289,"date":"2013-03-12T14:19:19","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T03:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/australiansforhonestpolitics.wordpress.com\/?p=2289"},"modified":"2019-04-13T23:24:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T13:24:19","slug":"howards-blueprint-for-abbott-to-stifle-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/howards-blueprint-for-abbott-to-stifle-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard’s blueprint for Abbott to stifle dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Artist

Artist Martin Davies.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Margo Kingston<\/a>
\nMarch 12, 2013<\/p>\n

This chapter from Still Not Happy, John! (Pengiun, 2007) is required reading for activists and people in non-government organisations which advocate for change. John Howard’s government systematically sought to stifle democratic dissent with the help of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, the Howard government funded the secretly funded IPA to produce a report saying groups who did not reveal their funding should not get government funding. Pressed to justify this hypocrisy, the IPA promised to disclose its donors but it never did.<\/p>\n

As the likelihood of a government led by Howard’s political son grows, I feel citizens need to ask detailed questions of the Coalition on their intentions this time round. None of the dissent stifling measures discussed here were ever revealed prior to election.<\/p>\n

I commissioned journalist Paddy Manning (@gpaddymanning) to write this chapter and he did a fine job.<\/p>\n