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The Rainbow Report broadcasts live every Thursday 7-8pm AEST in Melbourne Australia on 94.9 FM, streaming via the web at joy.org.au. PODCASTS are available via the Joy website and now also on iTunes.

Melbourne Australian politics - Rainbow Reporter

Tonight on the Rainbow Report 20/11

November 20th 2008 00:20
Fiona Patten
Fiona Patten, leader of the Australian Sex Party

We continue our roundup of candidates for the post of Mayor with Will Fowles, the non-Labour Labour-ish candidate, offering what he calls a “Fresh Vision” for the city.


Rodney Croome muses on Barack Obama and the wave of protest sweeping the US after gay marriage was stopped in California and started in Connecticut.

Closer to home John Wain, general manager of the Market, helps us understand the impact of the Brumby governments latest attempts to control violence and drunkenness in the city – will it be better or worse than the failed 2am lockout?

Plus we celebrate the launch of a new political party dedicated to countering the influence of the religious right and all other wowsers, fighting the proposed internet filter and supporting gay marriage. The Australian Sex Party is being launched at Sexpo, and we’ve an interview with it’s leader, Fiona Patten, who’s also CEO of Eros, the adult entertainment industry business association.

Meanwhile Kaye Sera looks Beneath the Bonnet at World AIDS Day and some of the AIDS movies from years gone by.

The Rainbow Report, Joy 94.9 Melbourne, streaming live www.joy.org.au, 7-8pm Thursday Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time, podcasts available from Joy or iTunes.

To join in call (03) 9699 2949 during the show, SMS 0427 JOY 949 or email onair@joy.org.au.

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Rainbow Report Thursday on 94.9

November 12th 2008 05:05
Robert Doyle
My guest this week


We continue our series of interview with mayoral candidates.

Robert Doyle, former Victorian Liberal leader and candidate for Lord Mayor of Melbourne, will join us to talk about his plans for the city.

Centrelink are keen to explain to us what the changes to the legal treamment of same-sex couples will mean in realtion to pensions and benefits, so they've agreed to provide a spokesperson - so let me know what you'd like me to ask on your behalf.

And Dale Smedley of DTs Hotel will be talking about his bid for a seat on his local council.

You can send your questions ahead of time to journobear@gmail.com

Plus the latest look Beneath the Bonnet with Kaye Sera.

That's Thursday noght 7-8pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time, on Joy 94.9FM, streaming live at www.joy.org.au.
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Sham 'conscience vote' on Assisted Reproduction Bill

October 24th 2008 09:43
Hostage
How Stuff Works - A Liberal/National 'Conscience' Vote


Q: When is a conscience vote not a conscience vote?

A: When you are told that you are of course free to exercise your conscience – just don’t be surprised if you’re out of a job come pre-selection time

That’s the situation facing Liberal and National members of the Victorian upper house, as the vote on Assisted Reproduction Treatment draws near – perhaps as soon as next week.

Both major parties have allowed their members a conscience vote – but the Liberals and Nationals are determined they won’t lose this one.

They lost on the same-sex relationship register, stem cell research and abortion, but now the party hierarchy has drawn a line in the sand.

‘They’ve had their three strikes,’ I was told, ‘one more and they’re out.’

The party is of course at liberty to impose discipline and insist all members toe the line – provided they do so publicly. Everyone would then know the party policy on the issue.

But if the LibNats do that, it’s an invitation to Labor to do likewise – and then the bill would almost certainly pass.

As it stands, by maintaining the illusion of a free vote by all members, some Labor members feel free to vote against the bill. Combine that with a 100% LibNat ‘No’ vote, and the bill goes down.

Of course, on the record it’s all above board, no pressure, totally free. But off the record it’s a different story. Members being told that if they vote for the bill – as their conscience dictates – then they can expect ‘very close scrutiny of your preselection’, according to one upper house member.

It’s not hard to work out who must be under this kind of pressure, whatever they may feel obliged to say in public. Genuine Liberals in the traditional Menzies mould, such as Matthew Guy, Andrea Coote, Wendy Lovell and Donna Petrovich, who have a record of supporting gay and lesbian issues, are obvious targets for this sort of bullying.

‘I wouldn’t use words like “threatened”, or “bullied”,’ said one source.

Being told you have to vote against your conscience while pretending to do the opposite, under threat of losing your job, sure looks a lot like bullying and threatening to me.

And it seems to work. There was a free vote in the lower house on the ART Bill – and not a single LibNat voted in favour. That’s rather too large a coincidence for me, even without the leaks now coming from the upper house.

The Victorian Liberal Party, that famously ‘broad church’, suddenly seems terribly narrow, doesn’t it?

UPDATE SUNDAY

I have been in touch with a Liberal or two and have been told that this story is, according to them, 'crap'. I have been told by a gay Liberal:

The Liberal Party simply doesn't work that way.

Opponents have thousands of letter writers. We have about three people. If you had three letters vs one thousand, which way would you go?

Well in my book a conscience vote means you vote according to your own personal conscience in the matter. Not the policy of your party, and not the conscisnce of your constituents, you PERSONAL conscience.

This 'reassurance' seems to me to affirm what I have been told - that pressure is being applied to get people to toe the line.

There are legitimate concerns about the Bill. I have told Corey they need to consult and find a way to split off sections of the Bill that will be palatable and get through.
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Mayors Nest or Dragons Lair

October 7th 2008 23:55
John So
I So ain't gonna be yo' bro' no mo' - pic thanks ABC

Now that John So’s decided he ain’t gonna be our bro’ no mo’, and Jeff Kennett’s decided to stay home with the grandkids, would-be Melbourne Mayors are popping up like weeds. And weeds is the operative term.

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New gay papers, Taxpayer fund Mardi Gras

October 2nd 2008 04:05
Rainbow Report

It’s been a dramatic week in gay and lesbian publishing, with the collapse of bnews and the sudden emergence of two new gay media – Canvas, an arts and entertainment magazine from Evolution Publishing, and Southern Star, from Sydney Star Observer.

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Heartless Archbishop threatens to close hospitals

September 23rd 2008 01:59
General hospital
The arrogance of the Catholic Church is quite breathtaking. Once again the Vatican is using blackmail to try to get its own way.

In the US, Catholic politicians who won’t vote as they are told have been threatened with excommunication


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Rainbow Report Tonight

August 28th 2008 05:31
Finally back from holidays and the usual mad scramble to put a show together - and so much to talk about with . . .
Rainbow Lorikeet

Senator Louise Pratt


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On The Rainbow Report Thursday Night

August 6th 2008 06:45
Rainbow Reporter
Every Thursday evening 7-8pm AEST broadcasting live from Melbourne on Joy 94.9FM, streaming live at www.joy.org.au. Podcasts available on the Joy site by the weekend.

Last week we had a few things to say about Jeff Kennett, but he’s rather gone to ground since then. But the issue of gays in sport, the entrenched homophobia in sport, hasn’t gone away. In fact, if anything Jeffs intervention made it worse


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Careless talk costs lives

August 5th 2008 00:08
Hangman's Noose

The old WW2 slogan is especially true when major public figures like politicians, churchmen and celebrities make ill-considered untrue statements about homosexuality. Such statements can quite literally kill.

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Education Minister Backs Gay Marriage

August 4th 2008 00:25
Bronwyn Pike
Bronwyn didn't pike it


The numbers may have been down – only about 300 turned out for this year’s Melbourne Equal Love Rally, well down on previous years – but two facts made it a memorable occasion


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Kennett now equates bisexual footy trainers with pedophile priests (LINK)

August 2nd 2008 21:00
Dark Knight priest
Dark Night Priest


Well, I was going to lay off Jeff Kennett, but the man just keeps chewing on that foot in his mouth. In the Herald Sun today he continues to make a link between bisexuality and pedophilia. Such a link does not exist, and such a slur is incredibly damaging


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Should Jeff Kennett Apologise? (LINK)

July 27th 2008 22:37
I wrote about this yesterday.

The story also made Channel 7 news last night


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Tonight on the Rainbow Report

July 9th 2008 23:17
Joy 94.9


Streaming live at www.joy.org.au 7-8pm Australian Eastern Standard Time - join in by emailing onair@joy.org.au during the show.
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It's Art not Kiddie Porn (LINK)

July 6th 2008 02:52
Chocolate Box

A TAXPAYER-funded magazine has put a naked six-year-old girl on the cover in protest at the "hysteria" over similar images by photographer Bill Henson.

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