Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

There has been much debate on Webdiary over its nearly 6 years of existence about the merits of moderation and registration of comments and commenters. Most serious sites either moderate or require registration or both - we do both. Today's Crikey accuses the SMH (moderation without registration) of systematically not publishing critical comments on blogs. Meanwhile, over the Guardian's new Comment is Free site (registration without moderation), a debate is under way about the need to tone some of the abusive comments down ... what follows is the view of Guardian Online Editor Emily Bell.

"This budget fails middle Australia and mortgages our kids' future. That's why tonight I want to speak to the families of Australia about our shared hopes and aspirations for the future." The Honourable Kim Beazley, MP

"In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Mr George Bush, President of the United States of America, for some time now I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena - which are being constantly debated, especially in political forums and amongst university students. Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the hope that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Australia has weathered some economic storms over the last decade — storms every bit as deadly as the cyclones that lashed the north of our continent in the early part of this year. We have weathered the Asian financial crisis, a global downturn, a one in a hundred year drought. We have had threats to our international tourism from new diseases such as SARS. We have had terrorist attacks and the security response has brought huge additional costs and challenges. Our military forces are in theatres of war." The Honourable Peter Costello MP

"Ethical investment or socially responsible investment is about making a conscience decision to direct money into companies that are at least not harmful and ultimately make a beneficial contribution to a more liveable society. Of course there are a wide range of opinions about what constitutes an ethical or sustainable investment. There is certainly a great amount of diversity amongst the ethical and socially responsible investment funds, some have religious convictions, others are traditional investment managers who have recognised the financial value of sustainability and there are deep green managers who take a no compromise approach and only support the strongly positive investments." James Thier

"A criminal lawyer friend tells me it is not uncommon for police statements to have the same punctuation mistakes. Everyone is supposed to turn a blind eye to this or perhaps place it with the crop circle mystery again." Jim Dowling

"Mine is a different approach. I want to lead a prosperous nation that stands on its own two feet. Confident, independent and secure. Built on the vast potential of this country and our people. This is what has guided my 25 years in Parliament. It's what drives me today. And it will drive my every waking moment until the election I will win in 2007." Kim Beazley

"High levels of depleted uranium (DU) have been measured in the atmosphere in Britain, transported on air currents from the Middle East and Central Asia. Scientists cited the U.S. bombing of Tora Bora, Afghanistan in 2001 and the “Shock and Awe” bombing during Gulf War II in Iraq in 2003 as one of the main reasons." Leuren Moret

"As most of you who received my email on Monday now realise, JOHN HOWARD'S APOLOGY was an act of satire and culture jamming. Its impact was way beyond expectation, as was the variation in feedback. Many of you wanted to believe in John Howard's U-turn, and said he 'stood taller' after the speech. Others replied he had 'sniffed the wind' and was cutting his cloth to ensure his political survival. It made them hate the PM even more. A seasoned activist emailed from London, 'this speech proves John Howard is smarter than Tony Blair'. To heighten its impact, I asked a student to design a site that closely resembled the official page of the Australian Prime Minister, as well as his personality ­ oodles of grey." Richard Neville

"The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, today [14 March 2006] released a discussion paper on reform options for Australia 's media industry."

"From the evidence to emerge from the Cole Commission there seems little doubt that the Howard government backed the AWB until confronted by the UN Volker report in 2004. It then succumbed to US pressure and agreed to hold an inquiry into the AWB. What a farce when the Howard government has refused to hold inquiries into detention camps, SIEV X, infrastructure and water." Bruce Haigh

"It was when the young policeman started twisting the wrist of the old man lying on the ground that I started asking the question yesterday: am I in another country?" Donna Mulhearn

"In this decisive year, you and I will make choices that determine both the future and the character of our country. We will choose to act confidently in pursuing the enemies of freedom - or retreat from our duties in the hope of an easier life. We will choose to build our prosperity by leading the world economy - or shut ourselves off from trade and opportunity. In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting - yet it ends in danger and decline. The only way to protect our people, the only way to secure the peace, the only way to control our destiny is by our leadership - so the United States of America will continue to lead." US President George Bush in his State of the Union Address.

"Cleanup efforts in New Orleans have a long way to go. There are ruined cars and trucks stored under freeway overpasses until they can be hauled away, and hundreds more left where the flood stranded them. There are boats literally stacked in the marina. There is an amazing amount of debris out in the open, and more still inside buildings that will have to be razed or at least gutted. And yet for all the mess remaining it is obvious that an impressive amount of work has been done. It must have been an enormous project to clear the streets. In some areas it must have been a challenge even to find the streets, as so few landmarks remain where they are supposed to be." Lorella Hess

"Today I have formally tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister from the position as Defence Minister and Leader of the Government in the Senate." Senator Robert Hill

"This year, Australians could be issued with a "smartcard". Containing a computerised chip, these cards will hold sensitive, identifying information about the holder, allowing him or her to access government services." Senator Natasha Stott Despoja

"Alexander Downer has expressed himself perplexed and upset that he has been accused of not doing enough to save the life of Nguyen Tuong Van. Well he did not and the result speaks for itself. Downer was obviously moved by the plight of Van Nguyen when it became obvious, in the last week, that his formal diplomatic endeavours had fallen on deaf ears. That emotion might have been better deployed earlier, more creatively and in a less pro forma fashion." Bruce Haigh

"Contrary to its name, this Bill doesn't move people from welfare to work. It just dumps people from one welfare payment, to a lower welfare payment. These laws are the final stage of Prime Minister's tired old dreams becoming the new Australian nightmare. With these laws, the Prime Minister has recast Australia with American dye. With its fixation on ideological obsessions, the Howard Government is redrawing Australia in the American social model, where violence has replaced justice; where communities have become gangs and neighbours are enemies. This is what happens when you tear at a social fabric, when you assign moral failure to the vulnerable. When you say that people who are struggling are lazy or morally defective.The cold heart of the Howard Government's changes to welfare is a cut to income support for vulnerable Australians. People who would have been eligible for the Parenting Payment or the Disability Support Pension will instead be dumped onto the dole. The dole is not adequate to meet the basic needs of either of these groups." Penny Wong

"In what is sometimes called the 'age of culture wars' there are three aspects of contemporary political commentary and reporting that deserve attention. None of them are especially new but all are now noticeably prominent. In my view they contaminate political discourse and significantly reduce the value of newspaper commentary. The first is the misunderstanding of bias and corkscrew journalism, the second is political apostacy and the third is the intoxication generated by proximity to power." Scott Burchill

"I am not one of those who think the world is perfect or we cannot improve the way we do things. Equally, I do not think change for the sake of change is necessarily good. If we are going to elevate a proposed change to the status of a reform we need criteria for doing so. I know I ruffled some feathers when I said 'the major parties struggle to reconcile their professed family values with their free-market mantra". To those politicians, I say this legislation is a test because it reflects the tension between the market and families. If people think I am wrong when I say that what are sold as family friendly policies are really market friendly policies, this legislation gives them an opportunity to prove it." Senator Steve Fielding

"Is protecting the environment an act of sedition? The question is not just rhetorical - it comes out of concerns raised that the proposed new anti-terrorism laws would render ordinary democratic practices illegal. At their strongest, the proposed laws render an organisation illegal if it encourages acts with a seditious intention - an intention defined so broadly as to include urging "another person to attempt to procure a change, otherwise than by lawful means, to any matter established by law of the Commonwealth". This is not limited to violent or terrorist activities" Greg Ogle

"With the Federal Governments IR Bill currently being debated in Parliament, one must look at the implications of this bill on party political donations. Part of these so called reforms is to deny union donations to the Australian Labor Party, yet these same reforms do not stop big business and employer organisations from donating to the conservative arm of politics, one must wonder why?" John Herring

Anti-terrorism Bill (no 2) 2005 Senate Report: chapter 5 - Sedition and advocacy. The findings.

"The exceptional needs of combating terrorism used to justify the provisions of the The Anti-Terrorism Bill (No 2) 2005 have at the same time enabled their extension to include measures that would not otherwise be readily accepted within the criminal justice system. These political and legal innovations have drastically affected the capacity for citizens to engage in the full and open political communication essential to democratic participation, ‘an informed and engaged public realises the promise of liberal democracy and fulfils its ideal of citizenship’. Good public policy thrives on debate, encourages difference and welcomes dissent. Insulating the security sector from open debate, critique and alternative approaches, cannot lead to the best policy outcomes." Jenny Hocking

"When people talk of an "obesity epidemic" in Australia and throughout the Western world (and by god, they do, don't they, because, hey, why just have a mere garden variety increase in prevalence, when you can scream Edvard Munch-style about an epidemic?) they are desperate for someone to blame for all the fatsos, lard arses, tubbies, blubber boys, chubb-meisters and all the other ample, chunky, plump, podgy, portly, pudgy, roly-poly, rotund, stout, pleasingly plump and rather elephantine kids out there. So their knee-jerk response is to throw the cuffs on the usual suspect - Ronald McDonald. And come on, don't we all just feel in our bones that this clown is peddling high-fat high-sugar food to our kids? He's there, supersizing them against their better judgement till their belts burst open." Duncan Fine

G'day. In the course of email correspondence this week, Webdiary reader Olga Ohanessian wrote: "I sent a submission to the Senate Committee on anti terror laws today, inspired by the fact that so many ordinary people have made submissions." Good on you Olga. Olga later gave me gave her permission to publish: "I believe in exercising free speech while we have it.  It is a very precious, fragile creature and we must preserve it by exercising it. Mine is a very ordinary person's voice which I am happy to add to the flood of erudite voices which I read on your link to the Senate Committee."

G'day. I got an email from a long-time Webdiarist today 'gobsmacked' by documents dragged out of the NSW Government which show its proposed desalination plant is, quite simply, not in the public interest. ... Scully has let the cat out of the bag, hasn't he? It's a classic case of the mess that results when the interests of government become merged with the interests of businesses.

"Thirty-eight boxes of Government files on the desalination plant were released this week and the Greens, the Opposition, journalists and environment groups have found a wealth of evidence to confirm that a desalination plant is the wrong option to meet Sydney's water needs.... What the documents don't reveal is why the former Carr - and now Iemma - Government are pursuing the increasingly unpopular desalination option. In fact unpublished community surveys buried in the 38 boxes show that the people of Sydney want to do more to conserve water. In fact a clear majority want tougher water restrictions." Ben Oquist

"A progressively increasing share of Australia’s aid effort has been devoted to supporting improved governance over recent years, not only promoting democratic government and combating fraud and corruption, but more fundamentally building professional public administration and ensuring an independent legal system. Yet I sometimes feel we in Australia are not as conscious as we should be about what makes our institutional arrangements as good as they are. At times, we seem to be promoting in other countries governance arrangements we are not protecting carefully enough at home." Andrew Podger