Who knew? Sometimes, when faced with a barrage of logic and outrage, politicians backtrack. South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has today promised to retrospectively repeal the amendment to the Electoral Act after the next election. He’s also promised not to enforce the current law, even though legally he could. So comment away anonymously!
While some are hoping that this kind of backflip is a positive sign for other controversial issues that Atkinson is involved in, it’s much more likely that the backtrack was a PR-driven move to soften growing anti-government sentiment over censorship. That’s even more evident when you read some of the quotes Atkinson dumps in AdelaideNow’s article on the matter, like this one:
“It may be humiliating for me, but that’s politics in a democracy and I’ll take my lumps”
Still, at least we can claim to be taking some steps forward as a country, no matter how many steps the various Australian Governments want to make us take back…
[AdelaideNow via Lifehacker]