Yesterday I attended a meeting with the South Australian Pirate Party branch. And of course some of the conversation centered around the recent SA censorship laws. The laws apparently only lasted a day – until the online shitstorm hit the fans. PP SA didn’t even manage to put out a press release before the law was (sort of) retracted. Basically Attorny Geeral Mr. Atkinson promised to repeal the law retroactively after the election (should he still have enough credibility to get reelected), as it seems there is too little time to change it now (the election is on the 20th of March).

This shows what tremendous power blogs have, even in such a (comparatively) blog-illiterate country as Australia.

The Pirate Party was initially planning to run for the state government in SA, the first state to run an election after the formation of PP AU, but had to change plans as time was running short for them. PP SA will however run a publicity campaign during the election campaign period, informing voters about alternatives  and the previous conduct of politicians.

The SA branch is the largest PP AU branch with about 200 members.

Egil Moeller, reporting directly from South Australia, The Censorship State