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Interesting developments in New Zealand

· Aus/NZ affairs

Paul Marks has been keeping his eye on the antipodes

The recent election in New Zealand was widely predicted to be another triumph for the left. Certainly I predicted that this is what would happen (and my predictions have to be treated with some care – I tend to assume that things will go badly), but I was not alone – the BBC and the rest of the international media were all expecting the victory of their comrades (with the only dispute being between those media people who supported Labour and those that supported the Greens).

Sure enough the Labour party has got the most votes (about 40%) but even with the Greens (and fringe leftists “the progressive list”) it would not have a secure majority (even assuming these various factions of collectivists did not tear each others eyes out over things like G.M. crops).

So Labour is looking to the “United” party. I had a look at this parties web site (just go to “New Zealand” on your searcher – then go to the elections and then on from there). And it does not seem to be in favour of greater statism.

That is the thing about New Zealand – it has a lot of political groups (perhaps thanks to P.R.). I looked into all of the political groups and “ACT”, the National Party and New Zealand First can not be described as supporting greater statism (if anything the reverse – even judged by a negative minded old swine like me).

Now here is the rub. If one adds up the votes of United and the National Party and “ACT” and New Zealand First one gets very near to a majority of the voters. Now I am not saying that there is any chance of all these factions getting together – but I am saying there are a lot of “right of centre” (for want of a better term) voters out there (far more than there are in Britain). So the next election (three years time) may well see Labour kicked out and some real reform in New Zealand.

This is certainly not what I thought I would be reporting when I decided to look into this.

Final points – yes there are Christian and Rural parties in New Zealand (I have not dealt with them for reasons of time and space – they do not change the overall picture). And yes there is a Libertarian Party in New Zealand (and they seem like fine people), but as hardly anyone votes for them (they do not seem to have got one per cent of the vote) I decided not to examine them here.

Paul Marks

July 30th, 2002 | Comments are closed

Domination in Australia

· Aus/NZ affairs

There are times when everything in your life comes together so sweetly you almost want to cry. On Friday this arrived by e-mail:

Dear Brian – My name is Miranda and I got your email address from the Internet and the Libertarian Alliance website.

I am most interested in the LA and got details about it from an English dominatrix who I met whilst travelling around Australia. She declined to give her real name as she was working in Australia without a work permit but was known as Madam Extreme. She told me she had been in association with your organisation about ten years ago and referred me to a number of your publications. Having read the views of LA particularly in regard to prostitution and drugs I can say that I am a capitalist anarchist and in line with your views.

I am English and also work as a dominatrix. I am still living and working in Australia, (also without a work permit) as I have a boyfriend here. He also agrees with LA views and we wondered if there was a similar organisation in Australia that you could recommend?

Well the main reason for writing is that I have been watching with interest the Unionisation of Sex Workers going on in the UK now. Sex workers there have formed a union called the International Union of Sex Workers which recently joined the GMB Union. Well I can tell you as a dominatrix working in Australia where sex work is legalised and licensed by the state and the projects for sex workers are funded by the state the situation is horrendous.

I work as a independent operator outside of the state system and not only because I do not have a work permit, but also because I do not want the way I work to be controlled by the state. Most of my Australian friends also operate outside the state system for the same reason.

The sex worker projects that are funded by the state allow only those views to be expressed that are in line with state ideology and are full of political correctness. There is a rule book about what can be expressed and what can not! As a female the sex worker projects are run by women only. Note that they are not run as self support groups by those in the industry, they are run by professionals licensed by the state and it is explicit in the employment contract of these state employees that they must not be sex workers themselves! Yet they run the projects! They are basically a bunch of what I call state feminist fascists who only want their idea’s to be allowed to be expressed and no-one else’s!

I refuse to use their services and employ a private doctor and buy my equipment from private suppliers. In other words I purchase on the free market which is also where I sell my services.

I also do not use the word “sex worker” to describe myself as (a) I do not sell sex and (b) I object to it because it is a politically correct term!

The sex worker projects here support the unionisation of sex workers which I also oppose because I believe that sexual services should operate on the free market not under state collective control. If a person operates as self employed there is not need for a union. I do not like unions any way, but those who promote them here say they are needed to protect the rights of sex workers who work in collective situations e.g. brothels, that are controlled by others e.g. owners/managers. And who are these owners/managers? Those individuals that are licensed by the state as being allowed to run brothels. The very situation brought about by the original legalisation of sex work now becomes the very basis for arguing that sex workers need to be unionised! Is this control upon control upon control or what? And guess who runs the unions? Yes the same state feminist fascist thought police that campaigned for the original legislation that first started to control the sex workers who prior to that had operated quietly and discreetly in the black/shadow economy. (Read for that the free unregulated untaxed libertarian market!)

Note that I am not talking about people forced into sex work and controlled by pimps. That is another issue and not allowed by LA politics anyway. But it seems to me that most of the sex workers that continue to operate in the now hidden shadow economy, like me, are natural born libertarians!

I know you can guess now that I am totally opposed to the legalisation of prostitution and the mess it has caused here and I am currently writing a paper about this and also my opposition to the unionisation of sex workers. I wanted to submit my paper to “Respect” the newspaper of the recently formed International Union of Sex Workers in the UK and guess what? It was censored. Why am I not surprised?

I was therefore wondering if the LA would be interested in taking a look at my paper with a view to publication …

I e-mailed Miranda back. Yes the Libertarian Alliance would love to consider any writing Miranda cares to send us. I remember the English dominatrix lady. She wrote a piece for us called The Morality of Prostitution. Please give my best regards to her if you see her again.

An internet search yielded two Australian libertarian societies, namely The Australian Libertarian Society and The Libertarian Society in Australia.

Also try these two Aussie-based blogs, Zemblog and The Catallaxy Files. It’s interesting the way that “legalising” something could actually make it worse. This has long bothered me with regard to drugs “legalisation”.

Oh, and could Miranda send us a photo of her no doubt great looking self? (I explained Samizdata’s policy on gorgeous women photos: we like gorgeous women photos.)

Miranda came back to me on Saturday:

Sorry I have to say no about the photo. I don’t want to be on the Internet in photograph form just yet. …

You win some, you lose some. But get this. She also said:

I’m on the Internet now listening to LBC and your good self is on there discussing drugs. Good debate! …

Crikey, you really do win some. Miranda the dominatrix, in Australia, listening to me! LBC Radio radio is not on the regular radio anymore here in London. It’s only, I had lamented to myself, on the internet. I only did the show down the phone from my kitchen rather than from a studio like they wanted, for fun and for practice. But before I was on I’d said here what and when I was on, and my huge worldwide fan base was able to tune in. So now it’s an official global fact. All drugs should be legalised, and I mean really legalised, not just “better regulated”.

Shame about the photo though.

May 4th, 2002 | Comments are closed

So immoral that only the government may participate

· Aus/NZ affairs

iFeminists.com reports that the Queensland state government in Australia has given license to five legal brothels, with three more pending. Licensing fees and operating revenues from these facilities will go to the government. At the same time, the government there has aggressively cracked down on unlicensed brothels (aka “competition”) — 72 unlicensed houses of ill repute have been shut down since January of 2001.

“We take a tough approach to illegal prostitution while at the same time provide strict laws to ensure health and safety standards within the legal industry,” says Queensland Premier Peter Beattie. Of course, the very fact that prostitution (outside these few licensed facilities) is illegal is what creates health and safety problems. If someone sells you a defective car, you can sue to get a new car; but if an illegal brothel operator lies to a client about the health of one of the workers, you can’t get the law involved without incriminating yourself. Similar problems arise in the illegal drug trade, obviously.

I suppose that the Aussies in Queensland are to be applauded for partially legalizing prostitution; but of course they are only doing it because they found a way to make money from it. (Likewise, governments generate billions of dollars from lotteries, but would prosecute the exact same lottery system in the private sector as a “numbers racket.”) The unanswered question remains: why do certain activities carry so much moral baggage that only the government may participate?

April 29th, 2002 | Comments are closed

Greetings to our antipodean readers on ANZAC Day

· Aus/NZ affairs

This day of days again we keep –
In memory of those who sleep
Away beyond the quiet sea…..
Away in far Gallipolli.

‘Tis ANZAC Day Day – ’tis Anzac Day..
Our soldier comrades far away,
They died in war  –  that we in peace
May live and love that war may cease.

April 25th, 2002 | Comments are closed

Australia: life during wartime

· Aus/NZ affairs

As I read more and more stories in the press and see the astonishing images of the inferno around Sydney on the British news channels, I cannot help but marvel how well Australia is served by its magnificent firemen. Yet it is clear that what is happening is hardly less than an emergency of wartime proportions. And in wartime, a society has to do what it has to do to protect itself. Of course people might argue that a natural disaster is hardly the same as a war and that is true.

But many of these fires are not natural at all, they have been set by arsonists. Just because the state is not the target of these premeditated acts, it is not regarded as an act of terrorist violence. Yet, the target of these vile nihilists is nothing less than Australian society itself, an infinitely more valuable asset than the damn state.

So what is to be done with any captured arsonists? Well my vote is to handcuff them to a tree and just leave them there. That might not sound very libertarian but the way I see it, acts of violence are intolerable and can be reasonably met with acts of violence. Liberty is about being free to reap the fruit of your own actions… what could be a more elegant manifestation of that than an arsonist roasting in the fire they themselves started?

Perhaps I will not feel so extreme tomorrow but seeing the images of those exhausted fireman just fills me with fury at the thought their lives are in peril through the actions of worthless nihilists who care nothing for the property or life of others.

January 5th, 2002 | Comments are closed
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