ATO bans my site – guarded doors for closed minds
Posted by John, March 26th, 2009 - under ATO, Commissioner of Taxation, Democracy, Free speech, Public Service, Tax Office.
The Tax Office has banned access to my site because it is “political”, according to two readers.
Ah, so it has absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with the fact that my moderate tax articles are critical of the leadership of the ATO.
We couldn’t have ATO staff receiving an alternative view of the direction their Dear Leader and his flatterers are taking them, could we?
Far better to have group think.
What small minds the leadership of the ATO have. And remember, these are the people in charge of collecting $300 billion in tax a year.
Well, actually it is going to be less than that – about $25 to $30 billion less. The Swanette predicts a fall of $115 billion in revenue over the next four years.
By the way, this is a good conservative guide I believe to where the Australian economy is heading – a ten per cent fall in GDP per year over the next four years.
If revenue is falling around ten percent per annum, presumably that reflects the level of the collapse of the Australian economy.
Back to ATO censorship.
It is taxpayers who fund the visionless ATO. To ban access to my site (and indeed all political sites) is an abuse of our funding.
And before I get this nonsense about the public service being apolitical, everything it does is political.
Every official tax site is political too – it reinforces one message, namely that profit making, (the theft of value workers create,) is the best way to organise society.
The ATO’s thinking seems to be that you are a citizen with all the social and political rights and responsibilities that entails but you have to shed that very human essence when you go through the heavily fortified entrances to the ATO.
How appropriate – guarded doors for closed minds.
It just reinforces the point Marx made many years ago – in the realm of work democracy is banned, repressed and trampled on.
Disinfect all workers of dangerous ideas before they enter Voldemort Valley!
Banning something often increases its popularity. Maybe I’ll end up earning more than 20 cents an hour!
At least there is one voice questioning the direction of this top down organisation.
Even in the most repressive organisations Samizdat can flourish.
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Comments
Comment from John
Time March 26, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Ah yes, they have the right t know what is going on outside theri Departments but only through authorised channels. What the ATO media area described to me as mainstream media. So they can read the AFR, the Australian etc and other political journals of record but not my blog.
Interestingly the Commissioner celebrated the apology, and champions the Aboriginal Employment program. And Jenny Granger celebrates International Women’s Day without understanding it celebrates the struggle of women workers against bosses like her.
So only authorised political views get a hearing in the ATO (like mainstream media, broadcasting the Stolen generations apology to staff or some female bigwigs having drinkie poohs to unwittingly celebrate Clara Zetkin and then the spark for the February Revolution in Russia.)
Banning access to sites like mine just highlights the lack of trust the ATO leadership has in its staff and the anti-democratic nature of the society we live in.
Comment from Common Sense
Time March 27, 2009 at 12:40 am
ATO workers are at ‘work’, why whould or should they be reading a blog or other media?
Comment from John
Time March 27, 2009 at 4:55 am
Because workers sell their labour, not their soul.
The ATO allows personal access to sites, eg during lunch time.
Many ATO areas buy newspapers on the chance there may be tax articles in them and to enable their Staff to understand the wider political economic and social aspects of their work. A tax auditor for example in my opinion is a better tax officer if she is across all the societal developments and sees tax and what she is doing as one piece in the jigsaw of life.
Certainly staff understanding and be involved in the debates about the direction of the ATO are an important part of their work.
Why shouldn’t ATO staff be able to read my ATO articles?
Banning my site while allowing access to others is a political move.
Of course the ATO could turn monastic and ban all contact with the outside world (except with taxpayers) but that is a denial to my mind of what work is or should be.
Comment from Arjay
Time March 27, 2009 at 5:23 pm
We seem to have the virus of totalitariarnism creeping into our society.What right has any Govt body the right to censor any site or opinion.Another example is the RTA in NSW.Even if you are proven innocent by the courts of a traffic offence ,they still take the points from your licence regardless.They are judge, jury and executioner.
John I may not always agree with you,but everyone has the right to express their ideas.This is what makes our democracy strong! Take it to the popular media or even to court.You have my full backing.
Take them to task, since this is the thin end of the wedge!
Comment from azza
Time March 29, 2009 at 4:48 pm
It’s not surprising given the censorship that occurs in some of the internal forums.
One of my colleagues tried to seek the support of the various internal (section/geographical) publications to inform others and have his opinions heard about forced intra-city relocations and duties reassignments. He had approached them to raise awareness but was told he was being ‘political’ and that it was not appropriate.
Comment from Daniel
Time April 27, 2009 at 11:36 pm
You cry about the tax payers money being wasted onpoor leadership, yet you believe it is good fiscal policy to let mediocre workers spend their time on our money wasting their lives on the net! I think youlack the ability to hold your tongue and tink before you rant. In regards to lunch time access, I still do not want them spending my money access websites via government computers, or ports. I bet you wouldn’t be complaining if they wanted to access child pornography, or do you allow censorship to suit your opinion!? A line must be drawn, your not in the hot seat to draw it, so put up, shut up, or take control.
Comment from John
Time April 28, 2009 at 7:32 am
Thanks Daniel. I often write about tax, and tax administration. That’s why the ATO has banned my site – not because it is ‘political’, but because it is often critical of the Tax Office leadership. If the ATO is serious then it should ban access to the Financial Review, Australian etc. In fact they buy these papers for their staff because they can ‘trust’ them.
The ATO allows some use of the internet for personal purposes at lunchtime. Why remove my site from that access, and include it in the same category as pornography? Yet staff can still access a range of other ‘political’ sites. I think you should “tink’ before you rant.
I don’t believe in censorship. I do believe in freedom of speech.
Comment from juan
Time March 26, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Hi John
Maybe we can invoque the FOI in reverse. Don’t public servants have the right to know what is going on outsie of their departments?