As we’ve done for the last two Federal Elections, we’re providing you with a guide as to how we rate the various party’s policies in relation to digital rights issues.
We’ve ranked six of the parties running in the Griffith By-Election by their stance on Digital Rights issues.
As with our 2013 Federal Election Scorecard, parties were ranked for their stances on four key issues; Surveillance, the NBN, Copyright, and Censorship.
The six parties were chosen out of a field of eleven candidates, as they each had a stance on two or more of these issues. The other five candidates, independents and from minor parties, had no stance on any Digital Rights issues (at least that we were able to find).
The former opposition Liberal National Party have slid one point down on Surveillance, due to their more hardline stance on the issue, including PRISM and Australia’s involvement in the program since forming government.
On the same issue the Labor Party have climbed one point, due in large part to their support for a Senate Inquiry into the Telecommunications Interception Act.
Family First, The Greens and the Pirate Party remain unchanged from last year’s election, with the latter two remaining the highest ranking options on Digital Rights.
The Secular Party, a new addition to the scorecard, are very strong on civil rights and free speech issues generally, however we’d like to see some more detail on specific Digital Rights issues.
[UPDATE] We apologise, but we inadvertantly upgraded Labor on censorship from Red to Amber. This was an internal version control error and should not have happened. We have corrected this now.
EFA’s Guide to the Griffith 2014 By-Election
Click on the image below for a full-size view of the scorecard. If you wish to print it, please use this pdf version [276KB].
