The very model of a modern ex-Prime Minister

Former Australian Prime Minister and life member of the Liberal Party Malcolm Fraser has joined the cyber age and posted a petition “To End Detention and Separation of Families in Australia” at www.petitiononline.com.

I won’t be signing the petition, although I am troubled by many of the issues involved, but as of writing 8,451 people have signed it – that’s a hell of a lot more than he would have got by now hanging around his local shopping center with a hard-copy petition. On Line Opinion has published an in-depth article on the children in detention issue by Barb Rogalla.

For me the most notable thing about the petition is that one of our least modern ex-Prime Ministers has taken to the Internet at a time when Australian politicians in general, particularly non-Labor ones, are less interested than most in the world in using the Internet for campaigning purposes.