Oz Atheist buses kaput?

[Simon Gardner (UK)]

So I’ve waded through umpteen posts as well as wandering the www.

Am I right in my understanding that the Australian (Sydney & Tasmania) Atheist bus campaigns have now been declared a gonner after legal avenues and disputes were exhausted?

[David Nicholls]

Hello Simon,

The Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc has attempted to place advertisements on buses in all Capital cities excluding Darwin, which has no outside advertising of any kind. The mainland states of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland bus advertising is controlled by the company, APN Outdoor. The island state of Tasmania has another independent company for advertising on public transport.

Anti-discrimination regulations in various states have slight differences. In Tasmania and Victoria, the definition of religion and no religion are the same in the transport authority regulations. Note, these are regulations and not laws as such. Consequentially, the AFA has a strong reason in stating we have suffered discrimination.

The Atheist Foundation of Australia has therefore made complaint to the government bodies responsible for overseeing discrimination in these states. We have retained the services of a lawyer in putting our grievance to the Tasmanian anti-discrimination board and the AFA has officially approached the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission similarly. These are two distinct and separate cases. They are not before a court of law. (Yet!)

The outcome of these complaints is still in the waiting-basket with a determination expected soon. How soon, who knows, but possibly within days or weeks.

The Atheist Foundation of Australia is the only group involved in both instances of complaint. Some reporting has stated otherwise, but it is wrong.

I hope this has cleared up the situation for you Simon, and if not, just ask.

David

[Simon Gardner (UK)]

Thanks for that explanation. I gather then that there’s no real time frame. I await further developments here and good luck!

I also note there have been some stirrings in NZ and on twitter.

The others I know of are Atheist bus • Canadian Atheist bus • Atheist buses in Barcelona, Madrid & Malaga • Bus Kampagne, Germany • Bus humaniste (français), Québec, Canada • Campagna Bus, Italy • Dutch Atheist bus campaign • Finland Atheist bus • Atheist trams in Zagreb, Slovenia banned (Zagreb counts because it ran one day.)

[DanDare]

Is there any way for supporters to help this along? Do you need letters to the editor in National papers? Monetary donations?

[David Nicholls]

Thanks for the offer, DanDare. Probably best to let it rest for the moment. Atheism and the AFA have had a very good run out of the ‘rejection’ of our advertisements so far. Much better than if, they were actually on buses. Winning or losing the case in Tasmania will be the next step and our reaction to it dependent on the media response and other factors. So, let’s just hang in there and see what fortune brings. At that time, a call to ‘alms’ may be necessary.

David

[DanDare]

Is there a way we can help in order to keep the issue hot?

[TimB]

I saw an advertisment on the side of a bus this morning in Sydney for a street fighter type computer game persumably aimed mainly at young people. It showed two cranky looking computer animations about to beat the crap out of each other.

Conclusion: The word Athiest must be really frightening to some people.

It seems to be socially acceptable to advertise games where you kill or maim another human but it's not OK to peacefully point out that there is a quite reasonable alternative view of the world to that pushed by religious organisations. I guess society might collapse if too many people worked out that religious dogma is a little bit silly!! Ha.

Maybe the government would take away our christian based public holidays if too many people ticked "no religion" in the next census. Mmmm we could replace them with some public holidays that are meaningfull to all humans like .......maybe this is worth a thread on it's own.

[Vonnie]

Originally Posted by DanDare

Is there a way we can help in order to keep the issue hot?

Back in 2008, the Brisbane Atheists had approval from APN for a billboard design but, while we raised over $1500 in pledges, were were short by $500 or so, so the idea went down the drain.

Apparently, the Queensland Humanists have new leadership and they are keen to pick up the ball.

Pledges can be sent to Maria at the Humanists Society of Queensland: http://www.hsq.org.au/Welcome_.html

Note: This is a separate issue to the AFA bus campaign, more in line with the Freedom from Religion's billboard campaign.

Vonnie

[SchizoDeluxe]

Originally Posted by TimB

Maybe the government would take away our christian based public holidays if too many people ticked "no religion" in the next census. Mmmm we could replace them with some public holidays that are meaningfull to all humans like .......maybe this is worth a thread on it's own.

The sunday trading issue in WA stems from religion as well, another one which people here "seem" to be opposed to, though businesses twist that to their advantage of course. Personally, I'm more for freedom of choice, people and businesses should have that freedom to do what they want on any given day. I've heard the argument on religious public holidays in which anyone who doesn't believe in religion ie atheists shouldn't have to have the day off while everyone else can. Along those same lines, some religious employees, particularly jewish and muslim have been given permission to take certain times of the day, during their shifts at work to attend to their religious practices eg praying and worshipping at a specific time of day.

[Vonnie]

You still don't have Sunday trading in Perth!? You're kidding? (What about that ridiculous service station roster thing. Have they got rid of that?)

Vonnie