But Danby has been playing it both ways.  In the Jewish media he talks about his Jewish track record, how much the Labor government has spent in the Jewish community over the last three years.  Then at the Jewish News Candidate debate between himself and the Liberal candidate he called the last three years “The Golden Era of Labor and Jewish Schools”.  He’s very proud of that achievment.  Nowhere, to his Jewish voters, has he mentioned anything about gay rights or all the work he has purported to do for the gay community.  He’s strangely silent.

Over at the Melbourne Ports Candidate forum Danby makes no mention of this Golden Era, nor does he make any mention of his strong connections to the Jewish community.  He spoke about his great achievements and that of the Labor Government, but not once did he mention the hundreds of millions of dollars the Labor party has spent on Jewish schools.  That piece of information was kept quiet.

Now in rides Kev Ekendahl, astride the cash cow and promises the Jewish community $15 million for Jewish Schools.  In the loudest “Me too!” I’ve heard in years, the Liberals are bending over backwards to secure the prized Jewish vote.  Nowhere in his advertising in the gay media has Kev mentioned anything about his promises to the Jewish Community, and again, nowhere in his communication with the Jewish community does he mention he’s gay.

These two really do like taking it both ways.

Cut the crap.  Are they really so selective that they want to keep the two demographics of their potential voters apart?

Melbourne Ports deserves better than a couple of party hacks who will play the audience for fools, tell them only the nice bits, and ignore the tough bits in fear that it will cost them precious votes.

When you stand at the polling booth, ask yourself do you really want this sort of deceit from your elected representatives?  No?  Then you know what to do.

Vote [1] Gregory STORER in Melbourne Ports.

Vote [1] Penelope GREEN in Melbourne.

Vote above the line for the Senate and mark the Secular Party as [1] in Group R

We deserve to be represented by people with integrity, not hopefulls who only pander to sectional interest for the sole purpose of getting elected.  You need someone who will represent your views, without favouritism based on  religious lines or party politics. Melbourne Ports needs better representation and I can do that.

The Australian Jewish News is a very small newspaper that has virtually no readership outside the Jewish community.  I’ve tried to get myself into the paper as they have been heavily promoting the election for Liberal and Labor, and in the last edition included a bit on the Greens (although the editorial was very anti-green).  They have no problems in accepting advertising from the major parties, no doubt this has been a major boost to their bottom line.

I spoke on the phone to Naomi Levin, Deputy Editor (News) who had no hesistation telling me that the AJN was a religious paper and that they wouldn’t be giving me or the Secular Party any coverage.

Strikes me as a bit strange.  I’m aware that there are a number of Jewish people who actually think the separation of church and state is a really good idea.  I’m aware of a number of secular Jews who might have liked to find out more about who else is standing in their local electorates.

The Jewish News has shown it’s bias, has clearly demonstrated that they alone are the guardians on who knows what in the Jewish community, they have deliberately chosen to censor anyone who they think may offend some of their readers.  Levin told me point blank that those secular Jews should just go read this information somewhere else.

This is not a newspaper that wants to report the news, this is a newspaper that wants to direct people to think their way and only their way.

Elections are important times for our democracy in Australia.  This censorship by the AJN is unwarranted, treats their readership like children who are unable to make up their own minds, displays a bias towards those with the money and deliberately sets out to stifle any other information that some of their readership may find useful.

Just for the record, I’ve been reading the Jewish News for two years.  They consistently run a range of stories that are not ‘religious’ in content and that is amongst some of the content that really gets up people’s noses at times.