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The U.S. Doctor Who Infected 1,300 Guatemalan Patients With STDs
Sarah Zhang
4/08/15 1:00pm
In the 1940s, a young American doctor went to Guatemala to do medical experiments. He was funded by the venerable U.S. National Institutes of Health, but he did not make anyone healthy. Instead, he deliberately exposed 1,300 people to sexually transmitted diseases.
Dr. John C. Cutler was no mad scientist. His experiments exposing prostitutes, prisoners and asylum inmates to STDs were carried out under the Public Health Service. They are flagrantly unethical by modern standards, but that they were deemed acceptable at the time—and perhaps that’s the most horrifying part of all.
Last week, 800 Guatemalans filed a class-action lawsuit for $1 billion against Johns Hopkins University for its role in the STD experiments. Why now, 70 years later? Cutler never published the results of his experiments, which were frankly shoddy science. And thus the experiments were simply forgotten until 2010, when Wellesley professor Susan M. Reverby stumbled across Cutler’s paper while researching the Tuskegee experiments .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment .. in Alabama. (Cutler also worked on these experiments, where hundreds of African-Americans infected with syphilis were not given treatment). The Obama administration issued an official apology then, but medical ethicists have since called for compensation for the Guatemalan victims .. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/guatemalans-used-in-experiments-deserve-compensation.html?_r=1 .
The 1940s were a different time, of course. Sexually transmitted diseases, especially syphilis, loomed far larger in the public imagination than they do today. Even though scientists had proved that penicillin could cure syphilis by 1943, ways to prevent STDs were still lacking—a problem for soldiers just returning from WWII. That’s where Cutler came in.
The road from Terre Haute to Guatemala
Twenty-eight year-old Cutler was just two years out of medical school when he began running a series of tests — called the Terre Haute prison experiment — where he infected prisoners with gonorrhea. The U.S. military wanted to test new prophylaxis, or preventative treatments, for the common STD. And for that, they needed a reliable way to infect people with the disease.
Cutler developed the strategies he would later employ in Guatemala in the U.S. Researchers put bacteria, occasionally collected from prostitutes, directly on the penises of the prisoners. The prisoners had technically consented to the study, however questionable the idea of “consent” by prisoners is by modern standards. But at least the prisoners knew they were being infected with gonorrhea. The would not be true when Cutler relocated his work to Guatemala in 1946.
The Terre Haute experiment was eventually abandoned because researchers could find no reliable way of infecting the men. In Guatemala, however, prostitution was legal, and Cutler could run this experiments with a “natural route” of infection. Plus, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) already had a presence there, and Cutler could work closely with Guatemalan health officials.
“Gross violations of ethics”
Beginning in 1946, Cutler devised a series of experiments to find reliable ways of spreading STDs, primarily syphilis. His team exposed over 1,300 people in all, most of whom were not told they were being infected with diseases. (“This double talk keeps me hopping at time,” he wrote in a letter to a colleague.)
Not everyone exposed got sick with syphilis. But among those who did contract syphilis, not all were treated right away either, even though penicillin was available.
Here are some of experiments Cutler carried out. The descriptions can get graphic.
* Prostitutes who tested positive for gonorrhea or syphilis could visit prisoners at Guatemala City’s Central Penitentiary—all paid for by U.S. taxpayers, notes Wellesley professor Reverby in her paper on the experiments .. http://academics.wellesley.edu/WomenSt/Reverby%20Normal%20Exposure.pdf . She goes on to write, “the researchers actually timed how long they spent with the prostitutes and thought they acted ‘like rabbits’.” In a similar experiment with Guatemalan soldiers, records show .. http://www.nature.com/news/human-experiments-first-do-harm-1.9980 .. a prostitute servicing 8 soldiers in 71 minutes.
* At National Psychiatric Hospital of Guatemala, the team tried to infect asylum patients by scratching the arms, faces, or mouths of women and the penises of men with a needle full of syphilis bacteria. Hundreds of psychiatric patients were thus exposed to syphilis.
* The single most horrific case may be that of Berta, who was infected with syphilis but not treated for 3 months. As Matthew Walter describes in Nature .. http://www.nature.com/news/human-experiments-first-do-harm-1.9980 .. , “Her health worsened, and within another three months Cutler reported that she seemed close to death. He re-infected Berta with syphilis, and inserted pus from someone with gonorrhoea into her eyes, urethra and rectum. Over several days, pus developed in Berta’s eyes, she started bleeding from her urethra and then she died.”
Although Cutler’s work was officially sanctioned, he clearly knew something was not right. In 1947, New York Times science editor Waldemar Kaempffert wrote up a study .. http://bioethics.gov/sites/default/files/StudyGuide_EthicallyImpossible_508_Nov26.pdf .. about penicillin preventing syphilis in rabbits, concluding that such an experiment would be “ethically impossible” in humans. Cutler wrote a letter to his superior about the Times article, which he ends with:
--
I hope that it would be possible to keep the work strictly in your hands without necessity for outside advisors or workers other than those who fit into your program and who can be trusted not to talk. We are just a little bit concerned about the possibility of having anything said about our program that would adversely affect its continuation.
--
The aftermath
Cutler never succeeded in finding a reliable way to get people sick with syphilis through any kind of exposure, which made testing a treatment to prevent it impossible. Eventually, with the war over, the PHS lost interest and Cutler was reassigned back in the States. He would join the ongoing Tuskegee study from 1951 to 1954, and he rose up to become assistant surgeon general of the PHS in 1958. He died in 2003, with his obit .. http://old.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20030212cutler0212p3.asp .. calling him a “much beloved professor.”
Meanwhile, the results of his Guatemala research languished in a dusty archive until Reverby rediscovered them in a trove of his papers at the University of Pittsburgh. The rediscovery prompted a Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues report in 2011 that concluded the experiments involved “gross violations of ethics.”
Before the current lawsuit against Johns Hopkins University, a class-action lawsuit asking the U.S. government for compensation was dismissed in 2013 .. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/opinion/guatemalans-used-in-experiments-deserve-compensation.html?_r=1 . Now, the suit names Johns Hopkins University for employing several professors who sat on government commissions that recommended and funded the studies in Guatemala. The suit also goes after Rockefeller University and Bristol-Meyers Squibb, the latter of whom made the penicillin used in the studies.
Cutler is now dead. So are most of the subjects of the studies. What can justice for these victims look like in 2015? It’s clear that something very wrong happened here—what’s less clear is how we right the wrongs of history, three generations later.
Top image: Syphilis bacterium, CDC/ Dr. David Cox
http://gizmodo.com/the-u-s-doctor-who-infected-1-300-guatemalan-patients-1696095744
UGH
See also:
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Guatemala election: Comedian Jimmy Morales poised to become president
"Guatemalans File Lawsuit Against U.S. for Experimenting on Them With Syphilis Bacteria"
By Fernando del Rincón, Rafael Romo and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 10:39 PM ET, Mon October 26, 2015
Guatemalan presidential candidate Jimmy Morales addresses supporters in September in Guatemala City.
Story highlights
NEW: Jimmy Morales tells CNN en Español his background as a comedian is a benefit
NEW: "I think it is helping us with our message about a new face for Guatemala," he says.
NEW: Officials say Morales won more than 67% of votes in Sunday's election
Guatemala City (CNN) Comedian-turned-politician Jimmy Morales is poised to become Guatemala's next president.
Morales, 46, won more than 67% of votes in Sunday's presidential election, election officials said.
Advisers at some points during his campaign urged him to seem more serious, Morales said.
But he told CNN en Español on Monday that he knew his background as a comedian was a benefit and not a burden.
"If the headlines had said a businessman is running for president, it would not have had the same impact. .... I think it is helping us with our message about a new face for Guatemala, an honest face," he said.
Speaking from Guatemala's capital Monday, Morales told CNN en Español he had a message for Guatemalans living in the United States.
"You did not vote, but yes, you counted," he said. "The support that you gave us, calling your family and friends, counted in a transcendental way so that we are in this position today."
The National Convergence Front's Morales jumped into the political scene in 2011 with a failed run for mayor of Mixco, a Guatemala City suburb.
"We have a great responsibility. ... This mandate that we are receiving is to fight against corruption," Morales said as results came in Sunday night.
For naysayers who are skeptical of his ability to lead the country, he had a clear answer.
"I have been asked if we have the capacity to govern, and we have been emphatic in saying that alone -- no -- but with the blessing of God, and the support of the people, we are sure that yes, we can. Because Guatemala has made a choice that it wants a change," he said.
Former first lady Sandra Torres, 59, who won less than 33% of votes, conceded late Sunday night.
"Guatemala has serious problems. But the people made their choice. We respect it, and we wish great success for Mr. Morales," she said.
Torres, former first lady from 2008 to 2011, is with the National Unity of Hope party. She is divorced from former President Álvaro Colom.
Both candidates ran on the promise of cleaning up the country.
Guatemala, a country of 15 million, is reeling from a corruption scandal that has prompted the resignation of its president, vice president and more than a dozen Cabinet members, ministers and government officials.
Related video: Arrest warrant issued for resigned Guatemalan President 00:57
President Otto Pérez Molina submitted his resignation .. http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/03/americas/guatemala-president-arrest-warrant/index.html .. in September, two days after the Guatemalan Congress voted in favor of stripping the former military commander of his prosecutorial immunity as head of state. Pérez Molina, who was arrested shortly afterward, has maintained his innocence .. http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/09/americas/guatemala-ex-president-otto-perez-molina-interview/index.html .. and said the accusations against him were politically motivated.
Sunday's election was Guatemala's ninth since the Central American country returned to democracy after a 36-year civil war that ended in 1996.
CNN en Español's Fernando del Rincon reported from Guatemala City. CNN's Rafael Romo and Catherine E. Shoichet
reported from Atlanta. Journalist Patzy Vásquez and CNN's Nelson Quiñones contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/25/americas/guatemala-election/
Argentina election: 'Two country' poll highlights divisions
Wyre Davies Rio de Janeiro correspondent
26 October 2015
Getty Images
Dejected: Supporters of Mr Scioli who had gathered at his party's headquarters were shocked by the result
Only the most ardent, committed and perhaps blinkered of governing Peronist party supporters could interpret Sunday night's elections in Argentina as a victory.
Yet for several hours, that is what pro-government media outlets and even the current president's handpicked successor, Daniel Scioli, were doing.
"Scioli wins," read the rolling red electronic strap on the television screens in the packed media annex at the Front for Victory movement's headquarters in Buenos Aires.
Four hours after the polling stations had closed, Mr Scioli took to the stage, thanked his loyal supporters and set out his programme for government. Only indirectly and very subtly did he refer to the possibility that he might not have secured a clear first-round win and there might be the need for a run-off vote.
Two hours later, Mr Scioli had failed to return to the stage - as party officials had promised he would. With no exit polls or official results, there were whispers and rumours that things might be "going south" for the government.
The results, when they finally came, had everyone in shock.
Mr Scioli and his centre-right opponent, Mauricio Macri, were neck and neck.
Getty Images
Disappointment in Mr Scioli's camp was matched only by the surprised excitement at Mr Macri's headquarters
The powerful Peronist party machine that dominates Argentine politics from the smallest provinces to the presidential Casa Rosada (Pink Palace) had been humbled.
The party faithful, who at the start of the evening had been in typically boisterous mood, were rolling up their huge banners and trudging out of the hall. Some were even in tears, fearful that this was the end of their progressive utopian dream.
Yes, they knew that their beloved Cristina - as the sitting President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is popularly known - had to stand down after eight years in power.
But through her chosen successor, Mr Scioli, the project of popular but expensive welfare programmes and interventionist politics that define the "Kirchnerist" government would surely continue.
The future course for Argentina looks much more uncertain today.
Not only did the ruling party fail to dominate the presidential vote, they also lost their congressional majority and - arguably as hurtful as anything else - the polemical government minister Anibal Fernandez, one of President Fernandez's top allies, failed in his bid to become governor of Argentina's most important province, Buenos Aires.
Divisions within the Peronist party are already being laid bare.
Getty Images
Mr Scioli has enjoyed only lukewarm support from the party's loyalists
Some of those close to President Fernandez, the ultra loyal Campora movement, have always been lukewarm about Mr Scioli's ability to step into her shoes. They were suspicious, in particular, about his commitment to continue her radical but divisive style of government.
Others within the wider party argue it was that combative but divisive style of politics, personified by President Fernandez, that led to the meltdown.
[ INSERT: leaving the President tag aside, did anyone else think of Donald Trump on reading that sentence? ]
As one newspaper headline succinctly but correctly put in the morning after the night before: "Two countries."
As the banners were falling to the floor at the governing party rally, across town at Mr Macri's Cambiemos (Let's Change) headquarters they were blowing up balloons, dancing on stage and promising a bright, very different Argentina.
Politicians are, of course, full of promises and some of the slogans in this election have been particularly bland and uninspiring, but Mr Macri and his movement have tapped into a deep dissatisfaction that opinion polls and overconfident government ministers missed or ignored.
Mr Macri, the former mayor of Buenos Aires, appealed for independent and undecided voters to back him in November's second round, saying that Argentina had clearly voted for change.
He will be painted, in these interceding weeks, as a charlatan who wants to slash government spending and abandon the expensive welfare programmes that are so popular with many of Argentina's Peronist-supporting working classes.
But he also recognises that the country is in desperate need of reform.
[img]
ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/90DB/production/_86338073_gettyimages-492831064.jpg[/img]
Getty Images
Argentina's economic policy, wracked by massive inflation, is in desperate need of reform
Inflation is running at worryingly high levels, the Central Bank coffers are almost empty and relations with the important agricultural sector are at an all time low.
Mr Scioli may indeed recover to become the next president of Argentina, with the help of the party machine and the votes of those who supported the independent Peronist candidate Sergio Massa in the first round.
But this is a changed country.
Whoever occupies the Casa Rosada in December, when President Fernandez returns to her Patagonian ranch, will need to be a bridge builder - one who can mend fences between conflicting sectors of Argentine society as well as rebuilding the country's reputation overseas.
View comments 14
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34635937
Indonesia as a Model of Muslim Democracy
Developments, Problems, and Opportunities
About Fikrun
Fikrun wa Fann is a cultural magazine that encourages and makes a contribution towards shaping cultural exchange between Germany and Islam-orientated cultural groups. Authors from Germany, Europe and the Islamic world have their say alongside other international voices. In addition to information and dialogue with and within Islam-orientated countries, Fikrun wa Fann also offers a literary forum for current socio-political debates.
[Polling booth]
In the wake of Islamic resurgence and the growing democratic movements in North Africa and the Middle East, it is relevant to see Indonesia as a model of Muslim democracy. The country has shown a stable democratic government, civil liberties, and tremendous economic growth.
Prior to 1998, Turkey was often considered a model of Muslim democracy. Not only was it the sole majority Muslim country that rigorously applied secular principles, it also tried to maintain a democratic government. Although there were some criticisms against military dominance in Turkish politics, many people at the time still considered Turkey to be the only democratic Muslim country in the world. In the absence of a democratic government in the Muslim world, the presence of Turkish democracy, however minimal it was, was a relief.
This view began to change when Indonesia moved from an authoritarian regime to democracy in 1998. Eight years later the country was crowned by US based think tank, Freedom House, as a free country: the only large Muslim majority country to have attained such a status. Among countries in North Africa and the Middle East, Israel is the only country to be regarded as free.
Since then, many world leaders lauded the rise of democracy in Indonesia. US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, called Indonesia a role model of democracy for the Muslim world. She believed that "Indonesia's own recent history provides an example for a transition to civilian rule and building strong democratic institutions". Likewise, President Obama pointed out that Indonesia’s democracy can be Egypt’s model. Indeed, Obama has often praised Indonesian democracy as a good example for the world. In the wake of democratic movements spreading through large parts of the Arab world, it is necessary to explore Muslim models of democracy. There are at least four reasons why Indonesia is a good model.
Four reasons
First, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world that has undergone political transition from authoritarian regime to democracy.
Second, the country has maintained political stability despite the ethnic conflicts and religious riots in the first years of its political transition.
Third, Indonesia has demonstrated stable economic performance. Over the last five years, economic growth in Indonesia has been around 6%. During the global financial crisis in 2009, together with China and India, Indonesia was the only country that could maintain economic growth above 4%.
Fourth, Indonesia is the only Muslim majority country where Islamic political parties have failed to win the general election. In North African and the Middle Eastern countries, democracy always gives Islamic political parties victory.
Indonesia is an interesting case for anyone to study the interplay between Islam and democracy. In the wake of Islamic resurgence and the growing democratic movements in North Africa and the Middle East, the question whether Muslim countries are going to be more Islamized or secularized becomes increasingly important. Let me explain first the historical background of Indonesia’s road to democracy.
The current process of democratization in Indonesia started in 1998, particularly on 21 May, when President Soeharto publicly announced his resignation from his 32 year rule of the country. The announcement was quite surprising as he was just elected for the seventh time and had committed to rule the country for another five years. The public pressure from students seemed to be Suharto’s main reason for resignation. Student movements had occupied the parliament for three days and riots a week earlier (14-15 May) had brought the capital city to a standstill. Indonesia was on the brink of financial and political collapse. Soeharto’s resignation was the right response in a dire situation .
The struggle for democracy
Like in many other countries, political transition is never easy, particularly with a country that has been ruled by an authoritarian-military regime. Soeharto handed down his government to Burhanuddin Jusuf Habibie, his deputy, but he was perceived as a part of the same regime. Worsened by economic crisis, Indonesian politics in the first three years of its transition was filled by tension, conflict, and demonstrations.
People felt free to express what they think. Democracy allowed them to form organizations where they could recruit and mobilize people. Hundreds of organizations and political parties were formed. Groups with various ideological inclinations filled the public sphere bringing their own paradoxes. Indonesian democracy in its early years was chaotic and people started to speak about the disentegration of the Republic and the potential for Balkanization.
People were dissatisfied with the new government and they perceived it as a sequel to the old one. The economic crisis brought the country to its most difficult times in three decades. Inflation reached 77%, interest rates jumped to 68%, gross domestic product went down to minus 13%, and unemployment rose to 24%. From the beginning, Habibie’s power was always considered to be short term.
People wanted a fair general election where they could choose their own leaders. Various laws regarding the political transition were drafted and enacted. The general election was scheduled for June 1999. It was a parliamentary election where people voted for legislative members. According to the constitution then, the president was not directly selected by the people but by the legislative members.
The 1999 general election was not only about the selection of a new leader and the hope for a better economic future, but Indonesian democracy and the trajectory of the country was also at stake. Soon after the general election was scheduled, hundreds of political parties were formed and registered themselves to the General Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, KPU).
Islamic political parties were among them. Out of 160 parties that enrolled in the KPU, only 48 parties met the the basic conditions and were entitled to join the election. Among these parties, 11 were Islamic parties whose mission was to struggle for the implementation of Sharia (Islamic Law) in the country. All parties were so optimistic that their leaders confidently predicted that they would win the election.
Before the result of the election was announced no one knew what was going to happen with Indonesian democracy. Some people were cautious about the rise of political Islam and the possibility of Islamists winning the election. The agenda of Islamic political parties was quite clear: returning the “seven words” back to the constitution. The seven words are the wording that contains the implementation of Sharia for Muslims in Indonesia.
The words were originally in the constitution, but following the protests by a Christian delegation, on 18 August 1945, the Preparatory Committee of Independence removed them. Throughout recent Indonesian history, Muslims have been struggling to return the words back to the constitution. They tried during the Soekarno times, but failed. They had also tried in the Soeharto times, but it was just impossible to do so as the regime did not allow any talk about political Islam. The opportunity had just come when Indonesia became a democratic country. They put their hope in the 1999 general election.
Eventually, the general election result defied many expectations. The winner was the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDIP), a secular party led by the daughter of Soekarno, the first president of the Republic. In second place was Golkar, another secular party, the ruling party throughout the Soeharto era. Out of 11 Islamic parties, only one party gained significant votes, namely Development and Unity Party (PPP) that obtained 10.7%. The rest only obtained less than 3%. The whole votes of Islamic parties combined were no more than 20%, not enough to dominate the parliament.
This result disappointed many Muslim leaders who wished for victory. Something that has been happening recently in the Middle East did not happen in Indonesia. Democracy does not side with Islamic parties to win the race for political power.
The question we should address here is, why did the majority of Indonesian Muslims not vote for Islamic parties, but rather to secular (or non-religious) parties? Has not there been an Islamization process in the country? Why is the resurgence of Islam in Indonesia is not followed by the success in gaining political power?
There are many answers to these questions. But, the most striking one is that there has been a radical change in the political mindset of Indonesian Muslims. Partly due to the external factors that were boosted by secular-militaristic regime under Soeharto and partly due to internal ones which were pushed by liberal Muslims. These two factors played a crucial role in changing Muslims’ political mindset and the way Muslims perceived democracy. Let me elaborate more on this aspect.
Islam and democracy
Along with nationalism and communism, democracy is one of the most debated concepts among Indonesian Muslims. During 1930s, there was a debate on nationalism between two young intellectuals who then became important leaders of the country: Soekarno (1901-70) and Muhammad Natsir (1908-93). Representing the secular group, Soekarno believed that nationalism is the glue for Indonesian unity. Meanwhile, speaking on behalf Islamic group, Natsir considered nationalism as an ideology that could dilute Muslims’ religious belief. The debate between Soekarno and Natsir was the classic example of the disagreement between secularists and Islamists over various issues regarding religion and politics.
The Islamists were generally reluctant to embrace modern concepts such as nationalism, socialism, and democracy. While their counterpart, the secularists, unhesitatingly promoted those modern ideas, the Islamists criticized and often condemned them on the basis of Islamic arguments. Their objection to these concepts was mostly based on their particular understanding of Islamic doctrines that they believed to be superior to secular ideas.
Natsir, for example, prefered to embrace an Islamic version of democracy: that is, a combination between Western democracy and the Islamic model known as “Shura.” Natsir’s reluctance to accept democracy was due to his understanding that democracy could harm Islamic principles. He believed that there are certain things in Islam that are considered to be final (qat’i), thus giving no room for people to discuss them. He gave the examples of gambling and pornography as being beyond discussion. Parliament has no right to discuss such things.
During the early time of independence (mid 1940s), Muslim leaders found themselves to be more comfortable to embrace the concept of “Islamic democracy” than just “democracy.” Theoretically, the concept was widely promoted by Muslim intellectuals and scholars. Zainal Abidin Ahmad (1911-83), another proponent of Islamic democracy, argued that Islamic political system is not a theocracy as some people might think, but rather democracy.
The roots of Islamic democracy, according to Ahmad, are the Qur’an and the political life in early generation of Islam under “the rightly guided caliphs” (al-khulafa al-rashidun). In the verses 159 of the Sura Ali Imran and 59 of al-Nisa, the Qur’an clearly advises Muslims to maintain the deliberative method approved in the decision making process. For Ahmad, this is a strong argument for Muslims to embrace democracy. Likewise, Ahmad believes that “the early caliphate system was democratic, since it had sufficiently maintained democratic requirements. Democratic instruments such as a people’s assembly, succession, deliberation, and social institutions, had all existed during that time”.
Muslim leaders like Natsir and Ahmad believed in democracy not only because it was theologically justifiable, but also because they believed that with democracy they could win the race to political power. As Muslims are the biggest population in the country, there is a possibility to win the democratic contest. It is for this reason that they formed an Islamic party and then joined the general election in 1955.
The early generation of Indonesian Muslims generally understood democracy as majority rule and mostly ignored its substance. They believed, that as Muslims are the majority, they could rule the country according to their taste, ignoring the rights of minorities. They enthusiastically accepted democracy because it could help them to gain political power through general elections. If they won the election, they could dominate the parliament and thus change the constitution. This was the main reason why Islamic political parties were so ready to participate in the election.
Indonesian history would have been different had the Islamic parties won the 1955 general election. In that election, all Islamic parties obtained 43%; enough to take over the government, but not enough to steer the parliament. The Law requires two third of the parliamant members as a minimal requirement for changing the constitution. Certainly, Muslims leaders were disappointed by the result, but they fully realized the consequence of democracy.
With this failure, they accepted the rules of the game: enjoying their position according to what they got in the election. Thus, Muslim representatives were in the parliament and some of their leaders were involved in the government. Burhanuddin Harahap (1917-1987), a Masyumi leader, was appointed prime minister from August 1955 to March 1956. As a chairman, he had to deal with other people and had to participate lawfully. He fully realized that he could not impose his party’s vision of Islamic democracy.
The role of liberal Muslims
What is good from democracy is that it teaches people patience and tolerance.
[ LOLOL. Think Cruz, Pat Robertson... ]
If one loses an election, one has to wait for four or five more years to put another bet. And if one slightly won the election, he or she has to deal with other winners. One has to share the “electoral cake” with others to form a government. Indonesian Muslims had learnt so much about politics and how to deal with it.
Many things happened during Soeharto’s New Order regime. Muslims were barred from forming Islamic parties. They were forced to join one of the three parties approved by the regime, namely Golkar, Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), and Development and Unity Party (PPP). Some scholars argue that the change of Muslim political mindset was greatly due to the way Soeharto treated them. Indonesian Muslims have been politically secularized that their attitude towards politics has no longer been the same (Effendy 2003; Hefner 2000; Anwar 1995).
It is true that Soeharto’s New Order regime had played a crucial role in changing Muslim political attitudes. The shift, however, is not only due to Soeharto who ruled the country repressively, but also due to the long and passionate role played by Muslim intellectuals. What is happening in Indonesia is not happening in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. Indonesian intellectuals played an important role in changing Muslim political mindset and attitude.
Through lectures, writings, and actions, they advocated democracy and delegitimized Islamic parties. Unlike in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, the Indonesian reform movement has always been through organizations. Intellectuals such as Abdurrahman Wahid (1940-2009), Ahmad Syafii Maarif (born 1935) and Nurcholish Madjid (1939-2005) are Muslim leaders who chaired big organizations. They spread their liberal ideas to Muslim society through these organizations. Wahid did it through Nahdlatul Ulama (40 million members), Maarif through Muhammadiyah (30 million members), and Madjid through Islamic Student Association and its alumnae (over 10 million members).
In Egypt, the Islamic reform movement has developed in a more solitary manner. Great intellectuals such as Jamaluddin al-Afghani (1837-1897) and Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) did not have any organization where they could spread their ideas. This trend continues until today’s generation of reformers. Intellectuals such as Hassan Hanafi (born 1935) and Nasr Hamed Abu Zayd (1943-2010) are solitary thinkers who do not have big followers. They disseminated their ideas in academic classes, seminars, and scholarly journals. No matter how sophisticated their ideas are, they remain limited and never reached to the grass roots.
Promotion through organisations
In Indonesia, Muslim intellectuals have been very active in promoting democracy and pluralism to Muslim societies. Abdurrahman Wahid was one of the most influential leaders among the Nahdlatul Ulama members. Born in a strong family background and educated in Baghdad and Cairo, Wahid was highly respected by both Muslims and non-Muslims in the country. He read Western literatures and tried to synthesize them with Islamic intellectual tradition.
One of Wahid’s most significant contributions to Indonesia is his untiring campaign for democracy and Pancasila (five principles) [ https://www.google.com/search?q=Pancasila&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 ] as the only basis of the state. Since independence until 1980s, many Muslims believed that adopting Pancasila – not Islam – could dilute their Islamic creed. Wahid argued that Pancasila did not contradict Islam. Throughout his career as an intellectual, Wahid publicly criticized and delegitimized Islamic political parties. He denounced the idea of Islamic state and refused the formal implementation of Sharia.
Nurcholish Madjid was another intellectual who is remembered for his daring ideas that challenge Muslim minds. Since early 1970s, he consistently campaigned for secularization and appealed Muslims to separate their religious interests from politics. Like Wahid, Madjid also campaigned against the idea of Islamic state and Islamic party. For him, Muslims could channel their political aspirations in non-religious (secular) parties. He believed that what is more important for Muslims is not to struggle for formalistic agenda of Islam such as the implementation of Sharia, but the substantial ones such as healthcare, security, and education.
During 1980s, there were quite a number of Muslim intellectuals coming from religious background but campaigned for liberal Islam, that is the Islam that supports liberal values such as freedom, democracy, pluralism, and tolerance. Most of them affiliated with major Islamic organization such as NU and Muhammadiyah. They played a crucial role in enlightening Indonesian Muslims. Through mass media, discussion forums, public lectures, and social actions, they spread their flexible interpretations of Islam and appealed Muslims to fully engage with modern challenges.
Conclusion
Indonesian democracy is still young but it is growing dynamically. Despite many problems that Indonesian government has to face, the country can successfully keep its economic growth, curbing the unemployment rate, reforming legal system, and building infrastructure. Since 1998, Indonesia has undergone three general elections, which were consecutively won by secular (non-religious) parties, namely Indonesian Democratic Party (1999), Golkar (2004), and Democratic Party (2009).
These three parties have a great commitment for democracy and Indonesian pluralism. On the other hand, Islamic political parties are declining. According to the recent survey released by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Indonesian Muslims keep their preference to secular parties for the next general election (2014).
In spite of such an optimist view, there are two big challenges that Indonesian democracy is facing seriously: corruption and intolerance. Over the past ten years, the Indonesian government has been fighting against corruption. An independent institute called Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, KPK), was founded and is working hard to bring corruptors to justice. Hundreds of corruptors have been detained and hundreds more are in waiting.
Meanwhile, intolerant actions have threatened the unity of the country. Radical Islamic groups have been the biggest threat for pluralism and harmony in the country. Indonesian government have worked hard to curb the terrorist groups and approached the moderate Muslims to fight against Islamic radicalism. If the Indonesian people and government can overcome these two challenges, there is a very big possibility for the country to become a role model for Muslim democracy.
Luthfi Assyaukanie
is Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy at Paramadina University and a Research Fellow at the Freedom Institute; both are based in Jakarta. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has been engaged in the civil society movement, advocating freedom and human rights issues. His latest book is Islam and the Secular State in Indonesia (Iseas 2009).
Copyright: Goethe-Institut e. V., Fikrun wa Fann
June 2012
Your opinion concerning this topic? Write to
Mail Symbolkulturzeitschriften@goethe.de
http://www.goethe.de/ges/phi/prj/ffs/the/a97/en9523678.htm
Australian PM Tony Abbott ousted by Malcolm Turnbull
14 September 2015
VIDEO: Malcolm Turnbull: Leadership contest "very important and sobering experience"
Australia is to have a new prime minister after Tony Abbott was ousted as leader of the centre-right Liberal Party by Malcolm Turnbull.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34245005
==
Malcolm Turnbull was Australia’s worst ever Communications Minister
By Renai LeMay - 14/09/2015
opinionHe might be charismatic, he might be popular, and pretty shortly he might be Prime Minister. But when it comes to technology policy, Malcolm Turnbull has been a disaster. The Member for Wentworth will be remembered as Australia’s worst ever Communications Minister — the man who singlehandedly demolished the NBN and put a polite face on draconian Data Retention and Internet piracy laws.
Right now,... http://delimiter.com.au/2015/09/14/malcolm-turnbull-was-australias-worst-ever-communications-minister/
See also:
The polishing of Tony Abbott
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90898728
"could the re-polished Abbott be a one term PM? .. yup, repeat, imo, odds are he could be"
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95581274
The End Of Anwar Ibrahim’s Legacy, The Rise Of Suhaimi Sabudin In Permatang Pauh?
Details Published on Tuesday, 05 May 2015 02:08 Written by Nur Lina Mastura
February 10, 2015 – It was doomsday for PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, after his final appeal against a sodomy conviction was rejected, and he was found guilty of sodomising his former aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan. The trial that lasted for seven years finally came to an end as he was sentenced to five years imprisonment, for what was a second time after his imprisonment in 1998.
Efforts made by he and his family also failed after their request for a royal pardon was turned down, and the pardon rejection meant that he had lost his seat as an MP of Permatang Pauh, keeping him out of his political career, and leading up to a by-election for the parliamentary constituency he once helmed.
After withstanding a 33-year long leadership legacy under the administration of PKR and Anwar in the parliamentary constituency, even while he was imprisoned in 1998, his wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail took over as MP in 1999 until 2008 before vacating the seat to provide the path once again for him following his release in 2004, and now, the hot seat is finally up for grabs again.
Serving the parliamentary constituency for many years throughout his political career, it is undeniable that Anwar had before this proven his credibility, which led people to recognise the greatness of his administration – the outcome of his thinking, actions and new ideas that were generated, until his fall from grace.
Despite Anwar’s legacy being the key anchor of PKR’s campaign for Permatang Pauh, once again, the locals will be faced with a 10th by-election since the General Election (GE), as the stage is set for the battle to determine who will fill the vacant seat that Anwar was forced to vacate.
A question that now begs: Can Anwar’s family put up a fight and avenge his imprisonment by keeping his legacy alive? Or would voters turn over a new leaf by opting for a change under a new leadership?
Anwar’s Political Background
A brief background of Anwar before joining UMNO includes him leading the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) for ten years. During his leadership, he sought the attention of the public, especially youths which led to the recognition of ABIM.
He was always seen vigorously fighting for the values of Islam, bringing forth the concept of Islam in the political arena, also indirectly using the platform along with the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) to attract more Muslims, in grasping the true concept of Islam. However, in March 1982, Anwar had made a decision that shocked many people when he declared his participation in UMNO.
This decision came as a huge disappointment to many in PAS as well as his companions in ABIM. In fact, the Shura members in ABIM discouraged him and were not willing to let him continue his political path with UMNO, seeing as he was a very well-known leftist who strongly criticised the leadership of UMNO and the government.
Explaining his decision to join UMNO, Anwar said he had found that there is an openness and honesty in the government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Tun M). Interestingly enough, prior to this, Anwar was also offered a Cabinet by Tun Abdul Razak in 1974 when he became Prime Minister, and an invitation from Datuk Harun Idris so as to participate in the Youth Movement - but both were met with rejections.
Many aren’t aware of the good relations that once existed between him and Tun M, but the two did work together and were a force that heavily criticised the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman especially during the May 13, 1969 racial riots, which since sparked Anwar’s interest to join UMNO. Mahathir recognised Anwar as a vehicle to promote his own government, as a champion of the Malays and Islamic causes.
His participation had also received strong support not only from the leadership of UMNO, but the leaders of Barisan Nasional (BN), such as the former MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu, who believed in his integrity and capabilities of helping UMNO implement its policies. This was evident as he won the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency in the 1982 GE.
As a new member of UMNO, Anwar was able to beat PAS candidate, Zabidi Ali, by an astounding majority of 14,352 votes. But that wasn’t the only impressive start he had. He later on went on to be appointed as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office under Tun M’s administration.
Anwar was evidently climbing the ladder of success, rung by rung and was eventually nominated to contest Datuk Suhaimi Kamaruddin and Hang Tuah Arshad for the Youth Chief post, in what turned out to be a three-cornered fight.
In campaigns underway, Anwar insisted before the people on the changes that he would bring and the fights that he would put up in the party, which include adding Islamic values in the society, promising administrative efficiency, fighting for issues in Islam, the advocacy of the Malays and the elimination of corruption. Also in his campaigns, he was sure in reminding his supporters of a healthy compromise without dissing the opponent, with his rally cry being 'Vote for Change'.
In September 1982, Anwar won the Youth Chief post with 183 votes, while Suhaimi trailed with 173 votes, followed by Hang Tuah Arshad with only three votes. With a differing ten votes only to Suhaimi, Anwar evidently did not receive that strong of a support from members of the youth movement. However, the win meant that he was given a step ahead to prove himself and to deliver his promises, particularly in implementing Islamic values and fostering a keen understanding amongst other members.
Year by year and step by step, Anwar brought a rapid change to the youth movement, regardless the censures from various parties, he withstood the test of time and prospered in keeping his promise. His proven success was clearly the main driver that led the youth movement to put full trust in his leadership. His first ministerial office was that of Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1983, and then heading the agriculture ministry in 1984 before becoming Minister of Education in 1986.
His influence was clearly growing in UMNO, and so was his confidence. He then resigned from his position as Youth Chief and moved on to contest as UMNO Deputy President on 24 April 1987.
“I have made this decision to resign as UMNO Youth Chief in view that my peers and I have already joined UMNO’s main body and I feel that it’s time for me to follow their footsteps,” he said during the Youth General Assembly on 23 April 1987.
Anwar made no mistake and clearly knew what he was doing. He saw it as a step closer to achieving his dream of becoming Malaysia's fifth Prime Minister.
But it looked as though he had had his chips, despite his contributions being equally impressive, and his delivery, charismatic - his career was destroyed overnight in 1998 when he was removed from his post in UMNO by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Anwar, along with shattered dreams, was jailed for corruption and sodomy, and this led to his cry of reformation, to take action against the ruling coalition and its leaders who he claimed were ‘unjust’.
Now, history repeats itself for the man who has always insisted he is innocent. Only this time, this second imprisonment has crushed him at the peak of his political career.
The Upcoming Permatang Pauh By-Election
The Permatang Pauh Parliamentary constituency by-election will take place in two days, and what is to become a 'phenomenon' throughout Malaysia will witness a four-cornered fight between Barisan Nasional (Suhaimi Sabudin), President of PKR (Wan Azizah) [ Anwar Ibrahim's wife .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wan_Azizah_Wan_Ismail ], Parti Rakyat Malaysia (Azman Shah Othman) and Salleh Isahak from the independent party.
Barisan Nasional [SEE INSERT BELOW] candidate Suhaimi Sabudin is seen as Anwar’s fiercest competition in winning the constituency seat, one that would spring a surprise to shove PKR’s predictable choice, Wan Azizah out of the spot. The locals have also recently outwardly declared their support for the 44-year-old businessman and political novice in the upcoming by-election.
Suhaimi, known as the ‘local boy’ has also been stealing the hearts of people in the constituency, especially youths who seized job opportunities – a progress that should have happened during the 33 years under the administration of Anwar, Wan Azizah and PKR.
Suhaimi had also pledged to utilise his expertise in the construction sector by bringing more development to the constituency, promising to go to the ground to work if given the chance.
Emphasising their ground approach, BN’s campaign matches their slogan “Cukuplah… kami pulak” (Enough… it’s our turn). Who's to say if it is enough, but 33 years sure is long time, and many have felt that too much trust was peviously given to Anwar under his administration and that it is time for them to be eased out of his leadership legacy.
These were some comments made by the residents of Penang, taken from the online portal Selangorpost.com with regards to the Permatang Pauh by-election which will take place on May 7:
“As MP of this constituency, Anwar and his wife have never visited us. He was rarely seen on ground and never helped the people of Permatang Pauh. PKR always wanted the voters to vote but often neglected the poor and elderly in the constituency.” - Zulkifli Hamid, 79, the oldest voter in the Permatang Pauh by-election.
“As a voter in the Permatang Pauh constituency, I am disappointed with its representative for not bringing any development to the people here. I am tired of voting after nearly five rounds, it’s always him and his family, and the situation remains the same in the constituency. We, the residents are disappointed with the performance of the past MP.” – Khairul Anas Ismail, 47.
“The Permatang Pauh Constituency should have been more rapid in development if voters had chosen a representative that cared more about the people. Workers at a factory in Perai citing a neighbouring parliamentary constituency in Tasek Gelugor and Kepala Batas pointed that it had progressed even more rapidly under the BN representatives. MPs must understand issues faced by the locals, focus on them, and find ways to resolve them.” - Siti Nuraina Mohd Aman, 31.
UMNO Youth Information Chief, Jamawi Jaafar, UMNO Federal Territory, Youth Chief Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafli, and UMNO Youth Exco, Nazir Hussein Akhtar Hussein have all expressed their views about the issues faced by the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency and Wan Azizah’s nomination in taking over the seat once held by her husband. And according to a source, they have all claimed that there are young people who expressed how they had once been strong supporters of PKR but have in turn supported UMNO as they have grown weary of Anwar and his family’s political antiques.
“Anwar and Wan Azizah have never appreciated the support given by the voters, but instead only choose to prioritise their family’s fight,” said Jamawi.
Meanwhile, Razlan spoke of Wan Azizah’s failure of leading the people, especially in the parliamentary constituency.
“Wan Azizah does not have a good track record of excellence in the state, let alone in Kajang with her disappearance from the people when they needed her the most. After winning the by-election in Kajang, there was not a single deed done to repay the people, to help improve their lives,” said Razlan.
Nazir claimed, “The decision to put Wan Azizah to contest in the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency is expected and this is BN’s best chance to win back the seat.”
--
INSERT: Malaysia held general elections on 5 May 2013 following the dissolution of the Parliament announced on 3 April 2013.
Both the House of Representatives and 12 out of 13 state legislative assemblies (with the exception of Sarawak) were renewed.
The federal ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party, of prime minister Najib Razak
is the leader of, formed the federal government with 60% of parliamentary seats even though it won a mere 47.38% of the popular vote while
the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim formed the bulk of the opposition in Parliament after winning 50.87% of the popular vote.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_general_election,_2013
--
Nevertheless, the extent of Anwar’s influence in the parliamentary constituency still remains uncertain, with some steadfast PKR supporters rooting for his legacy since 1982 to live on.
The big day is yet to come, [PKR won, see below] and with only two days away, all Malaysians are eagerly waiting to find out the fate that’s in store for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary constituency. Even with whispers of predictions in the air, anything is possible. With a vital seat at stake, can Wan Azizah and Anwar’s legacy prove that his influence is still relevant in Permatang Pauh, or is this BN’s best chance to dominate with Suhaimi Sabudin?
In the meantime, the PKR de facto leader had also sent a letter to residents of Permatang Pauh, urging them to support his wife in the upcoming by-election. And according to the letter, the former MP had called upon voters in the parliamentary constituency to vote for her in a continued effort to seize justice, to salvage the people.
- Malaysian Digest
http://www.malaysiandigest.com/frontpage/282-main-tile/552275-the-end-of-anwar-ibrahim-s-legacy-the-rise-of-suhaimi-sabudin-in-permatang-pauh.html
--
7:11PM May 7, 2015 Malaysiakini
PKR retains Pmtg Pauh with smaller majority
The by-election is a four-way contest between Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR),
Suhaimi Sabudin (BN), Azman Shah Othman (PRM) and Salleh Isahak (Independent).
10.18pm: OFFICIAL RESULTS FROM ELECTION COMMISSION
PKR - 30,316 (57.1% of the popular vote, down by 1.47%)
BN - 21,475 (40.44% of the popular vote, up by 0.38%)
Independent - 367
PRM - 101
Majority: 8,841
Spoilt vote: 843
Quick analysis: .. http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/297557
Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy Conviction Upheld; Court Sentences Opposition Leader To 5 Years In Prison
Reuters | By EILEEN NG
Posted: 02/10/2015 2:31 am EST Updated: 04/11/2015 5:59 am EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/anwar-ibrahim-sodomy-conviction_n_6650188.html
Was the trial politically motivated? Years of debate on that continues to rage and likely will never be unequivocally answered to the satisfaction
of all. Meanwhile it seems the populace is virtually united against the current PM Najib Razak. Corruption is seen to be a huge problem.
--
MACC transfer amounts to obstruction, says ex-AG
4:58PM Aug 12, 2015 .. bit ..
Last Friday, MACC special operations division director Bahri Mohamad Zin and MACC strategic communication director Rohaizad Yaakob were transferred to the Prime Minister's Department.
New AG should lay charges
Bahri is a key investigator on allegations that RM2.6 billion were deposited into Najib's personal bank accounts while Rohaizad had received an opposition delegation when they visited the MACC headquarters to show support.
The transfer orders were subsequently aborted after a public uproar.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/308330
--
Umno leadership hanging by the skin of its teeth
Scott Ng | August 23, 2015
The great irony of Najib's career is that he has united Malaysians against him despite his efforts to unite us in support of him.
Umno is the only reason Prime Minister Najib Razak is still standing, beaten and bloodied but not defeated by the onslaught of scandals that would have forced a leader to resign in almost any other democracy. The leadership of the party has managed to hold steady by the skin of its teeth, much to the consternation of the public, including even some sections of Umno’s own grassroots.
Umno is beginning to shake from rumblings within. The voices of dissent range from the whispers of a handful of ministers on the verge of breaking ranks to the screams of one Wanita member who could no longer take being “urinated” on. In fact, Anina Saaduddin, the woman who ranted against Najib in a video that went viral, claimed that the Umno President was supported by less than 20% of Umno.
It seems that everywhere you go, nobody, regardless of race, religion, or ideology, wants to see Najib in power a second longer. Coffee shops echo with murmurs of discontent and Internet forums and social media abound with daily insults for the Prime Minister. The great irony of Najib’s career is that he has united Malaysians against him despite his efforts to have us united in support of him.
So why then has Umno not taken steps to remove a man who appears to be leading them down the path to possible extinction in the next GE?
Well, you’ll have to ask Umno’s division heads. You see, contrary to his claims, Najib is not really a “democratically elected” Prime Minister. It is Umno that gives him his mandate to be Prime Minister. The division heads are the ones who choose the party president to be the de facto Prime Minister. That’s how powerful the Umno division heads are as a political force in Malaysia.
But it cannot be that the division heads are so divorced from reality that they do not see what the grassroots are seeing. Our currency has fallen to worrying levels against the dollar, the public has been openly calling for Najib to step down, and in Johor, Umno’s own birthplace, people have hung banners in derision of the Prime Minister. Furthermore, it seems that even party stalwarts can no longer sleep easy because loyalty to the party president is prized over all else.
The warnings that Umno would lose power should Najib remain as Prime Minister ring ever truer with each passing day. Voters may reject Umno not necessarily out of displeasure with the party, but out of distaste for the party president. To a party so accustomed to governing the nation, the prospect must be chilling. The Umno division heads must see this, and they must be hearing it from their own people, which brings up the question of what exactly is it about Najib that they feel so inclined to support?
There has to be a limit to what RM2.6 billion can get you. Indeed, no amount of money will ever be enough to justify exacerbating a bad situation.
But like it or not, unless Umno’s warlords and powerbrokers decide that enough is enough, it is likely that Najib will remain untouched by the firestorm, at least until the next GE. And here’s the question we’re asking: is Umno willing to pay the price for protecting Najib?
.. one of the comments ..
Sukumaran Chandran · The University of Adelaide
See what money can buy? What are they talking about religion and how many are following anyway. It applies to all religions. Corruption
has captured every walks of life. Politics combined with religion is one of a most deadliest weapon used against own people.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2015/08/23/umno-leadership-hanging-by-the-skin-of-its-teeth/
LOL .. well .. yeah, i gotta agree with that one .. an aside follows as i wasn't sure what MACC stood for .. :)
Jho Low, two others wanted by MACC
Joe Fernandez | August 22, 2015
Members of the public urged to contact MACC on the three individuals wanted in connection with SRC International.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), in an open statement to the media, has confirmed
that it needs three individuals to come forward and assist it with investigations into SRC International Sdn Bhd.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/08/22/jho-low-two-others-wanted-by-macc/
Returning to a Rebuilding Nepal
Kevin Bubriski
View Slide Show 28 Photographs
By Kevin Bubriski Aug. 10, 2015 Aug. 10, 2015
As soon as I heard the news of Nepal’s earthquake last April, I knew I had to get back there as soon as possible. Ever since I first arrived there as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1975, I have lived and traveled throughout the country, including in three of the districts devastated by the quakes. Now, deeply saddened and dismayed, I needed to continue documenting life after the devastating 7.8 magnitude quake.
On May 12, the day after I purchased my ticket to Kathmandu, a second earthquake .. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/world/asia/nepal-earthquake-east-of-kathmandu.html .. hit, bringing more aftershocks and anxiety. Aside from a handful of international relief workers, migrant Nepali workers, on their annual trip home from their work as construction workers and domestic and service workers in Qatar, filled the plane from Doha to Kathmandu. There was a sense of nervous anticipation on the plane. The Nepali passengers were returning to a transformed country, and many of them would find their villages shaken to rubble. As we descended through heavy, cloud-filled turbulence, passengers grasped the seat arms tightly.
Nothing appeared unusual as we approached the airport: Newly constructed concrete buildings were standing, traffic was on the roads. But then I spied dozens of large pallets piled high with relief supplies under thick nylon straps. The ride from the airport to Patan seemed normal, too, until we got into the old city and had to take a circuitous route where wooden splints and buttresses held up old brick house and temple walls.
When I got to Swotha Square, it was impossible not to notice that the tiered pagoda was gone and that debris, bricks and splintered timbers had been put into piles at the edges of the temple’s remaining brick and stone stepped base.
The Boudhanath Stupa is shrouded in a network of bamboo scaffolding for the stabilization
and reconstruction of the upper parts of the stupa. Kathmandu, Nepal.Credit Kevin Bubriski
Up the street, a sparse crowd of curious Nepalis was taking photos with their phones of what had changed after three major temples were lost. Young couples and clusters of teenagers sat on the remaining foundation stones. There were no piles of rubble in the streets, but the exquisite Krishna temple, Shiva temple and Bhimsen temple all had wooden buttresses pressed into their eaves for support. It felt eerily quiet, and somehow it was the new normal.
My arrival was six weeks after the earthquakes; the initial emergency and rescue operations were over, and the flock of parachute photojournalists had left as Nepal fell from the front pages. But the story continues, the less dramatic saga of cleaning up, rebuilding homes and entire villages, as well as healing the wounds of trauma, fear and uncertainty.
Several days later, I ventured to Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, where many of Nepal’s oldest and finest architectural and spiritual treasures had been lost. I knew what to expect from the news, but it was still a shock to confront the reality of what Durbar Square had become with its “Tour Lane” and “Danger Zone” signs, and walls of corrugated zinc sheeting hiding remaining debris piles. The walk that used to be among tiered temples edged with red fabric and bells was now more like walking past a construction site anywhere in the world.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Showcase
Documenting Nepal
A look back on Kevin Bubriski’s coverage on Lens.
A Timeless Portrait of Nepal » http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/a-timeless-portrait-of-nepal/
In the Kathmandu Valley area towns of Bungamati, Kokhana and Sankhu, the damage and devastation were much more thorough and overwhelmingly palpable. Each town lost acres of urban housing where ancient domestic dwellings collapsed in seconds, killing scores of inhabitants. In the following weeks, survivors searched for shreds of belongings and bricks that could be reused to build new homes. Watching elderly Latna Maya lovingly stack usable bricks on the walkway next to where her house had stood in Bhaktapur was the perfect snapshot of how much was lost and how precious even bricks are to those living so close to subsistence.
By early July, monsoon rains turned these places of rubble and the town streets to mud.
The rains lent an urgency to ensure that the basics of tarps and food aid reached everyone. While it’s difficult to monitor exactly what aid reached the more remote villages, the difficulties were compounded by roads closed by landslides. Throughout Sindhupalchok and Dolakha districts, villagers salvaged pieces of wood, corrugated zinc sheets and stones from their fallen houses and made small dry shelters to get through the monsoon season. Proper construction can begin only after the rains have ended and what crops there are can be harvested. It’s also a question of what financial, material and human resources — not to mention will — families have to rebuild houses and villages.
Returning from the destroyed villages is a world where the traffic jams have resumed and the daily toil of the needy is easily forgotten. In mid-July there were still some shelters throughout the city shoehorned into traffic islands, road shoulders and empty lots where houses had stood in April. Next to the Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, a tarpaulin tented camp sheltered hundreds of displaced persons. It’s a difficult place to call home, with its inadequate sanitary facilities, lack of security against theft and sexual predation, and such close quarters that there was not even walking space between the shelters.
Nursing students took a break from their studies to say hello from their classroom. This nursing school is
sandwiched between buildings in various states of collapse. Charikot Bazaar, Dolakha, Nepal.Credit Kevin Bubriski
Over my four weeks in Nepal, I watched the seasons transition from blasting hot sun to the hard rains at night and, without warning, during the day, too. Schools reopened. Young students, both boys and girls in button-up shirts and neckties, were chattering and smiling while walking through the streets, along mountain highways and on narrow village footpaths. While they live in cramped temporary shelters in the city or in the mountains, and their schools are tents or zinc metal pavilions, they have the fellowship of their classmates and teachers and the welcome distractions of learning and imagining a bright future.
Another positive sign was the industriousness of the young men and women “building breakers,” who had come to Kathmandu and beyond to work for a guaranteed wage of up to $10 daily, dismantling damaged buildings. Wearing flip-flops and plastic helmets — but no gloves or eye protection — they spent long hours breaking up high-rise structures hammer blow by hammer blow (and some even sleeping in the same buildings at night).
Remarkably stirring, was the sight of a volunteer crew of 40 young men and women of Bungamati town, south of Kathmandu and Patan, working industriously, at times running with wheelbarrows of debris to dump at the edge of town. All would gather at 6 a.m. and work straight through until 11 a.m., at which time they were served a healthy, rich feast of rice, lentils and curries prepared by the older members of the community. This is the image to hold onto as we are reminded of the incredible, very long-term task ahead of rebuilding what was lost in the earthquakes.
Nepal still needs financial assistance, and visitors, tourists and trekkers are very welcome. Nepal has been on a fast track from the feudalism of just over a generation ago to a modern, emerging constituent democracy. Monuments and houses may have been lost, but the country is rebuilding and there is much to learn by experiencing the enduring generosity, resilience and beauty of the human spirit that continues to thrive.
Kevin Bubriski is a fine art photographer in Vermont and co-director of documentary studies at Green Mountain College. You can follow him on Instagram at @kevinbubriski.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/returning-to-a-rebuilding-nepal/?_r=0
Tony Abbott to form on climate and same-sex marriage.
"The polishing of Tony Abbott"
Carbon emissions: Tony Abbott defends climate targets which critics say don't go far enough
By national environment reporter Jake Sturmer and political reporter Anna Henderson
Updated about 11 hours ago .. bit ..
Top 15 emitters
The countries mapped here are the top 15 emitters of carbon dioxide, according to 2011 data from the World Resources Institute.
China is the world's top emitter in total and of the top 15 emitters, Australia is the largest emitter per capita.
See how emissions levels compare, and step through the cards to find out what emissions reductions targets each country has set.
Sources: Climate Institute Climate, Action Tracker, Climate Change Authority, Global Carbon Atlas
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-11/tony-abbott-brushes-off-criticism-of-climate-targets/6688214
.. the country comparison cards inside are informative, and there is a revealing bar chart ..
Same-sex marriage: disappointment and anger as Coalition party room rejects free vote
Daniel Hurst Political correspondent
Tuesday 11 August 2015 08.43 EDT
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/aug/11/same-sex-marriage-coalition-party-room-rejects-free-vote-for-mps
.. fwiw, if an election was held today Labor would form a new Australian government ..
L-NP support slumps following resignation of Bronwyn Bishop as Roy Morgan Government Confidence plunges to record low
August 10 2015 Finding No. 6387 Topic: Federal Poll Public Opinion Country: Australia
In early August L-NP support has slumped to 43% (down 3%) cf. ALP 57% (up 3%) after controversial Speaker Bronwyn Bishop
resigned following a series of extravagant travel expense claims. Liberal backbencher Tony Smith (Victoria) has today
been elected as the new Speaker to replace Bishop. If a Federal Election were held now the ALP would win easily.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6387-morgan-poll-federal-voting-intention-august-10-2015-201508100947
.. and Abbott would have gained the glory deserved by a one term PM ..
See also:
Clear link between climate change and bushfires: UN adviser warns Tony Abbot
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93267201
"Australia's detention centres ruin lives"
Time to tell the truth before I'm gagged: Australia's detention centres ruin lives
This insider’s account of the devastating treatment of asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus will be illegal from 1 July under the Border Force Act
Asylum seekers housed in the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea.
Photograph: Eoin Blackwell/AAP
Ryan Essex
Monday 29 June 2015 18.08 EDT .. Comments 754 ..
Last modified on Tuesday 30 June 2015 05.09 EDT
H aving worked as a counsellor in immigration detention for several years, for contractor International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), any discussions surrounding my former place of employment could very well be illegal after Wednesday. This is because of the secrecy provision in the Border Force Act .. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/20/australian-doctors-call-for-legal-right-to-speak-about-asylum-seeker-health-risks , a disturbing piece of legislation which is about to become law and is likely to have far-reaching consequences.
Under this legislation it is a criminal offence, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, for anyone who works in, or has previously worked in immigration detention to “make a record of or disclose” information regarding their employment. There are a number of things that need to be said before this somewhat modest piece of dissent could put me in front of a judge.
Detention doctors and nurses rally in opposition to asylum seeker disclosure laws
Read more - http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/30/detention-doctors-rally-in-opposition-to-asylum-seeker-disclosure-laws
So now, fortunately, I can still discuss the damage that I have seen first-hand in immigration detention. The damage that has been done to men, women and children. The families I have seen arbitrarily separated. Asylum seekers whose healthcare needs have been subverted and neglected, as they did not align with the immigration department’s goals.
There was never a clear position description for a counsellor, so you often found yourself conducting any number of clinical tasks – whether it be more orthodox work or dealing with things that had become commonplace in immigration detention, such as serious self-harm and protests. You can engage in these things naively, at least for a short time, until it becomes clearer that you are balancing between complicity and advocacy in a system where it is often more productive to engage with red tape and bureaucracy.
Now I am rarely surprised when there is a cover-up or abuse. I have witnessed the secrecy, authoritarianism and hypocrisy first-hand. I have seen people push over fences with opportunities to escape, only to return, as they would not be able to survive in the outback.
I have seen the damage Nauru .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/nauru .. and Manus have done; sending psychotic people, broken and defeated to Villawood after all options were exhausted offshore. I could tell you about the self-harm I have seen and I should put this on record one more time, as it may be the last, that immigration detention has a devastating and long-lasting impact on mental health.
But the overwhelming majority of the people I have met in immigration detention are patient and resilient – who would have thought?
Many have spoken out before me and offered many more insights into immigration detention. If it weren’t for them, we would not know the extent of the conditions in both onshore and offshore centres. The compromised nature of medical care as noted by the Christmas Island doctors .. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/christmas-island-doctors-reports , the devastating impact immigration detention has on mental health as raised by Peter Young .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/05/-sp-australias-detention-regime-sets-out-to-make-asylum-seekers-suffer-says-chief-immigration-psychiatrist .. or the abuse of children as raised by Save the Children staff .. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/04/police-investigate-save-the-children-whistleblowers-over-nauru-abuse-report .
" The fact that speaking out may now be illegal shows just how much there is to hide "
With headlines that appear to be getting more and more shocking as the weeks go by, this is one area which demands transparency and oversight. This would not aid people smugglers, nor would it encourage people to “jump on a boat”. It would provide basic protections for an already vulnerable group. When women and children are allegedly being sexually abused and there are epidemic levels of self-harm, it is not a rational response to make a secretive system more secretive and to attempt to silence those who raise legitimate concerns.
This is unfortunately what immigration detention has become, an anomaly in today’s society. While other institutions and policies have evolved, this remains a system in which we are happy to flirt with the idea of sending health professionals to jail for speaking of their experiences. In a country that is now talking about mental health, we are happy to disregard epidemic levels of self-harm and suicide as “manipulative” or “attention seeking”. And in a country where there is universal support for the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, we are happy to remain wilfully ignorant of it in immigration detention.
Whatever side of the asylum seeker debate you stand on, the Border Force Act should alarm you. This legislation has implications beyond clinicians working in immigration detention. It raises questions about the entire medical profession, complicity, and their stance on ethical and human rights issues. In recent weeks a number of medical groups have rightly raised concerns about this legislation, calling for health professionals to be allowed to speak out about the conditions in detention adding to their long opposition to mandatory detention. In response to this, a spokeswoman for the immigration minister has reminded us .. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/20/australian-doctors-call-for-legal-right-to-speak-about-asylum-seeker-health-risks .. that there are appropriate mechanisms and protections for those reporting misconduct and “maladministration”.
This “maladministration” has been discussed, protested about and critiqued by health professionals, academics, lawyers and human rights experts for more than 20 years. Democracy can only function properly with accountability and transparency. I only hope many more individuals come forward after 1 July and simply speak about what they have seen. The fact this may now be illegal and seen as “sensational” shows just how much there is to hide.
Ryan Essex is a PhD student at the University of Sydney, examining healthcare, ethics and immigration detention
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/30/time-to-tell-the-truth-before-im-gagged-australias-detention-centres-ruin-lives
==
There are claims whistleblowers could face prosecution under a new immigration law.
VIDEO: .. 6:26 .. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2015/s4264916.htm
Top 10 global risks 2015
By Oliver Cann
Jan 15 2015
2 Comments
The biggest threat to the stability of the world in the next 10 years comes from the risk of international conflict, according to the 10th edition of the Global Risks report .. http://wef.ch/grr2015 , which is published today.
The report, which every year features an assessment by experts on the top global risks in terms of likelihood and potential impact over the coming 10 years, finds interstate conflict with regional consequences as the number one global risk in terms of likelihood, and the fourth most serious risk in terms of impact. In terms of likelihood, as a risk it exceeds extreme weather events (2), failure of national governance systems (3), state collapse or crisis (4) and high structural unemployment or underemployment (5).
Table 1: Ten Global Risks in Terms of Likelihood
In looking at global risks in terms of their potential impact, the nearly 900 experts that took part in the Global Risk Perception Survey rated water crises as the greatest risk facing the world. Other top risks alongside that and interstate conflict in terms of impact are: rapid and massive spread of infectious diseases (2), weapons of mass destruction (3) and failure of climate change adaptation (5).
Table 2: Ten Global Risks in Terms of Impact
With the 28 global risks that were assessed in 2015 grouped into five categories – economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological – 2015 stands out as a year when geopolitical risks, having been largely absent from the landscape of leading risks for the past half-decade, returns to the fore. With geopolitics increasingly influencing the global economy, these risks account for three of the five most likely, and two of the most potentially impactful, risks in 2015.
The risk landscape in 2015 also shows that there remains concern over the world’s ability to solve its most pressing societal issues, as societies are under threat from economic, environmental and geopolitical risks. Indeed, the societal risk accounts for the top two potentially impactful risks.
Also noteworthy is the presence of more environmental risks among the top risks than economic ones. This comes as a result of a marked increase in experts’ negative assessment of existing preparations to cope with challenges such as extreme weather and climate change, rather than owing to a diminution of fears over chronic economic risks such as unemployment and underemployment or fiscal crises, which have remained relatively stable from 2014.
“Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world again faces the risk of major conflict between states,” said Margareta Drzeniek-Hanouz, Lead Economist, World Economic Forum. “However, today the means to wage such conflict, whether through cyberattack, competition for resources or sanctions and other economic tools, is broader than ever. Addressing all these possible triggers and seeking to return the world to a path of partnership, rather than competition, should be a priority for leaders as we enter 2015.”
In addition to assessing the likelihood and potential impact of these 28 global risks, Global Risks 2015 examines the interconnections between risks, as well as how they interplay with trends shaping the short- to medium-term risk landscape. It also offers analysis of three specific cases which emerge from the interconnections maps: the interplay between geopolitics and economics, the risks related to rapid and unplanned urbanization in developing countries and one on emerging technologies.
On urbanization, the report considers how best to build sufficient resilience to mitigate the challenges associated with managing the world’s rapid and historical transition from predominantly rural to urban living.
“Without doubt, urbanization has increased social well-being. But when cities develop too rapidly, their vulnerability increases: pandemics; breakdowns of or attacks on power, water or transport systems; and the effects of climate change are all major threats,” said Axel P. Lehmann, Chief Risk Officer at Zurich Insurance Group.
The rapid pace of innovation in emerging technologies, from synthetic biology to artificial intelligence, also has far-reaching societal, economic and ethical implications. Developing regulatory environments that are adaptive enough to safeguard their rapid development and allow their benefits to be reaped, while preventing their misuse and any unforeseen negative consequences is a critical challenge for leaders.
John Drzik, President of Global Risk and Specialties at Marsh, said: “Innovation is critical to global prosperity, but also creates new risks. We must anticipate the issues that will arise from emerging technologies, and develop the safeguards and governance to prevent avoidable disasters.”
The report also provides analysis related to global risks for which respondents feel their own region is least prepared, as well as on the global risks on which they feel most progress has been made over the last 10 years. It also presents for the first time country-level data on how businesses perceive global risks in their countries, which can be accessed here .. http://wef.ch/grr2015 . Moreover, the report features three examples of risk management and resilience practices related to extreme weather events.
The Global Risks 2015 report has been developed with the support of Strategic Partners Marsh & McLennan Companies and Zurich Insurance Group. The report also benefited from the collaboration of its academic advisers: the Oxford Martin School (University of Oxford), the National University of Singapore, the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center (University of Pennsylvania), and the Advisory Board of the Global Risks 2015 report.
The Global Risks 2015 report is now live.
Author: Oliver Cann, Director, Media Relations, World Economic Forum
Image: Office workers rush across a city street during peak hour in central Sydney May 20, 2008. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne
Posted by Oliver Cann - 10:03
All opinions expressed are those of the author. The World Economic Forum Blog is an independent and neutral platform dedicated to generating debate around the key topics that shape global, regional and industry agendas.
https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/01/top-10-global-risks-2015/
See also:
Pushing Out the Boundaries of Humanitarian Screening with In-Country and Offshore Processing
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=107332128
Labour exploitation, slave-like conditions found on farms supplying biggest supermarkets
"Cultivating Identity"
Four Corners By Caro Meldrum-Hanna, Ali Russell & Mario Christodoulo
Updated about 3 hours ago
Video: The dirty secret behind produce sold by Australia's major supermarkets. (ABC News)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/the-dirty-secret-behind-produce-sold-by-australias/6442324
Conclusive evidence of extreme labour exploitation, slave-like conditions and black market labour gangs
has been found on farms and in factories supplying Australia's biggest supermarkets and fast food chains.
A Four Corners investigation has revealed the food being picked, packed and processed by exploited workers is being sold to consumers nationwide. The supermarkets involved include Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, IGA and Costco.
Fast food outlets KFC and Red Rooster are also implicated. Four Corners understands a third major fast food chain is also involved.
The foods tainted by exploitation include a wide variety of vegetables and poultry products, with some of the biggest brand names set to be named.
What are your thoughts on the conditions revealed in the Four Corners investigation? Have your say
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/supermarkets-food-outlets-exploit-black-market-migrant-workers/6441496#comments
Migrant workers from Asia and Europe are being routinely abused, harassed and assaulted at work, the Four Corners investigation found. Women are also being targeted sexually, with women being propositioned for sex and asked to perform sexual favours in exchange for visas.
The exploitation is widespread and in some cases involves organised syndicates.
The shocking forms of exploitation are all accompanied by the gross underpayment of wages, with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen pay going missing every year.
A scam is being run by unscrupulous labour hire contractors - dodgy middle men who sell groups of cut-price migrant workers to farms and factories producing fresh food across the country.
The migrant workers enter Australia legally on 417 working holiday visas, which were designed as a cultural exchange program.
The visa allows migrant workers to travel and work for up to six months in one location, performing low-skilled jobs such as fruit and vegetable picking or working in meat and poultry factories in regional locations and some cities.
Photo: Migrant workers from Europe and Asia are being exploited in Australia by unscrupulous labour hire contractors.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/labour-hire-contractors-exploit-migrant-workers/6441508 (ABC: Four Corners)
Australia's international reputation 'under threat'
Labour law and migration expert Dr Joanna Howe, a senior lecturer with the University of Adelaide Law School, said the 417 visa system had been corrupted so severely it was jeopardising Australia's reputation globally.
"We will be known as a country that exploits vulnerable people who are looking for a better chance at life," she said.
"We would never accept this if it were Australian workers being treated in this way, but because it's 417 visa holders and we don't know them, there's a lid on it, we accept that it's OK.
"You know we just turn a blind eye."
Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt was even more scathing.
"I think our reputation has already been damaged," he said.
"The reality is we need these people. Horticulture in particular needs the additional workforce to get their crop off."
Ethical farmers and suppliers suffering
Four Corners has also found farmers and suppliers who play by the rules and pay workers correctly are being dropped by the supermarkets, who are instead awarding contracts and sourcing food from cheaper suppliers using grossly exploited labour.
Video: 'Slaving Away': The dirty secrets behind Australia's fresh food.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/slaving-away-the-dirty-secrets-behind-australias/6442328 (ABC News)
SA Potatoes, one of the largest potato suppliers in Australia, recently lost supply contracts to supermarkets, which opted to go for cheaper competitors using exploited migrant workers.
"It's gutting," company CEO Steve Marafioti said, referring to the situation in South Australia.
"They're cheating the system. They're taking it from the little guy, from the people on the farm and the people in the pack sheds and using that as their competitive advantage in the marketplace.
"It's not the correct thing. It's not the right thing. It's actually changing the shape of our industry."
Calls for supermarkets to lead urgent reforms
Industry insiders and federal politicians are calling for urgent reforms to Australia's fresh food supply chain before it is too late.
There are calls at a federal level for the supermarkets to stop shirking responsibility by passing accountability back to the suppliers and farmers.
The relentless downward pressure applied by supermarkets and the lax auditing regime governing labour hire contractors is forcing farmers and suppliers to resort to cut-price labour hire contractors to stay afloat.
"It's a matter for the supermarkets to investigate," Mr Pitt said.
"They certainly have no issues with putting all sorts of regulation and red tape and green tape on their growers and their suppliers.
"I'd suggest this is something else that they should look at."
Governments turn a blind eye; low-skilled work visa needed
Dr Howe said the solution was to replace the 417 visa with a new low-skill work visa.
"The Government, successive governments, Labor and Liberal have turned a blind eye to the fact that both international students and working holiday makers are being used as a low-skilled source of labour for farmers and other people across the country," she said.
"They know that this is occurring and yet they allow these [417] visas to proliferate without any regulation.
"That's the Pandora's box. Governments are afraid to open it because it would mean regulating. What we need is the Government to shed some light on this issue and to show some balls and to say 'let's investigate the possibility of a low-skill work visa'.
"It would allow the whole system to be better regulated."
Video: A new form of labour exploitation has taken hold in Bundaberg.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/new-form-of-labour-exploitation-has-taken-hold-in/6442330 (ABC News)
Multiple government agencies have failed to act
Multiple authorities and government agencies responsible for regulating the system, including the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Department of Immigration, stand accused of failing to stop the problem with labour hire contractors, which has reached breathtaking proportions.
"The significant problem is effectively that it's across so many departments," Mr Pitt said.
"It affects Fair Work, taxation, local government, hire services at the state level.
"We really need all of those departments to come together and tackle this in a consistent way.
"We need a multi-jurisdictional taskforce. We need to coordinate our enforcement action.
"To be able to catch these crooks, and I'll call them crooks because they are, actually takes a significant amount of intelligence and resources."
You can watch the full report on Four Corners tonight at 8.30pm.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-04/supermarkets-food-outlets-exploit-black-market-migrant-workers/6441496
Questions. Bali nine executions: investigation into bribery allegations completed by judicial commission
Date April 28, 2015
Tom Allard National Affairs Editor
Muhammad Rifan has urged the executions be postponed until a thorough investigation
is complete. Photo: Jason Childs
* New claims of bribery in Bali nine duo death penalty case
http://www.smh.com.au/world/they-asked-for-130k-and-then-more-new-claims-of-bribes-in-bali-nine-duo-death-penalty-case-20150427-1muem1.html
* Final insult as condemned pair denied pastor
http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-9-executions-final-insult-as-condemned-pair-denied-pastor-outraging-families-20150428-1muvxv.html
* Myuran Sukumaran to look executioners in eye
http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-nine-executions-myuran-sukumaran-to-look-his-executioners-in-the-eye-20150428-1murjb.html
Indonesia's judicial commission has maintained it has completed its investigation into bribery allegations involving the judges
who sentenced Bali nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to death, despite conducting no interviews with witnesses.
"I don't think executions should take place if the investigations have not
taken place. I don't even know what is the outcome of the investigation."
Lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis
In a bizarre media statement released overnight, the commission - which safeguards the probity of the Indonesian judicial system - said it had finished the probe but did not say what its findings were.
"Such things should have been exposed years ago," says Indonesian President
Joko Widodo. Photo: Bullit Marquez
Instead, it urged the Supreme Court to further investigate the explosive bribery allegations.
The former lawyer for the Australian drug smugglers during the 2006 trial, Muhammad Rifan, revealed on February 7 that there had been irregularities in the case.
In cryptic remarks made after visiting the Bali nine duo in Kerobokan prison, he said: "It's something that implicates us, it could discredit me. But for them I will take it."
Executed: Andrew Chan with Myuran Sukumaran. Photo: Anta Kesuma
He refused to publicly expand on the comments until on Monday, Fairfax Media revealed details of allegations, with Mr Rifan saying judges had asked for 1 billion rupiah (about $130,000) for a sentence of less than 20 years.
The deal fell through after the judges later told him they had been ordered by senior legal and government members in Jakarta to impose a death penalty.
The judges, it is alleged, then asked for an even greater sum for a lighter sentence. Mr Rifan declined to reveal the amount but said he could not possibly pay the alleged bribe.
Both the alleged bribes and interference from Jakarta are prohibited under Indonesian law.
Mr Rifan said he went public because the judicial commission had failed to interview him, and his former clients were about to be killed.
He urged that the executions - expected soon after midnight Tuesday - be postponed until a thorough investigation was complete.
In its statement, the judicial commission said the investigation "was conducted professionally, carefully and without intervention from any party"
It added that it had "no authority to change the judges' decision, including postponing the executions on Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran."
Nevertheless, it "expects the Supreme Court to be active investigating the bribery allegations".
The statement surprised and disturbed lawyers for the Bali nine duo.
One of them, Todung Mulya Lubis, had recently received a letter from the commission summonsing him to an interview next week.
"That means they have just started the investigation," he said. "They still need to question all these key people. Both Rifan and of course Sukumaran and Andrew Chan."
Asked if the judicial commission had been subjected to political interference, Mr Todung said: "They made a very strange statement."
"I don't think executions should take place if the investigations have not taken place. I don't even know what is the outcome of the investigation."
On Monday night, Indonesian president Joko Widodo responded to Fairfax Media's report by saying "Such things should have been exposed years ago….Why it wasn't revealed in the past when it happened?"
But Barrister Julian McMahon, who also works for Chan and Sukumaran, pointed out that as soon as Mr Rifan made his remarks, an application for the judicial commission was lodged within days.
It was given a case file number by the commission in early March. Ever since, he said, the probe had apparently stalled.
"The allegation is only two and a half months old," he said. "As far as we are concerned, the investigation is obviously not yet complete. In reality, it hasn't even commenced."
http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-nine-executions-investigation-into-bribery-allegations-completed-by-judicial-commission-20150428-1mv3sq.html
Bali Nine: Indonesia executes eight prisoners but reprieves Mary Jane Veloso – as it happened
Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and six other men are executed by firing squad, as Filipina Mary Jane Velosa wins a last-minute reprieve
* This live blog has finished. Click here to read the latest updates
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/29/execution-bali-nine-pair-six-others-indonesia-angry-reaction-live
* Who are the eight people executed by Indonesia?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/bali-nine-who-are-the-nine-people-being-executed-by-indonesia
* Read the latest summary
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/28/bali-nine-andrew-chan-myuran-sukumaran-executed-indonesia-mercy#block-553fe7bae4b03fd319c9590c
Claire Phipps, Michael Safi and Calla Wahlquist
Tuesday 28 April 2015 16.37 EDT
Brintha Sukumaran (C), sister of Australian prisoner Myuran Sukumaran, screams as she
arrives to visit her brother ahead of the executions. Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/28/bali-nine-andrew-chan-myuran-sukumaran-executed-indonesia-mercy
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Bali nine pair Chan and Sukumaran choose their execution witnesses
Jewel Topsfield Date April 28, 2015
On death row: (from top left) Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte,
(bottom row) Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, and Nigerian Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise. Photo: AFP
The diplomatic fallout has begun with former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cancelling a three-day trip to Perth.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-nine-pair-chan-and-sukumaran-choose-their-execution-witnesses-20150427-1mu618.html
Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso gained a late hour reprieve this time.
---
Could the AFP have prevented the arrests of the Bali 9 in Indonesia?
[ The answer is YES ]
VIDEO
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/02/2015
Reporter: Jason Om
As Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran wait for final word on their executions, resentment
lingers over the Australian Federal Police's role in the arrests of the Bali 9
Transcript
SABRA LANE, PRESENTER: The plight of Australia's death row prisoners in Bali has taken yet another turn, with the Indonesian authorities delaying plans to transfer them to the island where they'll face a firing squad.
Indonesia's Attorney-General says the delay is in response to Australian requests to allow Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to spend more time with their families, but it doesn't mean their executions will be delayed.
While last-ditch efforts to save their lives continue, there are growing calls for the Australian Federal Police to explain why they handed over the Bali Nine to their Indonesian counterparts knowing they could face the death penalty.
Shortly we'll hear from the former Foreign minister Bob Carr, but first, Jason Om follows the trail that sealed the Bali Nine's fate.
JASON OM, REPORTER: These are the now-infamous scenes that captured the world's attention in 2005. Nine Australians caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in a plan that came unstuck thanks to a tipoff from the Australian Federal Police.
The AFP had given their names and flight details to the Indonesians, leading to their dramatic arrest.
Now with two of the Bali Nine facing the firing squad, some blame the AFP for their predicament.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: The AFP had the information at hand. They could easily have arrested the Bali Nine when they arrived in Australia. They had all of the flight details. They knew the nine and the heroin was coming to Australia and it would have been easier for them to have done that then.
BOB MYERS, FMR BARRISTER FOR RUSH FAMILY: Of course it's their responsibility and if that puts blood on their hands, that puts blood on their hands.
JASON OM: As the families of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran deal with their impending executions, the Federal Police have been busy hosing down criticism of their role in the men's fate, including the man who led the Australian operation into the Bali Nine.
JOURNALIST: Would you change anything that you did nine years ago about tipping off the Indonesian authorities?
MICHAEL PHELAN, AFP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (Feb. 11): Look, I know that - I'm very cognisant of the public interest in this matter, particularly now, but it would be absolutely inappropriate and for reasons that no doubt you're aware, that we would go into operational details of what occurred 10 years ago around this particular operation. At the moment we're focusing on the clemency issues, so it's entirely inappropriate for me to talk about the operation itself.
JASON OM: In early 2005, as Bali Nine member Scott Rush was about to head off to Indonesia, his father Lee became worried about what he was up to. Lee Rush rang his friend, barrister Bob Myers.
BOB MYERS: I thought immediately, not knowing anything about it, was that perhaps he was going to be smuggling drugs into Indonesia and exposing himself to the death penalty.
JASON OM: Bob Myers rang a contact in the AFP and says he was assured the young man would be intercepted before he left Australia.
BOB MYERS: I accepted when the AFP said what they were going to do, that they would have done it. But as it now transpires, they didn't want me to mess up their sting, in effect.
JASON OM: The AFP was already aware something was afoot. It seems Bob Myers' tipoff played a part. Just days later, the Bali Nine were arrested.
BOB MYERS: Lee was begging me to do something and in effect I was conveying that notion of Lee's to the AFP and they just really ignored it because as they saw it, the bigger picture - and I don't know what the bigger picture is - for 10 years the AFP haven't come clean with what the bigger picture was. So simple question: why was the AFP prepared to sacrifice nine Australian lives? Simple question and there has to be a simple answer. Because in the big picture, they were nine kids that we didn't mind handing over by way of an offering to our Indonesian counterparts to curry some sort of favour. Why won't they say it?
JASON OM: Letters from the AFP to the Indonesian police revealed the names of the Bali Nine, except for Myuran Sukumaran.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Indonesian police at that time were providing the AFP with information regarding Islamist terrorism and Jemaah Islamiyah at the time was a significant problem. And I think that there was very little information going back to the Indonesian police, so, in a way, this would have been the AFP giving the Indonesian police a free kick.
JASON OM: Lawyers for four of the Bali Nine later went to the Federal Court arguing the AFP had broken the law. But Justice Paul Finn disagreed, finding the AFP had acted lawfully. However, Justice Finn recommended a review of THE international protocols.
PAUL FINN, FEDERAL COURT JUSTICE (2006): There is a need for the minister administering the Australian Federal Police Act (1979) and the Commissioner of Police to address the procedures and protocols followed by members of the AFP.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: In that there might be any ambiguity around those guidelines, the Australian Government should make it absolutely clear that this is inappropriate, and if legislation is required, then that legislation needs to be passed.
JASON OM: While the legal questions may have been settled in court, some say there are still moral and political questions. In light of Australia's opposition to the death penalty, should the Federal Police be allowed to share information that could lead to the execution of Australians convicted overseas?
GREG FEALY, ASSOC. PROF., ANU: The Australian Federal Police I think should not be placing Australians at risk of a firing squad by passing on information to the Indonesians.
JASON OM: The Federal Police Commissioner at the time was Mick Keelty and he was unrepentant about the AFP's complicity.
MICK KEELTY, AFP COMMISSIONER (2006): Co-operation means exactly that. I mean, you can't half-co-operate. Partnerships mean - if you're in partnership, you look after your partner, you look after not only the good things, you have to look after sometimes decisions that don't go in the way you might want them and you have to accept that because sovereignty is clearly a key issue to the way jurisdictions will operate when we're talking about transnational and global crime.
JASON OM: Last week, the former Foreign Affairs minister Bob Carr said the AFP needed to explain themselves.
GRAHAM ASHTON, AFP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (Feb. 13): The AFP doesn't have blood on its hands, but the important thing is that we agree in terms of Mr Carr's general point that we need to say more, but the timing around when we say more is most important. And it's our view at the moment that we best not talk about that matter publicly until these current clemency matters are being dealt with. We don't want to say anything that is going to potentially negatively influence that affect.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: The situation in 2005 is inexplicable and frankly inexcusable. A very significant proportion of the responsibility for the impending deaths of Chan and Sukumaran lies at the feet of the AFP.
SABRA LANE: Jason Om reporting.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4181991.htm
40 Years After Cambodia Fell to the Khmer Rouge, Perhaps We Shouldn’t Focus So Much on Anniversaries
Remember Nixon '69-'74 Ford '74-'77
"In an Unsettled Cambodia, Preparing to Confront the Government"
By Justine Drennan
April 17, 2015 - 2:59 pm
On April 17, 1975, the sound of mortar explosions and rifle fire around Cambodia’s capital gave way to cheers. After years of fighting, the ultra-Maoist guerrillas from the jungle had finally defeated General Lon Nol’s American-backed government. Many people watching from the streets of Phnom Penh, a city swollen with displaced villagers, hoped the black-clad Khmer Rouge cadres marching into town would bring peace.
Soon, loudspeakers began blaring orders for the city’s residents to leave immediately for the countryside. Khmer Rouge soldiers pushed families out of their homes and even patients out of hospitals, some with IV-drips in tow. Within a week, the last residents had joined millions marching down the hot, dusty roads away from the city, leaving it mostly silent for the next three years, eight months, and 20 days. In that time, the Khmer Rouge would force nearly the entire population into rural collectives, and about 1.7 million people would die from disease, starvation, and overwork, or be tortured and executed for suspected disloyalty.
Some survivors, who decades later testified at the U.N. tribunal trying Khmer Rouge leaders, recalled cadres telling them they had to leave Phnom Penh because the United States planned to bomb it. That stirred fearful memories. The United States had actually ended its bombing campaign in Cambodia almost two years before, but by then American planes, mostly B-52s, had dropped more than 2.7 million tons .. http://www.yale.edu/cgp/Walrus_CambodiaBombing_OCT06.pdf .. of bombs across the country. Compare that with the 2 million tons dropped by all the Allies in the entire course of World War II. The U.S. aim was to destroy Vietnamese supply lines through Cambodia and ultimately help stop the spread of communism. Instead, the widespread destruction helped .. http://tinyurl.com/md4277n .. the Khmer Rouge recruit desperate villagers.
The United States [ Presidents Nixon/Ford should have been ]was well aware of that threat. After surveying Khmer Rouge strongholds south of the capital, the CIA’s Directorate of Operations reported in a May 1973 cable .. http://tinyurl.com/md4277n .. that the rebels were “using damage caused by B-52 strikes as the main theme of their propaganda.” Two years later, when the communists encircled Phnom Penh, many U.S. officials and displaced villagers knew — as the urbanites who cheered the rebels’ entry didn’t — that a Khmer Rouge victory wouldn’t bring peace. The guerrillas had already shown their brutality in the rest of the country as they emptied towns and collectivized the fields.
In a sense, then, April 17, 1975, is an arbitrary date. It represents just one point in an ongoing disaster wrought by not only the Khmer Rouge but also France, whose decades of colonialism in Indochina triggered nationalistic communist responses, the United States, and others. That context can easily fade from view with the focus on anniversaries like April 17. By suggesting clean beginnings to tragedies, these dates can help conceal the events that led to them. And there’s some comfort in that.
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Sectioning off precise periods of devastation makes them easier to dismiss as the one-off actions of
singularly evil madmen — even as new cycles of military intervention bring new unintended consequences.
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Sectioning off precise periods of devastation makes them easier to dismiss as the one-off actions of singularly evil madmen — even as new cycles of military intervention bring new unintended consequences. Meanwhile, the United States has never .. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/21/world/asia/obama-in-cambodia-sidesteps-the-ghosts-of-history.html?_r=0 .. apologized .. https://www.facebook.com/khmerican/posts/553232478036578 .. for its Cambodian bombing campaign, or its other Vietnam War actions .. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/No-Apologies-U.S.-Aggression-Against-Vietnam-20141110-0065.html .
That’s not to downplay the Khmer Rouge leaders’ enormous guilt — or the huge significance of April 17 in Phnom Penh. Commemorating the city’s fall to the Khmer Rouge gives victims and witnesses the opportunity in a news-oriented world to .. http://www.phnompenhpost.com/video/fall-phnom-penh-40-years .. memorialize .. http://www.voanews.com/content/reporter-recalls-phnom-penh-evacuation/2718629.html .. their experiences. Much less directly, it’s a chance for people like me to recall months spent watching Khmer Rouge tribunal testimony and studying the history. (I covered the court in 2012 and 2013 for the Phnom Penh Post and the Associated Press.)
Still, anniversaries suggest the same problem facing the U.N.-backed trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders: They draw too clear a line between those considered guilty and the rest — whether former low-level killers still living alongside victims’ families in remote northern Cambodian villages, or U.N. Security Council members like France and the United States, both key backers .. http://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/faq/how-court-financed .. of the tribunal.
Of course, the court had to draw the line of guilt somewhere if it was ever to rule on anything. It only got its start in 2006 after years of political instability and government foot-dragging, and so far it’s only managed to finish trying and convicting one person, former prison director Kaing Geuk Eav.
Its second case is vast. On trial are Pol Pot’s right-hand man, Nuon Chea, and head of state, Khieu Samphan, the regime’s two most senior surviving leaders, and evaluating their charges requires looking at the entire Khmer Rouge period. The court has convicted them for crimes against humanity for the evacuation of Phnom Penh and other forced relocations and killings, but it’s still working through trying them on another set of charges, including genocide. In the meantime, another defendant has died, and the court deemed yet another unfit for trial due to dementia.
It’s unclear if it will ever try anyone else — not least because the Cambodian government wants the current case to be its last. Several current top Cambodian officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, were once themselves Khmer Rouge cadres, so they have an interest in promoting the notion that culpability is confined to a few key former leaders. Hun Sen’s cronies have ignored court subpoenas, and the government is refusing to arrest suspects a judge named .. http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/22/cambodia-stop-blocking-justice-khmer-rouge-crimes .. in March on charges that would expand responsibility beyond the Khmer Rouge’s most senior figures.
Even in the face of this obstruction, one of the faltering tribunal’s main strengths is that at least in theory, it grants former Khmer Rouge leaders due process. Despite the near-universal belief that they are guilty of mass atrocities, imprinted in memories and history books, the defendants are legally innocent until proven otherwise. Fighting against the tendency to set these leaders apart as singularly evil, defense lawyers fiercely stand up for their ageing clients’ common humanity and present their actions against a backdrop of Parisian intellectual utopianism, anti-colonialism, and the Vietnam War. In 2013, defense counsel Victor Koppe asked .. http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kr-not-bombs-emptied-city-schanberg-says .. one witness, a New York journalist, if he might be biased by “too much an American view … some might call it an imperialist view.” Perhaps counterintuitively, these underdog lawyers may represent some of the tribunal’s strongest refutations of regimes like the Khmer Rouge, which didn’t tolerate dissenting views or value its victims’ humanity.
During the hearings, both survivors and lawyers often repeat the familiar numbers that framed the regime’s reign: “three years, eight months, and 20 days.” Sometimes, the victims’ repetition of these figures suggests shock at how long they endured such great suffering — or, conversely, how such a relatively short span of time could have destroyed so much. Other times, especially in the mouths of government officials and some foreign observers, these numbers also suggest a way of encapsulating the suffering in a neat span of time — and ultimately shelving it to gather dust as governments initiate new campaigns of violence.
TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/17/40-years-after-cambodia-fell-to-the-khmer-rouge-anniversary-tribunal-phnom-penh/
A guide to Australia’s Stolen Generations
"Edit: Noel Pearson's hometown of Hopevale divided over grog bans"
Read why Aboriginal children were stolen from their families, where they were taken and what happened to them.
The horrific abuse they suffered in institutions and foster families left thousands traumatised for life.
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/a-guide-to-australias-stolen-generations
This feels a fair place to reproduce "Shark-eating shark snapped in Australia"
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=72226634 .. this post in reply to that one, too.
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What was Australia's Stolen Generation?
by Alia Hoyt Page 1 2 3
Aborigine Image Gallery
Aborigine Image Gallery Aboriginal women show this young child how to make a turtle design out of string. Members
of the Stolen Generation weren't privy to aspects of Aboriginal customs and culture. See more pictures of Aborigines.
Belinda Wright/National Geographic/Getty Images
History is rife with examples of flagrant human rights violations, and even picturesque Australia is not immune to the occurrence of these injustices: Between 1910 and 1970, roughly 100,000 Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes [source: European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights]. Known to many as the Stolen Generation, these children, most under the age of five, were taken from their birth families because the Australian government decided that their race lacked a solid future. .. more with links .. http://people.howstuffworks.com/stolen-generation.htm
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Aboriginal women on why Australia needs a treaty
Thursday, April 9, 2015
By Rachel Evans & Richard Fan
Aboriginal women dicuss a treaty for Australia’s first people. Photo: Mara Bonacci
More than 150 people filled the Redfern Community Centre on March 20 to discuss a treaty for Australia’s first people.
Organised by Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS), the event was hosted by veteran journalist Jeff McMullen and televised by National Indigenous TV. As coverage of female Aboriginal voices are rare among mainstream discourses, their retelling of their pasts and hopes for the future captivated the room.
Natalie Cromb, a Gamileraay woman, said that a treaty “would help the Australian government keep its word to the Aboriginal people”. She noted the ongoing debates between treaty and constitutional recognition and argued that the British colonisers fashioned three legal ways to justify their occupation: “First it was settlement, second through conquest, then third through succession — where sovereignty was ceded and agreement was reached between the parties.”
Cromb observed that Britain occupied the land, declared terra nullius and declared that Australia’s Indigenous people were an absent, fading race. “Terra nullius was deliberate and the average Australian does not know about this history of rapes, murders, and genocidal policies, and that it was also used to deny compensation,” she said.
Cromb said that a treaty “is vital to our solution. It would be a first meaningful step. A treaty is the insurance policy we need to hold the government to account. But we are still at the bottom of the social pyramid. We are having water switched off in communities. We know constitutional change won't stop the removal of our people.”
.. more .. https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/58715
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Our invitation to Facebook: Come and learn cultural sense at NITV
By Andrea Booth
Aboriginal Australian women in traditional dress, painted with ochre across their bare chests in traditional ceremony has been branded offensive by social media site Facebook.
8MMM
In an action described as "utterly ridiculous .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-13/indigenous-video-pulled-facebook-nudity-rules/6388090 ", Facebook this week pulled the television show trailer for the ABC’s 8MMM program citing potential "offensive nudity".
The video, which featured Aboriginal women painted with ochre across their bare chests in traditional ceremony, may have breached the social media platform's nudity guidelines.
NITV has sought comment from Facebook and on Wednesday evening was informed that it is looking into the matter.
That is welcome news indeed. Perhaps Facebook is learning some cultural and common sense. But rather than just looking into it, NITV News' Executive Producer Malarndirri McCarthy encourages the social media platform to go even further.
"I invite Facebook to come and learn about the First Nations of Australia" - Malarndirri McCarthy
"I invite Facebook to come and learn about the First Nations of Australia," she said. "Talk to the well-respected producers of the 8MMM program, and come to NITV to see for yourself the strength, beauty and diversity in Indigenous culture."
Facebook says its nudity policy, which prohibits users from publishing nipples of breasts, genitals and buttocks, enables its teams around the world to apply uniform assessments to limit the risk of offending particular groups. As such, its policy may be considered, "More blunt than we would like", as it states in its Community Standards .. https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/ .. explainer.
I suppose that is practical, given Facebook's needs for a single policy to cover the huge arrange of standards of all the cultures and subcultures in our rich and varied world.
But if its policy must be so bluntly applied in order to minimise the risk of causing offense, why don’t the Facebook censorship police pick up images of Kim Kardashian's breasts sopping with oil or her bare-butted body holding the phallic shape of a champagne bottle erupting liquid?
Maybe Facebook should consider an international document that enshrines a global standard that forbids the restriction of Indigenous peoples from practicing their cultures. Article 11 of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples .. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf , says "Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalise their cultural traditions and customs."
"This includes the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artefacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature."
Kudos to Facebook for revisiting its nudity policy .. http://qz.com/363280/facebook-redefines-nudity-to-exclude-breastfeeding-shots-but-rear-ends-are-still-off-limits/ .. in order to allow photos of women breastfeeding or showing their breasts with post-mastectomy scarring. It also allows artistic depictions of nudity. But why did it stop short of culture?
In practising the traditional ceremony that is depicted in ABC TV's 8MMM program, these Aboriginal women are helping to continue their culture for the next generation amid a context of oppression upon their own land.
But maybe Facebook's double standard is a symptom of something more broad.
Maybe it's not just Facebook and it's not just the digital space, but fundamentally, we live in a society that endorses the flaunting of superficiality, narcissism and sexualisation, yet fails to embrace the lesser-heard, oldest cultures – abundant with wisdom and the sacred.
http://www.nitv.org.au/fx-story.cfm?sid=8CB685AE-9768-07F6-200BFD3BF576166E
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Jessica Mauboy - Gotcha, live on Australian TV's Sunrise Show
Ballarat Orphanage: Digging resumes for children's bodies
"Cultivating Identity
Thomas Keneally"
Ballarat is south of Sydney, in Victoria .. "approximately 105 kilometres (65 mi) west
-north-west of the state capital, Melbourne" .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat
Date April 15, 2015 - 10:51AM
Marissa Calligeros and Chloe Booker
Excavators at the site of the old orphanage. Photo: Kate Healy
The search has resumed for children's bodies believed to buried in the grounds of an old Ballarat orphanage associated with historic sexual and physical abuse.
The orphanage closed in 1968 and the site has since been bought by a developer, but former residents raised concerns with Ballarat City Council two years ago that children's bodies may be buried there.
The former orphanage was built in the mid-1860s and was home to more than 4000 children during its tenure.
The search for children's remains resumed on Wednesday morning. Photo: Kate Healy
More than 25 children, aged between two and 15, are suspected to have died as a result of abuse or neglect there.
Frank Golding, who lived at the orphanage for 11 years, said children would often disappear with no explanation.
"If children died of explicable causes, they were buried in the cemetery. I could only imagine that children would be buried at the orphanage without formalities if somebody was trying to conceal a crime," he told radio station 3AW.
Police at the site of the old orphanage. Photo: Kate Healy
He and other former residents are concerned about how the remains of children buried there would be respected if the site was redeveloped.
Police began searching the grounds of the orphanage earlier this week and returned on Wednesday morning with large excavating equipment. Forensic investigators have established a command post at the site, where they are expected to remain for up to 10 days.
Former residents have alleged horrific sexual, physical and emotional abuse took place at the orphanage.
Allegations include that Catholic nuns "procured children" for notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale. [see post this one replies to]
Mr Golding said about 10 to 15 per cent of children at the orphanage were members of the stolen generation.
"If children did die and they were Aboriginal children, there would be very few questions asked because parents wouldn't know where they were," he said.
Mr Golding's two aunts attended the orphanage, where one of them died from a neglected medical condition.
He said it was important the allegations were tested and, if found, the children given proper burials.
"It will clear the air once and for all," he said.
Superintendent Andy Allen said police had been investigating the allegations on behalf of the coroner since they were first raised at the council meeting in 2013.
"It's been a process since 2013 and it's been a matter of going through a legal framework and identifying what [the] location [of the bodies] might be," he told reporters at the scene on Wednesday.
"There was some previous testing done at the site which led us to commencing the excavation in the last couple of days. There were indications that took us back to the coroner and as a consequence of that we're now excavating an area on the site of the Ballarat Orphanage."
Victoria police are working with the coroner and forensic scientists to search the orphanage grounds.
With Ballarat Courier
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ballarat-orphanage-digging-resumes-for-childrens-bodies-20150415-1mlbf4.html
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Child sexual abuse in a highly exclusive Presbyterian school in Sydney, Australia.
Victims of sex abuse at elite school say cries for help ignored
Date February 28, 2015
Damien Murphy and Rachel Browne
Knox Grammar School was more worried about its reputation than its pupils' plights when sexual abuse was alleged, a royal commission has been told.
Knox Grammar School is the latest Australian institution to be exposed for covering up paedophilia.
It might be an exclusive school but there is nothing exclusive about how Knox Grammar School dealt with allegations of sexual predatory behaviour by teachers towards its students.
Since public hearings at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse began 17 months ago Australia has become used to seeing a regular pattern to how it plays out:
A lone victim speaks out against an institution.
A cover-up is put in place to protect the institution's reputation at the expense of the victim.
Frustrated, crushed, shocked, betrayed, the victim seeks to be heard by bashing down a door - either through police, inquiry or media.
Only when another institution draws near is a public apology made.
For more than a year the nation has watched as some pillars of society, including the Catholic and church, the Anglican churches, Jewish centres and schools in Sydney and Melbourne, the Salvation Army, the YMCA, and various state governments, have been exposed as providing opportunity and shelter to paedophiles.
The culture that permeated Knox revealed in the royal commission this week has shocked many out of their faith in the school's tradition and its promise to enable boys to succeed and grow into young men of faith, wisdom, integrity and compassion.
Sexuality is hard country for teenagers but many students at high net worth private schools live with a morbid fascination about it, their discomfort and longing to belong often expressed through showy displays of revulsion towards sexual ambiguity.
A throwaway insult for generations of Sydney private school boys runs:
"Tiddlywinks, young man
Run as fast as you can
If you can't get a girl
Get a Cranbrook man"
The rhyme was readily adapted to Grammar/Riverview/Barker.
For decades, Knox had been the target of gossip, lies and innuendo along the North Shore Line.
And then in 2009, something far more serious erupted from these nudge nudge, wink wink cultural undercurrents when numbers of former students alleged they had been sexually abused by teachers at the school between 1970 and 2009. It was the ultimate breach of the trust they and their families had placed in the school.
Police established Strike Force Arika to investigate the allegations. Five teachers were convicted of child sex offences against students. The royal commission was given evidence of abuse by another three. One, art teacher Bruce Barratt, died in the mid-1980s, and was remembered on a school gate with the droll epitaph, "He touched us all"." The plaque has been removed.
For more than three decades boys were subjected to the teachers' predations, the school failed to notify police of any incident of child sexual abuse.
Tim Hawkes, the headmaster of The King's School, Parramatta, was a former teacher and boarding house master at Knox when one of his young boarders was groped in the dormitory just before dawn in 1988 by a man wearing a balaclava and Knox tracksuit. Hawkes told the commission he did not call the police because he believed it the responsibility of the then headmaster, Ian Paterson. He said he was then unaware of the legislative requirement to report sex abuse to the Department of Family and Community Services.
"I think in those days, authority structures in schools - we're talking about over a quarter of a century [ago] - were very much more hierarchical than they are today. They are very much more horizontal today and, I think, thankfully so," he said.
"And I think today, not only aided and abetted by changes to the law but also by social custom, I think the empowerment of people at all levels and seniority within schools is such that, today, the initiative to notify police would be unquestioned."
Such buck passing outrages Lesley Saddington, whose son, Tony Carden, died of AIDS aged 33. She says he was nine at Knox preparatory school in 1971 when he was "groomed" by teachers. She believes the abuse continued at senior school.
"One can only arrive at the conclusion that over the past several decades Knox, as a school run by the Uniting Church, has lost its moral compass," she says.
There is no doubt that the five convicted Knox paedophiles, Craig Treloar, Damian Vance, Adrian Nisbett, Barrie Stewart, and Roger James, chose their targets with precision.
They picked the weak and vulnerable with boarders the easiest of prey. Day boys with troubled home lives were vulnerable to grooming.
Victims told the royal commission of feeling so ashamed they could not tell anyone, let alone complain to someone in authority.
A 52-year-old former boarder given the pseudonym ARY recalled Stewart's opportunistic groping in the school's hallways. "Often in passing in the hallways he would grab a boy's genitals," he said. "This happened so casually it was like a handshake."
Those who spoke up were shunned by peers. "They became victimised and ostracised in the boarding house," ARY said. "They were seen as weak and they became everybody's bitch."
Former student Scot Ashton could see no point reporting abuse, which included an incident where music teacher Stewart inserted a finger into his anus.
"I felt very isolated because I was the victim of abuse and had this terrible shame and secret which I could not discuss and I was intimidated by the general bullying culture of the school which preyed on the vulnerable and weak and I could not afford to be vulnerable by complaining about the abuse and I felt that it would be pointless," he told the commission.
And then there were constant reminders of how privileged they were to be at such a good school and who would want to bring that into disrepute?
"Everyone was expected to keep up the reputation of Knox," ARY said.
He told the commission he would find it "astounding" if staff weren't aware of the extent of the abuse, a sentiment echoed by many.
Coryn Tambling, who boarded during the 1980s, sheeted the blame home to then headmaster Paterson.
Tambling was 13 and a boarder from the Northern Territory when Treloar showed him hardcore pornography featuring bestiality and paedophila before propositioning him for sex. His behaviour deteriorated and his parents asked what was wrong.
"I said that 'one of the teachers in the boarding house had showed me pornography and asked me to suck his dick'," Tambling said. "My mother didn't believe me. She said, 'you would have told us in one of your letters home if it was true'. My mother had continued to hold a very high opinion of the school."
When his father said there wasn't much to worry about, "I went back to Knox, heartbroken and angry".
Other students, whose behaviour and academic performance plummeted in the wake of abuse, were simply asked to leave school.
A man given the pseudonym ARG, molested by art teacher Barratt and English teacher Nisbett, told of being forced out but being unable to tell his parents why.
"They were beautiful people and churchgoers," he said. "I was scared, embarrassed and didn't know whether anyone would believe me. I had horrible emotions going."
Meanwhile, the behaviour of the paedophile teachers continued largely unchecked.
The commission is yet to hear evidence of Stewart being sanctioned in any way. Treloar kept his job after admitting to watching pornography with boys. Vance was allowed to "resign" to spend time with his sick mother in 1989, despite the commission hearing the school was aware he had indecently assaulted a student underneath the Knox chapel.
Religious education teacher Christopher Fotis was never charged over sexual abuse at Knox but allowed to "resign" after being arrested for masturbating outside a school in North Ryde in 1989. Fotis failed to appear at the commission and an arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday.
Fotis and Vance were provided with glowing references about their professional skills by Paterson.
Treloar was still teaching at the school when arrested over multiple sex offences in 2009.
John Rentoul, a former assistant headmaster of Knox, told the commission that it was "extraordinary and reprehensible that these men continued to teach at Knox and abuse students.".
"I believe the school was more interested in protecting the reputation of Knox than ensuring the safety and welfare of its students," he told the commission.
In heartbreaking testimony, Rentoul told the commission his son, David, was abused by Stewart, something he believes led to David's early death from multiple organ failure.
The 80-year-old, who left Knox in 1981 to teach in New Zealand, told the commission that private school students may be more vulnerable to abuse by teachers.
"In my view, private schools may be more susceptible to instances of sexual abuse because of more opportunities for the development of close relationships between teacher and students."
Speaking outside the commission, Independent Education Union general secretary John Quessy agreed this was an issue for independent schools.
"Where you have situations where students and teachers are interacting extensively outside of a classroom situation it would appear there are more opportunities for impropriety to take place," he said.
Some former students have received six-figure compensation payments from the school and the Uniting Church but say the money will never fix the damage done.
For others, the legal process was unnecessarily gruelling.
"It made me feel like I was being screwed all over again," former student Adrian Steer drily observed of his experience with Knox's lawyers.
Counsel assisting David Lloyd lamented lack of documentary evidence about the abuse which complicated the redress process.
"A difficulty has arisen in investigating these questions because of the paucity of contemporaneous documentary records which record allegations of abuse and the school's response to them," he said.
The commission has been told that Paterson kept all documents regarding allegations of abuse in a black folder in his office.
When new headmaster Peter Crawley took over from Paterson in 1999 he was told the folder contained the sensitive information but was stunned to see just a few snippets of notes and nothing of substance.
"In my view it was a very unprofessional folder," he said. "I remember just being aghast at what I was looking at."
Former head of the Knox Grammar Preparatory School Robert Thomas was similarly surprised when he looked at Treloar's file and saw no mention of his six-month suspension for watching pornography with students.
The commission heard that files of students who made complaints have also gone missing,
Lloyd said the hearing would examine the fate of these missing documents, "whether they were deliberately destroyed in order to eliminate evidence which might adversely affect the school, and who from the school might have been involved in and/or aware of any deliberate destruction of relevant documentary records"."
This culture of cover-up only adds to the trauma of those who have suffered abuse, according to Craig Hughes-Cashmore, co-founder and director of Survivors and Mates Support Network
"Sadly, many feel that they won't be believed and even if they do speak up, there is that constant fear that it will just be swept under the rug," he said.
Adults Surviving Child Abuse: 1300 657 380
Survivors and Mates Support Network: 02 8355 3711
Bravehearts: 1800 272 831
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/victims-of-sex-abuse-at-elite-school-say-cries-for-help-ignored-20150227-13qgjl.html
.. any words such as, "Only good can come of this royal commission. Thank you, Julia Gillard."
In the Name of the Law
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=105245445
.. could never be repeated too many times ..
See also .. on Tornado Alley ..
Yup. How the church concealed Father Ridsdale's crimes
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=100974240
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=112773376
Thailand's former army chief, Prayuth Chan-ocha, calls for understanding of his democracy style
7.30 By South East Asia correspondent Samantha Hawley
Updated Thu at 2:07am
Video: What happens when a foreign journalist challenges the Thai PM over his dictatorship? (7.30)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-01/what-happens-when-a-foreign-journalist-challenges/6366302
Related Story: Thai PM Prayuth says he has power to execute reporters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-25/thai-pm-prayuth-says-has-power-to-execute-reporters/6348454
Related Story: Thailand under pressure to scrap civilian military detention plan
Map: Thailand .. http://maps.google.com/?q=15,100(Thailand)&z=5
Thailand's former army chief who seized power in last year's coup has pleaded with the international community to understand his style of so-called democracy.
Thai leader Prayuth Chan-ocha, in his first exchange with a foreign journalist since the military takeover, told the ABC that democracy in Thailand is like a shirt that is buttoned incorrectly and foreigners needed to understand he is not power crazy.
The Thai leader was repeatedly asked about the concern that Thailand's draft constitution is undemocratic because it allows the nation's senate to be appointed by a committee and not elected by the people.
"What is your true democracy?" he asked.
"I know everything ... there are people in Thailand who don't want an election, do you know that?
"I try to make you understand, many countries in ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] understand me.
"The principle of democracy, I know that."
Thailand's former education minister, Chaturon Chaisang, told 7.30 the constitution in its draft form will mean voters will have no power at all.
"It is very likely that under the system designed, if they don't amend it before the final approval, the upcoming election will be meaningless," he said.
"People will go to vote but they will not have any power to decide who will be in the government."
Mr Chaturon is facing 14 years in jail after he was arrested after the coup last year for failing to report to the military after his government was deposed.
He is also facing further charges because he later addressed Bangkok's Foreign Correspondents Club, where he argued for the swift return to democratic rule and his words were then posted on Facebook.
He is currently on bail and will be tried before a military court.
"Before the coup there was conflict and after the upcoming election the conflict will be even more severe than that," he said.
"We cannot imagine what is going to happen but we just believe that it is best for this country to go back to democracy."
Hints at possible end to martial law
Pro-government Red Shirt leader Doctor Weng said if you define a dictator by coming to power with the use of guns, then General Chan-ocha is "absolutely a dictator".
"The head of the junta can do anything legislatively, administratively or even in the judiciary and everything he does or orders, he publishes in the law so he has absolute power, he has absolute sovereignty in his hands," he said.
The general seized power after months of deadly street protests in downtown Bangkok.
In recent days he has signalled that, 10 months since the coup, he will soon lift martial law but he will replace it with article 44 of the interim constitution, which will give him power over the government and law and order.
Human rights groups have condemned the move.
Thai man Pratiwat Sariyaem is feeling the consequences of the new rule with the military pursuing with renewed vigour the age-old Lese Majeste laws.
Insulting the revered monarchy is a serious crime in Thailand.
His son, known as Bank, has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for depicting a fictional king in a satirical university play.
He told 7.30 of the bright future that awaited his son but he feared for his future.
"[The sentence] seems a little bit too harsh," he said.
"He told me he joined the play just to earn money and I believe him because he never lies, he is a sincere and a serious person."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-01/thai-leader-calls-for-understanding-of-his-approach-to-democracy/6366232
Southeast Asia’s Democracy Downer
And you thought the Arab Spring was disappointing.
By Christian Caryl
March 23, 2015
Three years ago, on April 1, 2012, I had the great privilege to watch Burmese citizens take part in their first free election in a quarter of a century. As votes go, this was actually a pretty modest one .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_by-elections,_2012 — it was a mere by-election, so only a few seats in the national assembly were up for grabs. In practical terms, the voters’ choices had little real impact on the balance of forces in the country at large.
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Yet that modest reality didn’t seem to matter. People seized the opportunity to exercise their rights with joy.
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Yet that modest reality didn’t seem to matter. People seized the opportunity to exercise their rights with joy. Campaign rallies for the pro-democracy opposition party, the National League of Democracy (NLD), turned into raucous celebrations .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/04/02/a-bittersweet-celebration-in-burma/ .. of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the woman who has long embodied .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/03/30/the-ladys-leap-of-faith/ .. the democratic aspirations of Burmese languishing under one of the world’s harshest military dictatorships. Her party’s main rival, the pro-government United Solidarity Development Party (USDP), struggled to get traction. The outcome surprised no one: when the votes were counted, the NLD had won 43 of the 44 seats it contested. Aung San Suu Kyi entered parliament in triumph.
Burma appeared to be part of a larger regional trend. President Thein Sein .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/01/12/burmas-tightrope/ , the ex-general who set his country on a Gorbachev-style course of opening and reform in 2010, was said to have found his inspiration in neighbors like Indonesia .. http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2014/04/24/can-indonesia-be-a-model-for-myanmars-political-future/ , Thailand, and the Philippines, all of which had, at various moments in the years before, achieved strong economic growth after moving away from autocracy and toward democratic norms. (The fact that Burma was also eager to escape western sanctions and find new international partners who could save it from its confining dependence on China probably didn’t hurt.)
At the time, one could make a case that even authoritarian stalwarts in the region, like Malaysia and Singapore, were on the verge of some sort of popular reckoning. In a 2011 election, Singapore’s long-dominant ruling party was jolted .. http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/05/singapores_election .. by its worst electoral result in half a century (though it retained control of parliament). And the steadily rising power of Malaysia’s opposition, led by the dogged Anwar Ibrahim, suggested that the old guard was facing a new challenge from a self-assertive middle class increasingly resentful of official lies and entrenched corruption.
A degree of healthy skepticism was always warranted, of course. No one ever expected Southeast Asia, affected as it is by deep religious, ethnic, and economic divides, to glide effortlessly into a democratic nirvana. But I doubt that even the skeptics would have predicted that the aspirations of the region’s reformers would run aground quite so quickly.
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Southeast Asia is now experiencing a broad backlash against democracy — a softer version,
if you will, of what the Middle East has been enduring in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
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Southeast Asia is now experiencing a broad backlash against democracy .. http://www.cfr.org/democratization/southeast-asias-regression-democracy-its-implications/p33023 — a softer version, if you will, of what the Middle East has been enduring in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. “All across the [Southeast Asia] region, governments’ respect for rights is in free fall,” says Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch. “And like everyone else in the region who cares about these issues, we’re scrambling to re-double our efforts.”
In Thailand, last year’s military coup has snuffed out the prospects for a return to democracy for the foreseeable future. While the junta that currently rules the country keeps touting its plans .. http://www.voanews.com/content/thailand-generals-promise-reform-amid-skepticism/2544053.html .. for ambitious national reforms, its ham-handed treatment .. http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1721654/thai-pair-jailed-2-and-half-years-over-play-crackdown-intensifies .. of even the mildest signs of opposition doesn’t bode well. The general pessimism is compounded by the lingering uncertainty surrounding 87-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Long celebrated by Thais as a reassuring source of political stability, the 87-year-old monarch is increasingly frail, and the possibility that he might soon leave the scene compounds the general sense of instability.
The political situation in Malaysia is also a mess. The country’s general election in 2013 ended up showing .. http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21577390-after-tainted-election-victory-najib-razak-needs-show-his-reformist-mettle-dangerous .. just how far the country is from anything like real democracy. Even though the ruling coalition earned just 47 percent of the popular vote, it ended up with 60 percent of the seats in parliament — the result of a highly distorted electoral system designed to favor those in power.
The extent to which the forces of Prime Minister Najib Razak have been jolted by the result is clear from the way they’ve behaved .. http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/wsj-umnos-creeping-authoritarianism-risks-straining-us-malaysia-ties .. since then. Rather than seeking some sort of co-existence with the opposition, the government has banked on confrontation. Security forces have cracked down .. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/world/asia/malaysian-police-official-cracking-down-on-dissent-turns-to-twitter.html .. aggressively on dissent, arresting numerous critics. The government has launched a fresh campaign against Anwar, once again throwing him into jail on dubious morality charges. (The photo above shows riot police outside a courthouse in Putrajaya last month.) And it hasn’t stopped there.
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Just this past week the police even resorted to arresting Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, a
member of parliament who was detained after criticizing the government’s actions against her father.
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Just this past week the police even resorted to arresting .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/16/nurul-izzah-anwar-arrest-criticised-malaysia-opposition-anwar-ibrahim .. Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/04/09/the-princess-of-reform/ , a member of parliament who was detained after criticizing the government’s actions against her father. (She has since been released, but the scandal triggered by her detention has further poisoned relations with the opposition.)
The government’s prickliness could well have something to do with popular concern about grand-scale corruption. A growing scandal .. http://www.asiasentinel.com/politics/fund-scandal-looms-malaysia/ .. around the mismanagement of a multi-billion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, whose advisory board is chaired .. http://www.stasiareport.com/the-big-story/asia-report/malaysia/story/malaysia-pm-najib-refutes-claims-tycoons-role-1mdb-20150318 .. by the prime minister, is clouding Najib’s political prospects.
And then there’s Burma, the biggest disappointment of all. This fall the country will hold its first national election since the start of the current reform process. Though many Burmese expected that the vote would give new momentum to democratization, such hopes now look increasingly unwarranted. The NLD’s campaign to amend the current constitution, which contains provisions specifically designed to prevent Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president, has foundered .. http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/suu-kyi-warns-taking-part-2015-vote-without-charter-reform.html . Ethnic tensions between Burma’s Buddhist majority and the Muslim Rohingya minority have fueled a rise in militant nationalism that the government has been happy to exploit .. http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/lower-house-approves-two-race-and-religion-bills.html . The security forces have reacted harshly .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/12/burma-takes-a-big-step-backwards/ .. to recent student protests and imposed jail terms on a growing number of critics. One of the most striking signs of deepening intolerance was the verdict imposed last week on a Rangoon bar manager and two of his colleagues, who were sentenced to two and half years of hard labor .. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/17/in-burma-a-buddha-with-headphones-will-land-you-in-jail.html .. for posting a picture of the Buddha wearing headphones.
Thein Sein’s liberalization process also awakened hope by offering the prospect of a sustainable peace .. http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/thein-sein-pushes-for-ceasefire-01122015162508.html .. in Burma’s multi-faceted civil war .. http://www.mmpeacemonitor.org/ , which has been going on from the moment the country achieved independence in 1948. Thein Sein’s government promised to launch fresh negotiations with all of the ethnic minority groups who have been fighting against the central government — the only exception, until recently, being the Kachin, a mostly Christian group who inhabit a resource-rich territory in the north.
But now a long-dormant conflict has re-emerged, drawing the Burmese army into ferocious fighting .. http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/assault-03192015113203.html .. with Kokang militants along the Chinese border. This latest mini-war isn’t just a security issue; it also has potentially far-reaching implications for the domestic political situation. The fact that the Kokang are ethnic Chinese .. http://www.irrawaddy.org/contributor/kokang-conflict-will-china-respond.html .. means that the conflict offers the Burmese armed forces a perfect opportunity to portray themselves .. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/world/asia/myanmars-fight-with-rebels-creates-refugees-and-ill-will-with-china.html .. as heroic defenders against external aggression — and thus to improve their own standing in the approaching election. Ashley South, an analyst at Thailand’s Chiang Mai University, warns that the government’s willingness to negotiate with other restive minorities is dwindling: “I think the prospects of substantial political dialogue before the elections are close to zero.”
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All this would be dispiriting enough. But it’s also striking how little the opponents of officialdom have been doing to fight back.
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All this would be dispiriting enough. But it’s also striking how little the opponents of officialdom have been doing to fight back. Thailand’s opposition, which is mostly loyal to the mercurial exiled tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, is deeply demoralized. Internal rifts are weakening .. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/18/us-malaysia-islam-law-idUSKBN0ME0JJ20150318 .. Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition even as it struggles to defend itself against the Malaysian government’s attacks. And Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD, which has failed in its attempts to outmaneuver the authorities, has been notably reluctant to take the side of student protestors .. http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/09/a-new-generation-takes-to-the-streets-in-burma/ , disgruntled laborers, or persecuted Muslims — prompting some critics to question .. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/11/obama-myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-112844.html#.VRA2-WaXHu0 .. her policies. Of course, as the Lady has shown so often in the past, one should never underestimate her.
Southeast Asia is a place of mind-boggling complexity and dynamism, so it’s probably better to refrain from predictions about the future of democracy. But one thing is for sure: it’s getting harder to be an optimist.
MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/23/southeast-asias-democracy-downer-burma-thailand-malaysia-myanmar/
.. on the suggestion that some are questioning Aung San Suu Kyi’s policies, gee, there would be internal unhappiness at decisions for sure, there always
is .. yet, surely by know she would be pretty spot on, i'd guess, in her analysis of situations .. then deciding just how carefully pragmatic she must be ..
See also:
The People vs. The Monks
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=103038540
Australian-born baby denied refugee protection visa
Date 15.10.2014
An 11-month-old baby born in Australia to asylum-seeker parents has been denied a refugee visa by the country's
Federal Court. The ruling throws further light on Canberra's hardline and controversial immigration policy.
Baby Ferouz Myuddin was born prematurely in hospital in the eastern Australian city of Brisbane last year. His mother, from Myanmar's
persecuted Rohingya minority, was transfered there from a detention center on the Pacific state of Nauru because of health concerns.
.. more .. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=107321628
House of Cards
By Marian Wilkinson and Karen Michelmore
Updated March 17, 2015 10:58:00
House of Cards
Video: House of Cards - Promo (Four Corners)
[ for those interested this is an excellent 45 minute insight into Australian politics today .. broken promises? .. Abbott's the man! .. the budget saving were targeted
at the most vulnerable .. healthy backlash ensued .. a proposed medical copayment for all GP visits was a total surprise to the medical profession, even to government
backbenchers as "it had never been discussed in the party room" .. introduced with no community consultation at all it has after 'consultation', 9 months later, been abandoned .. ]
16th March, 2015
"The Liberal Party has dealt with the spill motion and now this matter is behind us." - Tony Abbott
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says his Government has put its divisions behind it, and is now back on track, ready to deliver good government to Australians.
But is this really true? Have the divisions built up over the past year and the wounds inflicted as the result of the threat of a leadership spill last month really been healed, or is he on borrowed time as leader?
This week on Four Corners, reporter Marian Wilkinson reveals leaked communications, top secret decisions and interventions from outside the Liberal Party intended to shore up Tony Abbott's leadership, that suggest the party remains divided.
The program tracks key government policy decisions that saw its popularity sink from highs to major lows. It tells how for much of the past year and a half the Prime Minister has been cut off from his own backbench, making him incapable of understanding the impact budget measures were having on voters.
In the weeks since the party room spill, the Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted his party will not go down the road taken by Labor when it replaced Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard. However others, even those that support him, offer this veiled warning:
"We want him to succeed and we want the Government to succeed... and I think that we will get there. But if it doesn't, the first person to know that it's not working will be Tony Abbott and I have every confidence that if that happens, and I don't think it will but if that happens, I think Tony would do the right thing by Australia." - Government backbencher
It becomes clear that while Tony Abbott may have come through one crisis, the margin for error in his leadership diminishes as each month passes and the next election gets closer.
As a former Liberal Cabinet Minister said:
"Understand this, as you get closer [to an election], every marginal seat member is thinking I could lose my seat... if things don't change, the party room will..."
Q: "...Will change the leader?"
"Yeah, if things don't change."
HOUSE OF CARDS, reported by Marian Wilkinson and presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 16th March at 8.30pm. It is replayed on Tuesday 17th March at 10.00am and Wednesday 18th March at midnight. It can also be seen on ABC News 24 on Saturday at 8.00pm, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2015/03/16/4196300.htm
Protests push Kosovo to 'thin red line'
"The split within: Two years on since Kosovo declared independence"
Recent protests in Pristina shook Kosovo's capital and forced the sacking of a government minister. Soon
their effects may also be felt as far away as Brussels as talks to normalize Kosovar-Serbian relations resume.
As Kosovo and Serbia resume EU-mediated talks on normalizing relations on Monday, the demonstrations in Pristina, the most significant unrest since the former province of Serbia declared independence in 2008, indicate that Kosovars' growing impatience may present a new hurdle to the dialogue.
The protests were sparked by comments from an ethnic Serb minister in the Kosovo government and the government's delay of plans to nationalize Kosovo's largest mine after opposition from Serbia. But the large turnout at the protests shows a deep frustration over the lack of progress the Kosovo government has made in the seven years since independence and what many perceive as Serbia's role in stalling that progress. Around 10,000 people protested on January 24, and a smaller but still significant crowd gathered on three days later. Both protests began peacefully but ended in clashes with police that left dozens injured and arrested.
"Kosovo's red line now shows to be very thin. It will be very difficult to push Kosovo to make major new concessions, if at all," said Leon Malozogu, director of the Pristina-based think tank Democracy for Development. Prime Minister Isa Mustafa "will have to be very careful that for each compromise he makes, to make sure it comes with significant rewards," or he may face new protests, said Malozogu.
Spark of the uproar: Minister of Communities Aleksandar
Jablanovic refered to ethnic Albanians as "savages"
The demonstrations were organized by opposition parties and other groups after Minister of Communities Alexsandar Jablanovic, an ethnic Serb, used the word "savages" to refer to ethnic Albanian protesters who blocked a group of Serbs on a Christmas pilgrimage in an area that was devastated by fighting during Kosovo's 1998-1999 conflict with Serbia. When Kosovars expressed outrage, he said he didn't know whether Serbian forces had committed war crimes there, though they have been documented. Jablanovic is leader of the Serb List party, which is supported by Belgrade.
'Humiliation' for Kosovars
As calls for Jablanovic's resignation grew, Kosovo's government moved to nationalize the territory's largest mine. Once employing 20,000 people to mine its deposits of lead, zinc, and silver during the days of Yugoslavia, Trepca now languishes at minimum capacity. But Serbia, which also claims partial ownership of the mine, protested the takeover, and Kosovo's government suddenly backed down. To Kosovars, it appeared their government was acquiescing to Serbia's demands.
This was "humiliating" for Kosovars, said Naim Rashiti, the Kosovo project director at the Balkans Policy Research Group. Many people were already upset that despite promises of a bright future from politicians, unemployment, poverty, and corruption are high.
In what many regard as a sign of the desperation, tens of thousands of Kosovars are now leaving their homes, illegally migrating to EU countries to seek jobs and a better future. While politicians sold dialogue with Serbia to citizens as a process that would resolve issues with Belgrade and then focus on jobs and other economic issues, Rashiti said, Kosovars see few tangible improvements after years of negotiations.
'In Brussels' interest'
Besmir Yvejsi is one of them. He participated in the January 24 protest, though he said he didn't agree with the violence that followed it. An editor for a science magazine from the area where protesters blocked Serb pilgrims, he was deeply insulted by Jablanovic's comment. And he believes that dialogue with Serbia focuses on topics "that are more in the interest of the EU than of Kosovars."
Thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with riot
police in Kosovo's capital Pristina at the end of January
If many are impatient about negotiations, they also worry about what they see as increasing Serbian influence on Kosovo. A Pristina resident who would only give his name as Arban said Serbia was intent on destabilizing Kosovo and preventing economic progress, and was using Trepca to do it.
"The main issue for us is economic growth and economic stability," he said. "Serbia will never allow Kosovo to breathe freely."
On the eve of a planned February 4 demonstration, the prime minister gave in to protesters' demands and dismissed Jablanovic. Their success may encourage future street action if people, or opposition parties, grow angry or impatient with the government. The protests were a "wake-up call," Rashiti said.
"The government has to understand it has limited time to make changes," he said. "People's patience has run out."
DW recommends
Street clashes in Kosovo, dozens injured
Riot police have clashed with thousands of anti-government protesters in Kosovo's capital Pristina. The protesters
demanded a dismissal of a Serb minister and a government takeover of a mine claimed by Serbia. (27.01.2015)
http://www.dw.de/street-clashes-in-kosovo-dozens-injured/a-18217742
Kosovo police arrest man suspected of planning terrorist attack
Police in Kosovo say they have thwarted a possible terrorist attack. The suspect
is thought to have been planning a bombing in Pristina on Christmas Day. (26.12.2014)
http://www.dw.de/kosovo-police-arrest-man-suspected-of-planning-terrorist-attack/a-18153009
Kosovo chooses new government after six-month stalemate
Kosovo’s lawmakers have approved a new coalition government, ending a political stalemate that has lasted for
six months. It comes after a deal was made between the conservative and democratic parties. (09.12.2014)
http://www.dw.de/kosovo-chooses-new-government-after-six-month-stalemate/a-18119560
http://www.dw.de/protests-push-kosovo-to-thin-red-line/a-18243372
Tony Abbott .. going .. gooing .. almost gone ..
"could the re-polished Abbott be a one term PM?"
Business leaders turn on Abbott
a Staff Reporter
6 hours ago
Two of the nation’s biggest business leaders have turned on Tony Abbott, as the embattled Prime Minister braces for another possible leadership showdown.
A cabinet meeting on Monday is expected to include discussion over Mr Abbott’s leadership since a failed spill motion earlier in February, with speculation he may face another strike as soon as Tuesday.
Former News Limited boss and now head of Prime Media John Hartigan said Mr Abbott’s position had become unrecoverable.
"No. I think his opportunity is gone. Even his strongest supporters are now detractors," Mr Hartigan told Fairfax Media, while describing himself as an admirer of Mr Abbott.
"But as I say, he has appeared as if he doesn't want to face up to the realities of his political life. He is letting them slip through his fingers day by day."
Mr Hartigan also said political uncertainty was hurting the economy.
"It's very significant. I have not seen Australia, in so many economic areas – and I'm not speaking about our industry, I'm speaking across the board – at such a crossroads," he said.
Woolworths CEO Grant O’Brien, delivering disappointing half-year results, also said “stability is a really important thing” for consumer confidence.
"And stability across a number of factors, not the least is political stability," he said
https://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2015/2/28/national-affairs/business-leaders-turn-abbott
See also:
Abstinence floated by Tony Abbott, leader of the Australian Liberal opposition ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=45970340
.. first link kapoot for me, this for the 2nd link in there ..
The polishing of Tony Abbott
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90898728
one of in reply to that one
Tony Abbott: Top Ten Quotes From Australia's New Prime Minister
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91796566
Queensland rejected hubris and unrestrained power when it rejected Campbell Newman
"Campbell Newman takes gamble calling a surprise early Queensland election"
Mark Bahnisch
After Saturday’s historic election, the LNP must realise there is no going back to the dark days of crony capitalism and arrogance
‘Campbell will now have to formulate his own personal Strong Plan for his own future,
post-politics.’ Photograph: AAP
Contact author @MarkBahnisch
Sunday 1 February 2015 19.32 EST
In 1993, the election that was supposedly unlosable for John Hewson, I staffed a polling booth at the Coomera State School. Coomera is one of those very pleasant districts that’s either on the north of the Gold Coast or the south of Logan, perhaps depending on which way you’re heading. This country belonged to Russ Hinze, the former “minister for everything” who died in disgrace in 1991, and the Nats volunteers, old blokes with bowed legs and Akubras shading their gnarled faces, were from this era.
The Liberal volunteer on the booth was a blow-in from Melbourne. Why he’d leave Jeff Kennett’s neo-liberal utopia in the making and come up to Queensland was anyone’s guess. The humour of a very good-humoured day, breezy and unrushed, was that this guy got almost absolutely nothing about Queensland .. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/queensland .
I could tell a lot of stories, but the one that resonates with me 22 years later, after the Queensland election, is when a police senior sergeant came in to vote in uniform, taking only the Nationals’ how to vote. The Lib claimed that he had seen the exact same walloper cast his vote earlier, at a neighbouring polling booth. Perhaps all cops look the same in the bright light of the sun, or perhaps he was right. Vote early and vote often was one hallmark of Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s regime, and the dead voted too, in numbers, particularly in close by-elections. One of the old Nat blokes in a battered Akubra said, “don’t worry mate, he’s ok, he’s one of Russ’s boys. Russ’ll look after him.” Our Victorian mate pointed out, reasonably, that the former minister for everything was dead. “Naah, mate”, drawled the Nat, “he’s just sleeping. Don’t you worry about that, mate. Over there, in a cave in that hill.”
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"Let all the misgovernment and malfeasance come to an end, and let it be unmourned."
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Nats of old could surprise with their erudition and their humour. Just another tall tale from the land of the Cold Ghost? The story of the election that ended Campbell Newman .. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/campbell-newman .. is also about an interment and a resurrection.
It’s an extraordinary result, the outcome of this January election held on a sweltering day across the length and breadth of Queensland, from Currumbin to Cook. As the day dawned, federal Libs were scrambling to spin Labor’s return as a “natural correction” to the LNP’s huge 2012 majority, the cost of Can Do’s hard decisions. Strong choices weren’t mentioned. Nor was the human cost of so-called reform, all the lives upturned through unemployment and the shrinking of opportunity that comes not just from public service cuts but also from the ultimate logic of austerity politics – the withdrawal of the state from actively supporting communities and individuals in their basic struggles. No, that was not it, just swings and roundabouts.
This election result is about much more than swings and roundabouts, and about much more than the fate of Campbell Newman himself, now making history as a premier who lost his own seat. The pork barrel was empty, it would seem, and the good burghers of Ashgrove made their own strong choice, a choice that had no place for Campbell, who will now have to formulate his own personal Strong Plan for his own future, post-politics. The reasons for Campbell’s political demise have been analysed often enough, including by me, and no doubt the analysis is not at an end. With Newman’s political career in the coffin, the ghosts of National party premiers past ought also to be interred.
If the voice of Queenslanders said anything on Saturday, it thundered a rejection of the culture of power unrestrained and politicians’ hubris and arrogance. No more bills passed in the night, stripping citizens and workers of fundamental rights. No more dodgy donations. No more jobs for the boys and girls. No more “don’t you worry about that”. Queenslanders voted in massive numbers for a return to accountability and the basics of good government and democratic practice, conventions trampled underfoot by the RM Williams boots of the LNP’s ministers over the past term.
‘It is absolutely to Palaszczuk’s credit that she’s grown in stature over the last term.’
Photograph: AAP
Any Queensland government must now understand there can be no going back to the dark days of the past, that there is no electoral reward to be had from “strong plans” that don’t factor in the human cost of unrestrained crony capitalism. There will from now on be no electoral reward from “strength”, if that means treating citizens with disdain and contempt.
Let all the misgovernment and malfeasance come to an end, and let it be unmourned. There was a sly charm in the old Queensland, a seductive whisper that the state’s distinctiveness was expressed through its baroque tropical politics, a humour beneath the cattleman’s hats. But Russ Hinze is dead, he’s not sleeping. He was never a king or an emperor, even if Sir Joh was a Knight, and after this result, he should never be coming back. Lawrence Springborg and the LNP – take note.
Tony Fitzgerald QC should be resting more comfortably in his bed tonight. Hopefully he takes heart from the ordinary Queenslanders who will no doubt have been influenced by the sheer audacity of the joke Newman’s crew tried to play on what should be a modern and democratic state.
While it’s absolutely legitimate to criticise the ALP campaign, distorting the scale of its comeback by talking about “natural corrections” is rubbish. Let’s go back in time to a comparable wipeout: Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s reduction of the opposition to an 11 person “cricket team” in the 1974 election (in which Labor leader Percy Tucker, compared unfavourably at the time by Mungo MacCallum to a lettuce leaf, lost his own seat). The “natural correction” in 1977 was a small one; it took Labor until 1983 to regain most of the seats it had lost to the Coalition. Labor now has power in its grasp after just one truncated term.
"Labor’s 'modest' policies have not been plucked out of a political strategist’s hat"
Politics does move much quicker these days, of course, but the decimation of the parliamentary Labor party in Queensland in 2012 was a unique event in electoral history. The party was in chaotic disarray. After having promised to govern with grace and dignity, the new premier, evidently having forgotten magnanimity, kicked Labor out of parliament house and relegated them to a public service building in Margaret Street, a few blocks away. The seven remaining MPs from a pre-election caucus of 51 regrouped and elected Annastacia Palaszczuk as leader. Swings against Labor in seats they held had been as high as 21.3%. Now they have swung back in the opposite direction, often by the same order of magnitude. Having made history in 2012, the Queensland voting public has pulled off the same trick in 2015.
Palaszczuk, a lawyer by training and an MA graduate of the London School of Economics, took the safe seat of Inala in 2006, following her father Henry, a veteran MP and popular minister for primary industries, into parliament. A good listener, and very responsive to community voices, the novice parliamentarian rose quickly from parliamentary secretary through a junior ministry to transport minister. It’s unlikely, though, that Palaszczuk had been carrying a leader’s baton in her backpack. She certainly wasn’t mentioned in dispatches as a future leader. Anna Bligh, it was assumed, would anoint the youthful treasurer Andrew Fraser, and the education minister, Cameron Dick, was talked about as a potential rival. Both lost their seats to the LNP.
It is absolutely to Palaszczuk’s credit that she’s grown in stature over the last term, and to the credit of the seven MPs (whose number grew to nine after a succession of stunning by-election wins last year) that they have not just been able to provide a viable opposition but also to come tantalisingly close to victory so soon after Labor’s Armageddon. This was achieved not just through parliamentary efforts, but also through returning the party to its bases in the labour movement and the community. As with the Victorian election, journalists have been inclined to miss the enormous grass roots effort – volunteers, thousands of phone calls and door knocks, and more importantly, a politics of community consultation.
‘With Newman’s political career in the coffin, the ghosts of National party premiers
past ought also to be interred.’ Photograph: AAP
Labor’s “modest” policies have not been plucked out of a political strategist’s hat, but rather are the product of listening to those affected by Newman austerity politics – whether nurses and ambos or bus drivers and Indigenous people. Labor has also recruited an astonishingly diverse array of candidates, notwithstanding the six defeated MPs who have recontested and taken back their seats this election. Among these candidates, many who will shortly be sitting in the Legislative Assembly, are Leanne Enoch, the state’s first Indigenous woman MP, as well as electricians, defence lawyers, medical specialists and tradies. So much for the claim that the major parties always draw only on the political class.
It’s these connections with professions and trades, and the deep links made by Labor MPs in the manifold and multifarious communities that make up a diverse state, that have ensured not just its survival, but also a resilience that positions the party not just for an astonishing victory but also very well for the future.
In a sense, then, one sleeping giant has been awakened through this election – the sense that so many have of Queensland as a project. A work in progress, sure, but progress to a more humane, more inclusive, more transparent, fairer and more accountable polity and society. That project, the legacy not just of figures such as Tony Fitzgerald and the late Wayne Goss but also of a multitude of activists and citizens over the decades, has shown its strength when tested against the flim flam of “strong plans” offered by a rattled party in a state of advanced decay.
Political nostrums that have endured for ages should now be tossed out, along with the many, many LNP MPs who have lost their seats. The LNP must understand that Russ Hinze’s ghost no longer slumbers under the hills of Coomera. And Labor, though it will tread softly, has learned the key lessons of its defeat in 2012 – that privatisation is poison, that Queenslanders want a government that respects not hectors them, and that there’s life still in social democratic politics, provided it connects with citizens. This result is truly an astonishing one, and its implications are manifold. The political rulebook has been smashed to smithereens along with the LNP’s majority, and every political party must now take stock.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/02/queensland-rejected-hubris-and-unrestrained-power-when-it-rejected-campbell-newman
===
Queensland: hung parliament looms as vital seat faces possible legal dispute
Joshua Robertson
Tuesday 3 February 2015 02.07 EST
Labor is forecast to win 44 seats – enough for minority government with independent support – but bankrupt candidate in Ferny Grove disrupts plans
Jackie Trad, right, the opposition environment spokeswoman, with the Labor leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk,
during the campaign. Trad is tipped to be deputy premier if Labor takes office. Photograph: Nathan Paull/AAP
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/03/queensland-hung-parliament-looms-as-vital-seat-faces-possible-legal-dispute
===
.. this one by the ultra conservative Andrew Bolt (he gets a mention in the 2nd last paragraph here ..
High Court rules against Scott Morrison's refugee protection visa cap
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=103551286 ) ..
Queensland election a disaster for Abbott
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/queensland_a_disaster_for_abbott/
Congratulations to Queensland voters. A switch for decency.
Tony Abbott has much bigger problems than a rogue knight
"The polishing of Tony Abbott"
Paul Sheehan Date January 28, 2015 - 9:00PM
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he will learn from the uproar that bestowing an Australia Day honour on Prince Phillip caused.
Pressure mounts on Tony Abbott
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/the-lodge-aint-the-white-house-canberra-aint-new-york-20150128-130eaf.html
Comment: Liberals could turn to Turnbull
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/tony-abbott-has-much-bigger-problems-than-a-rogue-knight-20150128-1306yv.html
'Abbott factor' to hit state election campaign
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nsw/the-abbott-factor-expected-to-be-a-drag-on-mike-bairds-nsw-election-campaign-20150128-130dtw.html/nsw/the-abbott-factor-expected-to-be-a-drag-on-mike-bairds-nsw-election-campaign-20150128-130dtw.html
"I'm determined to learn from all of this," the Prime Minister said of his self-immolating lapse in anointing the Duke of Edinburgh with an Australian knighthood, which compounded the adverse impact of the anachronistic, self-indulgent, zero-upside honours system he introduced in his first year.
Abbott is unlikely to learn from this, other than to become even more cautious and robotic. You cannot learn what you refuse to know. He is a bulldog who will not let go of a course of action which, without an end to his bunker insularity, and a change in his relationship with the electorate, will see him removed either before the next election or at the next election.
His party is already moving. The phones are running hot. They will not turn to the deputy leader, Julie Bishop. It will be Malcolm Turnbull.
The seeds of this unnecessary damage were sown a long time ago. Why did Senator Nick Minchin, the senate opposition leader who engineered Abbott's elevation to the party leadership, step down as senate leader within months of Abbott becoming leader? Minchin would leave politics altogether a year later, for a variety of reasons.
Without Minchin, Abbott would never have been leader. Without Minchin, or the gravitas of a Minchin equivalent, Abbott is not going to survive his present course.
Why has the likeable, knockabout Abbott turned into Gillard II? The public never bought Julia Gillard's robotic prime ministerial persona, or the manner by which she took power, which guaranteed her demise long before it happened.
We all thought the toxic leadership turmoil of Labor's six years in office protected Abbott from an early political death. It still does, but less so now. Australian politics has become conditioned to flux. And electoral survival trumps everything else.
The irony is that, in policy terms, Abbott has been a better leader than the man who Australians want to replace him with: Bill Shorten. The Prime Minister has achieved much despite the scorched-earth majority in the Senate, while Shorten has been rewarded for his empty opportunism. And for being Not Tony.
Abbott can beat Shorten, just as he beat Turnbull, Hockey, Rudd, Gillard, Rudd again, and the global warming lobby, all while being caricatured and underestimated.
But he cannot beat the combination of Robotic Tony and Bill Short-term.
A Coalition government with a clear, cut-through, waffle-free narrative can carry the day at the 2016 election, even if it cannot carry a blocking Senate where power is controlled by one-termers who fluked their way into Parliament on preferences despite tiny primary votes.
Which leads me to Australia Day, when a woman delivered the sort of speech that has been missing from Australia's political leaders: "The global economy is still sluggish, there is still enormous global economic volatility, and our geopolitical environment is very fragile on so many fronts. If all this doesn't constitute a burning platform, I'm not sure what does …
"The policy ambition we've become accustomed to won't be sufficient … We will need a decade of unprecedented policy action by government, and leadership and risk-taking by business … Our politicians across all parties have to prepare the community for the enormous, social and economic change that must take place in our society."
The speech was given by Jennifer Westacott, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, who understands that Australia's commodity boom was one-in-a-century opportunity which is going to be replaced with either higher productivity or lower living standards. It's one or the other.
It looks like lower living standards. Even when the commodities cycle turns, and prices move upwards, producers won't be flocking to Australia to build multibillion-dollar projects. Australia will not see another mining boom, or any other boom, under current laws and practices.
Instead of galvanising to meet this challenge Australians have shown an opposite intent. They want Labor back in power in Canberra, with more government spending, given that Labor has taken a comfortable and consistent lead in the polls by opposing every attempt to cut spending. It even opposes cuts it proposed when in office.
In Victoria, voters have put Labor back into office despite the certainty that it meant a return to power of the corruption-riddled Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union. One of the first moves new Premier Daniel Andrews made was to dismantle the construction code set up to combat rampant intimidation in the building industry.
In Queensland, Labor has promised to repeal the anti-bikie laws, because the CFMEU, as in Victoria, hates laws that impinge on its ability to deploy bikies as enforcers on building sites.
In this broad context of national denial, Abbott's honours mistake is a mosquito bite. He has a problem but the fixation on his foibles is another sign that Australians prefer avoiding the real drama the country is facing. That narrative has yet to be properly framed by our politicians. It is too dangerous.
Twitter: @Paul_Sheehan_
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-abbott-has-much-bigger-problems-than-a-rogue-knight-20150128-1306yv.html
See also:
Australian Finance Minister warns of Republican ‘crazies’
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79789976
The Austerity Death-Trap [Robert Reich]
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=68239868
An Israeli Attack on Iran would reduce Barack Obama to a One-Term President
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=53353502
Joe Hockey does not deny analysis showing $51 billion hole in the budget, blames falling iron ore price
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=108030525
National Security Committee of Cabinet expected to approve plans for Australian planes to join Iraq
air strikes .. [and at bottom] Abbott beat Turnbull for leadership of the Liberal Party by one vote.
No doubt he is more centrist and certainly more concerned with the climate change situation.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=106853391
"roughly" is fair, F6, better closer to the GOP, i think, .. Malcolm Turnbull, e.g. who
Abbott beat for leadership by one vote could, in some ways, be a USA Democrat ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=105095431
A fix for what’s not broken: why Australia doesn’t need voter ID
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=104340244
"sorry-TeaParty-Australia" .. Cory Bernardi calls for debate on abortion in controversial new book
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=95581274
Cassy O'Connor ups heat on Abbott over carbon price 'shame'
[and at bottom] .. sure hope Abbott is a one term success .. :)
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93273834
Campbell Newman takes gamble calling a surprise early Queensland election
.. shucks, a 3 week election campaign! .. sooo long, eh .. lol ..
"Australia - National Disability Insurance Scheme has become political football"
VIDEO
Broadcast: 06/01/2015
Reporter: Peter McCutcheon
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has taken a political gamble by calling a surprise early election at the height of the summer holidays.
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The summer holidays came to an abrupt end for Queensland politicians today with the Premier Campbell Newman announcing a snap poll for January 31st.
More: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4158469.htm
---
Complacency rules as Queensland makes risky edict on sea-level rise - December 11 2014, 2.33pm EST .. bit ..
Yet as certainty over future sea-level rise increases, planning protections are being wound back right across Australia. Since winning the 2012 Queensland election, Campbell Newman’s government has joined New South Wales and Victoria in removing sea-level rise from state government policy, and is evidently now pressing local governments to do the same.
http://theconversation.com/complacency-rules-as-queensland-makes-risky-edict-on-sea-level-rise-35363
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Queensland’s early election hinges on a test of Newman’s strength
January 5 2015, 10.09pm EST
The biggest battle Campbell Newman faces in the Queensland election on January 31 is the one against himself. The election, called on Tuesday morning, will be a referendum on the achievements of the Premier…
Author Todd Winther
PhD Candidate in Political Science at Griffith University
IMAGE: Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has surprised voters by calling an early election for January 31. AAP/Dave Hunt
The biggest battle Campbell Newman faces in the Queensland election on January 31 .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-06/queensland-to-head-to-the-polls/6002272 .. is the one against himself.
The election, called on Tuesday morning, will be a referendum on the achievements of the Premier: his strengths, weaknesses and ability to set the agenda for his government’s second term. This will be a presidential-style election.
The Liberal National government has been working hard to establish its record as “strong”, in contrast to what it calls its “weak” and “soft”.. http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2015/1/6/palaszczuk-goes-soft-on-criminal-motorcycle-gangs .. opponents. While Newman will inevitably target the ALP, and its leader Annastacia Palaszczuk, the opposition’s response to this criticism is likely to have little effect on the outcome.
The front page of Tuesday’s Courier-Mail newspaper. The Courier-Mail
It’s no coincidence that strength has been a dominant theme throughout Newman’s three-year term. The government’s central policy program is called Strong Choices .. http://www.strongchoices.qld.gov.au/ , and “strong” has been the defining word used by this government ever since it was launched last year.
Newman has marketed himself to the electorate as the man that will make the tough decisions in order to fix the economy; the leader of “a strong team with a strong plan” .. http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/ .. for Queensland. It’s designed to remind voters of the previous Bligh Labor government, which the LNP has repeatedly characterised as weak and reckless.
There is no doubt that the LNP will remain in government, simply because of its enormous majority .. https://theconversation.com/nsw-and-queensland-newspolls-35839 . However, the size of this majority will ultimately be decided by Newman’s performance, and what voters think of the “strong” sales pitch.
[ Newman's election announcement tweet ]
Howard’s lessons for Queensland
The LNP will attempt to borrow from the success of the Howard government in both the 2001 and 2004 federal elections. In both these elections, the former prime minister built his campaigns on the theme of economic management in order to project strength .. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/29/1093717817944.html .
In Newman’s case, he may well reprise the line that worked so well for him when he defeated Anna Bligh in 2012, especially to claim that the Queensland economy is “back on track” .. http://www.thepremier.qld.gov.au/plans-and-progress/progress/assets/100-day-action-plan.pdf .
IMAGE: Law and order will be a fiercely contested issue in the Queensland election. The Courier-Mail, 5 January 2015.
Newman will also campaign on law and order issues, particularly his policies targeting bikie gangs .. http://www.news.com.au/national/newman-government-crackdown-on-bikies-sends-gangs-running-for-cover-as-mongols-make-move-into-australia/story-fncynjr2-1226741303064 .. and criminal activity. This will also be used in an attempt to highlight Newman’s “strong” leadership, and his ability to make decisions that will ultimately make Queensland a safer place to live, particularly considering that some bikies have publicly endorsed .. http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/bikies-will-back-state-labor-at-next-state-election/story-fnn8dlfs-1227174293782 .. the ALP, which has promised to repeal the anti-bikie laws .. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/03/05/labor-repeal-qlds-anti-bikie-laws .. and replace them with a new approach to organised crime.
However, campaigning on this theme will create a double-edged sword.
Critics of Newman will emphasise the government’s wide-ranging public service job cuts .. http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/premier-campbell-newmans-public-service-jobs-cull-reaches-its-target-of-14000/story-e6freoof-1226653269129 , and the decision to effectively privatise .. http://www.afr.com/p/national/queensland_to_sell_power_network_4oj25koqSkruawUQ3Nb32L .. government-owned assets through long-term leases.
The ALP will use these issues to contrast Newman’s theme of strength and label the LNP an autocratic party, subject to the whims and objectives of one man, the Queensland Premier. Once again, it’s a strategy is built around a single theme: does the Queensland electorate agree with the choices that Newman has made?
A federal election forerunner
In a number of ways, the Queensland election may well prove to be a forerunner to the next federal election.
IMAGE: Annastacia Palaszczuk (left) with Labor candidate Kate Jones, who hopes to regain her old seat of Ashgrove and topple Campbell Newman. AAP/Marty Silk
Like Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Newman has become a polarising leadership figure in Queensland. The LNP’s strength strategy has a potential to backfire, because the outcome is so dependent upon the leader’s performance during the campaign.
But unlike Abbott, who holds a safe Liberal seat .. http://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/nsw/warringah.htm .. in Sydney, Newman faces a personal fight for survival in this election. In his Brisbane electorate of Ashgrove .. http://www.ecq.qld.gov.au/elections/state/State2012/results/district3.html , he is facing a strong challenge of his own from the former Labor MP he defeated at the last election, Kate Jones.
The key to a successful campaign for Newman is not only to promote strong leadership, but to complement this strength with personality traits that make him palatable to voters.
If this strategy succeeds, the federal Coalition may well use this style of campaign as a template when Abbott calls an election some time in the next year.
Newman’s ability to exude strength will be his greatest test, both in deciding whether he can hold his own seat, but also in determining the long-term fate of the government that he leads.
http://theconversation.com/queenslands-early-election-hinges-on-a-test-of-newmans-strength-35893
See also:
New laws in bikie war pass Queensland Parliament
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93521317
Mining magnate Clive Palmer says CIA is behind campaign to kill coal industry
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=106510131
'Green bans' hero joins fight to save Millers Point
Tim Barlass Date August 25, 2013
A MOVING VIDEO inside: Millers Point residents' fears realised
Residents of Millers Point in Sydney told of their fears of being pressured to move out in interviews shot in August 2013.
INSERT YOUTUBES
Millers Point public housing residents given two years to move out
Gough Whitlam dead: The man who reached for the sky
Date October 21, 2014 - 10:19AM
Mungo MacCallum
GOOD VIDEO: Adventures of Edward Gough Whitlam
A look back at the tumultuous Whitlam years, from the 'It's Time' campaign in 1972 to the drama of The Dismissal. Narrated by Peter FitzSimons.
* Live: Follow our rolling coverage
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/former-prime-minister-gough-whitlam-dead-at-98-20141021-3ii1t.html
* Gough Whitlam dead at 98
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/former-prime-minister-gough-whitlam-dead-at-98-20141021-1192t2.html
* Obituary: Hero for a lifetime
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dead-martyr-for-a-moment-hero-for-a-lifetime-20141021-11931j.html
* Whitlam's China masterstroke
http://www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/review/whitlam_china_masterstroke_7rfoUh2Upmy0kZb9oyzJxN
* Listen to Whitlam's key speeches
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gough-whitlam-his-life-and-times-20141021-zt6ne.html
Gough Whitlam may have taken great delight in designing his own funeral arrangements - or at least a self-mocking fantasy version of them. But the pleasure of reciting his epitaph rested with a colleague, the acerbic NSW premier Neville Wran, although in all probability it was penned by the great speechwriter Graham Freudenberg.
As Wran put it: "It was said of Caesar Augustus that he found a Rome of brick and left it of marble. It can be said of Gough Whitlam that he found Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane unsewered, and left them fully flushed." It was a line that delighted the elder statesman, whose epic visions - national, international and, some believed, interplanetary - had their origins in a grounded policy of improving the quality of life: he began with the outhouse and reached for the sky.
Gough Whitlam wins the 1972 general election.
And it is for this breadth of vision, for the unquenchable optimism of his ambition, that Australia's 21st prime minister will be best remembered. He spent less than three years in office - less than a full constitutional term, although he won two elections. But in Australian history his name outshines most of his predecessors; only Menzies, Hughes and Deakin among the conservatives and Curtin and Chifley on the Labor side are household names.
Edward Gough Whitlam truly became a legend in his own lifetime. But it was a different legend to different audiences. Most of the left saw him as a flawed genius and a political martyr well on the way to beatification. The right regarded him as a monstrous aberration, a devil figure they used to warn budding politicians of the awful fate that awaits those who succumb to hubris.
All, however, acknowledged that he was the dominant figure of his times, a giant who bestrode the parliament in a way that few had done before him and none have approached since. Somehow the grandeur of Whitlam lingers on, even among the under 30s who have only heard the stories. Somehow this unlikely figure, the Canberra-reared son of a public servant, the awkward, pedantic, legalistic, self-righteous, often maddening and at times just plain boring preacher of reform has become part of the Australian pantheon.
Gough Whitlam in 1975
In part it is because he made his own myths. Much of what the public saw as Whitlam's bombast was in fact a somewhat clumsy attempt at self deprecation. It is easy to see how: on one celebrated occasion the Director of the Australian National Gallery, Betty Churcher, informed Whitlam of a plan - fortunately kyboshed - which would have made him appear to walk across water to the opening of an exhibition. "Comrade," Whitlam replied, "that would not have been possible - the stigmata have not yet healed." His fans found it hilarious but it confirmed the worst fears of his critics. Here was Whitlam literally challenging the Almighty.
But he wasn't; Whitlam, though an agnostic, once described himself as a fellow traveller with Christianity and was a great respecter of religious belief. Rather than blaspheming, he was thumbing his nose at the pretension, the pomposity and the hypocrisy of an establishment which all too frequently, in his view, failed to distinguish between God and Mammon. And if the snobs didn't get the joke, that was their tough luck.
I first met Gough Whitlam in 1969, shortly after I arrived in Canberra. Like many on the left at that stage I was not sure where he stood on the key issues of the time, especially the war in Vietnam. As the heir to Arthur Calwell's noble but doomed anti-war crusade in 1966, Whitlam, while clearly determined to negotiate Australia's way out of the mess to our north, seemed to me not to have the same fire in his belly.
Gough Whitlam dies
Gough Whitlam as a 21-year-old law student at the Sydney University pictured in 1937. In 1947, he was admitted to the NSW bar. Photo: Fairfax Archives
View all 35 photos
Although only party leader for two years, he had already survived a challenge from the charismatic king of the streets, Jim Cairns (masterminded by the man who claimed to be Whitlam's greatest admirer, Phillip Adams) and was distrusted by some in his own party, notably the leader of the NSW left, Lionel Murphy, with whom I felt considerable rapport.
Moreover he was supported by the NSW right, which even in those days was pretty awful. I realised later that the perception of Whitlam himself as being on the right of the party, like that of Calwell being on the left, was no more than an accident of geography: Whitlam, the internationalist free thinker, was bound to his dominant state faction just as was Calwell, the conservative Catholic advocate of White Australia. But at the time I was inclined to be suspicious of the smooth talking lawyer who, like myself, had benefited (or otherwise) from a privileged education.
The first meeting changed my mind completely; I was won over to lifelong Whitlamolatry. In place of the sinister manipulator I had half expected I found an amiable, funny and rather shy man desperately eager to explain his plans to transform the smug backwater from the Menzies years into a model for the rest of the world.
In those days the idea that Australia could take any kind of leading role beyond sport was breathtaking, yet Whitlam seemed to find it entirely possible if a meticulously prepared program of public education and overdue social change could be carried out - and, as he outlined it all those years ago, there seemed no good reason why it should not. I also embraced the man himself. While Whitlam, like Menzies, did not suffer fools gladly he was not an intellectual snob; he was genuinely interested and concerned about people, not just en masse, but as individuals. He took a personal interest in their affairs. When two opposition staffers married in Canberra in 1972, Whitlam interrupted a frantically busy election schedule to fly from Sydney to attend the ceremony. It was winter and Canberra airport was fogbound for several hours; his VIP aircraft could not land, but rather than return to Sydney Whitlam waited until the weather cleared and made a belated appearance at the reception. He became a secular godparent to one of my daughters, invited my extended family to the Lodge for a head-wetting and maintained an interest in her welfare thereafter. He kept in touch with a huge round of colleagues, acquaintances and their families and was constantly performing small acts of kindness, although these too were frequently misconstrued by cynics; after he had paid a private hospital visit to the child of a colleague he was greatly distressed when an enemy put it about that he was just chasing an extra vote in caucus. The fact was much simpler; the boy had asked to meet his hero, and Whitlam, being a kind and generous human being, had obliged.
He was both a humanitarian and a humanist; he truly believed that if people were told the truth, were shown the possibilities for their future and given a genuine choice, they would behave sensibly, decently and even altruistically. In spite of repeated disappointments he never lost that faith in humanity. It was this above all that made him such an attractive human being.
For his part Whitlam seemed pleased to welcome me on board as another class traitor, especially one who was both a scion of the Wentworth dynasty and a godson of Guy Harriott, the arch-Tory editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. The fact that I could recognise most of his classical allusions, even the ones in Latin, probably helped too.
In those days the office of the Leader of the Opposition was a small and open affair: two advisers, a press secretary-cum-speechwriter, an appointments secretary and a stenographer. Whitlam's anteroom, to give the cramped area between the front door and his own hideaway a grand name, was a favourite after-hours drinking spot for sympathetic members of the press. The Leader, as he preferred to be called, seldom joined them, but his aura was always present; although it was more than three years before the slogan "It's Time" was coined, the mood for change was already manifest.
There is a story that when the American statesman Benjamin Franklin retired from public life he drew up plans for an impressive home in which to spend his retirement. Among other things, he informed the architect, he required a massive avenue of oak trees leading to the front door. As tactfully as possible the architect explained that this would be difficult to arrange, as oaks took some 80 years to reach maturity. "Then," thundered Franklin, "there's not a moment to lose." Whitlam seems to have approached government in much the same mood: so much to do, so little time in which to do it.
In those early days there was a huge welling of enthusiasm, not only among Labor supporters but among the general public, who believed that indeed it had been time, and were eager to give the new boys a fair go. It really seemed like a new age. And at least no one could say that the new government was a dull affair: for some weeks the major papers carried a regular front page panel with the heading "What the government did yesterday," which usually ran to several paragraphs. At the end of the first year, Whitlam read into Hansard a list of the major achievements of the government to date; it took nearly half an hour. Whitlam called the list Apologia Pro Mia Vita.
This, of course, was one of the problems; his drive and personality tended to make the whole administration look like a one man band. Even today people refer to the Whitlam government - seldom if ever to the Whitlam Labor government. So when the economy started to falter, Whitlam was expected to fix it; and he couldn't. When his colleague Clyde Cameron made a suggestion, Whitlam snapped: "What would an ex-shearer know about economics?" To which Cameron replied coolly: "As much as an ex-classical Greek scholar." But that was the trouble; none of them had any answers.
Even his enemies acknowledged that Whitlam was by far the best thing the party had going for it. When some advisers, keen to see him involved more with the general public, began by making this point, Whitlam replied wearily that he was well aware of it and would they please stop wasting his time. But the days of wooing the voters were over: the urgent task was to implement as much as possible of The Program in the weeks that were left.
It did not help that Whitlam, while personally behaving impeccably as things went from bad to worse to impossible, remained preoccupied with the big picture: during the height of one crisis he dismayed his colleagues by musing that what he needed was some really big new project, something on the scale of the Suez Canal.
By the time a drastic ministerial reshuffle and a final hardline budget started to get things back on the rails it was far too late; the government was clearly doomed.
But opposition leader Malcolm Fraser couldn't wait: he blocked supply and the governor-general Sir John Kerr dismissed the government, forcing an election in which Whitlam, for all his bravado, never had a hope. He clung to the leadership for another two years until another crushing electoral defeat compelled him to resign. But the fact of his dismissal had an unexpected consequence. He would always have been remembered as the finest parliamentarian of his era, the man who brought the Labor Party back from 23 years in the wilderness, whose great, if ultimately flawed, program changed the structure of Australia and inspired a generation with a renewed belief in the possibility of rational, visionary reform within the parliamentary system. But Fraser and Kerr made him more than that: a political martyr, a heroic and tragic figure of Shakespearean proportions.
A function to farewell him from politics was hosted by the Nobel prize winning author Patrick White, the historian Manning Clark and the poet Judith Wright -- whom, ironically, Whitlam had once considered for the post he gave to Kerr. One magazine ran a picture of the four with the caption: All that greatness.
The left, which had once doubted him, now embraced him as a secular saint. Even his failures and misjudgements - it was revealed that as well as the disastrous miscalculation of the petrodollar affair Whitlam had been involved in a plan to restore Labor's finances through a loan from the Iraqi Baath Party - failed to crack the image. Whitlam himself thrived on it, making public appearances in roles ranging from that of chairman of the National Gallery to campaigner for press freedom in company with his old adversary Fraser to spruiking for a brand of spaghetti sauce. He became a fixture at opening nights and at political funerals.
It should have been faintly bathetic, but instead every appearance seemed to increase his stature and his place in public affection. When lists were drawn up of Australia's living national treasures, the name of Edward Gough Whitlam was invariably towards the top.
In part the regard was nostalgic; a yearning for times when politics was more open and positive, when it did not always seem to be a contest between greed and fear, when vision was still considered a desirable thing in a prime minister and to be called a do-gooder was not an insult to a voter. But more than that it was a recognition not just of achievement but of style. The Whitlam government undoubtedly had its downside, but it was always pushing back the barriers; it was a government of panache and pizzazz.
Whitlam once told an illustrious gathering that his preferred sport was rowing: "It is, of course, an extraordinarily apt sport for men in public life because you can face one way while going the other." A good line, but it could never be applied to the man himself. Edward Gough Whitlam was always going forward, and his eyes were always fixed on the stars.
More coverage:
* Gough Whitlam's memorable quotes
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dead-his-memorable-quotes-20141021-1193jd.html
* What others had to say
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dead-what-others-had-to-say-20141021-1193o3.html
* Growing up in the Gough era
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dead-growing-up-in-the-gough-era-20141021-zt03k.html
* The ride of a lifetime
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dead-the-ride-of-a-lifetime-20141021-zt04d.html
* His legacy to education
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dead-his-legacy-to-public-education-20141021-zt01f.html
* A life in photos
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dies-20130329-2gynp.html
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/gough-whitlam-dead-the-man-who-reached-for-the-sky-20141021-1193cg.html
Gough Whitlam dies at age 98
---
Gough Whitlam was a giant of the Australian progressive movement .. he introduced free university education, as Germany has again recently .. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=107307433 .. he introduced Australia’s national health insurance scheme .. I believe he was the first Western leader to take a delegation to China .. http://www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/review/whitlam_china_masterstroke_7rfoUh2Upmy0kZb9oyzJxN .. Gough Whitlam was not perfect, hell he was human, but he achieved much, and that is acknowledged today in Australia even by politicians who had po9litical differences with him back then .. http://www.whitlam.org/gough_whitlam/achievements .. and even though, again today, his commitment and achievements to better the lives of Australians is under attack (see previous: "The end of Medicare as we know it" .. his progressive legacy will forever endure.. lol, early in the interview just below Gough gives testament to his intellectual courage, honesty and integrity, and to his 'never run from a good argument(fight)' position .. i KNOW all here here would see in the video much relevance to politics in all countries .. particularly relevant here is his quite considerable criticism of some American policies and methods back when .. oh, also he has much to say on Radio Free Europe, on Radio Australia and lolol, on colonial established borders .. if you watch it i know you will enjoy it, so please consider .. seriously .. :) .. oops, almost forgot, Gough also comments on the existence and consequences of unfair electoral systems, on the Thatcher government's support of South Africa apartheid, AND on the Israel/PLO situation which, of course, still does have relevance today .. i hope i have piqued enough curiosities enough .. lol .. please enjoy ..
Gough Whitlam Interview (11/11/85)
The People Behind Hong Kong's Protests
A Christian minister, a law professor, and a 17-year-old high school student are among the figures behind a movement that has captivated the world.
BY Grace Tsoi , Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
HONG KONG -- An uneasy calm rests over Hong Kong as the city closes its fourth day of demonstrations, the largest protests to hit the city since its handover from Britain to China in 1997. With some area banks, ATMs, schools, and subway stops closed due to the occupiers purposefully obstructing main thoroughfares, Hong Kong's Beijing-backed government has repeatedly demanded .. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/world/asia/hong-kong-protests.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0 .. that protesters return home; the demonstrators, ranging from high school students to retirees, have refused. Who leads this disparate group of city residents, who have launched the port city, well-known for its stability and investment-friendly environment, into historic civil disobedience? From a 17-year-old with an already long history of standing up to Beijing, to a 70-year-old reverend with a dream for the city, Foreign Policy explains which movements and leaders to watch.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), founded in 1958 and made up of student unions from eight schools, is known for cultivating social activists from different generations. The HKFS has helped orchestrate Hong Kong's class boycott, which on Sept. 22 included striking students converging .. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/09/22/350566540/hong-kong-students-begin-boycott-to-call-for-democracy .. upon the Chinese University of Hong Kong wearing matching white T-shirts. The HKFS helped engage the support of university professors, some of whom have recorded their lectures to help boycotting students keep up with classes; other professors turned out to support the students.
Read more from FP on Hong Kong
Tea Leaf Nation: Interview with Benny Tai: Hong Kong Protests 'Beyond What I Imagined.'
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/30/benny_tai_hong_kong_protests_beyond_what_i_imagined
Tea Leaf Nation: Slideshow: Hong Kong's protest, in memes.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/29/hong_kong_protest_memes_internet_instagram_facebook
Tea Leaf Nation: In China, the most censored day of the year.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/29/in_china_the_most_censored_day_of_the_year
Occupy Central with Love and Peace is a pro-democracy civil disobedience movement founded as a response to what some in Hong Kong see as Beijing's gradual encroachment upon the city's political freedoms. Occupy Central proposed .. http://tinyurl.com/mqf7y7c .. in January 2013 that if Hong Kong were not granted universal suffrage as outlined by Hong Kong's Basic Law, Occupy Central protesters would shut down Hong Kong's central financial district, effectively crippling the city, which has been known as a safe and stable destination for global business. Occupy Central held .. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/24/world/asia/hong-kong-politics-explainer/ .. an unofficial referendum in June about the future of voting reform, with over 800,000 of Hong Kong's 7.2 million residents casting votes. As two of the three leaders are devout Christians, Occupy Central has a distinct religious vibe, as the name suggests. The movement kicked off in March 2013, when the three leaders held a press conference .. http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1015939 .. to announce the manifesto at a church in Kowloon, a densely populated area at the heart of Hong Kong.
Benny Tai, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, first proposed nonviolent civil disobedience in a January 2013 article .. http://tinyurl.com/mqf7y7c/ .. he wrote for the Hong Kong Economic Journal, and since then he has been an outspoken leader of Occupy Central. In the early morning hours of Sept. 27, after the protesters led by Scholarism (profiled below) and the Hong Kong Federation of Students clashed with police, Tai announced .. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-29397738 .. the official start of Occupy Central's civil disobedience .. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/30/benny_tai_hong_kong_protests_beyond_what_i_imagined. Tai, along with Occupy Central co-organizers, has called upon Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, the head of Hong Kong's government who's known to be accommodating toward Beijing, to resign.
Chan Kin-man, a sociologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is one of Occupy Central's co-organizers. Chan formerly served as director of the university's Chinese studies center, but stepped down .. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1294785/professor-quits-over-occupy-central .. from that role in early August to prevent his involvement with Occupy Central from affecting the program's reputation.
Chu Yiu-ming, a church minister and veteran human rights activist, is an Occupy Central co-organizer. Now 70 years old, Chu grew up in mainland China and lived through the Cultural Revolution, a traumatic period of Communist Party-led turmoil from 1966 to 1976; he is known for helping several Tiananmen Square protesters flee China in 1989 in an operation called Yellowbird. Involved with Occupy Central since 2013, Chu assumed .. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1396146/reverend-chu-yiu-ming-set-assume-role-occupy-central-leader .. the position of leader of Occupy Central in January 2014. Chu has stated .. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1597581/if-we-bow-fate-we-will-lose-everything-says-occupy-centrals-reverend .. that although he is "really afraid of the Communist Party," he believes that "if we bow to fate, we will lose everything."
Joshua Wong, a 17-year-old high school student, has faced down Beijing before -- and emerged in one piece. The teenager founded the student movement Scholarism in 2012 in response to the Hong Kong government's bid .. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-29/chinese-nationalistic-education-draws-protesters-in-hong-kong.html .. to introduce "patriotic education" to Hong Kong's schools through a Beijing-style curriculum that some residents feared .. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hong-kongs-brainwashing-classes-protested/ .. would brainwash the city's students. After a month of protests, during the movement's peak more than 120,000 people gathered at the government headquarters, with three of the movement's members going on a hunger strike. (The proposal was later shelved .. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-19529867.) Wong has been the target of pro-Beijing media outlet attacks, most recently on Sept. 25 when Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po, a paper known to be sympathetic to Beijing, accused .. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/09/25/pro-beijing-media-accuses-hong-kong-student-leader-of-u-s-government-ties/ .. him of ties to the United States. Hong Kong police arrested .. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/26/world/asia/china-hong-kong-students-stout/ .. Wong on Friday, Sept. 26, after he led a charge for protesters to climb over the fence of a government building, and released .. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/09/25/pro-beijing-media-accuses-hong-kong-student-leader-of-u-s-government-ties/ .. him two days later without charge.
Alex Chow is secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), which has organized the class boycott in which institutions across Hong Kong are currently participating. In a Sept. 15 interview with Harbour Times, a Hong Kong-based bilingual newspaper, the 24-year-old Chow stated .. http://harbourtimes.com/openpublish/article/next-step-hkfs-after-students-strike .. that he had been followed and his phone tapped. "They are not reporters, but are public security from China," he told the Times, but he said he wouldn't be deterred by these threats. Majoring in comparative literature and sociology at the University of Hong Kong, Chow had little experience organizing social movements before the class boycott.
Lester Shum, a government and public administration student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has held the post of deputy secretary-general of HKFS since April. Like Chow, Shum is a novice at leading student movements. In an interview .. http://hk.next.nextmedia.com/article/1280/17367981 .. in September with the pro-democracy Hong Kong-based Next Magazine, Shum said his political awakening came from a popular Internet forum called Hong Kong Golden. Both Shum and Chow were detained by police for more than 30 hours, and Shum said that police officers refused to let him take medicine despite a fever.
Getty Images/Wikicommons/Oclp.hk
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/30/people_behind_hong_kong_protests
"Chu has stated that although he is "really afraid of the Communist Party," he believes that "if we bow to fate, we will lose everything.""
Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong September 28 (LONG VIDEO)
Tony Abbott’s debt to Rupert Murdoch. John Menadue
.. suggestion: think U.S.A with appropriate substitution while reading this ..
Posted on 09/18/2013 by John Menadue
Media Watch of 9 September gave us a snap shot of what Rupert Murdoch did for Tony Abbott. It said “the final tally of (the Daily Telegraph’s) coverage in the election campaign stacks up like this.Out of a total of 293 political stories we scored only six as pro Labor. While 43 were pro coalition. On the negative side there were just five articles that we judged to be anti coalition.While a remarkable 134 were anti Labor” That summary takes no account of the front page splashes that ridiculed Labor day after day. or the coverage by Murdoch’s other papers outside Sydney.
It would be naïve to think that Rupert Murdoch doesn’t expect a lot in return for his bullying of the electorate in support of Tony Abbott. Rupert Murdoch will want a lot more than he asked for from Gough Whitlam after the 1972 election – an appointment as Australian High Commissioner to the UK. I was the intermediary but Murdoch denies asking!!
Not content with ownership of over 70% of metropolitan readership in Australia, he will expect much more from Tony Abbott and not just running to the telephone whenever he calls.
Crikey and others have highlighted Murdoch’s likely calls.
* Control of Foxtel. News Ltd now owns 50% of Foxtel and wants the other 50% owned by Telstra. Watch this play out.
* News Ltd regards the ABC as a privileged competitor and a real pain in the neck. It doesn’t like public broadcasters and has made this clear in both the UK and Australia. News Ltd could pursue its campaign against the ABC by urging funding cuts to the ABC in the name of reducing unfair competition and providing value for money for the Australian taxpayer. This is despite the fact that the ABC happens to be the second most trusted institution in Australia, just behind the High Court, whilst the News Ltd outlets are the least trusted media in the country. This is not to say that the Canberra TV and Radio Bureau of the ABC are serving us well but that is another question.
* Open up tendering to enable Sky News to compete with the ABC for the International Television Service.
* New anti-syphoning laws to protect Foxtel and limit major sporting groups broadcasting their own content.
* Reduction in television licensing fees for free-to-air TV companies to help Lachlan Murdoch’s bumbling Channel 10.
* Federal government recruitment advertising to be shifted from online to print media to help assist The Australian.
After John Major’s surprising victory in the 1992 UK general election, the London Sun boasted ‘It‘s the Sun wot won it’.
This time the Daily Telegraph, Courier Mail, Herald Sun, Adelaide Advertiser and The Australian won’t be as garrulous. But together with Rupert Murdoch they will expect from Tony Abbott big time.
And what about the journalist code of conduct that hopefully Murdoch’s employees signed on to..There is a deathly silence from them.
http://johnmenadue.com/blog/?p=738
Rupert, of course, is an American now. Shrug. That really doesn't make any difference to his influence on the Australian political scene.
I'd guess it may make some difference in America in the future.
Editorial: Only unions can solve union corruption
.. two videos in the 2nd one are recommended .. attitudes and approaches of
Australians in them would have parallels with those of persons in the U.S.A. ..
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Any fight against union corruption needs to be carried out by union members. Photo: Sarah Hathway.
The Royal Commission into the use of union funds began on April 9. The commission is not an attempt to stamp out corrupt union practices, but a serious political attack on unions by the Tony Abbott government. It is designed to weaken the union movement and break militant union activity.
Comments made by Coalition ministers before the public hearings have started sets up a presumption of guilt in order to prejudice the public mind.
Abbott called the commission on the pretext of investigating the Australian Workers Union's (AWU) use of “slush funds”, with which former prime minister Julia Gillard has been allegedly involved.
But the commission has extraordinarily broad terms of reference. It will focus on five unions — the AWU, the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), the Health Services Union (HSU) and the Transport Workers Union. But it is not limited to these and can investigate “any other person, association or organisation” alleged to be involved.
Some of the targeted unions are known for challenging big business while standing up for their members’ rights.
The outcome of this commission may be sweeping changes to the ability of unions to organise political and industrial campaigns. On the first day of hearings, the counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar, suggested union officials should have the same legal obligations as company directors.
This follows in the footsteps of anti-union laws like Work Choices [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorkChoices ], introduced in 2005, which has had a big impact on the right of officials to attend worksites, and organise strikes and pickets.
The recent conviction of former HSU bosses Craig Thomson [ http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=94528883 ] and Michael Williamson for corruption and fraud makes Abbott’s job easier. People are justifiably outraged at the use of union members’ money for personal enrichment by union officials.
Undoubtedly, there will be more cases of corruption uncovered during the hearings of the commission, and those union officials guilty of corruption should be punished.
Green Left Weekly will be following the commission as it unfolds and reporting on its findings. GLW proudly stands on the side of unions and will continue to campaign to defend unions against political attack.
Unions are workers' organisations. They have a right to collect money from their membership and use it for legitimate industrial and political struggle; the state has no right to intervene in union affairs.
The only way to overcome corruption is to work at democratising unions, so that members can make decisions over financial matters.
Much of the corrupting influence in unions comes from the Labor Party, which defends its factional and electoral interests at the expense of fighting for workers’ rights.
One solution to this would be to allow members to decide whether they want their union affiliated with the Labor Party. When the Victorian branch of the ETU voted to disaffiliate from Labor, 87% of those who voted were in favour. Other union members should be able to have the same option.
Any fight against union corruption needs to be carried out by union members, not governments.
From GLW issue 1005
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/56265
===
Tony Abbott's Royal Commission into unions: It’s all about WorkChoices
Sally McManus 31 January 2014, 6:30am 244
IMAGE
PM Abbott knows he must significantly weaken the union movement before he can bring back WorkChoices — which is why he needs a union witch hunt, writes Sally McManus.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his new Coalition Government have long planned a Royal Commission into the union movement .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-29/actu-rejects-government27s-call-for-royal-commission-into-cons/5224018.
This was not, of course, a policy that the Coalition took to the 2013 election.
Such a naked attack would have ‘scared the horses’, exposing what the Coalition has been desperate to hide — its plan to reinstate WorkChoices .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorkChoices.
Instead, the LNP took to the election plans for a single judicial inquiry .. http://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2012/11/30/independent-judicial-inquiry-australian-workers-union-workplace-reform .. into allegations, now decades-old, about a ‘slush’ fund once run by officials from the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers Union. The Murdoch press hounded Prime Minister Gillard about her involvement long after the public lost interest in this issue and even after nothing substantive eventuated .. http://www.independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/press-council-finds-fairfax-fabricated-awu-gillard-stories,5741.
Of course, this judicial inquiry was always intended as a stalking horse for a later and much wider inquiry.
The Prime Minister and his Minister for Workplace Relations, Eric Abetz .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Abetz, needed some trigger to justify a broader Royal Commission into trade union activities. The Government might have seized on any leads from their planned judicial inquiry.
Then, suddenly, came this week’s allegations.
Fresh from his skiing holiday in France .. http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbotts-amazing-alpine-adventures,6030, the Prime Minister could barely contain his excitement at these new claims. In a piece of political theatre, Mr Abbott contrived the necessary haste, gravity and purpose required to prepare the groundwork .. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-flags-royal-commission-into-union-corruption-20140128-31jmy.html .. for a Royal Commission into ‘union corruption’. Such an inquiry is likely to have such a broad brief that it will investigate activities across the entire union movement.
There have been royal commissions before into unions before — the last one was the Cole Royal Commission .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission_into_the_Building_and_Construction_Industry .. into the building industry set up by the Howard Government. It was also established in an orchestrated frenzy of suspicion about the extent of union corruption in the building industry.
Let’s look at the Cole Commission’s record of achievement.
The Commission’s investigations led to not one single prosecution of a union official or delegate.
Not one.
Yet the Murdoch press routinely dragged the affected individuals and their unions through the mud. And not surprisingly, the unions targeted by the Commission had to divert time and resources (very considerable legal fees) to defend their representatives.
And for what?
Innocent people had their reputations smeared and lives shattered. Unionists who had dedicated their lives to standing up for others were subject to intensive investigation and periods of cross-examination in the witness-box and they had their faces splashed on the front pages of newspapers and on TV news.
Despite the Cole Commission’s failure to find corruption, the Howard Government used the Commission to set up a special police force for the building industry, which the Abbott Government is now bringing back—the ABCC. With little to do, the ABCC became little more than a menace to building workers, spending their time harassing rank and file union members .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJqvucDkY5o.
Julia Gillard on now. Australian Royal Commission into Unions, live stream. .. http://commcast.com.au/turc/ .. the link from here ..
The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.
http://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx
Actually the title of the commission says it all.
===
The royal commission into trade unions is a political witch hunt
If ministers have ordered the public service to pursue this anti-democratic frolic, it’s a clear abuse of power. The government is aiming for a union-free Australia
Tim Lyons
theguardian.com, Monday 28 July 2014 16.04 AEST
Jump to comments (406)
Attorney general George Brandis. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
A couple of days ago I was leaked a document from the federal attorney-general’s department. Reading it reminded me of the old gag: “just because you're paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.”
As is widely reported today, all federal departments and agencies .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/27/disclose-contact-unions-royal-commission-federal-departments .. are being asked to disclose every contact with any trade union for any reason over the past decade in response to a “scoping questionnaire”.
It’s a pretty extraordinary document .. http://www.actu.org.au/Images/Dynamic/attachments/8288/AGD%20document%20into%20unions%20and%20Royal%20Commission.pdf. For one thing, although it’s notionally about the royal commission into unions, it goes well beyond the Commission’s terms of reference and seems to imply that any consultation with unions on public policy matters, and even negotiating a workplace agreement with unions representing public servants is somehow illegitimate. In other words, two of the core roles of unions as representatives of working people are somehow inherently corrupt.
This document confirms what the ACTU has said all along: that the royal commission into trade unions is a political witch hunt. It’s more evidence of the deep contempt the government has for unions, unionists and union members.
The ACTU has today sought access to correspondence and other documentation through Freedom of Information to determine precisely what involvement the attorney-general George Brandis or the employment minister Eric Abetz have had in this process. If ministers have ordered the public service to pursue this anti-democratic frolic it’s a clear abuse of power.
The whole thing is particularly bizarre given that the royal commission has shown no interest in the public sector and doesn’t actually need any help getting information if it wants it. Perhaps the government feels the need to run a parallel royal commission because of the disappointing results from the real one they established.
It’s not like the real commission is lacking in power. It has coercive powers to collect information and to make witnesses attend hearings and give evidence. The commission is conducting “private hearings” out of the public gaze. The government has given it authority to tap phones .. http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2014L00644. Many of the rules that apply in normal court proceedings don’t apply or are limited at a royal commission, including in relation to self-incrimination, legal professional privilege and the right to cross-examine witnesses.
But so far, it has precious little to show for the public money spent. An archaeological dig into some home renovations in the 1990s and a re-visit of matters already the subject of criminal convictions and civil proceedings have occupied most of its public hearing time. Untested and uncorroborated allegations have been allowed to make their way onto the public record without any right of reply, or serious examination of the facts or the motivations of those giving evidence.
The residents of the right-wing fever swamp on the internet who are following the process obsessively see unionism as a giant conspiracy against the national interest, and union officials as a kind of fifth-column. They are welcome to those views, as misguided as they are, but there is no basis for those views in our democratic institutions. The “scoping questionnaire” and spiteful rhetoric of ministers (Senator Abetz’s go to line is “union thug .. http://tinyurl.com/ky3hqsb”) is evidence of a broader infection.
We have, as the ACTU executive noted last week, a royal commission into trade unions which “appears to be proceeding on the basis of an antipathy or lack of understanding of the basic principle that a union is a collective, industrial, campaigning, political organisation of working people.” What’s absent is any sense of the purpose or function of trade unions, or the motivations of trade union members and officers.
At a deeper level, it seems to reveal a fundamental clash of world views. If workers are commercial providers of "labour units”, then collective action seems like a restrictive trade practice – and trying to take wages out of competition seems like collusive conduct.
Except we aren’t in a bad economics textbook, we are in the real world. Workers are real people living off their labour for wages, and labour law, unions and collective action are a modest attempt to even up the power imbalance of an individual worker and their employer.
The royal commissioner may be technically correct that “the terms of reference do not assume that it is desirable to abolish trade unions .. http://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/Hearings/Pages/OpeningRemarks.aspx”, but the conduct of the government certainly leans that way.
Over the last couple of years, state and federal Coalition governments have taken every opportunity to hop into unions, using executive power, legislation and regulations. These governments have restricted or removed the rights of union members to organise, strike, protest, campaign, engage in political activity, bargain, take legal action, and access dependent arbitration. And, as the “scoping questionnaire” implies, the government even wants unions excluded from conversations about our community’s future.
This adds up to a pretty exhaustive list of things union members might want to do. And it’s a pretty good indication that it’s not just their preference, but their intention to see a union-free Australia.
Winning an election means you get to run the machinery of government. It’s not a licence to eliminate your enemies. Parties who take power in coups and revolutions are the ones who play that game, not ones that temporarily triumph in a democratic process.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/28/the-royal-commission-into-trade-unions-is-a-political-witch-hunt
===
What the trade union royal commission means for Julia Gillard
Date May 12, 2014
Anne Davies
insert-text-here
Former prime minister Julia Gillard. Photo: Andrew Meares
Your name is Ralph Edwyn Blewitt?”
“Yes. I am,” replied the bald, middle-aged man sporting a tan and an impressive white beard.
So commenced the evidence before Royal Commission into trade union governance - a royal commission that threatens to unearth the ugly underbelly of practices in the union movement and disinter a scandal that has dogged the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard throughout her political career .
Documents tendered to the royal commission.
Over the next weeks former High Court Judge Dyson Heydon will hear evidence of misuse of members funds, kickbacks and bribes paid by employers to ensure union harmony, and slush funds.
Starting with a 20-year-old slush fund set up by officials of the Australian Workers Union’s WA branch might seem like warped priorities when more contemporary examples of malfeasance involving the Health Services Union and the Construction forestry Mining and Engineering Union have been splashed across the media.
The commission justified starting with Mr Blewitt because he was back in Australia from Malaysia.
But it is undoubtedly the most politically explosive due to the involvement of Ms Gillard in doing legal work to establish the slush fund, and her personal relationship as the lover of the man alleged to be the mastermind behind it, Bruce Wilson.
Mr Blewitt gave evidence that he and Mr Wilson, both then WA officials of the AWU, had been involved in setting up the Workplace Reform Association as a way of channelling money into a fund for union elections.
In 1991 Theiss, now a subsidiary of Leighton Holdings, had won the contract for the then biggest project in WA, the Dawesvill channel project.
The two men came up with a scheme to send invoices to Theiss for “false” health and safety services on the project, a scheme with which Theiss appears to have gone along.
Mr Blewitt said he knew this was a sham arrangement but Mr Wilson was “charismatic” and he simply followed his orders.
But the real interest in the inquiry will be around who knew what of the process of incorporation and who knew what about where the money went.
Mr Blewitt gave evidence that he attended a meeting in April 1992 in the Melbourne offices of Slater & Gordon, where the incorporation documents for the association were prepared. Ms Gillard was at the meeting. He says there was “some hesitation” about what to put down as its purpose, but Mr Wilson said it should be described as body devoted to promoting health and safety. Ms Gillard filled out the forms, but Mr Blewitt signed it.
The question is whether Ms Gillard vouched for the association’s purpose, knowing it was false.
Mr Blewitt has also been giving evidence this morning about where the money went. Mr Wilson had moved to Melbourne to assist with a factional tussle over control of the union. According to Mr Blewitt, Mr Wilson decided to buy a house – a modest terrace known as unit 1, 85 Kerr Street, Fitzroy, but it was decided to put it in Mr Blewitt’s name to disguise his ownership. Mr Blewitt says Mr Wilson instructed him to draw a cheque for $25,000 for the deposit from the Association’s account. Even though the house was bought in Mr Blewitt’s name, Mr Wilson and Ms Gillard attended the auction, he said.
Eventually $93,000 of the Association funds found their way into the house, worth $250,000.
Mr Blewitt also gave evidence that he often withdrew cash from the account and handed it to Mr Wilson.
Suggestions that it was used to undertake alterations at Ms Gillard’s home have been furiously denied by Ms Gillard and she has threatened to sue over media reports.
The media too is heavily invested in this inquiry, not least because Ms Gillard’s denials have cost at least two reporters their jobs.
Outspoken radio host, Mike Smith at 2UE, was stood down after he was blocked from broadcasting an interview he recorded with former AWU president Bob Kernohan. When he made his unhappiness known on air, management sent him on leave.
News Limited columnist Glenn Milne published a column airing similar allegations. After complaints from Ms Gillard it was withdrawn and the newspaper apologised.
How deeply the inquiry will delve into Ms Gillard’s role, if any, remains to be seen.
Ms Gillard did not seek leave to appear at today’s hearing, which means she will not be able to cross examine Mr Blewitt, though Mr Wilson’s lawyer did.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/what-the-trade-union-royal-commission-means-for-julia-gillard-20140512-zra6i.html
Global cooling: climate scientists keen to meet Tony Abbott's business adviser
"Abbott’s Ministry – One woman, no science, 12,000 jobs"
Tim Flannery accuses Maurice Newman, who does not have a scientific background, of using his position for ‘personal crusade’
Oliver Milman
theguardian.com, Thursday 14 August 2014 23.01 EDT
Jump to comments (280)
Maurice Newman Maurice Newman believes Australia has become
‘hostage to climate-change madness’. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP
Tony Abbott’s top business adviser, Maurice Newman, has been invited to meet climate scientists following his assertion that the world is in fact in danger of cooling, rather than warming.
Newman used an opinion piece in the Australian newspaper .. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/14/tony-abbott-adviser-warns-of-threat-of-global-cooling .. on Thursday to say the world was “ill prepared” for a period of global cooling, accusing governments of being hostage to “warming propaganda” from climate scientists.
On Friday Tim Flannery, head of the Climate Council .. https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/ , told Guardian Australia he was keen for Newman to meet him and other scientists.
“I’d be happy to meet with him to explain the facts, we’ve made the offer and we await with baited breath,” he said.
“But there are deeper issues to this. Maurice Newman is a business adviser to the prime minister; you’d expect him to be representing the interests of the business community.
“But what he’s saying fundamentally misrepresents the interests of business, which faces a huge risk, along with the rest of us, from climate change. He’s using his position for a personal crusade in what, I think, is a serious dereliction of duty.”
Newman, who does not have a scientific background, has written a number of articles on climate change, as well as appearing on the ABC .. http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2014/s3990190.htm .. to discuss the topic, since his appointment as chairman of the prime minister’s business advisory council.
He has said that Australia has become “hostage to climate-change madness” and has also attacked the renewable energy industry.
Climate scientists have roundly rejected .. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/14/tony-abbott-adviser-warns-of-threat-of-global-cooling .. Newman’s theory that a drop in solar activity will see the world dramatically cool, pointing out that the influence of warming greenhouse gases is far greater than solar cycles.
Flannery said: “[Newman] is just demonstrably wrong. This is a fundamental problem for the prime minister, who needs to make him do his job. Anyone would be deeply embarrassed by this kind of performance. I have no idea where this idea of global cooling has come from.”
Gerry Hueston, former head of BP Australasia and member of the Climate Council, said: “Newman holds views that are out of step with those held by serious energy businesses globally and mainstream business in general.
“His views are scientifically wrong and completely ignore the economic and business risks that climate change presents. It is worrying that he is providing this sort of ill-informed advice on energy policy and climate risk to the highest levels of government.”
On Thursday, Labor called Newman’s comments “terrifying”, while Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt called on Abbott to fire Newman. The prime minister’s office has yet to respond to questions put to it by Guardian Australia on Newman’s repeated pronouncements on climate change.
A spokeswoman for Newman said he was not aware of an invitation to meet Flannery or other scientists.
According to the IPCC .. http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_Chapter12_FINAL.pdf , the world has warmed by about 1C over the past century and will warm further, by up to 4.8C, by 2100, based largely on the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/15/global-cooling-climate-scientists-keen-to-meet-tony-abbotts-business-adviser
~~~~
Fact check: How Maurice Newman misrepresents science to claim future global cooling
Picking over the climate science denialist claims of Tony Abbott’s top business advisor
Posted on Thursday 14 August 2014 22.20 EDT theguardian.com
Jump to comments (52)
Maurice Newman, Tony Abbott’s top business advisor, claims the world should
prepare for global cooling. Photograph: Daniel Munoz/Reuters/REUTERS
Maybe Maurice Newman was hoping nobody would check.
In an opinion column yesterday, the climate science denying (yes, I just said it right up front) former ABC chairman and head of the Prime Minister’s business advisory council launched into another of his embarrassing attacks on climate science and the laws of physics.
Given we’ve been here before .. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2014/jan/07/maurice-newman-climate-change-denial-tony-abbott-roy-spencer , I’m starting to think that Newman might actually have written some clever computer code that first scrapes climate science denial blogs for conspiracy theories and common misrepresentations and then turns them into 950-words for The Australian newspaper.
The column, which warned of a concocted threat of “global cooling .. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/14/tony-abbott-adviser-warns-of-threat-of-global-cooling ”, made several remarkable and wrong scientific claims, cherry-picked evidence, misrepresented findings and, in at least one case, badly misrepresented the views of a British scientist.
Newman’s central claim is that the activity of the sun and cosmic rays are probably driving climate change and that the world should probably prepare for global cooling.
When you start to test Maurice Newman’s claims you find the whole case is about as sturdy as a house made of playing cards placed on a poorly constructed raft made of rolled up copies of The Australian floating on the ocean... in a tropical cyclone.
And he doesn’t even use decent quality playing cards.
I apologise for the length of this post by the way and some of the overly technical stuff, but every once in a while I think it’s worth picking at the claims made by people in influential positions.
Let’s have a pick. Actually, let’s have several picks.
Growing evidence?
At the beginning of the column, Newman claims a recent article in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics .. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/260266522_Evidence_for_distinct_modes_of_solar_activity .. “adds to growing evidence that climate change is determined by the sun, not humans”.
The problem with this statement is that the journal article in question did not even consider the interactions between the sun and long-term climate change.
Even one of the climate sceptic websites .. http://www.co2science.org/articles/V17/N32/C1.php .. that recently featured this research, said: “Unfortunately, it was beyond the scope of this paper to address the potential impact of solar activity on climate.”
Professor Steve Sherwood, director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, explains:
---
Evidence that the sun influences climate has decreased, not increased. About a decade ago calculations showed the sun caused about 10 per cent of the warming observed since the late 1800s, but it is now estimated to be only about 5 per cent. This new paper does not change these estimates at all, it is only an attempt to extend the sunspot record back to times before direct observations began a few hundred years ago. The paper makes no mention of climate, because it does not have any new implications for climate.
Since 1980, during which time we have seen strong warming, solar output has if anything declined slightly. In fact, it is looking increasingly doubtful that the sun even had much to do with the so-called “little ice age”, which most mainstream scientists used to attribute to the minimum in sunspot activity at roughly the same time, but now looks to have been caused mainly by volcanic eruptions.
---
Newman tells his readers that experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe had “validated” a hypothesis from Danish physicist Professor Henrik Svensmark that “the sun alters the climate” by interacting with cosmic rays.
The former ASX chairman makes it sound like a done deal. But what did the lead author of that research actually think? Did it “confirm the hypothesis” that the sun alters the climate “by influencing cosmic ray influx and cloud formation” as Newman had claimed?
Professor Jasper Kirby, who led the research, said at the time .. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110824/full/news.2011.504.html .. “it actually says nothing about a possible cosmic-ray effect on clouds and climate, but it’s a very important first step”.
So that’s a no, then (minor nit, as Nature .. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110824/full/news.2011.504.html#B1 .. also explained, the experiment didn’t use the LHC, as Newman had claimed, but rather the same bit of kit – a particle accelerator - that feeds the LHC).
Newman and the IPCC
Newman wrote that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “and its acolytes” tend to “pay scant attention” to science that might “relegate human causes” as the driver of climate change.
Professor Sherwood was a Lead Author on the latest IPCC report chapter to look at these cosmic ray claims. He told me:
---
In writing the relevant section of the report, we examined Svensmark’s work along with many other relevant studies. It is quite clear that the evidence suggesting that cosmic rays influence cloud cover, does not hold up to scrutiny. The IPCC is quite comprehensive in assessing the scientific literature and making an overall assessment. If there is any cherry-picking going on, it is by the so-called skeptics, who typically focus on a tiny handful of papers and often draw unwarranted inferences from them not made by the authors themselves, as Newman has done in this case.
---
Sly misrepresentation
Newman name checks other organisations and scientists to try and bolster his argument.
He quotes work by “leading British climate scientist Mike Lockwood, of Reading University” to try and convince readers that the sun might be the dominant driver of the climate.
But Newman doesn’t mention what Lockwood actually thinks about these claims of cosmic rays or the sun dictating global temperatures
After his work was misrepresented in the British press last year, Lockwood responded on the website Carbon Brief .. http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2013/11/solar-activity-and-the-so-called-%E2%80%9Clittle-ice-age%E2%80%9D/ :
---
So what do we think the effect of a return to Maunder minimum conditions on global mean temperatures would be? The answer is very little.
In a paper .. http://www.leif.org/EOS/2011JD017013.pdf .. with scientists from the Met Office’s Hadley Centre, we used an energy balance model to show the slowing in anthropogenic global warming associated with decline in solar irradiance to Maunder minimum levels.
We found the likely reduction in warming by 2100 would be between 0.06 and 0.1 degrees Celsius, a very small fraction of the warming we’re due to experience as a result of human activity.
---
I sent Newman’s article to Lockwood to ask if he felt his work and his views were being fairly represented. Suffice to say he’s not too happy. He wrote:
---
The wording in the quote you sent me is a very sly misrepresentation. As a scientist I try to write sentences that are unambiguous ... but this is deliberately ambiguous to make it look like I am saying something that I certainly am not. I have never, ever written anything whatsoever about the “year without summer”, so I have never ever connected it to solar variability and the Dalton minimum. So if I trim the sentence down to “... Mike Lockwood, of Reading University, found 24 occasions in the past 10,000 years when the sun was declining as it is now, but could find none where the decline was as fast. He says a return of the Dalton Minimum (1790-1830) is ‘more likely than not’” Then I would be happy - but the addition of the phrase which included “the year without summer” makes it look like I am connecting that year to the Dalton minimum which I certainly am not. There is absolutely no credible evidence whatsoever that the “year without summer” was either caused by low solar activity or was in any way significant as an indicator of global climate trend. [my emphasis in the quote]
---
I also asked Lockwood what he thought of Newman’s claim that there was “growing evidence that climate change is determined by the sun, not humans”. Lockwood said:
---
[This claim] is, frankly, scientifically ludicrous. There are a few papers that use inadequate statistical techniques to claim a link between global temperatures and solar activity. Proper significance testing against an appropriate noise model invariably shows that the probability that these sun-global climate connections are purely coincidental is extremely high and that they have been selected whilst a very large number of counter examples have been ignored. This is bad science: it’s equivalent to finding on albino rabbit and declaring all rabbits are albino.
There have been many studies, including ones that I have been involved in, that show the solar influence on global mean surface temperatures is extremely small. I personally think there is evidence for some interesting effects in winter (and only in winter, and there are compelling scientific reasons why only in winter) in locations that are strongly influenced by the northern hemisphere jet stream.
However these effects are re-distributions of temperature and so, for example, if Europe suffers a cold winter, Greenland has a warmer one. Hence these are regional and season climate changes and quite distinct from global climate changes.
---
That looks like one less Christmas card for Maurice Newman.
But there’s still more to go at here. Newman quotes a University of Pennsylvania professor of psychology Philip Tetlock as saying: “When journal reviewers, editors and funding agencies feel the same way about a course, they are less likely to detect and correct potential logical or methodological bias.”
The quote is actually a decade old and comes from an article published in the journal Political Psychology .. http://www.jstor.org/stable/i292692 .
Newman probably got it trawling the blogs of climate sceptics (an article discussing the paper was reposted on the UK’s Global Warming Policy Foundation .. http://www.thegwpf.org/is-the-road-to-scientific-hell-paved-with-good-moral-intentions/ .. website earlier this month), which is where, in my view, he probably gets most of his ideas about climate science.
You might think, given the context of the article, that Tetlock was talking about environmental science or climate change.
But no. The Tetlock article was discussing his concerns about the preservation of the discipline of “political psychology”. Most of the article is discussing issues around war and peace and racism.
Fair and balanced?
Earlier this month, the Australian Press Council updated its overarching principles to “ensure that factual material” is accurate and not misleading. The change extended the principles reach from just “news reports” to material “elsewhere” which has been taken to mean opinion columns.
In principle three on fairness and balance, the APC says even when a writer expresses an opinion, it should not be done “based on significantly inaccurate factual material or omission of key facts”.
The Australian has been hostile to the changes.
You have to wonder if Newman’s latest is a bit of a test run?
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/15/global-cooling-climate-scientists-keen-to-meet-tony-abbotts-business-adviser
See also:
Sacked government scientist Tim Flannery forms the private Australian Climate Council
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92336834
Immigration detention inquiry: Government tried to cover up asylum seekers' mental health problems, inquiry told
By Rebecca Barrett and Karen Barlow
Updated 31 Jul 2014, 7:21pmThu 31 Jul 2014, 7:21pm
Video: [embed] Psychiatrist Dr Peter Young tells inquiry Immigration Department ordered figures be removed
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-31/psychiatrist-dr-peter-young-inquiry-detention/5637986
Related Story: Treatment of asylum children 'state-sanctioned abuse'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/churches-claim-asylum-children-are-victims-of-state-sanctioned-/5634452
Related Story: Hanson-Young denied access to Curtin Detention Centre
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/sarah-hanson-young-denied-access-to-curtin-detention-centre/5635690
Map: Australia .. http://maps.google.com/?q=-26.000,134.500(Australia)&z=5
The national inquiry into children in immigration detention has heard evidence alleging
a Government cover-up about the scale of mental health issues among child asylum seekers.
Psychiatrist Dr Peter Young was the director of mental health services at detention centre service provider International Health and Mental Services (IHMS) for three years until earlier this month.
In evidence to the inquiry today, Dr Young alleged figures showing the extent of mental health issues among child asylum seekers had been covered up by the Immigration Department.
Audio: Department maintains it's meeting its obligations (PM)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-31/immigration-dept-defiant-despite-hours-of-damning/5639376
He said IHMS had collected figures showing "significant" mental health problems among a significant number of child detainees.
He said the "early data" was "broadly in line with what we are seeing with adults and perhaps a little higher".
Dr Young said IHMS provided a report to the Immigration Department "in the couple of weeks as [the data had] come in" and that the reaction was "negative".
"[The Immigration Department] reacted with alarm and have asked us to withdraw these figures from our reporting," he said.
Gasps were heard in the gallery and the inquiry's barrister Naomi Sharp asked who had sought the data's removal.
"I am not sure exactly. It comes from the department," Dr Young said.
Immigration Department boss responds to allegations
Immigration Department secretary Martin Bowles said he was not present when IHMS was allegedly asked to withdraw the figures.
"I was not there, so I am not sure of the reaction," he said.
[ Tweets inside ]
Asked if he was concerned about allegations of a cover-up, Mr Bowles told the inquiry: "There has been a statement today. You have heard one side of the statement".
"If our staff did an inappropriate thing, then I will deal with that," he promised. "Our normal practice is to assess these things."
Mr Bowles said the chief medical officer and the independent health advisor were assessing the accuracy of the latest figures supplied by IHMS.
"We are assessing the data," he said. "I am not doubting Dr Young. I'm not doubting the reporting. We will look at this."
Responding to claims that IMHS was regularly overridden by departmental staff, Mr Bowles said: "not to my knowledge. I would be very upset if that was the case".
The department secretary bristled as he was asked whether conditions on Christmas Island were designed to break the will of asylum seekers.
"I am actually offended by these statements. It attacks the professionalism of our staff," he said.
And he reacted angrily to suggestions that the department was lying or misleading the inquiry about the numbers of children in detention.
He said there are 1,330 fewer children in detention than a year ago, but admitted 17 children were transferred from Christmas Island to Nauru in the last two months.
Mr Bowles also told the inquiry of the "significant improvements" that the department had made on Christmas Island, including a learning centre which opened for classes this week.
He acknowledged there had been a "short period" where children did not have access to school facilities.
"We recognised we didn't have appropriate education in place. That's why we've done something about it," he said.
The department's deputy secretary Mark Cormack told the inquiry people were now spending longer in detention, with the average stay now 350 days.
128 cases of child self-harm in past 15 months
Dr Young told the inquiry there had been 128 cases of child detainees committing acts of self-harm in the past 15 reporting months, but that figure does not include Nauru.
He said he was aware children had tried to poison themselves or ingest harmful substances, and said banging heads against walls is common.
Photo: Dr Peter Young alleges the Immigration Department covered
up figures on the mental health of children in detention. (AAP: Joel Carrett)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-31/dr-peter-young/5638134
There are a further 171 cases of child detainees threatening self-harm and the Human Rights Commission says it has been told 23 children have tried to self-harm on more than two occasions.
Ms Sharp said the commission had been told one child had attempted to self-harm on 16 occasions.
Dr Young said he was not aware of the case.
"If there was a case like that that was going on for a period of time, that would result in a recommendation for the child to be managed out of detention. Managed in hospital if that is required," he said.
The ABC has sought an update on the child from the Immigration Minister's office. The Human Rights Commission says it has been told the child was still in detention as of March 31.
Dr Young says the case did not surprise him "because the policy is that children are held in detention".
Clinical decisions 'routinely downgraded'
Meanwhile two doctors have told the inquiry their recommendations for the clinical treatment of detainees were often altered and downgraded by authorities.
Dr Grant Ferguson and Dr John Paul Sanggaran both spent time working on Christmas Island in 2013.
Dr Ferguson told the inquiry "there was direct interference with our autonomy" by IHMS.
Video: [embed] Paediatrician Prof. Elizabeth Elliott witnessed 'cramped conditions, recurrent infections plaguing children' (ABC News)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-31/paediatrician-professor-elizabeth-elliott/5637848
He said IHMS medical director Lachlan Fieldhouse would change his written recommendations for treatment of detainees without consultation.
Dr Sanggaran said written clinical decisions by doctors were "altered and routinely being downgraded".
Dr Ferguson told the inquiry he was also asked by the medical director to prescribe medication for detainees he had never seen.
He also said there were "multiple occasions" when he were was asked to refer adolescents to the Immigration Department which was "not appropriate for doctors".
Medication 'taken from 3yo epileptic girl'
Both doctors told the inquiry that children with complex medical problems just cannot be treated on Christmas Island as there are no child psychologists, paediatricians or specialised children's mental health services.
Dr Sanggaran said detainees' glasses, hearing aids and medication were taken when they arrived on the island.
"One of the most concerning things I saw was nurses popping pills into a bin," he said.
He told the inquiry doctors often did not know what medication children were taking, or what it was for.
He gave an example of a three-year-old girl suffering epilepsy whose medication was taken from her when she arrived at Christmas Island.
Dr Sanggaran said the child started having seizures and medication was ordered from the mainland but that ran out and the seizures returned.
He said she was eventually transferred off the island.
Allegations of physical and sexual abuse on Nauru
Today's inquiry also heard claims of physical and sexual abuse against children by staff on Nauru.
Kirsty Diallo, who worked for Save the Children in Nauru in 2013, told the inquiry of inappropriate behaviour by guards who stroked girls' hair, and made them sit on their laps.
She said there was nothing to prevent child abuse in detention on Nauru, as there was no local child protection legislation, and no working with children checks.
Ms Diallo said a 16-year-old boy had been sexually assaulted by a cleaner who grabbed the boy's genitals in a toilet block last November.
Former employee describes 'removing hope' as deterrent strategy
A former immigration department employee told the inquiry into children in detention he was conditioned to calling them "clients" to strip them of any hope.
Gregory Lake resigned from the department in April last year while working on Nauru.
He told the inquiry that the language used by employees was designed to dehumanise those held in detention.
Mr Lake said the way that detention centres are run is to construct an environment where people are used as examples.
"It's going to be worse being in Australia than it was where you came from. That's the whole point of a deterrent strategy to say don't come because if you do it will be worse," he said.
Mr Lake said "a way of doing that without breaking laws but doing it very effectively nonetheless is to remove hope."
He told the inquiry he was told by the Immigration Minister's office to select children that looked the youngest to be part of the first transfer to Manus Island to send a message of deterrence.
He said that occurred contrary to criteria from the Papua New Guinea government that children under seven years old could not be transferred because they could not be inoculated against malaria and Japanese encephalitis.
"However, the intention was that no-one outside in the public knew that because if they did then people smugglers would put people under seven on boats and actually get more people into the country that way," he said.
"So in order to create a deterrent for all children, the age was considered to be something they wanted to blur."
Abbott stands by hardline asylum seeker policy
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his hardline immigration and border protection policy would not change.
"No-one wants to see children in detention," he told reporters in Hobart.
"No-one wants to see anyone in detention, but the only way to avoid this is to stop the boats."
Mr Abbott said he was very aware of the plight of children in detention.
"What is more horrific I ask you? What could be more horrific than the idea of children perishing at sea because their parents have fallen for the false promises of the people smugglers?" he said.
Asked about the almost 1,000 children being held in immigration detention, Mr Abbott said they would be "dealt with in the ordinary way".
Opposition hits out at 'culture of secrecy'
Dr Young still works at IHMS as a consultant and has been compelled to give evidence at the inquiry by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
The inquiry is examining the conditions of detention - especially on Christmas Island - the safety of children on Nauru, along with mental health assessments and the impact of long-term detention on children.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says allegations of a cover up by the Immigration Department are disturbing, if true.
"It is important that we don't have a culture of secrecy around immigration policies," he told reporters in Sydney.
Promise Check .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-27/clear-30000-asylum-backlog-promise-check/5500588
"We all know when it is blue sky and good news for the Abbott Government, Scott Morrison is rent-a-quote, but he goes missing action too when the going gets tough."
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described Dr Young's evidence as shocking.
"I call on the Minister today to release all incident reports in real time inside immigration detention centres," she told reporters in Adelaide.
"Let's do away with the secrecy, the lack of transparency and the cover-ups on what really goes on inside."
Senator Hanson-Young, who was denied entry yesterday to the Curtin Detention Centre to visit the 157 Tamil asylum seekers who have been the subject of a High Court challenge, says the Minister must explain himself.
"I am extremely concerned at the Minister's attitude to the welfare of these children, whether they are children detained on Christmas Island, Nauru, or indeed the new children who have recently arrived after being imprisoned on the Customs ship and are now locked up in the Curtin Detention Centre," she said.
The president of the Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs, told the inquiry Immigration Minister Scott Morrison had agreed to give evidence.
However, she said Mr Morrison declined to take part in today's hearing because he is concerned about High Court proceedings.
"So we might hold a fourth inquiry ... he has essentially said that he will appear."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Immigration Minister said the Government "will await the outcomes of [the] inquiry to be detailed and any supporting evidence in the final report".
"There has been a reduction of children in detention of almost 35 per cent since the election on 7 September 2013," the statement said.
"More than 80 per cent of children are residents in the community either on bridging visas or under residence determinations."
Professor Triggs said it would be extremely concerning if information was being reduced, redacted or altered before it got to the minister.
Today's inquiry hearing came the day after Australian church leaders accused the Federal Government of "state-sanctioned child abuse .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/churches-claim-asylum-children-are-victims-of-state-sanctioned-/5634452 " over its treatment of unaccompanied asylum seeker children.
More on this story
* Hanson-Young denied access to Curtin Detention Centre
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/sarah-hanson-young-denied-access-to-curtin-detention-centre/5635690
* Treatment of asylum children 'state-sanctioned abuse'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/churches-claim-asylum-children-are-victims-of-state-sanctioned-/5634452
* Brett Lee unaware signed bats were for asylum talks: manager
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-29/manager-says-brett-lee-unaware-signed-bat-bound-for-india/5632152
* Tamil asylum seekers are 'economic migrants': Morrison
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-28/consular-staff-begin-processing-of-tamil-asylum-seekers/5627732
* 'Grave concerns' for Christmas Island detainees
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-24/christmas-island-children-asylum-seekerswetting-bed-flashbacks/5620202
* Inquiry into asylum seeker detention compels heath workers
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-29/human-rights-commission-compels-witnesses/5632448
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-31/detention-centre-inquiry-hears-claims-of-immigration-cover-up/5637654
"Corruption NSW" Two NSW Liberal MPs stand aside from the party following ICAC revelations on campaign funding
By state political reporter Sarah Gerathy August 6, 2014, 3:15 pm
[.. image i wish i could figure out how to reproduce ..]
Newcastle Liberal MP Tim Owen announced during the last ICAC hearings that he would not recontest the 2015 state election. ABC
Two more New South Wales Government MPs have stood aside from the parliamentary Liberal Party after explosive revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) hearing into campaign funding.
Premier Mike Baird has accepted the decision of Newcastle MP Tim Owen and Government Whip and Member for Charlestown Andrew Cornwell to move to the crossbenches while the inquiry continues.
Allegations that illegal donations from developers were used to bankroll Mr Owen's election campaign in 2011 brought into question the validity of the poll's results, ICAC heard.
In his opening address, counsel assisting the inquiry Geoffrey Watson SC said there were serious irregularities in the funding of the Liberal MP's campaign.
He also revealed that the funding of the neighbouring seat of Charlestown, which is now held by Government whip Andrew Cornwell, was being investigated.
"The evidence acquired so far clearly shows serious irregularities in the way those campaigns were conducted," Mr Watson said.
"Given what went on, a real question arises as to the validity of the result of the election in the seat of Newcastle."
The hearing today took an unexpected twist when Mr Watson revealed Mr Owen's campaign manager and Newcastle lawyer Hugh Thomson had helped expose the corrupt motivation behind the campaign.
ICAC was told Mr Thomson admitted to being involved in an illegal donations scheme, in exchange for protection from prosecution.
Mr Watson also told the hearing that the former police minister Mike Gallacher knew about the illegal funding arrangements in Newcastle and in fact suggested some of them.
He says the former energy minister Chris Hartcher also knew what was going on.
Mr Watson told ICAC that the Government whip, Mr Cornwell, admitted Newcastle Mayor Jeff McCloy arranged a meeting in his car and handed over $10,000 in cash.
He said while there was no evidence Mr Cornwell gave any preferences to the Mayor, his actions were unwise but that was due to inexperience.
In a statement, Premier Mike Baird said he had accepted Mr Owen's and Mr Cornwell's decisions.
"I have accepted the decisions of Tim Owen and Andrew Cornwell to stand aside from the parliamentary Liberal Party and relinquish any parliamentary positions they currently hold," a statement said.
"I make no judgement regarding the outcome of Operation Spicer.
"However, it will take time for the allegations to be resolved, and I am not prepared to allow this to become a distraction for the party or the Government."
Nathan Tinkler was called 'the big man'
--- insert ---
Nathan Tinkler sells Patinack Farm
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2296809/nathan-tinkler-sells-patinack-farm/
---
The corruption watchdog has heard that businessman Nathan Tinkler was known as "the big man" by Liberal party figures looking to secretly bankroll the 2011 campaign for the seat of Newcastle.
Mr Tinkler and his development firm Buildev are among those banned donors who are accused of secretly donating to the campaign of Newcastle Liberal MP Tim Owen.
At the time Buildev was lobbying to build a coal loader in the Port of Newcastle.
Mr Watson has told the hearing that the story of what happened in Newcastle in 2011 is complex, but "a number of the threads tie back to one person, Nathan Tinkler".
Mr Watson said the evidence shows "it was he who had the ultimate control " and "who made the decision to fund the illegal activities".
He said there was also evidence implicating Mr Tinkler in making a number of large payments for use by the Liberal Party.
Mr Watson said that also involved Mr Gallacher and Mr Hartcher.
He read out a text message from Mr Thomson to Mr Gallacher, which asked about a $120,000 payment from "the big man".
Mr Watson said that referred to Mr Tinkler, who was also called "the big fish" by Mr Gallacher.
Mr Tinkler and Buildev have also been accused of involvement in a smear campaign against the then Labor MP for Newcastle, Jodi McKay.
The commission heard it was not just the Liberal Party that was involved in such activities.
"The Labor party was, through a couple of its politicians, involved as well," said Mr Watson.
He said the inquiry would examine the activities of two former Labor MPs, Joe Tripodi and Eric Roozendaal.
Mr Watson said the evidence suggested that each man improperly took steps to directly help Buildev.
A protege of Joe Tripodi, Ian MacNamara, who is now Opposition Leader John Robertson's chief of staff, has also been potentially implicated in the smear campaign.
NSW Government whip to appear at ICAC over 'slush funds'
Mr Cornwell, his property-developer father and a Liberal Party campaign manager are all due to appear in the witness box as the ICAC inquiry before Commissioner Megan Latham continues.
The corruption watchdog is investigating alleged Liberal Party slush funds and donations for political favours.
Operation Spicer had adjourned for two months after three-and-a-half weeks of explosive public hearings in May rocked the Government and claimed several political scalps, including that of then-premier Barry O'Farrell.
This next phase of the inquiry, which is expected to run for at least three weeks, will largely focus on alleged dodgy dealings in the seat of Newcastle in the lead up to the 2011 election.
It is examining whether Mr Owen's campaign was secretly bankrolled by donations from banned donors including Buildev and its majority shareholder Nathan Tinkler, Newcastle Lord Mayor and property developer Jeff McCloy and Hunter Land founder Hilton Grugeon.
Mr Owen announced during the last hearings he would not recontest his seat at next year's election because he now believed it was "highly likely" that prohibited donors had contributed to his campaign, although he insisted it was without his knowledge.
Among those scheduled to give evidence at the ICAC this week were Charlestown MP and Government whip Andrew Cornwell, who was the branch president of the Liberal Party in Newcastle before stepping aside to run for his seat in 2011.
His wife Samantha Brookes and father Brien Cornwell, who was a local property developer and a volunteer on Mr Owen's campaign, will also appear in the witness box.
Rodney Bosman, who ran the Liberal Party's Central Coast and Hunter campaigns in the 2011 election, has now been sworn in. He is the first witness to appear.
Former NSW ministers' actions under scrutiny
The spotlight will also once again be on former NSW energy minister Chris Hartcher and former police minister Mike Gallacher.
ICAC will examine whether the pair solicited and received donations from prohibited donors for use in the Liberals 2011 state election campaign, including in the seat of Newcastle.
It will also look at whether they used their power and influence, or attempted to use their power and influence, to do favours for Liberal Party donors.
This inquiry has already claimed the ministerial careers of both men.
Mr Gallacher resigned during the last hearings after counsel assisting the ICAC Geoffrey Watson SC said there was "strong prima facie evidence" implicating him in serious electoral funding irregularities.
Mr Hartcher quit the frontbench in December 2013 when the ICAC raided his Central Coast office.
His fellow Central Coast MPs Darren Webber and Chris Spence had already been sitting on the crossbench after their offices were raided earlier in the year.
Operation focus on Buildev, Tinkler and Free Enterprise Foundation
Operation Spicer began as an investigation into an alleged Liberal Party slush fund Eightbyfive that was being run out of Mr Hartcher's office.
It has since broadened its scope to look at various ways Liberal Party figures were allegedly skirting laws that banned donations from developers in the lead up to the 2011 state election.
One of the organisations set for more scrutiny in the latest round of public hearings is the Liberal Party-linked Free Enterprise Foundation.
ICAC will examine whether members or associates of the Liberal Party used the Free Enterprise Foundation as a means of receiving and disguising banned donations in the lead up to the 2011 campaign.
It will also look at whether certain companies and persons, including Buildev and Mr Tinkler, used or attempted to use the Free Enterprise Foundation as a means of making donations to the Liberal Party with the intention of attempting to improperly influence certain members of Parliament.
The inquiry has previously heard evidence that the Free Enterprise foundation was used to "rinse" donations from banned donors, and that the NSW Liberal Party's finance director Simon McInnes and the former head of the party's chief fundraising arm, Paul Nicolaou, were in on the scheme.
In his opening address at the first set of hearings, Mr Watson ominously asked: "Who was responsible for this misuse of the Free Enterprise Foundation, who else knew about it inside the Liberal Party?"
He said he would try to get to the bottom of that question.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/24641068/two-nsw-liberal-mps-stand-aside-from-the-party-following-icac-revelations-on-campaign-funding/
Indonesia elections: Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo confirmed as next president after official results released
Greg Jennett in Jakarta, wires
Updated 6 hours 15 minutes ago
Photo: Indonesia's presidential candidate Joko Widodo received 53 per cent of the vote.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/jokowi-profile/5616020 (Reuters: Darren Whiteside)
Map: Indonesia .. http://maps.google.com/?q=-5,120(Indonesia)&z=5
Joko Widodo has been declared the winner of Indonesia's presidential election and will take office in October.
The election commission has declared that Mr Widodo won the poll with almost 71 million votes or just over 53 per cent.
The former military general Prabowo Subianto received 62.5 million votes or 46.8 per cent.
Indonesia's new president
With his trademark checked shirt and rolled up sleeves, Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo was
most commonly referred to as the 'man of the people' during the election campaign.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/jokowi-profile-by-karon-snowdon/5585268
Mr Subianto had thrown the final declaration into confusion with an attempt to withdraw from the process at the 11th hour.
Some supporters had even suggested he was no longer an actual candidate.
But the commission's declaration indicates his status was unchanged.
Ahead of the announcement, Indonesian Democratic Party chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri claimed victory for Mr Widodo at a news conference in Jakarta.
"I want to declare that we, the party that supports and puts forward Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla (for vice president), has won," she said.
Last minute confusion
Earlier in the day as Indonesia's announcement drew closer, Mr Subianto called the election process undemocratic.
Mr Subianto - who had also claimed victory in the July 9 election - alleged "massive fraud" and said he was withdrawing from the race to lead the world's third-biggest democracy.
"There has been a massive, structured and systematic fraud in the 2014 elections," Mr Subianto said.
"The presidential election, organised by the (election commission), is not democratic," he said, adding the commission was "not fair or transparent".
Mr Subianto, 62, had been widely expected to challenge the result in the Constitutional Court if he lost.
But his lawyer says that will not happen.
It is not clear if he will appeal to a lower court.
Mr Widodo's victory caps a meteoric rise for the former furniture exporter who was born in a riverbank slum.
It is likely to be welcomed by investors who hope he can breathe new life into the economy after a recent slowdown.
Tensions have been high since election day as both sides in the contest accused each other of seeking to tamper with the votes during the lengthy counting process.
There are fears the tension could spark unrest in a country that was hit by repeated outbreaks of violence before former president Suharto's downfall in 1998.
More than 250,000 police were deployed across the country on Tuesday.
Security was particularly tight in the capital Jakarta, with hundreds of police in riot gear stationed around the election commission headquarters, and roads around the centre of the capital closed off to traffic.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/indonesia-election-winner-announced/5616014
Papua New Guinean revivalist churches push dangerous campaign for 'faith-healing' of AIDS
Papua New Guinea correspondent Liam Cochrane
Updated 10 hours 45 minutes ago
Photo: Revivalist faith healers are telling people with HIV and AIDS to throw away their medication
and turn to the church. .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/faithhealer/5615196 .. (ABC News)
Related Story: PNG facing a HIV and AIDS pandemic
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-03/png-aids-and-hiv-pandemic/5496036
Map: Papua New Guinea .. http://maps.google.com/?q=-9.5,147.116667(Papua%20New%20Guinea)&z=5
Revivalist churches in Papua New Guinea are promoting prayer as a substitute for medication to those with HIV, according to human rights groups.
PNG is a deeply Christian society, and most mainstream churches are trying to improve attitudes to those living with HIV.
But with poor medical facilities and a widespread belief in sorcery, belief in faith healing is growing.
Ten years ago, PNG was on the brink of an AIDS explosion.
Video: [embedded] Revivalist preachers in PNG hampering fight against HIV with bogus cures ..
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/revivalist-preachers-in-png-hampering-fight/5616352 .. (The World)
"The original thinking in PNG, given the facts and figures around sexually transmitted infections and unwanted teen pregnancies - behavioural information - certainly gave us the idea that we were heading towards a sub-Saharan African style epidemic," UNAIDS country co-ordinator Stuart Watson said.
But that generalised epidemic has not happened.
Instead, the virus has been localised to the Highlands, Morobe Province, and the National Capital District.
High-risk communities include sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgender people, as well as those who travel for their work.
Margaret Anton, president of Women Affected by HIV/AIDS, is one of an estimated 25,000 Papua New Guineans living with HIV.
And like many she has faced discrimination from family and friends.
"When people found out I was HIV positive, when I had TB, they didn't want anything to do with me," she said.
"Sometimes I would spend nights on the road, for shelter I would find a tree to sleep under."
Columnist suggests HIV prison
That sort of discrimination even finds a voice in the country's mainstream media.
Timothy Pirinduo is a columnist in PNG's only locally-owned newspaper.
He believes HIV was created in a lab by crazy scientists, and wants new laws to make HIV testing compulsory.
"Once we identify those with HIV/AIDS, then we can separate them from those who are not affected," he said.
"Separating them would be like keeping them in a confinement, kind of a prison kind of set-up."
While Mr Pirinduo's HIV prison is just an idea, deadly preaching is a reality.
Photo: PNG Revival Centre head Pastor Godfrey Wippon
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/pastor/5615198 (ABC News)
Pastor Godfrey Wippon heads PNG's Revival Centres and says his is the fastest growing religious movement in the country.
"It is growing because of healings, miracles, wonders, science happening in this ministry. The Lord heals," he said.
On a beach in Port Moresby, revivalists gather to sing and watch as new recruits are baptised and speak in tongues.
Pastor Wippon believes baptism and prayer can cure AIDS and even bring the dead back to life.
Revival church responsible for death: activist
Health workers have told the ABC revivalists visit hospitals and clinics telling HIV patients to throw away their medication.
In a case that shocked many, one of PNG's first openly HIV-positive women, Helen Samilo, fell prey to the revivalist message.
Even though she was working as an advocate for anti-retroviral treatment, Ms Samilo joined a revivalist church, stopped taking medication, and died in August last year.
""It's just the revival church that told her not to take her medication. They are responsible for her death," Ms Anton, a friend of Ms Samilo, said."
Pastor Wippon sees Ms Samilo's death differently.
"It's just the revival church that told her not to take her medication. They are responsible for her death,"
Margaret Anton, president of Women Affected by HIV/AIDS, PNG
"She has been healed spiritually. She died physically, naturally. But spiritually she's right with the Lord," he said.
The mainstream churches in PNG are working with the United Nations and non-government organisations to help people access services.
Catholic archbishop John Ribat is a member of the Christian Leaders Alliance.
"Our concern as churches is to come together to address this HIV and AIDS and fight against the discrimination that continues to divide us," he said.
That division and discrimination has also created enclaves of hope.
Ms Anton and philanthropic businesswoman Veronica Charlie are planning to build a permanent care centre to accommodate 50 people ostracised by their communities.
These men, women and children currently sleep in tents or in the open and rely on charity to survive.
For Ms Anton, helping others with HIV is part of positive living.
"I started seeing that God did preserve me, probably for my little boy, probably because I'm going to work along with this wonderful woman who has decided to take us along and build a care centre," she said.
"Using my status I've decided to come out openly and publicly so that I want to be a voice for women out here who have been through stigma and discrimination."
Topics: aids-and-hiv, christianity, papua-new-guinea, pacific
First posted Tue 22 Jul 2014, 2:23pm AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/png-hiv-faith-healing/5615108
Attempt 1 Fail: Carbon tax repeal: Government loses Senate vote on income tax compensation bill
By political correspondent Emma Griffiths
Updated 11 hours 49 minutes ago
Video: Muir prevents government gagging debate (Lateline)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-09/muir-prevents-government-gagging-debate/5586130
Related Story: Top Tory says Abbott 'endangering' future on climate
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-08/abbott-endangering-future-on-climate-lord-deben/5582902
Related Story: Government 'fighting the future' on renewable energy investment
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-07/renewable-energy-investment-killed-by-government-policy/5575262
Related Story: MPs urged to avoid megaphone diplomacy in Senate
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-07/frontbencher-urges-colleagues-to-treat-crossbench-courteously/5575786
Map: Australia - http://maps.google.com/?q=-26.000,134.500(Australia)&z=5
In a sign of the volatility of the new Senate, the Federal Government has lost a vote on one of its bills to axe the carbon tax, and seen one of its own senators cross the floor on an amendment to another.
The legislation that failed to pass would have abolished future income tax cuts brought in under the previous Labor government to compensate for increased household costs under a floating carbon price.
The tax cuts are due to come in for low income earners on July 1, 2015 and will cost the budget at least $1.5 billion over four years.
The Government argues that without the carbon tax, the tax cuts are not necessary.
But the Senate voted against the Government's legislation 40 votes to 33 with all but one of the eight crossbenchers siding with Labor and the Greens.
The three Palmer United Party (PUP) senators, Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir, Family First senator Bob Day, Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm and independent Nick Xenophon voted to keep the tax cuts, while Victoria's Democratic Labour Party senator John Madigan supported the Government's move to abolish it.
Senators Leyonhjelm and Day - who have agreed to vote together on most economic issues - say they have had an "early win" by "torpedoing" the legislation.
---
Climate change a 'sci-fi plot'
Coalition MP George Christensen likened the climate change debate to a science fiction film plot during a US conference.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-09/backbencher-likens-climate-change-to-science-fiction-film-plot/5583734
Audio: Senate blocks some plans for axing the carbon tax (PM)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-09/senate-stands-in-the-way-of-some-of-the-govts/5585714
---
The tax cuts were deferred indefinitely by Labor in its 2013 budget because the forecast price of carbon was due to drop.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the Opposition has voted against one of its own budget measures.
"We're very pleased that the Senate is voting in favour of scrapping the carbon tax," he told the ABC.
"In relation to the $1.5 billion new hole that the Labor party has blown into the budget today obviously we will now reassess on how we can best proceed in relation to those issues from here."
He has indicated the Government will bring back the legislation.
"I've seen the Senate change its mind, often within the same day but certainly within a couple of weeks, so let's see how this continues to play out."
In a later vote on an amendment moved by Senator Xenophon, pushing for a review of the rules for setting electricity prices, Queensland LNP Senator Ian Macdonald crossed the floor to vote with the Greens and Labor.
The vote was tied and so the amendment did not go ahead.
Senator Macdonald said he voted against party lines because the amendment "was eminently sensible".
He has also issued a warning to his party not to expect him to agree to motions to gag debate - even though he supported one early on Wednesday.
Ricky Muir votes with Labor to frustrate Government
Manager of Government Business in the Senate Mitch Fifield began the sitting day by moving that the legislation to repeal the carbon tax be declared urgent - a motion that would limit debate on the bills and bring on an early vote.
"I totally support the guillotining of this debate because it has been debated so long and so often that nothing new can come out," Senator MacDonald told the ABC.
"But my general view is that, except in exceptional circumstances we should not curtail debate."
---
Are ETSs being phased out?
The PM's claim that emissions trading schemes are being discarded around the world doesn't check out.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-09/tony-abbott-emissions-trading-around-the-world-fact-check/5559430
---
The Government bid failed after crossbencher Ricky Muir voted with Labor to continue debate.
Senators have been debating the bills since they were reintroduced on Monday - the first sitting day of the new Upper House.
However, with the repeal all but guaranteed to pass with the support of PUP senators and other key crossbenchers, the Government wanted to bring on the vote early Wednesday.
Repealing the carbon pricing scheme was a key election promise for Prime Minister Tony Abbott, but his bid to fulfil it has so far been stymied by Opposition and Greens MPs.
After Senator Fifield tried to guillotine the debate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Penny Wong, accused the Government of trying to manipulate the Senate vote to suit the Prime Minister's media schedule.
"I utterly object, as does every senator on this side, to this chamber of the Australian Parliament being used as a plaything of the Prime Minister," she told the Senate.
"What an outrage that we would have the Senate being asked to gag and guillotine legislation so Mr Abbott can do a press conference tomorrow in time for prime-time television.
"It is an absolute disgrace and really demonstrates the arrogance of this Government."
Government Leader in the Senate Eric Abetz argued there has been enough discussion about legislation, which was debated and voted against by Labor and the Greens in the previous Senate.
"This package of bills has had 33 hours and 52 minutes of debate in the Senate and according to Labor that is gagging and guillotining," he said.
Vote heralds cry of 'Onya Ricky'
Greens leader Christine Milne said the Senate could not allow the Coalition to "ram through" the repeal.
"This is probably the most important package of bills for Australia's future," she said.
---
Power players: micro-party senators
Meet the micro-party crossbenchers who will hold balance of power in the Senate.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-25/new-senate-crossbenchers-whos-who/5547828
---
Senator Xenophon issued a "plea" to his fellow crossbenchers to allow debate to continue until Thursday morning.
"This is about the Senate doing its job," he said.
The Government move was supported by PUP senators Glenn Lazarus, Jacqui Lambie and Dio Wang along with Senator Day and Senator Leyonhjelm.
But it needed one more vote from the micro-party crossbench, and the remaining three senators - Senator Muir, Senator Xenophon and Senator Madigan - all sided with the Opposition.
When the vote was held, one senator was heard to exclaim "Onya Ricky".
It is one of the first votes of the new Senate to demonstrate the flexibility in the loose agreement Senator Muir signed with PUP last October to act as a voting bloc "where it is practicable".
However, the deal has stuck in relation to voting against a multi-billion dollar budget measure to abolish the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
The Government announced in the budget that it would axe the $3 billion agency, which was set up under the previous Labor government to fund renewable energy projects and research.
Senator Muir and PUP have released separate media statements saying they will fight to keep the agency.
"I have been a supporter of renewable energy for a long time and I am very pleased with this outcome," the Victorian Senator said in a statement.
However, both parties say they will allow the government to go ahead with cutting the agency's budget. It announced at budget time that it would return $1.3 billion into consolidated revenue.
Debate on the bills is continuing with a vote expected today.
Topics: federal-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, emissions-trading, australia
First posted Wed 9 Jul 2014, 11:43am AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-09/government-fails-to-bring-on-early-carbon-tax-vote/5583696
See also:
Explainer: The difference between a carbon tax and an ETS
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=90054503
Republican Calls Climate Change A Hoax Because Earth And Mars Have 'Exactly' Same Temperature
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=104148443
Australia and you: Labor needs to rethink asylum seeker policy
.. we are all complicit in the world refugee problem .. all countries have been/are beset by the politically and socially divisive question of how to treat those who seek safety from physical, or economic, or social stress and/or danger in other countries .. all refugees are all of ours .. yep, the USA sees far greater numbers than Australia, yet other countries share many more .. Turkey, Lebanon, Greece for three (guessing, not checked, anyway it's not that important .. :)) .. questions around those in Australia have much if not all overlap with debate in the USA, so content of debate here is similar to content of debate there .. aside: you guys, i think, now in this area rate higher on the humanity scale than Australia does .. it hurts, but truth does sometimes .. i know y'all will see parallels, so i hope you will find this Australian stuff interesting, and useful, too .. grin ..
Date January 3, 2014
Mike Richards Comments 45
A new year should see Labor take some moral leadership on the treatment of refugees.
Syrian refugees outside a makeshift home in Ankara. Photo: AFP
The start of a year is all about new beginnings, so here's my New Year's submission: with fresh new leadership and at least three years in opposition to get its act together, the Labor Party has to make a decisive break with its recent past, hit the policy reset button and restore some moral leadership over this country's treatment of asylum seekers. The onus on Labor is greater because there's no chance of a more enlightened policy from the Coalition, and Labor should know better.
Labor's sorry history on this issue began with its cave-in to the Howard government's post-9/11 stampede of moral panic over Tampa in 2001. Since then, Labor in opposition and government has tinkered with the policy - a little less harsh here, a lot more punitive there - but the fundamental problem remains: Labor (and Coalition) policy is deeply flawed, contrary to our international obligations under the United Nations refugee convention, and the practical treatment of asylum seekers, including vulnerable children, is completely at odds with basic standards of human decency. In essence, Labor has shared with the Coalition a policy approach that abuses and dehumanises asylum seekers to achieve the political and policy outcome of deterrence.
How did shared national policy get to this position? Asylum seeker policy is complex and both major political parties have followed a brutal logic in asserting the precedence of border protection over humane treatment of asylum seekers. The logic goes something like this: Australia - democratic, multicultural and free - stands as a beacon to forcibly displaced people in troubled nation states in the Middle East and elsewhere that have been racked by war, and worsening sectarian enmities and civil conflict (think Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Sudan, among others).
An open-border policy for Australia - the belief runs - would mean Australia potentially could end up as the haven of choice for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, with no means to resist. The brutal logic is this: if we make it harsh enough for asylum seekers, and remove any prospect of their successful resettlement in Australia, we can hold back the expected huge tide of unauthorised boat arrivals. That's the real underlying policy objective that unites the asylum seeker approaches of Labor and the Coalition.
There is a political overlay, as well, in which Labor has been too easily captive to the party machine men, who say it is electoral suicide, particularly in western Sydney, to adopt a more liberal approach to the treatment of asylum seekers once they have arrived. One rationale is the supposed status anxiety of other newly arrived migrants who feel threatened by asylum seekers taking their jobs and hard-won economic position.
Another is the supposed envy of working people who resent the idea of government bestowing benefits on asylum seekers - benefits not available to them. Or they say the asylum seekers are queue jumpers taking the place of others waiting for family reunion visas or the like. More recently, the new humanitarian rationale has been that drownings at sea are tragic and unacceptable, and asylum seekers need to be dissuaded from attempting hazardous voyages in unseaworthy boats. That is certainly true, but insufficient as a broader policy defence.
There are no easy political solutions to this matter, but there are sound principles rather than magic bullets to draw on. Importantly, we have to ask the right question, which is actually not ''how do we stop the boats?'', nor ''how do we destroy the business model of people smugglers?'', but ''how do we give effect to Australia's moral and international legal obligations and responsibilities to provide safety and protection to asylum seekers?''
The refugee issue is a global one, and there have to be new attempts to forge international approaches and agreements on the acute challenges we all face. Leaving aside ''internally displaced persons'', who have not crossed international borders seeking asylum and are unlikely to do so, the UNHCR estimates there are almost 16 million refugees and about a million asylum seekers worldwide. Those numbers have grown because of increasing levels of conflict and persecution.
Clearly, this country has to do more in accepting our share of refugees. In the past two decades, Australia has received only 3 per cent of asylum seekers worldwide; the overwhelming ''burden'' on receiving nations falls unequally on neighbouring, developing countries. Australia is ranked - by GDP per capita, as a surrogate for capacity to accommodate refugees - only 18th of 44 countries receiving asylum applications. That implies Australia should increase its share of refugees, which had been set at 13,000 for many years. It was raised under Labor to 20,000 in 2012, but the Abbott government is reducing it again to 13,750. It is too low and should be substantially increased.
Finally, there has to be a rebalancing of the deterrence/treatment equation. While managing asylum seeker arrivals, we have to ensure asylum seekers are humanely treated, their refugee claims are fairly assessed and that, if accepted, refugees have a realistic prospect of resettlement within a reasonable period. If that means the deterrence value of the policy is put at risk, so be it - because the brutal logic of deterrence has seen our asylum seeker policy degenerate to a morally corrosive regime of ever more barbaric treatment of vulnerable people who have sought our help.
We Australians are better than that.
Mike Richards is a management consultant, a former associate editor of The
Age and former chief of staff to Labor leaders at the state and federal level.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/labor-needs-to-rethink-asylum-seeker-policy-20140102-307j9.html
===
Neither party's policy offers a real solution
Date August 17, 2013
Michael Gordon
Political editor, The Age
One of Scott Morrison's more contentious observations on Friday was that asylum seekers in the community on bridging visas would be among the most enthusiastic about a Kevin Rudd victory on September 7.
He has to be kidding. The truth of it, if you are among the 30,000 asylum seekers who arrived between August 13 last year, when Julia Gillard introduced the ''no advantage'' principle, and July 19 this year, when Rudd announced the PNG solution, is that your prospects are bleak whoever wins.
So let's imagine you are sitting in the unfurnished flat you share with several others in the same situation and have a clean sheet of paper and a pen. On one side you write the pros and cons of a Rudd victory; on the other, you do the same for Tony Abbott.
Under Rudd, the policy is that you will be given no advantage over those who stayed in transit countries to have their claims processed, so you face the prospect of about five years without any hope of being reunited with family members or being able to work. You cannot even have the dignity of working for a welfare payment of about $205 a week.
If your fear of persecution is found to be real, it could be many years before you are able to be reunited with your wife or children because you will go to the back of a very long queue. Past experience suggests your mental state will deteriorate and you will struggle when a ''normal'' life is finally offered.
Under Abbott, you will be processed and, if your claim is upheld, given a temporary protection visa (TPV) with no family reunion rights. But you will be able to work and you can dream of being joined by your family if they risk their lives, get on boats and are prepared for a long stint on Nauru or Manus Island.
In fact, the experience of the Pacific Solution suggests that TPVs will be a ''pull factor'' that entices families to get on boats to stay together, with the inevitable result of more drownings.
If you cannot find work, you will receive an equivalent of work for the dole, which might offer a degree of satisfaction. Abbott insists you will never be afforded permanent residency or facilitated family reunion, but you should know that Philip Ruddock said the same thing in 2001 [under John Howard]and later relented.
After mulling the pros and cons with your flatmates, chances are you will scratch your head, follow the example of many mainstream Australians, and disengage.
The truth is that the major parties are engaged in a cruelty bidding war that is based on the notion that if you punish one group of people (those who come by boat) you will change the behaviour of another (those yet to flee their homes or still in transit).
Both policies are problematic. Rudd cannot deliver on his vow that no one who arrived after July 19 will end up being settled in Australia and Abbott's cannot remove the access of asylum seekers to the courts.
Both policies are also based on the proposition that, if the punishment is severe enough, you will stop the boats and end the drownings at sea. If this purpose is achieved, the challenge of finding a real, durable, regional solution to the problem of people being forced to flee their homelands will remain unresolved.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/neither-partys-policy-offers-a-real-solution-20130816-2s28j.html
===
Scott Morrison to seek to reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas for refugees
Updated Sun 22 Jun 2014, 11:01pm AEST
The Federal Government will seek to restore Temporary Protection Visas for refugees after the High Court rejected its current policy of restricting the number of permanent visas available.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison capped the number of permanent visas at 2,773 per year after the Senate blocked the Government's attempts to re-introduce TPVs.
Mr Morrison says the Government will again seek to re-introduce the Howard-era TPVs because it is what the public wants.
"The High Court decision was not unexpected and the contingencies have been in place to deal with the next phase," he said.
---
Inside Zaatari refugee camp
Foreign Correspondent's Sophie McNeill goes inside Syrian refugee
camp Zaatari, one of the world's largest refugee safe havens.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-10/inside-zaatari-one-of-worlds-largest-refugee-camps/5506792
---
"The easiest way for this to be done is for the Greens and Labor to stop blocking the mandate that this Government received at the last election and to support the Temporary Protection Visas that Australians voted for."
The move will have to pass a new-look Senate, with the balance of power in the Upper House set to change next month.
TPVs allow refugees to stay in Australia for three years before facing a review of their refugee status.
The Greens and refugee advocacy groups argue against TPVs, saying the uncertainty associated with temporary visas can contribute to ongoing mental health problems.
The High Court ruling followed separate applications to the court from two asylum seekers - an Ethiopian boy and a Pakistani man - who were found to be refugees but denied visas because of the cap.
It found the Minister did not have the power to limit the number of visas issued within a specific financial year, and ordered Mr Morrison reconsider the asylum seekers' applications for protection.
Mr Morrison says the Government can do that while maintaining its policy stance, but he is refusing to say how.
"The Australian Government's policy has not changed. No-one who has come illegally to Australia by boat will get a permanent visa from this Government," he said.
Melbourne rally calls for end to offshore processing
Meanwhile, about 1,000 people gathered in Melbourne's CBD on Sunday to protest against Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and to call for an end to offshore processing.
Protesters carried signs with pictures of Leo Semanpillai, a Tamil asylum seeker on a bridging visa, who died of self-inflicted burns earlier this month.
---
Photo: The protest called for mercy for asylum seekers and fair processing of their applications. (ABC News)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-22/women-with-sign-at-melbourne-refugee-rally/5541988
---
The protesters marched through the city centre chanting: "We won't stop until we free refugees."
Refugee advocate and nun Brigid Arthur told the crowd that Australia's policies amounted to torture.
"When a nation determines it is acceptable for children to be incarcerated, then that nation needs to start questioning what it means," she said.
Mr Morrison told Parliament earlier this month that the number of children in detention was fewer than 1,000 and had fallen by a third since the election.
Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt called for faster processing of asylum seeker claims.
"Lets process people's claims efficiently, quickly and fairly," he said.
"Instead of locking people up in island prisons, where it seems that under this Government's watch someone can be beaten to death with impunity, let's welcome people into the community and process them here."
.. note there is a bit on the High Court decision inside bottom ..
First posted Sun 22 Jun 2014, 8:23am AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-22/morrison-to-seek-to-reintroduce-tpvs-for-refugees/5541576
===
What’s a bridging visa?
Amber Jamieson | Oct 14, 2011 1:05PM
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/10/14/crikey-clarifier-whats-a-bridging-visa/
See also:
Zaatari refugee camp here, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=91504425
Australia trafficks and abuses asylum seeker children
Date February 25, 2014
Linda Briskman and Chris Goddard
In transporting imprisoned children over national borders, Canberra is not only involved in trafficking but also exposing them to more abuse.
Illustration: Andrew Dyson
In the heated debates about asylum seekers, including the tragic death of Reza Berati on Manus Island, there is one group that is always forgotten: children. Ten years ago we lamented the fact that there were about 100 children held in Australia's immigration detention prisons, arguing that those children were subject to ''organised'' and ''ritualised'' abuse by the Australian government.
We used the term ''ritualised abuse'' to explain that the children were subject to formal and repeated acts of abuse, carried out under a belief system that the government adopted to justify such cruelty. We used the term ''organised abuse'' to illustrate that children were being abused by many perpetrators who acted together in ways they knew could be extremely harmful.
Ten years later, there are 10 times as many children subject to this organised, ritualised practice on the Australian mainland, Christmas Island and Nauru. Children without parents, dismissively referred to as ''unaccompanied minors'', are now joining transported families with children on Nauru.
As the abuse has markedly increased, we have further refined our definition to incorporate ''commercialised trafficking'' in children. Australia is now trafficking more children across national borders, defying UN protocols of trafficking in persons. As the tragic events on Manus Island unfolded, there was barely a murmur about what was occurring in the second offshore imprisonment site of Nauru, with 10 unaccompanied children forcibly sent there from Christmas Island; more have now followed. Through deliberately misleading and confusing terminology, these trafficked children are described in various ways; ''transferees'' and ''illegals'' are being sent to ''secure'' detention sites, rather than to imprisonment.
According to a definition found through the UNICEF website, based on engagements with international agencies, ''A child has been trafficked if he or she has been moved within a country, or across borders, whether by force or not, with the purpose of exploiting the child''. Among the factors that render a trafficked child vulnerable, according to this definition, are that they ''cannot speak the language, are disadvantaged by their legal status, suffer a lack of access to basic services (such as education and healthcare), or do not know the environment''. All these apply to children we have trafficked to Nauru.
There is more. All those who contribute to this movement of children, and know what they do is likely to lead to child exploitation, are themselves traffickers. They include ''recruiters, intermediaries, document providers, transporters, corrupt officials, employers and exploiters''.
''Duty of care'' and ''risk management'' are terms familiar to Australians. Sending children to Nauru is a serious abrogation of duty of care and poses untold risks to unaccompanied children. Riots and fires on Nauru last year, and recent events on Manus Island, starkly reveal the impact of locking up innocent people and taking away all hopes and rights. For children to witness such events, sometimes without the protection of a parent, increases the well-documented harm that results from being locked up for indeterminate periods.
Imprisoned children's voices are haunting. In Human Rights Overboard we recounted narratives about so many childhoods lost. One boy who was 11 when detained on Nauru told us: ''I felt my childhood was being washed away by detention. It's like watching an R-rated movie you are not supposed to watch. It included sexual content, very coarse language, violence, suicide and every horrible experience that you can imagine. Children experienced the grown up world when they are not ready for it.''
Last December a well-known non-government organisation advertised for an ''Unaccompanied Minor Manager'' on Nauru, specifying that a key objective would be to ''reduce the risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation or harm to unaccompanied minors''. A noble statement, but given the remote location, the tensions and children's past experiences, such a goal is not achievable.
In 1992, in his renowned Redfern speech, Paul Keating referred to indigenous stolen children and spoke of our failure to imagine such things happening to us. Ironically, it was Keating's government that introduced mandatory detention of asylum seekers. Our national cruelty continues as we fail to imagine what it would be like if our own children were harshly imprisoned without cause, without limit and without hope.
In effect, the government is moving children for profit, exactly what they accuse people smugglers of doing. The profit is not only financial for the range of stakeholders, but unashamedly political. Those colluding with exploitation of children for political and financial gain include government departments, ground and air transport personnel, private security companies and ''humanitarian'' organisations. In this tangled web, ritualised abuse of children is shrouded by the shrill, simplistic message of Stop the Boats, unconscionably punishing these children to deter others.
In 2004, the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention found children held in these facilities ''had suffered numerous and repeated breaches of their human rights''. The inquiry found that our detention policies ''failed to protect the mental health of children, failed to provide adequate healthcare and education and failed to protect unaccompanied children and those with disabilities''.
Such are the continuing concerns that the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, announced on February 3 that she is leading another inquiry, 10 years later.
During the past 10 years, there were occasions when we foolishly hoped that children would be freed. Not only were these hopes dashed, but imprisoning asylum seeker children increased in scale, intensity and cruelty. This cruel punishment has become less unusual.
We live in a vast and wealthy nation ''with boundless plains to share''. We can afford to be fair. Unless we reverse this blight on our nation, children's anguish will continue to shame us.
How many more childhoods will be washed away while children remain imprisoned?
Linda Briskman is professor of human rights at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research at Swinburne University of Technology.
Chris Goddard is adjunct professor, Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia, at Monash University. Their book, with Susie Latham,
Human Rights Overboard: Seeking asylum in Australia, won the Australian Human Rights Commission award for non-fiction in 2008.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/australia-trafficks-and-abuses-asylum-seeker-children-20140224-33cxs.html
.. sadly, evidence is that Australia keeps refugee children in detention, in breach
of international laws, longer then ALL other Western industrialized nations ..
See also:
3Saints, 13 facts that help explain America's child-migrant crisis
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=103925899
High Court rules against Scott Morrison's refugee protection visa cap
Date June 20, 2014
Michael Gordon
Political editor, The Age
[interactive image inside]
Number of displaced people worldwide exceeds 50 million: UN report .. the one this replies to ..
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/number-of-displaced-people-worldwide-exceeds-50-million-un-report-20140620-3aizd.html
The High Court has issued a stunning rebuke to the Abbott government's border protection policy, striking down its decision to refuse to give refugees who arrive by boat permanent protection visas.
In two unanimous decisions, with implications for thousands of boats arrivals, the full court ruled that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison's decision to impose a cap on the number of places in Australia's refugee intake for boat arrivals was invalid.
David Manne led the legal team that took action against the government's cap on refugee intake. Photo: Paul Rovere
The government's determination to deny permanent protection visas will now rest with the Senate, where the Palmer United Party will control the balance of power from next month.
Advertisement
The party's leader, Clive Palmer, has spoken out strongly in support of refugees, but told Fairfax Media the party would study the High Court judgment and any decision on allowing temporary protection visas would be made by his party room.
Mr Morrison re-imposed the refugee intake cap in March after the Senate voted down his attempt to re-introduce temporary protection visas (TPVs) for boat arrivals, declaring that the Coalition would "not give an inch when it comes to protecting our borders".
He vowed then to take "every step necessary to ensure that people who arrive illegally by boat are not rewarded with permanent visas". Mr Morrison, who has presided as minister over six months without a boat arrival, was travelling when the judgment was handed down and was unavailable for comment.
His March decision effectively imposed a freeze on the grant of permanent protection visas to about 1400 asylum seekers who had already been found to be refugees and has implications for many thousands more whose claims have not yet been decided.
"This is a very significant victory for the rule of law being brought to bear on the plight of refugees in our country," said lawyer David Manne, who led the legal team representing an Ethiopian teenager who arrived in Australia without a visa last year, after stowing away on a cargo ship.
A second decision upheld a challenge on behalf of a Pakistani national who arrived by boat at Christmas Island in 2012.
In both cases, the court ordered Mr Morrison as minister to consider and determine the asylum seekers' applications for a protection visa according the law as it stands.
Labor and the Greens welcomed the decision, with Labor's immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, saying: "Putting a freeze on the issuing of protection visas just because the Senate rejected the government's TPVs was always an act of petulance which caused great misery."
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young described the ruling as "a win for fairness and decency", saying: "The court has ruled that the Abbott government's cruelty for cruelty sake is illegal. This decision will allow refugees to start rebuilding their lives here in Australia."
Sister Brigid Arthur, who acted as "litigation guardian" for the Ethiopian boy, said it was "very good that he will now have some certainty about his future".
Mr Manne, who also led the legal team that successfully challenged the Labor government's "Malaysian solution", said the latest decision had "potentially major implications" for thousands of refugees who arrived by boat.
"The law of Australia is that there is only one protection visa, and that's a permanent protection visa for refugees. What this means is that the government must get on with the grant of a visa which our client is entitled to as a refugee," he said.
He said the life of the boy had been in limbo since Mr Morrison imposed the freeze.
In their written judgment, justices Hayne and Kiefel said they had taken into account the consequences for the detention of those who came unlawfully and the time limits for determining protection visas.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/high-court-rules-against-scott-morrisons-refugee-protection-visa-cap-20140620-3ajpx.html
===
Abbott government faces backlash over race hate law changes
Date March 26, 2014
James Massola and Jonathan Swan
Attorney-General George Brandis. Photo: Andrew Meares
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is facing a storm of protest from religious and ethnic groups, human rights organisations and sections of his own backbench over sweeping changes to race hate laws that have pleased right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt.
Under changes proposed by Attorney-General George Brandis, Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful for someone to act in a manner likely to ''offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate'' someone because of their race or ethnicity, will be repealed.
Section 18D, which provides protections for freedom of speech, will also be removed and replaced by a new section in the act that removes the words ''offend, insult and humiliate'', leaves ''intimidate'' and adds the word ''vilify'' for the first time. Two further sections of the law would also be repealed, which include provisions that can make employers liable for race hate speech.
Mr Abbott argued on Tuesday the changes were designed to give the ''red light'' to bigotry and strengthen free speech protections in Australia, but several Liberal MPs, human rights lawyers and ethnic groups were concerned about a broad exemption contained in the discussion paper - which exempts words and images ''in public discussion of any political, social, cultural, religious,
''What the government is attempting to do, as carefully, as collegially and as consultatively as we can, is to get the balance right,'' Mr Abbott told Parliament on Tuesday.
''This is draft legislation which has gone out for consultation with the community. We think that the legislation gets the balance right.''
Liberal MPs Sarah Henderson and Jason Wood added their voices to growing concern among Coalition MPs during the government's party room meeting. Liberal MPs David Coleman and Craig Laundy, who represent electorates with a high proportion of multicultural constituents have previously signalled their concerns, as has indigenous MP Ken Wyatt.
Labor, the Greens and ethnic groups criticised Senator Brandis' ''public discussion'' exemption, while the Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs argued the exemption was ''so broad it is difficult to see any circumstances in public that these protections would apply''.
The commission will make a detailed submission and questioned why the ''intimidation'' provision would be limited to physical intimidation and would not cover psychological or emotional damage.
Labor's legal affairs spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, accused the government of giving a ''green light to bigotry'' and asked Mr Abbott to name a single community group that supported the changes.
Mr Abbott was unable to name a group but said: ''Let us see what various community organisations say in response to the exposure legislation.''
The changes would not pass through the current Senate and will struggle to get through the new Senate, which forms on July 1.
News Corp columnist Bolt, whose 2011 legal case prompted the changes, said he thought the Abbott government had done the right thing. The proposals, he said, should ''permit us to ban what is truly wicked while leaving us free to punish the rest with the safest sanction of all - our free speech''.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-government-faces-backlash-over-race-hate-law-changes-20140325-35gie.html
See also:
Abbott’s Ministry – One woman, no science, 12,000 jobs
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92119880
39 degrees - Sydney braces for its hottest October day on record [this excerpt is down a bit]
"The Climate Institute noted on Tuesday that if the Coalition wanted to reach even a 5 per cent reduction target, then it would have to rely on regulation, just like Barrack Obama.
But to get some idea on the Coalition’s position on regulation, it is worth recapping Abbott’s speech to the IPA’s 70th birthday party back in April, where he sat alongside Rupert Murdoch and Gina Rinehart, and other noted climate denialists like Bolt, Hugh Morgan, and Cardinal George Pell, and what Crikey described as .. http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/04/05/abbott-bolt-rinehart-fawn-in-the-ipa-court-of-king-murdoch/ .. a sea of “elderly Caucasian males.” He was joined by Corey Bernardi, Greg Hunt, George Brandis and Victorian Premier Dennis Napthine, Crikey reported.
Abbott’s praise was effusive: “The IPA, I want to say, has been freedom’s discerning friend. It has supported capitalism, but capitalism with a conscience. Not for the IPA, a single-minded dogmatism or opposition to all restraint; rather a sophisticated appreciation that freedom requires a social context and that much is expected from those to whom so much has been given. You’ve understood that freedom is both an end and a means; a good in itself, as well as necessary for full human flourishing. I particularly congratulate the IPA and its marvelous director, John Roskam, for your work in defence of Western civilisation.”"
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92857587
Number of displaced people worldwide exceeds 50 million: UN report
".. the content, of course, has relevance to refugee questions/ policies everywhere .. aside: i have mentioned before my personal position on the political debate in Australia re refugees is basically .. firstly, that the importance of the discussion within the political climate in Australia, in light of the very small numbers we are talking about compared to the United States and other countries, is that the importance of it here does not exactly place Australia as particularly generous nation on the refugee question .. secondly, no, i don't have a solution, just know which side of the debate i am most comfortable with .. "
Date June 20, 2014 - 4:57PM
Sarah Whyte and Inga Ting
[ excellent interactive inside ]
The number of refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people worldwide has exceeded 50 million for the first time since World War II, a United Nations report shows.
Against the backdrop of these figures, Australia's efforts to help alleviate the crisis have stagnated or worsened, with the country sliding backwards in the global rankings according to some measures.
Last year there were 51.2 million people displaced, six million more than in 2012.
Worsening conflicts in Syria, Central African Republic, and South Sudan contributed to major new displacements, the report said. Photo: AP/Gregorio Borgia
Worsening conflicts in Syria, Central African Republic, and South Sudan contributed to major new displacements, the report said.
The staggering figure reflects a continued and increasing demand for international protection throughout the year, the Global Trends report said.
Australia's refugee resettlement program was ranked second in the world in 2013, behind only the US and marginally ahead of Canada. These three countries hosted 90 per cent of resettled refugees in 2013.
However resettled refugees – those admitted through a UNHCR-co-ordinated program – account for less than four per cent of recognised refugees.
When ranked in terms of all refugees resettled and recognised last year, Australia's ranking drops to 17th, compared with a ranking of 10th in 2010, according to figures from the Refugee Council of Australia.
The result worsens when Australia's contribution is ranked by the number of refugees living here. Fewer than 0.3 per cent of the 11.7 million refugees under the UNHCR's mandate live in Australia, placing Australia 48th out of 187 countries. Our ranking slides even further when measured against the size of the population (62nd) and the country's wealth (74th).
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told an audience at the UNHCR-NGO consultations in Geneva this week that he was ''very concerned'' about Australia's offshore processing centres for asylum seekers and Australia should take the ultimate responsibility for people who arrive on its shores.
''Australia is a very strange situation,'' Mr Guterres said.
''It has the most successful resettlement program I can imagine and the community integration is excellent.
''The problem is when we discuss boats and there, of course, we enter into a very, very, very dramatic thing. I think it is a kind of collective sociological and psychological question.''
Australia received 16,000 applications for asylum (including 4200 applications to for decision review) in 2013, just under 0.5 per cent of the 3.6 million applications lodged worldwide and a sharp decrease from the 1.04 per cent share of applications received in 2010.
This placed Australia 30th for the number of asylum applications received in 2013 and 66th when applications were measured against the size of each country’s population, according to figures from the Refugee Council of Australia.
Commemorating International Refugee Day on Friday, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said that Australia was meeting its international refugee obligations and doing its share of ''heavy lifting''.
He told reporters in Perth that 4000 places in Australia's humanitarian intake had been opened due to the government stopping the boats.
Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch, said it was no surprise that more and more people were making their way to Australia.
''This report shows that the entire world is facing a crisis of forced migration at a level never seen before due to persecution, conflict and human rights abuses,'' she said.
''While it's true Australia is comparatively generous when compared to other nations, at the same time, it doesn't have the same number of undocumented people that simply get absorbed into the population as happens in Europe, US and elsewhere," she said.
"Australia should be doing more to take its fair share."
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/number-of-displaced-people-worldwide-exceeds-50-million-un-report-20140620-3aizd.html
See also:
Hillary: Minors crossing border must be sent home .. well, Hillary did say some of them ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=103507945 .. and the one that replies to ..
Immigration Reform Can't Wait .. blink blink .. love Murdoch's "our", he has slotted right in .. and the bit about refugees paying ALL of their taxes ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=103510845
Climate Change, Migration, and Security in South Asia
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=102210428
Thai protesters defy ban on political gatherings to demonstrate against military coup
Australians protest Abbott budget .. Sydney, March in May: Thousands gather to protest budget
"You're a comedian": Vilma Ward tells Tony Abbott what she thinks of budget 2014
Tony Abbott Character Slam by Paul Keating
Christine Milne: I speak today for children
Nepal: Reported Incidents of Abduction/Kidnapping in 2013
08 May 2014
Map from UN Country Team in Nepal .. http://reliefweb.int/organization/unct-nepal ,
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nepal .. http://reliefweb.int/organization/un-rchc-nepal
Published on 26 Mar 2014 — View Original [larger] .. http://un.org.np/sites/default/files/Security-Incidents-Abduction-2013_v2.pdf
http://reliefweb.int/map/nepal/nepal-reported-incidents-abductionkidnapping-2013
====
Former air steward, two Nepal nationals get life in prison for kidnapping
Published: Friday June 7, 2013 MYT 10:46:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday July 17, 2013 MYT 10:56:17 AM
by nurbaiti hamdan
SHAH ALAM: Three men, including a former air steward, were sentenced to life in prison by a High Court here after they pleaded guilty to abducting a security company CEO two years ago.
C. Rudhra, 39, and Nepal nationals R. Roshan, 32, and T. Ramesh, 30, escaped the death penalty when Justice Abdul Alim Abdullah handed down a lifetime imprisonment sentence instead.
"The victim was not injured. The gold (ransom) has been recovered and returned to the victim's family," said the judge prior to sentencing on Friday.
The men admitted to abducting A. Kanapathy, 66, at an alley next to Kedai Makanan Laut Pulau Ketam, Persiaran Raja Muda Musa, Port Klang in Klang at about 11.30am on March 7, 2011, with intention to obtain a ransom of 10kg in gold.
They were first charged at a Klang Magistrate's Court on March 22, 2011, and the case was subsequently transferred to the High Court.
The higher court then ruled there was a prima facie case against the men and ordered them to enter their defence where they gave statements from the dock.
However, they changed their plea and admitted guilt before the defence closed its case.
They apologised to the court for the crime, during mitigation.
In their statements during the trial, the court was told that Rudhra quit his job at a local airline company in 2011 before opening his security business.
Prior to the crime, Rudhra had hired Roshan to train four guard dogs while Ramesh worked at an eatery.
The court also heard that the victim was walking from a carpark to his office at Strikeforce Security Sdn Bhd when he was tasered by a man and bundled into a car.
One of the victim's family members threw a bag filled with gold over a bridge during the ransom drop-off.
The victim was released with his head covered and hands tied.
He managed to untie his hands and sought help at a petrol station.
A team of policemen captured the three men two days after the incident.
Rudhra was represented by lawyers Haresh Mahadevan and Ramzani Idris. Roshan was represented by lawyer Jayamurugan Vadivelu while Ramesh was represented by K. A. Ramu.
DPP Harris Ong Mohd Jeffrey Ong prosecuted.
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/06/07/Former-air-steward-two-Nepal-nationals-get-life-in-prison-for-kidnapping/
===
See also:
Two Germans kidnapped in Philippine waters, says Sabah police chief
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=101833094
Two Germans kidnapped in Philippine waters, says Sabah police chief
"The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has described attempts to link their guerillas to the kidnapping of a China tourist in Semporna on Wednesday as “black propaganda”.
MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza said they were not hostile.
He said in the past, MNLF have been instrumental in negotiating the release of several hostages in kidnapping incidents in Sulu, including a tourist who was kidnapped in Sipadan, Sabah a few years ago.
MNLF is helmed by Nur Misuari. Its breakaway Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was involved in the recent inking of a peace pact with Manila. MNLF was left out.
MNLF, MILF and Abu Sayyaf are islamic groups marauding in Mindanao. "
Published: Thursday May 8, 2014 MYT 4:05:00 PM
Updated: Thursday May 8, 2014 MYT 9:02:02 PM
by muguntan vanar
KOTA KINABALU: Two Germans who were found missing from their yacht were reportedly taken by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in waters off southern Philippines.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib said the alleged kidnapping occurred in Palawan waters and not Sabah’s northern Kudat as claimed by some reports.
"It has nothing to do with Sabah," he said.
Dr Stefan Viktor Okonek, 72, and Henrite Dielen, 42, who were island-hopping in the Mindanao area was found missing from their yacht in the seas near Palawan area that neighbours Sabah’s northern Kudat.
There are suspicions that they were taken by Abu Sayyaf extremists to Jolo.
Philippines Armed Forces Western Command chief Lt Gen Roy Deveraturda had said that the Germans left Palawan on April 25 and were visiting islands in Mindanao before going to Sabah.
"Their yacht has been recovered and no one has come forward to claim responsibility," he said, adding that the Germans were listed as missing until further information as to there whereabouts are available.
A peace advocate, Prof Octavio Dinampo, of the Mindanao State University in Sulu has claimed that the two Germans were being held in Jolo together with Chinese tourist Gao Hua Yuan, 29 and resort worker Marcy Darawan, 40, who were taken from the Singamata Resort in Semporna on April 2.
Dinampo said he was not sure if the latest victim, fish farm manager Yang Zai Lin, 34, from China, who was kidnapped off Lahad Datu on Tuesday had arrived in Jolo based on reports given to him by his sources on the island.
Related articles:
Is the hand of Misuari behind spate of kidnappings?
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/08/Is-the-hand-of-Misuari-behind-spate-of-kidnappings
Gunmen fluent in Malay, says farm worker
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/08/Gunmen-fluent-in-Malay-says-farm-worker
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/08/sabah-kidnap-germans-taken-from-philippine-waters/
====
'Kidnapping a cottage industry in poverty-stricken Sulu'
Published: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 10:49:36 AM
SULU: The hinterland of Jolo island is a terrorist stronghold which even the marines cannot penetrate, according to a source from the Philippines National Police (PNP) anti-kidnapping group.
“Civilians will text the Abu Sayyaf if they spot the marines. Some troops end up being killed in an ambush.
“Sabah is a soft target. It is near Tawi-Tawi islands and there are many vulnerable resorts in Semporna,” said the PNP anti-kidnapping group source.
According to Father Romeo P. Villanueva, who heads a human rights NGO called Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation, Semporna is a target for the Sulu kidnappers because of its proximity to Jolo island.
“They can easily cross the border,” said Father Romeo, who is a Catholic priest based in Jolo town. “They know that Malaysia is not secure.”
Jolo island was also lawless, said Father Romeo. “If the security forces neutralise them in Sulu, they would not be able to do cross-border kidnapping,” he said.
Kidnapping, the priest noted, had become a cottage industry in poverty-stricken Sulu, which is the poorest province in The Philippines.
An Armed Forces of The Philippines intelligence officer described kidnapping as a big business.
“After the Sipadan hostages were released, it rained dollars in Sulu. That was how big the ransom was,” said the CEO of Assist Jolo, Octavio A. Dinampo, who lives in Jolo island.
Some Sulu politicians, Dinampo alleged, also sponsored kidnapping operations.
“Each time they lose in an election, they regain campaign expenses by organising kidnappings,” he said. “Some politicians organise kidnappings in Jolo island to make their winning rival look bad.”
Whenever there was a kidnapping in Semporna, Sulu province would get a bad name as the media would report that the hostage was held in Jolo island, noted Sulu provincial police director Orbita.
“Sometimes, it is true but not all the time,” he said. “Sometimes the hostage is kept somewhere else and when the ransom negotiation is complete, they will release the victim in Jolo island.”
Orbita said there were islands outside Sulu province that were ideal for holding hostages.
Related stories:
Game of smoke and mirrors in kidnap isle
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/04/Game-of-smoke-and-mirrors-in-kidnap-isle
Where kidnapping is a lucrative industry
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/04/Where-kidnapping-is-a-lucrative-industry
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/04/Kidnapping-a-cottage-industry-in-povertystricken-Sulu/
.. why is it called kidnapping when adults are kidnapped, too? .. just napping doesn't
fit at all .. how about humanapping? .. though it sure isn't funny, 'huma' still fits ..
oh .. Sulu?? .. just off the northern tip of Malaysia ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92082975
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