Refugees I
What better way to tap into the minds of Big Brother TV fans than to highlight reality living such as refugees in mandatory detention. With World Refugee Day being celebrated on June 20, the timing of this courageous action couldn't have worked out better.
All we need now is for the Australian government to see the light and to welcome the "Flotillas of Hope" into Nauru waters to see refugees. For more information visit .
Sean Marler
Annerley, Qld
Refugees II
Senator Vanstone, in answer to a question by Senator Bartlett concerning the punishment regime instituted in Red 1 compound at Baxter Detention Centre, said: "This is probably one of the most scrutinised commonwealth programs in existence. People who have any concern about it have access to a range of complaints if they think there is a justifiable complaint they want to make. They can do that through their legal advisers, the Red Cross, the UNHCR, the commonwealth ombudsman and the human rights commission."
Red I compound is the punishment block at Baxter where people are taken after days or weeks in solitary cells in the Management Unit. As to scrutiny, none of the agencies listed by Vanstone have any power to act other than to make recommendations which are not legally binding. The Red Cross, as we have seen in reference to the atrocities committed at Abu Ghraib, is bound by confidentiality arrangements with governments to maintain secrecy. The UNHCR and the ombudsman's office have similar strictures. The Human Rights Commission has made recommendations and these have been routinely ignored or criticised by the department.
Asylum seekers must have the right to have their complaints dealt with properly. At present, neither the state police nor the Federal Police will investigate complaints from detainees. The only charges ever laid were at the insistence of a Woomera doctor, against three guards who were alleged to have assaulted a child. None showed for two court appearances and at the third appearances charges were dropped against two of the guards for testifying against the third guard who had decamped to New Zealand.
The minister cannot claim that there is transparent scrutiny of the treatment of people in detention until journalists and lawyers have open access to these areas and the freedom to speak to the people detained there.
Pamela Curr
Brunswick, Vic
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Peter Garrett
So, apparently, the Pine Gap spy base isn't bad after all. Its information-gathering and weapons targeting role is integral to the US project for world domination. But, hey, that's not the issue now. Don't worry about it. Chill out. Buy a CD by a liberal protest band.
With the well-worn, condescending mantra of "I've grown up, and I'm wiser, now. I know how the world really is" — that so many committed activists will have been on the receiving end of — Peter Garrett has set us all straight.
For anyone who is surprised or shocked by Garrett's actions, I'd suggest they cast an eye over his career, particularly his central role in the destruction of the Nuclear Disarmament Party as a potential political force. It's also a lesson in the folly of relying on stars and liberal institutions, no matter their desire or intentions, to fundamentally change a corrupt system that they, in the end, depend upon for their existence.
To the "change from the inside" crowd — those politically naive enough to think that Garrett's involvement in the ALP will seriously benefit the environment, Indigenous people, or the interests of social justice — a cursory look over the history of the ALP will set you straight. Nothing will change. Except, maybe, Peter Garrett's income, superannuation and travel benefits, of course.
At least the ALP has significantly redressed the ego deficit it's been carrying since Bob Hawke exited federal politics so gracefully.
Leslie Richmond
Frewville, SA [Abridged]
Labor backflip
In an appalling backflip, Labor has exposed the sick and weak to costs of between $24 per month for pensioners and $143 per month for the rest. As a GP I am aware of how hard it is for families to meet these costs.
The real concern is that recent government advertising has implied that families will only have to pay $300 for medical care. That is true but what the TV advertising does not say is that there is a separate pharmaceutical safety net of $726.80 for those not on a health-care card. This safety net may be raised unless Labor joins the Greens in the Senate and opposes these rises.
Raising the cost to pensioners means that they will have to spend up to 9% of their income on medicines whereas those of us lucky enough to have job will only spend 1-2 %. This is hardly a fair or compassionate society.
Dr Colin Hughes
Glen Forrest, WA [Abridged]
Lib-Labs
When are the Liberal and Labor parties going to merge? Just think of the benefits. There would no longer be any need for people to get worked up about what are really only minor differences between the parties.
Wasteful duplication could be eliminated and economies of scale achieved. Millions could be saved on political advertising. Indeed, we could even do away with elections.
With twice the talent (if that's the right word) in the one big party, we'd have twice the chance of getting a decent minister in any given portfolio.
If, by any chance, there were any residual differences of opinion within the United Conservative Party these could easily be handled within a system of factions.
They've "rationalised" the economy. Surely it's time to rationalise politics and end the one-policy, but two-party, charade.
Brent Howard
Rydalmere, NSW
Correction
I would like to correct a sentence which appeared in GLW #585 on June 9 in my article "Jack Roche: Terrorist or scapegoat for ASIO failures?"
The relevant passage referred to the point that far from being some sort of mastermind terrorist, Roche had tried to cooperate with the police and ASIO as much as possible. The article quoted his defence lawyer, Hylton Quail, as saying that the information provided by Roche had helped lead to the arrests of Bali bomb suspect Hambali and alleged 9/11 "mastermind" Mukhtar. The paragraph then finishes: "This claim was denied by prosecutors."
This statement is not quite correct and the mistake arose because of a general misreporting by the corporate press of what happened at the trial. The June 1 Sydney Morning Herald, for example, reported that "crown prosecutor Ron Davies, QC, rejected Roche's belief that his assistance had contributed to the arrests of alleged Bali mastermind Hambali and suspected September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, also known as Mukhtar". What Davies actually said was: "The proposition that the information that he [Jack Roche] gave in the record of interview [to the Australian Federal Police] and to ASIO has had a substantial effect leading to the detection or the apprehension of Hambali and Mukhtar (they being all along in their places of apparent or almost safe refuge) is without support in the materials [before the court], your honour. It might be thought to be drawing a very long bow..."
In the careful wording of court submissions, Davies' remarks are not a formal denial of the claim by the defence that Roche gave the AFP and ASIO invaluable information which led to the arrests of Hambali and Mukhtar.
Dale Mills
Sydney
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, June 30, 2004.
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