Just after becoming prime minister, Julia Gillard told media on June 24 she could understand 鈥渢he anxiety and indeed fears that Australians have when they see [refugee] boats鈥. She did not cite evidence for this claim. She said that, as PM, she would explain to the Australian people 鈥渨hat we are doing to manage our borders and what we are doing to manage asylum seeker flows鈥.
843
A Short Border Handbook
By Gazmend Kapllani
Portobello Books 2009
159 pages
Review by Alex Miller
This book, which the author describes as 鈥減art autobiography, part fiction鈥, is hard to assess. Each chapter is divided into two parts. The first part tells the story of a man (presumably Kapllani himself) who crosses into Greece from Albania when the border between those two countries opened in 1991. The second part consists of 鈥減hilosophical鈥 ruminations on issues raised by the story of the first part.
South Australian independent Bob Such announced on June 28 he would introduce a private member's bill into the state parliament that would, in effect, ban the wearing of the burqa or the niqab in banks and government buildings.
Such claimed his bill would not be discriminatory and would target any face covering where security might be a concern. However, all his public statements have specifically raised the burqa and its possible use in criminal activity.
Multicultural affairs minister Grace Portolesi said SA police have said they have no such concerns about the burqa.
The ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the April 20 explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig has exposed the obscene behaviour of the world鈥檚 fourth-largest corporation, British Petroleum (BP).
Evidence has come from many sources revealing BP was aware of safety concerns, but did nothing about them.
Eighty people gathered at the State School Teachers Union offices in Perth for the Socialist Ideas Conference over the weekend of June 26-27. Speakers included Jeyakumar Devaraj, Socialist Party of Malaysia MP, and Richard Downs, spokesperson for the Alyawarr People's Walk-off in the Northern Territory.
On July 2, 100 people rallied at St Georges Terrace in response to the Western Australian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)鈥檚 decision not to lay criminal charges against the two guards involved in the death of Mr Ward.
The emergency action was called by the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee and was addressed by Marianne Mackay and Marc Newhouse from DICWC.
Some wore T-shirts that read: 鈥淲hat Eddie Mabo was to Native Title, let Mr Ward be to the justice system.鈥
Pip Hinman is running in the Australian federal election 2010 for the lower house seat of Grayndler.
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