Yet more misery in Australia caused by a privatised detention centre. Another report that will certainly not cause the Federal government to find a way to ditch Serco for its continually poor performance and standards (via the Australian): A NSW coroner has slammed the immigration department and two private contractors for failing in their duty…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
A letter to the Australian government in support of Julian Assange
I’m proud to sign this letter: This is an open letter to Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon. It calls on the Australian government to take steps to ensure Julian Assange’s human rights are protected. It will be delivered on 19 December 2011, but we encourage members of the public to sign the…
United Nations should regulate people smuggling industry?
Australian human rights organisation Project Safecom releases a timely and important press release today that won’t receive the serious consideration it deserves: “Ultimately the United Nations has no choice but to regulate the international informal travel broker industry in order to minimise deaths at sea and in order to separate fly-by-night opportunistic profiteers from the…
This is how Western forces gather “intelligence”
Human Terrain Systems is the term with private companies increasingly hired by the US army (and Australia) to use anthropologists and other related fields to gather “intelligence” in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. 21st century warfare (privatised, of course): More about this film here.
Supporting BDS and Palestinian rights as a Jew
An open and frank debate about BDS against Israel in Australia is long overdue. Crikey blog This Blog Harms invited five people to write 1000 words on the issue. This is my contribution: The logic of… boycott, divestment and sanctions… (BDS) didn’t appear to me immediately. When my first book,… My Israel Question, was released in 2006, the…
Australia and Israeli share the values of embracing occupation and racism?
The American Jewish establishment cares little about Palestinians and prefers to talk about easy access to Zionist paradise. Some, like Peter Beinart, recognise the crisis and the effect of a decades-old Israeli occupation. Rather bad for the Zionist brand. But not to worry, Australia’s Prime Minister sails on regardless, giving the same talking points that…
Talking about CSG connection to exploiters Halliburton
This is an interesting story in yesterday’s Murdoch Australian that reveals the role of multinationals such as Halliburton in Australia: Former coal-seam gas mechanical technician Roy Michie, who spent eight years working fracking wells across Australia, claims the industry is dominated by “cowboys” who are subject to substandard regulation. Mr Michie, who worked for US…
Palestine burns while Australian politicians fiddle in darkened rooms
“Moderate Greens” must be so pleased that Murdoch’s Australian is praising their stance to not fully embrace BDS against Israel: Moderate Greens in NSW have welcomed the party’s decision to ditch its official support for the “destructive” international campaign to isolate Israel. A meeting of the NSW Greens state council on Sunday resolved to rescind…
Memo to NSW Greens; Palestine needs your full support now
After a year of unprecedented Zionist assaults on democracy in Palestine and Israel itself, the NSW Greens capitulate to intense Murdoch media pressure and internal conservatism to back down from fully supporting BDS. News flash to the party: apartheid in Palestine isn’t going anywhere and avoiding a key human rights issue only makes you look…
Serco-run prison on isolated Australian island
My following investigation appeared in Crikey this week: It was a Saturday night community event and could have been in any small Australian town. A fund-raiser was being held for the Thai floods victims and proceedings began with local boys and girls playing short classical pieces on an electric piano. The room was colourful with…