Last night’s large event in Sydney to support the right of Wikileaks to publish material was a huge success. Thousands turned up to hear speakers chastise the Australian government for shamefully bowing down to America’s wishes over Julian Assange. Wikileaks enjoys majority community support: A high-profile human rights lawyer claims Julian Assange’s only crime is…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
Australian Greens candidate faces abuse and lies over backing Israel sanction
My following story appears in today’s edition of Crikey: Soon after Sydney’s Marrickville council announced in December to embrace boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel to force the Jewish state to abide by international law”‰—”‰… Greens and Labor councillors supported the move”‰—”‰federal Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese entered the debate. In a news story in…
Next move in Australia; Serco guards carrying deadly weapons?
This is the state of human rights against faceless asylum seekers in Australia. Justified frustration, after months and years of waiting for decisions, is met with violence. And under-staffed Serco are the battering rams of the failed policy? From yesterday’s ABC’s The World Today: BRENDAN TREMBATH: Refugee advocates and the Greens say they’re horrified that…
Who says BDS isn’t working against Israel?
Example one: The Israeli security firm Hashmira, which is owned by the Danish concern G4S, announced last weekend it will stop providing equipment to security installations over the Green Line. The move comes in the wake of public pressure in Denmark following a report from the Coalition of Women for Peace, which runs the “Who…
Don’t trust the Australian government with Wikileaks
Why would we? Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is believed to have been tipped off more than seven months ago about Australian intelligence scrutiny of his whistleblowing activities. Senior government ministers yesterday claimed to have no knowledge of co-operation between Australian intelligence agencies and the United States government concerning Assange after WikiLeaks began publishing thousands of…
Australia must take action against Sri Lanka war criminals
While most Australian journalists dutifully followed Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard around the US recently – remind me why so many hacks travel there and do nothing but report on press conferences and fawning speeches in Congress? – Inner City Press at the UN in New York asks real questions: Sri Lankan citizen Palitha Kohona…
What I’m hearing about Christmas Island chaos
This last weekend saw a large break-out at Australia’s Christmas Island detention facilities. The federal government acknowledges tear gas was used to quell the protests. Thousands of asylum seekers languish for months and often longer with no indication when their cases may be resolved. It’s a prison camp designed to punish those seeking asylum. My…
Warning, NSW: companies like Serco aren’t your real friends
My following story appears in today’s edition of Crikey: The New South Wales election is weeks away and privatisation is a key issue of concern for voters. Liberal opposition leader Barry O’Farrell, the likely next premier, leads a team that openly talks about restructuring the ways in which public assets could be sold. It’s possible…
Serco will keep failing because the system is broken in Australia
As more asylum seekers are crying for help on Australia’s Christmas Island – locked up for months on a remote island – all the federal government talks about is fining Serco: The federal government will take action against detention centre service provider Serco if it has breached any part of its contract following two breakouts…
Australia happy to do America’s bidding over Wikileaks
Let’s not be surprised with this revelation: The Australian government discussed the charge of treason – the most serious of federal offences and one that carries a mandatory life sentence – when it examined the WikiLeaks matter last year. The advice, in a departmental briefing for the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, was among several documents published…