Here in Australia, we need to know when our political leaders met key figures in the Murdoch empire (and other media players) and why they met: The extraordinary access that Cabinet ministers granted Rupert Murdoch and his children was revealed for the first time yesterday, with more than two dozen private meetings between the family…
Showing all posts tagged Julia Gillard
ABCTV News24 on massacre in Norway and refugee swap with Malaysia
I appeared on ABCTV News 24’s The Drum last night (video here) talking refugees and the mass killings in Norway. I argued that the Australian government’s refugee swap deal with Malaysia was nothing more than an attempted political fix to allow Julia Gillard to say she’s stopped the boats. But the human rights conditions in…
Questions about Australian union support for Palestine a smokescreen
My following investigation appears in Online Opinion: Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA… does essential work in many corners of the globe. But its focus in Palestine has caused the local Israel lobby to pressure the Australian government to sever ties to the group. This isn’t likely but once again highlights the aim of the Zionist mainstream…
ABCTV News24 on climate change and Gaza flotilla 2
Last night I was on ABCTV News24’s The Drum (video here) talking climate change policy and the Gaza flotilla. I argued that dwindling public support for real action on climate change was because too many of its backers refused to seriously engage with the general public and denigrated opponents. Labeling “deniers” akin to Holocaust deniers…
Gaza flotilla 2 set to sail and Australians are involved
The following statement was released yesterday: On the eve of first anniversary of the deadly Israeli attack on the 2010 international Flotilla to break the siege of Gaza, Australian participants reiterated their determination to join the second Flotilla, which will set sail for Gaza at the end of June. “We welcome Egyptian moves to partially…
The West has much to learn post Bin Laden death
My following article appears in today’s ABC’s The Drum: The triumphalism after the American targeted assassination of Osama bin Laden is a sure sign that the US is incapable of understanding the significance of the painful years since September 11. We suffered and now you must, too. “I’ve never been so excited to see the…
What a real political party does; enforce human rights norms in Palestine
Following the circus of Sydney’s Marrickville council and its (brief) embrace of Palestinian rights through BDS, major questions remain; what will it take for a major political party, such as the Greens, to place human rights at the centre of its being? What excuses will be made to avoid this? And what “red lines” will…
ABCTV News24 on human rights in China, Gitmo torture and Sri Lankan war crimes
I appeared last night on ABCTV News 24’s The Drum alongside ABC journalist Marius Benson and lobbyist Sue Cato (video here). While China, we learn via Wikileaks, ignores Australia’s supposed concerns for human rights, I asked if Prime Minister Julia Gillard actually cared about human rights as there had been no public comments from her…
How Wikileaks has opened our eyes to the world
My following review appeared in this week’s Sydney Sun Herald: Underground Suelette Dreyfus and Julian Assange (Random House, $24.95) Inside Wikileaks Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Scribe, $29.95) During a rare public appearance in March, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told a packed audience at Cambridge University that the internet is the “greatest spying machine the world has ever…
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…