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Project SafeCom News and Updates 11 October 2005
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Project SafeCom
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Nov 10, 2005 15:52 PST
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Project SafeCom News and Updates 11 October 2005
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¤ - In this Edition - ¤
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1. This Newsletter: Terror Laws News Coverage
2. Police just flexing their muscles: cleric
3. Website News: The Terror Laws Pages
4. Tony Kevin's SIEV X 4th Anniversary Speech
5. Carmen Lawrence's Freilich Foundation lectures
6. Telstra 'worst privacy invader'
7. Four detainees hospitalised amid hunger strike protest
8. End hunger strike, Vanstone urges
9. Boat people arrivals first in two years
10. Boat people 'not asylum seekers'
11. No welcome for 'asylum-seekers'
12. Indonesian detainees being held in Darwin
13. Call for independent assessment of detainees
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-|| This is the Project SafeCom Newsletter - also published
-|| as the RAC-VIC Newsletter (Racvicnews) since July 2004 by agreement
-|| with RAC Victoria, which endorsed that their news service be
-|| managed by Project SafeCom. More information about us below.
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==================================
1. This Newsletter: Terror Laws News Coverage
==================================
Project SafeCom note
11 November 2005
Coverage of Anti-terrrorism Legislation news items in this newsletter will
be limited to eclectic articles and opinion. Full coverage is provided on a
daily basis through Margo Kingston's Webdiary's excellent section on this
issue. Please check at
http://margokingston.typepad.com/harry_version_2/antiterrorism_law_archives/index.html
The central page at the Project SafeCom website for Anti-terrrorism
Legislation and civil action, including a "What you can do" section is here:
http://www.safecom.org.au/terrorlaws.htm
The section is rapidly expanding!
==============================
2. Police just flexing their muscles: cleric
==============================
The Age
By Farah Farouque
November 11, 2005
The Age is compiling profiles of the individuals charged with terrorism
offences. If you have any information or photos please charges contact us.
CONTROVERSIAL Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohammed Omran has branded police raids
on alleged terrorists in Melbourne and Sydney as a "show-off exercise" and
a massive overreaction.
Sheikh Omran, whose Brunswick prayer hall was frequented by a number of the
accused, said the police had been determined "to show us they have the
muscles".
"Are they (the accused) Hercules or Rambo to bring 400 police in? It's a
joke," he told The Age."This is fashion today. If I want to (accuse)
someone, (I) can go to the phone and say 'he wants to be an al-Qaeda' and
you'll see hundreds of cars of police."
Some of the accused men had opinions that could be characterised as
"hardline, but only in their thoughts", he said. "In their thoughts, they
want to see this happen, they want to see that happen … They don't
understand the difference between what they read in the books and this is
because of the lack of knowledge and lack of training in real life."
Sheikh Omran said the men involved had been under constant police
surveillance and, if they had been wanted to commit violent acts, they
would have done so "a long time ago".
"The federal police have investigated them once, twice, three times … they
know them better even than their parents know them," he said.
"What secret cell is this? If they were a secret cell, why were they
released in the first place (when police) went to their houses and raided
their houses months ago?"
Sheikh Omran confirmed he was well acquainted with the youngest accused,
Abdulla Merhi, 20, of Fawkner, whom police allege had been willing to
become a suicide bomber to advance the group's cause.
"That's absolute rubbish. He's not that type of person," Sheikh Omran said.
"If he wanted to be a suicide bomber, what stopped him? If he was a suicide
bomber, why would he wait for the police?"
Co-accused Amer Haddara, 26, also had a calm manner, he said, unlike some
of the other accused, who were "a little bit hardline".
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/police-just-flexing-their-muscles/2005/11/10/1131578172421.html
==============================
3. Website News: The Terror Laws Pages
==============================
Project SafeCom website
November 2005
10 November 2005: Decent Liberals and their terror fears - two of the most
interesting speeches in Parliament this week, and they're both from the
government bench -from two Liberal party members, Petro Georgiou MP, and
Steven Ciobo MP.
http://www.safecom.org.au/terrorlaws-speeches.htm
9 November 2005: The terror laws: What you can do - This page is a web-page
copy of the Anti-terrorism Legislation Action Kit distributed throughout
the networks shortly after the Perth Forum. The Kit is also downloadable
from this page as a PDF File.
http://www.safecom.org.au/terrorlaws-action.htm
8 November 2005: Senator Rachel Siewert: Terror Australis - within the
space of a few short months we are now experiencing a fundamental erosion
of our democracy and the Australian way of life. The scope of this change
is so large it is almost difficult to comprehend, and it is occurring
across a front so wide that effective opposition seems to be stymied.
http://www.safecom.org.au/terrorlawsforum3.htm
8 November 2005: Mark Cox LLB: Terrifying Democracy - Judges, lawyers,
academics, civil and professional organisations, respected individuals, and
wide sections of the Australian community, justifiably believe that the
Bill and related Federal "anti-terrorist" legislation enacted since 2002
seriously undermine...
http://www.safecom.org.au/terrorlawsforum2.htm
7 November 2005: Michael Sinclair-Jones: Risking a Totalitarian State - My
union believes the penalty aims to silence journalists, intimidate them
into submission, and will allow miscarriages of justice to go unquestioned
and - inevitably - unnoticed.
http://www.safecom.org.au/terrorlawsforum1.htm
1 November 2005: When the Terrorist Strikes ... resources for dissents with
Australia's new terror legislation - You may need to consider how you will
have to publicly declare your hand of overt dissent ... if these laws stand
as they are at the moment you may need to consider whether in your life a
case exists for undermining these laws.
http://www.safecom.org.au/terrorlaws.htm
==================================
4. Tony Kevin's SIEV X 4th Anniversary Speech
==================================
Project SafeCom website
November 2005
30 October 2005: Tony Kevin's SIEV X 4th Anniversary Speech - "All of us
who care - and there are many of us - can use our rights of free speech and
free enquiry, and free debate on the internet, to keep the questions about
SIEV X alive."
http://www.safecom.org.au/sievx-kevin05.htm
====================================
5. Carmen Lawrence's Freilich Foundation lectures
====================================
Project SafeCom website
November 2005
8 November 2005: Dr Carmen Lawrence's Freilich Foundation 2005 lectures -
brilliant ALP backbencher Dr Carmen Lawrence delivers non-nonsense
observations about Australian politics and Australian attitudes and
highlights our Fear of the Other, our Fear of Crime, our Fear of
Annihilation and the Australian couch attitude in Relaxed and Comfortable?.
Over four pages!
http://www.safecom.org.au/freilich-lectures1.htm
=======================
6. Telstra 'worst privacy invader'
=======================
news.com.au
From: AAP
By Jane Bunce
November 08, 2005
TELSTRA, the NSW Government and senators Amanda Vanstone and Julian
McGauran have been named as Australia's worst privacy invaders in national
shame awards.
The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF), a national lobby group dedicated
to protecting the privacy rights of Australians, announced the winners of
the annual Big Brother Awards, or Orwells, in Melbourne tonight.
But Telstra objected to being named the Greatest Corporate Invader, saying
the APF's claim that its monitoring and surveillance policy showed a
blatant disregard for staff privacy was incorrect.
"Telstra's... privacy policies are lawful, transparent and no different to
many other large employers who from time to time are required to look into
employee misconduct if, for example, the law has been breached,"
spokeswoman Kerrina Lawrence said.
Telstra said the APF had recycled claims about staff privacy it had
previously rejected without independently checking whether they were true.
Earlier this year, the telco giant dismissed claims it kept secret staff
dossiers of information that included employees' sexual preferences and
religious beliefs.
But it admitted recording personal information when details came to light
during investigations about alleged misconduct.
The NSW government was given the Lifetime Menace award for failing to
appoint a replacement privacy commissioner for more than two-and-a-half years.
"It is hard to believe that it should take anywhere near this time to find
a suitable person," said the judging panel. A NSW government spokesman said
the appointment of a full time privacy commissioner was under consideration.
National Party senator Julian McGauran was named Worst Public Agency or
Official for earlier this year releasing the name of a woman who had a
late-term abortion, and allegedly distributing copies of her private
medical file to health officials and journalists.
Senator McGauran, who tonight declined to comment on the awards, accessed
the woman's files through the state coroner's office in 2002 and complained
about the abortion to the Medical Practitioners Board.
The judging panel said the senator's actions were "a gratuitous breach of
the privacy of a private citizen for blatantly ideological reasons - and a
substantial misuse of parliamentary position and authority".
Liberal senator Amanda Vanstone also came under fire from the APF.
They awarded her the Boot in Mouth title for the "most appalling
contribution to a debate over a privacy-related topic", accusing her of
proposing a national identity card to divert attention from the Cornelia
Rau immigration bungle.
Senator Vanstone was not immediately available for comment.
http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,17186912-31037,00.html
=========================================
7. Four detainees hospitalised amid hunger strike protest
=========================================
ABC NEWS ONLINE
Thursday, November 10, 2005. 11:05pm (AEDT)
Four Chinese detainees, who have been on a hunger strike for three weeks at
Villawood detention centre in Sydney have been taken to hospital for treatment.
Six detainees have been refusing food after the Immigration Department
rejected their applications for protection.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has urged the detainees to end their
the protest action.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1503125.htm
==========================
8. End hunger strike, Vanstone urges
==========================
ABC NEWS ONLINE
Thursday, November 10, 2005. 5:48pm (AEDT)
The Immigration Minister has urged six detainees at Sydney's Villawood
detention centre to end their hunger strike.
Senator Amanda Vanstone says the men involved have either been found not to
be owed protection or are unlawful non-citizens.
Senator Vanstone says she has written to the men telling them she will not
consider requests for ministerial intervention in their cases while their
protest continues.
She says their health is being monitored and medical care is being provided.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1502988.htm
============================
9. Boat people arrivals first in two years
============================
The Age
By Jewel Topsfield, Canberra
November 7, 2005
SEVEN people claiming to be from West Timor have arrived by boat off the
Kimberley coast in Western Australia, in what is the first unauthorised
boat arrival in two years.
An Immigration Department spokeswoman said the vessel was spotted north of
Cape Londonderry by Coastwatch aircraft, an Australian fishing boat and
community members on Saturday.
The boat was now tethered to the navy patrol boat HMAS Geraldton, and its
occupants — four males, a female and two infants — were being interviewed
by the Immigration Department.
"It would be premature to make any comments on the intentions of those on
the boat until formal immigration interviews have been completed and
evaluated," the spokeswoman said.
"This process is now under way."
She said all seven people were reported to be in good health.
The last unauthorised boat arrival in Australia, the Hao Kiet, containing
53 Vietnamese nationals, was detected in Australian waters off Port Hedland
in July 2003. This compares with a peak of more than 4000 people in 1999-00
and 2000-01.
The Government has claimed that its controversial Pacific Solution, where
asylum seekers are processed in offshore detention centres, has stemmed the
tide of illegal immigrants.
Refugee advocate Jack Smit from Project Safecom said the boat people could
be asylum seekers from Iraq or Afghanistan who had been stuck in West Timor
for more than three years after their boats were pushed away from
Australian territorial waters.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/boat-people-arrivals-first-in-two-years/2005/11/06/1131211945773.html
===========================
10. Boat people 'not asylum seekers'
===========================
news.com.au
From: AAP
November 07, 2005
SEVEN boat people picked up in waters off Western Australia's remote north
coast do not appear to be asylum seekers, the immigration department has said.
The seven from West Timor, four men, a woman and two children, were picked
up after being spotted off the Kimberley Coast north of Cape Londonderry on
Saturday.
Initial interviews indicated the group did not appear to be in need of
asylum, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration Multicultural
and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).
But she was unable to say whether a claim had been made.
"The adult members of the group have been interviewed," she said.
"Results of those interviews have been assessed as not raising claims or
information which prima facie engages Australia's protection obligation."
She said the boat was first sighted by a Coastwatch aircraft, with reports
also received from an Australian fisheries vessel and members of the local
Kalumburu Aboriginal community.
HMAS Geraldton and the West Australian fisheries patrol vessel Walcott were
sent to pick up the boat, which is now tethered to the Geraldton.
The boat is expected to arrive in Broome this afternoon.
The group appeared in good health, the DIMIA spokeswoman said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17162645-29277,00.html
==========================
11. No welcome for 'asylum-seekers'
==========================
The Australian
Mark Dodd
November 08, 2005
SEVEN Indonesians understood to be seeking asylum when they illegally
landed on Australian soil at the weekend will not be given protection visas
and may be towed back into international waters.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone denied yesterday that the three men, a
woman, a teenage boy and two infants had requested asylum, despite early
indications they were the first boatpeople to reach the Australian mainland
since 2003.
The people who met the three males on Saturday morning when they stepped
ashore near Kalumburu Aboriginal community, 700km northeast of Broome, said
their first request was for directions to the nearest Australian city.
Helen Davey and her son Les pointed the group -- travelling in a small,
open wooden boat -- in the direction of Wyndham, a town of about 1200
people 400km to the southeast, where they were believed to be heading
before being intercepted by a state fisheries patrol boat more than eight
hours later. Late yesterday, their boat was tethered alongside HMAS
Geraldton, which was anchored off Cape Londonderry, 90km north of Kalumburu.
An Immigration Department spokesman said the unauthorised arrivals,
believed to be from West Timor, would not be brought back to Darwin or
Broome, but refused to elaborate.
"The adults have been interviewed and assessed as not raising claims or
information which prima facie enjoins Australian protection obligations,"
he said.
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre spokeswoman Pamela Curr said she was
sceptical of Immigration's claim that the group had not sought asylum.
"They may not have asked for the specific form indicating they were
designated asylum-seekers, but if they're coming down in a little fishing
boat from West Timor, they're seeking protection," she said.
The Daveys disputed Senator Vanstone's claim that the boat was first
detected by Coastwatch. Neither Coastwatch nor Immigration have been able
to provide a time the boat was first sighted.
However, the Daveys raised the alarm shortly after they were approached by
the three males about 7am on Saturday, when they waded ashore near the
resort of Honeymoon Beach.
The West Australian state fisheries patrol boat Walcott was first alerted
by Canberra to intercept the Indonesians after midday Saturday, a state
fisheries spokesman said.
Mr Davey, 23, said the man he spoke to did not say why they had come, but
explained that they were from West Timor and that they were not fishermen.
"One of the men aboard the boat spoke very good English and told how he had
spent time in Perth," he said.
"The one who spoke very good English said they were looking for the nearest
city. I told them the nearest big place was Wyndham and pointed which way
to go ... they were very friendly and very polite." They were intercepted
at 3.30pm by the Walcott off Cape Londonderry and handed over to the
Geraldton just after 5pm.
More than 208 Indonesian fishing boats have been apprehended this year
plundering the northern fishery of shark fin, trochus shell and reef fish.
They represent only a fraction of the illegal craft sighted inside
Australian waters.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17173969%255E2702,00.html
=================================
12. Indonesian detainees being held in Darwin
=================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Wednesday, November 9, 2005. 12:47pm (AEDT)
A group of Indonesians who pulled up at a remote bay on the Western
Australian coast and asked for directions are being held in custody in
Darwin in the Northern Territory.
The group, including a woman and two infants, who claim to be from West
Timor, brought their boat ashore on the Kimberley coast in far-north
Western Australia on the weekend and asked locals for directions to the
nearest town.
Authorities were alerted after the group brought their boat ashore at the
isolated Honeymoon Beach near the Aboriginal community of Kalumburu.
They were later apprehended at sea by a Fisheries patrol boat.
After two days of refusing to comment on the whereabouts of the group, the
Immigration Department has now revealed they are being held in Darwin.
It is understood they have not made a claim for asylum and deportation is
being considered.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1501102.htm
===================================
13. Call for independent assessment of detainees
===================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Thursday, November 10, 2005. 3:29pm (AEDT)
Refugee advocates are calling for an independent assessment of seven people
from Indonesia who arrived by boat in Australia earlier this week.
The four men, a woman and two children pulled up at a remote Kimberley
beach in far north Western Australia and have since been transferred by
Immigration officials to Darwin.
The Department of Immigration says the seven have not sought asylum.
But Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne says
the Department should not be the one to assess that.
"They should have the right to an independent assessment," she said.
"If they're seeking asylum, we don't know why they're here but we should know.
"It's not enough for DIMIA to tell us because DIMIA have lied in the past."
The Department of Immigration has not yet responded to the allegations.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1502812.htm
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-|| This is the Project SafeCom Newsletter - also published
-|| as the RAC-VIC Newsletter (Racvicnews) since July 2004 by agreement
-|| with RAC Victoria, which endorsed that their news service be
-|| managed by Project SafeCom. More information about us below.
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-||- Project SafeCom info
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Online archives of our News & Updates:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/safecom/read
Project SafeCom has operated a "virtually full-time" operations office
since TAMPA. At Project SafeCom, an Incorporated Association in Western
Australia, we exist from donations, the sale of some items via our website,
and from memberships. You can make a donation by transferring funds to our
account at Bendigo Community Bank Kulin, BSB Number 633-000. Account name:
Project SafeCom Inc., account 115643900, or by sending a cheque or money
order to our address below.
P.O. Box 364 - Narrogin WA 6312 - Phone 0417 090 130
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LINKS:
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ROYAL COMMISSION Petition: download it, print it, put it out - everywhere
around town: http://www.safecom.org.au/royal-commission.htm
The bLog - FIXING AUSTRALIA: http://www.safecom.org.au/fixing-australia.htm
What's New - this page lists all the new additions to the website -
hundreds of pages: http://www.safecom.org.au/whatsnew.htm
Project SafeCom events page: http://www.safecom.org.au/events.htm
The Reading Room: http://www.safecom.org.au/readings.htm
The Project SafeCom shop: http://www.safecom.org.au/products.htm
Our Baxter page: http://www.safecom.org.au/baxter.htm
Project SafeCom's No War position: http://www.safecom.org.au/no-war.htm
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