|
Project SafeCom News and Updates 2 March 2006
|
Project SafeCom
|
Mar 01, 2006 16:15 PST
|
Project SafeCom News and Updates 2 March 2006
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
¤ - In this Edition - ¤
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
1. Ten years in office? Ask Billy Connolly....
2. Nameless men interned for years
3. Overboard scandal: I didn't lie
4. Vanstone delivers progress report on detention centres
5. Detention shake-up follows scandals
6. HOWARD'S AUSTRALIA: Rules for Immigrants
7. Howard's Hubris, SIEV 4 and SIEV X
8. DEMS on Ombudsman Report: Scrap mandatory detention
9. Vanstone Announces Palmer Progress
10. Immigration changes aim to prevent wrongful detentions
11. Still no compo deal for Rau: Vanstone
12. Government 'in contact with Rau lawyers'
13. No deliberate overboard lies: PM
14. Global warming may be even hotter
15. Market Needed to Drive New Technology
16. Downer supports Indonesia's drug policy
17. Papuan MPs to discuss Freeport closure amid unrest
18. Abbott withdraws ALP membership comment
19. Labor's lost its way, says Greens leader
20. Muslim protest targets Costello
21. Yahoo implicated in Chinese dissident's jailing
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-|| This is the Project SafeCom Newsletter - published since 2001
-|| as the 'Project SafeCom Daily News and Updates'.
-||
-|| To subscribe to this Newsletter or to manage your subscription, visit
-|| http://www.safecom.org.au/newsletter-subscribe.htm
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
================================
1. Ten years in office? Ask Billy Connolly....
================================
ABC Television
Enough Rope
ABC TV Monday 9.30pm
Screened: 20 February 2006
[....]
ANDREW DENTON: Our Prime Minister John Howard recently talked about what he
called vulgarisms in public and how they're...
BILLY CONNOLLY: He's a vulgarism in public. How dare he. His only function
is to let you know what Harry Potter's going to look like when he's old.
I would go miles to avoid meeting him. What a boring little man. What a
silly boring little man. I'm out of touch. I thought the AWB was the
Average White Band....
[....]
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1574093.htm
=========================
2. Nameless men interned for years
=========================
Sydney Morning Herald
By Mark Metherell
March 2, 2006
A MYSTERY man who has insisted he is in Australia illegally has been
released from detention after after 3½ years because the Immigration
Department failed to prove his illegal status.
The about-turn from the department's hardline measures follows a revamp of
its detention policies since the Cornelia Rau affair. The release in Sydney
of the man, officially tagged "Mr X", coincided with the disclosure of a
second case revealing that it took the department 4½ years to identify a
man kept in detention for that time.
Both men, of Asian appearance, were detained in Sydney.
The Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone, informed Parliament yesterday
that Mr X was released two weeks ago, on legal advice, even though official
assessment favoured the view that he was an unlawful non-citizen.
Both cases were investigated by the Ombudsman, John McMillan, who found
that the department's efforts to identify them had flagged between 2002 and
early 2005.
When Mr X was asked his identity, he had said "It's a secret" and that he
was unlawfully in Australia.
"Mr X's case worryingly suggests, as noted in the Palmer report on Ms Rau,
that there are systemic failures in the way that [the department]
investigates the circumstances of individuals who are unco-operative or
confusing in disclosing their identity," Professor McMillan said.
Even though Mr X had regular visitors, little effort was made to get
information from them until last year, the Ombudsman said. Mr X did not
fully co-operate with health practitioners, who were unable to diagnose
whether he was mentally ill.
Professor McMillan said the second detainee, "Mr Y", who was "very
proficient" in English, refused to co-operate with the department to
identify his nationality. While Mr Y might be evading detection, he could
be mentally unwell. Professor McMillan recommended the Government grant a
release visa to Mr Y.
However, Mr Y's nationality had since been identified and he was an
unlawful non-citizen, Senator Vanstone said, and consideration would given
to removing him.
Yesterday Senator Vanstone released hundreds of pages listing planned
improvements by her department, including inviting tenders for detention
services late next year.
Labor's immigration spokesman, Tony Burke, said it was unacceptable for the
Government to take so long to replace the current operator, GSL, after the
"appalling fashion" in which the company had run the centres.
http://smh.com.au/news/national/nameless-men-interned-for-years/2006/03/01/1141191732193.html
=======================
3. Overboard scandal: I didn't lie
=======================
Sydney Morning Herald
March 1, 2006 - 10:11AM
Prime Minister John Howard says he never deliberately lied about the
children overboard scandal and has defended his comments that people should
remember they "sank the damn boat".
In October 2001 the federal government accused a boatload of Iraqi asylum
seekers of throwing their children overboard so that they could be rescued
by the navy.
The comments were later proven to be untrue but Mr Howard today said he did
not deliberately lie or suppress evidence in order to win the 2001 election.
"What I reject is the suggestion that I knew all along there were no
children thrown overboard and I just deliberately suppressed that
information until we got through the election," he told ABC Radio today.
"The truth is that two nights out from the election I was fretting over
whether or not to release a video as I didn't want it to be alleged I was
sitting on that and when the video went out it was completely inconclusive.
"Now I thought that represented full disclosure rather than suppression."
He also said this week that it should be remembered that the asylum seekers
still "sank the damn boat".
"What I was referring to was the evidence given at various Senate inquiries
about the sabotage of the boat and the lighting of fires," he said today.
But when queried that the inquiry evidence was inconclusive Mr Howard said:
"Well ... I don't think anyone's suggesting that the Royal Australian Navy
set fire to the boat.
"Now you can criticise the internal processes of the government that led to
this confusion but the suggestion that I deliberately lied about that was
completely wrong," he said.
"And the attempt before the last election to resurrect it fell on its face
because of some evidence produced at that Senate inquiry."
AAP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/overboard-scandal--i-didnt-lie/2006/03/01/1141095773531.html
=========================================
4. Vanstone delivers progress report on detention centres
=========================================
The World Today - Wednesday 1 March 2006
Reporter: Melanie Christiansen
ELEANOR HALL: Seven months after the Palmer Inquiry made its damning
findings about the Federal Immigration Department, the Immigration Minister
says things have changed.
Amanda Vanstone says training for staff has improved, there's better mental
health assessment of detainees and there are also plans to change the
contracts for privately run detention centres.
But she says she can't guarantee that the mistakes which led to the
wrongful treatment of Cornelia Rau and Vivian Solon won't be repeated.
From Canberra, Melanie Christiansen reports.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Seven months ago, former Federal Police Commissioner
Mick Palmer delivered a report, identifying a "serious cultural problem"
within the Immigration Department.
He said he had no confidence that the department's powers to detain people
were being exercised lawfully, justifiably and with integrity.
Today the Minister Amanda Vanstone released a progress report on the
changes in her department and she says things have changed.
AMANDA VANSTONE: It is a different department. We've got new staff, we're
very pleased that so many really good people from other departments were
keen to come and join DIMA and the combination of new skills brought in,
with very experienced hands in immigration that we've already had, equip us
well in terms of the staff that we've got.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Mick Palmer's report examined two prominent cases.
Cornelia Rau was mistakenly detained for 10 months, while Vivian Solon was
wrongly deported to the Philippines.
In both cases, Mr Palmer pointed to systemic weaknesses in the department,
including a failure to assess their mental health needs.
Senator Vanstone says those problems are being addressed with a raft of
changes, including better training for staff, improved systems to support
staff and better mental health assessment of detainees to prevent the sort
of problems that occurred in the Rau and Solon cases.
AMANDA VANSTONE: Some of the changes that have been made already would
certainly contribute to preventing those sorts of things happening.
This is a very, very difficult area. Focussing on the Rau case in
particular, mental health is a very problematic issue for the whole
community and no less so, people in… running immigration detention centres.
People who have a mental illness don't always recognise they have it
themselves and certainly don't always manifest symptoms that are
immediately obvious the untrained eye. In fact, sometimes they don't
manifest symptoms that are immediately obvious to a GP, for example, and
even to someone with specialist training on the first meeting.
So it's a very, very difficult area and I say that to indicate that I don't
think anyone can ever guarantee that there won't be a mistake made again in
relation to mental health.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: In another change, Senator Vanstone has flagged plans
not to renew current contracts to the private operators of detention
centres. Instead there'll be a new tender process.
AMANDA VANSTONE: The key difference will be, however, that the health and
psychological services will be taken out of that contract and there'll be a
separate contract for those services and that will enable a greater
transparency in the contract process for what you're doing, but it will
also ensure that we don't set up any system where there's a potential
conflict of interest within the organisation.
MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: The refugee advocacy group, A Just Australia, has
welcomed the reforms, although it thinks they are too limited.
Spokeswoman Kate Gaulthier.
KATE GAULTHIER: I do think the department is on the right track. Of course
I don't believe that they're going to go far enough.
We certainly don't believe with detention contracts that they should be
privatised at all, putting vulnerable people in the hands of, essentially,
prison contractors. It's entirely inappropriate.
So yes, the department is going down the right track, but we don't think
they're going to go far enough as far as reform of the way that asylum
processes and asylum claims are taken care of.
ELEANOR HALL: Refugee advocate, Kate Gaulthier ending that report from
Melanie Christiansen in Canberra.
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1581201.htm
============================
5. Detention shake-up follows scandals
============================
The Age
By Jewel Topsfield, Canberra
March 2, 2006
THE CONTROVERSIAL private operator of Australia's detention centres will
not have its lucrative $90-million-a-year contract extended.
An independent review, carried out in the wake of the Cornelia Rau and
Vivian Alvarez Solon scandals, found that changes to the contract were
required.
Yesterday Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said all detention services
would be re-tendered as part of sweeping reforms to prevent a repeat of the
problems that engulfed the Immigration Department last year.
GSL, which also operates Victoria's Port Phillip Prison, took over the
running of Australia's detention centres in late 2003.
The company has come under intense scrutiny, with critics claiming it has
introduced a punitive prison regime to detention centres, including the use
of solitary confinement.
In July last year GSL was penalised more than $500,000 after a report said
five detainees endured 6½ hours in the back of a van with no toilet breaks
and no food or water while being transferred between the Maribyrnong and
Baxter detention centres.
Senator Vanstone said that although there was an option to extend the
contract with GSL when it expired late next year, the Government had
decided to re-tender after a report by former Health Department deputy
secretary Mick Roche found changes to the contract were required.
"The same people doing the job now may seek to do the work," Senator
Vanstone said. "Be that as it may, it will be an open, transparent tender."
She said the contract to run health and psychological services in detention
centres would be separate from the main contract, avoiding a conflict of
interest.
A GSL spokesman said the company would be bidding for all or part of the
contracts.
The Palmer report on the treatment of Cornelia Rau, an Australian resident
wrongfully detained for 10 months in a Brisbane jail and the Baxter
detention centre, was scathing about the inadequate health care she
received at Baxter. It also said the Government's contract with GSL was
"fundamentally flawed" and failed to deliver the immigration detention
policy expected by the Government.
A damning Auditor-General's report last year said health standards in
detention centres were not clearly spelt out in the contract.
Another National Audit Office Report, to be tabled in Parliament today, is
also expected to be critical of the detention services contract.
Meanwhile, Senator Vanstone said the Immigration Department was introducing
new IT systems, improved mental health services in detention centres and
more rigorous staff training.
"I am proud of the great change we have we have so far been able to
achieve," she said.
Lawyer George Newhouse, who acts for Ms Alvarez Solon and Ms Rau, said his
clients had been treated with contempt.
He said that despite the reforms, Ms Rau was yet to receive compensation
more than a year after she was released from Baxter.
"The minister claims that there has been a change in culture in the
Department of Immigration, but that is not what we are seeing on the
ground," Mr Newhouse said.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/detention-shakeup-follows-scandals/2006/03/01/1141191733710.html
====================================
6. HOWARD'S AUSTRALIA: Rules for Immigrants
====================================
By: John Hooker
Wednesday 1 March 2006
While their recent remarks are welcome, I don’t think the Prime Minister,
the Treasurer or Pauline Hanson have gone anywhere far enough in their
comments about intending immigrants to this country. Nevertheless, it’s
good that they all agree on the subject of immigration and the threat to
the Anglo-Saxon Way of Life.
At last, we look like being One Nation.
But Howard, Costello and Hanson have, alas, still fallen unwitting prey to
that insidious, mushy thing called ‘multiculturalism.’ They have not been
tough enough. Immigrants, if we must have them, should not only realise
they have to obey our laws and respect our institutions — and culture — t
here are other things they must do too.
Unrestricted immigration, of the kind we have had in the past under Hawke,
Keating and that turncoat Fraser, has affected our very existence: our
diet, our clothes, our names, our sport, our education, the structure of
our families. If we do not take action now, the British Way of Life that
has built this fine country will be gone forever. Danna Vale was right: if
abortion goes on the way it is, we will all be Muslims by the end of the
century. And as that Labor man, Arthur Calwell, once said: ‘Two Wongs do
not make a White.’
The task before us is two-fold. Firstly, we must rigorously change the
rules of admission to this great country; and secondly, we have to counter
the effects of the hitherto unrestricted — nay, disastrous — immigration
policies of the past. Politicians prior to John Howard have much to answer
for.
I have some suggestions for future immigration policy.
The country of origin should be carefully considered. Preference at all
times should be given to skilled and hard working people from the British
Isles — and I include Ireland in this, except to say that the ‘screening
process’ should be vigorously applied to people from that country, which,
alas, has history of violence, heavy drinking and unreliability.
There should be a religious test, preference being given to the Church of
England, then the other non-conformist religions. Roman Catholics will be
admitted, but as the Prime Minister says, we must be careful to achieve a
‘balance.’ Other Christian religions can be considered, but there should be
a big question mark over foreign beliefs. Muslims and atheists should not
be admitted.
Enquiries should be made as to the immigrants’ political background. Has
the applicant, for example, ever been linked to a revolutionary or
terrorist organisation? It is, of course, quite easy for the intending
immigrant to evade the truth; therefore, he/she should be given a
lie-detector test.
Dictation test. This should be reintroduced, the emphasis being on workable
English. The test should include information about our political
institutions and perhaps a quiz about the rules of cricket and football
(Aussie Rules preferably).
Clothing. Head scarfs, turbans and long, enveloping garments should not be
permitted. Young men should be encouraged to wear shorts and long white
socks in the summer. If it was good enough for the Prime Minister, it is
good enough for immigrants.
Transportation. Immigrants should be transported by ship, and not by
aeroplane. Sea is cheaper than air, and the immigrants will have more time
to learn about the culture of their new country.
Any form of government assistance (Centrelink and so on) should be
unavailable for five years, and immigrants should take up jobs where they
will be most useful in building up this great country of ours.
Admission and detention camps. These should be expanded and made more
secure, capitalising on the fine work done by the Department of Immigration
— especially when it was in the hands of Mr Ruddock.
The second aspect of immigration that must be changed concerns Australian
society as it is now, after years of ‘multiculturalism.’ This is a much
harder task, but where there is a will, there is a way. We can, I hope,
look forward to leadership from the Prime Minister and Treasurer. I would
hope, too, that the valuable input from Ms Hanson will be taken on board.
All too often we hear the babble of foreign tongues on the streets, and
there are even strange languages in the phone book. Speaking English in
streets, schools, shops, etc should be made compulsory and the speaking of
foreign languages restricted to the privacy of the home. Children, of
course, should only be allowed to speak English. SBS has to go.
It is very hard to legislate for human emotions. It may well be that a
loved one falls into a relationship with a migrant. I would think long and
hard before I let a migrant join the family group. As Mr Howard has said,
we must at all times consider the question of balance. Mixed marriages —
religious or cultural — often do not work. Marry in haste; repent at leisure.
We have, in the past 40 years or so, seen considerable changes in our diet.
In Sydney and Melbourne, it is now virtually impossible to get an
‘Australian’ meal; that is: a steak or chops and a cup of tea. Even the
pubs serve schnitzels and other strange dishes. The only place you can get
a traditional Australian meal is the family barbecue. The nation, we are
told, suffers from an obesity crisis. This is caused by eating large
amounts of pasta and Middle Eastern food.
The sooner we get back to chops, potatoes and peas, the better. Cookbooks
are full of foreign recipes, and the sales of the Presbyterian Women's
Missionary Union’s (PWMU) Cookbook have plummeted. What, I ask, is wrong
with a good lamington or vanilla slice?
John Howard, Peter Costello and Pauline Hanson are right — our Way of Life
is under threat from foreign immigrants.
Australians values forever!
About the Author
For many years, John Hooker was a publisher with Penguin Books, then
William Collins. He is in a state of permanent anger.
http://www.newmatilda.com//home/articledetail.asp?NewsletterID=195&ArticleID=1386
=============================
7. Howard's Hubris, SIEV 4 and SIEV X
=============================
Crikey.com.au
Tony Kevin
1 March 2006
What is truly amazing about Howard's callous line "They irresponsibly sank
the damn boat" (SIEV 4) first, that he is just making it up – nobody knows
for sure why SIEV 4 finally sank after 22 hours under circular tow by HMAS
Adelaide – and secondly, Howard's hubris.
Because sooner or later someone in Australia's mainstream media is going to
have the guts to remember the sinking of another asylum-seeker boat that
John Howard definitely does not want us to remember – SIEV X.
Then the spell of the ten-year anniversary media hagiography we are now
enduring might be broken. Why hasn't there been a judicial inquiry as
demanded by the Senate in 2002, 2003 and 2004 into what the government knew
and when it knew it about how 353 asylum-seekers died when their boat sank,
allegedly undetected, in Australia's maritime border protection zone, three
weeks before Howard's November 2001 election win? They were the real
"children overboard" – 146 children died on that day.
Senator Faulkner's profoundly important questions (Senate, 23-26 September,
2002) remain unanswered, But the finger of suspicion and circumstantial
evidence points straight back towards the Howard Government's people
smuggling disruption program that Australian national security agencies led
by AFP and DIMIA were conducting clandestinely in Indonesia, in cooperation
with paid-off elements of the Indonesian police.
In all the media's anniversary brouhaha, some of us still remember these
disturbing ghosts at Howard's Feast.
http://crikey.com.au/articles/2006/02/28-1539-6394.html
=============================================
8. DEMS on Ombudsman Report: Scrap mandatory detention
=============================================
Wednesday 1 March 2006
SENATOR ANDREW BARTLETT
AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS Deputy LEADER
OMBUDSMAN’s REPORTS AGAIN DEMONSTRATE THE NEED FOR MANDATORY DETENTION TO
BE SCRAPPED
Australian Democrats Deputy Leader, Senator Andrew Bartlett has renewed his
party's long standing call for mandatory detention to be removed from the
Migration Act.
Senator Bartlett was speaking following the tabling in the Senate of
further reports from the Ombudsman on people who have been subjected to
long-term detention.
Senator Bartlett also welcomed Minister Vanstone's acknowledgement of
DIMA's ineptitude, as part of her response to the reports.
"Change within DIMA will take more than better staff training, up to date
IT systems and openness, although these are essential steps, and while I
give credit to the Minister for admitting the inherent problems within
DIMA, these reports conclusively demonstrate that permanent positive change
can only occur by changing the Migration Act itself.
"Two difficult cases tabled today detailed stories of people who were
detained for up to four years as a consequence of not being able to be
identified. They are reminder that Cornelia Rau's case was not unique. As
long as mandatory detention remains the law, the chances of this sort of
injustice reoccurring will always remain much higher.
"The Democrats initiated Senate inquiry into the operation of the Migration
Act will be tabling its report in the Senate tomorrow; it will undoubtedly
reinforce the case that legislative change is essential if cultural change
in the immigration area is to be genuine,” concluded Senator Bartlett.
==============================
9. Vanstone Announces Palmer Progress
==============================
DIMA Media Centre
1 March 2006
More rigorous compliance training, a new detention services contract tender
process and effective IT systems are among sweeping changes being made by
the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Amanda Vanstone, today
provided an update on a program of continuous and substantive reform within
the department in response to the Palmer report.
‘I have implemented a comprehensive change program in my department to
achieve cultural reform and prevent a repeat of the problems that led to
the Palmer and Comrie Reports,’ Senator Vanstone said.
‘These far-reaching improvements are based around the three themes of
making my department more open and accountable, ensuring fair and
reasonable dealings with clients and providing the organisation with
well-trained and supported staff.
‘DIMA people need IT systems that are easy to use and that support their
work, with a number of IT reports completed in response to Palmer Report
recommendations.
‘Significant and innovative training programs are also being introduced to
ensure staff are well-trained and supported and are particularly aware of
the need to have fair and reasonable dealings with clients.
‘More than 350 DIMA staff have already been trained in areas such as
compliance, identity verification and search warrants.
‘The training initiatives include a College of Immigration, Border Security
and Compliance that will start in a few months as well as a national
training branch to coordinate training throughout the department.
‘Last year, we set the target of improving the structure and governance of
the department. These changes have been fully implemented, with the new
structure establishing clear lines of responsibility and accountability.
‘An independent review of the current detention services contract found
that changes were required. My department is now preparing to go out to
tender on its detention services contract. There will be a separate
contract to deliver health and psychological services to give a greater
focus on clients’ needs in these areas.
‘Mental health care of clients is being significantly enhanced by the
national rollout of an integrated mental health care program, which is
already running at Baxter Immigration Detention Facility.’
The plan includes numerous construction projects, improved food services
and greatly enhanced mental health services.
Major improvements are being made to individual case management, including
better case management for clients with exceptional circumstances and an
enhanced ability to rapidly locate client details and identify client visa
status.
‘There has been tremendous reform and enhancement in the area of identity,
which includes the establishment of the National Identity Verification and
Advice (NIVA) in May 2005,’ Senator Vanstone said.
‘As well a number of developments are underway in the area of facial
recognition software and biometrics to ensure new technology plays its part.
‘I am proud of the great change we have so far managed to achieve so far.
‘DIMA will be a department where decisions are fair and reasonable, staff
are well-trained and supported, where policy is open and with clear lines
of accountability throughout the department, to Government and to the
broader community.’
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media_releases/media06/v06022.htm
===========================================
10. Immigration changes aim to prevent wrongful detentions
===========================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Wednesday, March 1, 2006. 1:17pm (AEDT)
The Federal Government has announced a raft of changes to the Immigration
Department in a bid to prevent more cases of wrongful detention.
The changes come after a series of blunders by the department, including
the case of Cornelia Rau who was wrongfully held for 10 months.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says the Government will offer a
separate contract for the provision of mental health services at detention
centres.
Senator Vanstone says she can not guarantee there will not be further
instances of mentally ill patients being wrongly detained.
"Mental health is a very problematic issue for the whole community and no
less so for people running a detention centre," she said.
"People who have a mental illness don't always recognise they have it
themselves and don't always manifest symptoms."
She says ongoing improvements have changed the department's culture.
"It is a different department," she said.
Refugee advocates say the Federal Government's planned changes to
immigration detention centres will not prevent more mistakes in the future.
Kate Gauthier from A Just Australia says,while the changes are welcome,
they do not go far enough.
"When you've had so many claims of abuses, human rights abuses, in the
centres and the Government is not willing to have an open and independent
investigation of those claims, that makes us very suspicious about how real
these reforms are," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1581221.htm
==============================
11. Still no compo deal for Rau: Vanstone
==============================
Sydney Morning Herald
February 28, 2006 - 3:51PM
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said negotiations were continuing over
a negotiated compensation settlement for wrongly detained woman Cornelia Rau.
Greens senator Kerry Nettle said it was now more than a year since Ms Rau,
who was mentally ill, was wrongly incarcerated in the Baxter immigration
detention centre.
Senator Vanstone said just under $8,000 had been paid to Ms Rau for travel
expenses and legal advice but talks over a compensation package were
dragging on.
"The parties are looking to get a negotiated settlement," she told parliament.
"That would be much quicker than court proceedings and, I think, in
everybody's interests.
"However, there are some issues to be resolved before the parties can come
to some agreement as to whether other parties, who might subsequently be
pursued, would agree.
"If I'm properly advised at this point, if we make an agreed settlement and
action is then taken against other parties, they may seek to join the
commonwealth, so the commonwealth isn't finished with the matter."
Senator Vanstone said the commonwealth was trying to get to a point where
all parties could come together and agree and resolve the matter.
"It does seem to be taking some time," she said.
"But I'm sure it is in everybody's interest and in particular in Ms Rau's
interest, if this matter is brought to a final conclusion for everybody.
"She can then get on with her life and put this matter behind her."
© 2006 AAP
http://smh.com.au/news/National/Still-no-compo-deal-for-Rau-Vanstone/2006/02/28/1141095726082.html
================================
12. Government 'in contact with Rau lawyers'
================================
Sydney Morning Herald
March 1, 2006 - 1:44PM
The federal government has been in contact with Cornelia Rau's lawyers but
they have not responded, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says.
Ms Rau was wrongfully detained by immigration authorities for 10 months
despite being an Australian resident.
Her lawyer George Newhouse on Tuesday said negotiations over Ms Rau's
compensation claim had not started.
Senator Vanstone has now said her department had been in regular contact
with Ms Rau's lawyers and the last correspondence was sent earlier this week.
"My advice is that we've sent some correspondence to which they haven't
replied," she told reporters in Canberra.
"That doesn't make it helpful.
"There's been further communication, as I've been advised earlier this
week, but it's been an ongoing matter."
Senator Vanstone criticised Ms Rau's lawyers for not communicating with the
government through the appropriate channels.
"Ms Rau's lawyer's have in the past tried to communicate with the
government through the media and it's not generally effective," he said.
She said Ms Rau's matter was being handled in the short term by Family and
Community Services, and long term by the government's solicitors.
© 2006 AAP
http://smh.com.au/news/National/Government-in-contact-with-Rau-lawyers/2006/03/01/1141095785828.html
==========================
13. No deliberate overboard lies: PM
==========================
news.com.au
From: AAP
March 01, 2006
PRIME Minister John Howard said he never deliberately lied about the
children overboard scandal and has defended his comments that people should
remember they "sank the damn boat".
In October 2001 the Federal Government accused a boatload of Iraqi asylum
seekers of throwing their children overboard so that they could be rescued
by the navy.
The comments were later proven to be untrue but Mr Howard today said he did
not deliberately lie or suppress evidence in order to win the 2001 election.
"What I reject is the suggestion that I knew all along there were no
children thrown overboard and I just deliberately suppressed that
information until we got through the election," he told ABC Radio today.
"The truth is that two nights out from the election I was fretting over
whether or not to release a video as I didn't want it to be alleged I was
sitting on that and when the video went out it was completely inconclusive.
"Now I thought that represented full disclosure rather than suppression."
He also said this week that it should be remembered that the asylum seekers
still "sank the damn boat".
"What I was referring to was the evidence given at various Senate inquiries
about the sabotage of the boat and the lighting of fires," he said today.
But when queried that the inquiry evidence was inconclusive Mr Howard said:
"Well ... I don't think anyone's suggesting that the Royal Australian Navy
set fire to the boat.
"Now you can criticise the internal processes of the Government that led to
this confusion but the suggestion that I deliberately lied about that was
completely wrong," he said.
"And the attempt before the last election to resurrect it fell on its face
because of some evidence produced at that Senate inquiry."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18311084-29277,00.html
============================
14. Global warming may be even hotter
============================
Sydney Morning Herald
By Deborah Smith Science Editor
March 1, 2006
THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will warn the world's
politicians that the Earth's temperature could rise far higher in response
to greenhouse gas emissions than previously thought.
A secret draft version of the next report by the United Nation's
influential panel of climate experts, to be given to governments in April,
will say a reliable upper limit can no longer be put on how quickly the
world will warm, according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
Australian scientists said the reported warning reflected a growing body of
recent research showing that climate change was occurring more rapidly than
expected.
Some computer models had forseen temperature increases of as much as 11
degrees from a doubling of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The
climate change panel had assumed a doubling of carbon dioxide levels would
lead to a temperature rise of between 1.5 degrees and 4.5 degrees.
Dr Barrie Pittock, a retired CSIRO researcher and the author of Climate
Change, Turning up the Heat, said models of climate change always involved
a range of uncertainty, but the possibility of a large increase in
temperature had to be taken very seriously. "If you're taking a
risk-management approach and want to avoid what is disastrous you have got
to go to the upper end of the range and avoid that," he said.
Professor Ian Lowe, an environmental scientist and president of the
Australian Conservation Foundation, said he hoped the report would convince
the Australian Government of the seriousness of the issue because it was
still listening to the "10 or 12 sceptics of the world".
http://smh.com.au/news/science/global-warming-may-be-even-hotter/2006/02/28/1141095741142.html
================================
15. Market Needed to Drive New Technology
================================
New Matilda magazine
By Anthony Albanese
22 February 2006
One thing that makes people disillusioned with politics is the tension
between short political election cycles and the vision required for
planning the long term future.
But with climate change, the problem and the solutions needed to address it
extend not only beyond political cycles, but over lifetimes.
It’s not just about whether children born today will ever get to see the
natural splendour of the Great Barrier Reef. It is also about planning for
our economic future, knowing that the costs of adjustment to a low carbon
economy will increase in direct proportion to the delay in action.
This was recognised at the Montreal UN Climate Summit when the 157
countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol determined to strengthen
and extend it beyond 2012.
Of the industrialised world only the United States and Australia remained
on the outside looking in.
In spite of this, the Montreal Summit was a triumph. It is a timely
reminder that hegemony does not automatically accrue to the most powerful,
for in spite of the attitude of the prevailing elite in Washington, there
is enormous movement in the United States towards adopting strong action to
avoid dangerous climate change.
This momentum comes from across the political spectrum.
The US, under George Bush Senior, signed the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change at Rio in 1992.
Under Bill Clinton, the US agreed to a Kyoto target of 7 per cent reduction
in greenhouse gas emissions in 1997.
Indeed the architecture of the Kyoto Protocol reflects the influence the US
administration had at that time. The key to the Kyoto Protocol is using
flexible market-based mechanisms through emission trading to drive cost
reductions.
Many of the current Kyoto critics, including the Howard Government,
conveniently ignore how its structure came into being. Of course, at this
time Australia also received generous concessions of a 108 per cent target
and the inclusion of land use changes. John Howard declared that Kyoto was
’a win for the environment and a win for Australian jobs’.
Kyoto followed the emissions trading model adopted in the United States for
sulphur dioxide. This emerged as an amendment from the Clean Air Act of
1990 and was successful in stemming the acid rain sweeping across the
nation. This was George Bush Senior’s major environmental achievement and
is hailed by current Bush appointees Jim Connaughton and Sam Bodman.
Last year, Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Senator Joe
Lieberman sponsored a bill to introduce emissions trading in the US, which
was opposed by the White House.
As in Australia, US states have taken action in the absence of national
leadership. The north east states, including New York, have formed the
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to introduce a cap and trade scheme.
During the Montreal Summit, Australian states met with US and Canadian
counterparts to discuss linking their emissions trading schemes. More than
50 major US cities have adopted emission reduction targets based on Kyoto.
28 states have climate action plans.
Perhaps most impressive is the leadership of California Republican Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger who has adopted a target of terminating 80 per cent
of emissions by 2050. This month he backed that up with real action,
through the California Solar Initiative, a US$3.2 billion program providing
rebates for solar energy with the highest rebate being for those residents
and businesses that act quickly. This contrasts with the pathetic $5
million a year the Howard Government committed to renewable energy at the
recent Asia Pacific Climate Pact meeting.
At the Chicago Climate Exchange, 81 major companies, including Du Pont,
Bayer, Ford and IBM have adopted voluntary but legally binding targets and
emissions trading.
Carbon trading will represent the world’s biggest market and is up and
running. Major corporations in the United States are preparing the way for
the post-Bush era. Even in the world’s strongest economy this is smart
business practice. For an economy the size of Australia this is an imperative.
History tells us that having good intentions has not been enough to achieve
positive environmental outcomes in other areas. Indeed, companies have
fiduciary obligations to achieve the best possible outcome for their
shareholders. Just ask the victims of James Hardie.
The notion that voluntary self-regulation will avoid dangerous climate
change is a triumph of hope over experience. As Eileen Claussen of the
private Pew Center on Global Climate based in Washington stated, ’if you
really want results, you have to do something that’s mandatory. It’s not
going to happen with voluntary approaches’.
The Australian government has moved away from the climate sceptics in
acknowledging the reality of climate change. It is now time to move away
from the market sceptics and embrace the future. Not only does our
environmental conscience tell us this, so does our economic interest.
The notion that there is a choice between new technology and mandatory
targets is false. Everyone supports new technology. We need the pull of the
market as well as the push of new technology to ensure it is deployed. That
is why market mechanisms are at the core of Kyoto’s key instruments of
Emissions Trading and the Clean Development Mechanism to encourage
deployment in developing countries.
The necessity of market mechanisms has been acknowledged by some Government
members, ’but not yet’. This is the equivalent of a footy coach directing
their team not to tackle until after halftime.
It is obvious that failing to price carbon restricts the demand for zero or
low carbon technologies. Without economic mechanisms, existing and new
technologies will simply not be rolled out to the extent required. This is
recognised in the economic modelling done for the Climate Pact, which
predicts a best case scenario of a doubling of emissions by 2050.
Avoiding dangerous climate change requires urgent action.
Labor is committed to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, introducing a national
emissions trading scheme and significantly increasing the mandatory
renewable energy target.
The Howard Government’s failure on this issue highlights a critical
difference between the major political parties.
Younger generations will record those climate sceptics who deny human
contribution to climate change as being, at best, misguided.
Those who acknowledge the problem of climate change but fail to take
serious action will be judged far more severely.
About the author
Anthony Albanese MP is the Shadow Minister for Environment, Heritage and Water.
http://www.newmatilda.com/policytoolkit/policydetail.asp?PolicyID=310
================================
16. Downer supports Indonesia's drug policy
================================
AM - Tuesday 28 February 2006
Reporter: Peter Cave
TONY EASTLEY: The Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has told his Indonesian
counterpart Hassan Wirayuda that Australia supports Indonesia's tough
policy on drugs trafficking.
Mr Downer who was in Jakarta to address an international conference on
terrorism and suicide bombings held a meeting with Mr Wirayuda, but chose
not to make any immediate official plea to spare the lives of two members
of the Bali Nine who have been sentenced to death.
Foreign Affairs Editor Peter Cave reports from Jakarta.
PETER CAVE: Mr Downer said he told the Indonesians Australia would wait
until the appeals process was exhausted, and if the death sentences still
stood, the Government would support an a plea for clemency to President
Yudhoyono.
ALEXANDER DOWNER: I made the point that Australia supported Indonesia's
tough laws on drug trafficking. We have no argument with the Indonesian courts.
The fact that Australians have been sentenced for drug trafficking is an
effort by Indonesia to stop drugs being transferred through Indonesia, and
for that matter, drugs transferred into our country.
And we appreciate it if the Indonesians assist in stopping heroin being
trafficked into Australia.
I said that in relation to the two Australians who have been sentenced to
death, that once the appeals process is completed and if those sentences
stand at the end of the appeals process, when applications then are made
for clemency, the Australian Government would support those applications
for clemency.
PETER CAVE: The response clearly pleased the Indonesian Foreign Minister.
HASSAN WIRAYUDA (translated): The response of the Australian public this
time compared to the time of the Corby case is far better. There's an
admission that they are really guilty, thus they are still letting the
legal process continue. If they are not satisfied, then they may appeal.
PETER CAVE: On another vexed bilateral issue, the question of the boatload
of Papuan asylum seekers Indonesia wants returned from Australia, Mr Downer
said his Government had obligations under UN conventions to allow them to
remain.
ALEXANDER DOWNER: But whatever the outcome of the Department of
Immigration's consideration of these applications, I make this point and I
make this point while I'm in Jakarta:
No decision in relation to these applications will have any implications
for Australia's approach to Indonesian territorial integrity.
PETER CAVE: Opening the terrorism conference itself, Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that the key to winning the battle against
terrorism was winning the hearts and minds of would-be recruits to the
terrorist cause and he singled out the issue of the current controversy
over cartoons of the prophet Muhammed.
SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO: This is the perfect time to engage in
soul-searching answers on how freedom of speech can proceed without
offending religious sensitivity. If we do not address this issue rightly, I
fear that we will lose more people in the Islamic world in this battle for
the hearts and minds.
TONY EASTLEY: The President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ending
that report from Peter Cave in Jakarta.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1579992.htm
==========================================
17. Papuan MPs to discuss Freeport closure amid unrest
==========================================
Thursday, March 2, 2006. 10:26am (AEDT)
Papua's provincial parliament in Indonesia says it plans to hold a special
session this month to discuss a call from the provinces tribal council to
close down the controversial Freeport Gold and Copper Mine.
The move came as noisy and sometimes violent protests continued in Jakarta
and the Papuan capital Jayapura for a third day.
The provincial government does not have the power to close the mine, which
is owned by a local subsidiary of the US-based Freeport-McMoRan, but tribal
groups want to put pressure on the government in Jakarta to do so.
The mine is one of Indonesia's major sources of national income and
Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has rejected the calls for its closure saying it
provides jobs, funds and other benefits.
Papuan protest groups are planning to spread their demonstrations across
Indonesia claiming the mine in an environmental and cultural disaster which
provides little to the Papuan people from its huge profits.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1581959.htm
===================================
18. Abbott withdraws ALP membership comment
===================================
Sydney Morning Herald
February 28, 2006 - 4:44PM
Health Minister Tony Abbott has been forced to withdraw comments after
asking whether there were any Australians left in the Australian Labor Party.
Opposition MPs booed and jeered in Question Time after Mr Abbott referred
to Cambodian, Vietnamese, Spanish and Greek Labor party members - then
asked where the Australians were.
A day after defending multiculturalism in a newspaper column, Mr Abbott
questioned the ethnic branch-stacking in the Victorian Labor party, where
several sitting members in safe seats are facing preselection challenges.
Opposition Pacific Islands spokesman Bob Sercombe on Tuesday pulled out of
the preselection race for his seat of Maribyrnong, conceding he could not win.
Six other MPs also face challenges, including former leader Simon Crean who
is under pressure from union boss Martin Pakula in the Melbourne seat of
Hotham.
"Mr Pakula may be very appealing to Cambodian speaking people who are just
two per cent of the electorate of Hotham but they're 30 per cent of the
Labor preselectors of Hotham," Mr Abbott told parliament.
"I'm reading in The Australian last Friday, he's (Mr Crean) still got the
Greek branches but he's lost the Spanish branches and he's lost the
Vietnamese branches as well as the Cambodian branches.
"And I couldn't help but think - are there any Australians left in the
so-called Australian Labor Party today?"
Opposition frontbencher Anthony Albanese, whose inner-Sydney electorate of
Grayndler has a large non-English speaking population, immediately objected.
"My point of order, Mr Speaker, is for the minister to withdraw that
extraordinarily outrageous slur on every Australian who doesn't have an
Anglo-Celtic name in this country," Mr Albanese said.
"We've heard the dog whistle from this mob one after the other, but this
minister as usual has gone too far and I ask him to withdraw it."
Speaker David Hawker said he did not find the comment offensive.
"Well Mr Speaker, I did and 46 per cent of my electorate will find that
offensive as well," Mr Albanese said.
Mr Abbott withdrew the comment but accused Labor of pigeonholing people by
their race.
"I'm happy to withdraw anything that's given him offence but I say this - I
think the Australian people are entitled to reject the way the Australian
Labor Party constantly puts people into ethnic - you know - that's what
they're trying to do to people," Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott's comments come after Prime Minister John Howard described the
Muslim burqa as confronting and Treasurer Peter Costello said radical
Muslims should move to another country if they wanted to live under sharia law.
© 2006 AAP
http://smh.com.au/news/National/Abbott-withdraws-ALP-membership-comment/2006/02/28/1141095728461.html
================================
19. Labor's lost its way, says Greens leader
================================
March 2, 2006 - 9:39AM
Labor should move back to humanitarian politics, Greens leader Bob Brown says.
On the 10-year anniversary of the Howard government, and of Senator Brown's
own entry into parliament, the environmental campaigner said Labor was
trying to swing to the right but had lost its way.
"I think the opposition has lost its way and I think it is going to get
worse," Senator Brown said.
"The indications are that the opposition thinks if it moves to the right it
will do better.
"No, it needs to move back to the humanitarian politics that Labor once
stood for and it easily could."
Democrats leader Lyn Allison said it was unlikely there would be a change
of government at the 2007 election, but that her party would regain the
balance of power in the Senate.
"I think Labor needs to lift its game very substantially," she told reporters.
"We are not going to get a change of government unless there is strong
leadership in Labor and a serious look at how they can be different to the
government, how they can address the government's failings.
"Too often we've seen Labor fall into line with the government on economic
issues in particular."
Senator Allison said Labor had a lot of work to do, as did the Democrats.
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Labors-lost-its-way-says-Greens-leader/2006/03/02/1141191762404.html
=========================
20. Muslim protest targets Costello
=========================
news.com.au
From: AAP
March 01, 2006
A SMALL but vocal group of protesters has gathered outside Federal
Treasurer Peter Costello's East Melbourne electorate office denouncing his
recent comments on multiculturalism.
The protesters, who held signs including Muslims are Welcome and
Islamophobia is Racism were outnumbered by police 11 to nine.
Protest spokesman Jonathon Collerson, of the Socialist Worker Students
Club, said despite the small numbers (of protesters) there was widespread
opposition to Mr Costello's comments.
"We think widespread in the community there is opposition to what Peter
Costello is saying, we think there is opposition to Islamophobia in Australia.
"Essentially, what Peter Costello said was that Muslims who are not
prepared to compromise their religious beliefs should be stripped of their
citizenship."
Mr Costello's controversial comments came during a speech to the Sydney
Institute last Thursday when he said anyone wanting to live under Islamic
sharia law should move to a country where they would feel "more at ease".
He also referred to a "mushy multiculturalism" in Australia.
Mr Costello was in Canberra addressing the National Press Club at the time
of the protest.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18311767-29281,00.html
====================================
21. Yahoo implicated in Chinese dissident's jailing
====================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Tuesday, February 28, 2006. 11:45pm (AEDT)
A global media watchdog says court documents prove that US Internet giant
Yahoo has collaborated with Chinese authorities in sending a second
political dissident to jail.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says a copy of the court verdict on
Li Zhi shows Yahoo and Chinese Internet firm Sina supplied information to
prosecutors.
Li, 35, was jailed for eight years in December 2003 on subversion charges
for posting anti-government essays on the Internet and contacting overseas
branches of the outlawed China Democracy Party.
The verdict, issued by a court in Dazhou city in Sichuan province, was
posted on the group's website.
Although the verdict lists Li's Yahoo account as evidence in the trial, it
does not say specifically if any of the emails sent through his account
have been used as evidence against him.
Yahoo first came under fire last year when it was revealed that Internet
records it handed over to police helped to convict another Chinese
political activist, Shi Tao.
He was jailed for 10 years for subversion.
Yahoo said it was unaware of the case of dissident Li Zhi when Reporters
Without Borders first raised the issue early this month, while dismissing
what it said were mischaracterisations of its past practices in China.
Officials in Yahoo's Beijing office could not be reached for comment on the
latest allegations.
Li used to work in Dazhou city's Finance Department but was arrested in
August 2003 after posting an essay on an overseas website accusing Sichuan
officials of corruption.
In the essay, he made references to China's Minister of Public Security,
who recently served as Communist Party secretary for Sichuan province.
Other major US Internet and tech firms, such as Google, Microsoft and
Cisco, have also been criticised for complying with, or aiding in, China's
censorship efforts.
- AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1580714.htm
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-|| This is the Project SafeCom Newsletter - published since 2001
-|| as the 'Project SafeCom Daily News and Updates'.
-||
-|| To subscribe to this Newsletter or to manage your subscription, visit
-|| http://www.safecom.org.au/newsletter-subscribe.htm
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-||- Project SafeCom info
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Old (and hopefully current) online archives of our News & Updates:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/safecom/read
Current (and new) archives of our News and Updates:
http://lists.perthimc.asn.au/pipermail/safecom-announce/
To subscribe to this Newsletter or to manage your subscription, visit
http://www.safecom.org.au/newsletter-subscribe.htm
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
+-+-+-+
LINKS:
+-+-+-+
HOME OF TERROR? - the hub page for our NEW Australian Anti-terrorism
legislation and our "seditious" section:
http://www.safecom.org.au/terror-home.htm
ROYAL COMMISSION Petition: download it, print it, put it out - everywhere
around town: http://www.safecom.org.au/royal-commission.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
|
|
 |
|
