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Project SafeCom News and Updates 29 March 2006
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Project SafeCom
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Mar 28, 2006 19:54 PST
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Project SafeCom News and Updates 29 March 2006
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1. The UN’s new-look Human Rights Council - don’t hold your breath
2. Vanstone incompetent and indolent, says Qld Govt
3. Two missing Cameroon athletes contact Perth officials
4. Runaway athletes surface in Sydney, Perth
5. Indonesia to snub Nias memorial service
6. Oz gets what it deserves on West Papua
7. Indonesia commits to Australian ties
8. Afghanistan frees Christian convert
9. Six more athletes 'get bridging visas'
10. Labor unveils immigration plan
11. Campbell accused of peddling nuclear lie
12. Petition to govt to boost ABC funding
13. A staff director is essential to protect the ABC's independence
14. Thousands protest against US immigration reforms
15. Guantanamo tribunals challenged in US court
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1. The UN’s new-look Human Rights Council - don’t hold your breath
=================================================
Online Opinion
By Patrick Goodenough
Friday, 24 March 2006
As the dust clears after last week’s UN vote creating a Human Rights
Council, attention will swing quickly to the likely make-up of the new
body, whose predecessor was disgraced by the presence and disruptive antics
of serial rights violators.
The US stood virtually alone against the resolution creating the new
council, not because it wanted to retain the discredited commission on
Human Rights (UNCHR) - it was, indeed, one of its severest critics - but
because it said the replacement failed to fix the problems.
In the end, the US and just three allies, Israel and two small Pacific
island nations, voted against the resolution and the council was duly born.
Critics of the Bush administration greeted the vote count as evidence of
America’s deepening isolation, and on the ineffectiveness of the diplomacy
practiced by John Bolton, US Ambassador to the UN.
Just wait, though, for May 9. That’s the day the General Assembly is due to
elect the members of the new council to sit in Geneva.
There will be 47 of them, just six fewer than the number of seats in the
UNCHR, whose ranks in recent years included such unsavoury regimes as Cuba,
Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Bolton had pressed for a much smaller body - around 20 initially, although
he said earlier in the negotiations that the US was willing, as a
compromise, to accept up to 30.
But, as was the case on so many other points, the US saw that proposal
relegated to the garbage bin during the months of wheeling and dealing,
co-ordinated by two UN “facilitators” under the oversight of General
Assembly president Jan Eliasson.
So the UN’s 191 member states will vote for roughly one-quarter of their
number to take seats on the council.
In order for an individual nation to get the nod, it will require the
support of 96 of those 191 members. (Bolton wanted a two-thirds threshold,
or 128 countries, but there again the US position was thrown out.)
And the resolution also says that if a council member fails to uphold high
human rights standards, it can be suspended by a two-thirds majority vote,
or 128 members. (Bolton wanted a one-third vote, or 64 members, but - well,
you get the picture.)
Turning matters on their heads, the UN therefore made it easier for a
rights violator to get onto the council, and harder for it to be kicked off.
Oddly enough, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International still felt the
US should go for it
They’re not the only human rights watchdogs on the block, however. The
independent Freedom House has for decades been gauging countries’
behaviour, ranking them as “free”, “partly free” or “not free”.
The global picture has improved significantly over the past 30 years. In
1975, Freedom House ranked 25 per cent of the world’s nations as free. By
2005 the number had reached 46 per cent.
That’s still a long way off the world hoped for by millions around the
world, and certainly by the founders of Freedom House. (They included
Eleanor Roosevelt, who incidentally chaired the committee that drafted the
declaration the UNCHR has been supposed to live by.)
Of the 191 countries that will be voting for the Human Rights Council’s
members, 88 are judged free under the Freedom House criteria. Another 58
are partly free, while 45 are not free.
Mugabe, Castro et al
This week’s resolution calls on UN member states to take into account
candidates’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights
when voting.
It also requires “equitable geographic distribution” of members. Whatever
other “reforms” they may have been willing to consider, many countries were
simply not prepared to abandon their obsession with regional groupings.
At the new council, Africa will get 13 seats, Asia 13, Eastern Europe 6,
Latin American and the Caribbean 8, and the Western European and others 7.
(The latter group includes democracies like the US, Canada, Australia and
New Zealand.)
So Africa and Asia will together account for more than 55 per cent of the
council’s members, while Western nations’ representation stands at below 15
percent.
And going back to the Freedom House rankings, it’s not hard to see what
that means.
It’s not clear yet whether regional groups will be required to put forward
more candidates than there are seats allocated to their particular region -
and so ensure that member states actually have a pool to vote from. But
don’t count on it.
Even if they did, though, it wouldn’t necessarily make any difference. If,
for instance, Africa put 15 forward candidates for its 13 allocated seats,
and the 15 included Sudan, Libya and Zimbabwe, at least one of the three
pariahs would get through.
If a nation like Zimbabwe stood for election, even if every one of Freedom
House’s 88 free nations opposed its candidacy, Robert Mugabe’s regime could
still theoretically win a seat, because partly free and unfree nations
together exceed the required threshold of 96.
Similarly, if a move was initiated to have Zimbabwe booted off the council,
the 88 free democracies could not do so without the support of another 40
countries for whom human rights are less pressing.
Perhaps the only consolation of this provision lies in the fact that if one
day, in a fit of indigestion or messianic fervour, people like Fidel Castro
or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tried to get the US booted off the council, they too
would need to find 128 votes to do so.
They would not likely succeed.
But they’ll still be cheering in Cairo and Beijing over another provision
of the resolution that makes it impossible for any member to serve more
than two consecutive three-year terms. At least one year in every seven,
they’ll reckon, they can look forward to not being hectored in Geneva by the US
This enforced regular absence applies equally to repressive regimes and
democracies.
But then, as Freedom House has pointed out, there are a lot more of them
than there are of us.
----> Patrick Goodenough is a Pacific Rim-based correspondent for an
American online news service, CNSNews.com.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=4301
=======================================
2. Vanstone incompetent and indolent, says Qld Govt
=======================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Wednesday, March 29, 2006. 1:18pm (AEDT)
The Queensland Government says the Federal Immigration Minister is too
incompetent to fix her department.
Queensland's Police and Corrective Services Minister Judy Spence says the
State's police officers were innocently dragged into the wrongful detention
of Cornelia Rau.
Ms Spence says former Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer and former
Victorian police commissioner Neil Comrie have investigated the case and
that of Vivian Alvarez-Solon.
She has told Parliament that Queensland's efforts to work with the
Immigration Department have been fruitless.
"Twelve months since the Cornelia Rau saga was broadcast to the nation,
three months since the last contact and still we are waiting," she said.
"Palmer and Comrie got it right, the Department of Immigration is unwilling
to review and reform itself and it isn't helped by an incompetent and
indolent minister who isn't willing to push these reforms."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1603648.htm
=========================================
3. Two missing Cameroon athletes contact Perth officials
=========================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Tuesday, March 28, 2006. 10:01pm (AEDT)
Two athletes from Cameroon who disappeared from the Commonwealth Games have
contacted Immigration officials in Perth.
A refugee advocate group is helping the two male athletes who arrived in
Perth this morning.
The Department of Immigration says they are in the country legally as their
visas do not expire until April 26.
The Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees says the men are
receiving legal advice.
The Department of Immigration says they have not applied for another visa.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1603140.htm
==================================
4. Runaway athletes surface in Sydney, Perth
==================================
The Age
By Russell Skelton, Peter Ker and Martin Boulton
March 29, 2006
A FURTHER six runaway athletes from the Sierra Leonean Commonwealth Games
squad have turned themselves in to authorities in Sydney, as doubts were
raised over the legitimacy of at least two of the asylum claims.
Two of nine missing athletes from Cameroon also surfaced yesterday in
Perth, having crossed the continent on the Indian Pacific train.
The latest group of Sierra Leoneans are thought to have caught the
overnight train to Sydney before being taken to Immigration Department
offices by the refugee advocate who assisted the initial group of six.
All 12 have been granted bridging visas until April 13.
Sandy Walker, 19, a lightly built 200 metres sprinter, said that due to his
history as an anti-government activist, his life would be in danger if he
was sent back to Sierra Leone. "I cannot go back, I will be killed or
worse," he told The Age.
"I do not want to say too much because I am very worried for my family."
He was talking just before walking through the revolving glass doors of the
Immigration Department office to request political asylum, along with five
other athletes — Lamin Tucker, Alie Dady Bangura, Alhassan Bangura, Mohamad
Sesay and Musa Kamara — who travelled with him from Melbourne.
In a brief encounter with the media, one of the other athletes pointed to
large scar on his leg where he said Government soldiers had shot him.
The six made contact early yesterday with the Northern Beaches Refugee
Sanctuary, which had already given shelter to the six other runaways from
the strife-plagued African state.
But as the latest group were processed, the hardship claims of some were
being questioned by Sierra Leone team managers.
Sierra Leone attache Robert Green and his wife Jan, who looked after the
team's needs in Melbourne, and said they were not convinced that the
circumstances of two of the athletes — Tucker and Marion Bangura — were as
dire as claimed.
Ms Green said neither Tucker nor Bangura had been booked to fly back to
Sierra Leone, as both held prestigious scholarships at a university in
Havana, Cuba.
Mrs Green said Bangura's flights out of Australia were bound for London
with a connection to Cuba, and Tucker was expected to be on a similar — if
not the same — flight.
Mrs Green said Bangura was a well-educated, eloquent and sophisticated
young woman, who had arrived in Melbourne with creature comforts such as a
mobile phone. "Marion in particular was the most comfortable of all of
them. She came here separately with Lamin Tucker from Cuba," she said. "It
(Melbourne) would not have been a culture shock for her at all."
Mrs Green said it appeared Bangura had attempted to alter her appearance
for television on Monday. "(When she arrived) she was very eloquent, very
well dressed, beautifully groomed, but when myself and the rest of the
Sierra Leone staff saw her on television last night we hardly recognised
her," she said.
"She was presented with her hair flared, it looked like it had been chopped
or hacked, not cut. She had no make-up, as though she had no clothes or
anything and that certainly wasn't the case with her."
Bangura's mother had put $US500 into her daughter's bank account the day
before she and five others disappeared and Mrs Green said Bangura had
relatives living in the United States.
But David Addington, convener of the Northern Beaches Sanctuary, said he
was unaware that any of them had travelled outside of Africa before, and
was convinced all 12 cases were legitimate.
"Sierra Leoneans change their hairstyle weekly, that's part of West African
culture … as for having a mobile phone I couldn't say," he said. "I've met
600 refugees in the past three years and she (Marion Bangura) is a very,
very frightened young woman."
Mr and Mrs Green said they believed the claims of two others, Isha Conteh
and Sarah Turay, were more legitimate. "The other two girls, maybe they're
not as well off as Marion, maybe they were going back to a situation they
feared," she said.
Sierra Leone officials suspect Conteh arrived in Australia with contacts to
assist the escape.
The sprinter immediately borrowed team officials' phones upon arrival and
made several calls to local numbers. The numbers were later passed on to
police.
Mr Addington said the 12 runaway athletes would live in Sydney's small
Sierra Leonean community for the next two weeks while their visa status was
resolved.
After yesterday's developments, 11 Commonwealth Games athletes remained
unaccounted for — two from Sierra Leone, seven from Cameroon, one from
Tanzania and one from Bangladesh. Unlike the Sierra Leoneans, the Cameroon
athletes still have valid Games visas, and are allowed to be in Australia
until April 26.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/runaway-athletes-surface-in-sydney-perth/2006/03/28/1143441151089.html
===============================
5. Indonesia to snub Nias memorial service
===============================
The Age
March 28, 2006 - 5:49PM
Top Indonesian officials won't attend a memorial service for nine
Australians killed in last year's relief helicopter crash on earthquake-hit
Nias Island as anger mounts over the visas granted to Papuan separatists.
A senior Indonesian military spokesman also said plans for Sunday's
anniversary ceremony had not been approved and it might not take place at all.
Separately, demonstrators have daubed obscenities on the walls of the
Australian embassy in Jakarta in protest.
They wrote "Australia F***" and "Leave Indonesia now" in red paint on the
grey walls of the embassy compound on Monday night.
An embassy spokeswoman said about a dozen paramilitary police and security
staff, some wearing kevlar combat vests and helmets, did nothing to stop
the vandals because they did not pose "a real threat to the embassy".
Around 30 family members from Australia are expected to join defence
personnel including Maritime Commander Rear-Admiral Davyd Thomas and
Ambassador Bill Farmer for the service in Tuindrao village, near the west
coast of Nias.
Just 12 months ago the tragedy brought the two countries and their
governments close together in grief over the ultimate sacrifice paid by
young Australians trying to help disaster-hit Indonesians.
But it is a different story in the wake of visas given to 42 Papuan asylum
seekers.
Diplomatic relations are strained with Indonesia's ambassador called home
from Canberra amid calls by nationalists for tougher action against Australia.
Military and government officials in Jakarta seemed, at best, uninterested
in Sunday's service.
"We don't know if we are sending anyone yet," the Indonesian defence
department's chief of international relations, Colonel Wahyu Suhendar, told
AAP.
The deputy spokesman for the military, Colonel Ahmad Yani Basuki, said the
whole event was still under a cloud, although he refused to say why and
whether the uncertainty was linked to the Papua row.
"At the moment the event has not been cleared," he said.
"There is no certainty on whether it's going to be held or not, and that's
all I'll say."
Provincial military chiefs in the north Sumatra capital Medan said they had
not been instructed to send anyone and were unaware the memorial was even
taking place, despite the looming arrival of an Australian warship in
Indonesian waters.
Following a massive earthquake on the island on March 28 last year, the
ageing navy Sea King, codenamed Shark 02, was flying a rescue mission with
11 medical personnel and air crew from HMAS Kanimbla when it cartwheeled
into the ground and burst into flames.
A crash inquiry has heard a bolt fell out of the helicopter's flight
control system.
Only two passengers survived, communications specialist Shane Warburton and
paramedic Scott Nicholls, who were dragged from the burning wreck by local
villagers.
Still grieving family members of the victims will travel to the dusty
football field where the crash occurred on board an air force C-130
Hercules and HMAS Tobruk, before joining local Indonesian officials in
Tuindrao to dedicate a new memorial.
Letters requesting senior Indonesian brass to attend were sent several
months ago by the Australian embassy in Jakarta to the chiefs of the navy,
air force and army, as well as the foreign ministry.
The letters were sent on to the office of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, who last year joined Prime Minister John Howard on the tarmac at
Sydney Airport as the bodies of the nine Australians were flown home.
They were posthumously given Indonesian medals and an honour guard.
An Australian embassy spokeswoman said Canberra had not expected "the
panglima", or head of the military, to attend the service.
Fiery nationalist MP and foreign affairs commission member Djoko Susilo,
who has in recent days lashed out at Canberra over the Papuans, said anger
in Jakarta should not extend to the Nias service.
"This is a separate case, a humanitarian case," he told AAP.
"I don't see any problem with humanitarian deeds."
But he said Mr Howard should apologise to Indonesia over the visa issue and
show more sensitivity to Jakarta.
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Indonesia-to-snub-Nias-memorial-service/2006/03/28/1143441140312.html
================================
6. Oz gets what it deserves on West Papua
================================
Crikey.com.au
Date: 28 March 2006
Michael Pascoe
See also the background page at http://www.safecom.org.au/merdeka.htm
The West Papua refugee problem is the direct result of Australia acting
dishonestly back in 1969...
John Quiggin's piece in yesterday's Crikey (item 7) doesn't go nearly far
enough in suggesting the Australian government's past misdeeds are catching
up with it in the present diplomatic difficulties of West Papua.
Betrayals never go unpunished somewhere down the line and that's not just
in the ALP. The West Papua refugee problem is the direct result of
Australia acting dishonestly back in 1969 when we conspired to go along
with Jakarta's appropriation of the Dutch colony into a Javanese colony.
Canberra knew the Indonesian-run West Papuan “vote” in 1969 was a corrupted
farce, but we did the dishonourable thing and approved it. We did the same
thing with East Timor in 1975 and again that betrayal has been punished.
In 1969 we ditched the Dutch who were belatedly trying to act a little
honourably with one of their colonies. We happily waved away the people of
West Papua into a new colonial empire because standing on principle would
have been “difficult”. Betraying principle eventually becomes more difficult.
The reality is that West Papua has been colonised with one million
Indonesians already under Jakarta's transmigration policy and there are
more on the way. The 2.5 million Papuans will eventually be swamped. They
already are being economically marginalised.
There is no reason to think the Indonesians are any better at being an
occupying power than the Dutch. And we bear some of the responsibility for
that it's not just Rio Tinto that has to examine its conscience.
The present small problem with a handful of refugees is just the start of a
larger and ongoing problem. It serves us right.
http://crikey.com.au/articles/2006/03/28-1508-6089.html
=============================
7. Indonesia commits to Australian ties
=============================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Tuesday, March 28, 2006. 4:19pm (AEDT)
By foreign affairs editor Peter Cave
A spokesman for the Indonesian President has poured cold water on
nationalist demands for a severing of diplomatic relations with Australia
over its decision to grant temporary protection visas to 42 Papuan separatists.
Presidential spokesman Dino Djalal says the demands of nationalist
politicians are unrealistic.
He says "it just won't happen, relations will remain as they are".
He says if Indonesia did cut its ties with Australia, it would be the
Papuan separatists who would rejoice because that is exactly what they
would like to see.
Indonesia recalled its ambassador from Australia last Friday to signal its
anger at the visa decision.
However, Indonesia and Australia have faced more serious problems in the
past but diplomatic relations have remained intact.
The group of Papuans are to be settled in Melbourne.
Most are currently at the Christmas Island detention centre off the
north-west coast of Western Australia, and will be taken to Perth when
weather conditions allow it.
Ten of the group are receiving medical treatment in Perth.
An Immigration Department spokesman says two community organisations will
help them settle in Melbourne.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1602905.htm
===========================
8. Afghanistan frees Christian convert
===========================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Tuesday, March 28, 2006. 5:02pm (AEDT)
An Afghan Christian convert who had faced a possible death sentence for
abandoning Islam has been released from detention.
Afghanistan's Justice Minister Sarwar Danish says the man, 40-year-old
Abdur Rahman, has been acquitted of all charges.
The UN spokesman in Kabul, Adrian Edwards, says Mr Rahman has asked for
asylum outside the country.
"We expect that this will be provided by one of the countries interested in
a peaceful solution to this case," he said.
The case has attracted severe criticism from Afghanistan's western allies,
including Australia, while religious circles within Afghanistan have
insisted Sharia law should be upheld and Mr Rahman executed.
Mr Rahman converted to Christianity 16 years ago in Pakistan and spent many
years in Germany before returning to Afghanistan around 2002.
He was arrested two weeks ago after his parents went to the authorities,
reportedly following a family dispute.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1602982.htm
============================
9. Six more athletes 'get bridging visas'
============================
From: AAP
March 28, 2006
A FURTHER six Sierra Leone athletes had been granted bridging visas after
turning themselves into immigration officials in Sydney, a refugee advocate
said today.
The six men fronted the immigration department this morning, more than a
week after they disappeared from the Commonwealth Games village in Melbourne.
Yesterday, six athletes three men and three women were granted bridging
visas after several days in hiding at a home in Sydney's north.
Northern Beaches Refugee Sanctuary spokesman David Addington, who sheltered
the first six athletes, said he believed the second group was issued
bridging visas a short time ago.
"I have not spoken to the athletes themselves but I believe they've been
given bridging visas," Mr Addington said.
A spokesman for the immigration department said the men were still being
processed and it would be two hours before their status could be revealed.
Mr Addington said the men did not realise their Commonwealth Games visas
had been revoked.
"They are pretty scared," Mr Addington said.
"All of them feel very strongly that if they go back to Sierra Leone, life
will be very difficult for them."
Mr Addington said the men had been scared by media reports in their home
country carrying headlines to the effect of "just wait till you come home".
He said the six men will now probably stay with members of the Sierra Leone
community in Sydney.
Two other Sierra Leone athletes remain at large.
Mr Addington said neither he nor the other athletes knew of their whereabouts.
But he was hopeful media reports of the 12 athletes' successful visa
applications would encourage them to come forward.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18631668-29277,00.html
=========================
10. Labor unveils immigration plan
=========================
news.com.au
From: AAP
March 28, 2006
LABOR has proposed an overhaul of the immigration system to ensure problems
raised by the cases of Cornelia Rau, Vivian Alvarez and others never happen
again.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said a Labor Government would make
immigration officers apply three tests before any attempt was made to take
a person to a detention centre.
The tests would include identity verification, where the individual was
located, and whether they behaved in a distressed, disoriented,
inconsistent or bizarre way.
If someone raised all three "flags" the person would go through further
identity checks and be assessed by a dedicated mental health team, in what
Labor calls a "pre-front gate assessment".
Only then would they go through the gates of a detention centre.
"It is only through the application of Labor's comprehensive three-flag
test and pre-front gate assessment that all Australians can be sure that we
have procedures in place which protect those who need protection most," Mr
Beazley said.
"And after the string of tragic wrongful detentions it is incredible the
government has no such safeguard already in place."
The mental health teams would be funded through an agreement with the
states, he said.
Cornelia Rau was wrongly held in detention after officials mistook her for
an illegal immigrant, and Vivian Alvarez, also known as Vivian Solon, was
deported to the Philippines in 2001 after being wrongly identified as an
illegal immigrant.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18629561-29277,00.html
================================
11. Campbell accused of peddling nuclear lie
================================
March 29, 2006 - 1:29PM
Greens senator Christine Milne accused federal Environment Minister Ian
Campbell of peddling the lie that nuclear power was a solution for climate
change.
Senator Milne said a study by the UK sustainable development commission
rejected a new nuclear program on numerous grounds including cost
uncertainties, the danger of nuclear waste and the threat of terrorist attacks.
"Senator Ian Campbell ... is to be condemned for peddling the big nuclear
lie that nuclear is a solution to climate change. It is not a solution to
climate change," she told reporters.
"It is too slow and too expensive. It also centralises power systems in a
world which is going to more decentralised production in the face of
threats of terrorism attacks."
Senator Campbell said on Tuesday an expansion of uranium mining and use of
nuclear technology was essential to counter greenhouse gas emissions and
global warming.
"Nuclear is one of the existing technologies that we know that can produce
energy with low carbon emissions," he told ABC's Lateline program.
Senator Milne said it was extraordinary that the Australian environment
minister was advocating nuclear power and uranium mines.
She said the existing uranium mines had a history of waste spills with the
most recent in 2004 at the Ranger mine, in the Northern Territory.
"Here we have a minister for the environment who is talking up uranium
mines which are notoriously dangerous and which are water guzzlers and a
minister who wants to in fact plunge other countries into a debt crisis
with uranium and military and nuclear facilities, fuelled by Australian
uranium," she said.
"He should wake up to the fact that nuclear is the asbestos of the 21st
century."
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Campbell-accused-of-peddling-nuclear-lie/2006/03/29/1143441196472.html
=============================
12. Petition to govt to boost ABC funding
=============================
The Age
March 28, 2006 - 6:24PM
More than 50,000 people have added their names to an online petition
backing the ABC's latest funding submission, as unrest emerged in the
coalition over a potential voter backlash.
The ABC is seeking an extra $38.4 million, on top of its $760 million a
year, to boost services to outer city and regional areas, produce content
for its ABC2 digital TV project and make more drama, documentaries,
children's and arts programs.
Treasurer Peter Costello is considering the ABC's proposal, which will
cover the next three years, in the lead-up to the Budget in May.
Actor Penny Cook, representatives from community campaign group GetUp and
the media union presented a petition with more than 50,000 names to Mr
Costello's office.
"We believe in the value of a well-funded and independent national
broadcaster," the petition reads.
The petition came as an unnamed backbencher warned a meeting of Liberal and
Nationals MPs to be aware that "a lot of supporters listen to the ABC", as
the party room ticked off new laws which will strip the ABC's board of its
staff representative.
And Labor and the minor parties used a debate in the Senate to step up
pressure on the government over ABC funding.
GetUp executive director Brett Solomon said at one stage 1,000 names were
being added to the online petition every hour.
Mr Solomon said those who had signed the petition came from across the
country and represented a variety of ages and political persuasions.
"It reflects Australia in a broad sense," Mr Solomon said.
Federal secretary of media and entertainment union the MEAA, Chris Warren,
said many Australians were concerned the ABC was missing out on vital funds.
Mr Warren said the ABC provided two TV stations, four national and 60 local
radio stations, two digital radio stations, ABC Online and Radio Australia
on a budget about two-thirds of the average Australian commercial
television network.
"The ABC is a cherished national institution and a vital part of the media
mix in Australia," Mr Warren said.
The government recently commissioned a consultant's report into the ABC's
funding position.
The report by KPMG, which has not been made public, is understood to have
acknowledged that the ABC is efficient in the use of its funds, but has a
dire need for more funding.
Opposition communications spokesman Stephen Conroy told parliament the
report should be made public.
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Petition-to-govt-to-boost-ABC-funding/2006/03/28/1143441141658.html
================================================
13. A staff director is essential to protect the ABC's independence
================================================
The Age
By Ramona Koval
March 29, 2006
WHEN Communications Minister Helen Coonan announced her intention to
introduce legislation to amend the ABC Act and abolish the position of
staff-elected director on the ABC board, she cited claims that the position
created uncertainty about accountability.
Contrary to the minister's view, there has never been uncertainty about
this position. All directors are obliged to act independently, in the best
interests of the ABC. Only the method of our appointment differs. I am
elected by the staff. All the other board members have been picked by the
Government, except the managing director, who has been picked by the board.
I am the only director independent of the government.
The election of a staff director means that at least one member of the
board brings expertise in journalism, broadcasting and a working knowledge
of the role and functions of the public broadcaster and its importance in
the cultural life of the country.
Since the creation of the corporation in 1984, the staff-elected director
has provided balance to party-political stacking of the board. Previous
incumbents have also been publicly engaged in defending the role and
independence of the ABC and making sure that its obligations under the
charter were upheld. The position has evolved as a vital structural element
in the protection of the ABC's strategic and editorial independence. The
staff-elected director raised concerns in the early 1990s about the ABC's
proposed commercial partnership with Fairfax and Cox (US) in pay TV in
Australia.
In 1995, the then staff-elected director, Quentin Dempster, (backed by
staff) assisted the Senate in its inquiries exposing breaches of the ABC
Act through backdoor sponsorship, a point acknowledged at the time by
Coonan's predecessor, Richard Alston, in his Senate report Our ABC.
In 2000, then staff-elected director Kirsten Garrett debated the provision
of the ABC's programming output to Telstra's broadband portals. Had the ABC
entered into such a partnership with Telstra, we may now have been in even
greater financial difficulties.
In October 2002, I informed the chairman of my unwillingness to support a
number of proposals in the Board Directors Handbook, a document not binding
under law and which serves as a gentleman's agreement. I assured the
chairman and the board that I fully intended to act in accordance with my
legal obligations under the Corporations Law and the ABC Act.
Among other problems, the document attempted to make the actions of
individual directors subject to approval by the chairman or the majority of
the board. This is contrary to the requirement that directors act at all
times independently and in good faith.
Since 2002, I have made 11 reports to staff while I have been a member of
the board. Each is prefaced with a statement about legal limitations on my
ability to discuss many matters. As well as containing a summary of the
issues I took to the board, they contained a summary of my views about
board decisions.
I have never breached confidentiality in this role. I have simply raised
concerns about the potential for political interference. Board governance
was at the heart of the matter that led to the resignation of Maurice
Newman in 2004, when managing director Russell Balding decided to contract
out monitoring of the ABC's news and current affairs coverage in a
non-election period without his seeking a formal resolution of the board.
The minister's intervention in acting to abolish the staff-elected director
position while an Australian Electoral Commission election is under way
reveals the urgency of the Government's desire to control the ABC.
It is my sincere concern that the pressure on the ABC to conform to the
Government's political agenda will only intensify in the coming months.
This is a time of great uncertainty for the organisation as it searches for
a new managing director and awaits the Government's latest political
manoeuvre in appointing a new chairman or perhaps extending the present
chairman's appointment.
Coonan's announcement also mentions concerns about conflicts of interest
and the effective functioning of the ABC Board. The board has functioned
perfectly well in the four years since I first declined to be a part of the
cosy club that presumably stands for modern principles of governance.
The Government would like there to be no conflict of interest at all
between the ABC board and the Government. With the staff-elected director
removed, this will place the Government in a position more like that of
Silvio Berlusconi, who has his own TV stations as well as holding the
state-owned media in his hands. Is this really what Australians want?
Ramona Koval is the staff-elected member on the ABC board.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/a-staff-director-is-essential-to-protect-the-abcs-independence/2006/03/28/1143441146128.html
=======================================
14. Thousands protest against US immigration reforms
=======================================
The World Today - Tuesday 28 March 2006 12:34:00
Reporter: Kim Landers
KAREN PERCY: Illegal immigration is shaping up to be a key issue in the
United States ahead of congressional elections later this year.
As the US Congress gets set to look at a broad range of reforms in the area
of immigration, protesters took to the streets from Los Angeles to Houston
to Detroit to Washington DC.
They're concerned about a planned crackdown, which could entail a
tightening of the borders and prosecution of anyone who helps an illegal
immigrant.
Such actions would affect an estimated 11 million migrants who don't have
legal documents, but it also has ramifications for the church groups who
assist them.
From Washington, Kim Landers, reports.
(sound of protesters)
KIM LANDERS: On the west lawn of the Capitol Building today, hundreds
protested against a proposed immigration crackdown.
Waving the US flag alongside those from Mexico, Honduras and Ecuador, they
held placards saying: "we are America" and in their midst stood 200 clergy,
dozens of them handcuffed to each other. It's a symbol of their intention
to defy a proposed US law to make it a crime for anyone who helps illegal
immigrants.
Reverend JM Lawson Junior from the United Methodist Church in Los Angeles
says even a church service itself could be a crime.
JM LAWSON JUNIOR: My serving them the Lord's supper would mean that I am
helping them, therefore I am committing a felony. This bill is tyranny.
KIM LANDERS: With a handcuff dangling from his wrist, Pastor Rene Knight
explained why he'd come from Delaware to Washington.
RENE KNIGHT: Under this bill we would be considered a smuggler and that is
really, that's something very wrong, you know, because we are serving the
community.
KIM LANDERS: It's a concern echoed by Ed Bacon, the rector at the All
Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena California.
ED BACON: It is one of the most evil and immoral impulses that I've seen in
our country and I have great concern about that.
KIM LANDERS: How resolute are you about defying any such law put in place?
ED BACON: Oh indeed, all of us who are here I think are willing to engage
in civil disobedience to defy this law.
KIM LANDERS: While these priests and pastors are willing to go to jail if
needed, it may not come to that.
Although the House of Representatives has passed a law making it illegal to
help undocumented migrants, it hasn't passed the Senate.
Twelve-year-old Demirel, who came with his family from Mexico five years
ago, is worried he'll be sent back if it does.
DEMIREL: My mum, she cleans houses so she don't want to get dumped out of
here 'cause Mexico's much more harder to live. That's why we come here.
KIM LANDERS: Protestors have also taken to the streets today in Houston,
Dallas and Detroit.
In LA thousands of students have ditched class.
VOX POP 1: We all leave school today, half of the school who doesn't have
papers they will leave soon if this law passes.
KIM LANDERS: The American public is divided about immigration reform.
There are those who favour curbing illegal immigration with tighter border
security and tougher penalties, like fining employers who give work to
undocumented migrants.
Others say it's essential to bring some of the estimated 11 million illegal
workers out of the shadows, with a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws.
The fierce debate is prompting immigrants like Stephanie Cisneros to speak out.
STEPHANIE CISNEROS: We are not criminals. We are here to study. Our parents
are here to work.
KIM LANDERS: But on conservative talkback radio, anti-illegal immigrant
groups are holding their ground.
CALLER: We cannot allow these people that have come to the street, illegal
aliens, criminals, to change the way that we do business here in the United
States.
KIM LANDERS: Over the next few days the US Senate will debate several rival
proposals for immigration reform.
President George W. Bush has his own plan.
He attended a citizenship ceremony today to tout his backing for a guest
worker program, which he says will allow immigrants to do the jobs other
Americans won't.
GEORGE W. BUSH: America should not have to choose between being a welcoming
society and being a lawful society. We can be both at the same time.
KIM LANDERS: Immigration reform has not only sparked huge protests across
the US, it's also split the President's Republican Party.
Some, like Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas, think the proposed
laws aren't tough enough.
JOHN CORNYN: But there's so many reasons why I think it's a mistake. It'll
be interpreted as an amnesty provision.
KIM LANDERS: For Republican Senator Jon Kyl from Arizona, it's the way the
immigration debate is being whipped up, that's troubling him.
JON KYL: We've seen a lot of people scared as a result of some of the
rhetoric that is being engaged in so far.
KIM LANDERS: The President has today warned the US Congress against fear
mongering over the immigration reforms, instead pleading for a "dignified"
debate.
But it's unclear if there can be such a civil exchange over such an
emotional topic.
This is Kim Landers in Washington for The World Today.
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1602874.htm
===================================
15. Guantanamo tribunals challenged in US court
===================================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Wednesday, March 29, 2006. 9:12am (AEDT)
The legality of the military tribunals set up to punish suspected
terrorists, including Australian David Hicks, is being challenged in the US
Supreme Court.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan is a Yemeni man who says he took a job as a driver for
Osama Bin Laden to earn money for his family.
After being captured in Afghanistan he is now facing a military tribunal at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Today his lawyers have argued before the Supreme Court that the tribunals
should be abolished because they are unconstitutional.
Lawyers for the Bush Administration insist the President had the power as
commander-in-chief, to setup the tribunals.
They say Hamdan and other detainees at Guantanamo are "enemy combatants"
without habeas corpus rights, and that a new law adopted by Congress denies
the Supreme Court jurisdiction in the case.
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, which prohibits torture and abuse of
detainees held by the US, included an amendment that strictly limits the
right to appeal for Guantanamo detainees.
The legislation permits detainees to file appeals only after a verdict is
handed down by a military tribunal, and only before a federal appeals court
in Washington, without any role for the Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court upholds the administration's stance, then dozens of
appeals filed in US courts on behalf of Guantanamo detainees would be
thrown out. The court's decision is expected by July.
The decision in this case will affect whether the military tribunal for
Hicks resumes later this year.
Human rights groups have repeatedly urged the US Government to scrap the
military commissions.
About 490 foreign terrorism suspects are in Guantanamo. Some have been held
for four years and only a handful have been charged with crimes.
Detainee allegations
A group of Algerian officials have travelled to Guantanamo Bay to inspect
conditions for 26 Algerian prisoners, in a rare visit by an Arab
government, the Algerian el Watan daily reported.
The newspaper quoted one of the group as saying the detainees had
complained of inhumane treatment during the visit.
"They denounced detention conditions and an inhumane (prison) regime," the
newspaper quoted the team member as saying.
The newspaper gave no further details. Algerian officials were not
immediately available for comment.
El Watan said the Algerian team included representatives of the ministries
of justice, foreign affairs and defence.
The newspaper said negotiations were under way between Algeria and the
United States to repatriate them but added that it could take a while.
"The Algerian government will do everything to assist and bring all the
necessary aid to its nationals," a member of the team who visited
Guantanamo was quoted as saying.
US relations with Algeria have been warming and the two countries began
military-to-military exchanges last year.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during a visit to the country in
February that he intended to deepen military ties with Algeria and
cooperate more on counter-terrorism.
-ABC/AFP/Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1603250.htm
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