|
Project SafeCom News and Updates 31 March 2006
|
Project SafeCom
|
Mar 30, 2006 15:38 PST
|
Project SafeCom News and Updates 31 March 2006
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
¤ - In this Edition - ¤
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
1. The Secret War Against The Defenseless People Of West Papua
2. Overstayer complains of 'inhumane' detention
3. Vanstone should Respect Ombudsman's Recommendations
4. Grant Mr X visa: Labor
5. Mr X must be released and mandatory detention must end
6. Detention led to 'Mr X's' mental illness: Ombudsman
7. Papua row strains Indonesian relations
8. Greens question delay in arrival of West Papuans
9. New tapping laws pass Senate
10. ASIO's anti-terror powers to be extended to 2016
11. Smartcard may go further: Costello
12. 2MFM Wins Over Sydney’s Muslims
13. Georgiou's left field help in Kooyong
14. Cut greenhouse gas: World Bank
15. Italy grants asylum to Afghan Christian
-||+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-|| 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. The Secret War Against The Defenseless People Of West Papua
=================================================
The New Statesman, UK
and Information Clearing House
9 March 2006
By John Pilger
In 1993, I and four others travelled clandestinely across East Timor to
gather evidence of the genocide committed by the Indonesian dictatorship.
Such was the depth of silence about this tiny country that the only map I
could find before I set out was one with blank spaces stamped "Relief Data
Incomplete". Yet few places had been as defiled and abused by murderous
forces. Not even Pol Pot had succeeded in despatching, proportionally, as
many people as the Indonesian tyrant Suharto had done in collusion with the
"international community".
In East Timor, I found a country littered with graves, their black crosses
crowding the eye: crosses on peaks, crosses in tiers on the hillsides,
crosses beside the road. They announced the murder of entire communities,
from babies to the elderly. In 2000, when the East Timorese, displaying a
collective act of courage with few historical parallels, finally won their
freedom, the United Nations set up a truth commission; on 24 January, its
2,500 pages were published. I have never read anything like it. Using
mostly official documents, it recounts in painful detail the entire
disgrace of East Timor's blood sacrifice. It says that 180,000 East
Timorese were killed by Indonesian troops or died from enforced starvation.
It describes the "primary roles" in this carnage of the governments of the
United States, Britain and Australia. America's "political and military
support were fundamental" in crimes that ranged from "mass executions to
forced resettlements, sexual and other horrific forms of torture as well as
abse against children". Britain, a co-conspirator in the invasion, was the
main arms supplier. If you want to see through the smokescreen currently
around Iraq, and understand true terrorism, read this document.
As I read it, my mind went back to the letters Foreign Office officials
wrote to concerned members of the public and MPs following the showing of
my film Death of a Nation. Knowing the truth, they denied that
British-supplied Hawk jets were blowing straw-roofed villages to bits and
that British-supplied Heckler and Koch machine-guns were finishing off the
occupants. They even lied about the scale of suffering.
It's happening again
And it is all happening again, wrapped in the same silence and with the
"international community" playing the same part as backer and beneficiary
of the crushing of a defenceless people. Indonesia's brutal occupation of
West Papua, a vast, resource-rich province - stolen from its people, like
East Timor - is one of the great secrets of our time. Recently, the
Australian minister of "communications", Senator Helen Coonan, failed to
place it on the map of her own region, as if it did not exist.
An estimated 100,000 Papuans, or 10 per cent of the population, have been
killed by the Indonesian military. This is a fraction of the true figure,
according to refugees. In January, 43 West Papuans reached Australia's
north coast after a hazardous six-week journey in a dugout. They had no
food, and had dribbled their last fresh water into their children's mouths.
"We knew," said Herman Wainggai, the leader, "that if the Indonesian
military had caught us, most of us would have died. They treat West Papuans
like animals. They kill us like animals. They have created militias and
jihadis to do just that. It is the same as East Timor."
For over a year, an estimated 6,000 people have been hiding in dense jungle
after their villages and crops were destroyed by Indonesian special forces.
Raising the West Papuan flag is "treason". Two men are serving 15 and
ten-year sentences for merely trying. Following an attack on one village, a
man was presented as an "example" and petrol poured over him and his hair
set alight.
When the Netherlands gave Indonesia its independence in 1949, it argued
that West Papua was a separate geographic and ethnic entity with a
distinctive national character. A report published last November by the
Institute of Netherlands History in The Hague revealed that the Dutch had
secretly recognised the "unmistakable beginning of the formation of a
Papuan state", but were bullied by the administration of John F Kennedy to
accept "temporary" Indonesian control over what a White House adviser
called "a few thousand miles of cannibal land".
The West Papuans were conned. The Dutch, Americans, British and Australians
backed an "Act of Free Choice" ostensibly run by the UN. The movements of a
UN monitoring team of 25 were restricted by the Indonesian military and
they were denied interpreters. In 1969, out of a population of 800,000,
some 1,000 West Papuans "voted". All were selected by the Indonesians. At
gunpoint, they "agreed" to remain under the rule of General Suharto - who
had seized power in 1965 in what the CIA later described as "one of the
worst mass murders of the late 20th century". In 1981, the Tribunal on
Human Rights in West Papua, held in exile, heard from Eliezer Bonay,
Indonesia's first governor of the province, that approximately 30,000 West
Papuans had been murdered during 1963-69. Little of this was reported in
the west.
Dividing the spoils
The silence of the "international community" is explained by the fabulous
wealth of West Papua. In November 1967, soon after Suharto had consolidated
his seizure of power, the Time-Life Corporation sponsored an extraordinary
conference in Geneva. The participants included the most powerful
capitalists in the world, led by the banker David Rockefeller. Sitting
opposite them were Suharto's men, known as the "Berkeley mafia", as several
had enjoyed US government scholarships to the University of California at
Berkeley. Over three days, the Indonesian economy was carved up, sector by
sector. An American and European consortium was handed West Papua's nickel;
American, Japanese and French companies got its forests. However, the prize
- the world's largest gold reserve and third-largest copper deposit,
literally a mountain of copper and gold - went to the US mining giant
Freeport-McMoran. On the board is Henry Kissinger, who, as US secretary of
state, gave the "green light" to Suharto to invade East Timor, says the
Dutch report.
Freeport is today probably the biggest single source of revenue for the
Indonesian regime: the company is said to have handed Jakarta 33 billion
dollars between 1992 and 2004. Little of this has reached the people of
West Papua. Last December, 55 people reportedly starved to death in the
district of Yahukimo. The Jakarta Post noted the "horrible irony" of hunger
in such an "immensely rich" province. According to the World Bank, "38 per
cent of Papua's population is living in poverty, more than double the
national average".
The Freeport mines are guarded by Indonesia's special forces, who are among
the world's most seasoned terrorists, as their documented crimes in East
Timor demonstrate. Known as Kopassus, they have been armed by the British
and trained by the Australians. Last December, the Howard government in
Canberra announced that it would resume "co-operation" with Kopassus at the
Australian SAS base near Perth. In an inversion of the truth, the then
Australian defence minister, Senator Robert Hill, described Kopassus as
having "the most effective capability to respond to a counter-hijack or
hostage recovery threat". The files of human-rights organisations overflow
with evidence of Kopassus's terrorism. On 6 July 1998, on the West Papuan
island of Biak, just north of Australia, special forces massacred more than
100 people, most of them women.
Popular resistance
However, the Indonesian military has not been able to crush the popular
Free Papua Movement (OPM). Since 1965, almost alone, the OPM has reminded
the Indonesians, often audaciously, that they are invaders. In the past two
months, the resistance has caused the Indonesians to rush more troops to
West Papua. Two British-supplied Tactica armoured personnel carriers fitted
with water cannon have arrived from Jakarta. These were first delivered
during the late Robin Cook's "ethical dimension" in foreign policy. Hawk
fighter-bombers, made by BAE Systems, have been used against West Papuan
villages.
The fate of the 43 asylum-seekers in Australia is precarious. In
contravention of international law, the Howard government has moved them
from the mainland to Christmas Island, which is part of an Australian
"exclusion zone" for refugees. We should watch carefully what happens to
these people. If the history of human rights is not the history of great
power's impunity, the UN must return to West Papua, as it did finally to
East Timor.
Or do we always have to wait for the crosses to multiply?
From http://www.safecom.org.au/west-papua.htm
==================================
2. Overstayer complains of 'inhumane' detention
==================================
The Age
By Andra Jackson
March 31, 2006
A DUTCH woman who came to Australia to take part in a reality television
program and overstayed her visa has accused the Immigration Department of
breaching her human rights.
Iris de Kool, 26, said she was having a shower at home in Melbourne two
weeks ago when six Immigration Department officials arrived to detain her.
Her flatmate opened the door and they walked through the house, she said.
"I was naked and they wouldn't give me any privacy. They just stayed with
me as I got dressed," Ms de Kool said.
She was held at the Maribyrnong detention centre, where she said she was
denied medical treatment and subjected to degrading treatment by the guards.
The 26-year-old said she was released eight days later, after her father in
the Netherlands and friends in Australia paid a bond of $20,000. She has
been ordered to leave by Tuesday. The department originally demanded
$35,000, she said.
"No one ever had a bond that high," she said.
"People who had been illegal for five years and been involved in fraud got
out on $5000 bonds."
She has also been presented with a $877.80 bill for the days she spent in
detention.
Ms de Kool first came to Australia in August 2001 on a visitor's visa
organised by a Dutch television company. She was one of eight contestants
filmed taking part in a stunt-work course at the Australian Stunt Academy
in Queensland.
She returned to the Netherlands in December 2001 but came back to Australia
on a working visa and temporary resident visa. She had to return to the
Netherlands to reapply to enter Australia when her visas ran out. Her last
entry to Australia was on April 3, 2004, on a three-month visa. She said
she stayed on illegally when she could not raise the money to return to the
Netherlands.
Ms de Kool, who has a brother in Australia, said she was 10 points off the
110 she needed to migrate. "My life is here now," she said.
She admitted she was in the wrong for overstaying her visa, but said that
did not justify "the inhumane" way she was treated. She said she wanted to
speak out about conditions in Maribyrnong to help the 42 men and 11 women
detained there for overstaying their visas and the two asylum seekers.
Ms de Kool said there was nothing for the women to do and there were only
two televisions, one showing programs in Chinese.
"The hygiene was very poor. When I came into my dormitory there was hair
everywhere, and in the showers there was mould," she said. "Everyone used
the same nail clippers."
Ms de Kool said she had an infected tooth and could not sleep. She asked to
see a nurse but was told she had to wait. The nurse left the next day
without seeing her.
"The guards ignore you … and you have to get extremely angry to get them to
respond," she said, adding that many of the detainees had poor English and
did not understand the system.
An Immigration Department spokesman said the claims would be investigated.
"We would always encourage clients who feel they have not been fairly
treated to raise their complaints with the department directly or with the
Commonwealth Ombudsman," he said.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/overstayer-complains-of-inhumane-detention/2006/03/30/1143441279518.html
=============================================
3. Vanstone should Respect Ombudsman's Recommendations
=============================================
The Australian GREENS (Victoria)
MEDIA RELEASE
PETER JOB, SPOKESPERSON ON REFUGEES
31 March 2006
Greens Call on Vanstone to Respect Ombudsman's Recommendations and Release
Long Term Detainees
The Victorian Greens Spokesperson on Refugees, Peter Job, today called for
the Minister of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) to heed the
recommendations of the Commonwealth Ombudsman and release the remaining
long term immigration detainees into the community.
"In nearly all the cases of long term detention the Ombudsman has reported
on he has recommended their release on one kind of a visa or another," Mr.
Job said. "I am in personal contract with a number mentioned, and in some
cases have been for years, and I am aware of the enormous emotional and
psychological toll their continued detention is having on them."
"Some of these cases are astonishing. One, for example, was found to be a
genuine refugee after more than five years in detention after an
intervention by the UNHCR when DIMA tried to deport him last August. Yet
after seven more months not only is he still awaiting security checks, but
the minister says in her statement that it is not 'appropriate' to release
him on an interim basis as the Ombudsman recommends.
"How can it possibly not be appropriate to release a proven refugee who has
been detained for over five years?" Mr. Job asked.
"Another who has been in detention for over four years is married to an
Australian woman, and like Mr. X who has been prominent in the media
recently, is suffering diagnosed serious mental illness as a result of his
detention.
"There are many others I could mention, such as a sweet middle aged couple
I met in Baxter several months ago who have been locked up for almost four
years. How can a country that claims to respect human rights possibly
justify treating people this way?" Mr. Job asked.
Mr. Job noted that DIMA had a demonstrated record of failure both in its
wrongful assessment of refugees and in its treatment of them in detention.
"The minister in her statement responding to the Ombudsman the minister
blames the alleged "non-cooperation" of detainees for their continued
detention, yet again and again people who have been rejected by DIMA and
the Refugee Review Tribunal have been found to be genuine, often after
years locked up," Mr. Job said. "It is simply not credible that all those
she continues to call "failed" asylum seekers do not have genuine fears of
persecution.
"The minister should demonstrate her goodwill and determination to reform
the culture of DIMA by releasing all long term detainees immediately."
For interviews or further information contact,
Peter Job mobile: 0423 515 603
email: refu-@vic.greens.org.au
-ENDS-
==================
4. Grant Mr X visa: Labor
==================
news.com.au
From: AAP
March 30, 2006
THE Government is facing Opposition demands that it grant immediate asylum
to a sick stateless man instead of deporting him to Bangladesh where he
could die within weeks.
The case, involving a man identified only as Mr X, emerged last night in an
ombudsman's report which assessed 32 asylum seekers kept in immigration
detention for longer than two years.
Mr X remained in detention for six years because he had been refused a
protection visa and his home country of Bangladesh refused to recognise him
as a citizen.
Mr X is an insulin-dependent diabetic and also suffers a serious mental
illness, according to Labor and the ombudsman's report.
Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said the department had
seriously considered returning Mr X to Bangladesh, even though Bangladesh
did not recognise him as a citizen.
He said Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone had a few options in terms of
visas or how to handle the case, "but deporting him to Bangladesh should be
ruled out and ruled out immediately".
Mr Burke told reporters a recommendation from the ombudsman that the man be
granted a permanent visa on humanitarian grounds made sense.
"But the most important thing is the pathway should be to treatment," he said.
"He is not a well man and I don't want to see immigration do what they did
with the case of Mr T - just give him the money and push him straight out
the front door of the detention centre.
"There is a responsibility from immigration to be part of the treatment
process. They can't keep treating people with mental illness the way they
have."
The ombudsman's report said Mr X had a serious mental illness, partly as a
consequence of his lengthy detention, and had been detained in a mental
hospital for the past four months.
Mr Burke said this was another report of the turnstile of incompetence of
how people had been treated by the Immigration department.
"The department was seriously contemplating deporting him to Bangladesh,
even though Bangladesh had said they don't recognise him, even though there
was medical advice that because he was a chronic diabetic and insulin
dependent, he would be dead within 2-3 weeks of arriving in Bangladesh," he
said.
"It should have been unthinkable for it even to be on the table that this
man would be deported."
Mr Burke said he had to acknowledge immigration detention was better than
it was a year ago.
"I still find there is a constant theme with every one of these cases, and
that is the department that seems incapable of treating people with mental
illness with decency," he said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18652407-29277,00.html
============================================
5. Mr X must be released and mandatory detention must end
============================================
Greens Media
Senator Kerry Nettle
Senator for New South Wales
30.03.06
Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today called on Minister Vanstone to
immediately grant Australia's longest immigration detainee a permanent
protection visa as recommended by the Ombudsman last night.
"I met Mr X during a visit to Glenside Psychiatric Hospital on 14 March
this year. He has the unenviable status of being the new Peter Qasim hidden
away from public view," said Senator Nettle.
"When I met Mr X, he explained to me the dangers he faced if he was
returned to Bangladesh or placed back into an immigration detention centre.
He should be released.
"I'm sure Mr X will be relieved that the Ombudsman has made these
recommendations. After six long years he will be happy that someone has
officially recognised the terrible situation he has been placed in by this
government.
"Indefinite detention of innocent people is still permitted under the
Migration Act. The Greens believe this is unacceptable and the law must
change.
"Yet again we have a report highly critical of mandatory detention. The
policy is a failure. The government's immigration system is like a factory
sucking in healthy people and spitting out damaged human beings.
"The Minister must ensure that Mr X has appropriate care when he is
released. It is her Government that has damaged his health and it must take
responsibility for helping him to heal."
Contact - Jon Edwards 0428 213 146
=======================================
6. Detention led to 'Mr X's' mental illness: Ombudsman
=======================================
AM - Thursday 30 March 2006
Reporter: Jennifer Macey
TONY EASTLEY: Another scathing report into Australia's Immigration
Department has found that the long term detention of an asylum seeker led
to his mental and physical illness.
The report also concludes that deportation would likely kill the man.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman's account of the 33-year-old's past six years in
detention is the latest in an expected long line of reports into
Australia's immigration system.
The report, tabled in Parliament late yesterday, describes how the man,
known as Mr X, developed a mental illness and type one diabetes while he
detained.
The Ombudsman has recommended that the Minister for Immigration, Amanda
Vanstone, urgently look at his case.
Jennifer Macey reports.
JENNIFER MACEY: The 33-year-old Bangladeshi born man, known as Mr X, claims
political persecution in his homeland and says he's an orphan.
He's been in detention at Western Australia's Curtin and South Australia's
Baxter centres for the past six years.
According to his doctors, this has made him mentally and physically ill,
and last year he was admitted to the Glenside Psychiatric Hospital in Adelaide.
Commonwealth Ombudsman John McMillan says Mr X's case stands out as
Australia's longest serving detainee.
JOHN MCMILLAN: All the professional opinion provided to the Ombudsman's
office was that the length of his detention was certainly a factor in his
deteriorating mental illness and hence there was a firm recommendation in
the professional medical opinion that he not be returned to an immigration
detention facility and that he be left, either presently in alternative
detention in a hospital, or preferably be released into the community on a
permanent visa.
JENNIFER MACEY: The Ombudsman also raised concern about efforts by the
Immigration Department to remove Mr X from Australia.
Bangladesh doesn't recognise Mr X as a citizen and refuses to provide him
with travel documents.
JOHN MCMILLAN: We've drawn attention to a possible problem there, that if
that's happened he may still not be recognised as a citizen there. He may
become a stateless person and thus a situation of limbo may continue and
that would again impact on his mental health.
JENNIFER MACEY: The Shadow Spokesman for Immigration, Tony Burke, says this
is unacceptable given Mr X also developed type one diabetes while in detention.
TONY BURKE: The consultant endocrinologist has said if he is dumped in
Bangladesh, in two to three weeks he would perish from a diabetic coma.
It should be unthinkable in those circumstances to dump someone in that
mental and physical health, who they know will be stateless, in Bangladesh.
JENNIFER MACEY: Due to Mr X's mental illness, the Ombudsman recommends that
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone urgently review his visa application
and consider allowing him to stay permanently in Australia on humanitarian
grounds.
He also recommends the Department provide Mr X with ongoing medical and
psychiatric assistance.
Greens Senator, Kerry Nettle, visited the man at the Glenside Hospital two
weeks ago, and says his case highlights the ongoing flaws in Australia's
immigration system.
KERRY NETTLE: Whilst ever we have a system which says that people should be
locked up and then questions will be asked later, then we'll have people
who are wrongfully detained, and we'll have people who are indefinitely
detained. And until we change that fundamental flaw in the way in which our
immigration system operates, we'll continue to have scandals coming out of
the Department of Immigration.
JENNIFER MACEY: In a statement tabled to Parliament yesterday, the Minister
for Immigration says any return of this person to a detention facility will
be based on advice from medical health professionals and that she is
reviewing the case and will make a decision shortly.
TONY EASTLEY: Jennifer Macey.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1604254.htm
==============================
7. Papua row strains Indonesian relations
==============================
The Age
March 30, 2006 - 8:05PM
Prime Minister John Howard concedes the Papua visas row has strained
relations with Indonesia, but says Australia will not bend its laws to suit
its neighbour.
Mr Howard is taking a tough line on the dispute as the protection of 42
Papuan asylum seekers shapes up as Canberra's biggest rift with Jakarta
since Australia's intervention in East Timor.
Ill feeling in Indonesia hit a new low this week with the publication of a
lurid cartoon depicting Mr Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as
amorous dingoes.
The prime minister plans to visit Jakarta soon and has reminded Indonesia
of Australia's goodwill towards the nation, noting the humanitarian
commitment in the tsunami-devastated province of Aceh.
But the decision to grant the Papuans visas would stand, he said.
"We have our own rules. We are a sovereign nation and we don't bend the
rules," Mr Howard said.
"We can't and won't bend the rules to any country."
He said the dispute had opened cracks in the relationship with Jakarta but
did not believe it would cause "fundamental, lasting damage".
"I think expressions such as 'crisis' (and) 'massive problem' are
exaggeration," Mr Howard said.
"But it has put a strain because there is a sensitivity in Indonesia about
her sovereignty over West Papua - a sovereignty which Australia has never
disputed and a sovereignty which Australia fully respects and fully supports.
"But we went through a process, and this process was in accordance with
Australian practice and law."
Indonesian nationalists have accused Canberra of plotting the breakaway
from Jakarta of Papua, a separatist province that borders Papua New Guinea.
Mr Howard was unmoved by a popular Indonesian newspaper's front page
drawing depicting Mr Howard and Mr Downer as two dingoes having sex under a
palm tree on an otherwise barren island signposted "Papua".
"I have been in this game a long time. If I got offended about cartoons,
golly. Give us a break," Mr Howard said.
Mr Downer said the cartoon was a tasteless act by a tacky publication, but
said newspapers were free to publish such things.
"You can publish cartoons which are tasteless and grotesque, but you are
free to do so, and Indonesia is a free and pluralistic society," he said.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said the cartoon was a "tragic" development
in the row, but Mr Howard only had himself to blame.
"The prime minister convinced the Indonesians he was serious about keeping
refugees away from Australian shores and invited them to participate in our
own schemes, and all of the rest of it," Mr Beazley said.
"What the Indonesians did not understand is that the prime minister didn't
mean it."
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the cartoon was
disgusting and disgraceful and he would raise his concerns with the
Indonesian ambassador.
Australia's immigration department last week granted temporary visas to 42
of the 43 Papuans who had landed at Cape York in January seeking asylum.
The decision has sparked protest rallies in Jakarta, the recall of
Indonesia's ambassador from Canberra and cries from several senior
Indonesian lawmakers for a full severing of relations.
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Papua-row-strains-Indonesian-relations/2006/03/30/1143441273366.html
=====================================
8. Greens question delay in arrival of West Papuans
=====================================
Greens Media
Senator Kerry Nettle
Senator for New South Wales
30.03.06
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle today questioned why the West Papuan Refugees
were being kept on Christmas Island until Monday.
"The reason the department has given for the delay is bad weather, but
having checked with Christmas Island residents I know that commercial
flights have been leaving from Christmas Island all week. The government
needs to come clean on why the arrival of the Papuan asylum seekers has
been delayed.
"By delaying their planned departure by nearly one week the Minister knows
that they will be unable to attend rallies in Melbourne and Sydney which
are happening this Sunday.
"The government is not above delaying their flights to Melbourne in order
to minimise the coverage of these rallies and the offence they may cause
the Indonesians.
"The rallies will go ahead with West Papuan speakers who will relay
messages from the refugees on Christmas Island."
========================
9. New tapping laws pass Senate
========================
The Age
March 30, 2006 - 4:39PM
New laws giving law enforcement agencies the power to access phone calls,
emails and text messages from innocent people have been passed by the Senate.
The government argued the contentious laws struck the right balance between
protecting privacy and the needs of security and law enforcement agencies.
But Labor, the Australian Democrats and the Australian Greens were
unconvinced, and unsuccessfully attempted to pass amendments limiting the
scope of the new powers.
Under so-called B-party warrants, government agencies will be given the
green light to tap phones belonging to a suspect's family, friends,
associates, and lawyers.
Only police and crime investigation bodies will be able to obtain
interception warrants, but agencies such as the Australian Tax Office,
Customs and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC),
will be able to tap stored communications such as email and text messages.
Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the warrants would only be used in
extreme circumstances, and would be subject to strict controls.
"(The B-party warrants) will only be used as an investigative tool of last
resort, and will be subject to strict controls, and only available of the
investigation of the most serious crimes," he told parliament.
"The agency must demonstrate that it has exhausted all other practical
methods of identifying the telecommunications services used, or likely to
be used by the suspect."
Labor argued the laws were too broad, and unsuccessfully moved an amendment
that would have limited the number of agencies allowed to use the new powers.
"The proposed system would allow access to stored communication warrants
for a range of sometimes relatively minor offences," Opposition justice
spokesman Joe Ludwig told parliament.
"(Labor) thinks that goes too far."
The Democrats were particularly concerned about the privacy implications of
the bill, and wanted people under scrutiny to be made aware of the
surveillance once it finished.
They also raised concerns the bill would threaten the privacy of the
lawyer-client relationship, and unsuccessfully moved an amendment to make
it harder for authorities to access these communications.
"We believe that the legal-professional privilege is a fundamental tenet of
our legal system, and it needs to be protected," Senator Natasha Stott
Despoja said.
The bill's passage followed the tabling of a Senate committee report on
Monday that called for a number of changes to the bill, including a
five-year sunset clause.
Labor claimed the government had all but ignored the report's recommendations.
"The Attorney-General (Philip Ruddock) has been lazy at looking at the
committee's recommendations," Senator Ludwig said.
But Senator Ellison denied this, and said the bill was a work in progress.
"Eleven out of 28 recommendations have been taken up," he told the Senate.
"If necessary, we will bring back further amendments to the legislation in
the spring sittings of parliament."
Greens leader Bob Brown argued the laws were unnecessary, and would lead to
unacceptable intrusion of individuals' privacy.
"This legislation allows a whole array of government snoops to move into
the privacy of communications between innocent Australians," he said.
The amended bill will now return to the House of Representatives.
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/New-tapping-laws-pass-Senate/2006/03/30/1143441266101.html
======================================
10. ASIO's anti-terror powers to be extended to 2016
======================================
The Age
By Brendan Nicholson
March 30, 2006
ASIO's powers to detain and interrogate suspected terrorists will be
extended for 10 years — nearly double the time recommended by a bipartisan
parliamentary committee.
ASIO was granted the powers in 2003 with a sunset clause under which they
would expire in July. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and
Security recommended that the powers should be extended, effectively, for
5½ years.
Introducing the ASIO Legislation Amendment Bill 2006, Attorney-General
Philip Ruddock said that would not be enough and the powers would be needed
until 2016.
Mr Ruddock said the questioning regime was proving effective in fighting
terrorism.
Questioning powers would be made clearer and the rights of those involved
were being given stronger protection. Suspects would be given more scope to
make complaints and a right to seek help with legal costs.
Separately, the first report on surveillance operations by the Australian
Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission has revealed that 257
warrants issued between December 2004 and June 30 last year resulted in 72
arrests, 71 prosecutions and five convictions.
The report said that of the commission's 22 warrants, only one resulted in
an arrest and there were no prosecutions or convictions to date.
Mr Ruddock said the warrants were an important tool for investigators and
likely to be used more extensively as state and territory police and
anti-graft bodies began using them.
The Government is set to create its long-promised corruption watchdog to
keep an eye on the federal police and the crime commission.
The Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity will have the
powers of a standing royal commission as set out in two bills introduced in
Parliament yesterday. Mr Ruddock said the focus on the two peak crime
fighting organisations did not suggest they were corrupt.
With AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/asios-antiterror-powers-to-be-extended/2006/03/29/1143441216067.html
============================
11. Smartcard may go further: Costello
============================
The Age
By Michelle Grattan and Jewel Topsfield
March 30, 2006
TREASURER Peter Costello has backed the Government's proposed "smartcard",
while admitting it would contain more information than the controversial
Australia Card, which the Liberals opposed in the 1980s.
The Treasurer warned yesterday that public support for the card — which is
not a full ID card because it covers only transactions with the Government
— could be worn down.
The card, being considered by cabinet this week, would be an important
addition in determining health and welfare benefits and in protecting the
public purse, he said.
But recalling how the Hawke government abandoned the unpopular Australia
Card over a legal technicality, Mr Costello asked, "Have Australians'
attitudes changed?" Would the smartcard start "with a head of steam and
gradually be worn down?"
Under the smartcard plan, adults who obtain any kind of government
assistance, including Medicare, child-care rebates, pensions and Austudy
would have a smartcard.
The card would have a photo, signature and Medicare number, and would
contain a chip.
Mr Costello said data stored on the card would have to include, for
example, age, information about a person's dependents and how often a
person had drawn down on pharmaceutical services.
Mr Costello, who would not comment on the prospect of a full ID card, was
launching a book, Privacy without Principle, by Liberal senator Brett Mason.
Senator Mason said privacy scare campaigns should not be used to undermine
a debate about an ID card.
"A person's right to privacy does not preclude a national ID card," Senator
Mason said.
"The debate should be about the information to be made available with the
card, rather than a continuing national obsession with the card itself."
Government sources said yesterday victims of disasters like cyclone Larry
would have had emergency relief payments within hours if there had been a
smartcard.
Under the scheme, those who lived within the footprints of the
disaster-affected area would automatically have the payments credited to
their cards.
This would prevent disaster victims having to endure the indignity of
filling out forms at welfare offices and then waiting for up to five days
for the claims to be processed.
Plea to protect privacy
TREASURER Peter Costello wants more protections of privacy, saying there
should be some limit on what can be broadcast to the world.
He also thinks people may want government to protect their privacy more —
including from government itself.
He said that in an era of webcams and broadcasting of information of
people's private lives, "there should be a limit on what can be broadcast
to the world — a limit other than what bad taste will endure".
People should be able to quarantine part of their lives, but he admitted he
did not know where to draw the lines.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/smartcard-may-go-further-costello/2006/03/29/1143441216054.html
=============================
12. 2MFM Wins Over Sydney’s Muslims
=============================
Media Release
27 March 2006
The Muslim Community Radio (2MFM) on 92.1FM has registered an all time high
of 600 members demonstrating a solid approval rate in the Muslim community.
MCR’s commitment to community service has won the favor of Sydney’s Muslims.
This year’s live simultaneous broadcasts from Paul Keating Park and
Fairfield Showground covering the Eidul-Adha Carnival on the 20th of
January, the 2MFM 'Learn the Tricks' Open Day, as well as other popular
community event livecasts saw a new rush of membership applications.
"It makes me proud of the service we deliver to see this new membership
upsurge of almost 100% from the previous year," MCR’s president Mohammed
Mehio said.
"The Muslim Community Radio service thrives with testimonials from the
public who support our call for moderation, community participation,
effectiveness and access to the public," Mr. Mehio added.
2MFM enjoys a diverse membership base from individuals and organizations of
different ethnic, socio-economic, gender and age brackets. They come
together to support a community backbone that has entered the homes of
Sydney’s Muslims with a positive social and moral impact.
With 600 members and more volunteers, MCR is celebrating its service to the
community with a support base that speaks for itself.
=============================
13. Georgiou's left field help in Kooyong
=============================
The Age
By Michelle Grattan
March 31, 2006
LABOR has weighed into the Kooyong Liberal preselection, asking Alexander
Downer to guarantee that candidate Josh Frydenberg — his former staffer —
does not leak sensitive security information.
Mr Frydenberg is challenging Liberal backbencher Petro Georgiou, who has
held the seat since 1994.
Shadow foreign minister Kevin Rudd used the last question time before the
April 23 ballot to raise the Australian Federal Police inquiry into the
leaking of a report prepared by Andrew Wilkie, who left the Office of
National Assessments just before the invasion of Iraq in protest against
Government policy.
The report was leaked to a newspaper to discredit Mr Wilkie. The subsequent
police inquiry came to nothing.
Mr Rudd asked Mr Downer to "assure the Parliament and the preselectors of
Kooyong that no member of his then staff was responsible for leaking this
national security document, which is a criminal offence".
Mr Downer, a supporter of Mr Frydenberg's tilt at Parliament, said the
police report "saw the end of the matter".
Mr Frydenberg cannot, under party rules, speak publicly during the
preselection. Sources in his camp yesterday denied that he had been
involved in the leak.
Former Labor Senate leader John Faulkner said in the Senate early this
month: "What about the Nixonian leaking of a classified document to Andrew
Bolt in order to politically assassinate its author, Andrew Wilkie, while
not vetoing the leaker from contesting a Liberal party preselection ballot?"
The Melbourne Weekly, which circulates in Kooyong, wants Mr Georgiou to
retain preselection.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/georgious-left-field-help-in-kooyong/2006/03/30/1143441279533.html
===========================
14. Cut greenhouse gas: World Bank
===========================
news.com.au
From: AAP
By Carrie LaFrenz
March 30, 2006
AUSTRALIA should be doing more to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, The
World Bank said in its latest regional update.
The East Asia and Pacific region was vulnerable to natural disasters, the
intensity of which could be increased by climate change, the agency said in
the report released today in Sydney.
The World Bank chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Homi Kharas,
said the region should be extremely concerned about climate change and
countries should be working towards "climate proofing new investments".
"Countries across the region need to do more to step up to the plate with
reducing greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
"Australia is country which might be small but it is the second biggest
country in greenhouse gas emissions."
Mr Kharas said that all countries, including Australia, should be doing a
lot more.
Rapid economic growth in the East Asia and Pacific region has meant more
greenhouse gas emissions.
East Asia was set to become a larger contributor over time as its economies
expanded.
However, climate change was one of several challenges, such as trade,
facing emerging East Asian economies, The World Bank said.
"We are in favour of a multilateral trade system in the region," Mr Kharas
said.
"We are keen that trade be used as an instrument in poverty reduction,
which means improving logistics.
"We try to make sure that standards in agriculture are meet so poorer
countries can meet the import standards of countries like Australia and Japan."
East Asia was surpassing Europe as the most open region in the world with
exports almost doubling in the past three years.
"East Asia's exports surged to over $US2 trillion last year, and this
powered the regions growth," Mr Kharas said.
But The World Bank said sustained, strong economic growth had provided a
foundation for declines in poverty in most East Asian economies in recent
years.
"Strong growth in turn is having a dramatic impact on poverty reduction,"
Mr Kharas said.
"Although, 580 million people in the region still live on less than $US2 a
day, this number has been falling by about 50 million people each year over
the past five years."
Regional growth in the first half of 2005-06 had been hindered by a 25-year
high in the oil price, rising interest rates, and slower growth in China,
The World Bank said in its report, released twice a year.
But regional economies have since rebounded.
"Coming in to 2006 things look quite strong and we expect growth to
continue through 2006 and into 2007," Mr Kharas said.
"If productivity is going to continue it must be driven by innovation and
productivity growth."
http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,18654249-31037,00.html
===============================
15. Italy grants asylum to Afghan Christian
===============================
ABC ONLINE NEWS
Thursday, March 30, 2006. 7:05am (AEDT)
An Afghan Christian convert who had faced the death penalty for abandoning
Islam has arrived in Italy after being granted asylum.
Abdur Rahman, 40, was jailed this month for converting to Christianity and
could have faced trial under Islamic sharia law that stipulates death as
punishment for apostasy.
He was freed from prison on Tuesday after pressure from the Western states
whose troops helped bring the Afghan government to power.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he had been granted asylum in
Italy.
"He is already here... He is currently being looked after by the interior
ministry," Mr Berlusconi said.
Mr Berlusconi said the man's exact whereabouts were being kept secret, but
an Italian news agency ANSA quoted unnamed sources who saw Rahman soon
after his arrival saying he was grateful and very happy to be in Italy.
News of Mr Rahman's departure came hours after members of the Afghan
parliament condemned his release and said he should not be allowed to leave
the country.
Asked whether he feared a negative reaction from the Muslim world, Italian
Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said: "No, not particularly, also because
Italy has always been committed to defending inalienable human rights,
including one's freedom to believe in their own God".
Rahman's jailing raised a storm of protest in the West, with Italy,
Germany, the United States, Canada and Australia -- all countries with
troops in Afghanistan -- leading calls for his religious freedom to be
respected and for him to be released.
Pope Benedict also called for clemency.
In Italy, politicians from all colours gave their backing to Berlusconi's
asylum offer, even though one member of the centre-left opposition accused
him of "propaganda" ahead of a general election on April 9-10.
In Afghanistan, however, many religious conservatives had demanded Rahman
be punished under Islamic law, with some warning of rebellion if the
government gave in to Western pressure and released him.
Analysts say President Hamid Karzai might still face anger at home and his
rivals could try to take advantage of the row.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1604184.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
|
|
 |
|
