Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Then it got really ugly. The police moved into the centre of the intersection and formed an outward moving circle, forcing the protesters to the curb.  I ended up trapped amidst protesters and media, shepherded into a corner with armed and mostly unidentifiable police (many police on the day had no ID badges, and I have footage).  Nowhere to move to, and cops in riot gear moving in behind them, and the chopper overhead, I was beginning to get scared.

7 August 2005 Margo update:  Janet Albrechtsen has joined Bolt -  see 'Pass baton to Costello'. Last weekend's Newspoll was a shocker for the government, and speculation is rife that next week Howard will either call an election or stand down. The Chaser proved that the emperor has no clothes - eerily reminiscent of the Bush visit to Canberra in 2003, when security waved what looked like a camera in without a security check and the AFP dressed civilians up to look like cops. Howard is about appearances, not reality.

It seems incongruous that constant warnings about the terrorist threat should lead to APEC staging itself in the very place most likely to be a magnet for such acts. However, APEC has good reason for not meeting on some tropical island. Far from seeking to avoid the week long APEC chaos diary, the event seems to have a fetish with securing these set pieces. As I shall argue here, APEC serves the cause of military urbanism.

The Federal Court’s decision that the Australian Government can not cancel a person’s visa on the basis of an innocent association should be the end of the matter, according to the Law Council.

... most Sydneysiders are wondering why [the APEC leaders] couldn't have chosen one of the dozens of luxurious islands of the far north to hold theirconference, now the full scope of the staggering security measures that will lock-down half of the city's center for10 days are being made public.

Susan Kiefel's appointment as a High Court judge is great for Australia, and one decision of Ruddock I not only applaud, but do so with gusto. Maybe after all his terrible deeds over the last decade he wants to leave something special in place as his career nears its end. I'm reminded of Paul Keating's appointment of Michael Kirby to the High Court just before he lost office. I met Justice Kiefel in the early 1980's in Brisbane, when she was a junior barrister and I was an articled clerk briefing her on a case. She told me then that Tony Fitzgerald had personally mentored her when she worked as a secretary in his chambers, convincing her that she talented enough to finish year 12 and take the bar exam.

I also acknowledge that one of my officers put two errors of fact before the court.  The first related to the SIM card and was based on a misunderstanding of the facts.  The second related to the residence of Dr Haneef in the UK and was based on incorrect material provided by the AFP.  The prosecution is of course under a duty to inform the court promptly of any errors that are made in submissions to the court.  The hearing in which these errors were made was determined in Dr Haneef’s favour and when the errors were recognised it was decided to correct them when the matter was next before the court.

The trouble is that if there is no "Australian connection" the "terror scares" in Glasgow and London then the story being used to provide public support for the incredible amount of security that Sydney is about to endure will have much less credibility with the public.  The intense APEC security is more likely to be regarded with suspicion.

I don't know what the story is with Haneef. The courts will decide that. The first transcript does not reveal very much. Maybe when it is added to other evidence a clearer picture will emerge.It could be that Haneef just has "too much going on" and has an unfortunate link in a database. Thank God for the courts! If he is as the Federal Police allege, then thank God for the Federal Police for keeping us safe.

So, Australia now officially has its own Guantanamo Bay. And Howard didn't do the honours, but left it to poor old Andrews. Why? Doesn't think people believe him any more? Flying a kite to see what happens? So what did Howard do today, apart from order Andrews to detain Haneef.  APEC, that's what. Can anyone feel another terror scare coming up?

The Law Council of Australia today issued its considered position on the new terror laws in the light of their effect in practice. Here is its press release. Webdiary has campaigned for many years on the necessity of stopping the government, any government, from having the sole right to breach our democratic rights. The citizens in a democracy are supposed to live under the Rule of Law, not of men, and that offers the fundamental protection of citizens against arbitrary action by a government is the only real protection any of us have against governments taking away our freedoms to suit their political agenda.

As the Sydney APEC meeting draws closer and and the city closed to its citizens, it is becoming alarmingly clear that Australians are giving away the rights that they have fought for and subsequently taken for granted. So when I received this from my friends in the exiled Burmese trade union movement, I was taken aback. It reminded me that we are not much different from all those in the world who awake and find their lives monitored, their phones tapped, their movements and travel restricted.

In May and June 2007 the Gandhian/activist wing of the Australian Peace Movement is going to produce two nonviolent action programs which promote and develop a grass-roots resistance to war.

They are simply unable to see themselves in Hicks’ shoes. While they hate the boyhood image they see in David, their self-image is that of a schoolyard gang of bullies.

As long as it continues to hold and abuse prisoners without giving them a fair trial, America’s professed ideals will continue to sound to the rest of the world like the deepest hypocrisy.

"That grand force of theological irrelevance and political violence called al-Qaida are obviously getting desperate. Their pope Usama bin Ladin is probably still living it up (if you could call it that) in a cave. And thanks to Sheik Phillip bin Ruddock, Rev Usama can’t even receive those secret communiqués from his alleged Aussie understudy Jihad Jack anymore." Irfan Yusuf

"We're engaged in a global struggle -- and the entire civilized world has a stake in its outcome. America is a nation of law. And as I work with Congress to strengthen and clarify our laws here at home, I will continue to work with members of the international community who have been our partners in this struggle. I've spoken with leaders of foreign governments, and worked with them to address their concerns about Guantanamo and our detention policies. I'll continue to work with the international community to construct a common foundation to defend our nations and protect our freedoms." George Bush, President of the United States

"Was it really a war that started on September 11, 2001? Not all are happy about this American notion. During the heyday of Irish terrorism in the UK, successive British governments went out of their way not to concede to the IRA the notion that a war was being waged. “War” would have meant acceptance of the terrorists as legitimate enemies, in a sense as equals in a bloody contest for which there are accepted rules of engagement." Ralf Dahrendorf

"The banner reading Mission Accomplished across the top of the Halliburton Watch site might almost be enough to help Scott forgive the Australian Government's aggressive stance in protecting the company that the Pentagon has now rejected. His case, however, is expected to resume in the Federal Court within several weeks." Richard Tonkin

"No well balanced parent would encourage their child to pull the wings off an insect because it bites, string the kitten by its paws from the clothesline as punishment, or nail the dog’s tail to the floor to stop it stealing food from the table. Such violence and cruelty would be seen as unhealthy at best and seriously dysfunctional at worst. And yet the signs are increasing that there has been a lessening of opposition to the use of torture on human beings. The term ‘torture lite’ has entered the lexicon as if something like torture could ever be less than what it so awfully is." Roslyn Ross

"Spy agencies and police across Australia may soon be given powers, for the first time, to monitor the phone calls, email and text messages of people not suspected of any crime. The power to spy on terrorism and serious crime suspects already exists." Dale Mills

"Receiving almost no corporate media coverage, a Senate committee recommended on January 31 the passage of a bill that will make it easier for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to police and shoot civilians. The powers go well beyond dealing with a terrorist threat and in important respects put the military above state criminal laws." Dale Mills

"The US Army kept files on the fact that Parkin handed out peanut butter sandwiches in front of a Halliburton office. The Australian Government arrested and deported Parkin because the US Army had files on him. Does this mean that Parkin was kicked out of Australia for serving sandwiches in Texas? Sadly the answer is most likely 'yes'." Richard Tonkin

"A Christian affinity group of six people managed to get four members undetected to the “man-proof” perimeter fences twenty metres from the radomes of Pine Gap. Two of those (Jim Dowling and Adele Goldie) passed through both “man-proof” fences and scaled a building right in the heart of the most secret and sacred US war-fighting base in Australia. Peace friends." Bryan Law

"After two vehicles had gone Adele and I made the last 100 meter dash through the open floodlit area to the outer security fence. As Adele hung our banner – WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? YOUR BROTHER’S BLOOD CRIES OUT TO ME FROM THE EARTH (Genesis 4:10) - on the fence, I placed Jessica’s beautiful barbed wire crucifix against the fence. Then I cut through the fence. We climbed through and I cut the second fence about ten meters away. Again we climbed through and realised all the power of the greatest empire in history could not stop two untrained, unfunded, unarmed Christian pacifists from entering one of their most important and secure bases - even after we had told them we were coming." Jim Dowling.

"Christians Against All Terrorism (CAAT) cannot distinguish between the terrorist acts of a suicide bomber in Baghdad, or of a jet bomber in Fallujah. In both cases innocents are murdered and maimed for a political objective. We believe there is a better way. Christ told us to love our enemies and our neighbours, forgive sinners their trespasses, and believe in redemption. Pope Paul VI said 'If you want peace, work for justice'." Bryan Law

"The Government has settled on amendments to improve and strengthen the Anti-Terrorism Bill currently before Parliament." Philip Ruddock

"What you see on television of Terry Hicks is not enough. In many ways, he's a remarkable man. To be thrust into this extraordinary situation, he's had to do a lot of quick learning. International political intrigue is obviously not his metier, yet how he throws out details from the latest UN report! His witty musings on what Tony Blair might have to do if David manages to obtain British citizenship showed that, despite all, he hadn't lost his sense of humour. He spoke of Donald Rumsfeld's public utterances like a patient man indulging a wayward family member given to compulsive lying. After hearing him speak, you couldn't help but admire his simple, dogged determination." Chris Saliba

"Over time, Australians will get used to the sedition laws - it will become a part of our language. It will shape the way we think. We will know it's a bad thing, but we will silently acknowledge how powerful is this thing which has changed us. And part of the subtle persuasive power of these laws is that, because we will know they are powerful, we will gain a sense of comfort from that power.Just like the wife who stays with the husband who in private threatens her, these laws have the power to keep a population wedded to the government. That might sound extreme, but that is the exact same force and result we stand to have working upon us, quietly, in the background of our minds, every day." Craig Rowley and Robert Bosler

"Is protecting the environment an act of sedition? The question is not just rhetorical - it comes out of concerns raised that the proposed new anti-terrorism laws would render ordinary democratic practices illegal. At their strongest, the proposed laws render an organisation illegal if it encourages acts with a seditious intention - an intention defined so broadly as to include urging "another person to attempt to procure a change, otherwise than by lawful means, to any matter established by law of the Commonwealth". This is not limited to violent or terrorist activities" Greg Ogle