WORLD NEWS: Australia [Archive] - The Galactic Senate

T-bone

08-02-2004, 03:53 PM

Australian intelligence finds further links to terrorist camps

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian intelligence has identified at least 10 more nationals as having trained in overseas terrorist camps, in addition to those already known to the authorities.

The Sunday Telegraph said Sunday it had learned Australia's domestic intelligence agency ASIO had established the 10 trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan between 1999 and 2001.

But authorities had been unable to prosecute them because they did their training before Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba were outlawed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Australia's counter-terrorism offensive was stepped up further in the aftermath of the Bali bombings which claimed 202 lives in October, 2002.

Australia would also have been unable to prosecute two Australian terrorist suspects now held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. But David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib are being prosecuted under US laws.

The latest revelations came as Hicks, who has been charged with conspiracy and aiding the enemy, prepares to appear on August 23 before a US military tribunal where his lawyers say he will plead not guilty.

Most of the 10 others were believed to still live in Sydney, the Sunday Telegraph said.

The paper quoted an anonymous senior government official as confirming at least 10 others were known to have been to terrorist camps.

A number were said to have worshipped at an Islamic prayer hall, well known for its fundamentalist teachings and anti-western ideology, in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba.

Apart from Hicks and Habib, several other Australian nationals have been prosecuted or are in the process of being prosecuted, including Lebanese-born Saleh Jamal, who is now in jail in Beirut, after jumping bail in Sydney and fleeing to Lebanon in March.

The paper said documents from the Lebanese prosecutor alleged that Jamal was also linked to suspected senior Al-Qaeda member Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

T-bone

08-03-2004, 11:42 AM

Australian opposition backs US trade deal after bitter internal brawl

CANBERRA, (AFP) - Australian Labor opposition leader Mark Latham has overcome bitter internal resistance to secure support for a free trade deal with the United States in a crucial test of his authority as national elections loom.

Latham won backing for the agreement at a heated Labor caucus meeting where up to a third of parliamentarians, mainly from the party's left wing, voiced strong opposition.

His victory in the showdown means Labor will support the pact's passage through the upper house or Senate provided the government agrees to amendments safeguarding subsidised medicines and television local content rules.

Asked if the deal could still fail in the Senate, Latham said it depended on whether Prime Minister John Howard accepted Labor's amendments.

"We're going to fight like Kilkenny cats to ensure those amendments go through because it's absolutely vital," Latham told reporters.

He had initially expressed scepticism over the deal but backed it after an opposition-dominated Senate committee found that on balance it was in Australia's best interests and recommended its acceptance by Labor.

"Despite several flaws in the agreement, it has net economic benefits for Australia and on this basis should be supported," Latham said.

The recommendation was rejected by trade unions, with one powerful left wing union warning the decision could cost Labor the election.

With a new opinion poll showing the government drawing level with Labor for the first time in months, Latham played down the internal Labor divisions exposed by the debate.

"People have had their lash and we've had our debate but we make collective decisions and we've made one today," he said.

The government welcomed Labor's support for the deal but had accused Latham of "dithering" over the issue and pandering to anti-American elements in the party.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the debate had dragged on for five months and raised questions about Latham's leadership. "For Mr. Latham this constitutes a humiliating backflip," he said.

The Senater committee estimated the pact to be worth around a net 53 million dollars (37 million US) dollars a year to the economy -- far less than the government's own estimate of up to to six billion dollars a year.

Critics also argue it will cost manufacturing jobs, drive up medicine prices, undermine intellectual property laws and threaten locally made film and television products by giving US producers an advantage.

The leftwing Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), major financial backers of the Labor Party, said the party had shown a lack of courage on an issue crucial to Australia's future and predicted the party would lose votes to minor parties such as the Greens and Democrats who strongly oppose the deal.

"It's a bad deal; it will cost manufacturing jobs, it will result in increased pharmaceutical costs and I think Australia's cultural identity will be under siege by this agreement," AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron told reporters.

The pact is the centrepiece of Howard's trade policy, seen by some politicians in Washington and in Canberra as America's pay-off for his support of the US-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites).

It sailed through both houses of the US Congress last month and was passed by Australia's lower house in June.

The government introduced legislation into the Senate Tuesday which if passed would allow the free trade agreement to be implemented in January. The government said it would look at Labor's suggested amendments on merit.

JediBendu

08-03-2004, 12:10 PM

it'll never get through the senate if PBS isn't excluded from the FTA

T-bone

08-03-2004, 12:22 PM

T-bone

09-10-2004, 10:33 AM

Jakarta Hunts Islamic Militants After Embassy Attack
By Jerry Norton and Achmad Sukarsono

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian police launched a nationwide manhunt on Friday for al Qaeda-linked militants blamed for a suicide car bomb attack outside the Australian embassy that jolted both countries ahead of elections.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said intelligence agencies had warned that those responsible for the attack in Jakarta on Thursday could strike again.

"The information they have available indicates that the number of operatives ... is sufficiently large to support the fear that there could be another attack," Howard told reporters in Canberra.

Indonesian police have blamed Jemaah Islamiah, a militant group seen as the regional arm of al Qaeda, for the embassy attack, which killed nine people and wounded 182. Most of the victims were Indonesian.

At least one suicide bomber stopped a mini-van packed with explosives outside the embassy, where it detonated, police said.

Thursday's bombing underlined the vulnerability of the world's most populous Muslim nation to militant violence.

It came days before Indonesia's presidential run-off, two days before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and a month before Australia's general election.

Jemaah Islamiah was behind the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed 202 people and also an attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last year that killed 12.

It appeared to admit responsibility for the embassy attack in an Internet statement that could not immediately be authenticated. The statement warned of more attacks unless Australia withdrew its forces from Iraq (news - web sites).

ELECTION BATTLES

Howard, a strong ally of Washington, has said Australia's 850 troops in and around Iraq would stay until the job was done. Opposition leader Mark Latham wants to bring them home by Christmas. They are in a tight race for the Oct 9. election.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has at times come under fire for not being tough enough with militants, although she did cut short a foreign trip to visit the bomb site.

She faces off against Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, her former chief security minister, in a presidential run-off on Sept 20. Yudhoyono is tipped to win.

Speaking in Jakarta, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Indonesian police were warned 45 minutes before the bombing that Western missions would be attacked if the accused spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah was not freed.

Downer told a news conference the warning to release Abu Bakar Bashir was conveyed in a phone text message.

"(They) received an SMS message about 45 minutes before the attack yesterday that there would be an attack on Western embassies unless Abu Bakar Bashir was released," Downer said.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty told the news conference it would have been difficult to act on the text warning since such threats came in regularly. Indonesian police said they had little comment on the purported threat.

Bashir, 66, is in police detention awaiting formal charges over accusations of involvement in terror acts. He has denied any wrongdoing or links to Jemaah Islamiah.

Keelty said up to 200 kg (440 pounds) of potassium chlorate was used to make the bomb. The composition was similar to those used by Jemaah Islamiah in the suicide attacks on Bali and the Marriott, Keelty said. Among the Bali dead were 88 Australians.

OUTRAGE

The embassy strike left a large crater outside the compound and tore off the glass fronts of surrounding office towers.

Many Indonesian office workers paid their respects at the bomb site, leaving floral wreaths and flowers.

As darkness fell, hundreds of the friends of a banking student killed in the blast gathered to hold candles, flowers and her picture as they chanted slogans calling for national unity.

Newspaper editorials called for the attackers to be executed.

"We are ashamed because as a nation we are considered a crime nest. We are ashamed because the police are not able to prevent another bomb blast," said the Media Indonesia daily.

Police have said their key suspect was Azahari Husin, a fugitive Malaysian bomb-making expert and JI member believed to have made the bombs used in the Marriott and Bali blasts.

Suyitno Landung, head of the police criminal investigation department, told reporters that Azahari had recruited at least nine suicide bombers after the Marriott bombing.

Six have been arrested, and they had told police three others were still at large, Landung said, adding police were trying to determine if they were involved in the embassy attack.

The recruits called themselves the "brides," Landung said.

(Additional reporting by Muklis Ali, Karima Anjani, Tomi Soetjipto and Telly Nathalia in Jakarta; Paul Tait in Canberra)

T-bone

10-04-2004, 10:32 AM

Four Commit Suicide in Australia Child Porn Case
By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Four Australian men have committed suicide after being caught up in an investigation into child Internet pornography that has resulted in more than 200 arrested and charged for 2,000 offences, police said on Saturday.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison said 700 Australians were now under investigation in the country's biggest child pornography crackdown and up to 500 people could eventually be arrested.

"It's regrettable that four people, the subject of charges, have taken their own lives," Ellison told reporters.

"But this investigation is an extremely important one in dealing with criminal activity which deals with the violation of innocent children," Ellison said.

"This will not deter, in any way, the investigation."

The four men, one in Western Australia state, two in Victoria state and one in Queensland state, killed themselves after being interviewed by police.

Two had been charged with pornography offences.

Police launched Australia's biggest child pornography crackdown Thursday, raiding 400 premises and arresting hundreds, including police, teachers, clergy and a child-care center owner.

Those arrested in Operation Auxin face offences ranging from sexual abuse, to downloading and distributing pornographic images to child sex tourism.

More arrests are expected, say police.

A 46-year-old electrician was found dead in his car at his home in Bunbury in Western Australia Friday after he failed to appear in court earlier in the day. He had been charged with three counts of possessing child pornography.

"His body was discovered by a friend who was concerned for his welfare," a Western Australia state policeman said.

"From what we can ascertain so far, it appears he has died by his own hand as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning," he said.

In the southern state of Victoria, a prison guard's body was found in his car Friday after he was interviewed by police a day earlier, said local media. Another man's body was found in Victoria after being interviewed by police.

"Victoria Police can confirm that two men have died after being the subject of separate police inquiries," a spokeswoman said.

"One man had been spoken to in relation to Operation Auxin. Neither man had been formally charged with any offences."

WIDESPREAD CHARGES

In the tropical northern state of Queensland, a former police officer facing 46 charges related to child abuse computer games, was found dead last month in the first phase of the child Internet pornography investigation, Queensland police said.

"There were no suspicious circumstances," a police spokeswoman said Saturday.

The officer was relieved of his duties in June when the pornography allegations first emerged. The day before he killed himself, he was ordered to appear in court to face 46 charges.

The Australian child Internet pornography crackdown stems from a U.S. investigation in February that produced 95,000 child pornography leads worldwide, say Australian police.

Police say U.S. authorities, mainly the U.S. Customs Service, called a meeting with Interpol in February and revealed Internet child pornography mainly from Belarus in eastern Europe.

Australian police have yet to examine 400 computers and other material seized in 400 raids in the past week.

Police said some people arrested had child pornography libraries with more than 250,000 images collected over three decades and what appeared to be home studios designed to produce child pornography.

Dozens of those arrested have appeared in court, including a male Sydney school teacher who faced 22 child pornography charges that include setting up a video camera behind a mirror in a school changing room to film young girls undressing.

T-bone

10-04-2004, 01:22 PM

Vibrator shuts down Australian airport

BRISBANE, Australia, (AFP) - Hundreds of airline passengers suffered disruption to their travel plans when a major regional airport was shut down for an hour after a humming and vibrating adult sex toy was mistaken for a bomb.

The vibrator was discovered at 9:15 am (2315 GMT Sunday) by a security officer who checked out a suspicious package inside a rubbish bin at the terminal cafeteria of Mackay Airport in the northeastern state of Queensland, a police spokeswoman said.

The terminal was evacuated immediately while passengers who had just arrived from a flight, check-in staff, cafeteria employees and hire car personnel were all forced to leave.

Cafeteria manager Lynne Bryant said her staff had been cleaning tables when they noticed a strange humming noise coming from the rubbish bin.

"It was rather disconcerting when the rubbish bin started humming furiously," she said.

"We called security and next minute everybody was being evacuated while they checked it out."

The police spokeswoman said another two flights were expected to land at that stage and alternate arrangements were made for the passengers to collect their luggage away from the terminal.

She said the emergency situation was revoked just before 10:00 am when the package was identified as "an adult novelty device".

Bryant said at the time of the upheaval the airport had been quite busy with two main flights due in and out of the airport - wreaking havoc with people's schedules.

She said in retrospect the humming sounded exactly like a vibrator - but it was better to be safe then sorry.

"You can't afford to take chances," she added.

T-bone

10-09-2004, 10:39 AM

Australia Re-Elects Howard Prime Minister
By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia - Prime Minister John Howard scored a convincing victory in Australia's federal election Saturday, winning a historic fourth term in a vote ensuring the staunch U.S. ally keeps its troops in Iraq (news - web sites).

With more than 70 percent of votes tallied, Howard appeared likely to increase his government's majority in parliament — exceeding most analysts' predictions that the result would be very tight.

"My fellow Australians ... I am truly humbled by this extraordinary expression of confidence in the leadership of this great nation by the coalition," Howard told cheering supporters of his conservative alliance in Sydney.

"In accepting their charge to lead the nation I rededicate myself and all of my colleagues to the service of the Australian people."

Labor Party leader Mark Latham earlier conceded defeat before supporters in western Sydney, saying he called Howard to congratulate him.

"Tonight was not our night," Latham told the crowd.

The election was widely seen abroad as the first referendum for the three leaders who launched the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, with President Bush (news - web sites) facing a ballot next month and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) probably facing voters next year.

The Labor Party had vowed to bring the roughly 900 Australian troops deployed in and around Iraq home by Christmas, while Howard insisted they will stay until Iraqis ask them to leave. Australian troops have not suffered any casualties and none have combat roles.

Australians have focused more on the economy, health and education than on Howard's unpopular decision to join the Bush-led coalition in Iraq. Howard sent 2,000 troops to Iraq last year, prompting accusations he was Bush's lackey.

Latham argued that the Iraq invasion was a distraction from the international fight against terrorism, and he wanted to focus Australia's security policy closer to home in Southeast Asia.

That was a clear nod to his country's fears of attacks after the Oct. 12, 2002, bombings on Bali Island that killed 202 people, many of them Australians, and the Sept. 9 bombing of the Australian Embassy that killed nine people.

With about 77 percent of votes counted, official figures showed Howard's coalition had 52.4 percent to Labor's 47.6 percent, giving the conservatives a clear lead in the race for a majority in parliament's 150-seat lower house, where government is formed.

"I think at this stage of the evening it's going to be almost impossible for Labor to win this election," Labor Sen. Robert Ray told Channel Nine television. "We are too far behind in too many seats at this stage for victory."

The campaign also hinged on personalities, with three-term incumbent Howard, 65, seen as a colorless but reliable steward of the economy, and Latham, 43, perceived as young and energetic but also inexperienced and sometimes undisciplined.

Australian voters chose candidates for all 150 seats in the federal parliament's lower house — the House of Representatives — and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate. A total of 1,091 candidates were standing for the House of Representatives and 330 for the Senate.

The country has 13 million registered voters.

Howard voted Saturday at a school after taking a walk around Sydney Harbor, where he asked passers-by not to use their votes to punish his conservative coalition for unpopular policies.

"It's certainly not an occasion for anyone to think they can give us a protest kick and still re-elect us — if enough people do that we'll lose," he said.

At the polls, a man in line said to the prime minister: "Mr. Howard, if you win, I'm moving to Europe."

Another woman asked him when he was going to stop lying to the Australian public. Howard ignored the man and said "thank you" to the woman.

John Atkins, 59, voting in Sydney, said he did not approve of Latham's plan to withdraw from Iraq, even though he initially opposed the Iraq deployment.

"I was very concerned when the Labor Party said it would pull out the troops by Christmas," he said. "We should never have gone in, but once we had we need to stay."

Latham shook hands with well-wishers as he entered his Sydney polling site.

"We'll be seeking the support of the Australian people, particularly for a world-class health and education system, and taking the financial pressure off families," he said.

Howard's center-right government and the opposition both focused their campaigns on pledges to improve the education and health systems, and debated which party can best run the economy and maintain a boom fueled largely by rising property prices.

Howard repeatedly warned voters a Latham government would likely drive up interest rates — a sensitive issue for millions of homeowners.

Australia's economy has grown during every year of Howard's administration has been in office. Unemployment is close to all-time lows and inflation is just 2 percent.

Latham insisted he could fund his policies and keep interest rates low and the economy growing.

Howard is in his ninth year in office and is expected to retire before serving out his full three-year term.

Had Latham won, he would have become one of the country's youngest leaders.

T-bone

10-19-2004, 02:38 PM

Mahathir says 'ignorant' Americans ready to re-elect Bush as president

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - American people are "very ignorant," and will almost certainly re-elect a "liar" as their president, Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said in a trademark tongue lashing directed at U.S. President George Bush as well as his allies Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia.

In an interview with the Star newspaper published Tuesday, Mahathir also did not spare Bush's rival, Senator John Kerry, saying both politicians were "in total denial" about the root causes of terrorism.

Mahathir stepped down as prime minister after 22 years in office on Oct. 31, 2003, and has remained as candid as ever in criticizing American leaders and Jews, as was evident in the interview.

Mahathir, while working staunchly with the United States in cracking down on terror while in office, said Islamic terrorism has been fuelled by U.S. and Israeli injustices against the Palestinians.

He said neither Bush nor Kerry want to address the root problem of terrorism because that would "annoy the Jewish group (voters)."

"If you mention Palestine as the root cause (of terrorism), you will lose the election. So neither Kerry nor Bush will mention Palestine," he said.

"But surprisingly, the electorate appears to be willing to accept a person who told a blatant lie and to elect a liar as their president," he said, referring to Bush's claims about Saddam Hussein stockpiling weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"The American people are, by and large, very ignorant and know nothing about the rest of the world. . . . Yet they are the people who will decide who will be the most powerful man in the world," he said, adding that he thinks Bush will win the Nov. 2 election.

"They (accepted) Blair, and I am sure they will accept Bush. They have already accepted Howard who told a blatant lie," he said without elaborating.

But Mahathir apparently sees Kerry as the lesser of two evils.

In an open letter dated Oct. 15 to America's Muslim community, Mahathir urged them to vote for Kerry, saying Bush has been "the cause of the tragedies" across the Muslim world.

"Vote Bush out of office," Mahathir said. "It is truly an ibadah (act of devotional worship) that you perform."

Although adored and respected by many in Malaysia, Mahathir found that his last days in office were tainted by a controversial speech he gave at a summit of Islamic leaders when he said "Jews rule the world by proxy."

He also came under criticism from democracy advocates around the world for firing and subsequently jailing his deputy Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998 for sodomy and corruption. Anwar was released from prison last month after his sodomy conviction was overturned. He had completed serving his corruption sentence.

In the Star interview, Mahathir said Anwar's release will not have any effect on the country's politics. "I don't think Anwar has got any more credibility," he said.

T-bone

11-18-2004, 10:41 AM

Australian man in court charged with supporting Al-Qaeda

MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) - An Australian man has faced court, charged with supporting the Al-Qaeda Islamic extremist group while in Pakistan two years ago.

Joseph Terrence Thomas, 31, of Melbourne, was charged with providing support or resources to Al-Qaeda in Karachi which would help the organisation plan or carry out a terrorist act.

Thomas, who was deported from Pakistan last year after being detained for five months over suspected Al-Qaeda links, was also charged with intentionally receiving funds from Al-Qaeda in Karachi between July 2002 and January 2003.

Thomas was not required to enter a plea during his brief appearance in Melbourne Magistrate's Court and was remanded in custody until February 10 next year.

Before the court appearance, Australian Federal police said Thomas was also accused of making alterations to his passport to avoid detection by authorities.

He was arrested early Thursday when counter-terrorism police swooped on his suburban home, seizing documents and computer equipment.

Police alleged Thomas had close associations with known Al-Qaeda members and his arrest followed a lengthy investigation.

Police said he is the first Australian to face specific charges relating to receiving terrorist funds and supporting a terrorist organisation since laws were tightened in 2002 in response to the September 11 attacks in the United States.

The offences each carry a maximum 25-year jail term.

Thomas, a former taxi driver, converted to Islam in 1999, when he married his Indonesian wife Maryati and adopted "Jihad" as his Muslim name.

He took his wife and baby daughter to Pakistan in March 2001 in order to study Islam and become an imam, according to statements made by his family in Australia when he was detained in Pakistan.

But Pakistani authorities believed he trained with Al-Qaeda at camps in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and arrested him in January last year as he was about to board an Australia-bound flight at Karachi International Airport.

He was held for five months and Australian intelligence officials are believed to have travelled to Pakistan to interview him at length.

Thomas was eventually released and returned to Australia in June last year after Pakistani authorities said they were unable to build a case against him.

He has kept a low profile since his release, refusing all media requests for interviews about his incarceration.

Indonesian intelligence officials also alleged in January 2003 that Thomas was believed to have trained with Islamic extremists at a secret camp in Sulawesi in early 2001.

At the time, Thomas' lawyer described the accusation as "completely unsubstantiated".

T-bone

11-23-2004, 03:49 PM

Australia's deputy PM claims victory as police drop bribery claims

SYDNEY, (AFP) - Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson claimed he had been vindicated after police said they would not pursue bribery allegations made against him by an independent legislator.

Anderson called for his critic, independent MP Tony Windsor, to "put up or shut up", after the announcement late Monday by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

In a statement the AFP said no charges would be laid over Windsor's claims that Anderson used two intermediaries to offer him a diplomatic post or other inducement to get him to quit politics.

It is a crime under Australian electoral laws to attempt to induce a candidate not to stand for election.

Windsor won the New South Wales seat of New England, where he is a popular local figure, from Anderson's National Party in 2001.

He retained it in last month's election but the National Party would have been expected to win it back had he chosen not to stand.

Earlier this month Windsor used parliamentary privilege to repeat his claims, which he first made in September during the election campaign.

On Tuesday he said he stood by them despite the police decision, prompting an angry riposte from Anderson.

"The man has got to put up or shut up and it's very illustrative that he will not breathe a word of the substantive issues or mention names outside the parliament," Anderson told commercial radio.

The National Party, which Anderson leads, is the junior partner in the ruling conservative coalition.

T-bone

12-30-2004, 10:58 AM

Australia deports high-profile asylum seekers in the middle of the night

ADELAIDE, Australia (AFP) - Australia has deported its highest-profile family of asylum seekers to Pakistan in the pre-dawn hours, ending a long battle for sanctuary which has turned the Bakhtiari family into a symbol of Canberra's stern policy on refugees.

The middle-of-the-night deportation of Ali and Roqia Bakhtiari and their six children brought an end to a five-year battle to stay in Australia during which they launched some 20 unsuccessful legal challenges to gain asylum.

The family arrived in Australia in 1999 and became a symbol of the fight against the conservative government's policy of indefinite, mandatory detention for all unwanted asylum-seekers -- a stance widely criticised by civil libertarians at home and abroad.

The Bakhtiaris insisted they were from Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s ethnic Hazara community, a Shiite minority oppressed by the former Taliban regime.

But the government said they were from Pakistan and attempts by officials and journalists to locate their claimed home community in Afghanistan failed.

The sleeping Bakhtiaris were woken at 1:00 am Thursday by immigration officers and within two hours were aboard a charter flight headed for Pakistan, officials said.

The clandestine operation infuriated refugee advocates and other opponents of the government's asylum policy.

"If the government's plans for the family were all above board, then it would not have secreted them out of the country under cover of darkness hoping we would all be distracted by the tragic events in Southeast Asia or the holiday season," said Kate Reynolds, an opposition refugee spokeswoman.

But Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone rejected the criticism.

"The timing of the family's departure was determined by the availability of the charter aircraft and transfer arrangements en route," Vanstone said.

"At the end, the conclusive finding was that the family was not owed protection and, consequently, the removal process is now being followed."

Vanstone suggested the family understood and accepted that their legal appeals had run their full course.

"I think the family finally accepted that they had had, and used, every opportunity in Australia for their case to be heard and it had come to an end," she said.

"I think when any anguish from either side of a discussion, argument, battle, call it whatever you want comes to an end, there has to be a certain sense of relief, and I hope the Bakhtiari family are feeling that."

The Bakhtiaris became a cause celebre in 2002 when their two eldest sons, Alamdar and Muntazar, escaped from a desert detention centre at Woomera in South Australia and sought refuge in the British consulate in Melbourne.

British authorities handed them back to the Australians.

They took their case to the Court of Appeal in London, arguing British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw breached the European Convention on Human Rights in failing to protect them from inhumane and degrading treatment by Australian immigration authorities.

However, they lost that and other legal bids to stay and the government announced their impending deportation earlier this month despite recent suggestions from the Afghan embassy that Roqia Bakhtiari may have some relatives in Afghanistan.

New Zealand refused to take them.

T-bone

07-29-2005, 12:23 PM

Australia admits secret climate pact talks with US Wed Jul 27, 5:03 AM ET

Australia and the United States have been secretly negotiating a new international pact on greenhouse gas emissions to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which they refused to sign, a minister said Wednesday.

The negotiations have also involved China, India and South Korea, according to a report in The Australian newspaper.

Environment Minister Ian Campbell said details of the deal and the countries involved would be announced soon.

Greenhouse gases trapping heat in the atmosphere are blamed for global warming, seen as one of the world's greatest environmental dangers, and the refusal by the United States and Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol was widely condemned.

"The countries that are involved in any future proposal will be announced when we announce the details of the proposal," Campbell told reporters, adding that this would be "in the very near future".

"Australia is, and I reassure the Australian people, working on something that is more effective post-Kyoto," Campbell said.

"We know as a country we're vulnerable, we know the world is vulnerable, we know that Australia only emits 1.4 percent of the world's greenhouse gases (and) anything that is going to work in the future has to engage all major emitters.

"The main aim of effective action is to involve rapidly-developing countries who have legitimate needs to increase their energy use, but we also need to find the answer to the global imperative of reducing emissions.

"That's going to need the development of new technologies and the deployment of them within developing countries."

The UN's Kyoto Protocol requires industrialised countries to trim emissions of carbon dioxide, the byproduct of burning oil, gas and coal, by a deadline of 2010.

One of the US arguments against the present Kyoto format is that it does not require big developing countries such as China and India to make targeted emissions cuts -- an absence that Bush says is unfair and illogical.

But developing countries say historical responsibility for global warming lies with nations that industrialised first, and primarily with the United States, which by itself accounts for a quarter of all global greenhouse-gas pollution.

The new alliance will bring together nations that account for more than 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, The Australian said.

A government source told AFP that the general thrust of the report was correct, but that the line-up of countries involved had not been finalised.

The Australian said the group would be known as the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate.

Campbell said Australia, which has vital interests in coal and gas exports to China and South Korea, had been working on the new alliance for the past 12 months.

The Australian said the initiative was led by the United States and had been discussed when Prime Minister John Howard met President George W. Bush at the White House during a visit to Washington last week.

The leader of the opposition Australian Greens party, Bob Brown, dismissed the new agreement was "a coal pact" involving four of the world's biggest coal producers.

It was designed to "defend the coal industry in an age where it's the biggest industry contributing deliberately to the global warming threat to Australia and the planet," he told reporters.

"This is the blinkered view, the ostrich approach by prime minister Howard to arguably the biggest common threat to the planet in 2005, which is global warming.

"It won't fool the Australian people and it won't fool world opinion," Brown said.

lb/jah

Australia-US-environment-climate-China-India-SKorea

T-bone

08-19-2005, 06:02 PM

Uproar after Australian parliament guards banned from saying "mate"
Thu Aug 18, 8:14 PM ET

Officials in Australia's parliament were back-pedalling furiously after a decision to bar the building's security guards from addressing visitors as "mate" sparked a nationwide uproar.

Prime Minister John Howard -- who has famously referred to US President George W. Bush as "mate" -- called the directive handed down Thursday barring use of the most quintessentially of Australian colloquialisms "absurd and ridiculous".

The opposition Labor Party branded the move "un-Australian" and party leader Kim Beazely said pressure on the guards to address people as "sir" or "madam" was a reflection of the elitist culture fostered under Howard's nine-year-old conservative government.

"This is John Howard's Australia. It's all about masters and servants," he said.

The row erupted after the Parliamentary Services Department issued a notice to security guards during a routine meeting Thursday reminding them of the need to be courteous to people they encounter at Parliament House in Canberra.

"(Security) officers are requested to treat any visitor to Parliament House with respect and courtesy and not address them as 'mate' or use similar colloquialisms," the notice read.

The circular was apparently issued on instructions from an unidentified senior public servant, the national broadcaster ABC said.

The measure angered lawmakers on both sides of politics and was a hot topic on radio talk-back shows across Australia on Friday.

A backbencher from Howard's own Liberal party, Bob Baldwin, demanded the people behind the move "get off their high horse and take a reality check".

"I have never seen anything so criminal in all my life. It's part of the Australian vernacular. It's a term of endearment and of mateship," he told the Australian news agency AAP.

Hilary Penfold, secretary of the Parliamentary Services Department, folded under the pressure and agreed to reverse the decision on Friday.

"It's going to be reversed in our daily briefing," she said.

The Bandit

08-19-2005, 06:07 PM

Paul Hogan needs to kick some ass over this one.

Me, I'm still waiting for a film project with him and Tom Selleck... "Quigley Down Under meets Lightning Jack."

-- 2bq

T-bone

08-19-2005, 06:17 PM

Another one we need to write.

T-bone

12-12-2005, 03:59 PM

Racial Violence Continues in Australia
By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia - Young people riding in vehicles smashed cars and store windows in suburban Sydney late Monday, a day after thousands of drunken white youths attacked people they believed were of Arab descent at a beach in the same area in one of Australia's worst outbursts of racial violence.
ADVERTISEMENT

Sunday's attack — apparently prompted by reports that Lebanese youths had assaulted two lifeguards — sparked retaliation by young men of Arab descent in several Sydney suburbs, fighting with police and smashing 40 cars with sticks and bats, police said. Thirty-one people were injured and 16 were arrested in hours of violence.

The rampage on Monday broke out in Cronulla, the same coastal suburb where the violence began, and in neighboring Carringbah, said Paul Bugden, spokesman for New South Wales police. Calm was restored by early Tuesday.

Bugden said six people were arrested and one person apparently was hit by a rock in Monday's violence. He did not have descriptions of those involved in the rampage, but he said it "obviously stems from the last 24-48 hours."

Australian Associated Press, citing a resident who declined to be named, said men riding in up to 50 cars and wielding baseball bats converged on Cronulla, smashing cars. Ambulances were called to help at least one injured man seen lying on the side of the road.

Steven Dawson said a bottle thrown through his apartment window in the suburb of Brighton-Le-Sands showered his 5-month-old son Caleb with glass, but did not hurt the child.

Horst Dreizner said a car had rammed into his denture store and he feared the violence would escalate. "Personally, I think it is only the beginning," he said in a telephone interview.

Elsewhere, about 300 people of Arab descent demonstrated against Sunday's attack outside one of Sydney's largest mosques, amid tight security.

The riots began Sunday after rumors circulated that youths of Lebanese descent were responsible for an attack last weekend on two lifeguards at Cronulla Beach. Police said the assault was not believed to be racially motivated.

Police, meanwhile, formed a strike force to track down the instigators of the attack, some of whom were believed to be from white supremacist groups. Police said they were also seeking an Arab man who allegedly stabbed a white man in the back.

Morris Iemma, the premier of New South Wales state, said police would use video images and photographs to track down the instigators. "Let's be very clear, the police will be unrelenting in their fight against these thugs and hooligans," he said.

Prime Minister John Howard condemned the violence, but said he did not believe racism was widespread in Australia.

"Attacking people on the basis of their race, their appearance, their ethnicity, is totally unacceptable and should be repudiated by all Australians irrespective of their own background and their politics," Howard said.

But he added: "I'm not going to put a general tag (of) racism on the Australian community."

Australia has long prided itself on accepting immigrants — from Italians and Greeks after World War II to families fleeing political strife in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In the last census in 2001, nearly a quarter of Australia's 20 million people said they were born overseas.

However, tensions between youths of Arabic descent and white Australians have been rising in recent years, largely because of anti-Muslim sentiment fueled by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States and deadly bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in October 2002.

About 300,000 Muslims live in Australia, the majority in large cities.

"Arab Australians have had to cope with vilification, racism, abuse and fear of a racial backlash for a number of years, but these riots will take that fear to a new level," said Roland Jabbour, chairman of the Australian Arabic Council.

Police had increased the number of officers patrolling the beach in the Sydney suburb on Sunday after cell phone text messages urged people to gather there to retaliate for the attack on the lifeguards.

Police said more than 5,000 white youths, some wrapped in Australian flags and chanting racist slurs, fought with police, attacked people they believed to be of Arab descent and assaulted a pair of paramedics trying to help people escape the riot.

Police fought back with batons and pepper spray.

Many of the youths had been drinking heavily, police said. One white teenager had the words "We grew here, you flew here" painted on his back. Someone had written "100 percent Aussie pride" in the sand. TV broadcasts showed a group of young women attacking another woman, whose ethnicity was not clear.

The violence shocked this city of 4 million that considers itself a cultural melting pot.

"What we have seen yesterday is something I thought I would never see in Australia and perhaps we have not seen in Australia in any of our lifetimes and that is a mass call to violence based on race," Community Relations Commission chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian told Sky News.

Cronulla Beach, which is easily accessible by train but is not a popular destination for foreign tourists, is often visited by youngsters from poorer suburbs, many of them of Arab descent. Residents accuse the youths of traveling in gangs and sometimes intimidating other beachgoers.

Aborigines rioted in the Sydney neighborhood of Redfern in February 2004 after blaming police for the death of a 17-year-old boy. Forty police were wounded.

Filoviridae

12-12-2005, 04:54 PM

Not the aussie's finest moment. What are they, a French province?

MANVERU

12-12-2005, 06:58 PM

Guys, I don't mean to provoke spam and stuff, but you havn't got the full story.

I was tempted myself to go up to Cronnulla beach the other day and protest and riot with them.

The reason?

I HATE THE GUYS.

I don't want to be branded as a racist, but the things that these ethnics do to our country is discrasefull.

I will only stand up to the Ethnics that have done wrong, and I will only stand up to Ethnic gangs.

I don't really have a problem with law abiding ethnics who just want a safe and happy life in Australia.

But these Ethnics ravage through our streets, raping white aussie teenages and even say to some less beautifull girls:

"You're not even worth doing 55 years over"

What does that mean?

well 55 years is what you get for rape in Australia.

I will be marching up and down Cronulla this weekend.

But why am I getting in this?

I have had a very dificult life due to Ethnics in my high school. I used to get bashed by ethinics all the time at my school.

They wouldn't have one guy pummel me, but Several.

These gang slime are cowards, and deserve to be deported the second any trouble is caused.

Please keep in mind that I do have some ethnic friends, but they are sensible enough not to get their hands dirty with these gangs.

The news is portraying that the Aussies are the trouble makers, fuled by Neo-nazi's and booze.

Yes, that day we did drink, and proberbly did cause a bot too much trouble, but you need to understand that we are standing for a cause!

Okay, i'm off my soap box now

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-12-2005, 07:17 PM

Manveru, have you considered how many crimes are committed each day? And how many are committed by "skips" as opposed to "ethnics"?

Nobody goes out protesting because of the outrageous numbers of crimes committed by Anglos, but a few crimes committed by people of non-English speaking backgrounds causes mass hysteria.

And there are several "gangs" of Anglos around too - they just don't get the same publicity as the "ethnics" because the Murdoch press know which stories are best to sell newspapers.

I'm truly appalled by some of my countryfolk at the moment.

MANVERU

12-12-2005, 07:27 PM

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!!

OI OI OI!!!!

You must understand that I've been harrased by ethnics for so long.

And I bet you that the people that bashed me in high school will be up there on saturday

Filoviridae

12-12-2005, 07:32 PM

Sounds like a riot waiting to happen.

What's an "ethnic"? Is that like a slur for non-aussie?

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-12-2005, 07:34 PM

Originally posted by MANVERU@Dec 13 2005, 09:27 AM
AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!!

OI OI OI!!!!

You must understand that I've been harrased by ethnics for so long.

And I bet you that the people that bashed me in high school will be up there on saturday
<div align="right">Quoted post</div>

I understand and I feel for you - but there many people suffer through adolescence in similar ways from varying groups.

As a teenager my husband was bullied at his school - by St Kilda supporters. One of my children has been persistently bullied (including being knocked unconscious once and nastily dazed on a couple of other occasions) by a mixed group of kids.

This is a sad part of life that we should not accept. All bullies need to be appropriately dealt with. But to say that most St Kilda supporters, or most kids are a problem is overreaching.

These problems are complex and should not be responded to in this way.

Also I am deeply distrubed by the prospect that the Aussie chant (basic though it is) might be used as a racist rallying cry. We are all Aussies. Most of our sporting teams, from where the chant originates, are from a broad multicultural background. To use the chant as a means to divide our society is offensive - if this is how it was intended.

Incidentally - any people involved or considering getting involved - have you read much about the history of Germany in the 1930's? I highly recommend that you do so if you haven't, because what is happening here looks to me to be the beginning of a rather disturbingly familiar slippery slope.

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-12-2005, 07:37 PM

Originally posted by Filoviridae@Dec 13 2005, 09:32 AM
Sounds like a riot waiting to happen.

What's an "ethnic"? Is that like a slur for non-aussie?
<div align="right">Quoted post</div>

It shouldn't be a slur - it simply refers to people of non-Anglo background (even though Anglos are themselves "ethnic" as far as the Aboriginal people of Australia are concerned - but I won't get into that).

In general use it is a term that is used to describe a sector of our multu-cultural community, but it is becoming increasingly used in a context where it is clearly intended as a slur.

I have no doubt that this is a nasty by-product of the recent focus over here on anti-terrorist legislation.

Anguirus111

12-12-2005, 09:57 PM

Manveru, your comments hardly allow you to qualify as Starfleet's finest. Starfleet was founded on understanding, not racism and hating your fellow man.

Tis a sad situation the Earth is in today, the world is looking for a scapegoat and they seem to have found it.

"Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche. Their world crumbled, the cities exploded, a whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men."

From one of Australia's most famous films.

MANVERU

12-12-2005, 10:41 PM

Originally posted by Anguirus111@Dec 13 2005, 11:57 AM
Manveru, your comments hardly allow you to qualify as Starfleet's finest. Starfleet was founded on understanding, not racism and hating your fellow man.

<div align="right">Quoted post</div>

No, my avatar was refering to that of the Starfleet captains. not me.

Look I'm not being racist.

I simply hate what they're doing.

They discust me.

My sister has been threatened by Ethnics:
They would ask her to get in their car.

My expecrience with Ethnic gangs has been disgusting.

And remember, I don't say I hate Ethnics, but rather Ethnic gangs who threaten us.

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-13-2005, 02:53 AM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Look I'm not being racist. I simply hate what they're doing.

They discust me.[/b][/quote]

You may not intend that it be against all "ethnics" but the general tenor of the mob seems to be anti-muslim/arab indicated by the fact that there were passers by who were attacked based on their appearance alone. Whether you accept it or not, such behaviour is racist.

This is something that disgusts me.

Why do you hate "ethnic" gangs and not just gangs in general? Why gather in a mob to protest against crimes committed by a minority when plenty of crimes are committed by the non "ethnic" majority without such protest?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>But these Ethnics ravage through our streets, raping white aussie teenages and even say to some less beautifull girls:

"You're not even worth doing 55 years over"[/b][/quote]

And do you think that treating women badly is exclusive to some "ethnics"? Unfortunately it is another thing that has universality - there are plenty of non "ethnic" yobs who say appalling things to young women and treat women badly generally.

The rape example you are referring to is a particularly bad example, but again there are many rapes committed each year and far from exclusively by "ethnics". Why do the masses not protest about that? In fact I've known of some Aussie males to make derogatory comments about women who have protested against rape in general.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>The news is portraying that the Aussies are the trouble makers, fuled by Neo-nazi's and booze.

Yes, that day we did drink, and proberbly did cause a bot too much trouble, but you need to understand that we are standing for a cause![/b][/quote]

A cause? There are some pretty nasty people out there in the world from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds. There are many good people from all sorts of ethnic backgrounds. To protest in a way that is directed at a particular ethnic background, whether it is intended to be targeted at the whole of that ethnic community or just a part, is appalling behaviour and makes me ashamed to be an Aussie - we are meant to be egalitarian and tolerant, but we are showing ourselves to be the opposite.

To anyone thinking of joining the mob - please, please, think carefully of what you are doing before going out.

Tresk Im'nel

12-13-2005, 03:15 AM

^Very well put, Suzanne. Thank you.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>To anyone thinking of joining the mob - please, please, think carefully of what you are doing before going out[/b][/quote]

And just in case she was being too subtle, allow me to be more blunt: don't go...

Only my advice, of course, but I'm quite adamant about it.

MANVERU

12-13-2005, 07:22 AM

Ok, fair points made on both ends.

Hear about the recent Ethnic ravagings?

They're cowards, striking through the night, in groups. Cowards.

They couldn't face up to the Crowed on Sunday.

So they strike NORTH of cronulla and in gangs in cars!!!

This is what I hate, hopefully by the time this weekend comes, we will see a fair fight. Not the Ethnics hiding away, but for them to come out.

Oh, and another thing, there's all this talk about the Bra Boys making peace....

BS!

The Bra Boys are known for their deception.

You'll see, I will bet that the Bra boys will be down on Saturday "Trying to keep the peace" when in fact be planning a massive gang war on the Leb's.

But I must admit, some of your posts have turned me away from "Crusading" with them.

I just hope that this whole thing get's settled fairly, instead of the bloody Police and political parties, blaming ONLY Aussies.
Has anyone ever noticed that?

Tresk Im'nel

12-13-2005, 08:21 AM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>They're cowards, striking through the night, in groups. Cowards[/b][/quote]

I think that can be said of all gangs...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>This is what I hate, hopefully by the time this weekend comes, we will see a fair fight.[/b][/quote]

I'm afraid I have to disagree there. I think it would be best for all if this situation is resolved without further confrontations. Not escalating gang wars with ethnocentric overtones, that strikes me as a pathway to disaster...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>But I must admit, some of your posts have turned me away from "Crusading" with them[/b][/quote]

I'm very glad to hear that. And let me just clarify in case my previous post was unclear, it's not because of the opinions being expressed that I was so strident in urging you not to go, but rather because of the potential for violence. Peaceful demonstrations are one thing, but rioting is a completely different matter...

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-13-2005, 09:26 AM

I'm pretty much in agreement with Tresk but would like to add that I m very pleased to hear that you have reconsidered attending.

Regarding the blame, keep in mind that often the press reports what they think their readers/listeners/viewers want to hear: follow the media carefully and critically and you will find that things are rarely as one sided as they appear on the surface.

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

MANVERU

12-13-2005, 09:36 AM

Originally posted by Tresk Im'nel@Dec 13 2005, 10:21 PM
I'm afraid I have to disagree there. I think it would be best for all if this situation is resolved without further confrontations. Not escalating gang wars with ethnocentric overtones, that strikes me as a pathway to disaster...

<div align="right">Quoted post</div>

But you must understand that this situation has been brewing for so long...

You can't prolong the inevitable

Tresk Im'nel

12-13-2005, 09:39 AM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>But you must understand that this situation has been brewing for so long...[/b][/quote]

True...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>You can't prolong the inevitable[/b][/quote]

But is it inevitable? That's the real question... Is the solution to gang violence really vigilantism and mob confrontation? IMHO, it isn't...

MANVERU

12-13-2005, 09:49 AM

Yes, I think so........

Unless we all grow into their beliefs.

*Yawns*

Ok, I'm off to bed, it's way too late.

It's been nice chatting today and sharing our values

Cheers

Filoviridae

12-13-2005, 01:56 PM

There's no way this will end in good. This confrontation they have planned won't be the end to all of it. Nothing will be resolved. It will just continue to a greater or lesser degree.

I'm afraid history sets the precedence here. Look at the gangs in the US, the tribes in Africa...still trolling around murdering one another. Both thinking that they're right and yet committing terrible crimes themselves.

I personally don't think people will ever be able to resolve these kind of conflicts (or the recurrence of them) but they sure do seem to be in a hurry to escalate the severity of them.

Anguirus111

12-13-2005, 02:22 PM

It's usually only a few who want to escalate things into violence and then others who weren't planning on it suddenly get swept up in the fervor.

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-14-2005, 10:10 AM

Originally posted by Anguirus111@Dec 14 2005, 04:22 AM
It's usually only a few who want to escalate things into violence and then others who weren't planning on it suddenly get swept up in the fervor.
<div align="right">Quoted post</div>

Tht certainly seems to be what happened here - I'm sure that the majority did not intend to let it get out of control on that first occasion, but the mob situation kicked in and they took off.

*Fingers crossed* it looks like things are starting to settle down - we just need to get through this weekend.

Tresk Im'nel

12-14-2005, 10:25 AM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>*Fingers crossed* it looks like things are starting to settle down - we just need to get through this weekend.[/b][/quote]

Good...I hope so too. *Fingers crossed*

Filoviridae

12-14-2005, 02:33 PM

None of us is as dumb as all of us.

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-14-2005, 10:52 PM

For those interested, here's the text of an email I just received relating to Melbourne:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Subject
Two anti-racist rallies in Melbourne

..
Hi All, I am sure that you are all disgusted by the racism that is
fuelling open violence on the streets. There are two opportunities
this week to get outside and say that racism in any form is
unacceptable and repulsive.

1) Tomorrow, 16th December 5pm, Bourke Street Mall

non violent protest/rally this friday against the attacks in sydney

2) Sunday the 18th.

In response to the violent, divisive events in Sydney recently, a
peaceful march and multicultural festival is being organised for this

Sunday . The key themes of this event are peace, love and unity. We
want to send a positive message- Be a friend, not afraid!

We need organisers, artists, speakers... There are many ways you can

contribute! If there is anyone you think who would be interested, please,

send this email on! The more the merrier!

This probably doesn't need to be said, but, just as we are looking to
organise a peaceful and harmonious event, we don't want the organising
process to include any element of aggression or negativity.

So come along! Let's change the world!"

For further information or to volunteer your help, feel free to email

jackson@riseup.net or call 0402 148 489. [/b][/quote]

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

MANVERU

12-17-2005, 01:39 AM

Interesting.

Good news everyone.

So far Australia has been peacefull this weekend.

Let's all hope it stays this way.

Thanks to Suzanne and Tresk for pointing me in the right direction!

Suzanne (ex CoS Leia)

12-17-2005, 01:51 AM

Thank you Manveru for listening to what we had to say.

I am glad that so many people seem to have been listening to what many people have had to say in recent days and that hopefully this will be put behind us.

Yes there are some bad apples in the Lebanese community, but there are bad apples in all communities.

I hope that many more will understand and accept that this is the case in the future.

Manveru - I notice from another thread that you are soon to join the Australian Armed Forces. I wish you all the best there and hope that what has happened in the past week will help you to have a greater understanding of community dynamics and the importance of tolerance.

I say this because so many of our armed forces are involved in peacekeeping missions these days and these are important things to know when invovled in this activity. I think that Australian Forces have aquitted themselves well in the past and I hope that you are able to maintain the tradition.

Best wishes. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

MANVERU

12-17-2005, 07:48 AM

*Salutes*

Tresk Im'nel

12-17-2005, 10:35 AM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Good news everyone.

So far Australia has been peacefull this weekend.

Let's all hope it stays this way.

Thanks to Suzanne and Tresk for pointing me in the right direction![/b][/quote]

Glad to hear that. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

And you're most welcome and as Suzanne said, thank you very much for having the patience to hear us out on this. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

And best of luck in the RAAF. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

T-bone

06-17-2007, 12:03 PM

bump

Talcy

01-10-2008, 07:18 PM

This is not so much Aussie news, but more Kiwi in nature. Sad nonetheless.

Sir Edmund Hilary, the first man known to reach the summit of Mount Everest, has died at 88.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7182376.stm

A true adventurer passes.

Sarah-Leia

01-11-2008, 01:05 AM

Surprisingly absent from World News: Australia:

New Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd!

That's all.

Oh and Sydney hosts APEC.

T-bone

10-31-2008, 02:38 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081031/ap_on_re_au_an/as_australia_residency_denied;_ylt=AhSsFWTBkvShiFp d9dM.ZcUDW7oF

kopernikuz

10-31-2008, 02:45 PM

OMG... wow... that's um... wow....

James

11-08-2008, 08:04 PM

Did someone mention Kiwi!?

Well, I made a comeback at just the right time! Very sad about the death of Hillary, he will be truly missed.

More recent news however...

NZ went to the polls last night and the Labour government of the last 9 years has been OUSTED! I'm ecstatic! :D

bruciarsi

11-11-2008, 01:25 AM

yup no more labour. Nationals turn at it agian. Wonder how long before we get tired of them and give them the flick.

James

11-11-2008, 05:55 PM

I'm just glad to see some fresh faces. Labour started out with promise but ever since the 2005 election they became arrogant and forgot what the rule of law meant. And thanks be that Winston Peters is gone. I'm fairly confident the Nats can handle the credit crunch fairly well - after all, John Key is a merchant banker.

bruciarsi

11-13-2008, 01:23 AM

Well fresh faces in power. i would hardly call most of Nationals top MPs fresh faces. There are a few though so thats good. Yup no more winnie the mp no great loss. Well the Nats Act and Maori party it would seem. They should manage it as there is alot of business experience accross the board.

James

11-14-2008, 04:07 AM

If you're interested, I wrote an editorial to the local community newspaper - as follows:

<table style="width: 557px; height: 1027px;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td rowspan="3">
</td><td colspan="3">http://s.bebo.com/img/vid.gif</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top">Gee, what a surprise. Helen and her bunch of feminist greenfingered do-gooders are gone. Hooray! Now my pets can fart without me having to pay tax on it, I can use as much hot water in the shower as I like without facing repercussions, and in the extremely unlikely event of my ever having children, I can discipline them without risking arrest. Maybe I can even build a powerstation or two.

Typically indecisive, I usually wobbled on the fence somewhere in the political divide between Labour and National. But that was until the Labour Government became arrogant and forgot what the rule of law meant. Signing artworks that aren't hers, the motorcade speeding, wearing trousers when the Queen came to visit, squandering public monies on the pledge card, sitting on a huge tax surplus (and where has it all gone?), just to name a few. Stupid laws - the Prostitution Bill, Civil Unions (please don't tear me apart) and the Electoral Finance Act. The countless ministerial scandals. Dover Samuels, David Benson-Pope, Lianne Dalziel, Taito Philip Field...and who could forget that prize idiot, Winston Peters!? Mind you, I will miss the excellent entertainment value that he provided on the news each evening.

Labour has done little for Mr. and Mrs. Average since 2005, threatening the raising of petrol taxes, being a total nanny-state serving up awful budgets, increasing bureaucracy in hospitals and education instead of funding for more nurses and teachers, and trying to get through a stadium on the waterfront when that billion dollars could have been far better spent elsewhere. As the polls start turning against them, they got really nasty, especially as they were trying to deflect the blame from themselves over the whole Winston-gate affair. The H-Fee scandal? It doesn't exist.

In a nutshell, Labour has given us next to nothing of what they promised on coming to power in 1999. At first Helen Clark seemed like a breath of fresh air after the Bolger/Shipley fiasco.
Kiwi Bank
Kiwi Saver
Kiwi Rail
Keeping it Kiwi
But.........
Kiwi Bank - Jim Anderton's idea and hard work to get it going
Kiwi Saver - Winston Peter's idea and hard work to get it going
Kiwi Rail - We paid too much of your money on it
There that's better.

Ministry of Women's Affairs? Fart Tax? 15% GST? Water Pressure Laws? And it goes on ad infinitum. And thank you God that we don't have to put up with Tariana, Pita and co being kingmakers. Been there done that in 1996 with Winston jumping both left and right and look what happened there - 6 weeks until a government could be formed. The bonus is that the treehugging, mung bean munchers got the boot too.

Call me prejudiced if you will. I'm an upper-middle class Shore boy from a wealthy socio-economic bracket, who has had the benefits of a privileged upbringing with parents who have generously financed my tertiary study and the opportunity to travel. I suppose my point is, I'm sick to death of my hard-working, business-owning, parents being over-taxed and treated with suspicion by the lefty government for succeeding in being "self-made".

And what for the future? John Key is going to have to take the Maori Party into account, yes I know they may be a small-minded group of individuals but it would be politically astute. He may need them come 2011. And please don't let Roger Douglas into a cabinet post, least of all as minister of anything to do with money. As a nation we're dangerously close to going bankrupt as it is. I have no problem with Rodney Hide and the ACT Party, but we don't want a return to Rogernomics. Give Roger Douglas a position similar to what Jonathan Hunt had Minister of Wine and Cheese. Classic.

And thanks Bill and Ben for providing such entertaining drinking games! You sure put the "party" back into the term political party. Laughing at the accidental sexual innuendos and at John Campbell's stutter never seemed to stop being funny! </td></tr></tbody></table>