SYDNEY — NSW Premier Bob Carr introduced — and had passed within 48 hours — new laws which make it nearly impossible for "terrorist suspects" to receive bail. The laws took effect on June 3.
This move followed the granting of bail to Bilal Khazal, from Lakemba in Sydney's west, on June 2. He is the first person in Australia to be charged with inciting terrorism.
Green Left Weekly spoke with Agnes Chong, legal convenor of the Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network. Chong said that there were fundamental flaws with the way the legislation was passed. "It was rushed through both houses of the New South Wales parliament in just 48 hours. It is knee-jerk law-making of the worst kind, stemming from nothing but hysteria."
"The greatest irony", said Chong, "was that the Crown Prosecutor was reportedly neutral on the bail issue, leaving it up to the judge. Given that even the prosecutor, who knows the evidence better than any politician or the general public, didn't demand that bail be refused, what kind of position are politicians in to interfere in the process?"
[More information can be found at <http://www.civilrightsnetwork.org> and <http://www.amcran.org>.]
Dale Mills
Manly discusses Asia Pacific occupations
SYDNEY — A June 16 public forum at the Manly Community Centre addressed the theme "Occupations in our region".
Nani from the Aceh Community of Australia discussed the Indonesian occupation of Aceh and highlighted the Acehnese people's overwhelming support for independence. "Despite martial law being recently lifted, very little has actually changed." She urged Australians to pressure the federal government to end all military ties with Indonesia.
Sibylle Kaczorek, a Socialist Alliance and Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific activist, spoke about Australia's occupation of the Timor Sea. "Australia has received approximately ten times the revenue it has provided East Timor in foreign aid since 1999. To avoid paying Timor its much needed legal entitlements under international law, Australia withdrew from the jurisdiction of the two international arbitration bodies used to settle maritime boundary disputes — the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea. The government did this just two months prior to signing the Timor Sea Treaty with East Timor."
John Gauci
Community outrage at Centrelink closure
MELBOURNE — On June 11, more than 100 people attended a public meeting opposing the proposed closure of two Centrelink offices in Richmond and Fitzroy. The centres are to be replaced by a new office in Victoria Gardens, Burnley.
Organised by Action Against Centrelink Closure, the meeting heard from the North Yarra Community Health centre, the ALP, the Greens, and the Brotherhood of St Laurence.
Speakers noted that welfare recipients and welfare organisations had not been consulted about the merger, which will affect thousands of people in the area.
According to Vera Boston of North Yarra Community Health, the most pressing concern for welfare recipients in the area is the extra travel time and costs that they will incur. Many will need to take two to three trams and travel for at least an hour to reach the new location at Victoria Gardens.
ALP candidate for the seat of Melbourne Lindsey Tanner refused to pledge that the Labor Party would keep open both existing offices. Instead he argued that the merger is in an "inappropriate location" and that alternatively a "community interest test" should be conducted to investigate a better location.
After the meeting, participants marched to the Fitzroy Centrelink demanding that the branch remain open, chanting "Save our Centrelink".
Stephen Garvey
From Green Left Weekly, June 23, 2004.
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