Joh's claim for compensation 'a joke'
BRISBANE — National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services secretariat chairman Frank Guivarra has labelled former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's claim for damages for "pain and suffering", "a joke".
Bjelke-Peterson made a submission directly to Premier Peter Beattie in early August, for a one-off payment of more than $338 million because of loss of income and legal expenses he incurred through the 1987 Fitzgerald inquiry into corruption.
Guiverra pointed out that Aboriginal people had suffered immense pain and suffering under Bjelke-Peterson, and were being offered only a pittance in return.
A spokesperson for Beattie said the application was unlikely to be successful.
Journalist Phil Dickie — whose 1987 articles exposed illegal prostitution and its links to police corruption and pressured the National Party to announce the Fitzgerald inquiry — said Bjelke-Peterson was treated leniently.
"He should be very grateful that the legal system didn't pursue him in the way it was entitled to", Dickie said.
Speak-out against Nelson review at La Trobe
MELBOURNE — On August 19, student activists at La Trobe University held a speak-out in the Agora against increased fees as part of building the August 27 national day of action against the federal government's package of "reforms" to higher education.
Members of the socialist youth organisation Resistance and Socialist Alternative were the main organisers and speakers. Several university staff members spoke against the government's proposed reforms, including Karen Fletcher, who had been an activist in the anti-fees campaign in the 1980s, and Bill Deller, president of the La Trobe branch of the National tertiary Education Union.
Indonesia day protest
MELBOURNE — On August 17, the 58th anniversary of Indonesia's independence, 40 people protested outside the Indonesian consulate against Jakarta's denial of national self-determination to the people of Aceh and West Papua.
Initiated by Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), the protest rally raised a flag pledging solidarity with the people of Indonesia, Aceh and West Papua. Speakers at the rally emphasised that they supported Indonesian liberation from the Dutch colonialists.
Bishop Hilton Deakin, chairperson of the Australia-West Papua Association, wished those inside the consulate a "happy independence day" and urged them to remember those West Papuans who have fallen victim to continuing Indonesian military operations.
Graham Matthews, a state convener of the Socialist Alliance which endorsed the protest, said his organisation condemned the Australian government's resumption of ties with Kopassus, which he dubbed "an instrument of state terror against the Indonesian people".
Vannessa Hearman, speaking on behalf of ASAP, said: "Howard wants to drag Indonesia back to the days of impunity, of disappearances and political assassinations committed by state security forces".
Palestine forum
BRISBANE — Hashem Kalibe from the Australian-Palestinian Association provided an eyewitness update on the situation facing Palestinians under Israel's illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip at a Socialist alliance forum on August 21.
From Green Left Weekly, August 27, 2003.
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