Trust Me…I’m From the Feds…

Nov 14, 2007 | Australian Values, Citizenship, Corruption, Cultural Values, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Immigration, Legal, Media Values, OzPol Values, Racism, Terrorism, Values

Trust Me…I’m From the Feds…

 

Wha..!? I woun’t not of never of dun nuffink so bad like wot you say!

 

Federal agent Bruce Pegg, who interviewed Mr Ul-Haque in prison, told NSW Supreme Court judge Michael Adams he had done nothing improper by questioning Mr Ul-Haque without a caution.

” Why didn’t you caution him when you were going to ask him questions which were capable of exposing him to a criminal charge?” Justice Adams asked him.

 

“There was no intention in my mind of using that conversation in any proceedings against Mr Ul-Haque,” Agent Pegg said.

 

Justice Adams: “It would rather depend on what he told you, wouldn’t it?”

Thank christ for judges like Adams.

Supposedly Ul-Haque declined the kind offer to wear a wire to attempt to incriminate another person. He had an opinion about that, he told an AFP officer, who allegedly said:

“Well you know what they say about opinions: opinions are like arseholes; everyone’s got one.”

And you know what they say about arseholes: Mick Keelty’s got thousands of them. That’s how he shits on Australia. 

Justice Adams said ASIO officers

“committed the criminal offences of false imprisonment and kidnapping.”

When do they go to prison?

Have they been arrested and charged yet?
Where are they being detained?
Are they being pursued and prosecuted by the AFP with the same vigour and determination that it showed against…oh, I don’t know…Mohamed Haneef, say?

Dear Bob Correll

Nov 13, 2007 | Australian Values, Border Security, Citizenship, Corruption, Cultural Values, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Immigration, Legal, Media Values, OzPol Values, Racism, Values

Dear Bob Correll

 

To: Mr Bob Correll,
Deputy Secretary
Department of Immigration and Censorship

 

Dear Bob,

Bob, you aren’t replying to any of my messages. Is everything all right? I thought we had something really special for a while.

Bob, you wrote to me earlier this year, explaining to me all about “Australia’s reputation overseas”, of which you were clearly most protective. You talked about “the important business managed by the Department, including the processing of visa applications”.

But now, Bob, this shocking news; I’m having trouble working out how it all fits with what you have said.

Bob apparently, according to the scurrilous Mainstream Media , in 1999 your department detained a certain Tony Tran in a breach of the necessary procedure which requires your department to notify a person that their bridging visa has been cancelled, before, in fact, locking them up.

Now, I know that you are the go-to guy about visas and their clever use as a tool of government policy, so I know that you will have been appalled — appalled !— at this oversight when you found out about it. And you will have been terribly upset that the said Tony Tran was bashed by another inmate while enduring his five years of illegal detention at the hands of your important department.

Of course, we can all understand that your department can’t be held to blame – or to account – for Tran’s broken marriage, or his separation from his baby son for … how long? Just because Tran says,

“I never got to say goodbye and I never got to kiss my son”,

I mean, we need a sense of perspective, don’t we?

After all, your department has lots of really “important business” to manage which takes precedence over the human concerns of mere “people”; important business such as making stirring speeches at expensively-catered conferences for the high-flying and influential; speeches with impressive titles like 

‘Managing our shared future: the use of the visa as a whole-of-government policy tool’[!], or

‘Enhancing ethics and governance while transforming the business[!]’.

“The business”, Bob?

It’s “a business“?

Does the Department consider what it does to unfortunate, desperate refugees as “giving them the business”, perhaps?

Ah, yes. Now we remember!

It was you yourself who was able to turn unemployment into just such a “business“.

A business is not about people, is it.

It’s about “Outcomes” and “”, “Deliverables” and perhaps your favourite, “Compliance”.

A business has the wonderful ability to remove those pesky “human beings” from the equation almost entirely.

Well done!

No wonder John Howard and Kevo Andrews love you!

Bob, I understand now what you meant about ‘the important business managed by the Department’.

And, look, I know it may not look so generous in hindsight, that thing about changing Tony’s baby’s name to a more Korean-sounding one so he could be deported to Korea. It might look somewhat … I don’t know … callous? … cruel and heartless? … unbelievably inhumane? … to some.

But I’m sure that in some way which, in our ignorance, mere people like myself can’t grasp, “Australia’s reputation overseas” has been immeasurably enhanced by this episode.

By the way, I have discovered your website. I like its design very much and would really like one just like it for my very own one day.

Anyway, I came across a page called “Success Stories of Australian Migration”. And I searched and searched but I couldn’t find anything there about Tony Tran! Nor could I discover anything about Vivian Solon or Cornelia Rau, or about Robert Jovocic.

Nothing at all.

Odd, I thought, when they were all examples of success stories of your Department’s important business.

On a personal note, Bob, I just noticed you have five kids! Geez, mate, bit of a stud, eh! Eh? How do you fit them all in the Volvo?

Just, you know, Bob mate, keep your eye on them. Please. You wouldn’t want them being renamed and packed off to some strange country before you’ve had a chance to kiss them goodbye. Would you?

P.S. How’s the job-hunting going? You’ve only got a couple of weeks.

… Oh, Bob, I’ve just been informed that Tran’s case was only one of more than 200 others in which the Ombudsman has determined people have been unlawfully detained, just like Tony Tran. That really is some success story for your department and its important work.

Don’t you agree all these cases really ought to be shown on your beaut website? It seems you might be required to front a Royal Commission if Labor succeeds in a few days. That would be exciting for you, wouldn’t it!

It’s Time, Mick

Nov 13, 2007 | Australian Values, Border Security, Citizenship, Corruption, Democracy, Immigration, Legal, Media Values, OzPol Values, Religious Values, Terrorism, Values

It’s Time, Mick

after Mr Fish

It’s Time

It’s time for Mick Keelty to resign. Or be sacked.
Either way, he has to go:

” A senior counter-terrorism officer with the Australian Federal Police has testified that police were directed to charge “as many suspects as possible” with [tag]terrorism[/tag] offences in order to test the new [tag]anti-terrorism[/tag] laws introduced in 2003.

 

The admission was made by federal agent Kemuel Lam Paktsun, the senior case officer on the Operation Newport investigation that led to the arrest of Sydney medical student Izhar Ul-Haque, whose trial was sensationally dismissed in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday.

 

Agent Lam Paktsun’s startling testimony came during a pre-trial hearing on October 24 that has not previously been reported, when he was questioned about the circumstances of Mr Ul-Haque’s arrest in April 2004.

 

“At the time we were directed, we were informed, to lay as many charges under the new terrorist legislation against as many suspects as possible because we wanted to use the new legislation,” Mr Lam Paktsun testified.

 

“So regardless of the assistance that Mr Ul-Haque could give, he was going to be prosecuted, charged, because we wanted to test the legislation and lay new charges, in our eagerness to use the legislation.”

Keelty has to go because of how he thinks about the law.

He has to go because he has created an organisation of thugs.

He has to go because the service he leads is amateurish and lacks integrity in the worst way for the worst reasons.

He has to go because everything points to his being utterly politicised and his making decisions on political, not legal, grounds as directed by his masters, the Howard ministry.

Do the decent thing at long last, Mick.

Chateau Quelquechose

Nov 12, 2007 | Australian Values, Citizenship, Corruption, Cultural Values, Democracy, Economic Values, OzPol Values, Religious Values, Values

Chateau Quelquechose

 

Gone out the window

 

We were on the train this morning and for the first time in a long time noticed the truly stuffed in our society and how comprehensively invisible they are to most of us. “Stuffed” in the bad way, not ‘stuffed’ like a Liberal politician after a fine meal and a cheeky Chateau Quelquechose or two (at the tax-payer’s expense). And we saw clearly what it is that we hate so much about what Howard has done to our country.

Once upon a time we seemed to care about our society as a society; as a community, you might say.

If someone was down we picked them up because they were part of our team. We looked after them. Now it is all about looking after No. 1. It’s not because people have become more callous. We have just had to learn to look after ourselves in order to survive and avoid being the ones who are stuffed, ourselves.

We have had to learn to be selfish, because all around us has grown this culture of greed fostered by Howard.

We at Values Australia have nothing personally against “stuff”, acquisition, money – even lots of it – but we can’t seem to enjoy it the way we’d like to when others can’t find enough for them or their kids to eat. Or a bed to sleep in, or something to hope for and look forward to in the future.

These days, of course what we prefer to say to these people is, “get over it”, “stand on your own feet”, “if you can’t get a job these days you’re a lazy dickhead who deserves to suffer.” “Where’s me bloody Plasma?”

Ultimately, a society is judged not by its average accumulations of wealth and belongings, not on its greatest and wealthiest but on its very least – on how the community looks after its own, its most needy, and lifts them up. That takes a real, not a rhetorical, sense of community – a whole community – a responsible community.

And that is what has gone out the window as a direct result of this nasty, hateful, selfish, grasping ideology of John Howard’s.

And that is why he must go, before he irreparably tears apart everything that actually made this the best country on earth.

 

As Captain Whyte, a lifelong Liberal voter, said:

“I’m sick of living in an economy; I want to live in a society”.

And, for the christians — as JC his very self is reputed to have said:

“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Who is DIC’s Grima Wormtongue?

Nov 2, 2007 | Australian Values, Border Security, Corruption, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Immigration, OzPol Values, Religious Values, Values

Who is DIC’s Grima Wormtongue?

Polishing your arse on a public service seat

 

A leading defence lawyer and close follower of the Haneef case, barrister Greg Barns, last night said the emails showed that “the AFP in conjunction with the Government were essentially completely undermining the judicial process”.
“They were ripping up the doctrine of the separation of powers,” Mr Barns said.

“What you are seeing here is the politicisation of an investigation and the AFP working hand-in-glove to formulate that.

“It shows there was a pre-judgment by Minister Andrews and the Government, prior to the magistrate’s decision being taken, and this decision was politically stage-managed rather than being done according to law.”

What a disappointment for poor Gollum Andrews! Brimming with christian belief, though of limited intellect, and a desire to do good in the world (at least as defined by his christian beliefs) he is now reduced to being the bumboy for a frail, doomed old man. Instead of doing good he has apparently been breaking the law, or at least his oath to serve the Australian people ‘well and truly’. Is it treason or a high crime in Australia to betray a sworn oath? Forced to blow the racist dog-whistle last month. Forced to rip up the separation of powers over Haneef. Forced to ignore habeas corpus. Forced to sell his soul to the devil (tough gig for a christian boy).

Frankly, we don’t care any more about Kevi Andrews. He’s a goner politically. He’s been converted from an idealist to a party hack. He should just go.

We’re far more interested in who gave him the advice. Why, wouldn’t the best man for the job be the owner of a Public Service Medal – rumoured to be obtainable by polishing your arse on a public service seat for enough years?

Wouldn’t the perfect person for the job be someone who would be responsible for, say, borders, compliance, and detention? Someone with a special interest, perhaps, in visas and the use of the visa as a tool for enforcing whole of government policy?

Wouldn’t the ideal person be someone who, having made a glorious career out of devising exciting new ways to punish the unemployed for being unemployed, had then turned his obvious talents to the continuing and fascinating problem of devising innovative ways to punish refugees for being desperate?

Why, stap me bollocks!

Could it be our own Grima Wormtongue, our old friend Bob Correll?

Surely not?

Surely Bob could not conceivably have been involved in any way in helping to devise a special contingency plan to entertain Mohamed Haneef for just a little bit longer in Australia? Naah. But if he had, might he have broken the law in doing so?  Don’t know.

Look, sorry, would you mind if Bob and I just have a private conversation over here? Just talk amongst yourself for a moment……

Yeah, look, Bob, it seems as though your political masters are going to be turfed in a couple of weeks and that might land you in a bit of a spot, you know? I mean, you’re a bit too…politicised?…don’t you agree? Just a little bit too…tainted?…with the extremist brush, do you think, to be really acceptable to the new regime? You probably should see if you can’t find something to “fall back on”, if you know what I mean.

Well, it just so happens that apparently there are any number of really effective job agencies, federally funded as it turns out, who could have you come in for several hours a week and read the job ads in their free newspapers, or trawl through the internet CareerOne ads for warehouse general hands and jobs like that. Some of those jobs pay up to $15 an hour! Several of them may even be within 90 minutes travelling distance of your home! And to keep you going for the time being there’s this truly excellent and efficient and caring organisation called Centrelink where you can stand in a queue for a few hours each fortnight to help pass the time. And in return they’ll begrudgingly give you enough money to pay about half of your essential living expenses each fortnight, so that’s something to look forward to, Bob, eh? What do you think? Bob?

Bob?

G’day again. Sorry. Bob’s just gone off. Don’t know why he was upset. Hope he finds a job that suits his talents. Maybe he could have a chat to Blackwater – they’re pretty big on “compliance”. Maybe with his experience in remote detention policy he could be a consultant to Guantánamo. Maybe he could sell off a couple of basic Australian values for a few pieces of silver…

How Howard ‘Destroyed’ Hanson

Oct 27, 2007 | Australian Values, Border Security, Citizenship, Corruption, Cultural Values, Democracy, Immigration, OzPol Values, Racism, Religious Values, Terrorism, Values

How Howard ‘Destroyed’ Hanson

“We’re running hard on security and terrorism”

 
It’s just past the sixth anniversary of the sinking of the SIEV-X and the drowning of approximately 353 people.We found this post by ex-Liberal candidate for Reid, Irfan Yusuf, via the [Andrew] Bartlett Diaries.

Excerpt:

” Then, one afternoon in October, I received a call from a lady named Mahbooba who ran a small charity working among Afghan orphans in Pakistan. She wanted to introduce me to a Middle Eastern chap. We agreed to meet at a small mosque in Auburn.

 

I entered the mosque and saw Mahbooba sitting with a visibly distraught man whose reddened eyes betrayed days of mourning. The man continued to weep in my presence while Mahbooba showed me some photos of some young children. The man then spoke:

 

These are the children of my sister. She was killed by the government of our homeland. I”ve been an Australian citizen for 25 years. I run my own business. I pay my taxes. I have only ever asked one thing from my local member and that was to help me get my sister and her children out of there.

 

“Who is your local member?” I asked. “John Howard,” was his answer.

 

He then told me about how he was informed by other relatives that the children had been placed on an unseaworthy boat. They were among some 350 others who had drowned.

 

This was the first time I had heard of the SIEV-X incident. I wasn”t sure what I could do. I was just a candidate in a hard-luck seat with little hope of winning. What could I hope to achieve for this man?

 

“Some people in your Party are starting to tell lies about my sister”s children. They are saying my sister taught her children to be terrorists. You must speak out against them. Remember what the Prophet Mohammed said — that the best jihad is to speak the truth to rulers. It is easy for you because you are in their Party”

 

I listened to the man”s story and looked at the photos of these young children who had barely reached their teens. After the meeting, I got onto the phone with campaign HQ. I told them about the conversation I”d had with the man, and how I wanted to make some statement about it.

 

“No way, Irfan,” said the voice from HQ. “You mustn”t talk about this topic. I”m warning you that if you say anything about it, you might find yourself disendorsed and expelled from the Party. We are running hard on security and terrorism.“

“But these are young kids,” I objected. Then the HQ officer told me something that made me shudder.

 

“Listen, I know how much you hate Pauline Hanson. You”ve got to understand that we have a deliberate strategy here. We want to destroy Hanson by sounding like her and attracting her voter base away from her. It”s part of a deliberate strategy, and it”s temporary.”

Temporary? It’s party policy! It’s dogma. It’s mandatory to promote the Pauline xenophobia. It’s been dragged out yet again by the Hansonite Kevin Andrews (wash my mouth out) with his ‘dirty filthy black diseased criminal African refugee rapist gangs’. Destroy Pauline Hanson? They’ve become Pauline Hanson.

In July we reported on Tony Kevin‘s interview with Richard Fidler on his advocacy about the SIEV-X issue when he said,

” I think my work achieved useful results going beyond SIEV X. It helped more people to see the truth behind the now discredited myth that John Howard is just another Australian politician trying to do his job more or less decently. Australians know the real Howard now. I think my SIEV X research and advocacy helped to expose the ugly truth about this man.

And it is such an ugly truth.