Funny thing about Nicolle Flint and I
This is, to me, REALLY weird!
In November last year I analysed an article by Nicolle Flint. My article was read, but nothing out of the ordinary for this website.
Earlier this month I was intrigued about public reaction to live exports versus asylum seekers and wrote about it. Again, the article was read in the normal range of numbers for this website.
Out of the blue I started seeing a number of hits on the old November 2012 article. I discovered Nicolle Flint had written an article about live exports and the ABC’s (alleged) lack of balance, publish on May 9, 2013.
SO MANY people were interested in this article of Nicolle’s I have been getting totally unrelated hits ever since!
Nicolle Flint related hits
If human rights is not something you think about, I invite to read Dr George Venturini
Dr Venturni has an impressive legal bio. He has started a new series of articles on Independent Australia looking at “the history and reasons for Australia’s current unfair and illegal refugee policy”. I invite you to click on the picture below and read Dr Venturini’s excellent article.
Dr Venturini on Independent Australia
Asylum seeker roundup
Nauru Island from the Air (Photo credit: ARM Climate Research Facility)
Roundup of articles on the topic, that is.
There have, thankfully, been a few great articles about asylum seekers this week which has been wonderful to see. Not so wonderful was Tony Abbott’s politically motivated billboard. Using people as a political football is not the sort of action I expect from a leader. Malcolm Fraser was a leader. Abbott is not. Not my leader.
It isn’t just Abbott who uses the word “illegals”, I know this. Today I saw mention of journalists not challenging Abbott’s use because that would be a free kick given they’d then have to challenge the Labor politicians who had done the same thing. And there it is – the political football. Why are we using innocent, vulnerable people to get free kicks?
The first article I read was Daniel Flitton’s Escape to a fair deal? Not in this country! published in The Age.
Incarceration without hope of facing an accuser, prisoners forbidden to know the evidence arrayed against them, a deployment of endless bureaucratic process to act as a disguise for fairness. No day in court. No trial. No appeal. This is not North Korea, but a brutal reality for 55 people in Australia right now.
Andrew Zammit then alerted me to another article, Guantanamo lawyer to defend Nauru 10 by Bianca Hall. Bianca is fast becoming a journalist I follow regularly.
“They’re almost incommunicado,” Mr Mori said. “They’ve charged 10 people, but there’s not 10 lawyers on Nauru. There’s no defence lawyers to handle the cases, so how are people supposed to get access to lawyers to advise them?”
The asylum seekers are detained under Nauru law. Under Nauru’s Constitution, people who are detained are entitled to consult their lawyer wherever they are being held.
ASIO and DIAC and indefinite detention
Andrew Zammit
Andrew Zammit is a Research Fellow at the Global Terrorism Research Centre (Monash University). Today he published an article, What do ASIO’s adverse security assessments of refugees actually mean? about the adverse ASIO security assessments that currently lead to indefinite detention of asylum seekers/refugees. I have written about one such refugee, Ranjini, on this site previously. Earlier this year she gave birth: an Australian citizen born in detention. Oh, yes, they took Ranjini to a hospital to actually give birth, but to all intents and purposes, this is a child of this nation being raised in detention.
In another earlier article I highlighted detention centres are dysfunctional. Since then the situation has worsened, as the numbers of displaced people globally have continued to grow. I was shocked, as were many others, when off-shore processing was re-implemented.
I am simply the wife of someone who experienced mandatory detention. I live with the aftermath but I don’t have the academic background Andrew has to debate these issues.
You are reading this, you must have an interest in these difficult issues. On that basis, I implore you to read Andrew’s article.
Andrew quotes Director-General of ASIO David Irvine as saying:
“ASIO does not have a view, and certainly not a public view, on whether people who receive adverse assessments generically should be held in detention or not. There are other ways, and other solutions, to that problem, and is up to the government to examine all the possibilities and make its decision.”
A couple of days ago it was reported on the ABC that the ASIO findings being released are too short. It is definitely worth reading the words of The University of Sydney’s Professor Ben Saul in the same report.
Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul says the results are less than illuminating.
IAN RINTOUL: They are very, very general statements. There is no specific allegations or evidence given for those allegations. I mean they are literally, you know, six or seven lines long.
Ruby Hamad is right, whether western women understand it or not
I read Clementine Ford’s article in The Age dated March 25, Is this photo grounds for death? I shared it around the usual social media traps. It is an issue that should be highlighted.
I also read Ruby Hamad’s article in The Age dated March 28, Why protests must be culturally appropriate and noticed Ruby copping a bit of flak from Australian women.
In summary, Amina, a 19 year-old Tunisian woman, adopted a western protest style to seek freedom for the women in Tunisia and she is now in a mental hospital. Clementine wrote of the case and Ruby has provided a culturally sensitive perspective which has generated some discussion.
I am one of what I believe is a fairly unique group of women: I am an atheist feminist married to a Muslim. I have visited a very strict Islamic country, Qatar. If you are reading this and don’t know my stance on religion and feminism, I suggest you read the following articles before you continue reading this one! 
- What is it with religion and women?
- The battle of feminist ideologies
- If this is feminism you can keep it – warning discussion of rape and swearing
It is clear from the above articles I am NOT into preserving the status quo!
Besides being married to a Muslim, I have several Muslim co-workers as well. The Muslims I know cover a wide spectrum of strictness. One co-worker’s wife wears traditional Islamic dress, while others are much more relaxed and drink alcohol and smoke.
Dear Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Dear Julie,
You and I have a lot in common, I notice. I am only thirteen months older than you and we both grew up on farms: mine was sheep and cattle. We are both female, something I will look at again later. We are both degree qualified and we both work.
As you know, I used to be a member of the Liberal Party. Recently I was sent a reminder by text message to renew my membership. I replied no, including a link to my published article explaining why I would not be renewing my Liberal Party membership. I have to say a few more things have popped out of the woodwork about our young Tony since I wrote that. Very sad.
Yesterday a really strange thing happened. I got a phone call on my mobile and a male voice announced he was calling to let me listen to a recorded message from you, Julie. Your voice (I assume it was your voice) then assured me you needed my membership to fight the terrible Labor government.
Apart from the fact I am yet to be totally convinced the Labor government have been worse than a coalition government would have been, you didn’t really tell me why I should vote for your party, let alone renew my membership.
It seems since the idyllic days of our respective childhoods, we may have moved apart. I am so sad about this, Julie, because we should be closer. I just didn’t feel terribly flattered or needed listening to you criticise the current government. If you want to attract me, you have to tell me what you are proposing, to improve life for my family and me, for Australia and for the causes which I am passionate about. Of course, as an accountant, I’d like to know how much your policies are going to cost. For example, will you be reducing the fees for partner visas? Will you be supporting a humanitarian approach to the treatment of asylum seekers and prevent Scott Morrison from inciting moral panic in the community? Actually, just teaching Scott enough manners to respond to dinner invitations would be nice.
Really though, a RECORDED MESSAGE? How uncouth! If you want to beg me to renew my membership, at least have the decency to make a damn phone call. It doesn’t have to actually be from you, after all we know how busy you are preparing costed policies to release before the election. I just feel the personal touch might be nice.
I’m also very puzzled about the gender aspects here. If I had been a male ex-member, would my recorded message have been from Tony? Was a female reaching out to me in a recorded way supposed to make me feel special? If that is the case, I seriously suggest you look for a new public relations team because frankly, unless everyone got your voice and no-one got Tony’s voice, I find the whole damn thing rather sexist. You might be aware I am not that keen on sexism. Please tell Tony I rarely iron anything.
Love versus Goliath in the media
The Moonee Valley Weekly has very kindly covered Love versus Goliath in this week’s edition! Click on the image below to go to the full article.
Moonee Valley Weekly article
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