Category: Brandis

Brandis

Judging The Judges Is A Judgement Call! – Is this Australia’s worst AG?

Image from news.com.au

Judging The Judges Is A Judgement Call! – » The Australian Independent Media Network.

Brandis

The Brandis/Monis letters: The shakedown. Has George got anything right?

The Brandis/Monis letters: The shakedown.

Brandis

Sydney siege: Tony Abbott says Sydney gunman Man Haron Monis was not on security watchlists

Mike Baird and Tony Abbott address the media, Dec 16 2014

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has revealed the gunman responsible for the Sydney siege was not on a security watchlist, despite his long criminal history and known “infatuation with extremism”.

Self-styled Iranian cleric Man Haron Monis was killed about 16 hours after taking 17 people hostage at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe on Monday morning.

Two hostages, Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, and barrister Katrina Dawson, 38, were also killed.

Mr Abbott flew to Sydney this afternoon after convening a meeting of the powerful National Security Committee of Cabinet this morning.

Standing alongside New South Wales Premier Mike Baird and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin, Mr Abbott described Monis as a “deeply disturbed individual” who was “consistently weird”.

“How can someone who has had such a long and chequered history, not be on the appropriate watchlists?” he said.

“And how can someone like that be entirely at large in the community?

“These are questions that we need to look at carefully and calmly and methodically, to learn the right lessons, and to act upon them.”

How can someone who has had such a long and chequered history, not be on the appropriate watch lists?

Tony Abbott

Mr Abbott said the man was well known to the NSW Police, the AFP and the domestic spy agency ASIO and said it was reasonable to ask whether the incident could have been prevented.

“Even if this individual, this sick and disturbed individual, had been front and centre on our watchlists, even if this individual had been monitored 24 hours a day, it’s quite likely, certainly possible, that this incident could have taken place, because the level of control that would be necessary to prevent people from going about their daily life, would be very, very high indeed.”

Mr Baird echoed Mr Abbott’s comments.

“We are all outraged that this guy was on the street. We are. And we need to understand why he was,” he said.

“We also need to understand why he wasn’t picked up and we’ll be working closely with the Federal authorities together with our own agencies to ensure what we can do better.

“[The] community has every right to feel upset. I’m incredibly upset. I’m outraged and we need to ensure that everything is done to learn from this.”

PM says ‘most difficult 36 hours’ in Sydney’s history

Mr Abbott has described the siege as an “absolutely appalling and ugly” incident and said it has been one of the most difficult periods in Australia’s history.

“This is an incident which has echoed around the world,” he said.

“Tens if not hundreds of millions of people right around the world have been focused on the city of Sydney which has been touched by terrorism for the first time in more than 35 years.”

Mr Abbott thanked and congratulated the New South Wales Police for the commitment and professionalism they showed.

Reporter recalls meeting gunman


ABC court reporter Jamelle Wells reflects on her first encounter with Man Horan Monis during his 2009 court appearance for sending harrasing letters to families of deceased soldiers.

“Everyone has been impressed by the speed of the NSW response, the thoroughness of the preparations they made and the professionalism of the action they took once it became obvious that people inside the cafe were being taken out by this deluded and sick individual,” he said.

“I think every Sydneysider can feel quietly proud of the way this city has handled one of the most difficult 36 hours in our history.

“People have gone about their business and in the aftermath of the end of the siege last night, people have responded with typical Australian decency and generosity and the spontaneous shrine which has developed now in Martin Place is so much an expression of the innate goodness and decency which is a mark of the Australian character.”

Mr Baird has also thanked Sydneysiders for their handling of the incident.

“This city is amazing,” he said.

“Its people are incredible, and what you are seeing in Martin Place right now as it unfolds, it is almost as if a beating heart of the city is being put in place.

“That’s what those flowers represent to me. It is showing us that this city is alive. It is beating. Despite the challenges, despite the tragedies we have endured, it is people saying they care,” he said.

Mr Abbott has pledged to do whatever is humanly possible to keep the community safe and has used the event to highlight the need for the next round of proposed national security laws, that would force telecommunications companies to hold their customer’s data for up to two years.

Bigots, Bolt, Brandis, Free Speech, Scott Morrison

Why Men Are From Mars, Women From Venus And Many of Abbott’s Front Bench From A Different Planet Altogether!

Image by theaustralian.com.au

“A self-proclaimed pick-up artist who promotes choking women has left the country and had his visa cancelled by the Federal Government.

Julien Blanc, 25, was due to give a talk at Melbourne’s Como Hotel on Wednesday night advising men how to “pick up women from open to close”.

His tactics, which include choking women and pulling them into his crotch, were criticised online as misogynistic and abusive.”

ABC

There is a popular theory that an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of keyboards would produce the play “Hamlet”. There is a reality that three or four monkeys taking turns could have been responsible for the Liberals “Real Solutions” document…

However, it’s Friday night and I’m being a little distracted. ‘Twas  going to be about Julien Blanc. Just to get you up to speed with this:

Mr Blanc, from US-based group Real Social Dynamics (RSD), was forced to hold his event on a boat on Melbourne’s Yarra River last night.

He was also due to deliver a seminar in Brisbane next week.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has told Sky News he decided to cancel Mr Blanc’s visa.

“This guy wasn’t pushing forward political ideas, he was putting a view that was derogatory to women and that’s just something that our values abhor in this country,” he said.

Ok, let’s just forget Voltaire’s “I may disagree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”, or as George Brandis put it so much more eloquently, “People have the right to be bigots, otherwise we wouldn’t have picked up so much of the One Nation vote”.

Mm, perhaps I shouldn’t have put the quotation marks around it because I was quoting it from memory and – like John Howard – my memory can be faulty whenever it suits me.

Anyway. Julien Blanc…

Strikes me as a nasty, little pathetic man who must have attracted an audience with the sort of losers who’d normally spend their Friday nights striking out at venues that are considered pick-up joints.

Mind you, I’m the sort of man that would have gone to his event and asked if he’d give the same advice to gay men who were having trouble with men who didn’t realise that they may be bi-sexual…

Anyway, let’s ignore someone who just wants to be noticed because how the fuck does someone get so far basing his whole persona on the Tom Cruise character in “Magnolia”. (Great film, btw, watch it, if you’ve never seen it!)

But, well, I just sort of have this problem with Scott Morrison just cancelling his visa like that. I mean, as Scotty said, he wasn’t pushing a “poltical agenda”  – if it had been a “political agenda” would it have been ok? Or was it that he held his seminar on a BOAT?

Will Andy Bolt have a front page headline about the whole freedom of speech thing?

Will Abbott attempt to mirror Howard? “We will determine the misogynists who come into this country and their right to support our agenda…”

Whatever happened to that idea people have a right to be bigots? And why don’t I get my chance to rub my crutch against Mr Blanc and choke him?

Anyone who isn’t a feminist shall have their comments removed…

And anyone who is.

Yep, just agree with me and you’re visa’s safe. Unless there’s a backlash on social media.

Mm, why do I feel that I should say something about people from being discouraged from reporting sexual abuse in detention centres?

Oh, that’s right. Not in Australia. So the fact that it’s not part of our values means they should have just stayed where they came from…

Brandis, Injustice, Media

Australia’s war on whistleblowers must end. MP’s leak and get away with it

Frances Abbott, Tony Abbott and Leanne Whitehouse

Frances Abbott, Tony Abbott and Leanne Whitehouse

The prosecution of Freya Newman, court actions against news outlets and police investigations of immigration leaks show the war on whistleblowers is escalating

Freedom is difficult to resuscitate once extinguished. Australian attorney-general George Brandis recently chastised journalists for criticising his government’s new laws aimed at preventing reporting about “special intelligence operations”. Because he’s a culture warrior brawler, Brandis damned the “usual suspects of the paranoid, fantasist left” but also “reputable conservative commentators” for questioning his judgment over what citizens should and should not learn through the media.

“Never believe anything until it’s officially denied” was a favourite expression of the Irish journalist Claud Cockburn, father of the British reporter Patrick Cockburn. It’s a motto worth remembering as we’re faced with a barrage of state-led and private interest attacks on leaks and leakers.

The examples are many, but what occurred on Thursday raises grave concerns for whistleblowers in Australia. Take the case of Freya Newman, a young and part-time librarian at Whitehouse School of Design in Sydney. She accessed information on the institute’s computer system that showed prime minister Tony Abbott’s daughter, Frances Abbott, received a “chairman’s scholarship” worth $60,000.

Newman has pleaded guilty to the offence of unauthorised access to a computer system, and on Thursday appeared in court. The prosecution appeared not to be pushing for a jail sentence but a record of the crime. The fact remains that Newman has been aggressively pursued for a noble example of exposing a matter of public interest.

Newman’s whistleblowing was defended by lawyer Julian Burnside as vital insights into secret access and clearly should be designated as in the public interest. Crucially, he notes that she would have been likely protected by whistleblower protection if working for a government organisation but she was exposed to legal censure because she was employed by a private organisation.

Independent news website New Matilda has released a slew of leaks this year and faced heavy, but predictable criticism. New Matilda operates differently, aiming to piss off the pompously positioned. The current controversy over Sydney University’s Barry Spurr, a consultant to the Abbott government’s review of the national curriculum, is yet another case of smearing a whistle-blower who released a slew of racist and sexist emails to New Matilda.

In an outrageous attack on press freedom, Spurr has tried to legally force New Matilda to reveal its sources and prevent them publishing anything else related to the story. It’s a case of attempted intimidation that New Matilda has happily challenged, and later on Thursday Spurr dropped his bid to expose the source, although the case is still continuing. I’m yet to read other media outlets offering support for the small publisher.

Rather than address the issues raised by Spurr’s compromised position as a man who longs for colonial times, The Australian’s Sharri Markson reported that the emails may have been obtained by hacking, allegations slammed by editor Chris Graham.

The source of the leak is again questioned in an Australian editorial: “the [New Matilda] website maintains [the story] is based on leaks from a source, rather than hacking, as Professor Spurr alleges”. Even entertainer Barry Humphries has damned the release of the emails, wilfully ignoring the political significance of such a man with vile views to perpetuate white Australia in the education system of the 21st century.

There are many other examples of this war on whistleblowers in Australia. Immigration minister Scott Morrison has maintained a medieval seal on details over his border security policy and yet has been happy to find friendly, News Corp Australia reporters to smear critics of his policy. The government has now referred Save the Children workers to be investigated by the Australian Federal Police over “unauthorised” disclosures of information. It was clear intimidation, designed to make employees shut up.

In a haze of claims and counter-claims, with Operation Sovereign Borders celebrated as saving taxpayer dollars, the detail of a breach of security within the department is ignored or dismissed as insignificant. The source of these allegations against Save the Children was first reported in a Daily Telegraph story as being from an intelligence report that they also appear to have been leaked, and which was published on the day of Morrison’s announcement about the investigation. Leaking to obedient journalists doesn’t indicate a healthy whistle-blower culture but rather a docile political environment that rewards favouritism. It reduces democracy to sanctioned drops into reporter’s in-boxes.

Amidst all the fury over angry ideologues concerned that their bigoted conservative values are under attack lie the importance of whistle-blowing without fear or favour. It’s a global problem that’s being led by Nobel Peace Prize winner himself, US president Barack Obama. His administration is publicly supportive of disclosure while prosecuting countless people including the New York Times’ James Risen and perfecting the selective leak to cosy reporters. It’s a particular problem with national security journalism, where the vast bulk of writing is left to stenographers of the bloated intelligence and military apparatus.

Effective whistleblower legislation in democracies isn’t enough because governments have proven their willingness to protect anything that embarrasses or shames them. The persecution of Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Thomas Drake, amongst others, is about saving face and not lives. Journalists, aggressive media companies and citizens must revolt and challenge the very fundamentals of our secretive age. This means publishing state and business secrets and widening the overly narrow definition of what constitutes being in the public interest.

Rejecting the criminalising of journalism should be in every reporter’s DNA. The Snowden releases have fundamentally altered the ways in which we understand digital journalism and how we must protect sources away from prying private and government eyes.

Over a year ago I wrote an article outlining the range of documents and stories that need to be told by the invaluable work of whistle-blowers. Today I’m calling for all documents that reveal the operational details of Operation Sovereign Borders, the legal justification for providing Iraqi immunity for Australian special forces in Iraq and the evidence of Australian acquiescence in abandoning citizen Julian Assange at London’s Ecuadorian embassy.

Brandis, Injustice, Security, Terrorist Raids

We now have no-knock raids in this country. What we can look foward to.

nazisssss

Finalists Announced For This Year’s NAZI Stormtrooper Of The Year Award

Posted in humor, politics

 The five finalists have been announced for the coveted NAZI Stormtrooper of the Year Award. The award is given each year to the SWAT team or individual law enforcement officer who, in the opinion of the judges, perpetrates the most heinous atrocity on an innocent American citizen during a drug raid or traffic stop. The award is sponsored by the Peace Officers Malevolent League, the National Association of Corrupt Prosecutors, the Bribable Judges Guild, and the Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club of Brighton, Illinois.

This year the awards ceremony will take place in Atlanta because of the high number of abominations carried out by officers representing that great state. The winner of this year’s competition is expected to be announced sometime this week.

Below you will find a brief synopsis of each raid and subsequent barbaric obscenity being considered by the panel of judges.

1. The Phonesavanh Family, Habersham County, Georgia

In Cornelia, Georgia on May 28—narcotics officers carried out a paramilitary no-knock SWAT raid at 3 AM at the home of Alecia Phonesavanh. The person they were looking for, Phonesavanh’s nephew Wanis Thonetheva, was suspected of making a $50 methamphetamine sale. Thonetheva, however, didn’t even live in Phonesavanh’s home and was nowhere to be found during the raid. But Phonesavanh’s 19-month-old toddler, Bounkham “Bou Bou” Phonesavanh, was home. After breaking down the door of the Phonesavanh home, one of the officers tossed a flashbang grenade—which landed in the baby’s crib, exploded and caused the toddler extensive injuries (including severe burns, disfigurement and hole in his chest that exposed his ribs). No drugs were found in the home, and Wanis Thonetheva was subsequently arrested later without incident.

To make matters worse, Habersham County officials announced in August that the county would not be giving the Phonesavanh family any assistance with the baby’s huge medical expenses. And the fact that members of the SWAT team escaped criminal charges on October 6 only encourages militarized narcotics officers to continue endangering the public.

2. David Hooks, East Dublin, Georgia

In September, methamphetamine addict Rodney Garrett confessed to stealing an SUV from the home of 59-year-old David Hooks, an East Dublin, Georgia resident who owned a construction company. Garrett claimed that he found a bag of meth in the vehicle, and the Laurens County Sheriff’s Department obtained a warrant for a no-knock raid on Hooks’ home. When the SWAT team broke into Hooks’ house on September 23, Hooks—according to attorney Mitchell Shook, who is representing Hooks’ widow—thought he was being robbed again and grabbed a gun to defend himself, although Shook said Hooks’ didn’t actually fire it. At least 16 shots were fired by the SWAT team, killing Hooks instantly. Shook told reporters, “There is no evidence that David Hooks ever fired a weapon.”

No drugs were found in the home during a 44-hour search. And there was no evidence that Hooks had any involvement in drug trafficking apart from the dubious claims of a confessed meth addict and car thief.

3. Jason Westcott, Tampa, Florida

Militarized police are a hazard all over the United States, but progressive talk radio host/attorney Mike Papantonio has said more than once that militarized police in the Deep South (who he describes as “Dixieland stormtroopers”) are especially toxic. And the Dixieland stormtroopers were feeling very trigger-happy when, on May 27, a SWAT team in Tampa, Florida carried out a no-knock raid on the home of 29-year-old Jason Westcott (who narcotics officers suspected of selling marijuana). Westcott, who evidently believed he was being robbed, grabbed his gun—and he was killed when the SWAT team opened fire. Officers found about two dollars worth of marijuana in the house.

4. Larry Lee Arman, St. Paul, Minnesota

There have been many examples of militarized narcotics officers killing pet dogs during drug raids, and the two dogs that St. Paul, Minnesota resident Larry Lee Arman owned were shot and killed when a SWAT team carried out a no-knock drug raid on his home onJuly 9. Although Arman acknowledges that he is a recreational marijuana user, he has vehemently denied any involvement in drug trafficking—and the only items found during the raid were a glass bong and marijuana remnants in a metal grinder. Camille Perry, Arman’s girlfriend, was present during the raid and said that she feared for the lives of her children. “The only thing I was thinking was my kids were going to get hit by bullets,” Perry told Minneapolis’ KMSP-TV. But gratefully, their children—unlike Bounkham “Bou Bou” Phonesavanh—were not injured.

5. Lillian Alonzo, Manchester, New Hampshire

Journalist Radley Balko (author of Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces) has often said that when paramilitary weapons are used in connection with investigations for nonviolent offenses, the chances of innocent people being injured escalate. That happened in Manchester, New Hampshire on August 27, when members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided the apartment of 49-year-old Lilian Alonzo.

Although two of her daughters, Johanna Nunez and Jennifer Nunez, were suspects in the investigation, Alonzo herself was not a suspect—and neither of them lived with her. During the raid, the unarmed Alonzo was picking up a baby when two shots were fired; one of them went through her left arm and entered her left ribcage (30 stitches were needed). No drugs were found in Lilian Alonzo’s apartment.

Honorable Mention

Dwayne Perry, Cartersville, Georgia

In Cartersville, Georgia, state narcotics officers acted like soldiers in Fallujah, Al Anbar when, in early October, they invaded the back yard of Dwayne Perry. Flying overhead in a helicopter, they were searching for marijuana plants and thought they spotted some in Perry’s yard. The officers, weapons drawn, invaded the yard with a K-9 unit. But what they thought were marijuana plants turned out to be okra plants. Perry told WSB-TV: “I was scared…….They were strapped to the gills. Anything could have happened.”

Brandis, Injustice

Today, the terrorists have won. The rights and freedoms of Australian citizens have been sacrificed. No Ticker ALP No Ticker

Attorney-General George Brandis was pleased the laws had passed.Today, the terrorists have won. The rights and freedoms of Australian citizens have been sacrificed.

And this has occurred for no good reason.

Despite concerns raised by dozens of academics, lawyers, rights groups, the dumped national security legislation monitor Bret Walker, SC, and human rights commissioner Tim Wilson, new national security legislation that will jail journalists and whistleblowers if they reveal information about covert “special” operations passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The legislation cleared the Senate last week with bipartisan support.

No amendments were accepted, other than those introduced in the Senate by the Palmer United Party, which imposed even tougher penalties on leakers than originally drafted.

Anyone – including journalists, whistleblowers and bloggers – who “recklessly” discloses “information … [that] relates to a special intelligence operation” faces up to 10 years’ jail.

<i>Illustration: David Rowe</i>Illustration: David Rowe

Any operation can be declared “special” by the attorney-general of the day after ASIO makes an application.

The legislation, which also enables the entire Australian internet to be monitored with just a single computer warrant, is a disgrace. Our Parliament, especially the Labor opposition, has failed us.

As an example of this, we need only look at the shadow attorney-general’s comments on ABC News 24 on Tuesday, when he was asked if operations that embarrass government could be covered up by “special operations”.

 

This is astounding, especially considering warnings that the new legislation makes it a crime if, for example, the media wanted to disclose the death of an innocent bystander caught up in a bungled covert spy operation.

 

Under them, “reckless” journalists will be jailed if they report on cases such as the tapping by Australia of the phones of the Indonesian President and his wife.

Labor did not do its job properly, and it was left to the Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt and independent crossbenchers, such as Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan, to speak out.

 

Under the laws, former and current officers of the Australian foreign intelligence agency ASIS, who communicate any classified information, will face 10 years’ jail, up from two years. eg Andrew Wilkie

If they disclose their names and who they work for, that’s another 10 years’ jail, up from one year.

Make no mistake about it. These laws are designed to stop future whistleblowers who reveal information that might embarrass a government, such as the accusation ASIS spies bugged East Timor’s cabinet room to gain a competitive advantage when negotiating how to split $40 billion worth of oil and gas deposits.

They will also stop future Edward Snowdens from speaking out about abuses of power.

When the former ASIS officer who alleged Australia bugged East Timor’s cabinet room went to IGIS, it’s been reported that he was told to get a lawyer if he wanted to take his case further.

The officer did that, and, soon after, their office was raided, as was that of East Timor’s Australian lawyer, Bernard Collaery.

David Irvine, the former head of ASIO who retired recently, was head of ASIS at the time the bugging was alleged to have occurred.

The bugging case is now before arbitration between Australia and East Timor, and there are fears the new laws could apply to the ASIS officer, known as Witness K, when giving further evidence on the matter.

This would mean the officer could now be jailed for up to 10 years for communicating what he or she believes was in the public interest instead of facing two years’ jail.

Attorney-General Brandis has flatly refused to comment on whether Witness K or future Witness Ks could be subjected to the new laws, arguing that the questions are “hypothetical” in nature.

Will East Timor’s quest for justice be quashed by these new laws? Only time will tell.

Australia, Australian Shame, Brandis, Injustice, Islamophobia, Media

George Brandis famous words in an attempt to change the Bolt Law were ‘even Bigots had the right to be Bigots’ except Muslims it seems

Illustration: Jim Pavlidis.

Our values define us not our race or religion

When Muslims are threatened and mosques defaced NSW Commissioner  sees it as bigotry that requires no extra effort by police. When a 14-year-old Muslim boy yells abuse and waves a black flag it’s a hate crime. A concerted effort is made and arrests follow.

Date
September 30, 2014 – 12:00AM
Tim Soutphommasane
Political philosopher and regular columnist

View more articles from Tim Soutphommasane

 

We must  be vigilant on more than one front. We must be united in countering terror. We must not allow fear and suspicion to triumph.Nothing would please ISIL extremists more than to see Muslim Australians being alienated or ostracised. Were this to happen, ISIL’s job becomes easier – it would help them recruit disaffected Muslims to their heinous cause.
At the same time, there are xenophobic factions that see an opportunity to spread their messages of hate. Muslim communities have reported an increase in hate attacks. There has been abuse of Muslims on streets and graffiti on mosques. There have been violent threats: last week a man armed with a knife entered an Islamic college in south-west Sydney.Anti-Muslim bigotry is now contaminating community harmony at large. For example, Sikh Australians say they are becoming targets of racial abuse because people are linking turbans to terrorism.

Bigotry has no place in our society. There is no right to be a bigot. Every person in Australia should be free to live without being subjected to harassment or humiliation. As a liberal democracy we uphold the freedom to practise your religion.

Indeed, while a small number subscribe to their abhorrent ideology, the overwhelming majority of Muslim Australians do not.Why would they support a group whose actions are certain to make their life more difficult?

Earlier this month in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba I attended a community barbecue organised by Lebanese community leader Dr Jamal Rifi. Thousands from the community attended under the banner of “Muslims Love Australia”. They are evidently patriotic.The patriotism I saw in Lakemba was a particular kind. It’s the patriotism of migrants, a love of country that comes not from ancestry but from citizenship.

Such patriotism is typically a pride that lies within. But it’s the right kind of pride for a multicultural Australia – a modern Australia that has been built on immigration. We are a country that is today defined by our values, and not by race or religion.

Everyone should feel relaxed and comfortable in their own skin. Everyone should enjoy the right to express their heritage or practise their faith. Where religion or culture clashes with any of these things, the demands of citizenship must prevail. Our civic identity is paramount.

 “I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.”

Most of all, we must remember that national security can never be divorced from cultural harmony and social cohesion. And we are always better placed to combat threats when we are united rather than divided.

Tim Soutphommasane is Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/our-values-define-us-not-our-race-or-religion-20140929-10ndch.html#ixzz3EkolO3lK

ASIO, Brandis, Injustice, Media

I do hope but doubt that ASIO focuses on Andrew Bolt for incitement of hatred

 

View image on Twitter

Spy laws passed in Senate: ASIO given new powers

Australia has no specific laws that protect privacy, so innocent people who may be monitored have “very little by way of redress in legal terms”.

The Palmer United Party managed to attach an amendment that means anyone who publicly names an ASIO agent could be jailed for up to a decade, which is a 10-time increase in the existing maximum penalty.

“Everybody condemns what (terror group) ISIL is doing, it’s horrendous, it’s barbaric, but we do not want to see the fabric of our own society here in Australia torn apart.”

Brandis, Security

It would seem our Attorney General is more a Corporal Klink and doesn’t know what he’s doing again

Labor demands detail on foreign fighters bill before pledging support

Attorney-General George Brandis, left, with his opposition counterpart Mark Dreyfus.

Attorney-General George Brandis on Sunday claimed he had secured the Opposition’s backing for the next tranche of anti-terror laws – the so-called foreign fighters bill – to be introduced to Parliament on Wednesday.

Cracks have emerged in the bipartisan political response to the rising terrorist threat, with concern inside Labor at the extent and practicality of enhanced powers the federal government plans to grant security agencies.Labor has expressed misgivings at the onus of proof being placed on returning citizens.

A spokeswoman for Mr Dreyfus said the Opposition had been surprised to hear that bipartisan agreement had been secured before Labor had seen the foreign fighters bill.

“It would be negligent of us to give blanket support for something we haven’t seen. We have internal processes to follow,” she said.

ASIO, Brandis, Tony Abbott

So no specific intel on terror threats but we can expect a larger security presance.

 

More police at airports to slow things up Our airports will look and feel like Heathrow it will insure anger levels do rise. If anybody complains they won’t just be warned they will be taken aside and prevented from flying simply because your quick tongue offended security. Industries like jewellery will find onboard luggage will be banned and therefore lose what ever insurance cover they have. As to be insured their merchandise must travel with them at all times. If that’s not bad enough what about our education industry. Students from Indonesia, India,Malaysia & China will be checked coming and going more so than even Australian citizens. They already pay more than anywhere else for a fifth rate degree. The increased training drills alone of the AFP increase the chances of plastic explosive being left behind or gone missing. The prevention of people going on and coming on holiday will increase just because some over excited security . Abbott will blame the economic consequences of this change on his imaginary increased terror. Who is going to want to go to the MCG or any major event.

However there is a plus for Christopher Pyne  an increased presence of police and security for politicians visiting university campuses. Student leaders can be apprehended before any visit why to diminish the possibility of  lone Wolf terror. Student meetings will now be even more closely monitored. Topics up for discussion & lecture topics  carefully watched. Waleed Aly and his wife dismissed on National Security grounds. and Andrew Bolt will smile.

The social media  and campaigns like March  against the government can be conveniently silenced  as a possible vehicles for the internal radicalization of Australia.  Lone Wolf radicals  can be found anywhere, previously regarded as criminals not part of any terror group but now they can be redefined as terrorists. This government can use this argument for any nefarious means and will get ASIO support why? Increase any government department’s budget for any reason it’s in the nature of the beast to substantiate the reason for the increase. There’s little or no reason you will find any department to justify it’s  budget reduction . The next government would have some difficulty in doing so as well . Besides Bill Shorten playing politics seems advised to support Abbott in this. They are brothers in arms on security. Obviously the polls are telling him scare mongering is good.

If all of this extra surveillance does not happen none needs to ask why?Why was this announced so publicly in the first place?  Why is the normal goings on in daily life been called on to be treated as suspicious what was  once thought of as single acts of crime being raised to an acts of terror. School burnings, phone threats, union action can all now be redefined. Join ASIO’s newly formed dad’s secret police, put your sunnies on and go dob in a neighbour.

 

 

Andrew Bolt, Brandis, Racism, section18C

BRANDIS IS PUSHING THE GREEN LIGHT TO RACISM " THE BOLT LAW " DESPITE ALMOST 80% SUBMISSIONS AGAINST IT

 

4100 submissions almost 80% unanimously rejected the Brandis draft for changes to the Racial Discrimination Act  to be known as the “BOLT LAW” Brandis refused the Fairfax FOI request but allowed the ANU one. The Australian Attorney General’s proposal would give a a green light to racism. Despite the objections George Brandis intends to do his master Tony Abbott’s bidding and push ahead with the changes. Bolt calls it Freedom of Speech. “every individual should be permitted to say what they want” but not every individual Bolt is permitted the same platform with which to say it.