Thursday 25 September 2014

Letter Writing 101: never indulge your phantasies in a letter to the editor


The Daily Examiner carried this interesting exchange in its letters columns on 24 and 25 September 2014:

Congrats Debrah

Sincere congratulations to Debrah Novak for her 20 years at The Daily Examiner.

In my now 15 years of residence in retirement in the Clarence Valley, Debrah has always been incredibly honest and painstakingly fair on any project we worked together on. She possesses a genuine interest in all things and all people and causes in the Clarence Valley.

When she did a photographic essay on an island within the river, near Maclean, on which certain original inhabitants of our Valley were confined five decades ago producing some of the state's finest fruit and vegetables, this basic inequality really affected Debrah and I was privileged to be one of the few in Maclean with whom she shared some of her most private thoughts on past inequalities.

John Berlin1

Vivid imagination

John Berlin must have a vivid imagination to believe he and I have worked on projects together or that I have done a photo essay of Ulgundahi Island.

John Berlin and I have never worked on any project and I would never work with him on anything.

I have only spoken to this man on two occasions and not at any length. One of those times was when he was being arrested for impersonating a police officer, something he was later found guilty of.

Debrah Novak

1. The Daily Examiner, 24 August 2011, Fraudster put behind bars

Two polling companies, two different assessments of Tony Abbott & Co


This week News Corp and its part-owned polling company Newspoll was trumpeting a poll bounce for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the back of national security issues.

However, another polling company Roy Morgan Research had a different assessment of how Australians reacted to Abbott’s national security media blitz.

The Australian 23 September 2014:

SUPPORT for the Coalition has risen to a five-month high as voters show their approval of Tony Abbott’s handling of national ­security matters, with a six-point leap in the Prime Minister’s ­personal satisfaction rating taking it to the highest level since ­November.
The latest Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Australian at the weekend, reveals the government’s primary vote has climbed two points to 41 per cent while Labor dropped one point to 34 per cent. It is the Coalition’s highest level of support since April — before its poorly received budget sent its core vote tumbling as low as 35 per cent — but still below the 45.6 per cent achieved when it won the election last year…..
Based on preference flows at the last election, the Coalition has narrowed the two-party-preferred gap although Labor is still ahead by 51 per cent to 49 per cent. Labor has been ahead in two-party terms for 11 consecutive Newspoll surveys.
 

Roy Morgan Research 22 September 2014:

Abbott’s decision to ‘send in the troops’ fails to secure poll bounce: Young Australians comprehensively reject the Abbot Government

September 22 2014 | Finding No. 5824 | Topic: Federal Poll Public Opinion

Finding No. 5824 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face and SMS interviewing over the last two weekends of September 13/14 & 20/21, 2014 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,922 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 2.5% did not name a party.

In mid-September ALP support rose to 54.5% (up 0.5%) increasing their lead over the L-NP 45.5% (down 0.5%) on a two-party preferred basis. If an election had been held the ALP would have won easily according to this week’s Morgan Poll on voting intention conducted with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,922 Australian electors aged 18+ over the last two weekends.

Primary support for the ALP rose to 37.5% (up 0.5% over the past fortnight) whilst L-NP primary support was up 0.5% to 38.5%. Support for the other parties shows The Greens rose to 12% (up 1.5%), the Palmer United Party (PUP) 4.0% (down 0.5%) while Independents/ Others fell 2% to 8%.
Support for PUP is highest in the three States that elected Palmer United Party Senators: Queensland (7%), Western Australia (5%) and Tasmania (4%). Support for PUP is lower in the rest of Australia: Victoria (3%), New South Wales (2.5%) and South Australia (2%).

Analysis by Gender

Analysis by Gender shows ALP support well ahead amongst women: ALP 57% cf. L-NP 43% on a two-party preferred basis. However, men also support the ALP 51.5% cf. L-NP 48.5%.

Analysis by Age group

Analysis by Age group shows the ALP still with its strongest advantage among younger Australians. 18-24yr olds heavily favour the ALP (76.5%) cf. L-NP (23.5%); 25-34yr olds favour the ALP (62.5%) cf. L-NP (37.5%); 35-49yr olds favour the ALP (55.5%) cf. L-NP (44.5%); 50-64yr olds favour the ALP (53%) cf. L-NP (47%); only those aged 65+ still clearly favour the L-NP (60.5%) cf. ALP (39.5%).

Analysis by States

The ALP maintains a two-party preferred lead in all Australian States except Queensland. New South Wales: ALP 55% cf. L-NP 45%, Victoria: ALP 55% cf. L-NP 45%, Western Australia: ALP 56.5% cf. L-NP 43.5%, South Australia: ALP 56% cf. L-NP 44% and Tasmania: ALP 55.5% cf. L-NP 44.5%. Queensland is level pegging: L-NP 50% cf. ALP 50%.

Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating

The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating has risen to 95.5pts this week (up 0.5pts over the past fortnight). Now 42.5% (down 0.5%) of Australians say Australia is ‘heading in the wrong direction and 38% (unchanged) say Australia is ‘heading in the right direction’.

The Morgan Poll surveys a larger sample (including people who only use a mobile phone) than any other public opinion poll. The Morgan Poll asks Minor Party supporters which way they will vote their preferences. *News Corp’s poll does not measure or reference the PUP vote!

The Morgan Poll allocated preferences based on how people say they will vote – allocating preferences by how electors voted at the last Federal Election, as used by News Corp’s poll*, show the ALP (53.5%) cf. L-NP (46.5 %) – for trends see the Morgan Poll historic data table.

Gary Morgan says:

“Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s decision to commit 600 Australian troops to Iraq has failed to boost the Government in today’s Morgan Poll. This is unusual as the Morgan Poll has shown on past occasions that external security threats usually favour the incumbent Government. This was the case in early 2003 in the run-up to Iraq War and also in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“In addition, Prime Minister Abbott lifted the Australian terrorism alert to high for the first time ten days ago (September 12, 2014) just before this polling period began. However, in contrast to what the Morgan Poll has shown in the past the L-NP has received no ‘poll boost’ in the past fortnight with the ALP (54.5%, up 0.5%) increasing their two-party preferred lead over the L-NP (45.5%, down 0.5%).

“The small boost in support to the ALP comes despite a special snap SMS Morgan Poll last week showing a narrow majority of Australians (54%) approving of Abbott’s decision to send 600 Australian troops to Iraq against 46% that disapprove. Interestingly, the snap SMS Morgan Poll showed a majority of men and Australians aged 35+ approved of sending the troops whereas a majority of women and Australians aged 18-34 disapproved.

“Supporting the sentiment amongst younger Australians against sending Australian troops to Iraq is a strong swing to the ALP amongst 18-24yrolds in today’s Morgan Poll. Now a huge 76.5% (up 15.5%) of 18-24yr olds support the ALP cf. 23.5% (down 15.5%) support the L-NP on a two-party preferred basis.

“The extensive raids carried out last week against potential terrorists in Australia have had a strong impact on the electorate with a separate special snap SMS Morgan Poll last week showing a narrow majority of Australians (52.5%) support the death penalty being imposed for people convicted of a terrorist act in Australia that kills someone compared to 47.5% that are opposed. This is the first time a majority of Australians have favoured the death penalty being imposed for any crime since 1995 when 53% of Australians supported the death penalty for convicted murderers.”

Electors were asked: “If an election for the House of Representatives were held today – which party will receive your first preference?”  Visit the Roy Morgan Online Store to browse our range of Voter Profiles by electorate, detailed Voting Intention Demographics Reports and Most important Political Issue Reports (all 150 electorates ranked by an issue).

Finding No. 5824 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face and SMS interviewing over the last two weekends of September 13/14 & 20/21, 2014 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,922 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 2.5% did not name a party.

Abbott on the subject of terrorism


This was Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on his feet in theAustralian Parliament on 22 September 2014; "Regrettably, for some time to come, the delicate balance between freedom and security may have to shift.

These are the words he has been using in an attempt to make Australians believe that loss of basic human, legal and democratic rights is something we should not protest:



It is the responsibility of every citizen to decide if any of these words outweigh our keeping all the rights our forebears struggled so valiantly to achieve.

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Beware The Secret State - Part Three. Abbott Government to allow ASIO and federal police to 'creepy crawl' our homes


It was in the late 1960s that Australia became familiar with the term creepy crawl* which meant stealthily entering a home unbeknownst to its occupants.

The 23 September 2014 media release below from Australian Attorney-General George Brandis demonstrates that this same hostile act is about to become part of federal law** in this country. Along with arrest without warrant and preventative detention based on nothing more than a police or ASIO officer’s paranoid suspicion.

The new legislation also extends the government of the day’s ability to declare action on the part of any person or organisation as advocating or doing a terrorist act and, before readers pooh pooh that idea they might like to recall how easily (and without cause) those Victorian mums and dads in the Port Phillip Bay Blue Wedge Coalition were included on what was effectively a U.S. international ecoterrorism watch list.

*   Manson Family killings in the United States.
**  Delayed Notification Search Warrant - a concept borrowed from United States legislation and a form of warrant the Howard Government failed to have Parliament pass in 2006-07

MEDIA RELEASE:

COUNTER-TERRORISM LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (FOREIGN FIGHTERS) BILL

Today I am releasing the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill which I will introduce into the Senate tomorrow (24 September 2014).  The Bill will then be referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for review.

The suite of reforms in this Bill address the most pressing gaps in our counter-terrorism legislative framework.  Measures are focused on the prevention and disruption of domestic terrorist threats.
The escalating security crisis in Iraq and Syria poses an increasing threat to Australia. The Government is particularly concerned about Australians who travel to conflict zones and return to Australia with skills and intentions acquired from fighting or training with proscribed terrorist groups. 
Australia’s intelligence agencies estimate there are around 60 Australians involved directly in the conflict in Syria and Iraq, with around 100 providing support roles in Australia.
The Government’s comprehensive review of Australia’s national security and counter-terrorism legislation showed that it does not sufficiently address the emerging and unique domestic security threats posed by the return of Australians who have participated in foreign conflicts, trained with extremist groups, or people in Australia who provide support to those who may seek to do us harm.

In order to tighten existing laws to combat these threats, the Bill will:
* create new offences for ‘advocating terrorism’ and for entering or remaining in a ‘declared zone’;
* broaden the criteria and streamline the process for the listing of terrorist organisations;
* extend instances in which a control order may be sought; extend the sunsetting provisions of the preventative detention order and control order regimes; and include a sunset clause for the ‘declared zone’ offence;
* provide certain law enforcement agencies with additional tools needed to investigate, arrest and prosecute those supporting foreign conflicts;
* limit the means of travel for foreign fighting or support for foreign fighters; and
* strengthen protections at Australia’s borders.

The Government has engaged in extensive consultation with Australia’s national security agencies, State and Territory governments, the Opposition, Senate crossbenchers, and community leaders and representatives in the development of these important measures.

The Government thanks all the stakeholders and acknowledges the Opposition’s constructive and supportive approach towards the implementation of necessary reforms to Australia’s national security legislation.

Given the importance of this legislation, and the fact that it bears directly on the safety of the public, I call upon the Labor Party to expedite its passage through the Parliament without any unnecessary delay.

23 July 2014

BACKGROUND

New Offences

* New offence of entering, or remaining in a ‘declared area’
A new offence will provide that if a person travels, or remains in, a declared area where terrorist organisations engage in hostile activity, the person is assumed to be engaging in hostile activities with that terrorist organisation. An area will be declared where the Foreign Affairs Minister is satisfied that a terrorist organisation listed under the Criminal Code is engaging in a hostile activity in a particular area of the foreign country. The new offence will enable the prosecution of people who intentionally enter an area in a foreign State where they know, or should know, that the Australian Government has determined that terrorist organisations are engaging in hostile activities and the person is not able to demonstrate a sole legitimate reason for entering, or remaining in, the foreign State.
This new offence will be subject to a 10 year sunset clause.  

* New offence of ‘advocating terrorism’
The Bill introduces the offence ‘advocating terrorism’. A person commits an offence if they intentionally counsel, promote, encourage or urge the doing of a terrorist act or the commission of a terrorism offence. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment.

Terrorist organisations – listings and offences
* authorise the Attorney-General to add, remove or alter aliases of a listed terrorist organisation, where satisfied the alias or aliases are those of the listed terrorist organisation
* broaden the terrorist organisation listing criteria in relation to advocacy
* expand the relevant training offence to include participating in training with a terrorist organisation

Control orders
* include additional criteria for control orders where:
 the person has engaged in armed hostilities in a foreign state
 the person has been convicted of a terrorism offence
* amend the criteria for control orders on training grounds to include participating in training with a terrorist organisation, in alignment with the proposed amendment to the training offence
* make the threshold for an AFP applicant to request a control order consistent across all criteria as ‘suspects on reasonable grounds’
* require the AFP member serving an order on a person to advise the person of appeal/review rights
* insert a maximum curfew period of 12 hours within a 24 hour period for curfew conditions
* allow AFP to use telecommunications interception, under warrant, to investigate the breach of a control order

Preventative detention orders
* enable applications for initial preventative detention orders and prohibited contact orders to be made orally or electronically in urgent circumstances
* require that the AFP applicant must ‘suspect on reasonable grounds’, the matters set out in the issuing criteria
* provide that a person must be satisfied that it is ‘reasonably necessary’ to detain the subject for one of the purposes listed
* provide for orders to be made where the person’s full name is not known provided the person can be identified

Sunset provisions
* provide for the continuation of the control order and preventative detention order regimes in the Criminal Code Act 1995 and certain powers relevant to the investigation of terrorism related offences in the Crimes Act 1914 for a further 10 years beyond 2015, and the questioning and detention warrant regimes in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 beyond July 2016

ASIO’s questioning warrant powers
* create a new offence for destroying or tampering with a record or thing to prevent its production under a questioning warrant and make other appropriate enhancements to the regime

Search warrants
* introduce a delayed notification search warrant scheme—with appropriate safeguards and limits—to allow a search warrant to be executed without the knowledge of the occupier of the premises to ensure suspects are not immediately alerted to the investigation

Arrest threshold
* reduce the arrest threshold for terrorism offences (including foreign incursions offences) to ‘suspects’ on reasonable grounds

Admission of foreign evidence
* allow courts greater flexibility to admit material obtained from overseas in terrorism related proceedings, providing that the material was not obtained as a result of torture or duress

Persons of security concern
* ensure welfare payments can be terminated for people who have been assessed as a serious threat to Australia’s national security where the person’s visa or passport has been cancelled
* improve the ability of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to request the cancellation of a visa based on security concerns and introduce a power to suspend Australian passports and seize foreign passports for 14 days
* remove the requirement to immediately notify an individual of the cancellation of a passport to avoid alerting the individual to the existence of an investigation

Border security
* enhance border security by ensuring certain biometric information can be appropriately obtained, retained and used
* address shortcomings in the current powers of Customs officers under the Customs Act 1901 to detain persons of interest, and to introduce a new set of circumstances in which a person may be
detained by a Customs officer in a designated place (such as an airport)
* better support the use of automated border processing technology (known as e-Gate) to collect and retain personal identifiers of citizens and non-citizens in immigration clearance or upon departure, and to permit the disclosure of that information, and
*require air and sea carriers to provide information in advance on departing travellers through an approved reporting system.

Other amendments
* create consistency in the definition of ‘terrorist act’ across a number of Acts
* amend the definition of a ‘terrorist offence’ in a range of Acts to include foreign incursions and treason offences and offences against Part 4 of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945 and Part 5 of * that Act insofar as it relates to terrorism—providing that certain powers in those Acts can be used in relation to these offences
* list the Attorney-General’s Department as a designated agency under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 to allow the department to more efficiently and effectively * develop and implement policy around terrorism financing risks, and ensure a more holistic approach to the Government’s foreign fighters national security response

COUNTER-TERRORISM LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (FOREIGN FIGHTERS) BILL transcript here.

Who do you blame if the mounting hyper-spin on a 'terror threat' to Australia goes terribly wrong?


Who do you blame if tensions between different religious or ethnic groups (including natural-born Australians) rise dramatically, racially-inspired violence occurs or a ‘pay-back’ incident results in death and destruction because the Abbott Government is intent on making society both alert and alarmed over as yet unproven domestic terrorist plot/s allegedly instigated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) organisation?

The following politicians are a good starting point:


Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Warringah Tony Abbott (Chair)
Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals MP for Wide Bay Warren Truss (Deputy Chair)
Foreign Minister and Liberal MP for Curtin Julie Bishop
Attorney-General and Liberal Senator George Brandis
Treasurer and Liberal MP for North Sydney Joe Hockey
Minister for Defence and Liberal Senator David Johnston
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison
Minister for Finance and Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann (Member Co-optee as required)

Along with a number of National security agencies in this list:

Australia’s response to terrorism relies on strong and cooperative relationships between the Australian Government and the states and territories.
Our national security agencies have well-defined responsibilities and the authority to detect, prevent and respond to acts of terrorism in Australia. Terrorist incidents involving Australian interests outside Australia are in the first instance dealt with by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The roles and responsibilities of Australia’s national security agencies and authorities are listed below.

The Australian Government:
maintains counter-terrorism capabilities and national coordination arrangements within its agencies (listed below) maintains national policies, legislation and plans determines Australian Government prevention strategies and operational responses to threats supports the states and territories in responding to terrorist situations in their jurisdictions
can, where the nature of the incident warrants it and with the agreement of the affected states and territories, declare a national terrorist situation. In such a situation the Australian Government would determine policies and broad strategies in close consultation with affected states or territories.

The Prime Minister takes the lead role in Australian Government counter-terrorism policy coordination.
The Attorney-General, supported by the National Security Committee of Cabinet and other ministers, is responsible for operational coordination on national security issues.
The Attorney-General’s Department coordinates national security and crisis management arrangements and provides legislative advice.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is Australia’s national security intelligence service. Its main role is to gather information and produce intelligence so that it can warn the government about activities or situations that might endanger Australia's national security.
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service manages the security and integrity of Australia’s borders. It works closely with other government and international agencies to detect and deter unlawful movement of goods and people across the border.
The Australian Defence Force maintains capabilities that can assist civil authorities in emergencies.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigates national  terrorist offences provides overseas liaison and protective services and performs a state policing function in the ACT. The AFP Protective Service provides physical protection services in relation to foreign embassies and certain government facilities, and also counter-terrorism first response at major airports.
The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) is Australia’s overseas secret intelligence collection agency. Its primary goal is to obtain and distribute secret intelligence about the capabilities, intentions and activities of individuals or organisations outside Australia, which may impact on Australia's interests and the well-being of Australian citizens.
Border Protection Command provides security for Australia's offshore maritime areas. Combining the resources and expertise of the Australian Customs Service and the Department of Defence, and working with officers from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, and other Australian, state and territory agencies, it delivers a coordinated national approach to Australia's offshore maritime security.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) aims to advance the interests of Australia and Australians internationally. It works with Australia’s allies and partners to confront terrorism and to enhance international counter-terrorism cooperation. It provides advice about specific security threats abroad for people travelling overseas and provides consular services to Australians living abroad . It also provides information in relation to the protection of foreign dignitaries.
The Department of Health leads a whole-of-government approach to strengthening Australia’s readiness for disease threats, national health emergencies and other large scale health incidents.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection maintains the Movement Alert List and enforces Australia’s visa regime. It is also actively engaged in a number of international data-accessing initiatives aimed at preventing the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups and has responsibility for border control.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet coordinates Australian Government counter-terrorism policy in collaboration with intelligence agencies and the states and territories. It also  provides the secretariat for the Secretaries Committee on National Security and the National Security Committee of Cabinet. It co-chairs and provides the secretariat for the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC) and advises the Prime Minister on matters related to counter-terrorism.
The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development regulates the security of airports, airlines, sea ports and other forms of transport, with state and territory authorities.
The Office of National Assessments assesses and analyses international political, strategic and economic developments for the Prime Minister and senior ministers in the National Security Committee of Cabinet.

* The entire Abbott Government Cabinet Ministers are listed here.

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Identifying the real terrorists?


One letter to the editor in The Sydney Morning Herald on 19 September 2018 slyly identifies those terrorizing Australia.........


Image found at