Parliament

On Wednesday 5 February, Queensland Senator Gerard Rennick asked of The Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong, why, given her government's treatment of the former Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, she had said nothing about the large number of crimes committed against the people of Syria by the new regime of Mohammad al–Julani.

This article has been adapted from a double-sided A5 leaflet.

How is this democracy!?

The overwhelming majority of 98 submissions[1] from the Australian public strenuously oppose the Albanese government’s foreshadowed “Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation)” MAD bill. Any objective perusal of the debate about the MAD bill in Hansard [2] shows that the government clearly lost the argument on both the 6th and 7th November. In spite of losing the argument, the MAD Bill was still carried 78 votes to 66. Every Labor member voted for the bill, whilst the Greens, the Independents and every member of the Opposition voted against it.

See also: Citizens Party press release of 19/11/2024, Close to victory against MAD censorship bill—the Greens must also reject it.

(PDF containing transcript can be found here) Genocide is reliant on the dehumanisation of others to justify inhumane action. Since 7 October, we have heard Netanyahu describe Gaza as a city of darkness and ask people to flee or face certain death. Of the Palestinians, Netanyahu says: 'We are facing monsters.

Update, 2/10/24: Of 25 submissions I could only find one that supported this legislation. The remaining 24 were strongly opposed. Unfortunately, I narrowly missed the dead-line, so my own submission, included below, was not included. (further update, 18 Oct 24: PDF Stop the M.A.D. Bill included.)

(This article has been adapted from a double-sided A5 leaflet, the PDF file from which it can be printed is here.) Yesterday, on Friday 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, four members of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group (Assange Support Group) - Andrew Wilkie, Josh Wilson, David Shoebridge and Bridget Archer - issued a press release [1] in which they “urge[d] the United States to discontinue the long, expensive and punishing process that prevents Mr Assange from returning home to his family in Australia.” The press release concluded “there is no justice, compassion, or reasonable purpose in the further persecution of Julian Assange when one considers the harsh conditions of detention he has already endured.”

In an 8 minute interview posted to YouTube on 30 April 2024, Yama Wolomsal, a Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation anchor, questioned David Mencer, a spokesperson for Israel, about the almost-7-month-old Gaza conflict in which over 34,000 Palestinians are known to have been killed and thousand more are missing, presumed dead, beneath the rubble. By putting to David Mencer facts from authoritative sources including the World Health Organisation, the United Nations, the Gaza Health Ministry and numerous human rights groups, Yama Wolomsal demolished every one of David Mencer's claimed justifications for Israel's war.

Starting on Tuesday 20 February, 9 days from today, a two day hearing, to decide whether or not Julian Assange is to be extradited to the United States, will commence. It seems highly likely that the judge will rule that Assange be extradited to the United States. There he will face a kangaroo court hearing, thence imprisonment for 175 years, in conditions even worse than the solitary confinement he is now being made to endure in London's Belmarsh Prison (find PDF adaptation of this article here).

Both houses of the Australian parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate, are meeting tomorrow, Tuesday 6 February 2024 (Update, Wednesday 9:56am: nothing said about Gaza on Tuesday). Based on past experience, if the Gaza conflict, in which, so far, nearly 27,000 Palestinian civilians are known to have been killed, is to be discussed, there has to be a Suspension of Standing orders. Should any debate occur, most of the Labor government members will just state, as fact, many of the lies from the Israeli and Corporate/Legacy newsmedia, whilst feigning concern for the plight of Palestinian civilians. The Liberal/National Opposition, for its part, will wholeheartedly support Israel's action and show almost no concern for the Palestinian civilians.

Update, 19 August : 28 minute YouTube video embedded. 2 August 2023 : Four parliamentary speeches in support of Julian Assange and one weak defense of Government's weasel words from the ALP's Linda White.  Thanks to the Office of Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson for helping to bring us up to date.

Further update, Wed 15 June: Assange mentioned only once this week in Parliament this week, whilst German MP speaks up (see Appendix 2 below). Although Julian Assange was not mentioned either in the House of Representatives or the Senate, yesterday, on Tuesday 13 June, there is still good reason to hope that, over the remaining 7 days, in which both houses sit (including today), we will he

I emailed the following to Independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie and to a number of other members of the Bring Julian Assange Parliamentary Support Group on the evening of Monday 12 June, the day before the 13 June resumption of the sitting of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. How you can help : Contact your local Member of Parliament, your state Senators or members of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group and ask them to vote for my proposed motion, included below or, at least, to vote for the procedural motion to allow Standing Orders to be suspended so that motion can be put. Please let us know here on candobetter of your efforts, any responses or lack thereof.

I posted the following letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus at around 11:00am on Thursday 7 April during a protest for Julian Assange outside the electoral office of Mark Dreyfus in the Melbourne suburb of Mordialloc. I had hoped to hand a copy of this letter to Mark Dreyfus in person or, at least, to a member of his staff, but his office was unattended. For security reasons, as explained to me by a member of the Federal Police, there was no slot through which I could put the letter, so I had to send the letter through the mail. I expect that my letter would have been received in Mark Dreyfus' office the next day and that my letters to Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong will arrive at Parliament House on Tuesday 11 April following the Easter long Weekend. I have also e-mailed this letter, with the subject Please act humanely now to end the illegal imprisonment of Julian Assange, and sent CC copies to members of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Support Group.

The following article has been adapted from the leaflet handed out at the weekly Vigil for Julian Assange in the evening of Friday 17 March 2023 at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station: Julian Assange, the multiple award-winning Australian journalist, has been imprisoned in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day in London's Belmarsh prison since April 2019 - almost four years ago.

Update, 8 Feb 2023: I have received a reply from Josh Wilson and responded further below. They both now precede my original "Open Letter" of 6 February, which is further below.

At Woodford Folk Festival, 28 December 2022, Prime Minister Albanese spoke about how democracies all over the world are coming ‘under attack from a whole range of corrosive, insidious forces’ and that ‘no-one is immune’ (see Appendix 2 below). He also said that by next year there will be an indigenous voice in parliament.

As the embedded YouTube video below shows, yesterday, on 30 November 2022, in the House of Representatives, during question time , Dr Monique Ryan, the independent member for the north-eastern Melbourne metropolition seat of Kooyong, pointed out to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that only political intervention will free Julian Assange.

There are two critical facts which, to me, don't seem to have been taken into account by many of those, both here and overseas, who are fighting for Julian Assange's freedom. Had these facts been understood and then acted upon, I believe that Julian Assange would be free today or, at worst, our prospects of freeing him in the near future would be much greater than what is now the case.

One fact, apparently not properly appreciated amongst the vast popular movement in support of Julian Assange, both in Australia and overseas, is that, in spite of the fact that the Government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could make the British Government release Julian Assange today, it has chosen not to.

Title was South Australia's Parliament to debate Julian Assange's plight this coming Wednesday - Why won't Canberra? Update, Sun 6 Nov 2022: Parliament will be sitting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this coming week.

12pm Wednesday 27 September Frank Pangallo MLC will put a motion for Julian Assange (or see tinyurl.com/2ktnxec4) to the South A

At a protest for Julian Assange, which commenced outside the Victorian State Library at 12:00pm on Sunday 28 September, protestors demanded that the Australian government use the power vested in it as a sovereign national government to make British Prime Minister Liz Truss end the illegal imprisonment and torture of Julian Assange.

Australian Parliament, which sits next week from Monday 6 September, must be made, finally, to debate Julian Assange's fate. At the weekly vigil for Julian Assange outside Melbourne's Flinders Street Station in the evening of last Friday 26 August, James Sinnamon explained how, if Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to end its imprisonment of Julian Assange, he would almost certainly comply without delay, and Julian Assange would

The article below is an adaptation of a double-sided A4 leaflet (PDF attached below) which I handed out last night at a community meeting in Frankston, Victoria. The meeting was organised by Peta Murphy, the Federal Labor member for the local seat of Dunkley.

Update, Tue 26 July: A new larger PDF file which includes a duplicate of the first double-sided A5 page has been uploaded. Without this addition, the second page will be blank. I am about to find out if the problem is fixed. My apologies.

Anti-war activists usually rightly oppose military aggression by the United States and its allies. Currently, however, many support US-NATO against Russia, in what has been labeled by the corporate newsmedia as unjustified and unprovoked Russian aggression against the sovereign nation of Ukraine.