Friday, December 31, 2004
30 December 2004
The tragedy of the tsunami is so great that it is difficult for our minds to encompass the sheer scale of what has happened. The assistance offered by the richest countries in the world has been so pathetic that it can scarcely be recorded. This against an expenditure on the war we had to have when we weren't having a war - first Afghanistan, then Iraq, to say nothing of the ongoing shenanigans of the Israeli apartheid regime - and you have such vast expenditure on arms for war that there simply isn't time to think of money for disasters of this magnitude.
How can anyone have anything but the utmost contempt for the rich western nations who behave in such disgusting ways?
The current Australian government is probably the most despicable on record, but even this government's depths were plumbed today with the deportation of the asylum seeker Bakhtyari family of 8 to Pakistan - their homeland being Afghanistan. They are Hazaras, a group persecuted in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, so it can be imagined to what future these people have been sent, kicked out of Australia for daring to be asylum seekers. This at a time when there has been one of the worst natural disasters in human memory with the earthquake and following tsunami in which the number of people who have lost their lives is already estimated to be nearly 100, 000 and climbing. To put it all in context, several Australians have lost their lives in the tragedy - numbers as yet unknown, but we haven't room in Australia for 8 people from a country or countries, where they are not considered sufficiently "white or anglo" for this racist government and loyal opposition!
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The tragedy of the tsunami is so great that it is difficult for our minds to encompass the sheer scale of what has happened. The assistance offered by the richest countries in the world has been so pathetic that it can scarcely be recorded. This against an expenditure on the war we had to have when we weren't having a war - first Afghanistan, then Iraq, to say nothing of the ongoing shenanigans of the Israeli apartheid regime - and you have such vast expenditure on arms for war that there simply isn't time to think of money for disasters of this magnitude.
How can anyone have anything but the utmost contempt for the rich western nations who behave in such disgusting ways?
The current Australian government is probably the most despicable on record, but even this government's depths were plumbed today with the deportation of the asylum seeker Bakhtyari family of 8 to Pakistan - their homeland being Afghanistan. They are Hazaras, a group persecuted in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, so it can be imagined to what future these people have been sent, kicked out of Australia for daring to be asylum seekers. This at a time when there has been one of the worst natural disasters in human memory with the earthquake and following tsunami in which the number of people who have lost their lives is already estimated to be nearly 100, 000 and climbing. To put it all in context, several Australians have lost their lives in the tragedy - numbers as yet unknown, but we haven't room in Australia for 8 people from a country or countries, where they are not considered sufficiently "white or anglo" for this racist government and loyal opposition!
Friday, December 24, 2004
21 December 2004
The following item was forwarded to us from Adelaide and needs as much publicity as possible. Hopefully it will be picked up by gay, lesbian and transgender activists around the country who will be able to do something about another crime about to be committed in our concentration camps!
From: "Ian Purcell" Date: 21/12/2004 13:36:01
To: "'Ian Purcell'" Subject: FW: Gay Iranian guy in Baxter
Hi to all Let's Get Equal Campaign Supporters
Normally, I wouldn't use the LGE email list for other issues (and I apologise in advance for this), but I think when you read the following request from my good friend Paul Hyam, you will understand the special circumstances under which I chose to do so. If like me, you are appalled with the Howard Government's treatment of the Bakhtiyari family, here's another situation (also appalling) in which you may be able to help.
Best wishes for Christmas & the New Year
Ian Purcell
Hello there,
My name is Paul Hyam and I am writing to ask if you would consider joining a "Circle of Friends" to support a gay Iranian man who is being held in Baxter detention centre.
He came to Australia by boat in 2000 and applied for refugee status on the grounds of his homosexuality and the persecution of homosexuals in Iran. He was assessed and denied refugee status. I have read the transcript of his hearing and was astounded at its conduct. He was asked questions about his contact with a gay subculture within Iran. The questions made analogies to western gay cultural icons like Oscar Wilde and Madonna! He said that he didn't understand the questions. The hearing seemed to interpret this as meaning that he had no knowledge of a gay cultural life in Iran and hence could not be truly gay himself. The hearing also questioned the fact that gay men in Iran are at risk, despite the fact that the law allows for homosexual men to be executed.
He appealed the decision to the Federal Court and won his appeal. The Minister for Immigration then appealed that decision to the full Federal Court and unfortunately that appeal was upheld. He has subsequently sought leave to appeal to the High Court and leave was granted. He now waits for his appeal to be heard by the High Court, but that may not occur for perhaps 12 months and he has already spent 4.5 years in detention. He is now applying for a Bridging Visa which will allow him to live in the community until his High Court appeal is heard. Asylum seekers who are released on a Bridging Visa are not permitted to work and receive no Federal Government benefits. Such a visa will only be issued to him if there is a group of Australian citizens who commit to supporting him financially. The Australian Refugee Association administers such groups and they are called "Circles of Friends".
Peter Tonkin and I have been visiting him this year and are now in the process of establishing a Circle of Friends for him. It is estimated that we will require about $300 per week to support him. Donations by members of a Circle of Friends are tax deductible through the affiliation with the Australian Refugee Association.
I would be pleased to hear from you if you are able to join this Circle of Friends. Even if you are unable to make a financial contribution you are still welcome to join the group as you may be able to help in other ways.
Please contact me as soon as possible if you are able to assist.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Hyam
Email:mailto:paulhyam@internode.on.net
Phone: (08) 8224 0084 in Australia, 61 8 8224 0084 if outside Australia, or 0421376857.
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The following item was forwarded to us from Adelaide and needs as much publicity as possible. Hopefully it will be picked up by gay, lesbian and transgender activists around the country who will be able to do something about another crime about to be committed in our concentration camps!
From: "Ian Purcell" Date: 21/12/2004 13:36:01
To: "'Ian Purcell'" Subject: FW: Gay Iranian guy in Baxter
Hi to all Let's Get Equal Campaign Supporters
Normally, I wouldn't use the LGE email list for other issues (and I apologise in advance for this), but I think when you read the following request from my good friend Paul Hyam, you will understand the special circumstances under which I chose to do so. If like me, you are appalled with the Howard Government's treatment of the Bakhtiyari family, here's another situation (also appalling) in which you may be able to help.
Best wishes for Christmas & the New Year
Ian Purcell
Hello there,
My name is Paul Hyam and I am writing to ask if you would consider joining a "Circle of Friends" to support a gay Iranian man who is being held in Baxter detention centre.
He came to Australia by boat in 2000 and applied for refugee status on the grounds of his homosexuality and the persecution of homosexuals in Iran. He was assessed and denied refugee status. I have read the transcript of his hearing and was astounded at its conduct. He was asked questions about his contact with a gay subculture within Iran. The questions made analogies to western gay cultural icons like Oscar Wilde and Madonna! He said that he didn't understand the questions. The hearing seemed to interpret this as meaning that he had no knowledge of a gay cultural life in Iran and hence could not be truly gay himself. The hearing also questioned the fact that gay men in Iran are at risk, despite the fact that the law allows for homosexual men to be executed.
He appealed the decision to the Federal Court and won his appeal. The Minister for Immigration then appealed that decision to the full Federal Court and unfortunately that appeal was upheld. He has subsequently sought leave to appeal to the High Court and leave was granted. He now waits for his appeal to be heard by the High Court, but that may not occur for perhaps 12 months and he has already spent 4.5 years in detention. He is now applying for a Bridging Visa which will allow him to live in the community until his High Court appeal is heard. Asylum seekers who are released on a Bridging Visa are not permitted to work and receive no Federal Government benefits. Such a visa will only be issued to him if there is a group of Australian citizens who commit to supporting him financially. The Australian Refugee Association administers such groups and they are called "Circles of Friends".
Peter Tonkin and I have been visiting him this year and are now in the process of establishing a Circle of Friends for him. It is estimated that we will require about $300 per week to support him. Donations by members of a Circle of Friends are tax deductible through the affiliation with the Australian Refugee Association.
I would be pleased to hear from you if you are able to join this Circle of Friends. Even if you are unable to make a financial contribution you are still welcome to join the group as you may be able to help in other ways.
Please contact me as soon as possible if you are able to assist.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Hyam
Email:mailto:paulhyam@internode.on.net
Phone: (08) 8224 0084 in Australia, 61 8 8224 0084 if outside Australia, or 0421376857.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
17 December 2004
Those of us who have lived in a police state and watched it developing into a situation where everyone's lives are being watched by "big brother" type situations, have been alarmed at the security regulations brought in by governments - USA, UK and Australia - with, in the case of Australia at least, the willing cooperation of the opposition. It is therefore of great interest to hear the views of those who oppose the draconian measures of these governments, and these interviews on the ABC on Friday 17 December 2004 gave heart to those of us who have felt the situation to be hopeless.
To add to this feeling of frustration and anger were today's actions by the Federal government in its ongoing efforts to deport a family of asylum seekers from Australia - another example of disgraceful behaviour by the government, supported by the loyal opposition!
ABC Online
This is the print version of story The World Today - Parallels between counter-terrorism measures and Nazi Germany
The World Today - Friday, 17 December , 2004 12:23:59
Reporter: Eleanor Hall
ELEANOR HALL: The Federal Government's laws giving ASIO powers to detain and question terrorist suspects have faced criticism in Australia.
But in Britain the UK's highest court has today ruled in favour of detainees being held under some of the Blair Government's counter-terrorism measures.
Britain's Law Lords ruled that locking up suspected foreign terrorists without trial is in breach of European human rights laws.
LORD BINGHAM: The measures unjustifiably discriminate against foreign nationals on the ground of their nationality or immigration status, and are not strictly required since they provide for the detention of some but not all of those who are said to present the same risk.
ELEANOR HALL: Lord Bingham speaking for the bench there from the British House of Lords.
And a distinguished United States lawyer who's in Australia at the moment is applauding the judges' decision.
But Michael Bazyler, Professor of Law at California's Whittier Law School, and an expert on Holocaust justice, is nonetheless warning that there are dangerous parallels in the way Western democracies have been responding to terrorism and the rise of Nazi Germany.
I spoke earlier to Professor Bazyler and began by asking him about the British court's ruling.
MICHAEL BAZYLER: I think I'm very happy with it. It looks like British courts like the American courts are coming forward and telling the political branches of the government that they are violating the civil liberties of the people they have in custody and they're saying that it's illegal to do so.
ELEANOR HALL: Were you surprised by some of the counter-terrorism laws that were imposed in the UK, the US and Australia after September the 11th?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: I was very disappointed. I really did not realise that the laws would be so drastic. It showed me a perfect example of the old adage of how precarious democracy is and that in light of a drastic, critical, you know, event in national history, in world history, that you would have a reaction by governments that would really go overboard.
ELEANOR HALL: Was it going overboard though, I mean some people would say that in extreme situations you need extreme measures.
MICHAEL BAZYLER: We can not take on and use anti-democratic measures because if we end up doing that then we basically are coming down to the level of the people that are trying to destroy us.
The lesson we get from this is going back to World War II. The perfect example that I can use is from the United States where in the wake of World War II and the attack by the… by Japan on the United States, we in the United States, interned Japanese Americans in internment camps, equivalent to concentration camps. That was an overreaction. It was an overreaction that unfortunately the United States Supreme Court upheld, and it's been a black mark on American legal history, and we say let's make sure that we don't repeat this again.
ELEANOR HALL: Now you've been making comparisons with Nazi Germany. Why have you been doing that?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: Well, let me make clear, I'm not saying at all that the United States or Britain or Australia at all are like Nazi Germany. What I'm saying is that it's very important to take a look at Nazi Germany in 1933 when Hitler first came to power. This was a democratic country, it was a country based upon a rule of law, it had a very sophisticated legal system, and the holocaust began with the passage of laws. Laws that eventually ended up in the legalised murder of six million Jews and other persecuted minorities.
And so it's really important to take a look at the first step, and say, 'Are we on this road today, you know, in the Western democracies?' And make sure we don't go there.
ELEANOR HALL: And what's your answer to your question? Are we on that road today?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: I think there's a danger. But with the courts coming in and saying no, it's… the road itself is much less likely.
Ultimately we have to realise that the courts are powerless. Any decision issued by a court can be ignored. I mean the High Court in Britain or the United States Supreme Court does not have an army to enforce its laws, the enforcement power that it has is by an agreement in a democratic system.
ELEANOR HALL: What about somewhere like Guantanamo Bay? Is that a blot on the US record? Is that heading towards what you're talking about with Nazi Germany?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: If it was… if it's something that the United States courts would not stop, it's something that would lead to a less democratic state. Whether eventually it could lead to something like Nazi Germany, I can't say. I mean, you know, the holocaust was a unique event and one that we hope will never happen again. But once we start going down the slippery slope, we just don't know where we'll end up, and it's really important to remember the sense of history, and to learn from history.
ELEANOR HALL: Michael Bazyler, Professor of Law at California's Whittier Law School and an expert on Holocaust justice.
© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Copyright information: http://abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm
Privacy information: http://abc.net.au/privacy.htm
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0 comments
links to this post
Those of us who have lived in a police state and watched it developing into a situation where everyone's lives are being watched by "big brother" type situations, have been alarmed at the security regulations brought in by governments - USA, UK and Australia - with, in the case of Australia at least, the willing cooperation of the opposition. It is therefore of great interest to hear the views of those who oppose the draconian measures of these governments, and these interviews on the ABC on Friday 17 December 2004 gave heart to those of us who have felt the situation to be hopeless.
To add to this feeling of frustration and anger were today's actions by the Federal government in its ongoing efforts to deport a family of asylum seekers from Australia - another example of disgraceful behaviour by the government, supported by the loyal opposition!
ABC Online
This is the print version of story The World Today - Parallels between counter-terrorism measures and Nazi Germany
The World Today - Friday, 17 December , 2004 12:23:59
Reporter: Eleanor Hall
ELEANOR HALL: The Federal Government's laws giving ASIO powers to detain and question terrorist suspects have faced criticism in Australia.
But in Britain the UK's highest court has today ruled in favour of detainees being held under some of the Blair Government's counter-terrorism measures.
Britain's Law Lords ruled that locking up suspected foreign terrorists without trial is in breach of European human rights laws.
LORD BINGHAM: The measures unjustifiably discriminate against foreign nationals on the ground of their nationality or immigration status, and are not strictly required since they provide for the detention of some but not all of those who are said to present the same risk.
ELEANOR HALL: Lord Bingham speaking for the bench there from the British House of Lords.
And a distinguished United States lawyer who's in Australia at the moment is applauding the judges' decision.
But Michael Bazyler, Professor of Law at California's Whittier Law School, and an expert on Holocaust justice, is nonetheless warning that there are dangerous parallels in the way Western democracies have been responding to terrorism and the rise of Nazi Germany.
I spoke earlier to Professor Bazyler and began by asking him about the British court's ruling.
MICHAEL BAZYLER: I think I'm very happy with it. It looks like British courts like the American courts are coming forward and telling the political branches of the government that they are violating the civil liberties of the people they have in custody and they're saying that it's illegal to do so.
ELEANOR HALL: Were you surprised by some of the counter-terrorism laws that were imposed in the UK, the US and Australia after September the 11th?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: I was very disappointed. I really did not realise that the laws would be so drastic. It showed me a perfect example of the old adage of how precarious democracy is and that in light of a drastic, critical, you know, event in national history, in world history, that you would have a reaction by governments that would really go overboard.
ELEANOR HALL: Was it going overboard though, I mean some people would say that in extreme situations you need extreme measures.
MICHAEL BAZYLER: We can not take on and use anti-democratic measures because if we end up doing that then we basically are coming down to the level of the people that are trying to destroy us.
The lesson we get from this is going back to World War II. The perfect example that I can use is from the United States where in the wake of World War II and the attack by the… by Japan on the United States, we in the United States, interned Japanese Americans in internment camps, equivalent to concentration camps. That was an overreaction. It was an overreaction that unfortunately the United States Supreme Court upheld, and it's been a black mark on American legal history, and we say let's make sure that we don't repeat this again.
ELEANOR HALL: Now you've been making comparisons with Nazi Germany. Why have you been doing that?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: Well, let me make clear, I'm not saying at all that the United States or Britain or Australia at all are like Nazi Germany. What I'm saying is that it's very important to take a look at Nazi Germany in 1933 when Hitler first came to power. This was a democratic country, it was a country based upon a rule of law, it had a very sophisticated legal system, and the holocaust began with the passage of laws. Laws that eventually ended up in the legalised murder of six million Jews and other persecuted minorities.
And so it's really important to take a look at the first step, and say, 'Are we on this road today, you know, in the Western democracies?' And make sure we don't go there.
ELEANOR HALL: And what's your answer to your question? Are we on that road today?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: I think there's a danger. But with the courts coming in and saying no, it's… the road itself is much less likely.
Ultimately we have to realise that the courts are powerless. Any decision issued by a court can be ignored. I mean the High Court in Britain or the United States Supreme Court does not have an army to enforce its laws, the enforcement power that it has is by an agreement in a democratic system.
ELEANOR HALL: What about somewhere like Guantanamo Bay? Is that a blot on the US record? Is that heading towards what you're talking about with Nazi Germany?
MICHAEL BAZYLER: If it was… if it's something that the United States courts would not stop, it's something that would lead to a less democratic state. Whether eventually it could lead to something like Nazi Germany, I can't say. I mean, you know, the holocaust was a unique event and one that we hope will never happen again. But once we start going down the slippery slope, we just don't know where we'll end up, and it's really important to remember the sense of history, and to learn from history.
ELEANOR HALL: Michael Bazyler, Professor of Law at California's Whittier Law School and an expert on Holocaust justice.
© 2004 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Copyright information: http://abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm
Privacy information: http://abc.net.au/privacy.htm
Friday, December 10, 2004
This letter was sent to Julia Gillard, a fervent supporter of Mark Latham's. It is no doubt futile, and I probably won't get a reply, but I think I should speak about the ALP's corruption in relation to its stacking of council candidates for local government elections - it is an issue which is one of the most disgraceful ways in which this political party is now behaving:
Dear Julia,
It really is difficult to know where to start in responding to the
troubles in the ALP.
Mark Latham is part of the problem, and part of the solution.
The starting point for the ALP, one would have thought, would be to find
out from the
voters why they voted as they did, and what they think about the ALP and
its policies.
Where to start from where I see things: as having once thought, when a
member of the
ALP in the early 1980s, that there was somewhere to go, until Hawke and
Keating took
the party away from any of its roots and in the direction of economic
rationalism. Since
then it has looked more and more what people are calling it: The
Alternative Liberal
Party.
When John Howard took over Pauline Hanson's platform and drove the Libs
even more
to the right, the ALP dutifully followed.
The ALP it was who started the concentration camps in Australia in 1992,
and the ALP
has supported Howard ever since.
Whose idea was it to give preferences to every group other than the Greens
in Victoria
so that the last senate seat was given to Family First?
Whose idea was it in the recent local government elections in Darebin,
which is the
council area I live in, to stand 13 out of 15 ALP members or supporters in
our ward,
called Cazaly, and was it the duty of the right wing ALP state member
Michael Leighton
to send letters to everyone saying which of the ALP members was his
preferred
candidate?
Has the ALP blindly followed Howard on asylum seekers, on security
legislation -
including ASIO bills? Has the ALP blindly followed Howard on several other
issues like
the Free Trade Agreement, which will ultimately see Medicare and PBS going
the same
way as they have gone in the USA?
Has the ALP made enough of its differences over the war in Iraq and about
bringing the
troops home by Christmas?
And what about the gay marriage issue? What a pathetic "me too-ism" from
the ALP so
as not to offend senator Jacinta Collins and a few other religious bigots!
And what was
Collins doing at a gathering of the religious bigots in Canberra to lobby
the government
and opposition to change the Marriage Act to rule out any possibility of
gays marrying.
But then, homosexuals are another group who are not regarded by the ALP as
worthy of
support.
What about age pensioners and Aborigines in the recent election campaign?
No
mention at all!
Just to put you in the picture as far as Howard's gst is concerned - while
there is tax
relief offered at all times for various wage earners, age pensioners not
only pay tax all
the time by virtue of the gst, but as everything rises in price and we
have to pay for
them, so too do our gst payments!
These are a few of the issues which concern many people who may once have
voted
for the ALP but see it now as a party of no policies, no vision, and a
pale imitation of
what they already have in Howard.
There doesn't seem to be much hope for the immediate future.
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity Melbourne
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
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links to this post
Dear Julia,
It really is difficult to know where to start in responding to the
troubles in the ALP.
Mark Latham is part of the problem, and part of the solution.
The starting point for the ALP, one would have thought, would be to find
out from the
voters why they voted as they did, and what they think about the ALP and
its policies.
Where to start from where I see things: as having once thought, when a
member of the
ALP in the early 1980s, that there was somewhere to go, until Hawke and
Keating took
the party away from any of its roots and in the direction of economic
rationalism. Since
then it has looked more and more what people are calling it: The
Alternative Liberal
Party.
When John Howard took over Pauline Hanson's platform and drove the Libs
even more
to the right, the ALP dutifully followed.
The ALP it was who started the concentration camps in Australia in 1992,
and the ALP
has supported Howard ever since.
Whose idea was it to give preferences to every group other than the Greens
in Victoria
so that the last senate seat was given to Family First?
Whose idea was it in the recent local government elections in Darebin,
which is the
council area I live in, to stand 13 out of 15 ALP members or supporters in
our ward,
called Cazaly, and was it the duty of the right wing ALP state member
Michael Leighton
to send letters to everyone saying which of the ALP members was his
preferred
candidate?
Has the ALP blindly followed Howard on asylum seekers, on security
legislation -
including ASIO bills? Has the ALP blindly followed Howard on several other
issues like
the Free Trade Agreement, which will ultimately see Medicare and PBS going
the same
way as they have gone in the USA?
Has the ALP made enough of its differences over the war in Iraq and about
bringing the
troops home by Christmas?
And what about the gay marriage issue? What a pathetic "me too-ism" from
the ALP so
as not to offend senator Jacinta Collins and a few other religious bigots!
And what was
Collins doing at a gathering of the religious bigots in Canberra to lobby
the government
and opposition to change the Marriage Act to rule out any possibility of
gays marrying.
But then, homosexuals are another group who are not regarded by the ALP as
worthy of
support.
What about age pensioners and Aborigines in the recent election campaign?
No
mention at all!
Just to put you in the picture as far as Howard's gst is concerned - while
there is tax
relief offered at all times for various wage earners, age pensioners not
only pay tax all
the time by virtue of the gst, but as everything rises in price and we
have to pay for
them, so too do our gst payments!
These are a few of the issues which concern many people who may once have
voted
for the ALP but see it now as a party of no policies, no vision, and a
pale imitation of
what they already have in Howard.
There doesn't seem to be much hope for the immediate future.
Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity Melbourne
PO Box 1675
Preston South
Vic 3072
Phone:(03)9471 4878
email: josken@zipworld.com.au
web: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~josken
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Another outrageous effort by the Australian Labor Party. In another context it would be called branch stacking, but the ALP right - if anything in the ALP these days could be called anything else!!! - so stacked the candidates for council elections in the Darebin Council in Melbourne that all 9 wards elected right-wing ALP members to Darebin Council - and this is DEMOCRACY????
13 of the 15 candidates in Cazaly ward, which is the one where we live in Preston, were members or supporters of the ALP, so the Greens candidate and another unaligned candidate didn't have a hope because of preference arrangements by the other 13 candidates.
There ought to be laws preventing such occurrences, but unfortunately all the other parties probably do the same, where possible, with similar results.
I feel let down, and I am sure thousands of other voters feel the same. We all know that the voting is a sham of so-called democracy in Australia anyway, but this effort just makes it so much worse!
Today is also World AIDS Day, and the ABC seems to have ignored the event for the most part. At least SBS television had a short documentary on the effects of the disease in a particualr faimly, whose story they told.
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13 of the 15 candidates in Cazaly ward, which is the one where we live in Preston, were members or supporters of the ALP, so the Greens candidate and another unaligned candidate didn't have a hope because of preference arrangements by the other 13 candidates.
There ought to be laws preventing such occurrences, but unfortunately all the other parties probably do the same, where possible, with similar results.
I feel let down, and I am sure thousands of other voters feel the same. We all know that the voting is a sham of so-called democracy in Australia anyway, but this effort just makes it so much worse!
Today is also World AIDS Day, and the ABC seems to have ignored the event for the most part. At least SBS television had a short documentary on the effects of the disease in a particualr faimly, whose story they told.
