'There can be no keener revelation of a 
society's soul than the way in which it 
treats its children' - Mandela

Dear listeners,

On 12 Feb 2016 Paradigm Shift played a mock interview with High Court judge Pat Keane. There were some technical legal errors in that parody of the High Court’s role in the state’s refusal to Close The Camps #LetThemStay. Here is my best attempt to analyse the decision and what it means for refugees in detention in Australia and those warehoused offshore.

Ian Curr
19 Feb 2016

The modern state of Australia includes parliament, executive (including the governor-general), public service (including doctors employed by state Health Departments), judiciary, and police/defence forces.

It is the interaction between these institutions that gives the state absolute power to warehouse refugees on Nauru or elsewhere.

The prevailing view in Australia (not the Left’s view) is that refugees who arrive by boat should not be given sanctuary in Australia. How that view is put into practice is a rather complex question.

Democratic?
Let’s make a big assumption for the moment that the Australian parliament is democratically elected and the constitution is valid (there are plenty who dispute both including most aboriginal people who never ceded the land that was stolen from them … 90 years of rulings by the high court based on legal fictions like Terra Nullius was a constitutional con foisted on both black and white Australians).

The parliament passed immigration laws to prevent refugees coming to Australia by boat but the parliament alone lacks the power to enforce these laws.

More than this, these laws are and remain a fiction throughout the process of warehousing refugees.

Under the current law, baby Asha currently held in the Lady Cilento Children’s hospital is deemed by the High Court to be “unlawful non-citizen”. But baby Asha will not be deported because police cannot storm into a hospital and take a baby away. The prevailing norms of society prevent this from happening, at least in the current situation where doctors and nurses remain opposed to it. This said, the baby can’t stay there forever either.

Recently the High Court interpreted laws enacted in the parliament resulting in the mistreatment and abuse of refugees on equatorial Nauru, a tiny spec in the Pacific Ocean far from privileged suburbs of Canberra. The response to that judgement from ordinary people has forced church and state leaders to offer sanctuary to the 267 refugees including their children who may be deported.

Reformist government overthrown
In 1973 the Whitlam government passed laws to ensure that race would be disregarded as a component for immigration. This followed widespread street marches and protests against apartheid (supported by the Queensland government) in 1971 during the Springbok Rugby tour of Australia.

In November 1975, there was a large rally in King George Square which was addressed by Gough Whitlam. For the second time in Australian history a governor, under the pretext of representing the monarchy and the interests of Australian people, dismissed an Australian government.

In Queensland Bjelke-Peterson had been making strong attacks on democratic rights. At the time Petersen ruled Queensland with 18% of the popular vote. Added to this, acting on information from corrupt special branch officer, Don Lane, Bjelke-Peterson refused to appoint Justice Douglas as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland merely because Douglas voted Labor in the 1977 elections. Bjelke-Peterson later appointed Don Lane Transport Minister.

High Court ruling on refugees
Recently the High Court ruled that the detention on Nauru of a Bangladeshi refugee (M68) and her baby daughter were lawful. The judges held on the basis of ‘agreed facts’ which were the basis for the case that the detention by Australia until the detention by Nauru commenced was lawful.

The refugee’s lawyers did not contend otherwise. Mr Justice Keane held that the plaintiff was detained on Nauru by Nauru. Some of the other judges disagreed.

Keane ruled that the Nauruan government has control over what happens to the Bangladeshi refugee, not the Australian government. The judges held that the High Court of Australia does not rule on the legality of laws of other sovereign nations.

The Bribe
The Australian government gave the President of Nauru $27,893,633 to detain refugees on regional processing visas. However, according to Justice Keane, if the matter is not resolved administratively within a reasonable period that detention will become unlawful.

The reason is that ‘unauthorised maritime arrivals’ being detained on Nauru is a temporary arrangement only. If M68 is deemed to be ‘a refugee’ and arrangements are not made to move her from the regional processing centre in Nauru within a reasonable time frame, her detention and funds given in exchange for her Nauruan visa will become unlawful.

Unfortunately former judge, Ron Merkel, acting for the Bangladeshi woman, did not ask the High Court to rule on whether her detention since she arrived on Christmas Island in 2014 was unreasonable.

For the purposes of immigration, Christmas Island is not part of Australia.

The Bangladeshi woman was then warehoused on Nauru with the aid of Transfield Services and Wilson Security. She became ill at 20 weeks into her pregnancy and was brought to Brisbane for treatment after which she was detained by the Australian government at the Pinkenba detention centre.

The High Court ruled that, although M68 was brought to Australia, she was still an “unlawful non-citizen” and that Australian authorities had the right to detain her.

The High Court ruled that “unauthorised maritime arrivals are aliens within the meaning of s 51(xix) of the Constitution”. Neither the plaintiff’s lawyers nor any other person has suggested that this is not a correct statement of the law.

As we know the regional processing of refugees on Nauru is punitive and racist.

However the High Court ruled that the immediate purpose of regional processing is the removal of ‘unauthorised maritime arrivals’ from Australia.

The plaintiff’s lawyers submitted that regional processing is punitive because it is designed to have a deterrent effect on the movement of asylum seekers as part of a submission that the power to punish can only be exercised by the Courts and cannot be exercised administratively and that legislation purporting to grant that power is therefore unconstitutional and invalid.

Based on ‘agreed facts’ put forward by M68’s lawyers, Mr Justice Keane held that the immediate purpose of the legislation is the facilitation of the removal of ‘unauthorised maritime’ arrivals from Australia.

Mandatory Detention
Australian governments since Keating was Prime Minister have accepted restrictions placed on the liberty of refugees. This is called mandatory detention.

The High Court ruled that the Commonwealth may cause a restriction on the liberty of an ‘alien’ in the country to which M68 was removed only if that restriction is reasonably capable of being seen as a necessary condition of the willingness and ability of Nauru to receive refugees for regional processing.
In other words, the commonwealth has power to do what it has done.
This does not mean that the judges or the court consider that it is right to do so, only that it is lawful.

The High Court also ruled that the plaintiff refugee must pay costs of her action to the defendants which include the Australian government, Transfield and to Wilson Security. The matter would not have gone to the High Court without a guarantee (by someone) that these monies would be paid should the case be lost.

The role of the High Court is not to usurp the function of the parliament and substitute its views on policy, contrary to the constitution; otherwise Australia would be governed, not by representatives elected every 3 or 6 years, but by appointees with tenure until they are 70.

However not all the Judges agreed in the case of the cruel detention of M68 . Gordon J. supported the case of the plaintiff so far as the plaintiff’s case as presented permitted, and held that the case should be remitted to the Federal Court for further findings of facts to enable the court to consider the orders sought.

Has the state done the right thing by refugees?

I think not.

Current appeals to Malcolm Turnbull by #Let Them Stay and others should take into account the power of state institutions denying refugees asylum in Australia.

Ian Curr
17 Feb 2016

Pardigm Shift 12 Feb 2016 4zzz fm 102.1 Fridays at Noon

Playlist
The Golden Gospel Singers – Oh Freedom
Geroge Mann – The Day That Rush Limbaugh Exploded

It was on the first of May
That I heard the union say
Eight hours of decent working
For eight hours of decent pay
And we won't forget the reasons
Why were marching here today
With the millions who sing a union song
       Stand Together by Bernard Carney

Paradigm Shift 5 Feb 2016 (4zzz fm 102.1 Fridays at Noon, website) George Mann (International folk singer, website), Pat Hovey (Combined Unions Choir, website), Mary (Combined Unions Choir) & Ian (LeftPress, website) discuss songs of the Labour Movement, their meaning and their part in organising. This show was held in the lead up to the Foco Nuevo Concert Celebrating the Labour Movement in Song hosted by Brisbane band Jumping Fences, website. Foco Nuevo , website,is held on the first Friday of every month at the Kurilpa Hall in West End (next to the library in Boundary Street).

Playlist
George Mann – A Folksinger in America
Combined Unions Choir – Accidental Murder
Combined Unions Choir – This Darkened Room
Utah Phillips – Hallelujah I’m a Bum

Ian Curr
Feb 2016

[Ian and Andy on Paradigm Shift 29 Jan 2016 4zzz fm 102.1 Fridays at Noon]

A round up of stories from the summer of 2016

1. Grandmothers Against Removals Sydney
2.  Tate Maen Kiribati
3. Ode to Dundalee
4.  Greg Rolles SAS Report on Swan Island Victoria
5. Use of Bail for Political Reasons
6. George Mann Union Maid @ Illawarra Folk Club

Headline story
Grandmothers Against Removals Sydney [GMAR] and supporters will protest outside Family and Community Services [FACS] in Strawberry Hills at 12.30pm today to demand the immediate return of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from a Queensland family and placed in out-of-home care in Sydney.

Kukulangi Grandmother and founder of Brisbane Sovereign Grannies Group, Aunty Karen Fusi, will address the protest to demand a meeting with FACS for the return of her grandchildren. She says she was not even notified when her grandchildren were removed.

Currently, there are more than 15,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in “out-of-home care” on any given night – the highest number of children forcibly removed in Australian history.

“FACS has a duty of care to my grandchildren to notify me, as their grandmother, of any concerns for their wellbeing. FACS did not engage with me or my family at all, they just took the babies”, said Aunty Karen Fusi.

She continued, “I am a concerned grandmother who has flown from Queensland to Sydney to support my daughter to make sure her children are returned to Queensland and their family and community. I am very afraid that in Sydney they will lose their Aboriginal identity”.

This protest forms part of a growing national movement against the ongoing Stolen Generations and is calling for a national restoration program to return stolen children to their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.

Protest organiser and member of GMAR Sydney, Michelle Hoogesteger, says the grass roots movement is gaining momentum as affected families and communities across Australia are increasingly confident to speak out.

“Only a few days ago on Invasion Day (aka Australia Day) thousands of Aboriginal families and supporters protested across the country against the ongoing systematic racism of government policies and institutions. The contemporary Stolen Generations is the epitome of this racism”, she said.

“Welfare is being used as a weapon against Aboriginal people instead of providing essential support services. GMAR has called a national protest on 11 February outside Federal Parliament House in Canberra to mark the anniversary of the Apology. Families will not stop until they are heard!”, she concluded.

MEDIA CONTACT: Michelle Hoogesteger : 0405 709 881 – Danny TeeJay Johnson Tara Callinan Padraic Gibson Albert Hartnett Jennifer Swan Debra Swan Vanessa Culbong Vivian Malo Robert Thorpe Bogaine Spearim Jade Maree Kristy Hyphen Lee Juanita Sherwood Barbara McGrady Barbara Shaw Mitch Fullstop Gwenda Stanley

Paradigm Shift, 4zzz fm 102.1, Fridays at Noon, 15 January 2016

1. Rebranding West End
2. BHP Mining Disaster in Brazil
3. Free Mojan
4. West Papua Independence
5. Dundalee Day / Free Denzel

Last week we heard a lot of songs so this week we are going to hear words.

Also, it was good to tune in from afar to hear Andy with some old hands from Paradigm Shift’s early days, Eliza and Cybele. Cybele would have to be 4ZZZ youngest announcer starting out before she was one year old (admittedly with some fairly limited insights into what is happening in the world, don’t we all) and now nearly 5. We hope that Eliza and Cybele will return one day.

Over the summer on Paradigm Shift, Andy and I have been doing some interviews which we thought we would play today. They do not fit any theme as we normally do but give perspective on current events that we think are important. They include:

Rebranding West End
A recent announcement of a plan to “re-brand” West End’s Boundary St was met with surprise and controversy – surprise because despite claims of “extensive consultation” few residents or businesses in West End had heard anything about it, and controversy because of the involvement in the plan of development company, Payce.

Andy  spoke to Erin Evans from the West End Community Association and Leo Tsimpkas from the West End Traders Association about the re-branding.

Comment: So there you have it … the argument comes down to whether to support a big supermarket in West End, at least that is what the real estate agent says. One of the best aspects of some inner city surburbs in Melbourne is the absence of big shopping centres in favour of what they call strip shopping. You can walk, cycle or drive along and go to whatever shops you need. You are not contained indoors in an air-conditioned controlled selling space run by a huge multinational corporation. Places you can only get to by car.

Brisbane lacks the alternative to this, strip shopping, except in places like West End. In my suburb, developers are putting up a huge new residential complexes to block the sky. Coles and Woolworths supermarkets are already in place and no doubt will grow when people move in. People say small business in Coorparoo is dead but what it be like when the multinationals take over? We don’t even have a community voice like West End Community Association.

Song – View from a Wooden Chair by Jumping Fences

BHP Mining Disaster in Brazil
Our last item dealt with the crisis for small business in West End we go now to the crisis in big business. Paradigm Shift reporter, Hectoria, spoke with the chairman of the board of BHP Billiton, Jac Nasser, about Brazil’s biggest environmental mining disaster.

Song – Corcovado (Quiet Night, Silent Stars) Joachim Gilberto, Astrud

Free Mojan
In August 2015, Yeronga State High School student and Iranian asylum seeker Mojgan Shamsalipoor was moved to Darwin’s Wickham Point detention centre. The move came without warning and shocked her teachers, fellow students, and her Brisbane based husband.

The Queensland Teachers Union and especially Mojgan’s teachers at Yeronga State High have been leading the campaign to have her brought back. On Tuesday, teachers at Yeronga went on strike in an attempt to pressure the government into action for Mojgan and for all asylum seeker children.

Andy  was at Yeronga State High School.

Comment: Currently there are four refugee women in Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation, three Somali and one Iranian – all who have been assaulted, raped or abused in some way in detention on Nauru. The Federal Government has not lived up to its duty of care to those women.

Article 14 – Tony Mockeridge

West Papua Independence
Each year on December 1st, the people of West Papua and their supporters around the world mark Papuan independence day.

On the 1st of December 1961, West Papua announced its independence from the Netherlands. Within two years though it had been incorporated into the still new nation of Indonesia.

The date is a day of protest for Papuan people, who demand a referendum on independence.

Andy spoke to some of the different voices present at the Brisbane demonstration.

Dundalee Day / Free Denzel
Dundalee Day is a commemoration that is held every year in Post Office Square by Brisbane’s Aboriginal community on the 5^th January. I was there and heard this moving plea by Morris Mikelo speaking up for his 11 year old son, Denzel who was bashed in Wacol Detention Centre two days before Christmas. In the lead-up to Morris’s speech you can hear Morris’s grandmother talking with an aboriginal film crew in Musgrave Park prior to the 1982 Commonwealth Games Land Rights protests. Jenny Mickelo is supported by her friend Mona Hart.

Lets listen to what they have to say:

Comment: I have just heard this morning that Denzel has been placed back in detention. 11 year old children should not be placed in detention, they need a safe place to go and preferably with their aboriginal family.

Song
A Novidade – Gilberto Gil – Acoustic (1994).

Gilberto Gil after many years of struggle against military dictatorship in Brazil end up as Minister for Culture in the left wing Lulla government. Here is his song A Novidade

[Andy, Eliza, Cybele & Beau on Paradigm Shift (4zzz fm 102.1 Fridays at noon) on 8 Jan 2016 as Andy plays a selection of top political songs of 2015]

Kendrick Lamar – Alright
Provocalz, Lady Lash, Djarmbi Supreme, Task, GekkZ, Mad Madam, Mr Krow, and Felon – Stand proud
Tu P – Border force (f)act(s)
M.I.A. – Borders
Until Abbott Gets Gone – Three word slogan (band formed to help bring down tony abbott)
The Billsharks – Down with the TPP (not much resistance here in Australia to the Trans Pacific Partnership [TPP] – a free trade agreement driven by the US to flood the pacific with an oversupply of goods. Not even sure the US congress has committed itself to this agreement.)
Downtown Boys – Wave of history (a request from Dave Eden)
Momma Swift – Fascist
Killasoundyard – No war
Anohni – 4 degrees
The Honey Stompers – Hole in the ground
Bliss – Myanmar politics
Jared Paul – $8 smoothie
The Billsharks – Down with the TPP
Jared Paul – $8 smoothie (about gentrification in our suburbs driving out poor people)

Paradigm Shift 4ZZZ fm 102.1  at noon, 18 December 2015.

Andy and Ian present a show about the Brazilian dam disaster caused by BHP Billiton and Samarco. Ian talks with Weliton Menário, a biologist in a nearby state, Espírito Santo, that is affected by the disaster. Hectoria interviews Jac Nasser, the chairman of the board of BHP Billiton. Thanks to Eliza for setting up interview with Weliton Menário.

Track 1 – What happened when the dam walls burst. Mariana is the most affected town. People praying in the square. Whole population sending water and food.  People can’t grow their own food, farming impossible.

Track 2 – Environmental Crisis. ‘Ark of Noah’ operation where local people and researchers collect native species fish and transport them to fresh water for breeding and return to the Rio Doce when it recovers. People are poor and their livelihood wiped out. No alert given for the catastrophe. Samarco negligent. Fish can’t breathe.

Track 3 – Effect on Indigenous People. Brazil is a wealthy country. People can’t produce food now making handicrafts. Govt fined Samarco. Economic Crisis in Brazil. No really rich people in the small cities. Groups of indigenous people protested against the iron ore mine. Ignored. Poverty in Brazil much worse than in Australia.

Track 4 – The power of multinational company like BHP. Hard to change things through political process because you have to be very rich to win power. Mariana destroyed. People think you can’t punish Samarco too much because of dependency on the miner for income.

Track 5 – What can people in Australia do? Demonstrate that this is the biggest environmental disaster in Brazil’s hisotry. No need for money and supplies. Samarco has to help. Generally we need change. Money is not the main thing. Brazilian people are more than football (soccer).

Playlist
Joao Gilberto – Corcovado
Glitter Rats – Weevils in the flour
Zelia Barbosa – Cancao da terra
Pedro Munhoz – Procissao dos retirantes

Reference

Jac Nasser, chairman BHP Billiton, on the Samarco mining disaster in Brazil

Paradigm Shift 4ZZZ fm 102.1 on Friday 27 Nov 2015

On the eve of Turnstyle’s yearly festival, Andy interviews people from radical social centres around Australia: Horn of Plenty (Melb), Hot Shot (Melb), Black Robe (Syd), The Swamp (Newcastle)

Playlist

Ambitious Lovers – Winter got warmer

Tu P – March is long

Carrie and the Cut Snakes – Can’t call you

Mouldy Lovers – Paint bomb grenades

[Paradigm Shift 4zzz fm 102.1 Friday 13 Nov 2015]  Andy and Ian talk about civil disobedience from a theoretical and a practical perspective. Andy quotes from his recently produced zine called: ‘God’s law, or Man’s?‘ (included below). The zine looks at endorsement and support for civil disobedience in the Bible.

At the end of the show (00:45 – 01:00) there is a toolkit for survival for popular resistance where Andy and Ian talk about two recent civil disobedience actions in Brisbane.

Playlist
Provocalz feat. Darah and Boe Spearim – Stand strong
Paul Spencer – Make some music
Mel Who – Newtown jail
The Lurkers – Who’s got a padlock and chain?
Spoonboy – My generation
Kendrick Lamar – Alright