A Wrong, Righted.

Just an update on the story concerning the young aborigine boy mentioned in the previous post.   It seems that good sense has prevailed.   The West Australian Police Commissioner, Karl O'Callaghan stepped in and requested the charges be dropped.   The young lad was awarded $1000.00 costs.

Mr O'Callaghan stated that though the charges were "technically correct",  the matter should have been handled by the juvenile justice team.

The Northam Police in defending themselves claimed the boy had come to their notice on several occasions without being charged.

WA Aboriginal Legal Service chief lawyer Peter Collins, stated that the charges were scandalous and that the charges would not have been brought had the boy come from a middle class non-aborigine family.

I am pleased that the charges were dropped,   however I think that by awarding costs the wrong message was sent.   The outcome would have been totally acceptable have the charges been dropped and left at that.

Is Australia a Racist Country?

I recently came across this news item that I found laughable.   It seems a 12 year old indigenous boy has been arrested from his school and charged with receiving a stolen seventy cent Freddo Frog.   According to police,&nbap the lad had been spoken to on previous occasions but had no previous criminal convictions.   As absurd as this story appears,  the underlying connotations give a clue as to the extent that racism exists in this country today.   In order to set the scene more fully I will give a very brief history of Britain's occupation of the land that was to become Australia.

The first fleet arrived at Botany Bay on the 26th January 1788.  The settlement that eventually grew to become the modern day city we call Sydney was initially a penal colony.   A dropping off point for Britain's "undesirables".   In order for Britain to occupy the land Australia was described to Europe as beingTerra Nullis (A land belonging to no one),  even though at the time the land was populated by an estimated 300,000 indigenous peoples,  who had occupied it for 30,000 years.   Although there was no immediate problems between the old and new occupiers,  it wasn't too long before conflict broke out (for a documented time line check out this site).

Ever since those early encounters there has been an underlying current of discontent between the two peoples.   It is not surprising really considering the interaction between the two has been one of master and slave rather than that of equals.   White Europeans have always considered themselves the superior race in this country to the extent that there was a "White Australia" policy through to 1973.   Although officially that has changed,  the minds of a large minority of the population has not.   Non-white migrants in Australia have generally been treated with suspicion and some face a difficult time settling.   Maybe because of this,  they tend to live in close proximity to others from a similar cultural background.   This is seen by some as being stand-offish and is often used to point out their unwillingness to "integrate".   The irony of this is that European emigrants and indeed Australians themselves unconsciously do the very same thing.   You will find pockets of Greek, Italian, English,  to name a few,  communities throughout the length and breadth of Australia.   Italian and Greek migrants,  in particular,  most likely appreciate the opening up of Australia to people of Asian descent,  as prior to 1973 they were the recipients of much discrimination themselves and even today get their fair share.   Since September 11 2001,  the Asian community have gained some relief;  the new target being people from Arabic speaking countries.

Of course it matters little to Australian aboriginals,  who remain a target of discrimination not only from Australians but also from the very same migrants that are being discriminated against.   A culture of racial discrimination has developed from the early convict penal days through to modern day Australia.   Had the young boy mentioned at the top of the post been a white Australian there would have been no arrest, no charges and no story.

A short list of sites highlighting some of the less extreme right wing groups posing as concerned Australians with their country at heart.   The more extreme groups,   are too sickening to list here.   If they interest you I suggest you seek them out yourself,  I have no intentions of sending readers their way.
Australian News Commentary
One Nation
Australia First
National Front Australia
This is a blog that hides under the umbrella of a bonafide Australian newspaper.
Sydney Morning Herald

Blood Lust

What is it with people that they need to vent their anger,  or blood lust or whatever label you want to give it,   out on anything that is vulnerable and defenseless.   Is it something hidden deep in our primordial brain that creates a need to blood let,  that most of us are able to keep under control.   Perhaps there was a full moon a couple of nights back,  I'll need to check.   However I try to rationalise it,  it makes no sense to me.   What am I talking about?   Another senseless act of violence directed at a group of animals carried out by either a single moron or a group of them.  

Some years back when this sort of thing first raised it's head,  we would have some professor type with a psychology degree making noises about the Zone of proximal development (or ZNP as any good psychology student would know it) or nature/nurture or some other theory put forward by someone with an almost unpronounceable (to the western tongue) surname.   These mutterings seemed to make some sense back then,  especially when the noises being made seemed to be offering solutions.   Yet here we are in the twenty-first century and what have we got to show for it.   Child rights! (Rightly or wrongly I am making an assumption that it is kids that are committing these despicable acts)

I don't want to hit on child rights again,  I let my feelings on that matter be known a couple of blogs back.   We need to find a solution to this problem now.   I am obviously concerned about the animals that are suffering because of our inability to control these monsters that are committing the crime.   My concern does not end there however,  what worries me is what is the next step for these kids. &nbp When the killing of animals no longer satisfies their needs,  will the next step be the killing of the human animal.   Maybe someone will be make a name for him/herself by developing a theory that rationalises and compartmentises this sort of behaviour then we can spend the next fourty years blaming ourselves for the way our kids turned out, just as we have been told to blame our parents for our own behaviour.

Asianising Australia

The Taliban have recently put to white Australia what in effect amounts to an ultimatum: either assimilate into Asia or get out.   Of course the wording was not quite as straight forward as that but at the same time they were not what you may call diplomatic either.nbsp  Mustafa Hamid's exact words were "It can either return to its motherland in Europe or reconcile with its Asian surroundings and assimilate into it as a wealthy and active member."   The irony of this is that Australian's, in general, tend to feel that when Asian peoples come to this country, even though we take great pains in telling the world how multicultural we are,  should assimilate with Australia.

If you remove the rhetoric from Hamid's article,  there is some truth in what he says.   Australia is geographically closer to Asia than to Europe, there is no argument there.   Culturally we are predominately European and our history links us to Europe.   But times,  and the world,  have changed since Captain Cook's fleet landed here some two hundred years ago.   Europe is trying to comes to terms with it's own unification and has little time for this,  not insignificant,  island at the bottom of the world.   We have,  in modern times,  tried desperately to ingratiate ourselves to the US by taking part in all their wars no matter how immoral some of those wars have been.   But even the world's sole remaining superpower has enough problems of her own to be overly concerned about what is happening down here.   Most American's have no idea where Australia is and a former President couldn't even get our Prime Minister's name right.  

The only direction Australia has to go is towards Asia.   It is true that in recent times some effort has been made to improve our relationship with Asia.   There is a free trade agreement in place with Malaysia,  Singapore and Thailand and our dialogue with ASEAN has improved to the extent that earlier this year Australia completed the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).  So the signs are there albeit only economic gains.


I don't expect that advances in defense pacts will come quickly or easily,  yet this is an avenue Australia should be pursuing with more zeal.   There is something in the pipeline involving Japan but it does not appear to be a full defense pact,  more a defense supply agreement.   Australia has a defense pact with the US which does us no favours in Asia.   Some parts of Asia resent Australia's relationship with the US and see Australia as being America's guard dog in the region.   It would be crazy for us to break our ties with the US at this point in time but we should be looking to more actively pursue similar pacts with countries in our region in order to eventually do so.

Australia's future needs to be tied to Asia's future.   In order to take advantage of the promise that Asia's future holds we need to be making the right decisions now.

Child Murderes

A quick aside from yesterday's post.   I found this news report to be in bad taste. Well not the report itself but the subject matter.   It seems that the Sydney Theatre Company is staging a play regarding the Casey Anthoney case.   You would think they would have the decency to hold off until after the trial.

Whilst combing the Internet looking for information about the Anthony case,  I was shocked by the number of child murders that occur throughout the world.   There are two cases currently in Australia.   A Sydney woman was found guilty of poisoning and smothering her four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter and was given a 4 year prison term.   A 25 year old Adelaide woman is being detained following the death of her two-year-old son.    It is bad enough when a stranger murders a child but I just cannot wrap my head around a parent that would take the life of their own son or daughter.  

Now I have no training in law but I thought that if you were deemed unfit to stand trial on psychological grounds then you could not be tried.   My thinking is this,  the only way I can imagine anyone taking a child's life (especially the parent) is if the life taker is mentally ill.   If they are mentally ill,   they should not be tried.   Obviously my logic is flawed because my first premise is incorrect.   Many killers have taken a child's life with as much indifference as they may kill a chicken for the Sunday roast.   Thankfully many of these monsters have been put away or paid the ultimate penalty for their crimes (capital punishment requires a post on its own which I may look at in the future).

There was one case that I came across that disturbed me far to much for me to continue reading.   The torture and eventual death of Sylvia Likens back in the sixties was a tale of unsurpassed horror. I have no intentions of recounting any of the gruesome details here.nbspnbsp If you feel you have the stomach for it I have a link to the site here.

The Sad Tale of Caylee Anthony

Little Caylee Anthony never had a chance to experience the joys of life,  her life was taken from her in the northern summer of 2008,  in Orlando,  Florida,  USA  (thanks to the anonymous reader for correcting me).   She was just two years old.  The child's mother Casey Anthony,  a single mum,  has been arrested and charged with Caylee's murder.   Whether mum is guilty or not we will have to wait to find out.   Her trial begins in January 2010.

Caylee never knew her father.   He,  most likely, never even knew of her existence.   According to friends of Casey Anthony,  the child was the result of a one night stand and the father died in a car crash shortly after Caylee's birth.

What is known of Caylee's death?   Not very much at all.   Only the skeletal remains of the toddler were found and her death was listed as "homicide by undetermined means."   There seems little doubt she was murdered as it is well documented that the body was discovered with duct tape wrapped around the mouth and head.

No evidence has turned up that directly links Casey with the child's murder.    There are,  however,  some questions she will need to satisfactorily answer if she is to convince a jury that she is innocent.   Why was the child's disappearance not reported to the police until around a month after she went missing?   Why has she continually lied in her police interviews?   Why was she out partying the whole time her daughter was missing?   The answers to these questions may give an insight into Casey's personality and state of mind but they do not necessarily prove her guilt or innocence.   However,  it would appear that this makes up the bulk of the prosecutors case.   And seems to be the reason why many members of the public see her as guilty.

The only thing I know with any degree of certainty is that Caylee's life ended far too soon.   I always find it difficult to imagine a mother taking the life of her own child.   It has happened in the past and will most likely happen again but that does not make it any easier to accept.   I want to believe that Casey Anthony is innocent but something in the back of my mind is telling me otherwise.

If you haven't seen this CBS/48 Hours interview by Maggie Rodriguez,  I suggest you have a look.   You won't find anything new in it.   What you may get out of it is a better understanding of how this child's death has affected those closely related to her.   For those of you who like to sift through evidence you may want to visit this site where you will find a summary of the numerous witnesses involved in the case.

As I stated earlier,  there is something in the back of my mind that I am not comfortable with.   Having said that,  I still intend to keep an open mind in regards to this case.

Tamils and the Ocean Viking

What is wrong with this Australian labour government? More than three hundred Tamil people have risked their life trying to reach our shores and this government are refusing them entry. I thought that when the Howard government was kicked out of office some compassion would return to Australian politics, I was obviously wrong. Let me say straight up, I am not political. I have withheld my right to vote since Whitlam was booted out of office way back in 1975 and have virtually ignored politics ever since. But when a party so lacking in compassion as the Liberal (a misnomer if ever there was one) Party of John Howard rules over the land for as long as they did, you cannot help but take notice. Of course I still lean (maybe bend) to the left in my thinking, that will never change. I am going off topic here again. You'll have to forgive me, It's an age thing that is getting worse by the year. There is an argument that goes something like, these people pay "people smugglers" to bring them here. So what? My folks paid ten pounds each to come here (nothing for me) and were ferried here on a luxury liner. I wonder if we (encompassing the European emigrant in general) would have risked everything to come here on a leaky boat.

Why have our policies towards "boat people" not changed with a change of government; especially since the labour party, when in opposition, called for a more compassionate approach themselves. Is there a fear of being overrun by "boat people" if we allow these people to land on our shores? Would the view of this government be any different if these people trying to come here were not Asian?
There is a very good article in The Canberra Times that address these issues very nicely. Here is a quote from the article

The sea journey to Christmas island is indeed hazardous, and the fact that asylum-seekers continue to risk it suggests that they have very good reasons for wanting to leave their country of origin in the first place; something not all Australians are willing to recognise. It's regrettable that some politicians so easily lose sight of the human dimensions of the asylum-seeker issue as they seek to curry favour with xenophobic voters or to uphold dubious legacies.

These people seem to be genuine asylum-seekers. Fools, like West Australia's own Wilson Tuckey, make the claim that Tamil "terrorists" are among the common people on the boats. That maybe so, I don't know. But today's terrorists are tomorrow's "freedom fighters" depending which side our government (nearer the truth, the US government) is backing at the time, so let's not get over concerned about that. Politicians use these scare tactics all of the time. Why do they use them? Because journalists report their every word as the truth without checking for accuracy and of course the general public believe it. And they only need the public to believe them for a short while. For some reason our memory, when it comes to the utterings of pollies, is quite short lived. However I am immune to them , my yardstick for pollies telling the truth, if his mouth is open, he's lying.

Anyway, in my view these Tamil asylum seekers should be allowed into the country. I'll be buggered, a short while ago, it seems a pollie has just agreed with me. The Premier of West Australia announced that these people are our responsibility and we should allow them onto our shores in order to process them. All I can say to that is, and about time too.