Heehee - Bette Midler at her recent concerts told a joke about Bush being scheduled for serious surgery next week, and needng our prayers.
Stunned hush from crowd.
THIS was Bette MIDLER speaking?
Then - she told us the nature of the surgery:
He was going in to have John Howard removed from up his bum.
Sadly, though, merry - we have been well capable of racist inhumanity from our inception as a nation - and without American help!
And the plot thickens! ...... 
Govt says 33 have been wrongly detained
May 2, 2005 - 10:25PM/the AGE
At least 33 Australians have been wrongfully detained by immigration in the past two years, the government revealed, as it continued its hunt for a deported Australian woman who is missing overseas... <cont.>
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Govt-says-33-have-been-wrongly-detaineds/2005/05/02/1114886315719.html
Today's AGE editorial:
Who can still call Australia home?
May 3, 2005
When a nation starts deporting its own citizens, something has gone seriously wrong with the system.
Australian citizenship brings with it rights and responsibilities. It also brings with it expectations, especially on the part of those who have renounced their allegiance to their homeland in order to acquire it. Australian citizenship has always implied certain guarantees. But there have been a number of cases lately that have challenged these assumptions. Not in the least are those of David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, whose rights as Australian citizens were surrendered without objection by the Howard Government to a powerful ally's military justice system under terms now deemed unconstitutional and inherently unfair by the United States Federal Court. At the other end of the spectrum is Pixie Skase. The wife of disgraced fugitive businessman Christopher Skase, she has been permitted to shed and reacquire Australian citizenship to suit her personal needs, as if it was no more than an item of fashion apparel.
But perhaps no case has so seriously cast doubt on the value of citizenship as that of the so-far unidentified Australian citizen who was deported to the country of her birth four years ago. The revelation that the woman was forcibly removed from Australia in 2001 should alarm all Australians. It comes amid confirmation that an unspecified number of Australian citizens have been wrongly detained by immigration authorities between July 2002 and February this year. Their plight has been highlighted by the case of Cornelia Rau, an Australian resident and German citizen who was discovered in Baxter Detention Centre in February. Ms Rau, who suffers from mental illness, was held in detention for 10 months.
The Government's response to date has been wholly inadequate. Acting Immigration Minister Peter McGauran has described the deportation as "utterly unacceptable". So the Government must now take proper steps to investigate just how it could have happened and how extensive the problems are within immigration detention. The latest cases have been referred to the inquiry headed by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer. That investigation has limitations: it is not being held in public, it does not have the power to summons witnesses or accord them the protection a judicial inquiry could. A royal commission might not be warranted, but it is time for some form of more open, public inquiry.
Last Update: Tuesday, May 3, 2005. 2:00pm (AEST)
Human rights watchdog demands immigration inquiry
The head of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) says he is appalled by the story of an Australian resident wrongly deported four years ago, and still missing overseas.
Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski says a much more powerful inquiry is needed.
"It needs to be open and it needs to have independent access to documents," he said.
"It needs to have the power to call witnesses to cross examine them, to subpoena evidence."
Acting Immigration Minister Peter McGauran has referred the case with several others to an private inquiry by the former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer, who is looking into the Cornelia Rau case.
Ms Rau was held in immigration detention for 10 months even though she was an Australian resident.
Immigration Department files have shown that other detainees have been released when it was found they were lawfully living in Australia.
Mr McGauran has said he is confident no one is still being wrongfully held.
Dr Ozdowski was appointed Human Rights Commissioner by the Howard Government in December 2000.
Thank you, MsOlga, for keeping us posted on these developments. Wasn't for this thread and your updates, we in the USA would be totally in the dark on this story. Don't think any of this has caught the stateside news media attention.
(Edited once for tons of terrible typos.)
Hmm - I so hope this stuff blows the whole detention system wide open!
Merry Andrew wrote:Thank you, MsOlga, for keeping us posted on these developments. Wasn't for this thread and your updates, we in the USA would be totally in the dark on this story. Don't think any of this has caught the stateside news media attention.[/i].)
I wish I could say it's a pleasure, Andrew, but it really pains me that the government of my country has allowed such shocking things to happen. Obviously life is very cheap!. And taking responsibility is not our government's forte. They just hope the story will go away quickly.
It doesn't surprise me that this story hasn't received wider exposure, outside of Australia. We are really very unimportant in the larger scheme of things, despite John Howard's fantasy of being a major mover & shaker with the REALLY IMPORTANT world leaders.
In this case I'd say he'd be mightily relieved that the story does appear to be contained to Oz. Want to know what truly depresses me? It's not even a terribly major story in Australia. Now how complacent is that? <sigh>
They keep being elected.
How many Australians really give a damn?
I know, Deb, I know .....
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Me, I've developed a bit of an obsession ... Wanting to know the full details of this woman ( I think?) who was deported 4 years ago & has apparently been misplaced "somwhere". I'll bet you any money that this person is not a waspish type with blonde hair & blue eyes. In fact, she could well be an Australian of Middle Eastern origin. And possibly her family is not sufficiently educated/assimilated/powerful to know what to do about the situation.
The only reason that the Cornelia Rau mess caused so much angst in the press & the community was that she was so obviously not a "foreign" person. Australians could identify with her & were outraged as a result. Also, her family members were sufficiently educated to know their rights & how to exercise them.
Yeppers.
Gocddamn dark under-belly, no?
Listened to PM on the way home from work.
THREE YEAR OLD GIRL HAS SPENT HER WHOLE DAMN LIFE IN DETENTION!!!
Her mother was trying to LEAVE oz, or some weird thing.
Strangely enough the psychiatrist attempting to help her is extremely concerned about her deteriorating mental health. Wants her to go to a play group once a week.
The Department is "considering it" - has been for a few weeks, I guess.
Man - she would be a danger to the community if she escaped, eh?
Also - the bastids spent $13,000 trying to prevent a severely depressed man from being sent to Glenside Psychiatric Hospital for treatment. EIGHT COURT CASES!!!!!
And - they lost.
dlowan wrote:THREE YEAR OLD GIRL HAS SPENT HER WHOLE DAMN LIFE IN DETENTION!!!
What the hell is it with this government? They appear to have something against human beings.
Detention ruling 'no surprise' to advocates
Refugee advocates say it is no surprise that a Federal Court judge has delivered a scathing ruling on the treatment of mentally-ill people held in immigration detention.
Justice Paul Finn found the Commonwealth Government breached its duty of care to two Baxter detainees, "M" and "S", seeking a transfer to a psychiatric hospital in Adelaide.
He said the Government failed to provide adequate mental health services in Baxter, failed to implement recommended treatment plans, and ignored medical reports.
During the case, a doctor made a successful detaining order for "S" under the state Mental Health Act.
Justice Finn said he found out shortly prior to today's judgment that "M" had been transferred to the facility as well.
He said if the Immigration Department had not transferred the two men he would have ordered it immediately, because the environment at Baxter is making their conditions worse.
The director of New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry, Dr Louise Newman, says it is a tragedy that inadequate mental health care is leading to cases such as that of Sydney woman Cornelia Rau going undetected and untreated.
"We're looking at a very high-risk population, people are desperate, people are making very serious suicide threats," Dr Newman said.
"I think what's concerning is that it's not being acknowledged by either the Australian Government and detention centre management."
The lawyer for the two detainees, Claire O'Connor, says the judgement recognises that the Government must provide immigration detainees with proper psychiatric treatment.
"They do not have to settle for a lesser standard of mental health care because they were in immigration detention," she said.
"You know that's a court saying treat them as human beings."
Opponents of the mandatory detention say the judgement expose taxpayers to huge damages claims from detainees.
Greg Barnes, speaking for the group Rights Australia, has welcomed the decision.
"In this case what Justice Finn said is that the Commonwealth did breach it and it will give great comfort to other detainees in a similar position to look at launching claims," he said.
In other developments:
The Federal Government says the family of an Australian citizen who was wrongly deported four years ago does not want details of the case made public. (Full Story)
A Federal Court judge has sharply criticised the mental health services for detainees at the Baxter detention centre, describing the treatment of one inmate as "culpable neglect". (Full Story)
The Immigration Department has been accused of endangering the mental and physical health of a toddler, who was born at Sydney's Villawood detention centre. (Full Story)
IS it all beginning to crack wide open?????? PLEEEEEZE?
Well, it's definitely being exposed for the stuff-up that it is, Deb. However at this stage there's not too much concern or outrage in the broad community, is there? Not much concern in the mainstream media, either, for that matter. If it wasn't for the ABC we'd know very little about what's actually happening. I guess it'll be more "newsworthy" when another Cornelia Rau-type story appears (or perhaps one about someone called Smith or Brown), or when someone actually dies ..... ?
BTW, I heard (on ABC radio) that the actual figure of those wrongly deported was closer to 100 than 33.
Pleased to see you, ehBeth! (Not a very unplifting thread, though, hey?
)
No.
Not uplifting, but very real.
Some parts of it remind me very much of Canada 20 years ago - others reflect Canada today.
Crap happening everywhere.
