Don't come to Australia and preach peace

Perfect timing. The nation is in a collective major depressive state due to the loss of the ashes so democracy going down the toilet is no big deal.

[B]Activist accused of inciting violence[/B]

John Kerin and Cameron Stewart
14sep05

ASIO wants to deport US peace campaigner Scott Parkin over concerns that his training of grassroots activists incites violence in political protests.

The Howard Government is understood to be seeking to put the American on an international travel alert list, which would restrict his future travel not only to Australia but also to other destinations.
Although Justice Minister Chris Ellison stopped short of providing a reason for Mr Parkin's adverse security assessment, he told parliament yesterday that ASIO's role included "protecting the Australian community from forms of politically motivated violence (and) of course that includes violent protest activity".

A spokesman for Labor leader Kim Beazley said last night the Opposition would not oppose Mr Parkin's deportation, following a briefing by ASIO.

Senator Ellison said Mr Parkin's visa had been revoked because of his behaviour in Australia and not for anything he had done in the US.

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the decision was based on matters relating to "politically motivated violence".

"ASIO is responsible for protecting the Australian community from all forms of politically motivated violence, including violent protest activity, and they've made an assessment in relation to those matters," he said, dismissing suggestions Canberra had been influenced by any foreign government.

Greens senator Bob Brown claimed Mr Parkin had been targeted because of his anti-Iraq war campaign against the US company Halliburton, which is close to the Bush administration.

Mr Parkin's lawyers and peace activists claim he supports only non-violent protest and had been arrested only once for a minor misdemeanour while staging a protest against oil giant ExxonMobil dressed in a tiger suit.

Senator Ellison told parliament ASIO had not opposed Mr Parkin's initial visa application to come to the country in June, but "his intentions have changed while he has been in Australia".

The Australian understands Mr Parkin came to Australia on an e-tourist holiday visa.

He was detained in Melbourne on Saturday by Australian Federal Police. An activist with the Houston-based Global Awareness Collective, Mr Parkin took part in protests against the Forbes conference of chief executives in Sydney a fortnight ago. He was detained ahead of a workshop he planned to give in Melbourne on the emerging trends in grassroots direct-action campaigns.

Mr Parkin is likely to be deported to the US tomorrow, according to one of his lawyers, Marika Dias.

She said the Immigration Department had initially tried to pressure him to withdraw his appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal to review the decision cancelling his visa.

Authorities at the Melbourne Custody Centre, where Mr Parkin was being detained, were instructed not to allow the media to talk to him yesterday.

Mr Parkin's lawyers were exploring legal options to force the Government to disclose in greater detail exactly why he was considered a security risk.

Ms Dias said the law offered insufficient distinction between serious and non-serious threats to national security.

"What was deeply concerning were that there was no scope for distinguishing between low-level agitation that occurs in the course of lawful political dissent and serious acts of violence."

Barrister Julian Burnside QC, who is also advising Mr Parkin, said: "The Government should not be able to interfere with people's liberties without being held to account."

Perfect timing. The nation is in a collective major depressive state due to the loss of the ashes so democracy going down the toilet is no big deal.

... But we must stay away from Melbourne. They only have St Kilda in the running so many of them will be sentient as footy is basically over for Melbourne folks.

You will no doubt know much more about this aspect of the law, gf.

And I'm not even sure that habeus corpus applies