HOW MUCH LONGER MUST WE PUT UP WITH THE HYPOCRISY OF THE ALP AND COALITION ABOUT DONATIONS???

Sam Dastyiari has been hounded out of parliament by both major parties over his involvement with Chinese business people.

Now try to find out how much both  major political parties have been involved with taking bribes from the main zionist group in Australia making sure that support for Israel will be assured by the Australian federal government in perpetuity.

Who enjoys trips to Israel sponsored by this group AIJAC? Who pays and what politicians take advantage of this offer? Find out whether Julie Bishop, Bill Shorten and many others have had fabulous trips to the zionist apartheid "homeland".

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In the following article I have put references to items relating to Israel, Jewish organisations or zionists in italics - red-jos

Sydney Morning Herald article 28 March 2009

List of overseas trips and hospitality accepted by Federal MPs

Trips between November 2007 and March 2009

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TONY ABBOTT, LIB, NSW

July 2008: Travel to Israel for six days as guest of Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

September 2008: Travel with wife to Hawaii as guests of the Australia-America Leadership Dialogue to attend conference.

  

KEVIN ANDREWS, LIB, VIC

 

2008: Accommodation provided by European Ideas Network to attend annual conference. Destination not disclosed.
2008: Participated in international round table conference at Heritage Foundation in Washington DC. Accommodation provided by Heritage Foundation.

BOB BALDWIN, LIB, NSW

Jan 27- Feb 1, 2008: visited Beijing and Nanchang, China, as guest of AFFO Pty Ltd.
Feb 26-Mar 9, 2009: travel to beijing and Shanghai as guest of Australia International Trade Association.

ARCH BEVIS, ALP, QLD

July 1-4, 2008: Centre for Democratic Institutions paid for airfares and accommodation to attend meetings in Jakarta with Commission One of the Indonesian Parliament.
Sept 21-24, 2008: Australia-American Dialogue provided return airfare to Hawaii and 4 days accommodation for conference.
JULIE BISHOP, LIB, WA

Aug 19-23, 2008: Travel, accommodation, hospitality and tickets to Beijing Olympics provided by Channel Seven.

NICK CHAMPION, ALP, SA

2008: overseas travel to China and accommodation with Australian Political Exchange Council.

JASON CLARE, ALP, NSW

Sept 27-Oct 3, 2008: Travel to Japan as guest of Japanese Government.
Oct 29- Nov 6, 2008: Travel to China paid for by China-Australia Friendship Group of the National People's Congress.
Dec 13-20, 2008: Travel to Israel and accommodation as guest of Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

PETER COSTELLO, LIB, VIC

June 2008: Australian American Leadership Dialogue paid for travel with wife to Washington.
Sept 2008: travel to United States and several days accommodation courtesy of the University of Virginia.

MICHAEL DANBY, ALP, VIC

2008: business class return fare to London and three nights accommodation for Human Rights North Korea conference.
2008: return business class flight Bangkok to Tel Aviv, five nights accommodation sponsored by Australia Israel Cultural Exchange.
2008: one-way business class flight Melbourne to Tokyo, two nights accommodation, sponsored by 2008 International Conference on Global Support for Democratization in China and Asia.

ALEXANDER DOWNER, LIB, SA

Mar 20-25, 2008: Travel to Taiwan to lead International Democratic Union election observers delegation.
April 6-16, 2008: Travel with wife to London paid for by Blue Oar Resources to speak at conference.
April 27-May 6, 2008: Travel to USA paid for by American Jewish Committee to receive award for diplomatic excellence.
June 23-July 2, 2008: Travel to US and UK for Australia American Leadership Dialogue and Haklayt and Co Ltd.
June 21-23, 2008: Travel to Auckland, NZ, to attend Israel Chamber of Commerce gala dinner as guest speaker. Paid for by Zionist Federation of NZ in conjunction with NZ Israel Trade Association.

PETER DUTTON, LIB, QLD

July 10-17, 2008: Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council trip to Israel, business airfares and accommodation.

JENNIE GEORGE, ALP, NSW

Oct 29-Nov 6, 2008: Travel to China as guest China-Australia Friendship Group of the National Peoples Congress.

SHARON GRIERSON, ALP, NSW

Mar 19-27, 2008: Business class travel, hospitality and accommodation from Sydney to Vientiane, Laos, provide by World Bank Institute. Estimated value $8000.
JOE HOCKEY, LIB, NSW

2008: Return air tickets and accommodation to Cebu, Philippines from United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

KAY HULL, NAT, NSW

Feb 29-Mar 2, 2008: Economy-class travel to Taipei, Taiwan, to attend hearing on Asia's Future in a Hotter World at inter-parliamentary hearing on climate, energy and forests in Asia. Accommodation and travel paid for by the E Parliament.
May 17-22, 2008: Travel, accommodation and meals to Taiwan paid for by Taiwan Government.

GREG HUNT, LIB, VIC

2008: Return economy fare to NZ (cost $724) plus 2 nights accommodation ($400) paid for by Pure Fresh, NZ to address NZ Nationals Conference.

STEVE IRONS, LIB, WA

Oct 29-Nov 6, 2008: trip to China paid for by China Australia Friendship Group of the National People's Congress. host paid for internal airfares, meals, accommodation.

MICHAEL JOHNSON, LIB, QLD
 
Dec 2000: Part of Jetstar return flight to Bali paid for by Australia China Development Association and part paid for by World Future Council. Three nights accommodation in Bali at Alilia Hotel paid for by Australia China Development Council.
Feb 28-Mar 3, 2008: Flights and Accommodation for trip to Phuket, Thailand, to attend Asia Society's Young Leaders Conference. $US1200 paid for by Asia Society, rest paid for by the Australia-China Development Association.
Feb 23-27, 2008: Flights and accommodation to India paid for by Australia-China Development Association.
Mar 4-10, 2008: Flights and 4 nights accommodation to USA for Johnson, wife and son paid for by Mineralogy.
April 9-16, 2008: airfares and accommodation to attend Boao Forum for Asia, paid for by Boao Forum for Asia.
May 17, 2008: Airfare Sydney to Egypt paid for by Australia-China Development Association.
June 26-July 8, 2008: Return airfares Brisbane to Vienna and 5 nights accommodation paid for by World Justice Program secretariat.
June 27-30, 2008: Return airfares Singapore to Mongolia and 3 nights accommodation paid for by Petro Matad Group and Major Drilling Group International.
July 11-17, 2008: Return airfares Brisbane to Beijing, paid for by Kumar Group of companies, 6 nights accommodation in Beijing paid for by iMMedian Pty Ltd.
July 23-31, 2008: Return airfares Brisbane to NZ and 9 nights accommodation paid for by Auspol.
Sept 7-11, 2008: Return flights to Singapore paid for by Australia-China Development Association.
2008: Return airfare Brisbane to Tibet paid for by SCIO Chinese Government and three nights accommodation in Tibet.
2008: Return airfare Aust-China for wife and son paid for by Australia-China Development Association and 4 nights accommodation.

MICHAEL KEENAN, LIB, WA

July 10-16, 2008: Travel to Israel guest of Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. Business class airfare, accommodation.

RICHARD MARLES, ALP, VIC

Apr 9-13, 2008: Accommodation for six nights as one of 11 people in a rented house in Augusta, Georgia, USA, as guest of Golf Australia. Ticket to US Masters golf tournament Apr 9-13 provided by Stuart Appleby through Golf Australia.

JUDI MOYLAN, LIB, WA

- Mar 30-April 2, 2008: Two nights accommodation in New Zealand (cost $405) and registration fee of $700 for International Diabetes Federation Western Pacific Congress paid for by Diabetes New Zealand.
- June 1-13, 2008: KCI Medical Group and Novo Nordisk paid for flights and accommodation on trip to Helsinki to attend World Congress on the Prevention of Diabetes and its Complications and then flight to Berlin to address members of the Bundestag on the Australian parliamentary diabetes support group.
- 2008: trip to Rome, Italy, sponsored by Novo Nordisk.

SHAYNE NEUMAN, ALP, QLD

- Dec 13-20, 2008: Travel to Israel guest of Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

JULIE OWENS, ALP, NSW:

2008: visit to China as guest of government.
2008: visit to Korea funded by Korea Foundation (chair of Australian/Korea parliamentary friendship group).

MELISSA PARKE, ALP, WA

Feb 15-18, 2009: Trip to Jakarta costing $1500 from Parliamentarians for Global Action to attend meeting on the International Criminal Court.

CHRIS PEARCE, LIB, VIC

May 17-24, 2008: With wife guests of Taiwanese Govt for presidential inauguration ceremony.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE, LIB, SA

June 2008: International Council on Alcohol Policy, airfare and accommodation in Singapore for 2 nights.
August 2008: travel and accommodation to Hong Kong courtesy National Democratic Institute of USA.

BERNIE RIPOLL, ALP, QLD

July 5-9, 2008: Travel to China as part of delegation from the City of Ipswich, travel and accommodation paid for by ATM World Travel.
Jan 5-10, 2009: Travel to Chennai, India, paid for by Dr V.R.S. Sampath, president of Madras Development Society, who organised conference, and sponsored travel and accommodation.

AMANDA RISHWORTH, ALP, SA

- Oct 29-Nov 6, 2008: trip to China as guest of China-Aust Friendship Group of the National Peoples Congress.

ANDREW ROBB, VIC, LIB:

Jan 12-20, 2008: sponsored airfares and accommodation from Australian American Leadership Dialogue to attend West Coast Leadership Dialogue in USA.
June 22-30, 2008: Australian American leadership Dialogue visit to USA, business class fares, accommodation.
July 10-17, 2008: Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council trip to Israel, business class fares, accommodation.

STUART ROBERT, LIB, QLD

2008: economy flight Brisbane to Entebbe (Uganda) return paid for by Watoto Australia.

PHILIP RUDDOCK, LIB, NSW

Nov 23-25, 2008: seminar in Bangkok, Thailand, conducted by National Assembly of Thailand and King Prajadhipok's Institute with Inter-Parliamentary Union.

LUKE SIMPKINS, LIB, WA

Oct-Nov, 2008: Six days accommodation in China provided by National Peoples Congress and two internal flights and 15 meals.

MIKE SYMOND, ALP, VIC

Oct 29-Nov 6, 2008: China Aust Friendship Group of the National Peoples Congress trip to China, internal flights, accommodation and meals.

JIM TURNOUR, ALP, QLD

Oct 29-Nov 6, 2008: China Aust Friendship Group of the National Peoples Congress trip to China, internal flights, accommodation and meals.

MARK VAILE, NSW, NAT

Feb 16-19, 2008: Trip to Singapore to attend airshow and aviation leadership summit. Travel and accommodation paid for by Singapore Government.
Mar 1-6, 2008: travel to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bharain and Doha travel and accommodation paid for by Servcorp. Acting as consultant for the company.
May 6-9, 2008: travel to Singapore, travel and accommodation paid for by Servcorp.
July 13-19, 2008: travel to Dubai and Abu Dhabi paid for by Servcorp acting as consultant.

MAL WASHER, LIB, WA:

May 17-24, 2008: With wife, guests of Taiwanese Govt as part of delegation visiting for presidential inauguration ceremony. Travel and accommodation.

JASON WOOD, LIB, VIC

2008: Trip to Israel paid for by Australian Institute of Jewish Affairs Council.
2008: Trip to Taiwan, as guest of Taiwan Government.

SENATE

ERIC ABETZ, LIB, TAS

April 10-17: With wife, guests of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office trip to Taiwan and accommodation.

MARK ARBIB, ALP, NSW

June/July, 2008: trip to Washington DC for Australia America Dialogue conference, accommodation and return Qantas business class fare.

Jan 3-10, 2009: Awarded 28th Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship - first class airfares from Singapore Airlines, accommodation for a week at Shangri-La, meals.

GUY BARNETT, LIB, TAS

Feb 19-26: Business class airfare Canberra to Vienna and return to Launceston. accommodation 4 nights, fee of 1325 Euro to speak at Vienna School of Clinical Research, paid for by VSCR.

ANDREW BARTLETT, DEM, QLD

- Feb 19-24, 2008: Return flight to Taipei and hospitality $4550 paid by CIPFG-Taiwan to attend human rights meeting as keynote speaker.

CORY BERNARDI, LIB, SA

2008: travel and costs to Israel paid for by Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.
Mar 1-7, 2008: Young Political Leaders Exchange program trip to Japan. Hospitality and travel.

MARK BISHOP, ALP, WA

2008: airfares and accommodation for trip to Taiwan.

Dec 13-20, 2008: trip to Israel with Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

DAVID BUSHBY, LIB, TAS

April 10-17: guest of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office trip to Taiwan and accommodation.
RICHARD COLEBECK, LIB, TAS:

Aug 24-30, 2008: with spouse, travel to Taiwan paid for by Taiwan Government.

JACINTA COLLINS, ALP, VIC

Dec 13-20, 2008: trip to Israel with Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

MATHIAS CORMANN, LIB, WA:

April 10-17: With fiance guest of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office trip to Taiwan and accommodation.

Oct 28-Nov 3, 2008: Australian Political Exchange Council delegation to Vietnam as guest of Vietnam International Youth Cooperation Development Centre.

CHRIS ELLISON, LIB, WA

April 10-14, 2008: With wife, guest of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office trip to Taiwan and accommodation.

MICHAEL FORSHAW, ALP, NSW

April 22-28, 2008: Business class airfares on China Southern Airlines from Australia to China, acommodation and hospitality paid for by Chinatown Comunications Pty Ltd, 388 Sussex St, Sydney.
- June 20-28, 2008: trip to Israel and Palestine. Accommodation and hospitality paid for by Australian Israel Cultural Exchange Ltd and business class return airfare from Bangkok to Tel Aviv return partly paid for by AICE.
- July 1-6, 2008: delegation to Jakarta, business class airfare from Perth to Jakarta paid for by Centre for Democratic Institutions on July 1 and return to Sydney on July 6 plus 3 nights hotel accommodation and meals.

STEPHEN HUTCHINS, ALP, NSW

May 17-24, 2008: trip to Taiwan paid for by Government of Taiwan and accommodation for inauguration of president.
Aug 21-26, 2008: trip to China, travel and hospitality costs paid for by Chinese government to gain first hand experience of economic, social and political ties.

DAVID JOHNSTON, LIB, WA

July 10-17, 2008: trip to Israel paid for by Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.
Aug 22, 2008: travel between Los Angeles and Las Vegas paid for by Worley Parsons to visit to solar energy station.

KATE LUNDY, ALP, ACT

Oct 29-Nov 5, 2008: China-Aust Parliamentary Group of the National People's Congress delegation to China, meals, accommodation and Chinese domestic fares.

BRETT MASON, LIB, QLD

June 20-27, 2008: Travel and hospitality to Israel paid for by Australia Israel Cultural Exchange.
Aug 7-12, 2008: Travel and hospitality to Taiwan paid for by Taipei economic and cultural office to enhance education links.

CHRISTINE MILNE, GRN, TAS

Dec 7-15, 2007: return airfare paid by International Union for the Conservation of Nature for travel Hobart to Bali.
March 2008: airfare paid by International Union for the Conservation of Nature for travel to Geneva, Switzerland.
Sept/Oct 2008: airfare paid by International Union for the Conservation of Nature for travel to Barcelona.
* Senator Milne is IUCN vice president and airfares paid for global council meetings twice a year.

CLAIRE MOORE, ALP, QLD

Dec 13-14, 2008: Asian forum of Parliamentarians on population and development general assembly, Hanoi, Vietnam. Travel $2293, 3 nights accommodation, total cost $2853.

KERRY NETTLE, GRN, NSW

May 25-29, 2008: Asian Population and Development Association paid for travel and hospitality to Kuala Lumpur for conference.

MARISE PAYNE, LIB, NSW

Sept 20-24, 2008: Australian American Leadership Dialogue return airfare Sydney to Honolulu and 5 nights accommodation in Honolulu.

KAY PATTERSON, LIB, VIC

March 22-27, 2008: Economy fare on Thai Airlines from Melbourne to Vientiane return and accommodation at $US30 a night paid for by Interplast Australia and New Zealand of which Patterson is a director and board member.
Apr 14-18, 2008: Centre for Democratic Institutions paid for economy SkyAir flight from Brisbane to Honiara with upgrade on return flight and accommodation at King Solomon Hotel Honiara.

HELEN POLLEY, ALP, TAS

2009: Travel to Israel paid for by Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council.

GLENN STERLE ALP, WA

April 3-20, 2008: Delegation to European Institutions. Qantas upgrade to first class on flight from Singapore to London on April 3-4.

Information based on disclosure by MPs.

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 John Pilger: The power and significance of the documentary

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Why should Israel’s lobby have different standards?

Ali Kazak 9 November 2017 Independent Australia

PM Malcolm Turnbull takes selfie with Israeli PM Benjamin Yetanyahu, complete with slouch hat, at Beershaba in the former Palestine, 31 October 2017 (Image via @IsraeliPM)

Forget China, no country has interfered, spied and endangered Australia’s security, sovereignty and the integrity of its national institutions more than Israel and its powerful lobbyists, writes former Palestinian Ambassador Ali Kazak.

ASIO's director-general Duncan Lewis expressed concerns recently in his agency's annual report about foreign interference.

Mr Lewis said over the past year:

We identified foreign powers clandestinely seeking to shape the opinion of members of the Australian public, media organisations and government officials in order to advance their country's own political objectives.

These activities, undertaken covertly to obscure the role of foreign governments, represent a threat to our sovereignty, the integrity of our national institutions, and the exercise of our citizens' rights.

While no country was mentioned in the report, there has been a hint of concern about Russian and Chinese activities. This is a contrast with Canberra’s relaxed approach and appeasement of the most powerful lobby on behalf of a foreign government: Australia’s Israel lobby.

There is nothing ASIO suggests any Chinese lobby of doing that the Israeli lobby has not been doing for over 30 years. Any Chinese lobby is child’s play in contrast to the well-established Israeli lobby.
No country has more interfered, spied and endangered Australia’s security, sovereignty and the integrity of its national institutions than Israel and its powerful lobby.

By their own admission, the lobby receives funds from Israeli institutions, coordinates and cooperates with the Israeli government and embassy, and has 'established a long tradition of strong public advocacy on behalf of Israel' to shape the opinion of members of the Australian public, media organisations and government officials in order to advance Israel’s own political objectives.

Consecutive Liberal and Labor governments have been selling Australia’s foreign policy to Israel for decades, with huge campaign donations and free trips for MPs, officials, staffers and union officials.

There is no moral, commercial or national strategic interest to justify Australia’s unconditional support of the position of the Netanyahu cabinet. Nor is there a large “Jewish vote”. The last census saw the Jewish population fall to just 91,022. Public opinion surveys for more than ten years repeatedly show over 70 pe rcent support for Australia’s recognition of Palestine. So why the biased policy towards Israel?

The answer is the influence on the government and Opposition’s Middle East policies of a well-organised Israeli-linked lobby, which works for a foreign government.

Australian companies and businessmen, some of whom are both Israeli and Australian nationals, finance the Israeli-linked lobby groups. These include the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) and the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA). They also donate money to both Labor and Liberal parties. On occasions, threats were made to withhold donations when there were hints of support for Palestine.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) revealed in November 2012 that AIJAC, through its Rambam Israel Fellowship Program, has sponsored free trips to Israel for

'... more than 400 political leaders – including Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott – party advisers, public servants and university students. A separate trip is also run for journalists... '

As far back as 9 August 1985, businessman Mark Leibler, as president of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), said in the Australian Jewish News (AJN):

'We are generally improving our areas of influence. … and our directors interact fairly regularly with politicians, editors and journalists on a national scale and are in contact with officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The [Zionist] Federation works in close cooperation with the Israel Embassy in Canberra. We ought to be, and are the leading force in the community on matters of Israel and Zionism.'

Journalist Sam Lipski wrote about lobbying for Israel in an article on the AJN on 13 August 1993. He confirmed the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and ZFA were linked with the Israeli Government and work on its behalf.

Lipski wrote:

'More or less since the 1982 Lebanon War, the ECAJ and the ZFA allowed, and the Likud government encouraged, a blurring of the roles between the ECAJ/ZFA and the Israeli Embassy. These two bodies became quasi-diplomatic agencies, often filling the vacuum created by an undermanned and remote Israel embassy.'

Imagine for a moment the angst of ASIO if a Chinese community leader had referred to Chinese associations in Australia becoming “quasi diplomatic agencies” to help the understaffed Chinese embassy.
On 20 August 1993, Helene Teichmann wrote in AJN that the Israeli Prime Minister

'…[Yitzhak] Rabin has praised the ZFA’s work and there has never been an indication from any Israeli government, publicly or privately, that the ZFA is not doing what is good for Israel and our community or that some other organ could do better. Nor does the ZFA act in splendid isolation. The Israeli Embassy and the Federation consult closely and completely agree as to their respective roles.'

The SMH reported Mark Leibler on 3 July 1993 as revealing that

“ZFA receives funds from the Jewish Agency in Israel.”

In the Jerusalem Post on 24 June 2010, Isi Leibler wrote:

'Jewish leaders have established a long tradition of strong public advocacy on behalf of Israel, and they can take much of the credit for the fact that successive governments have maintained a strong bipartisan support for Israel.'

One case study says it all.

Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Gareth Evans criticized Israel’s human rights records during a visit to Israel in 1992 and echoed U.S. support for General Assembly Resolution 194, which calls for the repatriation of the Palestinian refugees forced out of their homeland in 1948. The Israel lobby went into overdrive. The Australian newspaper reported, on 13 June 1992, the president of the ECAJ Leslie Caplan had denounced Evans in an article headlined ‘Jewish community pressures Evans on criticism of Israel’.

Caplan said:

"Unless the Government stepped back from the views expressed by Senator Evans, it would cost the ALP significant Jewish support at the next federal election."

And Jewish MP Barry Cohen said:

“... the Jewish community, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, had always been a strong source of ideological and financial support for the ALP. That will be weakened whenever a government appears to be antagonistic towards the State of Israel.”

An article in The Bulletin on 4 August 1992, entitled ‘ALP can’t count on Jewish support’, reported ECAJ’s new president, Jeremy Jones, saying

“It is not so much the Jewish vote that matters – there are fewer than 100,000 Jews in Australia – but rather the vast financial resources of the community’s wealthier members.”

Imagine if a Chinese community leader had said: It’s not the number of Chinese voters in Australia that counts but rather the vast finances of its wealthier members.

When Labor MPs criticized Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights in 2003, there was the threat of withdrawing Jewish financial support to Labor.

The former Federal Labor MP Julia Irwin said in The Australian:

"The threat to withdraw financial support for the ALP because of perceived anti-Israel comments by Labor backbenchers is worrying. Not because the Labor needs the money, but because it suggests that all party members must toe the line even if their comments broadly agree with Labor policy.”

The late Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, said in an article ‘The isolation of Hamas is impeding peace’, in The Age (11/8/09):

“Fear of criticism from the Jewish lobby in Australia has so far prevented Australian governments taking effective action.”

As a result of the Israeli lobby’s influence, Australia has joined a group of banana republics such as Micronesia, Costa Rica, Palau and the Marshall Islands, continuously opposing UN resolutions condemning Israel’s occupation, violations of international law and human rights, racial discrimination, the building of Jewish colonies and the Apartheid Wall, which further isolates Australia from the international community at the UN and other international forums.

For years, the Australian media has been reporting Israel’s spying activities, forging Australian and New Zealand passports, and recruiting Australians from the Jewish community to its army and spy agencies.

For example, New Zealand’s security agency arrested two Mossad agents in mid-2004 while attempting to obtain New Zealand passports under false names, Mossad’s spy cell operated under the nose of ASIO from its headquarters in Sydney, which was the base for its spying activities in Australasia for more than ten years.

Mossad used the forged Australian passports to spy in other countries and carry out the assassination of a Palestinian Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhoh in Dubai, UAE, a country friendly to Australia. This was a serious violation of Australia’s sovereignty and the undermining of international confidence in Australia’s passports.

Imagine the front page hysteria if Chinese spies had ever forged Australian passports to carry out a targeted assassination in a third country with which Australia had cordial relations. Nothing remotely as serious and specific was uncovered by the recent Four Corners-Fairfax attempt, assisted by ASIO, to find Chinese intrusion on Australian sovereignty.

In an article in the SMH on 26 February 2010, Peter Hartcher reported an Australian official saying

“... the Israeli secret service had probably calculated that, even if it were caught using forged Australian passports, Canberra would not retaliate. It wouldn’t matter whether it was John Howard or Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott in the prime minister’s chair… [the Israelis] know they’ve got us by the balls… partly because of the Israel lobby.”

Allowing Israel and its lobby to use their financial donations, interfere, spy and endanger Australia’s security, sovereignty and the integrity of its national institutions with impunity, and without being accountable is a clear indication of the dangerous level of influence they have been allowed to get to in Australia, which makes the Government and the security agencies so weak and fearful; they are becoming the untouchable Holly Cow no matter what they do.

Attorney-General George Brandis announced recently that the Government is developing new legislation to require registration of foreign agents in Australia.

This would immediately be applicable to Israel and its powerful lobby. ASIO too should be required to oversight the most powerful lobby for a foreign government at work in Australia.

Substitute the words Israel, Jewish and Zionist Organisation for China, Chinese and the Communist Party, and imagine if China forged Australian passports, and used them to spy on other countries and carry out assassinations in friendly countries. Then think again about how Australia might have reacted — and how, indeed, it should react.
Ali Kazak is a former Palestinian ambassador.

DANIEL ANDREWS AND HIS "LABOR" GOVERNMENT

Think labour parties and think progressive - right? Wrong!

Think injecting rooms for druggies to have somewhere safe to monitor their use of drugs, such as the one in Sydney at King's Cross, and think of Richmond in Melbourne which is the ideal area for a safe injecting room where it is most needed, and think of the Andrews government's emphatic refusal to even contemplate such an idea.

Lives are saved by having such facilities and this has been acknowledged for years in overseas countries and in some areas of Australia, but in Victoria? As Eliza Doolittle says, "not bloody likely!".

ASYLUM SEEKERS - THE DISGRACE OF MOST AUSTRALIAN POLITICIANS

In 1992 Paul Keating was Australian prime minister - the Australian Labor Party had been in government for 9 years and Keating had recently ousted Bob Hawke as prime minister.

Keating was concerned about the numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Australia and decided to do the unthinkable - he established the first concentration camps to lock up people fleeing from just such scenarios.

This was the beginning of "man's inhumanity to man" on a scale not seen in Australia since the white British settlers landed in 1788 and started the massacre of the indigenous population of Australia to such an extent that today they represent but about 4.5 per cent of the population.

Were the original inhabitants of Australia such a threat to the newly arriving white men and women from the European shores?

Is this how governments in Australia have seen successive waves of asylum seekers fleeing in terror from their countries of origin as threats to their white anglo hegemonies?

The numbers trying to enter Australia have been tiny in relation to refugee problems around the world and part of the problem has been that some of the refugee situations have been created by successive Australian governments having indulged in war exercises in some of the host countries.

When are Australians going to realise that asylum seekers are not terrorists, are not threats to the "native" populations, and there is a much greater likelihood of home-grown terror than from people fleeing terror in their countries of origin?

Those of us who are not part of the indigenous communities in Australia are all "boat people" of one sort or another and our forebears were responsible for robbing ownership of the country from those to whom it originally belonged. 

This petition which I started so long ago is even more relevant than it was then, and I urge you to sign it as urgently as Peter Short's petition on euthanasia which is also on this blog.

Stop Australian Incarceration of Asylum Seekers

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/13/stop-australian-incarceration-of-asylum-seekers/

    Target: Australians and International communities
    Sponsored by: Mannie De Saxe, Lesbian and Gay Solidarity, Melbourne

Australia is trying to negotiate an off-shore solution to Asylum Seekers coming to Australia in boats which are not seaworthy, and which have already been responsible for many drownings offshore. The latest attempt is the so-called Malaysian solution involving Australia sending 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia in exchange for 2000 refugees in Malaysia.
Both the Australian Government and its parliamentary Opposition are demonising people fleeing desperate situations in their countries of origin, mainly because of Australian military intervention in those countries.

The total numbers of asylum seekers trying to enter Australia is a miniscule number in terms of refugees and asylum seekers around the world, and most of the people in Australia illegally have arrived by plane!

Australia is signatory to United Nations conventions on refugees but is ignoring these UN documents in its political attempts to stop the demonised "boat people" ever setting foot in Australia.


Help to obtain justice for Asylum Seekers in desperate situations.


The situation has worsened with the federal government reopening the concentration camps on Nauru and Manus Island.



Get the government to close these camps now.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THOSE LEFT-WING BLOGS WHICH PROMISED MUCH AND DELIVERED MORE OF THE SAME ALP GUFF!

I have looked in vain at the blogs I have been following for some time to try and find some positive suggestions about the directions politics are going in the Australian federal parliament - but it all comes down to the same refrain: "SUPPORT JULIA GILLARD OR YOU WILL GET TONY ABBOTT!"

In September 2013 we will be heading for the polling booths around the country to elect a federal government ostensibly for the next 3 years.

The current federal government is actually a coalition consisting of the Australian Labor Party, a few independents and - although they have stated that they are no longer remaining in the Gillard coalition government - the Greens who will vote with Gillard on most issues.

Gillard's right wing reactionary policies have been reinforced over time to outdo the excesses of the Abbott-led alternative coalition in order to win the so-called "popular" vote!!

Gillard has the opportunity of a lifetime to change the direction of the Labor Party and to bring it back to some semblance of what it set out to be over 100 years ago. Some of her worst ministers have left the front bench after the failed leadership coup of the last week and their departures leave the way open for some more humane policies on a range of issues.

It won't happen, of course! The asylum seekers will still be treated like criminals and locked away, out of sight, out of mind. Those people who have been put on newstart or whatever other demeaning names given to them by a government there for the rich to get richer while the poor are made to pay more for their greater poverty are just another step in the downward spiral of issues this government has mishandled.

Some of the blogs I have been following which seemed to hold hope of alternative media to the mainstream media which include the ABC have become mouthpieces for the ALP and not at all expressing views which might have provided some sort of progressive alternatives to mainstream political parties.

Reading the postings made on these blogs almost makes them seem like The Age or other newspapers which have become unreadable in the last few years because the proprietors demand from their journalists that they toe the MSM line or lose their jobs - some of which have been lost anyway because the MSM have become so reactionary that many people simply won't buy them any more and the newspapers have lost more and more money.

If I am still able to go on line - and more and more people are doing this - to get accurate and honest reporting of events around the world, why would I want to continue reading The Age or watching the ABC which has become more and more like an arm of a Murdoch rag?

Having lived in the apartheid South African police state during the period of some of the worst excesses there, a period of some 51 years, I have now been living in Australia and witnessing an Australian government committing some of the excesses of comparable horror to those of the South African regime.

In 35 years of living here and in spite of a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, since that Commission those deaths have increased dramatically in numbers and the treatment by federal governments and Northern Territory governments of its indigenous populations continue to be a national disgrace!

What does the future hold? Any sign of anyone offering some progressive policies for the foreseeable future? As the saying goes, DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH!

GILLARD GETS GOD!!!!! - THE ATHEIST PRIME MINISTER OF HYPOCRISY

GILLARD GETS GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! – Southern Star Observer 240311

Julia Gillard is a self-confessed atheist - when it suits her! Her hypocrisy over certain issues is breathtaking - how can she possibly expect to be taken seriously after the utterances below, reported in the Southern Star Observer on 24 March 2011.

I am against marriage - it is an institution that has failed, was introduced as a capitalist concept to ensure the man owns the woman and she must stay at home and make babies as the next labour force.

I support marriage for the gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV/AIDS communities only on the basis of equality for all, otherwise who needs it?

When legislation providing equality in every aspect of the law is achieved, we will have won the fight.

Until then homophobia will continue unabated, bashings, assaults and murders will continue, suicides amongst members of our communities will continue to be several times higher than the heterosexual equivalent, and the governments of the day will continue to get the support of the religious right voters.

Until governments tax religious institutions we will continue to be discriminated against by official government sanction and the government's amending of 85 pieces of legislation in 2008/2009 will have no meaning whatsoever!!

Julia is a disaster, the ALP is a disaster, the Coalition is a disaster and more and more voters ought to be turning their votes away from the major parties.

Only then will we even begin to approach some modicum of democracy for all our citizens!

Marriage equality un-Australian: Gillard

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has declared that marriage rights for same-sex couples are incompatible with Australian culture and heritage one day after hundreds demanded their rights in Sydney and Brisbane.

“I do find myself on the conservative side in this question … because of the way our society is and how we got here,” Gillard told Sky News on Sunday.

“There are some important things from our past that need to continue to be part of our present and part of our future.”

When asked if she was expressing a personal view or what she thought Australians wanted to hear, Gillard said she would have said the same thing had she never entered politics, pitching herself as a social conservative.

“I had a pro-union pro-Labor upbringing in a quite conservative family in the sense of personal values,” Gillard said.

“If I was in a different walk of life, if I’d continued in the law and was a partner of a law firm now, I would express the same view.

“I think for our culture, for our heritage, the Marriage Act and marriage being between a man and a woman has a special status … I know that people might look at me and think that’s something that they wouldn’t necessarily expect me to say but that is what I believe.

“I’m on the record as saying things like I think it’s important that people understand their Bible stories. Not because I’m an advocate of religion — clearly I’m not — but once again, what comes from the Bible has formed such an important part of our culture.”

Only the day before crowds of around 400 gathered at the Sydney Town Hall before marching to Taylor Square and in Brisbane’s Queen Park.

In Sydney, speakers from New Mardi Gras, Australian Marriage Equality urged people to contact their MPs and lobby them directly, while Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann warned of the danger of a conservative-controlled Upper House after the NSW state election.
“The influence of people like Fred Nile and the Christian Democratic party may only get stronger after this election,” Faehrmann said.

“What we’re hearing is that not only will the Coalition probably win government but they may also win control of the Upper House with the support of the Christian Democratic Party and the Shooters and Fishers. The only way to stop that is to make sure that everyone you know votes progressive in the Upper House. That’s probably more important than what you do with your Lower House vote.”

Faehrmann and Sydney MP Clover Moore both pledged to introduce legislation to create marriage equality at a state level if the federal Government failed to act.
Tags: Australian Marriage Equality, featured, Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann, marriage equality, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, same-sex marriage

This post was written by: Andrew M Potts

Julia the Christian

Let me understand this. Here we have a prime minister who doesn’t believe in God telling us to read the Bible because it’s the basis of our tradition, society and culture, opposing marriage equality because it’s not part of that tradition (Sky TV interview last Sunday).

A prime minister who employs gay staff but doesn’t consider them her equals. A woman extolling the virtues of one man one woman marriage refusing to marry her long-time live-in lover.

When asked to explain on Sky TV, Gillard hauled out her Bible and pitched for the Christian vote. Cynical or what?

Describing herself as a traditionalist and a conservative, she praised the virtues of the ‘strong Welsh Labor working-class household’ in which she was brought up: politeness, thrift, fortitude, discipline conveniently omitting the narrow-minded prudishness and prejudice equally typical of that era.

Where the hell did all that come from? It came from Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, the Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian Christian Values Institute, whose website features Peter and Jenny Stokes (the Salt Shakers), Bill Muehlenberg, and Warwick Marsh, among others.

“Australian values are Christian values. These are the values that made Australia great,” it says, “… reaffirm Australia’s commitment to Judeo-Christian values as the cornerstone of our nation’s prosperity for the common good.”

Compare that with Gillard’s more subtle evocation of Christian heritage: “what comes from the Bible forms an important part of our culture”, we have to pay respect to “the way our society is and the way we got here”, “important things from the past should continue into the present and the future”, “for our culture and heritage marriage has a special status,” and so on, and on.

I wonder what else she has been reading lately.

Could it be the latest report from the Australian Human Rights Commission, which says “hostility towards homosexuals …. remains widespread” and that there is “great wariness about rights legislation”? (The Age) If so, then how perfectly she dog-whistled for the prejudiced vote.

Imagine for a moment if she had spoken honestly. “It’s not me, reverend,” she pants, tugging her crimson forelock. “Honest, I get the Christian values thing. It’s the Greens who made me do it, with their euthanasia and gay marriage. Vote for me and I’ll save you from them. Don’t worry about the poofs and dykes — they don’t count.”
Maybe not, Julia, but we — and our families and friends and their families and friends — do vote. But not for you and your party while you continue this grovelling to the God squad.

Oh, and Tim? I’d order the top hat and tails now if I were you. She’s obviously decided there are votes in straight weddings.

This post was written by: Doug Pollard