(No)Show trials

 

It's not the first time I've gone out for Collaery and co. or at Parliament House.  It's an action of an ageing cohort.  Virtually n'ere a millennial amongst them all.  Lots of grey hair.  But we have time and we have history in marching.  Often with little effect.  The VN Moratoriums worked, in the end, and perhaps the Springboks tours.  But I've marched with the millions in Rome and London and no outcome, against WMDs and Iraq and what is now (and then, BTW!) obvious lies or misleadings.  The Bridge marches haven't led to Reconciliation but the people are changing.  So it is with Climate.  But the powers are stolid and stubborn and the times change too quickly for peoples' experience and they are just too ignorant or uninterested or misled or just uninterested and comfy anyway.  But I was out again.  So were a few others I knew.  And a retired DFAT staff member who I met at a dinner party the next evening.  Canberra is a small world.  I can't reiterate the whole story adequately, but suffice to say secret trials, endless secrecy through National Security legislation and political fiat.  A few quotes from the day will inform:  "When the rule of law returns to this country" (Bernard Collaery); "This government is every bit as bad as you imagine" (David McBride).  Or from a mate, speaking more broadly: " The Coalition is avoiding the hard but necessary work of strategic policymaking. Its energy policy, driven by climate denialism, is a shambles that has required state governments to take the lead. Its innovation policy is moving us backwards. Its manufacturing policy is limited to tax breaks for capital investment, only bringing forward future spending. The intellectual shallowness, policy nonsense, hypocrisy, spin, under-delivery and flagrant incompetence will continue until next year."  And then to hear, just today, that Witness K, behind a screen, pleading guilty, suffering mental illness, court hidden with  blacked out windows and cameras, after appropriated passports, after years of trials and pursuits, to be given just 3 months jail fully suspended.  What?  For this vast threat to our National Security?  Who are you kidding?  This was a whistle blower, a respected officer who saw something inappropriate and went through channels and got permission to inform and yet, this.  Our secret state grows.  Not to protect the public, for we know the story, but to protect government and mates.  Not the first whistle blower to reveal actions that are illegal or unethical.  And not the first whistle blower to suffer such a fate.  If we would only consider and learn.  Like Greta, I want you to panic.  But we, as electors, will probably return this dangerously veering government.  Thanks to influence and money and ideology and media and self-interest ...  and again, money.  Here's another quote to mull over:  "Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance"* (HL Mencken).

The Alliance Against Political Prosecutions convened a rally on Parliament House lawns.

* Thanks to Ian Warden for this Mencken quote, although in a totally different context - the ABC Classic 100 Countdown! (Democracy rarely music to one's ears / Ian Warden. IN Canberra Times, Sat 19 Jun 2021, Panorama, p.2-3)

Background reading from The Conversation, take your pick: collaery+witness and/or whistleblower

And more.  Sr Susan Connelly's excellent article following this very demo: Adventures in incompetence : Witness K sentenced / Susan Connelly IN Pearls & Irritations, viewed 21 June 2021 

Be fearful but act

Just a record of an important demonstration outside Parliament House: for Whistleblowers and Press Freedom. It's an important topic and we have a series of danger signs in the form of real threats to real people in court right now. Look up the cases of Witness K and Bernard Collaery and of David McBride and of Richard Boyle; muse on Julian Assange; look up historical names like Allan Kessing and Donald McKay and Andrew Wilkie and Toni Hoffman; read Catholic nun Susan Connelly and journalist Jack Waterford; listen to the Parliamentary words of Sarah Hanson-Young and Rex Patrick; think of the 80+ pieces of national security legislation that have been passed by LNP and a meek Labor opposition since 9/11; think of your own privacy and the government's ability to follow your phone calls and web visits and the rest for the last 2 years, stored by your ISP at your expense with no judicial oversight (used by local councils, even) and new plans for a national database of our photos and of usage-creep with facial recognition in Qld. Then think to the responsibility of the German people for Nazism (Hitler was voted in, of course); muse on the famed words of Martin Niemoller: "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me" and muse of Minister for Home Affairs Dutton for a minute and take stock. It's too easy to fall into the trap of calling fascism (we are certainly not there and not the worst!) but I note there were several mentions of creeping authoritarianism at this rally and already we know less of government (FOI is more and more difficult) while Government computing knows more of us. This rally was associated with the academic Honest History group. So, who do you trust? And fist up, how do you know who to trust? But first, to save Collaery and K and McBride is the first step. And K/Collaery's sin? Revealing that our Government (under Howard) bugged East Timor government offices (was it the Cabinet Room?) to gain advantage in commercial matters on sea borders and oil/gas. Confirm the details, but the essence is correct. Our Government? Australia? Our security apparatus? There's much more but be aware and be loud or prepare to be fearful. This is our government? This is our country? Sadly, it is.

The Rally for Press Freedom was held in front of Parliament House. Speakers included Andrew Wilkie MP, Dr Sue Wareham, Sister Susan Connelly, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Jack Waterford and Rod Campbell.