The new terrorism: working for peace!

The new terrorism: working for peace!
by Julian Burnside QC
## (Queen's Counsel Julian Burnside is one of Australia's most respected Barristers who has worked for refugee and union rights)

"Scott Parkin is an American college school teacher and peace activist. He arrived in Australia on a visitor’s visa three months ago.

Last Thursday (September 8), the “competent Australian authority” (apparently ASIO) advised DIMIA that Scott was a direct or indirect threat to Australia’s national security. No details were given by the “competent Australian authority” and none were asked for. Instead, Scott was picked up by six Australian Federal Police officers on Saturday afternoon at a local café in Melbourne and put in immigration detention.

Why? No-one knows, not even Scott.

The Australian government has refused to provide any reason, other than that he poses a risk to Australian national security. So what has he done? He was once arrested in America as part of a Greenpeace action, but the charges were later withdrawn. He attended the Forbes protest in Sydney on August 31, but did not participate in any disruptive behaviour – a fact which is well documented. So how can he pose a threat to Australia’s national security?

The Australian government must have known about Scott’s arrest in America when he applied for a visitor’s visa. At the time of granting him a visa, the “competent Australian authority” did not consider him to be a threat to our national security. So what changed?

On August 31, The Daily Telegraph erroneously reported that Scott was one of the Forbes Protest organisers. It appears that the “competent Australian authority” based its security assessment on a newspaper article. Even worse, that authority obviously failed to follow up on the article. If they had, they would have discovered that Scott, like many Australians, was protesting peacefully – a right we have taken for granted until now.

It now appears that the Australian government considers peace activists to be a threat to national security."

http://margokingston.typepad.com/harry_version_2/2005/09/julian_burnside.html#comments

projection. The WH are the ones who do not want regulations. Except when it benefits them.

:shrug: