Dec 21

2016-12-08 Contribution to Parliamentary Inquiry: Freedom of speech in Australia

On 8 November 2016, pursuant to section 7(c) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, the Attorney-General referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights the following matters for inquiry and report:

  • whether the operation of Part IIA of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (including sections 18C and 18D) impose unreasonable restrictions on freedom of speech; and
  • whether the complaints-handling procedures of the Australian Human Rights Commission should be reformed.

My submission to the parliamentary inquiry into freedom of speech in Australia has been published on the inquiry website of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.

To view it, please refer to the list of submissions on the inquiry website at:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights_inquiries/FreedomspeechAustralia/Submissions.

 

Oct 10

2016-10-10 Racial Tolerance Motion Adopted by Parliament

On 10 October 2016, to commemorate the fifties anniversary of Australia becoming a signatory to one of the world’s most profound declarations on human rights — the United Nations’ International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull moved a motion in Parliament to reaffirm Australia’s commitment to equality of rights for all and non-discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, creed or origin. The motion was supported by the Leader of the opposition and accepted by acclamation.

The motion stated:

  1. Reaffirms its commitment to the right of all Australians to enjoy equal rights and be treated with equal respect regardless of race, colour, creed or origin;
  2. Reaffirms its commitment to maintaining an immigration policy wholly non-discriminatory on grounds of race, colour, creed or origin;
  3. Reaffirms its commitment to the process of reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in the context of redressing their profound social and economic disadvantage;
  4. Reaffirms its commitment to maintaining Australia as a culturally diverse, tolerant and open society, united by an overriding commitment to our nation, and its democratic institutions and values; and
  5. Denounces racial intolerance in any form as incompatible with the kind of society we are and want to be.

The Prime Minister’s speech could be read on: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2016-10-10/racial-tolerance-motion-address-parliament

Sep 11

2016-09-08 Address at the Canberra Multicultural Community Forum

The Canberra Multicultural Community Forum, and its chair, Diana Abdel-Rahman, invited me to share  some thoughts as chair of the Australian Multicultural Council on the topic: ‘Reclaiming         Australian Multiculturalism: policy and practice in a shifting landscape’ at its Leader’s Reception held at Albert Hall on Thursday 8 September 2016. The forum was well attended with over 200 Canberra community leaders participating including Mr Jeremy Hanson, MLA, Leader of the Opposition, representing Senator the Hon. Zed Seselja, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs; Ms Joy Burch, MLA, representing the ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs; Mr Joe Caputo, Chair, Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia; as well as many Ambassadors and high commissioners and other members of the diplomatic missions, commissioners, government officials.
My address to the Canberra Multicultural Community Forum could be viewed below.:
 

Celebrations

Aug 17

2016-08-17 Interview for Polish Radio TOK FM

On 16 August 2016 in the afternoon (Polish time) I gave an interview about the situation in Nauru to Ms Agnieszce Lichnerowicz, journalist working in Warsaw for radio TOK FM – program SWIATOPODGLAD.
The interview is titled “Incydenty w obozie dla uchodzcow na wyspie Nauru” and could be found on page 16 in the Radio TOK FM archives in Radio at:  http:/audycje.tokfm.pl/odcinek/40408

Jul 19

2016-07-20 Start of Falun Gong Prosecution in China Anniversary

The 20th of July marks a very tragic anniversary for human rights world-wide. On that day, in July

Hard to Believe - I strongly encourage you to see it

“Hard to Believe” – I strongly encourage you to see this film

1999, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by the Communist Party of China started; the state organised prosecution that has all the hallmarks of genocide.

The methods used are the most brutal used to persecute any religious order around the world, in particular forced organ harvesting for commercial gains.  That means killing Falun Gong practitioners by stealing their vital organs to sell them on the industrial-scale transplant market in China.
It is one of the most barbarous and heinous crimes ever undertaken by humanity.
We need to express our solidarity and continued support for your struggle for human rights in People’s Republic of Chin and to publicly expose the crime of organ harvesting in China in order to stop it. I applaud the recent US Congress resolution (H Res 343) is a historic step which condemns the practice of state-sanctioned organ harvesting in China and demands an end to the persecution of Falun Gong.
Australia needs to follow that lead and make clear public statements, as well as raise this atrocity in closed door dialogues.
For my earlier statements on the issue see:
Jul 10

2016-07-20 Next Western Sydney Open Forum

Please join me for the next Western Sydney Open Forum for 2016, titled ‘Insurance, Genetic Testing and Discrimination’.

The guest speaker on the night will be Justice Christian Byk of French Commission for UNESCO.

The forum will be held on Wednesday, 20 July 2016 at the at Western Sydney University Parramatta South campus, Female Orphan School, Building EZ, with refreshments at 5:30 for a 6:00pm start.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could distribute this invitation through your networks.

Open Fora_A4 Invitation Open Fora_A4 Invitation

Jun 18

2016-06-18 “Disgraced” performed at Parramatta

Today I have attended an excellent 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning play “Disgraced” performed at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta and chaired a discussion after watching it. The play was directed by Sarah Goodes, director at a Sydney Theatre Company.

When I arrived in Australia in 1975, Prof Alice Tay told me that in Australia polite dinner conversation should not touch the topics of politics, religion and sex. This was very different to my cultural background – about politics we spoke constantly and about religion and sex from time to time.

The play broke down all the wisdoms I was told by Alice and the established dinner conversation taboos. In fact, veneers of civility are being ripped away in a discussion on religion, politics and sex between characters from different cultural and religious backgrounds. There is a clear “clash of civilisations” taking place.

The play is relevant to those interested in contemporary Australian multiculturalism and islamophobia. The play is about a conversation we need to have! Recommended viewing.

IMG_5468        IMG_5466IMG_5467

Jun 13

2016-06-13 Paying respects to victims of hate attack on Orlando gay club

Orlando has witnessed a worst mass shooting in the US history – murder inspired by gay hate and terror. I write to express my feelings of deepest sympathy to the victims of this horrible crime, their families and friends and to the world-wide LGBTIQ community.

This terrible incident is a stark reminder of why it is important to demonstrable our determined stand against homophobia and transphobia in our workplaces and in public life on a daily basis. There is so much to be done!

I am proud to be working at the Western Sydney University which encourages all our staff and students to actively work to combat homophobia and to provide active support to our GLBTIQ community through the Western’s Ally Network. An Ally is a volunteer (staff or student) from the Western Sydney University community who is committed to cultural change and provides support to LGBTIQ community members at the University.

An inaugural conference about Ally networks at Australian universities will be held at Parramatta on 27-28 June – for more see:  http://allynetwork.com.au

 

 

Jun 13

2016-06-10 Abolish the Death Penalty in Asia

Death penalty has been abolished in Australia long time ago and by now most of us agree that there should be no death penalty on our law books.

But the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Indonesia on 29 April 2015 made the capital punishment a BBQ stopper of conversations again. In fact, Indonesia is currently preparing to execute further 15 individuals sentenced mostly for drug related offences. What is however of particular concern is the fact that the death penalty is making an alarming resurgence in Australia’s neighbourhood as several Asian countries move forward with executions.

For example, the recently elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to reintroduce capital punishment that was abolished in 2006. On May 11, Bangladeshi officials hanged Motiur Rahman Nizami following a conviction in Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal for alleged political and war crimes in early seventies. On May 8, the Afghan government hanged six Taliban prisoners as part of President Ashraf Ghani’s efforts to respond to critics who have demanded that the government take a harder line against the Taliban.

It is time for Australians and our government representatives to mobilise to present a consistent, principled objection to capital punishment and try to reverse this Asian trend before it is entrenched. International human rights law is clear: if used at all, the death penalty should be reserved only for the “most serious crimes” – most of drug offences do not meet this threshold.

This month the Australian Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade released its report of an inquiry into Australia’s Advocacy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty entitled: “A world without the death penalty” The report makes 13 recommendations and acknowledges that Australia has traditionally been a strong advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.

The report recommends that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade coordinate “the development a whole-of- government Strategy for the Abolition of the Death Penalty which has as its focus, countries of the Indo-Pacific and the United States of America” Philip Ruddock, chair of the report’s Human Rights Sub-Committee and Australia’s Special Envoy for Human Rights, has made ending capital punishment a signature issue.

Let us work together to ensure that Australia carries out the recommendations of the Report and urgently intervene with relevant countries to privately and publicly denounce past executions and oppose future ones. Our officials should work closely with the United Nations and other abolitionist countries to urge our neighbours to get rid of the death penalty once and for all.