Cassa, you win the double facepalm




Why thank you, didnt expect anything other than that kind of response here anyway

getfunky said...
BTW - is that your car in the pic Cass?

Of course not! I think it belongs to George Dubya.
He uses it when he's travelling incognito.

People smugglers were preyed upon: court
By Larine Statham,
May 7, 2010, 3:27 pm

Four impoverished Indonesian people smugglers were preyed on by real criminals who are still at large, a Northern Territory court has heard.

Usman Dian, 33, Danje Ndolo, 19, Nasrudin Yahya, 25, and Sudin Juma, 19, pleaded guilty in the NT Supreme Court on Friday to smuggling 22 Afghan men from Indonesia to Ashmore Island in a wooden fishing vessel in November 2009.

For much of the hearing loud sobs could be heard from father-of-two Dian, who sat in the dock wiping tears away from his soaked cheeks with his T-shirt.

Justice Judy Kelly criticised the legislation that forced her to sentence the four men to five years' jail, with a non-parole period of three years.

"The court has no discretion to sentence them to anything less," she told the court, with the assistance of a translator.

"It's a very harsh sentence, isn't it, for people in circumstances such as these."

The court heard the four men were each paid the equivalent of between $A62 and $A125 to bring the asylum seekers to Ashmore Island, off the northern coast of Australia in the Timor Sea.

Lawyer Colin Baker told the court the asylum seekers as well as the boat, food and fuel had all been organised by a man known as Mr Baco and that his clients had been used as the final link in the chain.

"They were preyed on by real criminals who are still at large," he said.

"They were lured by a very small amount of money given what the penalty is."

He said the men, who come from deeply impoverished backgrounds, naively thought they were taking the asylum seekers to the Australian navy.

After four days at sea, the wooden boat later dubbed Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel (SIEV) 79 was intercepted by Customs about 12 kilometres off Ashmore Island.

At 7.30pm on November 27 custody of SIEV 79 was transferred to HMAS Bathurst, the Afghan passengers were transferred to Christmas Island for health and identity checks, and the four Indonesian men were taken to Berrimah Detention Centre in Darwin.

The four men co-operated fully with the navy and made full admissions to Australian police.

The court heard the four men, who previously worked in fishing and hotel transport, knew what they were doing was wrong, but were unaware of the penalty.

"They are not aware of the political issues in these matters," Mr Baker said.

Justice Kelly said there was no point reserving a decision on the matter and backdated the sentences of all four men to November 27.

Justice Kelly is the second judge to criticise mandatory minimum sentencing for people smugglers in Australia in recent months.

Prosecutor Mark McCarthy told Justice Kelly the crown did not agree with statements made by Justice Dean Mildren in October last year when he too was forced to sentence the two Indonesian people smugglers involved in the SIEV 36 Ashmore Reef boat explosion to five years' jail.

"The crown's position is that the mandatory sentence in sensible," Mr McCarthy said.
Justice Mildren acknowledged that it was his duty to apply the law, but recommended the federal attorney-general consider releasing the men after 12 months if they helped authorities track down the people traffickers they worked for.

Be careful with that one Rellie. That knife has a blade on both ends. It can be used both ways.

Cassa said...

she may put up a post to let ya in on the real me

Lol
We all have our internet persona's i guess
Our avatar's are always a good representative as to who we really are

That's a cheap shot at Obama.
Rubbish like that is propagated by those who are against him for reasons other than his religious beliefs, past or present.
The purpose of it is to bring him into disrespect so they can more easily overide his reform programs in the health industry and more recently in the banking industry. Both of these are long overdue. Many have tried before and failed due to rich and powerful lobby groups looking after their own interests.
I think he is probably the smartest guy who has been in that office for a very long time.
I also think history will show him to be one of the best presidents in a very long time.

While I agree with free speech and expression, undeserved stuff like this has to be seen as one of the very negative aspects of it.

Five dead as asylum seeker boat towed
May 9, 2010, 5:43 pm

Reports that five suspected asylum seekers have drowned trying to reach Australia are "tragic", the federal government says.

Fifty-nine people were rescued on Saturday near the Cocos Islands after their boat became disabled.

On Sunday they were taken ashore the Australian territory.

But Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor says the rescued passengers have reported five people went missing after leaving the vessel "several days ago before help arrived".

"If reports about five missing passengers are correct, this is a tragic and unnecessary loss of life, and highlights that these types of voyages are extremely dangerous," Mr O'Connor said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, loss of life at sea can occur when people are persuaded to embark on these poorly maintained vessels over such a great distance."

Mr O'Connor said a search had been called off after medical advice suggested the chances of survival "were no longer a reasonable possibility".

A rescue mission involving aircraft and four merchant vessels began on Wednesday after reports of a boat in distress.

The boat was located about 270km northwest of the Cocos Islands on Thursday.

Mr O'Connor said the 59 passengers were rescued by the Russian merchant ship MV Postojna on Saturday and were transferred to the Cocos Islands on Sunday morning.

"Surveillance aircraft were deployed to continue searching the rescue scene following (the) reports from rescued passengers that five passengers were missing," Mr O'Connor said on Sunday evening.

"Objects that may have been associated with persons missing have been identified, including lifejackets and tyre tubes.

"However, advice received is that the search has not uncovered any signs of life in the rescue area."

The home affairs minister said the rescued passengers would be interviewed over the next few days "regarding the circumstances in which other passengers may have gone missing".

It is believed the asylum seekers' boat had engine failure and was drifting in the region, about 2000km off the West Australian coast, before being spotted on Thursday.

A spokesman for Border Protection Command later told AAP the search initially started on Friday April 30.

"We were notified that there was a potential vessel requiring assistance about 125 nautical miles north of Cocos Islands," he said.

"We established contact with the vessel and discovered they'd run out of food, water and fuel."

A nearby merchant was called in to help the vessel. It transferred supplies but there was no additional request for assistance by the suspected asylum seekers.

"They were happy being in the boat," the spokesman said.

At this time, border protection discovered the boat was heading to Christmas Island.

Last Wednesday, when the boat hadn't arrived, border protection contacted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority "to conduct another search and rescue".
The boat is the 52nd to be intercepted on its way to Australia this year.

pweedas said...

That's a cheap shot at Obama.
Rubbish like that is propagated by those who are against him for reasons other than his religious beliefs, past or present.
The purpose of it is to bring him into disrespect so they can more easily overide his reform programs in the health industry and more recently in the banking industry. Both of these are long overdue. Many have tried before and failed due to rich and powerful lobby groups looking after their own interests.
I think he is probably the smartest guy who has been in that office for a very long time.
I also think history will show him to be one of the best presidents in a very long time.

While I agree with free speech and expression, undeserved stuff like this has to be seen as one of the very negative aspects of it.

Yep Pweedas - I totally agree. I posted that because it is a perfect example of how easy it is to sidetrack an issue and introduce irrational fear and suspicion by playing on rumour, innuendo or outright racism. It plays on racial and religious stereotypes that are loathed in the US. It conveniantly misleads about his religious background and plays up to the ignorant belief that a name like Obama = muslim = terrorist. Kinda like bringing up terrorism in this thread - zero relevance to boat arrivals.

propagated by those who are against him for reasons other than his religious beliefs, past or present.

If fear of terrorists is the real motivation then those that are worried should be speaking out about how slack the airports etc etc are in this country not stressing about the boat arrivals. But then fear of terrorism is probably not the real cause of stress over boat arrivals is it?

Gee i wonder what the Aborigines thought when all these boat people started landing here a couple of 100 years ago and there still coming
The navy should just tow them back to where they come from.

choco said...

Gee i wonder what the Aborigines thought when all these boat people started landing here a couple of 100 years ago and there still coming
The navy should just tow them back to where they come from.

But it is not 100 years ago
we need to apply what we need to now with the times a 100 or 200 years on.

Trade Unions slam Australia’s treatment of refugees
[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 May 2010, 15:46 GMT]
Leaders of Australia’s most powerful unions have united to voice their “concern at the growing stance of indifference towards and demonisation of asylum seekers from both sides of Australian politics” in an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Rudd released on Monday.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) released a joint statement through its overseas aid agency, APHEDA, on behalf of some of the country’s most influential trade unions, accusing politicians of exploiting “fear and xenophobia through the dehumanisation of refugees”.

“The Sri Lankan Government’s persistent harassment and intimidation of journalists and human rights activists, arrests of opposition party members and continued incarceration of tens of thousands of Tamil refugees highlights the continuing political and social instability in Sri Lanka. A recent US Department of Statei report notes Tamils in Sri Lanka are also victims to extrajudicial killings and disappearances” the statement said, dismissing suggestions that the island was safe for refugees to return to.

The unions called for “strong political leadership from all sides of politics that recognises and deals with the push factors that cause people to seek asylum” before urging “the Australian Government to act now to uphold its international obligations and live up to its election promise of a humane immigration and refugee policy”.

Full text of the APHEDA (Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad) letter is below:

The Hon Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600


28th of April 2010
Dear Prime Minister,


We are writing to express our concern at the growing stance of indifference towards and demonisation of asylum seekers from both sides of Australian politics. Instead, Australian unions restate the need for strong political leadership from all sides of politics that recognises and deals with the push factors that cause people to seek asylum, and Australia’s international obligations to protect the rights of those most vulnerable in our global community.

Political parties should not exploit fear and xenophobia through the dehumanisation of refugees. These attitudes have been building for more than six months, culminating in the recent policy change by the Australian Government to suspend the processing of all new asylum claims by Afghan and Sri Lankan nationals. In devising this approach to deter “boat people”, the Government has successfully alienated thousands of people seeking refuge from persecution, and forsaken Australia’s “fair-go” spirit.

The decision to reopen the isolated Curtin detention facility in Western Australia is also very concerning. We want to avoid a repeat of the politics of fear that overcame Australia in the period of 2001 to 2004 - a period that brought shame upon Australia internationally, and divided the nation. It also created a situation of intolerable misery and anguish for asylum seekers, including children who arrived in Australia only to be shipped off to the Pacific Solution, locked into desert-bound detention centres, or placed in limbo through Temporary Protection Visas.

In using refugees as pawns in an election game, Australia is failing in its obligations as a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1976 Protocol to not discriminate in the treatment of refugees on the basis of race, religion or country of origin (Article 3).

Sri Lankans and Afghans are being singled out purely based on race. Asylum seekers should be assessed case by case and this blanket decision to suspend asylum claims ignores real security threats existing in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

The Sri Lankan Government’s persistent harassment and intimidation of journalists and human rights activists, arrests of opposition party members and continued incarceration of tens of thousands of Tamil refugees highlights the continuing political and social instability in Sri Lanka. A recent US Department of Statei report notes Tamils in Sri Lanka are also victims to extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

In Afghanistan, civilian casualties remain high, with 2009 representing the highest number of civilians killed in the armed conflict, according to Human Rights Watchii. Ethnic and religious minorities, including the Hazara population - the largest percentage fleeing the country, remain at risk of persecution while journalists continue to face threats in the pursuit of truth.

Permanent migration - including the humanitarian and refugee program - has and will continue to play an enormous role in Australia’s growth and prosperity. It is time to back the words of our national anthem about the boundless plains to share for anybody who has travelled across the high seas. We call on all sides of politics to show some compassion and humanity in a bipartisan way, and we urge the Australian Government to act now to uphold its international obligations and live up to its election promise of a humane immigration and refugee policy.

Yours faithfully,

Australian Council of Trade Unions, President Sharan Burrow
Australian Education Union, Federal Secretary Susan Hopgood
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, National Secretary Dave Oliver
Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, Federal Secretary Brian Crawford
Australian Nursing Federation, Federal Secretary Ged Kearney
Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union, National Secretary Allan Barden
Australian Services Union, NSW & ACT (Services) Branch, Branch Secretary Sally McManus
Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia, National Secretary Peter Tighe
CPSU – SPSF Group, Federal Secretary David Carey
Evatt Foundation, Secretary Chris Gambian
Finance Sector Union, National Secretary Leon Carter
Independent Education Union of Australia, Federal Secretary Chris Watt
Labor for Refugees (NSW & VIC), Convenor Linda Scott (NSW) and Secretary Robin Rothfield (VIC)
Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, National Secretary Louise Tarrant
Maritime Union of Australia, National Secretary Paddy Crumlin
Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, Federal Secretary Christopher Warren
National Tertiary Education Union, General Secretary Grahame McCulloch
The Textile Clothing & Footwear Union of Australia, National Secretary Michele O'Neil
Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA, Executive Officer Peter Jennings
Unions NSW, Secretary Mark Lennon
cc. All members of Parliament

The earlier,on forum, quoted rate of boat arriving refugees was about 7,000 per annum.

At the current rate which seems to be around 50 per day, it has almost trebled to over 18,000 per annum.

Could be wrong on this but i saw a figure quoting around 2,850 so far this year (which was up on last years rate) so I would have thought the numbers would be no-where near 18,000 by the end of the year?

It is embarrassing how little real spine both major parties in this country have. Backflipping and pandering to the Paulines out there (as the swinging voters hold the short n curlies) and renegging on our international commitments.

Happy to send more troops to the Afghanistan tho aren't we???

I wish there was a sense of commitment to policy. At least you would know where we stand.

getfunky said...

I wish there was a sense of commitment to policy. At least you would know where we stand.

What do you mean?
They are deeply committed to any policy which will get them re-elected. Everybody knows that.
It's just that they are having trouble finding that policy.

^^^^^^^
nice one! glad theyre going to be ok!
cheers!