Criminal lawyer Rob Stary has represented many people accused under Australian 鈥渃ounter-terror鈥 laws. 91自拍论坛 Weekly鈥檚 Karen Fletcher spoke to him about the police raids in Sydney and Brisbane on September 18.
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Last week you commented that the raids gave you a sense of 鈥渄eja-vu鈥. What is repeating here?
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Several hundred people attended a rally and march to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's electoral office in Manly on September 20. The demands of the rally were: "No compromise 鈥 no GP co-payment; no cuts or privatisation; and free, public health care for all."
General secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Brett Holmes said the GP co-payment would spell the end of equitable, universal health care under Medicare and it was time the federal government listened to the people it purported to represent.
If you鈥檙e an Australian citizen, you have a greater chance of being killed by the following causes than you do by a terrorist attack: slipping in the bathtub and hitting your head; contracting a lethal intestinal illness from the next dinner you eat at a restaurant; being struck by lightning.
In the post-9/11 era, there has been no terrorist attack carried out on Australian soil: not one. The attack that most affected Australians was the 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali which killed 88 of its citizens; that was 12 years ago.
Besieged since September 15, the northern Syrian Kurdish-majority city of Kobane (whose Arabic name is Ayn al-Arab) has mounted a heroic, all-out resistance to the murderous Islamic State gangs.
As of September 25, despite the superior heavy weaponry deployed by the IS, it appears that fierce resistance and determined counter-attacks have halted or slowed the assault. Nonetheless, the IS has pushed closer to the city centre than ever before and the situation remains perilous.
Preparations are advancing for a solidarity conference under the theme, "Venezuela: The Revolution Continues," being held in Sydney on October 6.
The conference is being co-sponsored by the Venezuelan Embassy in Australia, the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, the Bolivarian Circle, unions and other political and solidarity organisations.
With the US and allied nations, including Arab countries, carrying out air strikes in Syria, the Turkish government is trying to convince the West it does not support the Islamic State (IS) forces the US is targetting.
Newly elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (the former prime minster) linked the adjective 鈥渢errorist鈥 with 鈥淚S鈥 for the very first time on September 23 during a US TV interview while attending the United Nations climate summit.
鈥淭urkey will do whatever needs to be done to stop this terrorist organisation, militarily, and politically,鈥 he said.
The NSW Coalition government is refusing to tell the community how it will spend millions of dollars gained from the sale of Millers Point public housing. Potentially hundreds of millions of dollars will be reaped if the sale of nearly 300 houses goes ahead. The government has received more than $11 million from the auction of the first four houses.
More than six years ago, 21-year-old Australian backpacker Jock Palfreeman was walking home with friends after a night out in Sofia, Bulgaria, when he saw a group of 15 men attacking two others. The next morning he was in a police cell 鈥 accused of 鈥渦nprovoked murder鈥 and 鈥渉ooliganism鈥. Held without bail, he was convicted two years later and sentenced to 20 years jail.
The largest demonstration to date on the need to stop global warming was held in New York City on September 21.
It was the largest of the global demonstrations in more than 160 cities that day ahead of a United Nations climate summit held on September 23 in New York.
The historic protest brought together a wide range of groups and individuals in a march through Manhattan, two days before heads of states gathered to discuss the issue.
In the past few weeks we have been subjected to a media frenzy. The early morning police raids on homes in suburban Sydney and Brisbane on September 18, resulting in 15 people being detained without charge and two arrests, was orchestrated to create a climate of fear of looming 鈥渢errorist鈥 attacks and set the scene for the federal government鈥檚 security crackdown.
The latest raft of 鈥渁nti-terror鈥 legislation will severely limit civil rights and comes in the context of Australian forces being committed to a new war in Iraq.
The Herald Sun has launched a vitriolic campaign against two councils in Melbourne for their opposition to the Victorian government鈥檚 $15 billion East West Link toll road project.
In an appalling lack of sensitivity, the paper has also sought to use the rape and murder of journalist Jill Meagher in defence of the paper鈥檚 pro-corporate and road-building agenda.
Aboriginal activist Kyol Blakeney has won the position of Student Representative Council (SRC) president at the University of Sydney.
The ticket that supported him, 鈥淕rassroots鈥, was backed by progressive Greens, independents and socialists. It beat the Labor ticket by a significant margin. University newspaper Honi Soit that Blakeney had won every voting booth, with 61% of the vote.
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