SOURCE: The Sydney Morning Herald

Alicia Wood, Natalie O’brien and Tim Barlass
March 27, 2011

Kristina Keneally concedes and announces her decision to step down as Labor leader. Photo: Quentin Jones

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KRISTINA KENEALLY quit as Labor leader last night as she admitted Labor had deserted voters.

”The truth is the people of NSW, who entrusted us with government for 16 years, did not leave us,” the outgoing premier said.

”We left them.”

In her concession speech at Randwick Labor Club, Ms Keneally, dressed in black, took responsibility for Labor’s dire result.

”I can announce that I will not contest the leadership of the party,” she said. ”Tonight the Australian Labor Party has suffered a significant loss, there is no hiding from that.”

She said among the lessons for the party were the ”importance of unity and the importance of putting the people we serve and the principles we hold above all other motivations”.

Part of the renewal that pundits say Labor needs so desperately is another new leader.

After the dust settles, Blacktown candidate John Robertson is expected to become opposition leader.

His electorate, a Labor heartland, has been held by the Liberal Party only once in 70 years.

With close to 70 per cent of the vote counted last night, Mr Robertson looked set to win Blacktown despite a swing against him of more than 18 per cent. He attracted about 45 per cent of the primary vote, compared to the Liberals’ Karlo Siljeg with 36 per cent.

Mr Robertson knows that winning his seat means more to the party than an extra voice in opposition.

He was cautious yesterday as he handed out how-to-vote flyers with his wife and two sons. ”I have been doing 14 to 16 hours a day pretty much since the middle of January. There is nothing more that we could have done in this campaign.”

In Coogee, ousted Labor MP Paul Pearce, who lost his seat in Sydney’s east to Liberal Bruce Notley-Smith, said the government would have won had it not pursued the privatisation of some electricity assets. He said the party’s problems began when former treasurer Michael Costa floated the idea of privatising those assets.

When Bob Carr made history on March 22 in 2003 by winning a third four-year term, a crowd chanted ”We want Bob” as the then premier took the stage to claim victory.

Last night the Labor Party made history for an entirely different reason, although senior Labor figures in some key seats appeared to be staging a fight.

”Carmel [Tebbutt], Verity [Firth], John Robertson, Michael Daley, Kevin Greene, David Borger, Nathan Rees, these are senior figures who are still in there with a chance,” Labor campaign spokesman Luke Foley told the ABC.

”Steve Whan in Monaro is a chance, partly because the toxic politics in Sydney, the Sydney media, is not reflected in Monaro.”

Coalition campaign spokeswoman Gladys Berejiklian agreed. ”A lot of the Labor ministers are holding up in their seats,” said Ms Berejiklian, the Liberal MP for Willoughby.

Mr Foley said the statewide swing to the Liberal and National parties was not being repeated in the inner city to the Greens. But he said the future was not looking good for Labor.

In her speech, Ms Keneally thanked her husband Ben and looked to him for support as she held back tears.

Through the day yesterday, traditionally safe Labor seats were under pressure and candidates who had enjoyed years of popularity accepted it was a difficult election.

Earlier, outside Burwood Girls’ High School, Strathfield MP Virginia Judge asked Ms Keneally if she was ”jaded”. Ms Keneally had insisted she was ”pumped”.

It was a different story last night when Ms Keneally herself said: ”I am sorry I could not deliver government for the ALP in 2011.”

She will, however, be staying on the back bench.

When she announced she would not contest the leadership, cries of ”no” drowned out her voice. One man called out – saying, ”Not Robbo [John Robertson].”

It was the opposite sentiment at Blacktown RSL, with chants of ”Robbo, Robbo, Robbo” and a standing ovation as Mr Robertson made what seemed to some like a leadership speech.

But he refused to comment on when he would consider standing for the party’s leadership.

”For me, it’s very much about Blacktown,” he said.

” … I’m not going to make that decision tonight. It’s not going to be tonight I can tell you that.

”We lost our way and we walked away from the people who relied on us as a Labor government.”

SOURCE: The Sydney Morning Herald

New Premier … Barry O’Farrell celebrates his emphatic victory. Photo: Wolter Peeters

BARRY O’FARRELL led the Coalition to triumph last night with the biggest swing in Australian electoral history, then declared: ”This is the victory for everyone who wanted to make NSW number one again.”

But Mr O’Farrell, the state’s 43rd Premier, also paid tribute to Kristina Keneally – who quit as Labor leader – as a ”skilled communicator and gutsy performer”.

The Coalition snatched as many as 29 seats from Labor and was heading for a statewide swing of about 17 per cent, although several outgoing Labor ministers – widely predicted to lose their seats – looked like hanging on.

While the ALP hoped to retain as many as 21 seats, nine more than the worst predictions, Labor’s campaign director, Luke Foley, conceded: ”The heartland is gone.”

It appeared the Greens would fail to enter the Legislative Assembly for the first time by claiming Marrickville from the outgoing deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt. Another Labor minister, Verity Firth, may head off the Greens in Balmain. And John Robertson, the man widely predicted to become the new Labor leader, looked safe in Blacktown.

But Mr Foley predicted Labor would not hold any seat by a margin of more than 10 per cent.

It appeared the independents’ numbers in the Parliament would be reduced from six to three.

Sweeping aside 16 years of Labor rule, Mr O’Farrell told 400 supporters at Parramatta Leagues Club: ”We won tonight seats we never dreamed of winning. And I am determined that the government I lead will govern for all people.”

Kristina Keneally concedes and announces her decision to step down as Labor leader. Photo: Quentin Jones

He added: ”We’re talking about people in seats like Bathurst and Port Macquarie; in suburbs like Ruse in the great seat of Campbelltown, now held by the Liberal Party, which along with Penrith’s result last year demonstrates we Liberals can represent anyone.”

He paid tribute to Geoff Lee, who took Parramatta for the Liberal Party and – with a 25.2 per cent swing – ”didn’t just win, he kicked the football out of the paddock”.

As Mr O’Farrell entered to deliver his speech, the crowd chanted: ”Barry, Barry.” In the audience were federal Liberal leader Tony Abbott and his colleagues Joe Hockey and Bronwyn Bishop, and former premier Nick Greiner and Howard government minister Philip Ruddock.

Also there was Mr O’Farrell’s new deputy premier, the Nationals’ Andrew Stoner, and incoming attorney-general Greg Smith.

Mr O’Farrell told voters: ”I promise we won’t let you down.”

And he said: ”The Liberal Party was born to represent all people, not sectional interests.”

He pledged: ”We will seek to use the skills and the talents of the people across this state as we seek to implement more than 100 policies outlined during this campaign.”

He promised to ”take up the fight to Canberra on the threat posed to families’ budgets and NSW jobs by Labor’s carbon tax”.

Earlier yesterday he said the Coalition would introduce a blitz of legislation in coming weeks.

”NSW has to be rebuilt, NSW has to be renewed and I’m committed to doing that,” Mr O’Farrell told The Sun-Herald. ”The infrastructure backlog we inherit is the cause of much of the pain people suffer across the state.”

Mr O’Farrell said he would begin the rebuild by establishing Infrastructure NSW as the government’s priority. The new agency will be responsible for the Coalition’s cornerstone election promise of building the north-west rail line to ease Sydney’s crippling road congestion. Other priority projects will include the south-west rail line, widening the M5 East motorway and a new convention centre for Sydney by 2015.

Having campaigned on the promise of ”real change”, Mr O’Farrell said people would soon see tangible evidence that his government would be one of delivery rather than the scandal and policy backflips of Labor.

”Giving schools, hospitals and police the staff they need will also demonstrate in a practical way to people that we’re serious about improving services. We intend to restore confidence in government by delivering on our promises, big and small. That will show people there is real change happening.”

Mr O’Farrell, 51, becomes just the third Liberal leader to wrest power from the ALP in NSW.

In a final bid to steal Labor-held seats, the Coalition’s campaign bus travelled to the key central coast seats of Gosford and Wyong yesterday.

Mr O’Farrell said he understood the weight of responsibility placed on him by the legions of ”rusted-on Labor voters” who switched to the Coalition.

Mike Baird, who will be treasurer, and Mr O’Farrell’s most likely successor, said: ”What you can expect is stable, sensible and collaborative leadership from Barry. That’s his style.”

Among the first changes to be imposed by the Coalition will be an overhaul of planning laws, with the controversial Part 3A power to override local authorities to be abolished.

SOURCE: The Sydney Morning Herald

Natalie O’Brien
March 27, 2011

Jason Morrison, left, and Keysar Trad. Photo: Edwina Pickles, Robert Pearce

MUSLIM community identity Keysar Trad is not dangerous, disgraceful or a racist who incites people to commit violence, the NSW Court of Appeal has ruled.

Mr Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, has been cleared of those defamatory labels thrown at him by 2GB’s Jason Morrison and backed by Supreme Court Justice Peter McClellan. Last week the Court of Appeal ruled there was no evidence to support them.

The court found that Justice McClellan had erred in his findings on a number of points in relation to those defamatory statements and has ordered a retrial to assess damages regarding Mr Trad’s reputation.

However, the court allowed, in part, a rare defence known as “reply to attack”, on some points relating to the counts. Mr Trad is considering appealing in the High Court.

The chief operating officer of 2GB, Stuart Thomas, said the court found that 2GB was only defending itself and allowed the reply-to-attack defence in five out of eight points.

The radio station was considering whether it would also appeal the remaining three points to the High Court, he said.

The case stemmed from the aftermath of the Cronulla race riots in late 2005 when Mr Trad spoke at a peace rally at Town Hall and criticised the role of the media, in particular “tabloid journalism and one talkback radio station”.

Mr Trad’s said the station was “whipping up fears” and Muslims were “suffering as a result of the racist actions of predominantly one radio station”.

Mr Trad called on the Howard government to stop “ethnic scapegoating”. He said: “There is a great deal of shame in tabloid journalism and one talkback station, seems to be nothing . . . other than the mouthpiece of the Howard government over the last few years”.

A 2GB reporter was at the rally and Mr Trad’s comments were broadcast. Mr Morrison, who has since switched stations to Fairfax Media’s 2UE, launched a scathing attack on Mr Trad on radio the next day. He said Mr Trad was a “disgraceful and dangerous individual who incited violence, hatred and racism”.

Mr Trad sued the station for defamation and in 2007 a jury agreed that Mr Trad had been defamed by Mr Morrison.

However, at a subsequent hearing Justice McClellan ruled against him and gave a judgment that criticised Mr Trad’s role over the years as a spokesman for the Lebanese Muslim community. Judge McClellan found that most of Mr Morrison’s statements about Mr Trad were true.

The three Court of Appeal judges set aside the orders by Judge McClellan and sent the matter back to the court to assess damages. Harbour Radio, owners of 2GB, were ordered to pay half of Mr Trad’s appeal costs.

SOURCE: Abc.Net

National Level Findings

After twelve years of in-depth study and comprehensive surveys of more than 12,500 Australians, the Challenging Racism Project has produced findings that are of considerable national interest.

Download the national level findings [pdf, 50K]

The National Level Findings provide a clear picture of the perspectives of everyday Australians on issues of racism, ethnic-relations and cultural diversity. State Comparisons are also available [pdf] . and these provide a sense of how attitudes and experiences vary across the state and territories of Australia.

SOURCE: Abc.Net

A decade-long national study has found that nearly 50 per cent of Australians identify themselves as having anti-Muslim attitudes.

Researchers from universities across the country polled thousands of people about their attitudes to different cultures and whether they had experienced racism.

The research found around one in 10 Australians identified themselves as prejudiced against other cultures.

About one-quarter of those surveyed said they had anti-Semitic or anti-Asian attitudes, while a slightly larger number were prejudiced against Aborigines.

Anti-Muslim sentiment was even higher, at 48.6 per cent.

Lead researcher Professor Kevin Dunn from the University of Western Sydney says recent political rhetoric has not helped.

“If you continue to speak about a group as a problem, whether that be asylum seekers or Muslims, that will [be] cast within the public mind,” he said.

New South Wales was the state most intolerant of Muslims, with just over 54 per cent of people expressing prejudice.

The president of the Council of International Students, Robert Atcheson, says the survey is another blow to Australia’s already-damaged reputation.

“If you’re an international student that’s looking at coming to Australia, or Canada or UK or the US, that could definitely sway their decision to go somewhere else,” he said.

SOURCE: ABC News

A 39-year-old Perth man has been sentenced to three years’ jail for posting an anti-semitic video on the internet.

Brendon Lee O’Connell is the first person in Western Australia to be convicted under the state’s racial vilification laws.

A jury found him guilty last week of six offences.

O’Connell posted a video on YouTube showing him insulting a young Jewish man in 2009.

The video also showed O’Connell standing in front of the Perth Bell Tower telling Jews their days were numbered.

Members of Western Australia’s Jewish community were in court for the sentence and welcomed the jail term.

Steve Lieblich, who represents the Jewish community and is on the Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, says racial vilification must be stopped.

“This time it was the Jewish people that were the target, next time it could be Muslims, Asians or any other group,” he said.

“So we should be pleased that we’ve had this result and this signal has been sent to Mr O’Connell and his supporters.”

SOURCE: ABC News

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pushed back after US vice-president Joe Biden blasted him as a dangerous “hi-tech terrorist.”

The 39-year-old Australian also told the Spanish daily El Pais that he was in “a condition of high-tech arrest” although he was released on bail by a British court last week while he fights extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sex crimes.

Asked whether he thought Assange was a hi-tech terrorist or a whistleblower akin to those who released the Pentagon Papers – a series of top-secret documents revealing US military policy in Vietnam – Mr Biden said: “I would argue that it’s closer to being hi-tech terrorist.”

And he said the US Justice Department was mulling how to take legal action against the Australian.

But Mr Assange responded by noting that “terrorism is defined as the use of violence for political purposes.”

“Biden’s administration continues to take offence at our organisation and the press with a violent or political objective, so who are the terrorists?” he said.

Australian human rights lawyer Kellie Tranter also attacked Mr Biden over his remarks and she accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of standing by while an ally takes away Mr Assange’s presumption of innocence.

Ms Tranter says both Ms Gillard and Mr Biden are denying Mr Assange his presumption of innocence.

“Joe Biden’s comments are utterly unacceptable, and I think Prime Minister Gillard should be objecting to them having been made in relation to an Australian national, particularly when we’ve already heard calls for Mr Assange’s assassination,” she said.

“So this is not behaviour we would expect of an ally towards one of our own.”

Mr Assange has enraged Washington by obtaining a cache of some 250,000 US diplomatic cables and slowly releasing the documents through his whistleblowing website, often causing huge embarrassment in world capitals.

He complained to El Pais that he was “in a condition of high-tech arrest.”

“That is I have electronic jewellery which means if I leave the house outside of curfew times then an alarm will go off. It is very Orwellian,” he said.

Mr Assange said he was also required to report to a police station once a day, which means he cannot stray far from his house.

“That does interfere with my work, it means no secret meetings with government sources or others who may be willing to assist me,” he added.

“It means it is much easier to monitor my communication. That is a strong and wrongful impediment to my work.”

He is staying at Ellingham Hall, a mansion on a friend’s 600-acre country estate in eastern England, where he must live while on bail, pending ongoing extradition proceedings which may take months.

Media reports suggest that US prosecutors are trying to build a case against him on the grounds that he encouraged a US soldier, Bradley Manning, to steal US cables from a government computer and pass them to WikiLeaks.

Mr Assange has denied knowing Mr Manning.

SOURCE: ABC News

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is standing by his claim that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott offered to double the humanitarian refugee intake if he helped the Coalition form Government.

Mr Abbott has denied the claims and says Mr Wilkie appears to have a very different interpretation to him about what was discussed.

“What I proposed was very much in line with the commitment the Coalition took to the election, which is for a modest increase in our refugee intake for people who came in through proper channels, not by boat, in conjunction with much stronger border protection policies,” he said.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says while the Coalition did propose a small increase in refugee numbers, it never promised to double the intake.

Mr Hockey has labelled Mr Wilkie’s claims “deceptive”, but Mr Wilkie says he remembers Mr Abbott making the offer very clearly.

“He was prepared to do virtually whatever it took to get my support,” he said.

Mr Wilkie says increasing the refugee intake would encourage fewer people to get on boats and come to Australia legally instead, and the Government and Opposition should take up the idea.

“If we wait another six months, more people are going to die,” he warned.

This morning Mr Wilkie accused the Opposition of playing to “dark sentiments” in the electorate, and said Mr Abbott should publicly restate his refugee offer.

“I’m interested to hear these comments from the Opposition at the moment, because during my negotiations with Tony Abbott immediately after the federal election… one of the issues he raised with me in an attempt to get my support was to double the humanitarian intake into this country from about 13,500 a year to about 27,000,” he said.

“So, you know, he certainly sees situations in which we would have a much more compassionate policy.

“This is a time to resurrect that offer of his and to say ‘Well, why can’t we take a little bit of pressure out of this pressure cooker and bring more people in through an orderly queue?’”

Mr Wilkie has also knocked back the Prime Minister’s offer to join a multi-party standing group on the Christmas Island tragedy.

At this stage, only the Greens have formally accepted.

_____________________________

RELATED NEWS

• Abbott offered to double refugee intake: Wilkie

SOURCE: CourierMail

INDEPENDENT MP Andrew Wilkie has revealed that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott offered to double Australia’s humanitarian refugee intake if he helped him form government after this year’s federal election.

“Four months ago the Opposition leader said he supported a doubling of the humanitarian refugee intake, and if he now turns around and says no, it would turn that offer into a really ugly political gesture,” Mr Wilkie told Fairfax newspapers.But a spokesman from Mr Abbott’s office said Mr Wilkie was exaggerating.

“The possibility of a modest increase in the humanitarian intake through established UN channels was canvassed in the context of a much tougher border protection policy,” the spokesman said.

“There was no suggestion of doubling the intake.”

Mr Wilkie has experience with asylum seekers as a former senior analyst with the government’s peak intelligence body, the Office of National Assessments.The Independent senator earlier refused a spot on the federal government’s standing group on Christmas Island, saying Australia wants action, not talk.

“This isn’t a case of setting up another committee and talking about it for another six months,” Mr Wilkie said.

“This is a case of looking at what we can do now and implementing them now.

“If we wait another six months, more people are going to die.”

His comments came as Mr Abbott said he wanted a return to the hardline Howard-type refugee policy after last week’s Christmas Island boat tragedy.

Crewmen to be charged

The AFP are preparing to lay charges against three Indonesian crewmen over the Christmas Island shipwreck which killed at least 30 asylum seekers.

The three crewmen are among the 42 survivors of the crash and AFP forward commander Superintendent Gavin Ryan says it is likely they will be charged but would not be drawn on whether the men will be accused of manslaughter.

“Based on what’s happened in the past I would well and truly [expect] that the crew would be charged in the future, but I don’t want to go into specifics,” he said.

Agonising task

The news comes as relatives of the dead continue the agonising task of identifying bodies.

About half of the 30 confirmed dead have been identified by their loved ones, who are either survivors of the foundered boat or relatives who had already arrived on Christmas Island.

One woman emerged from the makeshift tent morgues yesterday, distraught after viewing the bodies of her mother, brother and uncle.

She was not on the vessel, but had been asked to identify her uncle. While there, she saw the bodies of her mother and her brother.

Australian Federal Police Superintendent Gavan Ryan said he expected to know by today how many people had been on the boat.

He said the death toll would rise above 30, but could not yet say how many more people had died.

“The survivors are interviewed,” he said. “Some people react in different ways but it is an extremely traumatic thing they do … it can be quite slow and laborious.

“It is very traumatic for everyone, the survivor and the people there at the viewing.”

Supt Ryan said the Indonesian crew and the passengers of the boat had been interviewed as part of the ongoing investigation into the cause of the shipwreck.

“My preliminary assessment of the information that I have received so far is that the weather played a very significant part of what led to the tragedy,” he said.

“I have no information from the survivors, or any other information, that the engine was sabotaged in any way.”

Divers continued the search for bodies along the rugged coastline yesterday.

“We don’t expect to find anyone alive,” he said.

“There are a number of caves nearby. There is a possibility of some of the deceased being in those caves. It’s quite tricky for us. It can be dangerous depending on the swell.”

A number of coffins have arrived on the island and were being stored at the airport.

All of the detainees have now left Christmas Island hospital. One remains in Royal Perth Hospital and five others treated there have been released to detention facilities in Perth.

It comes as memorial services were held last night on both Christmas Island and in Sydney.

Sydney memorial service

Friends and relatives are hoping for the best but fearing the worst after their loves ones sold everything they owned for the ride to “a better place”.

At a vigil in the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield last night, photos of people on board the wooden boat were plastered on the walls as people prayed for them.

It is not known whether they were dead or alive.

Some people were hopeful. Others had already convinced themselves their loved ones were never going to be found.

Devastated Iraqi-born Sami Faeli said six of his relatives were on board the boat when it smashed into the coast.

He visited his aunties and their children several months ago and knew they were desperate to join him in Australia.

But after they unsuccessfully applied for a visa, they thought the only way out was by illegal means.

“They had no money, but the boat ride cost anywhere between $6000 and $8000. They sold the guy in charge $4000 worth in jewellery for the trip, he cut them a deal to help them,” Mr Faeli, 25, said.

“They were really desperate to get out of Iraq. They had a dream of coming to Australia – it is a dream destination for Middle Eastern people.

“They know about the good conditions, the good living environment and even freedom of speech.”

Mr Faeli, who has been living in Australia legally since 1999, told his aunties to stay in Iraq and not risk their life.

Yesterday he found out they hadn’t listened to him.

“We knew there was a chance they were on the boat that crashed and when we found out they were, we were devastated,” he said.

“The past few days have been hellish for all of us – not knowing whether they are dead or alive.”

Shehab Saymeri’s three sisters and their two children were on board the boat. He also attended last nights vigil to send off those who were killed.

“I don’t think they are alive. It’s been a week,” he said.

“I don’t think we are going to find them but we are still praying that we do.”

SOURCE: The Sydney Morning Herald

December 21, 2010