Scott Parkin is back in the USA. He is challenging the Australian government over his expulsion, he claims:
“I’m a peace activist with no history of any kind of violence or inciting violence or anything like that, which I’ve been accused of in the media, and I’m just completely baffled by this.
I mean, I’ve given talks about, you know, the US anti-war movement, and I’ve given talks about Halliburton, and I’ve given talks about non-violent, you know, social change. You know, peaceful ways of doing this like King and Ghandi, but I’ve never, you know, done anything which they’re trying to allude to.”
I never protested the subtle changes in Australian law since 9/11, but now shades of section 29 of the South African apartheid regime come to my mind. I’m sorry Scott, that Australia is not the bastion of freedom that it was. I am now motivated to protest the danger in plans for even more draconian anti-terrorism laws.
Activist’s expensive exit goes to appeal
September 17, 2005
An Australian lawyer for Scott Parkin says the American peace activist will have to wait months to learn whether he will be made to pay more than $11,000 for his deportation.
Julian Burnside, QC, said he had lodged an appeal with the Migration Review Tribunal over the cancellation of Mr Parkin’s tourist visa, and the bill could be withdrawn only if the appeal was successful. Mr Parkin flew out of Melbourne on Thursday after his visa was cancelled on national security grounds last weekend.
His bill for almost $11,700 includes $4235 for his air fare to Los Angeles and $6675 for the return air fares of his two corrective services escorts as well as their accommodation in the US.
Mr Parkin told said in Los Angeles on his return that his five-day stay at the Melbourne Custody Centre would cost him another $777. “They said if I ever decided to return to Australia I’d have to pay them back.”
He was banned from entering Australia for three years, and the visa in his passport was stamped with “Not for further travel”. Mr Burnside said the situation was extraordinary. Mr Parkin’s removal from Australia seemed to be based only on something he had supposedly said, although he had not been told what that was.
“If you can be kicked out of the country for saying words, where the words are not a criminal offence … then you have got a problem with democracy,” Mr Burnside said.
He said the appeal had been lodged on Monday and the process would take several months. The bill was standard practice, and removing it would be a consequence of overturning the decision to cancel Mr Parkin’s visa. Mr Burnside said it was worrying that the federal Opposition had backed the Government’s actions.
cont @ smh
Related
Rough justice
Big brother keeps an active watch
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Niemoller’s address to the U.S. Congress
The exact text of what Martin Niemoller said,
and which appears in the Congressional Record,
October 14, 1968, page 31636 is:
“When Hitler attacked the Jews
I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics,
I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists,
I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church —
and there was nobody left to be concerned.”
http://scott.hayes.org/thoughts/niemoller.html