By Tom Percy

It’s a pretty simple political game plan and Christian Porter has it down to a fine art.

First, pick a few of the most despised and marginalised groups in the community to sink the boots into. Paedophiles, drug dealers and bikies will usually do the trick.

Next, propose some extraordinarily rapacious and draconian laws the likes of which Australia has never seen – laws that will have the newspapers jumping and the lawyers and civil libertarians screaming. (It’s very important to upset the lawyers).

Then you announce that it’s all being done in the name of being tough on crime and that it will solve all our current problems.

The final – and Machiavellian – touch is to challenge the Opposition to oppose the new measures, in the hope that they will incur the wrath of a public heartily sick of crime and ready to embrace any sort of incursion into civil rights in the quest for quick results, knowing implicitly that the Opposition wouldn’t dare.

All that’s left then is to sit back and wait for the groundswell of support that will inevitably pour in through the opinion columns and talkback shows, and the job is just about complete.

It’s Politics 2012 WA-style, and the Attorney-General is playing the game brilliantly.

He’s aided by a Labor Opposition that has been running scared on law and order issues, terrified by the suggestion they might be branded soft on crime if they are seen to oppose any of his extreme recent measures.

What’s disappointing about the Opposition is that there are enough of them who should, and do, know better.

I suspect that privately they would tell you that much of the Porter “justice” regime is anathema to their basic political, humanitarian and social tenets.

But, as caucus is mortified at the prospect of acquiring a reputation for being softer than the Government on any crime-related issue, there is little they can do other than to buy into the law and order auction. Which effectively means the Government has a charter to do what it likes.

Under Eric Ripper, Labor was almost opposition-less when it came to justice issues. One wonders what some of them – those of Mr Ripper’s vintage – who in their youth marched against conscription, Noonkanbah and some of Sir Charles Court’s legislative excesses in the 1970s might then have thought of one day being a party to the current raft of bizarre “reforms”.

I suppose that there may be some perverse comfort for them in knowing that none of these extreme measures will actually work, or that anyone will be any better off or safer as a result.

It would, however, be refreshing to see Mark McGowan show some ticker and expose the Government’s game plan for what it is – a forlorn charade designed simply to bolster popularity.

But I suspect it might be a while coming. At the moment, Mr Porter is leading the Opposition a merry dance.

Tom Percy is a Perth QC and criminal lawyer

KIN Kin is a sleepy rural hamlet about 10 minutes drive north of Pomona, on the Sunshine Coast.

It is a place best known these days for its arts, crafts and herbal teas and a terrific old pub, the Country Life, which is a great spot to pull in for an icy cold beer (just the one) after giving your mid-life-crisis car a quite serious flogging through the driver-friendly roads of the hinterland.

When the long-suffering Mrs Syvret and I pulled into town early on Sunday afternoon, the first thing to greet us was the sight of at least three Queensland police highway pursuit cars – those bright red interceptors that would look right at home in a modern re-imagining of Mad Max.

Slowing down in preparation for an expected random breath test (no worries there), we realised our car (a burbling red V8 Commodore which on a normal day is instant cop bait) was of zero interest to our forces of law and order.

Behind the pub at the bottom of the hill were dozens of seriously powerful-looking motorcycles, with their equally no-nonsense-looking owners all clad in requisite leather and denim.

Shrug. Oh well, like us, they were probably thirsty and had stopped for one off the wood.

Good luck to them.

At least if you are on a bike you are not clogging up the roads by towing a bloody caravan.

Hang on.

As we motored slowly along the main drag we came across a full-blown police command post bristling with antennas and surrounded by at least two dozen police cars, motorcycles and God knows how many uniformed and armed wallopers.

There was enough massed firepower to put down a medium-sized insurrection, or stage a coup in a Pacific Island nation.

Back down at the pub, the friendly constabulary were handing out free drug, alcohol, licence and criminal history checks – whether you wanted one or not, apparently – to assembled members of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club, many of whom are reportedly on holidays from Western Australia.

Who knows, maybe the Queensland Police Service has taken the same position as the elitist enclave of Noosa and has decided Queensland, a la Fawlty Towers, needs to attract a better class of clientele?

Or maybe not.

As we ventured south towards Pomona, the police presence was overwhelming.

Or overkill, as many might see it.

So what have these blokes who just happen to have a penchant for fancy motorbikes done wrong exactly?

Maybe a couple of drink-driving sins, but then I’d argue if you breathalysed the entire patronage of any given country pub on a Saturday night you would get a better hit ratio than a bunch of bikers who know every time they so much as pass wind there’s a copper watching.

The whole scene was reminiscent of Bjelke-Petersen-era police state harassment of innocent people, targeting them en masse for minor infringements in an orchestrated campaign of persecution.

Granted, there are links between some members of some motorcycle clubs and organised crime.

Some have criminal histories and some may be truly bad people with a bent for violence and drug-dealing.

But we already have enough laws to pursue and prosecute that sort of criminal activity without resorting to institutionalised harassment of a bunch of like-minded bike enthusiasts taking in the sights of the Sunshine Coast hinterland, some of whom might possibly be not the best eggs in the carton. Perhaps.

In fact, few organisations can lay claim to absolute purity of membership, and that goes for everything from the Catholic Church to the Queensland Police Service.

But back to the rule of law.

For starters, there is the draconian insanity of Queensland’s Criminal Association Act (similar legislation has been successfully challenged in South Australia and NSW), which basically denies freedom of association to members of any club deemed “outlaw”, while diluting evidentiary requirements in the process.

Or, as the Queensland Law Society and the Queensland Bar Association put it in a joint submission to Parliament late last year, legislation that “in large part abrogates the rule of law and denies fundamental rights to citizens”.

That submission also warned this legislation “contains provisions which risk a return to the kind of police corruption which bedevilled Queensland before the revelations of the Fitzgerald inquiry in 1989″.

Perhaps most tellingly, it concluded that the legislation “is not directed exclusively at ‘bikie gangs’ as the political statements heralding its introduction proclaimed, but potentially applies to any minority group in the community which others are prepared to vilify and target by supplying information suggesting unlawful or anti-social behaviour”.

These bikies at Kin Kin on Sunday appeared to be behaving themselves – and the local publican said as much. So why the panic and persecution?

I now have a belated 2012 resolution. And that is to finally get my motorcycle licence, buy a thumping great Harley Davidson and hope I may be invited to ride with some of these blokes one day.

Then I too can be guilty of “association”.

Dogs don’t cry (unless they have to pee).
Dogs love it when your friends come over.
Dogs don’t care if you use their shampoo.
Dogs think you sing great.
A dog’s time in the bathroom is confined to a quick drink.
Dogs don’t expect you to call when you are running late.
The later you are, the more excited dogs are to see you.
Dogs will forgive you for playing with other dogs.
Dogs don’t notice if you call them by another dog’s name.
Dogs are excited by rough play.
Dogs don’t mind if you give their offspring away.
Dogs understand that farts are funny.
Dogs love red meat.
Dogs can appreciate excessive body hair.
Anyone can get a good-looking dog.
If a dog is gorgeous, other dogs don’t hate it.
Dogs don’t shop.
Dogs like it when you leave lots of things on the floor.
A dog’s disposition stays the same all month long.
Dogs never need to examine the relationship.
A dog’s parents never visit.
Dogs love long car trips.
Dogs understand that instincts are better than asking for directions.
Dogs understand that all animals smaller than dogs were made to be hunted.
When a dog gets old and starts to snap at you incessantly, you can shoot it.

Dogs like beer.
Dogs don’t hate their bodies.
No dog ever bought a Kenny G or Hootie & the Blowfish album.
No dog ever put on 100 pounds after reaching adulthood.
Dogs never criticize.
Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.
Dogs never expect gifts.
It’s legal to keep a dog chained up at your house.
Dogs don’t worry about germs.
Dogs don’t want to know about every other dog you ever had.
Dogs like to do their snooping outside as opposed to in your wallet, desk,
and the back of your sock drawer.
Dogs don’t let magazine articles guide their lives.
Dogs would rather have you buy them a hamburger dinner than a lobster one.
You never have to wait for a dog; they’re ready to go 24 hours a day.
Dogs have no use for flowers, cards, or jewelry.
Dogs don’t borrow your shirts.
Dogs never want foot-rubs.
Dogs enjoy heavy petting in public.
Dogs find you amusing when you’re drunk.
Dogs can’t talk. Dogs aren’t catty.
Dogs seldom outlive you.
Only joking Girls…But you got to admit some of his points are true…

The West Australian February 3, 2012, 11:31am

A police officer of 17 years has been convicted of reckless driving after he was caught speeding at 72km/h over the limit while off-duty.

Sen. Const. Timothy Ralli, 38, was fined $1700, suspended from driving for six months and ordered to pay more than $2000 in costs to the prosecution after Perth magistrate Barbara Lane found him guilty.

The off-duty policeman was clocked at 172km/h on Tonkin Highway at 2.47am on July 23, 2010. He pleaded not guilty and stood trial last year.

During the trial, the prosecution called an expert US witness on the laser speed gun, who testified on the accuracy of the device. Sen. Const. Ralli was ordered to pay $2000 towards the expert’s costs.

At the time he was charged, it was reported that Sen. Const. Ralli was a rally driver in his spare time.

Sen. Const. Ralli refused to comment outside court, but his lawyer Max Crispe told the court his job was now at risk because of his conviction.
The prosecutor told the court that Sen. Const. Ralli had not been co-operative, shown no remorse and called into question the conduct of the police officers who pulled him over who were just doing their jobs.

“He really should have known better. He holds a position of power and responsibility as a police officer. People in the community look to police officers to be examples,” the prosecutor said.

Mr Crispe told the court this was a “classic example of reckless driving” and was committed early in the morning, in still conditions on a straight road with no other traffic.

Mr Crispe said Sen. Const. Ralli, a father of three, faced repercussions in his job and accepted his conviction was “contrary to the manner in which a police officer should conduct themselves”.

During the trial, Sen. Const. Ralli’s defence argued the hand-held laser speed gun reading was inaccurate or had recorded a different vehicle on the road.

The officer who recorded the speed testified Sen. Const. Ralli’s Holden Commodore was the only car on the road at that point in time and the laser device had been successfully checked before and after the incident.

Ms Lane said the issues raised by the defence were “not relevant”. She also said the fact that Sen. Const. Ralli was a police officer was “irrelevant” and he should be punished the same as any other first-time traffic offender. Mr Crispe said after more than a year of either being stood down or put on light duties, Sen. Const. Ralli was placed back on operational duties last September but not allowed to drive any police car.

He said he had been an “exemplary” police officer before and after this incident.

A spokeswoman for Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said Sen. Const. Ralli would remain stood aside from operational duty while the Commissioner considered material from the criminal trial to determine the officer’s future with WA Police in due course.

A senior police officer offered a cash prize to the colleague who issued the most traffic offences over an eight-day period.

An email from South Hedland Sen. Sgt Peter Pope – sent on October 21 last year and obtained through a Freedom of Information request by a member of the public, put up a $50 reward for the officer “with the best traffic figures” from October 22-30.

The FOI request was made after an alleged tip-off from within the South Hedland police station.

The email coincided with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, a time when several Pilbara officers were sent to Perth and described in the email by Sen. Sgt Pope as a week when “obviously our traffic figures will diminish”.

A WA Police spokesman said the email was subject to an internal investigation and the competition never went ahead. “An officer has been the subject of managerial intervention as a result of the investigation,” the spokesman said.

“The concept is not supported by WA Police and the concept identified within the email did not proceed.”

In the email, Sen. Sgt Pope said it would be “irresponsible” to offer alcohol as a reward but said the winner could “relieve the Senior Sergeant of $50″.

“Yes, that’s what’s on offer,” he wrote.

“How do you get? Be the most active in terms of traffic over the next week, from tomorrow until 30 October – yes it’s even longer than a week.”

Sen. Sgt Pope continued by saying the competition was not limited to specialist traffic officers, as management could fix that by “weighting various offences” for those who were not “radar qualified”.

“Enter the spirit and have some responsible fun,” he wrote.

Sen. Sgt Pope would not comment on the email.

WA Police Union president Russell Armstrong had not seen the email but said the competition sounded harmless.

He said police were under increasing pressure to meet targets set by the State Government, citing Police Minister Rob Johnson’s aim of one million random breath tests in a year.

“The officers are under an enormous amount of pressure to keep their stats up,” Mr Armstrong said.

“(Pope’s email) seems like it could have just been a bit of fun but hasn’t gone anywhere.”

The computer is a wonderful tool; however when it is placed in the hands of fuckwits the value of the device is questionable. It has allowed wimps and sooks to live out their fantasies in cyber space. They can be big tuff bikers on the web, talk the talk and piss in each other’s pockets but let’s have a look at them in the real world. Here are some quotes from the RAR Buddies post and a bit of background on some of our “keyboard Rambo’s” at the Grunts

Kim Challands

Well Kim is the man who registered their web page. And lives in Victoria, don’t worry Kim I won’t print your address. Kim is typically very brave and tough online, gee he even refers to us as CUNTS. Now Kim is not your typical leather wearing bikie, in fact he is more likely to be found in his tuxedo
singing Frank Sinatra songs with his wife as Duo de Force. Yes big bad Kim is a cabaret singer and more at home on the stage than a motor bike but behind the key board, he is hardcore. Mind you he did shit and play dumb when the boss rang him on the phone.

Pat Spud Cairns

Now Spud here is my classic example of a goose, and that’s not just because of his tastes in Hawaiian shirts. Now Spud will never be a member of the Grunts, he prefers to drive a SAAB convertible, so he is only an associate but he talks it up on the web like the rest. He cracks me up this little four eyed pretender. I love your anti Police comments on the post, being all bad ass that you are, but you just forgot to mention that one of the special deals you are doing with your business this month is “Police Medals” mounted or replaced, little bit of a hypocrite aren’t you Spud. Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone you threatened to call the cops when one of our boys gave you a call on the phone to say hi. You are a pathetic little man.

Well now you know a bit more about the boys behind Grunts MC. Very impressive lot aren’t they. The Grunts were supposed to show up to a QUMC meeting but have been no shows on that front as well. As for the Veterans MC, we just can’t wait to catch up with you “Keyboard Rambo’s”.

My great, great, great grandfather watched as his friends died in the Boer War. My grandfather watched and bled as his friends died in World Wars 1&2. My grandfather watched as his friends & brothers died in the Depression of 32. My father watched as his friends died in Korea . I watched as my friends died in Vietnam, East Timor & Desert Storm. Our sons and daughters watched & bled as their friends died in Afghanistan and Iraq .
None of them died for the Afghanistan and Iraq Flag. Every Australian died for the Australian flag.

At a Victorian high school foreign students raised a Middle East flag on a school flag pole. Australian students took it down. Guess who was expelled…the students who took it down.

West Australian high school students were sent home, because they wore T-shirts with the Australian flag printed on them.

Enough is enough.

This message needs to be viewed by every Australian; and every Australian needs to stand up for Australia . We’ve bent over to appease the Aussie-haters long enough. I’m taking a stand.

I’m standing up because of the hundreds of thousands who died fighting in wars for this country, and for the Australian flag.

And shame on anyone who tries to make this a racist message.

AUSTRALIANS, stop giving away Your RIGHTS!

THIS IS OUR COUNTRY!

This statement DOES NOT mean I’m against immigration!

YOU ARE WELCOME HERE, IN MY COUNTRY, welcome to come legally:

1. Get a sponsor!
2. Learn the LANGUAGE, as immigrants have in the past!
3. Live by OUR rules! Dress as we Australians Do
4. Get a job!
5. Pay YOUR Taxes!
6. No Social Security until you have earned it and Paid for it!
7. NOW find a place to lay your head!

If you don’t want to forward this for fear of offending someone, then YOU’RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!

We’ve gone so far the other way…bent over backwards not to offend anyone.

Only AUSTRALIANS seem to care when Australian Citizens are being offended!

WAKE UP AUSTRALIA!!!

If you do not Pass this on, may your fingers cramp!

Made in AUSTRALIA & DAMN PROUD OF IT!!!!!”
AMEN
Written by Bob Katter

The Attorney General has stated that the Legislation banning bikie club members from associating with each other will be the government’s priority when Parliament resumes next month. He goes on to say that “It is absolutely critical to the law and order agenda of this state,” and “It’s always been a view of the government that bikies are a menace to all citizens of WA and the evidence of that fact just keeps on mounting.”

One must question where this information actually comes from and what impact that “bike clubs” have on average society. Over the past few days the papers and talk back radio have been flooded with callers raising issues about violent incidents that have occurred across the city. People have been stabbed, bashed and threatened on a daily basis by Sudanese street gangs yet there is not one mention of this issue by our Attorney General and his proposed legislation will be useless in dealing with an issue that is effecting more people than bike clubs ever will.

The perception of being tough on law and order has always been a vote winning exercise by governments and that is all this new legislation is. If you are unfortunately a victim of crime, say your house is burgled, car stolen, handbag snatched or bashed by a group of twenty Sudanese youths, guess what….it won’t have been done by a bloke in a bike club. So don’t piss in my pocket about how this crap will make all citizens in WA safer.

VFFV

The footage that started it all for Kevin Spratt.

It was a year Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan would not reflect on fondly.

His son was hospitalised for severe burns after being involved in the illegal manufacture of methyamphetamine, he was publicly questioned over the “unnecessary” Tasering of Kevin Spratt and hints of racism in the police service, forced three of his officers to resign.

Mr O’Callaghan had to front Corruption and Crime Commission in April over the revelations that Mr Spratt had been Tasered 41 times in a single week by his officers and prison guards.

Russell O'Callaghan, son of Police Commissioner Karl.

The CCC had taken over police’s internal inquiry into whether officers used excessive force against Mr Spratt and also required an explanation over why Mr Spratt’s criminal history was put into a flow chart and publicly released.

In the months prior to the CCC hearings, shadow attorney general John Quigley had used Parliamentary privilege to accuse Mr O’Callaghan of being the worst commissioner in the country and providing a flow chart that was a “litany of lies”.

But Mr Quigley was quick to retract his criticism after later meeting with Mr O’Callaghan, who announced he would launch an internal investigation into mistakes made on the flow chart.

Kevin Spratt has been in the headlines over the past 12 months.

An Aboriginal man in a police lock-up was uploaded to Facebook page of John Trenouth.

Mr Spratt had his record expunged by the Supreme Court in February over a conviction for assaulting a public officer, which had been falsely brought about by one of the officers responsible for Tasering Mr Spratt 14 times at the East Perth watch house.

Attorney General Christian Porter said he would be willing to assess a compensation claim, if Mr Spratt’s lawyers lodged one over last year’s East Perth incident.

A police officer, in charge of complaints, said the East Perth Tasering was “one of the worst” he had ever seen and could not be warranted.

In April new footage emerged through the CCC showing Mr Spratt in agony while he was shackled naked in a prison cell for 21 hours.

But sympathy for Mr Spratt waned later this year when he fronted court over threatening to kill an off-duty policeman by grabbing a petrol hose and threatening to light it, while shouting: “I’m Kevin f…ing Spratt… I’m not going down without a fight.”

He later had to be hospitalised for allegedly trying to bite and scratch three Hakea prison staff.

But Mr Spratt’s case appeared not to be in isolation, after WAtoday.com.au revealed a Wiluna senior constable had posted photos of drunk Aboriginal men being held in the local lock-up on his Facebook page.

One humiliating photograph came with the caption: “I wonder if anyone will notice my spray on tan?”

Senior Constable John Trenouth later resigned but no criminal charges were laid, although WAtoday understands that the photographed men have since been compensated over the incident.

Meanwhile a second officer was forced to resign this month after taking shots at a car carrying two women, a pregnant teenager and a three-year-old boy, all of whom were Aboriginal.

Senior constable Niko Westergerling had earlier in the year been convicted of bashing his wife but was reinstated to active duty despite ongoing internal investigations over separate allegations.

He has was charged after internal affairs found “there was no reason” for the discharge of his gun.

But the plot thickened when a car chase by police in a high-speed pursuit was linked back to the car shooting in Nollamara.

Mr Westergerling was fined $5000 by the Perth Magistrate’s Court in December, with his lawyer saying: “This was a bad judgment call. It’s cost him his career.”

The multicultural image of WA police was also not helped by the conviction of a police communications officer, who tried to tip-off a suspected white supremacist at the centre of an ongoing police investigation.

During Senior constable Robert Critchley’s trial it was revealed that he and his Zimbabwean wife had a list of contacts for white supremacist groups and emailed each other, saying: “we thought our views were possibly extreme but these people take heed.”

Mr Critchley denied being racist when he took the stand and said he had friends of all cultures. But a District Court jury found that he had perverted the course of justice by contacting suspected Neo-Nazi Jacob Marshall Hort.

Mr Hort was sentenced last year over a shooting at a Perth mosque. Police have since said that Neo-Nazism in Western Australia was dead.

Mr Critchley had already resigned from WA police prior to his court appearances and he will be sentenced in February.

This seems to put into words what I – and I am sure many others of the silent majority – think! It was written by Mrs Jenny Bell of South Australia to Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott:

To Julia Gillard (Prime Minister) & Tony Abbott (Leader of the Opposition) …

You BOTH Worry me ! ( In fact both of your Political parties worry the hell out of me !!!)

Over the last three years, I find myself becoming more and more fearful of the pair of you, and between you, you are turning this country into a place that I no longer feel at home in, or feel a part of! I watch you in parliament, and no, not just the two of you, but every politician that I see, stand up in parliament sneering at each other, and acting like children !!! (..and if you were my children, I would be ashamed of you all … What an example to set!)

Although you would like us all to believe that you are putting the needs of this country at the forefront, NEITHER of you are doing that, you seem more interested in “one-up-manship “, in scoring off each other, & denigrating each other, to the detriment of this country & its people !!!
It seems to be all about YOU as individuals, and not about what you can DO for this country !
It is fast becoming a place that I do not recognize, as the place I always thought, was the best place in the world to be !!!

But no longer !!!

You are not listening to the people of this country !!!
And here in South Australia , your counterparts are afflicted with the same disease – is it endemic in all politicians ?

I am watching the deterioration of living standards in this country, (and according to you, on a world stage we are doing better than most countries .. REALLY ???) … And yet the gap is widening between the “haves” and the “have-nots” . I see our homeless on the streets, our hospitals under-funded, and understaffed, our health system is an absolute mess and a disgrace … And yet I see multi-millions of dollars being sent off shore, in aid to other countries, before attending to this country’s needs !

I see the “selling off of the farm”, in large amounts, to foreign interests, (In Every State ) including water rights to foreign interests too …. And WHY…?
Especially when you go to great lengths to tell us that water is a finite resource, & supposedly, we must ALL be careful with how we use it, so that we ensure we have it for the future ?

Foreign interests “Fracking” for coal seam gas, and riding rough shod over farmers’ rights to their own land, AND USING QUESTIONABLE CHEMICALS. (You don’t even KNOW what chemicals they use), and possibly causing damage to the water table in the process !!!
And those foreign interests I believe, do NOT have to pay anything in royalties back to this country, for the first five years of their tenure … IS THIS CORRECT ???

A Carbon Tax,( which you KNOW is just another tax with a “Starting Point dollar value”) which will make NO appreciable difference, to carbon emissions, AT ALL!

A tax, which in spite of all your arguments FOR it, you are doing alone, when other major countries will NOT & DO NOT embrace it, or believe in it !
All that it will do for this country is put working families and small businesses behind the eight ball, …..what planet are you on, if you think that your few hundred dollars a year, will make even a scrap of difference to the effect of the carbon tax on people ?Blind Freddy can see the holes in that argument !!! Do you really think we are that dumb ???

The CONVOY OF NO CONFIDENCE was real !!! ..and I haven’t spoken to even ONE person, who would not have liked to be there if they could, but the tyranny of distance and /or work was the only thing that kept them away, ( myself included ), .. and you KNOW that only a part of the convoy was actually allowed to be in front of Parliament house and ON VIEW … the rest were streets away, unreported by the media !

For Mr Albanese to stand up in parliament, and call it “THE CONVOY OF NO CONSEQUENCE “, in his sneering tone, shows just how out of touch with the people of Australia , you really are !!!! WE WOULD HAVE ALL LIKED TO BE THERE !!!

DEFENCE …….. Because Americans are our Allies, and we support them in Wars, ……… Korea , Vietnam , Iraq , Afghanistan , ….. and you have sent our soldiers to those places, and our soldiers fought for you, and for Australia …….. some coming home with terrible physical injuries, and some with devastating Mental Injuries as well ….. BUT WHERE ARE YOU, WHEN THEY NEED YOU ?????

Veteran’s Indexation to CPI only is a disgrace … and is something YOUR Labor party Julia, used as an election sweetener, to get the Veteran’s Vote …. BUT YOU LIED (Again) ! You never had any intention of honouring your election promise to them … and it WILL come back to bite you at the next election !!!! (And Tony, Liberals were NO BETTER, Howard had more than 10 years to “fix it ” and didn’t !)

Veterans are not alone, they have families, friends and supporters, who are heartily sick of the deception your party perpetrated on them ….AND THEY ALL VOTE !!!!

THEY are your obligation, first and foremost ….. and it is not your first obligation to give aid to every man and his dog overseas first !!! Look after your own FIRST !!!! Is this what you call SALUTING THEIR SERVICE ???

Have you any idea , how sickening it is for our Vets to see you both, ( Labor or Liberal ) turn up to the funerals of our current young vets for a photo opportunity, to be seen to be “caring ” in the public eye, but only to turn your backs on them all, when they need you ??? (Just ask Breanna Till an Afghanistan Soldier’s wife, how CARING this government is !!!)

And in light of what you DON’T do for our Vets …….Let’s talk about Multiculturalism ……People have come here from other countries, for a better life, for more years than I have been alive ( I am 65 years old !) … my own family migrated here in 1883, from Germany , and did find a better life …
Pre & Post war immigrants have came for a better life, and settled in and became wonderful contributors to this country, as did those who came here after the Vietnam War, … all have contributed to the rich diversity of this country, and some descendants have even fought FOR this country, and they have become Australians and were glad to be ..and they had NO handouts from our Government either, …they worked hard for everything!

I have never before had a problem with all, or any, race of immigrants coming here …

…….However , I DO NOW !!!

Please tell me why we have areas like Lakemba, where police do NOT, & will NOT go, for fear of their life ?
Please tell me why we can no longer have religion in schools, for fear of “OFFENDING” someone ? (The latest little gem is that they are not having, or being funded, for “chaplains ” any more , but “Counsellors “?)
Please tell me why religious Christmas observances are no longer allowed in some schools for fear of OFFENDING someone ?
Please tell me HOW Christmas decorations in some stores might OFFEND someone ?
Please tell me why we have to have segregated days in some swimming centres, for fear of “OFFENDING” someone ?
Please tell me why we have some RADICAL clerics demanding Sharia Law in this country … when if we were in THEIR country, this would NEVER be allowed ?
Please tell me why our laws need to be changed, so as not to OFFEND someone ?
Please tell me why we are fast becoming a MINORITY voice, in our own country, because of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ?
Please tell me WHY Australians cannot legally wear a face covering bike helmet into a bank ..and yet it is ok to wear a Burqa which covers the whole face ?
And please tell me WHY, when those people who want asylum here, can wreck our detention centres, as in Villawood , and STILL be accepted here ?

SO , in light of the above, WILL BOTH OF YOU ……Please tell me WHY, when some of our Vietnam Veterans FINALLY received (in the last 6 months) the recognition that they should have had after the Vietnam War, (and which they received from the USA & South Vietnam, during and immediately after the Vietnam War), that the families of those Veterans, were refused assistance by this Government, to attend that award ceremony, and yet this Government ….flew , accommodated , and even took on bus tours , to the the families of asylum seekers, after the funerals of those who were killed in the boat which sunk off Christmas Island ?

What does that say, about just who are this government’s priorities ?

The Australian people that I speak to have genuine concerns about becoming a second class minority in our own country, and the reasons for it, are some of the above, ….. Are you so blind that you cannot see this ?

And no , I am NOT racist !!!..(if I did not like Catholics or Protestants would I be considered racist ?) Of course not !

Why is it, that if we object to what is happening in our country … we are immediately labelled RACIST, in an attempt to shut us up ?

We are fighting Radical Muslims, in Afghanistan & Iraq , are we not ?I hear you say, yes but the Muslims we have here are “Not like that ” .. well how would we know ? …do we hear ANY of them coming out & speaking AGAINST radicals ?? I haven’t …have you ???

Islam is not compatible with ANY of the values that we hold here in Australia ! …..Are not the experiences of Britain , France , and the Netherlands an example of that? Why do you think it would be any different here ? We even have an Australian born “radical “, whose message is that Australia WILL become a Muslim country, under Sharia Law, & that we had “better get used to it “.

Will both of you grow some “Balls “, and start sticking up for this country and its people ???

We are the people who put you where you are, and PAY you to look after our interests ! … And you are NOT doing that, by any stretch of the imagination !!!

I would appreciate an answer, from both of you, if only to convince me that once again, I am not talking to a brick wall !!!!!

In case it has escaped both of you …I would like to remind you that, in Australia the Government … is FOR THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE, & BY THE PEOPLE …
never forget that……because you sure have up till now !!!

Mrs Jenny Bell