in the meantime

The Corby case has brought to light another, reversed. On the radio this morning I heard of a Japanese tourist charged with drug smuggling in Oz, found guilty, and finally shipped back to Japan, where she’s been freed and has been trying ever since to clear her name. Apparently it’s big news over there and two books have been written about the case, which, guess what, involves baggage handlers, innocence ‘traduced’, claims of racist bias, etc etc. Never heard of the case before – who’s reporting it here?

The ACTU seems to be quite happy with the latest, and apparently the last, negotiated rise in the basic minimum wage ($17), decided upon by the Industrial Relations Commission. From now on, it seems, minimum wages will be regulated by a ‘Fair Pay Commission’, which the ACTU considers will be a purely political institution of Orwellian hypocrisy. David Murray of the Democrats rightly, I think, argues that such a commission will seek to ensure that the minimum wage never rises again across the board as it has done in the past.

I’ve been following the Eugene McGee Royal Commission with half an ear, and of course it’s been a pleasure. Michael Jacobs of the Adelaide Review has been excellent in his coverage. It really does seem that McGee’s reputation as a heavyweight has clouded the pursuit of truth and justice in this case, at least from the police perspective. And now the famous expert evidence is being roundly questioned, and some basic issues, somehow overlooked in the actual trial, are being scrutinised. Some lawyers have suggested that the Rann government is seeking to undermine the jury system, but of course juries can only adjudge the evidence before them. The problem here seems more to be the adversarial system. Wouldn’t it be great if lawyers were paid to use their analytical skills to arrive at the truth?

One of the more interesting developments on the domestic political front is the fact that DIMIA is under siege. The scandals just keep on coming. A possible cover-up re Cornelia Rau’s identity as an Oz citizen. No help being offered to discarded Oz citizen, the soi-disant Vivian Solon, in her return to Oz and rehabilitation, suggestions and allegations that this is just the tip of the iceberg, etc etc. It all points to a pervasive atmosphere of intolerance and insensitivity. Margo Kingston is scathing about it. The question to be asked is, how did it all go wrong, and who’s responsible? I’d like to blame Ruddock, but that could quite possibly be prejudice on my part. I don’t have the inner knowledge, really, to point to anyone in particular.

Margo ends a bit purplishly (with rose tints):

The poet Shelley wrote that life, like a dome of many-coloured glass, stains the white radiance of eternity. There was a radiance about Australia’s immigration policies at one time. DIMIA is not radiant now; it’s whitewashed. It’s time it was given the many colours of life through the examination of conscience and the revelation of truth.

To translate: let’s have a full and frank public enquiry.