Muslims seek restraining order on hardline cleric



MUSLIM leaders in Canberra will take out a restraining order against a hardline cleric who is accused of inciting violence and "anti-Western" sentiment among his followers. The move by the Islamic society of ACT to ban Sheik Mohammed Swaiti from Canberra's Abu Bakr Mosque comes after a Muslim leader was bashed by a group of the cleric's supporters.

The council's secretary, Kurt Kennedy, yesterday told The Australian he was set upon by nine men aged in their 20s, including Palestinian-born Sheik Swaiti's son, at the mosque's front entrance last Friday. The bashing followed the council's decision to remove the imam from his position as the mosque's spiritual head. Mr Kennedy had announced Sheik Swaiti would no longer deliver Friday sermons.

Shortly after the announcement Sheik Swaiti stood in front of his worshippers and screamed "I am the imam of the mosque, I will be here until the day I die", Islamic Society of ACT vice-president Mohammed Berjaoui said yesterday. Mr Kennedy, 35, who was pushed and threatened by Sheik Swaiti's followers inside the mosque following his announcement, was beaten up while waiting for a lift home. He was treated for cuts on his face and head at Canberra Hospital. "There was a lot of blood coming out of the cut across my left eye-brow," said Mr Kennedy, who converted to Islam 11 years ago. "What sort of teaching (has Swaiti) been doing to raise young children like this?"

Mr Berjaoui yesterday said his organisation would this week seek a restraining order against Sheik Swaiti, who is being investigated over claims he failed to pay income tax on thousands of dollars he allegedly received from the Saudi Embassy. "We will ban the imam and his followers from coming to the mosque," Mr Berjaoui said. "Our aim is to take out a restraining order, because he's the one who is inciting violence."

The Islamic council's push to replace Sheik Swaiti with a full-time moderate Turkish-born imam, Yahya Atay, came after The Weekend Australian reported last month that Sheik Swaiti praised mujahideen (Muslim holy warriors) in his sermon. A defiant Sheik Swaiti, who works full time at the Australian Tax Office, rejected the council's notice to vacate his office by last Friday, Mr Berjaoui said.

The Pakistani embassy in Canberra backed Sheik Swaiti to stay on as spiritual leader in a letter obtained by The Australian. The council wrote back to the Pakistani embassy advising it against meddling in community affairs. Council president Sabrija Poskovic wrote to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, urging action against the embassy. Mr Berjaoui accused Sheik Swaiti of preventing Canberra's Muslim community from integrating into the mainstream.

Sheik Swaiti has been spiritual leader at Abu Bakr mosque, which is run by the Islamic Society of ACT, for 13 years. The tax office, which refused to comment on its inquiry into Sheik Swaiti, is investigating allegations that he failed to declare clerical allowances of up to $US30,000 ($36,000) a year, allegedly paid to him by the Saudi Government's Dawah (donations) Office.

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Refugee craziness

As if we don't already have enough trouble with the high rate of crime and welfare dependancy among Sudanese refugees. And at least the Sudanese were mostly real refugees -- unlike the Haitian economic emigrants

On La Gonave, few people even know where Australia is. But it has become the talk of the Haitian island since Canberra signed a deal with the United States last month to swap refugees. The US and Australian governments agreed to exchange Cuban and Haitian refugees held at the US naval base at Guantanamo in Cuba for refugees detained by Australia on the Pacific island of Nauru. The deal only covers migrants who have been given official refugee status because they have a proven fear of persecution, and was aimed at deterring people-smuggling. Under the agreement, some refugees who had wanted to go to Australia could end up in the United States, and some who had hoped to reach Miami could end up in Sydney.

The pact could spur more Haitians to flee their impoverished and unstable Caribbean homeland in the misguided hope of being resettled in Australia, critics say, increasing the chance of disasters at sea like Friday's, in the Turks and Caicos islands, when dozens of Haitians drowned after their sloop capsized. An exodus may already be happening. The US Coast Guard intercepted or rescued 704 Haitians trying to reach the United States by sea in April, compared to just five in March. That is almost as many in one month as the 769 Haitians the Coast Guard stopped at sea in all of 2006.

On La Gonave, only a few residents say they have a clue where Australia is located on a world map. But many have heard of the Australian-US refugee deal. "I don't know where it is, but they told me Australia is a rich country," said Virginie Saint-Clair, 28. "I think if a Haitian like me gets there, life will be better," said Saint-Clair declining to say whether she was ready to attempt the dangerous sea crossing to Florida.

Many of La Gonave's 110,000 inhabitants have relatives in the United States or have tried to get there themselves over the past two decades. "If I have the possibility I will take my chance," said Jean Leonard, who lives in the La Gonave port of Anse-A-Galets. "We Haitians have the strength to work and we'll make our way wherever on the earth there is life." Ti Lundi, 34, who called himself "Met lanme", meaning "Master of the sea" in Creole, said he had tried to get to the United States before and would now try again. "Maybe it is going to be my last try," he said.

US policy toward Haitian migrants has not changed despite the Australian deal. Few Haitians would likely be entitled to be recognised as official refugees fleeing persecution. The vast majority are simply looking to leave the hemisphere's poorest country for a better life. But Haiti's Minister for Haitians Living Abroad Jean Geneus said that message wasn't getting through. "Those (people) smugglers who organise clandestine trips to the US might be misleading people about this agreement," Geneus said. "The population, which is not really aware of the situation, might be tricked."

Human rights groups have criticised the US-Australian refugee swap. New York-based Human Rights Watch said it amounted to bargaining human lives while Amnesty International said it feared families could end up being separated. Haiti's Fusion for the Social Democrats party regarded the measure as immoral, said spokesman Micha Gaillard. "It is immoral because it is a lure and a trap for people who are led to believe there is a third country solution, when it is not the case," Gaillard said. US embassy officials in Port-au-Prince were not available for comment.

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Leftist hatred of business still getting them into trouble

A FRESH rift has opened within Labor ranks over workplace relations policy, with senior frontbencher Lindsay Tanner telling former prime minister Paul Keating to butt out of the debate. The brawl came as the Government fended off claims that tips or free pizzas would be counted as fair compensation for workers losing penalty rates under the new Work Choices fairness test to come into effect today.

The Coalition is under attack from unions and Labor for a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to sell its backflip on Australian Workplace Agreements announced on Friday. Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey last night fired the latest salvo in a vitriolic election-year battle, claiming ACTU president Sharan Burrow was "grumpy" because she had not been given a safe Labor seat like ACTU secretary Greg Combet.

As Labor tries to revive its reputation with business, Mr Tanner, the Opposition finance spokesman, targeted Mr Keating. Last week, the former prime minister challenged the right of US-born BHP Billiton chief executive Chip Goodyear - who has spearheaded business criticism of Labor's pledge to scrap AWAs - to speak out on social equity. "We don't need Americans here telling us about social equity ... There is no sense of social equity in the United States," Mr Keating told ABC radio.

Mr Tanner described Mr Keating's outburst as one of a series of "unfortunate interventions". "I'd have to say (Mr Keating's) comments about Chip Goodyear didn't help," Mr Tanner told the Ten Network's Meet the Press. "Chip Goodyear is an outstanding CEO of a great Australian company and we'll treat his views on these issues very seriously but on their merits, not on his birthplace or accent but on what he's actually got to say." Mr Tanner is the first senior frontbencher to publicly criticise Mr Keating. It comes as Labor reels from a business backlash over the plan to scrap AWAs. This was exacerbated last week when Labor's deputy leader and workplace relations spokeswoman, Julia Gillard, warned business could get "injured" if it entered the political fray. Ms Gillard played down the comments, saying she had "mangled" a football analogy.

Mr Hockey said Ms Burrow was wrong to claim that tips or free pizzas could be counted as fair compensation for traded-off conditions under the "no-disadvantage" test to apply to workers on less then $75,000 a year negotiating AWAs. "Sharan Burrow is grumpy because she is the only union boss Kevin Rudd hasn't parachuted into a safe Labor seat," he said. Mr Hockey said that in most cases workers would receive monetary compensation if they traded away penalty rates. "It is also important to retain some flexibility where employers would like to receive non-monetary benefits such as childcare, computers and car spaces," he said.

Mr Burrow said the new IR laws had so many holes that the safety net was a "farce". "It appears that workers can still easily lose penalty rates, overtime pay and other award entitlements under the new IR laws," she said. "For example, it looks possible for employers to offer workers in cafes, restaurants and fast food outlets a share of customer tips, free pizza or leftover food." She said unions had found workers in video shops being given free videos instead of wages to meet the Government's previous no-disadvantage test. "Also, would the two cents an hour extra that Spotlight workers received for losing their penalty rates be seen as sufficient compensation under the new fairness test?"

Mr Hockey said it was not up to the employer to decide fair compensation. "That decision will be make by the independent umpire, the Workplace Authority."

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Another boondoggle

Railways are 19th century technology and are best at making losses these days. Upgrading the road system would be a better use of the money. And this comes right after the Darwin railway fiasco

An ambitious plan to revive regional Australia by building a Melbourne-to-Brisbane inland rail link has been given the green light, with tomorrow's federal budget to provide a $120 million down payment on the "steel Mississippi".

Peter Costello will also announce a $350 million boost to expand dental services for mainly low-income people - and an $80 million plan to boost dental training in the bush - as part of a big spending budget aimed at halting Labor's election surge. With the Treasury swimming in tax revenues - and John Howard desperate to counter claims he has lost touch with ordinary voters - families will receive tax relief while childcare funding will be boosted....

But the budget is also designed to shore-up Coalition support in the bush to fend off an expected strong election challenge by independent candidates. The $120 million for the inland rail link will be used to prepare a final engineering and economic study of the project, which its backers argue will revitalise the regional economy and provide a much more efficient freight route for exports.

The funding will also be used for land acquisition along the proposed rail corridor, which would run from Melbourne via the Riverina, up through inland NSW to the freight hub of Parkes and then up to Toowoomba, before turning east to Brisbane.

The budget injection - which dwarfs the only other commonwealth contribution, of just $20million - follows strong lobbying of fellow cabinet ministers by Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Mark Vaile. In what would be one of the country's biggest engineering feats, the rail scheme would cost billions of dollars and need the support of private financiers such as Macquarie Bank.

The brainchild of Brisbane-based Everald Compton, the project had been shopped around Canberra for the past decade. Until now though it had failed to receive serious financial support. With impeccable political connections, the 76-year-old Mr Compton is the chairman of the influential National Seniors Association. He formed Australian Transport and Energy Corridor Ltd to pursue the plan of building an inland railway, which he originally envisaged would link Melbourne to Darwin. During the past several years, he forged a close relationship with Mr Howard and Mr Vaile - both of whom have backed the rail project.

It would form part of a much larger infrastructure program for road and rail, through the AusLink II program. As revealed by The Australian, Mr Costello will tomorrow confirm that the five-year infrastructure program will cost just over $19billion, and kick in from 2009 when the current scheme comes to an end.

Although Labor has backed the use of public funds to boost national infrastructure, the Coalition is likely to face criticism that its support for the inland rail project is merely a sop to the Nationals before a tough election campaign.

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