Secrecy Demanded by the Queensland Elite

It's their accustomed modus operandi.  Mustn't let the peasants know what is happening

Queensland’s allegedly leak-prone Attorney General is threatening the independence of the state’s judiciary, an influential Australian body for barristers said on Saturday, amid mounting calls for Jarrod Bleijie to resign.

Australian Bar Association president Mark Livesey QC joined a rapidly growing chorus of legal fraternity discord in Mr Bleijie, questioning the Attorney General’s suitability for the job following allegations he has repeatedly leaked details of confidential conversations to media outlets.

Mr Bleijie declined to comment on the leak allegations or rising resignation pressure on Saturday.

In a stinging attack, Mr Livesey said the process that led to the appointment of Tim Carmody as the state’s Chief Justice had lost him the support of the vast majority of the legal fraternity.

“The present position is untenable”, Mr Livesey said.

“The Attorney General of Queensland must consider whether the breakdown in trust can be repaired – if confidentiality in the judicial appointment process cannot be assured he must reconsider whether he can continue in his position.”

Mr Livesey’s comments came soon after the resignation of Queensland Bar Association president Ian Davis QC, who said he believed a conversation he had with Mr Bleijie on June 3 involving a discussion of Judge Carmody’s potential appointment had been leaked.

Mr Livesey supported Mr Davis’ move.

“On Friday, Davis QC explained his belief that what he had said in confidence to the Attorney General and a member of his staff had been passed on inaccurately and that the Bar’s right to issue practising certificates was threatened,” he said.

“It is regrettable that Davis QC felt it necessary to resign.

“His frustration about the process and the threat made to the Bar is understandable. His principled stance is supported by barristers across Australia."

Mr Davis also received  the support of the Queensland Law Society on Friday.

President Ian Brown also expressed concern about Mr Bleijie allegedly leaking information.

“We are deeply concerned by the matters raised by Mr Davis QC in the notice announcing his resignation to members of the Bar Association of Queensland, particularly relating to confidentiality,” he said.

“What is of the utmost importance is the preservation of the integrity of the judiciary and our system of justice.”

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk accused the Attonrey General of leaking confidential correspondence she had sent him addressing suitable candidates for the Chief Justice Role in May.

In addition to the conversation with Mr Davis, Mr Bleijie is also alleged to have leaked details of a confidential conversation with Justice Margaret McMurdo.

“I think Queenslanders should be very concerned because no-one in this state can have a conversation with the Attorney General, a private conversation they believe is being kept confidential, because he will leak it,” she said.

“This government is more interested in leaking than listening.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the drastic resignation protest action taken by Mr Davis, a highly respected member of the Queensland Bar Association, reflected, “a fundamental breach of confidentiality”.

In a statement, the Attorney-General’s office denied leaking Ms Palaszczuk’s letter to the media.

“While nothing came from the Attorney-General or his office, Annastacia Palaszczuk breached confidentiality when she publicly disclosed her recommendations for Chief Justice during a press conference on May 7, 2014,” the statement read.

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More on the Manus Is. riots

Hard to get past the big media filter that protects illegals

This (unaltered) eyewitness information below was made available to the ABC, it was ignored. Other eyewitness information in a previous post was also made available to the ABC... it too was ignored:

Hi Larry,

The reason I am messaging you is in relation to the riots on Manus Islands.

Your article about Berati was spot on. I'm going to list in point form a few things about the day the rioting happened.

* Berati was the main instigator
* Illegals from iran make up about 90% of the detainees there and stick together. This means they can bully, rape and attack the smaller groups within the camp.
* Berati was caught on a number of occasions raping and abusing boys and men within the camp.
* Berati and his gang of thugs would always antagonise the local guards and police.
* On the day of the riot the mob had amassed in the yard and were giving it to the locals & guards.
* One of the detainees mooned a local police officer through the fence and was shot in the Arse.
* Once the mob started throwing condoms at the guards and police, all hell broke loose.
*All non local staff were evacuated from the camp as it is against the law for them to get physical with the detainees.
*The fence was knocked down and the local guards and police charged the compound. Uniforms were handed out to locals to join in the melee. Basically if you were black you got a shirt and were told to run in and fight.
* Berati was targeted. They spotted him and went after him. He was never getting out alive, much to the relief of the locals and the detainees that had been raped by the scumbag.
* There was another instigator i'm unsure what his name was, but he was a Midget from Iran. When the locals caught him, they held him up like a trophy and paraded him around the yard.

That is the bulk of exciting stuff that happened during the riots.

Some other interesting points from inside the camps:

* Everyone has internet access and uses facebook.
* They join groups that have been set up by greenies and do gooders.
* On many occasions these greenies have been feeding the detainees information about what to do and how to get resettles in Aus.
* More than once people have posted instructions to burn the camps down, and that if there are no camps then they will have to be resettled in Aus.
* No one actually goes on Hunger strike, its all a big show. One overweight inmate went on hunger strike but actually put on weight. His mates were sneaking him food from the mess hall.
* If a detainee decides to go back home. We send them back with $2-3k american for their troubles.
* Many of the boats that did come started off with women and children as well as men. They arrived in Aus with just Men on board. Apparently the women and children were raped, killed and thrown overboard. Common Occurrance.

I hope this has been enlightening, I'm sure you already knew most of this. Have a great day and keep up the good work.

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Julia Gillard’s ex-boyfriend Bruce Wilson gets a lawyer for free at the royal commission into trades unions

TAXPAYERS are funding former Australian Workers Union official Bruce Wilson’s legal fees at the royal commission into trades unions.

Mr Wilson has been represented by barrister Dr Kristine Hanscomb as he has denied allegations before the inquiry that he used union slush fund money to pay for renovations at the home of his ex-girlfriend, former prime minister Julia Gillard, in the 1990s when he was a union official.

As the union corruption inquiry prepares to shift focus to Health Services Union whistleblower Kathy Jackson, Mr Wilson’s Melbourne solicitor Alex Lewenberg yesterday said Mr Wilson, who is now a cook near Port Stephens, enjoyed a year’s free legal advice arranged through pro-bono group Justice Connect.

The group specialises in helping not-for-profit organisations and has helped asylum seekers, children in detention and a transsexual prisoner seeking hormone therapy to get legal representation.

Mr Lewenberg said: “We have now applied to the commonwealth government for the money and the authority to pay comes from the Attorney-General’s Department.”

But the legal representation is limited to preparing for and appearing at the commission and covers no investigation work towards his case. Mr Lewenberg refused to say what it was worth but it is estimated to run into thousands of dollars.

The commission into union malpractice this week is expected to hear allegations that HSU official Kathy Jackson used $1 million of union funds to pay off her credit card.

It was Ms Jackson who made allegations of financial wrongdoing at the union which helped put HSU NSW General Secretary Michael Williamson behind bars and expose Labor MP Craig Thomson’s misuse of union funds to pay for porn and prostitutes.

But counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Stoljar said a number of allegations had emerged against Ms Jackson in recent weeks. These include claims she used HSU bank cheques to withdraw $220,000 in cash between 2007 and 2010 and was involved in a slush fund. It is also alleged that unauthorised payments from the HSU’s No. 3 branch were made to a bank account she controlled.

She has previously dismissed allegations she used her union credit card to pay for personal items including shoes, makeup, French champagne, a ski trip and a room at Las Vegas’s Bellagio hotel.

Ms Jackson remains the HSU’s honorary national secretary but has been on stress leave for almost two years.

Mr Stoljar said the inquiry would examine how the corruption in the union was allowed to flourish and why it was not detected earlier.

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Unesco to rule on Tasmanian forest and Great Barrier Reef

An Australian plan to chop down 74,000 hectares of protected Tasmanian forest for timber will be discussed at a UN cultural organisation meeting which begins on Sunday in Qatar.

The Tasmanian forest is part of a Unesco World Heritage Site, but the Australian government wants this status revoked so logging can begin.  Thousands of people in Tasmania protested against the move on Saturday.

The government says the area is degraded as it has been logged before.

If the bid succeeds, Australia would become the first developed nation to have reversed the protected status of a forest on economic grounds.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has championed the cause of the timber industry, which employs more than 66,000 people.

The opposition Greens party has labelled him a "dig it up, cut it down prime minister".

Wilderness Society spokesman Vica Bayley said: "Logging World Heritage forests is as reckless as destroying any other World Heritage site, like using the Grand Canyon as a garbage dump, knocking down the Sydney Opera House for harbourside apartments or selling the Eiffel Tower for scrap."

Another protected Australian site, the Great Barrier Reef, is also on the agenda of Unesco's World Heritage Committee meeting in Doha.

Canberra hopes to deter Unesco from downgrading the reef to "endangered status" because of pollution-linked deterioration.

Australian officials say that industrial chemical pollution levels at the reef have fallen significantly because of better agricultural and industrial practices.

However, critics say approval for a project to dump dredged sediment in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park as part of a project to create one of the world's biggest coal ports presents a serious threat to the reef. Scientists have warned that the sediment could smother or poison coral.

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