Communist Party member prostituted her daughters

Communists reject "bourgeois morality"

A prominent writer has revealed that playwright and feminist Dorothy Hewett asked him at a 1970s conference: “Aren’t you going to f..k my daughters?’’

This extraordinary conversation reportedly occurred when Hewett’s elder daughter, Kate ­Lilley, was 15, and her younger daughter, Rozanna Lilley, was 13.

Then aged in his 30s, the writer told Hewett: “I’m not interested in f..king children.’’ To which Hewett replied: “You’re the only one around here who isn’t.’’

The writer describes this unsettling exchange in a letter he sent to Kate Lilley this week, following allegations unveiled by The Weekend Australian that Hewett “encouraged” and “facilitated” her daughters’ early sexualisation in the predatory 1970s arts scene.

Kate, a poet and an associate professor of English at Sydney University, said last week that during the 70s, her family’s home in Sydney’s east was “unbearable’’ and “as an acquaintance says — like a brothel without payment … There were constantly men staying in the house and hardly any man came to the house who didn’t try to have sex with one or more of us.”

Yesterday she said the exchange between her mother and the writer would have taken place at the 1976 National Playwrights Conference in Canberra, where her mother’s play, The Golden ­Oldies, was being workshopped.

The writer said in his letter: “I wasn’t shocked (by Hewett’s question). I just thought that Dorothy was simply encouraging you (Kate) to rebel against the mores of the time.

“Merv (Lilley, Kate’s father) was at the conference, so he must have been complicit. Two old lefties, I thought, still trying to liberate society, starting with their daughters.’’

Kate confirmed she did not sleep with this writer, but had ­underage sex with a director at the playwriting conference, who was also in his 30s.

She said she found the letter “brutal”, as the writer “thought nothing of it (her mother’s question). That is exactly the kind of salacious conversation that went on,’’ she said.

Although the letter writer was “saddened” to read about the negative effects of the abuse Kate and Rozanna suffered, Kate said that ultimately “I didn’t take the letter as a gesture of support … it was just another person saying don’t damage your mother’s reputation’’.

The writer, now in his 70s, went on to say that “as a result of (The Weekend Australian’s) ­article, Dorothy’s reputation as a writer may be harmed” and “this would be our loss’’.

The letter has come to light as divisions within Hewett’s ­family widen over the abuse allegations. Kate and Rozanna’s half-brother, Joe Flood, and his ex-wife, Adele Flood, said they were distressed and angry about the claims, and remember Hewett as being “kind” and “supportive” ­towards all her children.

In contrast, Kate has alleged that a visiting poet who raped her at her family’s home when she was 15, went on to have relationships with her mother and sister.

She and Rozanna also alleged that well-known artists Bob Ellis, Martin Sharp and David Hamilton assaulted, exploited or had underage sex with them.

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Muslim ghettoes forming in Australia as white residents flee

Demographic shifts driven by Australia’s immigration program threaten to lock Sydney’s western suburbs and parts of Melbourne into a bleak future, as low-income ethnic clusters struggle to cope with congestion and social dislocation, experts warn.

Large numbers of new arrivals who have difficulty finding work have poured into Sydney’s west, according to census-based research commissioned by The Weekend Australian.

“Uncompromisingly direct” evidence from the research confirms an exodus of affluent locals from western Sydney is occurring at an equally significant rate.

Over five years to 2016, according to the research conducted by The Weekend Australian’s columnist and demographer Bernard Salt, up to two-thirds of the 266,000 new arrivals in Sydney’s western suburbs were not Australian-born and had a “non-Anglo heritage”.

Of those who departed over the same period, 63 per cent of the 183,000 total were Australian-born and a further 5 per cent were born in Britain or New Zealand.

Melbourne is experiencing a similar pattern, though not as intense, reflecting cheaper housing as more land is opened up in outlying suburbs.

Debate over migrant enclaves was reignited last month when NSW Labor leader Luke Foley spoke out about “white flight” from a middle-ring of Sydney suburbs “where many Anglo families have moved out”.

While pressured to apologise for using the term “white flight” — first coined in the US to describe white residents leaving in ­response to inflows of African-Americans — Mr Foley said he was empathising with migrants in the west who were denied jobs and other opportunities that were taken for granted elsewhere.

He named Fairfield, Guildford, Granville, Yennora, Sefton and Regents Park — some of which fall in his electorate of Auburn — as suburbs with a high concentration of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge raised concerns about the social integration of “parallel” Asian and Middle Eastern migrant communities this week when he flagged government plans for a mandatory basic English requirement for all new permanent ­residents.

Mr Tudge said research showed a lack of English language skills among migrants had contributed to social fragmentation. He cited suburbs where one in three could not speak English well, or at all.

Bob Birrell, head of the Australian Population Research Institute, said evidence proved Mr Foley was right about population movements in the western suburbs, even if his choice of phrase was politically unfortunate. “It’s a real phenomenon,” Dr Birrell said.

He said cheaper housing was forcing migrants west, and prompting an outflow of residents who no longer recognised their suburb and could afford to move. The only immediate solution to “take the heat” out of ­population stress, he said, was to cut back on overseas migration.

Mayor of Fairfield Frank Carbone said migration to his area was so rapid that services were falling behind.

Mr Carbone said Fairfield took 7000 Syrian refugees in a short time, over and above the general intake of 1000, following former prime minister Tony Abbott’s decision to accept Syrian Christians dislocated by civil war.

As a consequence, he said, Fairfield had the highest household occupancy rate and highest unemployment jump in the nation. Migrants who could not find work were forced to stay with family or others they knew, compounding the population concentration.

“The government may have stopped the boats — but they put them on buses to Fairfield,” Mr Carbone said.

“All I’m saying is that the federal government has a responsibility — I’m not critical of refugees coming here but we have to make sure our existing resources are not strained beyond what we can cope with. Fairfield has done the heavy lifting for the nation.”

While Mr Carbone said he disagreed with Mr Foley’s use of language, the NSW Opposition Leader had raised valid issues. “What’s pushing people out is the strain on resources,” he said.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s state budget, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the state government did not control immigration, because it was a federal matter. He said the state’s challenge was to deliver the right infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population. “There is no doubt some pressure is being felt by this growth,” he said.

Mr Foley argues that more planning is needed in the west for transport, education and employment opportunities.

Writing in The Weekend Australian today, Salt says Australian cities do not have the racial mix of US cities, but do have large concentrations of Anglo and non-Anglo popula­tions that cluster. Across urban Sydney, 39 per cent of the population was born outside Australia — compared with 29 per cent in greater New York, Paris (22 per cent), Berlin (13 per cent) Tokyo (2 per cent) and Shanghai (1 per cent).

“No other nation, and few other developed-world cities … ­accommodate the scale of immigration that is right now being ­injected into Australia’s biggest city,” Salt writes.

The influx of migrants to Sydney’s west — in Fairfield, Liverpool, Canterbury-Bankstown and Parramatta — has placed enormous strain on services that have not kept pace with population growth. But these areas face other problems. While the in-shifting cohort is more likely than locals to have a tertiary qualification, a lack of jobs awaits them, fuelling overall economic decline with low incomes and poverty encouraging some ethnic groups to shut themselves off further from the wider community. At the same time, better-off ­locals — mainly Australian-born but also financially successful migrants — have moved out to areas including the Hills Shire (16,100), Campbelltown (11,000), Camden (9800) and the central coast (9000).

Dr Birrell said that, just as ­arriving migrants found their living circumstances difficult, “Anglo” locals experienced strains because sudden high concentrations of newcomers with non-English-speaking backgrounds and different cultures led to noticeable changes in the composition of schools, clubs, civic associations and shopping areas. Residents often no longer recognised their suburb, and felt uncomfortable.

Schools figured as a “big” issue motivating departures, Dr Birrell said. A 60 to 70 per cent influx of migrants could greatly alter cultural concentration in the classroom. “Anglo” parents sought schools outside the area with more familiar settings. Dr Birrell said recently arrived migrants with non-English-speaking backgrounds settled in the western suburbs primarily because housing was cheaper — but jobs were scarce.

Apart from migration cutbacks, Dr Birrell said the remedy was to address accommodation shortages that had pushed up house prices and rental costs by opening more residential space, and making housing less attractive to investors. Mr Carbone said Fairfield needed more accommodation and services to cope with congestion. The other challenge was unemployment, he said. ­Migrants would get jobs if they had better language skills.

Ernest Healy, a Monash University researcher on migrant settlement and social cohesion, has attributed many of the problems faced by immigrants to housing shortages. According to research conducted with Dr Birrell, Dr Healy found income levels were critical to flows in and out. Low-income people with non-­English-speaking backgrounds were “locked into these areas”.

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'Absolutely I've been discriminated against': Man claims Officeworks refused to let him print posters criticising Islam because it's 'the holy month of Ramadan'

An activist who was refused service at Officeworks for attempting to print out anti-Islamic posters has hit out at the chain store, claiming his right to freedom of speech has been violated.

Avi Yemini and Ralf Schumann of the Australian Liberty Alliance are both regular customers at the Officeworks branch in South Melbourne: printing and laminating any materials there that are too large to print in their own office. Like, for example, an armful of flyers for an upcoming rally they've organised in support of free speech and defense of Sonia Kruger.

'We went there this afternoon like we have for 3 or 4 years,' Mr Schumann told Daily Mail Australia. 'The chap on the counter puts the USB stick in like he always does, gets the first screen up like he always does - and calls his young manager over.

'[The manager] then gives me a lecture on their shop policy and tells me that they will not print anything that is offensive to Muslims and especially not in the holy month of Ramadan.'

One of the posters declares that: 'Criticising perverse ideologies is not racial discrimination. Islam does not equal race'.

The second features the face of Sonia Kruger - who is due to face the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal over blasphemy and vilification charges - alongside the text: 'Mass blasphemy! Half of Australia agrees with Sonia #LetsTalkAboutIslam.'

Mr Schumann went on to explain how the store manager told him 'we [Officeworks] can't print these racist things.'

'So I wrote a brief email to the manager to tell him that his store policy does not override federal or state anti-discrimination laws,' said Mr Schumann.

'These laws happen both ways: you can't discriminate on religious grounds OR political grounds.'

Mr Schumann insists that, in this case, he's the one who is the victim of discrimination. 'Absolutely I've been discriminated against,' he declared.

'You go into a shop and they tell you 'I don't serve you because of your political opinion.' Well, we're happy to cry foul over political discrimination.'

Officeworks refused to comment when approached by Daily Mail Australia.

The company has, however, since posted a comment on a Facebook video that Mr Yemini uploaded on Friday. In the video, Mr Yemini trumpets to his 168,000 followers how the chain store has disrespected his right to freedom of speech.

'At Officeworks, we respect our customers' right to free speech,' the company's comment reads. 'However our policy prohibits customers from printing any materials which may be threatening, abusive or incite hatred on any person.

'In relation to your recent visit to our South Melbourne store, our team member has misinterpreted the policy. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.'

Mr Schumann asserts that: 'Nothing on those two placards was in any way inciting violence or being nasty to any person or group of persons.'

Mr Yemini further claims that the office supplies chain's refusal to print the posters is in violation of consumer law.

'If they have a complaint under racial discrimination they can refuse it, but this wasn't racial discrimination,' he said.

'We criticised Islam, and that in [the store clerk's] eyes during the holy month of Ramadan is unacceptable. Unfortunately Officeworks took his side, protecting Islam before Australian values.'

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Liberal Party members vote to privatise ABC and move Australia's Israel embassy to Jerusalem

Liberal Party members have endorsed a bid to move Australia's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and to privatise the ABC, highlighting a gulf between the rank-and-file and the MPs who represent them.

More than 100 MPs and members are in Sydney for the Liberal Party of Australia's annual federal council which is expected to be the last before the next federal election.

The council has this morning endorsed a motion moved by the Victorian division calling on the Turnbull Government to follow the US and move Australia's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the conference she could understand the sentiment but declared Australia would not be moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

"Jerusalem is a final status issue and we have maintained that position for decades," Ms Bishop said.

However, Ms Bishop's intervention failed to convince the majority of the members and the motion passed 43 votes to 37.

None of the motions at the federal council is binding, meaning they are unlikely to have any impact on the Government's policies, but they provide an insight into the internal machinations of the party.

The council backed a West Australian motion to "abstain from military intervention in Syria" and voted overwhelmingly in favour of a Young Liberal bid calling for the, "full privatisation of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, except for services into regional areas".

Like the Foreign Minister before him, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield made it clear that would not be happening.

One Liberal source highlighted the fact party members were sending a clear signal they wanted a change in direction and said it was a sign of the, "ascendancy of the conservatives".

The party's right wing used its numbers yesterday to dump one of the four Liberal vice-presidents, Trish Worth, who is aligned with the moderates, and replace her with NSW conservative Tina McQueen.

A new religious-right, conservative force has recently taken over the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party and — along with elements of the ACT and West Australian division — is using the federal conference to flex its muscle.

While this internal power play between the moderates and conservative simmers beneath the surface, Liberal heavyweights have used their addresses to call for unity.

Liberal president Nick Greiner told the party to put its "lazy and self-indulgent" internal fights aside and start fighting for the "soul of the nation".

With an election due in less than 12 months time, former prime minister John Howard told members he thinks Malcolm Turnbull can win. "I am greatly encouraged about the future of the Liberal Party," Mr Howard said. "I think Malcolm Turnbull can win. I think things are going better now than they have been for the last six months."

Mr Howard — who is lauded and greatly respected by Liberal members — also backed the embattled Member for Hughes, Craig Kelly, who is facing a preselection challenge. Mr Kelly is an outspoken conservative backbencher but could be dumped in favour of Kent Johns, who is aligned with party moderates.

If that happens, there are concerns tensions between the two factions could flare up and spill over into other preselection contests.

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Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here