Mohammed Haneef is likely to be held in detention indefinitely for one of two reasons: because he is the cousin of a terror suspect in Britain, or because he gave his cousin a SIM card before he left the country. And it’s not at the hand of a judge, who granted the man bail, but at the hands of our Federal Government who is so desperate to be seen to do something to stop the hemorrhage of public confidence that they are willing to dispose of central democratic principles such as the independence of the judiciary. To call this an over-reaction to the threat of terrorism is an excessive understatement. This is a national disgrace.
(video of Kevin Andrews’ press conference can be found here)
9 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
If giving a phone card to a family member is a crime, can we deport Peter Reith somewhere??
Well the official line is that you can get your visa rejected for “having or having had association with a person or organisation known to be involved in criminal activities”, so I’ll be starting the petition for Kevin Andrews to knock back George W. Bush’s next application for a visa due to his associations with convicted felon Scooter Libby.
aren’t half the Labour party buddies with a jailed former WA Premier?
Mind you, John Elliot was the president of the LIbs…
I agree with you Geoff; let the guy have his day in court or let him out: Philip Ruddock was on the radio the other day saying “oh no, of course there’s no presumption of guilt on him, and if we don’t charge him then the public should all continue to presume he’s innocent…”
I think the puking sound in the background was the interviewer giving the honourable member some constituent feedback
Part of the problem is the inherent ambiguity in the Immigration Act. “Association” (or whatever the term is) is such a loose term that it effectively provides the Immigration minister of the time with free reign to do pretty much whatever he or she likes.
….which perhaps gives us the opportunity to look into their soul a little?…
See this article: 10 steps to fascism - it is a very interesting historical analysis and links in with some of the themes of this case
Look at this issue from a different perspective. Is the judiciary always right - what happened with Mockbel they let him go and it is costing the Australian Goverment Thousands to extradite him, our taxes being wasted. And who would be in the firing line if he (Hanef) were to be released and something tragic happened, the governement of the day would be crucified. No matter which stand the government take there will always be those in media who will criticise there action or inaction. And I can state this as fact, if you don’t give the media something to write, then they will make it up, so don’t believe everything you read.
But John a democratic society doesn’t just lock people up on “what if’s”, we allow people their freedom unless they have committed an offence. And while your comment is absolutely correct: the judiciary is not always right, but they are independent. They are not making their decisions on what is likely to see them get re-elected, they are making their decisions on the evidence presented to them. We have courts of appeal for when the judiciary gets it wrong, not politicians.
Hope you’ve seen the latest on this one Geoff?
The Courts have thrown out Andrews’ withdrawal of the visa…