Students protest against academy closure

Students and teachers from the Australian National Academy of Music have played classical music in Parliament House to protest against the school's closure.

Two violinists entered the House of Representatives entrance and a lone cellist greeted senators on the opposite side of Parliament House.

Last month federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett announced that funding for the classical music school will be cut and instead go to a new body operating in conjunction with Melbourne University.

The academy is set to be stripped of its funding and the $2.5 million will now be given to Melbourne University's School of Music instead.

The academy's artistic director, Brett Dean, says the Government is throwing the baby out with the bath water.

"Any institution needs to have accountability," he said.

"My big difficulty with all of this is that it hasn't acknowledged the artistic credibility of the place."

Mr Garrett announced that students from the academy will be given help to find a place in the new school, which Mr Dean says is a sign Mr Garrett has been listening.

But Mr Dean says he does not want a situation where students are being moved from a place where they have flourished to a place where their future is much less certain.

"The language of the most recent announcement certainly seems to acknowledge that the academy has a fine reputation and isn't the dysfunctional baby that they thought they were getting rid of," he said.

He says current facilities at Melbourne University's music department or conservatorium and Victorian College of the Arts are already overstretched.

Greens moratorium

Greens will move a Senate motion today calling on the Government to impose a 12-month moratorium on the closure of the academy.

Greens Senator Christine Milne says the Government needs to allow the students to remain at the school while its future is discussed.

"These brilliant young students don't know where they're going next year, there are no transitional arrangements in place," she said.

"The Prime Minister would not do this to his own children nor would Minister Garrett, nor would I, and so this is a bad decision and the Parliament needs to intervene here."

Being heard

Rock musician Paul Kelly and actor Geoffrey Rush are among other high-profile Australians who have come to Parliament House in support of the Australian Academy of Music.

Mr Dean says the protest is designed to have their music be heard.

"I think actions often speak louder than words," he said.

"This decision has been made without the minister or his advisers ever setting foot in our premises in South Melbourne or ever hearing a note of music that we play.

"We've been criticised in the past for being inefficient and ineffective, now on Friday the Minister claims that we have such a strong reputation that they want to keep the name [for the new school at Melbourne University].

"They need to realise how that name has come to stand for such excellence and that is because we have a team that can deliver and provide these services."

Nude photo row to hinge on 'community standards'

Controversial: One of Bill Henson's

The Australian Arts Law Centre says police will have to prove there has been a major change in community standards in order to successfully prosecute Sydney photographer Bill Henson.

New South Wales Police yesterday raided a art gallery in Sydney's east and removed a number of Henson's nude photographs of a girl under the age of 16.

Centre executive director Robyn Ayres says a court will now have to define the community standard of indecency.

"Bill Henson has for years and years been photographing children and women naked and and it's never been considered an issue of indecency," she said.

"So have community standards changed that much that it is no longer acceptable to see children or young people photographed naked?"

Haneef inquiry could be waste of time and money: lawyer

The lawyer for former Gold Coast [scapegoat] terrorism suspect Dr Mohamed Haneef says he is worried a Government-ordered inquiry into the case will be a waste of time and money.

It is believed that Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty and former immigration minister Kevin Andrews will neither give evidence in public nor face cross-examination during the inquiry which is due to begin next week.

Peter Russo says he is concerned that the full facts about last year's bungled prosecution might not be revealed.

"The problem is that the inquiry should be able to get to the truth, but without having proper coercive powers there is some difficulty in the inquiry getting to the bottom of why Mohamed was first of all detained, and what information the AFP were in possession of," he said.

Related:

Haneef: The Interrogation.

Genre
Theatre
Location
Carlton Courthouse
Address
349 Drummond St, Carlton
Date
16 April 2008 to 3 May 2008
Phone Bookings
(03) 9347 6142

There is little moralising; the real villain is the legislation itself.

Someone must have been telling lies about Dr Mohamed Haneef, because without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine evening.

OK, so you have heard the Kafka line 100 times before, but as Graham Pitts' play about the Haneef affair suggests, there is an uncanny and disturbing correspondence between Dr Haneef's detention by Australian Federal Police in Brisbane in July 2007, and that of Joseph K. in Kafka's The Trial.

As it is, what is on trial in Haneef: the Interrogation is not so much Haneef or the police, but the anti-terrorism legislation that allowed and facilitated his arrest in the first place.

Pitts has based his play on the transcripts of more than 6000 questions asked of Dr Haneef during his detainment on suspicion of assisting a terrorist organisation. There are two basic roles, that of Haneef (Adam McConvell) and his interrogator (Simon King), and both actors demonstrate a fine commitment to the understandably wordy script.

Pitts uses the transcripts verbatim, but he injects a further dimension into the play by having the actors periodically step out of character to comment on the action, and the frequent absurdity of their discourse.

These shifts in tone and perspective bring fresh insights, though not all are successfully executed. The first transition, in particular, is difficult to bring off, especially as the audience is not expecting it. This feature will no doubt improve, however, as the actors settle into the rhythms of the play and their multiple roles.

This production makes simple but effective gestures to interrogation, with chairs, naked light bulbs, and closed-circuit TV projections dominating.

The director, Gorkem Acarolgu, toys with the audience at times, but ensures that absurdity and indignation go hand in hand with anxiety and uncertainty, just as in Kafka.

Pitts has edited the transcripts carefully, allowing the characters of the interlocutors to develop. Our sympathies are pushed towards Haneef, with a few jokes generated from dim-witted questions by the interrogator.

Yet like the complex treatment of interviewing detainees in Theatre du Soleil's Le Dernier Caravanserail (seen here in 2005), the play is careful not to over-simplify, nor to belittle the policemen who, after all, are just doing their jobs. There is little moralising; the real villain is the legislation itself.

Haneef tickets going fast, writer to speak

The Civil Rights Defence tickets for 'Haneef: the interrogation' are going fast.

The writer, Graham Pitts, has agreed to give a forum at the end of the
performance! Graham is a great raconteur. The La Mama bar will also be open

To reserve a ticket email:
tebbutt.john@gmail.com

The tickets are $20. The event is a CRD fundraiser.

Tickets can be picked up & paid for at the New International Bookshop (see
below)

Performance details:
Friday, May 2nd, 6.30 (no late entries)
La Mama Carlton Courthouse,
Drummond St (nr the cnr of Elgin).
Pick up and pay at:
New International Bookshop in Trades Hall Building
54 Victoria St (cnr of Lygon St) Carlton, 9662 3744.
They only accept cash.
Opening Hours:
Tuesday-Friday: 12pm-7pm
Saturday: 12.30pm-5pm
Call to confirm late opening
Closed Sunday & Monday

Haneef's lawyer says inquiry is weak
The inquiry into Australian authorities' handling of the Mohamed Haneef case needs stronger powers to avoid becoming a "toothless tiger", the former terror suspect's lawyer says.

Push for overhaul of laws on terrorism
Anti-terrorism laws are just 'state sanctioned terrorism' aimed at 'innocent people' and using them as 'scapegoats' for Australia's 'alleged war on terror'. These laws were meant to project 'fear' in the community that we somehow need to be protected so that the government can wage war on innocent people for resources around the world unchallenged.

Hicks media gag order ends
As part of the deal, he was also banned from speaking to the media after his release in December 2007.

Habib mistreated but not in Aussie embassy
There was little doubt that Mamdouh Habib was badly mistreated after he was detained by Pakistani and US authorities in the wake of the September 11 attacks and no doubt whatsoever that he was taken to Egypt against his will, a Federal Court judge has found.

ASIO, police don't trust each other, report finds
A LACK of trust between the Australian Federal Police and ASIO has hindered co-operation between the anti-terrorism agencies, a report commissioned after the collapsed prosecution of the Sydney doctor Izhar ul-Haque has found.

Secret policemen's bill: $7.5m
Mr McClelland separately ruled out compensating or apologising to the Sydney medical student Izhar Ul-Haque, who a Supreme Court judge said had been kidnapped by ASIO officers. The conduct of ASIO in the case of Mr ul-Haque, who was cleared of terrorism charges, is being reviewed by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Ian Carnell.

Tough police powers outlive APEC
CONTROVERSIAL powers granted to NSW police during last year's APEC summit are likely to be made permanent - or at least available to police for any special event - under a proposal to be taken to state cabinet.

Faheem Lodhi - another non-terrorist jailed under Australia's 'anti-terror' laws?
Jack Thomas, a non-terrorist, has been jailed under Australia's anti-terror laws. Now Faheem Lodhi has been convicted under the terror laws on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. It is likely he is another non-terrorist jailed for political purposes under the terror laws.

Iemma pushes to ban child models

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma wants to introduce legislation to ban girls under the age of 16 from modelling.

Mr Iemma's push comes after Australian Fashion Week yesterday banned models under 16 because of a backlash against its plans to feature a 14-year-old Polish model on the catwalk.

Mr Iemma says he hopes to introduce legislation into Parliament within two weeks to raise the registration age for model from 15 to 16.

"There's no way that children should be exploited in that way," he said.

"We need to let them grow up without unreasonable pressure being place on them, and they should never ever be portrayed in a sexual way."

Massive crowds expected for Mardi Gras

Our Freedom Your Freedom

Organisers say tonight's gay and lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney will be the biggest in the 30-year history of the event.

Almost 10,000 people will head up Oxford Street on 150 floats tonight, three decades after the original protest march for gay rights.

Organisers are expecting more than 300,000 people to watch tonight's parade.

The head of New Mardi Gras, Marcus Bourget, says a lot has been achieved since 1978.

"Mardi Gras has had its fair share of ups and downs so to achieve the 30th anniversary is a huge milestone for us," he said.

Mr Bourget says the modern Mardi Gras retains much of its original political message.

"Mardi Gras is all about the festival and it's all about telling Australia our stories, our lives, and showing Australia that our love is not a second class love and shouldn't be treated as such," he said.

"So it's all about compassion, understanding and acceptance, so I think they're universal values."

Among the marchers tonight will be gay and lesbian military personnel, who for the first time have the military approval to march.

Chief Petty Officer Stuart O'Brien will be one of them.

"I think it's an important step forward for the Defence Force in recognition of the wider community that we actually recruit from," he said.

Military Force

Hopefully the military and our political leaders will learn from their mistakes, change what they do, and start helping people instead of killing people. A Humanitarian Force can defend itself just as easily as a military force can. Australia should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan now. War is a deadly 'Meme' and one of the root causes of domestic violence.

But the best rule of thumb is to challenge these deadly Memes wherever you see them and not those who follow them....

STOP THE WAR, END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE , END PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN

Transport

CityRail is adding extra train services in and around the CBD to cope with the Mardi Gras crowds, with a direct shuttle between Bondi and Central from 6:00pm AEDT to 1:00am.

Museum Station on the city circle will be closed this evening between 6:00 and 10:00.

Sydney Buses will run extra services on major routes to and from the city from 4:00pm.

Politics and partying on Sydney's gayest

MARDI GRAS has put violence against gays and lesbians at the forefront of its political agenda, asking the two men who were bashed while walking hand-in-hand in Darlinghurst three months ago to lead tonight's 30th anniversary parade.While it will be, as always, a celebration of all things gay and lesbian, ongoing discrimination is never far from participants' minds, and community groups have warned the spike in homophobic violence that occurs during Mardi Gras will be as bad as ever this year.

Surry Hills police came under sustained criticism over their investigation of the violent crime - an internal investigation and a complaint to the NSW Ombudsman followed.

Meanwhile, in the Mardi Gras workshop in Rosebery, in homes citywide, and in the iconic House of Priscilla costume store on Oxford Street, final touches are being made to floats and outfits.

Sydney's Mardi Gras set to turn 30

The creative director of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras says this year's anniversary parade will be led by people who took part in the first Mardi Gras parade 30 years ago.

Ten thousand people will march down Sydney's Oxford Street on Saturday night alongside 150 floats.

The leading float will commemorate the 1978 march, which took place when male homosexuality was still illegal and lead to scuffles with police and a number of arrests.

Graham Browning says it was important to mark the occasion.

"Normally we have quite a lavish lead float," he said.

"[But] this year it's not. It is all of our original '78ers marching, which is a very emotional float rather than just being a big whiz-bang affair.

"They will lead the parade and than throughout the parade we have little bits and pieces that lead up to our finale, which is our marching group".

Listen to Mardi Gras Live Streaming Radio