Last week in Parliament I moved a motion to recognise the event known to the Palestinian people as “Al-Nakba”, meaning “The Catastrophe”. This is a term that was adopted when, during the war in 1948, more than half of the Palestinian population of 1,380,000 were driven off their homeland by the Israeli army. The motion affirms the special connection Australia has to the land of Palestine and the Palestinian people, and regrets the failure of both Israel and Palestine to find lasting peace over the past 60 years. 
Israel’s independence came at a horrible price to the Palestinian people, which effectively resulted in ethnic cleansing and prevented Palestinian refugees from returning to their homeland.  My motion calls for the immediate establishment of the state of Palestine within the 1967 borders in accordance with United Nations Resolution 242.
Debate was adjourned.
 

Ms Rabiya Kadeer, the democratically-elected leader of the World Uyghur Congress, briefed State MPs in Parliament today on the suffering of her people under the authoritarian rule of Communist China. The Uyghur people’s homeland of East Turkestan was annexed by the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Ms Kadeer has travelled the world actively campaigning for the human rights of the Uyghur people. After the briefing, Ms Kadeer attended a rally on the steps of Parliament House with about 70 representatives of the Uyghur community living in Adelaide.

Friday 11 Janaury 2008 marks six years since the first detainees were transferred to Guantanamo Bay. Join protesters all round the world on this day callinf ror the closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and for the maintenance of fundamental standards of justice and human rights. In Adelaide a rally will be held at 3.00pm on the steps of Parliament House, North Terrace.

Friday 11 January 2008 marks six years since the first detainees were transferred to Guantanamo Bay. Join protesters all round the world on this day to call for the closure of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and for the maintenance of fundamental standards of justice and human rights.
3.00pm Friday 11 January 2008
Parliament House steps, Adelaide

Hopefully, the promised US$45m in Australian aid money for Palestine will see an improvement in the wretched daily lives of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Yet there is no hope of the Palestinian economy getting off its knees while a brutal occupation by the Israeli military continues. The big question remains whether the Australian Government will, consistent with this aid grant, pressure Israel to end its occupation of what’s left of Palestine.

On Friday I will be speaking at a conference on world affairs, organised by the University of Melbourne. The theme of my talk will be that, despite a common conception of Australia and other western democracies as ‘Christian’, these nations are nothing of the sort. Thus the influence of Christianity in the policy formulation in such countries is vastly overrated.

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