Is it too much to ask of our leaders honesty and self-reflection --- not to mention an end to cruelty and an extension of fellow feeling

Liked

Keep Social Democracy in Australia

Community · 4,618 Likes

 · 23 hrs · Edited · 

AN OPEN LETTER TO TONY ABBOTT FROM THE EDITOR:
‪#‎KoinuntukAustralia‬ (coins for Australia) is a reaction to Abbott's suggestion Indonesia should reciprocate for the $A1 billion in aid Australia sent after the 2004 tsunami.
http://www.sbs.com.au/…/bali-nine-koinuntukaustralia-indone…

Look, I know open letters are a bit April of last year, but I’ve been worried about you, Tony. Since the Leigh Sales interview when you were unable to articulate exactly who you are, I’ve been worried.
It’s a question most Australians are asked every now and again – in job interviews, by partners, by caring friends rolling around on the back lawn after one too many G&Ts, sometimes by our therapists. And as the Prime Minister and a man with more than a fleeting interest in spirituality, I’m sure at some point you’ve asked yourself the question, “Who the hell am I? What do I really stand for?”
But at 7.48 or 7.52 that evening, Leigh's question seemed to rattle you. You became evasive. So in case you find yourself fumbling for an answer in the future, here's who I think you are. (Feel free to quote me).
You’re a Christian guy. You’re the Christian guy who, when faced with appalling facts about the ongoing abuse and psychological torment of innocent children in our detention centres, chose to viciously attack the messenger rather than reflect maturely upon the incredibly sad and sensitive contents of the message. You’re that guy.
You're the guy who condones shoving terrified women and children fleeing rape, persecution and death, (much of which we helped fuel), into little orange boats in the dead of night, sending them back into the darkness and uncertainty they’ve somehow managed to flee, hopeful of our shelter. That's you with your whole "Australia isn't for everyone" Jesus thing.
You're the guy who's been trash talking the economy for so long, most Australians are afraid to buy a pine-lime Splice let alone a car or a house. And it was you who in opposition said the so called ‘Carbon Tax’ would wipe towns off the map – something about a python squeeze not a cobra strike – when you knew that simply wasn't ever going to happen. Is it all coming back to you, Tony? You’re that Henny Penny guy.
You're the guy with the gay sister who stubbornly refuses to change his views on same sex marriage, despite her personal pleadings and the firm belief of most Australians that equality is long overdue. Represent, Tony! Step up! They mean you no harm. And if it's about saying one thing before an election and doing another after... honestly, let’s not imagine anyone’s going to be too upset or surprised.
While we’re on that, you're the guy who hounded the previous government TO DEATH over one supposed lie, promising an all adult, no surprises government of your own. I swear it was you boldly proclaiming you can't say one thing in opposition then do another in office, before making brutal cuts in literally every single area you said you wouldn't. Ringing bells, Tony?
You're the guy who says he's intimidated by the burqa then gets around in a bright red banana sling.
And forgive me for delving into personal irritations, but you're the Rhode scholar guy who has to repeat everything twice, sometimes thrice, buying yourself time to formulate your next sentence. It's an old orator's trick Tony, but every frickin' sentence?
While I could go on, I'm sure the electronic graffiti artists will be happy to continue this letter for me. And hopefully, next time Leigh asks for a little personal reflection, you'll have a better idea of who you are. You're that guy
With - ABC 23

#Keephopealive by attending Amnesty International's vigil to-night in #Ballarat - the information is below

The information below is cross-posted with permission from Advocacy @ St Paul's

Dear Networkers,

Apologies for the short notice of to-nights's event.

Have only received notification this morning.

Details are in the re-published email below.

Please do your best to support this event.

Remember the mercy you give is the mercy you get! 

 The Ballarat group is part of the worldwide Amnesty International movement that opposes the death penalty in any circumstance, for any person.  Residents are invited to the

Spiritual Centre, 

Ballarat Base Hospital

7.00p.m.-8.00p.m. 

To-night 

Sunday 8th.February 

(entry from Sturt Street) 

to light the flame of justice, and send a public message that Australians oppose state-sanctioned executions.

The event is a response to comments by Indonesian President Joko Widodo that he would not grant clemency to at least 64 individuals who have been sentenced to death for drug-related crimes and that there were plans to execute all of them.

These include Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in the next batch of 11 whose claims for clemency have been rejected.

Amnesty International is asking Australians 

to use the hashtag #KeepHopeAlive

 and sign

Amnesty International’s petition

calling for the executions to be stopped. 

The death penalty has been proven not to work in deterring crime. It is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and it has no place in today’s justice system.

Amnesty International has been campaigning against the death penalty for the last 30 years, and most countries in the world have recognised the justice in this stance. When Amnesty International first pledged to abolish executions in the ‘70s, only a handful of countries had stopped killing people as a form of punishment; now 140 countries have abolished the practice.

Vigil for Hope ("Stop the Executions") 

 7.00-8.00p.m. 

Sunday 8th. February 

 Spiritual Centre, Ballarat Base Hospital. 

 Media Contact: Max White 5331 2502

How the USA & Indonesia fund & commit genocide in West Papua - just a long swim away from Australia

PLEASE SHARE 

This is a photo the Indonesian government 

does not want you to see.

The Grasberg mine, owned by US company Freeport-McMoRan funding genocide and illegal occupation in Indonesian occupied West Papua 

A gaping wound in the heart of West Papua, which was once a beautiful and sacred mountain, capped by a glacier, is visible from space.

It is so horrible and shameful for American politicians to see, they are taken in deliberately different flight routes when they visit the region so that they do not see the devastation which they are often helping to fund with this mine.

Everyday thousands of tons of gold and copper 

are being extracted from 

the Grasberg mine, the largest goldmine on Earth.

The work is also incredibly unsafe and unfair, whilst all of the mine owners are either American or Indonesian, the Papuans are given the most dangerous and low paid jobs. This year alone, over 29 people were killed in 2 mining disasters. 

When workers went on strike in 2011, they were beaten and shot at by police, at least one worker was killed. 

Freeport is Indonesia's biggest taxpayer and all the proceeds are channeled to Jakarta, whilst Papuans become poorer and poorer in their own land.

Freeport dumps over 238,000 tonnes of toxic waste into the local river system EVERY DAY. And pays the Indonesian military over 3 MILLION dollars every year to kill local Papuans and keep them away from the mine.

During the start of operations here, thousands of local Papuans were killed and evicted by the Indonesian military just to make way for this monstrous mine.

This only adds to the 500,000+ innocent West Papuan men, women and children who have so far been murdered by the Indonesian military, only for expressing their desire to live in a free and independent nation of West Papua. 

Even for just raising the West Papuan national flag, 

West Papuans are given jail sentences 

by the Indonesian authorities of 15 years.

Indonesia - stop the theft of West Papua's natural resources

and destruction of the West Papuan land!

To find out how you can help the suffering people of Wets Papua, 

please visit the website of the Free West Papua Campaign here: 

freewestpapua.org/ and here:http://freewestpapua.org/take-action/

Help to stop this 21st century genocide.

Thank you very much

The plight of West Papua is ignored by the Australian Government just as it ignored East Timor for decades.

Free West Papua Campaign

3 hours ago

The people of West Papua are among the poorest in the world. Many rural people have no cash income with few material possessions. Though it is the largest and most resource rich region of Indonesia, the people are by far the poorest. West Papua has the highest HIV/AIDS rate outside of Africa and hospitals and healthcare are few and far between. 

Just this year, over 95 Papuans starved to death in one district 

due to systematic neglect and starvation by the Indonesian state. 

Indonesian transmigrants are the ones with all the money, education and healthcare. In the towns they are regularly seen with 3 cars and running big businesses whereas Papuans are forced onto roadsides to sell local produce. 

Many Papuans have lost much of their family and friends due to Indonesian military attacks, disease and starvation.

Yet despite these horrors, Papuan children such as these still manage to have a smile on their faces. They have hope for a better future in freedom. 

The Free West Papua Campaign is a non-profit organisation, we provide healthcare and support to suffering West Papuan families. We help Papuans fleeing violence by providing them with funding and clothing. We help refugees cross the border into Papua New Guinea and ensure they can live safely and have their citizenship recognised.

To find out how you too can help the suffering people of West Papua, please visit our website and this link:http://freewestpapua.org/actions/donate/

All money raised through your donations will go directly to helping to support those suffering in West Papua and helping to campaign for freedom. 
Office and staff costs are fundraised for separately, by individual grants.

Please help to ensure this new generation of Papuans grows up in freedom, safety and happiness.

Thank you very much

~~~~~~~~~~

The above material is from the Free West Papua Campaign.  

If you are interested in standing up for West Papua 

and letting the Gillard Government know of your support, 

please go here. 

If you want to know what is happening in Melbourne 

to work towards a free West Papua, please go here.

Read what Natalie Pa'apa'a of Blue King Brown has to say

Miss Eagle's Note:

From Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia 

to West Papua 

is a distance of 719 nautical miles.   

From Sydney to Melbourne, the drive is 881 km.  

Genocide and ethnic cleansing is this close to us - 

and it appears that the Australian Government 

completely ignores what is happening.  

Indonesia shoots down - once again - West Papua's independence movement

Violent Tactics Backfire In Papua

By Alex Rayfield

The tough response of the Indonesian armed forces to the Third Papuan People's congress has strengthened calls for freedom. NM's West Papua correspondent Alex Rayfield reviews the fallout

If the Indonesian police and military thought shooting live ammunition into a mass gathering of unarmed Papuanswould somehow dampen dissent and endear them to Jakarta’s continued rule, they were mistaken. Indiscriminate repression meted out against those gathered at the Third Papuan People’s congress is showing signs of having the opposite effect: widening the circle of dissent inside West Papua and igniting international support outside.

First the Indonesian military and police denied they shot dead peaceful protesters. But that was too difficult to sustain. New Matilda received text messages as soon as the shooting started which were followed by urgent phone calls. Gunfire could be heard in the background.

When it became clear that covering up the shooting would not wash, the Indonesian Chief of Army in West Papua, Erfi Triassunu, admitted opening fire but claimed his troops only fired warning shots. He insisted no one had been hurt. Some of the international media bought the story. With foreign journalists banned from West Papua, some media outlets went to the police and military for confirmation. This is in spite of the fact that West Papua Media, with their extensive network of citizen journalists and local stringers, broke the story, verified it and began filing reports about what happened within a few hours.

A few hours after the shooting, the Indonesian police in West Papua were telling journalists in Jakarta that an attempted coup d’état had taken place and that police had used force to defend the state. The Jayapura Chief of Police, Imam Setiawan, even went as far as saying that members of the Papuan Liberation Army had attacked the Congress.

Setiawan took this line again on Thursday 20 October. In an interview with Bintang Papua, a local Papuan daily, he outlined how he thought police should respond to a gathering of unarmed Papuans expressing their political opinion: "Whoever supports separatism or subversion activity, I will do the same as yesterday. I’ll finish them."

The language used by Setiawan echoed hard-line nationalists in Jakarta. It follows a deadly trajectory. Cast the Papuans in the worst possible light. Label them as "separatists" — which in Indonesia is the worst kind of criminal, someone who is treasonous, dangerous and violent. From here it was only a short step to imply that those at the Third People’s Congress were using violence to try and seize control of the state. This narrative makes it sound like the police and military were taking evasive action to stop the Papuans storming the Bastille of Indonesian rule. This is pure fantasy.

Initially it was reported that police and the military raided the stage after Forkorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waromi (appointed as President and Prime Minister of the Federal State of West Papua respectively) declared independence. We now know that the attack did not happen until well after the three-day gathering had finished.

After the Declaration of Independence was read around 2.00pm local time, the Congress concluded. The leadership — Yaboisembut, Waromi, Dominikus Surabut, Helena Matuan and a few others left the field to rest in the nearby Sang Surya Catholic Friary in the grounds of the Fajar Timur Theological College where the Congress was being held. Those remaining on Taboria oval (Zaccheus Field) danced the Yospan, a traditional Papuan group dance.

The festivities continued for around 60-90 minutes. We don’t know exactly what the police, military and Brimob soldiers were doing between the time the Declaration was read out and the time the shooting started. Presumably they were discussing what to do. Most likely they consulted commanding officers locally and in Jakarta.

According to Yan Christian Waranussy, a prominent Papuan human rights lawyer, members of the security forces under the command of Police Chief Imam Setiawan arrested Edison Waromi as he drove out of the Fajar Timur grounds on Yakonde Street. Waranussy reports that the police pulled people out of the vehicle and started beating them before pushing them into a police van. Following the arrest of Waromi, Waranussy says the security forces starting firing their weapons into the crowd.

This occurred at around 3.30pm. One of the first killed was 25-year-old Daniel Kadepa, a student at UmelMandiri Law School. According to those who knew him, Kapeda did not even attend the Congress. He was passing by when the security forces opened fire. Witnesses said that he died from gunshot wounds to the head and back after soldiers fired on him as he was running away.

Video footage obtained by EngageMedia and published by New Matilda shows people hiding in nearby buildings just after the police and military opened fire. In the background you can hear shooting. This is not automatic gunfire. They are single shots. Then there is a pause, followed by more shots. It is as if the shooter is walking around picking people off. There is very little background noise. No screaming or yelling, just an eerie silence … and gunshots.

According to Catholic clergy who witnessed the event, the police, Indonesian military and the the paramilitary Mobile Police Brigade continued discharging their weapons for approximately 25 minutes.

Eyewitnesses report that when the shooting started, Yaboisembut and Surabut were talking and relaxing in the Sang Surya Friary, a few metres from the oval. Then bullets smashed through the window. According to statements obtained by New Matilda people immediately hit the ground and began crawling to safety as the police indiscriminately fired live ammunition and canisters of tear gas into the buildings surrounding the oval.

According to statements obtained by New Matilda, police, military and Brimob personnel ransacked student dormitories, clergy residences and offices. One witness reported an Indonesian security officer yelling "Where are those idiot priests? Why do priests hide criminals?"

Those present also reported security personal using combat knives or bayonets and beating people with truncheons and rifles. At least 300 people were arrested and taken away in army and police trucks where they were detained overnight in the tennis courts at the police station.

We now know that three people were shot dead that day. They are Daniel Kapeda, Max Asa Yeuw, and Yakobus Samansabra. Two others, Matias Maidepa and Yacop Sabonsaba, were allegedly found dead behind the military headquarters in Abepura. According to the Indonesian military sources quoted in the local Papuan press, the victims had been stabbed. In addition, members of the Organising Committee of the Third Papuan Congress allege four other people died, all from gunshot wounds, two from Sorong and two from Wamena.

Six people are still in detention charged with rebellion. According to family members they have all been badly beaten. According to Human Rights Watch and KONTRAS Indonesia (the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) those still in detention are:

• Forkorus Yaboisembut, chairman of the Papua Customary Council, probably the most prominent pro-independence leader in Papua. When New Matilda interviewed him in West Papua in 2010 and again in 2011 he was regularly receiving death threats. A few people had even come forward and told the local press that they were offered new motorbikes and other inducements if they would help orchestrate a fatal "accident".

• Edison Waromi, president of the West Papua National Authority. Edison Waromi’s daughter, Yane, was kidnapped and assaulted by the security forces in 2008.

• Dominikus Surabut, secretary of the Papuan Customary Council in La Pago region.

• Selpius Bobii, a social media activist, who organised the Papuan Congress. He initially eluded the police crackdown, but surrendered to police on October 20, accompanied by his lawyers and a Papuan journalist.

• August M. Sananay of the West Papua National Authority.

• Gat Wanda, a member of PETAPA (Defenders of the Land of Papua, an unarmed civilian defence group), charged with possessing a sharp weapon.

It will take some time before the immediate effect of the repression is made clear, but early signs suggest the use of extreme and deadly violence against nonviolent activists has enlarged the circle of dissent inside West Papuaand ignited international support outside.

Certainly Church leaders — both Catholic and Protestant — have expressed their outrage. Neles Tebay, a key Papuan intellectual, defended the role of clergy who provided humanitarian protection for those seeking safety. Tebay, who also gave permission for the Committee to hold the Congress in the Theological College grounds, was quoted as saying that he "rejects the use of all kinds of repression in dealing with the problems. Using violence undermines the dignity of all concerned, above all the dignity of the victims as well as the perpetrators."

Tebay has repeated his call "for all people of goodwill to jointly press for dialogue, for the sake of peace in Papua".

Political representatives of the Papuan Provincial Parliament, a group that until now has sided with the government on matters of national security, expressed their dismay. Bintang Papua reported that Yan Mandenas, chairman of the Pikiran Rakyat Group in the Provincial Parliament said "the actions of the security forces in dispersing the Congress exceeded all bounds and … were in violation of the law".

Similar views were expressed by Ruben Magay, chairman of Commission A on Politics and Law of the Provincial Parliament who reportedly urged the chief of police to withdraw his men because the Congress was already over. Magay said that what happened was clearly "a violation" and that "no one was fighting back".

And while a large group of hard-line nationalists in Jakarta applauded or condoned police and military action, Effendy Choirie and Lily Chadidjah Wahid, both members of House of Representatives Commission I on information, defense and foreign affairs in Jakarta, warned the government that the mounting tension could lead to the province’s separation from Indonesia. In a clear rebuke of Papuan Police Chief Imam Setiawan, the two legislators added "that the government should not blame the Free Papua Movement (OPM) for the shooting but rather the security personnel in Papua".

Internationally, things have gotten much worse for Jakarta.

United States Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin condemned the actions of the security forces. So too has Senator Richard Di Natale from the Australian Greens who has urged the Australian Government to suspend military ties with Indonesia. MP Catherine Delahunty from New Zealand has also called for the New Zealand Government to withdraw its training support for the Indonesian police. This is more than words. The United States, Australian and New Zealand Government all provide money, training and material aid to the Indonesian police and military. In this sense we are beginning to see the early signs of what could become an international withdrawal of legitimacy for continued Indonesian repression in West Papua.

Papuan calls for UN intervention won’t happen, at least not in the foreseeable future. And the movement internally still faces serious challenges. But the Congress, the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent shooting has realigned the political landscape. There are now three main political groups, the Congress, the Papuan Peace Network led by Neles Tebay who is calling for dialogue, and the West Papua National Committee who want the giant US/Australian Freeport Mine closed and a referendum on West Papua’s political status. At a fundamental level there is not a lot of difference between these positions. They all point to the need for a political solution to the Pacific’s longest running conflict.

The Indonesian political elite and security forces can no longer pretend that the problem in Papua is economic. Papuans want political freedoms. The Congress made that abundantly clear. It opened with raising the banned Morning Star flag and singing the banned West Papuan national anthem, Hai Tanah Ku, and closed with a Declaration of Independence.

And it wasn’t as if the military or police was unaware of this depth of feeling. When an open peace conference organised by the Papua Peace Network was held in Jayapura last July, Erfi Triassunu, the local Army Chief, took the podium. In attendance were 800 respected Papuan civil society leaders. Triassunu tried to get the audience — who were mostly Papuan — to chant "peace!" in response to his "Papua!". But as soon as he called out "Papua!" the crowd responded as one with "Merdeka!" (freedom).

Now the Papuans’ cry for freedom is echoing around the world. And it is the Indonesian police, military and their nationalist political allies in Jakarta who are helping amplify it.

Source from New Matilda: http://newmatilda.com/2011/11/01/violent-tactics-backfire-papua

Further reading:

WikiLeaks reveals how West's complicity in Papuan bloodshed

National Day of Action to End Live Export : Photographs from the Melbourne rally #banliveexport

Tweet

To-day was a National Day of Action to End Live Export.

Rallies were scheduled across Australia.
In the capital cities, people gathered at Parliament Houses.
In the regions, people gathered at Local Government buildings.

These pictures were taken at the rally outside
Parliament House, Spring Street, Melbourne, Victoria.

I don't know how many people were there.
Somewhere between 500 and 1000 people is my estimate.

Please email your Federal politicians

Further reading:

Farmers, activists face off  in live export rally

Related articles

• Farmers, activists clash on cattle exports (news.theage.com.au)
• Protesters rally against live trade (news.theage.com.au)
• Don't let the #RuralLobby dominate the conversation on #liveexports, #water, #mdb - feel free to #joinin (misseaglesnetwork.blogspot.com)

Reframing the #animalcruelty debate: #ethics #economy #asylumseekers

Tweet

Australian Minister for Agriculture Joe Ludwig

speaking to Kerry Lonergan, long time rural journalist with

ABC's Landline.

To see the video, please go here. 

One of the two major stories dominating Australian politics and civil society is the live export of cattle to Indonesia.  The other topic is the proposed live export of asylum seekers under the Malaysian Solution which, in my view, attempts to legitimise human trafficking.

On Monday 30 May 2011, the ABC's Four Corners broadcast an expose of cruelty in the slaughter of Australian cattle in Indonesia.  There has been uproar ever since as consumers, meat-eaters, animal lovers, and cattle producers express their horror. You will find more videos here.

Australians owe a debt of gratitude to Lyn White of Animals Australia and Bidda Jones, Chief Scientist with the RSPCA.  Their undercover work unveiled the reality of animal cruelty and breeches of halal slaughter at meatworks in Indonesia. 

Meat and Livestock Australia is the body which, supposedly, has been in charge of supervising standards of the slaughter of Australian cattle in Indonesia.  MLA is supported by a 'per head' levy on producers. Producers are justified in questioning and blaming MLA for what is now happening. MLA have been involved in Indonesia for approximately two decades. Did they know about the cruelty? If not, why not? If so, have they deliberately covered up or walked away?

If MLA was properly acting for its constituency/membership, it would have sought to minimise and manage factors which pose a risk to the trade in live cattle.  It would appear that this has not been a driving factor for the MLA and its employees.  Because risk management - as well as animal suffering - clearly has not been front and centre, MLA has damaged Australian's name/brand.  

The Minister has today announced a six month suspension of all live cattle exports to Indonesia.  Joe Ludwig has dragged the chain on this.  It took him some days after the broadcast to announce a decision limiting exports and then to-day he has announced the six month suspension.  People concerned about animal cruelty won't be happy until there is a complete and absolute ban on all live cattle exports. Joe in manner, speech and substance has displayed a great deal of hesitancy.

Cattle producers will tell you how wide ranging the suspension or possible banning of live cattle exports will be.  It will impact at many levels across the Australian economy.  Its biggest impact will certainly be north of the Tropic of Capricorn - in West Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland.

I sympathise with the producers but I also have a long memory - and one can't help saying that what goes around comes around.

There used to be thriving export meatworks in Northern Australia.  I remember a picture from my social studies book when I was about twelve of frozen meat being loaded into aeroplanes at Wyndham in West Australia.  I grew up beside an export meatworks where my father was an executive. Cattle producers didn't like the costs associated with long distances to meatworks. They didn't like it if their product was in anyway hampered by industrial disputation.  Their industry organisations worked single-mindedly to destroy export works so that they would be free to establish live export markets which, they believed, would be more profitable.  

The concerted elimination of export works in Northern Australia affected communities, caused loss of skills, and value-added production in the Australian industry.  The producer associations didn't think twice about eliminating the livelihoods of those people, those communities but will seek sympathy now when their own livelihoods are threatened.

I can't help wondering if the MLA or the cattle producer organisations understand the changing values of Australians.  They might like to engage the services of a sociologist.  Increasing numbers of Australians are altering their diet: Meatless Mondays; declining meat consumption; vegetarian and vegan diets.  Once upon a time, one could have denigrated these factors and their proponents with the pejorative terms of 'cranks', 'activists' and so on.  And my suspicion is that the cattle producers and their organisations still do this.  They talk to one another and reinforce each others views.  They take these views into that rural rump of politics, the National Party.  

Meanwhile, Australians are better educated and more skilled.  Many of us are earning more money than Australians have earned before.  Many of us may have deserted the churches but hold to a strict set of personal and social ethics. Increasing numbers of Australians are taking to heart health messages advocating a lower meat intake than is usual in the Australian diet.  Increasing numbers of Australians are adopting ethical standards about the treatment of animals and human degradation of the environment.  Has no one in the beef industry considered that somewhere, sometime there would be a tipping of the balance and their product could be adversely affected?

Lyn White and Bidda Jones are intelligent and well-connected women.  I haven't met Bidda but I have met Lyn and find her competence and commitment to animal welfare exemplary.  These women cannot be dismissed easily - and nor have they been.  They have impacted a nation.  I don't think it too much to say that matters affecting industrial animals may never be the same again.

The suspension of live exports is no simple matter.  The banning of live exports is so simple matter.  Lawyers and barristers involved in cases of animal welfare say that while the suffering of domestic animals and pets can be redressed in the courts, the fate of industrial animals is quite different.  Agricultural/Primary Production industry organisations have developed industry standards.  They capture the ear of the relevant state or federal minister.  The result is that if producers are charged with cruelty toward industrial animals, producers can use as a legitimate defence that they are acting in accord with industry standards, irrespective of how low those standards might be.

As Australia begins to understand this situation and come to grips with what lies behind the Indonesian situation, we need a national understanding.  We need to take care in how we frame the debate. No more lowest common denominator industry standards. Australians need to find a way to express respect and understanding for widespread ethical standards on animal care and environmental circumstances.  Australia's own self-respect is at stake in all this.  Somehow we have not managed the care of industrial animals very well.  And this can be reflected in how we treat people as well - because we are not treating the sojourner very well at all. 

Related articles

• 'It's discrimination' (theage.com.au)
• Live cattle exports halted at WA port (news.theage.com.au)
• Cattle abuse known in 2000 (theage.com.au)
• Meat eaters turned off by cattle scandal (theage.com.au)