The Australian Federal Police act as armed enforcers of the executive, contrary to the concept of operational independence.
For today’s post I’m borrowing a theme from Turgenev, specifically from The Diary of a Superfluous Man. As readers of Turgenev will know, much of his fiction is associated with…
Well Robin, ya ain’t wrong, mate! Anglo-Saxon ‘Australians’ whilst superficially decent, hard working Christian folk who, whilst not regular church goers, none-the-less profess to a certain spirituality, are racist! All…
"…each of the offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice strike at the heart of the administration of justice…" The above statement comes from Justice Bruce James's judgment…
Following is the second installment of David Harrison’s story from member of the ‘new’ stolen generation to disaffected adult to fully fledged social activist. Over to David breaking the connection…
Mr David Harrison is a member of the ‘new’ stolen generation and a former colleague from Canberra. I asked David a while ago if he would write a piece about…
Yesterday I received a communication from a foreign school student who has an Australian Federal Police detachment in his country. His question, to me after reading my comments on Blak…
As part of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Additional estimates for 2006–2007, held in February 2007, Senator Evans put the following question on notice to…
So, you still think Australia doesn’t have a problem with racism? It’s time we took a good look at some evidence to the contrary, the most recent of which can…
Mr Paulo Flores is today’s guest poster on Blak and Black. Paulo is a European trained and qualified Psychologist, Lawyer, Mediator and Human Rights Activist. He is currently working in…
First, democracy implies processes of communication through which individuals come to know as individuals what they want or think is right. Individuals should be the owners of their beliefs and…
Detachment 88's major facility at the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Co-operation was established in 2004 with almost $40 million of Australian funding. According to its website, most of the…
The attached video shows very clearly what I mean by torture of West Papuan by Detachment 88. What this video shows is a clear violation of international law. Detachment 88…
I was recently discussing the genteel art of bullying with a former associate, Paulo Flores, who is a psychologist and mediator and Watershedd, a recent contributor to Blak and Black.…
Some observations on the realities of being and Aborigine in 21stcentury Australia by an observer who isn’t. One of my piano teachers was the sole child of Polish Holocaust survivors.…
I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by…
The following article written by Ednal Palmer appeared in the Solomon Star on Saturday 15th January, 2011. While the article is ostensibly about the tenure of the outgoing Taiwanese (ROC)…
While strolling along the foreshore of Botany Bay today I spotted a Kingfisher. In Classical Greek mythology "Halcyon" is associated with the Kingfisher. There was an ancient belief that the…
An elegy for a lost child.
The Rule of Law, in its most basic form, is the principle that no one is above the law. The rule follows logically from the idea that truth, and therefore…