Feature

Gerry Georgatos
Forests Rescue Australia (FRA) coordinator Simon Peterffy appeared in Manjimup Court on July 26 and feared that a prison term was on the cards for his activism in protecting the Warrup forest's numbats.

Mr Peterffy said he has never spent time in prison however feared that his persistent activism may have culminated in a prison sentence "because it appears that police have been coming down harder in recent times and the instructions from 'above' are that harsher penalties need apply" to dissuade FRA type protest actions.

Gerry Georgatos
The misappropriation of language and abuse of semantics in reference to ‘perceived people smugglers’ has to begin to change so we do not further erode compassion, and continue to skew the moral compass, bend and circumvent the rule of law- domestic and international.

Gerry Georgatos
(This is the first time Rex Jnr has given an interview)

Rex Bellotti Jnr was fifteen years old when a police-four-wheel-drive struck him grievously near midnight on a March night in 2006. In an unfettered debacle since the tragic event the Western Australian police have refused to admit adequate culpability and the now 18 year old is still waiting for the State Insurer's payout.

I have written over 70,000 words on this young man and of the incident that wrecked many of his dreams.

Sydney Stop the War Coalition in Australia extends its solidarity the Philippines Stop the War Coalition and the other groups demanding that your country's Senate not to ratify the Republic of the Philippines-Australia Status of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

This is a military agreement, developed in secrecy by the governments and military chief of both our governments, that will allow the deployment of Australian military forces on Philippines territory for "combined training, exercises, or other activities mutually approved by the Parties".

This military deal is an attack on the peace, freedom and independence of the Filipino people, and the other peoples in Asia.

We understand that under this agreement, the Philippines cannot exercise primary jurisdiction over visiting Australian military personnel accused of a crime or other breach of the law if the Australian military claims that the action concerned was carried out in performance of an "official duty".
Related: Protests hit Phillipines-Australia Military Deal