Feature

by Gerry Georgatos My father, struggling in his 82nd year of life, never went to school, and who first left home at the age of 13 because of abject and acute poverty, and the effects of war before migrating to Australia near sixty years ago, taught me, the eldest of his six children, to put nothing between myself and what is right. We are a continent apart however in our conversations, as he strains to find the physical strength to muster a yarn, he kindly reminds me of the common good, and that all else does not get people anywhere unless we are prepared to accept divisiveness and inequalities – and in accepting inequality then we accept as natural that the aspiration of humanity is wed by paradoxes - vacuums of inhumanity.

Gerry Georgatos Riyadh Al-Hakimi was brought to tears watching a small Iraqi child drag himself along the street. The stump of his right leg left a trail in the dust as he dragged his body inch by inch. It was 2003 and Riyadh would soon be on his way to Australia and to a university education; however he vowed to do something for the children of his war-torn homeland. Related: SBS Podcast: Wheelchairs for Iraqi children -- The West Australian newspaper - Helping Iraqi children who are victims of depleted uranium, landmines and war

by Gerry Georgatos It is indeed now common knowledge that Australian adult prisons are incarcerating children as young as 13. The human rights struggle to free these children from our adult prisons has been an arduous one, with the major obstacle the Australian government and the horrific prejudices and stereotypes they have shoved down throats so as to perceptually modify views. Many have now been freed, some brutally traumatised, one sexually abused, all of them losing some of the form and content of their youth to an unwarranted prison experience.
Related: Christmas at home for Bali boy however Christmas for many Indonesian children will be in Australian adult prisons -- Campaign Facebook page

Derec Davies used a bicycle U lock to attach himself to a dredger in Gladstone Harbour this morning. The direct action was taken to protect the Great Barrier Reef against the development of Gladstone harbour liquefied natural gas facilities on Curtis Island to export Coal Seam Gas. Massive Dredging of the Gladstone harbour is occurring which fisherman and environmentalists say is causing turbidity in the water and causing illness of fish effectively closing down the local fishing industry. Development is endangering the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef.

Related: In 2010 Conservationists criticised government over coal ship grounding on Great Barrier Reef near Gladstone | Capricorn Conservation Council: The LNG invasion of Curtis Island | ABC TV Four Corners: Great Barrier Grief | Getup! petition to Save the reef