Fair Go for Mohamed Haneef

This is looking scandalously unfair. Apparently the SIM card was not in the car and I read somewhere that it expired a year ago. Is being related to somebody grounds for being considered a terrorist? What about relatives of murderers. Are they guilty and complicit because they were related to them. Are Defence Attorneys complicit?

After September 11, all of Osama Bin Laden's relatives were flown out of the country politely very soon after the event because of their contacts with the US Government and the friendly relationships with Saudi Arabia.

Why is this Indian Citizen, a Doctor, who was providing a valuable service here in Australia treated like a GITMO Detainee?

This does not reflect well on Australia and specifically the Howard Government and more specifically Kevin Andrews and Darth Ruddock.

Is this episode, part of this plan?

Update: The Government is looking to deport Haneef to get out of this mess. This article outlines some of the powers Australia's Anti Terror Laws gives to the Government.

Over at the Road to Surfdom, Ken Lovell has the scoop on the new requirements for suspicious visitors to Australia.

Fair Go for Aboriginal Communities?

From The Australian

Fifteen years after the Australian High Court's historic Mabo decision, an explosion of land-use agreements between Aborigines, mining companies and governments has failed to deliver significant outcomes for many of the indigenous people who signed them.

A five-year detailed examination of 45 contracts by Griffith University academic Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh has found that half the agreements were either "basket cases that should never have been entered into" or had delivered few cultural and monetary benefits to Aborigines.

Many agreements were poorly constructed deals that deprived Aborigines of a share in the unprecedented opportunity flowing from the resources boom.

Australia's wealthiest mining regions had the worst record and in many cases indigenous people were trading off rights to protect culturally important areas for limited, short-term benefits.