Rudd must come clean about China briefing before US visit

PM 'must reveal details' of China talks

By Sandra O'Malley
NineMsn.com.au
Tue Mar 24 2009

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce has called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to reveal details of a meeting with one of China's most senior officials.

On Saturday, the prime minister met Li Changchun at The Lodge in Canberra, at the start of a four-nation tour for the fifth most senior Chinese Communist Party official.

Why would Comrade Rudd ban Australian media, from covering his "briefing" (aka.taking instructions from) the fifth most important man in the Communist Party of China, Li Changchun, before Comrade Rudd set off to visit Comrade Obama?

While Mr Rudd's office released minimal information about the engagement, China's official CCTV news network had a more detailed report.

Mr Rudd's office was not immediately available for additional comment.

The visit comes as the Foreign Investment Review Board mulls state-owned Chinalco's $30 billion grab for a larger share of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.



Treasurer Wayne Swan will make the ultimate decision about whether the Chinalco bid is in Australia's national interest and if it will get the go-ahead.

The perceived lack of information about Mr Li's visit has aroused suspicion in some quarters of the Australian media and Senator Joyce has accused Mr Rudd of being downright sneaky.

"My concern is if Mr Rudd is doing side deals to ... secure (votes for his bid on) the UN Security Council," Senator Joyce told AAP.

"Here we have something so palpably of concern to the Australian electorate that is being swept under the carpet.

"I find it outrageous we have to find out from a Chinese source who is having lunch with our prime minister."

Australia is trying to secure enough votes for its 2013-14 bid for a temporary seat on the Security Council. It is taking on Luxembourg and Finland for the two available seats.

Senator Joyce said the easiest way for Mr Rudd to clear up speculation on whether he was lobbied about Chinalco was to disclose what was discussed at the lunch.

"Mr Rudd is being totally and utterly sneaky," he said.

"He is not being forthright and transparent in the way he is acting.

"Why are people concerned about this? It is because he would have been discussing handing sovereignty of our nation to another nation."

According to CCTV, Mr Li told Mr Rudd both countries should maintain high-level exchanges and he extended an invitation to the prime minister and other Australian leaders to visit China.

"(Mr Li) suggested the two countries expand economic cooperation on the basis of mutual benefits," the network reported.

"And Li also suggested that both countries maintain close consultation on major issues such as the financial crisis and climate change."

Mr Rudd, a Mandarin speaker, praised the stimulus measures that China had adopted to deal with the financial crisis, CCTV reported.

The Spin on the US visit

Sydney's Occupied Territories:Mahmoud Dib refused bail Video of court fracas

Bandidos Sergent-at-Arms Mahmoud Dib refused bail, supporter arrested for allegedly spitting at photographer

News.com.au
March 24, 2009 05:11pm

A SENIOR Bandidos bikie has been refused bail on weapons charges, with one of his supporters arrested outside a Sydney court for spitting on a photographer.

Bandidos Sergent-at-Arms Mahmoud Dib, 27, appeared briefly in Burwood Local Court today on six weapons-related charges.

He was arrested earlier in the day by detectives investigating a series of shootings in suburban Sydney allegedly involving outlaw bikie gangs.

More Info

Wearing a red hooded jumper and supported by a handful of associates, Mr Dib sat silently throughout his brief court appearance.

His lawyer Mohammed Masri did not apply for bail on his behalf, instead asking for the bail hearing to be adjourned until Friday.

Bail was formally refused by Magistrate Michael Dakin, who set down a bail hearing for Friday.

There were dramatic scenes outside the court after police swooped on an associate of Mr Dib for allegedly spitting on a Daily Telegraph news photographer.

See " Trick Spitter " arrested.

Other associates of Mr Dib verbally abused reporters and cameramen as they left the area.

Sydney's Occupied Territories: Arms Mahmoud Dib arrested and charged on firearms charges

Senior Bandidos bikie arrested on firearms charges

News.com.au
March 24, 2009 03:13pm

A SENIOR Bandidos bikie gang member has been charged with seven firearms offences as police investigate a string of shootings in Sydney's southwest.

Bandidos Sergeant-at-Arms Mahmoud Dib, 27, was arrested about 10am (AEDT) today following a raid on his home on Park Rd in Auburn at 6am.

He has since been charged with six firearms offences, including possessing a firearm in a public place and possessing an unregistered firearm, after gang squad detectives found a loaded gun in a car owned by Mr Dib parked in a Guildford St last Monday.

Acting Superintendent Angelo Memmolo, from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, said a .45 calibre semi-automatic pistol, loaded with seven bullets, was found in the car.

Mr Dib wasn't in the car at the time, but was in the area, he said.

Acting Supt Memmolo said no drugs or weapons were found in the early morning raid on Mr Dib's home.

However, police have seized two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which they believe may be stolen.

Mr Dib was refused bail to face Burwood Local Court later today.

NSW police are targeting Sydney's bikie gangs following a fatal brawl at Sydney airport on Sunday in which the 29-year-old brother of a senior Hells Angel was bludgeoned to death.

Australia: Muslim refused employment in Christian school.

Muslim student teacher refused position at Christian college

by Kellie Cameron
WyndhamLeader
24 Mar 09 @ 12:40pm

A MUSLIM student teacher has labelled a Christian school in Wyndham discriminatory for refusing her a position based on her religion.

But Heathdale Christian College is standing by its decision, saying that as a faith-based school it expects its teachers, including student ones, to support its Christian perspective.

Mother-of-two Rachida Dahlal, 35, has complained to the Equal Opportunity Commission on the grounds of discrimination, prejudice and unequal employment opportunities.

The Hoppers Crossing college where she wanted to do placement said it would not have been in its, or Mrs Dahlal’s, best interests.

Mrs Dahlal said on-the-job training was a requirement of her one-year diploma course in secondary education at Victoria University, and that the college was on a list of schools provided by the university offering trainee positions.

She said she chose Heathdale because it was the closest to her home and her sons’ childcare centre and also one of few schools in Wyndham offering both her specialty subjects of mathematics and French.

“I am Muslim, wear a head scarf, and respect all fellow humans regardless of their beliefs, race, or cultural background,” she said.

Mrs Dahlal said that as a result of the knock-back in February, she had started placement late at The Grange P-12 College in Hoppers Crossing, which did not offer French. She is observing Italian classes, but does not understand the language.

Heathdale principal Reynald Tibben said the Christian school was not the best option for Mrs Dahlal.

“It was not in her interest to expect her to operate in a culture that was different to her own religious standards,” he said. “To expect her to support the Christian ethos and practice of the college would have been unreasonable, just as it would be for me to operate as a teacher in a Muslim school.”

Victoria University acting vice-chancellor Prof John McCallum said it told Mrs Dahlal that the college had a policy of accepting only student teachers whose values were “consistent” with ths school’s.

“Armed with this information, the student decided to proceed to interview with the school,” he said.

Prof McCallum added: “In many instances Muslim students have been successfully placed in Christian schools.”

Mrs Dahlal said she was not told of any policy, only that she would not be able to speak about religion while on placement.

Mr Tibben said the college had offered to let Mrs Dahlal see its French curriculum.

The Equal Opportunity Commission said it could not comment on individual cases because its complaints process was confidential.

At last some backbone been shown, now lets see the Labor State Government Islam friendly Socialist's try and crush this school with their taxpayer funded Islamic Star Chamber.see
Salt Shakers

Australia: Discrimination AGAINST white Males to be legalised

Islam can only exist as a DISRUPTIVE Minority or
as an OPPRESSIVE Majority

Sydneys Occupied Territories: "Taliban of Lakemba" make move on LMA

Breakaway Muslims vote to dismiss executive

Angus Hohenboken, Natalie O'Brien
The Australian
March 24, 2009

A FAULTLINE through the most powerful Muslim organisation in the country deepened last night as a breakaway faction of the Lebanese Muslim Association voted to sack its executive.

The meeting of young MLA members, labelled the "Taliban of Lakemba" by controversial Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, was held outside Bankstown Town Hall in west Sydney after the group was reportedly shut out of the venue due to security concerns.

The 54 association members at the meeting voted unanimously in favour of motions of no confidence in the board's six executive office-holders.

"All we are asking is for a fair vote in April," Bilal Alameddine said. "From today there will basically be two boards directing what goes on in the (Lakemba) Mosque: nine on our side and six on their side."

Members said that, while the no confidence motions named the board's six office-holders, no one was singled out -- rather it was a vote of no confidence in the executive amid concerns the vote for the new board at the annual general meeting next month would be rigged.

The power struggle is mainly between the younger generation and the old guard, with tensions escalating in recent years.

LMA president Shawky Kassir said the executive would not accept the vote, as the executive was accepted by the majority of the organisation's 400 members.

"There is only one legitimate board," Mr Kassir said. "Irrelevant of its outcome, the meeting was not legal.

"They go and meet wherever they want and whenever they want -- any decision outside the proper procedure of the LMA constitutional law will not be accepted by the members and everybody around the mosque."

One senior Muslim said the younger group were "crazy and will stop at nothing".

The LMA board had previously sent a letter to the members attempting to cancel the meeting, and failed in an attempt to get an injunction in the Supreme Court to stop the meeting going ahead.

Mr Alameddine, who strenuously denied claims the group had Taliban ideology, said the cancelled venue booking was another example of the "political games" being played by the board. "The council asked the police for a risk assessment over the meeting and the police said there was no risk, but the council still cancelled the meeting because of security concerns," he said. "We are not radicals."

Bankstown City Council could not be contacted at the time of going to publication.

Trouble was expected at the Lakemba Mosque last Friday after confrontations last week between supporters of Sheik Hilali and his rivals, but a guest imam from Lebanon gave the sermon instead of Sheik Hilali.

Several scuffles have broken out during prayer times after the Nine Network's A Current Affair played security video footage of Sheik Hilali kicking in a door in his own mosque before calling in the police to report an act of vandalism.

The Muslim youths believe Sheik Hilali staged the vandalism to frame them and gain public support.

Sheik Hilali has denied the allegations and says there is more CCTV footage that proves there was a break-in.

See video post March 18 09

Sydney's Occupied Territories: Sheik Taj Din Al Hilaly, trashes Mosque then calls Police to find culprit.