Labor Green Loon's Publicity Department:THEIR ABC Admits it had no evidence to back it's Aslyum Seekers story of torture by the Royal Australian Navy.

ABC TV in burns backdown: managing director Mark Scott admits no evidence Australian navy tortured asylum seekers

Tim Blair
The Daily Telegraph
February 5, 2014

THE ABC has backed down in the controversy over its reporting of claims that navy personnel tortured asylum seekers, apologising "if our reporting led anyone to mistakenly assume that the ABC supported the asylum seekers' claims".

A statement issued yesterday by ABC managing director Mark Scott and his news director Kate Torney admitted that video shown by the ABC of burned asylum seekers' hands did not establish how their hands had been injured.

MEDIA WATCH HOST: YES, I VOTED LIBERAL

MORRISON SAYS ABC SHOULD APOLOGISE

WHY DOES THE ABC HATE OUR NAVY?

ABBOTT BRANDS THE ABC UN-AUSTRALIAN


"The ABC's initial reports on the video said that the vision appeared to support the asylum seekers' claims," the statement reads. "That's because it was the first concrete evidence that the injuries had occurred. What the video did not do was establish how those injuries occurred."

The statement, published online by the ABC, indicated regret over how the asylum seekers' claims were presented.

"The wording around the ABC's initial reporting needed to be more precise on that point," it continued.

"We regret if our reporting led anyone to mistakenly assume that the ABC supported the asylum seekers' claims.

"The ABC has always presented the allegations as just that - claims worthy of further investigation."

The backdown follows criticism directed at the ABC from The Daily Telegraph, other media outlets, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

"A lot of people feel at the moment that the ABC instinctively takes everyone's side but Australia's," Mr Abbott said last week.

The ABC's own Media Watch program joined in the criticism on Monday night.

"The ABC overreached, by essentially endorsing the allegations of navy mistreatment on radio, TV and online throughout the day," Media Watch host Paul Barry said.

"Because even if the (Indonesian) police did back the asylum seekers' claims, there was no way of knowing they were true ... We believe the ABC should have been far more cautious, given the evidence it had, and given it was making such a big call against the navy."

On the same program, Barry caused a Twitter storm by admitting to voting Liberal in last year's federal election.

"Paul Barry broke my heart admitting he voted Liberal," sobbed one Twitter user.

"Paul Barry is god dang dead to me," wrote another.

Yet another shattered fan pleaded with the presenter: "You were joking when you said you voted Liberal, weren't you?"

Barry later confirmed he had voted Liberal.

Mick's Back Wolf Creek 2

Wolf Creek was pretty good,not too impressed with the preview of WC2 .......

Sydney's Embedded Enemy Combatants : Ahmed Elomar Sydney Muslim Insurgency Rioter needs Brain Scan.. but he is a Muslim WTF?

Hyde Park rioter Ahmed Elomar needs a brain check, court hears

Amy Dale
The Daily Telegraph
February 4, 2014

THE man at the centre of the Hyde Park riots won't be sentenced until a brain scan can be performed on him, a court heard yesterday.

Ahmed Elomar, a former champion boxer, pleaded guilty to attacking a police officer with a pole during the September 2012 riots that were sparked by the controversial YouTube clip The Innocence of Muslims.

He is still waiting to be sentenced as his defence team, led by Greg James QC, have applied to have the case put off until a MRI scan can be done to reveal the extent of his brain injuries.

Mr James told the District Court he has been waiting for more than a year for the procedure, and that on the eve he was due to have it done he was moved between jails and not provided with the security to take him to the hospital.

"The day before a scheduled appointment (we were told) he had been moved to Parklea (prison) and for security reasons they weren't prepared to provide the escorts," Mr James said. "There's nothing to suggest he won't be moved (locations) again."

The court has been told the 30-year-old has an IQ between 58 and 60, (That's pretty high for a Muslim so I guess he is probably a Scientist, Doctor,Imam or 747 Captain ?) and suffered numerous head injuries during his boxing career.

The charge of recklessly wounding a police officer can carry a maximum sentence of 14 years but Elomar, the last of the rioters before the courts, will receive a discount for pleading guilty before trial.

The attack left Senior Constable Jason Blanchard bleeding from the head and Elomar's makeshift weapon bent out of shape.

Elomar has been the only one of the group to be held in custody since the riot despite numerous bids for bail. In one, made to the Supreme Court last year, his lawyers said he was suffering from early-onset dementia as a result of boxing injuries and this made him "susceptible to outside influence" but the prosecution blasted Elomar's claims he believed the protest would be "peaceful", arguing he had armed himself with the 2m pole and a full-face balaclava, which he was later seen wearing on television footage.

All of the other men charged after the riot have all been dealt with by the courts, with two jailed.

Mr James told the court his client has needed the MRI for months, and was prepared to privately cover the cost of the procedure, but had been knocked back on at least one occasion by Corrective Services. The scan will take one day, and is expected to be used by Elomar's counsel in preparing submissions for what sentence he should receive.

The court was also told during a hearing last year that Elomar suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after an incident in which he was kidnapped in Lebanon, but prosecutors said the evidence before the court did not support the claim.

Judge Donna Woodburne formally vacated the date for his sentencing hearing, with the case to be rescheduled once the scan is done.

Sydney's Muslim Insurgency Riots Aftermath: Spin Doctors and apologists still performing CPR on Multiculturalism.

Sydney's Occupied Territories: Four more Women arrested following Genital Mutilation of two girls

Australia Shut the Gate before it IS too late.

Green Loon says Geert Wilders not welcome in Australia

Sydney Muslim Insurgency Riots: Ahmed Elomar refused Bail again

Sydney Riots: The radicalization of Muslim children you have when you are not radicalizing Muslim Children

Sydney CBD Muslim Insurgent Riot Govt. and apologists start the SPIN

Muslim Insurgent refused Bail over Sydney CBD Riot

Australia's Freedom FROM Information Minister calls for Video Ban

The Bolt Report, September 16 2012 Pt's 1,2 and 3

Why would the Australian Government help facilitate this.......

September 15 2012 : Sydney's "Harmony Day" who's responsible ?

The Australian in this Coffin.......

Muslim Insurgents Sydney Riot latest Video and Pictures

Sydney under attack from Muslim Insurgents

Sydney's Occupied Territories erupt with bucket loads of Taqiya and Harmony Day Spin

Sydney's Occupied Territories:Sheik Shabbir Mohammedbhai Vaziri and Helen Magennis, charged with Female Genital Mutilation

Terror Australia: Terror Suspect admitted to Hospital with Stomach ( Period ? ) Pain

From Sydney's Occupied Territories: Sheik and a Nurse charged over Female Genital Mutilation

Terror Australis:Syrian linked Muslims arrested in Australian Terroro raid

More Harmony Day's Down Under

Sydney's Occupied Territories:Swaggering Muslim Rat with a Gold Tooth,Mahmoud Mariam, gets away with Murder sniggers and laughs at sentencing in Sydney Court.

Sydney's Occupied Territories:"...accidents are being staged,baseball bats used to add damage to vehicles,assessors threatened or bashed,"

1982 Sydney PA (Harmony Day celebration ? ) Bombing investigation re opened

Daniel Pipes speaks with Alan Jones

Melbourne Australia:Sudanese and Somali Refugees Crime five times that of Australians and Greens call for increased refugee intake

If only it were ONLY 10,000 predominantly Muslims massing in Malaysia preparing to invade Australia

Now it's Tamil (Tiger ?) Colonization of Australia, why not ? everyone else is brought here by the Government.

From Sydney's Occupied Territories:10,000 Muslim Insurgents mass to worship Paedophile Pirate Slave Trader and Prophet "Tonight is the Laylat al-Qadr,''

The Labor Governments Islamic Colonization of Australia continues unabated

Labor Green Loons latest Illegal entrant filled boat arrives with 211 illegal's aboard

Convicted Islamic Terrorist,Belal Saadallah Khazaal, High Court of Australia denies appeal.

Pious Muslims riot and attack Police at another Harmony Day Cultural Enrichment Ramadan Holy Festival in Sydney;s Occupied Territories

Labor Green Loon Islamic Colonization of Australia

Labor Green Loon's Islamic Colonization of Australia :Truth worse than the Fiction

Australia's Labor Green Loon Co Party Government sets new Olympic Record for Islamic Colonization of Australia 

Pious Muslims Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana Murder Daughter because she was too westernised

Malek Fahd Islamic School, Ordered to repay $9 Million to Australian Tax Payers

Islamic Sociopaths Inc. London on Terror alert ahead of Olympic Games.

Mohammed Fouani: Jilted man's plan to burn his girl alive

Indian "Cultural Enrichment" and "Harmony Day" ambassador Extradited to Australia to face Rape Charges

When too much of the Religion of Peace is barely enough : Shocking acts of Godless Satan inspired savagery..........

Muslims outraged as Pious Muslim brother, Blake Ferguson, gets two year good behaviour bond for squeezing 26 year old woman's vagina inside the 2230 bar.

So far we have not been subjected to the famous "Cat meat on the table" defence but we have had the its "insert name here" fault except his.

 The NRL made me do it
Lets hope this Pious Muslim Sexual Deviant gets a Jail sentence from the appeal court.

Blake Ferguson gets bond for sex assault after magistrate finds appropriate case for conviction

Leigh Van Den Broeke 
The Daily Telegraph
February 3,2014

FORMER Canberra Raider and NSW Blue, Blake Ferguson, has been sentenced to a good behaviour bond for two years following an indecent assault charge.

Ferguson was smiling with boxing champion Anthony Mundine and his father, Tony, who were also in court after the sentence, which he is now appealing.

Ferguson was out partying with State of Origin teammate, Josh Dugan, when he squeezed a 24-year-old woman's vagina while she was sitting near a wall of the 2230 bar about 10.30pm on June 16.

The woman, who cannot be named, had previously told the court "he laughed at me" when she yelled at him. CCTV shows the woman pushing Ferguson after the incident.

During the sentencing hearing, Ferguson's lawyer highlighted his client's loss of income as an NRL footballer, his present unemployed status, the ridicule he has received on social media and his troubled childhood filled with domestic violence as an argument for leniency.

Previously, Ferguson had told Magistrate Jacqueline Trad that the incident was a case of mistaken identity after he mistook the woman as some had been kissing at another bar earlier in the night. This defence was found to have no evidence to back it by Magistrate Jacqueline Trad.

This morning, Magistrate Trad said, "It is my view that it is an appropriate case where a conviction should be recorded.

She highlighted the "the problematic use of alcohol" as the main reason for placing Ferguson on a good behaviour bond.


But Wait he's back on the piss

What's the Buzz: 'Reformed' former NRL star Blake Ferguson back on the booze

Phil Heads and Carly Adno
The Sunday Telegraph
January 12,2014

TROUBLED footy star Blake Ferguson is back on the grog again less than two months after converting to Islam.

He spent much of last weekend at the renowned footballer's haunt, the Clovelly Hotel, openly drinking beer and wine in front of other patrons.

While there were no complaints or issues with his behaviour, his decision to drink alcohol is in contradiction to the Islam faith where booze is banned.

Friends say he has been struggling to cope after being found guilty last month of an indecent assault on a 24-year-old woman.

He faces sentencing on February 3 and a maximum two years in jail.

The problem is the boxer has his own career to concentrate on and simply can't keep an eye on Ferguson 24/7.

Sources say he is losing patience with the former Origin centre, for whom he has been caring since his sacking from the Canberra Raiders.

"He's thought about it and it's a commitment he wants to make," Mundine recently said of Ferguson converting to Islam.

"He's just looking forward to changing his direction in life.

"At the moment he's in good space - no drinking, no drugs,
no parties."

We checked in with Mundine last week to see if he was still supporting Ferguson.

"He's family - of course I am," Mundine said. "You've got to stick by your brothers."

At the time of his conversion, Ferguson told The Sunday Telegraph he was determined to abide by the Muslim 'rules'.

"Alcohol is completely forbidden in Islam," he said, "and that's been my problem for the last five years. It's brought me down to where I am now. I enjoyed a drink but it just creates problems. I've had enough. I really have."


Brother and mentor Anthony Mundine is aware of this latest drinking episode.

Woody Allen and Dylan Farrow scandal might risk Oscar for Cate Blanchett.....boo hoo

Cate Blanchett drawn into controversy after Dylan Farrow pens allegations she was molested by Woody Allen

Daily Telegraph
February 3,2014

Cate Blanchett (c) seen here with former PM Lu Kewen aka.Kevin 07 (l) and and Hugh Jackman seen here mulling over Australia's future during the esteemed persons "2020 
Festival of bright ideas"  
Summit of the Smug Self Righteous

OSCAR nominee Cate Blanchett has been dragged into the growing storm circling Woody Allen following claims from Allen's adopted daughter Dylan that he molested her at the age of seven.

In an open letter, Dylan Farrow has called on Hollywood to address the claim and issued a

challenge to a number of the actors who have worked in Allen's films.

"What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin?" she said.

Blanchett, who stars in Allen's Blue Jasmine, last night said, "It's obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace."

Allen's lawyer has since released a statement responding to the claims of sexual abuse.

"It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities. The one to blame for Dylan's distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen", the filmmaker's attorney Elkan Abramowitz told Mother Jones.

Allen's publicist also released a statement: "Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful. He will be responding very soon ... At the time, a thorough investigation was conducted by court appointed independent experts. The experts concluded there was no credible evidence of molestation; that Dylan Farrow had an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality; and that Dylan Farrow had likely been coached by her mother Mia Farrow. No charges were ever filed."

Blanchett's co-star Alec Baldwin took to Twitter to blast users for asking if the actor owed Dylan an apology.

"What the f&@% is wrong w u that u think we all need to b commenting on this family's personal struggle?" he wrote to one commenter.

In response to another, he wrote: "So you know who's guilty? Who's lying? You, personally, know that?"

He also tweeted: "You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family's issue."

Also overnight, the Connecticut prosecutor who investigated Woody Allen on child molestation claims said it was too late for the film director to be prosecuted.

Former Litchfield County state attorney Frank Maco said in a phone interview that the statute of limitations on adopted daughter Dylan Farrow's accusations ran out at least 15 years ago.

Maco had said in 1993 that he lacked evidence to prosecute Allen but suspected the abuse did occur. He retired in 2003.

READ DYLAN FARROW'S OPEN LETTER IN FULL

The open letter, written by Dylan Farrow and published in The New York Times, claims Allen assaulted her as a child.

"[W]hen I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house," Farrow wrote. "He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me."

"He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we'd go to Paris and I'd be a star in his movies. I remember staring at that toy train, focusing on it as it traveled in its circle around the attic. To this day, I find it difficult to look at toy trains."

In a note at the top of the blog post, Kristof justified running Farrow's letter, as it was "the first time that Dylan Farrow herself has written about it in public".

Speculation is growing that Cate Blanchett's best actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Blue Jasmine could be jeopardised as a result of the spotlight being focused on Allen.

The film was nominated for three Oscars - best actress (Cate Blanchett), best supporting actress (Sally Hawkins) and best original screenplay (Allen).

The final round of Oscar voting will take place from February 14-25.

"Woody Allen was never convicted of any crime. That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up," Dylan Farrow wrote, adding: "That torment was made worse by Hollywood. All but a precious few (my heroes) turned a blind eye. Most found it easier to accept the ambiguity, to say, 'who can say what happened,' to pretend that nothing was wrong. Actors praised him at awards shows. Networks put him on TV. Critics put him in magazines."

Farrow also wrote: "Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse."

The director married Soon-Yi Previn, also an adopted daughter of Farrow, in 1997.

“If there is a yardstick to measure cultural decay, the child pornography epidemic must register.”


Blanchett responds to Woody Allen claims

Cate Blanchett backs photographer Bill Henson

Michelle Cazzulino and Neil Keene
The Daily Telegraph
May 28,2008

OSCAR-winning actress Cate Blanchett yesterday mounted an impassioned defence of Bill Henson, urging Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and NSW Premier Morris Iemma to reconsider their comments on the controversial artist's work.

The mother-of-three was among more than 40 signatories, including writer Peter Goldsworthy and economist Saul Eslake, to an open letter by the Creative Australia 2020 Summit representatives.

The missive was released just hours after a third NSW gallery removed a number of Henson's works from display.                        
                                                                Mr Bill Henson below, I am unable to post the photographs that are the subject of the Cate Blanchett open letter of support for Bill Henson,due to child pornography / Paedophilia laws.

Why I photograph children: Henson on video  

Police last week raided the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Paddington, closing down an exhibition of the artist's works just before it was due to open.

In depth: The Arts

On Friday, officers seized 20 of Henson's images, some featuring a naked girl, said to be aged just 13.

The artworks were criticised by a number of politicians, with Mr Rudd describing them as "revolting".

But the letter signed by Blanchett said the Prime Minister, along with Mr Iemma, should "rethink their public comments".

It also warned that pursuing criminal charges against Henson could harm the children depicted in the seized images.

"The potential prosecution of one of our most respected artists . . . does untold damage to our culture reputation," the letter said.

"We suggest that the. . . criminalisation of laying charges against Mr Henson, his gallery and the parents of the young people depicted in his work would be far more traumatic for the young people concerned than anything Mr Henson has done."

A spokesman for Mr Rudd last night said the Prime Minister did not resile from his remarks. "He was asked to express a personal opinion and he did that," the spokesman said.

Mr Iemma was also unrepentant: "My opinion is clear - these photographs crossed the line and they were inappropriate. I'm all for free speech but never at the expense of a child's safety and innocence."

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione yesterday told The Daily Telegraph the force's legal division was still considering whether criminal charges should be laid against Henson or the owners of the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery.

He said he found the images objectionable.

"I've got my own personal view and it's one that's not inconsistent with those police who have been out and taken those pictures into their possession," he said.

" . . . I support the police in what they've done."

In Victoria, Adrian Maiolla, the acting president of the Life Models Society, said he, too, had found Henson's images distasteful. His organisation did not allow models aged under 18 to become members and would not supply them to artists, he added.

At the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, staff yesterday removed a giant print by Henson, featuring a naked and seemingly unconscious female being carried by two other naked subjects. Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, from Newcastle police, said the images were regarded as suspicious.

 TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008
Open Letter of Support for Bill Henson
http://billhensonletterofsupport.blogspot.com.au/
PRESS RELEASE: MAY 27, 2008

Open Letter in support of Bill Henson
From Creative Australia 2020 Summit representatives

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

As members of the Creative Stream of the Australia 2020 Summit, we wish to express our dismay at the police raid on Bill Henson’s recent Sydney exhibition, the allegations that he is a child pornographer, and the subsequent reports that he and others may be charged with obscenity.

The potential prosecution of one of our most respected artists is no way to build a Creative Australia, and does untold damage to our cultural reputation.

The public debate prompted by the Henson exhibition is welcome and important. We need to discuss the ethics of art and the issues that it raises. That is one of the things art is for: it is valuable because it gives rise to such debate and difference, because it raises difficult, sometimes unanswerable, questions about who we are, as individuals and as members of society. However, this on-going discussion, which is crucial to the healthy functioning of our democracy, cannot take place in a court of law.

We invite the Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, and the NSW Premier, Mr Iemma, to rethink their public comments about Mr Henson’s work. We understand that they were made in the context of deep community concern about the sexual exploitation of children. We understand and respect also that they have every right to their personal opinions. However, as political leaders they are influential in forming public opinion, and we believe their words should be well considered.

We also call on the Minister for Environment Heritage and the Arts, Mr Garrett, to stand up for artists against a trend of encroaching censorship which has recently resulted in the closure of this and other exhibitions.

We wish to make absolutely clear that none of us endorses, in any way, the abuse of children.

Mr Henson’s work has nothing to do with child pornography and, according to the judgment of some of the most respected curators and critics in the world, it is certainly art. We ask for the following points to be fairly considered:

1. Mr Henson is a highly distinguished artist. His work is held in all major Australian collections including the Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery of SA, Art Gallery of WA, National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia.

Among international collections, his work is held in the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Denver Art Museum; the Houston Museum of Fine Art; 21C Museum, Louisville; the Montreal Museum of Fine Art; Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris; the DG Bank Collection in Frankfurt and the Sammlung Volpinum and the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna.

Major retrospectives of Mr Henson’s work at the Art Galleries of NSW and Victoria attracted more than 115,000 people, and produced not one complaint of obscenity. His work has also been studied widely in schools for many years.

2. Mr Henson has been photographing young models for more than 15 years. Until now, there has been no suggestion by any of his subjects or their families of any abusive practices. On the contrary, his models have strongly defended his practice and the feeling of safety generated in his process, and have expressed pride in his work.

We suggest that the media sensationalism and the criminalisation of laying charges against Mr Henson, his gallery and the parents of the young people depicted in his work, would be far more traumatic for the young people concerned than anything Mr Henson has done.

3. The work itself is not pornographic, even though it includes depictions of naked human beings. It is more justly seen in a tradition of the nude in art that stretches back to the ancient Greeks, and which includes painters such as Caravaggio and Michelangelo. Many of Henson’s controversial images are not in fact sexual at all. Others depict the sexuality of young people, but in ways that are fundamentally different from how naked bodies are depicted in pornography. The intention of the art is not to titillate or to gratify perverse sexual desires, but rather to make the viewer consider the fragility, beauty, mystery and inviolabilty of the human body.

In contrast, the defining essence of pornography is that it endorses, condones or encourages abusive sexual practice. We respectfully suggest that Henson’s work, even when it is disturbing, does nothing of the sort. I would personally argue that, in its respect for the autonomy of its subjects, the work is a counter-argument to the exploitation and commodification of young people in both commercial media and in pornographic images.

Many of us have children of our own. The sexual abuse and exploitation of children fills us all with abhorrence. But it is equally damaging to deny the obvious fact that adolescents are sexual beings. This very denial contributes to abusive behaviour, because it is part of the denial of the personhood of the young. In my opinion, Mr Henson’s work shows the delicacy of the transition from childhood to adulthood, its troubledness and its beauty, in ways which do not violate the essential innocence of his subjects. It can be confronting, but that does not mean that it is pornography.

Legal opinion is that if charges were laid against Mr Henson, he would be unlikely to be found guilty. The seizure of the photographs, and the possible prosecution of Mr Henson, the Rosyln Oxley9 Gallery or the parents of Henson’s subjects, takes up valuable police and court time that would be much better spent pursuing those who actually do abuse children.

4. Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the trial-by-media to which Mr Henson and his work has been subject over the past few days, is how his art has been diminished and corrupted. The allegations that he is making child pornography have done more to promote his work to possible paedophiles than any art gallery, where the work is seen in its proper, contemplative context. It is notable that the attacks on Mr Henson’s work have, almost without exception, come from those who are unfamiliar with the photographs, or who have seen them in mutilated or reduced images on the internet.

If an example is made of Bill Henson, one of Australia’s most prominent artists, it is hard to believe that those who have sought to bring these charges will stop with him. Rather, this action will encourage a repressive climate of hysterical condemnation, backed by the threat of prosecution.

We are already seeing troubling signs in the pre-emptive self-censorship of some galleries. This is not the hallmark of an open democracy nor of a decent and civilised society. We should remember that an important index of social freedom, in earlier times or in repressive regimes elsewhere in the world, is how artists and art are treated by the state.

We urge our political leaders to follow the example of Neville Wran, when in 1982 a similar outcry greeted paintings by Juan Davila. At that time, Mr Wran said: “I do not believe that art has anything to do with the vice squad”. With Mr Wran, we believe the proper place for debate is outside the courts of law.

Alison Croggon
Writer


Signatories:

Louise Adler, CEO & Publisher-in-Chief, Melbourne University Publishing
Geoffery Atherden, Writer
Neil Armfield, Artistic director, Belvoir St Theatre
Stephen Armstrong, Executive Producer, Malthouse Theatre
James Baker, Tax advisor and accountant
Geraldine Barlow, Curator
Larissa Behrendt, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney
Cate Blanchett, Actor
Daryl Buckley, Musician
Leticia Cacares, Theatre Director
Karen Casey, Visual Artist
Kate Champion, Choreographer, Artistic Director Force Majeure
Rachel Dixon, New media developer
Phoebe Dunn, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Commercial Galleries Association
Jo Dyer, Executive Producer, Sydney Theatre Company
Kristy Edmunds, Artistic Director, Melbourne International Festival of the Arts
Saul Eslake, Economist
Richard Gill, Artistic Director, Victorian Opera
Peter Goldsworthy, Writer
Marieke Hardy, Writer and broadcaster
Sam Haren, Artistic Director, The Border Project
Frank Howarth
Cathy Hunt, Creative consultant
Nicholas Jose, Writer
Andrew Kay, Producer
Ana Kokkinos, Film maker
Sandra Levy
Matthew Lutton, Theatre director
Nick Marchand, Artistic Director, Griffin Theatre
Sue Maslin, Producer, Film Art Doco Pty Ltd
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art
Callum Morton, Visual Artist
Rosemary Myers, Artistic Director, Windmill Performing Arts
Rachel Healy, Director Performing Arts, Sydney Opera House
Liza Lim, Composer
Jan Minchin, Director, Tolarno Galleries
Helen O’Neil, Executive producer
Charles Parkinson, Artistic Director, Tasmanian Theatre Company
David Pledger, Theatre director
Marion Potts, Theatre Director
Katrina Sedgwick, Festival Director, Adelaide Film Festival
David Throsby, Academic
Mary Vallentine, Arts manager

Additional signatories:

The following support the appeal contained in this letter without necessarily endorsing the detailed argument:

John Coetzee, Novelist
Anna Haebich, Writer
Ramona Koval, Writer and broadcaster
Julianne Schultz, Writer
Marcus Westbury, writer and broadcaster

Monday June 2: Those who would also like to sign this letter are invited to do so below. Please put your name, and location (but NOT your full private address) and position, if applicable. All comments on this page are moderated.

Australian Hero : Turia Pitt makes so many of us look surplus to requirements.

Turia Pitt not willing to let burns scars define her life as she prepares to take part in a 3,716km bike race

Fiona Baker
The Sunday Telegraph
February 1,2014

THE horrific burns to 65 per cent of Turia Pitt's body, combined with seemingly endless surgeries, would have stopped the most determined in their tracks.

However, the 26-year-old athlete won't be beaten.

Two-and-a-half years after she was burnt in a bushfire during a 100-km marathon through the remote Kimberley Region - which left her in a coma for two months - Pitt is preparing to hit the road again.

"The fire has turned my life upside down; I don't want it to have any more impact. It was a couple of seconds. What's that compared to a lifetime?Turia Pitt

Pitt, from Ulladulla in southern NSW, will participate in the 3716km Variety Cycle ride from Sydney to Uluru that sets off next month. And that's not all she's got planned.

In May she'll take part in the 20km Lake Argyle Swim in Western Australia as part of a relay with three other survivors of the Kimberley fire.

Later in the year she's doing a five-day walk along the Great Wall of China for Interplast, an organisation that provides free reconstructive surgery to poorer parts of the world.

"The fire has turned my life upside down; I don't want it to have any more impact," she said.

"It was a couple of seconds. What's that compared to a lifetime?

"That's not to say any of this is easy."

Pitt admits it can sound like she's taking on a lot for someone suffering such horrendous injuries.

"If I've learned anything from my accident it's that we're all much stronger and powerful than we'll ever know and, while lots of people live life to its fullest, others let life pass them by. That's really sad.''

Pitt is also studying for an MBA and Masters in mining engineering while being in constant demand on the motivational speaking circuit.
----------------------------------

I don’t want the fire to have any more impact. It was a few seconds. What’s that in a lifetime?

Sunday Telegraph
February 2,2014.
Body and Soul
Pg.4

Turia Pitt suffered horrific burns in a bushfire during a marathon in 2011, fell into a coma for two months and has since had repeated surgeries. Next month, the 26-year-old will ride from Sydney to Uluru in The Variety Cycle. She tells Beverley Hadgraft

 “People ask how I endured the pain after the fire, how I waited four hours to be rescued in the burning sun, how I walked off the helicopter and into Darwin Hospital. I think it’s like the mum who lifts a car to rescue her trapped kids. If it’s true we only use 10 per cent of our brain, maybe it’s the same with potential.

If I’ve learned anything from my accident it’s that we’re all much stronger and powerful than we’ll ever know and, while lots of people live life to its fullest, others let life pass them by and that’s really sad.
I’m trapped by my body but others are trapped by their minds and years of negative conditioning and I think that’s a worse travesty. I give motivational speeches now encouraging everyone to “unmask their potential”.

I was really fit when I got burned. That meant I recovered better but the burns were worse – body fat is a good insulator. Surgeons say it will take 10 years to get back to where I was but I can still “unmask my potential” as I’ll prove this year.

In March, my partner, Michael Hoskin, and I will do The Variety Cycle, a 3716km ride from Sydney to Uluru in 26 days. In May, I’ll do the 20km Lake Argyle Swim in WA, in a relay with three other survivors from the fire, which will be awesome. After that I’m doing a five-day walk along the Great Wall of China for Interplast, an organisation that provides free reconstructive surgery to poorer parts of the world.

I’m studying an MBA and Masters in mining engineering and have speaking engagements booked until June. I’ll have surgery to improve the appearance and function of my nose in September, and that will require a six-month recovery, but once I’m over that I’ll start training for an ironman.

Does it sound like a lot? The fire has turned my life upside down; I don’t want it to have any more impact. It was a couple of seconds. What’s that compared to a lifetime? That’s not to say any of this is easy.

LEARNING TO PUSH NEW LIMITS
I only got on a bike for the first time since my accident in December. I wasn’t even sure I could still do it but... Well, it was like riding a bike – you never forget.

My hands are the biggest problem in cycling. After the fire I had all the fingers on my right

hand amputated and have just three, which are fused together, on my left. I can’t open a jar, fasten buttons, write a letter, flip someone the bird... That makes it hard to hold onto my handlebars. The first time we cycled over corrugations, I fell off. Michael was like, “Come on, Turia – pull it together, stay on your bike.”

And I was saying, “Listen, mate. You’ve got 10 fingers, I’ve only got three. Chill out a bit.” When we go over bumps now it’s a bit scary so I go slower.
I also have to consider the fact that one of the skin’s major functions is to regulate your body temperature, but because of the burns, 65 per cent of my skin doesn’t have that function any more. When I heat up it takes ages to cool down and when I get cold it takes ages to heat up.


That’s something I’ll never get back but I’m lucky that the major parts of the body that sweat – the underarms, groin and hair – aren’t burned. However, I’ll struggle when it’s hot, especially out near Uluru, so we’ll probably ride two hours in the morning and two in the evening.

At the moment my training schedule has me cycling two hours on the road one day and 40 minutes on a stationery bike the next. I also do personal training three times a week. It’s a mix of power, strength, agility and plyometrics. Again it’s complicated by not having fingers. I can’t lift weights but we’ve found ways around it and my trainer pushes me bloody hard.

I have to fit in swim training as well, and I bodyboard for fun. I can’t get back on the surfboard yet as I don’t have the strength in my upper body. I also do yoga three times a week despite the problems with flexibility. Scar tissue doesn’t have the same flexibility as normal skin but it’s getting better.
On top of all that there’s physio. I have to do things such as bend my elbow 500 times a day, because large burn injuries often cause ossification (hardening of soft tissue) in the elbows. Basically, they’re stuck and you have a limited range of movement.

THE LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY
It’s important to say that it’s not only me who stepped up after the accident. Michael has been such a dedicated and supportive partner. There were times when I lashed out, wanting to hurt the people closest to me, but he was back again at 7am the next morning and still there at 7pm that night. He’s a really lovely man and I’m blessed to have him, but we wont tell him that or he’ll get a big head!

My trainer, my physiotherapist, my masseuse, my psychologist... Everyone in my home town of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast has been amazing. They had no experience of people with burns, but we worked it out along the way. I’ve never felt so loved and supported by my community. My best friends organised a masquerade ball which raised $ 60,000. With that money, I was able to go to a world-renowned burns clinic in the south of France.

I didn’t only make physical gains there, I made psychological ones, too. I was still wearing the mask when I came home but I felt like the old Turia was still alive – I felt more like me. It sounds ridiculous because who else would I be? I can’t put my finger on why that was. Perhaps one reason was that I had time by myself. We all need that and I hadn’t had any for a year.

Also, there’s so much emphasis on physical recovery but mental and emotional recovery are just as important. When I first got out of hospital, I felt so depressed I started to think about suicide. I felt useless and worthless, I couldn’t do anything – I couldn’t run, swim, surf, brush my teeth. I couldn’t wipe my own behind. I thought, why am I even alive? I can’t do anything. I can’t enjoy life. What’s the point?

I knew then that I needed professional help and I’m not ashamed of feeling like that – it’s perfectly normal. Writing my book, Everything to Live For ( Random House), helped, as did returning to study. But the psychologist also taught me that it’s not realistic to expect to feel good all the time. So when I feel angry, I think, yep, I feel angry today, or I’m sad today, and that’s fine.

Australia's Finest : Turia Pitt,"..........it may have taken away my body but there's still a piece inside of me which is still that independent woman who's very determined.''

A Mothers Love ...thanks from a Daughter, when Angels live among us and quietly go about their business, surely WE can HELP, even just a little.

Latest 19812 ,Turia Pitt and Kate Sanderson update:Damning findings have been made against organisers of the 2011 Kimberley Ultramarathon.