Free Australia

PRESS RELEASE

The FREE Australia Party exists to challenge the draconian nature of the Labor government as manifest in the legislative changes that have been introduced to the lives of every Australian citizen.
 
What some people may not be aware of is that the Labor government is a full fee paying member of the Socialist International Association and as such has signed an agreement that they will follow strictly certain principles to defend pluralistic democracy, of which, a respect of the rights of minorities and individuals; and an independent and impartial judicial system based on the law are identified as essential to the fulfilment of this agreement. 

By implementing the Serious Organised Crime Control Act 08 (S.O.C.C.A) the Labor government is not acting “in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, they are not showing a “respect of private life”; and because of passing laws which state that the prosecution do *not* have to prove their case when attempting to sentence an individual to a long term jail sentence they are not providing a “right to equal treatment” before law.

The FREE Australia Party considers that the Labor Party is, as a result of such draconian laws, breaching the Ethics Charter of the Socialist International by implementing laws which go contrary to their stated agenda and against international human rights standards.  Sections 5.1 – 3 of the Statutes of the Socialist International association state that a decision to expel a rogue party or organisation from membership can be taken by the Congress if a majority of two-thirds of member parties voted for that to occur.   This means that political parties, countries, and associations, which do not agree to adhere to the clearly stated principles of the Socialist International association, would a) not be supported to become party members, or b) if they were members, an expulsion would be justified.
But this is where it becomes interesting because the FREE Australia Party has, since June 9 2009, been endeavouring to lodge a formal complaint with the Socialist International Association and have found ourselves to be by and large stone walled with what appears to be deliberate decisions to not respond to our attempts for communication. 

A detailed list of these communication attempts are provided below:

1. First wrote to the Socialist international on June 9, 2009 requesting the protocol for lodging formal complaint.
2. Called on June 22, 2009 to ask what was happening, and was told they are processing a response.
3. Called on June 27, 2009 to ask what was happening, and was told that the Secretary General was looking at it.
4. Called July 28, 2009 to ask what was happening, and was told that they are on holiday and that they would print it out again to look at.  I told them that I would call back again if I had received no word in two weeks.
5. Called again on Sept 30, 2009 and spoke to a receptionist who did not know what to do, and stated that she had not heard of the email I sent requesting the complaints process.  She said that she would speak with a colleague about it.  I asked if she wanted me to resend the email, which I did.  She asked for my number to call me back after she had spoken with her colleague, which I gave her.
6. Called again Oct 23, 2009 and was told to send the full letter of complaint through to the Secretariat because a meeting of ethics committee happens in November 2009 and that they have one every 6 months, with the next being in June 2010.  The name of the person I have been speaking with is “Natalie”.  I have sent the letter along with an attachment of the SOCCA act, the website article about SIA, and a copy of the latest human rights investigation into Australia.
7. Resent the original letter to ethics committee of the Socialist International via email attachment on March 31, 2011. (April 19, 2011 no response, not even an email acknowledgment that the email had been received)
8. Resent the original letter to ethics committee of the Socialist International via email attachment on April 19, 2011.

This is hardly the behaviour one would expect from a reputable organisation. 

If you would like to speak with and/or lodge a complaint to the Socialist International you can do so by contacting:
Socialist International, Maritime House, Old Town, Clapham, London sw4 0jw, United Kingdom
T: 0011 (44 20) 7627 4449  F: (44 20) 7720 4448 / 7498 1293

But the tale does not end there, as even within South Australia we have experienced the same degree of stone walling and obvious seemingly deliberate attempt to portray us as something we are not.  This has involved the changing of article headlines which call us by name (i.e. FREE Australia Party) to the “Bikie Party”, the publishing of anonymous fear mongering paragraphs which stigmatise a certain group of Australians, the misrepresenting of an event through the manipulation of article photographs, the attribution of the “terrorism” tag by the misapplication of photos to unrelated articles; but which lead the reader to assume that the article is about what the photo infers.  It seems to matter little to the editors who make such publishing decisions that no such “Bikie” Party exists within any government register or gazette, that events and people are being grossly misrepresented and stigmatised in the articles they rubber stamp.  It becomes increasingly obvious that these decisions are being made to serve political purposes.

We have spoken with journalists who have been quite candid with us about the restrictions they face within their profession, and out of respect for their position we will not name them; such is the silent compliance occurring within the media outlets in Australia.  We would think that true journalism, which is truly investigative, would strive to be more than a cheap tabloid approach based upon “if it don’t bleed it don’t lead”, as one unnamed journalist so succinctly put it. 

The fact that this is the state of media outlets that people depend upon to hear “news” makes for a very concerning situation within Australia as it becomes difficult for people to actually know what the truth is when what the newspaper they hold in their hand, or the Radio they listen to, or TV they watch is presenting little more than propaganda designed to manufacture the consent the government needs to implement the draconian policies we exist to challenge.

The FREE AUSTRALIA PARTY stands opposed to authoritarian governance and calls for an Independent Commission against Corruption (I.C.A.C) to be given the highest priority at this time at a state level, and an Ozzie Bill of Rights enshrined at a Constitutional Level.

To this end a “Freedom Run” will be occurring in October in representation of a large cross section of Australian society to demand, and to raise the awareness that we want a Bill of Rights.

Written by Craig Hendry
President – FREE Australia Party