Indonesia forgotten again on Australia's expanded 'Seasonal Worker' Program
Australia has dismissed Indonesian workers as part of an expansion to the Seasonal Worker Program specifically designed to support key Australian industry sectors such as horticulture, hospitality and tourism. Not surprising really! Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced in September that extending the Seasonal Guest Worker Pilot Scheme to include Nauru, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu would give Pacific nations an important economic boost and also help Australian agricultural producers. Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuat…
Diplomatic lessons from bali boy case
Diplomatic lessons from ‘Bali Boy’case The safe return last week of the young NSW boy - now known as the ‘Bali Boy’- after being held in Indonesia for three months would have been welcomed by his parents, the Australian government and most fair-minded Australians. But there are some diplomatic lessons to be learned from this case that captured the headlines not only in Australia but throughout Indonesia. Fourteen years ago, the arrest of this boy could probably have been resolved through the ‘appropriate channels’ very quickly. Under the …
It's Not Only the Children who Suffer
The heartbreaking true story of a young Indonesian fisherman in Australian jails... It’s not only the jailed children who suffer How long did three year old Aril* struggle; each breath harder than the next, as gradually his lungs filled with the thick white ‘syrup’ from his asthma? His mother, feeling tired, distraught and helpless to assist him grew more and more anxious. Would someone PLEASE help! Her husband and the child’s father Ruslan* languis…
Forfeiting Our Right to Surf Safely
It’s almost summer. Despite the rain showers all October it is finally starting to feel like summer. The water is unusually warm and we are starting to enjoy those lovely light easterly winds and a perfect medium surf along our coast. A time when hundreds of young, and not-so-young, people head to their local beach for a body surf, or even to ‘crack a few waves’ on their boogie-boards. Wrong. Whilst there is no law that says you can’t enjoy an early morning surf in summer, the truth is, by default, that right has been taken away from all thes…
Two Boys;Two Countries..and Two Law Courts......
This week two boys will face court on criminal charges. The two boys don't even know each other, but the treatment of one boy will make you feel ill when you consider the treatment of his 'friend' who is in an even worse situation. The first boy is from Australia. He is from 'a nice suburb' according to our foreign minister, and 'plays footy'. He is also an Australian and he is white. He is also about to become rich. He is being held in Bali after been allegedly found to be in possession of drugs whi…
Battered Bali Loses its 'Bliss'
Battered Bali Loses its ‘Bliss’ WEST AUSTRALIANS’ FAVOURITE HOLIDAY DESTINATION IS AT TIPPING POINT AND BALI COULD BE SUFFERING TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING It all started three months ago with an article in Time Magazine saying Bali was a ‘hell-hole’ of filth, polluted waterways and poor infrastructure. Now Bali has been ‘hit’ with an earthquake, the arrest of a 14 year-old NSW boy on drugs charges, the bashing of Eagles star, Dean Laidley at a popular Kuta Beach night club, and then there was a young woman from Newcastle ending-up in coma after …
Double Standards in Children-In-Jail Case
Next week two teenage boys will face a foreign court. One boy is an Australian teenager and will face a court in Bali. He has been arrested for drug offences. The other boy is an Indonesian teenager and will face a WA court as a people smuggler because he accepted a job as a deckhand on a boat. The Australian boy has been held for a month by Indonesian authorties, as Australia negotiates with Indonesian authorities to get him back home. The Indonesian authorities have done all they can to keep the boy out of Bali's notorious Kerobokan Pr…
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