the interpretOr …
…now read in 98 countries across the globe…and proud to introduce our new section…‘Abbott Junta’
(source: WordPress.com – June 2013)
Archive for June 4, 2013
excerpt of…
…Joint Doorstop Interview, Queanbeyan
Posted on Tuesday, 4 June 2013
QUESTION:
In 2001, what happened when your department knocked back a request from Telstra to provide compensation for those affected by asbestos?
TONY ABBOTT:
Look, I’m not going to comment on decisions that the department made. What I can do is certainly defend my own record when it comes to asbestos. One of my early acts as Minister for Workplace Relations was to commence the process for banning the importation and use of Chrysotile asbestos. As Health Minister I committed $6 million to establish a national research centre into asbestos-related diseases. So, the record is there for all to see and my plea to the Government now is please, please, given what we know about asbestos, make sure that the roll-out of the National Broadband Network doesn’t add to the asbestos hazards that the Australian people face.
QUESTION:
But as Minister were you aware of that decision?
TONY ABBOTT:
I’m just not going to comment on who said what to whom, when, what document might have gone to what person when. The fact is you can always ask the department what the department did back then…
Sri Lanka, June 2013: intolerance and fear
“…A climate of intolerance and fear continues to sweep the island as the government’s stranglehold on the population grows ever tighter. In March, Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was impeached after declaring a government bill unconstitutional.
Lawyers working on torture and other human rights cases have been targeted and harassed. Meanwhile, the cases of Kumar, Poddala and the many activists who have disappeared have not been independently or credibly investigated.
Yet the authorities claim that their human rights record has improved – a claim reinforced by their selection as hosts of the November meeting of Commonwealth leaders. It is a whitewash of immense proportions, says Poddala.
“I can’t understand why the Commonwealth has decided to do this,” he told us, “because no civil society organization is allowed to function there. There are no human rights in Sri Lanka.”
…for more on this story, click through here to Amnesty International…
With a history of plagiarism and consistent lack of compassion, it is hard to determine whether Julie Bishop’s stance may be attributable to sheer ignorance or zero empathy, but heck, maybe they’re not mutually exclusive in this particular case? The civil war in Sri Lanka endured for 25+ years and the situation in northern areas may still be fraught and perilous, particularly for the Tamil minority.
This interpretOr reported on the plight of Tamil refugees in May 2008 (from Australia), in conjunction with David Gray of news agency Reuters who was on the ground in north eastern Sri Lanka and one of the few Western journalists behind the lines with hundreds of thousands of trapped largely Tamil CIVILIANS.
One of Gray’s pieces touched on:
“An estimated 450,000 people have been displaced in the 25 year old Sri Lankan civil war. Since 1983, well over 70,000 people have lost their lives.”
My…
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