Trudy why would Rudduck feel uncomfortable being supported by racists when
he comes across (to me at least) as being exceptionally racist himself!!??
Bridget
-----Original Message-----
From: Trudy Bray [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, 21 June 2001 9:24
To: RecOzNet2
Subject: [recoznettwo] SMH - Letters (extract)
The Sydney Morning Herald
June 21, 2001
Letters
Abuse must end before we can all reconcile
Danna Vale has stirred the pot with her criticism of Aboriginal leaders,
specifically Geoff Clark and Pat O'Shane, for not doing enough to
reduce the widespread sexual and physical abuse of Aboriginal women and
children
("MP attacks 'frauds' for not tackling sex crimes",
Herald, June 20).
The Aboriginal community clearly wants reconciliation, but who wants to be
reconciled with a community that abuses its women and
children? It's not racist to speak out against criminal activity when it is
practised by a different race. It is still criminal activity. The main
issue is not whether Geoff Clark is guilty as charged by the media court,
but
whether he and other leading Aborigines are doing enough to
eliminate this stain on the honour of their race.
Only after they collectively and seriously address this endemic problem
will it
be appropriate to talk about reconciliation.
Tony Wood, Gymea, June 19.
For 10 years I have been involved in advocacy and support of women and
children
who have experienced domestic violence, and in
many cases sexual assault.
As such, I am absolutely devastated that Pat O'Shane, for whom I have
historically had the utmost respect, appears to be minimalising
and undermining the validity of women's disclosures.
It is my experience that women (and children) are more likely not to report
sexual or physical abuse than fabricate allegations. This is
supported by the ABS Women's Safety Australia study 1996, which indicated
that
89 per cent of women in sexual assaults did not report
the assault to the police.
Comments that invalidate women's disclosures have a direct impact on women
who
are attempting to stop the violence and/or seek some
legal redress.
A survey of attitudes of magistrates (1999) found 90 per cent of
magistrates
surveyed agreed that domestic violence orders are often
used by applicants in Family Court proceedings as a tactic to aid their
case and
deprive their partner from access to children. Pat is
obviously not alone in her thinking.
Pamela Foster, North Sydney, June 19.
Unfortunately, Pat O'Shane is not in a position to speak her mind about
issues
which are widely known among the legal profession and
particularly in the Family Court arena. Women don't generally make
unsubstantiated claims of sexual abuse against males. However, it
does occur and it occurs more frequently in Family Court matters where
women
claim their spouses have physically or sexually abused
their children. Many of these matters go unsubstantiated and always leave a
doubt as to the truth.
Of course, there are instances where it is a legitimate allegation but
there are
also instances where it is a total fabrication to achieve a
means to an end.
Pat O'Shane is not saying any more than this but unfortunately she is in a
judicial position where she is unable to educate the community
as to the reality of life.
Paul McCosker, Ashtonfield, June 19.
Margo Kingston's opinion piece ("Who is oppressing who, Geoff?", Herald
Online,
June 20) is exactly the point Geoff Clark makes this
same day. However loathsome the crime of rape and unappealing his response
to
the allegations, Mr Clark is an innocent man. He does
not become guilty unless convicted in a court following proof of his guilt
by
the prosecution.
Mr Clark is under no obligation to prove his innocence and is entitled to
simply
deny his guilt and then mutely await the verdict.
The presumption of innocence is one of the cornerstones of our allegedly
free
society. A free and independent media is another
cornerstone. I support the original publication of the story and all
genuine
reporting on it. After all, Mr Clark can always have his day in
the defamation court and, if he wins, the Fairfax organisation will then
simply
have made him a wealthy man.
Kingston's piece is pernicious and deplorable. A responsible editor should
have
consigned it to the wastebasket. I wonder whether she
would have written the same things if the allegations had been about a
different
type of crime?
Peter Nugent, Sydney, June 20.
Refugees do not belong in prison camps
Refugees are detained in Australia in prison camps. Other countries hold
detainees in dedicated apartment buildings (Germany) or
suburban or country hotels or dormitories (the United States). These are
countries with huge populations of illegals: in the US more than
20,000 are held in detention on any given day. In addition, the US is
making
services such as education, health and life training classes
available to them.
If, as Mr Ruddock maintains, the majority are found to be valid refugees
and
released into the community, isn't it time to acquaint them
with the skills they will need to be able to function instead of turning
them
into de facto criminals when they are really de jure refugees?
Michelle Stein-Evers Frankl, Double Bay, June 19.
Australasian Correctional Management, the company responsible for the
management
of some correctional facilities in this country,
including Junee and Fulham, also manages migrant detention centres. That
this
company is a subsidiary of the correctional division of the
North American Wackenhut Corporation is compelling, particularly in light
of the
prison-like conditions reported by members of a
parliamentary committee examining human rights in these centres.
The reasoning behind forging an institutional link between migrant
detention
centres and correctional institutions remains, at best,
extremely obscure. My question to Philip Ruddock is: is it ethical to
maintain
such a link at all?
Damien Millar, Marrickville, June 19.
To those (Letters, June 20) who disagree with Philip Ruddock's position on
illegal immigrants, I have a suggestion. Why don't they offer
practical assistance by volunteering to take into their homes an illegal
immigrant, or a family where appropriate, as host to these people?
The host responsibilities would be to feed, clothe, accommodate and educate
the
immigrants. Importantly, there would be the
responsibility of mentoring the immigrants so that they can integrate into
our
society, where violence is not tolerated and compliance with
our various laws is mandatory.
I will not be volunteering. I know Philip Ruddock is doing what is best for
our
nation because if he is diverted from his mission, Australia
could become another Middle East.
George Stevens, Vincentia, June 20.
[Does Ruddock feel at all uncomfortable being supported by One Nation and
racists? - Trudy]
--
*******************************
A threat to justice anywhere is
a threat to justice everywhere.
-- Martin Luther King
http://www.green.net.au/arp/
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