Hi Bridget,
Because he goes to great lengths to portray himself and reasonable and caring.
Many people keep on about how 'decent' he is and how hard it is for him to be
like this in light of his 'decency'. I figure a really decent man couldn't do
what he is doing so it he is acting out of choice.
Trudy
Bridget Carrick wrote:
>
> 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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*******************************
A threat to justice anywhere is
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-- Martin Luther King
http://www.green.net.au/arp/
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