Garrett changes mind on military base
Friday, 16 February 2007. 11:21 (AEDT)Friday, 16 February 2007. 10:21 (ACST)Friday, 16 February 2007. 10:21 (AEST)Friday, 16 February 2007. 11:21 (ACDT)Friday, 16 February 2007. 09:21 (AWDT)

Mr Garrett has given the satellite base his nod of approval.

ABC

The Federal Opposition's environment spokesman, Peter Garrett, says he fully supports a proposed United States defence facility at Geraldton in Western Australia.

The Federal Government has agreed to host a new US communications system 30 kilometres east of Geraldton.

The facility will monitor regions such as the Middle East.

Yesterday Labor Defence spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon declared Labor's support for the satellite base, but Mr Garrett refused to comment despite being a long-time opponent of such bases.

But today Mr Garrett says his views have evolved over time.

"I 100 per cent support the Defence Minister on that issue," he said.

"I want to make it perfectly clear that when I joined the Labor Party I accepted and understood that the policy was for Australian joint facilities to be supported here and that is a policy I unreservedly accept and support."

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says Mr Garrett's changing views raise questions about Labor's commitment to Australia's alliance with the United States.

"Anybody who knows Mr Garrett knows he stands for one thing, he stands for opposition to US presence in Australia and now overnight he's suddenly decided that he supports it," he said.

"It does bring into question the commitment of the Labor Party frontbench to the Australia-US alliance."

Prime Minister John Howard says it is hard to believe.

"I think deep down in his heart he doesn't believe in it," he said.

Meanwhile, a terrorism expert has quashed concerns Geraldton could become a possible target for terrorists when the new communications base is built.

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert has condemned the plan, warning Geraldton will become a terrorist target.  {{:lol::lol:}}

But a strategic affairs analyst from Curtin University, Doctor Alexey Muraviev, says it is highly unlikely Geraldton will be targeted.

"Even if it's linked to the United States, which obviously increases its target profile, would actually drive terrorists to Geraldton, I think, is certainly a bit short-sighted and likely to be driven by political agendas," he said.

"Terrorists are very much opportunistic individuals and they would likely hit far less protected targets, which would primarily be around civil infrastructure and mass gatherings, transport sector etcetera."

US forces give the nod
It's a setback for your country
Bombs and trenches all in rows
Bombs and threats still ask for more

Divided world the CIA
Who controls the issue
You leave us with no time to talk
You can write your own assessment

Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing

Will you know it when you see it
High risk children dogs of war
Now market movements call the shots
Business deals in parking lots
Waiting for the meat of tomorrow

Everyone is too stoned to start emission
People too scared to go to prison
We're unable to make decisions
Political party line don't cross that floor
L. Ron Hubbard can't save your life
Superboy takes a plutonium wife
In the shadows of Ban the Bomb we live

Sing me songs of no denying
Seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing

Australia Day, Invasion Day or Aboriginal Sovereignty Day?
by Yagans Head Media 07 Tuesday January 09, 2007 at 05:55 AM

JANUARY 9, 2007: On January 26 2006 Aboriginal Sovereignty Day was declared, when representatives of Aboriginal Sovereign Nations agreed, by consensus, on "Invasion Day" 2006, that the 26th of January would be known as Aboriginal Sovereignty Day. The gathering from across the land at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 2006 was in response to the continual Government threat to control the Tent Embassy site; the last united, free voice of Aboriginal People. Aboriginal sovereignty was first declared in Australia in 1972 at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy...

The issue of Aboriginal Sovereignty has been unresolved since 1770 when Aboriginal people opposed Captain James Cook's reconnaissance of the Great Southern Land `Terra Australis', followed by Captain Arthur Philips incursion establishing the platform for invasion. Out-posts were initially set-up on the East Coast of `Terra Australis' and methodically spread across Aboriginal people's `terra firma'.

As a direct result of these unprovoked and planned transgressions, Aboriginal people of terra Australis resisted and defended our inherent sovereign heritage that continues to be suppressed by political ideology and economic greed which clearly stands out in the endemic statistical evidence of Aboriginal people's quality of life and restrictions of a free Aboriginal voice.

Australia's lack of political freedoms and religious morals are denying Aboriginal people's right to self-determination, is an indictment on all Australians.

So, on January 26 2006 Aboriginal Sovereignty Day was declared, when representatives of Aboriginal Sovereign Nations agreed, by consensus, on "Invasion Day" 2006, that the 26th of January would be known as Aboriginal Sovereignty Day.

The Peoples identified the 34 year-old Tent Embassy in Canberra as a significant place of social, spiritual and political importance to Aboriginal Peoples, and a symbol of the assertion of Aboriginal Sovereignty.

The Tent Embassy calls on all Aboriginal Sovereign Nations to stand up against the illegal occupation of our country and continue to resist the oppression of our people. Until there is true justice for our people, these issues will not go away and we will continue to resist.

In 2006 the Tent Embassy took the Sacred Fire to the 'Stolenwealth' Games in Melbourne in March. The fire contains the message of peace, healing and justice, and create a focal point for unfinished business. We call on all Aboriginal Nations to send representatives to the Embassy to commemorate and review the issues of Land Rights in Australia.

The Tent Embassy reiterates the call on the Australian Government to desist the illegal occupation of Aboriginal lands, the oppression of Aboriginal Peoples, and to stop denying the true history of this country.

Indigenous leaders, including Marji Thorpe, Gary Foley, Robbie Thorpe and Michael Mansell claim that Native Title and Reconciliation haven't adequately addressed Indigenous rights. They say: "Native Title has mainly embroiled Indigenous peoples in complex legal processes where they have (generally unsuccessfully) had to prove their fundamental human rights to the land."

The campaigners, known as the Black GST, say the process "puts the onus on Indigenous peoples to somehow prove continuous connection with their land, an impossible task in many situations given the effects of our dispossession and attempted genocide."

On Australia Day last year the diverse and vibrant group marched peacefully through Canberra, gathered at the Tent Embassy on the lawns in front of Old Parliament House and called for recognition of indigenous sovereignty over the land.

"We're wanting to let all the people know that all the land in Australia has been given back to the Aboriginal people... and the sovereignty now lies with all Aboriginal nations," a spokesperson Robert Corowa said at the Embassy.

To many Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people, Australia Day is labelled "Invasion Day" - in recognition of the colonisation of the continent by the British, he said. "We call it invasion day. The most important thing is that everybody in Australia who's now living here... we strongly encourage them to come to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and place a leaf in our fire."

Legal director of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), Michael Mansell, said the current Australia Day celebrations should be scrapped and a new national day chosen. Mr Mansell said Australia Day would forever remain a racist blot on Australia's political landscape as long as the event was held on the anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet.

"There can never be reconciliation between whites and Aborigines so long as the anniversary of the coming of white people is the basis for celebrating Australia Day," he said. "A fair and just society cannot be built on celebrating gains by one race at the expense of another."

Mr Mansell has also reported the theft of an Aboriginal sign from the TAC premises. The sign reading: "AUSTRALIA DAY Yes, let’s celebrate: MURDER, INVASION, RAPE, THEFT" was removed on the 25th of January hours after being installed on the Launceston premises.

Mansell says that he will replace the sign in an effort to "the obvious need to expose the myth, as expressed in the national anthem, that Australia is a free and fair country" and called for "white society" to punish the offenders.

"This is another instance of the continuing trend in Tasmania of racist attacks on both people and property by extreme elements of white society who don't like the truth, who don't like Aborigines and other races. As with the racial attacks on middle Eastern people in Sydney, these Tasmanian incidents show how Australia under the Howard government is becoming more openly xenophobic," he said. Last year activists in Brisbane burned an Australian flag to protest against celebrations marking European settlement in Australia.

Around 300 protesters staged an "Invasion Day" demonstration. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie condemned the action but one protester said he believed the wrong flag had been burned: "I just felt deep down that it should have been the British flag they burnt not the Australian one."