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The evil that is Fonterra

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
9

While Fonterra get NZs favourite rugby boof head to sing their praise in TV and while the industry tries to hide the damage they do to our water and environment by flooding the country with cow shit, these buggers have been caught doing this…

Mars, Kellogg’s and Fonterra push out payment times then lend to small business

Massive brands including Mars, Kellogg’s and Fonterra have been accused of extortion-like behaviour by Australia’s small business and family enterprise ombudsman.

In the course of Kate Carnell’s inquiry into payment times she has uncovered a pattern of global giants pushing out payments to small businesses and then offering the same small businesses loans to keep them afloat.

It is astounding that they can get away with this shit.

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EXCLUSIVE: Dear Netsafe – you can censor The Daily Blog the day you take the keyboard from my cold dead hands

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
104

I have to be honest with you all, when the Harmful Digital Communications Act passed, I didn’t take a hell of a lot of notice of the fine print.

On the surface, the Act seemed reasonable. Human beings have a terrible ability to be cruel to one another and when they can be anonymous online that ability manages to become infinite, so I like many NZers probably nodded in agreement at legislation to combat online bullying in a cultural landscape that includes social media.

Oh how wrong was I.

Two days ago I was contacted by Netsafe who requested that under the powers given them from the Harmful Digital Communications Act that I censor The Daily Blog.

It gets so much worse than that though.

Not only am I not allowed to tell you, the readership of The Daily Blog, that I have been contacted by Netsafe to censor the blog, I am not allowed to tell you the content they wish to censor and I am not allowed to tell you if the blog has been censored.

Over the last 48 hours I have been shocked to learn the huge powers that have been handed over to a jumped up NGO who is merely deputised by the Ministry of Justice to manage the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

This law was effectively set up to stop teenagers bullying each other on bloody Facebook, what the hell are they doing trying to censor a political blog?

If The Daily Blog has published something that is a falsehood about you as an individual you have the right to contact me as the editor and request a right of reply and if we have over stepped the mark, an apology from the blog – failing that, you can always sue us for defamation.

I’ve been in this game since 1995, and in my 23 years (despite being banned from Radio NZ for life for supposedly defaming John Key), I’ve never been sued for defamation. I know the law, I sail pretty close to it at times, but I don’t over step it and I’ve got almost a quarter of a century of experience to back that up.

We have reviewed the blogs that Netsafe have asked to be censored and there is NOTHING defamatory in those blogs. If NZers knew what blogs Netsafe wanted censored, there would be  outrage at the obvious political influences at work here.

Netsafe demanded that I respond within 48 hours as to whether or not I would comply with their requests for censorship, so let me respond publicly to Netsafe.

You can censor The Daily Blog the day you take the keyboard from my cold dead hands. The content you have asked to be censored is not defamatory and allowing secret censorship of political blogs is the most dangerous and disturbing part of your powers.

This blog ain’t for turning 

My advice to Netsafe is that they pause, take a long deep breath and consider the Public backlash at this type of censorship. You were given these powers to stop cyber bullying, you sure as Christ weren’t given them to censor political blogs. This is an outrageous abuse of power and I won’t acquiesce to it.

Any incoming new Government in September has to urgently check the powers that have been given Netsafe, because I can’t imagine anyone who voted for the Harmful Digital Communications Act thought for one second it would be used against legitimate political comment online.

If Netsafe continue this action against The Daily Blog, I will ensure you our readers know about it.

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What century are we living in?

By
Susan St John
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37

I don’t know this woman personally.  All I know is that this is a frightening case for its insights into the judicial system..  Shamed for all the world to see in the media, this so called “benefit fraudster  has “appealed her sentence  in the High Court.  Her original sin and conviction was for living with someone that MSD has deemed  to be her partner.

Between 2007 and 2015, 8 years, she had been on a domestic purposes benefit and received a reduction in rent at a Housing NZ property. The MSD prosecuted her, alleging she was fraudulently paid $126,000 she wasn’t entitled to.  She was jailed for 2 years 1 month.  Yes you read that right. Such a dangerous criminal!

She appealed to the High Court against this excessive sentence and has just had her appeal thrown out and will remain in jail.

Several things are not discussed, either in the Stuff report or in the Napier High Court proceedings but are deeply concerning. Where is investigative journalism when it is needed?

First there is no mention of the partner except that he was on a benefit. This is no sugar daddy case of her taking a sole parent benefit while living it high on the hog with a wealthy partner. He was more likely to be a liability. There is no information about her children, yet she is 45 and being on the DPB must have children. They are clearly not the children of the so called partner.  Who is looking after them while she is in prison? What price will society pay for their distress and the destruction of her family?

Second, while we are told “Based on those assertions the Ministry paid Tawhai $126,000” we don’t know whether this is over and above what she would have been entitled to anyway. Over 8 years this is about $16,000 a year which is around the gross DPB.  Even under the ridiculous lowered benefit rates for couples she would have been entitled to the majority of this especially once entitlement to supplementary assistance is factored in.

Judge Tony Adeane  was asked “to give her more discount for her expression of remorse and the fact she would repay the amount she wrongly received through deductions from her benefit payments.”

Her lawyer argued that if the sentence was reduced by one month Tawhai would have been eligible for home detention instead of prison. In light of her children this would have most certainly been the more humane, if still unjust , outcome.  

The judge sneered at her lawyer wanting to reduce the sentence by just one month  as that would “amount to tinkering with the sentence imposed”.  Yet for her, one month less would make home detention a possibility. Her children are nowhere to be seen in the judge’s thinking.

The case for not reducing the sentence is quite bizarre. Apparently because it would take 80 years at a rate of $30 week from her benefit for total repayment, jail was justified. But MSD will still hound her for repayment of the full amount when she finally gets out. The taxpayer will pay well over $200,000 to keep her in jail for this period to say nothing of the costs of care of any children.

But what really stands out is the judge’s attitude to her remorse.

“Tawhai’s expression of remorse appeared to be directed at the situation she found herself in, “namely facing a sentence of imprisonment”.

“It was this prospect that appears to have prompted her feelings of regret and remorse rather than any insight into the harm that her offending has caused,”

Not deep enough?  Not enough tears?  Not showing insights into ‘harm’ to her ‘victims’?  

I dont know this woman or her story but I’d love to hear it. Beneficiaries are on the fringe of society and have to do what they have to do to survive. Were her actions about sheer survival ?  What we do know is that this sentence is beyond belief.

 

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Keating and English’s colonial response to the SAS raid

By
Keith Locke
-
18

A feature of colonialism was the marginalisation of the colonised people in any political discourse. Their views didn’t really matter.

This is still a feature of world politics even if colonialism has largely been replaced by a new form of imperialism, whereby the major western powers, particularly the United States, still determine much of what goes on in the less-developed world.

Nobody asked the Afghani or Iraqi people before the United States invaded their countries in 2001 and 2003. The US then decided how the wars would be fought, with little reference to the local people. In Afghanistan civilian casualties in the war went largely unreported. The first official American reports on any raid were all about the number of insurgents killed. Only later would the US military reluctantly admit that some civilians might have been killed.

The NZ Defence Force reporting on the SAS raid on two Afghan villages in August 2010 follows the US pattern. First the NZDF said that no civilians had been killed in the raid. Now it says it is possible civilians died.

In terms of confirmed deaths the NZDF says nine (unnamed) insurgents were killed. In Hit and Run Nicky Hager and Jon Stevenson say no insurgents died but six (named) civilians were killed. Their information comes from the villagers.

I support an inquiry to sort out what really happened in Operation Burnham. But with or without it, surely a path to the truth lies in evidence provided by the affected villagers, some of whom appear to be accessible via cell-phone or email – or face-to-face in Afghanistan. The villagers are now represented by Kiwi lawyers, who are in touch with them.

Defence Chief Tim Keating and the Prime Minister exhibit the “colonial” reflex in completely ignoring the villagers as a source of information. Bill English looked at a few American videos of the battle and considered that to be enough to reject any inquiry. Keating didn’t consider evidence from the locals as relevant enough to mention.

Keating and English also didn’t think it important to respond to evidence that an SAS soldier beat one of the Afghan locals, Qari Miraj , who was then passed on to the notorious torturers in the Afghan National Directorate of Security. I can’t help thinking that the beating and the torture may have been relevant to Mr English if Qari Miraj had been a Westerner, rather than an Afghan.

While Keating and English may be displaying their “colonial” bias, others in the Defence Force were not. The Hager and Stevenson book was made possible by some SAS soldiers, upset at what they saw, coming forward with evidence of what went wrong.

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Political Caption Competition

By
The Daily Blog
-
12

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TDB Top 5 International Stories: Thursday 6th April 2017

By
The Daily Blog
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0

5: Why Would a World Leader Eat Canned Spaghetti on Pizza?

An investigation of the New Zealand Prime Minister’s dinner.

Donald Trump caused something of a global scandal when images emerged of him eating KFC with a knife and fork. But New Zealand is once again punching above its weight in the world-leaders-eating-terrible-food stakes, with the Prime Minister posting photos of an outrageous pineapple-spaghetti-pizza hybrid.

In a Facebook post, newly-minted Prime Minister Bill English proffered his pasta-coated creations, with the caption: “Cooked dinner for the family last night—like if you agree with spaghetti on pizza!”

English’s culinary prowess has now come under almost as much scrutiny as his decision not to hold an inquiry into allegations of war crimes by New Zealand troops in Afghanistan.

Vice News

4: REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP’S TIES TO BLACKWATER FOUNDER ERIK PRINCE

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY, the most dogged opponent of Blackwater founder Erik Prince in the U.S. Congress, is blasting the Trump administration for using Prince as a shadow emissary for the White House. “He is the kind of unvetted, unscrupulous person that seems to fit very nicely, especially into the kinds of operations that they want done,” Schakowsky said in an exclusive interview for the Intercepted podcast. “This is exactly the kind of person who should be excluded from having anything to do with our government, covert or out in public.”

Schakowsky was responding to reporting by The Intercept and the Washington Post that Prince is serving as an unofficial adviser and emissary for Trump and his team. The Post reported on Monday that Prince and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, arranged a meeting in the Seychelles islands “to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump.” That followed an earlier meeting in December 2016 with Sheikh al-Nahyan, Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, and retired Gen. Michael Flynn in New York.

The Intercept

3: Idlib hospitals overwhelmed after suspected gas attack

Hospitals across Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province are overwhelmed with casualties from a suspected chemical attack that has killed scores of people and wounded hundreds more, a local health official has told Al Jazeera.

The attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Khan Sheikhoun drew widespread international condemnation, with the UN saying it would investigate the bombing raid as a possible war crime.

Air raids targeted Khan Sheikhoun again on Wednesday morning, Hamid, a local official of the Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, told Al Jazeera.

Aljazeera

2: Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon stripped of national security council role

Donald Trump’s political strategist Steve Bannon has lost his place on the national security council in a staff shakeup, documents show.

A presidential memorandum dated 4 April took Bannon, the former Breitbart News executive and chief White House link to the nationalist rightwing, off the country’s main body for foreign policy and national security decision-making. It also restores the traditional roles of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the director of national intelligence to the NSC.

While the revamp is likely to be seen as a victory for Trump’s second national security adviser, army lieutenant general HR McMaster, the substantive impact of the shakeup remains to be seen. A parallel security structure in the Eisenhower executive office building, known as the Strategic Initiatives Group, reports to Bannon, whose close relationship with Trump suggests continued influence in this administration.

The Guardian 

1: “The Assad Regime is a Moral Disgrace”: Noam Chomsky on Ongoing Syrian War

As worldwide outrage mounts over an alleged chemical weapons attack in Idlib province, which was reportedly carried out by the Assad government, we speak with world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky about the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Democracy Now

 

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The Daily Blog Open Mic – Thursday 6th April 2017

By
The Daily Blog
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1

openmike

 

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.

 

 

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Gas Attack In Khan Sheikhoun! But why would Bashar al-Assad blow himself up?

By
Chris Trotter
-
96

JUST ONCE, it would be nice to encounter a Western journalist willing to challenge the “International Community’s” official line. Someone willing to acknowledge that the term “International Community” is, itself, a cynical misnomer intended to cloak the self-interested policies of the United States and its Nato allies in the highfalutin language of global solidarity. Someone willing to have a crack at sifting a nugget of awkward truth from the dross of convenient lies.

Take this morning’s story about the use of poison gas against Syrian civilians. There would appear to be little doubt that somebody released the deadly nerve agent Sarin in the rebel stronghold of Khan Sheikhoun, killing scores of civilians, including women and children. Before the last victim of the attack had been loaded into an ambulance, however, the world was being told that the party responsible for this hideous attack was the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Nobody thought to ask the obvious question: “Why would Assad do such a thing?” Syria was en route to a new round of peace talks. More importantly, she was about to enter negotiations in which the usual American, British and French demands that “Assad must go!” were to be, for the first time since the Syrian Civil War broke out in earnest, quietly put to one side. Having won the war on the ground, the Assad regime was on the brink of clearing away its enemies’ unrealistic preconditions. Finally, a serious conversation about Syria’s future could begin.

And yet, we are being invited to believe that, with all this at stake, President Assad ordered the use of Sarin gas on his own citizens. Somehow, instigating a reprehensible war crime against women and children was going to strengthen his moral authority. Somehow, by revolting the entire world, he would improve his chances of being accepted as Syria’s legitimate ruler. Somehow, by embarrassing the Russian Federation, his country’s most valuable military ally, he would enhance Syria’s national security. The whole notion is absurd.

The much more obvious interpretation of the chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun is that it was intended to inflict as much damage on the Syrian Government as possible. That it would stop in their tracks all moves towards accepting that Assad must be involved in peace-making process. That it would ensure that the flow of arms to Assad’s enemies continues – and might even be increased. That it would place the Russians under increasing international pressure to abandon their alliance with the Assad regime. That it would force the Trump Administration to back away smartly from its “Assad can stay” position.

So many birds with just one, Sarin-smeared stone.

The failure of Western journalism is made all the greater by the fact that its “Assad uses poison gas on his own people!” headline has been used before. On 22 August 2013, the world awoke to the news that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Syrian civilians living in the rebel-controlled Ghouta suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, had been attacked with what appeared to be chemical weapons, specifically, the deadly nerve agent Sarin. The author of the attack was immediately identified as – you guessed it! – Bashar al-Assad.

Surely, the International Community, opined (through its journalistic mouthpieces) President Barack Obama’s “red line” had been crossed. Surely, it was time for the USA to intervene?

Then a story appeared on the Mint Press News website based in Minnesota. From numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, freelance journalists Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh concluded that the attack had been carried out by rebel forces using chemical weapons supplied by Saudi Intelligence.

The International Community and its flacks weren’t buying any of it. And yet, for some reason, Obama declined to be stampeded into war by the Ghouta outrage. Could it be that US intelligence officers and their Israeli counterparts uncovered exactly the same evidence as the Mint Press News? Did Russian Intelligence approach them with corroborative intercepts? Whatever the explanation, the USA declined to escalate the Syrian conflict.

Those peddling the same “Assad did it!” line in 2017 should, perhaps, ask themselves whether the person currently occupying the White House; the man who believes himself besieged by his own intelligence agencies; the man whose quick temper and sensitivity to criticism is legendary; the man currently in the market for a major political distraction; will allow himself to be steered away from diplomatic and military responses certain to inflame the already critical situation in the Middle East?

Just once, I wish the Western news media would use its fucking head!

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Latest income and welfare changes fall short of addressing need – Child Poverty Action Group

By
The Daily Blog
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0

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that although the Government has increased the minimum wage and benefits yearly, the latest increases are a poor reflection of the actual increased costs of living faced by low-income families.

The new adult minimum wage went up just 50 cents to $15.75 per hour on April 1, falling far short of making a real difference for families who receive very low wages.

Furthermore the small inflation adjustment of 1.1 % to benefits will have little to no impact on the high levels of material hardship experienced by low-income families.

Children’s tax credits continue to be left out of any adjustments, as there is no regular inflation adjustment for Working for Families (WFF).

WFF was last adjusted for inflation 2012 and will not be adjusted again until cumulative inflation is five per cent, which won’t occur until 2018. In spite of evidence of real hardship experienced by low-income families, real spending on WFF has fallen 22% since 2010.

“NZ Super is adjusted every year for growth in average wages,” says Dr Emily Keddell, CPAG welfare spokesperson.

“That has resulted in low levels of poverty amongst older people, but instead of applying the same logic to families with children, we use different rules, ones that continue to drive an ever-thickening wedge between income and living costs. We need to start treating our children as well as we treat our retirees.”

The only part of WFF that has been increased at all since 2012 is the In-Work Tax Credit (IWTC) which had its maximum raised as a one-off from $60 to $72.50 on April 1, 2016, the first increase since 2006.

“WFF tax credits and the household income threshold from which they reduce need urgent upgrading, as automatic changes to the WFF threshold and abatement rate are making things worse as it currently stands,” says Dr Keddell.

“Even when there is finally an inflation adjustment in 2018, this means that any increases will be worth less, and government spending will remain the same.

“It is no wonder we are seeing more low-income working parents depend on food banks and other charities for survival.”

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Malcolm Evans – English hits and runs

By
Malcolm Evans
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0

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Political Caption Competition

By
The Daily Blog
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1

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TDB Top 5 International Stories: Wednesday 5th April 2017

By
The Daily Blog
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0

5: Trump Might Make Tourists Hand Over Their Phones and Passwords

The White House is considering new “extreme vetting” measures for anyone who visits the US.

Donald Trump’s travel ban has been temporarily blocked not once but twice by federal judges, and his administration hasn’t stopped looking for sweeping, aggressive new ways to tighten security at the nation’s borders. This might mean going so far as to ask all visitors to the US for their phones, social media passwords, financial records, and more, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The amped-up screening protocol—which could potentially include grilling visitors about their ideology—might apply to people across the globe, even those from long-standing US allies like Australia, the UK, and France, whose citizens can travel fairly freely to America thanks to Visa Waiver Program.

Additionally, according to Trump administration officials who spoke to the Journal anonymously, the US might subject visa applicants to more stringent security reviews and require embassies abroad to spend more time conducting interviews with applicants.

“If there is any doubt about a person’s intentions coming to the United States, they should have to overcome—really and truly prove to our satisfaction—that they are coming for legitimate reasons,” Gene Hamilton, an adviser to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, told the Journal.

Trump has been preaching “extreme vetting” since he was a Republican primary candidate, but mostly he’s focused on refugees from the Middle East and undocumented immigrants who illegally crossed the southern US border. If the procedures described by the Journal’s reporting become reality, they will affect a much broader group of people, including many tourists—who already may be avoiding coming to America.

Vice News

4: ‘Chemical attack’ in Syria draws international outrage

A suspected chemical attack in Syria has drawn international condemnation, with the United States, France and Britain all pointing the finger at President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

At least 58 people, including 11 children, were killed in the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Tuesday, doctors and a monitor said.

The United Nations said it would investigate the bombing raid as a possible war crime, and an emergency Security Council meeting was scheduled for Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some to foam from the mouth, citing medical sources who described the symptoms as signs that gas was used.

Local health workers said the death toll could rise and eventually reach 100. A member of the White Helmets, a rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, told Al Jazeera that up to 300 people had been injured.

The Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group, accused government planes of carrying out the attack, and said they used a gas similar to sarin.

Aljazeera

3: Full Interview: Noam Chomsky on Trump’s First 75 Days & Much More

Full 70-minute interview with Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now! today talking about Donald Trump’s first 75 days in the White House and much more.

Democracy Now

2: Donald Trump’s Pick to Oversee Big Pharma Is Addicted to Opioid-Industry Cash

NEWLY-RELEASED FINANCIAL disclosure documents show that Dr. Scott Gottlieb, President Trump’s nominee to the lead the Food and Drug Administration, has received significant payments from the opioid industry — while attacking attempts to deter the explosion of opioid pill mills.

The FDA has some of the most significant authority in the federal government to oversee manufacturers of prescription painkillers. Gottlieb is set to appear for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Gottlieb’s disclosure statements, required under federal law, show that since the beginning of 2016 he has received almost $45,000 in speaking fees from firms involved in the manufacture and distribution of opioids.

“Our country is in desperate need of an FDA commissioner who will take on the opioid lobby, not one who has a track record of working for it,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the co-director of Opioid Policy Research at Brandeis University, reacting to this information.

The Intercept

1: Bill O’Reilly faces new pressure as 12 companies pull ads from Fox News show

Bill O’Reilly’s top-rated Fox News show may be starting to feel a financial sting, with 12 firms taking action after allegations that he sexually harassed several women.

The automakers Hyundai, BMW and Mitsubishi, the financial firm T Rowe Price, the personal finance site Credit Karma, the insurer Allstate, the drugmakers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, the pet food company Ainsworth, the men’s shirt seller Untuckit, and the online marketing firm Constant Contact said Tuesday that they had joined Mercedes-Benz in pulling their ads from the show.

The moves come after a weekend report in the New York Times that O’Reilly and his employer paid five women $13m to settle harassment or other allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fox’s star.

The Guardian 

 

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Spanish corporate giant Ferrovial makes millions from Australia’s torture of refugees on Nauru

By
The Daily Blog
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0

A major corporation with ties to New Zealand is making millions running the Australian Government’s refugee “processing” centre on Nauru, Amnesty International said today. The system amounts to torture of refugees and people seeking asylum.

A new briefing, ‘Treasure I$land’, exposes how Spanish multinational Ferrovial and its Australian subsidiary Broadspectrum are complicit in – and reaping vast profits from – Australia’s cruel refugee “processing” system.

“The question that must be asked is, ‘Do profits come before people?’ In this case, we’re talking about major profits…and major human rights abuse,” said Meg de Ronde, Amnesty International New Zealand’s Campaigns Director.

The part of Broadspectrum’s business that runs its operations on Nauru and Manus Island contributed AUD$1.646 billion in the 2016 financial year – an astonishing 45% of the company’s total operating revenues.

“The Australian Government has created an island of despair for refugees and people seeking asylum. But it’s an island of profit for the companies making billions from a system so cruel and abusive that it amounts to torture,” said de Ronde.

“By fulfilling contracts and providing services at these offshore detention centres, Ferrovial and Broadspectrum are complicit in the abuse of refugees, who deserve the very same things we all deserve – an education, a safe place to live and the ability to work, so they can build back their lives.”

Here in New Zealand, Auckland Transport has confirmed with Amnesty International that it holds “a number of contracts with Broadspectrum NZ”, while Transpower reportedly has a contract with Broadspectrum worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, Broadspectrum sub-contracts security at the “processing” centres to Wilson Security, part of the Wilson Group, which has operations in New Zealand that include Wilson Parking and First Security.

For running the day-to-day operations of the detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island over a three-and-a-half year period, Broadspectrum is being paid AUD$2.5 billion. The contract is due to end in October and Amnesty International is warning other firms against seeking to profit from torture.

One company that has previously bid for the contract to run Manus and Nauru is Serco. Serco was responsible for running Mount Eden prison in Auckland for four years until the government took back management in 2015 amid allegations of mismanagement. Serco is still contracted for prison operations at Auckland South Corrections Facility.

“Any company that agrees to provide services at these ‘processing’ centres will be complicit in an intentionally abusive system that is in direct contravention of its human rights responsibilities,” said de Ronde.

“The regime of cruelty on Nauru and Manus Island leaves a stain that no company would want on its reputation.”

A bleak existence

While Ferrovial and its subsidiary Broadspectrum turn in huge profits, those trapped on Nauru endure a bleak existence with little hope of respite. Broadspectrum is not only aware of the conditions faced by refugees and people seeking asylum on Nauru; in some cases, its employees and sub-contractors are directly responsible for neglect and abuse.

Looking at Broadspectrum, its sub-contractor Wilson Security and other staff members at the “processing” centre, the briefing documents 30 formal allegations of child abuse, 15 allegations of sexual assault or rape and four allegations relating to the exchange of sexual favours for contraband.
“We have a duty to the victims of human rights violations to name and shame any company that puts profit before decency by choosing to become involved in Australia’s abusive operations.”

Amnesty International is calling on the Australian Government to close the offshore detention centres and immediately bring all refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru, Manus and Christmas Island to Australia, or to cooperate with all rights-respecting offers of international assistance, including third country resettlement, and ensure that all those who were granted refugee status have the right to settle in Australia.

The organisation is also calling on Ferrovial to end its operations on Nauru and Manus Island as soon as possible.

A response from Broadspectrum and Ferrovial is included in the annex to the briefing.

Background
Since 2012, Australia has operated intentionally harsh “offshore processing” systems on the Pacific island of Nauru and the island of Manus in Papua New Guinea. Refugees and asylum seekers are isolated in remote locations and subjected to cruel and degrading conditions, sometimes for years on end, simply because they have sought safety on Australian shores.

Refugees and asylum seekers at the Regional Processing Centre (RPC) on Nauru have faced physical attacks and sexual assault by some members of staff, without anyone being held properly accountable.
In the 2016 report Island of Despair: Australia’s ‘processing of refugees on Nauru Amnesty International found the Australian Government to be intentionally and systematically violating the rights of refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru. It concluded that the cruel and abusive conditions on Nauru amount to torture.

The RPCs on Nauru and Manus Island are run by Broadspectrum, which was bought by Ferrovial in April 2016. The total value of the Australian Government’s contract with Broadspectrum is AUD$2.5 billion over three and a half years. The profit margin in Broadspectrum’s Defence, Social and
Property sector – which includes its Nauru and Manus Island operations – was 17.8% in its 2016 financial year, far higher than in its other business sectors such as Infrastructure (2.8%) and Resource and Industrial (1.6%).

Ferrovial’s revenues in its Nauru and Manus Island-related Service sector increased by 24.1% in 2016 due to its acquisition of Broadspectrum.

The Australian Government has made it a criminal offence for welfare professionals working on Nauru or Manus Island to speak out and placing service providers under strict confidentiality clauses.
Broadspectrum has warned its staff, in a leaked internal document, that they can be fired for communicating information about operations on Nauru.

The full terms of the contracts under which Wilson Security and Broadspectrum provide services are not publicly known. Broadspectrum told Amnesty International it “does not operate the Refugee Processing Centre”, a claim repeated by Ferrovial. Meanwhile, the Australian Government claims the centre is run by the Government of Nauru, which has in turn suggested that others are responsible.
In contrast, Amnesty International’s research shows that Broadspectrum runs the RPC on a daily basis and has effective control over the day-to-day lives of refugees and asylum-seekers at the RPC, on behalf of the Australian Government and with the government’s ultimate oversight and control.

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Tell Ben & Jerry’s: Stop Doing Business in Settlements

By
The Daily Blog
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0

Today is ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, and our member group Vermonters for Justice in Palestine is once again calling on all those concerned with Palestinian rights to take part in a national solidarity action to call on the company to end its complicity in Israel’s occupation.

VTJP is asking that you call Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont and demand the company stop marketing and selling its “peace & love” ice cream in illegal, Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

To contact Ben & Jerry’s, call: (802) 846-1500 between 8am and 4pm EDT.

What to say when you call:

Let the company know who you are and where you are calling from.
Ask to speak with CEO Jostein Solheim or Rob Michalak, Global Director of Social Mission, or request to speak with their assistants if you are told neither of them are available.
Keep your message simple and direct. For example (and feel free to improvise):
I’m calling on Free Cone Day to urge Ben & Jerry’s to be true to its Social Mission and international law by stopping its Israeli franchise from doing business in Jewish-only settlements in occupied Palestine.

Doing business in Israeli settlements makes the company complicit with the crime of apartheid. In March, a United Nation’s report found Israel guilty of overseeing a “comprehensive system of apartheid” against the Palestinian people.

Also in 2016, Human Rights Watch called on businesses to terminate all activity in Israeli settlements to comply with their human rights responsibilities.

Do the right thing: stop the sale of your ice cream in illegal Israeli settlements.

Once you make the call, please take a minute to fill out this form so VTJP can keep track of how many calls were made and what the company said in order to build up their campaign.

You can also watch and share “Licking Apartheid” from Apartheid Adventures to learn more about Ben & Jerry’s profiting off of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

Thanks for taking action.

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GUEST BLOG: Willie Jackson – Housing crisis not helped by smug speculators

By
The Daily Blog
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88

I’m sick of reading so called news stories about 30-somethings who have managed to buy their own house.

Good for them, but the exceptions to the rule bragging about success doesn’t motivate the vast majority who are finding it so difficult to find a house to rent let alone buy.

I’m equally sick of hearing people trying to turn the housing crisis into a generation war. The main difference between Baby Boomers and Millennials isn’t cultural, they are economic.

It’s not because Millennials are spoilt wanting fancy coffees and city living excitement any more than its greedy smug boomers who have lifted the ladder up behind them, the enemy is the free market extremes that forgot the past to betray the present while ignoring the future.

We need Government that uses its powers to rebalance the extremes of free market capitalism, and we need politicians who aren’t frightened to say words like free market capitalism.

I’m sick of blaming everyone else for the housing crisis, I want solutions and I want them now. There are families in South Auckland that desperately need to see real hope that matches their grim realities, not ‘we bought 5 properties by the age of 35, aren’t we neat’ stories. These types need to keep their stories to themselves and understand the desperation particularly in our area Manukau, South Auckland.

The solutions cannot be our communities taking the responsibilities of government. As fantastic a job as Te Puea Marae did last winter in terms of looking after the homeless they surely should not have to replicate it again this year should they? I mean what has our country come to when we had marae like Te Puea stepping up, who had no financial assistance at the beginning from the government or their Tainui tribe performing essentially what the government is meant to do, that is to house and look after people.

It is an indictment on our society that we have allowed things to go this far and it will be a further indictment if people just start accepting that this should be normal practice. The state and the government who ever that government is have a responsibility to look after our basic needs in life and having a roof over our heads is surely one of these needs.

Obviously we need thousands of affordable houses that are for first time home buyers only, not speculators and not those trying to make a quick buck. Beyond that, we all have an obligation to ensure we demand our political leaders are serious about making the housing crisis a priority of anyone fortunate enough to form the next Government.

We can solve the housing crisis, it just takes determination and political leaders prepared to fight for it.

First printed in the Manukau Courier  

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