‘Take me to Gaza’: appellant willing to go anywhere but Iran
Back at the high court where Lisa De Ferrari, ASF17’s counsel, is developing her submission that her client was willing to go anywhere but Iran.
She notes that in the federal court, ASF17 had said he would be prepared to go anywhere, including the high seas. Under cross-examination he had even challenged the commonwealth to “take me to Gaza” and insisted this wasn’t a rhetorical flourish, he said he had “a better chance there than Iran”.
Justice Robert Beech-Jones summarises the argument that ASF17 is being “characterised as uncooperative” because the commonwealth focused only on one country, but “ifwe looked at a broader range of countries ... [he] could’ve gone to Canada”. De Ferrari agrees.
De Ferrari is rejecting the idea that ASF17 was in “three-walled detention” because he could have agreed to return to Iran. She argues that, because Iran doesn’t accept involuntary removals, her client “would’ve had to lie and say he was a voluntary returnee”.
De Ferrari summarised the commonwealth’s case:
If we put you in detention on 1 January, 2015 and 1 February it becomes clear you’re not going to assist us with going to country X, and country X is the only country by policy we’re going to look at. The constitutional limitation is not reached and will never be reached, because we know you’re not going to change your mind. That’s the logical conclusion of the argument put below.
Government failed to look for third country resettlement for ASF17: counsel
The high court has begun hearing the ASF17 case, on whether the commonwealth must release immigration detainees even if the reason they cannot be deported is, in part, their own lack of cooperation.
After the political fallout from the NZYQ decision, which saw 152 people released from detention, the attention on the case and the stakes are high. I spotted Clare Sharp, the general counsel of the home affairs department shuffling into court this morning.
Those challenging immigration detention have had an early win, as chief justice Stephen Gageler confirms that AZC20 has been granted leave to intervene. AZC20 is an Iranian asylum seeker, like the appellant ASF17, who is represented by Craig Lenehan, the barrister who represented NZYQ.
Lenehan will have 20 minutes for oral submissions and whatever time ASF17’s barrister Lisa De Ferrari cedes to him.
De Ferrari has begun oral submissions with criticism of the fact the government has only ever considered removing ASF17 to Iran:
The commonwealth effectively interprets the duty to remove as removal to Iran ... We say no, ‘you have a duty to remove me [ASF17] from Australia, and I’m not required to assist you, and if you want to remove me to anywhere but Iran and you need assistance, I will give it to you’.
It’s not enough to ask ASF17 every three or six months if he has changed his mind about returning to Iran, De Ferrari said.
Anglican priest details what ten years of detention has done to high court litigant AZC20
An Anglican priest has spoken out in support of an Iranian asylum seeker known as AZC20, one of the high court litigants challenging indefinite detention.
ASF17’s case is being heard in the high court today, and is being supported by an intervention from AZC20. You can read more about this earlier in the blog from Paul Karp, here and here.
Reverend Gemma Baseley of St Paul’s Anglican church in Beaconsfield said she met AZC20 four years ago while he was detained in Perth, and by that time he had already been held in detention for seven years.
He came to Australia in 2013 to seek safety from Iran, and our government held him for nearly eleven years while considering his claim for asylum. They just forgot about him in detention, because that is what our laws allowed.
Baseley said legal cases can often “confuse the reality of an issue through complicated language and arguments” and we can forget that, “at the end of the day, cases like this are about people”.
An Iranian asylum seeker known as AZC20 is one of the high court litigants challenging indefinite detention. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Baseley said in a statement:
We know what ten years of detention have taken away from our friend. He lost his ability to speak and his health. He lost the ability to see a future for himself in the world. He lost an entire era of his life that nobody can give him back.
This should not have happened to our friend, and it should not happen to anyone else. It should not be possible for any government to take away a decade of someone’s life. And it should not be necessary for us to say that here today.
$48m for infrastructure projects across Victorian public schools
The federal government has announced $48m to install infrastructure projects at 67 Victorian public schools in the latest round of Labor’s Schools Upgrade Fund.
The $215m commitment to capital works for public schools was announced in the 2023-2024 budget.
The schools, prioritised on high numbers of low socio-economic, First Nations and students with a disability, will receive at least $250,000 to upgrade classrooms, replace demountables, install new playground equipment or upgrade sporting facilities.
Among the beneficiaries are Geelong high school, Mallacoota P-12 college, Mornington secondary college and Seymour college.
The education minister, Jason Clare, said the announcement was “another important step in building a better and fairer education system”.
Minister for education Jason Clare. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
In 2017, the former Coalition government scrapped its recurrent capital works contribution to public schools, placing the onus on states to increase infrastructure funding. The commonwealth continued its recurrent tax concessions for private school building projects.
Olympics review chief says politics behind decision to kill stadiums plan
Graham Quirk has told an Olympics Senate inquiry that politics are behind the reluctance of the Queensland government to commit to a new stadium for the 2032 games.
The state government rejected his key recommendation for a new $3.4bn, 55,000 seat stadium in Victoria Park, the day he handed down the inquiry.
The former Brisbane Lord Mayor was asked if he thought the imminent October state election was influencing decisions. He told the senate inquiry:
Any observer would come to the conclusion that the cost of living crisis - so called - we’re going through at the moment is driving decisions that perhaps would not normally be the case. There is a fear that building a new stadium would be seen as extravagance.
But he said that even in the Great Depression people looked for hope in symbols like Phar Lap:
People need to know that there is something coming in this city to be proud of … that is part of the thing that has driven us in all our recommendations.
Graham Quirk giving evidence during the senate inquiry today. Photograph: Darren England/AAP
Quirk revealed he’d briefed the responsible state minister a week before issuing his report, last month. The state government said at the time they’d received the report just three days earlier.
Premier Steven Miles rejected his key finding, for a new multi-billion dollar facility in Victoria park, the day his findings were announced. That was “completely blindsiding for us”, Quirk said.
“We didn’t know that they had been doing work” on an alternative plan, he told the inquiry.
Olympics supremo John Coates will testify to the Australia’s preparedness to host Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic Games inquiry via videolink later today.
Students to disrupt Melbourne’s CBD in strike for Palestine
High school and university students will continue their disruption of Melbourne’s CBD as part of an international week-long economic blockade for Palestine.
Tomorrow, the students will gather outside Melbourne’s State Library to block key choke points in the city, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Australian universities to cut all ties with weapons companies that provide to Israel.
It is the sixth student strike for Palestine to take place in Melbourne, with the last strike including a temporary occupation of Melbourne Central.
Students for Palestine Victoria co-convener Jasmine Duff said the group was not asking for peace - it was “demanding it”.
We will disrupt the economy until we force Albanese to cut ties with Israel.
School student and rally chair Gisele Nayef said it was “up to every student” to show the world it would not stand by while the occupation continued.
We see through our government’s shallow statements for peace.
A previous student strike for Palestine in Melbourne. Photograph: Con Chronis/EPA
Mohamad Alameddine arrested after police allegedly found bundles of cash in apartment
Mohamad Alameddine has been arrested and charged after allegedly breaching his serious crime prevention order (SCPR).
He was charged as part of New South Wales' police’s Operation Talon, which targets organised crime networks and outlaw motorcycle gangs.
According to a statement from police, a firearm prohibition order compliance check was undertaken at a unit in Sydney on 9 April – belonging to 40-year-old Alameddine who is subject to a SCPR.
During the compliance check police allege they found around $13,000 cash and a mobile phone hidden in two separate fire extinguisher cupboards. Police returned yesterday and arrested Alameddine, after forensic analysis of the items.
He was taken to Day police station and charged with two counts of contravening a serious crime prevention order and failing to comply with a digital evidence access order direction.
He was refused bail to appear before Downing Centre local court today.
Condition update on Bondi Junction stabbing victims
Catie McLeod
Six people remain in hospital after the Bondi Junction mass stabbing at the weekend.
As of 8pm last night, two patients remained at St Vincents hospital – one male and one female – both in a stable condition. The female patient remains in the ICU.
Two patients remain at the Royal Prince Alfred hospital. A woman is in the ICU in a serious but stable condition, and a man is in a stable condition.
One female patient is at the Royal North Shore hospital in a stable condition.
The nine-month old baby is in a serious but stable condition at Sydney Children’s hospital.
Webb still ‘absolutely confident’ in assessment that Monday’s stabbing attack was terrorist act
Karen Webb said she is still “absolutely confident” of her assessment that Monday’s stabbing attack should be viewed as a terrorist act.
Responding to those in the community who believe that judgement was too hasty, she told ABC RN she can understand their concern because “we’ve got just as many questions about what was on the mind of the young person”.
… The declaration of the incident being a terror event is one incident, but whether he’s going to be charged with terrorism offences will be another. So they are two separate things and and they shouldn’t be conflated.
Asked whether the alleged offender was radicalised online, Webb said it would be “premature to jump to that” and would form part of the investigation.
NSW police commissioner Karen Webb addressing the media in Sydney yesterday. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
