Crikey Worm: alleged SAS war crimes revealed in report

ALLEGED SAS WAR CRIMES

A confidential defence inquiry set up in 2016 has found Australia’s special forces allegedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan, with insiders reporting “unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations” amid a “complete lack of accountability.”

The Age reports that the inquiry found systemic cultural issues within the SAS, which go “well beyond blowing off steam” into areas such as “drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations … and the perception of a complete lack of accountability at times.”

The confidential inquiry, commissioned by then-Special Operations Commander Major General Jeff Sengelman in 2016, also found major gaps in knowledge between government and the military. While Defence Minister Marise Payne has been briefed on the report, it has noted “enormous and difficult challenges” for government officials looking to address SAS’ internal culture.

SAFE ACCESS PASSES

After clearing the upper house in late May, NSW’s “safe zones” legislation passed parliament following a marathon session last night.

The New Daily reports that anti-abortion protestors can now face jail for picketing or filming abortion clinics within the new 150-metre zones. Although, even with precedent creating legal scope for the procedure, abortion itself still has not been decriminalised within the state.

While Premier Gladys Berejiklian voted in favour of last night’s bill, both Minister for Women Tanya Davies and Families and Prevention of Domestic Violence Minister Pru Goward voted against the new safe access zones.

#BOMONSTRIKE

Because a boring protest is a wasted protest, Australian Bureau of Meteorology staff arranged to include hidden #BOMonStrike messages throughout their website while undertaking industrial action yesterday.

WAToday reports that, before being deleted, yesterday’s Perth forecast was listed simply as “#BOMonStrike” or, on another page, “Shower or two #5yearpayfreeze”. The strike, which also gave us a much cooler “BOMONSTRIKE” acrostic poem on yesterday’s national forecast breakdown, follows a lengthy dispute about BOM’s enterprise bargaining agreement, following news earlier in the year that staff had gone four years without a pay rise.

[free_worm]

THEY REALLY SAID THAT?

[Non-lethal methods have] been tried, and other things and it didn’t work and in fact nobody intentionally went out to kill anyone — people died accidentally. And I can tell that you that Hamas at a certain point said ‘not enough people have been killed, push more, let the Jews kill more’. 

Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel’s Prime Minister explains why the IDF has had to kill 125 people since March 30, including protestors, medics, journalists, children, and 21-year-old nurse Razan al-Najar just last weekend: because Hamas dared them to, and dead bodies “photograph better”.

CRIKEY QUICKIE: THE BEST OF YESTERDAY

Qatar Airways misogyny is nothing newBernard Keane

“Some outlets that covered recent appalling remarks of Akbar al-Baker, Qatar Airways chief executive and new International Air Transport Association chairman, noted the man had plenty of form on misogynist comments. Just last year he attacked US airlines for employing ‘grandmothers’ as air stewards, then apologised. Al-Baker apologised again for his effort this week, insisting ‘Qatar Airways firmly believes in gender equality in the workplace.’”

Razer: what have we learned from THAT Meanjin cover?Helen Razer

“Here at Crikey, we won’t have a bad word said about our former boss Jonathan Green. We can, however, outsource that work to him. This week, Green, an editor respected in near unanimity by Australian writers — including me, and the guy has shafted me, twice — apologised for approving a blot on the current cover of the journal he now edits, Meanjin.”

Coming up, on the next episode of Ramsay (Centre) Street …Guy Rundle

“Well, folks, when last you tuned in, Harold (John Howard) was trying to set up a Methodist Information Centre in the high school, after being left a bequest by Mrs Mangel. Toadfish (Tony Abbott) — yes, I haven’t watched Neighbours since 2002 — was an enthusiastic supporter, but, oh Toady, you’re such a klutz, and spilt Harold’s leaflets about how sex leads to dancing.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Victorian lower house passes treaty legislation after Greens accept Labor deal

Premier proclaims no limits for the future of our state’s powerhouse ($)

Teenager held in solitary confinement sues state government

TMAG exhibition A Journey to Freedom explores our physical and mental prisons ($)

Embattled SA local government association president resigns

Huge weekend of events worth multi-millions to NT ($)

Brisbane poo jogger: how he was caught by residents ($)

ABC axes Chinese advocate for rights ($)

Spy laws: 60 changes revealed but Coalition and Labor expected to pass ‘terrifying’ legislation

Henri van Breda given three life sentences for murdering three members of his family with an axe

WHAT’S ON TODAY

Canberra

• An inquiry into human organ trafficking and organ tourism will hear from Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, and a host of other industry representatives.

• A public inquiry will be held into the operation and effectiveness of the Franchising Code of Conduct, featuring submissions from the Office of the Franchising Mediation Adviser, Queensland Law Society and Franchise Redress amongst others.

Sydney

• Former PM Julia Gillard will help launch The Kidman Centre at UTS for youth mental health treatment and research, alongside UTS Vice Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs, Kidman Centre Director Rachael Murrihy, and journalist Antonia Kidman.

• Journalist Leigh Sales will interview NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at the annual Corporate Club Australia Business Lunch.

• NSW Auditor-General Margaret Crawford will release a report on universities 2017 audits.

• EduTECH Expo 2018, featuring discussions on NAPLAN testing, learning apps, robotics, STEM, cyber safety, anti-bullying, ed-tech startups, preparing students for automation, artificial intelligence, AR/VR and stands from Google, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Family Zone, Lenovo, Samsung, AWS and more.

• The Seabin Project (effectively a floating rubbish bin collecting floating trash) will make its Australian debut with co-founder Pete Ceglinski at the National Maritime Museum on Sydney Harbour.

Melbourne

• First hearing in class action suit against AMP.

• The Greens will launch the Victorian chapter of Grandmothers Against Removals (GMAR), a movement highlighting the risks of Indigenous children being taken away from their families. Speakers will include MPs Lidia Thorpe and Nina Springle as well as local grandmothers.

• International experts will join Victoria’s Children Minister Jenny Mikakos at an early childhood education forum breakfast.

• Media preview ahead of opening for NGV’s MoMa exhibit 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art.

• World billiards champions, including world number one Peter Gilchrist, will play exhibition matches on an historic billiard table at Government House, to help launch an international billiards and snooker competition starting tomorrow.

Perth

• Federal attorney-general Christian Porter will meet with state and territory counterparts to discuss national security; elder financial abuse; post-sentence preventative detention of high-risk terrorist offenders; national statement of principles relating to persons unfit to plead or found not guilty by reason of cognitive or mental health impairment; optional protocol to the convention against torture; Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendations from its Working with Children Checks Reports; and mutual recognition of supervision orders for high-risk offenders.

Katherine, NT

• Labor leader Bill Shorten will visit Katherine High School.

Adelaide

• The Australia China Business Council will host the South Australian China Export Forum 2018, along with guest speakers the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment David Wickham Ridgway, China’s Consul General in Adelaide Cai Siping, Deputy Lord Mayor of Adelaide Sandy Verschoor, and Alibaba Australia’s Director of Corporate Affairs and Marketing James Hudson.

Brisbane

• The Australia China Business Council Queensland will present a panel discussion on updates to the state’s renewable energy sector.

• The National Association for the Visual Arts will host “Independent Publishing Now”, a public forum discussing independent writing and publishing.

Darwin

• World champion Irish dancers will perform at the Playhouse Theatre’s A Taste of Ireland.

Hobart

• Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery will open its Dark Mofo centrepiece, A Journey to Freedom, as exhibits around the state begin to open ahead of next week’s official lineup.

Devonport, Tasmania

• Seafood Jobs Tasmania will launch a website bringing the sharing economy to the seafood community, specifically to connect jobseekers and employers.

Perisher Valley, NSW

• Day one of Perisher Valley’s four-day Peak Music Festival.

THE COMMENTARIAT

Way we communicate has changed — and law must too — Judith Gibson (Sydney Morning Herald): “The long-awaited review of the Defamation Act, released by NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman on Thursday, comes with a press release calling for a ‘cyber-age reboot’. How did such an important piece of legislation, drafted only 13 years ago, come to be so out of date? Have the authors of this review picked up all the problem areas? And how many other statutes need a similar reboot?”

Passing the brumby bill is a backward step for environmental protection in Australia — Don Driscoll, Euan Ritchie and Tim Doherty (The Conversation): “Late on Wednesday night the so-called ‘brumby bill’ was passed without amendment in the New South Wales Parliament. The controversial Coalition bill, supported by the Christian Democrats and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, means that feral horses must be kept in Kosciuszko National Park. It also creates a community advisory panel, with no scientific experts appointed, to advise the minister on how to manage the horse population in the alpine ecosystem.”

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