Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Activist Post: 34 Questions About Australia's Censored Corruption Crisis in the Schapelle Corby Case

Monday, February 20, 2012

34 Questions About Australia's Censored Corruption Crisis in the Schapelle Corby Case

Schapelle Corby
Simon Langford
Activist Post

During the last few weeks, every elected federal politician in Australia has received a series of emails from members of the public.  Digital 'read receipts' prove that the vast majority have read them. Only two replied; with one of them, on behalf of a prominent Senator, stating that he "will not be initiating any further intervention into this matter".

This is not remarkable, as literally dozens of emails on the same subject have met the same fate over the previous three months. What is remarkable, however, is that, de facto, the repeated response failures equate to open complicity with criminality and corruption.

The Crimes of a State

In July 2005, Australian citizen, Schapelle Corby, who was facing 20 years in an Indonesian prison, was awaiting her appeal. On 5th July, 2005, the then Australian Justice & Customs Minister, Christopher Ellison, discovered game-changing information: that Schapelle Corby's boogie board bag was the only one not scanned at Sydney airport. Three days later, he withheld this vital primary evidence from her lawyer. Six days later he withheld it again. AFP Commissioner Michael Keelty had the same information. So did Prime Minister John Howard.  Schapelle Corby was never informed, and this critical evidence was never used to defend her.  This is just one example. Let's take another.

Schapelle Corby checked her bags in normally, without excess or fuss. The authorities later discovered that they were 5 kg overweight on the Qantas system. Despite a handy 4.2 kg of marijuana appearing in her bag on arrival in Indonesia, she was never informed. This vital primary evidence was again withheld, and never used to defend her.


More examples? There are literally hundreds. A small sample of the questions recently asked of Australia's politicians, all of which have been ignored, is presented below.

Corruption

The point here is that this equates to corruption. The wilful withholding of primary evidence from a court of law is illegal. Wilfully lying to Parliament is also an offence. Covering up known criminal activities is a serious crime in itself.

The political benefits, of protecting the newly privatised Sydney Airport Corporation, brushing AFP corruption under the carpet, and cosying up to a foreign state, do not permit or excuse criminal and corrupt acts, even by Ministers of State.

All those Australian MP's and Senators? They are well aware of this; all of it. They have been sent material by members of the public on many occasions, often begging them to take a stand and expose this travesty, or asking them to demand an independent commission, or invoke an external police investigation.

It is an international scandal, and an innocent woman is paying for it with her life. Those involved in the offences described remain immune from the prosecution they should be facing. Canberra appears to be spotless and white on the surface, when it is patently the exact opposite below the surface.

The Australian media, which lost its independence from vested interest generations ago, is shamefully silent. Utterly and completely silent. There has not been a solitary reference to any of this staggering information in any mainstream organ.

The situation has become one of integrity, or the lack of it; the integrity of Canberra, and the integrity of the nation state of Australia.

The Truth is Resilient

The information proving all this has been published on the website of an international research team known as The Expendable Project. The reports on there contain the damning government emails; from Minister Ellison, Minister Downer, Minister Ruddock, AFP Commissioner Keelty, and others.

It is important to view these items directly -- to see them for yourself. In the game of government corruption, and of puppet media interests, it is essential not to take anyone's word for anything at all.

The best place to start, however, is to watch the film Expendable below. This was released two weeks ago, and it goes progressively through each of the crimes of state, and the reasons why they were committed. It has already been viewed by over 100,000 people. Despite the media boycott, it is viral, and the global public's reaction to it is naked anger and fury. Australians and non-Australians alike, are openly disgusted, as evidenced by public comments on YouTube and elsewhere. See for yourself:

Further documentation is available in the form of reference dossiers, the first of which was released today (http://www.expendable.tv/p/expendable-dossier.html). The second dossier, which is currently being completed, is scheduled to be submitted to a range of international agencies. That legal sanction, against those guilty of serious crimes in Australia, should have to be sought from outside Australia, is in itself a further self-inflicted indictment of that state.

In cold human terms, it would appear that they would prefer the innocent victim, Schapelle Corby, to die devoid of human rights on her cell floor.

The Global Public

However, the seed of truth is being sown on a global scale, as the film is being downloaded, and the Expendable website is being mirrored by citizens in every nation.

With the Australian Department of Defence, ripping and vulnerability scanning the Expendable.TV website, almost on a daily basis, the producers of the film are encouraging this, and are urging viewers to make their own copies of both film and dossiers, and to distribute them.

The film itself states: "Future generations of Australians will look back on the Schapelle Corby affair as one of the most shameful in the history of the nation. They will view the actions of their government at the time with disgust and contempt". But, so extreme, and so visible to Joe Public, is the corruption demonstrated by 'Expendable', that unintentionally, Schapelle Corby may be the catalyst for changing the nation in the short term.

The deep-seated corruption it reveals will shock many Australians, not only because it is inherent with the politicians involved, but because it transcends departments, agencies, and a number of corporations. It reveals a seam of ruthless self interest, which many will have previously sensed, yet
dismissed through lack of focus or clear-cut evidence. Expendable provides both, and may have a fundamental impact upon the  long-term moral compass of the nation.

However, if the ending of the Schapelle Corby affair isn't going to include the death of the innocent victim, the citizens of the world have a critical role to play, and it has to be played right now.

A Few of the Questions the Australian Government Refuses to Answer

1. Why were Schapelle's bags 5kg overweight on the Qantas system, when she checked in without excess charge ($175)? [Transit Report]

2. Why was Schapelle or her lawyers never told that her bags were 5kg overweight on the Qantas system? [Supplementary Report]

3. Why did AFP Commissioner Keelty tell the media that there was no evidence of airport drug syndication two weeks before the verdict, when this was clearly, demonstrably, and utterly false? [Transit Report]

4. Why did Minister Ellison withhold the vital information, that only the boogie-board bag was not scanned, when Schapelle's lawyer asked, twice? [Transit Report]

5. Why was this hidden from Parliament, when direct questions were asked? [Transit Report]

6. Why did John Howard, and his friend, Head of Sydney Airport Corporation Ltd, Max Moore-Wilton, keep quiet about it, when they both knew? [Transit Report]

7. Why did the AFP never investigate the reason for this missing screening data? [Transit Report]

8. Why did Keelty, and the AFP, withhold all the other vital evidence, including the information from the Kessing Reports? [Transit Report]

9. Why did the AFP and DFAT evade the forensic tests Schapelle was begging for? [Mutual Evasion Report]

10. Why did DFAT not invoke the MACM treaty to obtain the sample of the marijuana which Schapelle begged them for, when they could have? [Mutual Evasion Report]

11. Why did Ellison tell a false story about marijuana testing to a constituent? [Mutual Evasion Report]

12. Why did the AFP and Qantas provide wholly contradictory stories about the missing CCTV footage Schapelle Corby pleaded for? [Transit Report]

13. Why did the AFP tell Parliament that they couldn't perform marijuana pollen tests, when they could, and indeed, had originally offered to perform them? [Mutual Evasion Report]

14. Why did the AFP refuse the services of a forensics expert, who was able to perform them? [Mutual Evasion Report]

15. Why did Foreign Minister Downer and Prime Minister Howard endorse the original Bali trial, when they were well aware of the multitude of legal and human rights abuses throughout? [Show Trial Report]

16. Why did Ellison endorse the burning of the evidence, when Schapelle Corby pleaded for it to be stopped? [Mutual Evasion Report]

17. Why have DFAT endorsed and hidden the ongoing human rights abuses of a mentally ill Australian citizen for seven years? [Health Report]

18. Why were ACLEI, when forced to examine the AFP's role, directly and demonstrably complicit with the AFP in producing a report which was an utter embarrassment to all parties? [Whitewash Report]

19. Why was a functionary, at the heart of the Howard regime when the above abuses occurred, allowed to rubber stamp ACLEI's rubber stamp? [Whitewash Report]

20. Why was there a wholly unique flight delay pattern when Schapelle passed through Sydney airport, and whilst her bag was on the same baggage area as the Mocha Operation cocaine? [Transit Report]

21. Why did the government force an Australian QC, Mark Trowell, on to Schapelle Corby, and then hide when he decimated her appeal by attacking her defence team to the media? [Insider Report]

22. What was the precise role of Justice & Customs Minister Ellison, the QC's long-term friend, in this appalling situation? [Insider Report]

23. Why was there no comment when the QC subsequently admitted that he was working for the government, and not for Schapelle Corby, all along? [Insider Report]

24. Why did Downer and Howard publicly call a standard flour hoax a 'biological agent' and a 'murderous attack', when there was no evidence at all to suggest it wasn't flour? [PowderGate Report]

25. Why did neither of them say that the note included with the flour didn't mention Schapelle Corby, and was written in Bahasa, when they promptly blamed it on her supporters? [PowderGate Report]

26. Why didn't Ellison immediately alert all parties, to prevent the false (but support-wrecking) story from circulating around the world, when he was informed by email at 6:35pm? [PowderGate Report]

27. Why did the government seize Schapelle Corby's book royalties, when she was still in legal appeal in Indonesia, when they knew what signal this would send to Jakarta? [Political Seizure Report]

28. Why did they bring the Australian judiciary into disrepute, by extending its jurisdiction outside Australia, and holding secret trials, at which Schapelle Corby was not even represented? [Political
Seizure Report]

29. Why did they deny her the funds for another appeal, and for medicine, even when they knew about the nature of the Bali trial, and about the vital primary evidence they had themselves withheld? [Political Seizure Report]

30. Why has the ABC engaged a clear campaign of hostility against Schapelle Corby and her family, which has included a number of known tools of propaganda, and which has even required an apology for presenting malicious allegations as fact? [Opinion Management Report]

31. Why have the dozens of breaches of the Freedom of Information Act, with respect to requests made on behalf of Schapelle Corby, remained totally un-addressed? [FOI Abuse Report]

32. Why was the direct linkage of DFAT funding of 'scholarships' to Jakarta, for dozens of journalists, and subsequent hostile reporting with respect to Schapelle Corby, not been investigated when
complaints were lodged with the Attorney-General's Department? [DFAT Network Report]

33. Why were the serious media abuses, submitted to the government in 2011, excluded from the Finkelstein inquiry, particularly those relating to the unlawful  activities of the broadcasting media?
[Expendable Documentary]

34. Why has the Commonwealth Ombudsman supported the government with respect to every complaint ever lodged with respect to Schapelle Corby? [Quango Report]

RELATED ACTIVIST POST ARTICLE: 
Expendable: Sacrificing Humanity for Corruption in Australia

Please help us combat censorship: vote for this story on Reddit -- http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/pypt1/34_questions_about_australi...

Flickr - projectbrainsaver

www.flickr.com
projectbrainsaver's A Point of View photoset projectbrainsaver's A Point of View photoset