Activist seeks visa assessment
By Kellee Nolan and Charisse Ede
12 September 2005
DETAINED American peace activist Scott Parkin would consent to his deportation but would try to force the Federal Government to reveal why he was a threat to Australia's security, his lawyer said today.
Mr Parkin – who was set to give an activism workshop when detained in Melbourne on Saturday – is being held by the Immigration Department after having his six-month visitor's visa cancelled on the grounds he is a potential risk to national security.
The Federal Government has refused to say publicly why he is considered a security risk, and supporters say he has done nothing wrong.
About 40 supporters protested against his deportation outside the Australian Federal Police (AFP) headquarters in Melbourne today, some with their mouths taped with the word "ASIO".
Others chanted: "Deportation no way, let the peace activists stay".
The crowd attempted at one point to storm the locked building as a staff member entered.
Lawyer Julian Burnside, QC, said Mr Parkin had instructed him today to lodge an appeal with the Migration Review Tribunal, to review the basis on which his visa was withdrawn and to force the Federal Government to reveal its security assessment on him.
Mr Burnside, working with Greenpeace lawyers, said Mr Parkin would not stop the Immigration Department removing him from Australia, as every day he was detained in jail he was liable for the cost.
But he said he wanted to know what he had done to warrant his deportation.
"If all Mr Parkin has done to be assessed a security risk is to peacefully protest his opinions, then we are in serious trouble," he said.
Mr Burnside said the appeal could take months, and he would fight it in Mr Parkin's absence.
Another of Mr Parkin's lawyers, Marika Dias, said her client was being held in solitary confinement in a criminal facility, and was distressed.
"It's a common prison for people who've been accused or have committed criminal offences," she said. "He hasn't committed any crime."
Mr Parkin, and was giving an activism workshop in Melbourne, was involved in a non-violent anti-globalisation protest in Sydney last month, at which no arrests were made.
Fellow peace activist, Rory Gutterson, an Australian friend of Mr Parkin, said ASIO had contacted Mr Parkin last week seeking an interview with him, but he declined.
"It's so insane," Mr Gutterson said.
"People who know Scott well and have been working with him know that he's not been doing anything that constitutes a national threat.
"Our fear is that ASIO is doing it as a means of applying a threat to all activists."
Greens Senator Bob Brown said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Parkin was a security threat.
"Either he was a real threat to the country, and there's no evidence for that and nothing in his behaviour since he's come to this country to suggest that, or the Bush Administration doesn't like this man," Senator Brown said.
Since 2003, Mr Parkin has targeted US-based multinational company Halliburton over its billion-dollar contracts in Iraq, calling them a "poster child of war profiteering".
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock refused to discuss why Mr Parkin was considered a security risk in Australia, telling Southern Cross Radio today he was not able to speculate on the assessment made by "competent authorities".
Asked why he was allowed into Australia if he posed a risk, Mr Ruddock said: "People do come, where information that may not be known to you at the time has come to notice later."
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12 September 2005
DETAINED American peace activist Scott Parkin would consent to his deportation but would try to force the Federal Government to reveal why he was a threat to Australia's security, his lawyer said today.
Mr Parkin – who was set to give an activism workshop when detained in Melbourne on Saturday – is being held by the Immigration Department after having his six-month visitor's visa cancelled on the grounds he is a potential risk to national security.
The Federal Government has refused to say publicly why he is considered a security risk, and supporters say he has done nothing wrong.
About 40 supporters protested against his deportation outside the Australian Federal Police (AFP) headquarters in Melbourne today, some with their mouths taped with the word "ASIO".
Others chanted: "Deportation no way, let the peace activists stay".
The crowd attempted at one point to storm the locked building as a staff member entered.
Lawyer Julian Burnside, QC, said Mr Parkin had instructed him today to lodge an appeal with the Migration Review Tribunal, to review the basis on which his visa was withdrawn and to force the Federal Government to reveal its security assessment on him.
Mr Burnside, working with Greenpeace lawyers, said Mr Parkin would not stop the Immigration Department removing him from Australia, as every day he was detained in jail he was liable for the cost.
But he said he wanted to know what he had done to warrant his deportation.
"If all Mr Parkin has done to be assessed a security risk is to peacefully protest his opinions, then we are in serious trouble," he said.
Mr Burnside said the appeal could take months, and he would fight it in Mr Parkin's absence.
Another of Mr Parkin's lawyers, Marika Dias, said her client was being held in solitary confinement in a criminal facility, and was distressed.
"It's a common prison for people who've been accused or have committed criminal offences," she said. "He hasn't committed any crime."
Mr Parkin, and was giving an activism workshop in Melbourne, was involved in a non-violent anti-globalisation protest in Sydney last month, at which no arrests were made.
Fellow peace activist, Rory Gutterson, an Australian friend of Mr Parkin, said ASIO had contacted Mr Parkin last week seeking an interview with him, but he declined.
"It's so insane," Mr Gutterson said.
"People who know Scott well and have been working with him know that he's not been doing anything that constitutes a national threat.
"Our fear is that ASIO is doing it as a means of applying a threat to all activists."
Greens Senator Bob Brown said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Parkin was a security threat.
"Either he was a real threat to the country, and there's no evidence for that and nothing in his behaviour since he's come to this country to suggest that, or the Bush Administration doesn't like this man," Senator Brown said.
Since 2003, Mr Parkin has targeted US-based multinational company Halliburton over its billion-dollar contracts in Iraq, calling them a "poster child of war profiteering".
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock refused to discuss why Mr Parkin was considered a security risk in Australia, telling Southern Cross Radio today he was not able to speculate on the assessment made by "competent authorities".
Asked why he was allowed into Australia if he posed a risk, Mr Ruddock said: "People do come, where information that may not be known to you at the time has come to notice later."
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posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 3:59 PM
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