Bob Vinnicombe

Items sent in by Bob Vinnicombe

 

 A Timeline of How One Nation Policies Have Been Copied and Vindicated

September 10, 1996 Pauline Hanson, Independent MP for Oxley, makes her
maiden speech in Parliament, after getting  a massive swing in the
safest
Labor seat in Queensland. Among the things she says are:

".....I and most Australians want our immigration policy radically
reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished. I believe we are in
danger of being swamped by Asians "

".....The majority of Aboriginals do not want handouts as they realise
that welfare is killing them. This is why I am calling for ATSIC to be
abolished. It is a failed, hypocritical and discriminatory organization
that has failed dismally the people it was meant to serve"

".....The Family Law Act, which was the child of the disgraceful
Senator
Lionel Murphy, should be repealed. It has brought death, misery and
heartache to countless thousands of Australians. "

"....if I can invite who I want into my home, then I should have the
right
to have a say in who comes into my country. A truly multicultural
country
can never be strong or united....."

October 30, 1997        Pauline Hanson asks Howard in question time
“please explain how the government can justify making available to
Indonesia what may be as much as $1.7 billion when we already give
approximately $90 million in foreign aid $8m of which is for their
defence
forces?..Is it the policy of this government to prop up questionable
and
militaristic regimes with appalling human rights records?”

March 1999                   2 aboriginal candidates stand for One
Nation
in the NSW State Election.

September 1999           When Indonesia tried to crush the independence
of
East Timor and Australian troops were sent to protect the  East
Timorese,
the grisly face of the Indonesian military was revealed.

November 1999            A Perth aboriginal  newspaper, published by
the
Metropolitan Nyoongar Circle of Elders, interviews Pauline Hanson and 
supports the  call for a Royal Commission into  ATSIC

January 28.2000            Daily Telegraph reports  someone from of the
Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria criticizing the Federal
Government
because "the temporary entry permits for refugees are a direct response
to
the One Nation   policies".

August 16, 2000             SMH reports that  Aboriginal  Noel Pearson,
while delivering the "Light on the Hill"    Ben Chifley Lecture in
Bathurst, had said the  indigenous experience of the welfare state had
been "disastrous" and "the real need is for the restoration of social
order and the enforcement of law."

June 7, 2001                 The  Age says  Bureau of Statistics  has
shown that  more than one million residents of Australia were born in
Asia
as at the end of 1999, nearly four times as many as 20 years ago.

November, 2001           Coalition win the Federal Election on the
"Tampa" illegal immigrant issue.

2002                                Former left wing political activist
Keith Windschuttle publishes "The Fabrication of Aboriginal History"

June 2,2003               Daily Telegraph   reports that ATSIC will
virtually cease to exist under changes recommended by a Government
ordered
review.

July 24 2003               SMH quotes former PM  Malcolm Fraser as
saying
both major political parties were "largely adopting the policies of
Pauline Hanson".

December 30, 2003 SMH reports that under a radical review of Family Law
parents would go to a government shopfront instead of a court  designed
to
encourage more parents to share custody of the one million Australian
children who suffer separation.

April 4, 2004               SMH reports  Mark Latham saying a Labor
government would abolish ATSIC, as it is "no longer capable of
addressing
endemic problems in indigenous communities".

October 3, 2004        SMH  reports that Treasurer Peter Costello used
a
speech on 29th May, at Scots' Church in Melbourne. to 800  evangelical
Christians to attack Victoria's racial & religious vilification law. He
said "It was the First Fleet that brought the first chaplain and first
knowledge of the Christian faith to Australia. This was the critical
and
decisive event that shaped our country. If the Arab traders that
brought
Islam to Indonesia had brought Islam to Australia and settled, or
spread
their faith, amongst the indigenous population, our country today would
be
vastly different. ...............But that did not happen. Our society
was
founded by British colonists. And the single most decisive feature that
determined the way it developed was the Judeo-Christian-Western
tradition.
As a society, we are who we are, because of that heritage. I am not
sure
this is well understood in Australia today ...  "

December 6,  2004    SMH reports Labor's most senior Aboriginal figure,
Warren Mundine, has declared it is time to move beyond the "sorry"
debate.

February 2005            Irene Wyborn, Aboriginal artist and Chairman
of
the Jarndu Yawuru Land Council says she is standing as a One Nation
candidate in the WA State Election saying "I have been a One Nation
supporter since 1997".

February 26, 2006      SMH reports federal Liberal frontbencher [and
former Liberal Party election strategist] responsible for
multiculturalism
Andrew Robb as saying only education and jobs would stop the young male
Muslims from falling prey to extremists.

February 2006             Danna Vale, Federal Liberal MP says Australia
could become a muslim country iin 50 years.

February 9 ,2006         Courier Mail reports three Queensland Labor
backbenchers     have called for an end to multiculturalism, claiming
the
policy has outlived its usefulness and now encourages segregation,
intolerance and violence in the community.    The MPs - Andrew McNamara
from Hervey Bay, Craig Wallace from Thuringowah in north Queensland,
and
Rachel Nolan from Ipswich  - all represent former One Nation seats  Mr
McNamara  blamed multiculturalism for allowing "silos" to rise up in
the
community and illegal activity to flourish in the shadows.  Mr McNamara
said he favoured a new policy of "progressive integration" ............
"It is now time to emphasise the core values of Australian culture;
respect for the law and democracy, respect for people and respect for
private property," he said.  Mr Wallace said multiculturalism had been
used "as an excuse by certain groups to behave in an un-Australian
manner". Mr Wallace said ethnic and religious violence showed
multiculturalism bred intolerance.

February  10, 2006,     A poll by Channel 9 indicates 93 %  of
Australians
want multiculturalism abolished.

February 24, 2006       SMH reports that  Treasurer, Peter Costello,
had
criticised "confused, mushy, misguided multiculturalism" .   "Before
entering a mosque visitors are asked to take off their shoes" he told
the
Sydney Institute . "This is a sign of respect. If you have a strong
objection to walking in your socks, don't enter the mosque.   "Before
becoming an Australian you will be asked to subscribe to certain
values.
If you have strong objections to those values, don't come to
Australia." 
  Mr Costello said those who broke the compact should be stripped of
citizenship, if another country would take them.

15th May 2006               ABC Lateline exposes  the depredation of
Aboriginal communities in the Northern  Territory,  illustrating  the
hypocrisy that has surrounded the  question for the last 40 years.

 For up--to-date news on the war in Labanon

http://www.daleelaustralia.com/news/

Media Release

7 August 2006

HREOC engineers misleading and flawed "Conciliation Agreement."  Prof.
Fraser restates risks posed by Third World colonisation

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) stands
accused
of putting its thumb onto the scales of justice, giving an unfair edge
to
lawyers for a black African complainant in their high-pressure
negotiations with Professor Andrew Fraser, formerly a legal academic at
Macquarie University.

Facing the threat of Federal Court action on a charge of racial
vilification, Professor Fraser agreed to conciliation proceedings with
prominent Sydney lawyers George Newhouse and David Knoll acting for Mr
Safi Hareer, Secretary-General of the Sudanese Darfurian Union.

From the outset, Mr Hareer's lawyers demanded that Professor Fraser
acknowledge that HREOC had found that his letter to the Parramatta Sun
last year contravened the Racial Discrimination Act.  Since the HREOC
officials present throughout the conciliation process raised no
objection
to that language, Professor Fraser agreed to a draft Statement
including
those words.

Then, after the draft Statement (reproduced below) was signed by both
parties HREOC officials informed Professor Fraser that, strictly
speaking,
the Commission had no power to hold that he had contravened the Act. 
That
was a matter solely for the courts.  They suggested that the Statement
should be revised to say, instead, that Professor Fraser's letter may
have
contravened the Act.

Professor Fraser took the view that this was a significant change,
incorporating into the Statement the clear implication that he may not
have contravened the Act after all.  Accordingly, he suggested a
further,
consequent, amendment, asking Mr Hareer now to accept, in the spirit of
conciliation, that Professor Fraser's letter to the newspaper should
not
be construed as an expression of racial hatred.

Professor Fraser was prepared to have the Federal Court determine the
merits of the case in the event that Mr Hareer did not agree.  In
Professor Fraser's view, once the Commission conceded that he had not
been
found to have contravened the Act, then the draft Statement indicating
otherwise was null and void.  Thus, the conciliation process had not
yet
reached an agreed conclusion.  HREOC, however, rejected that view and
allowed the draft Statement to stand as a legally binding Conciliation
Agreement.

Professor Fraser does not resile from anything in the draft Statement
other than the misrepresentation in the first paragraph.  The
settlement
has been soured, however, by Mr Hareer's sullen refusal to acknowledge
that Professor Fraser does not "hate" him or his people.

Professor Fraser is genuinely sorry that Mr Hareer or others similarly
situated were offended when he predicted that the Commonwealth
government's ill-advised black African immigration program will pile up
ever more insoluble problems for the future.  But Mr Hareer and his
legal
team are in denial, refusing to recognise the costs of African
migration
in particular, and of a multiracial society, generally.

Professor Fraser remains convinced that "experience practically
everywhere
in the world tells us that an expanding black population is a sure-fire
recipe for rising levels of crime, violence and a wide range of other
social problems."  The President of HREOC rejected the suggestion that
Professor Fraser's earlier expression of this view was made reasonably
and
in good faith on a matter of public interest.

Unfortunately, even before HREOC issued that ruling, it was a matter of
public record that the dangerously dysfunctional behaviour endemic to
sub-Saharan black Africa societies and the black African diaspora in
the
West is being replicated here in Australia.

In a statement to the NSW Parliament delivered on March 8, 2006,
Premier
Morris Iemma confirmed that the large-scale migration of black Africans
into his State has resulted in "increased crime rates," hitherto
unknown
public health problems, growing gangs of alienated African young men
unlikely ever to be assimilated into Australian society, and a wide
range
of other social problems.

However painful it might be to acknowledge the truth, Mr Hareer, Mr
Newhouse, Mr Knoll and the President of HREOC, the Hon John von Doussa,
QC, should pull their heads out of the sand and face the increasingly
frightening realities of life in multiracial western Sydney.

In a concerted campaign to silence him, Professor Fraser has been
branded
publicly a "bigot" and pronounced unfit to teach or even to publish his
"racist" views by fellow academics.  Undeterred, he sounds another
warning
that the Third World colonisation of Australia is dissolving our core
national identity as a community of memory, language, religion and
racial
origins.  Indeed, Professor Fraser suggests, we are sleepwalking down
the
path to national suicide.

Professor Andrew Fraser

prof.fraser@optusnet.com.au

02 9613 3382

STATEMENT

The statement made by me in the Parramatta Sun on 6 July 2005 has been
held by the President of HREOC to have contravened the Commonwealth
Racial
Discrimination Act 1975.

[HREOC's revised first paragraph would have read: "The statement made
by
me in the Parramatta Sun.has been considered by the President.and may
have
contravened the.Act.]

Mr Safi Hareer complained to HREOC that my letter caused substantial
hurt
to Sudanese people living in the Parramatta-Blacktown area.  I am sorry
for whatever distress and embarrassment my letter in fact caused to Mr
Hareer and other members of the Sudanese Australian community who have
successfully settled in Australia.

We agree that criminal behaviour is undertaken by people of all races,
religions, ethnicities and national origins.  I remain convinced that
some
population groups are more likely to display a higher level of criminal
behaviour than others.

We can all agree that respectful policy debate about immigration policy
is
a healthy part of our democracy.  We agree as well that immigration and
refugee policy-makers must assess the relative capacity of particular
population groups to integrate/assimilate successfully into Australian
society and the work government must do to facilitate that
integration/assimilation.

Nevertheless, we all breathe the same air in this country.  All
lawfully
admitted migrants may contribute to building a better Australia for
future
generations.

All of us have an obligation to contribute to an Australian society
based
on mutual respect, but that respect must be earned by productive and
peaceful behaviour.  All of us have an obligation not to stir up hatred
of
our fellow men and women on the basis of their origin or skin colour.
[My
proposed amendment would have added: "Following a successful
conciliation
process, Mr Hareer now accepts that my letter to the Parramatta Sun
should
not be construed as an expression of racial hatred.]

Professor Andrew Fraser




Media Release

7 August 2006

HREOC engineers misleading and flawed “Conciliation Agreement.”  Prof. Fraser restates risks posed by Third World colonisation

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) stands accused of putting its thumb onto the scales of justice, giving an unfair edge to lawyers for a black African complainant in their high-pressure negotiations with Professor Andrew Fraser, formerly a legal academic at Macquarie University.

Facing the threat of Federal Court action on a charge of racial vilification, Professor Fraser agreed to conciliation proceedings with prominent Sydney lawyers George Newhouse and David Knoll acting for Mr Safi Hareer, Secretary-General of the Sudanese Darfurian Union. 

From the outset, Mr Hareer’s lawyers demanded that Professor Fraser acknowledge that HREOC had found that his letter to the Parramatta Sun last year contravened the Racial Discrimination Act.  Since the HREOC officials present throughout the conciliation process raised no objection to that language, Professor Fraser agreed to a draft Statement including those words.

Then, after the draft Statement (reproduced below) was signed by both parties HREOC officials informed Professor Fraser that, strictly speaking, the Commission had no power to hold that he had contravened the Act.  That was a matter solely for the courts.  They suggested that the Statement should be revised to say, instead, that Professor Fraser’s letter may have contravened the Act.

Professor Fraser took the view that this was a significant change, incorporating into the Statement the clear implication that he may not have contravened the Act after all.  Accordingly, he suggested a further, consequent, amendment, asking Mr Hareer now to accept, in the spirit of conciliation, that Professor Fraser’s letter to the newspaper should not be construed as an _expression of racial hatred.

Professor Fraser was prepared to have the Federal Court determine the merits of the case in the event that Mr Hareer did not agree.  In Professor Fraser’s view, once the Commission conceded that he had not been found to have contravened the Act, then the draft Statement indicating otherwise was null and void.  Thus, the conciliation process had not yet reached an agreed conclusion.  HREOC, however, rejected that view and allowed the draft Statement to stand as a legally binding Conciliation Agreement.

Professor Fraser does not resile from anything in the draft Statement other than the misrepresentation in the first paragraph.  The settlement has been soured, however, by Mr Hareer’s sullen refusal to acknowledge that Professor Fraser does not “hate” him or his people. 

Professor Fraser is genuinely sorry that Mr Hareer or others similarly situated were offended when he predicted that the Commonwealth government’s ill-advised black African immigration program will pile up ever more insoluble problems for the future.  But Mr Hareer and his legal team are in denial, refusing to recognise the costs of African migration in particular, and of a multiracial society, generally.

Professor Fraser remains convinced that “experience practically everywhere in the world tells us that an expanding black population is a sure-fire recipe for rising levels of crime, violence and a wide range of other social problems.”  The President of HREOC rejected the suggestion that Professor Fraser’s earlier _expression of this view was made reasonably and in good faith on a matter of public interest.

Unfortunately, even before HREOC issued that ruling, it was a matter of public record that the dangerously dysfunctional behaviour endemic to sub-Saharan black Africa societies and the black African diaspora in the West is being replicated here in Australia.

In a statement to the NSW Parliament delivered on March 8, 2006, Premier Morris Iemma confirmed that the large-scale migration of black Africans into his State has resulted in “increased crime rates,” hitherto unknown public health problems, growing gangs of alienated African young men unlikely ever to be assimilated into Australian society, and a wide range of other social problems.

However painful it might be to acknowledge the truth, Mr Hareer, Mr Newhouse, Mr Knoll and the President of HREOC, the Hon John von Doussa, QC, should pull their heads out of the sand and face the increasingly frightening realities of life in multiracial western Sydney.

In a concerted campaign to silence him, Professor Fraser has been branded publicly a “bigot” and pronounced unfit to teach or even to publish his “racist” views by fellow academics.  Undeterred, he sounds another warning that the Third World colonisation of Australia is dissolving our core national identity as a community of memory, language, religion and racial origins.  Indeed, Professor Fraser suggests, we are sleepwalking down the path to national suicide.

Professor Andrew Fraser

prof.fraser@optusnet.com.au

02 9613 3382

STATEMENT

The statement made by me in the Parramatta Sun on 6 July 2005 has been held by the President of HREOC to have contravened the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975.

[HREOC’s revised first paragraph would have read: “The statement made by me in the Parramatta Sun…has been considered by the President…and may have contravened the…Act.]

Mr Safi Hareer complained to HREOC that my letter caused substantial hurt to Sudanese people living in the Parramatta-Blacktown area.  I am sorry for whatever distress and embarrassment my letter in fact caused to Mr Hareer and other members of the Sudanese Australian community who have successfully settled in Australia.

We agree that criminal behaviour is undertaken by people of all races, religions, ethnicities and national origins.  I remain convinced that some population groups are more likely to display a higher level of criminal behaviour than others.

We can all agree that respectful policy debate about immigration policy is a healthy part of our democracy.  We agree as well that immigration and refugee policy-makers must assess the relative capacity of particular population groups to integrate/assimilate successfully into Australian society and the work government must do to facilitate that integration/assimilation.

Nevertheless, we all breathe the same air in this country.  All lawfully admitted migrants may contribute to building a better Australia for future generations.

All of us have an obligation to contribute to an Australian society based on mutual respect, but that respect must be earned by productive and peaceful behaviour.  All of us have an obligation not to stir up hatred of our fellow men and women on the basis of their origin or skin colour. [My proposed amendment would have added: “Following a successful conciliation process, Mr Hareer now accepts that my letter to the Parramatta Sun should not be construed as an _expression of racial hatred.]

Professor Andrew Fraser

Media Release

7 August 2006

HREOC engineers misleading and flawed “Conciliation Agreement.”  Prof. Fraser restates risks posed by Third World colonisation

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) stands accused of putting its thumb onto the scales of justice, giving an unfair edge to lawyers for a black African complainant in their high-pressure negotiations with Professor Andrew Fraser, formerly a legal academic at Macquarie University.

Facing the threat of Federal Court action on a charge of racial vilification, Professor Fraser agreed to conciliation proceedings with prominent Sydney lawyers George Newhouse and David Knoll acting for Mr Safi Hareer, Secretary-General of the Sudanese Darfurian Union. 

From the outset, Mr Hareer’s lawyers demanded that Professor Fraser acknowledge that HREOC had found that his letter to the Parramatta Sun last year contravened the Racial Discrimination Act.  Since the HREOC officials present throughout the conciliation process raised no objection to that language, Professor Fraser agreed to a draft Statement including those words.

Then, after the draft Statement (reproduced below) was signed by both parties HREOC officials informed Professor Fraser that, strictly speaking, the Commission had no power to hold that he had contravened the Act.  That was a matter solely for the courts.  They suggested that the Statement should be revised to say, instead, that Professor Fraser’s letter may have contravened the Act.

Professor Fraser took the view that this was a significant change, incorporating into the Statement the clear implication that he may not have contravened the Act after all.  Accordingly, he suggested a further, consequent, amendment, asking Mr Hareer now to accept, in the spirit of conciliation, that Professor Fraser’s letter to the newspaper should not be construed as an _expression of racial hatred.

Professor Fraser was prepared to have the Federal Court determine the merits of the case in the event that Mr Hareer did not agree.  In Professor Fraser’s view, once the Commission conceded that he had not been found to have contravened the Act, then the draft Statement indicating otherwise was null and void.  Thus, the conciliation process had not yet reached an agreed conclusion.  HREOC, however, rejected that view and allowed the draft Statement to stand as a legally binding Conciliation Agreement.

Professor Fraser does not resile from anything in the draft Statement other than the misrepresentation in the first paragraph.  The settlement has been soured, however, by Mr Hareer’s sullen refusal to acknowledge that Professor Fraser does not “hate” him or his people. 

Professor Fraser is genuinely sorry that Mr Hareer or others similarly situated were offended when he predicted that the Commonwealth government’s ill-advised black African immigration program will pile up ever more insoluble problems for the future.  But Mr Hareer and his legal team are in denial, refusing to recognise the costs of African migration in particular, and of a multiracial society, generally.

Professor Fraser remains convinced that “experience practically everywhere in the world tells us that an expanding black population is a sure-fire recipe for rising levels of crime, violence and a wide range of other social problems.”  The President of HREOC rejected the suggestion that Professor Fraser’s earlier _expression of this view was made reasonably and in good faith on a matter of public interest.

Unfortunately, even before HREOC issued that ruling, it was a matter of public record that the dangerously dysfunctional behaviour endemic to sub-Saharan black Africa societies and the black African diaspora in the West is being replicated here in Australia.

In a statement to the NSW Parliament delivered on March 8, 2006, Premier Morris Iemma confirmed that the large-scale migration of black Africans into his State has resulted in “increased crime rates,” hitherto unknown public health problems, growing gangs of alienated African young men unlikely ever to be assimilated into Australian society, and a wide range of other social problems.

However painful it might be to acknowledge the truth, Mr Hareer, Mr Newhouse, Mr Knoll and the President of HREOC, the Hon John von Doussa, QC, should pull their heads out of the sand and face the increasingly frightening realities of life in multiracial western Sydney.

In a concerted campaign to silence him, Professor Fraser has been branded publicly a “bigot” and pronounced unfit to teach or even to publish his “racist” views by fellow academics.  Undeterred, he sounds another warning that the Third World colonisation of Australia is dissolving our core national identity as a community of memory, language, religion and racial origins.  Indeed, Professor Fraser suggests, we are sleepwalking down the path to national suicide.

Professor Andrew Fraser

prof.fraser@optusnet.com.au

02 9613 3382

STATEMENT

The statement made by me in the Parramatta Sun on 6 July 2005 has been held by the President of HREOC to have contravened the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975.

[HREOC’s revised first paragraph would have read: “The statement made by me in the Parramatta Sun…has been considered by the President…and may have contravened the…Act.]

Mr Safi Hareer complained to HREOC that my letter caused substantial hurt to Sudanese people living in the Parramatta-Blacktown area.  I am sorry for whatever distress and embarrassment my letter in fact caused to Mr Hareer and other members of the Sudanese Australian community who have successfully settled in Australia.

We agree that criminal behaviour is undertaken by people of all races, religions, ethnicities and national origins.  I remain convinced that some population groups are more likely to display a higher level of criminal behaviour than others.

We can all agree that respectful policy debate about immigration policy is a healthy part of our democracy.  We agree as well that immigration and refugee policy-makers must assess the relative capacity of particular population groups to integrate/assimilate successfully into Australian society and the work government must do to facilitate that integration/assimilation.

Nevertheless, we all breathe the same air in this country.  All lawfully admitted migrants may contribute to building a better Australia for future generations.

All of us have an obligation to contribute to an Australian society based on mutual respect, but that respect must be earned by productive and peaceful behaviour.  All of us have an obligation not to stir up hatred of our fellow men and women on the basis of their origin or skin colour. [My proposed amendment would have added: “Following a successful conciliation process, Mr Hareer now accepts that my letter to the Parramatta Sun should not be construed as an _expression of racial hatred.]

Professor Andrew Fraser

 Is Libya ready for US business?
By Brooke Anderson in Washington

Saturday 08 July 2006

With ties between the two countries steadily warming up, Americans are
ready to do business in Libya again. But is Libya ready for them?
With just one luxury hotel, one Protestant church, a ban on alcohol, a
population with limited English, and an entrenched bureaucracy left
over
from decades of socialism, Libya hardly seems appealing to Western
businesses.
Yet American and European companies have been going on trade
delegations
for the past several years as the various sanctions against Libya have
been lifted.
After Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi fulfilled all
requirements
for the lifting of UN, British and US sanctions, Western - including
American - companies saw a green light to do business in Libya again.
Not surprisingly, the biggest American companies re-entering Libya are
from the energy sector. These include the Texas-based Marathon Oil
Corp,
Conoco Phillips, ExxonMobil Corp, and California-based Chevron Corp and
Occidental Petroleum Corp.

The most important natural resources in Libya are its oil and natural
gas
reserves. A 2005 estimate put Libya's proven oil reserves at 39-40
billion
barrels and its natural gas reserves at 52 trillion cubic feet, one
tenth
the reserves of Saudi Arabia - the world's most oil-rich country.
"Libya is an important country with significant resource potential on a
global scale," said Paul Weeditz, Marathon spokesman.
Marathon left Libya in 1986 when US sanctions forced them to close
their
operations there. The company has been negotiating the terms of its
re-entry for the past two years, and they are fully engaged as partners
with Amerada Hess, Conoco Philips and the Libyan National Oil Company.
Weeditz says they expect to produce 40-45,000 barrels per day for the
year
2006.
Libya is not just about the oil, however.
Heritage attractions
With an outdated infrastructure, a desert climate without agricultural
self-sufficiency, and a number of ancient ruins, companies outside of
the
energy sector - that specialise in everything from construction to
tourism
- will all have a place in the newly open markets of Libya.
The United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation(UNESCO) lists five world heritage sites in Libya. They
include the Roman port of Sabratha, the temples and forums of Leptis
Magna, the 7th century BC Greek town of Cyrene and the Roman city of
Ghadames.

Mary Dell Lucas, manager of Far Horizons Archaeological and Cultural
Trips
Inc didn't hesitate to organise a tour to a country full of ancient
ruins
that had been off-limits to Westerners for 20 years.
Lucas says that when their September tour in Libya was first announced
in
January, ten of the 17 places filled up in the first week, and the
remaining places were filled in late May. The company is now planning a
second trip in March to meet the high demand.
Construction boom
With tourists and oil tycoons exploring Libya, construction will be a
major part of Libya's newly open market. Bechtel Co, a San
Francisco-based
engineering and construction company, with operations in some 40
countries, including Iraq, is now eyeing Libya as a place to do
business.
"Bechtel always looks for new opportunities in its major business
lines,"
said Bechtel spokesman Jonathan Marsha. He added, "We began looking at
possible jobs in Libya after the US embargo was lifted in 2004. Sectors
of
interest to us - as builders, not investors - include oil and gas,
fossil
power, telecommunications, and civil infrastructure".
Even mobile phones, which most Libyans have done without during the
sanctions, are now in high demand.
Motorola spokesman Norman Sandler says American mobile phone companies
expect to be operating in Libya by next year.
Long road
But it could take decades for Libya to recover from a string of major
sanctions and its international isolation.
"Lifting sanctions is important, but not sufficient. People need to see
a
good investment climate, and feel like they'll get a good return," said
a
spokesman from USA Engage, a Washington-based organisation representing
US
businesses that is against unilateral sanctions.
Even with tour companies looking to take advantage of the country's
rich
archaeological history, Libya does not appear ready for them.
"There are few good restaurants, and even fewer good hotels. And the
hotels that are older than 20 years have not been maintained. They were
nationalised and were allowed to decay," Lucas of Far Horizons told
Aljazeera.net.
"So the so-called 4- and 5-star hotels are in reality more like shabby
2-
and 3-star," said Lucas. She added, "The carpets are dirty, the toilet
seats are broken, the bathtubs stained."
As for supplier companies, "Overcoming regulatory issues that remain
outstanding" is one of the biggest challenges, said Sandler. "The
re-establishment of diplomatic ties doesn't mean there's an easy flow
of
trade. There's a lot that still needs to happen."
Breaking the isolation
Libya's isolation from the West began after al-Qadhafi seized control
of
the country in a military coup in 1969 and developed relations with the
Soviet Union as a primary arms supplier.
In 1984, the United Kingdom cut off all diplomatic relations with Libya
following the murder of a British policewoman outside Libya's embassy
in
London. In 1986, the United States – Libya's largest single customer
for
crude oil – bombed the country after Libya was implicated in the
bombing
of a West Berlin disco frequented by US military personnel.

UN sanctions were imposed over  links to the the Lockerbie bombing
The UN imposed sanctions against Libya in 1992-93 after it was
implicated
in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988
and
the bombing of a French flight over Niger in 1989.
It wasn't until 1999, when al-Qadhafi delivered the Lockerbie bombing
suspects from Libya to The Hague that tensions between the
long-isolated
North African country and the West slowly began to ease.
In 2003, al-Qadhafi fulfilled requirements that would remove UN
sanctions
including providing compensation to families of the victims who died in
the Pan Am flight in Lockerbie. In December 2003, al-Qadhafi announced
that he would no longer pursue nuclear weapons. By September 2004, the
United States had lifted all economic and travel sanctions against
Libya.
"Al-Qadhafi's diplomacy was a pleasant surprise - even to many people
in
Washington who follow (Middle East politics) closely," Gary Hufbauer a
senior fellow at the International Institute of Economics in
Washington,
told Aljazeera.net.
Love for Americans
"I don't expect to see any recognisable democracy emerge in Libya –
even
after al-Qadhafi dies," predicts Hufbauer. "I do think Libya will
continue
in its autocratic ways while no longer being antagonistic towards the
West. Al-Qadhafi could become no more autocratic than the King of
Morocco,
whom we like a lot."
The Libyan political and economic climate might be less than ideal for
Westerners for years to come. But the hospitality of the locals might
end
up being the biggest appeal for American expatriates wanting to set up
businesses there.
"Libyans love Americans, and that surprised me," said Jeff Hallinger,
public relations director of the Phoenicia Group, that has been in
Tripoli
for four years.
"The media portrays Libya as anti-American and radical. But the people
here love American pop culture, and a lot of them are learning
English."
Hallinger added, "If you tell a Libyan you're American, he'll
immediately
invite you to dinner."
Aljazeera

forwarded by Bob Vinnicombe

August
4, 2006 - 4:50PM

Security guard Karen Brown has been found not guilty of murdering a man
who attacked and tried to rob her.
A jury in the NSW Supreme Court this afternoon found the 42-year-old
not
guilty of both the murder and manslaughter of William Aquilina, 25, who
had attempted to rob her outside the Moorebank Hotel on July 26, 2004,
as
she carried a backpack with about $40,000.
A shaking Ms Brown broke down as the verdict was delivered, bowing her
head and sobbing. She had pleaded not guilty.
Outside court she was barely able to speak.
"I'm glad it's all over," she said. "I'd like to thank the jury very
much."
She said she would now just like to get on with her life.
Her mother, Bev Brown, thanked the public for their support and said:
"We're all very glad and relieved this is all over and we consider the
right decision has been made because we all know Karen for the kind,
lovely person she is and we know that she's incapable of doing what
she's
accused of."
Brown maintained she did not recall shooting Aquilina, who had bashed
her
in the head with knuckledusters.
A central issue in the trial was whether Brown fired the gun because
she
lost control due to the attack, and whether that response was
reasonable.
The jury retired at about 12.30pm (AEST) today, two weeks after Ms
Brown's
trial began.
After the verdict, her barrister Paul Conlon SC said: "I think what the
jury has seen with the presentation of all the evidence over the last
two
weeks, they no doubt appreciate the type of difficult issues involved
...
"It's obviously taken its toll on her, the whole experience, and I
genuinely wish her well."