http://australianpolitics.com Resources, News & Commentary from Malcolm Farnsworth Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:23:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Resources, News & Commentary from Malcolm Farnsworth AustralianPolitics.com no Resources, News & Commentary from Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://australianpolitics.com/category/issues/terrorism-issues http://australianpolitics.com/2011/05/02/gillard-bin-laden-press-conferenc.html http://australianpolitics.com/2011/05/02/gillard-bin-laden-press-conferenc.html#comments Mon, 02 May 2011 06:29:47 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=4197 http://australianpolitics.com/2011/05/02/gillard-bin-laden-press-conferenc.html/feed 0 Julia Gillard,Osama bin Laden Prime Minister Julia Gillard has held a press conference to comment on the killing of Osama bin Laden. - Listen to the press conference (14m): PLAY Prime Minister Julia Gillard has held a press conference to comment on the killing of Osama bin Laden. Listen to the press conference (14m): PLAY AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-killed-says-obama.html http://australianpolitics.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-killed-says-obama.html#comments Sun, 01 May 2011 12:50:59 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=4186 http://australianpolitics.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-killed-says-obama.html/feed 0 9/11,Barack Obama,Osama bin Laden President Barack Obama has announced that United States military forces have located and killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, the terrorist group responsible for 9/11. - Obama made the announcement in a televised address to the nation at 11. President Barack Obama has announced that United States military forces have located and killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, the terrorist group responsible for 9/11. Obama made the announcement in a televised address to the nation at 11... AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2008/01/29/mick-keelty-speech-on-terrorism.html http://australianpolitics.com/2008/01/29/mick-keelty-speech-on-terrorism.html#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:33:32 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/2008/01/29/mick-keelty-speech-on-terrorism.shtml http://australianpolitics.com/2008/01/29/mick-keelty-speech-on-terrorism.html/feed 0 http://australianpolitics.com/2007/02/23/war-on-terror-is-battle-of-ideas-cheney.html http://australianpolitics.com/2007/02/23/war-on-terror-is-battle-of-ideas-cheney.html#comments Fri, 23 Feb 2007 04:52:29 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=3054 http://australianpolitics.com/2007/02/23/war-on-terror-is-battle-of-ideas-cheney.html/feed 0 http://australianpolitics.com/2007/02/14/us-ambassador-mccallum-speech-to-press-club.html http://australianpolitics.com/2007/02/14/us-ambassador-mccallum-speech-to-press-club.html#comments Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:40:21 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=3041 http://australianpolitics.com/2007/02/14/us-ambassador-mccallum-speech-to-press-club.html/feed 0 David Hicks,Iraq,Robert McCallum,terrorism The United States Ambassador to Australia, Robert McCallum, has admitted he has not read the ANZUS Treaty. - In a wide-ranging address to the National Press Club in Canberra, McCallum was asked about Article 4 of the treaty which states that "each Par... The United States Ambassador to Australia, Robert McCallum, has admitted he has not read the ANZUS Treaty. In a wide-ranging address to the National Press Club in Canberra, McCallum was asked about Article 4 of the treaty which states that "each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on any of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes." Asked what the US constitutional process would be to invoke the ANZUS Treaty, particularly if there were a conflict between the President and the Congress, McCallum reminded his audience that he was a lawyer with 30 years experience and said: "The answer is I don't know. I have never read the Treaty. I have not done the Constitutional analysis and I would imagine that there would be a vast difference of opinions among academics and practising lawyers and politicians as to what might be required, so I'm not able to give you a good answer on that." Prime Minister John Howard invoked the ANZUS Treaty on September 14, 2001, following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US. McCallum has been the US Ambassador since August 2006. The post was vacant for 18 months following the departure of Tom Scheiffer. Click the PLAY button to listen to Ambassador Robert McCallum's National Press Club Address. Listen to Robert McCallum's National Press Club Address Full Text of ANZUS Treaty This is the transcript of the Address to the National Press Club by the US Ambassador, Robert McCallum Jr. Ken Randall (Chair): Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the National Press Club and today's National Australia Bank Address. It's a great pleasure to welcome the American Ambassador Robert McCallum and his wife, Mimi. As you've just heard, Ambassador McCallum was the third ranking officer in the Department of Justice before this appointment and was twenty-eight years in private sector legal practice and he's also been - he attended Yale at the same time as George Bush Jr and was a Rhodes Scholar with a Degree from Oxford as well and at both Oxford and Yale he was a very keen sportsman, although he insists now that he's retired to spectator status. This, this appearance today has been sometime in the making but it could hardly be more topical I suppose this week. Our relations with the United States have been on the forefront of our news for the last several days and it's a very appropriate time to welcome Ambassador Robert McCallum. McCallum: Thank you Ken. I'd like to acknowledge obviously the - Ken Randall for the warm hospitality, Members of the Board, Members of the Fourth Estate I will call it, Distinguished guests, and Australians around the country. It's my real pleasure to be here today and I very much appreciate the opportunity to continue to broaden my interaction with members of the Australian media and to communicate directly to Australians across the Commonwealth. As the British writer Anthony Sampson once said: "In America, journalism is apt to be regarded as an extension of history and in Britain, as an extension of a conversation." As a new arrival to Australia, it was suggested to me to consider journalism in Australia as an extension of Aussie Rules football. It's a contact sport without pads, there's no offside rule, you're likely to be poked in the nose during the course of a match, and a good story or a good scoop like a great mark is highly prized. With that in mind, I'd like to set the right tone for this discussion before we have the opening bounce if you will and put the ball in play by wishing all of the journalists here Happy Valentine's Day. It's not my intention though to spread love among the journalists and the media here. My real intention is to remind all of those blokes like me who have forgotten Valentine's Day. It's not too late to pretend that you remembered. AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2005/01/11/habib-to-be-released-from-guantanamo-bay.html http://australianpolitics.com/2005/01/11/habib-to-be-released-from-guantanamo-bay.html#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2005 11:29:59 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=3727 http://australianpolitics.com/2005/01/11/habib-to-be-released-from-guantanamo-bay.html/feed 0 Guantanamo Bay,Mamdouh Habib,Philip Ruddock,Stephen Hopper Mamdouh Habib is to be released from Guantanamo Bay prison, according to the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock. - Mr Habib was arrested in Pakistan in October 2001, accused of aiding the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Mamdouh Habib is to be released from Guantanamo Bay prison, according to the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock. Mr Habib was arrested in Pakistan in October 2001, accused of aiding the al-Qaeda terrorist network. He was moved to Guantanamo Bay in May 2002, where he has been held since without charge. Listen to Ruddock's Announcement. PLAY Listen to Habib's Lawyer, Stephen Hopper. PLAY This is the text of a joint release by the Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer. STATEMENT ON MAMDOUH HABIB Since Mr Mamdouh Habib was detained in May 2002, the Australian Government has consistently urged the United States either to bring charges against him or to release him. The Government has repeatedly impressed on the United States our desire to see his case dealt with expeditiously and fairly. The United States considers Mr Habib to be an enemy combatant who has been detained in accordance with the laws of war. However, the United States Government has now advised that it does not intend to bring charges against Mr Habib. In these circumstances the Government has requested Mr Habib's repatriation to Australia. The United States has agreed to our request. We have requested the United States authorities to inform Mr Habib of their decision not to prosecute him and of the agreement to repatriate him to Australia. Australian Government officials have informed his family. The timing and logistics of Mr. Habib's return to Australia remain under discussion. It remains the strong view of the United States that, based on information available to it, Mr Habib had prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks on or before 11 September 2001. Mr Habib has acknowledged he spent time in Afghanistan, and others there at that time claim he trained with al-Qa'ida. The specific criminal terrorism offences of being a member of, training with, funding or associating with a terrorist organisation such as al-Qa'ida did not exist under Australian law at the time of Mr Habib's alleged activities. For this reason, on the evidence and advice currently available to the Government, it does not appear likely that Mr Habib can be prosecuted for his alleged activities under those Australian laws. It should be noted that following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the government enacted comprehensive counter-terrorism legislation. That legislation created a new offence of terrorism and a range of related offences. It also made it an offence to be a member of, to train with, or to provide funds to, a terrorist organisation. Later amendments to this legislation also made it an offence to associate with a person who is a member of a terrorist organisation. These terrorism offences carry substantial penalties of up to life imprisonment. The bulk of these terrorism laws came into effect in early July 2002. Those terrorism offences are not retrospective and therefore cannot apply to Mr Habib's alleged activities and associations prior to his capture. The Government takes Australia's security seriously. Australia now has comprehensive laws enabling our police and intelligence agencies to deal with security threats. Australian authorities will continue to do everything in their power to ensure that Australian citizens do not engage in, or support terrorism. Mr Habib remains of interest in a security context because of his former associations and activities. It would be inappropriate for me to elaborate on those issues. Because of this interest, relevant agencies will undertake appropriate measures. Consistent with long standing practice, the Government does not intend to detail the nature of these measures. AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2003/10/23/president-bush-addresses-australian-paliament.html http://australianpolitics.com/2003/10/23/president-bush-addresses-australian-paliament.html#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2003 10:04:50 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=4571 http://australianpolitics.com/2003/10/23/president-bush-addresses-australian-paliament.html/feed 0 Bob Brown,George W Bush,Iraq,John Howard,Kerry Nettle,Simon Crean United States President George W. Bush has addressed the Australian Parliament during his visit to Canberra. - The speech was punctuated by interjections from Greens senators Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle. Listen to President Bush's Address: Listen United States President George W. Bush has addressed the Australian Parliament during his visit to Canberra. The speech was punctuated by interjections from Greens senators Bob Brown and Kerry Nettle. Listen to President Bush's Address: Listen Listen to Opposition Leader Simon Crean's Speech of Welcome to Bush Listen Text and Audio of Prime Minister John Howard's Speech of Welcome to Bush Transcript of President Bush's address to the Australian Parliament. Governor General Michael Jeffery, Prime Minister John Howard, Speaker of the House, Leader of the Senate, Leader of the Opposition Simon Crean, distinguished members of the House and the Senate, Premiers, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, ladies and gentlemen: Laura and I are honored to be in the Commonwealth of Australia. I want to thank the Prime Minister for his invitation. I want to thank the Members and Senators for convening this session of the Parliament. And I want to thank the people of Australia for a gracious welcome. Five months ago, your Prime Minister was a distinguished visitor of ours in Crawford, Texas, at our ranch. You might remember that I called him a "man of steel." That's Texan for "fair dinkum." Prime Minister John Howard is a leader of exceptional courage, who exemplifies the finest qualities of one of the world's greatest democracies. (Hear, hear.) I'm proud to call him friend. Americans know Australia as a land of independent and enterprising and good-hearted people. We see something familiar here, something we like. Australians are fair-minded and tolerant and easy-going. Yet in times of trouble and danger, Australians are the first to step forward, to accept the hard duties, and to fight bravely until the fighting is done. In a hundred years of experience, American soldiers have come to know the courage and good fellowship of the diggers at their side. We fought together in the Battle of Hamel, together in the Coral Sea, together in New Guinea, on the Korean Peninsula, in Vietnam. And in the war on terror, once again we're at each other's side. In this war, the Australia and American people have witnessed the methods of the enemy. We saw the scope of their hatred on September the 11, 2001. We saw the depth of their cruelty on October the 12, 2002. We saw destruction and grief -- and we saw our duty. As free nations in peril, we must fight this enemy with all our strength. No country can live peacefully in a world that the terrorists would make for us. And no people are immune from the sudden violence that can come to an office building, or an airplane, or a night club, or a city bus. Your nation and mine have known the shock and felt the sorrow, and laid the dead to rest. And we refuse to live our lives at the mercy of murderers. The nature of the terrorist threat defines the strategy we are using to fight it. These committed killers will not be stopped by negotiations. They will not respond to reason. The terrorists cannot be appeased. They must be found, they must be fought and they must be defeated. The terrorists hide and strike within free societies, so we're draining their funds, disrupting their plans, finding their leaders. The skilled work of Thai and Indonesia and other authorities in capturing the terrorist Hambali - suspected of planning the murders in Bali and other attacks - was a model of the determined campaign we are waging. The terrorists seek safe harbor to plot and to train - so we're holding the allies of terror to account. America, Australia and other nations acted in Afghanistan to destroy the home base of al-Qaeda and rid that country of a terror regime. And the Afghan people - especially Afghan women - do not miss the bullying and the beatings and the public executions at the hands of the Taliban. The terrorists hope to gain chemical, biological or nuclear weapons - the means to match their hatred. So we're confronting outlaw regimes that aid terrorists, AustralianPolitics.com no http://australianpolitics.com/2002/06/12/howard-addresses-us-congress.html http://australianpolitics.com/2002/06/12/howard-addresses-us-congress.html#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2002 03:23:52 +0000 Malcolm Farnsworth http://australianpolitics.com/?p=4120 http://australianpolitics.com/2002/06/12/howard-addresses-us-congress.html/feed 0 John Howard The Prime Minister, John Howard, has addressed a joint meeting of the United States Congress in Washington DC. - Howard reiterated Australian government support for the United States, as shown through its invocation of the ANZUS Treaty. - The Prime Minister, John Howard, has addressed a joint meeting of the United States Congress in Washington DC. Howard reiterated Australian government support for the United States, as shown through its invocation of the ANZUS Treaty. Howard also offered criticism of the United States approach to farm subsidies. Listen to Howard's Address to the US Congress PLAY This is the text of the address to a Joint Meeting of the US Congress by John Howard. Mr Speaker, Mr President, distinguished members of the Senate and House, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for the great honour you have given me, and more importantly my country Australia, in asking me to speak to you today. The bonds between Americans and Australians are strong and genuine. They are based on many shared values. A belief that the individual is greater than the State. A belief that strong families are a nation's greatest resource. A belief that competitive capitalism is the key to national wealth. Mr Speaker, Mr President, and ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, America has no better friend in the world than Australia. Australians and Americans enjoy each other's company. We share a love of sport and are fierce competitors in some. And from time to time we even share the Academy Awards. When I last came to this great chamber of democracy on 12 September last year, smoke still hung in the air over Washington and New York. Heroic fireman and policemen, gallantly disregarding the danger to themselves, scrambled desperately amid the rubble, looking for the slightest sign of life. The scale of loss and senseless destruction was yet to be fully calculated. In seeking justice and not revenge, in choosing calm consideration over blind fury, by turning to friends before turning on enemies, the United States has led a great re-affirmation of those values upon which it and nations such as my own, are founded. America fought back magnificently - and won the admiration of the world. You demonstrated to the world that, where fundamental freedoms flourish, evil men can do their worst, cause death and devastation but in the end they will never win. In his inaugural address, George Washington spoke of the destiny of the American people to preserve 'the sacred fire of liberty'. That promise has been kept for more than two centuries - but never more so than since the appalling events of September 11. Through these times Australians have shared your shock and anger and been partners in your resolve. We have taken our place beside you in the war against terrorism, knowing beyond all doubt that it was an attack upon ourselves and our way of life as surely as it was upon your own. As we meet, Australian troops are fighting side by side with Americans in Afghanistan. In these past months President Bush has displayed the tenacity, the strength and the depth of character of a great leader. And he is now applying those qualities to the dangerous tensions between India and Pakistan and the intractable differences in the Middle East. It is a special privilege to return to this historic place to address the representatives of a people with whom we share so much and express the fond regard and high esteem in which we hold your great nation. Like you, Australia enters this new century strong and prosperous. Over the past decade, the productivity and growth of our economy has exceeded that of most other developed nations. Our pioneer past, so similar to your own, has produced a spirit that can overcome adversity and pursue great dreams. We've built a society of opportunity, fairness and hope, leaving - as you did - the divisions and prejudices of the Old World far behind. Like your own, our culture has been immeasurably enriched by migration from the four corners of the earth. We believe that nations are strengthened not weakened, broadened not diminished, AustralianPolitics.com no