Andrews' handling of African refugees 'incompetent'

Labor's immigration spokesman Tony Burke has accused Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews of incompetence over his handling of the decision to slash the nation's African refugee intake.

Mr Andrews has been labelled racist after saying integration problems were one reason for the cut.

Mr Burke has told the ABC's Insiders program he can not understand why Mr Andrews would make such inflammatory comments.

"I think with Kevin Andrews you can't look past the possibility of incompetence," he said.

Labor to campaign against death penalty

Terrorists convicted for the Bali bombings that killed 202 should be spared the death penalty, Labor's foreign affairs spokesman says.

Labor's Robert McClelland mentioned Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein during a pledge last night that a Labor government would lobby Asian countries to abolish the death penalty.

In his speech to the Wentworth Human Rights Forum, the opposition spokesman accused the Howard government of hypocrisy in opposing the death penalty for Australian citizens while failing to speak out against its application elsewhere.
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Going to Court, but Not in Time to Live
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: October 8, 2007

There are nine justices on the Supreme Court. It takes four votes for the court to agree to hear a case. But it takes five votes to stay an execution.

It is possible, then, for a death row inmate to persuade the court that his case is so important that it deserves a place on the court’s tiny docket of roughly 80 cases a year — but not so important that he should be allowed to stay alive in the meantime.

Consider the case of Luther J. Williams, who was put to death on Aug. 23 in Alabama. Four justices had voted to stay the execution.

Mr. Williams’s appeal included a challenge to the constitutionality of the chemicals used in lethal injections, which have the potential to cause excruciating torture if administered improperly. A month after his execution, the court agreed to hear that question in another case.
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Lethal injections lead doctors to break medical oath

USA
The report cites several cases of botched lethal injection executions, such as that of Joseph Clark, who was executed in Ohio in December 2006. It took 22 minutes for the execution technicians to find a vein to insert the catheter.

Shortly after the start of the injection, the vein collapsed and Joseph's arm began to swell. He raised his head off the stretcher and said five times "it don’t work, it don't work."

The curtains surrounding the stretcher were then closed while the technicians worked for 30 minutes to find another vein.

China
In China, the world’s top executioner, many executions by lethal injection are carried out in mobile vans. The windowless chamber at the back of the vans contains a metal bed on which the prisoner is strapped down.

Once the needle is attached by the doctor, a police officer presses a button and an automatic syringe inserts the lethal drug into the prisoner’s vein. The execution can be watched on a video monitor next to the driver’s seat and can be videotaped if required.

Doctors and nurses are coming under pressure to break their ethical oath by participating in lethal injections.

At the same time, a series of botched executions have put prisoners at risk of suffering extreme pain.

A new Amnesty International report, Execution by lethal injection – a quarter century of state poisoning, reveals that governments try to hide the identities of medics involved in executions, which are considered unethical by the medical profession.

"The involvement of health professionals in carrying out an execution, particularly by a method using the technology and knowledge of medicine, is a breach of medical ethics," said Jim Welsh, Amnesty International's Health and Human Rights coordinator.
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Gus: The death penalty should be abolished everywhere in the world, including the US. Howard is hypocritically codswalloppy on this subject. He should go-go-go...
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Let Bali bombers die, says Kevin Rudd

By Dennis Shanahan and staff writers, The Australian

October 09, 2007 01:00am

LABOR leader Kevin Rudd has scolded a senior member of his team for an anti-death penalty speech, saying a Labor Government would never attempt to overturn the death penalty for a convicted terrorist.

"We will not be making interventions diplomatically in support of any terrorists anywhere, anytime," he said.

Mr Rudd has also reprimanded his foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland over "insensitive" remarks about the death penalty for Bali bombers just days before the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack.

In a speech last night, Mr McClelland attacked the Coalition Government for opposing the death penalty for Australians but failing to speak out about it elsewhere.

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Gus: As a Christian professing to be quite actively engaged, Rudd should not support the death penalty... though I can see why Rudd is worried about the concept of sparring the life of ruthless killers.... NineNsm.com is hosting a poll about it and so far those who don't support the death penalty are being trounced by the Nazi brigade... Shows you that even in a Christian country, Christian ethics count for nothing....

Hey! "Thou shall not kill" is not designed for cockroaches, you know...

Afghanistan has ended a three-year moratorium on the death penalty, executing 15 prisoners including a man convicted of murdering Australian cameraman Harry Burton and other foreign journalists during the US-led invasion.

The new Government told the international community it would halt executions, and had carried out only one previously, in 2004.

The executions - announced by state broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) - could complicate relationships between the Government and some NATO countries with military forces in Afghanistan.

Foreign troops often hand over captured militants to the Afghan Government, raising the question of whether countries that do not use the death penalty might stop surrendering prisoners.

 

Racist' bottle attack blamed on minister
Wednesday Oct 10 16:00 AEST

By ninemsn staff and wires

The family of a Sudanese teenager bashed in what they say was a racially-motivated attack has blamed comments by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews for the beating.

The victim, a 17-year-old orphan who arrived from the Sudan a year ago, was set upon by three men as he and his brother rode their bikes through Melton last night, a police spokesperson said.

The brothers tried to ride away, but one was knocked to the ground unconscious when a bottle was smashed over his head. The attackers made off with the victim's wallet and mobile phone.

Racist text messages, in which Sudanese were referred to as "black dogs", were later sent from the stolen phone to the victim's family, said a cousin, who did not want to be named.

Protesters angry over govt immigration policies

Protesters have gathered outside a Melbourne hotel where Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews is speaking today.

They are demonstrating against the new Australian Citizenship Test and the Government's immigration policy.

Last week Kevin Andrews stated a failure of Africans to assimilate to Australian society was the reason behind the cut in the intake of African refugees.

Sudanese refugee David Vincent has daubed his face with white zinc cream in protest.

He says the Government only wants white migrants.

"I'm trying to understand. (I) thought maybe I colour my skin white so that maybe that would please Kevin Andrews to see that I am trying so hard to intergrate in to Australia," he said.

Death penalty state-endorsed brutality: Joyce

Posted 38 minutes ago

Outspoken Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has waded into the debate about the death penalty, calling it state-endorsed brutality.

The issue has been in the political spotlight after Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland was given a public dressing-down by Labor Leader Kevin Rudd for criticising Prime Minister John Howard's support for the death penalty for the Bali bombers.

Senator Joyce says he feels it is incumbent on him to speak out against the death penalty because he has strong philosophical views on the issue.

He says it is a state-endorsed killing of a person who poses no imminent threat to others.

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Gus: good one Barnaby, tell your unestimated leader John Howard to shove it too...

Rattus gotta go-go-go... and you know it Barnaby. 

Howard accused of 'whitewashing' history

By ninemsn staff

Prime Minister John Howard has been accused of "whitewashing" parts of the country's racist past in his new guide to Australian history.

Mr Howard yesterday unveiled his preferred version of the nation's history — developed by a conservative-dominated panel of historians — which will be mandatory for students in years nine and 10. Schools stand to lose billions in federal education dollars if the states do not agree to the plan.

But Bond University history lecturer Shirleene Robinson has described the guide as narrow and selective, and says it underplays racist events in Australia's history.

"I think in many ways it's a very white perspective," Dr Robinson told News Ltd.

"It is an unfortunate fact that racism was a major motivating fact behind Federation and this does not appear to be covered at all," she said.