Vol 85 Issue 4 OC T–DEC 2014
Justice The Achilles' Heel of Democracy
Saving Protests from Apathy, Police, and Bad Laws
The Medical Research Future Fund
Coordinating Change:
UTAS Launch Newest Institute
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Saving Protests from Apathy, Police, and Bad Laws
IMAGE: Insert
ARTICLE BY: Ruby Hamad
This is an edited version of a speech Ruby Hamad gave for the 2014 Juanita Nielsen Memorial Lecture held by the Australian Greens on 30th June this year. You can watch her full presentation of the lecture at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do8ioxo11Uc
Earlier this year, Attorney General George Brandis tried to sell the Australian public on his proposal to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act (the provision that makes it unlawful to publish material that offends or insults a person or group on the grounds of race, colour, national or ethnic origin), by championing the right of people to be ‘bigots.’1
image: © Thehero-wiki
I
ronically (or perhaps deliberately), even as Brandis was valiantly defending the right to be racist, the rest of us were (and are) finding our own rights under threat, as coalition state governments across the country continue to roll out laws that affect the less privileged amongst us. What these laws all have in common is that they threaten not only our right to peaceful protest and public dissent, but even to simply occupy public space. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss all these laws in detail, so I’ll focus on just a few of what I consider to be the most egregious. I’ll start with some
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Saving Protest
According to these laws, filming or otherwise uncovering animal abuse is as big a crime as the abuse itself. animal cruelty as bigger criminals than the animal abusers. They capitalise on the defamatory accusation that animal activists are all dangerous ‘eco-terrorists.’ The FBI even lists animal and environmental advocates as the Number 1 domestic terrorism threat in the US, despite the fact that no person has been killed or injured in any protest or undercover operation performed by such activists.3 Despite widespread opposition and condemnation of these Ag-Gag laws, they have spread to Europe where EUROPOL, like the FBI, lists animal activists as ‘terrorists,’ saying that they use ‘unauthorised protests’ and ‘disinformation…in order to discredit their targets and weaken their public acceptance. How can it be a bigger crime to film Images of sick and abused animals abuse than it is to commit it, and why are embedded in are more and more governments video footage and made public.’4 adopting such legislation? So, what we are seeing is that it is the act of protesting and documenting animal abuse that is non-activists who work on factory farms criminalised. can be prosecuted for filming cruelty they How can it be a bigger crime to film are witness to. abuse than it is to commit it, and why are Protestors/workers who violate the law more and more governments adopting face up to a year in jail and fines up to such legislation? $5000, ironically, the same punishment Here in Australia, NSW Liberal MP faced by those convicted of animal abuse. Katrina Hodgkinson (Minister for Primary So, on paper, according to these laws, Industries) set the stage for similar laws last filming or otherwise uncovering animal year, when she described animal activists as abuse is as big a crime as the abuse itself. ‘vandals’ and ‘akin to terrorists.’ She recently In fact, I would go further and say that further clarified her comments by calling these laws treat those who protest against
proposed laws targeting a cause that, as a vegan, is near and dear to my heart, and that is the ‘Ag-Gag’ laws, as they are colloquially known. The Ag-Gag laws are an American invention aimed at making it difficult for activists and protestors to uncover animal rights abuses in intensive agricultural operations, better known as factory farms. Ag-Gag laws have made it a crime to covertly film anything that goes on in a ‘livestock’ operation. At least seven US states have adopted these laws, the strictest being Idaho, which deems it illegal to ‘interfere with agricultural production'.2 This law also applies to employees of the agri-business, so even
image: © Andrew-Flickr
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them ‘agri-terrorists.’5 And sure enough, it was revealed earlier this month that the federal and state governments are working together to introduce Ag-Gag laws here, with the instigator being none other than Hodgkinson herself.6 Her partner in crime, so to speak, is agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, who is even threatening to strip activist organisations that conduct covert investigations of their charitable status.7 One significant problem with these laws is that they equate non-violent groups such as Animals Australia and Voiceless, which rely on securing undercover footage to get the message of what is occurring on factory farms out to the public so the public can make a conscious choice, with underground groups such as the Earth Liberation Front, which has been known to bomb property, and the Animal Liberation Front, which frees animals from farms and laboratories. US law deems animal activists ‘terrorists’ because they threaten the food supply. But undercover footage has been instrumental in improving the conditions on farms. And the breaches they uncover are what drives, not only welfare legislation that protect animals, but regulations that keeps the food supply safe, or at least safer. As Emmanuel Giuffre of Voiceless told the media, ‘Virtually all we know about the incredible animal cruelty that occurs in factory farming ….has come from undercover video surveillance.’8 It was, for instance, undercover video footage of sick cows that led to the largest recall in US food history when it was revealed that
The Medical Research Future Fund: A Good Deal for Health?
“To build a more prosperous community and a better quality of life we need to build on our strengths. One of our greatest strengths as a nation is our capacity to innovate and invent. And our medical researchers have led the way, from Howard Florey to Sir Gustav Nossal and from Fiona Stanley to Ian Frazer. Australians have, through research and innovation, saved millions of lives, not just here but around the world. Tonight, I announce the Government's commitment to build with your contributions, a $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund.” ARTICLE BY: Dr Roger Yazbeck
T
hese were the words of our nation’s Treasurer, Minister Joe Hockey, during the 2014 May Budget, as he announced the creation of a dedicated Future Fund for medical research. When the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) reaches full maturity, it is anticipated to return $1 billion to Australian health and medical research. The MRFF is arguably the greatest change to how Australian medical research is supported since the creation of the Medical Research Endowment Account, which is managed by Australia’s primary health research funding body, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
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The Medical Research Future Fund
In the last 80 years, there have been 11 Australian recipients of a Nobel Prize for their work and contributions to better understanding human health and disease.
Since this surprise announcement, there has been much public debate between Government ministers, community members, health and medical research stakeholders about the mechanisms by which the MRFF will be established, including a raft of savings measures outlined in the budget, among them the much debated $7 GP co-payment. Unfortunately, what has been lost in the vocal, and sometimes heated debate, is the tremendous value that investment in health and medical research represents. Medical research is indeed one of Australia’s great strengths. Australians are world leaders in health and medical research, transforming global health outcomes since Federation. In the last 80 years, there have been 11 Australian recipients of a Nobel Prize for their work and contributions to better understanding human health and disease. More recently, teams of
Australian scientists have been responsible for discoveries such as the Gardasil vaccine, Cochlear implants, CPAP machines, in vitro fertilisation, Rotavirus vaccine, nanopatch delivery of vaccines, enzyme replacement therapy for mucopolysacchoridoses, folate supplementation during pregnancy and the list goes on. Investing in health and medical research generates returns across multiple economic pillars, reduced healthcare costs, improved and increased productivity, and increased export growth. The last ten years of the NHMRC-funded research alone has avoided almost $6billion in health system costs due to increased well-being. Over the last decade, the largest increase in real exports has been in medical instruments and medicinal and pharmaceutical products, something that could not be achieved without investment in research. A 2007 report by Deloitte Access Economics
In a climate of economic uncertainty, highlighted by the loss of manufacturing jobs across multiple sectors and a downturn in the image: Š Matthew Anderson-Flickr
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mining boom, the health industry is poised to fill the economic gap
Justice: The Achilles‘ Heel of Democracy The objective of democracy is justice, whether it be in the realm of politics, the judicial process or elsewhere within society. But justice is an elusive target and a difficult objective to achieve. The possibility of justice is the privilege of a small minority of humanity ; the probability of justice is the privilege of an even smaller minority. Most crimes and misdeeds go unpunished and most criminals are not even apprehended. The success rate of crime worldwide is far superior to the success rate of justice and the gap is widening. Rodney Crisp
Saving Protests from Apathy, Police and Bad Laws Earlier this year, Attorney General George Brandis tried to sell the Australian public on his proposal to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by championing the right of people to be ‘bigots.’ And even as Brandis was defending the right to be racist, coalition state governments across the country were (and are) rolling out laws that threaten not only our right to peaceful protest and public dissent, but even to simply occupy public space. Ruby Hamad
The Medical Research Future Fund: A Good Deal for Health? During the 2014 May Budget Treasurer, Joe Hockey announced the creation of a dedicated Future Fund for medical research. The MRFF is arguably one of the greatest changes to how Australian medical research is supported. Yet unfortunately, what has been lost in the vocal, and sometimes heated debate about savings and spending – and the controversial $7 GP co-payment – is the tremendous value that investment in health and medical research represents. Roger YaZbeck
IMAGE CREDITS: Please see article placements
The Next Fifty Years The 1950s were a time of great prosperity in Australia. Yet while the scars of WWII were fading, the Cold War and rising tension in Vietnam hovered like a cloud. Even so, the 50s were obsessed with images of a prosperous and technologically advanced future. To celebrate 85 years in print, AQ reprints an article from 1954 that endeavours to predict Australia’s future. It’s a window to our future past and a mirror to our present selves. Have we fulfilled the promise of our stars or are we still preoccupied with the same old fears? R. R. Sholl