Friday 29 November 2002

One of a ceaseless number of pleas for a payrise, The Australian, 29 November, 2002.

In the 15 years I worked at The Australian I never once got a pay rise. The notorious management style of News Limited and their indifference to their staff is the stuff of legend. I was just another one. Sometimes, when I was getting a particularly good run, I would put in a plea every fortnight. Nothing ever came of it. I had two kids to feed in the middle of the country's most expensive city, all difficult on a reporter's salary.
Meanwhile the bosses granted themselves magnificent pay increases, one rumoured to be up near the million mark.
Chris Mitchell was widely disliked by the journalists who worked for him. In any case, he never deigned to speak to those on the news floor, ruling with fear from his office aerie. He managed up not down. That is, he kept Rupert Murdoch happy. The rest of us were nothing but content fillers.
I asked him once, in a bar, why he never spoke to the journalists.
"Because they always want something, usually money," he replied.
It was a strange way to run a newspaper.
The Australian was a very unhappy place to work, with zero esprit de corps.
Here are a couple of links to stories about the infamous editor:
SIX FIGURE RISE AFTER GIVING MURDOCH ULTIMATIUM
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/12/chris-mitchell-memoir-reveals-six-figure-pay-rise-after-giving-rupert-murdoch-ultimatum
VAINGLORY COVERAGE:
http://www.afr.com/brand/rear-window/the-australians-chris-mitchell-congratulates-himself-20151207-glhisl
THE UNITED STATES OF CHRIS MITCHELL https://www.themonthly.com.au/power-murdoch-man-chris-mitchell-sally-neighbour-3589



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Thursday 28 November 2002

Wool chief to quit without payout, The Australian, 28 November, 2002.

Wool chief to quit with payout: [3 All-round Metro Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 Nov 2002: 4.
Show highlighting
New AWI chairman Ian McLachlan announced Mr [Dorber]'s departure, and wished him well.
Former AWI chairwoman Maree McCaskill said the termination of Mr Dorber's contract raised concerns about whether his removal had met conditions laid out in corporations law.
Ms McCaskill said Mr Dorber would effectively be replaced by three people -- David Ward, recently retired managing director of theAustralian Wool Testing Authority, Sas Douglas, previously deputy managing director of AWTA, and Les Targ, previously the CEO ofAustralian Defence Industries. She said between them they would be paid more than $4500 a day.
CONTROVERSY surrounding the Australian Wool Innovation company, the wool industry's $80million research and development body, deepened this week with the announcement that managing director Col Dorber is to step down.
Industry rumours suggest Mr Dorber will have to be paid out his full contract -- believed to be worth about $450,000 a year -- up to 2004.
AWI has been involved in messy conflict for weeks, firstly over a battle that saw the board replaced earlier this month.
Last week Farmhand and the Red Cross had to refund a $500,000 AWI donation after a dispute over the conditions of the donation.
New AWI chairman Ian McLachlan announced Mr Dorber's departure, and wished him well.
However, Mr Dorber said last night he was "not at all pleased" to be losing his job.
"I am a political victim if I ever saw one," he said.
Mr Dorber said he would like to comment, but he was constrained by the legal position. "I am not allowed to say anything," he said, but laughed when it was put to him that the board would be required to pay out a five-year contract.
"I wish," he said.
Former AWI chairwoman Maree McCaskill said the termination of Mr Dorber's contract raised concerns about whether his removal had met conditions laid out in corporations law.
She said the manner in which the new board was replacing Mr Dorber against legal advice raised further concerns over corporate governance.
Mr McLachlan described the claims as "rubbish" and said it sounded like "the sort of thing you might expect from people who are disenfranchised".
He said there would be a media conference today when all the facts would be presented.
Ms McCaskill said Mr Dorber would effectively be replaced by three people -- David Ward, recently retired managing director of theAustralian Wool Testing Authority, Sas Douglas, previously deputy managing director of AWTA, and Les Targ, previously the CEO ofAustralian Defence Industries. She said between them they would be paid more than $4500 a day.
Ms McCaskill raised concerns of a potential perception of conflicts of interest with the appointments.
Mr McLachlan said the people being appointed had left AWTA and were private consultants. Their expertise within the industry made them perfect appointments.
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Wednesday 27 November 2002

Typical communique for story, from memory ended up on the front, Friends of the 15th Brigade, The Australian, 27 November, 2002.



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Tuesday 26 November 2002

Plans for post the Hizb ut-Tahrir story, The Australian, 26 November, 2002.

The paper was very pleased with the Hizb ut-Tahrir story. https://thejournalismofjohnstapleton.blogspot.com.au/2002/11/zealots-quest-for-purity-hizbv-ut.html The editor of the time Chris Mitchell was keen for followups. But I had young children at the time, could see how dangerous the situation was, didn't re didn't want to be Rupert Murdhoch's sacrificial henchman in his cultural agendas, promptly pretended to lose interest and went back to the daily dross of general news reporting.
In the years to follow the jihadis were to populate the web, while everyone from the Army's iman to staff at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to the country's most prominent Muslim spokespeople declared their support for the Hizb.
They also became a regular at university Muslim clubs.
While placing them under surveillance, government attempts to ban them, particularly under Tony Abbott, all failed.
Like many Muslims actively working towards the establishment of a caliphate, they are always pleasant and polite to deal with on a personal level. They are highly educated master propagandists and wish to welcome you into the blessings of the Sharia.
I wrote about them extensively in the book Terror in Australia: Workers' Paradise Lost.




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Monday 25 November 2002

Bushfire danger rising with the mercury, The Australian, 25 November, 2002.

Bushfire danger rising with the mercury: [1 All-round Country Edition]

John Stapleton, Benjamin Haslem. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 25 Nov 2002: 3.
Show highlighting
Wilcannia in western NSW was the hottest place in the state yesterday, with a maximum of 43 degrees. Temperatures in western Queensland reached 42 at Urandangie, while at Marree in South Australia the maximum was also 42.
MUCH of NSW faces extreme fire danger again today, with the mercury expected to peak at 41 degrees in Sydney's west and a fire ban is in place across much of the state.
But there is better news for drought-ravaged farmers in western Victoria, where heavy rain is forecast.
NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Cameron Wade said last night that fire crews had been placed on standby as hot, dry wind and low humidity were forecast across much of the state.
"There is particular concern about fires at Shoalhaven and Singleton, which could flare up and pose a danger to property and life," Mr Wade said.
Thunderstorms, producing only sporadic rainfall west and south of Sydney, last night were threatening to spark fresh fire outbreaks ahead of today's extreme conditions.
Wilcannia in western NSW was the hottest place in the state yesterday, with a maximum of 43 degrees. Temperatures in western Queensland reached 42 at Urandangie, while at Marree in South Australia the maximum was also 42.
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The NSW Child Sex Abuse Court: Another Insanity? With Rod Hardwick and Sue Price, Dads On The Air, 25 November, 2002.







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Friday 22 November 2002

OECD predicts robust growth, The Australian, 22 November, 2002.

OECD predicts robust growth: [3 All-round Metro Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 22 Nov 2002: 2.
Show highlighting
The Paris-based organisation of developed nations forecast Australia's economy to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2002, accelerating to 3.7 per cent in 2003. This is a slight drop from the previous OECD forecast of 3.75 per cent, but is significantly higher than the 1.5 per cent average growth predicted for other developed nations this calendar year, rising to 2.2 per cent next year.
The OECD said industrialised nations were stumbling toward a US-led recovery in late 2003 and a fall back into recession was unlikely.
THE Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has given Australia the thumbs up, declaring "economic growth is projected to remain robust" despite the drought and a looming downturn in residential property.
The Paris-based organisation of developed nations forecast Australia's economy to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2002, accelerating to 3.7 per cent in 2003. This is a slight drop from the previous OECD forecast of 3.75 per cent, but is significantly higher than the 1.5 per cent average growth predicted for other developed nations this calendar year, rising to 2.2 per cent next year.
However, Peter Costello's office warned last night the worsening of the drought over the past two months meant the economy might be weaker and thecurrent account deficit larger than the OECD forecast.
Early this month, John Howard suggested the Australian economy would grow at close to 3 per cent this financial year -- well below the 3.75 per cent forecast in the May Budget.
In its semi-annual economic outlook, the OECD said the prospects for a global economic recovery have weakened over the past six months.
In particular it noted downside risks to the global economy, uncertainty arising from volatility on the financial market and sharp fluctuations in oil prices due to geo-political tensions.
However, the OECD said industrialised nations were stumbling toward a US-led recovery in late 2003 and a fall back into recession was unlikely.
"Forward-looking indicators suggest a solid recovery may be slow to materialise," it said.
"A broad-based economic recovery is unlikely to emerge until current uncertainties dissipate, possibly well into 2003."
The OECD expected inflation to decline over the next 18 months.
The outlook is being driven by an expected recovery in exports in line with a forecast pick-up in the growth of Australia's major trading partners.
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Typical injunction that would greet me on the night shift, The Australian, 22 November, 2002.

Typical injunction that would greet me on the night shift:


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Thursday 21 November 2002

Farmhand gives back $500,000, The Australian, 21 November, 2002

Farmhand gives back $500,000: [3 All-round Metro Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 21 Nov 2002: 5.
Show highlighting
"AWI applied unacceptable pressure to the Red Cross to firstly impose conditions on the donation and then later, to have it refunded. The AWI has sought to change those guidelines ... We have received donations from thousands of Australians. No one except the AWI sought to impose conditions."
Managing director of AWI Col Dorber said last night that it had been the understanding when the money was donated that beyond the immediate crisis money from Farmhand would be given to research and development.
FARMHAND and the Red Cross have been forced to refund a $500,000 donation because of the conditions attached to it.
An unseemly squabble came to a head yesterday after the Red Cross handed back the money to Australian Wool Innovation. AWI is the research and development wing of the wool industry. Its funding comes from a levy on wool growers.
Yesterday Farmhand Foundation chairman Bob Mansfield said AWI had demanded and received a full refund. He said the actions were dishonorable and unAustralian.
"How can a farmers' organisation deny emergency aid to fellow farmers devastated by the drought?" he said.
"AWI applied unacceptable pressure to the Red Cross to firstly impose conditions on the donation and then later, to have it refunded. The AWI has sought to change those guidelines ... We have received donations from thousands of Australians. No one except the AWI sought to impose conditions."
Simon Chapman, president of Wool Growers, said the donation was indicative of "concerns we had about the governance of theformer board of AWI". He said the statutory funding agreement for the research body clearly committed the money to research and development.
"It seems an extraordinary pathway that whoever presented this donation to Farmhand was ignorant or unaware or breached that agreement. We would anticipate that the newly elected board would address this matter with some urgency."
Managing director of AWI Col Dorber said last night that it had been the understanding when the money was donated that beyond the immediate crisis money from Farmhand would be given to research and development.
Mr Dorber said that after making the donation it was discovered that as a charity the Red Cross "could not sign the conditions of the funding agreement".
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Wednesday 20 November 2002

Hizb ut-Tahrir, from The Australian, 2002. Republished as below on the Ummah website.


Hizb ut-Tahrir, which operates legally in Australia and elsewhere in the West, sees proselytism as the path to a world of Islam, reports John Stapleton 

THERE'S a simple reason governments of all stripes are alarmed by Hizb ut-Tahrir. The radical Islamic transnational political party stridently advocates their overthrow. 

In the place of corrupt Muslim regimes and decadent capitalist governments will rise the caliphate, named for the alliance of states forged after the death of the prophet Mohammed and revered as the purest manifestation of an Islamic state. 

Hizb ut-Tahrir, otherwise known as the Party of Islamic Liberation, is making headlines around the world. 

In the past 10 days, German police have conducted raids against the group in Frankfurt, Berlin and Hamburg under new anti-terrorist laws, and in Denmark authorities are considering banning the party after the high-profile conviction of its Danish leader for inciting violence against Jews. 

Uzbekistan, one of the Central Asian republics faced with an upsurge of support for extremism among their impoverished populations, called on Britain to label it a terrorist organisation. 

In England, where Hizb ut-Tahrir has its headquarters (sic), its rallies and pronouncements have overshadowed activities traditionally associated with the holy month of Ramadan. In Australia, there has been a call for the group be placed at the top of the federal Government's list of organisations under surveillance. 

Some international analysts regard Hizb ut-Tahrir as a post-Taliban fifth column and say its sophisticated and well-funded propagandising and appeal across national and ethnic barriers make it a far more potent international force than most other radical Islamic groups, which have a purely regional focus. 

Since the mid 1990s, tens of thousands of recruits have flocked to the once obscure splinter movement of the Muslim Brotherhood (sic), whose appeal was originally restricted mainly to diaspora Palestinians in Jordan and Lebanon. 

Popular among Muslim youth from the universities of Britain to the slums of Tashkent and the suburbs of western Sydney, Hizb ut-Tahiir's embrace of the internet, promotion of higher learning for both sexes, extensive body of literature, support from women politicised by the imprisonment of their husbands or drawn by its social justice rhetoric, all go to make it a particularly powerful movement. 

The group, which advocates the nonviolent overthrow of governments and the introduction of the caliphate, shares many goals with the Taliban, al-Qa'ida, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Jemaah Islamiah and many other utopian Islamic groups. 

A militant breakaway group from Hizb ut-Tahrir, AI-Muhajiroun, prominently displays Osama bin Laden's latest pronouncements on its website and has been closely linked by intelligence organisations with al-Qa'ida. 

But Hizb ut-Tahrir disagrees with the guerilla tactics of other militants, arguing that the ground for an Islamic state must be prepared by mass conversions of the populace. 

Mohammed had predicted the Muslim nation would be divided into 73 sects before the coming of the caliphate, but only one would be the right one. Hizb ut-Tahrirbelieves it is that one (sic). 

The group, which was founded in 1953 and defines itself as a political party based on Islamic ideology, is banned throughout the Middle East, including Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, where supporters attempted a coup d'etat in 1988. In Central Asia, where repression has intensified since the bombing of Afghanistan, large numbers of its members are in jail. 

Its founder, Sheikh Taqiuddin anNabhani, a Palestinian, believed in establishing a single state across the Muslim world, a political structure in which a caliph - a civil and religious ruler - would be elected by an Islamic council. He believed the defense minister in such a structure would then prepare the people for jihad against the non Muslim world. 

In Sydney there are reports of members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, causing disquiet by pamphleteering outside mosques on Fridays. At a meeting earlier this month in the western suburb of Auburn, an audience of about 400 heard the Government attacked for supporting the US on Iraq and for wasting its resources after the Ball bombing. 

In a mixture of English and Arabic, the attentive audience was warned of the dangers of integration and multiculturalism, and Western plots to erode the purity of their belief. They were told to see themselves above all as Muslims and to "dispute the borders we find ourselves living in, and dispute the borders we find ourselves born in". They were told that capitalist countries gain through the oppression of Muslims. 

"Capitalism is a system with no humility, no humanity, no compassion," said one speaker. "Comprehensive peace is mere illusion. Brothers and sisters in Islam, there are two different civilisations, two different ideologies ... which will inevitably clash. 

"This is the final type of conflict we have seen over and over again in history, a military struggle with Islam. Crusades continue until today. The truth will prevail over all other ideologies." 

Another speaker said: "We are Muslims first and we live in Australia "We must teach our children to live so that when the state is re-established, their loyalty is to the Islamic state." 

The meeting in Auburn was in many ways an echo of a much larger conference held in London last September which was titled After September ll:' Muslims in the West. With about 9000 people in attendance to hear leaders of the group from around the world, it was one of the largest gatherings of Muslims in the West since the terrorist attacks in the US. 

An oddity at the conference illustrating the group's broad appeal was the appearance of a convert to Islam from Sydney. Claiming to be a Vietnam veteran and a former boxing champion in the Australian army, Abdullah Michael Vivash gave a speech on the topic of "Misery or Tranquility". Vietnam, he said, had taught him that "life is very short". 

He told the London conference that tranquility had evaded him until he embraced Islam. "Trying to live this capitalist dream was not bringing me any peace of mind," he said. "The actions of the disbelievers bear no fruit in this life or [in] the next." 

Ahmed Rashid, a leading expert on militant Islamic groups and the author of Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, describes the aims of Hizb ut-Tahrir as "probably the most esoteric and anachronistic of all the radical Islamic movements in the world today". 

Rashid writes that the most striking fact about the secretive group is the phenomenal growth in its popularity since the mid 1990s. He says its effective use of technology, from the internet to modern printing presses, may partly explain the successes of what was previously a secretive underground movement (sic). 

Hizb ut-Tahrir, says Rashid, has used its legal status in Britain to make London a leading organisational centre for the movement, raising money and training recruits. 

Rashid says the movement's leaders, who have declared peaceful jihad in Central Asia and regard it as ripe for takeover, envisage bringing one or more Muslim countries under their control, after which it will be able to win over the rest of the Islamic world - and from there the West. 

Although its members believe they have been brought to Australia by Allah to help establish a worldwide Islamic state, a spokesman for Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock says that as the group is not illegal, membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir does not preclude an individual from migrating to Australia. 

The Government last week listed four more organisations under its new counterterrorism laws, but Hizb ut-Tahrir was not among them. Despite an intense debate that goes back to the Clinton presidency, it has not been designated a terrorist organisation by the UN Security Council or the US State Department. 

Opinion in Australia is divide Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council's executive director Colin Rubenstein calls Hizb ut-Tahrir inflammatory and extreme and says it should be placed on the top of the Government's list of organisations under surveillance. 

But Supreme Islamic Council of NSW spokesman Jaber El-gafi says the group preaches non-violence and could not be called extremist. He says skinheads and many other groups in Australia all in their own way advocate the overthrow of the government. 

Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesmen have rejected previous claims that it is partly funded by bin Laden. In recent days their websites have been oddly silent on the subject of bin Laden's warnings to Australia and the world. The only commentary suggests: "One day soon, this undemocratic war will start. Don't be surprised." 

The Australian's previous coverage of Hizb ut-Tahrir provoked an attack last week by the Washington-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, which issued an action alert". 

The council says it is known for combating Hizb ut-Tahrir and no other group has taken on the organisation more directly. "Its call that Muslims must not participate in Western politics is a real danger if it gains currency and MPAC has challenged this without compromise," the alert says. "However MPAC is founded on the Islamic principle [that] your brother, for all his failings, is still your brother." It then condemns The Australian as Zionist, racist and Islamophobic. 

Source: The Australian

Comment from the Umah website: 

http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?10817-More-anti-Hizb-ut-tahrir-propoganda-from-Austrailia

 We would like to point out that Hizb ut-Tahrir does not have its 'organisational base' in London as the author suggests, nor is the party run or administered from London. The Party's base is in the Islamic World, where it works to re-establish the Khilafah State. It does not regard the Western World as a suitable place to re-establish the Khilafah, rather in the West its members work to carry the Da'wah of the Islamic Ideology - part of which is to present Islam as an alternative to Western Capitalism. This work is solely limited to the intellectual sphere.
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