Margie Pestorius

The Swan Island 3 settle: Still a #ToxicSAS?

Our friends from the Victorian based #SwanIslandPeace #ToxicSAS projects, share news regarding their civil case which has been settled. We know some of you were supporting.

Yours in peace,

Margaret Pestorius, Wage Peace

From Greg, Sam and Dave:

“We wanted to update you all on our case against the Australian Defence Force. Early in the process the Commonwealth stepped in and took vicarious liability for the actions of the Australian Defence Force members who committed the assaults, so our case was against the Commonwealth.

Near the beginning of the proceedings we plaintiffs Greg, Sam and Dave agreed we wanted an acknowledgement of wrong doing, and a public apology from the ADF. It is now four years since the assaults and the ADF have made it abundantly clear that there will never be an apology, public or otherwise.

On Friday (15/6), a mandatory mediation occurred before the expected trial. In mediation we agreed on a settlement, meaning that this long gruelling process is finally over. It was a very difficult decision, and while we have questioned whether or not to see it as a victory, disappointment and relief seemed to be the biggest feelings of the day. We are confident that procedures have already changed as a result of our experiences.

Our case has resulted in changed procedures in Australia, but not in war theatres. We will keep working for change for our sisters and brothers in affected war theatres, and encourage you to do the same.

As with most mediation, the settlement requires that we do not talk about the details of the settlement itself, so we ask you to accept our decision not to share those details.

There will be more to do around media in the weeks to come. We will keep you in the loop on that.

Thanks for all your support. We appreciate all who had planned to come to court with us.”

Cheers,

Sam, Dave & Greg

BACKGROUND

ADF Atrocities: Linked to a US Culture of War; Linked to War Crimes.

The abuse of protesters is on the lower end of atrocities committed by SAS and ADF members in Afghanistan and elsewhere overseas. A secretive inquiry is being conducted by the Inspector General of the ADF. Its subject matter: the murder of innocents, cover-ups, obstruction of justice – matters raised by whistle-blowers as revealed last year in #theAfghanFiles.

You can read more about this from our previous email or here at the Wage Peace Website

P.S. Read Greg Rolles’ personal reflection on what this situation means to him.

“When I was younger I dreamed of being in the army…”.

Resources

ABC story - The Afghan Files — abc-the-afghan-files

Unarmed men, children among the casualties of elite forces ABC, 11 July 2017

Anti-war protesters claim they were abused on Swan Island intelligence facility Herald Sun, 2 October 2017

What is Swan Island? Richard Tanter, Nautilus Institute, 21 October 2014

Alleged Abuse of protesters against war in Iraq The Age, 17 October 2014

Volunteer with Wage Peace

Donate to Wage Peace

Thanks to Beyond War for the use of their database: you can unsubscribe at any time.

Wage Peace happens on Sovereign Aboriginal Land – mostly Sovereign Yidindji Government Land – but also on the land of the Bunjalung and the Ngunnawal people. We acknowledge the Traditional Authority of the people on whose Land we live.

Those of us working on the project are around the country and we invite you to play with us. or donate!

Facebook Twitter www.wagepeaceau.org

WAGE PEACE provides strategic messaging and digital campaign support
for campaigns & groups disturbing war & militarism in Australia.

We ‘organise’ and ‘mobilise’ to #EndWarCulture

Uni Students Locked on Against War at Melb Uni

Students at Melbourne University are locked on this morning to their administration building blocking people from getting in – they are saying no to education for war.

Call Melbourne University Right Now on 136352 or send them an email at news@media.unimelb.edu.au

Deputy Vice Chancellor of research Jim McCluskey Dvc-research@unimelb.edu.au

Tell them:

“Release to the public the details of the contract, between Lockheed Martin and Melbourne University, regarding the ‘STELaR Lab’ which will lock Australian students into engineering for war.”

Call the university right now on 136352

Take Time to Help on Social Media

Target your messages to

@unimelb or @Groupofeight Group of Eight Facebook

Various Greens MPs. e.g. Senator Whish-Wilson @SenatorSurfer @AndrewBartlett

Hashtags

#LockoutLockheed
#Disarmunis
#UproottheSystem
#CultivateChange

Thanks for your contribution,

Yours in peace,

Tessa, Lucy, Tori, Holly, Callum, and Will

from @LockoutLockheed

Facebook Twitter www.wagepeaceau.org

Speed Dating on Hamilton Island: The Weapons Manufacturers Meet the Miners

The Cairns Post in September published the following list of participants to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Hamilton Island Junket conducted last May around the time of their $444 million windfall.

It’s wasn’t only the Finance and Fossil Fuels folk but the Merchants of Death were present too: Boeing, Aecom and GE.

Climate and Militarism – two sides of the same coin – rooted in extractivism.

It’s a speed dating weekend, where relationships are made and deals done. In the topic of your choice. While pretending its about “Save the Reef”. Was that Captain America where the evil ones were the good ones were the evil ones??? Or Austin Powers??

Only the scientists present would have been confused enough to think it was about science.

One, who wasn’t there, can be heard on the ABC Hamish Macdonald soon after convinced that the BRF was committed to great science – their projects were all, at last, being funded.

Chairman’s Panel Weekend
Qualia, Hamilton Island QLD
18-20 May, 2018

Attendee List:

Dr John Schubert AO- Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Ms Anna Marsden- Managing Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Ms Julianne Alroe- CEO of Brisbane Aiport Corporation

Mr Todd Bettley- Chief Executive (AUS & NZ) AECOM

Mr Darryl Cuzzubbo- Group Executive & President (Australia Pacific & Asia) Orlea

Ms Maureen Dougherty- President of Boeing Australia, NZ and South Pacific

Dr Matthew Dunbabin- Principal Research Fellow QUT (Autonomous Systems)

Mr Steven Fitzgerald- Chairman of Affirmative Investment Management

Mr Richard Fitzpatrick- Director of Photography for Biopixel

Ms Theresa Fyffe- Executive Director of Projects & Partnerships for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Dr Ruth Gates- Research Professor and Director for Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology

Mr John Gunn- Board Director for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Mr Andrew Harding- CEO Aurizon

Dr Paul Hardisty- CEO Australian Institute of Marine Science

Ms Amanda Hicks- Partner KPMG Aculty for KPMG Australia

Ms Lori Hogan- Director of Corporate Development for the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Prof Karen Hussey- Director for Faculty of Centre for Policy Futures at University of QLD

Mr Alan Joyce AC- Managing Director and Group CEO at Qantas Airways Limited

Mr Mike Kane- CEO Boral Limited

Mr Grant King- President of the Business Council of Australia

Ms Wendy King- President (Australia East) for ConocoPhillips Australia

Ms Katie Lahey- Executive Chairman (Australia) for Korn Ferry

Dr Larry Marshall- Chief Executive for CSIRO

Mr Jeremy Maycock- Chairman for Port of Brisbane

Ms Amanda McCluskey- Head of Sustainable Funds Group and Chair for Stewart Investors

Mr Jason Pellegrino- Managing Director of Google Australia

Dr Russell Reichelt- Chairman for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Mr Steven Sargeant- Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Mr Brian Sheahan- Executive Chairman for Morgans Financial Ltd

Mr Bevan Slattery- Executive Director at Superloop

Mr Phillip Strachan- Director for Queensland Rail

Mr Jon Sutton- Managing Director & CEO at Bank of Queensland

Mr Paul Uren- CEO (Australia & NZ) at JP Morgan

Prof Madeleine Van Oppen- Senior Principal Research Scientist and Chair in Marine Biology at University of Melbourne and Australian Institute of Marine Science

Ms Olivia Wirth- Group Executive Brand, Marketing & Corporate Affairs at Qantas Airways Limited

Ms Karen Wood- Chairman at BHP Billiton Foundation

Mr Max York- CEO at GE Australia Pty Ltd

#DisarmUnis Directory

Disarm Uni Facebook sites

National

We are building a national grassroots campaign to represent staff, students and alumni and put an end to the relationship between Universities and Weapons Dealers. Sign up here to get involved: Sign up to #DisarmUnis

@DisarmUnis

Victoria

New South Wales

Disarm Sydney Uni

@disarmusyd

Disarm UNSW

@DisarmUNSW

Wollongong of Wollongong

@DisarmUOWBooksNotBombs

Queensland

Queensland University of Technology

@disarmqut

University of Queensland

@DisarmUQ

Griffith University

@disarmgriffith

ACT

Australian National University

@Disarm-ANU-booksnotbombs-1524369367692491

Western Australia

University of Western Australia

@disarmuwa

South Australia

Adelaide University

@Disarm-Adelaide-University-1732792926804159

Disarm Flinders

@Disarm-Flinders-197513987639260

Books Not Bombs – National Union of Students

Books not Bombs is a campaign run by the NUS Education Department for better funding for education and no ties between universities and arms manufacturers

The Australian Government is slashing education funding while turning itself into one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers. We’re campaigning to fund education not war.

@booksnotbombsnus

Open letter to UQ concerning the naming of a new building after the CEO of Dow Chemicals

#DisarmUQ #DisarmUnis: Add your signature to this letter: Email Duncan Hart Include your name and any relevant information

Open letter to the University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor, Peter Hoj, concerning the recent announcement of a building and academy to be named after CEO and Chairman of Dow Chemical Company, Andrew Liveris.

We the undersigned wish to express our opposition to the recent announcement that the University of Queensland (UQ) will be naming a new building after Dow Chemical Company CEO and chairman, Andrew Liveris. The new building will also house an “academy” also to be named after Mr Liveris, all to be paid for with the help of a $40 million donation by Mr Liveris and his wife, to UQ’s “Not if, when” campaign.

In making this announcement, UQ has pointed to the academy as helping “identify promising students with leadership potential and a passion to address sustainability issues involving clean water, safe food and modern energy services.”

The Dow Chemical Company that Mr Liveris has managed since 2004 has a record of ethically reprehensible and environmentally destructive practices that contradicts this stated intention.

Dow is most famous for its exclusive manufacture of napalm for use by the United States military during the war in Vietnam, during which 388,000 tonnes were manufactured and deployed against Vietnamese people.

Dow is also infamous as one of the largest manufacturers of the toxic defoliant, Agent Orange, which was sprayed by United States forces over 20% of Vietnam between 1961 and 1971, exposing between two and five million people to the chemical. Over the years the result has been higher rates of cancer and birth defects being passed on from generation to generation, both among the Vietnamese and US and allied soldiers. To this day, many Vietnamese children are born with significant birth defects.

Agent Orange also led to ongoing catastrophic effects upon the natural environment of Vietnam, with the loss of 124,000 hectares of mangrove forest during the war, and continued soil pollution, with ramifications for the entire ecosystem.

To this day, including under the management of Liveris, Dow refuses any responsibility for the effects of Agent Orange, even disputing the scientific evidence of its health impacts.

More recently in 2017, Dow successfully lobbied to overturn a ban on the insecticide chlorpyrifos, despite the US Environmental Protection Agency finding that the chemical potentially caused brain defects.

Given these factors, it contradicts the stated principles behind the University of Queensland’s “Not if, when” campaign to honour a figure who has been so integral to the Dow Chemical Company. If this project were to go ahead, this building would be a monument to profits that Dow Chemicals made through atrocities. We urge the university to reconsider accepting the donation of Mr Liveris and in particular the naming of a building and educational institution in his name.

The list of signatories for this letter is being updated here

Michael Berkman, UQ Alumnus, Greens MP for Maiwar

Andrew Bartlett, UQ Alumnus, Greens Senator for Queensland

Jonathan Sri, UQ Alumnus, Brisbane City Councillor for the Gabba Ward

Duncan Hart, UQ Union Councillor for the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty

Peter Holbrook FAHA, Professor, University of Queensland

Andrew Bonnell, Associate Professor in History, University of Queensland

Dr Annie Pohlman, Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland

Dr Jon Piccini, UQ Fellow in History

Liam Coulthard, Lecturer, School of Medicine, University of Queensland and Resident Medical Officer, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital

Dr Karen Selberg , Lecturer in Humanities, University of Queensland

Dr Morgan Brigg, Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict, University of Queensland

Dr Peter Scally, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Director of Medical Imaging, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital

Alan Coulthard, Professor of Neuroradiology, University of Queensland

Dr Gilbert Burgh, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Queensland

Jennifer Clement, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Queensland

Dr Jessica White, ARC DECRA Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Queensland

Dr Judith Seaboyer, Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies, University of Queensland

Dr Charlotte-Rose Millar, UQ Fellow

Dr Bronwen Levy, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland

Tomoko Aoyama, Associate Professor, University of Queensland

Carole Ferrier, Professor of Literature and Women’s Studies, School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland

Xanthe Ashburner, UQ alumnus and Education and Outreach Officer with the UQ Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions

Dr Ruth Blair, UQ Alumna and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland

Robyn Clare, Library Assistant, Fryer Library

Sally Babidge, Anthropologist, School of Social Science, University of Queensland

Daniel O’Neill, Honorary Research Advisor in School of Communication and Arts, and ex-lecturer in English, University of Queensland

Philip Nase, UQ Alumnus, retired Judge, District Court of Queensland

Lesley Synge, UQ Alumna and author

Humphrey McQueen, UQ Alumnus and author

Dr Jessie Wells, UQ Alumna and Honorary Research Fellow, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Cameron Browne, UQ Alumni, ERC grant winner and Associate Professor at Maastricht University (Netherlands)

Dr Greg Mallory, UQ Alumnus

Dr Raymond Evans, ex-reader in History at the University of Queensland

Dr Ross Gwyther, UQ Alumnus and Physics Researcher, 1980-1993

Kate Douglas, UQ Alumna and Professor, Flinders University

Helen Gilbert, UQ Alumna, Professor of Theatre, University of London

Dr Shannon Brincat, UQ Alumni

Phil Griffiths, UQ Alumnus and Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Southern Queensland (in personal capacity)

Susan Price, UQ Alumna and former NTEU UNSW Branch President

Robert (Bob) Reed, UQ Alumnus, Barrister

Dr David M. Douglas, UQ Alumnus

Fiorenza Jones, OAM, UQ Alumna

Craig Buckley, UQ Alumnus, Secretary of the Brisbane Labour History Association

John Tomlinson, UQ Alumnus

Ian Curr, UQ Alumnus

Mary Okello, UQ Alumna and ex-member of Administrative Staff

Samantha Lo Monaco, UQ Alumna

Nadia Okorn, UQ Alumna

Zoe Cebuliak, UQ Alumna

Bronte Alinta Geitz, UQ Alumna

Rose Trappes, UQ Alumna

Katherine Hopkins, UQ Alumna

Ann Paterson, UQ Alumna

Hamza Surbuland, President of UQ Pakistani Students Association

Priya De, President of Socialist Alternative UQ

John de Bhal, Alumnus and Academic Tutor, University of Queensland

Harrison O’Carroll, President of the UQ Anti-Capitalist Club

Adelaide Power, UQ Union Councillor for the Science Faculty

Paul Dibley-Maher, Tutor, UQ Business School

Elisabeth Silvester, UQ Union Councillor for the Business, Economics and Law Faculty

Murray Olsen, Honorary Senior Researcher, University of Queensland

Mutiara Pertius, PhD candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland

Galih Imaduddin, PhD Candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland

Faiza El-Higzi, PhD candidate, Polsis, University of Queensland

Simone Thornton, PhD candidate, HaPI, University of Queensland

Aysha Zaharin, PhD candidate, University of Queensland

Ash Zeller, National Union of Students QLD Education Officer

Mansur Alam, UQ Rohingya community activist

Isabella Pennings, Australian Youth Climate Coalition UQ Convenor

Luciana Lawe Davies, UQ student

Yasmin Abraham, UQ student

Chloe Ryan, UQ student

Sarah Davies, UQ student

Jaime Bloomfield, UQ student

Ella Gutteridge, UQ student

Susanna Huang, UQ Student

Heilyn Bonquin, UQ Student

Meg Jemison, UQ Student

Zane Higgins, UQ Student

Lachlan De Verinne, UQ Student

Louise Devadson, UQ Student

Isabelle Bettridge, UQ Student

Auneep Rahim, UQ Student

Tanushree Sharma, UQ Student

Dr Robert V Anderson, OAM, member of Griffith University Council and member of the Brisbane Council of Elders

Dr Stuart Rees, AM, Professor Emeritus University of Sydney

Bob Russell, Adjunct Associate Professor, Griffith University

Bridget Fowler, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow

Hersha Kadkol, National Union of Students Ethnocultural Officer

Lisa Milner, Senior Lecturer, Southern Cross University

Lara Sonnenschein, University of Sydney Student Representative’s Council Education Officer

Dr Michael Karadjis, Western Sydney University College

Salman Panahy, Tutor in Philosophy, Melbourne University

Dr Richard Hill, School of Social Work and Human Services, Griffith University

Robert Pekin, CEO, Food Connect and Director, Food Connect Foundation

Emma-Kate Rose, Chair, Queensland Social Enterprise Council

Evan Jones, ex-lecturer in Ballet, Queensland University of Technology

Verity Burgmann, Adjunct Professor, Monash University

Catherine Boyle

Helen Metzger

Emilia Hanna

Margie Pestorius

BACKGROUND

­­­

Thanks to Beyond War for the use of their database: you can unsubscribe at any time.

Wage Peace happens on Sovereign Aboriginal Land – mostly Sovereign Yidindji Government Land – but also on the land of the Bunjalung and the Ngunnawal people. We acknowledge the Traditional Authority of the people on whose Land we live.

Those of us working on the project are around the country and we invite you to play with us. or donate!

Facebook Twitter www.wagepeaceau.org

Call the university right now on 136352

Take Time to Help on Social Media

Hashtags

Facebook Twitter www.wagepeaceau.org

Disarm Uni Facebook sites

National

Victoria

Melbourne University

Monash University

Latrobe University

New South Wales

Disarm Sydney Uni

Disarm UNSW

Wollongong of Wollongong

Queensland

Queensland University of Technology

University of Queensland

Griffith University

ACT

Australian National University

Western Australia

South Australia

Adelaide University

Disarm Flinders

Books Not Bombs – National Union of Students

Open letter to the University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor, Peter Hoj, concerning the recent announcement of a building and academy to be named after CEO and Chairman of Dow Chemical Company, Andrew Liveris.

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