Unlike previous racist dictatorships, the North Korean one has actually succeeded in producing a sort of new species. Starving and stunted dwarves, living in the dark, kept in perpetual ignorance and fear, brainwashed into the hatred of others, regimented and coerced and inculcated with a death cult: This horror show is in our future, and is so ghastly that our own darling leaders dare not face it and can only peep through their fingers at what is coming.

Read it.

This montage will be screened tonight at 8:30pm on all free-to-air channels in Victoria. It’s quite graphic in parts but gives an indication of the types of campaigns that have been run.

Some time ago I wrote a cranky email to Senator Chris Evans, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, in response to media reports that a Bangladeshi couple may have to have sex in front of witnesses to prove they are gay, as they had claimed on their refugee visa application.

This is the same Senator Chris Evans I wrote about last year, when I called him ‘Australia’s best immigration minister in a dozen years’.

When I heard about what these two Bangladeshi fellows were going through, I felt a bit cranky. When I read the history of the case as outlined in the published findings of the Federal Court appeal on 18 September 2009, I was incensed.

These two men have been in the refugee grist-mill for more than ten years. Their claim that they are homosexual and in a relationship has been accepted by the immigration department and the Refugee Review Tribunal throughout almost all of that period. The department has refused their claim for refugee status on the basis that, even though they would be persecuted if they lived openly as gay men in Bangladesh, they could safely return home and “live discretely”. The case has been all the way to the High Court, which rightly rejected as absurd (both morally and legally) the notion that these two could happily live out their lives in Bangladesh as secret homosexuals.

It’s at this point that things take a particularly nasty turn. Faced with the High Court’s rejection of the Closet Solution, suddenly the immigration department decided it no longer accepted the validity of their relationship, and demanded proof.

How do you prove you’re gay? Normally you would get evidence in the form of sworn statements from others who know – in other words, other people the pair have had sex with. But they’re in a monogamous relationship, and have been since arriving in Australia at the end of the last century.

This is where we get to the point that these two are being asked to consider having sex in front of witnesses to prove their point. As if this even proves anything, except that the Australian government is determined to persecute this couple. Unable to prove their sexuality, the Tribunal rejected their claims and the matter ended up in the Federal Court, where the presiding judge, Spender J, found:

I am satisfied that the decision by the Tribunal on the third occasion the matter was before it was not made in good faith. Such a finding is one that is not reached lightly, and unsurprisingly is one that is very rare.

I am satisfied that the finding of the third Tribunal that the two appellants are not, and were not, homosexuals was not made in the exercise of honest fact finding, but was deliberately calculated to “get around” difficulties in the factual circumstances of the appellants’ case, thrown up by the judgment of the High Court. (Emphasis added)

The picture that is being painted here is unpleasantly clear. The Immigration Department and/or the Refugee Review Tribunal are determined to see this case fail, and perhaps with good reason. Australia is a country that is tolerant of homosexuals; one of a handful in the world, and I suppose the potential for establishing a precedent that would lead to many more claims from gay men and lesbians living in less-tolerant nations is substantial. But nonetheless, the treatment these two men have had – more than ten years of endless bureaucratic and legal (in)action – made me despair.

(At this point I should say that I have no idea whether these two guys really are homosexual. And at this point I don’t care – they have suffered enough.)

So on 14 October I sent an email to the Minister, and a few weeks later a letter came from his “Acting Assistant Secretary, Governance and Stakeholder Branch” to tell me the email had been forwarded to the RRT. Today I got an email from Pallavi Sinha, “Executive Officer (A/g), Migration Review Tribunal & Refugee Review Tribunal” which attached (”Attachment ‘A’”, I kid you not) a ‘response’ from the Registrar of the Tribunal, which I include below in full:

Dear Mr Kidd,

I refer to your email dated 14 October 2009 to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship in which you made representations in relation to two Bangladeshi refugee review applicants claiming protection from the Australian Government because of a fear of persecution based on their claimed homosexuality.

I appreciate you raising your concerns and would like to advise you that I can, in the circumstances, only address them in a limited way, as I explain below.

I can advise you that the applicants’ case has been allocated to an experienced Member of the RRT.

The Member is currently conducting a reconsideration of the case. In this reconsideration, the role of the Member is to conduct an independent review and to reach a fair and lawful decision based on the available evidence. You would appreciate that cases such as this one can involve difficult assessments, which require the making of factual findings by Members in relation to particular claims.

I can tell you that the RRT devotes significant resources to professional development and heightening Members’ awareness about the proper and sensitive handling of such cases. I mention, for example, that focus group sessions on protection visa claims relating to homosexuality have been held in Sydney and Melbourne as part of a programme addressing the subject of “protection visa claims relating to homosexuality”. A seminar has also been conducted for all Members on sexuality and refugee status.

The RRT has also developed extensive procedural guidance for Members (e.g. the Guidance on the Assessment of Credibility) and Members are subject to a Code of Conduct requiring fair and sensitive conduct of reviews. These guidelines emphasise the importance of the use of relevant and appropriate questioning and the avoidance of unnecessarily intrusive questions.

As this case is currently under consideration before the RRT, it is not appropriate that I comment any further about details of the case. I expect that the Member will accord procedural fairness to the applicants and will do so lawfully in accordance with Federal Court directions and the requirements of the Migration Act 1958.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.

Yours sincerely

John Lynch
Registrar

I am so glad to hear that the Tribunal has conducted “focus group sessions on protection visa claims relating to homosexuality … as part of a programme addressing the subject of ‘protection visa claims relating to homosexuality’.” I am also thrilled that ‘a seminar’, ‘procedural guidance’ and “guidelines’ have been developed to help the Tribunal members do their jobs at least half well.

But I’m still cranky.

You can read more of the horrible history of this case if you search for NAOX on AUSTLII.

Image on this post: Opera House - Closed by triplefivedrew via Flickr.

Since its inception in 1988, World AIDS Day has provided a moment for all of us to reflect on the impact HIV has had in our lives and communities, to recommit ourselves to ending the HIV epidemic, and to remind the broader community that, while HIV may have almost disappeared from the headlines, it is still with us.

Last year in Victoria there were 261 notified new HIV diagnoses. This year the number is likely to be similar. Every year when these numbers are released, there is a lot of discussion and debate about whether they’ve gone up or down, and what that means for our HIV prevention efforts. But every one of those 261 diagnoses is also a human story.

Every one of those 261 is a person who had to hear the word ‘positive’ and know that their life was changed forever. Two hundred and sixty-one people who had to think about how to tell their families, their partners, their friends about what has happened to them. Two hundred and sixty-one people who will have to make decisions about their health, their sexuality, their future now with the added complication of HIV. Two hundred and sixty-one people who will need our support, compassion and care in the years ahead.

This year, the theme for World AIDS Day is ‘Take Action. No Discrimination’. The theme reflects the need for a continuing effort to reduce the impact of HIV while respecting and reinforcing the human rights of people living with the virus. It is a message for governments, communities and individuals alike.

Taking action means accepting that all of us have a role to play in bringing an end to the HIV epidemic. Positive or negative, gay or straight, male or female, we all have a shared responsibility to be part of the prevention effort. I would like to acknowledge the continuing commitment of the Department of Health to supporting investment in community sector organisations to deliver prevention, care and support services.

No discrimination means respecting the human rights of people living with HIV. More than a quarter of a century after the first HIV cases occurred in Australia, people living with HIV continue to report unacceptable levels of discrimination. HIV stigma continues to be an insidious force that strikes positive people in the most devastating way, turning their families, friends and communities against them, all because of fear and ignorance.

We are fortunate in Victoria to have good protections against discrimination, but there are some areas where reform is needed. Recently the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS has called for reform of criminal laws relating to HIV transmission, and we support this call. At the federal level, enabling access to HIV treatment for people deemed ineligible for Medicare is an area needing urgent action, as is reform of immigration laws which treat HIV as a more serious barrier to permanent residency than other diseases with similar costs and impacts.

On these and other issues, PLWHA Victoria will continue to work with our partners in the community sector, and state and federal governments to work towards a legal framework that reflects the reality of HIV today.

These are not abstract issues for us. They are real, immediate and often brutal in their impact. As the global theme for World AIDS Day says, we are living our rights.

(Click the images for larger version, or click below to buy):

• I ♥ Apostrophe’s (14 colour choices, from A$30)
• HIV Positive (22 colour choices, from A$25)
• Dancer Danger (22 colour choices, from $30)

My favourite Australian building turns 75 today. On 24 November 1934, the Anzac Memorial in Sydney’s Hyde Park was officially opened. Not many people know the story of how the building’s design was altered by prudishness and homophobia.

It’s a stunning, simple and understated building that is often, and rightly, referred to as Australia’s only pure expression of Art Deco. I fell in love with the building as soon as I saw it, and when I learned more about the building while studying architecture at UNSW in the early 1980s, this deepened my appreciation.

The building was designed by architect C. Bruce Dellit (his granddaughter, Wendy Dellit, was in my year at uni) with sculptures by Rayner Hoff, who also has the distinction of being the designer of the Holden logo. Dellit’s design was the winning entry in an architectural competition, and is widely accepted as his finest work.

There is so much to love about this building. The design is classical, understated, simple and reflective. The sculptures and friezes, inside and out, are stunningly executed. The most striking is Sacrifice, the bronze, at the centre of the building.

I have been taking visitors to see this sculpture for nearly 30 years and every one of them has been struck by the beauty and the raw emotion of the piece. A youth, deceased, lies on a shield and sword supported by a three-figured caryatid representing his mother, his sister and his wife. It’s a stark and confronting image of the tragedy of war.

And, of course, he’s naked.

The untold story is that Hoff was a gay man, and his sculptures created a scandal in unenlightened 1930s Sydney. Dellit and Hoff had to fight to see their joint vision realised, against the politically powerful (then and now) Catholic Church, who objected to the nudity. We are fortunate that the architect and sculptor got their way with Sacrifice, but unfortunately the outside of the building was never finished.

Hoff and Dellit had planned a pair of additional bronzes, one of a man and one a woman, to go on the outside of the building, on the two big plinths on the East and West sides of the building. They were also intended as nude figures.

Unfortunately the wowsers got their way and the external bronzes were never completed. Even more tragically, Hoff had actually completed the moulds for the two monumental bronzes, and these were kept in storage for some years after the building was opened, but they were eventually destroyed. All we have left are some of Hoff’s drawings.

Sydney’s Anzac memorial is one of the greatest examples of the Art Deco movement, anywhere in the world. But it is an unfinished masterpiece, and all thanks to the prudishness and homophobia of a few 1930s-era wowsers.

CC-licensed images on this post from Wikipedia

Untitled from SYN Media on Vimeo.

Thanks to the lovely people at SYN Media for a great workshop.

The last year has been a busy one for PLWHA Victoria, and there is much we can be proud of. Our organisation is strong, highly professional and our dedicated staff and volunteers deliver work of high quality that makes a real difference to people’s lives.

But I don’t want to use these few minutes listing our achievements: our Executive Officer, Sonny Williams, will cover the year’s activities in greater detail. You can also read about them in the Annual Report, which will be available at the end of this meeting.

Instead, I want to ask a question: why are we here?

HIV has been part of our collective lives in Australia for more than a quarter century, and for 21 of those years, PLWHA Victoria has represented the interests of positive people in this state, a mission we continue.

But the experience of positive people has evolved – today, deaths from AIDS are rare, and people living with HIV are remaining in the workforce, managing their illness and staying well for long periods of time. These people repeatedly tell us that they don’t see a need to be involved in HIV organisations like ours, although they support the work we do. I hear things like “it’s good to know that PLWHA Victoria will be there if I ever need it, but right now I don’t.”

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who do need us right now. People newly diagnosed need us, as do a significant number who still experience major HIV-associated disease, as well as those who remain profoundly affected by years of ill health, social isolation and welfare dependency. Even among those ‘doing well’, they may be living longer, but few enjoy perfect health. The incidence of serious chronic illnesses including heart disease, diabetes, liver and kidney disease and some forms of cancer is higher in people living with HIV, and as more time passes the impact of these conditions on our community will only increase. And of course, stigma, discrimination and social exclusion continue to affect us all.

It’s in this context that I ask, why are we here? What is the role and purpose of our organisation in this changing environment, and how can we continue to support and serve people with HIV into the future? How can we remain relevant in the lives of people for whom HIV occupies a shifting place, no longer the core of their identity but just one aspect of a bigger picture?

These questions are fundamental to our mission as an organisation – as they are to all organisations representing PLHIV – and it is imperative we find answers to them if we are to ensure the sustainability of PLWHA Victoria for the long term.

We need to be an organisation that is relevant to the lives of all positive people – supporting wellness, not just illness. We need to genuinely embrace the diversity of people living with HIV regardless of sexuality, gender, age or ethnicity. We need to develop new programs and services that address issues such as sexual disclosure and negotiation, returning to work, remaining engaged with community and building healthy lifestyles.

We need to be passionate advocates for positive people about issues that matter today: we must unequivocally resist any further criminalisation of HIV transmission; we must combat the poisonous influence of HIV stigma, especially the stigma that manifests in our own communities and families; and we must work with government and other community organisations to remain a central and respected voice in the response to HIV.

We need to build and nurture partnerships with our allies in this work – especially the Victorian AIDS Council, Positive Women Victoria and Straight Arrows. None of us is an island; none of us can do this work alone; and each of us has a critical role to play. The three HIV-positive organisations in particular need to work more closely in coalition; it’s time to outgrow of the distrust which has divided us in the past and get on with the job. United, we are greater than the sum of our parts.

I am hopeful that by the time we hold our next AGM, PLWHA Victoria, Straight Arrows and Positive Women will have relocated to a new shared office space, a move that I believe will improve collaboration, energise our partnership and perhaps for the first time genuinely deliver a united, integrated voice for all positive people in Victoria.

Why are we here? I’ve outlined some of the challenges we are facing and the questions we are looking for answers to as we develop our new strategic plan, which we will adopt in the first half of next year. The Board has already begun examining these issues and I invite all positive people to be part of the planning process. More than just a three-year plan, the new strategy will articulate a long-term vision for our organisation which builds on the successes of our long history and evolves to meet the challenges ahead. It is our roadmap for the future and I hope you will help us write it. There will be more details in the November issue of Poslink.

There have been some changes at the Board level this year, with a number of Board members departing and some new faces coming on board. I’d like to acknowledge my predecessors as President, Brett Hayhoe and David Wain, for their efforts on behalf of the organisation, and thank all the Board members past and present for the support they have shown me.

I’d also like to acknowledge the support of our funders, principally the Victorian Department of Health, who have been a crucial partner in the growth of the organisation over recent years, and the many donors and sponsors whose generosity enables so much of the work we do.

Finally, I’d like to pay tribute to our staff, a dedicated and energetic team of professionals who are the smiling public face of our organisation, and our Executive Officer, Sonny Williams, whose leadership has ensured that we have had a successful and productive year.

Thank you.

Tom Coates has put together a brilliant Flickr gallery of images from today’s dust storm in Sydney. Awesome stuff.

CC-licensed image above: Dustday in Laundry 2 by Mezza.

British artist Luke Jerram’s glass sculptures of microbes including HIV, SARS, H1N1and smallpox are strikingly beautiful.

Says the artist:

These transparent glass sculptures were created to contemplate the global impact of each disease and to consider how the artificial colouring of scientific imagery affects our understanding of phenomena. Jerram is exploring the tension between the artworks’ beauty and what they represent, their impact on humanity.

Hat-tip: babycakesjase

→ AAP: Fielding criticises Rudd’s ‘physical’ policy

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But now it looks like my idle childhood wishes might come true. Seems like global warming will continue to accelerate, with the world’s big economies playing a game of ‘Chicken’ and refusing to act until someone else does. With global warming comes rises in sea levels, and the experts reckon there will be anything from 19cm to several metres of sea-level rise this century. Some have argued that, with positive feedback effects accelerating the process, sea level rises of 10m or more before 2100 are possible.

Here’s an animated projection of the effect of sea level rises of between 0 and 14m on my old home town:

Looks like it might be a smart time to open a water-skiing supply shop in Bega. Get in early.

You can see how sea level rises will affect your home town (or anywhere else) at http://flood.firetree.net/.

An interesting discussion looking at the way the media reports on HIV, especially the way gay men are presented as ‘complacent’ (Reeders) or, when they come before the law, as members of a ‘seedy underbelly’ or ‘sinister subculture’ (Hurley). My presentation focused on the ways that community organisations can try to have positive stories about people with HIV reported in the media, as a counter to all the ‘bad’ news. Abi Groves introduced the AFAO media guide, Reporting HIV in Australia: Information for Journalists 2009.

There will (probably) be a podcast of the event at some point in the future. In the meantime a copy of my slides is below in PDF form.

Image from faggotz.org, via Kellan on Facebook.

Catherine Deveny’s column in the Age today is lovely. This is an abridged version:

YOU know you’re from Melbourne if …

• When diarising anything in September you first consult the footy fixture.
• You know Sunshine, Rosebud and the Caribbean Gardens are not as good as they sound.
• You consider yourself a socialist yet you drive a European car and have a cleaner.
• You’d rather sit next to Guy Rundle on a plane than Guy Pearce.
• You think the slogan on our licence plates should be “Melbourne. The Coffee Is Shit Anywhere Else”, “Melbourne. Go To Sydney. We Hate Tourists” or ” Melbourne. What School Did You Go To?”
• You know the word ”Moomba” means Up Your Bum, White Man.
• You’re not happy Melbourne has been voted the World’s Most Liveable City. You’d prefer it was voted “Most Enigmatic, Tortured And Slightly Dangerous City”.
• Any music by Paul Kelly makes you suddenly think of the Nylex sign and something about making gravy.
• Jon Faine shits you but you can’t switch him off.
• Pot, cantaloupe, potato cake and hook turn. Build a bridge and get over it.

The John Faine line is a classic. And totally true in my case.

CC-licensed Flickr image above: Lady Luck™

There are 52 towns in Victoria which are at high risk for the 2009-10 fire season, according to a list issued by the state government today. Here is a map (click to enlarge) showing the towns listed:

• Download this map as a Google Earth Placemark File

The Victorian Government says the nominated centres will be its priorities for developing township protection plans.

“The work that we’ve been doing over recent months has identified a number of areas … 52 towns, which for a variety of reasons are more at risk or more vulnerable to fire, should it occur in the next fire season,” Mr Brumby said.

“These could be towns that are built in the middle of bushland, they could be towns that are on the coast that have a huge holiday population and only one road in, and one road out.”

“We’ve got a fire season coming up, that on all the evidence we’ve got… is going to be worse than the one we’ve just experienced.” — ABC

Lynne Kosky kills the W-Class tram:

MELBOURNE'S remaining vintage W-class trams will be phased out on all routes except the City Circle line, despite a new campaign to get hundreds of the dilapidated trams restored and back on the tracks.

The National Trust has begun lobbying to save the trams, introduced in 1923.

Just 12 W-class trams run on the City Circle route. Another 25 run along Chapel Street in South Yarra, Richmond's Church Street and on La Trobe Street in the city.

Nine weeks ago, Yarra Trams stopped running the W-class trams in South Yarra and Richmond on weekends, replacing them with newer models.

And 178 of the vintage trams are slowly deteriorating in the Government's Newport and Preston workshops.

→ The Age: W-class trundling into history

This is sad news. The old W-class trams are part of the fabric of Melbourne and without them the city becomes one step closer to generic. It says a lot about the absence of imagination that is characteristic of most politicians that Kosky can’t see this.

She should take a trip to San Francisco and see the way that city has transformed the F-line by using historic, beautifully restored streetcars from cities around America and the world (including a W-class Melbourne tram!). People come to San Francisco to experience San Francisco, and part of that is the light rail systems.

Likewise Melbourne, but it seems we have to be humourless and unimaginative about it.

IT WAS the heart of gay Sydney - but now Oxford St is going straight.

The one-time bastion of Sydney's gay community is giving way to more straight venues and is even home to the most heterosexual institution of them all - a wet T-shirt competition.

There are now just three openly gay venues along the strip - the Stonewall Hotel, The Palms and the Oxford Hotel. These are outnumbered more than three to one by straight venues such as Oxford Art Factory, Havana and Spectrum.

The change raises fears the colourful atmosphere that attracted people to what was Sydney's premier entertainment strip is being driven away.

And with the switch has come concerns of an increase in violence.

Rainbow Labor convenor Michael Vaughan said while Oxford St had always welcomed straight and gay alike, there needed to be a balance.

→ Daily Tele: Sydney’s gay heart Oxford St plays it too straight for some

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The collapse of unfettered capitalism should have been a golden opportunity for the left. So where did it all go wrong?

→ The Guardian: Has the left blown its big chance of success?

Automatically created from a http://buggery.org/?p=1705

It is possible to successfully fend off a zombie attack, according to Canadian mathematicians. The key is to “hit hard and hit often.”

→ Wired.com: Mathematical Model for Surviving a Zombie Attack

Automatically created from a Delicious.com bookmark.

Gay people shouldn’t get married, say the ambassadors. This would threaten heterosexual marriage, because gay people would be better at it. They’re more compatible because, let’s face it, taking up each other’s dumb hobbies can’t compete with matching junk in those stakes. Plus, gay men have a 200 per cent advantage in housework, making it impossible for wives to compete unless they got a useful labour-saving device called a ”wife”.

Marriage or death. Spot the difference

That’s three posts today! Maybe I *am* back.

Methodology: I have chosen a random selection of five books, including one Australian title. All these are in print and should be widely available.

• Eucalyptus, Murray Bail
• The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
• If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Italo Calvino
• Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
• Gabriel’s Gift, Hanif Kureshi

Then I have searched for them on four book-selling websites:

• amazon.com (US)
• bookdepository.co.uk (UK site which charges a bit more for its books but has free worldwide delivery)
• angusrobertson.com.au (Australian chain bookseller)
• alibris.com (second-hand books from large international network of bookshops)

Results:

My basket of five books (based on the cheapest copy available – hardback, paperback, new or used), including shipping to my PO Box in Australia, costs:

• amazon.com: USD 58.19 plus 29.94 shipping (3-5 weeks) – total USD 88.13 (AUD 105.80)
• bookdepository.co.uk: GBP 37.55, free shipping (1-2 weeks) – total GBP 37.55 (AUD 74.60)
• angusrobertson.com.au: AUD 108.75, plus 14.00 shipping (7-10 days) – total AUD 122.75
• alibris.com: AUD 14.94 (two used hardcover and three new paperbacks), plus AUD 16.93 per book shipping (3-4 weeks) – total AUD 99.59

So the obvious winner is bookdepository.co.uk. The lowest price and the shortest promised delivery time. No contest really.

The fact that the Australian option is by far the most expensive didn’t surprise me. Books are a rip-off in this country.

(Yes, this is my first post in a long time. I can’t say yet that I am coming back to blogging, but watch this space.)

Here’s my simple recommendation for Australia:

1. Immediately ban all incoming travellers who arrive by air, no matter who they are or where they come from. Planes are notorious incubators of viral respiratory illnesses.

2. The only legal method for entering Australia will thus be by sea, with arrivals in leaky Indonesian fishing boats earning extra points for effort. (Those coming by faster boats will henceforth be referred to as “queue jumpers”.)

3. Obviously, the long sea journey will ensure any arrivals who make it into Australian waters are H1N1 free.

4. Problem solved!