:: Wog Blog ::

:: WHAT AM I THINKING ABOUT? ::

:: Friday 6 August 2004 ::

It's a catfight. And on the High Court Bench too

Mr Justice McHugh has delivered a well deserved smackdown to Brother Judge Kirby as part of a 4-3 majority judgment on a critical High Court matter today.

Al-Kateb v Godwin is the sad case of a Kuwaiti born man of Palestinian background, never given citizenship in the country of his birth because that is how disgracefully Gulf Arabs and Arabs generally treat their Palestinian brothers when it all boils down. With no nationality he moved around the Middle East a little, and eventually, after doubtless being lied to solidly by disgusting peoplesmuggling scum, he arrived, doubtless after going through sundry safe havens on the way (not that he was fleeing persecution) on a boat into Oz with no permission to be here at all. Off he went into detention. He has played straight with the authorities after some waste of time claims to be let in, asking to be sent home, that is, Kuwait, or if that won't work to Hamas controlled Gaza.

But the Kuwaitis won't have him, pricks. And the Israeli's need another Palestinian in Gaza like they need a bomb on a school bus.

Sooooo, long story short, all the way to the High Court comes this critical case - is it lawful for the Oz government to detain a person who has no right to be in the Oz community for an unknown period of time for the purpose of sending him elsewhere, when the situation as it stands now is that the two 'elsewheres' where he might be sent have refused to take him, leaving him detained without light at the end of the tunnel that can be seen right now?

The answer is yes according to 4 out of 7 judges.

Why?

Because the detention is wholly lawful and because the statelessness of the individual is not a reason for release. Detention stays until you can be released. Full stop. And no amount of whiny 'morality arguments' will change it.

You know what needs to happen, don't you readers? Yes. You and I know. Sadly Justices Kirby, Gummow and Gleeson do not know. What should happen is that this poor bastard Al-Kateb should be made a cause celebre by all the "free the unlawful entrants" wankers to pressure Kuwait, the nation where he was born for goodness' sake, to take him back and grant him citizenship.

Instead, the do-goody folks, even those learned folks on the bench (and they are learned - I have huge respect, even for Kirby, cos whatever their conclusions they always back their arguments well) make fundamental errors of judgment when it comes to dealing with wogs. They think they are doing wogs a favour by gymnastically contorting Oz law, the Oz constitution itself, into a hat stand on which to hang every halfbaked international concept they can get their hands on to help the poor widdle wogs.

But being a 4-3 decision this is not going to shut down arguments of this type. But it might, just might, get the folks who make these claims thinking more carefully about who has done them wrong - and it ain't Oz.

It ain't Oz.




:: WB 3:57 am [link+] ::