You might have seen some of the reports about a new government leaflet talking about radicalisation; here’s what the Guardian said about it::

The Australian government has used an environmental activist who became involved in the “alternative music scene” as an example of violent extremism, in a booklet aimed at helping teachers identify students who are becoming radicalised and linked to terrorism.

The Radicalisation Awareness Kit was launched this week by Michael Keenan, the justice minister and minister assisting the prime minister on counter-terrorism, to help teachers look out for signs of radicalisation in their students.

The booklet warns that people can become motivated to be violent by particular ideologies such as “environmental or economic concerns, or ethnic or separatist causes”.

I particularly like the mention of the “alternative music scene”…

One would have hoped that the removal of Abbott would curb such nonsense…

Cam Walker, from FoE Australia, reports:

We had our ‘day in court’ yesterday [Sept 21], appearing at the House of Reps hearing into green groups.

We had a solid and well prepared team at the table: Sam Castro, Julien Vincent, Nicola Paris and myself.

We had a fantastic support team, who helped us prepare (thanks to Ben Courtice for the research, Andrew Laird for channeling his inner George Christensen and grilling us with lots of hard questions, Leigh for media strategy, Phil for great images, and many people like Lou Sales and John Glue, who commented on drafts of our presentation).

And lots of people turned up at the hearing to support us.

Then we had the ‘defend the defenders’ rally outside the hearings, which had an awesome turnout. We had a great presence at that – nice visuals from yes 2 renewables, and Phil even handing out membership forms!

Pics here: https://www.facebook.com/events/430687940462368/

I think we presented really well, we mostly controlled the frame of the debate and questions, and they got no ammo to use against us. Strangely, the arch nasty, George Christensen delivered a very lacklustre performance. The many months spent on responding to ATO and Dept investigations paid off, as we were able to remind the committee we have been investigated 3 times, and been found to be compliant each time.

There’s a bit of commentary here: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/21/green-groups-call-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-keep-tax-deductible-status

Its certainly not over, but we are past a watershed moment in the government’s campaign against the movement. Thanks everyone, we pulled together and done good.

onwards

Cam Walker,

Campaigns Coordinator