*(Mystification is the appropriate parliamentary language for lying like a sewer rat).
“PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the Government’s candidate in the Longman electorate in next week’s “Super Saturday” of by-elections, made an innocent mistake when he claimed to have a prestige military medal. The candidate Trevor Ruthenberg has been forced to apologise to voters in the crucial Queensland seat after he falsely claimed to have a medal for distinguished service in peacekeeping and non-war operations.Mr Ruthenberg said he does have a lesser medal, recognising his service in the air force, and he simply wrote down the wrong medal name.”
I was shocked to find he did not hold the DSO and Bar and the Victoria Cross.
Craig Kelly, son of a publican, Coal Spookier in Chief, reckons that Australians should get over the Russian backed militia in the Ukraine shooting down Malaysian Airlines MH 17. I have written to him to ask if we should also forget the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH 370 in case the Russians had something to do with that also.
Peter Dutton has finally relented “The body of Fariborz Karami, the Iranian asylum seeker who took his own life on Nauru more than a month ago, has been flown to Brisbane after an emotional standoff about where he would be buried and donations from anonymous philanthropists in Australia to cover the cost of his funeral.”
BUT
However, Fariborz’s mother, Mansour Beigi, will not get the chance to say good bye to her son for the last time: the Australian Border Force has refused her entry to Australia to attend her own son’s funeral. They simply told her, “The ABF does not support your request.” There really seems to be no end to Australia’s cruelty. Our country already has blood on its hands – Fariborz’s suicide was the direct result of being held in detention with no end in sight.
As a result of the Australian Border Force’s inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, Fariborz is dead. He had completely lost faith, and now his mother’s only remaining hope is to have the chance to say goodbye to him properly. Fariborz’s mum, young brother and wife are suffering so immensely, not only from being held in appalling conditions on Nauru, but for having lost someone so precious and dear to them.
Already, Mansour has spoken out in fear of her son’s and her own declining mental health. Fariborz’s wife’s reaction to his death has been heartbreaking. By not allowing his family to attend his funeral, we are condemning them to even further horrors.
I am sure that we as a country can do better than this.
Written July 2018
Copyright © 2025 John Tomlinson