North Shore Talks / North Shore Peace and Democracy
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First Forum

The Second Forum:

Secrets and Lies Destroy Democracy?
Forum held Monday 3 May, 2004, 7:30pm at Willoughby Town Hall to
discuss the impact of decisions behind closed doors on democracy in Australia

Kerry Nettle (Greens), Kevin Rudd (Labor),
Chair: Shelley Reys, Reconciliation Australia
Aden Ridgeway (Democrats), Marise Payne (Liberal)

The Flash presentation shown before the Forum is available on www.bushflash.com, an American site which has a number of such animations.

Transcripts are now as complete as can be managed from the recording we have, plus many thanks for the MPEG video supplied of questions 1-4 that filled in the main gaps, and enabled us to clear up some ambiguities and mis-hearings in the transcripts: the transcripts of Q's 1-4 were updated to make these changes as at 1am: 17/05/04. You can find individual transcripts below, or download the entire set as a pdf file (486KB)

Introduction: Transcript

The Questions:

  1. We were told the invasion of Iraq was necessary because of Saddam’s weapons of m ass destruction. “If Iraq had genuinely disarmed, I couldn’t justify on its own a military invasion of Iraq to change the regime” – John Howard, 14 March 2003. How can we trust future justifications for war in the light of what we now know? (Tina Jackson) Transcript
  2. There has been little informed democratic debate in Australia about the causes of terrorism – in particular Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The War on Terror cannot succeed by dealing with the symptoms alone. How can Australia work to address the causes? (Brendan Doyle) Transcript
  3. Does a request for support from the US automatically and always pre-empt Australian policy and budgets at the expense of education, health and welfare, and if not, how should we decide which requests to refuse? (David Roffey) Transcript
  4. The present rigid control of Australian political parties over members effectively hijacks much of the decision-making process from open debate in the parliamentary chambers to behind the closed doors of party rooms, and is more coercive than in the US and UK. Why should this be permitted? (Jim Wilks) Transcript
  5. Australians are very cynical about the political process, and the extent to which secrecy and falsehood are used to justify policy decisions. How can our faith in the system be restored? (Lindsay Wood) Transcript
  6. First question from floor: Should the allegations of Andrew Wilkie, Ms Errey and Col Lance Collins be examined in the interest of Australia’s national security? Isn’t a Royal Commission which examines the veracity of the claims of the whistleblowers the only way of establishing the truth of their claims? (Mervyn Murchie) Transcript
  7. Second question from floor: How can any Australian government presume to instruct other governments on human rights or the cause of terrorism when they have failed patently to address structural disadvantage of our indigenous peoples, the gross racism they are subject to, the racism Muslims and Arab people are subject to, and continue to lock up asylum seekers in indefinite detention? (Anne Picot) Transcript
  8. Other questions submitted from floor: you are invited to provide your own answers to these, and we will invite the panellists to respond: full list

Closing remarks: Shelley Reys and Sue Roffey, Convenor, NSPD: Transcript



The First Forum:

Truth and Democracy: Casualties of War?

Tony Abbott, Tanya Plibersek, Peter Macdonald and Donna Mulhearn
Moderator: Genia McCaffery, Mayor of North Sydney

Fred Hutley Hall, North Sydney Council Chambers,
200 Miller Street, North Sydney
Monday 20 October 7:30pm-9:30pm

We recorded the session, and provide a full transcript on this site - links below,
or download the whole transcript as a pdf.

Some background material is set out in the Facts page
Read Margo Kingston's web diary article before the event in SMH online
and Sue Roffey's article published by Margo in the Sun-Herald

Reports of the debate: SMH- Margo Kingston, Mosman Daily, Manly Daily
ABC Radio National AM (7:14am 21 October), Sydney Weekly Courier

Forum organised by North Shore Peace & Democracy on behalf of peace groups in Mosman, Manly, Pittwater, Pennant Hills and Ku-ring-gai, and supported by North Sydney Council

The Questions: (thanks to the many people who submitted suggestions - we winnowed down from more than 30 to these 6, which cover all the main subjects):

Introduction transcript

Q1: WMD and accountability: Since it is now clear that WMD was only a pretext for the US to invade and occupy Iraq, what safeguards need to be in place to ensure that in future such a momentous decision is not left to one person or a small group? How can there be more accountability for such actions? transcript

Q2: What is terrorism? A US Army manual defines terrorism as: "the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are political, religious, or ideological in nature. This is done through intimidation, coercion, or instilling fear." Do you agree? How broadly can this definition be applied? transcript

Q3: How do we restore democracy? Many Australians feel profoundly dis-empowered and disillusioned by the process that led to Australia's involvement in the attack on Iraq. What prospects are there for the restoration of people's faith in democracy? transcript

Q4: How did we contribute to the making of terrorism? How have the past policies of developed western countries (particularly the US and UK) towards the Middle East played a role in fostering the problems we now face, such as the terrorism of Islamic groups such as al-Qaeda? transcript

Q5: What is our future? Have Australia’s long term interests been served by our involvement in the war against Iraq? What is our future as a nation if we continue our current allegiance to the US agenda at the expense of broader international relationships? transcript

Q6: How have we been served by the media?How has Australia been served by its media and how they have covered these issues? transcript

Closing remarks transcript.

© NSPD 2004. Last modified 18/05/04.