corroboree

National Sorry Day from Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 12:59:00 +0000

The other Thursday was National Sorry Day in Australia. It’s not an official holiday and not a date generally recognized in Israel, but it is a day of reconciliation and recognition of the mistreatment of the country's indigenous population, their families and communities. In the spirit of respect and acknowledgement I thought I would visit the memorial for William Cooper at Yad Vashem, take a selfie and post it. That’s the sort of vicarious, larrikin dilettante that I am.

In what is described as "the only private protest against the Germans following Kristallnacht in Germany”, William Cooper led a delegation of the Australian Aboriginal League, a nascent Aboriginal rights group, at a time when Aboriginals weren’t even Australian citizens, to the German Consulate in Melbourne to deliver a petition which condemned the "cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government of Germany.” Why this marginalized group of disenfranchised British monarch’s subjects took it upon themselves to express their empathy for Jews and their disapproval of Germany’s sovereign government’s oppression is not altogether clear. It certainly wasn’t flavour of the month, antisemitism being much more entrenched and institutionalized then than it is now. As it turned out the German Consulate did not accept the petition.

In recent years the Australian Jewish community has come round to airing recognition for William Cooper’s legacy. I’d heard about some of the efforts including recognition in Israel. I’d read articles about a memorial of sorts in Yad Vashem. In my naivety I thought Cooper might possibly be commemorated as one of the Righteous Among the Nations but these articles were all kind of vague.

I looked it up in Wikipedia. “In August 2010, the Yad VaShem Holocaust museum in Israel announced they would honour Cooper for his protests against the behaviour towards Jews on Kristallnacht. Yad Vashem plans to endow a small garden at its entrance in Cooper's honour. Cooper's name was submitted for recognition when it was discovered that Cooper's rally was the only private protest against Germany in the wake of Kristallnacht.”

I decided I would make a short quest of it in pursuit of the memorial garden.

I emailed Yad Vashem to make sure I wasn’t making the effort for nothing. I called them up too. The rep was polite and thorough in his efforts to verify who Cooper was and if there was any garden or memorial on the grounds. “No Cooper isn’t one of the Righteous Among the Nations,” he told me but he could report that there was a plaque in the International Institute for Holocaust Research.

There it is in the photo. Or so I believe. It’s the only one I found in the corridor.

I wonder if anyone at Yad VaShem ever intended to actually plant and endow the abovementioned garden memorial. That was in 2010 and as of now we’re in 2016.

I don’t think that’s what Sorry Day was meant to mean.

Breaking The Rules Of Dictation

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:52:00 +0000

Three Quarter Time Summary:

First thing let's make it clear; I see Hamas as genocidal bastards.

Secondly, I hope my son comes out of this alive.

As we are approaching what all the Israeli commentators consider to be the final act of this round of armed conflict, we can begin to draw some preliminary conclusions as to how things are panning out.

In the background we have the accepted Israeli perception that under Hamas's fundamentalist charter or whatever means they use to define and declare their "corporate" purpose and agenda they are unwilling to recognize Israel and are bent on Israel's destruction and our assumption is that there is no reasonable hope of negotiating coexistence in the foreseeable future.

In light of this, another consequential assumption is that they only understand force. This may or may not be true, but for the vast majority of us it’s a unilateral assumption. I'm sure that participants in groups like Combatants for Peace which facilitate meetings between individual protagonists would differ from that line of thought. But I suppose just like any other people in conflict, our "establishment", our government and your average guy in the street see the conflict and hear our narrative in a hostile binary language. It's either us and them. Either you're with us or against us.

But jumping from there to the present day Operation Protective Edge, a fundamental assumption on our side is that by the use of force we will punish and bring the Hamas government to its knees (and unfortunately this terminology grants them de facto recognition). According to our narrative, by the end of this round of conflict they are supposed to be defeated militarily, almost to the point of total surrender, politically isolated, bankrupt and reliant and therefore punished, prepared and willing to make TACTICAL concessions.

If you can bear the vulnerability, let's permit ourselves some skepticism. Hamas is not playing by the rules, and certainly not our rules. They have chosen a mode of fighting and terrain that most suits their means. We can get as infuriated and self-righteous as we want. We can explode out of frustration. But as it seems to be panning out, that is a grand part of the Hamas strategy. They may have miscalculated the extent of Israel's military punitive reaction to their last round of shelling, but not with respect to the bottom line. And that bottom line is that Israel is not willing, in terms of projected costs, i.e. the loss of soldiers' lives and international reaction holding Israel accountable for the scale of humanitarian crisis pursuant to a total invasion and clearing out of terrorist capabilities, to go all the way and force Hamas into total submission. Despite voices to the contrary in Cabinet and on the streets it seems highly unlikely that Israel will take the steps needed to annihilate Hamas, at least not now. According to the pundits, that's because Israel and it's allies, overt, covert and de facto including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, possibly the recognized Palestinian Authority, prefer the devil they know to the devil they don't; at least for the time being. (And note that when WE say, "For the time being," that's not considered dishonorable and hypocritical.)

So the bottom line is that Israel will allow the Hamas "state" to continue to exist. Up to this point we can tolerate Hamas's not playing by the rules because from our perspective and terms of reference we have won. From our perspective we are punishing them, whopping their hides, and they're going to think twice before they do this again. But as the pundits agree amongst themselves, the winning side will be declared not just on the "playing field" but as the dust settles, the real winner will become apparent according to the geopolitical consequences contingent on the military outcome and on diplomatic maneuvering. If the geopolitical consequences do not translate into long term peace and quiet for Israel, we may have trounced Hamas on the ground but the victory will be pretty much hollow if it doesn't precipitate strategic geopolitical advantages.

And in this very significant arena Hamas is not playing by our rules either. We are expecting them to concentrate on TACTICAL subjects like a ceasefire/hudna, civilian reconstruction and so on and so forth, so that both sides can plan their next steps in the ongoing conflict. But it looks like Hamas is refusing to play ball and they are insisting on talking about STRATEGIC issues like lifting the sea embargo and facilitating a normal flow of goods, parts and services into their territory. Their STRATEGIC aim is ostensibly humanitarian but it is also very much about building a legitimate economy and cementing their governance and legitimizing their authority. In as far as they can succeed in these aims they can claim to their constituency and the Palestinian people at large, if not the broad sweep of Arab peoples that armed resistance is in the long run, more effective than decades of treading water in barren go nowhere negotiations. They can claim that despite the sacrifices, their resilience, faith and determination and armed struggle eventually delivers. I don't like this narrative. I don't approve of it. It may be sickenly cynical, but as things seem to be playing out all that's irrelevant.

The game isn't over yet. But I wonder, have our government and basically our entire "establishment" misread the map, in the planning and preparation for the contingency of another round of armed conflict which we, and particularly our sons, are going through right now? Is their binary, punitive strategy just a lot of hot air and human sacrifices? And if they have misread the map, how are they going to be able to translate our military victory into strategic collateral and justify or sons' going through a living Akedat Yitzchak (Binding of Isaac)?

As of last night the Israeli press has been having a buttoned down heyday trashing the American foreign minister and of course at least impliedly Obama. But whether or not these two are a pair of out of their depth neighbourhood social workers, what is becoming apparent, as of this morning, is that once again our binary way of perceiving the world is leading us into conflict with our associates as well as with our neighbours. To put it succinctly in contrast to our patron's wishes and regional interests and let's assume the rest of the civilized world's too, Mr. Netanyahu apparently is unwilling and/or opposed to try to utilise the overt and covert alliances or meeting of interests between us and various "moderate" regimes in the Middle East and which have come into opaque light during Operation Protective Edge, as leverage towards a regional peace. Rather than prosecuting a regional peace he thinks he can leverage this shadowy alliance into a carrot and stick deal for Hamas, peace and quiet against economic development. Is he the realist while the rest of the world are just dreamers? Netanyahu as Churchill pitted against all the Chamberlains? There's at least one big difference. Churchill's great achievement, for all his foibles and chequered history, was in cowing the English establishment into standing up to totalitarian oppression in its most extreme form, while Netanyahu's struggle is to fool us all into inadvertently acquiescing to something founded on oppression and discrimination. This latest upcoming clash with the American Administration, on the face of things, points to the likelihood that the Netanyahu government is more interested in maintaining the status quo of de facto acquiescence to Israel's continued occupation and colonization of The West Bank as opposed to prosecuting a regional peace which would presumably include a viable Palestinian State. Unfortunately, and once again I pray that Netanyahu will surprise us with a Sharon moment, we are going to go into another round of binary, divide and conquer narrative, us against the world, including our patrons. For what? The continuation of a discriminating regime of martial law for the Palestinians and state subsidized and bolstered settlements for right minded, supra-enfranchised, Jews?

I hope my son comes out of this alive.

A Short Trip Before A Long Voyage

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:54:00 +0000

This is a true story, basically.

I left Australia some 30 years ago. When I left it was for good. I was single and vaguely rebellious, with no clear game plan or ideology. But I believed that in moving to the land of the forefathers I could somehow hammer out a meaning to all the ethnic baggage I'd been with laden with.

In contrast when my daughter returned from Israel about three decades later it was for an extended holiday. Even for the blindsided a trip like this is bound to dig up all sorts of dormant emotions. But I have always shared the antipodean's down to earth aversion to sentimentality, so this is a story without an epiphany.

My daughter is 21 and like most of her contemporaries in Israel she wants to make up for those lost years spent in khaki and national service. Ever since before her recruitment, she's been talking about going trekking and seeing the world. But for all her talk she's also a bit of a homebody. So she kind of had to be pushed to go. It was her mother not me. She's the one with open lines of communications with the kids. At best I'm the clumsy assistant. But in spite of all her talk and her mother's encouragement, months after her honourable discharge she was still kind of floundering, making some money waitressing. But how long could that go on? This isn't Europe. Waitressing's no long term occupation.

Eventually her mother persuaded her to go to Australia. I heard about it second hand and quietly approved. Still she needed some reminding in order to get her to move. As parents we'd like our kids to be proactive and to take the initiative. But she was still kind of stuck, dragging her feet. And can I really blame her? Am I that much better? In retrospect I guess she was intimidated by the tyranny of distance, the unknown, a sense of anonymity revisited. But a child's procrastination is frustrating to a parent. You think, "Do as I say, not as I do." I wasn't thinking about her apprehensions in separating from her circle of friends, their shared tastes and all that's familiar to them. I was only thinking how if only we could turn back the clock, but keep the so called wisdom of our gained experience, life could be so much more expedient; and that unfortunately we're not any better at transferring that bank of experience to the next generation than we were at accepting it. But as I said this is a story without an epiphany.

All this foot dragging was really quite irritating. I even found it a bit offensive. It's not like she shut me out. There were requests for help but it was as if they were planned to disarray my equilibrium, pushing all the right buttons. It was as if she was doing me a favour. Like asking for help in getting her an application form from the Embassy. I even had to accompany her down to the embassy to renew her passport and help her fill out the forms." Get a life." I wanted to say. "If you're going on this big trip take some responsibility. Start somewhere. You learnt to deal with bureaucracy in the army and you did that better than I ever could have. So now you're too shy to call the Australian Embassy?" In the end the only thing I didn't do was have my photo taken instead of hers.

She also asked me for job connections in Australia. "No use asking me about work," I countered. "I don't have any useful connections in that department."

I may be as useful as a drover's pup when it comes to helping find work, but there were other issues I was ready, willing and able to discuss. Like how would she open a bank account and tax file? What about Medibank? (Tho' since I left it's called Medicare, and Medibank is now something else.) I didn't know the answers to these questions but I knew that these were the sort of questions that she ought to be asking. And I knew that this was the most useful sort of advice I could give her. She might well have taken into consideration half a lifetime's experience in relocating between one country and another and dealing with the repercussions. If there's one thing I have learnt over the years it's how a few well-placed legitimate and unobtrusive enquiries about your rights can be a lot of help. But she was neglecting all this "sensible footwear" advice. Nada. "Yes, yes, yes," my daughter mumbled just within earshot.

Beyond that I didn't dare raise the subject with her head on. Eventually a couple of weeks before her flight I took hold of the reins and made all sorts of phone calls myself. It's not as if discussing the outcome of those communications was any less volatile than reminding her to take care of it herself. "I'm 21. Not 50." That was her attitude. Déjà vu? No. Déjà entendu. I must have said it myself, only more pointedly and more bluntly to my own well-meaning, harassing parents.

With all this hassle and passive aggression in the air it wasn't til about a weekend before she was off that any emotion got through to me. It happened walking down the street on a Friday morning, taking care of errands. In my head they started playing some old song, parallel to something out of the 60's. It got replayed a lot just after Rabin's murder. It seemed to reflect the paradox in his demise, how in some furtive way he'd opened up in the last few months before he was shot, started smiling for the cameras, in a bashfully charming way, and became a kind of a national grandfather figure, as if somehow he'd let go, sort of like On Golden Pond; and started soaring like a swift, and then got cut down. My daughter and I used to sing the song together. Bonding, you might call it. She was still in kindergarten then. As for the words of the song, I won't bother boring you. It's someone else's nostalgia, the sort of thing that gets lost in translation. But there I was walking alone in the street and out of the blue I start sobbing to myself. I knew it was because of her but I didn't really know why. It was something to do with pride and something to do with worrying. Here she was ready to make her maiden solo flight. And here she was not taking care of the queries I expected her to clear up. I thought to myself, it was damn lucky I had sunglasses on.

I knew that this little sob was a meaningful tap on the shoulder. It meant: breaching the cone of industrial quiet, breaking routine and running against the grain of standard survival drill mode. So I gave it some thought. What I realized was that my daughter's trip was discreetly stirring up my own fantasies about visiting Australia, touching on all sorts of things I'd love to do on a trip to Australia; like taking Bill Bryson's book Down Under as a blueprint, driving over the top, visiting farms and country towns; even my dad's wool buying region. Like visiting family, driving great distances, and laughing at the cricket commentaries on the radio, swimming at secluded beaches, listening to RN, bodysurfing at Scarborough, seeing bands at the Sunday session, visiting the Barossa, investigating rewritten history. In short, rediscovering something in my own identity.

But as for my kids, Australia's just a far off place, with big houses, open spaces, some rarely seen cousins, distant in a literal sense; overall not unlike home but on another scale of economy. There's no real issue for them about rediscovering their identity in Australia. That's their dad's problem. I had wanted them to grow up identifying with their immediate environment, and barring the mixed messages I sent them at a political level I guess I've achieved that. For me a journey like this would be a giant romantic back to roots trip, but not for my daughter. She's someone else, not me. Isn't that what I'd always wanted? As usual it's me that's all mixed up. She's like a fledgling being pushed from the nest, ready to take on life, but nervous. As for me mixing up our identities, that's just me getting lost in my own seminiferous tubercles.

So by the time we all got to the airport I had reconciled myself with things unresolvable at face value, somewhere between my confusion of identities and my daughter's apprehensions in facing the unknown. I'd even managed to share some of all this metrosexual stuff with my wife. In fact one of the turning points in this story had been when one of my wife's matriarchal cousins consecrated my daughter's departure saying, "It doesn't matter so much who you latch up with over there, just as long as you bring him back home". To which I blurted out, "No you don't have to. It's fine if you stay there."

Silence.

So there, a cat had popped out of the bag. I'd unconsciously expressed a preparedness to unravel three decades of trying to reinvent myself, and everything that goes along with that. A bit of a faux pas and none too patriotic, but I guess that after all these years here I'm integrated enough to be entitled to say something like that.

And in so far as this story's lacking an epiphany, as I had promised, she's over there having a great time and I'm ambivalently adhering to my multilayered identity with all its conflicts and confusion. I am nevertheless keeping the faith with something; something quintessentially Australian; and that is with Father McGuire's counsel to Cleaver Greene. Sage words of wisdom to the enlightened. "Be a little wary of epiphanies mate, they have a nasty habit of disappearing."

That's What I Call Inverse Racism

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:12:00 +0000

This is something I sent as a letter to the editor at HaAretz (the original in Hebrew). It relects my personal and subjective take on how Ben Zygier is being represented to the public by at least some Israeli journalists. I doubt it will get published. :

I'm an Australian/Israeli and since the Prisoner X story exploded onto the scene I've been following every report and piece of information in the press and on the internet obsessively. I didn't know Zygier, don't come from the same town or from the same youth movement. But of all the disturbing and suspicious things that came out of this affair nothing infuriates me like the enormous insult I feel due to the prattle of two senior Israeli journalists come commentators A.A. and R.B.Y.

What bothers me, no makes my blood boil, is the derogatory attitude of these two bastions of Israeli journalism towards Zygier on the personal level, bordering on the malicious. I won't repeat all the derogatory nasty work of these senior commentators with respect to Zygier. These are a few of their pearls of wisdom : lacking character, small cog, mistake in the screening process. Not that they elaborated. These were just things they threw out into the void, just like that. No explanation. As R.B.Y. has it Zygier didn't commit treason he was just a chatterbox (not put in terms of mitigating circumstances but with an air of hushed ridicule)

To my surprise in R.B.Y.'s opinion, that first ABC report, which to its credit exposed this whole story, was tinged with anti Semitism. He didn't expand on this. I've got no idea what he was talking about, unless it's his way of venting jealousy. Or perhaps he thinks that only Israeli journalists have the right to put the Israeli establishment on the spot or otherwise anything published outside of Israel not singing Israel's praises, for anything Israeli, with unconditional love, constitutes anti-Semitism.

But does anyone perceiving themselves as a victim of racism have the right to assail a third party with the same malice? His and A.A.'s attitude to Zygier reeks of inverse racism, insulting not only Zygire's memory, but also, incidentally, a whole group of other people.

Their arrogance is simply mind boggling. Even if Zygier did stuff up, this educated young man, left his home and friends, moving home from the easy and even lush life of the Australian Jewish community to Israel, apparently out of idealism and Zionist ideology, to enlist in the IDF (I assume as a lone combat soldier) to set up a home and family here, to serve his old timer masters, who were happy to exploit his special qualities and talents, in enemy countries, supposedly risking his own life and the wellbeing of his family. All this counts for nothing for our pre-eminent commentators. Instead of honoring in some small way the tragic element in Zygier's life story they couldn't resist rushing out to tell the boys, behaving like a couple of yobbos, but with a patronizing almost sarcastic snide spitefulness, all at the expense of this burnt out agent, for all intents and purposes bound and at their mercy, not as if they were talking about some Australian dupe who'd served them as well to the utmost of his capabilities, but some Egyptian column in retreat in '67.

If Zygier had been a true blue Israeli, if he had not been an outsider, these lordly commentators would never have dared to relate to him in this way. They wouldn't even dare to treat Yigal Amir with this contempt. What it sounds like they're insinuating is that the white nigger has done his bit (whether to their satisfaction or not) so not only can he shove off now but they can make a laughing stock of him. This hypocritical, presumably unconsciously inverted racist attitude of theirs, not only cements Zygier's place and others less courageous than him, as outsiders in this society; it also cements the places of those Israelis that A.A. and R.B.Y. represent and reflect, as aggressive victims forever misunderstood.

I'll resist the urge to label their inverted racism in some sort of three penny pseudo psychobabble but their attitude raises a suspicion in me that in this instance they were more concerned with collaborating in the establishment's efforts to go into damage control at all costs and in any way possible (at least at that stage), more than they were in being journalists.

אני אוסטרלי/ישראלי ומאז התפוצצות פרשת העציר X אני עוקב בכפייתיות אחרי כל פיסת מידע בעיתונות ובאינטרנט. אני לא הכרתי את זיגייר ואף לא בא מאותה העיר או ולא בוגר אותה תנועת הנוער. אך מכל הדברים המפריעים וחשודים שעולים מפרשה זו שום דבר לא מטריף את דעתי כמו העלבון העצום שאני חש מפטפוטיהם של 2 עיתונאים/פרשנים ישראלים בכירים, א.א. ור.ב.י..

מה שצורם- לא (קבל תיקון) מרתיח, הוא יחסם המזלזל של אבירי הפרשנות הישראלית כלפי זיגייר עצמו, הגובל בשמחה לאיד. לא אחזור על כל מילותיהם המשפילות של בכירי הפרשנים האלה לגבי זיגייר. כמה פנינות; תיארו אותו כ"חלש אופי" "בורג קטן" "טעות בסינון". לא שהם הסבירו, אלה דברים שהפריחו לאוויר בעלמא. מדבריו של ר.ב.י. עולה שזיגייר לא בגד אלא הוא רק פטפט (לא בנימה של הקלה אלא בלעג חרישי).

די הדהים אותי אך לשיטתו של ר.ב.י. הכתבה המקורית של ה,ABC שתודה לה נחשפה כל הפרשה הזו, היתה נגועה באנטי שמיות. הוא לא פירט. לי אין מושג על מה הוא מדבר, אלא אם כך הוא מביע קינא. או אולי בעניו רק לעיתונאים ישראלים מותר להקשות על הממסד הישראלי או לחילופין כל אמירה שמתפרסמת מחוץ לגבולות ישראל ולא שרה הלל לכל דבר ישראלי באשר הוא, ובאהבה בלתי מסווגת, מהווה אנטי שמיות.

אבל האם למי שתופש את עצמו כקורבן גזענות מוענקת הזכות להתנגח בצד שלישי באותו המטבע? מהיחס שלו כלפי זיגייר ושל א.א.. נודף ריח רע של גזענות מהופכת, שפוגע לא רק בזכרו של זיגייר אלא בציבור שלם.

השחצנות שלהם היא פשוט משוועת. גם אם זיגייר מעד, הצעיר המשכיל הזה עזב את משפחתו וחברי נעוריו, העתיק את מקומו מהחיים הנוחים עד מדושנים בקהילה היהודית באוסטרליה עד למדינת ישראל, לכל הנראה מתוך אידיאליזם ואידיאולוגיה ציונית, להתגייס לצה"ל (אני מניח כחייל בודד וקרבי), להקים בית ומשפחה כאן, ולשרת את אדוניו הוותיקים, תוך ניצול נתוניו וכישוריו המיוחדים, במדינות איוב, ואני מניח תוך סיכון לעצמו ושלום ביתו הצעיר. כל זה פרשנינו הדגולים לא סופרים. במקום לתת קצת כבוד לערך הטרגי בתולדותיו של זיגייר, הם התנהגו כמו פרחחים וולגריים, לא מסוגלים לעמוד בפני הפיתוי לרכל מאחורי גיחוך דקיק ומתנשא, המקרין שמחה לאיד קל, על חשבון הסוכן השרוף, ומבחינה מעשית חסר הישע וכפות, כאילו לא מדובר פרייר אוסטרלי ששירת גם אותם עד קצה יכולתו אלא בגיס מצרי במנוסה ב67'.

אילו זיגייר היה ישראלי אסלי, אילולי זיגייר היה נטע זר, אבירי הפרשנים האלה לא היו מעיזים להתייחס אליו ככה. אפילו ביגאל עמיר לא היו מעיזים לזלזל ככה. מדבריהם משתמע כי הכושי הלבן עשה את שלו (לשביעות רצונם או לא) אז לא רק מותר לשלוח אותו גם מותר לרקוד על דמו. היחס הצבוע, הגזעני במהופך שלהם, ואני מניח בלתי מודע, רק משמר ויוצק את מקומנו של זיגייר ואחרים פחות אמיצים ממנו כנטעי זר בחברה הזו. הוא גם משמר ויוצק את מקומם של הישראלים שא.א.. ור.ב.י. מייצגים ומשקפים, כקורבנות תוקפניים, בלתי מובנים כהלכה נצחיים.

אתאפק מלסווג את הגזענות מהופכת שלהם מבחינת פסיכולוגיה בגרוש אך לשמיעת התייחסותם לזיגייר מקנן אצלי חשד כי במקרה זה הם ראו לנכון לשתף פעולה עם מאמצי הממסד למזער נזקיו בכל מחיר ובכל דרך לא עניינית (נכון לאותו השלב), יותר מאשר להתעסק בעיתונאות.

Benzygier Morant?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:26:00 +0000

I know Prisoner X was only an ex-shmutznik, but this whole affair has certainly brought out the A.D.D. in me. Can't stop thinking about it.
Is Ben Zygier the new Breaker Morant?

Set aside what ever form of treason he purportedly committed. It's really the alleged suicide that's worrying.

In my estimation there's no shortage of disinformation being disseminated about Ben Zygier. Since yesterday the Israeli press has started insinuating disparaging hints as to Zygier's character. But that's a run of the mill, crisis management smokescreen strategy that the Israeli establishment seems to favour, especially against outsiders who won't or can't defend themselves. It may be a rather non Australian form of vulgarity but to a large extent it works on the local populace.

We probably won't know which security offence Zygier was accused of, at least til we've already forgotten all about it, but I find it hard to believe that it's really about abusing his Australian passport and managing a straw company. All this cloak and dagger stuff, being held in custody for 10 months incognito and a trail behind closed doors for all that? It doesn't quite add up to me. It may be true but it gives me cognitive dissonance.

And speaking of straw companies and questions of guilt and innocence, Zygier is innocent til proven guilty, no less so than Yvette Liberman (in the heavier charges that were dropped). And in Zygier's case there never will be any trial, so he's legally innocent for ever. Find that naïve? Well it's equally naïve in both cases. But I'm digressing.

As has been amply reported Zygier was held in a special "suicide proof" cell built for Yigal Amir, at the Ayalon Prison. We don't know what equipment and state of the art technology that entails but it does imply full and continuous camera surveillance of that cell. As for now it appears that contrary to initial reports, he wasn't held for all those months in total isolation, but that he had contact with family and lawyers. In the last day or so the Israeli press has made it sound as if during those months he was being tried in secret, to protect the State and Zygier himself. But according to high profile lawyer Avigdor Feldman, who met with Zygier two days before he died, the trial had not yet started, though there were moves abound to try and arrive at a plea bargain. But Feldman's impression was that Zygier's inclination was to go to trial to prove his innocence and importantly that Zygier didn't show any apparent signs of a suicidal nature.

So on the face of it, it looks like Zygier was afforded his legal rights as a defendant, under the particular circumstances. And if Zygier's alleged crime was divulging to ASIO (the intelligence network of a friendly country) the identities of other Australian Mossad operatives abusing their Australian passports and that he managed a straw company which traded in enemy countries, well there doesn't seem to be any real motive for rubbing Zyglier out.

But it's another question whether the extraordinary steps taken in Zygiers instance match up with the reported extent of his supposed transgression. And whatever it is that he did allegedly divulge, it is almost certainly justifiably a secret, for reasons of national security. That is, the charges against him were probably more serious than what we are presently aware of.

So Zygier supposedly hung himself. Apparently the post mortem from the Abu Kabir forensic laboratory was death by asphyxiation. That doesn't sound too complicated. So why did it take the obligatory Coroner's Inquest something like 2 1/2 years to conclude that it was a suicide? If there was continuous and total camera surveillance in the cell why wasn't there video evidence of his sad demise, which supposedly would have ended the enquiry as soon as it started?

Why does the Coronary Inquest have to remain secret? Why after Zygier's identity has been exposed shouldn't the Coroner's Inquest protocols be made public? Even the most incompetent court would not allow a post mortem enquiry to be mixed up with a trial for treason. So there's no apparent risk of exposing State secrets in a Coroners Inquest. It's also been reported that the Coroner didn't enter into questions of wardens' negligence either. Rightly so. Legally speaking, they are two totally different enquiries. So there's nothing to protect behind closed doors from that angle either.

So what happened to the camera surveillance? In what way can the existence or disappearance of such evidence undermine State security if the State honoured its democratic civil rights duties? Why not make its existence public? That is unless the State did something improper and by a cover up deemed itself to be acting with impunity. So far we've had reports quoting a warden making an urgent call for an ambulance because of a suicide attempt. Big deal. More suspect disinformation. He was quite probably at the front desk and had no contact with what was happening in the cell that was built for Yigal Amir. This sort of thing goes nowhere near convincing me that there was a suicide. I contend that without the video evidence, the suicide story seems about as believable as finding a naked man in your bedroom closet claiming he's researching moths.

I suspect that the Australian Government is none too motivated to stir up a hornets nest exposing intelligence network information, especially when there are common interests between the two countries on the same side of the so called war against the Axis of Evil. I'm aware that from an Australian point of view the circumstances surrounding Zygier are somewhat distasteful, but I do hope that the Australian Government will show a bit more backbone in shedding light on the puzzling death of one of its citizens than it did in 1902.

New Years Resolutions for the TV Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:39:00 +0000

Out on the bleak horizon of Rosh Hashanah television programming stands a lone silhouette on the rim of a crater. He's waving a flag.

It's semaphore.

"This Rosh Hashanah watch It’s a Wonderful Life!"

"You're out of your mind!" you declare.

He's waving madly. "Frank Capra! James Stewart. Donna Reed!"

"But you're having us on!" you bawl. "That's staple Christmas Day afternoon matinee programming! On the Jewish New Year? "

But the inaudible call from the wilderness persists, unflappable, insisting that the order of the day should be; yes watch this Christmas Day fodder. Especially on Rosh Hashanah!

Incredulous? Then let me intercede.

Rosh Hashanah is coming up over there and over here. It's only days away. And as it gets indelibly closer, at least over here, a change takes us over. The intractably hot Levant night becomes clement. Our obsessive, stiff-necked, all encompassing, all-mitigating, primordial competitiveness gives way, yielding to a spirit of clemency.

For me the vehicle of that spirit is the greeting card. For eleven and a half months a year we feel commanded to thrash about for that promotion or commission. But as the New Year approaches I start trawling the internet for free ECards and YouTube clips. Feelers sprout from my caustic crust and recognize human demeanour. A smile creeps across the faces of Jerusalemites like Triffids' tendrils. Cell phones are inundated with well meaning text messages and email accounts are swamped with blessings. Everyone's sending out greetings like its a Nato Tactical Broadcast. Its all Happy New Year! and wishing you an Easy Fast. I could be as cynical about it as Ebenezer Scrooge but the bizarre thing is that we mean it.

If all that doesn't remind you of the famous old Seasons Greetings well I say Bah, Humbug!

Rosh Hashanah may be significant in lots of different ways but amongst others it heralds the Festivals; the Days of Awe, Yom Kippur, Succoth, school break. Productivity in Israel grinds to a halt for the best part of a month, a bit like France in August, a bit like Australia over the Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years, school holidays break. Either way it's not all anathema.

When I was in high school Christmas was always the best beach day of the year. Scarborough Beach was almost deserted, with a light easterly blowing across the turquoise sea and the perky little breakers glassy. As I got older and moved out of home the yuletide came to mean piss ups right through Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Years. But it wasn't all depravity. There was the nativity scene. For an entire week Chris and me made a sort of stand up collage out of cut up cardboard and Woman’s Weekly magazines and Anna nearly blew a fuse having to do all the cleaning and cooking by herself for the Christmas party we were having. And then I remember the first time I got Christmas presents. I nearly died from embarrassment. Firstly I was blown away that anyone would buy me anything, but as a consequence it never occurred to me to get anyone else anything either. Christmas prezzies were totally removed from our family traditions. And then there was the Christmas party where I discovered the deceptive potency of gin, keeling over, off the armchair’s arm, not shifting an inch from my sitting foetal position, bang onto my head, like a Michael Leunig cartoon. Isaac Newton, eat your heart out .

I never did see It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas. Either the replays of A Christmas Carol or the lure of the perfect beach day kept me away from the television. It was only by some miracle that I finally did see it on the telly whilst grieving the loss of my first great love. (as opposed to my first loss of love. But that’s between me and my therapist.) Maybe I should say infatuation? But that was some than 30 years ago. A lot of water has flown under the angel Clarence's bridge in Bedford Falls since then.

I won't go into the movie too much. I don't want to spoil it for you.

And as for the fundamentalists amongst you who might be aghast at the possibility of screening a movie on Rosh Hashanah with all and sundry decorating a Christmas tree I'll say this much. By the time you get to the end of the movie you’ll be crying so hard, you won’t even notice the Christmas tree. And if you’re not crying, then you’re a psychopath. You probably don't cry at the end of Pinocchio either. So poke yourself in the eyes; and pretend that they’re decorating the Arc and blowing the shofar. It won't affect the gist of the movie anyway.

p.s. If you do see this great ol' movie, then you’ll understand what I mean when in this season of approaching elections, wherever you are, I say: good government is about upward social mobility for all the decent people making a decent effort, and sales pitches are about making a commission, and let’s hope the elections bring us closer to Bedford Falls than to Pottersville.

The Trouble With Harry

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:15:00 +0000

The other week I got new glasses.

And while my francophone optometrist tested my eyes he asked me, "You're from Australia aren't you?"
"Yes," I said, keeping my breathing shallow, so as not to appear bashfully swaggering, (like the Aussie bloke in that old Sunlong Rice advert-me think it 'mazing).
"And the Queen of Great Britain, she's the Queen of Australia too isn't she?"
"Yes," I answered, "by the constitution she is."
"So does that make Prince Harry Australian too?"

I smile wryly. Ah those Europeans and their pre WWI delusions.
"No. No. Don't get me wrong," he backpedaled, "it's an interesting question."   Well it is at that, I have to admit. When you start thinking about it, it really is a captivating question.
Not that I give a flying f…f… fox, if Harry cavorts around naked. But the question that goes begging is, are the monarch's descendants Australian, sort of by proxy? It got my mind whirling; like an Iranian centrifuge.
You see what I really got to wondering is, what IF the person joined to the buttocks that Harry was no doubt intending to leapfrog in Las Vegas (except that some reprehensible individual slipped a banana peel onto his run-up) just happened to be a sleeping Swede; and then before Daddy could manage to fly poor Harry out, Dominique Strauss-Kahn petitioned for a writ of  mandamus on the grounds of discriminatory enforcement , and then IF in the meantime somebody hacked the English Post Office's modem and all English telecommunications collapsed, would the Australian Embassy then have extended consular assistance to Harry?
I mean if the Queen of England is the Queen of Australia what does that say about Harry or Prince Charles or William if they're not mentioned in the constitution? Does a claim to the throne grant them Australian nationality, or a passport, maybe foreign residency? Hell, the way the Eurozone is looking they may well want to sell up and reinvest down under. Should we let them? At least Charles got a bit of Aussie schooling. But as for William and Harry, they didn't even get their ears pinned back attending Geelong Grammar Timbertop.
And weirder still, as if by way of a flaky afternoon reverie, as drowsiness converges into doziness, and you're not sure if your daydream vision is about another dream or something you really experienced, were the separate but vaguely convergent articles I read in The Age and The Guardian over the weekend. Ah the things we read because of new glasses. One was about covert vestiges of Royal prerogative in modern day British lawmaking and the other about the Queen's untraceable influence in John Kerr's sacking of Gough Whitlam.
Makes you wonder. Maybe they fixed the game between the West Coast Eagles and Hawthorn too?

Cheap Wine and a 3 Day Genug

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:36:00 +0000

I’ve recently returned from nearly a month in Australia. Most of that time I spent in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, which is not bad work if you can get it. I suppose the down side of this trip was becoming what they call in Hebrew “orphaned”. It’s the sort of thing that can really add a particular sort spin to your travel plans, like visiting Central Synagogue in Bondi Junction a lot more than you regularly would. Don’t get me wrong I’m not kibitzing. I find it a very user-friendly shule. The rabbis serving there are very accessible, each in their own style, and every Shabbat they put on a kiddush with generous servings of Tasmanian smoked salmon and all sorts of other sandwiches and hors d'œuvres and Black Label. Its enough to get you through to Motzeh Shabbat without another morsel, wind assited.
All unintended cynicism aside, it’s a very welcoming community to visit.
One of the little curiosities that crop up from a trip like this pertains to the genealogy of a certain “feral” Australian. It reminds me of the running joke, or parody, we would play out back in high school. “Oh that actress, what’s her name? she’s Jewish, and Mike Todd was too and Sammy Davis Jr…”
Rabbi Wolf is quite a raconteur, despite his deceptively young and athletic looks. He’s very outreaching and always eager to spread the good oil on the eminence of yiddishkeit. He also reputedly sports an impressive yichus, from the synagogue of a particularly famous New York rabbi. And it seemed that on every possible occasion during my stay in Sydney Rabbi Wolf would promote from the pulpit an upcoming chazzanic concert, with world renowned Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot and Central’s popular chazzan Shimon Farkas; all accompanied by the Sydney International Orchestra. Whether it was due to outreach or a matter of fund raising, it was always with a lot of heart and soul that he would beseech his congregants to come along and fill the synagogue venue.
But it was apparently Chazzan Shimon Farkas who arranged the evening’s trump card and invited former Cold Chisel front man Jimmy Barnes to perform at the concert.
It worked. 1700 people filled the shule and it’s all over the Aussie Jewish press and blogs and You Tube. Jimmy Barnes may be a practicing Buddhist but if you take his word for it he’s halachicly Jewish. You can catch it on You Tube, his confession; his version of It’s a Wonderful World and his duet on Yiddesheh Mama.
My sources tell me that the concert was a great success and much eng’oyed by all present.

Give Me A Little Credit

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:21:00 +0000

Flying back to Israel on El Al can be a chaval al hazman (one hell ov an) experience. I don’t mean to be snooty but a ten hour flight in 2009 without a personal screen and old fashioned pre laptop overhead storage (small) either assumes that your average traveller from Bangkok is strung out from one form of self abuse or another or has never indulged themselves in any sort of non party approved extravagance since a long weekend in Tiberias in the 1950’s.
But its not all despondency flying on an airborne version of an Egged bone rattler. At least you get pre 11/9-leg room.
However, and notwithstanding, if they do decide to press charges against me, I doubt all that would count for mitigating circumstances.
The predicament really starts a few weeks beforehand. I don’t know about you but in the past my experience in Australia with Israeli credit cards had not been user friendly. The ATMs have never recognised my secret card code. You can note that Israeli caspomats, not to be outdone, and in typical fashion, returned the favour tit for tat and didn’t honour my father’s Australian credit card either. But this time mysteriously enough, I did manage to take money out from the ATMs in Australia with my Israeli card, starting at Bondi Junction. That was good news, it's the first time I’ve had that convenience out there in Oz.
However if you want to evade the heavy bank commission on OS withdrawals you do tend to do your retail shopping transactions directly onto your credit card instead of in cash. But that can be an anxiety causing experience too.
With every retail transaction you make the salesperson swipes your card through the gizmo and then asks you is that on credit or savings? I mean who in Israel has savings in a bank and who’d pay you interest if you did, anyway?
What does an Israeli answer to such a question?
“Oh please just add it to my overdraft.”?
But by trial and error and no insignificant amount of anxiety I concluded that its best to answer-credit. It worked for me.
Well most of the time. There was the incident in David Jones nonetheless, when I bought an expensive suit and my credit was rejected. How did I feel? Let me tell you. I felt very suspect. Here I was intending to attire myself like a mench purporting to pay a pretty hefty sum of money, and on my own account, whilst unshaven for two weeks, with alopecia patches in my beard, looking as scruffy as an Israeli character actor in a Hollywood action movie; but nevertheless incongruously speaking fluent English. I was sure they’d call security any second. Luckily my sister was there to bail me out.
Not withstanding that trauma, the rest of the time my transactions all went through, all right. Oh and lest we forget, the latest innovation in Australian credit card transactions is, lo and behold, “Will that be by signature or on your PIN?" I took to typing in my PIN. As it is I’m no longer used to signing my name in English. Luckily for me the PIN worked every time, not counting the David Jones incident.
The other potential trauma in Australia is inadvertently bringing foodstuffs undeclared through customs, much worse than accidentally buying a vegemite horseshoe roll at the school canteen on chol hamoed pessach. You’re strictly limited on liquid quantities too. That can put you in a bind if you've purchased the Glenlivet deal and bought 2 bottles of it, a sorely tempting promotion for wayward types like me, offered in every duty free location I stepped into on my travels. But the Aussies have a duty free arrangement providing a simple way around those alcohol customs hassles. They have a duty free shop, plonked right in your path just as you embark from the plane. It makes for some lucrative business opportunities for some folks, but I settled for deferred gratification when it came to the Glenlivet deal.
As my return date approached all this stiff upper lip customs attitude in Australia was unnerving me a bit, even though we're talking about a return flight to Israel. I was perplexed as to how many bottles of Glenlivet I could bring into Israel. I hadn't thought to check it out ahead of time. I guess I was too busy with prezzies for everyone else. (dumb metrosexual stuff) So I compromised and didn't do the 2-bottle deal on that very nice single malt at any of the airports I passed through, but settled for a good ol' Chivas, bought on the El Al plane. Figured that'd be safe enough.
So with the duty free call I toddled off to the back of the plane to place my order. I gave the stewardess my credit card and while she swiped it through the little credit card machine I was wondering if I should say credit or savings account. But she asked me a trick question i.e. should she charge it in dollars or shekels? “Whichever comes out cheaper,” I said. Meanwhile I was still wondering if I should say credit or savings account. But she didn't ask that. Instead she just passed the little machine in my direction, with the slip of paper sticking through. So I asked her if I should put in my PIN?
Of course all of that duty free transaction, except for the word PIN, was carried out entirely in Hebrew, and it took me a minute before I realised my mistake. Then I started apologising profusely.
I'm still nervously watching my mail for a sexual harassment indictment.
And for the uninitiated, as anyone who has had a kid go through Israeli kindergarten knows, pin is the Hebrew word for penis.

Courage To Care

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:59:00 +0000

One of the more unexpected things I unearthed on my last trip to Australia is a travelling exhibition developed by the B'nai B'rith Jewish Service organization called Courage To Care. As far as I know it’s a uniquely Australian project, though the name probably stems from a 1985 documentary of the same name.
I heard about it from my brother in law’s mother, Hanni, who is one of the volunteer guides in the travelling exhibition.
In my view the main drawing card of this exhibition is the participation of non-Jewish rescuers (righteous amongst the nations) who were courageous enough to rescue Jews during the Holocaust from persecution and death. School age children meet with and encounter these great individuals, telling their story firsthand.
With eyes glazed over, Hanni told us of the elderly, formerly Dutch rescuer, who travels with the exhibition to outlying country towns in NSW to tell his story to the local school children. In the past he would be accompanied by his wife who also was one of the rescuers but who has since passed away. Today he lives in the Montefiore Aged Home.
Also participating in the exhibition are Jewish holocaust survivors. Imagine hearing the stories from holocaust survivors who owe their lives to the courageous actions of others.
Then the children participate in the Living in Harmony workshop, enabling them to explore the relevance of Courage to Care principles in their own lives, sometimes beset with bullying and racism.
Since its inception in the late 90s, Courage to Care has visited tens of towns and cities in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia. The exhibition has been seen by at least 135,000 people, including 46,000 school students. In NSW transport costs for school groups to each exhibition venues are borne by Courage to Care, thus taking any financial strains off parents and schools, and enabling the less-advantaged students to experience the programme.
There are three major phases in each exhibition:
GUIDES - volunteer guides show school groups and visitors around the exhibition, explaining the panels and showcases, which define the courage of the rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust
SURVIVORS - Holocaust survivors explain to groups their experiences during the Nazi Holocaust…how they survived, the strength and courage they needed, and the way in which a small number of ordinary people displayed the courage to care for them and for others
EDUCATORS - a team of professional educators and facilitators who run workshops for school groups, relating the themes of the exhibition to contemporary issues such as bullying, stereotyping, and aboriginality, and ensuring that students take away with them the message that the individual can make a difference.
The overriding message in Courage to Care is one of communal tolerance in 21st century Australia. By drawing on the Holocaust experience 65 years ago, the exhibition shows that in today's world of conflict and inequality, there is still the need to stand up to discrimination and persecution.

Better Late Than Never

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Being a bit of a one man band there are a number of things I’d have deemed appropriate to write about for us ex pat Aussies but didn’t get round to seeing or writing about soon enough.
On the sad side is the unfortunate passing away of Frank Stein ZL. We were among Frank’s many clients during his long tenure at the BOS. Of course the Aussie department later morphed into the ZFA. Words seem incapable of encapsulating the kindness with which Frank helped us and I’m sure many others.
On a much happier note I got to encounter a number of shows at the AICE G’day Israel Festival. I ate or rather dinned on Guillaume’s gourmet cooking at the King David Hotel, listening to rousing speeches from Julia Gillard and Peter Costello. I saw and heard Paul Grabowsky and experienced a David Helfgott concert. I also took in Tackling Piece, the documentary about the Peres Peace Foundation Palestinian-Israeli footy team.
Had a great arvo at Habonim Beach at the annual Habo picnic.
I missed the Maccabiah Games and all the Australian teams participating ‘cause I was unexpectedly OS . Bassah.

Inpidginous Vocab I

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:01:00 +0000

Do you find yourself lapsing into pidgin from time to time? God knows how long we've been here, trying to eat from the tree of knowledge and then falling from grace or from the Anglosphere. It may be time to consider a bit of a vocab overhaul and on the other hand some revision too. Come on! In like Flynn!

revision:
IRON LUNG: WOULDN’T WORK IN AN IRON LUNG Extraordinarily lazy. The phrase derives from the artificial respirator that kept polio patients alive by ‘breathing’ for them in the days when up to ten thousand people annually were affected by poliomyelitis (‘infantile paralysis’) in Australia. When vaccinations became routine in the mid-1950s, the fear of polio disappeared. Barry Humphries commented in 1974: ‘Work! Brits couldn’t even spell it. Bloody poms couldn’t work in an iron lung’.
ICY POLE popsicle
INCESTON derogatory name for Launceston.

new words:
IGNORANUS (ig.nor.AY.nus) n. A person who is both stupid and extremely rude or obnoxious.
IN SILICO is an expression used to mean "performed on computer or via computer simulation." The phrase is coined in analogy to the Latin phrases in vivo and in vitro which are commonly used in biology (see also systems biology) and refer to experiments done in living organisms and outside of living organisms, respectively. Contrary to widespread belief, in silico does not mean anything in Latin. The proper Latin phrase would likely be in simulacro to describe experiments done on the likeness (simulacrum) or model of a phenomenon.
IMPERIAL OVERSTRETCH n. The extension of an empire beyond its ability to maintain or expand its military and economic commitments.
INCESTUOUS AMPLIFICATION n. The reinforcement of set beliefs among like-minded people, leading to miscalculations and errors in judgment.
IRRITABLE MALE SYNDROME n. Anger and irritableness in men caused by a sudden drop in testosterone levels, particularly when brought on by stress. Also: IMS.

SCG Media Release

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:35:00 +0000

Electoral Committee Says Disenfranchised Expats Should Stay Voteless Several hundred thousand disenfranchised Australian expatriates living around the globe have received a kick in the teeth from the Australian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM).The JSCEM believes existing electoral legislation on expat enrolment is wholly sufficient, although many Australian citizens overseas are presently prevented by law from enrolling to vote, and are therefore deprived of their franchise. Electoral Committee Says Disenfranchised Expats Should Stay Voteless Several hundred thousand disenfranchised Australian expatriates living around the globe have received a kick in the teeth from the Australian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM).The JSCEM believes existing electoral legislation on expat enrolment is wholly sufficient, although many Australian citizens overseas are presently prevented by law from enrolling to vote, and are therefore deprived of their franchise. Australian electoral law currently prevents Australian citizens from enrolling to vote if it is more than three years since they left Australia to live abroad. This means that expats who are deleted from the electoral roll by the Australian Electoral Commission for whatever reason can find themselves voteless for the duration of their time abroad if they don't realise they have to enrol within that three year window. In its May 2008 submission to the JSCEM's Inquiry, Australian diaspora advocacy and support organisation the Southern Cross Group (SCG) put forward the view that current electoral legislation may in fact now be unconstitutional, when viewed against the High Court's recent statements on the right to vote in the 2007 Roach prisoner voting case. But the JSCEM has failed to assess expat enrolment rules against the High Court's pronouncement that the disenfranchisement of any group of adult citizens on a basis that does not constitute a substantial reason for exclusion from such participation would not be consistent with the Constitution. Despite more than 65 submissions on the expatriate disenfranchisement problem to the JSCEM's Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2007 Election, the Committee's final report, tabled on 22 June 2009, will leave many loyal overseas Australians feeling despondent. SCG Co-founder Anne MacGregor said from Brussels, "We are disappointed that the JSCEM did not undertake anything other than a very cursory review of current expat voting rules as part of this inquiry. While the other issues it chose to spend time investigating are worthy and will be in part peripherally helpful for those expat Australians who can still vote, that does not change the fact that any Australian citizen who is not presently on the electoral roll and who left more than three years ago remains stripped of a basic democratic right. Very often disenfranchisement occurs because the expat just doesn't know about the applicable rules in time." The JSCEM has stated: "Current arrangements do require electors who are travelling overseas with an intention to take up residence in another country to notify the AEC and then take the appropriate steps to maintain their enrolment. However, the committee considers that the taking of actions such as these are valid indicators of electors' actual and continuing interest in Australian electoral politics and their preparedness to act on their franchise." The JSCEM considers that current rules "form a valid method of measuring whether a continuing interest in Australian political affairs exists."Robyn Stephenson, a disenfranchised Australian citizen living in Michigan, said: "The JSCEM's stance overlooks the fact that thousands of departing Australians every year have simply no idea that they have to be proactive to maintain their vote. Many mistakenly assume that their Australian citizenship in and of itself is enough to guarantee them a right to re-enrol (and vote) at any time in the future even if deleted from the roll at a certain point." Recommendations in the JSCEM report which will smooth expatriate voting procedures for enfranchised citizens in Australia's diaspora (if and when they become law) include:· A recommendation to close the rolls 7 days after the issuing of the writs once an election is called; · A recommendation to allow the date of the witness signature on postal vote declarations to be the determining date for the validity of postal votes (rather than the postmark); · A recommendation to remove the legislative requirement for signatures on postal vote applications to facilitate online and electronic applications; · A recommendation that proof of identity be required from each elector once only; · A recommendation for the creation of an enrolment website for already enrolled electors to update their enrolment information themselves online; · A recommendation to simplify postal vote application forms.In February 2009 the SCG wrote to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, suggesting that expatriate enrolment issues should be included in the government's forthcoming second Green Paper on Electoral Reform, slated for release later this year. 23 June 2009 Contacts Robyn Stephenson in Michigan, USA, mobile +1 616 403 2819, robyn@southern-cross-group.org Anne MacGregor in Brussels, Belgium, mobile +32 474 950 131, anne@southern-cross-group.org About the Southern Cross Group The Southern Cross Group is an international non-profit volunteer-run advocacy and support organisation for the Australian diaspora. Since its formation in early 2000, the SCG has established a considerable track record of intelligent and timely submissions to Government on a host of Australian expatriate issues. The Group is best known for its work in reforming Australian citizenship law. It has also been active on the issue of expatriate disenfranchisement in the Australian electoral process, and was the driving force behind the establishment of a broad-based dedicated Australian Senate Committee inquiry into Australian expatriates held in 2003-2005. The SCG has no paid staff and is funded by donations which go towards offsetting overheads such as software licensing fees, web hosting costs, postage, stationery, and communication expense. For more information about the SCG and to make a donation, click here. Contact us for advertising and marketing opportunities. www.southern-cross-group.org info@southern-cross-group.org

Julia Gillard Heads G'day Israel 2009 Delegation

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:52:00 +0000

You probably haven't met the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, yet. She's coming over for the biannual AICE G'day Israel. You ought to get clued up … press here for more about G’day Israel 2009.
Lets start with the simple and familiar …In case you’ve forgotten although we told you last edition, this years AICE Australian Film Festival is a part of the AICE G’day Israel 2009.
AICE Australian Film Festival 2009... the choice…
Tackling Peace, The Black Balloon, Disgrace, The Combination, Three Blind Mice, The Square, Miracle Fish, Son of a Lion, Kokoda, Jerrycan, Bitter & Twisted, Rare Chicken Rescue, Men's Group, Salute, The Oasis.
Those are the films showing and this is the schedule and booking info .
Other guests who each on their own merits could claim top billing are…
David Helfgott... more info
Paul Grabowsky... more info
Joe Chindamo... more info
Guillaume and the gala dinner... superstar of the Aussie foodie scene..see Guillaume at Bennelong – Sydney Opera House, Australia
Australia Israel Leadership Forum... see our last piece...

Moriah's Israel Reunion a Hit!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

from David Hersh
On the 19th April, 2009 Yedid – Moriah’s Alumni Association held its first ever Israel Reunion at Beit WIZO in Tel Aviv. Over 150 old collegians and former and current members of the Moriah Community gathered together in celebration of friendships formed in the playground, shared memories of Moriah days gone by and a common love of Israel.
The reunion would not have been the success it was, if it were not for the hard work of David Hersh (Class of 1976), Yedid’s Israel Liaison and his team of old collegians which included Lisa (Isman) Marcus (1980), Craig Levy (1994) and Danny Meyer (1984).
A welcoming committee made up of Lisa Marcus, Simonne Mekler (1987) and Ariel & Judy Mekler-Peled (current year 8 Moriah students) greeted guests as they arrived. All were encouraged to sign up and join Yedid and receive an iconic reminder of home in Australia in the form of Vegemite! As it was just after Pesach the full yeast content in vegemite was very well received.
As people flooded the hall, surrounded by the buffet of Israeli delicacies for all to enjoy, familiar faces were rediscovered and phone numbers were exchanged between old friends. The Katz Family – including Chaim, Miriam and Judy were among the first to arrive with old photos in hand. They recalled their time at Moriah from 1962 when their father Rabbi Jacob Katz took up the position of Director of Jewish Studies at Moriah.
Robert Mountwitten (1962) was certainly a sight for sore eyes, as he arrived wearing the old Moriah school crest on his shirt pocket, his Moriah school tie, as well as his School Vice Captain badge.
Yedid’s Co-President, Michelle Mekler-Peled (1983) who attended the event, welcomed everyone to the reunion. “Today we are experiencing a unique opportunity to reconnect with old school friends, teachers, shlichim and the extended Moriah community who have fulfilled the dream of making Aliyah” ….”our gathering here today shows that no matter where we live in the world - our roots and feelings towards Moriah are ever so strong. We are proud of our alumni families who have passed on the value of Jewish education to their children. Yedid hopes to continue this Moriah cycle of life on to the next generation.”
Former Moriah Board Member and Past President Sam Fisher gave a heart warming speech and spoke of the history of Moriah College. He recapped the events which led to the incredible acquisition of the Queens Park Campus. He remembered the meeting held in November 1983 in Neville Wran’s office when the landmark decision was made to take over the Eastern Suburbs Hospital site.
Past College Principal Mr Lionel I Link also spoke with fondness of his time at Moriah. He certainly received everyone’s immediate attention by beginning his speech with “Sheket Yeladim” and went on to say how wonderful it was to see a room filled with former students who have made Israel their home. This is a living testament to Moriah’s role in promoting Zionism and a love of Israel.
A surprise video presentation created by former student, Julie (Gardos) Fisher (1980) was screened, which included a congratulatory message from new Moriah College Principal Kim Fillingham, as well as touching messages from past and present teachers including Angela Epstein, Morrie Finberg, Velvel Lederman and Max Lemberg, as well as many more.
Former Moriah P&F President Rosalie Isman closed the evening and was given the honour of drawing the raffle for an Aussie Prize Pack, which was won by old collegian Cheryl (Singer) Freeman (1976). All monies raised at the reunion were donated to WIZO as well as to the Frank Stein Memorial Fund.

Maybe I’ll Even Leave An Imprint

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today
I want to be a part of it …

Maybe its a bit grandiose, but be it the Liza Minnelli or Frank Sinatra version, that’s the song that springs to mind, whilst contemplating the biggest step I’ll be taking this last 15 years of my life. After some 21 years in the Israeli public service, so called, I’ll be swapping sides and going into private practice.
I’d have to say that it’s the most unnerving decision I’ve made since packing a couple of suitcases 25 years ago and hopping back on to the Geruda return flight to London in order to catch a charter flight to Lod.

And if I can make it there, I’m gonna make it anywhere…

I was a 27-year-old adolescent, single and unemployed with vague dreams and sweet FA idea about how to implement them. I had some sort of vague delusion that here I would find or recreate myself, or both, and things would fall into place. It’s hardly the way your typical hardboiled Israeli would make a decision.
I recall that in London I stayed overnight at a friends place. There was no way on earth that I could put in words in that Camden Town squat what it was that I might be looking for in the provincial and parochial Levant. Bloody hell, a lot of water has flowed under the Yarkon Bridge since then.
As for some of those old dreams, lets say I jagged it. As for some of the others, they are still floating around somewhere out in the atmosphere waiting for the weatherman to locate them on the satellite map.
But now I’m at the crossroads again. This time too, I’ve made the decision to take the plunge. I know I’m not the only one. Not the first and not the last. But it’s still important to me.
At the end of this month I go on leave. Another few months and retirement actually kicks in. That’s as in early retirement. It’s a long way since that apprehensive night in Camden Town.
Most people congratulate me with a slap on the back as if I've already made it. The odd man out suggested that it’s unfair that the taxpayer should have to bankroll me for another 35 years.
“Why only 35?” I responded, “Why not til 120?”
What I didn’t say was, “Bugger you mate. I reckon I’ve paid my dues,” and that's only out of deference for his position.
From here on in I’ll be using the knowledge and experience I’ve accumulated in the last 20 years to help people, instead of screwing them (the usual Israeli idea of public service). I know I tend to underestimate the knowledge I’ve accrued. The last few years have taught me that.
I admit that in this twilight time between careers I have my fantasies where either I fall flat on my face or else I prove to the world that I haven’t forgotten what humble beginnings I came from. But I’m wizened enough not to take them too seriously. It’s been a short 25 years and it hasn’t been the easiest road that I’ve taken. I’m not quite that detached post adolescent kid I was 25 years ago. This dreamer has come up a few rungs in the last quarter of a century, though more in the sense of maturity and experience than in hierarchical advancement. And I’ve read Rich Dad Poor Dad too. The time has come to taste a little independence.
I have this sense of coming the full circle. I never accepted the attitude of those patronizing chauvinistic types who expect you to morph into clones of them, into little grey statistics for Zionism, like virtual canon fodder, as if you emigrated here to exist as mere extensions of their personalities for the benefit of their self-determination. I’ve survived in a sometimes harsh and unfeeling environment for more than 20 years, progressing from feigning apathy and indifference in order to camouflage cultural differences and the difficulty of competing against people with the home ground advantage (in more ways than one); growing in confidence and spirit and assertiveness, adapting and integrating, to the point where… now its time to part ways and try to do things my way. Now I want to do things as an expression of my personality, of my self-determination, in light of the education and values I integrated as a youngster.

This...little town.... blues
Are...melting away,
I gotta make a brand new start of it

… Maybe I’ll even leave an imprint

Carmel 5oth Anniversary Reunion

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:29:00 +0000

It was an at times emotional reunion of ex Carmel School students at Moshav Olesh. Perth’s version of Moriah College or Mount Scopus College was established some 50 years ago and the jubilee has been reason enough to justify a string of celebrations, reaching as far as Israel.
It was a diverse collection of people that met in the mottled shade of the wizened mulberries in the courtyard of the Deutch meshek. There were representatives from the earliest miniscule Carmel School classes, to former teachers, to founding fathers/mothers of the school, to graduates born after I’d made aliyah and whom I wouldn’t know from a bar of soap. There were even some entire family units who’d emigrated from Perth over the years.
A do like this can be an excuse to catch up on people you’ve lost touch with for years. It’s that and more. There’s that nostalgic aspect but there’s also that slightly sinister side to these sort of functions. Hiss. Snarl. (Well maybe just a little bit.) Let’s be honest. Just for a moment. The narcissistic ogre inside every reality show viewer,always trying to out, keeps asking that ill-bred question , “How well have you been keeping up with the Jones?”
But all that’s of negligible significance. In fact it’s talking with someone potentially on the vulnerable side, which takes you beyond that regular cocktail banter, to some place where you’re thinking and feeling outside the box. After all its that quality that I like about Australians. We’re more down to earth than your usual garden-variety ethnic subculture. It’s probably that multicultural, fair go, ethos from down under, which dampens our innate snobbery and allows for the majority of people to follow their own fate and aspirations without us getting too judgemental and self-righteous about other peoples vagaries.
One point of interest for me was that nearly all the male participants had donned kipot, something almost nobody did in public in the Perth Hebrew Congregation of the 1960’s. Things change.
Unfortunately for me and for some of the other older veterans, Michael Singer, the school’s second headmaster couldn’t make it to the party, but did send warm words on an old fashioned cassette. He’s convalescing and hopefully will return to full health. Mr Singer’s soft-spoken manner, non-competitive values and nonaggressive Jewish education left an indelible imprint on the lives of many of us both spiritually and academically. His Londoner’s perspective and retrospective on the tiny and comfortable Perth Jewish community of the 60’s rang true word for word. It’s hard to imagine that without the foresight of a small bunch of parents setting up a Jewish kindergarten and day school the Jewish community would have survived the comfort and ensuing complacency afforded by the easygoing Australian political culture and lifestyle.

Australian Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:41:00 +0000

I bought this book on the internet after reading positive reviews about it in the press. It’s a new book out by Nava Semel.
Probably I was expecting something like Bill Bryson’s “Down Under” but in Hebrew. I was disappointed. Semel’s book is about her travels in and around Byron Bay in northern NSW, in her son’s footsteps or should I say, on the scent of his shikse girlfriend, Lucy. (albeit ambiguously)
As my son pointed out the photo of Lucy on the cover bears an uncanny resemblance to Bar Rafaeli. But try as she may Semel doesn’t manage to conceal Jewish mother’s distain. Something in Semel’s attitude to Lucy and the alternative lifestyle, new age community around Byron Bay reveals a certain mixture of bemused condescending observation of the community’s naive, anarchistic, sauvage noblesse independence and a certain anthropological wonder, as if that other more famous and studied Lucy and her prehistoric family of australopithecines had come to life before Semel’s very eyes. Semel’s point of view is fundamentally tzfoni, Israeli bourgeoisie, and though in the book she wrestles hard with her conscience, rationalising her bereavement for her wayward son’s betrayal of the collective ethic against her profound protective desire for his personal happiness, the author does not succeed in settling her conflict nor give us any new perspective.
In Down Under, Bryson travels around by foot, rail, air and car, stays in hotels, rubs shoulders with the populace, drinks middies and eats with them, lampoons them and laughs along with them. Though it’s just a humble travel book the writer charms the reader with a mixture of humour and information, so that from the safety of your favourite armchair you, the reader, can suspend your disbelief and feel that you too are on a voyage of discovery, even if its through the writer’s eyes. You’re reading about the trip you’d have loved to have done yourself.
Unfortunately reading Australian Wedding, besides discovering pieces of Shlomo Artzi’s biography, if anything, I had the sense of confronting the politically correct version of Israeli ethnocentrism and egocentricity and c’est tout. Its all about me, me, me with some patronisingly polite references to aborigines and local left leaning politics, probably stuff Semel read about rather than came face to face with. You can feign European manners but you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. It still comes out as obstinacy. I got the feeling that her voyage to Australia was an excuse to write about herself and her opacified Zionism rather than a voyage of discovery to a new world and a fresh point of view. There is as much text about Semel’s family, herself and her forefathers as there is about Byron Bay.
Reading the book I started toying with a hypothesis that in order to captivate the reader a writer has to go out on a limb and immerse himself/herself totally in the object of his observation, relinquishing his own conventions and parameters for a time at least. Otherwise the book will be lifeless. This assumes that the writer’s identity is either so weak it offers no resistance or else is it is secure enough to let go and plunge in, and consequently either empathise with or disapprove of his subject. But on reading Australian Wedding I’m reminded of the wicked genius of a Hamishia Hakamerit skit lampooning the Israeli need for consensus, at any price.

Australian Wedding is written from deep within the North Tel Aviv consensus. Its almost as if Nava Semel never took a step out.

Inpidginous Vocab H

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:26:00 +0000

Do you find yourself lapsing into pidgin from time to time? God knows how long we've been here, trying to eat from the tree of knowledge and then falling from grace or from the Anglosphere. It may be time to consider a bit of a vocab overhaul and on the other hand some revision too. Don't be a hoon!

revision:
HEAD LIKE A REVOLVING MALLEE ROOT insulting description of somenone with unruly hair: Got a head like a revolving mallee root.
HORSE BITE a sharp blow to the skin (usually someone else's bare legs) with a cupped hand. Compare camel bite, crow peck, monkey shine.
HOW'S YOUR MOTHER'S CHOOKS? It meant "hello how are you?" It was used by my grandfather who is in his 70's now. When meeting someone: So, how's your Mother's chooks?
HILLS HOIST The hills hoist is a rotary clothes line fitted with a hoist that is operated by a crown and pinion winding mechanism. In Australia Lance Hill is commonly thought to have invented the rotary clothes hoist, but he adapted the existing design in 1946 by including his own winding mechanism. The name hills hoist is used generically in Australia for any rotary clothes line.

new words:
HOME MEAL REPLACEMENT n. A full, cooked meal purchased at a grocery store or other food outlet
HOMEPRENEUR n. An entrepreneur who creates and manages a home-based business.
HURRIED CHILD SYNDROME (HUR.eed chyld SIN.drum, -drohm) n. A condition in which parents overschedule their children's lives, push them hard for academic success, and expect them to behave and react as miniature adults.
—hurried child n.
One symptom of the hurried child syndrome is forcing pre-school children to constantly take classes and perform other "enrichment" exercises to help them prepare for school. This is also called hothousing
HETEROFLEXIBLE (het.ur.oh.FLEKS.uh.bul) n. A heterosexual person who is open to relationships with people of the same sex.
HEDGEHOG CONCEPT (HEJ.hawg kon.sept) n. An idea or concept that, if done extremely well and to the exclusion of almost everything else, can help a person's career or a company's business achieve their full potential.
The fox knows a little about many things, but the hedgehog knows only one big thing very well. The fox is complex; the hedgehog simple. And the hedgehog wins. Research shows that breakthroughs require a simple, hedgehog-like understanding of : what a company can be the best in the world at, how its economics work best, and what best ignites the passions of its people. Breakthroughs happen when you get the hedgehog concept and become systematic and consistent with it.

Southern Cross Group Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:12:00 +0000

Occasional Newsletter

No. 2 of 2009
9 June 2009

in this issue
Aussie Citizenship for Spouses and Partners
Citizenship and Visa Forms
Electoral Matters
New National Broadband Network
New War Cemetery at Fromelles, France
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
Fairer Compensation for Air Travellers
Expansion of Air Services Arrangements with the Philippines
Pension Reforms
New Social Security Agreements
Ministerial Changes
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Government Response to the Australia 2020 Summit
Australia's National Reserve System
New N Series Australian Passport
Overseas Adoption Programs in Hong Kong and Taiwan
Changes to Tax Exemption for Australians Working Overseas
Women's Rights Strengthened
Free Trade Agreements
Diplomatic Appointments
Current Parliamentary and/or Government Reviews
Taxation
Superannuation
Web Sites of Interest

From the Editor

Greetings to all our readers around the world from (sometimes) sunny Brussels.

There are many pertinent developments from Australia to report in this issue which impact our global diaspora community. We are continuing to help many people make Australian citizenship applications. We are also hoping to see some positive recommendations on expatriate voting rights in the JSCEM's Report in the Electoral Matters Inquiry, due to be tabled at this stage in Parliament in Canberra on 22 June. And there's been a Cabinet reshuffle and changes to pension and social security agreement arrangements, among other news.

As usual, we welcome your feedback. Happy reading!

John (Sid) MacGregor
Editor
Canberra and Brussels
editor@southern-cross-group.org

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Sponsorship Opportunities

Would your business like to sponsor future editions of this newsletter? Sponsorship money is essential to enable the SCG to keep serving the Australian Diaspora. The SCG is entirely volunteer-run and has no paid staff. Sponsorship and donations help offset overheads such as web-hosting fees, postage, stationery, and other sundry outlays. Contact us for further information at info@southern-cross-group.org
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Australian Citizenship for non-Australian Spouses and Partners

Many people who live outside Australia and who are becoming Australian citizens under the 2007 Australian Citizenship Act are asking us whether their non-Australian spouse can become an Australian citizen as well.

There is a route to Australian citizenship for spouses and partners of existing Australian citizens, even when the couple lives outside Australia. The Australian spouse/partner can sponsor the non-Australian in the couple for a family visa. Once granted, the visa has to be validated by taking a trip into Australia. The trip can be just a holiday.

Where the relationship is long established, the non-Australian spouse or partner will usually be granted a permanent visa straight off - i.e. Australian permanent residency status. In other cases, the spouse/partner visa will initially be temporary, but if the relationship is still existing 2 years later, it can be changed to a permanent visa.

Once the permanent spouse/partner visa has been validated on entry to Australia and four years have passed, the non-Australian can apply for Australian citizenship by conferral using the special spouse residence discretion in the Australian Citizenship Act 2007. The candidate has to pass the Australian Citizenship Test, but that can be taken at various DIAC test centres outside Australia.

Many non-Australian spouses and partners are now using this route to Australian citizenship, even while the couple don't live in Australia. For example, Belgian citizen Nicolas Portois was recently able to become an Australian citizen using the spouse residence discretion because he already had a permanent residency visa. On 24 April this year, Nicolas was sworn in as an Australian citizen at the Australian Embassy in Berlin after sitting and passing the Australian Citizenship Test last year.

Here's a picture of Nicolas, a proud new Aussie Belgian dual citizen, holding his new Australian citizenship certificate with his Australian wife Alison, under the watchful gaze of the Queen of Australia!

If you'd like more information on the route to Australian citizenship for a non-Australian spouse or partner, please get in touch.

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Citizenship and Visa Forms / New DIAC North American Phone Line
Those contemplating applying for Australian citizenship or visas should be aware that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) regularly updates its application forms. You need to submit your application on the version of the appropriate form that is current at the time of lodgement. Remember that if it has taken you some time to assemble all the necessary documentation, the last check you need to make is to ensure that you are using the correct form.

The DIAC website contains extensive guidance on applying for citizenship
.
Information on applying for visas is also available.

Direct links to the various citizenship forms and advice on which visa form to use are also on the website.

If you are in doubt as to which visa type best suits your needs use the Visa Wizard inter-active, award winning facility on the DIAC website.

If you are using DIAC's services in North America, please note that there is now a new telephone inquiry number: 1 905-280-1437. Lines are open 10 am to 5 pm Eastern Standard time. If you prefer to contact DIAC in North America via email, use this inquiry form.
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Electoral Matters

Electoral Reform Green Paper
On 17 December 2008 the Special Minister of State, John Faulkner, released the Government's Electoral Reform Green Paper - Donations, Funding and Expenditure, and invited submissions on the issues raised. He also indicated that the Government had plans for a later, second Green Paper on Electoral Reform, to be released in 2009, and invited submissions as to what should be covered in that second Green Paper.

The text of the first Green Paper may be downloaded. The Minister released the submissions received on 6 March 2009. The Southern Cross Group made a submision on 23 February 2009 reiterating the points it had made to the JSCEM in 2008 and asking that expat electoral issues be treated in the forthcoming second Green Paper.

JSCEM Inquiry Into the 2007 Election
The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters has now completed the public hearings in its inquiry into the 2007 Federal election. You will recall that the SCG made an extensive submission (Submission 158) to the Committee. The submission was directed at the adverse effect on overseas Australians of the existing legislation and current electoral procedures..

Links to the Inquiry's Terms of Reference, submissions received, Hansard reports on the public hearings and the Committee's interim report of 16 March 2009 are available on the Committee's website.

The public hearings have been largely concentrated on postal voting procedures and, to a large extent, on the funding issues such as those raised in the Government's first Green Paper. The SCG was not called upon to present evidence at a public hearing.

It is understood that the Committee's final report is to be tabled in Parliament on 22 June 2009 or shortly thereafter and to be available on the Committee's website when that has happened.
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New National Broadband Network
On 7 April 2009 the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, announced the establishment of a new company to build and operate a new super fast National Broadband Network. The Government will be the majority shareholder of this company, but significant private sector investment in the company is anticipated.

The Minister's media release outlines the plan of action for the company.
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New War Cemetery at Fromelles, France
The Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Allan Griffin, announced on 3 June 2009 that construction of the war cemetery at Fromelles, France had commenced.

The new cemetery is to be known as Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery and is where the remains of up to 400 Australian and British servicemen who died during the Battle of fromelles in Jul 1916 will be re-interred.
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Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS)
Those planning their return to Australia or to take a short break there, are reminded that they need to check the AQIS website well in advance of their departure for Australia. Remember that the rules and processes may have changed since the last time you entered Australia.
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Fairer Compensation for Air Travellers
The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese, announced on 29 January 2009 that Australians flying overseas will now receive fairer and timelier compensation in the event they lose their luggage, their flight is extensively delayed or they are involved in an airline accident.

The new arrangements follow Australia's ratification of the Montreal Convention. This multilateral agreement includes new, tougher liability regimes for:
The death or injury of a passenger;
The loss or damage to a passenger's baggage;
The loss or damage to a freight shipment; and
Delays to the scheduled arrival of a passenger, baggage or freight.
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Expansion of Air Services Arrangements with the Philippines
Minister Anthony Albanese announced on 19 March 2009 that Australia and The Philippines have agreed to new air services arrangements, opening the way for expanded services on the routes between the two countries.

Under the new arrangements, Australian and Philippine airlines are now able to offer up to 4,000 seats each way per week between major Australian destinations (Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and/or Sydney) and Manila and/or Clark in the Philippines.
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Pension Reforms
The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, announced on 12 May 2009 that the qualifying age for the age pension will gradually increase from 65 to 67 by 2023. Theses changes will not affect current age pensioners. Only new entrants to the pension system from 1 July 2017 will be affected.

A number of other, more immediate reforms to the pension system were also announced by the Minister on 12 May 2009:
Simpler and more flexible pension system
Better targeting of the pension
A pension that keeps up with the cost of living
Three million Australian pensioners benefit from reforms
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New Social Security Agreements with Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Latvia

The Minister for Families, Housing and Community Services, Jenny Macklin, announced on 12 May 2009, that as part of the 2009-10 Budget, the Rudd Government has finalised negotiations with the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic and Latvia to introduce social security agreements.

From 2011, residents who have spent part of their adult lives in both Australia and these countries will be able to receive pensions from both countries.

Existing Agreements
Australia currently has 22 social security agreements, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.

A new Agreement with Finland has been signed and is expected to commence on 1 July 2009.

Links to the text of all existing and new agreements are on the website of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
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Ministerial Changes
An number of changes to the Labor Ministry were announced by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, on 6 June 2009.
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Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Changes to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme were announced by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, on 4 May 2009.
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Government Response to the Australia 2020 Summit
On 22 April 2009 the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, released the Government's response to the ideas raised by the 2020 summit.
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Australia's National Reserve System
The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, released on 2 June 2009 a national blueprint to underpin better protection of Australia's biodiversity. Australia's National Reserve System Strategy 2009-2030 has been developed by the Commonwealth, states and territories, who have all agreed to work towards clear targets to secure long-term protection for Australia's terrestrial biodiversity.
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New N Series Australian Passport
On 28 May 2008 the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, launched the new N series Australian passport. It features images of Australia printed throughout the document making every visa page unique. This has resulted in a passport which is very difficult to falsify through page substitution or tampering.tampering.

Remember that when applying for a passport you need to ensure that you have used the latest version of the application form. See the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade passports website for information.
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Overseas Adoption Programs in Hong Kong and Taiwan
On 27 February 2009 Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced the expansion of Australia's overseas adoption programs with Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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Changes to Tax Exemption fro Australians Working Overseas
In the 12 May budget the Government announced changes to the exemption available to Australian taxpayers in respect of income earbed overseas.
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Women's Rights Strengthened
On 4 March 2009 Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and the Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, welcomed the entry into force in Australia of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Protocol will strengthen the rights of Australian women and provide a further measure to protect them against discrimination.
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Free Trade Agreements

Chile
The Australia-Chile FTA came into force on 6 March 2009.

Korea
The Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-bak on 5 March 2009, that Australia and Korea had agreed to launch bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.

ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA)
On 27 February 2009 Minister for Trade Simon Crean joined Trade Ministers from the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and New Zealand in signing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Indonesia
The Minister for Trade Simon Crean and Indonesia's Minister for Trade, Dr Mari E Pangestu, met in Sydney on 19 February 2009 for talks aimed at strengthening the bilateral trade and investment relationship. Both Ministers welcomed the final draft of the Joint Feasibility Study on an Indonesia-Australia Free Trade Agreement. The study found that a comprehensive FTA would build on the solid foundation of the ASEAN-Australia New Zealand FTA and provide worthwhile gains for both countries.
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.
Diplomatic Appointments
The Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, has announced the following diplomatic appointments:

Sweden
Mr Hugh Borrowman is to be Australia's new Ambassador to Sweden.

Pakistan
Mr Tim George is to be Australia's new High Commissioner to Pakistan. Mr George is expected to take up his appointment in June 2009.

Soloman Islands
Mr Frank Ingruber is to be Australia's new High Commissioner to Solomon Islands. Mr Ingruber was expected to take up his appointment in early May 2009.

United Nations
Mr Gary Quinlan is to be Australia's new Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), New York. Mr Quinlan was expected to take up his appointment in May 2009.

New Zealand
Mr Paul O'Sullivan is Australia's new High Commissioner to New Zealand with concurrent accreditation to the Cook Islands.

Chile
Ms Virginia Greville is to be Australia's Ambassador to the Republic of Chile. Ms Greville is expected to take up her appointment in June 2009.

Los Angeles
Mr Chris De Cure OAM is Australia's new Consul-General in Los Angeles.

Climate Change
Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, announced on 9 February 2009 that Ms Louise Hand has been appointed to be Australia's Ambassador for Climate Change.

Kiribati
Mr Brett Aldam is Australia's new High Commissioner to the Republic of Kiribati.

Brunei
Mr Mark Sawers is Australia's new High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam.

Nepal
Ms Susan Grace is Australia's new Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
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Current Parliamentary and/or Government Reviews

We list here the current reviews being undertaken at the direction of Government Ministers that we are aware of. Some may have little of no direct impact on expats but if you believe that you have a contribution to make, we encourage you to do so.

Review of Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency
Tanya Pilbersek, Minister for the Status of Women, has announced a review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace and Agency (EOWA) and its underlying legislation (EOWW Act). The review will examine the effectiveness and efficiency of the agency and the legislation in promoting equal opportunity for women in the workplace. The review will begin with the release of an Issues Paper which will signal the start of the consultation process.

Migration and Disability Inquiry
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, the Hon Bill Shorten, announced on 15 May 2009 the terms of reference for an inquiry relating to the health requirement in the Migration Act. The Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Migration will undertake the inquiry. As at the date of issue of this Newsletter the inquiry had not been listed on the Committee's website. Check at a later date for further information about the inquiry and any call for submissions.

Review Into the Governance, Efficiency, Structure and Operation of Australia's Superannuation System
On 29 May 2009 the Minister for Superation and Corporate Law, Senator Nick Sherry,announced the details of the review of the governance, efficiency, structure and operation of Australia's superannuation system. The review is to be conducted by an expert panel.

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Taxation
SCG Note
All we are seeking to do in regard to taxation matters is to make you aware of some of the issues that may affect you. It is for you to do your own research and make your own decisions about the issues.

We are not qualified or competent to provide personal advice on the matters we identify, nor are we able to respond to any queries you may have.

Tax Pack 2009
Foreign Exchange Rates
Capital Gains Tax update
Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) and HECS repayment thresholds andrates
Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS) repayment thresholds and rates
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Superannuation
SCG Note
All we are seeking to do in regard to superannuation matters is to make you aware of some of the issues that may affect you. It is for you to do your own research and make your own decisions about the issues.

We are not qualified or competent to provide personal advice on the matters we identify, nor are we able to respond to any queries you may have.

Superannuation Information for temporary residents departing Australia
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Web Sites of Interest
From time to time we come across web sites that may be of interest to expats. Where appropriate, and where a commercial objective is not their primary purpose, we will mention them in the Newsletter.
In this issue:

Australian Disability Enterprises
The www.australiandisabilityenterprises.com.au website makes purchasing from Australian Disability Enterprises quick and easy. See the Ministerial statement of 24 April 2009.

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G’day Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0000

We don’t yet know which members of the Rudd Government will actually be on the guest list of the AICE G’day Israel festival set to open in Jerusalem on 20 June 2009, but apparently several senior members have expressed interest.
The Australia Israel Cultural Exchange, probably best known here for the AICE Australian Film Festival, is pumping their Israeli presence up a notch or three. To quote the chairman of AICE Albert Dadon, G’day Israel is a culmination of what AICE has achieved to date and will exponentially raise Australia’s cultural profile in Israel.
The 6th annual AICE Australian Film Festival will be an integral part of G’day Israel. The film set to open the film festival is a documentary on the Peres Centre AFL Peace Team that competed in the International Cup last August. The film is called Tackling Peace.
On another tack, the piano prodigy David Helfgott, certainly a major league headliner hardly needing any introduction (just in case google Shine, as in Oscar winning film) will be appearing at the Jerusalem Theatre (20 June) and the Enuv Cultural Centre in Tel Aviv (25 June).
If gourmet dinning is your thing Guillaume will be serving up dinner for 350 Israeli and Australian VIP’s. (No doubt I won’t be there, due to prior obligations towards Big Brother) Guillaume is a French born Australian and a foodie icon in those parts.
G’day Israel will also inaugurate the AICE Leadership Forum a symposium gathering hand picked intellectuals to exchange ideas on the Australian Israeli alliance. I guess you could call it a think tank. There are no resolutions, declarations or conclusions. It’s based on a similar dialogue on the Australian American front.
The G’day Israel festival was formally endorsed by the Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, continuing AICE’s ties to official patronage. AICE was launched simultaneously by then foreign ministers Bibi Natanyahu and Alexander Downer.
It’s hoped that G’day Israel will be biennial, with a corresponding festival in the intervening year showcasing all things Israeli in Australia.

Our Longweekend

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:13:00 +0000

We did this touristy kind of thing, a long weekend at the B&B on Kibbutz Dalyia in Ramot Menashe.
Firstly the accommodation was up to scratch and even more so. Not some hastily converted volunteers’ quarters in some neo European kibbutz setting, but a tastefully modern and utile room. I’d call it business class. I like the grounds too. The rolling hills can still be felt on the kibbutz grounds and walking around to your room there’s the feel of walking through a botanical garden, well kept but not symmetric, all different shades of green, and most importantly it felt Mediterranean, not some mutation of central Europe like you usually get on an Israeli communal farm.
The staff is friendly too. You almost want to pinch yourself. Can this be real, in Israel?
We got in a bit late and started with a wander down to the creek between the fields. Though I had the Carmel Range in mind when booking, the brochure we found, placed us in the Emekim region of the country. But rather than the flat stretches of the Jezreel Valley this region is hilly and pastoral, reminiscent of parts of southern France. And this being the end of winter and relatively northern Israel, the fields were all explosively green and yellow, with blankets of mustard flowers lapping our trail, like something Van Gough might have painted if he’d put his brush to it.
Then being Friday evening we had to deal with the problem of a finding a place to eat. This was something we hadn’t planned ahead, figuring that escaping from Jerusalem would be enough in itself. Apparently there are plenty of restaurants in Ramat Yishai but we chose to head for Zichron Yaakov, as its more familiar territory for us. But there was hardly anything open in the old tourist quarter. However we did manage to find a shopping centre off the number 4 road with a noodles shop open, Frangelico, which got us through the night without starving. The nosh was decent and the atmosphere familial and they served good solid Gamla wine as standard house wine to boot.

The breakfast the next morning was fine, somewhere between rustic and your obligatory Israeli hotel breakfast, but without the feeling of manic fress. You know that feeling you have in the dinning rooms of Eilat? Stuff your face with as much as you can shovel on your plates 'cause you never know, the Germans might burst in and drag you off screaming at any minute.
Our tourist program started off with the ancient Caesarea Port. Our Matmon membership got us in with a multimedia explanation of the port. I think that service is a great success because an archaeological site is just a pile of old rocks, even on a pounding seaside, without an overview of what the ancients had built before it turned into rubble. Now after seeing the show I can say that I’ve got an idea of the immensity of what Herod built in Caesarea back in the days of the Roman Empire. After the sea we headed up to the Carmel and Daliat el Carmel. Crossing over the number 70 road you go from the rolling pastures of Ramat Menashe to another savage type of beauty. Feigning a late 60s hit the road and drop out movie kind of spontaneity, we stopped off the cuff at a makeshift druze truck stop, with hot pita and fresh salads and labeneh and sizzling felafel, and humus, tehina with all the get up of oriental hospitality and scoffed it down at a makeshift table in a grove of olive and almond trees bursting in colour, then washed that all down with a pot of tea and marvah (sage).
We had some time to kill so we took in the views from and around the Muchraka Church and found some quality time activity for my wife shopping at Osafia. Then we took off to Ein Hod down the road past Beit Oren, which must have the wildest and most beautiful scenery in the whole country.
Once night fell and Shabbat was over we could turn up at the legendary Ben Ezra fish restaurant in Atlit. Apparently they’ve moved and now it sits right along the railway line. When we found the place we discovered that there was some function or other being held at the restaurant, which pissed me right off at first because we’d tried to book ahead, and they’d said it was unnecessary. But they were true to their word and there was still a side room for regular guests. The place is what you’d call blue-collar, even though they’ve made it flash in the Israeli reception centre style. Even if they’ve tried to upgrade I've got to admit the service was homely, and even personal. But more to the point the fish was delicious, especially the bass which I helped my wife demolish. As for the wine, I suggest sticking with the beer, but I’d go back again any day.
The last day of the long weekend was meant to be split up between a nature reserve in the Ramot Menashe area and Habonim Beach, but the morning plan fell apart because there are no road signs in the Ramot Menashe region pointing to the parks I was looking for. Damn pity ‘cause its beautiful countryside, and I had to make do with looking through the car window. The local council could take a leaf out of the Hof HaCarmel Council’s book when it comes to giving directions for the occasional tourist. So if you wanna be hip and take that Ramot Menashe trip get your routes worked out before you hit the Zichron Yaakov turnpike.
I won’t bore you with another sally to Osafia but we finished our visit off with a tried and true favourite of ours, a walk through the dunes of Habonim Beach, one last jewel of unraped coastline on the Israeli Mediterranean. The dual coves of Habonim always remind me of Dick and Dora, (as in The Happy Venture Readers) if not Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.
From there it was just a short hour and a half jaunt along route 6 back home to the mess our kids had left in the apartment during our absence.

Black Saturday Bushfires

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:11:00 +0000

Just a few pictures from the not always so lucky country.

Australia Day Party 2009-Summary

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Australia Day is one of the times of the year when I start thinking about what I’m missing by not being in Australia, so I like celebrating Australia Day with other Aussies living in Israel. I started by celebrating with some friends a few years ago, and last year I organised a party at The English Pub in Tel Aviv and got a great turn out, so I decided to have another one again this year at the same pub. About 150 people turned up on January 22, 2009 to celebrate Australia Day together. There were a lot of Aussies at the party, both olim chadashim and veterans living in different parts of Israel, as well as people on holiday, exchange students and people on summer programs. There were drink specials all night, including Fosters, and a great playlist of Aussie music. The pub generously agreed to give a part of the profits to charity, which was donated to Libi (charity supporting Israeli soldiers) and Elem (youth support) – Sderot branch.
Looking forward to next year’s Australia Day party!
Gayle Fantl

2009 Footy Tipping Season

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Frank) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:28:00 +0000

As you know, the 2009 footy season starts next Thursday 26/3 with Carlton v Richmond kicking off the season!

You are invited to join the 'Footy in Israel' Tipping Competition.

It's easy to join and lots of fun!

Simply go to-

- www.footytips.com.au
- Go to 'Join a Comp'
- In there, type- Footy in Israel
- You'll be directed to a new page, the Password- isreal (it is spelt incorrectly and we're keeping it that way for tradition)

And from then on you simply follow the instructions!

In the past we used to charge for this competition but due to the challenge (difficulty) of collecting payments we decided not to do so anymore, therefore the competition is simply for KAVOD (honour )
With thanks to Paul Israel