Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Australian Aborigines

2008-02-12T21:00:43Z

Bilby: Addition of apology to stolen generation by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

'''Aborigines''' are the main group of [[indigenous Australians]].

[[Archaeology|Archaeological]] evidence has led some researchers to claim that there has been 40 to 45 thousand years of continuous occupation of the [[Australia]]n mainland by indigenous people. However, [[Young Earth Creationist|Young Earth Creationists]] contend that the universe is only 6,000 years old, so they consider this conclusion to be mistaken. Since the colonisation of [[Australia]] by [[Britain]] in 1788, the original inhabitants of [[Australia]] have been known until recently as “Aborigines”. They make up about 2.4% of Australia's population.

==History==
Before white settlement of Australia, the distribution of the Aboriginal population was much the same as the modern population distribution, but at a much lower level. Today, the fertile regions with a temperate climate are dominated by the white Australian community. In most southern and eastern areas, Aborigines have either assimilated, died out, or been pushed out. Only in the central and northern parts of the country are there significant communities of Aborigines living on and in control of their traditional lands.

Most traditional Aborigines were nomadic over the range of their clan, however there are also several archaeological sites of permanent settlements in [[Victoria]].

Aborigines had no written language before contact with Europeans, but have a rich oral history. Their traditional creation stories are based on "The Dreamtime". Many of the modern Aboriginal communities in outback Australia are on the sites of Christian missions set up in the 1800s and early 1900s.

==Modern customs==
Since the 1980s indigenous Australians have been differentiated as “Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders” and more recently the acknowledgment of local tribal groups and [[language]]s has become normal. It has become customary for important public meetings and gatherings to begin by acknowledging “the customary owners of this land, the NAME people” where the local tribal name is given.

==Stolen Generation==
From the late 1800s through to the mid-1900s, many Aboriginal children were taken from their homes and placed in foster care arrangements, typically on [[Christian]] missions or state Government homes.
In the early 1990s Australians came to see this as being racist.

A prevailing view held that there was a hierarchy of human [[race]]s. This notion supposed that Northern Europeans were superior in civilisation and that Aborigines were inferior. According to this view, the increasing numbers of mixed-descent children in Australia, labelled as 'half-castes' (or alternatively 'crossbreeds', 'quadroons' and 'octoroons'), were seen by many to be a threat to racial purity. Many believe that in the first half of the twentieth century, this led to policies and legislation that resulted in the removal of children from their parents. The stated aim was to culturally assimilate mixed-descent people into contemporary Australian society. These children came to be called the Stolen Generation.

A [[Royal Commission]] was instituted by the [[Government of Australia]] under the auspices of the (Australian) Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, headed by Sir [[Ronald Wilson]], a former Judge of the [[High Court of Australia]] and former President of the [[liberal]] [[Uniting Church in Australia]]. The commission took public testimony from around Australia, including visits to tribal lands, and its 1997 report ’’Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families’’ has been seen to have re-shaped Australia’s internal race relations.

However, some people, including [[conservative]] columnist [[Andrew Bolt]], has challenged the existence of the Stolen Generation.
He has challenged [[Robert Manne]], an outspoken advocate of the Stolen Generation, to produce the names of just ten children taken from their parents simply because they were aboriginal or part aboriginal.
When Manne did produce a list, Bolt showed that the children were actually taken for the sake of their welfare.

Bolt has further condemned the Stolen Generation concept for actually causing harm to Aboriginal children, as welfare officials are now too scared of being branded racist to take children who are in danger.

==Sorry==

On 13th of February, 2008 the Australian Government formally apologized to the Aboriginal People, and specifically to the Stolen Generation, for the actions of previous governments. The text of the apology, read by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, follows:

<blockquote>
Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

</blockquote>

==Aborigines in the media==
Various Australian films have significantly changed perceptions of Aborigines.
* ''Jedda'' (1955) by the Australian filmmaker Charles Chauvel. The film is most notable for being the first to star two Aboriginal actors (Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth) in the leading roles, and also to be the first Australian film shot in color.
* ''Storm Boy'' (1976) which tells of the interaction between an Anglo boy and a local Aborigine.
* ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'' (2002) is an Australian film based on the book ''Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence'' by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It concerns the author's mother, and two other young mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from a residential school that is located in Moore River Native Settlement, north of [[Perth]], [[Western Australia]], in which they were placed in 1931, in order to return to their Aboriginal families. The film follows the girls as they trek/walk for nine weeks along 2,400km (1,500 miles) of the Australian [[rabbit]]-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong.
* ''Ten Canoes'' (2006) by Rolf de Heer. The film is narrated in English by David Gulpilil; all protagonists speak in indigenous languages, with English subtitles.

David Gulpilil is recognized as a very important Australian Aboriginal actor, whose work has changed perceptions of Aborigines. His films have been:

* ''Walkabout'' (1971)
* ''Storm Boy'' (1976)
* ''The Last Wave'' (1977)
* ''The Right Stuff'' (1983)
* ''Crocodile Dundee'' (1986)
* ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'' (2002)
* ''The Tracker'' (2002)
* ''The Proposition'' (2005)
* ''Ten Canoes'' (2006)

Stan Grant is an Aboriginal television personality who had international recognition as a presenter for [[CNN]] in [[Bejing]], [[China]] in the mid-2000s.

== External links ==

* [http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/bth_report/index.html Bringing them home: The 'Stolen Children' report (1997)], Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
* Bolt, Andrew, [http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/stolen_generations_my_writers_festival_speech/ Stolen generations: My Melbourne Writers’ Festival speech], 5th September, 2006.
* Bolt, Andrew, [http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/fisking_mannes_column/ Fisking Manne’s column], 9th December, 2006 (reply to ''The Cruelty of Denial'')
* Bolt, Andrew, [http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/another_stolen_life/ Another stolen life], 19th September, 2006 (Bolt claims as a case of an aboriginal child in danger and ''not'' removed by authorities because of concerns over racism)
* Bolt, Andrew, [http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_truth_is_what_was_stolen/ Truth is what was stolen], ''Herald Sun'', 8th February, 2008.
* Manne, Robert, [http://www.theage.com.au/ed_docs/manne1.pdf Stolen Generations Debate, with Andrew Bolt], 3rd September, 2006.
* Manne, Robert, [http://www.theage.com.au/news/robert-manne/the-cruelty-of-denial/2006/09/08/1157222325367.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 The Cruelty of Denial], The Age, 9th December, 2006.

== See also ==
* [[Great Flood]] (which mentions some aboriginal flood stories)
[[Category:Australia]]

Talk:Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-09-12T00:48:40Z

Bilby:

AustinM: Please provide a {{cite}} for this inclusion,
:''Some liberal groups have accused the US of practicing [[torture]] at Gitmo, such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.''
Thank you. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:00, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

It's not just liberals who have made the accusation either.--[[User:Murray|Murray]] 13:06, 16 March 2007 (EDT)
:Yes, that is precisely what i'm driving at. Why is the term liberal used here then coupled with an innuendo for "non-liberals", preesumably? [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:20, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

==Word usage==

Cut:

: Some human rights groups and other activists claim the US has practiced [[torture]], such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.[http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-reallives-eng] As torture is illegal in the US and in nearly all other nations in the world, the camp is critisized by governments around the world.

The US opposes torture, but not all the things listed in the passage above are "torture". There have been attempts (almostly entirely by political opponents of Bush's Iraq policy) to change the legal definition of torture.

I suppose that this a a strategy. Instead of having two classes of forbidden interrogation techniques (1) torture, which is simply uncivilized and (2) "excessive roughness" (for lack of a better word) - these advocates make the following argument:

#torture is bad
#we must not do what is bad
#rough interrogation techniques are torture
#therefor. they are bad and we must not do them

The Bush administration agrees that '''some''' [[coercive interrogation]] techniques are bad, but refuses to concede that they are examples of "torture".

This passage needs to be fixed:
*Do not say that the listed techniques '''are''' torture but that advocates '''consider them''' to be torture or "want them to be classified legally as torture" or "have been trying to get the word 'torture' redefined".
*Distinguish between [[rough interrogation]] techniques that the US acknowledges having done and those it asserts it has not done
*Also distinguish between such techniques the US agrees are "torture" or "too rough" and those it insists on continuing to use, such as [[waterboarding]].
*Mention that there is a controversy over whether frightening a prisoner is always torture, tantamount to torture, or just rather clever.

Other ideas that need mentioning are:
*The efficacy of [[coercive interrogation]]: is it useful to gain evidence for legal proceedings, or does it just help to stop terrorists from carrying out their next operation, or what?

Moreover, we should distinguish between US Liberal and Conservative positions on this, rather than using weasel words like "has been criticized" or "some groups and activists claim".

There's also the perennial problem of classifying various advocates. Is Human Rights Watch liberal? How about Amnesty International? Many liberals and liberal groups do not admit to being liberal, a trend that began with Michael Dukakis protesting the "L-word" a quarter century ago. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 08:31, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Good analysis. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:54, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

Here is some more analysis:
*Liberals generally say that the Geneva protections for POWs "applies" (or "should apply") to these people.

Usually the word this as, "The Geneva conventions apply to the gitmo detainees, but the US ..." This is deceptive, because both the US (and these partisans) are in agreement on one thing and in disagreement on another thing:
*They agree that the US is bound by the Geneva Conventions
*They agree that the Geneva Conventions "apply" to anyone captured in a combat zone
*Prisoners should not be "tortured"
But:
*They disagree on whether stateless persons, not wearing uniforms, etc. are entitled to "POW status".

POWs get all sorts of special privileges, because they are citizens of another country which is a party to the Geneva Conventions. Geneva isn't a universal code of human rights, but an treaty between nations. Warring nations who want to settle disputes with force but don't seek the total destruction of their enemies - in other words, civilized countries - agree to limit their war tactics. We don't mistreat your civilians and POWs, and you don't mistreat ours. But uniformed men on the battlefield are fair game. (Think of the gangs in West Side Story agreeing that the gym is neutral territory, leaving girls out of it, choosing where to have a big fight, etc.)

Spies get nothing. Stateless people get nothing. Nothing special, I mean. The legal and diplomatic goodies due POWs are reserved for a specified class.

Remind me to move all this into some article like:
*[[Prisoner of war]]
*[[unlawful combatant]]
*[[Geneva Conventions]]
*[[Laws of war]]

Okay, gotta go. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:43, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Another thing: the Gitmo detainees are '''''at war with''''' the Geneva Convention. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 20:56, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

: Let's look at David Hicks, a citizen of Australia. There is nothing stateless about that, other than the fact that the Australian government tends to disown you if you upset the Bush administration. Most of the photos I have seen of him in Afgahnistan have him wearing a uniform. He, in his mind, believed he was fighting for the freedom of an oppressed people who had been invaded by other countries. In some ways very similar to any resistance fighter in Europe in WW II except they didn't wear uniforms. You do need to ask why the US won't bring those people for trial on US territory - are they afraid that then they will have to apply US or International Treaty law instead of Bush Law? --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:07, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

==David Hicks==

Bilby, I don't get where you're going with the Hicks trial. Are you saying he's innocent; that he's guilty but the law should be changed; that he was a terrorist but terrorism isn't bad; that he did a bad thing but shouldn't be punished because the law wasn't in place; or what?

It doesn't seem like a balanced entry at all; are you trying consciously to make it trustworthy? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 19:13, 26 March 2007 (EDT)
: All I have added is the run down of what has happened at the trial so far today. As far as I can see it is a factual account of what occured in recent hours. His guilt is for the court to decide. There is a lot of debate about the charge as it is being used retrospectively. Although American law had that charge since Oklahoma, the military law didn't. It was put in place and then he was charged with it a couple of months ago after five years in jail without charge. These are just facts. How they are to be interpreted is up to history but America is not winning friends around the world by treating people like this!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 19:18, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

::The most significant part of that is the ''ex post facto'' law. Or the claim about it. Can you source the claim? And also dig into it, find out what the US says about that claim.

::Handling breaking news is touchy. Are you sure you can handle it neutrally? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:54, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

:::"neutrally" is always an interesting word. I have a bias, all writers do. But I know it and am trying to report "facts" as I receive them through a variety of media. I could add a quote from St Helen Prejean ""Guantanamo Bay is an abhorrent aberration of everything that my country ought to be about," she said in Sydney yesterday. "I think it's because we do execute people. It just so smacks of empire." " but recognise that it contains a bias which would not be accepted by this site - it would get edited away very quickly as being not sourced correctly, or being too opinionated - but only because the "neutral" editors have their own bias. The TV reports today claimed that David Hicks was asked if he could speak English or if he needed an interpreter - his response was that he might be difficult to understand because he spoke Australian English. I reported the first half, you edited it and reported the second. Perhaps we should wait for the trial transcript and just put that intstead - if it is ever published.

If there are two halves, and you and I each reported only one half, does that make us both half-witted? ;-) Please put in both halves. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 15:01, 27 March 2007 (EDT)

So David Hicks has pleaded guilty? To ONE charge of providing material support for "terrorism"? A charge at the very lowest end of the scale, and one which could be levelled at any partisan who has ever had a rebel leader doss down under their roof. And the sleek lawyers and obese pigs of the gutter press in Australia are taking this as confirmation of his evil, and crowing about it from every tabloid. Needless to say, they (and I imagine most of us) would have been pleading guilty to personally ordering the attack on 9/11 after ONE WEEK of the treatment being dished out at Gitters. And Hicks has been there, without charge, for five years! Shame on you all! Note, there are NO British or American prisoners there. The Brits demanded theirs back, and the Yanks put theirs on trial. Only Hicks, who was a hero in Bosnia, and who has never killed anyone, is rotting in this filthy jail.

== What about this? ==

"Guantánamo has become a major, major problem ... in the way the world perceives America and if it were up to me I would close Guantánamo not tomorrow but this afternoon ... and I would not let any of those people go. I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system", Powell told NBC's Meet the Press.

"Essentially, we have shaken the belief the world had in America's justice system by keeping a place like Guantánamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it", he added.

-Colin Powell on NBC's Meet the Press
[[http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1043646920070610]]
--[[User:Bucklesman|Bucklesman]] 09:48, 12 June 2007 (EDT)
:: No wonder they got rid of him!!!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 10:13, 12 June 2007 (EDT)

==Held without charges?==
I dispute this statement:
"In this prison, the people being held are accused by the US government of terrorism."
It does not have a reference on this claim.

The Supreme Court (search) delivered a mixed verdict Monday on the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies, ruling that the U.S. government has the power to hold American citizens and foreign nationals without charges or trial, but that detainees can challenge their treatment in U.S. courts.
[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,123996,00.html Mixed Rulings on Terror Detention Policies]

Padilla was held indefinitely without charges and so was Hicks. Clearly, there would not be a need to file for habeas corpus if the detainees had been charged.
[[User:TheAgency|TheAgency]] 10:14, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

==Recent removal of large section==
I have just undone an edit which removed the large slab of information under the heading "detention camp" on this page. The information is well sourced, relevant and looks at both the Bush Administration's point of view and some cases which may not be totally agreeable to that Administration but are still true. I would like to see further justification for the removal of that section if it were to be done again. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:18, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

*You would, would you? Most of what I removed was hopelessly full of [[liberal deceit]] and we can do without that, thank you. You should always email or post to an Administrator's talk page before reverting what we have done. If you consider what you added as citations to be reputable, and all you added was without [[deceit]] and extreme POV editing, we can do without your services. Unfortunately you will still be a teacher, if you are indeed one. --[[User:TK|şŷŝôρ-₮K]][[User_Talk:TK|Ṣρёаќǃ]] 18:44, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

* Apologies - I now understand what "conservative" means. After farewelling a few of the people I have found to be welcoming and encouraging in this Coservapedia I shall withdraw my use of the site as both a contributor and a reader. I hope that you, and the like minded people who need to rewrite reality to fit in with their world view, continue to enjoy using this site. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 19:36, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

* Actually I might stick round to see what's happening now - looks like fun! --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 19:53, 11 September 2007 (EDT)
:*There's that phrase again, ''like minded'', a dead give away everytime. It's used in ''Nazism, the Internet & the Culture of Violence'', and it is used in Wikipedia's Reliable Sources policy.

::Who do yout think you're fooling, chump? [[User:RobS|Rob Smith]] 20:45, 11 September 2007 (EDT)
::: Only myself. Obviously.--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 20:48, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-09-11T23:53:35Z

Bilby:

User:Bilby

2007-09-11T23:47:02Z

Bilby: Leaving the site

{{userboxtop|Bilby}}
{{User Aussie}}
{{User Earth}}
{{User Critical}}
{{Userbox |side-box colour |main box colour |[[Image:Cfalogo3.gif]] |This user likes to fight fires in Victoria}}
{{user donut missed}}
{{userboxbottom}}

Bilby is a teacher in Melbourne, Australia with an interest in literature, religion, philosophy and Australia.

I also dabble in other things such as being a volunteer firefighter with the CFA, producing a religious television show, writing exams for year 12 students to enjoy (Texts and Traditions and Philosophy for VCAA) and trying to be a good family man as well. I'm sure anyone who knows me and reads this knows that it's me - for everyone else I guess you could track me down just using that information!

I have contributed to pages on Australia, Australian Aboriginals, Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks, Australian Rules Football and had hoped to do some further work on Australian Literature and Music but have now decided to move away from this site as it seems to be becoming "closed minded" instead of "conservative." When the truth is edited away without any other justification that it is "liberal" and that is followed by a series of insults from a synop then the site is dead ...

Talk:Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-09-11T23:36:15Z

Bilby: Farewell

AustinM: Please provide a {{cite}} for this inclusion,
:''Some liberal groups have accused the US of practicing [[torture]] at Gitmo, such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.''
Thank you. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:00, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

It's not just liberals who have made the accusation either.--[[User:Murray|Murray]] 13:06, 16 March 2007 (EDT)
:Yes, that is precisely what i'm driving at. Why is the term liberal used here then coupled with an innuendo for "non-liberals", preesumably? [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:20, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

==Word usage==

Cut:

: Some human rights groups and other activists claim the US has practiced [[torture]], such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.[http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-reallives-eng] As torture is illegal in the US and in nearly all other nations in the world, the camp is critisized by governments around the world.

The US opposes torture, but not all the things listed in the passage above are "torture". There have been attempts (almostly entirely by political opponents of Bush's Iraq policy) to change the legal definition of torture.

I suppose that this a a strategy. Instead of having two classes of forbidden interrogation techniques (1) torture, which is simply uncivilized and (2) "excessive roughness" (for lack of a better word) - these advocates make the following argument:

#torture is bad
#we must not do what is bad
#rough interrogation techniques are torture
#therefor. they are bad and we must not do them

The Bush administration agrees that '''some''' [[coercive interrogation]] techniques are bad, but refuses to concede that they are examples of "torture".

This passage needs to be fixed:
*Do not say that the listed techniques '''are''' torture but that advocates '''consider them''' to be torture or "want them to be classified legally as torture" or "have been trying to get the word 'torture' redefined".
*Distinguish between [[rough interrogation]] techniques that the US acknowledges having done and those it asserts it has not done
*Also distinguish between such techniques the US agrees are "torture" or "too rough" and those it insists on continuing to use, such as [[waterboarding]].
*Mention that there is a controversy over whether frightening a prisoner is always torture, tantamount to torture, or just rather clever.

Other ideas that need mentioning are:
*The efficacy of [[coercive interrogation]]: is it useful to gain evidence for legal proceedings, or does it just help to stop terrorists from carrying out their next operation, or what?

Moreover, we should distinguish between US Liberal and Conservative positions on this, rather than using weasel words like "has been criticized" or "some groups and activists claim".

There's also the perennial problem of classifying various advocates. Is Human Rights Watch liberal? How about Amnesty International? Many liberals and liberal groups do not admit to being liberal, a trend that began with Michael Dukakis protesting the "L-word" a quarter century ago. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 08:31, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Good analysis. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:54, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

Here is some more analysis:
*Liberals generally say that the Geneva protections for POWs "applies" (or "should apply") to these people.

Usually the word this as, "The Geneva conventions apply to the gitmo detainees, but the US ..." This is deceptive, because both the US (and these partisans) are in agreement on one thing and in disagreement on another thing:
*They agree that the US is bound by the Geneva Conventions
*They agree that the Geneva Conventions "apply" to anyone captured in a combat zone
*Prisoners should not be "tortured"
But:
*They disagree on whether stateless persons, not wearing uniforms, etc. are entitled to "POW status".

POWs get all sorts of special privileges, because they are citizens of another country which is a party to the Geneva Conventions. Geneva isn't a universal code of human rights, but an treaty between nations. Warring nations who want to settle disputes with force but don't seek the total destruction of their enemies - in other words, civilized countries - agree to limit their war tactics. We don't mistreat your civilians and POWs, and you don't mistreat ours. But uniformed men on the battlefield are fair game. (Think of the gangs in West Side Story agreeing that the gym is neutral territory, leaving girls out of it, choosing where to have a big fight, etc.)

Spies get nothing. Stateless people get nothing. Nothing special, I mean. The legal and diplomatic goodies due POWs are reserved for a specified class.

Remind me to move all this into some article like:
*[[Prisoner of war]]
*[[unlawful combatant]]
*[[Geneva Conventions]]
*[[Laws of war]]

Okay, gotta go. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:43, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Another thing: the Gitmo detainees are '''''at war with''''' the Geneva Convention. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 20:56, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

: Let's look at David Hicks, a citizen of Australia. There is nothing stateless about that, other than the fact that the Australian government tends to disown you if you upset the Bush administration. Most of the photos I have seen of him in Afgahnistan have him wearing a uniform. He, in his mind, believed he was fighting for the freedom of an oppressed people who had been invaded by other countries. In some ways very similar to any resistance fighter in Europe in WW II except they didn't wear uniforms. You do need to ask why the US won't bring those people for trial on US territory - are they afraid that then they will have to apply US or International Treaty law instead of Bush Law? --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:07, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

==David Hicks==

Bilby, I don't get where you're going with the Hicks trial. Are you saying he's innocent; that he's guilty but the law should be changed; that he was a terrorist but terrorism isn't bad; that he did a bad thing but shouldn't be punished because the law wasn't in place; or what?

It doesn't seem like a balanced entry at all; are you trying consciously to make it trustworthy? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 19:13, 26 March 2007 (EDT)
: All I have added is the run down of what has happened at the trial so far today. As far as I can see it is a factual account of what occured in recent hours. His guilt is for the court to decide. There is a lot of debate about the charge as it is being used retrospectively. Although American law had that charge since Oklahoma, the military law didn't. It was put in place and then he was charged with it a couple of months ago after five years in jail without charge. These are just facts. How they are to be interpreted is up to history but America is not winning friends around the world by treating people like this!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 19:18, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

::The most significant part of that is the ''ex post facto'' law. Or the claim about it. Can you source the claim? And also dig into it, find out what the US says about that claim.

::Handling breaking news is touchy. Are you sure you can handle it neutrally? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:54, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

:::"neutrally" is always an interesting word. I have a bias, all writers do. But I know it and am trying to report "facts" as I receive them through a variety of media. I could add a quote from St Helen Prejean ""Guantanamo Bay is an abhorrent aberration of everything that my country ought to be about," she said in Sydney yesterday. "I think it's because we do execute people. It just so smacks of empire." " but recognise that it contains a bias which would not be accepted by this site - it would get edited away very quickly as being not sourced correctly, or being too opinionated - but only because the "neutral" editors have their own bias. The TV reports today claimed that David Hicks was asked if he could speak English or if he needed an interpreter - his response was that he might be difficult to understand because he spoke Australian English. I reported the first half, you edited it and reported the second. Perhaps we should wait for the trial transcript and just put that intstead - if it is ever published.

If there are two halves, and you and I each reported only one half, does that make us both half-witted? ;-) Please put in both halves. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 15:01, 27 March 2007 (EDT)

So David Hicks has pleaded guilty? To ONE charge of providing material support for "terrorism"? A charge at the very lowest end of the scale, and one which could be levelled at any partisan who has ever had a rebel leader doss down under their roof. And the sleek lawyers and obese pigs of the gutter press in Australia are taking this as confirmation of his evil, and crowing about it from every tabloid. Needless to say, they (and I imagine most of us) would have been pleading guilty to personally ordering the attack on 9/11 after ONE WEEK of the treatment being dished out at Gitters. And Hicks has been there, without charge, for five years! Shame on you all! Note, there are NO British or American prisoners there. The Brits demanded theirs back, and the Yanks put theirs on trial. Only Hicks, who was a hero in Bosnia, and who has never killed anyone, is rotting in this filthy jail.

== What about this? ==

"Guantánamo has become a major, major problem ... in the way the world perceives America and if it were up to me I would close Guantánamo not tomorrow but this afternoon ... and I would not let any of those people go. I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system", Powell told NBC's Meet the Press.

"Essentially, we have shaken the belief the world had in America's justice system by keeping a place like Guantánamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it", he added.

-Colin Powell on NBC's Meet the Press
[[http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1043646920070610]]
--[[User:Bucklesman|Bucklesman]] 09:48, 12 June 2007 (EDT)
:: No wonder they got rid of him!!!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 10:13, 12 June 2007 (EDT)

==Held without charges?==
I dispute this statement:
"In this prison, the people being held are accused by the US government of terrorism."
It does not have a reference on this claim.

The Supreme Court (search) delivered a mixed verdict Monday on the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies, ruling that the U.S. government has the power to hold American citizens and foreign nationals without charges or trial, but that detainees can challenge their treatment in U.S. courts.
[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,123996,00.html Mixed Rulings on Terror Detention Policies]

Padilla was held indefinitely without charges and so was Hicks. Clearly, there would not be a need to file for habeas corpus if the detainees had been charged.
[[User:TheAgency|TheAgency]] 10:14, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

==Recent removal of large section==
I have just undone an edit which removed the large slab of information under the heading "detention camp" on this page. The information is well sourced, relevant and looks at both the Bush Administration's point of view and some cases which may not be totally agreeable to that Administration but are still true. I would like to see further justification for the removal of that section if it were to be done again. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:18, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

*You would, would you? Most of what I removed was hopelessly full of [[liberal deceit]] and we can do without that, thank you. You should always email or post to an Administrator's talk page before reverting what we have done. If you consider what you added as citations to be reputable, and all you added was without [[deceit]] and extreme POV editing, we can do without your services. Unfortunately you will still be a teacher, if you are indeed one. --[[User:TK|şŷŝôρ-₮K]][[User_Talk:TK|Ṣρёаќǃ]] 18:44, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

** Apologies - I now understand what "conservative" means. After farewelling a few of the people I have found to be welcoming and encouraging in this Coservapedia I shall withdraw my use of the site as both a contributor and a reader. I hope that you, and the like minded people who need to rewrite reality to fit in with their world view, continue to enjoy using this site. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 19:36, 11 September 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-09-11T22:18:39Z

Bilby: Discussion on removal of large section of this article

Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-09-11T22:15:27Z

Bilby: Undo revision 290816 by Special:Contributions/TK (User talk:TK) This section goes into Bush's justification for the centre and looks at some case studies

[[Image:050127 guantanamo hmed 12p hmedium.jpg|right|thumb|300px]]
The '''Guantanamo Bay detention camp''' is a military [[prison]] of the [[United States of America]] on the southeastern tip of the island of [[Cuba]]. In this prison, suspected terrorists can be held indefinitely without charge, trial or a right to counsel.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,201315,00.html Official: Gitmo Prisoners Wage 'Jihad' in Cuba] [[Fox News]], June 28, 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,123996,00.html Mixed Rulings on Terror Detention Policies] [[Fox News]], June 28, 2004</ref> The [[liberal]] organization [[Center for Constitutional Rights]] is organizing attorneys to file [[habeas corpus]] petitions in the Washington, D.C., federal court on behalf of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. <ref>[http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=pQOvjcVXXK&Content=406 First post-Supreme Court habeas petitions filed on behalf of detainees at Guantanamo Bay], [[Center for Constitutional Rights]], 2004</ref>

On April 2, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court denied appeals by a group of detainees of this camp, with the majority stating that it would be inappropriate to rule until the group had exhausted other remedies.<ref>[[Withdraw of Jurisdiction Upheld - Original Work|Supreme Court rules against detainees]]</ref><ref>Congressional Research Service Report [http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33180.pdf Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court], updated April 6, 2007.</ref>

== Guantanamo Bay ==

Guantanamo Bay is a coastal area on southeastern [[Cuba]] occupied and controlled by the United States government pursuant to a 1903 Lease Agreement with the newly independent Republic of Cuba subsequent to the Spanish-American War. The Agreement established that:<ref>''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004) (quoting lease).</ref>

:"the United States recognizes the continuance of the ultimate sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba over the [leased areas]," but "the Republic of Cuba consents that during the period of the occupation by the United States . . . the United States shall exercise complete jurisdiction and control over and within said areas."

In 1934 the United States and Cuba entered into another treaty that provided that, absent an agreement to modify or abrogate the lease, it would remain in effect "[s]o long as the United States of America shall not abandon the . . . naval station of Guantanamo."<ref>''Id.''</ref>

== Detention Camp ==

The [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration has said that interrogations are vital tools for winning the [[War on Terror]]<ref>"The president said the legislation must allow the [[CIA]]’s interrogation program to continue. "The information the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] has obtained by questioning men like [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] has helped disrupt terrorist plots, including planned strikes inside the [[United States]] and on a U.S. Marine base in [[East Africa]], an American consulate in [[Pakistan]], and Britain's [[Heathrow Airport]]," Bush said "This CIA program has saved American lives, and the lives of people in other countries.”" [http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=September&x=20060916101245esnamfuak0.5314905] </ref> There have, however, been a number of accusations of the use of [[torture]], and some detainees are believed to have been brought in via [[extraordinary rendition]]. <ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1981955,00.html]</ref><ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=377623&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490]</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3706050.stm]</ref> Majid Khan, a native of Pakistan is suspected of providing material support for [[al Qaeda]] terrorism, transporting people across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and expressing a desire to assassinate Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by suicide attack. Khan submitted a “statement of torture" at a combatant status review tribunal hearing, claiming he was mentally tortured during his detainment. Among his complaints were that he and other detainees were given low-quality soap and other toiletries, noisy fans and deflated balls for recreation that hardly bounced. Khan testified he had refused to eat or drink, and complained that his captors responded by force-feeding intravenously. <ref> [http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom2/FrontPage%20Stories/Evidence%20Links%20‘High-Value’%20Detainee%20to%20Al%20Qaeda.aspx Evidence Links ‘High-Value’ Detainee to Al Qaeda], By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service, May 15, 2007. </ref>

In another case, some 22 Chinese Muslim detainees have been mostly cleared of all wrong doing, but have been held in the prison camp for more than five years. The Bush Administration fears they will face persecution if they are returned home, so they continue to stay in prison, having committed no crime. <ref>Taipei Times [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/30/2003157526]</ref><ref>Jurist [http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/04/us-asks-germany-to-take-chinese.php]</ref>

*The Australian [[David Hicks]] has been held in the camp for over five years. He was originally charged with "conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy." <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf Hicks' original charge sheet</ref> but these charges were dropped "after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush unconstitutional without Congressional authorization." <ref>http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/02/us-re-charging-guantanamo-detainees.php Some background on the charge process</ref> He was later charged with "providing material support of terrorism" and "attempted murder in violation of the law of war" - the latter charge was also dropped. <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070301hicks.pdf The Hicks Charge Sheet</ref> <ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-knew-fight-was-wrong/2007/03/26/1174761313462.html]</ref>. On March 26, 2007 David Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge. "A prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the US means Hicks will be allowed to serve out any remaining prison time in Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today."<ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-pleads-guilty/2007/03/27/1174761414531.html]</ref> News reports after the trial stated that "Hicks has pleaded guilty to only one of two counts under the charge. It says that, in Afghanistan during 2000 and 2001, he provided material support for al-Qaeda, which was engaged in terrorism against the US. He pleaded not guilty to a second count that said he provided material support or resources "to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism". <ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/short-jail-term-tipped-for-hicks/2007/03/28/1174761567951.html] Short Jail Term Tipped For Hicks</ref> 
Hicks was sentenced to another seven years in prison by the Military Commision panel but a pre-trial plea bargain drastically cut that sentence. He will spend the last seven months of his sentence in an Australian prison, Yatala Labour Prison. Hicks arrived back in Australia on May 20, 2007. He is due for release from prison in Adelaide, South Australia, in late December, 2007.<ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-elated-after-long-journey-home/2007/05/20/1179601242787.html] Elated to be in solitary confinement</ref> He is not permitted, under the terms of his plea bargain, to speak with any media for 12 months. <ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-will-be-free-by-new-year/2007/03/30/1174761754698.html] Hicks Will Be Free By New Year</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Naval Station Website]
*[http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/ Joint Task Force Website]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf List of detainees at Guatanamo Bay]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/ US Dept of Defence site]
*[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118217520339739055.html?mod=mm_main_promo_left The Prison Poets Of Guantanamo Find a Publisher]

*[http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ Another David Hicks site]

[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:Military]]

Talk:Australia

2007-08-19T22:23:58Z

Bilby: /* Flag */

== Liberal Party ==

Again the somewhat unusual US usage of the word "liberal" rears its head. The Australian Labor Party is not "more liberal" than the Liberal Party. --[[User:Horace|Horace]] 00:38, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

== Faunæ ==

''"The amazing thing about Australian native animals like the koala and the kangaroo is that they have the amazing ability to adapt to living in densely populated urban areas. Kangaroos are frequently sighted roaming the streets of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne."''

This is the most ridiculous statement I've read on this encyclopædia, and that's saying something. I've removed this from this article, because it is a blatant untruth. If an American is going to write an article about Australia, the do a little research and don't just write about a stereotype.

We don't drink Foster's, you can't even find it at most bars. Dingoes don't eat our babies. We don't all wear slouch hats, and we don't kick people with giant boots as a punishment. If you're interested in learning more visit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia this article.] [[User:Dallas|Dallas]] 07:02, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

They're just vandals [[User:Niandra|niandra]] 07:49, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

:Aren't kangaroos becoming somewhat of a nuisance in public places? I would imagine that much like deer here in the US, as their population grows, they start wandering into developed areas looking for food. Now when I was visiting Australia last year I did only see them in the outback and Adelaide area and nowhere near Sydney. Also, I did find it funny that Budweiser was the import of choice. VB ... awesome, I wish they sold it here. [[User:Jrssr5|Jrssr5]] 14:30, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

::I live half an hour's drive from the city of Melbourne in a fairly bushy (wooded, I think the Americans would say) suburb. We have a large number of roos around our area but we are probably the closest to the city to have roos. They are almost in plague proportions in some country areas although the drought seems to be culling them in some ways. I have no idea who would think that Bud is the import of choice! I can't think of a bottle shop (Australian for Liquor Store) that sells it. If there is an import of choice at the moment I suspect it would be Guinness, Heinekin (sp?), Asahi, Stella Artois. If you go to [http://www.tastebeer.com.au/rated-beers/ this beer page] you will see that Bud comes in at number 61. VB (Victoria Bitter) is the highest selling beer in Australia at the moment but tends to be fairly predicatable, if not dull after a while. Coopers, Boags, Cascade and James Squires all are smaller breweries that are doing very very well at the moment in Australia - my favourite at the moment is James Squires. So Kangaroos and beer - all we need now is a shrimp on the barbie (whatever that means!)

:::More randomness: I guess I meant American Import of choice. James Squires was good, as were Cooper and Boags. I also liked XXXX and Toohey's Dark (I think thats what it was). I also lucked out to get a "Boony Doll", but it started to randomly talk in the middle of the night so I had to remove the batteries. [[User:Jrssr5|Jrssr5]] 10:53, 22 March 2007 (EDT)
:::: Getting way OT! Boony Dolls - fantastic! Toohey's Old is a wonderful dark ale - not as appreciated as it should be. I suspect Bud being the American import of choice is purely due to the fact that there aren't a lot of American beers around here - Millers has done reasonably well. I like a Sam Addams but they are not easy to find. XXXX (the way Queenslanders spell BEER) was huge in the 1980s but has faded away to being a fairly local brew these days. I might put an article together on Australian beer in my more idle hours.

== This article is ridiculous ==

Irrelevent information, bad spelling. Is it a joke?

== Medals dangling from hats??? ==

Are you serious? That sounds like nonsense to me. --[[User:Horace|Horace]] 07:30, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

: I suspect this is a strange mix of the swagman (an Australian hobo who, if stereotyped, wears a hat with corks dangling from it to keep the flies away) and the returned soldier, who wears his medals on his chest as is custom in most countries. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:10, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

== Invasion of New Zealand ==

Invasion of New Zealand by Australians linked to British Forces.

I cannot find any reference to this "invasion" on either http://workmall.com/wfb2001/new_zealand/new_zealand_history_index.html or http://history-nz.org/ and considering that the third fleet of convicts had only just arrived in Australia at this time it is difficult to see that there would be many "Australians" who would be available for such exploits. --Bilby 18:45, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

Retrieved from "http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:Bilby"

== Apology and thanks Bilby ==

I realised several hours after I last logged off that I had made a silly mistake in describing the Labor Party as the "second largest". I was going to fix that as soon as I could, but [[user:Bilby|Bilby]] beat me to it. I have no idea what I was thinking; it wouldn't surprise me if they are the largest party, as the Liberals often need the help of the National Party to form government. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 21:23, 22 March 2007 (EDT)

: I realise that "size" can mean so many different things - they have been in Federal power for 10 years - that's big! They control no state - that's small! John Howard is a short man - that's irrelevant but good for a laugh. So I thought I'd get rid of big and small and "just the facts, Mam." And we all know that size doesn't matter anyway! --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 21:26, 22 March 2007 (EDT)

== The article has the heading "Prime Ministers of Australia" twice. ==

The article has the heading "Prime Ministers of Australia" twice. [[User:Conservative|Conservative]] 01:38, 26 April 2007 (EDT)
:So why didn't you fix it? [[User:ColinR|ColinR]][[User_talk:ColinR|talk]] 01:46, 26 April 2007 (EDT)
:::I didn't know how of course. The coding is somewhat technical. [[User:Conservative|Conservative]] 01:48, 26 April 2007 (EDT)
::::All you had to do was remove the sub-heading above the normal heading - <nowiki>===whatever===</nowiki> indicates a subheading. [[User:ColinR|ColinR]][[User_talk:ColinR|talk]] 01:50, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

== The footnote for Prime Ministers of Australia is in a odd place ==

The footnote for Prime Ministers of Australia is in a odd place. See footnote #3.[[User:Conservative|Conservative]] 01:50, 26 April 2007 (EDT)conservative

== Continental boundaries ==

I deleted a reference to Irian Jaya being a part of the continent of Australia and Phillip has footnoted that it could be considered to be a part of that continent (hence New Guinea would also.) I have found that [http://www.answers.com/topic/continent answers.com] has a nice article which gives some idea about how one might determine what is meant by "continent": "A protuberance of the Earth's crustal shell with an area of several million square miles and with sufficient elevation above neighboring depressions (the ocean basins) so that much of it is above sea level.

The great majority of maps now in use imply that the boundaries of continents are their shorelines. From the geological point of view, however, the line of demarcation between a continent and an adjacent ocean basin lies offshore, at distances ranging from a few to several hundred miles, where the gentle slope of the continental shelf changes somewhat abruptly to a steeper declivity. This change occurs at depths ranging from a few to several hundred fathoms (1 fathom = 6 feet) at different places around the periphery of various continents. See also Continental margin.

On such a basis, numerous offshore islands, including the British Isles, Greenland, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, New Guinea, Tasmania, Taiwan, Japan, and Sri Lanka, are parts of the nearby continent. Thus, there are six continents: Eurasia (Europe, China, and India are parts of this largest continent), Africa, North America, South America, Australasia (including Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea), and Antarctica."

So, I guess in the end, it's a matter of definition and accepted models. Most Australians have grown up with the idea of the Island/Nation/Continent idea (thus discounting New Guinea) but if one takes a geological perspective then New Guinea definitely is included. From the perspective of plate techtonics and the various continental plates, India should also be included in that plate but Oceania is a separate plate and geological area. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 22:44, 7 May 2007 (EDT)

:Not sure I agree with ''all'' of that, but what I really want to comment on is that (a) the article ''and not the talk page'' is part of the encyclopedia, so the article should not refer to the encyclopedia, even in a footnote, and therefore (b) this information should be either incorporated into the article proper or in a separate article linked from this one. I'm therefore going to remove the reference to this talk page from the article's footnote. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 23:18, 7 May 2007 (EDT)

:: Ah, you rules people! I'm happy to plod along and have you pick up after me cause I'm sure that I don't have time to read, let alone, remember all these rules. Sure, there's only 10 but I have enough trouble coping with the big ten! I'm sure once continental drift theory gets in the explanations of definitions there would be a few raised eyebrows! ;-) Keep up the good work. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 23:53, 7 May 2007 (EDT)

:::It's not a rule here; just the way that Wiki software is designed to be used. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 06:46, 8 May 2007 (EDT)

::::This could lead to an interesting discussion of the difference between Biblical commandments and Natural Law - but perhaps my mind is overactive this morning...--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:19, 8 May 2007 (EDT)
:::::This is not the place for that, but it's a different circumstance, because Biblical commandments and natural law both have the same author. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 22:02, 8 May 2007 (EDT)

== Flag ==

Is anyone able to fix up the flag in this article - it was OK for a while but now seems to not be viewable. I know some of you are Wikiexperts - I hand it over to you. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 08:45, 18 August 2007 (EDT)

:What do you mean by not viewable, is it too small or just not showing up at all (it seems to be coming up on mine)? [[User:EQ|EQ]] 09:18, 18 August 2007 (EDT)
::Not showing up at all (red X instead). I've asked about this before, but with no response, and I can't figure out what the problem is. However, I've just done an experiment, and found that it works in Firefox, but not IE6. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 10:08, 18 August 2007 (EDT)

:::It [[User:EQ/sandbox|appears]] that the flag cannot be reduced below 101px. This could just be a bug in the mediawiki software or it may be deliberate to avoid over loss of quality by reducing the image (although it only seems to be a problem in IE). Perhaps the template could be changed to reflect this [[User:EQ|EQ]] 20:40, 18 August 2007 (EDT)

::::That said the [[Template:User_Australian]] has got it at 45px with no problems...[[User:EQ|EQ]] 20:43, 18 August 2007 (EDT)

:::::Actually it works for all values except for 99px and 100px [[User:EQ|EQ]] 20:48, 18 August 2007 (EDT)

::::::What a weird bug! I've made it 101px and it works. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 10:00, 19 August 2007 (EDT)

::::::: I'm glad it's up - thanks to the brainstrust for that work! --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:23, 19 August 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Australia

2007-08-19T22:23:31Z

Bilby: /* Flag */

User talk:Bilby

2007-08-19T22:20:12Z

Bilby: /* Australia map */

==Invasion of New Zealand by Australians linked to British Forces.==

I cannot find any reference to this "invasion" on either http://workmall.com/wfb2001/new_zealand/new_zealand_history_index.html or http://history-nz.org/ and considering that the third fleet of convicts had only just arrived in Australia at this time it is difficult to see that there would be many "Australians" who would be available for such exploits. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:45, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

:Note: This entry was made in response to an earlier version of the postings. My comments still hold good. Peter Ellis) Without seeing the entry where this is mentioned... New Zealand has not been invaded by Australia(ns). Period! Perhaps you (Ed Poor?) are meaning that British forces deployed to the British colonies on the continent of Australia were used to then go to form the British colony in what is now New Zealand. (Note: Australia, the nation, came into being on 1 January 1901.)[[User:Peter Ellis|Peter Ellis]] 22:57, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

:: The original NZ invasion theory was put forward by Pacman, not Ed Poor!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 23:50, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

==David Hicks==
:Please don't misrepresent sources or make biased edits. [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp&diff=65929&oldid=63435 This] makes it seem as if your POV is supported by the article you cited, but a moment's skimming showed that you were cherry-picking the contents. Not even Wikipedia allows that. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 19:06, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

::Or am I being too harsh? Perhaps you had a reason to believe one side in the legal controversy and not the other. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 19:10, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

:::Hicks deserves his own page, because: (1) he's the first considered under this system; (2) he's thus "high profile", internationally, as well as in his own country; (3) he's guilty (own admission in court, and to family as reported years ago). Put a link from the Gitmo page to his own. It still needs to be NPOV.[[User:Peter Ellis|Peter Ellis]] 01:17, 30 March 2007 (EDT)
No worries. It only takes a few seconds, I mostly nab formatting from other pages. It's great to see your content. [[User:Hannibal ad portas|Hannibal ad portas]] 20:32, 20 May 2007 (EDT)

==Bilby identity unmasked?==
Does "dmcl" come into this, somewhere??? :-) [[User:Peter Ellis|Peter Ellis]] 01:02, 30 March 2007 (EDT)
: Hmm, now I'm lost: NPOV (non point of view?) and now DMCL (a collection of Roman numerals?) I didn't intend it to be something that needed unmasking but at the same time I tend to like a certain amount of anonymity just because I feel more comfortable that way. If you have a burning desire to know who I am, let me know. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 06:05, 30 March 2007 (EDT)
::Thanks for Categorising me, Peter (I do mean that even though it sounds bureaucratic). Still waiting on the meaning of DMCL... --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 06:31, 12 April 2007 (EDT)
:::But is he made of chocolate?[http://www.easterbilby.com.au/] [[User:Hannibal ad portas|Hannibal ad portas]] 20:34, 20 May 2007 (EDT)
::::I'm certainly not a bunny!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:42, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

==Welcome to a fellow teacher!==

I need to grade papers for tomorrow. Welcome to you as a fellow teacher!--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 02:03, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

[[Category:Australians on Conservapedia]]

== Bilby unmasked ==

[[Image:bilby.jpg‎|thumb|280px|The '''Bilby''', a well known editor on '''Conservapedia'''.]]
Yes I have found the real [[Bilby]]. A rather clever little marsupial with big ears and a twitchy nose. The head of the world chocolate Bilby empire. [[User:Hannibal ad portas|Hannibal ad portas]] 08:51, 21 May 2007 (EDT)
:: yep, the ears give it away!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 10:15, 12 June 2007 (EDT)

== Editing ==
See [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=User:Bilby here]. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 22:18, 10 June 2007 (EDT)

==[[Australia]] map==

Hi. I love the map of Australia ([[Image:Mapaust.gif]]), but I'm wondering where you got it from. Would you please provide a source. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 20:57, 18 August 2007 (EDT)

: I will try to track it down, it was a long, long time ago....--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:20, 19 August 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Australia

2007-08-18T12:45:24Z

Bilby: oops, added signature

Talk:Australia

2007-08-18T12:44:52Z

Bilby: Request for page fix up

User talk:Kazumaru

2007-08-16T22:54:39Z

Bilby:

:I un-vandalized you. But its possible that it counts as another instance of vandalism, making your total now 3. [[User:Bohdan|Bohdan]] 00:44, 2 August 2007 (EDT)
:: Foiled again! :( [[User:Kazumaru|Kazumaru]] 00:46, 2 August 2007 (EDT)

::: Your account is on the verge of being blocked for violating the spirit of the 90/10 talk [[rule]]. Improve the encyclopedia here while your account is still active. Thanks and Godspeed.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 00:14, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

::::Doesn't sound threatening, but thanks for the notice. I shall stop debating issues on talk pages, then. [[User:Kazumaru|Kazumaru]] 00:16, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

::::: Pity, the debating is the fun! --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:54, 16 August 2007 (EDT)
== slowing down... ==

Did you mean to make a deceleration of intent, or is it supposed to be declaration? I kinda like it the way it is. It's punny... but the pun doesn't make any sense. :) [[User:Jazzman831|Jazzman831]] 23:52, 13 August 2007 (EDT)

:*forehead smack* Oops... XD Thanks, Jazzman. [[User:Kazumaru|Kazumaru]] 23:53, 13 August 2007 (EDT)
::Regarding [http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Anti-hero&diff=prev&oldid=266885 this]... have you finished the 7th book? I don't want to ruin it if you haven't, but I'm reverting your edit. --[[User:Hojimachong|'''Ħøĵímαζĥŏήğ''']][[User_Talk:Hojimachong|θαλκ]] 02:29, 14 August 2007 (EDT)

== categorizing articles ==

Hi! :)

Thanks for adding a new article, in this case [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]]. Please, though, categorize your articles when you create them; while there are those of us who will go through and clean-up the uncategorized articles, you know your subject better than we do.

For a list of categories, go here: [[Special:Categories]]. To add a category to your article, type two open brackets, then "category:" followed by the category you want. Just add two closed brackets and you're done! You can add as many categories as you feel are appropriate. Thanks! [[User:Aziraphale|Aziraphale]] 02:17, 15 August 2007 (EDT)

Talk:John Howard

2007-08-16T22:38:01Z

Bilby: /* Drought */ Hungry, still need that pie

its kinda sad to think that some poor kid might take this seriously. But it does provide genuine food for thought the whol Liberal vs liberal thing

:I don't have time to sift through every claim in the article to check for accuracy, so I've reduced it to a stub until someone with knowledge of the subject can restore it to a more sensible state. [[User:Tsumetai|Tsumetai]] 07:22, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

::It was total fiction. There is nothing to "restore". It tends to confirm my view that (many) Americans know so little about matters outside their own country that you (plural) didn't recognise this as clear vandalism. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 04:21, 22 March 2007 (EDT)

:It's a very funny article, nonetheless! [[User:Karalius Nyder|Karalius Nyder]] 22:22, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

___________________________________________________________________________________

As both a long-term voter for the Liberal Party of Australia, a Catholic, and a partial contributer to the entry on John Howard, I do not believe that there is too much in this particular entry which cannot be shown to be based on truth as an Australian would define truth. The concept of truth, be it in regard to one's belief in a God or, at the other end of the specturm, belief in mother Gaia is not always as easily defined as one might imagine. Australians will remember a recent rather unkind qote, from whom I cannot remember, which described John Howard thus:

"He may be a rodent, but he is OUR rodent!"

That is truth as much as John Howard being in the Labor Party is truth.

I would like John Howard to see this article so that he may confirm it's contents, for although he may be perceived by many as a rodent, Prime Minister Howard would, I am sure, not want to change a single line of this entry about him.
[[User:Numbat|Numbat]] 19:57, 20 March 2007 (WDT)

== Good Work ==

This page would have to be one of the best on conservapedia so far. Keep up the good work.

== I hate to spoil people's fun but... ==

This article is a load of nonsense.

Just thought you might like to know.
--[[User:Horace|Horace]] 05:04, 21 March 2007 (EDT)

I think you can keep your negative comments to yourself Horace, this isn't wikipedia!

== The funniest thing ever ==

I found out about Conservapedia whilst reading through a Wikipedia user page [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:THE_KING]. The thing that drew my attention was the hilarious reference to John Howard on Conservapedia. It was the funniest thing I had read in a long time. Thank you for making my day so much brighter. [[User:Hannibal ad portas|Hannibal ad portas]] 12:36, 5 May 2007 (EDT)

: Wow, your comment was most enlightening. Is this the best a Wikipedia user can do???--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 12:38, 5 May 2007 (EDT)

...Sadly, I think it might be.... --[[User:David R|<<-David R->>]] 12:40, 5 May 2007 (EDT)
:: Wow you guys move quickly. Do you hunt in packs? [[User:Hannibal ad portas|Hannibal ad portas]] 12:41, 5 May 2007 (EDT)

The text on the Wikipedia's user page is of an old version of this article, which was the result of vandalism, combined with a lack of editors who knew anything about the subject. It has been corrected for some time. I [[user:Philip J. Rayment#editorial|editorialised]] on it my user page and commented about it near the top of this talk page also. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 20:08, 5 May 2007 (EDT)

== Drought ==
Is it worth noting that he's a habitual liar? There are floods in Melbourne, which he's saying is under drought conditions... Sauce ASAP [[User:Kazumaru|Kazumaru]] 10:34, 16 August 2007 (EDT)

:LOL, droughts maybe not but there needs to be stuff added on the children overboard affair, GST backflip and his political relationship with Peter Costello [[User:EQ|EQ]] 10:43, 16 August 2007 (EDT)

::Perhaps we ought to say that Kazamaru is a liar?! There's been no floods in Melbourne lately, although there have been some in Gippsland. But given that Melbourne still has stage 3a water restrictions (and much of the state has worse), it's still effectively drought conditions despite recent rain, and it's too soon to say that the drought is definitely over.
::EQ, the points you mention probably should go in the article, but it should be kept in mind that there are strong differences of opinions about each of those situations.
::One problem with this article is that its skimming very close to the line (if it's not already over it) of thinking it's a newspaper article giving a running commentary. Some of the issues mentioned are most likely largely irrelevant in an overall look at the PM, and merely seem important because they are current and therefore prominent at the moment. At least the points EQ mentioned are clearly matters that are major incidents in the PM's career.
::[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 11:28, 16 August 2007 (EDT)

::: I think perhaps one needs to see that there is a difference between a flood and a drought being over. A drought is a prolonged period of time with less than average rainfall that leads to the general water availability to a particular area to be decreased significantly (definition made up on the spot) while a flood is a momentary sudden increase in water in an area due to heavy downpours. You can have a flood in the middle of a drought and the drought continues - what is needed is consistent rain over a prolonged period of time, not a heavy shower. PS Kazumaru, can I have a pie with that sauce ASAP? --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:19, 16 August 2007 (EDT)

:::: Feel free to call me a liar. The only areas of QLD that could possibly be classed as "drought conditions" would be the parts that are desert. And now, for that sauce you want. [http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=s&cu=fn-rea&s=qld&ss=&ag=&t=res&snf=rbs&chk=0&lead=&ty=&tb=&u=&is=1&pm=&px=&pme=any&pxe=any&cat=&o=def ]It's an Aussie real-estate site. Look at the photos... Green grass, everywhere. Under water restrictions, what're the odds of seeing THAT consistently during a drought? [[User:Kazumaru|Kazumaru]] 18:24, 16 August 2007 (EDT)

:::::So a QLD real estate page proves that the floods in Melbourne have stopped the drought? Firstly have you considered that some real estate agents might actually misrepresent how something looks! (SHOCK!) Have you considered looking at the BOM page [http://www.bom.gov.au] to look at rainfall patterns or dam levels - Melbourne's dams are at less than 30% capacity at the moment - this time last year they were over 50%. Hobart is the only major city in Australia with dams at levels that are considered to be capable of maintaining the population for a prolonged period of time. I am in Melbourne, I can see the effects of drought every day, admittedly less in winter than they were five months ago but still there. Where are you?--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:38, 16 August 2007 (EDT)

Talk:John Howard

2007-08-16T22:19:48Z

Bilby: /* Drought */ just a thought and some hunger

John Howard

2007-07-31T22:07:59Z

Bilby: /* Recent political controversies */ added water, hospital, aboriginal issues and Dr Haneef

{{PM
|name=John Winston Howard
|wife=Janette Howard
|party=Liberal Party of Australia
|dob=26 July
|yob=1939
|birthplace=Earlwood, New South Wales
|succ={{Succession
|hdg=Prime Minister
|start-date=11 March
|start-year=1996
|end-date=
|end-year=
|prev=Paul Keating
}}{{Succession
|hdg=Liberal Party leader
|start-date=
|start-year=1995
|prev=Alexander Downer
}}
}}
'''John Winston Howard''' is the current Prime Minister of [[Australia]], and leader of the ''[[Liberal Party of Australia]]''. He has been Prime Minister since the Liberal Party won a majority in the [[Australia#System_of_Government|House of Representatives]] at the general election in 1996 (in coalition with the smaller National Party), succeeding [[Paul Keating]].

John Howard married Janette Parker in 1971, and they have a daughter and two sons.

== Political life ==
Howard had been a parliamentarian for 22 years before becoming the Prime Minister, and for 21 of those years he was on the ministerial benches, including roles as Treasurer and Opposition Leader.

During his term as Prime Minister, he has tightened [[gun control|controls on firearms]], began privatisation of the national communications provider, [[Telstra]], introduced a 10% [[Goods and services tax]] to replace various other taxes, and brought in new labour laws allowing for employee contracts meeting certain minimum standards. Although opposed to the idea, he also introduced a [[referendum]] on Australia becoming a [[republic]], which was defeated.

Howard has been very supportive of the war in [[Iraq]], and Australia has been a steadfast supporter of the [[coalition of the willing]], although this has also brought much opposition against him.

==Recent political controversies==
The resignation of Santo Santoro as Minister of Ageing following his public admission to share trading in breach of Howard's Ministerial Code of Conduct has resulted in adverse publicity to Howard. The week prior to the resignation Howard had publicly supported the former Minister when he had admitted to one breach of the code. Santoro admitted a week later that he had committed a further 72 breaches which resulted in the withdrawal of support from the Prime Minister. Bob Quinn, the former leader of the opposition in the Queensland State Parliament is the current front-runner for the Senate seat vacated by the sudden resignation of Mr Santoro.

The prosecution of [[David Hicks]] at Guantanamo Bay continues to be a political issue for Howard.

Other controversies in mid 2007 centred around such issues as the Federal Government's desire to take control of what was originally state rights to decide upon water usage in the Murray-Darling River System, the taking over of direct funding of a state hospital in Tasmania, and stepping in to alleviate problems in some aboriginal communities. The arrest and eventual charging of Dr Haneef on suspicion of consorting with terrorists led to the eventual dropping of charges, allowing Dr Haneef to return to his native India. Questions remained regarding the governments handling of the case.

The popularity of Howard has been at an all-time low since the opposition has been headed by [[Kevin Rudd]] although it seems as 2007 progresses this gap in the polls has lessened. A general election must be called before the end of 2007.

== Sources ==
* National Museum of Australia, [http://www.nma.gov.au/education/school_resources/websites_and_interactives/primeministers/john_howard/ John Howard]

{{Australian Prime Ministers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, John}}

John Howard

2007-06-12T14:26:43Z

Bilby: /* Recent political controversies */

'''John Winston Howard''' is the current Prime Minister of [[Australia]]. He is the leader of the ''[[Liberal Party of Australia]]''. He has been Prime Minister since the Liberal Party won a majority in the [[Australia#System_of_Government|House of Representatives]] at the general election in 1996 (in coalition with the smaller National Party), succeeding [[Paul Keating]].

He is married to Jeanette Howard.

==Recent political controversies==
The resignation of Santo Santoro as Minister of Ageing following his public admission to share trading in breach of Howard's Ministerial Code of Conduct has resulted in adverse publicity to Howard. The week prior to the resignation Howard had publicly supported the former Minister when he had admitted to one breach of the code. Santoro admitted a week later that he had committed a further 72 breaches which resulted in the withdrawal of support from the Prime Minister. Bob Quinn, the former leader of the opposition in the Queensland State Parliament is the current front-runner for the Senate seat vacated by the sudden resignation of Mr Santoro.

The prosecution of [[David Hicks]] at Guantanamo Bay continues to be a political issue for Howard.

The popularity of Howard has been at an all-time low since the opposition has been headed by [[Kevin Rudd]] although it seems as 2007 progresses this gap in the polls has lessened. A general election must be called before the end of 2007.

{{Australian Prime Ministers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, John}}

John Howard

2007-06-12T14:26:21Z

Bilby: /* Recent political controversies */ changed last paragraph to reflect recent trends (sadly)

'''John Winston Howard''' is the current Prime Minister of [[Australia]]. He is the leader of the ''[[Liberal Party of Australia]]''. He has been Prime Minister since the Liberal Party won a majority in the [[Australia#System_of_Government|House of Representatives]] at the general election in 1996 (in coalition with the smaller National Party), succeeding [[Paul Keating]].

He is married to Jeanette Howard.

==Recent political controversies==
The resignation of Santo Santoro as Minister of Ageing following his public admission to share trading in breach of Howard's Ministerial Code of Conduct has resulted in adverse publicity to Howard. The week prior to the resignation Howard had publicly supported the former Minister when he had admitted to one breach of the code. Santoro admitted a week later that he had committed a further 72 breaches which resulted in the withdrawal of support from the Prime Minister. Bob Quinn, the former leader of the opposition in the Queensland State Parliament is the current front-runner for the Senate seat vacated by the sudden resignation of Mr Santoro.

The prosecution of [[David Hicks]] at Guantanamo Bay continues to be a political issue for Howard.

The popularity of Howard has been at an all-time low since the opposition has been headed by[[Kevin Rudd]] although it seems as 2007 progresses this gap in the polls has lessened. A general election must be called before the end of 2007.

{{Australian Prime Ministers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, John}}

User talk:Bilby

2007-06-12T14:15:40Z

Bilby: /* Bilby unmasked */

Talk:Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-06-12T14:13:25Z

Bilby: /* What about this? */

AustinM: Please provide a {{cite}} for this inclusion,
:''Some liberal groups have accused the US of practicing [[torture]] at Gitmo, such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.''
Thank you. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:00, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

It's not just liberals who have made the accusation either.--[[User:Murray|Murray]] 13:06, 16 March 2007 (EDT)
:Yes, that is precisely what i'm driving at. Why is the term liberal used here then coupled with an innuendo for "non-liberals", preesumably? [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:20, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

==Word usage==

Cut:

: Some human rights groups and other activists claim the US has practiced [[torture]], such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.[http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-reallives-eng] As torture is illegal in the US and in nearly all other nations in the world, the camp is critisized by governments around the world.

The US opposes torture, but not all the things listed in the passage above are "torture". There have been attempts (almostly entirely by political opponents of Bush's Iraq policy) to change the legal definition of torture.

I suppose that this a a strategy. Instead of having two classes of forbidden interrogation techniques (1) torture, which is simply uncivilized and (2) "excessive roughness" (for lack of a better word) - these advocates make the following argument:

#torture is bad
#we must not do what is bad
#rough interrogation techniques are torture
#therefor. they are bad and we must not do them

The Bush administration agrees that '''some''' [[coercive interrogation]] techniques are bad, but refuses to concede that they are examples of "torture".

This passage needs to be fixed:
*Do not say that the listed techniques '''are''' torture but that advocates '''consider them''' to be torture or "want them to be classified legally as torture" or "have been trying to get the word 'torture' redefined".
*Distinguish between [[rough interrogation]] techniques that the US acknowledges having done and those it asserts it has not done
*Also distinguish between such techniques the US agrees are "torture" or "too rough" and those it insists on continuing to use, such as [[waterboarding]].
*Mention that there is a controversy over whether frightening a prisoner is always torture, tantamount to torture, or just rather clever.

Other ideas that need mentioning are:
*The efficacy of [[coercive interrogation]]: is it useful to gain evidence for legal proceedings, or does it just help to stop terrorists from carrying out their next operation, or what?

Moreover, we should distinguish between US Liberal and Conservative positions on this, rather than using weasel words like "has been criticized" or "some groups and activists claim".

There's also the perennial problem of classifying various advocates. Is Human Rights Watch liberal? How about Amnesty International? Many liberals and liberal groups do not admit to being liberal, a trend that began with Michael Dukakis protesting the "L-word" a quarter century ago. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 08:31, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Good analysis. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:54, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

Here is some more analysis:
*Liberals generally say that the Geneva protections for POWs "applies" (or "should apply") to these people.

Usually the word this as, "The Geneva conventions apply to the gitmo detainees, but the US ..." This is deceptive, because both the US (and these partisans) are in agreement on one thing and in disagreement on another thing:
*They agree that the US is bound by the Geneva Conventions
*They agree that the Geneva Conventions "apply" to anyone captured in a combat zone
*Prisoners should not be "tortured"
But:
*They disagree on whether stateless persons, not wearing uniforms, etc. are entitled to "POW status".

POWs get all sorts of special privileges, because they are citizens of another country which is a party to the Geneva Conventions. Geneva isn't a universal code of human rights, but an treaty between nations. Warring nations who want to settle disputes with force but don't seek the total destruction of their enemies - in other words, civilized countries - agree to limit their war tactics. We don't mistreat your civilians and POWs, and you don't mistreat ours. But uniformed men on the battlefield are fair game. (Think of the gangs in West Side Story agreeing that the gym is neutral territory, leaving girls out of it, choosing where to have a big fight, etc.)

Spies get nothing. Stateless people get nothing. Nothing special, I mean. The legal and diplomatic goodies due POWs are reserved for a specified class.

Remind me to move all this into some article like:
*[[Prisoner of war]]
*[[unlawful combatant]]
*[[Geneva Conventions]]
*[[Laws of war]]

Okay, gotta go. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:43, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Another thing: the Gitmo detainees are '''''at war with''''' the Geneva Convention. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 20:56, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

: Let's look at David Hicks, a citizen of Australia. There is nothing stateless about that, other than the fact that the Australian government tends to disown you if you upset the Bush administration. Most of the photos I have seen of him in Afgahnistan have him wearing a uniform. He, in his mind, believed he was fighting for the freedom of an oppressed people who had been invaded by other countries. In some ways very similar to any resistance fighter in Europe in WW II except they didn't wear uniforms. You do need to ask why the US won't bring those people for trial on US territory - are they afraid that then they will have to apply US or International Treaty law instead of Bush Law? --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:07, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

==David Hicks==

Bilby, I don't get where you're going with the Hicks trial. Are you saying he's innocent; that he's guilty but the law should be changed; that he was a terrorist but terrorism isn't bad; that he did a bad thing but shouldn't be punished because the law wasn't in place; or what?

It doesn't seem like a balanced entry at all; are you trying consciously to make it trustworthy? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 19:13, 26 March 2007 (EDT)
: All I have added is the run down of what has happened at the trial so far today. As far as I can see it is a factual account of what occured in recent hours. His guilt is for the court to decide. There is a lot of debate about the charge as it is being used retrospectively. Although American law had that charge since Oklahoma, the military law didn't. It was put in place and then he was charged with it a couple of months ago after five years in jail without charge. These are just facts. How they are to be interpreted is up to history but America is not winning friends around the world by treating people like this!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 19:18, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

::The most significant part of that is the ''ex post facto'' law. Or the claim about it. Can you source the claim? And also dig into it, find out what the US says about that claim.

::Handling breaking news is touchy. Are you sure you can handle it neutrally? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:54, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

:::"neutrally" is always an interesting word. I have a bias, all writers do. But I know it and am trying to report "facts" as I receive them through a variety of media. I could add a quote from St Helen Prejean ""Guantanamo Bay is an abhorrent aberration of everything that my country ought to be about," she said in Sydney yesterday. "I think it's because we do execute people. It just so smacks of empire." " but recognise that it contains a bias which would not be accepted by this site - it would get edited away very quickly as being not sourced correctly, or being too opinionated - but only because the "neutral" editors have their own bias. The TV reports today claimed that David Hicks was asked if he could speak English or if he needed an interpreter - his response was that he might be difficult to understand because he spoke Australian English. I reported the first half, you edited it and reported the second. Perhaps we should wait for the trial transcript and just put that intstead - if it is ever published.

If there are two halves, and you and I each reported only one half, does that make us both half-witted? ;-) Please put in both halves. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 15:01, 27 March 2007 (EDT)

So David Hicks has pleaded guilty? To ONE charge of providing material support for "terrorism"? A charge at the very lowest end of the scale, and one which could be levelled at any partisan who has ever had a rebel leader doss down under their roof. And the sleek lawyers and obese pigs of the gutter press in Australia are taking this as confirmation of his evil, and crowing about it from every tabloid. Needless to say, they (and I imagine most of us) would have been pleading guilty to personally ordering the attack on 9/11 after ONE WEEK of the treatment being dished out at Gitters. And Hicks has been there, without charge, for five years! Shame on you all! Note, there are NO British or American prisoners there. The Brits demanded theirs back, and the Yanks put theirs on trial. Only Hicks, who was a hero in Bosnia, and who has never killed anyone, is rotting in this filthy jail. Oh yes, he was in cahoots with Osama. Well, news flash, punters. This was BEFORE 9/11, and your President was in bed not with Osama, but with the whole stinking family of them. Free David Hicks, say I! MylesP is my page here.
Email: myles325@yahoo.com.au

== What about this? ==

"Guantánamo has become a major, major problem ... in the way the world perceives America and if it were up to me I would close Guantánamo not tomorrow but this afternoon ... and I would not let any of those people go. I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system", Powell told NBC's Meet the Press.

"Essentially, we have shaken the belief the world had in America's justice system by keeping a place like Guantánamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it", he added.

-Colin Powell on NBC's Meet the Press
[[http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1043646920070610]]
--[[User:Bucklesman|Bucklesman]] 09:48, 12 June 2007 (EDT)
:: No wonder they got rid of him!!!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 10:13, 12 June 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-06-12T14:13:00Z

Bilby: /* What about this? */

AustinM: Please provide a {{cite}} for this inclusion,
:''Some liberal groups have accused the US of practicing [[torture]] at Gitmo, such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.''
Thank you. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:00, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

It's not just liberals who have made the accusation either.--[[User:Murray|Murray]] 13:06, 16 March 2007 (EDT)
:Yes, that is precisely what i'm driving at. Why is the term liberal used here then coupled with an innuendo for "non-liberals", preesumably? [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:20, 16 March 2007 (EDT)

==Word usage==

Cut:

: Some human rights groups and other activists claim the US has practiced [[torture]], such as cold-hot shock rooms, electrical shocks, simulated drowning, food and water deprivation, chaining, forced walking on broken glass and barbed wire, and psychological torture.[http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-reallives-eng] As torture is illegal in the US and in nearly all other nations in the world, the camp is critisized by governments around the world.

The US opposes torture, but not all the things listed in the passage above are "torture". There have been attempts (almostly entirely by political opponents of Bush's Iraq policy) to change the legal definition of torture.

I suppose that this a a strategy. Instead of having two classes of forbidden interrogation techniques (1) torture, which is simply uncivilized and (2) "excessive roughness" (for lack of a better word) - these advocates make the following argument:

#torture is bad
#we must not do what is bad
#rough interrogation techniques are torture
#therefor. they are bad and we must not do them

The Bush administration agrees that '''some''' [[coercive interrogation]] techniques are bad, but refuses to concede that they are examples of "torture".

This passage needs to be fixed:
*Do not say that the listed techniques '''are''' torture but that advocates '''consider them''' to be torture or "want them to be classified legally as torture" or "have been trying to get the word 'torture' redefined".
*Distinguish between [[rough interrogation]] techniques that the US acknowledges having done and those it asserts it has not done
*Also distinguish between such techniques the US agrees are "torture" or "too rough" and those it insists on continuing to use, such as [[waterboarding]].
*Mention that there is a controversy over whether frightening a prisoner is always torture, tantamount to torture, or just rather clever.

Other ideas that need mentioning are:
*The efficacy of [[coercive interrogation]]: is it useful to gain evidence for legal proceedings, or does it just help to stop terrorists from carrying out their next operation, or what?

Moreover, we should distinguish between US Liberal and Conservative positions on this, rather than using weasel words like "has been criticized" or "some groups and activists claim".

There's also the perennial problem of classifying various advocates. Is Human Rights Watch liberal? How about Amnesty International? Many liberals and liberal groups do not admit to being liberal, a trend that began with Michael Dukakis protesting the "L-word" a quarter century ago. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 08:31, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Good analysis. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 13:54, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

Here is some more analysis:
*Liberals generally say that the Geneva protections for POWs "applies" (or "should apply") to these people.

Usually the word this as, "The Geneva conventions apply to the gitmo detainees, but the US ..." This is deceptive, because both the US (and these partisans) are in agreement on one thing and in disagreement on another thing:
*They agree that the US is bound by the Geneva Conventions
*They agree that the Geneva Conventions "apply" to anyone captured in a combat zone
*Prisoners should not be "tortured"
But:
*They disagree on whether stateless persons, not wearing uniforms, etc. are entitled to "POW status".

POWs get all sorts of special privileges, because they are citizens of another country which is a party to the Geneva Conventions. Geneva isn't a universal code of human rights, but an treaty between nations. Warring nations who want to settle disputes with force but don't seek the total destruction of their enemies - in other words, civilized countries - agree to limit their war tactics. We don't mistreat your civilians and POWs, and you don't mistreat ours. But uniformed men on the battlefield are fair game. (Think of the gangs in West Side Story agreeing that the gym is neutral territory, leaving girls out of it, choosing where to have a big fight, etc.)

Spies get nothing. Stateless people get nothing. Nothing special, I mean. The legal and diplomatic goodies due POWs are reserved for a specified class.

Remind me to move all this into some article like:
*[[Prisoner of war]]
*[[unlawful combatant]]
*[[Geneva Conventions]]
*[[Laws of war]]

Okay, gotta go. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:43, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

:Another thing: the Gitmo detainees are '''''at war with''''' the Geneva Convention. [[User:RobS|RobS]] 20:56, 20 March 2007 (EDT)

: Let's look at David Hicks, a citizen of Australia. There is nothing stateless about that, other than the fact that the Australian government tends to disown you if you upset the Bush administration. Most of the photos I have seen of him in Afgahnistan have him wearing a uniform. He, in his mind, believed he was fighting for the freedom of an oppressed people who had been invaded by other countries. In some ways very similar to any resistance fighter in Europe in WW II except they didn't wear uniforms. You do need to ask why the US won't bring those people for trial on US territory - are they afraid that then they will have to apply US or International Treaty law instead of Bush Law? --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 18:07, 29 March 2007 (EDT)

==David Hicks==

Bilby, I don't get where you're going with the Hicks trial. Are you saying he's innocent; that he's guilty but the law should be changed; that he was a terrorist but terrorism isn't bad; that he did a bad thing but shouldn't be punished because the law wasn't in place; or what?

It doesn't seem like a balanced entry at all; are you trying consciously to make it trustworthy? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 19:13, 26 March 2007 (EDT)
: All I have added is the run down of what has happened at the trial so far today. As far as I can see it is a factual account of what occured in recent hours. His guilt is for the court to decide. There is a lot of debate about the charge as it is being used retrospectively. Although American law had that charge since Oklahoma, the military law didn't. It was put in place and then he was charged with it a couple of months ago after five years in jail without charge. These are just facts. How they are to be interpreted is up to history but America is not winning friends around the world by treating people like this!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 19:18, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

::The most significant part of that is the ''ex post facto'' law. Or the claim about it. Can you source the claim? And also dig into it, find out what the US says about that claim.

::Handling breaking news is touchy. Are you sure you can handle it neutrally? --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 20:54, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

:::"neutrally" is always an interesting word. I have a bias, all writers do. But I know it and am trying to report "facts" as I receive them through a variety of media. I could add a quote from St Helen Prejean ""Guantanamo Bay is an abhorrent aberration of everything that my country ought to be about," she said in Sydney yesterday. "I think it's because we do execute people. It just so smacks of empire." " but recognise that it contains a bias which would not be accepted by this site - it would get edited away very quickly as being not sourced correctly, or being too opinionated - but only because the "neutral" editors have their own bias. The TV reports today claimed that David Hicks was asked if he could speak English or if he needed an interpreter - his response was that he might be difficult to understand because he spoke Australian English. I reported the first half, you edited it and reported the second. Perhaps we should wait for the trial transcript and just put that intstead - if it is ever published.

If there are two halves, and you and I each reported only one half, does that make us both half-witted? ;-) Please put in both halves. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 15:01, 27 March 2007 (EDT)

So David Hicks has pleaded guilty? To ONE charge of providing material support for "terrorism"? A charge at the very lowest end of the scale, and one which could be levelled at any partisan who has ever had a rebel leader doss down under their roof. And the sleek lawyers and obese pigs of the gutter press in Australia are taking this as confirmation of his evil, and crowing about it from every tabloid. Needless to say, they (and I imagine most of us) would have been pleading guilty to personally ordering the attack on 9/11 after ONE WEEK of the treatment being dished out at Gitters. And Hicks has been there, without charge, for five years! Shame on you all! Note, there are NO British or American prisoners there. The Brits demanded theirs back, and the Yanks put theirs on trial. Only Hicks, who was a hero in Bosnia, and who has never killed anyone, is rotting in this filthy jail. Oh yes, he was in cahoots with Osama. Well, news flash, punters. This was BEFORE 9/11, and your President was in bed not with Osama, but with the whole stinking family of them. Free David Hicks, say I! MylesP is my page here.
Email: myles325@yahoo.com.au

== What about this? ==

"Guantánamo has become a major, major problem ... in the way the world perceives America and if it were up to me I would close Guantánamo not tomorrow but this afternoon ... and I would not let any of those people go. I would simply move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal system", Powell told NBC's Meet the Press.

"Essentially, we have shaken the belief the world had in America's justice system by keeping a place like Guantánamo open and creating things like the military commission. We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it", he added.

-Colin Powell on NBC's Meet the Press
[[http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1043646920070610]]
--[[User:Bucklesman|Bucklesman]] 09:48, 12 June 2007 (EDT)
:: No wonder they got rid of him!!!--[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 10:13, 12 June 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Australian Aborigines

2007-06-12T14:11:32Z

Bilby: /* 6000 years */ Just a few thoughts....

== 6000 years ==
"However, others contend that the universe is only 6,000 years old, so this conclusion is often considered to be mistaken." As an indigenous Australian, this is an insult to both my religious beliefs and my culture. As an educated man with as good an understanding of science, the bible, and creationism as any other layperson, this is an insult to my intelligence. I'd like to request an edit on exactly the same grounds that Young Earth Creationists on this site routinely request edits of articles that offend their religious sensibilities. [[User:203.166.0.220|203.166.0.220]] 07:09, 12 June 2007 (EDT)
:Could you please explain just how it insults you and how you would like it changed? I know of nothing in Aboriginal culture (as distinct from uniformitarian science) which conflicts with this statement. On the contrary, Aboriginal stories speak of Aborigines being created, whereas uniformitarian/evolutionary science has taught that Aborigines are not as evolved as Europeans. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 07:38, 12 June 2007 (EDT)
::I never claim to know why other people think what they do. I can, however, understand that aboriginal people have pride in the claim that they can trace a civilised heritage back 40 - 50 or more 1,000s of years which is based in an ancient dreamtime. It is obvious that the Young Earth vs Old Earth groups will never agree on anything which claims a longer time frame that the Young Earth group will accept so it seems that an article which expresses both points of view is better than one which refuses to acknowledge either. Especially on a site like this one. The insult to the religious beliefs is that the Young Earth theory is based on the certainty that the history of the world as presented in the Jewish scriptures is the only accpetable and correct history of the world - therefore, as a for granted point of view, the aboriginal religion is wrong - the creation stories of the aboriginal people come from a tradition which is much older than the Semetic one. I can only think of some very backward racists who would claim that one race of humanity is more or less "evolved" than another race. Evolutionary theory tends to look at species rather than variations within a species and I think that there would be very few evolutionists who would claim that one race is lesser than another due to evolution. Anyway, that's me for now. Have a good night/morning y'all. --[[User:Bilby|Bilby]] 10:11, 12 June 2007 (EDT)

Indigenous Australians

2007-06-10T13:30:14Z

Bilby:

The '''indigenous peoples of Australia''' are broadly divided into two or three groups. The largest group is the [[Australian Aborigines]] who traditionally occupied most of the Australian mainland and some offshore islands. The second group is the [[Torres Strait Islanders]] who traditionally occupied the islands of [[Torres Strait]] and part of [[Cape York Peninsula]]. Sometimes, a third group is used, separating the [[Tasmanian Aborigines]] from the mainland Aborigines. All of the indigenous peoples have dark skin, although how dark depends on where they are from.

The Australian Aborigines are further divided into about 300 separate language groups, sometimes called "nations". A map of the tribal distribution before the arrival of white settlers can be found here [http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/page/default.asp?site=2&page=TIN_Tribal].

In Australia, indigenous people as a broad group are usually called "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders" by the government.

[[Category:Australia]]

Indigenous Australians

2007-06-10T13:29:26Z

Bilby: Map link added (not sure if I did it correctly - if not expect a few more attempts...)

The '''indigenous peoples of Australia''' are broadly divided into two or three groups. The largest group is the [[Australian Aborigines]] who traditionally occupied most of the Australian mainland and some offshore islands. The second group is the [[Torres Strait Islanders]] who traditionally occupied the islands of [[Torres Strait]] and part of [[Cape York Peninsula]]. Sometimes, a third group is used, separating the [[Tasmanian Aborigines]] from the mainland Aborigines. All of the indigenous peoples have dark skin, although how dark depends on where they are from.

The Australian Aborigines are further divided into about 300 separate language groups, sometimes called "nations". A map of the tribal distribution before the arrival of white settlers can be found [here | http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/page/default.asp?site=2&page=TIN_Tribal].

In Australia, indigenous people as a broad group are usually called "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders" by the government.

[[Category:Australia]]

Australian Aborigines

2007-06-10T13:26:58Z

Bilby: /* Stolen Generation */ little spelling bit - seems the article is unlocked again - any idea what the lock thing is?

'''Aborigines''' are the main group of [[indigenous Australians]].

[[Archaeology|Archaeological]] evidence has led researchers to conclude that there has been 40 to 45 thousand years of continuous occupation of the [[Australia]]n mainland by indigenous people. However, others contend that the universe is only 6,000 years old, so this conclusion is often considered to be mistaken. Since the colonisation of [[Australia]] by [[Britain]] in 1788, the original inhabitants of [[Australia]] have been known until recently as “Aborigines”. They make up about 2.4% of Australia's population.

==History==
Before white settlement of Australia, the distribution of the Aboriginal population was much the same as the modern population distribution, but at a much lower level. Today, the fertile regions with a temperate climate are dominated by the white Australian community. In most southern and eastern areas, Aborigines have either assimilated, died out, or been pushed out. Only in the central and northern parts of the country are there significant communities of Aborigines living on and in control of their traditional lands.

Most traditional Aborigines were nomadic over the range of their clan, however there are also several archaeological sites of permanent settlements in [[Victoria]].

Aborigines had no written language before contact with Europeans, but have a rich oral history. Their traditional creation stories are based on "The Dreamtime". Many of the modern Aboriginal communities in outback Australia are on the sites of Christian missions set up in the 1800s and early 1900s.

==Modern customs==
Since the 1980s indigenous Australians have been differentiated as “Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders” and more recently the acknowledgment of local tribal groups and [[language]]s has become normal. It has become customary for important public meetings and gatherings to begin by acknowledging “the customary owners of this land, the NAME people” where the local tribal name is given.

==Stolen Generation==
In the early 1990s Australians came to recognised the wrongful practice of the late 1800s through to the mid-1900s, for Aboriginal children to be taken from their homes and placed in foster care arrangements, typically on [[Christian]] missions or state Government homes.

A prevailing view held that there was a hierarchy of human races. This notion supposed that Northern Europeans were superior in civilization and that Aborigines were inferior. According to this view, the increasing numbers of mixed-descent children in Australia, labeled as 'half-castes' (or alternatively 'crossbreeds', 'quadroons' and 'octoroons'), were widely seen to be a threat to racial purity. In the first half of the twentieth century, this led to policies and legislation that resulted in the removal of children from their parents. The stated aim was to culturally assimilate mixed-descent people into contemporary Australian society. These children came to be called the Stolen Generation.

A [[Royal Commission]] was instituted by the [[Government of Australia]] under the auspices of the (Australian) Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, headed by Sir [[Ronald Wilson]], a former Judge of the [[High Court of Australia]] and former President of the [[Uniting Church in Australia]]. The commission took public testimony from around Australia, including visits in tribal lands, and its 1997 report ’’Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families’’ has been seen to have re-shaped Australia’s internal race relations.

==Aborigines in the media==
Various Australian films have significantly changed perceptions of Aborigines.
* ''Jedda'' (1955) by the Australian filmmaker Charles Chauvel. The film is most notable for being the first to star two Aboriginal actors (Robert Tudawali and Ngarla Kunoth) in the leading roles, and also to be the first Australian film shot in color.
* ''Storm Boy'' (1976) which tells of the interaction between an Anglo boy and a local Aborigine.
* ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'' (2002) is an Australian film based on the book ''Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence'' by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It concerns the author's mother, and two other young mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from a residential school that is located in Moore River Native Settlement, north of [[Perth]], [[Western Australia]], in which they were placed in 1931, in order to return to their Aboriginal families. The film follows the girls as they trek/walk for nine weeks along 2,400km (1,500 miles) of the Australian [[rabbit]]-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong.
* ''Ten Canoes'' (2006) by Rolf de Heer. The film is narrated in English by David Gulpilil; all protagonists speak in indigenous languages, with English subtitles.

David Gulpilil is recognized as a very important Australian Aboriginal actor, whose work has changed perceptions of Aborigines. His films have been:

* ''Walkabout'' (1971)
* ''Storm Boy'' (1976)
* ''The Last Wave'' (1977)
* ''The Right Stuff'' (1983)
* ''Crocodile Dundee'' (1986)
* ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'' (2002)
* ''The Tracker'' (2002)
* ''The Proposition'' (2005)
* ''Ten Canoes'' (2006)

Stan Grant is an Aboriginal television personality who had international recognition as a presenter for [[CNN]] in [[Bejing]], [[China]] in the mid-2000s.

== See also ==
* [[Great Flood]] (which mentions some aboriginal flood stories)
[[Category:Australia]]

Australia

2007-06-10T13:20:48Z

Bilby: A little bit of sport and the country's population pushed up to 21 mill (nearly there!)

[[Image:AustraliaFlag.gif‎ |thumb|250px|Australia's flag]]
The [[Commonwealth]] of Australia is a [[country]]-[[continent]] with its west coast on the [[Indian Ocean]], east coast on the [[Pacific Ocean]] facing [[New Zealand]], southern coast on the [[Southern Ocean]] facing [[Antarctica]], and northern coast bordering [[Indonesia]] and [[Papua New Guinea]]. Australia is considered geographically as part of [[Oceania]], but has been establishing its place politically and commercially in [[South East Asia]].

Australia is the only country to occupy an entire continent<ref>This refers just to the Australian mainland. Some authorities now include [[Papua New Guinea]], [[New Zealand]], and various other [[Pacific Ocean]] islands in the continent of "Oceania". See [http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/au.htm WorldAtlas.com].</ref>, the smallest of the planet's seven continents.<ref>Some people count six, combining North and South America or Europe and Asia. See [http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/contnent.htm WorldAtlas.com].</ref>
It is 2,400 miles, (3,860 km) from east to west and 2,000 miles (3,220 km) from north to south.
It covers an area of 2,967,877 sq miles (7,686,810 sq km). The Australian coastline is 22,812 miles long (36,735 kilometers).
The mainland of Australia is about the same size as the mainland 48 states of the USA.

[[Image:Mapaust.gif‎ |Map of Australia]]
{{clear}}
Australia has six states and two internal territories. The states are [[New South Wales]], [[Victoria]], [[Queensland]], [[Western Australia]], [[South Australia]] and [[Tasmania]]. The internal territories are the [[Northern Territory]] (responsible government since 1978) and the [[Australian Capital Territory]] (responsible government since 1988) which is the location of Australia's capital city, [[Canberra]]. External territories include [[Christmas Island]] and the [[Australian Antarctic Territory]].

== History==
=== Pre European Contact ===
Australia was originally inhabited by people who are commonly known as [[Australian Aborigines|Aborigines]] although they come from over 700 smaller nations each with their own tribal name and language. Over time, many of these nations and tribes lost their identity or were decimated by disease, poor nutrition, massacres by white settlers and the forced removal of children from their parents into white families or mission stations. Nevertheless, many Aboriginal languages and traditions have survived the more than 200 years of white settlement. Under recent legislation recognising native title, Aboriginal communities now have the right to claim back land dispossessed from them where they can prove that lasting cultural links still persist and where the native title has not been extinguished by freehold or leasehold title.

The original inhabitants of the [[Torres Strait Islands]] and far northern Queensland are different and are known as [[Torres Strait Islander]]s. These people are more closely related to [[Melanesian]]s than to Aborigines. The term usually used to include all indigenous Australians is "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders".

=== Post European Contact ===
European discovery of the mainland of Australia was by [[Holland|Dutch]] sailors heading to the spice isles of what is now [[Indonesia]], in the 16th Century. Most of their descriptions of Australia are based on the exploration of the North West coast which is very rugged and inhospitable.

In [[1770]] the [[England|English]] navigator, Lieutenant [[James Cook]], Captain of the [[Royal Navy]] bark, [[HMS Endeavour]], discovered the east coast of Australia which is much more capable of maintaining life and settlers. In [[1788]] the [[First Fleet]] arrived at [[Sydney]] Cove, [[New South Wales]] - comprising officers, Marines, convicts and a very few free settlers. Later fleets brought more convicts who were dispersed also to Tasmania and other remote settlements. Over time, when freed, the former convicts settled areas beyond [[Sydney Harbour]].

As the 18th century came to a close convicts were given land packages and more free settlers came to the land in the hope of setting up farms and businesses. A number of colonies started to be formed - the most populated being New South Wales (whose capital city is Sydney). These colonies later became the states.

The 1850s saw the discovery of [[gold]] and large number of people moved to Australia to find new wealth. Most of these people were British, although there were also many dispossessed by the "land clearings" in [[Scotland]] and the [[Ireland|Irish]] [[potato]] [[famine]], and there was a significant number of [[China|Chinese]] immigrants during this rush. "Americans were drawn to Australia to participate in various enterprises such as the gold fields" <ref>[http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/comm-summ/textversion/usa.htm| Australian Dept of Immigration and Citizenship]</ref>

== System of Government ==
Australia became a federated country on [[1 January]] [[1901]] under the [[Constitution of Australia]], and all former British colonies became states. The declaration of federation was made in Sydney. The parliament met in [[Melbourne]], Victoria, until the infrastructure was built for the capital city, [[Canberra]].

Australia has a [[Parliament|parliamentary system]] of government based on the British system with a [[bicameral]] system: the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[Australian Senate|Senate]]. Each state and territory also has its own parliament.

Australia is a [[democracy]] which has allowed men of [[European]] descent to vote since federation, with non-Aboriginal women gaining the vote in 1902 and Aboriginal men and women gaining suffrage in 1962. Voting is compulsory for all citizens who are 18 years old and over (with a few exceptions.)

Australia's Head of Government is the [[Prime Minister of Australia]]. The current Prime Minister is [[John Howard]], the leader of the [[Liberal Party of Australia]]. The Deputy Prime Minister is [[Mark Vaile]], the leader of the [[National Party of Australia]]. The two parties are in [[coalition]] to form the Government.

The Head of State is [[Queen Elizabeth II]], the Queen of Australia (who is the same person, but a different title, as the Queen of Great Britain.) Under the Constitution, and in practice, the authority of the Head of State is vested in the [[Governor-General of Australia]], currently the retired Major-General Philip Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC, GCL, who assents to acts of parliament, is the Commander in Chief of the military forces, and appoints all Ministers of the Government; all these various powers are normally exercised on advice from the Prime Minister.

The Government of Australia is exercised, day-to-day, by the Ministers through their various Departments of State.

Australia has [[preferential voting]], which is designed to ensure that the candidates with the most support get into office, rather than the candidate with the most primary votes. So if three candidates, A, B, and C, get 40%, 35%, and 25% of the votes respectively (so no candidate has more than 50% of the votes), then the second preference of the voters who voted for C are distributed to the remaining candidates. The result might be that A ends up with 45% of the votes, and B with 55%, indicating that 55% of the voters prefer candidate B over A.

One consequence of this voting system is that it encourages a multiplicity of parties and even independent candidates. There have been times when the balance of power has been held my minor parties or independent individuals.

There is no limit on the time a person can be a Member of Parliament (MP) (elected, notionally, for 3 years, but the timing of elections is decided by the Prime Minister) or a Senator (elected for two cycles of the House of representatives.) The Prime Minister is normally a member of the House of Representatives, and the tenure is not limited by statute. (John Gorton was a Senator when appointed leader of his party. He immediately resigned from the Senate and stood for election to the House of Representatives.)

The Federal 'opposition' political party, is the [[Australian Labor Party]]. Its leader is [[Kevin Rudd]]. The Labor Party is in government in all of the states and territories but remains in opposition at the Federal level. The next Australian Federal election is expected to be held late in 2007. The Labor Party is "social democratic" while the Liberals are "liberal conservatives"; however, some of the smaller parties are more socialist or more conservative than Labor and Liberal respectively.

===Parliamentary political parties===
* Australian Democrats
* Australian Greens
* Australian Labor Party
* Country Liberal Party
* Family First Party
* Liberal Party of Australia
* National Party of Australia

Despite the name, the Liberal Party, which has been in power in Australia since 1996, is conservative in political stance, a paradox established since the years that Sir Robert Menzies was Prime Minister. Menzies helped found the Liberal Party in 1944 and was the Prime Minister from 1939 until 1941 and then again from 1949 until 1966. <ref> [http://www.liberals.net/liberalpartyhistory.htm History of the Liberal Party in Australia]</ref>The liberal term refers to the party's predominantly free-market approach to economic management.

== Prime Ministers of Australia ==
Following is a list of Prime Ministers of Australia from Federation to the present.<ref>[http://www.aph.gov.au/library/parl/hist/primmins.htm Prime Ministers of Australia]</ref>
{|border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=2 width=90%
!<big>Prime Minister</big>||<big>Dates</big>
|-
|'''Sir [[Edmund Barton]], PC, GCMG, KC''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[1 January]] [[1901]]—[[24 September]] [[1903]] (2 years, 8 months, 24 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[24 September]] [[1903]]—[[27 April 1904]] (7 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[John Christian Watson]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[27 April]] [[1904]]—[[17 August]] [[1904]] (3 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[George Houstoun Reid]] (later Sir George), PC, KC''' (Free Trade)
|[[18 August]] [[1904]]—[[5 July]] [[1905]] (10 months, 18 days)
|-
|'''Alfred Deakin''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[5 July]] [[1905]]—[[13 November]] [[1908]] (3 years, 4 months, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[Andrew Fisher]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 November]] [[1908]]—[[2 June]] [[1909]] (6 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[2 June]] [[1909]]—[[29 April]] [[1910]] (10 months, 28 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[29 April]] [[1910]]—[[24 June]] [[1913]] (3 years, 1 month, 26 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Cook]] (later Sir Joseph)''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[24 June]] [[1913]]—[[17 September]] [[1914]] (1 year, 2 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[17 September]] [[1914]]—[[27 October]] [[1915]] (1 year, 1 month, 11 days)
|-
|'''[[William Morris Hughes]]''' (Australian Labor Party; Nationalist Party from 1917)
|[[27 October]] [[1915]]—[[9 February]] [[1923]] (7 years, 3 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[Stanley Melbourne Bruce]], PC, CH, MC''' (Nationalist Party)
|[[9 February]] [[1923]]—[[22 October]] [[1929]] (6 years, 8 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[James Henry Scullin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[22 October]] [[1929]]—[[6 January]] [[1932]] (2 years, 2 months, 16 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Aloysius Lyons]], PC, CH''' (United Australia Party)
|[[6 January]] [[1932]]—[[7 April]] [[1939]] (7 years, 3 months, 2 days)
|-
|'''Sir [[Earle Christmas Grafton Page]], PC, GCMG''' (Australian Country Party)
|[[7 April]] [[1939]]—[[26 April]] [[1939]] (20 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]], PC, KC''' (United Australia Party)
|[[26 April]] [[1939]]—[[29 August]] [[1941]] (2 years, 4 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[Arthur William Fadden]] (later Sir Arthur)''' (Country Party)
|[[29 August]] [[1941]]—[[7 October]] [[1941]] (1 month, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[John Curtin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[7 October]] [[1941]]—[[5 July]] [[1945]] (3 years, 8 months, 29 days)
|-
|'''[[Francis Michael Forde]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[6 July]] [[1945]]—[[13 July]] [[1945]] (8 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Benedict Chifley]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 July]] [[1945]]—[[19 December]] [[1949]] (4 years, 5 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]] (later Sir Robert), PC, KC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[19 December]] [[1949]]—[[26 January]] [[1966]] (16 years, 1 month, 8 days)
|-
|'''[[Harold Edward Holt]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[26 January]] [[1966]]—[[19 December]] [[1967]] (1 year, 10 months, 23 days)
|-
|'''[[John McEwen]] (later Sir John), PC''' (Country Party)
|[[19 December]] [[1967]]—[[10 January]] [[1968]] (23 days)
|-
|'''[[John Grey Gorton]], PC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 January]] [[1968]]—[[10 March]] [[1971]] (3 years, 2 months)
|-
|'''[[William McMahon]] (later Sir William), PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 March]] [[1971]]—[[5 December]] [[1972]] (1 year, 8 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''[[Edward Gough Whitlam]], QC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[5 December]] [[1972]]—[[11 November]] [[1975]] (2 years, 11 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[John Malcolm Fraser]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 November]] [[1975]]—[[11 March]] [[1983]] (7 years, 4 months)
|-
|'''[[Robert James Lee Hawke]], AC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[11 March]] [[1983]]—[[20 December]] [[1991]] (8 years, 9 months, 10 days)
|-
|'''[[Paul John Keating]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[20 December]] [[1991]]—[[11 March]] [[1996]] (4 years, 2 months, 20 days)
|-
|'''[[John Howard|John Winston Howard]]''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 March]] [[1996]]— (11 years so far)
|}

== Geography ==

Australia relies a great deal on industry, agriculture and tourism to foster its economy. It has a thriving film industry and very advanced technology. Most tourists visit places such as Sydney Harbour, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Other favorite destinations are the wine making areas of South Australia and northern Victoria, the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, the natural wonders of Tasmania and the huge outback expanses of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Some cattle stations in Australia rival [[Texas]] in size and the distance between towns in some areas is enormous.

80% of Australia's population, of just over 20,000,000 people, live on the coast line. It is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries (2.7 people per square kilometre)<ref>[http://www.abs.gov.au ABS]</ref>. Water is scarce and some cities have some form of water restrictions in place.

Weather extremes are common in Australia with temperatures sometimes measured into the high 40s Celsius (45 degrees Celsius = 113 degrees Fahrenheit). The city of Darwin was destroyed by Cyclone Tracey in 1974 and bush fires often ravage the southern states - one of the worst occurring on Ash Wednesday in 1983 when over 2,000 homes were destroyed and over 70 people lost their lives in Victoria and South Australia.

Australia is noted for its unique biodiversity. Many animals are found only in Australia, the most well known examples are the group of marsupials ([[kangaroos]], [[wombats]], [[wallabies]] and [[koalas]]), and the only two [[monotremes]], the [[platypus]] and the [[echidna]]. Examples of plants that are native to Australia are the [[banksia]], [[yellow wattle]] and [[gum tree]].

Studies indicate that Australia's unique wildlife is the result of Australia becoming an island, being cut off from the Asian land bridge between 40,000–250,000 years ago on the uniformitarian timescale.

== Sport ==

Australia is often known as a sporting nation with success worldwide in [[swimming]], [[tennis]], [[rugby union]], [[cricket]], [[netball]], [[basketball]], and even speed [[ice skating]]. Australians are very keen horse racers with the Melbourne Cup <ref>[http://www.melbournecup.com.au| Melbourne Cup]</ref> attracting up to 120,000 spectators at Flemington Race Course on the first Tuesday in November. There is a public holiday for the cup race in Melbourne, while the remainder of the country virtually pauses during the running of the cup race. This day also coincides (mostly) every second year with the [[American]] [[Congress|Congressional]] [[election]]s and every four years with the [[President|Presidential]] election.

Unique to Australia is a game known as [[Australian rules football]] or Aussie Rules, which is played on a [[cricket]] oval in winter. Australian rules football is the sport most attended in the states of [[Victoria]], [[South Australia]] and [[Western Australia]], and most attended overall in Australia; in 2006 2.5 million people had attended at least one Aussie Rules game in the preceding 12 months.[http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/1F8FAC9C2C7B1623CA2568A900139417?OpenDocument] Australian Rules Football was written by persons educated at the [[Rugby School]] in England and [[Cambridge University]] before the organisation of uniform football codes. It is not as popular in the Australian states of [[New South Wales]] and [[Queensland]] although premiership teams have both been based in these two states in the past decade.

The other national football code is [[rugby league]] football. Rugby league football is the most attended sport in New South Wales and Queensland with its premier club competition being the [[National Rugby League]]. The national rugby league football team has only lost one competition in the past 29 years, that being to New Zealand in 2005.

==Religion==
Australia is a [[secular]] nation, in that it has no established religion associated with the Government. Of Australia's population of around 21 million, approximately 1.5 million attend weekly religious services <ref>[http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=2250&track=82083| National Church Life Survey 2004]</ref>. The Australian public school system is described as "free, secular and compulsory" with the secular meaning without favour to any particular religion - most primary schools, however, do offer some form on non-compulsory religious education according to the parents' wishes. The state systems of a number of states offer studies in religion at the senior level.

There is a large Catholic school system in Australia with most parishes having their own primary school and many hundreds of Catholic High Schools across the country. There are also a large number of independent schools founded by various religions or demominations of the Christian faith - some hold that religious background to be more important than others.

==Comparing Australian and U.S. Economic and Health statistics==
Whilst the Australian society is similar in many aspects to those of the U.S., a comparison of key economic (in $U.S.) and health indicators highlights some interesting fundamental differences:

'''GDP Per Capita'''
*U.S. $43,500.00
*Aus $32,900.00

'''Budget Defecit/Surplus'''
*U.S. $841.00 per capita defecit
*Aus $444.00 per capita surplus. Australia has had budget surpluses every year since 2001

'''Public Debt'''
*U.S. 64.7% of GDP
*Aus 14.1% of GDP

'''Military Expenditure'''
*U.S. 4.06% of GDP
*Aus 2.5 % of GDP

'''Life Expectancy at Birth'''
*U.S. 77.85 years (combined male and female)
*Aus 80.5 years (combined male and female)

'''Infant Mortality Rates'''
*U.S. 6.43 deaths/1,000 live births
*Aus 4.63 deaths/1,000 live births

'''HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rates'''
*U.S. 0.6% of population
*Aus 0.1% of population

Australians also enjoy a universal health scheme and significant subsidies on most prescription medications, both of which are likely to account for some of the significant differences between the life expectancy and infant mortality rates between the U.S. and Australia.

==External links==
* [http://www.fed.gov.au Australian Government portal]
* [http://www.aph.gov.au Australian Parliament House (Reps & Senate) portal]
* [http://www.gg.gov.au Governor-General of Australia]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Oceanian Countries]]
[[Category:Continents]]
[[Category:Australia]]

User talk:Bilby

2007-05-21T22:42:45Z

Bilby: /* Bilby identity unmasked? */

David Hicks

2007-05-20T15:07:57Z

Bilby:

David Hicks [[Image:David23.jpg]] 
The Australian, David Hicks, was held in [[Guantanamo Bay]], Cuba for over five years by the United States of America's military. He was originally charged with "conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy." <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf Hicks' original charge sheet</ref> but these charges were dropped "after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush unconstitutional without Congressional authorization." <ref>http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/02/us-re-charging-guantanamo-detainees.php Some background on the charge process</ref> He was later charged with "providing material support of terrorism" and "attempted murder in violation of the law of war" - the latter charge was also dropped. <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070301hicks.pdf The Hicks Charge Sheet</ref> <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-knew-fight-was-wrong/2007/03/26/1174761313462.html</ref>. On March 26, 2007 David Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge. "A prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the US means Hicks will be allowed to serve out any remaining prison time in Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today."<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-pleads-guilty/2007/03/27/1174761414531.html</ref> News reports after the trial stated that "Hicks has pleaded guilty to only one of two counts under the charge. It says that, in Afghanistan during 2000 and 2001, he provided material support for al-Qaeda, which was engaged in terrorism against the US. He pleaded not guilty to a second count that said he provided material support or resources "to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism". <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/short-jail-term-tipped-for-hicks/2007/03/28/1174761567951.html Short Jail Term Tipped For Hicks</ref> 
Hicks was sentenced to another seven years in prison by the Military Commision panel but a pre-trial plea bargain drastically cut that sentence. He will spend the last seven months of his sentence in an Australian prison, Yatala Labour Prison. Hicks arrived back in Australia on May 20, 2007. He is due for release from prison in Adelaide, South Australia, in late December, 2007.<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-elated-after-long-journey-home/2007/05/20/1179601242787.html Elated to be in solitary confinement</ref> He is not permitted, under the terms of his plea bargain, to speak with any media for 12 months. <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-will-be-free-by-new-year/2007/03/30/1174761754698.html Hicks Will Be Free By New Year</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Naval Station Website]
*[http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/ Joint Task Force Website]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf List of detainees at Guatanamo Bay]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/ US Dept of Defence site]

*[http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ Another David Hicks site]

David Hicks

2007-05-20T15:06:18Z

Bilby:

==David Hicks== [[Image:David23.jpg]] 
The Australian David Hicks has been held in [[Guantanamo Bay]], Cuba for over five years by the United States of America's military. He was originally charged with "conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy." <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf Hicks' original charge sheet</ref> but these charges were dropped "after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush unconstitutional without Congressional authorization." <ref>http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/02/us-re-charging-guantanamo-detainees.php Some background on the charge process</ref> He was later charged with "providing material support of terrorism" and "attempted murder in violation of the law of war" - the latter charge was also dropped. <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070301hicks.pdf The Hicks Charge Sheet</ref> <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-knew-fight-was-wrong/2007/03/26/1174761313462.html</ref>. On March 26, 2007 David Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge. "A prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the US means Hicks will be allowed to serve out any remaining prison time in Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today."<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-pleads-guilty/2007/03/27/1174761414531.html</ref> News reports after the trial stated that "Hicks has pleaded guilty to only one of two counts under the charge. It says that, in Afghanistan during 2000 and 2001, he provided material support for al-Qaeda, which was engaged in terrorism against the US. He pleaded not guilty to a second count that said he provided material support or resources "to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism". <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/short-jail-term-tipped-for-hicks/2007/03/28/1174761567951.html Short Jail Term Tipped For Hicks</ref> 
Hicks was sentenced to another seven years in prison by the Military Commision panel but a pre-trial plea bargain drastically cut that sentence. He will spend the last seven months of his sentence in an Australian prison, Yatala Labour Prison. Hicks arrived back in Australia on May 20, 2007. He is due for release from prison in Adelaide, South Australia, in late December, 2007.<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-elated-after-long-journey-home/2007/05/20/1179601242787.html Elated to be in solitary confinement</ref> He is not permitted, under the terms of his plea bargain, to speak with any media for 12 months. <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-will-be-free-by-new-year/2007/03/30/1174761754698.html Hicks Will Be Free By New Year</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Naval Station Website]
*[http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/ Joint Task Force Website]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf List of detainees at Guatanamo Bay]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/ US Dept of Defence site]

*[http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ Another David Hicks site]

David Hicks

2007-05-20T15:04:34Z

Bilby:

[[Image:David23.jpg]]==David Hicks==
The Australian David Hicks has been held in [[Guantanamo Bay]], Cuba for over five years by the United States of America's military. He was originally charged with "conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy." <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf Hicks' original charge sheet</ref> but these charges were dropped "after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush unconstitutional without Congressional authorization." <ref>http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/02/us-re-charging-guantanamo-detainees.php Some background on the charge process</ref> He was later charged with "providing material support of terrorism" and "attempted murder in violation of the law of war" - the latter charge was also dropped. <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070301hicks.pdf The Hicks Charge Sheet</ref> <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-knew-fight-was-wrong/2007/03/26/1174761313462.html</ref>. On March 26, 2007 David Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge. "A prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the US means Hicks will be allowed to serve out any remaining prison time in Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today."<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-pleads-guilty/2007/03/27/1174761414531.html</ref> News reports after the trial stated that "Hicks has pleaded guilty to only one of two counts under the charge. It says that, in Afghanistan during 2000 and 2001, he provided material support for al-Qaeda, which was engaged in terrorism against the US. He pleaded not guilty to a second count that said he provided material support or resources "to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism". <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/short-jail-term-tipped-for-hicks/2007/03/28/1174761567951.html Short Jail Term Tipped For Hicks</ref> 
Hicks was sentenced to another seven years in prison by the Military Commision panel but a pre-trial plea bargain drastically cut that sentence. He will spend the last seven months of his sentence in an Australian prison, Yatala Labour Prison. Hicks arrived back in Australia on May 20, 2007. He is due for release from prison in Adelaide, South Australia, in late December, 2007.<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-elated-after-long-journey-home/2007/05/20/1179601242787.html Elated to be in solitary confinement</ref> He is not permitted, under the terms of his plea bargain, to speak with any media for 12 months. <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-will-be-free-by-new-year/2007/03/30/1174761754698.html Hicks Will Be Free By New Year</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Naval Station Website]
*[http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/ Joint Task Force Website]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf List of detainees at Guatanamo Bay]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/ US Dept of Defence site]

*[http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ Another David Hicks site]

David Hicks

2007-05-20T15:01:52Z

Bilby: Added photo

[[Image:David23.jpg]]The Australian David Hicks has been held in [[Guantanamo Bay]], Cuba for over five years by the United States of America's military. He was originally charged with "conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy." <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf Hicks' original charge sheet</ref> but these charges were dropped "after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush unconstitutional without Congressional authorization." <ref>http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/02/us-re-charging-guantanamo-detainees.php Some background on the charge process</ref> He was later charged with "providing material support of terrorism" and "attempted murder in violation of the law of war" - the latter charge was also dropped. <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070301hicks.pdf The Hicks Charge Sheet</ref> <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-knew-fight-was-wrong/2007/03/26/1174761313462.html</ref>. On March 26, 2007 David Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge. "A prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the US means Hicks will be allowed to serve out any remaining prison time in Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today."<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-pleads-guilty/2007/03/27/1174761414531.html</ref> News reports after the trial stated that "Hicks has pleaded guilty to only one of two counts under the charge. It says that, in Afghanistan during 2000 and 2001, he provided material support for al-Qaeda, which was engaged in terrorism against the US. He pleaded not guilty to a second count that said he provided material support or resources "to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism". <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/short-jail-term-tipped-for-hicks/2007/03/28/1174761567951.html Short Jail Term Tipped For Hicks</ref> 
Hicks was sentenced to another seven years in prison by the Military Commision panel but a pre-trial plea bargain drastically cut that sentence. He will spend the last seven months of his sentence in an Australian prison, Yatala Labour Prison. Hicks arrived back in Australia on May 20, 2007. He is due for release from prison in Adelaide, South Australia, in late December, 2007.<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-elated-after-long-journey-home/2007/05/20/1179601242787.html Elated to be in solitary confinement</ref> He is not permitted, under the terms of his plea bargain, to speak with any media for 12 months. <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-will-be-free-by-new-year/2007/03/30/1174761754698.html Hicks Will Be Free By New Year</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Naval Station Website]
*[http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/ Joint Task Force Website]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf List of detainees at Guatanamo Bay]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/ US Dept of Defence site]

*[http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ Another David Hicks site]

File:David23.jpg

2007-05-20T15:00:51Z

Bilby: David Hicks

David Hicks

2007-05-20T14:56:45Z

Bilby: Taken Hicks info from G Bay page to start new Hicks page

*The Australian David Hicks has been held in [[Guantanamo Bay]], Cuba for over five years by the United States of America's military. He was originally charged with "conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy." <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf Hicks' original charge sheet</ref> but these charges were dropped "after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush unconstitutional without Congressional authorization." <ref>http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/02/us-re-charging-guantanamo-detainees.php Some background on the charge process</ref> He was later charged with "providing material support of terrorism" and "attempted murder in violation of the law of war" - the latter charge was also dropped. <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070301hicks.pdf The Hicks Charge Sheet</ref> <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-knew-fight-was-wrong/2007/03/26/1174761313462.html</ref>. On March 26, 2007 David Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge. "A prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the US means Hicks will be allowed to serve out any remaining prison time in Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today."<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-pleads-guilty/2007/03/27/1174761414531.html</ref> News reports after the trial stated that "Hicks has pleaded guilty to only one of two counts under the charge. It says that, in Afghanistan during 2000 and 2001, he provided material support for al-Qaeda, which was engaged in terrorism against the US. He pleaded not guilty to a second count that said he provided material support or resources "to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism". <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/short-jail-term-tipped-for-hicks/2007/03/28/1174761567951.html Short Jail Term Tipped For Hicks</ref> 
Hicks was sentenced to another seven years in prison by the Military Commision panel but a pre-trial plea bargain drastically cut that sentence. He will spend the last seven months of his sentence in an Australian prison, Yatala Labour Prison. Hicks arrived back in Australia on May 20, 2007. He is due for release from prison in Adelaide, South Australia, in late December, 2007.<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-elated-after-long-journey-home/2007/05/20/1179601242787.html Elated to be in solitary confinement</ref> He is not permitted, under the terms of his plea bargain, to speak with any media for 12 months. <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-will-be-free-by-new-year/2007/03/30/1174761754698.html Hicks Will Be Free By New Year</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Naval Station Website]
*[http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/ Joint Task Force Website]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf List of detainees at Guatanamo Bay]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/ US Dept of Defence site]

*[http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ Another David Hicks site]

Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp

2007-05-20T14:51:54Z

Bilby: Update on David Hicks' return to Australia

[[Image:050127 guantanamo hmed 12p hmedium.jpg|right|thumb|300px]]
The '''Guantanamo Bay detention camp''' is a military [[prison]] of the [[United States of America]] on the southeastern tip of the island of [[Cuba]]. In this prison, the people being held are accused by the US government of [[terrorism]]. The [[liberal]] organization Center for Constitutional Rights is organizing attorneys to file habeas corpus petitions in the Washington, D.C., federal court on behalf of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. [http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=pQOvjcVXXK&Content=406]

On April 2, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court denied appeals by a group of detainees of this camp, with the majority stating that it would be inappropriate to rule until the group had exhausted other remedies.<ref>[[Withdraw of Jurisdiction Upheld - Original Work|Supreme Court rules against detainees]]</ref><ref>Congressional Research Service Report [http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33180.pdf Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court], updated April 6, 2007.</ref>

== Guantanamo Bay ==

Guantanamo Bay is a coastal area on southeastern Cuba occupied and controlled by the United States government pursuant to a 1903 Lease Agreement with the newly independent Republic of Cuba subsequent to the Spanish-American War. The Agreement established that:<ref>''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004) (quoting lease).</ref>

:"the United States recognizes the continuance of the ultimate sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba over the [leased areas]," but "the Republic of Cuba consents that during the period of the occupation by the United States . . . the United States shall exercise complete jurisdiction and control over and within said areas."

In 1934 the United States and Cuba entered into another treaty that provided that, absent an agreement to modify or abrogate the lease, it would remain in effect "[s]o long as the United States of America shall not abandon the . . . naval station of Guantanamo."<ref>''Id.''</ref>

== Detention Camp ==

Due to security concerns the media has not been given access to the detention center, and the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] administration has said that interrogations are vital tools for winning the [[War on Terror]]<ref>"The president said the legislation must allow the [[CIA]]’s interrogation program to continue. "The information the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] has obtained by questioning men like [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] has helped disrupt terrorist plots, including planned strikes inside the [[United States]] and on a U.S. Marine base in [[East Africa]], an American consulate in [[Pakistan]], and Britain's [[Heathrow Airport]]," Bush said "This CIA program has saved American lives, and the lives of people in other countries.”" [http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=September&x=20060916101245esnamfuak0.5314905] </ref> There have, however, been a number of accusations of the use of [[torture]], and some detainees are believed to have been brought in via [[extraordinary rendition]]. <ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1981955,00.html]</ref><ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=377623&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490]</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3706050.stm]</ref> Majid Khan, a native of Pakistan is suspected of providing material support for [[al Qaede]] terrorism, transporting people across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and expressing a desire to assassinate Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by suicide attack. Khan submitted a “statement of torture" at a combatant status review tribunal hearing, claiming he was mentally tortured during his detainment. Among his complaints were that he and other detainees were given low-quality soap and other toiletries, noisy fans and deflated balls for recreation that hardly bounced. Khan testified he had refused to eat or drink, and complained that his captors responded by force-feeding intravenously. <ref> [http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentcom2/FrontPage%20Stories/Evidence%20Links%20‘High-Value’%20Detainee%20to%20Al%20Qaeda.aspx Evidence Links ‘High-Value’ Detainee to Al Qaeda], By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service, May 15, 2007. </ref>

In another case, some 22 Chinese Muslim detainees have been cleared of all wrong doing, but have been held in the prison camp for more than five years. The Bush administration fears they will face persecution if they are returned home, so they continue to stay in prison, having committed no crime. <ref>Taipei Times http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/05/30/2003157526</ref><ref>Jurist http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/04/us-asks-germany-to-take-chinese.php</ref>

*The Australian [[David Hicks]] has been held in the camp for over five years. He was originally charged with "conspiracy, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy." <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2004/d20040610cs.pdf Hicks' original charge sheet</ref> but these charges were dropped "after the US Supreme Court ruled the original military commissions system established by President Bush unconstitutional without Congressional authorization." <ref>http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/02/us-re-charging-guantanamo-detainees.php Some background on the charge process</ref> He was later charged with "providing material support of terrorism" and "attempted murder in violation of the law of war" - the latter charge was also dropped. <ref>http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20070301hicks.pdf The Hicks Charge Sheet</ref> <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-knew-fight-was-wrong/2007/03/26/1174761313462.html</ref>. On March 26, 2007 David Hicks pleaded guilty to the charge. "A prisoner exchange agreement between Australia and the US means Hicks will be allowed to serve out any remaining prison time in Australia, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today."<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/hicks-pleads-guilty/2007/03/27/1174761414531.html</ref> News reports after the trial stated that "Hicks has pleaded guilty to only one of two counts under the charge. It says that, in Afghanistan during 2000 and 2001, he provided material support for al-Qaeda, which was engaged in terrorism against the US. He pleaded not guilty to a second count that said he provided material support or resources "to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, an act of terrorism". <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/short-jail-term-tipped-for-hicks/2007/03/28/1174761567951.html Short Jail Term Tipped For Hicks</ref> 
Hicks was sentenced to another seven years in prison by the Military Commision panel but a pre-trial plea bargain drastically cut that sentence. He will spend the last seven months of his sentence in an Australian prison, Yatala Labour Prison. Hicks arrived back in Australia on May 20, 2007. He is due for release from prison in Adelaide, South Australia, in late December, 2007.<ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-elated-after-long-journey-home/2007/05/20/1179601242787.html Elated to be in solitary confinement</ref> He is not permitted, under the terms of his plea bargain, to speak with any media for 12 months. <ref>http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/hicks-will-be-free-by-new-year/2007/03/30/1174761754698.html Hicks Will Be Free By New Year</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Naval Station Website]
*[http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/ Joint Task Force Website]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf List of detainees at Guatanamo Bay]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/ US Dept of Defence site]

*[http://www.fairgofordavid.org/ Another David Hicks site]

[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:Military]]

Australian rules football

2007-05-17T22:04:08Z

Bilby: put Hanibals edit to the Australian page on this page as well

Australian Rules Football, sometimes called Aussie Rules, differs from most types of [[football]] in that it is played on an oval field instead of the usual rectangular field used by [[rugby]] and [[soccer]]. At its hightest point this type of football is overseen by the [http://www.afl.com.au Australian Football League]which is a national competition of 16 teams. Aussie Rules is one of [[Australia]]'s most popular sports, especially AFL as a spectator sport. The Grand Final can attract up to 100,000 at the MCG ([http://www.mcg.org.au/ Melbourne Cricket Ground])each September. Australian rules football is the sport most attended by Australians; in 2006 2.5 million people had attended at least one Aussie Rules game in the preceding 12 months.[http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/1F8FAC9C2C7B1623CA2568A900139417?OpenDocument]<center>[[Image:Goalposts.jpg]]</center>

Each Aussie Rules team consists of 18 players who remain on the field for the entirety of the game (with some interchange and injury times). The aim of the game is to kick a ball, shaped somewhat like a rugby ball, through two upright posts at either end of the oval. Each "goal" is worth six points. A miss of a "goal" is called a "behind" and is worth one point. If the ball is rushed through the goal posts by the opposition or is touched by any part of the body beyond the leg then one point is scored. This leads to score lines which indicate goals, points and totals such as 11.15(81). The game consists of large kicks (often over 60 metres) and [http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/the_big_men_fly.htm spectacular jumps] to catch the ball, resulting in a free kick (called a mark.)

[http://www.afl.com.au/AFLHQ/History/tabid/967/Default.aspx History of the game]
[http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/ Another site dedicated to the history]

[[Category:Australia]]
[[Category:Sport]]

Talk:Australia

2007-05-08T22:19:42Z

Bilby: /* Continental boundaries */ Just a smart ar*e comment (excuse Australian spelling)

Talk:Australia

2007-05-08T03:53:51Z

Bilby: /* Continental boundaries */ responded to and thanked (in case it isn't obvious) Philip for keeping me in line

Australia

2007-05-08T02:48:02Z

Bilby: Added to footnote 1 on continents

[[Image:AustraliaFlag.gif‎ |thumb|300px|Australia's flag]]
The [[Commonwealth]] of Australia is a [[country]]-[[continent]] with its west coast on the [[Indian Ocean]], east coast on the [[Pacific Ocean]] facing [[New Zealand]], southern coast on the [[Southern Ocean]] facing [[Antarctica]], and northern coast bordering [[Indonesia]] and [[Papua New Guinea]]. Australia is considered geographically as part of [[Oceania]], but has been establishing its place politically and commercially in [[South East Asia]].

Australia is the only country to occupy an entire continent<ref>This refers just to the Australian mainland. Some authorities now include [[Papua New Guinea]], [[New Zealand]], and various other [[Pacific Ocean]] islands in the continent of "Oceania". See [http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/au.htm WorldAtlas.com]. Further discussion also in the discussion area of this article.</ref>, the smallest of the planet's seven continents.<ref>Some people count six, combining North and South America or Europe and Asia. See [http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/contnent.htm WorldAtlas.com].</ref>
It is 2,400 miles, (3,860 km) from east to west and 2,000 miles (3,220 km) from north to south.
It covers an area of 2,967,877 sq miles (7,686,810 sq km). The Australian coastline is 22,812 miles long (36,735 kilometers).
The mainland of Australia is about the same size as the mainland 48 states of the USA.

[[Image:Mapaust.gif‎ |Map of Australia]]
{{clear}}
Australia has six states and two internal territories. The states are [[New South Wales]], [[Victoria]], [[Queensland]], [[Western Australia]], [[South Australia]] and [[Tasmania]]. The internal territories are the [[Northern Territory]] (responsible government since 1978) and the [[Australian Capital Territory]] (responsible government since 1988) which is the location of Australia's capital city, [[Canberra]]. External territories include [[Christmas Island]] and the [[Australian Antarctic Territory]].

== History==
=== Pre European Contact ===
Australia was originally inhabited by people who are commonly known as [[Aborigines]] although they come from over 700 smaller nations each with their own tribal name and language. Over time, many of these nations and tribes lost their identity or were decimated by disease, poor nutrition, massacres by white settlers and the forced removal of children from their parents into white families or mission stations. Nevertheless, many Aboriginal languages and traditions have survived the more than 200 years of white settlement. Under recent legislation recognising native title, Aboriginal communities now have the right to claim back land dispossessed from them where they can prove that lasting cultural links still persist and where the native title has not been extinguished by freehold or leasehold title.

=== Post European Contact ===
European discovery of the mainland of Australia was by [[Holland|Dutch]] sailors heading to the spice isles of what is now [[Indonesia]], in the 16th Century. Most of their descriptions of Australia are based on the exploration of the North West coast which is very rugged and inhospitable.

In [[1770]] the [[England|English]] navigator, Lieutenant [[James Cook]], Captain of the [[Royal Navy]] bark, [[HMS Endeavour]], discovered the east coast of Australia which is much more capable of maintaining life and settlers. In [[1788]] the [[First Fleet]] arrived at [[Sydney]] Cove, [[New South Wales]] - comprising officers, Marines, convicts and a very few free settlers. Later fleets brought more convicts who were dispersed also to Tasmania and other remote settlements. Over time, when freed, the former convicts settled areas beyond [[Sydney Harbour]].

As the 18th century came to a close convicts were given land packages and more free settlers came to the land in the hope of setting up farms and businesses. A number of colonies started to be formed - the most populated being New South Wales (whose capital city is Sydney). These colonies later became the states.

The 1850s saw the discovery of [[gold]] and large number of people moved to Australia to find new wealth. Most of these people were British, although there were also many dispossessed by the "land clearings" in [[Scotland]] and the [[Ireland|Irish]] [[potato]] [[famine]], and there was a significant number of [[China|Chinese]] immigrants during this rush. "Americans were drawn to Australia to participate in various enterprises such as the gold fields" <ref>[http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/comm-summ/textversion/usa.htm| Australian Dept of Immigration and Citizenship]</ref>

== System of Government ==
Australia became a federated country on [[1 January]] [[1901]] under the [[Constitution of Australia]], and all former British colonies became states. The declaration of federation was made in Sydney. The parliament met in [[Melbourne]], Victoria, until the infrastructure was built for the capital city, [[Canberra]].

Australia has a [[Parliament|parliamentary system]] of government based on the British system with a [[bicameral]] system: the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[Australian Senate|Senate]]. Each state and territory also has its own parliament.

Australia is a [[democracy]] which has allowed men of [[European]] descent to vote since federation, with non-Aboriginal women gaining the vote in 1902 and Aboriginal men and women gaining suffrage in 1962. Voting is compulsory for all citizens who are 18 years old and over (with a few exceptions.)

Australia's Head of Government is the [[Prime Minister of Australia]]. The current Prime Minister is [[John Howard]], the leader of the [[Liberal Party of Australia]]. The Deputy Prime Minister is [[Mark Vaile]], the leader of the [[National Party of Australia]]. The two parties are in [[coalition]] to form the Government.

The Head of State is [[Queen Elizabeth II]], the Queen of Australia (who is the same person, but a different title, as the Queen of Great Britain.) Under the Constitution, and in practice, the authority of the Head of State is vested in the [[Governor-General of Australia]], currently the retired Major-General Philip Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC, GCL, who assents to acts of parliament, is the Commander in Chief of the military forces, and appoints all Ministers of the Government; all these various powers are normally exercised on advice from the Prime Minister.

The Government of Australia is exercised, day-to-day, by the Ministers through their various Departments of State.

Australia has [[preferential voting]], which is designed to ensure that the candidates with the most support get into office, rather than the candidate with the most primary votes. So if three candidates, A, B, and C, get 40%, 35%, and 25% of the votes respectively (so no candidate has more than 50% of the votes), then the second preference of the voters who voted for C are distributed to the remaining candidates. The result might be that A ends up with 45% of the votes, and B with 55%, indicating that 55% of the voters prefer candidate B over A.

One consequence of this voting system is that it encourages a multiplicity of parties and even independent candidates. There have been times when the balance of power has been held my minor parties or independent individuals.

There is no limit on the time a person can be a Member of Parliament (MP) (elected, notionally, for 3 years, but the timing of elections is decided by the Prime Minister) or a Senator (elected for two cycles of the House of representatives.) The Prime Minister is normally a member of the House of Representatives, and the tenure is not limited by statute. (John Gorton was a Senator when appointed leader of his party. He immediately resigned from the Senate and stood for election to the House of Representatives.)

The Federal 'opposition' political party, is the [[Australian Labor Party]] which most Americans would recognize as "liberal". Its leader is [[Kevin Rudd]]. TheLabor Party is in government in all of the states and territories but remains in opposition at the Federal level. The next Australian Federal election is expected to be held late in 2007. The Labor Party is "social democratic" while the Liberals are "liberal conservatives"; however, some of the smaller parties are more liberal or more conservative than Labor and Liberal respectively.

===Parliamentary political parties===
* Australian Democrats
* Australian Greens
* Australian Labor Party
* Country Liberal Party
* Family First Party
* Liberal Party of Australia
* National Party of Australia

Despite the name, the Liberal Party, which has been in power in Australia since 1996, is conservative in political stance, a paradox established since the years that Sir Robert Menzies was Prime Minister. Menzies helped found the Liberal Party in 1944 and was the Prime Minister from 1939 until 1941 and then again from 1949 until 1966. <ref> [http://www.liberals.net/liberalpartyhistory.htm History of the Liberal Party in Australia]</ref>The liberal term refers to the party's apparent laissez-faire approach to economic management.

== Prime Ministers of Australia ==
Following is a list of Prime Ministers of Australia from Federation to the present.<ref>[http://www.aph.gov.au/library/parl/hist/primmins.htm Prime Ministers of Australia]</ref>
{|border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=2 width=90%
!<big>Prime Minister</big>||<big>Dates</big>
|-
|'''Sir [[Edmund Barton]], PC, GCMG, KC''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[1 January]] [[1901]]—[[24 September]] [[1903]] (2 years, 8 months, 24 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[24 September]] [[1903]]—[[27 April 1904]] (7 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[John Christian Watson]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[27 April]] [[1904]]—[[17 August]] [[1904]] (3 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[George Houstoun Reid]] (later Sir George), PC, KC''' (Free Trade)
|[[18 August]] [[1904]]—[[5 July]] [[1905]] (10 months, 18 days)
|-
|'''Alfred Deakin''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[5 July]] [[1905]]—[[13 November]] [[1908]] (3 years, 4 months, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[Andrew Fisher]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 November]] [[1908]]—[[2 June]] [[1909]] (6 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[2 June]] [[1909]]—[[29 April]] [[1910]] (10 months, 28 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[29 April]] [[1910]]—[[24 June]] [[1913]] (3 years, 1 month, 26 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Cook]] (later Sir Joseph)''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[24 June]] [[1913]]—[[17 September]] [[1914]] (1 year, 2 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[17 September]] [[1914]]—[[27 October]] [[1915]] (1 year, 1 month, 11 days)
|-
|'''[[William Morris Hughes]]''' (Australian Labor Party; Nationalist Party from 1917)
|[[27 October]] [[1915]]—[[9 February]] [[1923]] (7 years, 3 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[Stanley Melbourne Bruce]], PC, CH, MC''' (Nationalist Party)
|[[9 February]] [[1923]]—[[22 October]] [[1929]] (6 years, 8 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[James Henry Scullin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[22 October]] [[1929]]—[[6 January]] [[1932]] (2 years, 2 months, 16 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Aloysius Lyons]], PC, CH''' (United Australia Party)
|[[6 January]] [[1932]]—[[7 April]] [[1939]] (7 years, 3 months, 2 days)
|-
|'''Sir [[Earle Christmas Grafton Page]], PC, GCMG''' (Australian Country Party)
|[[7 April]] [[1939]]—[[26 April]] [[1939]] (20 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]], PC, KC''' (United Australia Party)
|[[26 April]] [[1939]]—[[29 August]] [[1941]] (2 years, 4 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[Arthur William Fadden]] (later Sir Arthur)''' (Country Party)
|[[29 August]] [[1941]]—[[7 October]] [[1941]] (1 month, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[John Curtin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[7 October]] [[1941]]—[[5 July]] [[1945]] (3 years, 8 months, 29 days)
|-
|'''[[Francis Michael Forde]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[6 July]] [[1945]]—[[13 July]] [[1945]] (8 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Benedict Chifley]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 July]] [[1945]]—[[19 December]] [[1949]] (4 years, 5 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]] (later Sir Robert), PC, KC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[19 December]] [[1949]]—[[26 January]] [[1966]] (16 years, 1 month, 8 days)
|-
|'''[[Harold Edward Holt]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[26 January]] [[1966]]—[[19 December]] [[1967]] (1 year, 10 months, 23 days)
|-
|'''[[John McEwen]] (later Sir John), PC''' (Country Party)
|[[19 December]] [[1967]]—[[10 January]] [[1968]] (23 days)
|-
|'''[[John Grey Gorton]], PC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 January]] [[1968]]—[[10 March]] [[1971]] (3 years, 2 months)
|-
|'''[[William McMahon]] (later Sir William), PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 March]] [[1971]]—[[5 December]] [[1972]] (1 year, 8 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''[[Edward Gough Whitlam]], QC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[5 December]] [[1972]]—[[11 November]] [[1975]] (2 years, 11 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[John Malcolm Fraser]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 November]] [[1975]]—[[11 March]] [[1983]] (7 years, 4 months)
|-
|'''[[Robert James Lee Hawke]], AC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[11 March]] [[1983]]—[[20 December]] [[1991]] (8 years, 9 months, 10 days)
|-
|'''[[Paul John Keating]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[20 December]] [[1991]]—[[11 March]] [[1996]] (4 years, 2 months, 20 days)
|-
|'''[[John Howard|John Winston Howard]]''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 March]] [[1996]]— (11 years so far)
|}

== Geography ==

Australia relies a great deal on industry, agriculture and tourism to foster its economy. It has a thriving film industry and very advanced technology. Most tourists visit places such as Sydney Harbour, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Other favorite destinations are the wine making areas of South Australia and northern Victoria, the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, the natural wonders of Tasmania and the huge outback expanses of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Some cattle stations in Australia rival [[Texas]] in size and the distance between towns in some areas is enormous.

80% of Australia's population, of just over 20,000,000 people, live on the coast line. It is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries (2.7 people per square kilometre)<ref>[http://www.abs.gov.au ABS]</ref>. Water is scarce and some cities have some form of water restrictions in place.

Weather extremes are common in Australia with temperatures sometimes measured into the high 40s Celsius (45 degrees Celsius = 113 degrees Fahrenheit). The city of Darwin was destroyed by Cyclone Tracey in 1974 and bush fires often ravage the southern states - one of the worst occurring on Ash Wednesday in 1983 when over 2,000 homes were destroyed and over 70 people lost their lives in Victoria and South Australia.

Australia is noted for its unique biodiversity. Many animals are found only in Australia, the most well known examples are the group of marsupials ([[kangaroos]], [[wombats]], [[wallabies]] and [[koalas]]), and the only two [[monotremes]], the [[platypus]] and the [[echidna]]. Examples of plants that are native to Australia are the [[banksia]], [[yellow wattle]] and [[gum tree]].

Studies indicate that Australia's unique wildlife is the result of Australia becoming an island, being cut off from the Asian land bridge between 40,000–250,000 years ago on the uniformitarian timescale.

== Sport ==

Australia is often known as a sporting nation with success worldwide in [[swimming]], [[tennis]], [[rugby league]] and [[rugby union]], [[cricket]], [[netball]], [[basketball]], and even speed [[ice skating]]. Australians are very keen horse racers with the Melbourne Cup <ref>[http://www.melbournecup.com.au| Melbourne Cup]</ref> attracting up to 120,000 spectators at Flemington Race Course on the first Tuesday in November. There is a public holiday for the cup race in Melbourne, while the remainder of the country virtually pauses during the running of the cup race. This day also coincides (mostly) every second year with the [[American]] [[Congress|Congressional]] [[election]]s and every four years with the [[President|Presidential]] election.

Unique to Australia is a game known as [[Australian rules football]] or Aussie Rules, which is played on a [[cricket]] oval in winter, that draws huge crowds across Australia. It is similar to [[Gaelic football]], played in [[Ireland]], and teams from the two nations play annual competition games based on a blended system of rules.

==Religion==
Australia is a [[secular]] nation, in that it has no established religion associated with the Government. Of Australia's population of around 20 million, approximately 1.5 million attend weekly religious services <ref>[http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=2250&track=82083| National Church Life Survey 2004]</ref>. The Australian public school system is described as "free, secular and compulsory" with the secular meaning without favour to any particular religion - most primary schools, however, do offer some form on non-compulsory religious education according to the parents' wishes. The state systems of a number of states offer studies in religion at the senior level.

There is a large Catholic school system in Australia with most parishes having their own primary school and many hundreds of Catholic High Schools across the country. There are also a large number of independent schools founded by various religions or demominations of the Christian faith - some hold that religious background to be more important than others.

==Comparing Australian and U.S. Economic and Health statistics==
Whilst the Australian society is similar in many aspects to those of the U.S., a comparison of key economic (in $U.S.) and health indicators highlights some interesting fundamental differences:

'''GDP Per Capita'''
*U.S. $43,500.00
*Aus $32,900.00

'''Budget Defecit/Surplus'''
*U.S. $841.00 per capita defecit
*Aus $444.00 per capita surplus. Australia has had budget surpluses every year since 2001

'''Public Debt'''
*U.S. 64.7% of GDP
*Aus 14.1% of GDP

'''Military Expenditure'''
*U.S. 4.06% of GDP
*Aus 2.5 % of GDP

'''Life Expectancy at Birth'''
*U.S. 77.85 years (combined male and female)
*Aus 80.5 years (combined male and female)

'''Infant Mortality Rates'''
*U.S. 6.43 deaths/1,000 live births
*Aus 4.63 deaths/1,000 live births

'''HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rates'''
*U.S. 0.6% of population
*Aus 0.1% of population

Australians also enjoy a universal health scheme and significant subsidies on most prescription medications, both of which are likely to account for some of the significant differences between the life expectancy and infant mortality rates between the U.S. and Australia.

==External links==
* [http://www.fed.gov.au Australian Government portal]
* [http://www.aph.gov.au Australian Parliament House (Reps & Senate) portal]
* [http://www.gg.gov.au Governor-General of Australia]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Oceanian Countries]]
[[Category:Continents]]
[[Category:Australia]]

Talk:Australia

2007-05-08T02:44:30Z

Bilby: Discussion of continent and definitions

John Howard

2007-05-07T22:12:11Z

Bilby: added bit about coalition and the Nats

'''John Winston Howard''' is the current Prime Minister of [[Australia]]. He is the leader of the ''[[Liberal Party of Australia]]''. He has been Prime Minister since the Liberal Party won a majority in the House of Representatives at the general election in 1996 (in coalition with the smaller National Party), succeeding [[Paul Keating]].

He is married to Jeanette Howard.

==Recent political controversies==
The resignation of Santo Santoro as Minister of Ageing following his public admission to share trading in breach of Mr. Howard's Ministerial Code of Conduct has resulted in adverse publicity to Mr. Howard. The week prior to the resignation Mr. Howard had publicly supported the former Minister when he had admitted to one breach of the code. Mr. Santoro admitted a week later that he had committed a further 72 breaches which resulted in the withdrawal of support from the Prime Minister. Bob Quinn, the former leader of the opposition in the Queensland State Parliament is the current front-runner for the Senate seat vacated by the sudden resignation of Mr Santoro.

The prosecution of [[David Hicks]] at Guantanamo Bay continues to be a political issue for Mr Howard.

The popularity of Mr. Howard is now at almost an all-time low, giving comfort to supporters of Mr. Kevin Rudd for the job following general elections which must be called before the end of 2007.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, John}}
[[Category:Political people]]
[[Category:Australia]]

Australia

2007-05-07T22:08:58Z

Bilby: Revert to previous - Irian Jaya is part of PNG, not a part of the continent at all. Australasia is a region, not the continent

[[Image:AustraliaFlag.gif‎ |thumb|300px|Australia's flag]]
The [[Commonwealth]] of Australia is a [[country]]-[[continent]] with its west coast on the [[Indian Ocean]], east coast on the [[Pacific Ocean]] facing [[New Zealand]], southern coast on the [[Southern Ocean]] facing [[Antarctica]], and northern coast bordering [[Indonesia]] and [[Papua New Guinea]]. Australia is considered geographically as part of [[Oceania]], but has been establishing its place politically and commercially in [[South East Asia]].

Australia is the only country to occupy an entire continent. The Australian continent is the smallest continent in the world; it is 2,400 miles, (3,860 km) from east to west and 2,000 miles (3,220 km) from north to south. It covers an area of 2,967,877 sq miles (7,686,810 sq km). The Australian coastline is 22,812 miles long (36,735 kilometers). The mainland of Australia is about the same size as the mainland 48 states of the USA.

[[Image:Mapaust.gif‎ |Map of Australia]]
{{clear}}
Australia has six states and two internal territories. The states are [[New South Wales]], [[Victoria]], [[Queensland]], [[Western Australia]], [[South Australia]] and [[Tasmania]]. The internal territories are the [[Northern Territory]] (responsible government since 1978) and the [[Australian Capital Territory]] (responsible government since 1988) which is the location of Australia's capital city, [[Canberra]]. External territories include [[Christmas Island]] and the [[Australian Antarctic Territory]].

== History==
=== Pre European Contact ===
Australia was originally inhabited by people who are commonly known as [[Aborigines]] although they come from over 700 smaller nations each with their own tribal name and language. Over time, many of these nations and tribes lost their identity or were decimated by disease, poor nutrition, massacres by white settlers and the forced removal of children from their parents into white families or mission stations. Nevertheless, many Aboriginal languages and traditions have survived the more than 200 years of white settlement. Under recent legislation recognising native title, Aboriginal communities now have the right to claim back land dispossessed from them where they can prove that lasting cultural links still persist and where the native title has not been extinguished by freehold or leasehold title.

=== Post European Contact ===
European discovery of the mainland of Australia was by [[Holland|Dutch]] sailors heading to the spice isles of what is now [[Indonesia]], in the 16th Century. Most of their descriptions of Australia are based on the exploration of the North West coast which is very rugged and inhospitable.

In [[1770]] the [[England|English]] navigator, Lieutenant [[James Cook]], Captain of the [[Royal Navy]] bark, [[HMS Endeavour]], discovered the east coast of Australia which is much more capable of maintaining life and settlers. In [[1788]] the [[First Fleet]] arrived at [[Sydney]] Cove, [[New South Wales]] - comprising officers, Marines, convicts and a very few free settlers. Later fleets brought more convicts who were dispersed also to Tasmania and other remote settlements. Over time, when freed, the former convicts settled areas beyond [[Sydney Harbour]].

As the 18th century came to a close convicts were given land packages and more free settlers came to the land in the hope of setting up farms and businesses. A number of colonies started to be formed - the most populated being New South Wales (whose capital city is Sydney). These colonies later became the states.

The 1850s saw the discovery of [[gold]] and large number of people moved to Australia to find new wealth. Most of these people were British, although there were also many dispossessed by the "land clearings" in [[Scotland]] and the [[Ireland|Irish]] [[potato]] [[famine]], and there was a significant number of [[China|Chinese]] immigrants during this rush. "Americans were drawn to Australia to participate in various enterprises such as the gold fields" <ref>[http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/comm-summ/textversion/usa.htm| Australian Dept of Immigration and Citizenship]</ref>

== System of Government ==
Australia became a federated country on [[1 January]] [[1901]] under the [[Constitution of Australia]], and all former British colonies became states. The declaration of federation was made in Sydney. The parliament met in [[Melbourne]], Victoria, until the infrastructure was built for the capital city, [[Canberra]].

Australia has a [[Parliament|parliamentary system]] of government based on the British system with a [[bicameral]] system: the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[Australian Senate|Senate]]. Each state and territory also has its own parliament.

Australia is a [[democracy]] which has allowed men of [[European]] descent to vote since federation, with non-Aboriginal women gaining the vote in 1902 and Aboriginal men and women gaining suffrage in 1962. Voting is compulsory for all citizens who are 18 years old and over (with a few exceptions.)

Australia's Head of Government is the [[Prime Minister of Australia]]. The current Prime Minister is [[John Howard]], the leader of the [[Liberal Party of Australia]]. The Deputy Prime Minister is [[Mark Vaile]], the leader of the [[National Party of Australia]]. The two parties are in [[coalition]] to form the Government.

The Head of State is [[Queen Elizabeth II]], the Queen of Australia (who is the same person, but a different title, as the Queen of Great Britain.) Under the Constitution, and in practice, the authority of the Head of State is vested in the [[Governor-General of Australia]], currently the retired Major-General Philip Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC, GCL, who assents to acts of parliament, is the Commander in Chief of the military forces, and appoints all Ministers of the Government; all these various powers are normally exercised on advice from the Prime Minister.

The Government of Australia is exercised, day-to-day, by the Ministers through their various Departments of State.

Australia has [[preferential voting]], which is designed to ensure that the candidates with the most support get into office, rather than the candidate with the most primary votes. So if three candidates, A, B, and C, get 40%, 35%, and 25% of the votes respectively (so no candidate has more than 50% of the votes), then the second preference of the voters who voted for C are distributed to the remaining candidates. The result might be that A ends up with 45% of the votes, and B with 55%, indicating that 55% of the voters prefer candidate B over A.

One consequence of this voting system is that it encourages a multiplicity of parties and even independent candidates. There have been times when the balance of power has been held my minor parties or independent individuals.

There is no limit on the time a person can be a Member of Parliament (MP) (elected, notionally, for 3 years, but the timing of elections is decided by the Prime Minister) or a Senator (elected for two cycles of the House of representatives.) The Prime Minister is normally a member of the House of Representatives, and the tenure is not limited by statute. (John Gorton was a Senator when appointed leader of his party. He immediately resigned from the Senate and stood for election to the House of Representatives.)

The Federal 'opposition' political party, is the [[Australian Labor Party]] which most Americans would recognize as "liberal". Its leader is [[Kevin Rudd]]. TheLabor Party is in government in all of the states and territories but remains in opposition at the Federal level. The next Australian Federal election is expected to be held late in 2007. The Labor Party is "social democratic" while the Liberals are "liberal conservatives"; however, some of the smaller parties are more liberal or more conservative than Labor and Liberal respectively.

===Parliamentary political parties===
* Australian Democrats
* Australian Greens
* Australian Labor Party
* Country Liberal Party
* Family First Party
* Liberal Party of Australia
* National Party of Australia

Despite the name, the Liberal Party, which has been in power in Australia since 1996, is conservative in political stance, a paradox established since the years that Sir Robert Menzies was Prime Minister. Menzies helped found the Liberal Party in 1944 and was the Prime Minister from 1939 until 1941 and then again from 1949 until 1966. <ref> [http://www.liberals.net/liberalpartyhistory.htm History of the Liberal Party in Australia]</ref>The liberal term refers to the party's apparent laissez-faire approach to economic management.

== Prime Ministers of Australia ==
Following is a list of Prime Ministers of Australia from Federation to the present.<ref>[http://www.aph.gov.au/library/parl/hist/primmins.htm Prime Ministers of Australia]</ref>
{|border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=2 width=90%
!<big>Prime Minister</big>||<big>Dates</big>
|-
|'''Sir [[Edmund Barton]], PC, GCMG, KC''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[1 January]] [[1901]]—[[24 September]] [[1903]] (2 years, 8 months, 24 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[24 September]] [[1903]]—[[27 April 1904]] (7 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[John Christian Watson]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[27 April]] [[1904]]—[[17 August]] [[1904]] (3 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[George Houstoun Reid]] (later Sir George), PC, KC''' (Free Trade)
|[[18 August]] [[1904]]—[[5 July]] [[1905]] (10 months, 18 days)
|-
|'''Alfred Deakin''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[5 July]] [[1905]]—[[13 November]] [[1908]] (3 years, 4 months, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[Andrew Fisher]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 November]] [[1908]]—[[2 June]] [[1909]] (6 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[2 June]] [[1909]]—[[29 April]] [[1910]] (10 months, 28 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[29 April]] [[1910]]—[[24 June]] [[1913]] (3 years, 1 month, 26 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Cook]] (later Sir Joseph)''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[24 June]] [[1913]]—[[17 September]] [[1914]] (1 year, 2 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[17 September]] [[1914]]—[[27 October]] [[1915]] (1 year, 1 month, 11 days)
|-
|'''[[William Morris Hughes]]''' (Australian Labor Party; Nationalist Party from 1917)
|[[27 October]] [[1915]]—[[9 February]] [[1923]] (7 years, 3 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[Stanley Melbourne Bruce]], PC, CH, MC''' (Nationalist Party)
|[[9 February]] [[1923]]—[[22 October]] [[1929]] (6 years, 8 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[James Henry Scullin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[22 October]] [[1929]]—[[6 January]] [[1932]] (2 years, 2 months, 16 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Aloysius Lyons]], PC, CH''' (United Australia Party)
|[[6 January]] [[1932]]—[[7 April]] [[1939]] (7 years, 3 months, 2 days)
|-
|'''Sir [[Earle Christmas Grafton Page]], PC, GCMG''' (Australian Country Party)
|[[7 April]] [[1939]]—[[26 April]] [[1939]] (20 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]], PC, KC''' (United Australia Party)
|[[26 April]] [[1939]]—[[29 August]] [[1941]] (2 years, 4 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[Arthur William Fadden]] (later Sir Arthur)''' (Country Party)
|[[29 August]] [[1941]]—[[7 October]] [[1941]] (1 month, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[John Curtin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[7 October]] [[1941]]—[[5 July]] [[1945]] (3 years, 8 months, 29 days)
|-
|'''[[Francis Michael Forde]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[6 July]] [[1945]]—[[13 July]] [[1945]] (8 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Benedict Chifley]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 July]] [[1945]]—[[19 December]] [[1949]] (4 years, 5 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]] (later Sir Robert), PC, KC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[19 December]] [[1949]]—[[26 January]] [[1966]] (16 years, 1 month, 8 days)
|-
|'''[[Harold Edward Holt]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[26 January]] [[1966]]—[[19 December]] [[1967]] (1 year, 10 months, 23 days)
|-
|'''[[John McEwen]] (later Sir John), PC''' (Country Party)
|[[19 December]] [[1967]]—[[10 January]] [[1968]] (23 days)
|-
|'''[[John Grey Gorton]], PC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 January]] [[1968]]—[[10 March]] [[1971]] (3 years, 2 months)
|-
|'''[[William McMahon]] (later Sir William), PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 March]] [[1971]]—[[5 December]] [[1972]] (1 year, 8 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''[[Edward Gough Whitlam]], QC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[5 December]] [[1972]]—[[11 November]] [[1975]] (2 years, 11 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[John Malcolm Fraser]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 November]] [[1975]]—[[11 March]] [[1983]] (7 years, 4 months)
|-
|'''[[Robert James Lee Hawke]], AC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[11 March]] [[1983]]—[[20 December]] [[1991]] (8 years, 9 months, 10 days)
|-
|'''[[Paul John Keating]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[20 December]] [[1991]]—[[11 March]] [[1996]] (4 years, 2 months, 20 days)
|-
|'''[[John Howard|John Winston Howard]]''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 March]] [[1996]]— (11 years so far)
|}

== Geography ==

Australia relies a great deal on industry, agriculture and tourism to foster its economy. It has a thriving film industry and very advanced technology. Most tourists visit places such as Sydney Harbour, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Other favorite destinations are the wine making areas of South Australia and northern Victoria, the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, the natural wonders of Tasmania and the huge outback expanses of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Some cattle stations in Australia rival [[Texas]] in size and the distance between towns in some areas is enormous.

80% of Australia's population, of just over 20,000,000 people, live on the coast line. It is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries (2.7 people per square kilometre)<ref>[http://www.abs.gov.au ABS]</ref>. Water is scarce and some cities have some form of water restrictions in place.

Weather extremes are common in Australia with temperatures sometimes measured into the high 40s Celsius (45 degrees Celsius = 113 degrees Fahrenheit). The city of Darwin was destroyed by Cyclone Tracey in 1974 and bush fires often ravage the southern states - one of the worst occurring on Ash Wednesday in 1983 when over 2,000 homes were destroyed and over 70 people lost their lives in Victoria and South Australia.

Australia is noted for its unique biodiversity. Many animals are found only in Australia, the most well known examples are the group of marsupials ([[kangaroos]], [[wombats]], [[wallabies]] and [[koalas]]), and the only two [[monotremes]], the [[platypus]] and the [[echidna]]. Examples of plants that are native to Australia are the [[banksia]], [[yellow wattle]] and [[gum tree]].

Studies indicate that Australia's unique wildlife is the result of Australia becoming an island, being cut off from the Asian land bridge between 40,000–250,000 years ago on the uniformitarian timescale.

== Sport ==

Australia is often known as a sporting nation with success worldwide in [[swimming]], [[tennis]], [[rugby league]] and [[rugby union]], [[cricket]], [[netball]], [[basketball]], and even speed [[ice skating]]. Australians are very keen horse racers with the Melbourne Cup <ref>[http://www.melbournecup.com.au| Melbourne Cup]</ref> attracting up to 120,000 spectators at Flemington Race Course on the first Tuesday in November. There is a public holiday for the cup race in Melbourne, while the remainder of the country virtually pauses during the running of the cup race. This day also coincides (mostly) every second year with the [[American]] [[Congress|Congressional]] [[election]]s and every four years with the [[President|Presidential]] election.

Unique to Australia is a game known as [[Australian rules football]] or Aussie Rules, which is played on a [[cricket]] oval in winter, that draws huge crowds across Australia. It is similar to [[Gaelic football]], played in [[Ireland]], and teams from the two nations play annual competition games based on a blended system of rules.

==Religion==
Australia is a [[secular]] nation, in that it has no established religion associated with the Government. Of Australia's population of around 20 million, approximately 1.5 million attend weekly religious services <ref>[http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=2250&track=82083| National Church Life Survey 2004]</ref>. The Australian public school system is described as "free, secular and compulsory" with the secular meaning without favour to any particular religion - most primary schools, however, do offer some form on non-compulsory religious education according to the parents' wishes. The state systems of a number of states offer studies in religion at the senior level.

There is a large Catholic school system in Australia with most parishes having their own primary school and many hundreds of Catholic High Schools across the country. There are also a large number of independent schools founded by various religions or demominations of the Christian faith - some hold that religious background to be more important than others.

==Comparing Australian and U.S. Economic and Health statistics==
Whilst the Australian society is similar in many aspects to those of the U.S., a comparison of key economic (in $U.S.) and health indicators highlights some interesting fundamental differences:

'''GDP Per Capita'''
*U.S. $43,500.00
*Aus $32,900.00

'''Budget Defecit/Surplus'''
*U.S. $841.00 per capita defecit
*Aus $444.00 per capita surplus. Australia has had budget surpluses every year since 2001

'''Public Debt'''
*U.S. 64.7% of GDP
*Aus 14.1% of GDP

'''Military Expenditure'''
*U.S. 4.06% of GDP
*Aus 2.5 % of GDP

'''Life Expectancy at Birth'''
*U.S. 77.85 years (combined male and female)
*Aus 80.5 years (combined male and female)

'''Infant Mortality Rates'''
*U.S. 6.43 deaths/1,000 live births
*Aus 4.63 deaths/1,000 live births

'''HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rates'''
*U.S. 0.6% of population
*Aus 0.1% of population

Australians also enjoy a universal health scheme and significant subsidies on most prescription medications, both of which are likely to account for some of the significant differences between the life expectancy and infant mortality rates between the U.S. and Australia.

==External links==
* [http://www.fed.gov.au Australian Government portal]
* [http://www.aph.gov.au Australian Parliament House (Reps & Senate) portal]
* [http://www.gg.gov.au Governor-General of Australia]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Oceanian Countries]]
[[Category:Continents]]
[[Category:Australia]]

User:Bilby

2007-05-06T22:50:31Z

Bilby:

File:Cfalogo3.gif

2007-05-06T22:48:49Z

Bilby:

User:Bilby

2007-05-06T22:37:56Z

Bilby:

{{userboxtop|Bilby}}
{{User Aussie}}
{{User Earth}}
{{User Critical}}
{{user donut missed}}
{{userboxbottom}}

Bilby is a teacher in Melbourne, Australia with an interest in literature, religion, philosophy and Australia.

I also dabble in other things such as being a volunteer firefighter with the CFA, producing a religious television show, writing exams for year 12 students to enjoy (Texts and Traditions and Philosophy for VCAA) and trying to be a good family man as well. I'm sure anyone who knows me and reads this knows that it's me - for everyone else I guess you could track me down just using that information!

User:Bilby

2007-05-06T22:35:52Z

Bilby:

{{User Aussie}}
{{User Earth}}
{{User Critical}}

Bilby is a teacher in Melbourne, Australia with an interest in literature, religion, philosophy and Australia.

I also dabble in other things such as being a volunteer firefighter with the CFA, producing a religious television show, writing exams for year 12 students to enjoy (Texts and Traditions and Philosophy for VCAA) and trying to be a good family man as well. I'm sure anyone who knows me and reads this knows that it's me - for everyone else I guess you could track me down just using that information!

User:Bilby

2007-05-06T22:33:14Z

Bilby:

{{User Aussie}}{{User Earth}}{{User Critical}}
 
Bilby is a teacher in Melbourne, Australia with an interest in literature, religion, philosophy and Australia.
 

I also dabble in other things such as being a volunteer firefighter with the CFA, producing a religious television show, writing exams for year 12 students to enjoy (Texts and Traditions and Philosophy for VCAA) and trying to be a good family man as well. I'm sure anyone who knows me and reads this knows that it's me - for everyone else I guess you could track me down just using that information!

Australia

2007-05-06T22:19:17Z

Bilby: /* System of Government */ minor change on Labor being in state power and added a bit about possible upcoming election

[[Image:AustraliaFlag.gif‎ |thumb|300px|Australia's flag]]
The [[Commonwealth]] of Australia is a [[country]]-[[continent]] with its west coast on the [[Indian Ocean]], east coast on the [[Pacific Ocean]] facing [[New Zealand]], southern coast on the [[Southern Ocean]] facing [[Antarctica]], and northern coast bordering [[Indonesia]] and [[Papua New Guinea]]. Australia is considered as part of [[Oceania]], but has been establishing its place in [[South East Asia]].

Australia is the only country to occupy an entire continent. The Australian continent is the smallest continent in the world; it is 2,400 miles, (3,860 km) from east to west and 2,000 miles (3,220 km) from north to south. It covers an area of 2,967,877 sq miles (7,686,810 sq km). The Australian coastline is 22,812 miles long (36,735 kilometers). The mainland of Australia is about the same size as the mainland 48 states of the USA.

[[Image:Mapaust.gif‎ |Map of Australia]]
{{clear}}
Australia has six states and two internal territories. The states are [[New South Wales]], [[Victoria]], [[Queensland]], [[Western Australia]], [[South Australia]] and [[Tasmania]]. The internal territories are the [[Northern Territory]] (responsible government since 1978) and the [[Australian Capital Territory]] (responsible government since 1988) which is the location of Australia's capital city, [[Canberra]]. External territories include [[Christmas Island]] and the [[Australian Antarctic Territory]].

== History==
=== Pre European Contact ===
Australia was originally inhabited by people who are commonly known as [[Aborigines]] although they come from over 700 smaller nations each with their own tribal name and language. Over time, many of these nations and tribes lost their identity or were decimated by disease, poor nutrition, massacres by white settlers and the forced removal of children from their parents into white families or mission stations. Nevertheless, many Aboriginal languages and traditions have survived the more than 200 years of white settlement. Under recent legislation recognising native title, Aboriginal communities now have the right to claim back land dispossessed from them where they can prove that lasting cultural links still persist and where the native title has not been extinguished by freehold or leasehold title.

=== Post European Contact ===
European discovery of the mainland of Australia was by [[Holland|Dutch]] sailors heading to the spice isles of what is now [[Indonesia]], in the 16th Century. Most of their descriptions of Australia are based on the exploration of the North West coast which is very rugged and inhospitable.

In [[1770]] the [[England|English]] navigator, Lieutenant [[James Cook]], Captain of the [[Royal Navy]] bark, [[HMS Endeavour]], discovered the east coast of Australia which is much more capable of maintaining life and settlers. In [[1788]] the [[First Fleet]] arrived at [[Sydney]] Cove, [[New South Wales]] - comprising officers, Marines, convicts and a very few free settlers. Later fleets brought more convicts who were dispersed also to Tasmania and other remote settlements. Over time, when freed, the former convicts settled areas beyond [[Sydney Harbour]].

As the 18th century came to a close convicts were given land packages and more free settlers came to the land in the hope of setting up farms and businesses. A number of colonies started to be formed - the most populated being New South Wales (whose capital city is Sydney). These colonies later became the states.

The 1850s saw the discovery of [[gold]] and large number of people moved to Australia to find new wealth. Most of these people were British, although there were also many dispossessed by the "land clearings" in [[Scotland]] and the [[Ireland|Irish]] [[potato]] [[famine]], and there was a significant number of [[China|Chinese]] immigrants during this rush. "Americans were drawn to Australia to participate in various enterprises such as the gold fields" <ref>[http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/comm-summ/textversion/usa.htm| Australian Dept of Immigration and Citizenship]</ref>

== System of Government ==
Australia became a federated country on [[1 January]] [[1901]] under the [[Constitution of Australia]], and all former British colonies became states. The declaration of federation was made in Sydney. The parliament met in [[Melbourne]], Victoria, until the infrastructure was built for the capital city, [[Canberra]].

Australia has a [[Parliament|parliamentary system]] of government based on the British system with a [[bicameral]] system: the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[Australian Senate|Senate]]. Each state and territory also has its own parliament.

Australia is a [[democracy]] which has allowed men of [[European]] descent to vote since federation, with non-Aboriginal women gaining the vote in 1902 and Aboriginal men and women gaining suffrage in 1962. Voting is compulsory for all citizens who are 18 years old and over (with a few exceptions.)

Australia's Head of Government is the [[Prime Minister of Australia]]. The current Prime Minister is [[John Howard]], the leader of the [[Liberal Party of Australia]]. The Deputy Prime Minister is [[Mark Vaile]], the leader of the [[National Party of Australia]]. The two parties are in [[coalition]] to form the Government.

The Head of State is [[Queen Elizabeth II]], the Queen of Australia (who is the same person, but a different title, as the Queen of Great Britain.) Under the Constitution, and in practice, the authority of the Head of State is vested in the [[Governor-General of Australia]], currently the retired Major-General Philip Michael Jeffery, AC, CVO, MC, GCL, who assents to acts of parliament, is the Commander in Chief of the military forces, and appoints all Ministers of the Government; all these various powers are normally exercised on advice from the Prime Minister.

The Government of Australia is exercised, day-to-day, by the Ministers through their various Departments of State.

Australia has [[preferential voting]], which is designed to ensure that the candidates with the most support get into office, rather than the candidate with the most primary votes. So if three candidates, A, B, and C, get 40%, 35%, and 25% of the votes respectively (so no candidate has more than 50% of the votes), then the second preference of the voters who voted for C are distributed to the remaining candidates. The result might be that A ends up with 45% of the votes, and B with 55%, indicating that 55% of the voters prefer candidate B over A.

One consequence of this voting system is that it encourages a multiplicity of parties and even independent candidates. There have been times when the balance of power has been held my minor parties or independent individuals.

There is no limit on the time a person can be a Member of Parliament (MP) (elected, notionally, for 3 years, but the timing of elections is decided by the Prime Minister) or a Senator (elected for two cycles of the House of representatives.) The Prime Minister is normally a member of the House of Representatives, and the tenure is not limited by statute. (John Gorton was a Senator when appointed leader of his party. He immediately resigned from the Senate and stood for election to the House of Representatives.)

The Federal 'opposition' political party, is the [[Australian Labor Party]] which most Americans would recognize as "liberal". Its leader is [[Kevin Rudd]]. TheLabor Party is in government in all of the states and territories but remains in opposition at the Federal level. The next Australian Federal election is expected to be held late in 2007. The Labor Party is "social democratic" while the Liberals are "liberal conservatives"; however, some of the smaller parties are more liberal or more conservative than Labor and Liberal respectively.

===Parliamentary political parties===
* Australian Democrats
* Australian Greens
* Australian Labor Party
* Country Liberal Party
* Family First Party
* Liberal Party of Australia
* National Party of Australia

Despite the name, the Liberal Party, which has been in power in Australia since 1996, is conservative in political stance, a paradox established since the years that Sir Robert Menzies was Prime Minister. Menzies helped found the Liberal Party in 1944 and was the Prime Minister from 1939 until 1941 and then again from 1949 until 1966. <ref> [http://www.liberals.net/liberalpartyhistory.htm History of the Liberal Party in Australia]</ref>The liberal term refers to the party's apparent laissez-faire approach to economic management.

== Prime Ministers of Australia <ref>[http://www.aph.gov.au/library/parl/hist/primmins.htm Prime Ministers of Australia]</ref> ==
{|border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=2 width=90%
!<big>Prime Minister</big>||<big>Dates</big>
|-
|'''Sir [[Edmund Barton]], PC, GCMG, KC''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[1 January]] [[1901]]—[[24 September]] [[1903]] (2 years, 8 months, 24 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[24 September]] [[1903]]—[[27 April 1904]] (7 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[John Christian Watson]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[27 April]] [[1904]]—[[17 August]] [[1904]] (3 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[George Houstoun Reid]] (later Sir George), PC, KC''' (Free Trade)
|[[18 August]] [[1904]]—[[5 July]] [[1905]] (10 months, 18 days)
|-
|'''Alfred Deakin''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[5 July]] [[1905]]—[[13 November]] [[1908]] (3 years, 4 months, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[Andrew Fisher]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 November]] [[1908]]—[[2 June]] [[1909]] (6 months, 21 days)
|-
|'''[[Alfred Deakin]]''' (Protectionist Party)
|[[2 June]] [[1909]]—[[29 April]] [[1910]] (10 months, 28 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[29 April]] [[1910]]—[[24 June]] [[1913]] (3 years, 1 month, 26 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Cook]] (later Sir Joseph)''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[24 June]] [[1913]]—[[17 September]] [[1914]] (1 year, 2 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''Andrew Fisher''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[17 September]] [[1914]]—[[27 October]] [[1915]] (1 year, 1 month, 11 days)
|-
|'''[[William Morris Hughes]]''' (Australian Labor Party; Nationalist Party from 1917)
|[[27 October]] [[1915]]—[[9 February]] [[1923]] (7 years, 3 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[Stanley Melbourne Bruce]], PC, CH, MC''' (Nationalist Party)
|[[9 February]] [[1923]]—[[22 October]] [[1929]] (6 years, 8 months, 14 days)
|-
|'''[[James Henry Scullin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[22 October]] [[1929]]—[[6 January]] [[1932]] (2 years, 2 months, 16 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Aloysius Lyons]], PC, CH''' (United Australia Party)
|[[6 January]] [[1932]]—[[7 April]] [[1939]] (7 years, 3 months, 2 days)
|-
|'''Sir [[Earle Christmas Grafton Page]], PC, GCMG''' (Australian Country Party)
|[[7 April]] [[1939]]—[[26 April]] [[1939]] (20 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]], PC, KC''' (United Australia Party)
|[[26 April]] [[1939]]—[[29 August]] [[1941]] (2 years, 4 months, 4 days)
|-
|'''[[Arthur William Fadden]] (later Sir Arthur)''' (Country Party)
|[[29 August]] [[1941]]—[[7 October]] [[1941]] (1 month, 9 days)
|-
|'''[[John Curtin]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[7 October]] [[1941]]—[[5 July]] [[1945]] (3 years, 8 months, 29 days)
|-
|'''[[Francis Michael Forde]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[6 July]] [[1945]]—[[13 July]] [[1945]] (8 days)
|-
|'''[[Joseph Benedict Chifley]], PC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[13 July]] [[1945]]—[[19 December]] [[1949]] (4 years, 5 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[Robert Gordon Menzies]] (later Sir Robert), PC, KC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[19 December]] [[1949]]—[[26 January]] [[1966]] (16 years, 1 month, 8 days)
|-
|'''[[Harold Edward Holt]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[26 January]] [[1966]]—[[19 December]] [[1967]] (1 year, 10 months, 23 days)
|-
|'''[[John McEwen]] (later Sir John), PC''' (Country Party)
|[[19 December]] [[1967]]—[[10 January]] [[1968]] (23 days)
|-
|'''[[John Grey Gorton]], PC''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 January]] [[1968]]—[[10 March]] [[1971]] (3 years, 2 months)
|-
|'''[[William McMahon]] (later Sir William), PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[10 March]] [[1971]]—[[5 December]] [[1972]] (1 year, 8 months, 25 days)
|-
|'''[[Edward Gough Whitlam]], QC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[5 December]] [[1972]]—[[11 November]] [[1975]] (2 years, 11 months, 7 days)
|-
|'''[[John Malcolm Fraser]], PC, CH''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 November]] [[1975]]—[[11 March]] [[1983]] (7 years, 4 months)
|-
|'''[[Robert James Lee Hawke]], AC''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[11 March]] [[1983]]—[[20 December]] [[1991]] (8 years, 9 months, 10 days)
|-
|'''[[Paul John Keating]]''' (Australian Labor Party)
|[[20 December]] [[1991]]—[[11 March]] [[1996]] (4 years, 2 months, 20 days)
|-
|'''[[John Winston Howard]]''' (Liberal Party of Australia)
|[[11 March]] [[1996]]— (11 years so far)
|}

== Geography ==

Australia relies a great deal on industry, agriculture and tourism to foster its economy. It has a thriving film industry and very advanced technology. Most tourists visit places such as Sydney Harbour, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Other favorite destinations are the wine making areas of South Australia and northern Victoria, the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, the natural wonders of Tasmania and the huge outback expanses of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Some cattle stations in Australia rival [[Texas]] in size and the distance between towns in some areas is enormous.

80% of Australia's population, of just over 20,000,000 people, live on the coast line. It is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries (2.7 people per square kilometre)<ref>[http://www.abs.gov.au ABS]</ref>. Water is scarce and some cities have some form of water restrictions in place.

Weather extremes are common in Australia with temperatures sometimes measured into the high 40s Celsius (45 degrees Celsius = 113 degrees Fahrenheit). The city of Darwin was destroyed by Cyclone Tracey in 1974 and bush fires often ravage the southern states - one of the worst occurring on Ash Wednesday in 1983 when over 2,000 homes were destroyed and over 70 people lost their lives in Victoria and South Australia.

Australia is noted for its unique biodiversity. Many animals are found only in Australia, the most well known examples are the group of marsupials ([[kangaroos]], [[wombats]], [[wallabies]] and [[koalas]]), and the only two [[monotremes]], the [[platypus]] and the [[echidna]]. Examples of plants that are native to Australia are the [[banksia]], [[yellow wattle]] and [[gum tree]].

Studies indicate that Australia's unique wildlife is the result of Australia becoming an island, being cut off from the Asian land bridge between 40,000–250,000 years ago on the uniformitarian timescale.

== Sport ==

Australia is often known as a sporting nation with success worldwide in [[swimming]], [[tennis]], [[rugby league]] and [[rugby union]], [[cricket]], [[netball]], [[basketball]], and even speed [[ice skating]]. Australians are very keen horse racers with the Melbourne Cup <ref>[http://www.melbournecup.com.au| Melbourne Cup]</ref> attracting up to 120,000 spectators at Flemington Race Course on the first Tuesday in November. There is a public holiday for the cup race in Melbourne, while the remainder of the country virtually pauses during the running of the cup race. This day also coincides (mostly) every second year with the [[American]] [[Congress|Congressional]] [[election]]s and every four years with the [[President|Presidential]] election.

Unique to Australia is a game known as [[Australian rules football]] or Aussie Rules, which is played on a [[cricket]] oval in winter, that draws huge crowds across Australia. It is similar to [[Gaelic football]], played in [[Ireland]], and teams from the two nations play annual competition games based on a blended system of rules.

==Religion==
Australia is a [[secular]] nation, in that it has no established religion associated with the Government. Of Australia's population of around 20 million, approximately 1.5 million attend weekly religious services <ref>[http://www.ncls.org.au/default.aspx?docid=2250&track=82083| National Church Life Survey 2004]</ref>. The Australian public school system is described as "free, secular and compulsory" with the secular meaning without favour to any particular religion - most primary schools, however, do offer some form on non-compulsory religious education according to the parents' wishes. The state systems of a number of states offer studies in religion at the senior level.

There is a large Catholic school system in Australia with most parishes having their own primary school and many hundreds of Catholic High Schools across the country. There are also a large number of independent schools founded by various religions or demominations of the Christian faith - some hold that religious background to be more important than others.

==Comparing Australian and U.S. Economic and Health statistics==
Whilst the Australian society is similar in many aspects to those of the U.S., a comparison of key economic (in $U.S.) and health indicators highlights some interesting fundamental differences:

'''GDP Per Capita'''
*U.S. $43,500.00
*Aus $32,900.00

'''Budget Defecit/Surplus'''
*U.S. $841.00 per capita defecit
*Aus $444.00 per capita surplus. Australia has had budget surpluses every year since 2001

'''Public Debt'''
*U.S. 64.7% of GDP
*Aus 14.1% of GDP

'''Military Expenditure'''
*U.S. 4.06% of GDP
*Aus 2.5 % of GDP

'''Life Expectancy at Birth'''
*U.S. 77.85 years (combined male and female)
*Aus 80.5 years (combined male and female)

'''Infant Mortality Rates'''
*U.S. 6.43 deaths/1,000 live births
*Aus 4.63 deaths/1,000 live births

'''HIV/AIDS Prevalence Rates'''
*U.S. 0.6% of population
*Aus 0.1% of population

Australians also enjoy a universal health scheme and significant subsidies on most prescription medications, both of which are likely to account for some of the significant differences between the life expectancy and infant mortality rates between the U.S. and Australia.

==External links==
* [http://www.fed.gov.au Australian Government portal]
* [http://www.aph.gov.au Australian Parliament House (Reps & Senate) portal]
* [http://www.gg.gov.au Governor-General of Australia]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Oceanian Countries]]
[[Category:Continents]]
[[Category:Australia]]

Liberal Party of Australia

2007-05-06T22:13:07Z

Bilby: added minor detail on Liberal governance, included Nats

[[Image:Lpa.jpg‎|thumb|300px| The Liberal Party of Australia logo.]]

The '''Liberal Party of Australia''' is a conservative-leaning political party based in the Commonwealth of [[Australia]]. The Liberal Party was founded in 1944 by [[Sir Robert Menzies]]. "Pig Iron Bob" as he was known to his detractors kept the Liberal Party in power during much of the post-war boom. As with many other Western democracies the winds of change swept through Australia and the Liberal Party was ousted from power by [[Gough Whitlam]] and the [[Australian Labor Party]] in 1972.

The Liberals in general believe in low levels of government interference in the economy and are understood to be more socially conservative than their more left wing political foes, the Labor Party.

Until recent times the Liberal Party occupied the centre of Australian politics. The Liberals have recently moved more to the right of politics as the Labor Party has moved to the centre.

The Liberal Party is divided into state-based divisions. The Liberals contest both state and federal elections, but do not officially contest local government elections. However many party members stand for local council elections in their own right.

Since 1996 the Liberals have governed Australia (at a federal level), in coalition with the smaller National Party, under the leadership of [[John Howard]], a champion of neo-liberal ideas.

[[Category:Political Parties]]
[[Category:Australia]]

User:Bilby

2007-04-26T06:08:30Z

Bilby:

User:Bilby

2007-04-26T06:05:59Z

Bilby:

{{User Aussie}} 
{{User Earth}} 
{{User Critical}} 

Bilby is a teacher in Melbourne, Australia with an interest in literature, religion, philosophy and Australia.

I also dabble in other things such as being a volunteer firefighter with the CFA, producing a religious television show, writing exams for year 12 students to enjoy (Texts and Traditions and Philosophy for VCAA) and trying to be a good family man as well. I'm sure anyone who knows me and reads this knows that it's me - for everyone else I guess you could track me down just using that information!