The Mushroom Treatment: A Government That Treats You With Contempt Cannot Be Trusted
Greens Senator David Shoebridge nails it: “The Albanese Government needs to be clear about what support it is offering the US in its war on Iran. Labor’s claim that we are not offering support is plainly not true.”
COMMENT – Christina Macpherson – As a former Labor party member, I am totally disenchanted with the current Labor leadership. Anthony Albanese has faded away from a strong principled Labor leader to a pale grey accessory to the USA. And Penny Wong ! If she had any integrity she’s resign – it must be uncomfortable for her, forever sitting on the fence about everything
5 Mar 2026, https://urbanwronski.com/2026/03/05/8400/
The Albanese government gives us the mushroom treatment. Keeps us all in the dark and feeds us BS.
This week, our small target federal government gave a bravura homage to John Cage. While a US-Israeli war of no legality engulfs the Middle East, while Australia’s top-secret spy facility hums away in the desert night providing targeting data for strikes that have already killed hundreds of civilians, while US surveillance aircraft slip into RAAF Base Pearce from Diego Garcia without so much as a public flight plan, Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong polish their performance art, the blank face, the rehearsed non-answer, a version of Cage’s 4′ 33″ -and the inane repetition of lines that insult the intelligence of every Australian watching.
Asked about Pine Gap’s role? We got “we don’t comment on that facility.”
The litany of lies becomes a bad parody of accountability. Asked, “is the US-Israel attack on Iran legal under international law? We got: “that is a matter for Israel and the United States.” So the rules-based order they are in love with turns out to be Rafferty’s Rules, after all. And Wong is becoming a human bot before our eyes.
Asked whether we were briefed in advance. We got “this was a unilateral action by the United States.”
It is a performance not of statesmanship but of studied evasion. And it has been noticed. It’s top shelf-fobbing off. Wong and Albanese could fob-off and rebuff for Australia, when it becomes an Olympic event.
On international law being broken, the government’s hypocrisy is gob-smacking
Albanese and Wong have invoked “international law” and the “rules-based order” more than a hundred times since returning to government. They have called out Russia over Ukraine. They have criticised China. As recently as last year, Wong’s department was demanding China comply with international law, and the year before that, complaining that Chinese domestic legislation allowed Beijing to ignore it.
But when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a guest on Australian soil, stated plainly that the US-Israeli strikes on Iran appear “prima facie inconsistent with international law,” Wong’s response was to handball the question back to Washington and Tel Aviv.
“The legal basis of these strikes is ultimately a matter for the United States and Israel,” she repeated, for perhaps the twentieth time, to a press circus that grew visibly more frustrated with each non-answer.
This is not a position. It is a void in a vacuum in a vortex of entropy dressed up as a position.
The “rules-based order” mantra that Australia endlessly chants, a type of incantation to ward off witches, warlocks and bad faith actors, turns out to be a franchise. The rules apply to adversaries. Allies get a different menu. When Russia bombs civilian infrastructure it is an outrage; when the US does it, the legal basis is “a matter for those two countries.” When China ignores international law, Canberra clucks as volubly as any hen-house. When Israel and the Trump administration launch pre-emptive strikes without UN authorisation, without consulting allies, without even informing Albanese in advance, the government goes mute.
It’s not just hypocritical. It’s a double standard with added craven sycophancy, toadying and fawning over the US latest brain-fart that does lasting damage to Australia’s credibility as an honest broker in the region.
Surreal? Pine Gap, which is where the mushroom treatment gets especially dangerous.
Pine Gap is not some quiet public library in the red centre. It is the eyes and ears of the American eagle. Or as Peter Cronau documents, the listening post for a swarm of US satellites that provide the intelligence feed for major US and Israeli military operations in the Middle East and now the Indian Ocean. It geolocates targets. It intercepts military communications. It detects missile launches and supports targeting. It cannot, as Cronau noted before the first strikes last year, not have been already involved.
When a US submarine sinks an Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean, an area directly within Pine Gap’s signals collection coverage, Australians have a right to know whether their facility, on their soil, provided the intelligence that killed those sailors. Wong’s answer: “We don’t comment on that facility.”
Wong assures us there is “a high degree of transparency in relation to the United States presence in Australia.”
You just can’t see it.
Or credit it. Or forgive her duplicity, The lie here is mind-boggling.
Yet now we learn that two US P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft flew directly from Diego Garcia, the staging base for US operations across the Indian Ocean, to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia without prior public announcement, with flight plans lodged only once they were airborne. These are not joy rides. P-8A aircraft have been integral to Washington’s operations at the Strait of Hormuz. Their visit to Australian soil in the days following the bombing of Iran is not a coincidence. It is a data point.
Defence Minister Doughboy Richard Marles a US War Department dogsbody, doggedly declines to comment.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge nails it: “The Albanese Government needs to be clear about what support it is offering the US in its war on Iran. Labor’s claim that we are not offering support is plainly not true.”
The government does not want us to think about their epic credibility fail. That is the whole point.
The contempt is not limited to matters of war and peace. It runs through the entire fabric of how this government deals with Australians who have the temerity to ask questions. And to expect answers.
Albanese entered office in 2022 declaring that “the Australian people deserve accountability and transparency, not secrecy.” He criticised the Morrison government’s “cult of secrecy” and its “culture of cover-up.” Like a specialist performing a colonoscopy, he was going to shine a bright light into dark entrails. Instead he handed the patient a blindfold.
Not even under “Morrison Un-hosed” has freedom of information been so much of a running gag in a government which not only runs on the most expensive misinformation money can buy from its stable of top-end corporate consultancies but one which is very reluctant to share anything with anyone. Especially anything that might reveal its inner workings or help voters to hold it to account.
The Centre for Public Integrity finds that under Albanese, Freedom of Information requests granted in full have collapsed from 59 percent in 2011-12 to just 25 percent today. Outright refusals have nearly doubled to 23 percent. Almost half of initial decisions are found to be flawed on internal review. The Albanese government complies with Senate orders to produce documents only one-third of the time, a record worse than the Morrison government. The Centre’s Research Director, Catherine Williams, calls it a “deliberate effort to avoid scrutiny.” The government’s own record gives her no grounds to be contradicted.
This is not administrative slippage. This is policy.
What emerges from all of this is a government that has made a fundamental calculation: that Australian citizens do not need to know what is done in their name, with their money, on their soil, or at their risk.
They do not need to know whether their intelligence facilities are helping to kill sailors in the Indian Ocean.
They do not need to know whether US surveillance craft are operating out of Australian bases as part of a widening Middle Eastern war.
They do not need to know whether the strikes their government endorses are legal under the international law their government claims to champion.
They do not need to know what is in government documents that the Senate orders to be produced.
They do not need to ask. They just need to trust.
But trust, like international law, turns out to be something the Albanese government only demands of others.
There is a word for a government that maintains one set of rules for its allies and another for its adversaries, that invokes transparency as a slogan while systematically dismantling it in practice, that keeps citizens uninformed about activities on their own soil that may be drawing them into someone else’s war.
The word is untrustworthy.
Not dishonest in the flamboyant, self-destructive way of some politicians. This government is too careful for that. It is dishonest by omission, by evasion, by the rehearsed non-answer, by the careful deployment of “we don’t comment on that facility” as a substitute for democratic accountability.
Mark Carney, standing on Australian soil, said what Albanese and Wong won’t: the strikes appear inconsistent with international law, hegemons are acting without constraint, and the old world order is fraying. It took a visiting foreign leader to say plainly what our own government refuses to acknowledge.
That tells you something about how far we’ve travelled since Albanese promised us sunlight.
We got the mushrooms.
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Liberals’ hidden review regarding nuclear energy
Hidden review slams senior Liberals’ lack of reflection after devastating election loss, ABC 3 Mar 26
“…On nuclear energy, Mr Dutton said making the power plants government owned neutralised community concerns around safety, but provided Labor an attack line on cost.
“Labor didn’t lay a glove on the policy as such, but they were effective in their campaigning saying ‘he’s going to cut health, education and NDIS to pay for this’,” he said.
…The review deemed the almost six-month delay between the Coalition unveiling its plan to fund nuclear power stations and releasing the costings for it as “fatal”.
It was found that the gap allowed Labor to fill the vacuum with a “scare campaign”.
The federal secretariat had presented “considerable research” to Mr Dutton’s office outlining the significant effort required to win over voters sceptical of nuclear.
Research showed Mr Dutton’s “bold vision” was appreciated, but the nuclear policy was not sufficiently linked to the issue top of mind for voters — cost of living relief.”…………………………
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-03/inside-liberal-2025-election-review/106410316
Greens say no war with Iran as Albanese’s Labor issues support of Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal attacks.
Last night, US President Trump launched a new illegal bombing campaign against Iran. The Australian Government’s support for Trump’s latest illegal war is a clear breach of international law and the prohibition on wars of aggression.
The Iranian people deserve to be free from persecution and domination, both from the current regime and from foreign powers. History shows, and the world knows, that US military attacks and Donald Trump’s kidnappings and assassinations do not produce peace and do not produce justice.
While US bombs and missiles rain down on Iran, there is every likelihood that they are being targeted with the direct or indirect assistance of “joint” US-Australian military facilities at Pine Gap and North West Cape.
The Greens have consistently and clearly condemned the Iranian Regime’s violent response to recent protests and long history of oppression, and we have backed the Woman Life Freedom movement. We know that the people of Iran who have been the victims of the regime will be the same people who are right now being killed, injured and driven into further poverty and fear by US bombing.
Senator Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens, said:
Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal attacks last night have unleashed chaos across the Middle East.
“This war will not bring safety to the brave Iranian people who are fighting for liberation from the brutal regime. Innocent people have already been massacred, including at least 60 children in Southern Iran killed by US and Israeli strikes on an elementary school last night. Our hearts ache for their families. This war will see homes and cities razed to the ground and countless innocent lives lost.
“The Greens condemn these illegal, abhorrent and unilateral attacks. Australians do not want to be dragged into another US-Israeli war.
“Australia’s support of Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal attack last night was disgraceful.
“We cannot bomb our way to peace.
“The Labor government must immediately rule out Australian support for Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal war. No resources. No intelligence. No more cover.
“The Labor government must also confirm to the Australian people that no intelligence from Pine Gap or other US bases in Australia was used last night, and rule out allowing these bases to be used in this illegal war going forward.
“End AUKUS. Australia must be a force for peace and diplomacy across the world.”
Senator Shoebridge, Greens spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, said:
“No one seriously believes that Donald Trump cares about the rights or lives of people in Iran. Just like other US wars that Australia has supported in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the talk is about freedom and democracy but the reality is killing and destruction. Already, we are seeing reports of schools being destroyed and children killed in airstrikes.
“With barely a moment’s pause the Albanese Government has backed Trump and another US-led war in the Middle East. This proves without a shadow of a doubt that Labor has outsourced Australian foreign policy to Washington.
“Labor has made Australia a part of this war by allowing Pine Gap and other US military bases here to be used to gather intelligence and target US bombs and missiles. People see through Labor when it says it believes in international law and then repeatedly backs the US and its illegal wars.
“Time and time again the US has betrayed the people it was claiming to protect, leaving bloodshed in its wake while serving its own corporate and military interests. Trump is no different, even if he is more blatant.
“The Greens are the only anti-war party in the Federal Parliament and we will not shift from that stance, having seen the horrifying scale of killing and displacement that war has visited on the world.
“The world has been watching the bravery of the Iranian people pushing back against a brutal regime and calling for liberation and freedom. The Greens know that a Trump-led military assault on Iran is not a pathway to freedom or a pathway to a democratic regime that is supported by the Iranian people. This attack, like the last, is a pathway to chaos and more killing in Iran.
“There is more Australia can do for the people of Iran, starting with offering safety to those who have fled the regime, especially those already in Australia who are trapped in an unfair refugee process.”
Jewish groups call on Tony Burke to cancel Israeli journalist visa
by Stephanie Tran | Feb 24, 2026, https://michaelwest.com.au/jewish-groups-call-on-tony-burke-to-cancel-israeli-journalist-visa/
Jewish orgs request Tony Burke reject Australian visa for Israeli journalist as his funders’ links to IDF emerge. Stephanie Tran reports.
A coalition of Australian Jewish organisations has written to the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, urging him to cancel the visa of Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli on character grounds, citing comments in which he called for mass killings in Gaza and advocated violence against journalists.
The letter was initiated by Anti-Zionism Australia and signed by several Jewish groups including, Jewish Voices of Inner Sydney, Jews Against the Occupation ‘48, Jews for Palestine Western Australia, Jewish Advocates for Understanding Antisemitism, Jews for a Free Palestine, Jews for Human Rights and the Coalition of Women for Justice and Peace.
The groups have requested that Yehezkeli’s visa application be rejected under the Migration Act 1958, specifically invoking section 116(1)(e)(i), which allows for cancellation where a person’s presence may pose a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community, and section 501, the character test.
“The undersigned request that you reject Zvi Yehezkeli’s visa application … on the basis that his presence in Australia shall pose a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community and that his past and present general conduct indicates a foreseeable risk of vilifying a segment of the community and inciting discord,” the letter states.
Burke mulls visa
Tony Burke has indicated the government is considering whether to deny Yehezkeli’s visa application.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, he said: “It always surprises me when someone, who has made the sorts of comments that this individual has, advertises a speaking tour before they’ve even received a visa.”
Yehezkeli, an Israeli journalist and resident of a settlement in the occupied West Bank, is due to visit Australia in March and is slated to appear as a keynote speaker at fundraising events in Sydney and Melbourne.
Tax-deductible fundraiser under scrutiny
The Sydney and Melbourne events are raising funds for Israeli organisation The Institute for Social Momentum. Donations are being collected in Australia through the Chai Charitable Foundation, which is promoting the fundraiser as tax deductible.
A link to donate via the Chai Charitable Foundation appears on the registration pages for both events.
According to its 2024 financial report, the Chai Charitable Foundation reported more than $19m in revenue. Of that, $15.39m was distributed in grants and donations for use outside Australia, compared with $1.62m directed domestically.
The foundation facilitates tax-deductible donations from Australians to organisations in Israel and has previously come under scrutiny over its fundraising activities.
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An investigation by MWM, found that the charity hosted multiple online fundraisers linked to Israeli military units and West Bank settlements.
The Chai Charitable Foundation initially denied that it was raising funds for such causes. However, those pages were removed after MWM put questions to Chai.
Incitement to commit genocide
n a submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC), French-Israeli human rights lawyer Dr. Omer Shatz concluded that “there is reasonable grounds to believe that Yehezkeli’s statements amount to direct and public incitement to commit genocide.”
In December 2023, Yehezkeli stated that the Israel Defense Forces should have killed more than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
In a 2024 interview, he said that in order to destroy Hamas, Israel needed to take measures that would “bring Gaza to the point of a humanitarian disaster”.
Last year, Yehezkeli advocated for the killing of journalists in Gaza, stating that “if Israel already decides to eliminate journalists then better late than never” and lamented the “damage” caused to Israel by journalists reporting on the atrocities in Gaza.
“This is an understanding in Israel of how much damage those who transmitted the pictures of hunger and all of Hamas’s one side did […] how much psychological damage those journalists in quotation marks, terrorist journalists, or you can call them Nukhba journalists, how much damage they did to Israel,” Yehezkeli said.
This was planned. And Chris Minns owns it.
by Andrew Brown | Feb 10, 2026 , https://michaelwest.com.au/this-was-planned-and-chris-minns-owns-it/
NSW Police have assaulted dozens of peace protestors who gathered to protest the visit by Israeli president Isaac Herzog to Australia. Andrew Brown was there.
I was there. Not watching from a distance. Not reconstructing events from police statements. I was on the steps of Sydney Town Hall, with organisers and MPs, looking out over a vast peaceful crowd and then watching the state choose violence.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Sydney for a tightly secured visit. That context matters, because what unfolded was not crowd management. It was a demonstration of power. A message. A deliberate assertion of authority.
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people gathered peacefully at Town Hall to protest Herzog’s presence. Thousands more were turned away by police cordons. Had the crowd been allowed to assemble freely, numbers would almost certainly have reached 30,000 or more. Families. Elderly people. Students. Health workers. Jews and Muslims standing together. Calm. Disciplined. Focused.
“There was no riot energy. No vandalism. No threat.“
I stood on the steps with protest organisers and elected representatives, looking out over a crowd that never surged, never damaged property, never turned violent. Beside me were Stephen Lawrence MLC, Sue Higginson MLC, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Cameron Murphy MLC, and other Greens MPs and MLCs.
At least five sitting members of the Minns government were present. They were not hovering at the edges. They were chanting with the crowd. Standing shoulder to shoulder with constituents. Watching events unfold in real time.
This was not fringe politics. This was Parliament in the street.
Dr Muhammad Mustafa, known widely as Dr Mo, did not address the crowd. He spoke quietly to me. Online, he goes by the handle Dr Mo the Beast from the Middle East, a name that reads like bravado until you understand what forged it.
He told me about operating on children without anaesthetic. About hospitals without power. About performing surgery by torchlight while bombs fell nearby. About the dozens of his own relatives who have been murdered in Gaza.
He did not raise his voice. He did not need to. People who have lived through that kind of loss do not perform outrage. They carry it.
“That was the moral gravity of the gathering.“
And while tens of thousands of Australians stood in the open air exercising democratic rights, Premier Chris Minns was not there.
He was dining.
Dining with a war criminal
Inside the International Convention Centre, Minns broke bread with Herzog as the Israeli president spoke about social cohesion.
This is the same Isaac Herzog who once declared there were no innocent civilians in Palestine. The same Herzog who autographed artillery shells later dropped on Gaza. His government now stands before international courts, its conduct under legal scrutiny.Minns knew exactly what this moment represented.
Last year, more than 300,000 people marched across the Harbour Bridge in support of Palestine.
“Minns tried to stop it. He failed.“
He lost in court. He lost the argument. He lost control. That march exposed the limits of his authority and the strength of public opposition.
This was his chance to correct that.
Herzog was in town. The optics were international. Minns was not going to lose again.
Peace, then the violence
The rally ended peacefully. Speakers finished. People began to leave.
That should have been the end of the day.
Instead, it was the beginning of a deliberate escalation.
New South Wales Police blocked exits and sealed movement south toward Circular Quay. People trying to go home were trapped without explanation. There were no clear lawful directions. No safety rationale. Just containment.
Bottlenecks were deliberately created. Confusion was manufactured. Then force was applied to the disorder police themselves had caused.
This was not crowd control. It was crowd engineering.
Police brutality
I watched police push into a dispersing crowd.
I watched elderly people panic.
I watched bodies hit the ground.
I helped a young girl who had been pepper sprayed in the face and collapsed into a seizure on the pavement. She was convulsing, incapacitated. As she lay there on the ground, police sprayed her again in the face. Again.
Attacks on the elderly
Nearby, I helped a 71-year-old woman whose eyes and face were burned red from pepper spray. She was blinded, sobbing, asking what she had done wrong. She had done nothing.
“My own family was not spared.“
My mother is 84 years old. She was attempting to leave peacefully. She was pushed by police, knocked to the ground, and suffered a fractured arm.
My sister lives with Parkinson’s disease. She was shoved and thrust by police during the same operation.
As the evening wore on, the brutality escalated. Dozens upon dozens were arrested. Protesters were dragged across pavement, punched, kicked, restrained. This was not reactive policing. It was proactive force.
“Attacks on people praying“
Later, I witnessed a line crossed that should alarm anyone who believes Australia still respects basic freedoms. Sheikh Wesam Charkawi was praying peacefully with followers, prostrate on the ground. Silent. Non-confrontational. Police moved in anyway.
People were brutalised while in the act of prayer. Shoved. Dragged. Hauled up by force.
This was no longer just an attack on protest. It was an attack on worship.
There were roughly 500 police deployed at Town Hall and an estimated 3,000 across the CBD. This scale was not accidental. It was a show of force. Police created the disorder they later claimed to suppress. This tactic is known. It is taught. It is deliberate.
And it is political.
“Minns owns this”
Chris Minns owns this operation from top to bottom. He cannot hide behind operational reviews or police statements. His own MPs were there. Chanting. Watching. Warning. They knew instantly this was wrong.
Minns wanted to prove he was in charge. He wanted to assert authority while hosting a foreign leader accused of mass atrocities. He chose force as his language.
A Premier who dines with a leader accused of genocide, who has signed the very bombs dropped on civilians, while his police break the arm of an 84-year-old woman, assault a woman with Parkinson’s disease, spray a seizing child in the face, and brutalise people at prayer has forfeited all moral authority to govern.
This was not a mistake.
“It was a tactic.“
Chris Minns may still occupy the office. “Thank you friends,” he told the pro-Israel crowd at the Convention Centre to a warm round of applause.
But tonight, in the streets of Sydney, while he clinked glasses with Isaac Herzog, he lost the right to lead this state.
And I watched it happen.
Herzog protests. Medics attacked too, lawyers question police violence
by Stephanie Tran and V Y Franco-Klothos | Feb 11, 2026 https://michaelwest.com.au/herzog-protests-medics-attacked-too-lawyers-question-police-violence/
Monday’s police actions against anti-genocide protestors in Sydney represent a significant escalation of unwarranted violence. Stephanie Tran and V Y Franco-Klothos report.
Editor’s note: An earlier version included unconfirmed claims that the police used tear gas (in addition to pepper spray, which was used).
NSW Police are on the defensive. Following the spate of attacks on pro-Palestine protestors on Monday night, and amid rising criticism of their brutality, the Police are refusing to answer questions as to the number of people arrested, the number charged, and the nature of the charges.
According to the ABC yesterday, 27 people were arrested and 9 have since been charged. That was yesterday. Today, they were not responding, apart from a motherhood statement unrelating to those arrested.
From the outset of the protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, police had set up clear lines around every exit from the Town Hall area to contain the protest within Town Hall Square.
“Police were seen giving contradictory instructions to protestors – both instructing them to disperse from the square and demanding that they stop attempting to leave the square.“
“Aerial video clearly shows NSW police kettling protesters and causing a crowd crush.
“Incontrovertible evidence of the police hemming in protesters, preventing them from leaving(kettling) and attacking them.”
“They started this from before the speeches had even ended. The police commissioner is proud of this. He needs to resign with Minns. pic.twitter.com/ERU7K3Tn9f“
— The Longford Slasher (@Longfordslasher) February 10, 2026
Aggressive police behaviour
Activist Larissa Payne was near a group of Muslim demonstrators who had begun evening prayers in a corner of Town Hall Square. Payne, her family members and other members of the public linked arms to form a barrier between the praying group and riot police.
“It was a deliberate expression of non-violence, it was an expression of love and solidarity,” Payne said.
Footage of the scene shows officers moving in and violently grabbing members of the prayer group.
Payne was restrained using a wrist hold and dragged down steps, leaving her with sprained wrists.
Payne’s 78-year-old father, Ian Payne was with her. When he put his arm out to protect her, police forced his arm behind his back, causing a deep wound to his elbow.
“When he instinctively put his arm out to protect me, they grabbed his arm and put it right up behind his back. They tore open his elbow so he had skin and blood hanging everywhere. It was just awful.”
Payne’s partner, former Senator Scott Ludlam, was knocked to the ground, leaving him with a possible fractured rib. He was handcuffed and arrested before being released.
Payne said a lack of accountability for the police brutality on Monday would lead to police impunity becoming “normalised”, telling MWM:
“If we don’t do something collectively to hold them to account, if the police get impunity, this violence is going to become normalised.“
“The police violence is a symptom of something larger. If you look at the global context, we’re moving towards more extreme right wing politics. The fact that this was done under the leadership of a Labor Premier speaks to how Labor is being dragged to the right,” Payne said.
Another protester, Ali Al-lami says he was pushed to the ground and called a “brown c*nt”. Police proceeded to punch Al-lami and handcuff him while pressing his head to the ground.
“It was like how an IDF soldier would put a Palestinian to the ground and brutalise them. That’s exactly what they did to me,” Al-lami said. He was arrested but subsequently released without charge.
“They released me without any charges because they know what they did was wrong. They didn’t have any legal basis to arrest me. I did nothing wrong, I wasn’t resisting, I didn’t attack anyone,” he said.
Jordan, who asked that his surname be withheld, was also injured during the police operation.
“I saw police knock someone next to me to the ground and punch them,” he said. “When I tried to help the victim on the ground, I was knocked down.”
He said officers removed his safety goggles, threw them aside and restrained him. “I was cuffed tightly and left with injuries on my face, hand and wrist,” he said.
He was charged with inciting violence, breaching the peace and resisting arrest.
“There’s photographic evidence that shows I didn’t resist arrest in any way,” Jordan said.
“I knew it was state-sanctioned violence but I was surprised at how openly and proudly they were all doing it. Many of the officers were literally grinning as they were hitting us – they were loving life.”
Medics under attack
Volunteer street medics, who operate independently of PAG, were in attendance on Monday evening and treated dozens of protestors who had been indiscriminately attacked with pepper spray.
Omaim Al-Baghdadi was one of the medics at the scene. She told MWM that police officers attacked and pepper-sprayed medics who were assisting injured protesters.
“We were in the middle of treating people. We told them we were medics, but it didn’t matter to them. They grabbed us and shoved us and told us to move on.”
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Monday’s police actions against anti-genocide protestors in Sydney represent a significant escalation of unwarranted violence. Stephanie Tran and V Y Franco-Klothos report.
Editor’s note: An earlier version included unconfirmed claims that the police used tear gas (in addition to pepper spray, which was used).
NSW Police are on the defensive. Following the spate of attacks on pro-Palestine protestors on Monday night, and amid rising criticism of their brutality, the Police are refusing to answer questions as to the number of people arrested, the number charged, and the nature of the charges.
According to the ABC yesterday, 27 people were arrested and 9 have since been charged. That was yesterday. Today, they were not responding, apart from a motherhood statement unrelating to those arrested.
From the outset of the protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, police had set up clear lines around every exit from the Town Hall area to contain the protest within Town Hall Square.
Police were seen giving contradictory instructions to protestors – both instructing them to disperse from the square and demanding that they stop attempting to leave the square.
Aerial video clearly shows NSW police kettling protesters and causing a crowd crush.
Incontrovertible evidence of the police hemming in protesters, preventing them from leaving(kettling) and attacking them.
They started this from before the speeches had even ended. The police commissioner is proud of this. He needs to resign with Minns. pic.twitter.com/ERU7K3Tn9f
— The Longford Slasher (@Longfordslasher) February 10, 2026
Aggressive police behaviour
Activist Larissa Payne was near a group of Muslim demonstrators who had begun evening prayers in a corner of Town Hall Square. Payne, her family members and other members of the public linked arms to form a barrier between the praying group and riot police.
“It was a deliberate expression of non-violence, it was an expression of love and solidarity,” Payne said.
Footage of the scene shows officers moving in and violently grabbing members of the prayer group.
Payne was restrained using a wrist hold and dragged down steps, leaving her with sprained wrists.
Ian Payne
Payne’s 78-year-old father, Ian Payne was with her. When he put his arm out to protect her, police forced his arm behind his back, causing a deep wound to his elbow.
“When he instinctively put his arm out to protect me, they grabbed his arm and put it right up behind his back. They tore open his elbow so he had skin and blood hanging everywhere. It was just awful.”
Larissa Payne
Payne’s partner, former Senator Scott Ludlam, was knocked to the ground, leaving him with a possible fractured rib. He was handcuffed and arrested before being released.
Payne said a lack of accountability for the police brutality on Monday would lead to police impunity becoming “normalised”, telling MWM:
If we don’t do something collectively to hold them to account, if the police get impunity, this violence is going to become normalised.
“The police violence is a symptom of something larger. If you look at the global context, we’re moving towards more extreme right wing politics. The fact that this was done under the leadership of a Labor Premier speaks to how Labor is being dragged to the right,” Payne said.
Another protester, Ali Al-lami says he was pushed to the ground and called a “brown c*nt”. Police proceeded to punch Al-lami and handcuff him while pressing his head to the ground.
“It was like how an IDF soldier would put a Palestinian to the ground and brutalise them. That’s exactly what they did to me,” Al-lami said. He was arrested but subsequently released without charge.
“They released me without any charges because they know what they did was wrong. They didn’t have any legal basis to arrest me. I did nothing wrong, I wasn’t resisting, I didn’t attack anyone,” he said.
Jordan, who asked that his surname be withheld, was also injured during the police operation.
“I saw police knock someone next to me to the ground and punch them,” he said. “When I tried to help the victim on the ground, I was knocked down.”
He said officers removed his safety goggles, threw them aside and restrained him. “I was cuffed tightly and left with injuries on my face, hand and wrist,” he said.
He was charged with inciting violence, breaching the peace and resisting arrest.
“There’s photographic evidence that shows I didn’t resist arrest in any way,” Jordan said.
“I knew it was state-sanctioned violence but I was surprised at how openly and proudly they were all doing it. Many of the officers were literally grinning as they were hitting us – they were loving life.”
Medics under attack
Volunteer street medics, who operate independently of PAG, were in attendance on Monday evening and treated dozens of protestors who had been indiscriminately attacked with pepper spray.
Omaim Al-Baghdadi was one of the medics at the scene. She told MWM that police officers attacked and pepper-sprayed medics who were assisting injured protesters.
“We were in the middle of treating people. We told them we were medics, but it didn’t matter to them. They grabbed us and shoved us and told us to move on.”
“Many families and elderly people were caught in the crowd as tear gas* was deployed by police.“
Another volunteer medic, who asked not to be named, was caught in the middle of the crowd as police simultaneously crushed, pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed* families.
“I saw a lot of horrible things at the protest, but what really stuck with me was the fear and panic I saw in the eyes of children and their parents as this was all unfolding. It was really distressing to me, even as someone who has personally witnessed and experienced a lot of police violence,” they said.
“We were being crushed in as the police kettled us, and then everyone around me began to cough violently. I think it took longer to hit me than others because I had an N95 mask and goggles on, but when it did eventually hit, it was awful. I felt like I was being choked and began to wretch and shake. It has been nearly 24 hours since the protest, and I still have ongoing nausea and wretching.”
Excessive police powers
In the wake of the Bondi attack in December 2025, NSW parliament rushed through the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, which gave police powers to effectively ban protests and other public assemblies for up to three months following a ‘declared terrorist incident’.
In addition to the rushed “anti-terror” legislation, the Minns Labor government made a “Major Event Declaration” to facilitate the Herzog visit. This legislation gives police additional powers, including the ability to significantly increase officer numbers, enact warrantless searches and block the public from a “declared area”.
On Monday afternoon, the NSW Supreme Court dismissed PAG’s challenge to the major event declaration, leaving the public vulnerable to these broad powers.
The major event declaration not only extended police powers further, but also gave them relative immunity for their brutality. Perhaps most concerningly, the Major event declaration diminishes the right for protestors to receive compensation for violence inflicted by the State.
Specifically, section 62 of the Major Events Act 2009 details the exemption from paying compensation. According to the legislation, the State, local Councils and officers, employees or agents of the State or local council cannot be compelled to provide compensation regarding “an act or omission that is a major event-related matter, or that arises (directly or indirectly) from a major event related-matter.”
Criminal lawyer and investigative journalist Nick Hanna noted that this could
“significantly limit the claims for protestors injured by police.“
“This is one of the egregious examples of wanton police violence we’ve seen in a long time. There are countless people who would ordinarily have a strong basis to sue the police for assault, unlawful arrest and/or false imprisonment, but may now effectively be precluded from doing so as a result of the major event declaration,” Hanna said.
Hanna represented Palestine Action Group in their Supreme Court challenge against the major event declaration.
“Had the Supreme Court granted our application on behalf of PAG to declare the major event declaration invalid, these restrictions on the ability to recover damages from the police for their tortious conduct wouldn’t apply,” he said.
If PAG successfully appeals the Supreme Court’s decision, protesters may have more legal avenues.
“If PAG appeals the decision and is successful, this may have the effect of lifting the restrictions on people suing the state for the violence inflicted by the police,” Hanna said.
NSW Police response
MWM put the following questions to NSW Police:
- How many people were arrested at the protest? Of those, how many have been released and how many have been charged, and with what offences?
- There are numerous reports that NSW Police used excessive violence in response to the protest, including video footage of police officers assaulting individuals who were on the ground in prayer. How does NSW Police respond to these allegations?
- Aerial footage appears to show police forming multiple lines and barriers along George Street and surrounding exits, which protesters say prevented them from leaving the area (a tactic often described as “kettling”). What was the operational rationale underpinning this policing decision?
A NSW Police spokesperson provided the response below:
“NSW Police will review all officially reported complaints from the Town Hall event. If a complaint is made through official channels police will investigate appropriately. During the event at Town Hall on Monday (9 February 2026), police gave multiple opportunities for attendees to leave the area safely. Police deployed multiple crowd management techniques during the event to maintain public security. Attendees were at no point forced to remain in the area and were always afforded the opportunity to leave the event.”
Our Leaders Couldn’t Fix Our Problems If They Wanted To (And They Don’t Want To)
Caitlin Johnstone, Feb 11, 2026, https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/our-leaders-couldnt-fix-our-problems?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=187582757&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Our leaders are not going to fix the worst problems in our world. They couldn’t if they wanted to. And they don’t want to.
Our leaders are not wise or insightful. They’re not even particularly intelligent. Our society is led by plutocrats who only know how to make more money, by unelected empire managers who only know how to dominate and control, and by elected politicians who only know how to say the right words and make the right bargains in order to get themselves elected.
These people are not capable of curing our civilization of its dysfunction. They don’t have the necessary skills or attributes. Even if they weren’t a bunch of evil sociopaths who are only in the positions they’re in because of their willingness to collaborate with the agendas of oligarchy, war, militarism, imperialism, ecocide, exploitation, oppression and planetary domination, they don’t even have the personal characteristics necessary to do things like end poverty, rescue our biosphere, bring about world peace or give rise to human thriving. They’d have no idea where to star
I say this because as I watch Americans and Australians falling all over themselves to justify the recent police brutality in our respective nations, I am struck by how many people still believe our society is run by leaders who more or less know what they are doing and will guide us to more or less where we need to be. They view their government as a wise and beneficent father who knows what’s best for all of us, and they believe anyone who disagrees with Daddy is being naughty.
That’s really all it is. They’ll make up all sorts of justifications and excuses, but ultimately their police apologia arises from an infantile worldview which believes the authorities are right for no other reason than because they are in authority. They begin with their tongue on the boot of power, and then they make up reasons for why their tongue needs to be there.
That’s the worldview that gets a lot of people through their day. Believing our society is basically just and decent, and that we don’t need to concern ourselves with the world’s problems because we’ve got highly qualified leaders working hard at fixing them.
Believing our society is just and decent allows one to relax under the assumption that they deserve all the comforts they have in life and that the system will never turn against them. If someone is killed by police, or is impoverished or imprisoned or homeless, then it’s because they did something wrong and immoral, and all you need to do to avoid the same fate is follow the rules and make ethical choices. Under a just and decent system, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, so all you need to do is be good and you’ll be fine, and if things are going badly for you it’s because you deserve it.
Believing we’ve got highly qualified leaders working on our world’s problems allows one to relax under the assumption that everything’s taken care of. There’s no need to concern ourselves with all the information which tells us we’re plunging deeper and deeper into tyrannical dystopia on a collision course with environmental catastrophe under a globe-spanning empire that is fueled by human blood, because Daddy’s got it all taken care of.
Really these are just juvenile fairy tales designed to help us psychologically compartmentalize away from uncomfortable realities; no grown adult has any business believing them. But a lot of people would do anything to avoid internal discomfort. Entire psychological universes are constructed around the unconscious agenda of not feeling unpleasant feelings.
Daddy’s not gonna save us, kiddos. Daddy’s a serial killer with dead bodies in the attic, and many important parts of his brain are missing. Our problems aren’t going to get fixed until we get rid of Daddy. Getting rid of Daddy means forcibly getting rid of the entire system under which we live and replacing it with something that serves the interests of ordinary human beings.
Bootlickers hate revolutionary politics, because it is diametrically opposed to their infantile worldview of paternalistic government deities. But things aren’t going to get better until we find a way to get the steering wheel of our world out of the hands of the people who are currently in charge. Until then, everything’s just going to keep getting worse.
The Siege Within: How Clarity Died in the Aftermath of Bondi
13 Feb 26, https://urbanwronski.com/2026/02/11/the-siege-within-how-clarity-died-in-the-aftermath-of-bondi/
The summer evening of December 14, 2025, began in the soft, amber glow of Hanukkah candles at Archer Park. It ended in the staccato rattle of rifle fire and the scent of sea spray mixed with shotgun powder. Fifteen lives were extinguished by Sajid and Naveed Akram; a night that exposed not only the fragility of security, but the deeper frailty of Australia’s political imagination.
In the wake of that horror, the Albanese and Minns governments promised resolve. What they delivered instead was the familiar choreography of risk-aversion: the committees, the taskforces, the talking-points, and finally, a version of the old dingo fence. What began as an act of collective grief has metastasised into a tinpot tyranny, a prison guard or police patrol’s vision of order.
From Public Grief to Private Fear
By February, that perimeter has hardened into a siege. Sydney’s once open streets have become the staging ground of a security politics that no one voted for. The images from Town Hall; men dragged from prayer mats, Greens MP Abigail Boyd coughing through pepper spray—belong to a country that has quietly rewritten its own story of tolerance. A pluralist democracy does not kneel beneath its police lines for long without losing something essential.
The truth is simpler and harder: we have allowed fear, dressed in the high-vis vest of “public order,” to set the terms of our morality, proscribe our speech, define the living sinews of our commonwealth.
The Invisible, Myopic Pragmatists
Who, then, is running this show? Increasingly it seems to be the invisible, myopic pragmatists; those faceless avatars of modern Labor who mistake managerial caution for moral intelligence. This is the small-target governance of realpolitik, the gutless risk-avoidance that flatters itself as prudence. Yet it turns out to be a type of costly false economy; in the refusal to confront or even name the deeper moral crises beneath Australian politics; it proves a costly wrong, right turn.
Labor still governs as if haunted by ghosts: of Murdoch’s tabloids, of Trump’s shadow, of talkback nationalism. So fearful of offending the pro-Israel lobby or a resurgent Washington, they have allowed Australia’s political stage to be colonised by a foreign narrative. It is one thing to host Isaac Herzog on a “healing tour.” It is another to pretend that such theatre constitutes diplomacy while Gaza still smoulders and UN inquiries speak of mass dispossession.
Under the banner of “social cohesion,” the government has transformed mourning into a managed event and dissent into security risk.
The Ritual of Control
January’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act is the latest iteration of this logic; a law that inflates “incitement” until speech itself becomes suspect. Under the euphemism of protection, dissent becomes pathology. This is governance as theatre: motion without moral movement, legislative vigour masking ethical paralysis.
Paul Keating warned of the “instant band-aid”—politics mistaking activity for achievement. The current government has perfected the art. It calls Parliament to ban protest chants overnight, but remains paralysed before the “recreational hunting” loopholes that armed the Akrams. You can now go to prison for carrying a certain flag, but not for stockpiling a .308 rifle under the name of sport.
The Day of Kettling
And so came February 9, the day that Albanese and Minns kettled not only citizens, but independence of mind itself. In those 24 hours, freedom of expression was pinned beneath riot shields, freedom of association shoved into police vans, and the rights of conscience, democracy, and common decency were trampled into the wet asphalt of George Street.
Australia has always prided itself on a kind of decent moderation; the belief that even in our disputes, there existed a shared moral floor. What unfolded yesterday suggests that floor has given way. The government’s instinctive use of force against non-violence didn’t merely reveal insecurity—it revealed contempt. For protest, for plurality, and for the ordinary intelligence of the public.
History will not remember this as a day of security. It will remember it as a day of surrender; the moment when a Labor government, raised on the language of solidarity, chose the comfort of coercion over the courage of care.
The Moral Reckoning
We are witnessing the normalisation of the riot shield as a symbol of civic order, a transformation as swift as it is insidious. When a government greets a vigil with chemicals and batons, it is not protecting its people. It is protecting itself.
True cohesion is never policed; it is nurtured. It grows when governments address inequality rather than manage optics, when they embrace dissent as a sign of health, not heresy. It exists in the old Australian compact between decency and fairness; an agreement far older than Parliament and infinitely more fragile.
Labor, if it still remembers, must left heel; breaking from the intellectual, moral and spiritual shipwreck of the Shoppies bloc and return to its real heritage: the workers and communities who built a nation out of solidarity, common care, and the stubborn conviction that a free people stand tallest when they stand together.
Until then, we remain a country barricaded from itself.
In Australia The Police Beat You Up For Opposing Genocide.
Caitlin Johnstone, Feb 10, 2026, https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/in-australia-the-police-beat-you?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=187467234&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Australian authorities were fully aware that inviting Israel’s president for a visit was going to ignite unrest and furious opposition. They invited him anyway, and sent in the police to assault the protesters.
I saw a video of two cops pinning a kid in a keffiyeh face down on the ground and proceeding to punch him over and over again long after he’d been subdued.
I saw another video of police repeatedly punching a middle-aged man who was holding his hands in the air until he fell to the ground.
I saw another video of police repeatedly pepper spraying a demonstrator directly in the face as he was visibly complying with their demands to move and providing no resistance whatsoever.
I saw another video of police manhandling Muslim men who were literally on their knees praying, presenting no possible threat of any kind.
That’s right kids, welcome to Australia, where the government invites the head of a genocidal apartheid state for a happy cuddle party and then beats the shit out of anyone who opposes this.
It’s a testament to the courage and vitality of the pro-Palestine movement in Australia that people keep showing up to anti-genocide protests even as authorities do everything they can to create a chilling effect on them.
After all, this happens as the state of Queensland moves to make it illegal to utter the pro-Palestine phrases “from the river to the sea” or “globalise the intifada”, with violations punishable by two years in prison. This is easily the single most bat shit insane speech suppression legislation in Australian history, and that’s an extremely high bar.
To be clear, not one person sincerely believes that “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a genocidal or antisemitic statement. This is one of those many, many instances in which Israel supporters are pretending to believe something they do not actually believe in order to further outlaw criticism of Israel.
They’re trying to make it so that nobody feels comfortable opposing Israel’s abuses without first consulting with a lawyer about what exactly they are legally permitted to say in that moment, thereby throwing a chilling effect on pro-Palestine activism throughout the nation.
This comes weeks after the Australian government passed frightening new “hate speech” laws in the name of “combatting antisemitism” which will make it much easier to designate activist groups as “hate groups”. Australian officials have conspicuously refused to say that the new laws will not be used to ban groups for speech that is critical of Israel, which tells you all you need to know about the real intentions at work here.
This also comes as the state of New South Wales cracks down on protests with extreme aggression, banning protests in certain areas and seeking to outlaw the use of the phrase “globalise the intifada” to appease Australia’s obscenely powerful Israel lobby. Premier Chris Minns is presently defending the actions of the police he sent in to crack skulls at the Herzog protests on Monday.
Just two months ago a prominent member of the Australian Israel lobby publicly announced that he wants a total ban on pro-Palestine protests throughout the nation, and said it is criticism of Israel that is the problem, not just hatred toward Jews. Joel Burnie, Executive Manager of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), explicitly said that what he wants is “No more protests! No more protests!” in Australia.
“I for one as a Jewish leader will no long talk about antisemitism in isolation from Israel, because it’s the rhetoric and language on Israel that motivates the people to come and kill us,” Burnie said during a video conference, later adding that “ language on Israel invading all of our social spaces in Australia have made this country a very unsafe space and place for Jews.”
Increment by increment, Joel Burnie and his ilk have been getting their wish ever since. Australian civil rights are indeed being disintegrated to protect the information interests of a genocidal apartheid state.
Sheikh who led prayer at Sydney protest against Herzog says police were ‘unhinged and aggressive’
Ben Doherty and Jordyn Beazley, 10 Feb 26, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/10/sheikh-who-led-prayer-at-sydney-protest-against-herzog-says-police-were-unhinged-and-aggressive-ntwnfb
Any officers who acted unlawfully should face prosecution for actions, Muslim groups say
New South Wales police who grabbed men kneeling in prayer during a protest in Sydney against Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit should face prosecution, a coalition of Muslim organisations has said.
The joint statement demanded an apology from the state premier and called for the resignation of the NSW police commissioner after the incident on Monday night, with the man leading the prayer calling the police response “unhinged” and “aggressive”.
Video shot at a protest in Sydney on Monday night showed about a dozen men, led by Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, kneeling in prayer in two straight lines in the forecourt of Sydney Town Hall. The men did not appear to be blocking a road or marching, which is effectively banned in designated areas under a NSW law passed after the Bondi antisemitic terror attack.
New South Wales police who grabbed men kneeling in prayer during a protest in Sydney against Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit should face prosecution, a coalition of Muslim organisations has said.
The joint statement demanded an apology from the state premier and called for the resignation of the NSW police commissioner after the incident on Monday night, with the man leading the prayer calling the police response “unhinged” and “aggressive”.
Video shot at a protest in Sydney on Monday night showed about a dozen men, led by Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, kneeling in prayer in two straight lines in the forecourt of Sydney Town Hall. The men did not appear to be blocking a road or marching, which is effectively banned in designated areas under a NSW law passed after the Bondi antisemitic terror attack.
Video showed that, as the men prayed, police officers descended on the group, grabbing those at the edge of the prayer group and dragging them along the ground.
The men in prayer did not respond and continued to pray. Other protesters yelled at police “Leave them” and “They’re fucking praying”.
Charkawi said police had used violence at an otherwise peaceful protest.
“[Police were] so unhinged, so aggressive and so violent and had zero regard for anyone and anything in their way, even peaceful worshippers who were not in anyone’s way.”
Charkawi said he and his fellow worshippers were about 15 minutes behind schedule to hold sunset prayer towards the end of the demonstration.
He said as he prayed, “we could obviously hear a big ruckus behind us. And I saw people … being flung off on my right, flung off on my left.”
In the footage, Charkawi can be seen continuing to kneel in prayer.
“When you’re in prayer, you’re not allowed to break it for any reason. There’s got to be a catastrophe, or some type of emergency that is happening, for us to do that,” he said.
As he was pulled by police, he said he felt like his shoulder was nearly ripped out of its socket.
“We weren’t disobeying any police commands. We were simply making our prayers and we had our back turned,” he said. “What an unacceptable thing that they have done.”
Charkawi, a support officer at Granville Boys high school, was last year ordered to work from home after posting a video in response to the Bankstown hospital nurses footage, in which he criticised “selective outrage”.
In his video, Charkawi said the nurses’ comments were “never meant to be literal or intended to be a threat to patient care” and criticised people who had spoken out about them but remained silent on Israel’s actions.
The NSW Greens MLC Abigail Boyd said she was punched in the head and shoulder by police officers, and then saw Muslim men who were on their knees praying being dragged away by police.
“[Police] then went in and grabbed those who were praying – you can’t get anything more peaceful than prayer – picking them up and just throwing them on the ground again.
“People were just treated so incredibly poorly. That is not social cohesion. This was a peaceful protest, standing for people who were protesting a genocide on the other side of the world, but had made it explicit that we were inclusive of Jewish people. We are against antisemitism.”
Muslim groups urge police to apologise
At least 38 Muslim and legal organisations across Australia have demanded the resignation of the NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, with the group saying his “leadership bears responsibility for a policing culture in which such conduct was permitted to occur”. Lanyon has spent nearly 40 years in the NSW police force and has been commissioner for five months.
The group said the NSW premier, Chris Minns, should apologise for the police “abuse of power”.
The coalition of Muslim organisations said the use of force against worshippers during a lawful and peaceful protest was unacceptable.
“Police officers knowingly intervened in a moment of religious observance, forcibly interrupted prayer and used physical force against individuals who posed no threat to public safety. Some worshippers were dragged away and thrown to the ground,” the group said in a statement.
“This was an abuse of power and a serious failure of judgment.”
The group argued no other faith community would be expected to accept sacred practices being forcibly disrupted by police.
“Muslims should not be held to a different standard, nor should our religious expression be treated as a problem to be managed or suppressed,” the statement said.
The group called for an independent inquiry into the incident, and accountability – including potentially criminal charges – for individual officers found to have acted unlawfully.
The Australian National Imams Council said it was outraged by the police’s “heavy-handed” and unprovoked physicality.
“Police are entrusted to protect the community, uphold public safety and de-escalate tensions, not to interfere with religious worship or inflame an already sensitive situation.”
Lanyon defended his officers’ actions, saying they showed “remarkable restraint”.
“Speakers were inciting the crowd to march. We had made it clear throughout the week [that a] march through the CBD was not acceptable.
“We wanted a respectful and responsible protest. That’s not what we got last night. Our police took action to disperse that protest.”
Minns said while he understood there had been criticisms of the police, officers needed to keep protesters separated from more than 7,000 people who were at an event with Herzog at Darling Harbour, mourning the Bondi beach attacks.
Police “were caught in an impossible situation,” the premier said.
“They did their job by keeping those groups separate, and we want to thank them for their service to the people of NSW.”
Minns insisted police had a “strong and cooperative relationship” with Sydney’s Muslim community.
“I want to make it clear there is no suggestion, under any circumstances, that police would have wanted to prevent people praying or get in the way of people lawfully exercising their religion.
“But context is important here, and the circumstances facing NSW police was incredibly difficult. It was, in effect, in the middle of a riot. Police have to make critical early decisions in those circumstances. It wasn’t designed to pick on or target a particular community.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, raised the issue of police action against praying protesters in parliament, saying he would “allow police to do their job” in investigating. He said many in Australia “will want to know all of the circumstances around that”.
The Opportunity Cost of Permanent War: How Australia is Bankrupting Its Future
Australian Independent Media ,7 February 2026 Dr Andrew Klein, PhD
This article quantifies the true cost of Australia’s strategic and political choices: the opportunity cost of permanent war and security theatre. By tracing capital flows away from societal foundations (housing, health, education, infrastructure) and towards militarisation, surveillance, and a dysfunctional mental health system, we demonstrate a generational wealth transfer. This transfer benefits a nexus of political elites, defence contractors, and foreign interests while actively dismantling Australian sovereignty and quality of life. Using government data, academic research, and public financial records, I argue that Australia’s political class is presiding over the deliberate, observable failure of the nation-state project.
The Great Diversion: From Foundations to Fortresses
The central economic fact of 21st-century Australia is not a lack of wealth, but its malignant allocation. Every dollar spent on fruitless foreign wars or domestic surveillance is a dollar stolen from the future.
1. The Military-Industrial Drain
Australia’s direct expenditure on post-9/11 conflicts (Afghanistan, Iraq) exceeds A$50 billion (DFAT, Cost of War summaries; Watson Institute). The commitment is accelerating. The AUKUS pact, centred on acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, is estimated to cost between A$268-368 billion over three decades (Australian Parliamentary Budget Office, 2023). This single project’s opportunity cost is staggering: it equals nearly the entire annual federal budget for education, health, and social security for multiple years.
2. The Security Theatre & Surveillance State
The annual budget for the national security apparatus (ASIO, AFP, Border Force, cyber) now exceeds A$7 billion (Home Affairs Portfolio Budget Statements). This funds a vast surveillance architecture, including the costly and rights-infringing metadata retention scheme, which has shown negligible public safety ROI (Law Council of Australia, Review of Data Retention Regime). This expenditure creates not safety, but a climate of fear and control, while starving cybersecurity and critical infrastructure hardening of funds…………………………………………………………
Sovereignty Sold: Membership in Five Eyes and subservience to US foreign policy – particularly the provocative stance toward China, Australia’s largest trading partner – has sacrificed independent statecraft for vassalage. This has resulted in tangible economic damage from trade disruptions (Australian National University, The Economic Impact of Australia-China Tensions).
Foreign Influence: The influence of the State of Israel on Australian policy is a case study in captured sovereignty. From bipartisan support during the Gaza genocide to the stifling of criticism via weaponised accusations of antisemitism, Australian policy is demonstrably aligned with a foreign nation’s interests over its own moral and legal obligations (see The Australia Israel Cultural Exchange and parliamentary voting records).
The Think-Tank & Lobbyist Pipeline: Policy is increasingly crafted by opaque think-tanks (e.g., Australian Strategic Policy Institute – heavily defence contractor-funded) and enforced by lobbyists. The fossil fuel, gambling, and defence sectors wield disproportionate influence, writing legislation that privatises profit and socialises risk (Centre for Public Integrity, Lobbying in Australia).
The Political Cartel: A Duopoly of Failure
Both major parties are complicit in this wealth transfer.
The Albanese Labor Government: Has betrayed its base by escalating military spending, deepening AUKUS, maintaining cruel refugee policies, and failing to address the housing/ cost-of-living crisis it decried in opposition. Its commitment to stage-three tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, is the final proof of its allegiance to capital over citizens (Parliamentary Budget Office analysis).
The Liberal-National Coalition: Under leaders like Sussan Ley and influenced by the hard-right, it advocates for even deeper militarisation, climate inaction, and further erosion of social services. Its role is to drag the Overton window further toward oligarchy……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… https://theaimn.net/the-opportunity-cost-of-permanent-war-how-australia-is-bankrupting-its-future/#google_vignette
Precarious Invitations: Israel’s President Isaac Herzog’s Visit to Australia
4 February 2026 Dr Binoy Kampmark AIM Extra, https://theaimn.net/precarious-invitations-israels-president-isaac-herzogs-visit-to-australia/
Things are getting rather ropey on the invitation of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia on February 8. It came amidst the anguish following the Bondi Beach attacks of December 14, 2025 on attendees of a Hanukkah event by two gunmen, leaving 15 dead. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese obviously thought it a sensible measure at the time. For months, his government has been snarled at by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for providing succour to antisemitism. The wretched thesis: that Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian State at September’s UN General Assembly meeting somehow stirred it.
Albanese had thought dealing with the gargoyle of antisemitism and engendering good will could be achieved by inviting Herzog. “We need to build social cohesion in this country,” he insists. The Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) also thought the invitation sound, sending “a powerful message of solidarity and support… following the tragic events at Bondi and the surge of antisemitism across the country.”These claims of fluffy approval ignore the serious and blindingly obvious prospect that legal grounds might arise regarding Herzog’s visit, not to mention the public protest and agitation it will cause. Australia, being a party both to the UN Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute which establishes the International Criminal Court, must always be wary about the injunctions of membership. A determined opposition, armed with legal arguments and indignation, has shown itself keen on foiling the visit.
On January 30, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), the Jewish Council of Australia, and the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), announced that a joint legal complaint to have Herzog arrested or barred from entering Australia had been sent to the Australian Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). As Netanyahu would be unlikely to visit Australia without discomfort, given an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the complaint asserted that as “the Prime Minister of Israel is not permitted to visit Australia, the President should not be allowed to act as his surrogate.”
The complaint implores the Australian authorities to do any of three things: refuse or cancel any visa held by Herzog under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), which covers character and public interest grounds; refer him to the AFP for investigation under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 (Cth) and Australian hate crime legislation; and ensure Australia’s compliance with international obligations to investigate and prosecute who enter the country who are reasonably suspected of committing serious international crimes.
In their body of evidence, the group cites the President’s “Entire Nation” declaration of October 2023 claiming that no civilians in Gaza were “uninvolved” in that month’s attack on Israel by Hamas; the grotesque denials of famine in August 2025, suggesting that images of chronic starvation featuring Palestinian children had been “staged”; and the broader endorsement of military operations entailing the commission of war crimes. Reference in the complaint is made to a December 2023 visit by Herzog to the Nahal Oz military base where he provided encouragement to troops two days before their “wanton destruction” and “flattening” of the town of Khuza’a in Khan Yunis.
The complaint also rejects any application of Head of State immunity, citing the Nuremberg Principles and international law as removing that shield when it comes to the commission of such grave offences as genocide and war crimes.
The complaint is certainly accurate in drawing attention to Herzog’s incitements to collectively punish an apparently complicit populace in Gaza. South Africa’s filing of proceedings against Israel in the International Court of Justice alleging acts of genocide in Gaza cites his remarks from October 12, 2023: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true… and we will fight until we break their backbone.” The submission also notes a social media post by Herzog showing him addressing reservists and writing messages on bombs destined to be used on Palestinians.
The September 2025 analysis by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, which found Israel’s conduct in Gaza after October 7, 2023 to be genocidal in nature, also references Herzog’s October 12, 2023 remark, further adding those words of blame that Gazans “could have risen up.” In the Commission’s view, the President had damned Palestinians to equal responsibility for the attacks on Israel on October 7 that year. Such a statement, along with those of similar kidney made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, constituted “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” under the Genocide Convention.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has also been reminded in a submission by the Australian Centre for International Justice, along with two Palestinian non-government human rights organisations, the West Bank-based Al-Haq and the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, that Australia has obligations to investigate “credible allegations of serious international crimes” and has domestic laws permitting “the initiation of an investigation” into their commission. Even if immunity was enlivened for the Israeli President, it would not prevent the AFP “from undertaking preliminary investigative steps, including seeking a voluntary interview with Herzog upon his arrival to Australia.”
The AFP states that Division 268 of the Criminal Code Act grants the Commonwealth “jurisdiction to investigate core international crimes that occur offshore. However, it is not usually practical for the AFP to do so.” With something of a shrug, the AFP would rather that the country where such alleged offences had taken place pursue the matter. (What a rosy convenience that would be.) Investigating such crimes would also pose problems, among them evidentiary matters regarding location, identifying and locating witnesses, the occurrence of crimes in an ongoing conflict, the unwillingness of foreign governments to assist.
Australian lawmakers have also shown themselves reluctant to block the visit. The waters were tested in an attempt by the Greens Senator David Shoebridge on February 3 to suspend standing orders to move a motion seeking the government’s rescinding of Herzog’s invitation. “When someone is accused by the United Nations of inciting genocide, you don’t invite them for tea, you don’t give them a platform, and you certainly don’t welcome them as a guest of honour.”
His effort was thwarted by a large Senate majority. At this point, Herzog’s five-day visit, with all its combustible precariousness and legal freight, is scheduled to take place. A citizen’s arrest might be in order.
‘From day one, an absolute pleasure’: Nuclear science expert receives Australia Day honour
26 January 2026
Sky News host Chris Kenny sits down with former ANSTO CEO Dr Adi Paterson to go over how the Australia Day honours and how he was honoured for his work in nuclear technology. ………………………………………………………………………………. https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/chris-kenny/from-day-one-an-absolute-pleasure-nuclear-science-expert-receives-australia-day-honour/video/2a31513901d504547fb3d25ee0ad7af9
Falling Upwards: Labor’s Quiet Reward for Failure
25 January 2026 David Tyler, Australian Independent Media
Greg Moriarty’s plum job posting sends a clear message about how Canberra looks after its own.
Washington isn’t a demotion; it’s the prize. Greg Moriarty’s nomination as Australia’s next ambassador to the US isn’t the act of a government cleaning house; it’s the system congratulating itself on resilience. In Canberra, failure rarely disqualifies. It just moves you sideways until the heat cools, or upward, if the optics align.
In a bureaucracy obsessed with process, protection is paramount; the process to protect: protect the insiders first, accountability second; if accountability, (in Canberra, always a slow train coming), arrives at all.
The Canberra reflex
No-one is fussed about Moriarty’s credentials. He is eminently qualified; the boffin’s boffin. He was Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia (2010–2014) and Ambassador to Iran (2005–2008), giving him “on-the-ground” experience with political Islam, even if Mossad and CIA hit squads mean his speed-dial will need updating.
Moriarty spent his first decade (1986–1995) as a regional analyst in the Defence Intelligence Organisation. DIO. This is the agency responsible for providing intelligence to the Australian Defence Force.
During the first Gulf War, as the 1991 United States’ oil war with Saddam Hussein has become known, Moriarty served as a uniformed Captain in Saudi Arabia, providing intelligence briefings directly to General Norman Schwarzkopf at US Central Command. The “liberation of Kuwait” was a hollow slogan used to mask a war fought to ensure the US remained the sole “policeman” of the world’s energy supply.
Clandestine Diplomacy? Also Greg’s bag. He was Australia’s Ambassador to Iran (2005–2008) at a time when the US had no diplomatic presence there. He was one of the few Westerners with a deep, “inside” view of Tehran, eventually briefing President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, a rare gig, for an Australian diplomat.
Counter-Terrorism Coordinator? If the cap fits. Moriarty was the inaugural “czar” of Australia’s counter-terrorism efforts, whose brief was to bridge the gap between ASIO (domestic spies) and ASIS (foreign spies).
But there’s more. Not only is he a veteran of very complex and challenging foreign postings, but Moriarty served as the International and National Security Adviser and Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Malcolm (Fizza) Turnbull, an all-leather jacket-no-naff-elbow-patches-man. A man of means, Turnbull’s million dollar punt on his own campaign makes him easily the best self-saucing pudding to get into The Lodge.
As a former PM, Turnbull’s become a fearless critic of the Liberal Party, now that he’s free to focus on its internecine wars, its dud policy and its hapless leader, from time to time, as minding his stock portfolio allows. But he’s always put in a good word for Greg. Turnbull often highlights Moriarty’s history with the U.S. (specifically his service with U.S. Central Command). This background helps explain why Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has just appointed Moriarty to succeed Kevin Rudd as Ambassador to the United States.
Turnbull’s trust in Moriarty helped pave the way for Greg to become one of the architects of AUKUS and the primary point of contact for the Trump circus. Scott Morrison may quibble but, success has many fathers.
Above all, Moriarty was the key figure responsible for coordinating Australia’s counter-terrorism arrangements in 2015. He is a primary architect of the controversial strategy that views groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir, as “ideological threats” to national security, even if they fall short of the violence threshold.
So it isn’t about experience or qualifications. It’s about reflex. Canberra’s muscle memory. When faced with scandal or exposure, Canberra’s instinct is to pull the shutters down, shield its own; tidy paperwork later.
Consider Kathryn Campbell. During Senate estimates, Jacqui Lambie pressed Moriarty about his role in placing Campbell; already publicly associated with the Robodebt debacle, in a senior AUKUS‑related Defence post reportedly worth close to $1 million. It wasn’t a technical error; it was a deliberate continuity move.
As Moriarty told estimates, on 14 June 2022 PM&C Secretary Glyn Davis called to see whether there might be a new role for Campbell, who was likely to be moved from DFAT. Moriarty said yes; a spot was waiting in Defence’s nuclear submarine taskforce.
He later argued the appointment pre‑dated the Royal Commission, but that defence misses the point. By mid‑2022, Robodebt’s unlawfulness was already public, and Labor had pledged a Royal Commission in its campaign. To claim no one foresaw reputational risk is bureaucratic fantasy.
When the Commission handed down its findings on 7 July 2023, its condemnation of Campbell was withering. She was suspended without pay three days later and later resigned……………………………………………………………………………..
The politics of timing
And then, there’s the timing.
Moriarty’s appointment, like so many immaculate Canberra announcements, coincides with turbulence elsewhere, this time, the government’s controversial Hate Speech bill. The bill risks criminalising intent: targeting individuals or groups perceived as being about to breach the law, rather than those who actually do.
For activist networks and civil‑liberties advocates, this language turns dissent into pre‑crime; policing inclination rather than action. It marks a profound step away from Labor’s democratic heritage, recasting expression and dissent as potential threats……………………………….
Accountability, inverted
Canberra will insist that promoting Moriarty is pragmatism: the steady hand, the safe pair. But Australians watching from below see something else; a governing circle where the guilty always escape justice.
Accountability in Canberra remains a one‑way mirror: the public gets watched; the powerful get reassigned.
If Labor truly wants to rebuild faith in government, it must break its habit of rewarding failure and punishing conscience. Responsibility must cost something again. Until then, power will keep protecting itself; and the “fair go” will remain a slogan embalmed in Labor’s history, rather than a principle alive in its governance.
Two Canberras
This isn’t just a job swap; it’s a parable of the Two Canberras.
In one Canberra, the “Safe Pair of Hands” is rewarded for a career spent managing the optics of illegal wars, secret submarine deals, and the protection of disgraced colleagues. In this Canberra, accountability is a one-way mirror: the public is watched, but the powerful are merely reassigned.
In the other Canberra, those who actually serve the public interest – the Witness Ks, the David McBrides, and the Bernard Collaerys – are crushed. Their “fidelity” earned them prosecution, not a promotion. Their “integrity” earned them a criminal record, not a diplomatic passport.
Moriarty’s flight to Washington reveals the grim reality of modern Labor governance. By rewarding the managers of wrongdoing while punishing the whistleblowers who expose it, the “Fair Go” has been embalmed and put on display as a museum piece. In today’s Canberra, the stream does not rise higher than its source; and the source is a closed loop where power exists only to protect itself.
Responsibility has no cost for the inner circle; it is a tax paid only by the principled. Moriarity’s pragmatic promotion demotes, depletes and pointedly disregards the notion of Australia as the land of the fair go. https://theaimn.net/falling-upwards-labors-quiet-reward-for-failure/
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