Ganesh Sahathevan

Comment  Australia's Attorney General George Brandis, formerly in charge of internal spy agency ASIO, gives a speech that is not believable for the sympathy it expresses for " young gay people". Mr Brandis is not known to be a compassionate man, which makes his obviously  "passionate same-sex marriage speech" curious. Having said that , the change in laws recognising same sex marriage will allow young boys of 16 and over to get married to get married to boys and men. END  END  'How you love is how God made you': Brandis delivers passionate same-sex marriage speech “There is nothing wrong with you. You are not unusual. You are not abnormal. You are just you. There is nothing to be embarrassed about,” Attorney-General George Brandis said as the Senate debated the same-sex marriage bill. By Louise Cheer 7 HOURS AGO    UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO Attorney-General George Brandis has hailed progress on legalising same-sex marriage as a shining moment in Australian his

by Ganesh Sahathevan  George Brandis, Australia's next High Commissioner to the UK, comes  with baggage that leaves him open to blackmail, "moral suasion", and a  range of other coercive methods Readers are invited to compare  Dean   Smith 's story of how he changed his  strongly  held views on marriage as an institution between a man and a woman . His conversion does not seem remotely credible, and we have the spectacle of  George  Brandis 's now obvious, central role campaigning for the YES vote.  Brandis  SC seems happy to forget that he is the Attorney General, and ought to play a neutral role in the matter. Obviously, SSM is a matter close to heart for Brandis more than   Dean   Smith ,who not so long ago declared: "I believe in God. I believe in the biblical story of the crucifixion and the resurrection. I pray. I reject the suggestion of marriage equality. The claim to equality ignores the widely accepted fact that marriage is an institution that has a

by Ganesh Sahathevan The New Arab/Al-Araby has reported:  A  Saudi-led coalition  blockading Qatar added 11 more individuals and two other entities including a prominent group of Islamic scholars to their "terrorist" blacklists of the Gulf state.Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt began a  blockade on Qatar  in June, accusing it of supporting "extremism" and being too close to Iran - charges Doha has denied. A statement issued by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain said they had blacklisted the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) and the International Islamic Council (IIC). The IUMS was formed in 2004 mostly by clerics belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and is chaired by the influential Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi. The IUMS has strong links in Australia.The Grand Mufti Of Australia Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamad is a well known member who has not been shy of his IUMS membership and friendship with Qarad

by Ganesh Sahathevan The following Liberal MPs worked  with Get Up! to pursue a public campaign of mutual interest. Lukas Coch / AAPIMAGE Trent Zimmerman is known as a "faceless man" of the Liberal Party, serving in senior roles in the NSW Liberal Party for decades, including a recent stint as president of the party. Victorian Liberal Party division president Michael Kroger — who is non-factional with wide support from conservatives and several key moderates — told The Australian the organisational wing of the party was ­furious, following revelations backbench MPs Tim Wilson and Trent Zimmerman had met GetUp! over the same-sex marriage vote. This may have been a perfectly acceptable political move, but it did expose them to the matter of Get Up!'s sources of funding. Get Up! has not been prepared to disclose its sources of funding ,and may well be in breach of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules, Zimmerman and Wilson exposed themselves by being

by Ganesh Sahathevan While "marriage equality" will soon be law in Australia the campaign that has led up to it provides lessons in voter manipulation that can be used by anyone, to pursue anything , with or without a plebiscite. These methods used are not new, and governments in this region (not necessarily China, which is not very good at it) have used them for close a 100 years, perfecting what was learnt from especially the Brits.  Subsequently, it is only logical that "marriage equality" can be dismantled at some point of time in the future. All it takes is a bit of money ( and the cost keeps coming down everyday), enforcement (legal and unconventional ,see Roz Ward) and public campaigns. Tony Jones Q&A provides a good example of how a public campaign can be run ,and anyone interested in this experiment ought to view that performance on Q&A by the actor Magda  Szubanski.  END  References Episode 37   – 23/10/2017 23 October 2017 Panellists : Magda Szuba