A fundraising campaign in Australia has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop Aboriginal women from being imprisoned because of unpaid fines.
Campaigners say the "unjust" law in Western Australia is having a crippling impact on families living in poverty. It affects a hugely disproportionate number of indigenous Australians.
The BBC met some women in Perth who have been jailed or fear imprisonment.
A fundraising campaign in Australia has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop Aboriginal women from being imprisoned because of unpaid fines.
Campaigners say the "unjust" law in Western Australia is having a crippling impact on families living in poverty. It affects a hugely disproportionate number of indigenous Australians.
The BBC met some women in Perth who have been jailed or fear imprisonment.
A GUNMAN has opened fire on multiple people – killing one and injuring three others – outside a nightclub in Australia.
The shooting happened outside the Love Machine nightclub in Prahran, at around 3.20am local time (6.20pm GMT).
Officers confirmed four people were rushed – three of whom worked at the club and one reveller – to hospital.
A 28-year-old man and another man whose age was not immediately available were said to be in a critical condition.
It was not said which of the men had been killed, although he was a security guard.
SHOOTING: At least four people were wounded in the shooting (Pic: FACEBOOK/ RAJA SHAKER)
GETAWAY: The gunman reportedly fled in a car (Pic: TWITTER/ AHRON YOUNG)Related Articles
Officials also confirmed a 50-year-old man and a 29-year-old man wounded in the shooting.
They are said to have non-life-threatening injuries.
Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper of Victoria Police said: "Now, sadly, one of those persons has since passed away. One remains in a critical life-threatening condition.
"Now, I want to reassure the community first of all that the crime is actively being investigated at the moment and no stone will be left unturned."
MELBOURNE: Love Machine is located in the city's Prahran district (Pic: GOOGLE MAPS)Related Articles
LOVE MACHINE: The shooting happened at the Melbourne nightclub (Pic: GOOGLE MAPS )
“The exact circumstances are still being established”
Victoria Police spokesman
According to reports, the gunman was using a stolen Porsche.
A witness on social media said they are “in shock” after seeing a shooting “right in front of us...while we were standing across the road”.
“Please if anyone is out at clubs please go home now. We are all in shock but we are all okay.”
Malvern Road was closed in both directions between Chapel Street and Surrey Road.
ADELAIDE, Australia — Growing up as a member of the Uighur ethnic group in China’s far west, Farhad Habibullah never felt that his people were oppressed by the state. He came from a family of Communist Party loyalists, part of an elite segment of Uighur society celebrated by the party as model minority members.
But now he has joined other Uighurs in doing what was once, to him, unthinkable — and unthinkably dangerous, even in his new home in Australia: calling for an independent Uighur nation.
“My parents worked for the Chinese Communist Party all their lives, and look at what has happened to them,” Mr. Habibullah said. They and several other relatives, he said, are among as many as one million Uighurs and other Muslims held in indoctrination camps in China.
“You could say I grew up under the red Chinese flag,” he said. “But now I think we have to fight for independence.”
About 3,000 Uighurs have found sanctuary in Australia. But as some of them draw attention to China’s camps, they are putting their adopted homeland in an awkward position, pressing it to speak out against its largest trading partner.
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Farhad Habibullah, a Uighur who moved to Adelaide last year, says his parents were detained in China despite being loyal Communist Party members.CreditChristina Simons for The New York Times
More than a dozen Uighurs who are Australian permanent residents are missing in China and presumed to be in detention, activists say. Former detainees say China’s camps are meant to root out devotion to Islam and replace it with loyalty to the state. Uighurs have lobbied Parliament to act, circulating petitions and holding regular protests, chanting: “China, out! Out, out, out!”
Some Uighurs say that while they feel welcome here, they also fear that Islamophobia is on the rise. They say some people at rallies have said their people were terrorists who deserved to be in camps.
Some Uighurs also say they have been harassed by the Chinese authorities even while living in Australia. And they feel powerless over the fate of relatives back home, some of whom they have not heard from in years.
Mr. Habibullah finds support at gatherings like the one held in an Adelaide dinner hall on a recent Monday, attended by about 300 Uighurs, many in traditional dress. The flag of their hoped-for republic, East Turkestan, was on display, and the aroma of Uighur dishes like lamb pilaf and walnut cake filled the room.
As she held her 6-month-old baby, Zulihumaer Aibibula, 32, showed several pictures of relatives who were missing in China’s far western region of Xinjiang, including her 35-year-old brother. For families abroad, who are not notified when a member disappears into one of China’s secretive camps, prolonged silence is usually the only sign that it has happened.
Ms. Aibibula said the Chinese authorities had been pushing her family to ask her for her Australian passport number, address and other personal details. She refused to hand the information over, and shortly after, her brother disappeared.
“The Chinese government is putting so much pressure on Uighurs,” she said, wiping her eyes. “They are forcing people to go up against them.”
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A Uighur gathering in Adelaide in February. The signs are part of a campaign meant to draw attention to Uighurs missing in China.CreditAmina Yarmuhammad
Xinjiang has long been troubled by tension between Uighurs, who are Sunni Muslims, and the government. Some Uighurs have carried out acts of violence against the government, which has imposed heavy restrictions in the region. The Chinese government depicts its detention camps as schools that steer Uighurs and other Muslims away from violent extremism by providing skills training.
Uighur activists say the government unfairly depicts Uighurs trying to escape its persecution as extremists.
In Australia, many Uighurs live in the Adelaide suburb of Gilles Plains, where one in 10 residents is Muslim. At the heart of the community is a mosque and a center where a Uighur group runs a language school and a soccer club.
Their political cause is never far from their minds, says Anna Hayes, an expert on Xinjiang at James Cook University in Cairns, who spent time studying Uighurs here in 2011. That year, the community held a cultural exhibition that featured images of Uighur rallies and the blue flag of East Turkestan, as they call their homeland. Such displays would be banned in China.
In the past two years, many local Uighurs have been traumatized by the mass detentions back home and told her they were depressed, Dr. Hayes said. “I thought maybe it would be described like survivor’s guilt.”
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Children at a Uighur-language school in Gilles Plains.CreditChristina Simons for The New York Times
The Uighurs want the Australian government to step up its criticism of China’s camps. Australia was relatively muted about the issue until November, when it joined other Western nations in urging China to release the detainees.
But Canberra’s ties with Beijing are in a delicate state, as it tries to balance Australia’s economic needs with national security concerns over expanding Chinese influence in the country.
Officials worked to retrieve three citizens of Uighur descent who were detained in Xinjiang in 2017, who have since returned. But Nurgul Sawut, an activist based in Canberra who helped compile the list of Australian permanent residents missing in China, said recent requests for help have been passed from one agency to another.
“We have been let down,” said Ms. Sawut. “We’re just falling through the cracks as they escape their responsibilities, but the families cannot afford to wait.”
Australia’s slow response to the issue is due in part to its dependence on trade with China, said James Leibold, a scholar of China’s ethnic policies at La Trobe University in Melbourne. “We're incredibly vulnerable to China over the economic front,” he said.
Australia’s foreign affairs department said in a statement that the country “continues to urge China to cease the arbitrary detention of Uighurs and other Muslim groups.”
The apparent detention of Mr. Habibullah’s parents underscores the expansive nature of the security crackdown in Xinjiang.
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“The Chinese government is putting so much pressure on Uighurs,” said Zulihumaer Aibibula, whose brother is missing in China. “They are forcing people to go up against them.” CreditChristina Simons for The New York Times
His mother was a city police superintendent, while his father had served in the People’s Liberation Army and later held a senior post at a state-run broadcaster. Mr. Habibullah himself attended an elite high school in Beijing, which paved the way for him to leave China for a comfortable life abroad.
His parents were the last people who would ever criticize the Chinese government, he said.
Despite living abroad, Mr. Habibullah chatted with his parents regularly on the Chinese messaging service WeChat. Suddenly, in August, they stopped answering his messages.
He contacted police stations in Xinjiang and his parents’ old workplaces, and he tried an official in the state security agency, all to no avail. With nine others in his family already missing, he feared the worst.
“I have lost everything,” he said repeatedly during an interview in February.
Last weekend, however — days after The New York Times submitted requests to the Chinese authorities for comment on Mr. Habibullah’s family — he was told by a relative in Switzerland that his parents and sister-in-law had just been freed. The Xinjiang government said in a fax to The Times on Thursday that the three were living “normal lives” in Karamay, the city where they have resided.
For the first time in many months, Mr. Habibullah spoke to his parents by phone, he said, in a call he described as strange for how normal they sought to sound. Much was left unsaid — and unexplained.
“I really wanted to ask my mother where all our other relatives are,” Mr. Habibullah said, “but I couldn’t because our call was definitely being monitored.”
Ms. Sawut, the Uighur activist, said the news gave her hope.
“End of the day, we’d like to see or hear that our relatives or parents are safe,” she said. “Are they safe?”
Speaking to the national broadcaster on Friday, Morrison said Assange, an Australian citizen, "will get the same treatment as everybody else."
Assange, who's accused of one of the largest leaks of classified information in the U.S., was arrested and removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday, where he had been living for nearly seven years after seeking asylum there.
He now faces potential extradition to the U.S., which has put in a request for him. The Justice Department announced a criminal charge against Assange, accusing him of conspiring with former American army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, to hack into a classified U.S. government computer.
"When Australians travel overseas and they find themselves in difficulties with the law, well, they face the judicial systems of those countries, it doesn't matter what particular crime it is they've alleged to have committed. That's the way the system works," Morrison told ABC.
"Mr Assange will get the same support that any other Australian would ... he's not going to be given any special treatment," he said.
WikiLeaks, set up in 2006, became renowned for publishing secret information and news leaks that have caused embarrassment for governments and public officials around the world.
Assange's attorney confirmed Thursday that the 47-year-old was arrested on a U.S. extradition request as well as for breaching U.K. bail conditions, The Associated Press reported.
"It is time for the Australian government to step up and do what it should have done in 2010 when we asked them to do the first time, which is to reach out to the United States, our ally and ask this prosecution be closed," she said, according to SBS.
"This is a matter of free speech. It is an Australian citizen who faces years, potentially decades or life in prison for having published material that the Walkley Awards gave him the most outstanding contribution to Australian journalism for," said Robinson.
Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault and rape.
He consistently denied the allegations and surrendered to British police the following month and was released on bail. However, he then evaded police and fled, leading to a second warrant that was the basis for his arrest Thursday.
— CNBC's Spriha Srivastava contributed to this report.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush won his defamation case on Thursday against a Sydney newspaper publisher and journalist over reports he had been accused of inappropriate behavior toward an actress.
The 67-year-old Australian had sued The Daily Telegraph's publisher and journalist Jonathon Moran over two stories and a poster published in late 2017.
Australian Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney ruled that Rush had been defamed. Wigney awarded an initial payment of 850,000 Australian dollars ($610,000) in damages, but lawyers will return to court on May 10 when the judge determines damages for economic loss and costs.
Rush's lawyer Bill McClintock told a three-week trial that ended in November that the actor might never work again because of the newspaper's reports. Rush's phone may not ring with job offers and he may never regain his confidence and desire to work, his lawyer said.
Rush outside court thanked his family for their support. "There are no winners in this case. It's been extremely distressing for everyone involved," he told reporters.
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13 DECEMBER 2000 - GEOFFREY RUSH - AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE OF INNOCENCE AT THE DENDY OPERA QUAYS - SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA. (Photo by Patrick Riviere/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - MARCH 18: Geoffrey Rush (Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - MARCH 18: Geoffrey Rush (Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Actor Geoffrey Rush attends 53rd Annual Writers Guild of America Awards on March 4, 2001 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage)
Geoffrey Rush File Photo: March 2001 (Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage) *** Local Caption ***
Geoffrey Rush arrives at the premiere of 'Blow.' (Photo by Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images)
Geoffrey Rush during Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
Geoffrey Rush & Hilary Swank during Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc)
Geoffrey Rush during 'Frida' Premiere - Los Angeles at Los Angleles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by SGranitz/WireImage)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 21: Australian actor Geoffrey Rush with his award for global achievement at the 45th AFI awards held at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Photo by Regis Martin/Getty Images).
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 21: Geoffrey Rush at a press conference about Australian culture confirmed as bargaining chip in free trade agreement with the USA. At the Hyatt hotel on Collins Street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Photo by Regis Martin/Getty Images).
Geoffrey Rush during 'The Life and Death of Peter Sellers' New York City Premiere - Arrivals at Loews Tower East Theater in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)
John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush during 'The Life and Death of Peter Sellers' New York City Premiere - Arrivals at Loews Tower East Theater in New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)
Geoffrey Rush at the Loews Tower East Theater in New York City, New York (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/WireImage)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 26: (L-R) Actors Melissa George, Geoffrey Rush and Rachel Griffiths arrives at the L'Oreal Paris 2005 AFI Awards at Central City Studios on November 26, 2005 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by David Teuma/Getty Images)
Geoffrey Rush during 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards - Press Room at The Shrine in Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 07: Geoffrey Rush (C) and his mother (L) attend the after show party following the L'Oreal Paris 2006 AFI Awards at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on December 7, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. The awards are the premier event on the Australian Screen Industry calendar, and are the Australian Film and Television Industry's oldest and most prestigious awards, now in their 48th year. (Photo by Simon Fergusson/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 06: Actor Geoffrey Rush poses in the awards room at the L'Oreal Paris AFI 2006 Industry Awards at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on December 6, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. Tonight's Industry Awards precede tomorrow's AFI Awards 2006, with both nights honouring the achievements of the nominees across Australian film and television. (Photo by Patrick Riviere/Getty Images)
Geoffrey Rush attends the Sydney premiere for 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' at the Hayden Orpheum Cremorne on November 3, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage)
Geoffrey Rush arriving for the 2010 National Movie Awards at the Royal Festival Hall, London. (Photo by Sean Dempsey/PA Images via Getty Images)
TODAY -- Pictured: (l-r) Meredith Vieira and Geoffrey Rush appear on NBC News' 'Today' show (Photo by Peter Kramer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 20: (AUSTRALIA OUT) Geoffrey Rush with the crown he wore for his role as King Berenger in Exit The King. Rush has donated his costumes from the theatre productions of The Diary of a Madman and Exit the King to the Performing Arts Collection at the Arts Centre in Melbourne. 20 September 2011. (Photo by Paul Rovere/The AGE/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) shakes hands with actor Geoffrey Rush (2nd L) at a lunch hosted by Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce (2nd R) at Government House in Canberra on October 23, 2011. The queen is in Australia for her 16th visit to the former penal colony on what will perhaps be the 85-year-old monarch's last tour Down Under. AFP PHOTO / POOL / ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN (Photo credit should read Alex Ellinghausen/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 04: Actor Geoffrey Rush attends 'The Eye Of The Storm' New York Premiere at MOMA on September 4, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by D Dipasupil/FilmMagic)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 05: Actor Geoffrey Rush attends TheWrap's Awards & Foreign Screening Series 'The Book Thief' at the Landmark Theater on December 5, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Buchan/Getty Images For TheWrap)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 09: Geoffrey Rush addresses the media at Hangar 416, Sydney Jetbase, Sydney Airport on December 9, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 09: Geoffrey Rush leaves the Federal Court on November 9, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. The three-week trial concluded today, with Justice Michael Wigney to deliver his verdict early next year. Geoffrey Rush is suing The Daily Telegraph for defamation over a series of articles that were published in late November and early December 2017 that alleged he behaved inappropriate during a 2015 stage production of King Lear. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
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He argued that the newspaper, which used a headline "King Leer," portrayed him as a pervert and sexual predator. Wigney was scathing of the newspaper's reporting.
"This was, in all the circumstances, a recklessly irresponsible piece of sensationalist journalism of the very worst kind," the judge said. "It was difficult to avoid the conclusion that it was calculated to damage."
The reports alleged inappropriate behavior toward co-star Eryn Jean Norvill by Rush while he was starring in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of "King Lear" in 2015 and 2016.
Norvill, who played Lear's daughter Cordelia in the production, did not speak to the newspaper before the articles were published, but agreed to testify for the newspaper at the trial. The 34-year-old actress testified that while she was playing dead, Rush stroked his hand across the side of her right breast and on to her hip during a preview performance.
Rush denied allegations that he deliberately touched Norvill's breast, her lower back under her shirt when they were backstage or making lewd gestures and comments toward her.
Wigney said on Thursday he did not find Norvill's evidence "credible or reliable" while he accepted Rush's testimony.
The Daily Telegraph's editor Ben English said he was reviewing the judgment.
"We are disappointed with Justice Wigney's findings, in particular his dismissal of Eryn Jean Norvill's evidence," English said in a statement. "We disagree with his criticisms of her and she has our full support."
In an unrelated allegation, "Orange Is the New Black" actress Yael Stone told The New York Times in December that Rush engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior when they starred in "The Diary of a Madman" in 2010.
The 33-year-old told the newspaper that Rush danced naked in front of her in their dressing room, used a mirror to watch her while she showered and sent her occasionally erotic texts.
In a statement, Rush said the allegations "are incorrect and in some instances have been taken completely out of context."
Rush won the best actor Oscar in 1996 for his portrayal of pianist David Helfgott in "Shine" and was nominated for roles in "Shakespeare In Love," "'Quills" and "The King's Speech." He is also famed for his portrayal of Captain Barbossa in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.
He received his nation's highest civilian honor in 2014, the Companion of the Order of Australia, for service to the arts.
