P A R L I A M E N T  O F  A U S T R A L I A

Zz

H O U S E  OF R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

O F F IC E  O F  H O N . T . U R E N , M .P .

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR REID

1st FLOOR

GRANVILLE TOWERS  10 BRIDGE STREET

GRANVILLE. N.S.W. 2142  TEL. 637 4713

SPEECH BY TOM UREN, M.P. TO CIVIL LIBERTIES RALLY & MARCH

BRISBANE —  MONDAY, 30th OCTOBER, 1978

I am very pleased to be here in Brisbane.

Firstly,  I want to assert that I am not here as an outsider.

No Australian should have to apologise for being present

anywhere in Australia.

This so-called law that prevents you marching down the street

of Brisbane, also prevents me marching down a street in my

own country.

The people of Brisbane,  the people of Queensland are not

foreigners to me.

You are my fellow-countrymen and women, as much as the people  who live next door,  or around the corner.

Laws -- be they just or unjust laws —  that apply to one of

us apply to all of us.

And the struggle against those laws, when they are unjust laws

is the struggle of all of us.

* *  * *

In the words of Martin Luther King:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere

Back in the sixties, when the black people of America were

struggling for their civil rights, I was personally inspired

by the words of Martin Luther King.

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At that time,  progressive people in Australia and around the  world were rising in opposition to the unjust American  aggression in Vietnam.

We were standing against oppression then,  and opposing unjust

laws.

And we are standing against oppression today,  and opposing the  abuse of power by a tyrannical minority in the government of

Queensland.

Today, here in Australia -- and especially in Queensland -Â­ Martin Luther King's words have as much meaning as they did ^

15 years ago in Birmingham, Alabama. j

I would like to quote from his letter from a Birmingham jail: I

He said: 1

I am mindful of the inter-relatedness of all

communities and states. I cannot sit idly by '

in Atlanta and not be concerned about what j

happens in Birmingham."

"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,\

tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever

affects one directly, affects all indirectly." j

"One may well ask, 'How can you advocate breaking

some laws and obeying others?1  The answer lies

in the fact that there are two types of laws:

just and unjust.

"What is the difference between the two? .... An

unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with

the moral law.

"An unjust law is no law at all."

"One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly,

lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the

penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks

a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and

who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in

He also said at that time:

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order to arouse the conscience of the community  over its injustices is, in reality,  expressing  the highest respect for the law."

These words are universal and timeless.

King,  and his people ,  took a stand against oppression and  sought the restoration of their basic rights -- SO DO WE!

King, and his people,  took a conscious decision to break the  law, because the law was unjust.  SO DO WE!

They took a MORAL stand against IMMORAL LAWS. SO DO WE!

Eventually,  they won a moral victory. SO WILL WE!

While the situation that now exists here in Australia, in

Queensland, has many parallels in the past, it is also

uniquely a product of present-day Australia.

These laws that take away our basic civil liberties haven't

just been dreamed up in the mind of an arrogant,  tyrannical

individual who has found himself with the power to make and

break laws because of the way the electoral boundaries of

this state are drawn up.

We would be making a serious mistake if we thought that this

threat to our civil liberties has come about because of one

individual,  or a small group of individuals.

The introduction of repressive laws in Queensland,  and the  taking away of rights we once had,  is just a symptom of what

has been going on all over Australia in the last few years.

And, unless we hold the line here and now, they are just a

small taste of what will happen in the near future.

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Why are the people now losing their basic economic,  political  and social rights?

Why are real wages and standards of living falling,  and jobs .   disappearing?

Why is organised labour (the trade unions and the ALP) under  attack. :

Why are the Aboriginal people of Queensland and elsewhere  in Australia having the control of their land being legislated^  out from uunderneath them?

Why are the public services provided in the government budget  being slashed so much,  while the tax concessions to Big Business

grow?

Why are governments (both State and Federal) equipping

themselves with repressive powers and showing themselves  willing to use them?

If the people are losing so much,  who is benefiting from all

that is going on?

What do they want?

Where is it all leading?

Many people,  all around Australia have been asking these

questions. And they are begirining to find out the answers.

There is a massive redistribution of wealth going on in

Australia —  away from the vast majority of the people and to  a wealthy,  Big Business minority.

And there is a massive redistribution of power taking place

with it. Old social relations,  old established rights,  the  old "social contracts" are being thrown over. And the vast

majority of people are finding they have less of everything,   including less political and civil rights than they used to

have.

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On the other hand,  a small powerful elite is thriving. There

is a section (only a section)  of business interests in Australia  that are using the present, unsettled conditions to their own  advantage.

There are the large corporations, many of them foreign

ownedyithat are taking part in the big re-organisation of the  world economy that is going on.

The big business, corporate sector has decided that Australia  will fit into the international economy (controlled by them)  as a quarry —  as a supplier of raw materials to the big

industrial complexes overseas. Large sections of local  manufacturing are to be dismantled; factories that remain  are to be "modernised" by replacing workers with machines.

The more machines and the less people, then the easier it is

for the corporations to control their operations.

But all this is at a vast cost to the Australian,-people —  to  the people who have to find jobs to live, to the small local  businesses, to the small farmers who can't survive in markets

dominated by the corporations. The so-called "growth sectors"  (the new mining ventures) provide few jobs. .

Because what is going on is at a vast cost to the people, the

people can be expected to resist.

And now we are getting to the basic reason why the people are

being weakened, economically and politically.

Those with the power —  using their representatives in  government —  are weakening the people before they have a

chance to work out what's going on, and resist.

But they are also getting the back-up measures ready.

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These repressive laws that are now in force in Queensland 1 (and others that have been put on the books by the Federal j . I

Government)  are there ready for use,  when the people really j   mobilize their resistance to what is already going on. '

And to those who say: !

"We should wait" J

"It's not yet the right time to oppose these laws" j   "It's unwise to take on the Premier of Queensland ! Ã¢ÂÂ  over these issues" -- J

To them,  I say:

IT IS VERY TIMELY. j

INDEED,  IT IS URGENT.  ' j

We have already waited too long,  because not enough people i

have understood why it is happening,  and where it will lead. j |

To go soft,

to go quietly,  i

only allows the forces of tyranny to consolidate their position

and take even further measures. i i Ã¢ÂÂ  j

To keep quiet, to keep the issue out of the newspapers,  or

to keep it as "Queensland's business" 1

only allows the situation to grow more and more disadvantageous

for the broad mass of the people. 1

REPRESSION FEEDS ON SECRECY. j

Let us not allow the forces of oppression in Queensland to !

keep their measures secret. j

Ã¢ÂÂ  Â«

In this respect,  I'm very pleased to know that Amnesty j International has been referred to the case. '

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I am proud to say that,  in the eyes of the international

community,  I want to be counted amongst those Australians

who openly oppose these repressive laws in our land.

I want to say a few words concerning the Anti-Uranium  Movement.

Clearly,  the Anti-Uranium Movement has been one of the early  targets for the anti-march laws.

The vast numbers of people around Australia who don't want to  see Australia committed to the world nuclear fuel cycle have  very few means to make their opinions known.

Marching in the street is pretty well the only way.

But the uranium issue is a prime example of where keeping quiet  (or being kept quiet) is taken by the powers-that-be to mean  agreement with the pro-uranium cause.

They want us off the streets.

They want us quiet.

Or they want us discredited as troublemakers.

All,  so they can go ahead with mining.

* *  *

Uranium mining is a very significant part of the corporate  strategy for Australia.

They are in a hurry to get us locked into the nuclear fuel  cycle.

A uranium mining go-ahead will be a significant milestone in  their strategy.

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I will be a victory for them .....

And a serious set-back for the vast majority of Australians

(and the world's people)  whose interests are opposed to those ;   of the pro-uranium forces.

Uranium mining now has built up around it some of the most  repressive laws this country has seen —  to squash the inevitable  public opposition that will grow up around it.

There's not only the street march legislation.

There is also those special provisions of the Aboriginal Land

Rights legislation.

And,  probably the most sinister,  is the Atomic Energy Act,  ,

which the Fraser Government has decided will cover the proposed

Ranger Mine.

This is an extremely repressive piece of legislation.

It has particular meaning for the Labour Movement,  because i

all workers associated with any part of

.  - mine construction,

- working the mine,  and processing the ore,

- servicing the mine, - transporting the uranium on the railways or roads,

- handling at ports, - shipping

....  all these workers will come under the provisions of the Act. Ã¢ÂÂ

And the Act says that uranium will go through,  regardless.

All industrial rights will be swept aside.  For the workers, 1

uranium is dangerous stuff,  for more than health reasons.

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The Atomic Energy Act also applies to all of us who oppose

mining.  It is an offence to even speak or write against the  uranium mining project.  We can be jailed or fined.

The Act says that circumstantial evidence is enough for

conviction.

It is extremely repressive.

*  * *

Yet there are still some people who wonder why we are standing  up against repressive legislation,  and the abuse of power by

people like Premier Bjelke-Petersen.

We must stand up against it.

We must halt this sinister trend to more and more repression.

Then we must turn the tide.

Bring about the dismantling of existing repressive laws.

And campaign for guaranteed rights,  in law, to our civil

liberties.

30th October,  1973

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