1724) Australian Federal Parliament MP Mal Washer’s Response To The Petition

Dear Friends,

I attach for you below a response I received today from Dr Mal Washer’s (MP) office in relation to the petition that has been handed up for presentation to Federal Parliament. Most of you will be aware of the petition others will not (by others I am talking about our friends overseas in the UK, US, Turkey, Germany etc). This petition was forwarded on by me to numerous entities in Australia including all the Turkish Media newspapers etc and friends.

I wish to sincerely thank those of you that assisted in this petition and arranged signatures to be obtained, I must personally mention and thank the following people,

Gurel Ismail, Efe Yaman, Bahidair Hoca from Wollongong, Cahit Yesertener, Huseyin from the Islamic Association of Perth.

We collected a total of 753 signatures from Turks and friends of Turks Australia wide. 523 of those signatures were from Perth Western Australia the remainder from Wollongong and Sydney. No signatures were obtained from Victoria Melbourne, or Queensland. There are approximately somewhere between 100,000 to 150,000 Turks living in Australia.

For those people that signed and supported the petition I truly thank you, as you will see from the below message the petition is due to be tabled in Parliament on the 20 June 2007.

For those of you that are unaware of the petition’s content or wording I attach a copy just for your information. I suspect when the petition hits Federal Parliament there will be significant media coverage by the main stream Australian media.

Thank you all yet again.

Ataman Atlas
Atlas Legal
Phone: (08) 9403 0300
Fax: (08) 9403 0500
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From: Riley, Gloria (M. Washer, MP) [mailto:Gloria.Riley@aph.gov.au] On Behalf Of Washer, Mal (MP)
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 3:23 PM
To: Ataman Atlas
Subject: RE: Petition to Parliament

Hi Ataman,
I was wondering about your petition and have been keeping an eye on its presentation which has not happened when you consider it left out office in Joondalup on Wednesday the 16th May, 2007.

I rang the tables office to track it down and I was advised that the whole petition has been sent back to Joondalup because to have a petition read by the Clerk in the Chamber it has to be correct. Your petition failed because each page had to have the prayer etc on each page.

I asked what I could do to speed this up and I was told the we can resubmit an "Out of Order" petition through Minister Tony Abbott's office and these are done on the second Thursdays of sitting which will mean it will be read on the 20th June as an "Out of Order" petition.

I will organise for this petition to be resend to the appropriate office and I will keep in touch to let you know when it is read.

Remember when tabling a petition through the Tables office each page has to have the prayer etc followed by the names in original ink not photocopy.

Kind regards,
GLORIA. for
DR MAL WASHER MP
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MOORE.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ataman Atlas [mailto:aatlas@atlaslegal.com.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 30 May 2007 6:14 PM
To: Washer, Mal (MP)
Subject: RE: Petition to Parliament

Dear Dr Washer,

We were wondering what the time table is for the petition to be presented in Parliament could you please advise.

Regards

Ataman Atlas
Atlas Legal
Phone: (08) 9403 0300
Fax: (08) 9403 0500

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TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT:

The petition of certain Australian citizens draws to the attention of the House.

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Members of the Australian Turkish community have long suffered from acts of terrorism, most specifically the murders of Mr Sarik Ariyak former Consul General of the Republic of Turkey and his bodyguard Mr Engin Sever in Sydney in 1980. As well as the Turkish Consulate (Melbourne) bombing in 1986. These acts of terrorism were conducted and carried out based on a fallacious cause, namely the Armenian Genocide claims. The Australian media and most particularly The Special Broadcasting Service continually airs damaging one sided biased reports without ever putting to the Australian people the full facts of those tragic events which took place during the material times of the alleged “Armenian Genocide.”

Your petitioners therefore pray that the House

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Passes a resolution (agreeing with the current British Parliament) stating that the events that occurred during World War I at the material times in Eastern Anatolia then a part of the Ottoman Empire can not be described as the Ottoman Empire committing a Genocide against its Armenian population.

The Australian Government recognizes the fact that the British Government of the day occupied the former Ottoman Capital of Istanbul and conducted a thorough investigation of the allegations, after having arrested and conveyed to the then island colony of Malta 144 Ottoman Officials both Military and Political. These prisoners having been incarcerated on Malta for over two years without charge were eventually released and Lord Curzon forwarded onto the British Government of the day an official telegraph declaring that there was no evidence with which to charge any of the subject Ottoman leadership with the charge of “Outrages against the Armenians” in fact Lord Curzon stating that he could not even reach “Prima Facie” level. Subsquent and consecutive British Governments have stated that the events that took place during the material times can not be described as an “Armenian Genocide.”

That the House urges the Australian media to fairly and impartially report on the events during the material times of the alleged Armenian Genocide, and in particular request the Special Broadcasting Service to air the independent documentary “The Armenian Revolt” produced by Mr Martin Callaghan.

That the House amend the relevant legislation, most specifically the Trade Practices Act in order to demand media responsibility and accountability in the way the Australian media promotes and reports on events so as to make sure that they do not participate in misleading and deceiving the Australian public in all matters which they report upon. Further, that legislation be amended so that the Australian media conduct appropriate due diligence inquiries into the truth of matters they report upon before they promote and report upon those matters. That the Trade Practices Act be amended so that Australian citizens can commence legal action against media corporations and utilize the enforcement sections currently available only to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission, namely seeking the appropriate Court to fine media corporations for any breach of the Trade Practices Act, but most specifically misleading and deceptive conduct. As it stands currently only the ACCC can invoke those sections, which is a barrier to justice.


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