Tag: Stephen Wall

Calling out a Bureaucrat for Freedom’s Sake.

Attention: Stephen Wall, CEO, Maribyrnong City Council

Today is the 74th anniversary of the start of the Second Battle of Balikpapan, the last major Battle in World War 2 (WW2). My father landed on that city’s beach back then and saw his fellow Australians die for a freedom which I more recently wished to celebrate in Maribyrnong. But instead of celebrating the allied victory over fascism in 1945 with you and your team, I now condemn you for your negligent failure to defend democratic rights and freedom of speech in accordance with your responsibility as CEO for the daily running of the Maribyrnong government.

In 2015 one of your councillors dismissed my efforts to lobby her on WW2 commemoration as “harassment”. When I complained to you, you wrote to me early in the morning on May 27 that year: “I am sorry that you have felt distressed and I look forward to speaking with you soon.” and repeated later in the morning: “I can assure you we will speak once I have had a chance to speak with Cr. Carter.” Despite many emails from me in the intervening four years about the events that followed you have never communicated with me again.  Why did you break that promise?

In the time since then, my civic and human rights to freedom of speech and to participate in local government via elected representatives have been trashed by your team leaving me unable to survive in Australia.

Furthermore, not one of my many attempts to discuss my situation in Maribyrnong with you and your team has been fully addressed. To his credit, Martin Zakharov has attempted to address some of the issues and has admitted the unnecessary unfairness of what was done, but the fundamental questions raised about your team’s police state action against me remain unanswered.

German musician and round the world cyclist Philipp Zey describes my decision to leave Australia like this: “I met Geoff Fox in Indonesia and spent time with him in Australia. He has chosen not to suffer but to seek to live in honor, peace and respect.”

Zappabolic Phil live for men (and women) past and present. Playing for life. Playing with joy.

I cannot live under a government that panders to a misandry which listens to women but my male story of many fathers’ sacrifice got criminalised by the police.

I will not live in a municipality where people make money out of suicide.

I cannot live where the simple act of trying to resolve problems by discussion is ignored.

I cannot live without freedom of speech which means both being heard and getting a response.

In short, as my Indonesian friends love to say, “Merdeka atau Mati” (Freedom or Death.)

If you had done the job you promised to do on May 27, 2015, maybe my faith in living in the country of my birth would not have been destroyed.

Shame on you.

Geoff Fox, refugee, Jawa, Indonesia, 1st July, 2019

Open Letter to Maribyrnong Mayor Martin Zakharov

gender bigotry declaration

In Maribyrnong, the “thoughts, ideas and opinions” of “mothers, daughters and sisters” are “heard and respected”. My thoughts, ideas and opinions got me arrested by the police. Is this misandry? Why wasn’t my goal of a better relationship with Indonesia which I have worked towards in unique ways for 3 decades “celebrated and supported” as opposed to what happened in 2016?

 

Dear Mayor,

Thank you for your honesty in acknowledging that the police actions initiated against me from within the ALP and Maribyrnong City Council in 2016 were unnecessary and unfair.

It has broken me to be arrested as a result of trying to talk about ways I wanted to help Australia have a better relationship with Indonesia.

The resulting PTSD leaves me unable to get income and I am resigned to death because fairness for me in modern Australia looks impossible.

While I am still alive, please attempt to publicly address all the following unanswered questions ASAP.

I direct them to you, an elected representative I know, not some bureaucrat incapable of caring about me.

I do this as early in your term as Mayor as I can. My PTSD stopped me writing this last week.

I ask these questions of you because of the human decency which I, as a midwife, believe you may have inherited from your mum, Senator Olive Zakharov.

I sought answers to the first three questions in an open letter published on November 8th 2017. That’s how long it took me to recover enough from the trauma of July 2016 to be able to write publicly about it.

  1. With respect to the 2016 action against me, what are the implications for democracy when an elected representative can be up for reelection and facing the possibility of a formal complaint from a citizen voting in that round of elections and then Personal Safety laws are used by the police to threaten that voter with jail if he mentions the candidate online or contacts her?
  2. How did Personal Safety legislation and police intervention come to be a substitute for a complaints process at local government level?
  3. Why is it that in discussions with police, I was never allowed to see the full argumentation for the charges against me and the evidence for the “personal safety” concerns which were allegedly justified by my conduct, the sending of electronic communications when I lobbied an ALP politician?

Unanswered questions to Daniel Andrews from the 8th of February, 2018 redirected now to you:

  1. Premier Andrews has boasted that Victoria is the most “progressive” state in Australia. Is pre-election police protection of an ALP candidate from showing respect for patriotic lobbying what is meant by “progress” here?
  2. Will you, Martin, as the elected head of government in Maribyrnong, unequivocally support gender equality for men?

From an email of 5th March 2018, unanswered by the recipients, your predecessor as Mayor and the Maribyrnong CEO.

  1. How many women in Maribyrnong have been murdered by their partners or been the victims of domestic violence in the past decade and in each of the past five years and what are the equivalent figures for men in Maribyrnong?
  2. How many men have committed suicide in Maribyrnong in the past decade and in each of the past five years and what are the equivalent figures for women in Maribyrnong?
  3. Who makes money from suicide in the City of Maribyrnong?
  4. Does any of this money come to Council?

Democracy, civilised humanity and human rights are life or death for me now.

Your predecessor in 2015, Mayor Nam Quach, wrote that my art: “……. provided a unique expression of Indonesian humanity, history and culture, with the underlying theme of an appreciation for the Indo-Australian relationship. The Bahasa phrases used, referring to ‘kesatuan’ and ‘keragaman’, certainly reflect the strength and unity found within diversity, striking a chord to the spirit and values we share here in the City of Maribyrnong.”

As a fellow independent artist, Martin, you have made a good little contribution to 3 of my 5 art displays at places important to 4 heads of government in Indonesia, art displays where shared Austral-Indonesian history, democracy and human rights were and are vital themes.

Now, instead of us working together for Australia for those values through art, the above questions arising for me from undemocratic Maribyrnong human rights violations from within the ALP against me, must be addressed.

 

Written and authorized by Geoff Fox, Maribyrnong, if that’s what’s necessary this week.