The following message is from Robert Gow, Qld Campaign Manager of the Carers Alliance. The Carers Alliance are running candidates for the senate around Australia
more info – http://www.qld.carers.org.au/

Hello all,
Many thanks for the support you have all given, the election draws near
 and we are getting many contacts from carers who are desperately
 seeking a better deal.

Carers are asking questions, like:
Why will Indonesian Orang-utans receive several thousand dollars each
 over 4 years when Australian Carers will only receive an average of
 $15.38 each per annum for the next 5 years according to the government’s
 promises.

Carers days are numbered at the rate of interest that governments are
 showing. Will they join the ranks of endangered species though sheer
 neglect by government?

Have you seen our You Tube Video?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZHkrgNlk9w

When you visit it please click on the favorite’s link. This will
 promote the clip and therefore the issue onto the political agenda and may
 gain us some more much needed press before Saturday.

Over the last two weeks we have published stories of difficulties that
 Carers are having with Centrelink. Many other carers have contacted us
 regarding their problems with the same body. There have been three
 overriding themes emerge:
• The officiousness and inflexibility of Centrelink staff
• The rudeness and flippancy of Ministerial staffers, and
• The non-responsiveness to issues raised by carers with Ministers,
 Shadow Ministers and local Federal members (not even the courtesy of a
 reply)

It has become clear that carers are a home grown endangered species.
  We are a finite resource – we will not live forever. We cannot continue
 to be exploited as a perceived cost effective alternative to a
 properly funded community support system. Governments are consigning carers
 and our sons, daughters, family members who require support and
 assistance, to the scrap heap.

Many of the 2.6 million Australian Carers and the other people that
 they influence (estimated to exceed 6.5 million) will ask “How do I make
 my vote ensure a future for our carers if neither party is serious about
 the issue?”

There is only one option; send a carer to Canberra and force government
 to take notice. A vote for the Carers Alliance Party is the only
 course of action for voters that want to influence the next government to
 make critical changes before carers are extinct in our population.

Without support Carers will become an extinct sub-species of the
 Australian community. Most are at breaking point and many are desperately
 beyond. At current rates of neglect many of the 2.6 million carers will
 join the ranks of those who need care. It will become a vicious circle
 and where does that leave the country?

Once again, please forward this to your mailing list and request that
 they do the same.
Don’t forget to visit the web site, http://www.qld.carers.org.au. We
 have had over 80,000 hits this month alone.

so many thanks,
Robert Gow,
Qld Campaign Manager
Carers Alliance

Congratulations to Michael Noonan and John Hart and for their film “Unlikely Travellers” winning the Inside Film (IF)  award for best Australian  documentary.

“Unlikely Travellers” will be screened on the ABC over the next three weeks beiginning Monday November 19 at 8pm.  more details here. 

Here is my review of the launch of Unlikely Travellers in August –   movie review

UPDATE – While Unlikely Travellers is now recieving the acknowledgement and praise that it deserves, the controversy and condemnation is continuing at Irish Indymedia – here  and at the Courier Mail – here 

The long running QUT dispute over the sacking of two academics seems to be over with an out of court settlement. Courier Mail article  “QUT academic brawl ended by settlement”

It seems to me however that there are 3 issues that marked this affair which remain unresolved. These are…

 1/ attitudes towards disability,

 2/ attitudes towards free speech and

3/ The allegations that Michael Noonan forged signatures on release forms for Aboriginal people he filmed.

1/ Attitudes to disability.
 The original flashpoint of this controversy was the criticism of Michael Noonan’s film work with people with intellectual disabilities. This criticism has continued and none of the critics have changed their tune. However Noonan’s film “Unlikely Travellers” has now been widely praised for its representation of people with disability since it was released. Similarly the footage presented to Noonan’s QUT PhD confirmation hearing that was released to the Courier Mail has received almost unanimous praise, the exception of course is the issues of permission raised about the Aboriginal woman in his footage, which I will get to soon.

Since the release of “Unlikely Travellers” I have personally written several letters to Queensland Advocacy Incorporated asking them to retract their criticism of Noonan’s film but they have not responded to any of my correspondence.

The Australian Catholic Disability Council continues to criticise the film project as recently as last month, indicating that they are incapable of admitting they were wrong or that they hold a totally repressive attitude towards disability and they are offended by “Unlikely Travellers”, but my guess is they still haven’t seen the film or Noonan’s PhD. rushes and are still commenting in ignorance. Australian Catholic Disability Council speaks out against degrading research project

Noonan’s film is now an international landmark in positive representation of people with intellectual disabilities in the media. His work deserves support and praise but instead this whole affair has demonised Noonan and has never, ever, raised any serious and rational discussion about issues of disability. The ignorant, repressive and patronising attitudes of the criticisms have been reinforced and largely unchallenged in this whole episode. The so called “speaking up for the disabled” has created one more brick in the wall that contains people living with disabilities.

2/ Free speech issues.
The academics and their supporters called for Michael Noonan’s film project to be stopped, for the screening of his movie “Unlikely Travellers” at the Brisbane International Film festival to be stopped and for the issue of what universities ought and ought not to teach to be determined by the federal court, a course of action that has been thankfully aborted through the out of court settlement – all in the name of free speech.

Nothing is black and white, even the most ardent anti-censorship libertarian realises that there are times to censor. The extreme case is snuff movies but there are less dramatic compromises such as racist or sexist vilification and exploitation of the vulnerable. Many libertarians accept the need for moderation and control of the media in some areas.
However any call for a film or any other project to be censored needs to have a good reason, a rational explanation of why its production or broadcast directly exploits or oppresses somebody. The calls to censor Michael Noonan’s work was not based on any such explanation. The criticism was based on false information about the capacity of the on screen performers and an academic critique that it was an example of post modernist ammoralism.

It seems absurd to me that such a campaign of censorship could have existed under the banner of a free speech campaign.
  This campaign was perhaps the most significant parochial left wing campaign that Brisbane has seen for decades, it defined the evolution ( or slowed the devolution) of that strange phenomenon known as “the left”. Yet this campaign went from start to finish with absolutely no discussion or exploration of any of the core issues of the campaign. The powerful force of solidarity was corrupted and transformed to a mindless witch hunt and gang mentality relying on personal slur and gossip rather than any intellectual reflection and learning. It was this ignorant gang mentality that justified the call for censorship, not a concern for people with disabilities or the principle of free speech.

3/ Allegations of fraud and issues of filming Aboriginal people.
Firstly, I was at a meeting with Ted Watson (representing the Aboriginal woman in Noonan’s rushes), Michael Noonan and John Hart (The producer of “Unlikely Travellers”). At this meeting Noonan produced to Ted (and myself) signed releases from The Aboriginal woman and her husband. The signatures on Noonan’s release forms were the same as those on Ted’s documents of authorisation and complaint (in my opinion with no expertise in forensic handwriting analysis). I have never doubted Noonan’s honesty on this matter. At this meeting the issues of dealing with Aboriginal people and protocols was discussed at length and Noonan was genuinely disturbed by May’s concerns and has apologised to her.

However it seems that the issues of representation of Aboriginal people in the media were always only secondary to the legal defense of the two academics in their struggle with QUT. The complaints and allegations were administered as an addendum to the other legal actions. Now that the QUT issues are resolved what will happen to the the conflicts and controversy that has been stirred up about Aboriginal representation, in particular the interests of Aboriginal individuals at the centre of this? Will the issues of Aboriginality now conveniently disappear along with the issues of disability?

In conclusion I will recount my own involvement in this. As a long term proponent of free speech and as a person who has many connections to disability I was particularly interested in this issue. Initially I supported the academics but had not even read their criticism of the movie, I just assumed it to be valid. The fact that academics could be punished for being critical was an obvious attack on free speech.
However, somewhat belatedly, I read the critical article “Philistines at the gate” and was very disturbed by the patronising, moralising Roman Catholic attitude to disability expressed by the two authors. I had seen nothing of Noonan’s work but I knew the criticism was very wrong. This debate between humanisation vs. protection of people with intellectual disabilities was, and still is, an important debate to be had by the mainstream society – as it is the mainstream that embodies the attitudes of repression and exclusion.   I wrote the following critique of “Philistines at the Gate”“Laughing at the disabled, power perception and prejudice

As I surfed the net looking for more information I discovered that complaints had been made to the Adult Guardian, asking them to investigate Noonan’s “exploitation” of people with impaired capacity. I was outraged at this point. Regular Paradigm Oz readers will know that my family has been at war with the Adult Guardian who are a secret totalitarian agency that has complete power of peoples lives and can intervene and smash families with no accountability structure at all.  Background on the Adult Guardian

I was absolutely disgusted that people who mouthed rhetoric of freedom and human rights could be appealing to a fascist institution to intervene in the lives of people who are perfectly happy and supported.

Somewhere along the line I made contact with Michael Noonan and he gave me a copy of Unlikely Travellers. I was very impressed by his treatment of disability issues and realised that not only was the criticism of him based on a repressive ideological framework, but his work was extremely significant to changing mainstream attitudes about disability.  I wrote this review of “Unlikely Travellers” 

The campaign to support the suspended academics continued throughout to demonise Noonan, they never gave up attacking him for being an exploitative scum. This has disillusioned me terribly for I now have absolutely no respect for the Brisbane “left”. I was arrested at a land rights protest at the age of 16 – The concerned Christians arrests in Queens Park. I was arrested countless times marching, speaking and leafleting against Joh. From that time until very recently I identified as part of the “left” movement. But no more! What that movement has become is nothing more than a nest of malicious gossips, a petty and ignorant social clique that has nothing to offer the crises and issues of the modern world.

“Our purpose is represent, raise and monitor issues affecting unpaid family Carers through the representative participation of Carers as candidates in Federal and State parliaments. The Carers Alliance will represent the rights of unpaid Carers of people with disabilities, mental illness, chronic illness or issues of frail age who need assistance at differing times in their lives.”          - from the   Carers Alliance website.

The Carers Alliance has recently been registered as a political party and is in the process of putting together it’s national senate team for the upcoming federal election.

I have had the privilege of meeting their Queensland lead senate candidate, Felicity Maddison at the recent picket against the Queensland Adult Guardian.

Like all the Carers Alliance candidates, Felicity is herself a carer, looking after a family member with high support needs.

The Alliance states its task as follows…….

“We will be the watchdogs for the Australian people, ensuring the issues that affect families have political representation and caring families are not missed in the process”.

As I see it, the Carers Alliance is essentially an exercise in visibility. On so many fronts the needs of disabled, frail, the elderly and their carers are neglected and misrepresented by politicians and public servants.

Federal and State governments appear to dismiss the urgency and crisis that exists in so many Australian families who survive (and sometimes they don’t) without adequate or appropriate support services.

Disability is still a hidden issue in Australia even though it effects us all at some stage.

Issues of funding for disability support agencies  as well as  the financial security of carer’s including pension, taxation and superannuation justice, are not amongst the nation’s political  debate and rarely in any debate at all, except within the families at the front-line of these issues.

Thousands of families suffer terribly in isolation but their suffering has not yet been acknowledged as a significant political issues.

News of the Carers Alliance registration as a party and its senate campaign has been widely publicised amongst disability, aged and carer’s networks around Australia. This network may well generate a significant vote for the new party.

Although the single issue of disability and carer support is amongst many important issues in the election,  and it hasn’t the sex appeal or sensational profile that some other issues do,  those families who suffer because of inadequate and inappropriate services will no doubt have the issues on their minds on election day, as they do every other day of their life.

Family first won a Victorian senate seat in the last federal election despite being a new minority party. The weird and wonderful process of senate preference distribution could also see the Carers Alliance fluke a seat somewhere. Unlike Family first which campaigns on vague and ideological notions of family, the Carers Alliance is campaigning on real, concrete issues that hundreds of thousands of real families experience.

In the probable event that the Carers Alliance does not win a seat, their preferences will be crucial in determining who actually does win in some states. In this sense they cannot fail in their goal of raising the profile of disability and carer’s issues.

They are now a force to be reckoned with, whoever forms a government after the election.

UPDATE – This post has suddenly become very popular.  New visitors to Paradigm Oz should be aware that this was posted before the new allegations against Noonan were put on youtube (post on that issue here ).  It was not written as a response to the youtube allegations. The complaint refered to was a complaint to the QUT Vice Chancellor relating to the representation of Aboriginal women in the footage.

Paradigm Oz regulars will know that I have been following the controversy over Michael Noonans movies and his Phd thesis “Laughing at/with the disabled”.

This is a link to my most recent article on the controversy which contains links to the other articles on the issue.  “Michael Noonan exposes his naughty bits”

Since  Noonan has released his controversial footage to the public it has been widely applauded and the criticism against it in the name of “the disabled”  has dissolved. 

However Noonan is still being criticised, this time for inappropriate representation of Aboriginal people in one of the released clips.

So Paradigm Oz asked Baganan Kurityityin Theresa Creed , a Kalkadoon and Pitta Pitta woman what her impressions were of the controversial Boulia Pub scene.

Baganan is not related to May, the Aboriginal woman in the footage, and cannot speak on her behalf.   She is however a traditional owner of Boulia.

This is what Baganan says………

(note Baganan is refering to James, one of the two stars of the clips when she speaks of “him” and “he”)

That was liable to happen because that was their intent to get a girlfriend for him. When he asked all the town folks and most of the girls up there had children so there wasn’t many to pick from who didnt have children.

It looked like a good mood where they were happy and cheerful and looking content with their interactions, content with each other.

Playful to the point of playfullness and a good time.

Aboriginal woman was very cautious with him, very careful with him, picked up straight away that he had disabilities and was able to give him that attention that he needed.

She was very careful with him and encouraging.

She was a very thoughtful person who was able to read where he was coming from and make sure that he felt accepted.

It was funny because this guy finally found someone after all this time, after looking everywhere, his heart was content then when he finally found someone.

The issue was to find out about a girlfriend, the issue was to go on a trip and find a girlfriend that can be good for him. Someone that was acceptable to him and acceptible to her.

Aboriginal women role in this movie was very powerful, she chose to be with him and understood the unspoken words of mental disability. She was woman affectionate as well as strong and straight, she wanted to be with him and she was sure of that, sure that she was with him, she made it happen.

She directed the playfulness and was able to get what she wanted which was his attention and they both got lost in each others joyfulness and had a playful time.

Racism could block the gap and peoples minds and make them get offended by this beautiful phenomenon. Once upon a time out west it was forbidden for black and white to be together and people who still suffer from that racism would have been very wild upset at seeing this happen.

CAUTION!                                                                                                                          Some academics may be offended  by the film footage in this link.     Michael Noonan’s Naughty Bits

The controversial Bris Vegas film maker, Michael Noonan, has been accused of producing “misanthropic and amoral trash” and exploiting people with intellectual disabilities who are not competent to make decisions for themselves in his PhD thesis “Laughing at/with the Disabled.”

This criticism can be found in the now famous Australian (newspaper) article by two academics from QUT -Gary MacLennan and John Hookham entitled “Philistines of Relativism  at the Gates” (link here).   My critique of this article can be found here.

Since the screening of Noonan’s film “Unlikely Travelers” at the recent Brisbane International Film Festival (see my review here)) the supporters of MacLennan and Hookham’s criticism have maintained their rage against Noonan, explaining that the criticism had nothing to do with “Unlikely Travellers” but was aimed at “the other one”. “The Other One” is an as yet unfinished comedy film entitled “Down Under with Darren and James”.

However Darren and James are two of the six stars of “Unlikely Travellers” who showed themselves in the film and at the launch of the film to be much more than competent to make their own decisions about their involvement in this project. One of the controversial scenes criticised by MacLennan and Hookham involving the discussion of Darren and James sharing a woman is indeed in “Unlikely Travellers”.

“Unlikely Travellers” and “Down Under with Darren and James” are both part of Noonan’s PhD project.   Noonan has been heavily criticised for not publically releasing his footage of the unfinished “other one”, attracting the accusation that he is trying to keep his dastardly deeds secret.

Well, that all changed today when Noonan’s naughty bits were published on the Courier Mail website – All the naughty bits (so far) including the woman sharing, the Aboriginal mauling and the oversized pen which was the footage that MacLennan and Hookham found so disturbing and condemned in their article.

I would like to discuss just one of the released scenes – the Aboriginal Mauling at the Boulia Pub. This was described by MacLennan and Hookham in their article thusly – “This produced a scene wherein a drunk Aboriginal woman amorously mauled William.” (“William” is the pseudonym MacLennan and Hookham gave to James for some strange reason).
This was reported on Britain’s “Times Online” - “The film, called Laughing at the Disabled, featured two mentally handicapped men who were sent into a bar to ask if there were any women looking for romance. One of them was severely beaten by a drunken Aboriginal woman.”

Now that Noonan’s naughty bits are hanging out in public, in particular the Boulia Pub Scene, this criticism can be clearly seen as the bitter, repressive, sensational and untruthful bullshit that it is.

Up until this point I have been absolutely supportive of Michael Noonan’s film work. Before I saw Unlikely Travellers I was impressed by his brief public explanations of what he was trying to do. After seeing “Unlikely Travellers”, which I was most profoundly impressed by, I had decided that this man could do no wrong. He was the cinematic messiah!

However since the Courier Mail have described Noonan as “Entirely Honourable”  I feel I have no choice but to now criticise him.

Having seen the controversial Boulia footage I have indeed found a chink in Noonan’s armour, a blemish on his perfect skin.

 The Boulia scenes shine a light on Noonan’s naivety about issues of race.
I hasten to add, Noonan’s naivety is not at all in the same category as MacLennan and Hookham’s racist and misogynist representation of the pub scene.
 It is the naivety of James (the mauled one) that made the pub scene beautiful. In a situation of the unknown, of cultural and consciousness divides, a little love was shown and it happened easily and spontaneously. The Aboriginal woman was drinking beer but showed no signs of intoxication as described by the critics, only sensitivity, love and an obvious sexual attraction to James who is indeed a handsome young man.

Noonan’s naivety, and the focus of my now brutal assault on his charachter and personal integrity, is that he appears to have not noticed the underlying racism of Boulia that emerged in some of the footage away from the pub.

I have just watched the naughty bits with my partner who, coincidently enough, is a traditional owner and custodian of dance for the Boulia region – Pitta Pitta country. Neither of us drink but there is not much to do in Boulia so we spend a lot of time in the pub when we visit there and enjoyed watching the footage.

I make a brief note, but do not want to get too complicated – the Boulia pub mauling scene contained much Aboriginal humour, expressed not just in words but in body language which adds a deeper level, or perhaps a different dimension of humour to a black audience than is accessible to a white one or even to James himself at the time.

Noonan’s introduction to his naughty bits mentions Darren and James as authors of their comedy, the Murri woman in the scene has also authored comedy within an Aboriginal cultural matrix. For those who do not see this immediately be assured it is an accepting, gracious and loving humour, not a derisive or belittling humour, unlike some of the comments form white folks in the footage.
Which brings us back to the underlying racism which if Noonan was not aware of, I now draw to his attention if he happens to stumble on this humble blog.

 The older women and the Aboriginal women in the Boulia footage commented on the spunkiness of James. When one of the white men was asked if there were any available women were around, he responded that there definitely were and that they had black or red hair. Who has black or red hair in Boulia? Murris do! Black hair, sunbleached orange hair or red tinted grey hair. These are the colour schemes of Aboriginal women which appear to be in the eyes of this particular white man the same as MacLennan and Hookham’s, as drunken sluts.

In this short footage the distinction between laughing “at” and laughing “with” is obvious (to me anyway). The Murris found a point of commonality and equality and engaged fearlessly despite the massive cultural difference. The whitefellas could not seem to achieve that same affinity with Darren and James and the fellow I just mentioned found humour in assuring James, who would not be suitable for a blonde haired woman, that he could easily find a black or red haired women from a similarly lower caste of person.

But all that is probably irrelevant as Noonan has said he was not intending to use the Boulia pub scene in the finished product. I hope he will change his mind and include it. The issues of Aboriginal Australia are very different from the issues of intellectual disability. There is however a significant similarity in that they are both perceived as “other” by mainstream culture which predominantly adheres to inaccurate stereotypes of what these “other” people are like. The Boulia Pub scene portrays both Aboriginality and disability in a positive, loving and indeed humourous light.

 Media Release 26/8/07 contact John Tracey (07) 32552146

Brisbane family challenges Queensland’s adult guardianship laws

A Brisbane family who has a member with an intellectual disability has organised a protest against Queensland’s guardianship laws.

The protest will be next Wednesday, the 29 August 2007 at 9.00 am. outside the Brisbane Magistrate’s Court, 240 Roma St. Brisbane.

(a client of the Adult Guardian is appearing before a magistrate there)

The protest will open with a traditional Aboriginal dance from family member Baganan Kurityityin Theresa Creed.

This will be followed by a forum chaired by Drew Hutton from the Qld. Greens

Spokesperson for the Family John Tracey says….

“We have called this protest to shine a light on Queensland’s adult guardianship laws”

“Qld. Guardianship laws are a totalitarian regime that encourages neglect, incompetence and cover-ups. People with intellectual disabilities are being allowed to fall through cracks in the system, some are ending up in gaol”.

“The only agency in Queensland authorised to investigate claims of neglect or abuse of Queensland adults with intellectual disabilities by their guardians is the Office of the Adult Guardian. The Office of the Adult Guardian is itself the legal guardian for many Queenslanders with impaired capacity. Therefore the only agency capable of investigating allegations of neglect and abuse by the Adult Guardian is the Adult Guardian itself – a clear conflict of interest.”

“The Guardianship and Administration Act was designed to be independent of the Attorney General and the Justice Department in order to avoid political interference. Because of this insulation it has become a law unto itself, with nobody including the Attorney General being able to investigate into its secret workings.”

“We are calling on the Queensland Attorney General to immediately take the Guardianship and Administration Act back to parliament and amend it to include some form of accountability structure for the Office of the Adult Guardian”.

“The Adult Guardian’s responsibilities to wards of the state can only be accountable, scrutinisable and transparent if its guardian function is separated from its investigative function.”

“ The Office of the Adult Guardian must be split into two separate agencies”.

“Our family has suffered the consequences of the system’s neglect, incompetence and cover-ups. We would love to speak openly about it but we have had a suppression order preventing us from doing so.”

“Like many Queensland families we will not see justice done until the Office of the Adult Guardian is reformed”

For more information or interviews contact John Tracey

ph. (07) 32552146

email kurityityin@yahoo.com

See also

http://paradigmoz.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/picket-to-demand-justice-for-people-with-intellectual-disabilities-and-their-families-Brisbane/

Background……….

I have considered the following carefully and I honestly believe it does not breach the restrictions placed on me about discussing this issue.

If there is a problem, I accept full and sole responsibility. – JT

The matters before the magistrates court on Wednesday relate to a person with a mild intelectual disability.

Four years ago this person owned a beachside unit and a 30 acre block of bushland on the Sunshine Coast. These were paid for by an insurance payout for orthopaedic injuries sustained in a car accident when he was 4 years old.

These two properties were selected by the persons family to provide an appropriate and fulfilling lifestyle for him.

Before he was able to move into these properties the Adult Guardian intervened and handed control of his assetts to the Public Trustee because they considered it an inappropriate use of money to buy a bush block as well as a primary residence. The money should be left in the bank they insisted.

The Adult Guardian then placed this person in an accomodation option of their choice and restricted contact with his mother and her family.

The car accident happened when this person was 4 years old. He had to wait until he was 18 before compensation could be awarded. As a child he lived in desparate poverty, as many Aboriginal people do, and was cared for by his single mother and grandmother. Because of his learning disability (not connected to the accident), his slow recuperation from terrible wounds and the stigma associated with his wounds his upbringing was difficult.

Today he is 25 years old and still has never recieved any benefit at all from his accident compensation payment.

A usual fee charged by the Public Trustee to administer the assetts of a person in a situation such as this is over one hundred dollars per week. They appear to be the only people who may be benefiting from this persons compensation payout.

For most of the past year this person has been homeless. He has lived in parks for most of this time and now he is in a hostel close to Fortitude Valley . He still spends much time walking around the inner city, especially at night.

The Adult Guardian have resisted moves by his family to get him out of the inner city, insisting his present hostel is the best possible accomodation option – despite him being (theoretically) wealthy enough to buy or build a mansion customised to his every need.

When he was living in the Park they refused to allow him to go to his family on Palm Island, insisting that living in the park was a better option than Palm Island.

This person has very dark skin and attracts the attention of the police when he walks around.

He has been arrested many times in the last year for various street offences and continues to get in regular trouble with the police.

He is in court on Wednesday and is facing imprisonment for these accumulated offences.

Before the Adult Guardian’s intervention this person was a wealthy land owner with allmost infinite lifestyle options. Since the Adult Guardian’s intervention he has settled into a homeless lifestyle and is now facing gaol.

I alledge that since, and as a direct result of, the Adult Guardian’s intervention the person’s mother has suffered a heart attack and two accute anxiety eposodes resulting in her becoming incapacitated . She is now on a disability pension.

The person (son) has been assessed by the same clinical psychologist 4 years ago, 7 years ago and aprox 15 years ago as having depressive and psychiatric conditions as well as not being able to cope with separation from his mother.

This same clinical psychologist reports have also explicitly reported that the person has never had a head injury after examination of all his medical reports since his accident.

The Adult Guardian and the GAAT (informed by the Adult Guardian) insist that the person has no depressive or psychiatric condition.

The GAAT (informed by the Adult Guardian) has deemed the person as lacking the capacity to make his own decisions on the basis of a brain injury as a result of his car accident.

The Adult Guardian’s information directly contradicts assesments by 3 separate psychiatrists who clearly and explicitly state the person has the capacity to make decisions about his life.

The Adult Guardian have no medical assessments to support their departure from the prior assessments.

The decision whether to retain a solicitor for the person to represent his interests in these matters is made exclusively by the Adult Guardian, his guardian for legal matters. If such a solicitor was retained, they would be instructed exclusively by the Adult Guardian.

The persons family are not legally able to seek legal advice on behalf of the person.

The persons family are not legally able to initiate legal action for the person as the Adult Guardian has that exclusive power.

All these issues have been presented to the GAAT which has either dismissed them without giving reasons why or refused to hear them alltogether.

This is why we have taken the drastic step of a public picket. We can think of no other option but political action to pursue the interests of the person.

This is why I have taken the risky step of putting this information here. There is no other forum or authority than “the people” for us to take our concerns to. We have exhausted all other avenues.

See also ABC law report 15/8/06 “Guardianship and Administration Tribunal”  

Update – while the suppression order seems to have prevented media coverage of our picket, the Courier Mail has been following the issues with other cases and published the following on Sept 1……  “Unwilling ward of the state”

Join the campaign to reform  the Queensland Office of the Adult Guardian.

Please pass this link to friends and networks in Brisbane.

There will be a picket  Wednesday, the 29 August 2007 at 9.00 am. outside the Brisbane Magistrate’s Court, 240 Roma St. Brisbane to demand reform of the Queensland Office of the Adult Guardian.

(note – this building is not the office of the Adult Guardian.  We have chosen this venue because a client of the Adult Guardian is appearing before a magistrate there)

The picket will be opened by a traditional Aboriginal dance from Baganan Kurityityin Theresa Creed.

There will be an open forum during the picket chaired by Drew Hutton. All are welcome to speak.

             An invitation from Theresa Creed and John Tracey

Please join us to demand reform of Queensland’s guardianship laws.

We do not want to deceive anyone. This picket is about a particular problem that is occurring in our family. We would love to tell you the details but have been threatened with imprisonment if we do.

For seven years we have struggled with the Adult Guardian. We have gone up and down the right channels over and over again – without justice for a member of our family.

So we have called this picket to publically demand one thing, a demand that is relevant to thousands of other Queensland families – Reform the Office of the Adult Guardian!.

We demand that the Office of the Adult Guardian’s dual functions of investigator and legal Guardian for people with intellectual disabilities be split into two separates agencies. This would require the Office of the Adult Guardian, as a guardian, to be as accountable to scrutiny as any other legal guardian. At present the Office of the Adult Guardian investigates itself, or more accurately, does not investigate itself - including responding to complaints from their clients, client’s families or anyone else.

At present Queensland’s Guardianship and Administration Act allows for no accountability or scrutiny from anyone. Even the Attorney General, the elected parliamentarian and member of the state executive whose department the Adult Guardian is a part of , is legislatively unable to demand information and reports from the Adult Guardian or initiate any official investigation of any sort.

On top of this lack of accountability, Section 129  of the Guardianship and administration Act extinguishes any obligation at all to protect the rights of the adult or the integrity of the decisions made or to test information provided to the tribunal by the Adult Guardian.

Section 129 allows the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal (whose only investigative wing is the Office of the Adult Guardian) to conduct hearings and make orders that suspend all principles and protocols contained in its own act for up to six months.

Section 129 is a wild card allowing the tribunal to make decisions totally outside of legal frameworks. This section removes even the requirement for the person with a disability to be present or represented at a hearing, even if the Tribunal Orders to remove a person’s right to make decisions about where they live and who they associate with.   This situation has occurred, it is not a hypothetical fear.

Totalitarian laws and agencies such as Queensland’s guardianship regime should have no place in the lives of any Australian citizen.

These white laws have no place in Aboriginal family business

These laws, and the incompetence that flows from them are directly responsible for many people with intellectual disabilities being left to fall though the cracks in the system – often ending up in gaol.

In our family’s case as with other Aboriginal families, they are also a significant contributing factor to the over-representation of Aboriginal people in gaols.

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Please contact the Queensland Attorney General to support reform to Queensland Guardianship Laws         Attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au

See also……

ABC law report 15/8/06 “Guardianship and Administration Tribunal”

Courier Mail 3/07/07 “Life support decision slammed”

For more information

Campaign to Reform the Adult Guardian (CRAG)
kurityityin(at)yahoo(dot)com
ph. Bris (07) 32552146

I will post updates on the situation in the comments section – stay tuned! – J.T.

(I have closed comments to anyone else)

“The big dilemma for disabled actors is that they are a tiny minority, unable to get agents, regular work, or even their foot in the door.” 

“Liberal guilt is suffocating. Is it ever okay to laugh at the disabled?”

“………but the fact remains that the disability humor in “South Park” is outrageously funny. I’m disabled and I laugh at it, so it must be OK, right? There’s nothing worse than a disabled person who takes it all too seriously. That’s a one-way ticket to serious long-term misery.”

These quotes are excerpts from an interview,  “Hobbling Hollywood”   from the U.S. blog “The Warren Report” Warren Etheredge interviews Seattle movie critic Jeff Shannon about the representation of people with disabilities in Hollywood.The article is copyright so I won’t reproduce it but I recommend the link to those curious about the issues raised by Michael Noonan’s film “Unlikely Travellers” and the criticism against his PhD thesis “Laughing at/with the Disabled”.

The controversial movie “Unlikely Travellers” by Brisbane film maker Michael Noonan had its world premier on Sunday (Aug 12) as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival. The documentary features the lives of a group of people with intellectual disabilities who travel to Egypt as well as their families and support workers.

Up until Sunday’s screening “Unlikely Travellers” has benefited from perhaps the most sensational pre-publicity campaign of any independent documentary ever made in Australia.

Noonan’s academic work at the Queensland University of Technology , including the production of “Unlikely Travellers”, has come under severe public criticism by two academics, Gary MacLennan and John Hookham, who claim his work demeans and exploits people with disabilities. As a result of this criticism MacLennan and Hookham were charged, convicted and suspended without pay for six months for crimes against Q.U.T., This in turn ignited an international media sensation around free speech and censorship which has still not died down.

Noonan’s work has been condemned across the globe, yet until Sunday’s BIFF screening nobody has seen it except a small group of quarreling academics. The anticipation of the release of this film has been electric, further energised by recent news that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is investigating QUT’s action against the two suspended academics. – A publicist’s dream!

Those looking for controversy will not be disappointed by “Unlikely Travellers”. It is indeed confronting, morally ambiguous and in many places sexist. Such is the nature of the real lives of real people presented in the documentary.

“Unlikely Travellers” is about adventure. The first half of the movie documents the physical and emotional preparation for the trip to Egypt, the second half focuses on the trip itself and its consequences. This journey is a collective step into the unknown that changed the lives of each of the participants.

Noonan, his crew and camera have been allowed privileged access into the lives of the cast. Inside he finds some of the key issues relating to the rights of people with intellectual disabilities, especially as weighed up against the will of their families and support workers. But Noonan’s film does not make any grand gesture in support of these rights, instead exploring the complexities, contradictions, differing perspectives and needs of all those involved including family and support workers. His interviews with over-protective parents about over-protectiveness is as profound and enlightening as it is contradictory. The families interviewed have been brave and honest in discussing their real family situation, not just detached principles and protocols governing the lives of people with disability.

One of the themes of the movie is sexuality. It is an honest, beautiful and disturbing insight into the unresolved issues of sex, marriage and children from the perspective of the travelers, their families and their support workers. The anxieties of temporarily separated spouses (Nicole left her husband at home while she went to Egypt), holiday romances, fidelity and fickleness are all confronted head on with no neat resolutions. The authority in charge of this project, John Hart from the Spectrum organisation also shares his own challenges as a support worker as to when and if he should intervene in relationships heading in the direction of sexual intimacy. He respects the adulthood and independence of the travelers at the same time as being morally and legally responsible for their well being. Lucky for him the trip only lasted two weeks and the dilemma is handed back to the families.

And then there is the terrible sexism! There are two characters that stand out in this film – James and Darren. These are the two who Noonan is presently working with on a comedy project. Their aptitude for such a project shines brightly in “Unlikely Travellers” as it did with their impromptu speeches after the screening. Darren, 40 and James, 20 develop a friendship which provides much of the comic relief in this documentary. Darren is the ideas man, he knows what he wants (which includes women!) and he has a fair idea how to go about getting it. The more reserved and intellectual James has reached the point in his life where he wants to be independent and is obviously inspired by Darren’s zest for life and mischief. James is willingly drawn into Darren’s grand schemes including moving into a house together to create a barbeque wonderland that will attract women.

One of the scenes singled out by the QUT critics was of James’ figuring that if Darren got a girlfriend then the two could share her. This was well received by the audience who laughed at the statement as well as Darren’s interjection that this might not be possible to arrange. This scene is near the end of the film and the audience has already got two know the two men well. In this context the scene is neither sexist nor offensive but just another insight into complicated perspectives of sexuality, humour and independence.

Darren emerges as the expedition leader as he pursues his quest to find out if there is a trap door underneath the foot of the Sphinx and how Tutankhamen died, if indeed he did die.. Darren’s excitement at proving his brother wrong about how many Sphinxes there are in Egypt was audibly shared by the audience, as was his disappointment at discovering that some people in Egypt may try and rip him off – a truly sad point in the movie.

There are other sad moments such as Stanley’s story of welfare authorities taking away his three children, and then losing his wife because of the pressure of losing the children. His brave attempt at a holiday romance and coming back to earth after the trip is also a brave and honest insight into the life of this particular person with an intellectual disability. For me the saddest part of the movie was Stanley explaining that the authorities had decided it was not appropriate for his children to see him off at the airport or to welcome him home as all the other travelers’ families had.

All the travelers – Nicole, James, Darren, Stanley, Natasha and Carla – have their own unique stories which are portrayed with depth and integrity. It is the intertwining of all the different stories that holds this film together.

Viewing the film has dismissed in my mind the much publicised criticism that Noonan has an exploitative or inappropriate attitude towards disability. Four of the six unlikely travelers spoke after the film, expressing a deep gratitude to Noonan and Spectrum for the experience, as did members of their families speaking from the floor.

Darren took the microphone to the cheers of the audience, a situation that he immediately took advantage of to show his talent as a comic orator, Stanley spoke and gave an update on his continuing struggle to be reunited with his children. James opened the floor to questions and skillfully handled heckling from his mother. Nicole made some insightful comments about the comparative difference of cultures in Egypt and Australia.

MacLennan and Hookham have criticised one scene in “Unlikely Travellers”, but to be fair to them the bulk of their attack is on Noonan’s current work in progress – the “Down Under Mystery Tour”with Darren and James. Again nobody in the world has seen this except the same small group of quarreling academics. Supporters of the suspended academics handed out leaflets at Sunday’s screening claiming they were not talking about “Unlikely Travellers” as an example of “misanthropic and amoral trash”, only the “Down Under Mystery Tour”. This ongoing criticism is sure to inflame the pre-publicity of “Down Under Mystery Tour” as with “Unlikely Travellers”. Noonan sure is lucky with publicity!

I look forward to seeing how Noonan tackles comedy in his next project. I also look forward to laughing at the antics of Darren and James, I predict we will see a lot more of these two movie stars in the future.

John Tracey