ROSS FITZGERALD
No. It’s not because November 5 is the date of the American election, in which Ronald Thump (my fictional creation in the Grafton Everest political satires) may win by a whisker.
No. It’s not because November 5 is the date of the Melbourne Cup, in which Francesco Guardi, trainer by Chris Waller is a good each-way bet at 26 to 1.
It is actually because on November 5 (Guy Fawkes Day) 1974, at the instigation of my long time friend Barry Humphries, I met the luminous model and actor Lyndal Moor …
By ROSS FITZGERALD
In the forthcoming October 26 state elections, my prediction is that Labor in Queensland will get hammered. As it happens, Labor in Queensland is the name of a political history that I co-authored with Sigrid Thorntons’s brother, Harold Thornton.
In the recent Northern Territory election there was a 23 pre cent swing against the ALP.All signs indicate that, on Saturday October 26 in Queensland, there will be swing against Labor of about 10 per cent.
The primary problem for the state ALP is that Stephen Miles and his government are …
My father Bill (“Long Tom”) Fitzgerald and one of Australia’s greatest spin bowlers – the enigmatic Jack Iverson.Jack Iverson was, my father often told me, the finest bowler to whom he ever kept.
Playing against England, in the home Ashes series of 1950–51, Iverson led the Australian bowling averages with 21 wickets at 15.24 runs per wicket. Bamboozling the Poms, in one Test he got 6 for 27. A little known fact is that Jack Iverson’s. highest score in all five Tests was 1 not out.
A Famous Old Club: A History …
Prison shame passes unnoticed on the ACT campaign trail, by Andrew Fraser.
The Alexander Maconochie Centre federal prison in Canberra… “Even discounting for hatred of “the screws”, so many former and current inmates are speaking out and the picture is uniform: drugs are rife in the AMC.”
“Even in the very teeth of the ACT election campaign, it seems, reports of malfeasance by staff at the Alexander Maconochie Centre can be virtually ignored. There’s no votes, it seems, in the treatment of our most despised fellow citizens, which is supposed to be the …
Sunlight needed to eradicate prison horrors at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in Canberra
By Andrew Fraser
Reports of malfeasance involving staff at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, the ACT’s supposedly human-rights-compliant prison, are now too numerous and too frequent to lack substantial veracity.
Yet, even in the very teeth of the ACT election campaign, it seems they can be virtually ignored.There’s no votes, it seems, in the treatment of our most despised fellow citizens, which is supposed to be the measure of us as a civilised society.
As Professor Ross Fitzgerald so searingly spelled out …
by Andy Hopkins
The fact that Australian Army war crimes whistleblower David McBride has been granted a chance to appeal against his five years and eight months sentence at the dreadful Alexander Maconochie Centre federal prison in Canberra is long overdue.
It is important to understand that this occurred only because of the tireless efforts of Professor Ross Fitzgerald and other key supporters who continued to reveal the inhumane conditions that Mr McBride was facing. In a number of articles, Prof Fitzgerald also documented in detail, with first person corroboration, deeply disturbing …
RE John Olsen: A gift to the nationby Ross FitzgeraldPlease see the last nine lines.
My dear friend, the great Australian painter John Olsen was, at 77, the oldest artist to win the Archibald Prize.In 2019, over a long lunch at Catalina restaurant in Rose Bay facing the Sydney Harbour, I was with John and Barry Humphries when they yarned about what might happen to John’s 2005 Archibald Prize winning Self Portrait Janus- faced.
As Barry and I were then fifty years sober, it will come as no surprise that it was …
John Olsen’s gift to the nation\Ross Fitzgerald.My dear friend, the great Australian painter John Olsen was, at 77, the oldest artist to win the Archibald Prize.In 2019, over a long lunch at Catalina restaurant in Rose Bay facing the Sydney Harbour, I was with John and Barry Humphries when they yarned about what might happen to John’s 2005 Archibald Prize winning Self Portrait Janus- faced.
As Barry and I were then fifty years sober, it will come as no surprise that it was John who did all the drinking!That afternoon, in …
Pearls and Irritations
More Letters to the Editor in relation to our article “David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra.”
1. From Anthony Charles Wakeham, Redfern, NSW, Oct 3, 2024
Prof Ross Fitzgerald’s October 1 exposé “David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Prison in Canberra” should be distributed far and wide.
Most Australians, in fact all good people around the world would be appalled to hear that an honest, military lawyer is being cruelly incarcerated for reporting war crimes. While the people responsible for those crimes walk free.
Even more shocking, is …
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Pearls and Irritations
In relation to our article David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra
1. Andrew Hopkins,NSW, Oct 2, 2024Prof Fitzgerald’s disturbing revelations about conditions endured by military whistleblower, David McBride & other inmates at the AMC in Canberra ought be taken seriously by governmental authorities and by the Australian media.
It is an utter travesty that so far, Pearls & Irritations is the only influential outlet to canvass Fitzgerald’s urgent call for a parliamentary inquiry about David McBride and conditions prevailing at the federal …
By ROSS FITZGERALD
The parlous physical and mental health of David McBride and disturbing revelations about conditions at the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra are a national disgrace.
Yet the only media outlet to cover this story is the free Canberra newspaper, City News.
When I asked two editors of national newspapers why they won’t investigate McBride’s current situation, they both responded – McBride pleaded guilty.
We need to be reminded, that, at his trial, McBride’s lawyers planned a public interest defence.
When Judge David Mossop ruled that there can be no public interest …
