Today, 25/04/2016 (ANZAC day), is the day I lost any remaining semblance of patriotism. Today is the day I realised Australia is not ours, the Australia we knew and loved is gone and the freedoms our Diggers fought for do not exist. Our children will never know Australia.
I came to this conclusion while sitting at the Southport Police Station waiting to have my fingerprints taken for a charge I truly believe is unjust, and although (after they actually charged me for this crime) I did commit it, I do believe they facilitated this crime and they contrived for me to commit it. Before you start thinking OK this is some unpatriotic rant from some “innocent” criminal etc. read on and read the whole story. Let me rewind a little bit and tell you how I got here.
A couple of weeks ago we made two videos, one was about the Queensland governments plans to amend the controversial VLAD laws by making them even worse, the other was about The New South Wales governments proposed Crime Prevention Laws, laws which will see ordinary citizens branded as criminals merely because the Police said so. A crime does not even have to be committed for a person to be slapped with a crime prevention order and have their freedoms severely restricted. I am not saying this all started because of these videos, I can’t guaranteed that, I just want to point out the timing and from our personal experiences we do know that sometimes these videos do get us into trouble.
Southport police station in all its splendor
Last Monday was just a typical day, I picked my child up from school, did homework with him, made dinner, etc. After he went to bed we stayed up, worked a little on Activist News, watched a doco, went to bed and went to sleep. Around 3 am in the morning we were woken by bashing on our door and bright lights being shone in the bedroom window. They sounded like they were trying to break down the door so I quickly jumped out of bed, wrapped a towel around me and dashed out. My partner was in the bedroom looking for clothes. I answered the door and told them to shush, people were sleeping and they informed me there were reports of Domestic Violence. I told them that we had been asleep and their ruckus had woken us up and if they didn’t mind I’d like to go back to bed now. Well, going back to bed most definitely was not on their agenda. They told me they were coming in to search and I asked for a warrant, which they informed me they did not need to have as there were Domestic violence reports. So I asked to see a badge, I am not letting people in my house at stupid o’clock in the morning when they have absolutely no reason to be there without guaranteeing they are who they say they are, and this is reasonable, just and fair. The next minute one cop has me up against the door frame, pulling my hair and twisting my arms, yelling at me to do as I am told, while the other is pushing past me into the house to start searching and two more cops arrive, my partner tried to come out but one police officer stopped him and we were both repeatedly asking ‘What is going on?”.
If they truly believed we were in a situation involving domestic violence, which was so ugly they immediately had to bust into my house and save the day, why in the world were they pushing me around and abusing me? Doesn’t this make them the ones committing the crime? They tried to cuff me and arrest me for “obstruction of duty” while I was dressed in a towel and my kid was asleep, I was asleep five minutes beforehand.
I asked them if I could go and get clothes and they said “No” by this time there were around 8 officers in my house, going through my cupboards, turning things upside down and they had already informed me I was being arrested for obstruction so I decided I was going to get my damn clothes on anyway. I am not having these people manhandle me naked. I got free of the guys grip and went to get a dress; he hindered me, yelled at me and tried to push me around the whole time. He only ceased when I dropped my towel. Afterwards they cuffed me and told me I was detained, while they searched the house.
These police officers did not question me in regards to the imagined domestic violence claims that supposedly bought them to my door at 3 am, they did not ask either of us if we were ok, they did not care that my child was asleep. They had no regards what-so-ever for the welfare of anyone in my house.
They did ask us about Anonymous, and they did ask us about Activist News, and they did ask us about corflute political signs.
I asked about Sergeant Rick Florrie at this point, two said “we don’t talk about him” and one said “He is a criminal”.
The man that said he was a criminal began to shine his torch directly into my face after that. I asked him why he would need to shine a torch in my face when every light in the house was on and told him if it was an intimidation tactic (which it was) that is was not working and to turn it off and stop being an idiot. He turned it off.
When they’d finished searching my house, created a ruckus, woken everyone, made a mess and questioned us about things completely unrelated to the alleged reason they were there they decided to charge me but leave me at home to take care of my child and took my partner (for no charge, he wasn’t arrested) to lock up until the next day.
Week old bruise (one of many) from officer knight in shining armour
So this is why I am at the Police station to give my finger prints. On Anzac day, a day where we mourn our diggers and celebrate the freedom they fought for.
When I first walked in, there was a man with an empty stroller… from what I could tell he was trying to tell the woman behind the counter that his daughters mother who did not have custody had just snatched the child from the stroller and taken off. She spoke to the man with a derisive tone, spoke over the top of him and ordered he take a seat and wait. As he waited he was getting more and more agitated, he was polite but he was pacing and his body language screamed anxiety. Obviously having no luck at the Police Station, the man dialed triple zero to report that his daughter had been abducted by the mother who was an addict and dangerous . While he was on the phone the woman behind the desk took my I.D and told me to wait. When the guy got off the phone she immediately abused him, screaming “How dare you call triple zero that is for life threatening emergencies only”.
“THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY, MY DAUGHTER’S LIFE IS AT RISK” was the man’s response. It was the first and only time he raised his voice, but the cops came out and told him off for disrespecting the staff. They took him inside and a whole lot of yelling started coming from behind the closed doors.
Next an Asian lady came in to report her car stolen; she was well dressed, well mannered. The woman behind the counter spoke over the top of her, again with a derisive tone, she questioned the woman, who spoke very good English, like as if she couldn’t be understood and in general spoke to the lady like she was stupid. I inwardly cringed at the treatment from this Julie Bishop look alike heartless creature behind the desk. A few more people came in and received the same treatment. Then a well-dressed, older white couple came in and I noticed a complete and utter change in the tone and demeanour of the Deskbeast. She was all smiles, compassion and rainbows as they reported a number of incidents of harassment from a neighbour. The Last Post on the T.V, as I sat on the flimsy plastic chairs, listening to a man out the back getting a hard time for trying to report his child being kidnapped, looking at the stricken Asian lady being ignored, thinking about how I wound up here while I was watching the Deskbeast lick upper-class white arse and realising how unjust society is. I watched people in Turkey salute and play the bugle, in the place the British purposely sent our young men to their mass slaughter, showing their respect for our diggers and being proud to be Australian.
Police station clerk at Southport, Mrs Briggs is accused of accessing files relating to investigations involving her son and his associates.
– http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/southport-police-station-clerk-accused-of-looking-up-file-of-alleged-bikie-and-porn-star-son/news-story/57df6fc592b9626354e9267167bfdaa0
Today is a day where we show our appreciation to the diggers who fought for our freedom but as I sit here all I see is oppression. Already disheartened by my observations, I decided that with all the yelling going on, and the people waiting to report crimes, it would be better if I went to another cop shop to do my particulars. So I went to the desk and said it was obviously really busy here today and I thought it would be better if I went to get my stuff done at a smaller station. I asked for my I.D to be returned. The woman told me I had to do it at this station and this station only, which is not true. I asked if she was sure and if she could please check that it had to be this station. Two cops came out and the Deskbeast basically snarled “this one didn’t want to wait around for her precious time to be wasted” I told them (or tried to tell them) it was busy here and I wanted to get my id and go to another station. The female cop, started to speak over the top of me, so I continued with what I was saying and she yelled at me to not speak over her and to look at her when she was speaking. DeskBeast began to say something nasty which I ignored and again got yelled at told to look at people when they’re speaking to me. I saluted smart-arsedly and said “Yes Sir, may I have my I.D now”. Immediately the quiet male cop jumped up and launched into a tirade about Nazi saluting on ANZAC day, I kid you not, thinking all these things about freedom and such, after being at the earlier march, he started on a rant about the diggers fighting for our freedom and how disrespectful I was. I shook my head at the irony and held my hand out for the passport. They returned it to me and I walked away from the two women ranting about respecting their authority, and the man ranting about Nazi salutes and screaming he was going to flag me as a Nazi, so despite the fact I have campaigned against bigotry in Sweden and Australia, I’ve lost a job for opposing a racist rally and I despise racism, I could now very well be flagged as a Nazi, just because he says so. He followed us out and stood looking all staunch, watching us, trying to be intimidating as we walked away.
I continued to think about the Australia that we now live in, when laws are being introduced to oppress the people, when police use intimidation tactics and rough treatment on people who have not committed a crime.
When Police who stand up and report their colleagues for brutality are the criminals and the criminals are the heroes, and cops beat up the person they were sent to protect.
When respect is demanded but most definitely not earned or given in return. We do not live in a just country.
When people are not allowed to refuse a police officer, without a warrant or even a badge entry to their home. When we are able to buy man made drugs over counters and yet we cannot choose to use a plant instead.
When public servants become public masters. We do not live in a free country.
When governments ignore the people and allow corporations to make the rules.When governments sign trade deals without knowing what is in them. When governments are paid more and more and more while the people get poorer and services get cut and cut again. When really we cannot even guarantee our vote goes to the person we choose to vote for (and in our system your vote rarely goes to who you voted for if it is not a vote for one of the two main parties)
We do not live in a democratic country.
So I question, what did our Diggers really fight for? Where is our freedom, where is our justice, where is our democracy? If this is it I want no part.
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