SYDNEY BRIEFING April 2005

News this month

Riot redux

The state government of New South Wales has finally agreed to an inquiry into riots that rocked a Sydney suburb in late February. Violent unrest erupted in Macquarie Fields following the deaths of two teenage boys, Matt Robertson and Dylan Raywood, which many blamed on local police. The youths died in a police chase on February 25th, after their stolen car crashed. Over the next four nights, about 200 youths took to the streets, hurling petrol bombs, rocks and abuse at police. Jesse Kelly, the alleged driver of the vehicle, fled from the crash but later surrendered to the police. He has been charged with manslaughter, assault and causing affray.

Sydneysiders were shocked by the riots. They took place a year after a similar outburst in the inner-city district of Redfern, also sparked by the death of a teen who was chased by police. Both have brought to light areas of the city that are relatively untouched by Australia's economic prosperity. Macquarie Fields, built during Sydney's westward expansion in the 1970s, is beset with poor transport and high crime and unemployment rates, which helped fuel the discontent that led to the riots. The inquiry will examine policing strategies and resources in and around the suburb.

Labor leads

Australia's opposition Labor party increased its hold over the Sydney constituency of Werriwa in a by-election on March 19th. The vote was called after the sudden resignation in January of Mark Latham as Labor leader and the district's MP. The constituency in Sydney’s sprawling western suburbs, including Macquarie Fields, has long been a Labor stronghold: Mr Latham held it comfortably at the general election last October. But Labor strategists have worried about a trend of supposedly safe Labor seats falling to the ruling conservative Liberal Party, led by John Howard, the prime minister, at the last two elections.

In the by-election, Chris Hayes, the new Labor MP, earned 3% more votes than Mr Latham had. Although the Liberals did not field an official candidate, one independent among the 16 contenders declared his membership in the Liberal Party and displayed Mr Howard’s picture at polling booths. This Labor victory is seen as a backlash against Mr Howard’s government over interest rates. The prime minister had promised to keep interest rates down during the runup to the general election in October. But Australia's independent central bank then raised them by one-quarter of a point on March 2nd. Economists predict a second hike could follow. Such news has surely rattled Werriwa's wealthy residents, who are rather attached to their big, new “McMansions”.

Unrelated

In a remarkable turn of events, Tony Abbott, Australia’s health minister, has learned that the illegitimate son he thought he had discovered is not really his child at all. Mr Abbott revealed in February that he had recently met Daniel O'Connor, a 27-year-old whom he believed was his son from a relationship he had as a 19-year-old law student at the University of Sydney. The baby's mother gave him up for adoption five days after his birth. Late last year, Mr O'Connor found his mother, who told him that Mr Abbott was his father.

On March 21st, Mr Abbott announced he was “numb” after finding that Mr O'Connor was actually another man's child. The unnamed father had contacted Mr O'Connor's mother after all the publicity to say that he suspected he was the true father. Mr Abbott, Mr O'Connor, his mother and this man all took DNA tests, which proved the latter correct. Mr Abbott, well-known for his religious conservatism and pro-family views, represents the wealthy Warringah electorate on Sydney's north shore. Mr O'Connor is a sound technician whose work had included press conferences given by Mr Abbott.

Troubled road

The Pacific Highway, which links Sydney and Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, is one of Australia's most dangerous and frequented roads. Unlike the southern freeway that connects Sydney and Melbourne, the Pacific remains a two-lane road for most of its 1,000km (621 miles). After two accidents in 1989 killed 55 people, state and federal governments have promised to upgrade the road to freeway standards. But 16 years later, only one-third of the upgrade is complete.

Hopes rose on March 20th when John Anderson, Australia's deputy prime minister, said he wanted to privatise the renovation. His plan makes the highway Australia's first inter-city toll road, and brings the forecast completion date forward from 2025 to 2010. The highway cuts through a region predicted to be Australia's fastest growing over the next decade, as retiring baby-boomers abandon Sydney for places in the sun. The federal and New South Wales governments are spending A$2.2 billion ($1.7 billion) between them on improvements, but funding runs out next year.

A fighter's funeral

A state funeral was held on March 22nd for Bob Bellear, Australia's first and only aboriginal judge. Born into a poor aboriginal community in Billinudgel, in northern New South Wales, Bellear joined the navy and was motivated to study law after witnessing police harassment of aborigines in Redfern. After graduating from the University of New South Wales in 1978, he became assisting counsel to a commission that looked into the deaths of aboriginals in police custody, in the late 1980s. He was appointed to the bench in 1996, and he helped found the Aboriginal Legal Service and Aboriginal Medical Service, both in Sydney. He died at the age of 60 from asbestos-related cancer, which he apparently contracted while in the navy. The New South Wales state parliament suspended its session during Bellear's funeral at the Sydney Town Hall.

Catch if you can

April 2005

The Petrov Affair

Until April 3rd 2005

This exhibit marks the 50th anniversary of the Petrov Affair, one of the most dramatic events in post-war Australia. Vladimir Petrov and his wife Evdokia arrived in Canberra in 1951 attached to the Soviet embassy. Both were actually KGB members. Vladimir's defection led to the picture here, which shows Soviet agents dragging Evdokia across the tarmac of Sydney airport to a plane bound for Moscow. Anti-communist demonstrators that had been tipped off were waiting at the airport, and tried to rescue her. They failed, but Evdokia was later wrestled free by Australian intelligence agents when the plane refuelled in Darwin.

There are still those who say the conservative government of the day, led by Robert Menzies, stage-managed the drama to win an election during the cold war. The exhibits here testify to the drama: there are newsreels, photographs, documents and formerly secret files released by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the country’s domestic spy agency.

Old Parliament House, King George Terrace, Parkes, Canberra. Tel: +61 (02) 6270 8222. Open: Daily, 9am-5pm. Admission: A$2. See the exhibition website and our mini-guide to Canberra.

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