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The Whistleno. 68, October 2011 “All that is needed for evil to prosper is for people of good will to do nothing”—Edmund Burke The Whistle No. 68, October 2011 Newsletter of Whistleblowers Australia “As part of my treatment, I need a nurse with a whistle.” Media watch O’Farrell steps in “I conclude that the justice of the Top court backs case requires that the state, the suc- for whistleblower cessful party, be entitled to its costs,” whistleblowers Britt Smith and Adam Bennett he said. Alexander Bratersky Australian Associated Press Ms Sneddon told the media she was Moscow Times, 1 July 2011 3 August 2011 facing the prospect of severe financial hardship because of the decision. The Constitutional Court on Thursday THE whistleblower in the Milton “It was supposed to be compensa- ruled that state employees cannot be Orkopoulos child sex case won’t have tion. How does that compensate what I punished for engaging in whistle- to pay the state’s legal costs after NSW have gone through, that I could be on blowing activities against their superi- Premier Barry O’Farrell stepped in to medication for life,” she told Fairfax ors. The court based its ruling on the save the woman he calls a “hero.” Radio Network. case of two state employees, a police Mr O’Farrell announced the bailout Then came the surprise twist. Mr officer and tax inspector, who both for Gillian Sneddon hours after a NSW O’Farrell announced just before 3pm were fired for criticizing their bosses. Supreme Court judge ruled against her to parliament that the state would pick “A state employee might express his in the costs decision on Wednesday. up the bill. opinion (based on real facts) if it The premier said Ms Sneddon, who “The state government will help concerns public interests and if it is not believes the bill could be as much as Gillian Sneddon cover her legal lia- motivated by an intent to defame or $175,000, should not be financially bility to the state,” he said. pursue personal goals,” said the ruling punished for her “courageous” act. “I don’t see why she should have to published on the court website. Justice Derek Price’s order meant suffer any more financial hardship as a The decision was made in favor of Ms Sneddon stood to lose more than a result of acting in a decent and coura- Alexei Mukomolin, a police officer third of her damages payout from her geous way. from Tolyatti in the Samara region case against Orkopoulos, who has been “She did not commit any crime, she who criticized his superiors in a video jailed, and her employer, the Speaker did not do anything that was wrong, statement posted online in 2009. Soon of the NSW Legislative Assembly. and nor should she have to be finan- after, Mukomolin received a warning In June she was awarded $438,613 cially punished.” and, after he staged a picket in protest, after Justice Price accepted she suf- In 2008, Orkopoulos, the former was fired from the police force. The fered psychiatric injury because the Aboriginal affairs minister, was jailed other plaintiff, Lyubov Koratyeva, a former Labor politician had bullied for at least nine years for child sex and tax inspector from Moscow, was fired and harassed her. drugs offences. after questioning his superiors’ travel But the 54-year-old, who worked in Justice Price accepted the MP made expenses during an interview on the MP’s Swansea electorate, lost her inappropriate and offensive comments Stolitsa television. bid against the state — also a defend- to Ms Sneddon, spoke to her aggres- Dmitry Medvedev has made the ant in the legal battle — which then sively, mocked her and yelled at her in fight against corruption a hallmark of pursued her for costs. front of a constituent, and bypassed her his presidency, and anti-corruption by asking another staffer to perform experts said the court ruling marked a tasks. key step in the right direction. “The She was also unable to enter the fight against corruption would be office after the locks were changed at impossible without this decision being the request of Orkopoulos with the made,” said Kirill Kabanov, head of agreement of the Speaker’s office. the nongovernmental National Anti- Ms Sneddon said the behaviour Corruption Committee. But Kabanov, continued for about a year after a member of the presidential commis- reporting an October 2005 phone call, sion on human rights, said the court in which a man said he had been ruling raises further questions because sexually abused by Orkopoulos since federal law doesn’t define “public Gillian Sneddon he was 15. interest.” He said it would be impor- tant to include the definition in the law. She argued she shouldn’t have to pay The court ruling comes after courts up because of the “unusual circum- have ruled against the authorities in stances” of the case and that doing so several high-profile defamation cases. would effectively deny her much of “I see that there is a growing tendency her compensation. that courts rule not in favor of authori- In rejecting that argument, the judge ties, and this is a positive sign,” Ivan said it was the plaintiff’s decision to Starikov, a former deputy economic embark upon litigation with the minister and now opposition leader, Speaker and the state as defendants. told the Moscow Times. Starikov said 2 The Whistle, #68, October 2011 he was specifically referring to the “dedicated to cultural freedom, di- celled” appeared across a picture of case of Kommersant reporter Oleg versity and creativity.” Authors, film- me. There was no explanation. None of Kashin, who was acquitted in June of makers and poets make their way to a my phone calls was returned, nor defamation in a lawsuit filed by Vasily sanctum of liberalism bankrolled by subsequent emails answered. A Kafka Yakemenko, head of the Federal the billionaire Patrick Lannan in the world of not-knowing descended. Agency for Youth Affairs and a tradition of Rockefeller and Ford. The silence lasted a week until, founder of the pro-Kremlin Nashi The foundation also awards under pressure from local media, the youth group. Kashin had linked “grants” to America’s liberal media, foundation put out a terse statement Yakemenko to an attack that left him such as Free Speech TV, the Founda- that too few tickets had been sold to in a coma last fall. tion for National Progress (publisher of make my visit “viable,” and that “the In another example, Memorial the magazine Mother Jones), the Foundation regrets that the reason for human rights chief Oleg Orlov Nation Institute and the TV and radio the cancellation was not explained to achieved a similar victory in June programme Democracy Now!. In Mr Pilger or to the public at the time when a court cleared him of slandering Britain, it has been a supporter of the the decision was made.” Doubts were Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, cast by a robust editorial in the Santa whom he had linked to the 2009 killing of which I am one of the judges. In Fe New Mexican. The paper, which of rights worker Natalya Estemirova. 2008, Patrick Lannan backed Barack has long played a prominent role in Obama’s presidential campaign. Ac- promoting Lannan Foundation events, cording to the Santa Fe New Mexican, disclosed that my visit had been he is “devoted” to Obama. cancelled before the main advertising The strange silencing of and previews were published. A full- liberal America page interview with me had to be Obama’s greatest achievement pulled hurriedly. “Pilger and Bar- is having seduced, co-opted samian could have expected closer to a and silenced much of packed 820-seat Lensic [arts centre].” liberal opinion in the US. The manager of The Screen, the John Pilger Santa Fe cinema that had been rented New Statesman, 7 July 2011 for the premiere, was called late at night and told to kill all his online HOW does political censorship work in promotion for my film. He was given liberal societies? When my film Year US President Barack Obama speaks no explanation, but took it on himself in front of a screen showing his Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia Twitter message at the start of a to reschedule the film for 23 June. It was banned in the United States in “Twitter Town Hall,” 6 July 2011. was a sell-out, with many people 1980, the broadcaster PBS cut all Photograph: Getty Images turned away. The idea that there was contact. Negotiations were ended no public interest was demonstrably abruptly; phone calls were not re- World of not-knowing not true. turned. Something had happened. But On 15 June, I was due in Santa Fe, what? Year Zero had already alerted having been invited to share a platform Symptom of suppression much of the world to Pol Pot’s horrors, with the distinguished American jour- Theories? There are many, but nothing but it also investigated the critical role nalist David Barsamian. The founda- is proven. For me, it is all reminiscent of the Nixon administration in the tion was also to host the US premiere of long shadows cast during the cold tyrant’s rise to power and the devasta- of my new film, The War You Don’t war. “Something is going to surface,” tion of Cambodia. See, which investigates the false said Barsamian. “They can’t keep the Six months later, a PBS official told image-making of warmakers, espe- lid on this.” me: “This wasn’t censorship.
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