----- Original
Message -----
From: Ture Sjolander
Sent: Wednesday, August
29, 2001 8:20 PM
Subject: URGENT ATTENTION:
THE PRIME MINISTER !
----- Original
Message -----
From: Ture Sjolander
Sent: Wednesday, August
29, 2001 7:45 PM
Subject: re phone
conversation with you Townsville office 7:05 today
Dear
Peter,
Give this thoughts I present
you now your serious consideration.
I have been living for a period
on Christmas Island. 1997 the Island was visited by 6 MP's. I meet
them all . That time I suggested them a 3 point proposal which you will find on
the Internet under Indonesian "Joint standing committee on treaties" at the
Parliament House.
The reaction was very
good and part of my proposal has been established on the Island. My speech are
encl. see attachment.
What I like to tell you now is
in my opinion of great importance.
Christmas Island population are
mainly Islamic/Muslims, and the rest of the population are Malay/Chinese,
all together approx. 80 %. The present business on the Island today
is very bad after even the Casino has failed. ("Suharto" owned anyhow when it
was running) The people on the Island need jobs obviously and to build one
or even two detention center on Christmas Island would be a very good
solution for many reason, not only for the refugees.
Every new refugee will be
transported to Christmas Island the nearest future, could be one solution.
At least for a certain time...
As the Island is an Australian
territory (of great strategic importance in the future) it would be natural to
establish new detention center on the Island and the cost to build this centers,
has to be taken anyhow on the mainland of Australia, as it is proposed to
be done.
I would like to develop this
proposal to you through a phone conversation between us to start with,
and I strongly believe you can gain from presenting it in your turn, to
your fellow government colleges.
I hope you got an idea where I
am aiming. But it is urgent as you will know from the present
situation "off shore", and the upcoming election
!
Give me a call and let us
elaborate on this issue I believe is a very constructive
idea.
Give it a go,
Peter.
Faithfully
Ture
Sjolander
This is the html
version of the file
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/joint/commttee/j7026932.pdf.
Google automatically generates html versions of documents
as we crawl the web.
PROOF
COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON
TREATIES
Reference:
Australia-Indonesia Maritime Delimitation Treaty
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
Thursday, 9 October 1997
PROOF
HANSARD REPORT
CONDITIONS OF DISTRIBUTION
This is an uncorrected proof of evidence taken before the
Committee
and it is made available under the condition that it is
recognised as such
CANBERRA
JOINT STANDING
COMMITTEE ON TREATIES
Members:
Mr Taylor
(Chairman)
Mr McClelland
(Deputy Chairman)
Senator
Abetz
Mr
Adams
Senator
Bourne
Mr
Bartlett
Senator
Coonan
Mr Laurie
Ferguson
Senator
Cooney
Mr
Hardgrave
Senator
Murphy
Ms
Jeanes
Senator
Neal
Mr Tony
Smith
Senator
O’Chee
Mr
Truss
For inquiry
into and report on:
Australia-Indonesia Maritime Delimitation
Treaty.
CONDITIONS OF DISTRIBUTION
This is an uncorrected proof of evidence taken before the
Committee and
it is made available under the condition that it is
recognised as such
WITNESSES
BARRY, Mr Julian
Titus, Programs Director, Parks Australia (North), GPO
Box 1260, Darwin,
Northern Territory 0801 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
155
DAWSON, Mr
Russell Stephen, President, Christmas Island Chamber
of
Commerce, PO Box
510, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean,
Western
Australia 6798 .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 166
FERGUSON, Mr
John, Christmas Island Resort, Christmas Island,
Indian
Ocean, Western
Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
186
HART, Mr Roger
Ian, Project Officer, Parks Australia (North), PO Box ZZZ,
Christmas Island, Indian
Ocean 6798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
155
MABERLY, Mr Paul
Anthony, Chief Executive Officer, Shire of Christmas
Island, PO Box
863, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean 6798 . . . . . .
. . . . . . 134
MABERLY, Mr Paul
Anthony, Chief Executive Officer, Shire of Christmas
Island, PO Box
863, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, Western
Australia
6798 . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 188
MEEK, Mr Paul
Douglas, Natural Resources Manager, Environment
Australia, Parks
Australia (North), PO Box ZZZ, Christmas Island,
Indian Ocean 6798
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 155
MOCKERIDGE, Mr
Anthony Jeffrey, Acting General Secretary, Union of
Christmas Island Workers,
Poon Saan Road, Poon Saan, Christmas
Island, Indian
Ocean 6798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
150
MURRAY, Mr David
John, Government Conservator, Parks Australia
(North), PO Box
ZZZ, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean 6798 . . . . . .
. . . . 155
RUMPFF, Dr Holger
Julius, Project Officer, Natural Resources Department,
Environment
Australia, Biodiversity Group, Parks Australia (North),
PO Box ZZZ, Christmas Island, Indian
Ocean 6798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
SJOLANDER, Mr Ture, PO Box 481,
Christmas
Island,
Western Australia
6798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
184
SMOLDERS, Mr
Andrew Godefridus, Shire President, Shire of Christmas
Island, PO Box
104, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean 6798 . . . . . .
. . . . . . 134
SPENCE,
Superintendent Philip Martin, Officer in Charge, Australian
Federal
Police, Christmas Island, Indian
Ocean 6798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
WALLEY, Dr Allan
Stephen, Box HHH, Christmas Island, Indian
Ocean,
Western Australia
6798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
180
JOINT
STANDING COMMITTEE ON TREATIES
Australia-Indonesia Maritime Delimitation
Treaty
CHRISTMAS ISLAND
Thursday, 9
October 1997
Present
Mr Taylor
(Chairman)
Senator
Coonan
Mr
Adams
Mr
Hardgrave
Mr Tony
Smith
The
committee met at 2.19 p.m.
Mr Taylor
took the chair.
133
TR 184
JOINT
Thursday, 9 October 1997
[5.04 p.m.]
SJOLANDER, Mr Ture, PO Box 481, Christmas Island, Western
Australia 6798
CHAIRMAN:
Welcome. In what capacity are you appearing before the
committee?
Mr Sjolander, I am a Swedish citizen, but I have been a
resident of Australia for a decade. I came over here in December 1996. In
January I was invited to the final negotiation in Woolloomooloo, Sydney,
on a Swedish warship. It was a competition between Siemens Germany and
Sweden's Kockums to build submarines. Some of them are built now.
I suggested at that time, because it was a hard competition,
one should make it a joint operation, a joint venture. That is what
happened and they were built in Adelaide, not at Kockums, because there
were a lot of incidents during that time on the coastline in Sweden with
the Soviet Union, or whatever it was.
After 14 days I am in a new residence on the island. I have
seen what you have seen: you are accommodated in the laundry on the other
side of the island, and now you have seen this, dust machine, on this
side of the island and all the asbestos and the
species called human beings. they are as threatened as birds,
or whatever, as far as I can see. This is the most neglected Australian
super potential I have seen during my 10 years in this country: on my
flight in, I saw a pearl in the ocean.
Yesterday I wrote something for myself after 14 days
observation, day and night, I would say, and my conclusion yesterday was
to make some kinds of proposals to you.
You are all members of the parliament and, firstly, to make it
short, we could build a submarine underground harbour here. I do not
think that I have to promote that more because you have already
emphasised the strategic importance of this island.
Secondly, we could investigate the feasibility of inviting
James Cook University, which is very good in marine science, and the
Australian Institute of Marine Science in Cleveland Bay to come over here
for a symposium and we could make that a first research station for
scientists in residence here. That could be a very good combination of
investigating the water around here and, if I go back to point 1 again,
even if a submarine underground harbour is not built here, it could be a
very good argument or motivation to publish it with regard to this treaty
with Indonesia.
Thirdly, I think that this is a very good place to link the
international program of space with an observatory. All three of these
three activities are very clean and none of them seem to be
environmentally problematic at all, and they could create a hell of a lot
of good jobs here on the island. It would not just be this dust producing
hellhole and a money laundering machine, as I can see it.
What I say could also give a better future for tourism, and
livinstandards; and, probably, the environment on this island should be
much better, too. Fourthly, why not open up with a symposium on this
island and invite all these people? Maybe the host could be a national
park.
That is all I want to say.
CHAIRMAN,
Thank you.
TREATIES