Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 09 July
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Asylum seekers: what do we do with them? This question has vexed politicians on all sides of parliament for the past decade or more. It’s been front and centre in Australian political debate – and few can deny that the language, logistics, and laws relating to refugees (especially those reaching Australian waters by boat) are complicated, emotive, and political.
Former defence minister Peter Reith and former Guantanamo lawyer and social justice campaigner Dan Mori join host Sally Warhaft to discuss asylum seekers: the global push-pull factors, political pressures, possible solutions and the consequences of current policies.
Featuring
Dan Mori
Lieutenant Colonel Dan Mori (Ret) is renowned for challenging the US military commission system. He is now working for Shine Lawyers in Australia to provide access to justice for those who would otherwise be forgotten.
Mr Mori joined the Shine Lawyers social justice team in 2012 after serving almost 30 years in the United States Marine Corps. He is well-known for representing Australian citizen and Guantánamo Bay detainee David Hicks between 2003 and 2007. In June 2007, Mr Mori was presented with an honorary membership of the Australian Bar Association for his defence of David Hicks. Later that year he was awarded a civil justice award from the Australian Lawyers Alliance as ‘recognition by the legal profession of unsung heroes who, despite personal risk or sacrifice, have fought to preserve individual rights, human dignity or safety’.
Mr Mori has worked as a senior military judge and has received several US awards and decorations. These include the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corp Achievement Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award. He is now studying to be admitted as a solicitor in Australia and continues to advise Shine Lawyers on human rights and social justice cases.
Sally Warhaft
Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year ...
Peter Reith
Peter Reith was a senior cabinet minister in the Australian government from 1996 to 2001 and then a director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 2003 to 2009.
Since 2009, he has been a regular commentator on the ABC’s Drum TV and a weekly Drum columnist. He has also appeared on The Bolt Report, been a regular on Sky AM Agenda, and occasionally on Q&A, and in the Australian and Australian Financial Review. He is currently chairman of the Gas Task Force looking at the gas industry for the Victorian government; the report is due mid-2013.
He was a participant in the 2012 ABC TV documentary Go Back Where You Came From.