Amnesty International's Lighting The Dark exhibition at Magnetic Island's new Louver Gallery uses dramatic, unusual and powerful images . One is Dutton's [ Inequity ] Drawers (below) which hides the sad faces of the many refugees locked up in Australia and elsewhere .
As you pull out a drawer , there are Peter Dutton's shirts and ties neatly folded , put away with the unfortunate faces of incarcerated individuals near his own countenance . Once the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, he is now Defence Minister , which requires him to wear a starched dicky from time to time in case there is a move to oust the PM.
A chest of drawers has also been used to highlight the plight of the Tamil family refugees , who had settled in Biloela , Queensland , strongly supported by the local community , but were locked away on Christmas Island .
As the drawers are opened they reveal part of the family story , their growing ordeal ; one drawer seems to contain the girls' birthday cards .
The exhibition marks 60 years of Amnesty International fighting for justice . A panel in the gallery appears to be in the form of a church stained glass window in which Julian Assange , of WikiLeaks, who lived on Magnetic Island when he was a youngster , features, calling for him to be freed , along with others included in the artwork .
Word has just come through from Darwin activist Robert Wesley-Smith, foundation member of the Northern Territory Civil Liberties Council , that Assange's father and brother intend touring America to speak out against his extradition from England .
Somehow, the mainland media, especially the Townsville Bulletin, has failed to cover this important island exhibition . The paper's coverage of Assange has been feeble , to say the least ,especially as it was once suggested there should be a statue of him erected on the island and there was a recent demonstration on the island calling for him to be freed -not covered by the Bulletin . Phillip Adams of Radio National's Late Night Live , a longtime campaigner for Assange , issued the following bulletin :
International Press Freedom Day fell on May 3 this year and coincided with Labour Day in Brisbane. John Shipton, the father of Julian Assange, marched with Julian’s union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) on Brisbane’s Labour Day to remind Australia that his son, a famous Queensland-born journalist, whistle-blower and MEAA member was locked up in the UK on International Press Freedom Day and his plight was being ignored by the Australian Government.
