Sue Boland – Once the news broke in Australia about the police and militia attack on the Asia Pacific People's Solidarity conference in Indonesia on June 8 and the detention of conference participants, friends and relatives of the detainees in Australia moved into action to publicise what had happened.

With the 22 Australian detainees coming from six different cities, friends and relatives of the detainees began organising solidarity actions in all of the capital cities. Emergency demonstrations were held in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney on June 10 and in Hobart on June 11. Despite most of these demonstrations being organised with less than 18 hours notice, around the country 240 people attended. In addition to those who attended the demonstrations, messages of support and offers of assistance began coming in from people who were shocked at the brutal attack on the conference.

However, not everyone was supportive of the solidarity actions. ABC Radio news bulletins on June 10 and the June 11 Sydney Morning Herald reported that Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials were opposed to the demonstrations, warning that these actions might jeopardise the release of the Australians detained by Indonesia's secret police.

This "advice" from DFAT was disputed by the detainees after their release. One of the detainees, Pip Hinman, who is also national secretary of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), told Green Left Weekly on June 11 that "because the Coalition government and the Labor "opposition" remained silent about the closing down of the conference and the detention of international participants on trumped-up charges, the solidarity actions in Australia and other countries were crucial in securing the release of the detainees and exposing how little democratic space exists for activists opposing neo-liberal policies in Indonesia".

According to Hinman, "if it wasn't for the solidarity actions and the press conferences with the detainees on their return to Australia, it is unlikely that the Australian media would have publicised the viscous attack by armed militia thugs on the Indonesian conference participants"

"It is startling", she said, "that despite the illegal detention of more than 20 Australian residents, foreign minister Alexander Downer has not made a single criticism of the Indonesian police for its illegal attack on the conference.

"The emergency demonstrations attracted widespread media coverage of the detentions and questions in the media about why the government has been so silent. The government's double standards were exposed. If the Indonesian police had detained a group of business people on similarly trumped-up charges, Downer would have immediately denounced the detentions and the attack on the conference.

But when those detained are concerned about alternatives to neo-liberalism and improving the lives of workers, peasants and the urban poor, as the Asia Pacific People's Solidarity conference participants are, then the Australian government doesn't give a stuff about their illegal detention."