Activist\'s court case disputed fair-go policy

Activist's court case disputed fair-go policy Author: Simone Battiston Date: 13/04/2004 Words: 772 Source: AGE

Publication: The Age Section: Business Page: 12

Obituary - IGNAZIO SALEMI - JOURNALIST, ACTIVIST - 15-7-1928 - 20-32004 Ignazio Salemi, the Italian-born journalist and migrant rights campaigner who was at the centre of a contentious dispute over his amnesty application in 1976, has died in Rome. He was 75. Salemi's controversial court action lasted more than 18 months and resulted in a passionate political case that put Australia's fair-go policy to the test. A young partisan during World War II, and correspondent of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) organ L'Unita in Budapest and Prague in the 1960s, Salemi was an experienced and versatile communist official who keenly advocated workers' and migrant rights. He came to Australia in February 1974 to co-ordinate the socio-political initiatives of FILEF (Italian Federation of Migrant Workers and their Families), a worldwide Italian-run migrant organisation whose aim was to defend the rights of Italian immigrants and to foster a cultural conscience among Italian workers. Within months of his arrival, he transformed the local FILEF branches into the vanguards of the multiculturalism movement that lobbied for social and cultural services that are now the norm for ethnic communities. His communist creed, along with his past pugnacious activism - he was arrested and jailed for forming a roadblock during the 1948 riots that followed the attempted assassination of the PCI's secretary, and expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1969 when he tried to save an anti-occupation demonstrator from an army squad - alarmed moderate and conservative officials. A front-page article by Vincent Basile in The Age in April 1975 exposed sensationally Salemi and FILEF's affiliation with the PCI, stirring up anticommunist hysteria. A couple of weeks later, the Coburg-based FILEF welfare office was set on fire, partially damaging the editorial office of Nuovo Paese, the biweekly Salemi launched on May Day of the previous year. In June 1975, Salemi failed to gain a further extension of his temporary residence permit and became a prohibited immigrant. His application for a permanent permit to stay in Australia under the 1976 immigrant amnesty offered by the Fraser Liberal government was also rejected.

Some observers noted that the true reason behind the Immigration Department's refusal was his communist background and activities as FILEF spokesman. The legal and political case that followed prompted unprecedented protests. Ethnic community groups as well as local pressure groups, trade unions, local councils, civil liberties groups, and left-wing parties began a campaign for Salemi to be granted residence status under the terms of the amnesty. Eminent leaders of the Australian left joined the campaign, including the then ACTU president Bob Hawke, the director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, the Reverend Peter Hollingworth, and opposition leader Gough Whitlam. Peter Redlich, president of the Victorian ALP, and Clyde Holding, Labor leader in the Victorian Parliament, offered their legal services. Federal opposition spokesman on immigration Ted Innes, along with several federal and state MPs such as Gordon Bryant, Jim Simmonds and Tom Roper, offered political support with questions on the matter in state and federal parliaments. Even some influential Liberals spoke in favour of Salemi's right to take any available legal avenue. Recently elected MP Malcolm Turnbull asked in The Bulletin in June 1977 why a political promise in the form of an amnesty had not become a legal promise too. Between 1976 and 1977, three hearings in the High Court to restrain the government from deporting Salemi and to oblige the minister to abide by the principles of natural justice failed. In May 1977, an appeal to the full bench of the High Court split the six judges on the matter. However, the casting vote of the staunchly conservative chief justice, Sir Garfield Barwick, went againstSalemi, who was deported five months later. Former FILEF activists and acclaimed chef Stefano De Pieri, and Moreland City councillor Joe Caputo recently recalled that Salemi'sdynamic activism and charisma made an impact on those who met him. According to De Pieri, Salemi was a precise organiser, conscious that all his actions led to determined consequences. For instance, he chose purposely not to speak English because he considered that migrants had a right to interpreters. Caputo found Salemi had “great intellectual capacity combined with excellent organisational skills”. On his return to Italy, Salemi worked as editor of Emigrazione, FILEF's organ in Rome, until retirement in the 1980s. Salemi is survived by his long-time companion, Cathy Angelone.

Simone Battiston is doing his PhD at La Trobe University on the history of FILEF.