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Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Kristo Langker - Tamed Estate: arrest of FriendlyJordies producer attests to dangerous state of democracy


The media ignores what is really going on.

— Nat Hentoff, born in 1925


Defamation nation: why are Australian politicians so quick to sue? It’s not exactly new to the nation’s political culture but the litigation business is booming – and social media has added fuel to the fire


The state v Friendly terror suspect: Google, Facebook, 2SM dragged in to Barilaro affair by Callum Foote


The Prime Minister is entitled to personal relationships, and he’s not accountable for the political views of his friends. He is accountable for allowing his friends to have input to important government statements as Prime Minister of Australia.”

QAnon follower Tim Stewart's an old friend of Scott Morrison. His family reported him to the national security hotline


There are curious parallels between the reaction of our mainstream media to secret police attacks on Mr Jordan Shanks and on Julian Assange. Likes of: 1. We do not like them. 2. They aren't journalists (despite the Walkley). 3. They haven't come for us (yet), so we say nothing.


"Dan Andrews is a dictator" says political party sending anti-terror teams to arrest YouTubers

Andrews government: lockdowns and mask wearing to save lives

Australians: “fascist dictator” “our freedoms are being stolen” “this is Nazi Germany!” LNP: arrests journalists who uncover their corruption. Sues ABC for uncovering alleged rape Australians: “Meh” #FriendlyJordies

Eerie Regimes: 


Eerie parallels to repressive regimes


"Do you know what your son did today...?" Not assault a mature lady and try and kill an old dog then blame it on someone else, that's for sure!!




It appears our most recent video "arrested" is no longer searchable on YouTube or Google. Also not visible in YouTube subscriber feeds. Only way to see it is with a link or directly from the fj YouTube page. All the more reason to share it! -Editor.

Unbelievable this is ‘Straya. Three cheers for Mark Davis, again. Check out this video #Terrorism

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Xenophon Davis
@xenophondavis
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Xenophon Davis will be representing Kristo Langker (@friendlyjordies) in this matter. That a counter-terrorist police squad was authorised to arrest a comedian and political commentator is a shocking abuse of power. youtu.be/OXtq4a8829g
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I expect journalists, including those who work in satire, to approach politicians. They need to do this to hold them to account. It’s part of a healthy democracy. The misuse of terror laws to arrest #FriendlyJordies is a sign our democracy is under threat.



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It might have been difficult to make the Chaser shows given this interpretation of the law. We went up to certain politicians an awful lot of times.
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Christopher Knaus
@knausc
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Exclusive: Friendlyjordies producer Kristo Langker has been charged with stalking John Barilaro. Langker's lawyers described arrest as "highly alarming" and criticised the "shocking" use of the fixated persons unit, set up to counter lone actor extremism theguardian.com/australia-news
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I don’t know how many times we interrupted John Howard’s morning walk but it must have been well into double figures. The AFP only ever said no projectiles or sudden movements. (We complied, wanting to get the shot rather than just shot.)  

This isn't just Jordies anymore, this is putting everyone at risk. Authors, playwrights, filmmakers, musicians, comedians or some kid with politically-minded Instagram account. This could put shows like The Feed and comedians like Sammy J at risk, to put things in perspective. If this is ok, then what will it say about the future of Australian democracy? I don't want to live in a country where I am scared to publish under my own name, and I love this country very much. 
My heart goes out to Kristo and his family, this is heartbreaking and we're with you, Jordan and your team all the way.

Barilaro gets accused of corruption, Friendyjordies channel detail numerous examples of his blatant corruption and provide evidence of said corruption across numerous occasions. This includes examples of breaking election laws, tax evasion on investment properties and misappropriation of public funds. In response, Barilaro sends a counter terrorism unit to arrest a 21 year old university student who works as a producer for said channel. Don't let this get swept under the rug people of NSW. The independent police watchdog should be enacted in NSW to oversee this incident. Didn't help that the officer also assaulted his Mother and severely injured his dog too.


Xenophon Davis, lawyers acting for Mr Shanks's team, disputed the NSW Police version of events, labelling the arrest of Mr Langker "highly alarming

"We are highly disturbed by misinformation that police appear to have acted upon," the firm's partner Mark Davis said in a statement.
"We have the video of the interaction with the Deputy Premier and it does not appear to accord with the police facts."Mr Davis told the ABC that Mr Langker had asked Mr Barilaro "legitimate journalistic questions" and it was outrageous they were arrested for what he described as "trivial actions".
Mr Davis said defending the charges against Mr Langker was putting pressure on Mr Shanks's ability to fight the defamation allegations against him.

The comedian, his lawyer said, could face bankruptcy from Mr Barilaro's lawsuit.



Paul Svilans, Principal ... Paul is one of Australia's leading media lawyers with significant experience in all aspects of media law. Paul represents and ...



The arrest of a producer of YouTube journalist and comedian FriendlyJordies has disturbing implications for free speech and civil liberties. That a counter-terrorism unit would be sent in to arrest a government critic has eerie parallels to repressive regimes around the world, writes Michael Tanner.

“Are we so different from Russia, or China, or Belarus?”

These were the final words of an article we published last year, documenting the ongoing stoush between YouTube journalist, comedian and government critic FriendlyJordies and NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro.

At the time, Belarus was engulfed in protests following the theft of an election by the ruling dictator Alexander Lukashenko. Alexei Navalny, a prominent Russian dissident, was in hospital following an attempted poisoning by government agents with the nerve agent Novichok.

The story in Australia was the failure of the mainstream media to hold the government to account. Faced with allegations of corruption by a senior elected official on one hand, and colourful commentary about said official on the other, the media narrative was all about the commentary. The media saw FriendlyJordies as a “problem” to be “solved”.

During the intervening months FriendlyJordies has continued his criticism of Barilaro. The media has continued its criticism of Jordan Shanks. And Barilaro has let fly with a defamation lawsuit, which, interestingly, was sent to media outlets including The Australian and The Guardian before FriendlyJordies was even served. A move to garner maximum media attention?

But in early June, a concerning situation became deeply troubling. The producer of FriendlyJordies videos, 21-year-old Kristo Langker, was arrested at his home by plain-clothes members of the Fixated Persons Unit, which is linked with the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command, before being taken into an unmarked vehicle. Langker has been charged with “stalking and intimidation”.

Chilling description of a journalist

The Fixated Persons Unit was set up in April 2017 before the release of the findings of the inquiry into the Lindt café siege, where 18 people were held hostage and two people died. The Unit ostensibly seeks to identify, and prevent attacks by “fixated” people, often those marginalised by society who might be at risk of being seduced by extremist groups.

The Unit is intended to deal with “people who aren’t classified as terrorists but are so obsessed about issues, ideals or individuals, they are plotting acts of violence”.

That a journalist trying to hold the powerful to account would come under the description of a “fixated” person is “chilling”, says Mark Davis, the five-time Walkley-winning journalist and now partner at Xenophon Davis, who is representing Langker.

“As citizens, we all signed up to counter-terrorism laws when they were thrust before us and pushed through parliament,” he said.

“FriendlyJordies are comedians but they are also very solid journalists on politics, corruption and abuse of power.”

He said the use of these units for such a “trivial purpose” was “nothing less than chilling”.

Davis also described Langker’s bail conditions as “utterly extreme”, as he will be in breach of them if he so much as possesses “an image or caricature of the Deputy Premier or if he comments upon the appearance or behaviour of the Deputy Premier”.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Helen Dalton was also concerned about the arrest, stating that “the implications for free speech and civil liberties are extremely disturbing”.

The arrest happened mere hours after an encounter between Barilaro and Langker. The FriendlyJordies team has described it as a chance encounter, with video footageappearing to support that description.

The police, in contrast, claim that Langker followed Barilaro for 200 metres and called him “corrupt”. Neither of these claims accords with the available footage. Mr Davis has described the police claims as “misinformation”.

NSW police in the business of harassment?

Of late, the NSW police have been too often in the news for harassing members of the public, not protecting them.

Ms Dalton has lamented the fact that women in NSW who have suffered domestic violence would “tell you how difficult it is to get their perpetrator charged and arrested”.

In late 2020, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) revealed “systematic failures” in workplace bullying in the NSW police force, including a series of complaints including “harassment” raised against a senior commander.

The LECC also found that a NSW police blacklist, disproportionately featuring Indigenous children thought to be at risk of offending, was “harassment” and “unreasonable surveillance”.

And then there’s the unlawful strip-searches. And the two NSW officers who “harassed and intimidated” a solicitor representing a man involved in a motorcycle gang.

Yet when Deputy Premier John Barilaro is faced with the kind of public confrontation we have come to expect as matter of course from journalists from A Current Affair, within hours charges are written up and a raid of an alleged perpetrator’s house takes place.

Neither the NSW Police’s office nor the Police Minister’s office had responded to questions by the time of publication.

Eerie parallels to repressive regimes

That a counter-terrorism unit would be sent in to arrest a government critic has eerie parallels to repressive regimes, from Pinochet’s Chile to Donald Trump’s government during the Black Lives Matter protests, when federal officers dressed in camouflage grabbed individuals off the street and bundled them into unmarked minivans.

But the similarities to Belarus, Russia, and China are most concerning, and prescient.

Upon recovering from his poisoning, Alexei Navalny returned to Russia, where he was arrested on trumped-up charges and jailed for 3 ½ years.

The exiled Belarussian government critic and journalist Roman Pratasevich was forcibly removed from a plane after it was diverted by a government jet to Belarus.

And the list of jailed critics in China is long, but there’s no better example than the pro-Hong Kong democracy activist who was recently jailed for participating in a vigil on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The methods at play in NSW, and Australia more broadly, are more subtle, but are comparably insidious and just as dangerous to a free and open democracy.

From the threats to deregister charities whose supporters take part in political campaigning; to the war against, and support to defund, the ABC; to prosecuting whistle-blowers such as lawyer Bernard Collaery and Witness K, the arrest by a counter-terrorism unit of a government critic in their own home surely signals an escalation.

The bare facts of this development should send a shiver down the spine of anyone concerned with freedom of the press, let alone our democracy.

Tamed Estate: arrest of FriendlyJordies producer attests to dangerous state of democracy


Holding comedians to account: Nine and News miss John Barilaro, hit Friendlyjordies instead

Once venerable, the Nine Entertainment-owned Fairfax press has sunk to holding comedians to account and protecting corrupt government. Michael Tanner on the rise of vloggers and the stoush between Youtuber Friendlyjordies and the mainstream media.


If Kristo Langker, 21, ( producer/researcher) is an accredited member of NSW parliamentary Press Gallery his arrest on “fixated person” (stalking) charges would appear to be over-reach and an abuse of power.

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Callum Foote
@CallumDRFoote
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Kristo has a journalist’s press pass to the NSW State parliament, outside of where he saw Bruz, and has worked with us on investigations before. This is state sponsored repression of journalists m.youtube.com/watch?v=OXtq4a
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