Pillow Bitel

REFUGEES, boat people and garden variety foreign sorts determined to enter the rancid mainstream of racist Australian life know many frustrations, but those who failed to take up the following invitation should not feel any more disadvantaged than is normally the case:

Staff News
David Bitel consultations interstate and overseas

Managing Partner David Bitel will be travelling to Manila in late August. He will be visiting Dhaka, Bangladesh in early December. He also regularly travels to Melbourne & Canberra, and Auckland, New Zealand to see clients.

Mr Bitel will be available to give advice to applicants for all categories of migration to Australia and also for student visas. Applicants for most categories must have English language fluency and need to be aged under 35 years

Applicants wishing to make an appointment should email a resumé with their request for an appointment to Mr Bitel's secretary, Ina Tempra, or ring Ina on tel. +61 2 9286 8700. A consultation fee will apply.

There is a strong chance Mr Bitel will be cancelling a good many appointments over the months to come

UPDATE: The Silly report at the link above fails to mention something of which an earlier and far more edifying story referencing Bitel made an explicit point:

The Community Justice Coalition's president, David Bitel, a lawyer and a long-time Labor Party member, said yesterday that the group would not endorse a political party but would support those committed to progressive prison reforms.

''In the UK and the US it has been accepted that prison is not a solution to crime in most situations,'' Mr Bitel said. ''One has to look at the long-term consequences for those [prisoners] involved in terms of rehabilitation and in terms of their families.''

Golly gosh, but it's a mystery how that information didn't make it into print this time around.

As to making prison a nicer place, Bitel's fellow refugee advocate Marcus Einfeld might be able to offer some interesting insights.