Dear Mr Downer,

I wrote by email to you recently to ask you some specific questions about the USA's "extraordinary renditions".

I have found this interesting report from the EU. It can be found at:

http://abcnews.go.com/images/International/european_report2_clean.pdf

and I have attached a copy for your reference.

I note that the report states clearly "whereas President George W. Bush said that the vital information derived from the extraordinary rendition and secret detention programme had been shared with other countries and that the programme will continue" and so I have to specifically ask the question - did any Australians (perhaps the ADF, or ASIO or ASIS) receive any of this information and has such information been used in conjunction with Australia's anti-terror laws to impose secret holding orders on Australian citizens?

Mr Downer, have any individuals (Australian citizens or otherwise) been seized the CIA inside the territory of Australia and subsequently flown out of Australia as part of the programme acknowledged by President Bush?

In my email of 8th September, I asked the following questions:

1) Are there any CIA run secret detention facilities in Australia?

2) Have you asked the government of the USA if they have any secret CIA facilities in Australia, and if you have not asked, why not?

3) Are there any Australian citizens being held in any of the CIA secret detention facilities?

4) Is Australia a sovereign nation? I ask in the sense that if the USA believes it can run detention facilities in foreign nations and also to capture and hold citizens of any nation (even if they have never been to the USA), then what does it mean to say a nation is sovereign? It would seem that sovereignty then becomes conditional on the blessing of the USA and the CIA.

5) Do you personally support the USA's policy of extra-territorial sovereignty and the acts of "rendition" that have *no* judicial oversight?

6) Have you been briefed by any member of the USA government on these facilities and policies?

7) Is the Magna Carta a part of our legal framework or not?

In addition to those unanswered questions from my previous correspondence, I would like to know:

8) Did any of the aeroplanes identified in the EU report ever stop-over or transit through any Australian airports?

9) Have any individuals (Australian citizens or otherwise) been seized the CIA inside Australian and subsequently flown out of Australia as part of the programme acknowledged by President Bush?

Please reply (and perhaps also let me know why my letter of 9th September was not answered sooner) as soon as possible.

Regards,

[Cockeyed Bob - Sent 5Dec06 - No reply]

cc Kevin Rudd MP,

Senator Bob Brown,

Carmen Lawrence MP