By Crikey reporter Lucy Morieson

Yesterday, Kim Beazley said having a history as a peace activist is no reason to
exclude someone from the country. This morning Beazley’s office told Crikey that they have been
given access to the Immigration Department’s brief on US peace activist
Scott Parkin and they are “satisfied with that briefing.”

But whatever it is that’s keeping Parkin behind bars, the Department
won’t reveal. There may just be something lurking in the Department’s
brief on Parkin – or in Parkin’s past – that legitimately poses a
national security threat. The problem is, we just don’t know.

Greenpeace
has confirmed that Parkin was once charged with a misdemeanour in the
US after participating in a non-violent protest action, as Brian Walters SC of Liberty Victoria wrote in The Age yesterday.
According to Greenpeace campaign manager Danny Kennedy, the incident
was a minor prank in which Parkin “dressed as Tony the Tiger and ran
around the Exxon Mobil headquarters in Texas,” as today’sSMH
reports. But if Parkin turns out to have a more serious criminal or
violent past, it could seriously jeopardise the integrity of his
supporters.

In the meantime, there’s little chance of finding out Parkin’s side
of the story because the Immigration Department has ordered the
Melbourne Custody Centre to block any media access to Parkin, a
situation his lawyer and spokesman Julian Burnside QC describes as
“outrageous.” But it’s unsurprising, says Burnside, when “every aspect
of this case is about suppression.”