Expendable exposes a western government's brutal actions against Schapelle Corby, including withholding evidence, deceiving the public, orchestrating a media campaign, and deploying state organs for political expediency.
How a government wilfully withheld vital evidence from a court of law, deceived its public, orchestrated an unprecedented media campaign, and ruthlessly deployed its organs of state against one of its own citizens. Expendable presents, and demonstrates, the crushing, pre-meditated, and often brutal acts which a western government is prepared to inflict upon a helpless woman, Schapelle Corby, in pursuit of political expediency.—Anonymous
EXPENDABLE: THE POLITICAL SACRIFICE OF SCHAPELLE CORBY
In 2005, a 27 year old Australian woman, Schapelle Corby, landed in Bali for a holiday, only to find 4.2 kg of Marijuana in her bag upon collection. A nightmare began which is scarcely believable.
But her nightmare didnt end in Indonesia, with a show trial, and the repeated abuses of her human rights. It only began there.
Whilst Schapelle Corby deteriorated in a squalid cell, her own government clinically managed the political fallout of these shocking events, at her terrible expense.
For the first time this film exposes the reality of what has previously been hidden from the public. It exposes a government prepared to systematically crush one of its own citizens, to hide its own domestic criminality and to maintain international political stability.
THE POLITICSThe introduction explains the broad background, describing the political perspective with respect to international relations, and the pressing need for the government to hide the true scale of criminality at Australian airports. It was these political perspectives which led the Australian government to abandon Schapelle Corby, and then, subsequently, to deploy its own institutions and agencies against her, within its prescribed policy.
THE AFPThe Australian Federal Police were particularly zealous, not only operationally, with respect to the governments initial policy to sacrifice Schapelle Corby, but subsequently, in the management of political fallout and public opinion.
The film demonstrates that a range of factors influenced the enthusiasm with which the AFP set about this role. Examination of their own long term involvement in drug syndication, and systemic corruption, reveals a number of sinister turns.
This segment is chilling, illustrating why aspects of the film itself were produced in a climate of fear. It exposes a level of political and operational corruption which is deeply disturbing.
THE ABCManagement of public opinion is often of significant importance, with respect to both domestic and foreign policy of government. In Australia, with respect to Schapelle Corby, the ABCs role in this process was increasingly stark and obvious.
Their support for the governments initial policy, to sacrifice Schapelle Corby and her human rights, was evident even prior to the verdict. Their output followed entirely predictable domestic propaganda practices, embracing commercial media orchestration, culture & entertainment, and hostile news management.
This segment presents a clear demonstration of the processes used to influence the public against Schapelle Corby and her family, including actual and unambiguous evidence to illustrate the long term nature of the ABC's agenda.
THE ORGANS OF STATEThis segment considers the role of a multitude of other departments, including the DFAT, DPP, AGD, Justice & Customs, ASIO, and even the Commonwealth Ombudsmans office.
Many of the examples shown, of deployment against Schapelle Corby, are both harrowing and deeply disturbing. The first demonstrates how a white powder hoax at the Indonesian embassy was grossly misrepresented to undermine public support for her, with false information and shockingly unsubstantiated allegations stemming from government ministers.
The mood music for the film is created through the shockingly hostile and dismissive comments of government ministers, coupled with the rubber stamp nature of the Commonwealth Ombudsmans Office, illustrated with predictably evasive and negative response correspondence.
The sheer number of government departments, and the staggering number of incidents, tells the story, even without dialogue, yet these represent only a subset of what Hidden World Films could actually have included in the documentary.
EPILOGUEHaving been diagnosed as mentally ill in 2009, Schapelle Corby continues to deteriorate, with first hand accounts of appalling incidents emerging regularly, including a serious overdose of her medication in July 2011.
Her government continues to turn a blind eye to the ongoing abuse of her human rights, and the alarming deterioration in her mental and physical condition. It continues to refuse to acknowledge any of the abuses documented within this film.
