Major Australian Bands unite for A Just Australia

22 September 2004

Some of Australia's leading musical artists have joined together to create a unique new album: Homeland: Music For A Just Australia.

Major names like Powderfinger, Missy Higgins, Jet, Darren Hayes, Pete Murray and Cat Empire join newer acts like 67 Special, The Spazzys, Gyroscope and Offcuts, and are just a few of the 32 acts who have chosen to appear on Homeland, a CD to help raise money for A Just Australia, a not for profit organisation formed in 2002 to campaign for changes to government policy on refugees and asylum seekers.

The album is the joint effort of all the artists (see the full play-list below), Charles Caldas the CEO of Shock Records, and Howard Glenn, the National Director of A Just Australia.

According to Howard Glenn the album will heighten public awareness, particularly during the last weeks of the Federal election, of the continuing problems with the Government's policies towards asylum seekers and refugees.

"Things are still not as good as the Government now pretends - children are still routinely kept apart from their families and in immigration detention; thousands of proven refugees still await decisions as to whether they can get on with their lives securely in Australia; hundreds of people have been stuck in long term detention because they have nowhere else to go," Mr Glenn said.

"This CD will help A Just Australia's campaign do two things. Firstly it will allow us to continue the pressure to fix things for the people who came by boat, and to make sure that if boats come again, things will be different.

"Second, it provides the soundtrack to our belief that Australians are better than this - that we can hope that one day we will rebuild a just Australia.
Selling in major record stores from next month for $24.95, $8.00 from every album sold will go directly to A Just Australia. The album will be formally released on October 4, just a few days before the Australian Federal Election.

Shock Records CEO Charles Caldas, said he was inspired to put the album together because he was dismayed by the government's history of harsh treatment for asylum seekers.

"Having come to Australia with my parents as a migrant in the late 1970's I am extremely grateful for the many opportunities that this truly amazing country has given me," Charles said.

"Over the years I have found this country to be open, inclusive, embracing of a variety of cultures and a place where getting a "fair go" has true meaning.

"But in recent times I've been extremely dismayed at the divisive, misleading and downright inhuman manner in which recent refugees to this country have been treated and portrayed. This is not what the Australia I have come to know is about".

In putting this project together, Charles Caldas said that he had been overwhelmed by the level of support from Australia's musical community.

"The many artists on this CD, who have generously donated their music and royalties from sales of this CD to A Just Australia, prove that the feelings on this issue run deeply across a broad section of the population. More importantly, it shows that many Australians are not satisfied with keeping silent on this issue and I believe our collective voices have the power to make a difference."


Homeland Playlist

CD 1
Powderfinger 'How Far Have We Really Come'
Missy Higgins 'Nightminds'
Jet 'Look What You've Done'
The Dissociatives 'Paris Circa 2007slash08 (Hermitude remix)'
Pete Murray 'To a Friend'
George 'One'
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 'She's Leaving You'
Tim Rogers 'Time and Distance'
Paul Kelly 'I Guess I Get A Little Emotional Sometimes'
The Whitlams 'Cries Too Hard'
Art Of Fighting 'Break For Me'
Gyroscope 'Sharp Words'
David Bridie / Kate Noonan 'Nation (of the Heartless Kind)'
Amiel 'Missing the Music'
Motorace 'Own Way Home'
Darren Hayes 'Light'

CD 2
John Butler Trio 'Home is Where the Heart is'
The Cat Empire 'East'
Jebediah 'Sew Your Life'
1200 Techniques 'Eye Of The Storm'
Grinspoon 'Secrets'
The Hoodoo Gurus 'Isolation'
The Living End 'Don't shut the gate'
Frenzal Rhomb 'White World'
28 Days 'Democracy'
Ed Kuepper and the Oxley Creek Playboys 'When I first came to this land'
Dan Kelly 'Summer Wino'
One Dollar Short 'Makovsky Had a Guy'
OffCuts 'James Brown'
The Spazzys 'Paco Doesn't Love Me'
67 Special 'Curious Mind'
The Fauves 'Metrosexual'