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The fine tradition of penal literature — from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “House of the Dead” to Oscar Wilde’s “Ballad of Redding Prison” — has been revived by a Western NSW farmer who recently authored a poem about Macquarie Correctional Centre’s very own “political prisoner”, Dan Duggan.
The former US Marine pilot was arrested in Orange more than three years ago and has been held without charge ever since, after being accused by the American government of training Chinese pilots at a flight school in South Africa in 2012.
Duggan remains in maximum-security at Wellington currently awaiting a decision from the Federal Court in Canberra on an appeal to block his extradition to the United States.
The 2017 US indictment alleges that Duggan was involved in a “conspiracy” to export US defence services in the form of flight training. A US grand jury laid four charges, including one count of money laundering, another of conspiracy to defraud, and two counts of violating a US arms embargo targeting China.
Despite no charges being laid against him in Australia, however, the former MIllthorpe local has spent more than 19 months in solitary confinement following his October 2022 arrest as he left a supermarket in Orange.
He remains under high-security classification, with his property seized and he and his wife and mother of his six children, are unable to raise funds for his defence.
The apparent injustices of his case led retired farmer Max Goulter, from Ariah Park near Temora, who came across the case through his interest in civil liberties, to put pen to paper over his predicament.
“It’s just the situation Dan and his family are in, this is the second one I’ve written and I just wanted to say something in his honour and to jog people’s interest,” Max told Dubbo Photo News.
“I feel Dan and his family have been badly let down by Australia, the way the law has been applied, hasn’t been fair,” he added, referring to the fact that the “crime” that Duggan had apparently committed over “arms trafficking” didn’t exist at the time of his arrest in Australia.
The now-Australian citizen, Max offers, has simply been swept up in the world’s great geo-political battle between east and west.
“He’s just been caught up in it. America wants to take up the fight to China, so they went after Dan,” Max believes.
“What he did, train a few pilots in South Africa, wasn’t illegal in Australia, and they’ve used retrospective legislation in Australia to hold him.”
The Federal Court hearing in Canberra fighting his extradition, has not yet delivered its verdict on the case.
“As a consequence, I wrote two poems on him and this is the second; not to parade me as a ‘good’ poet, but for his and his family’s sake,” Max said.
“It’s just to support him in some way, that’s what it’s all about,” he concluded.
•••
“The Case of Dan Duggan”
By Max Goulter
I’m perplexed and I’m frustrated
I just do not understand
That we have politicians mean enough
To jail an innocent man.
There’s not a single criminal charge been brought
No reason justifies
Except the US DoJ requests
That Dan’s freedom be denied.
The “crime” he is accused of
Was no crime at all because
Training pilots was legitimate
Back when he worked abroad.
BUT, with reasoned flawed objectives
There was a move for legislation
That was ruled as retrospective
So, a crime could be dictated.
Our country’s laws are clear on this
You can’t be charged this way
These invalid retrospective laws
Cannot convict today.
It is shameful to reflect the fact
Defence was compromised
When our government froze his assets
And their sale was then denied.
So his defence has been a struggle
With no way to pay the cost
They’re forced to live on handouts
And to suffer with this loss.
So it seems that in Australia
Innocence don’t qualify
And any Australian citizen
Can be disqualified.
But I suspect that those in power
Have misread or have ignored
The Aussie ethos and our culture
Which most Aussies do support.
The culture of a fair go
Where fair justice is applied
A country where you help your mate
And keep his needs supplied.
And so for three years now he’s been
A victim of the state
Where with a foreign power’s demands
Our stance evaporates.
But spare a thought for his poor family
His wife and his six children
Struggling and torn apart
To satisfy this ruling.
But I’m appealing to a higher power
To whom kings and queens will bow
Anything is possible
Whilst we trust in Jesus now.