Construction giant Baulderstone-Hornibrook will be sentenced this week in relation to the death of one its workers at a Melbourne building site three years ago.

Fred Smith, 53, was working on a partly built Southgate apartment block when a tower crane's counterweight fell, crushing him.

Baulderstone-Hornibrook pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to provide a safe workplace over Mr Smith's death.

The charges include failing to ensure the crane was safe, and not providing adequate training or supervision.

The company is expected to be sentenced on Thursday.

Meanwhile, building unions have accused the Federal Government's Industry Taskforce of harassing union members over the practice of stopping work when a worker dies at a building site.

The CFMEU's Martin Kingham says such stop works are a long held practice in the industry, "to mourn the loss of those workers, to have collections on the job, to raise funds for family members".

Mr Kingham says taxpayer money would be better spent investigating safety at construction sites.

(Source: ABC)

 

An investigation into workplace violence at a Centrelink office in Adelaide found that Centrelink management failed in its duty to protect the health and safety of people working there.

Comcare investigated the Currie Street office of Centrelink, after staff complained of being threatened, physically assaulted, and spat on.

Union delegate Andrew Reschke said that he was threatened by a client and told that "no one would help me if anything happened". He also said that a client pulled a knife when he was in the office.

Mr Reschke said that he rarely reported or recorded being abused or threatened, because it happened so often.

Health and Safety rep Louis Poiana said that management had made some improvements at the office after the report, for example backing down on their initial refusal to hire a security guard.

(Source: CPSU)

 

Labor Party leader Mark Latham has backed down on a promise to withdraw Australian troops from the Iraq campaign, only days after making it.

Mr Latham now said that Australia would withdraw the 850 troops involved in 'Operation Catalyst' in Iraq (possibly not counting the 90 currently guarding the Australian mission), but leave about 430 troops assigned elsewhere in the region.

The Labor Party is believed to have come under intense pressure from the United States government after making the promise.

(Source: The Age)

 

A magistrate in Wagga Wagga says police there nearly beat a man to death, planted a knife at the crime scene, and later lied in court about the incident.

41-year-old Alan Hathaway ran from the police when they came to arrest him over driving offences.

He was found by Constable Chris Jackson, hiding in the bedroom of a nearby house, and an 'altercation' followed. The 'altercation' left Mr Hathaway with severe facial injuries, an arm broken in three places, as well as injuries to his lower body. He was hospitalised for more than a month. According to magistrate Bill Pierce, police were "lucky they didn't kill him".

An unknown police officer then planted a knife at the scene.

Police told an ambulance that they couldn't take Mr Hathaway to hospital, and instead took him to the police station - where they charged him with assaulting police.

During the trial, a police officer sat in court, according to the magistrate, and "rolled his eyes dramatically in an exaggerated fashion calculated to interfere with the ability of the witness to recount what had happened. He also threw up both hands in mock horror".

"It is amazing that arrangements were made to clean the premises so very quickly. That makes me suspect, taken with all the other
evidence, that there was an attempt to make things appear less bad for the police because the bedroom was a bloodbath".

An internal police inquiry into the incident a year ago cleared the officers involved.

A spokeswoman for the Police Minister said she was unable to comment, and a police spokesman said the force's local area commander had full confidence in his officers, although he said he would welcome the findings of an enquiry by the Police Integrity Commission.

(Source: ABC website)

 

Workers at The Smith Family will be forced into unpaid overtime and would lose all penalty rates for weekend and shift work under individual contracts being promoted by the charity's management.

The proposed agreement, which has been circulated to The Smith Family's 200 staff nationally would abolish:
- Annual Leave Loading
- Overtime payments
- Weekend and Shift penalties
- Payment for working public holidays

Workers would also give up the right to be consulted on workplace changes, could be directed to work outside their rostered hours for no extra payment and could be stood down without pay as a result of industrial action - whether or not they are participating.

These conditions are being traded off for a three per cent pay rise - even though the next Minimum Wage increase would deliver 2.9 per cent without any trade-offs.

Unions accused the Smith Family of contributing to the social problems they are supposed to be addressing, and has asked people to not donate to them until their management changes their proposal.

(Source: Leftlink website)

 

The Australian immigration system may have effectively refused to accept any Jewish refugee.

Some Russian Jews have applied to become refugees in Australia, after being persecuted by racists in Russia. One woman was sent to hospital after a stone was thrown at her head, and told that she would be killed if she didn't leave. Russian synagogues have been bombed, and anti-Jewish signs have been set up with booby-traps to injure anyone who tries to remove them.

However the High Court has agreed with the government that Australia is under no obligation to accept them because they can go to Israel instead - despite the fact that one family said they had very little connection to Judaism, and disagreed with Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

 

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has said that Australia's support for the war in Iraq may have made a terrorist attack on Australia more likely.

Speaking about the bombing in Madrid, Mr Keelty told Channal Nine that "the reality is, if this turns out to be Islamic extremists responsible for this bombing in Spain, it's more likely to be linked to the position that Spain and other allies took on issues such as Iraq."

He then suggested that Australia's involvement in Iraq may have increased the likelihood of a terror attack here.

Many commentators believe that the Bali bombing was linked to the Australian government's support for war in Iraq. Although Foreign Minister Alexander Downer suggested before the Bali bombing that terrorist attacks on Australia may be more likely because of Australia's foreign policy, the government currently denies any link.

(Source: The Age)

 

The British government is going to court to fight for the right to bill innocent people who spent time in jail, for the expense of keeping them.

Paddy Hill was one of the Birmingham Six, and spent 16 years in jail for an IRA bombing before being found innocent and released. He has been charged 50,000 pounds for his living expenses while in jail.

Mike O’Brien spent 10 years in jail wrongly convicted murder. His baby daughter died while he was in prison and he was charged 37,500 pounds by the British government.

The government calls the charge 'Saved Living Expenses', and argues that the innocent prisoners would have spent money on food and lodgings anyway if they weren't in jail.

(Source: Sunday Herald [UK])

 

Police were called to Brisbane's Central Business District after receiving complaints about a disturbance involving a man and a number of street kids.

They found a man who was allegedly loud and abusive, yelling obscenities and refusing to cooperate with police.

He was arrested, handcuffed and taken away in a police paddy wagon before being charged with several offences including obstructing police.

It is understood the man is a plain clothes senior constable working in State Crime Operations.

(Source: ABC News website)

 

A policeman accused of 38 offences including sexual assault and kidnapping has been allowed bail.

The arrest follows allegations made by nine women and girls aged 13 to 19, a police spokesman said.

The man was arrested yesterday and charged with four counts of kidnapping, five of sexual assault, three of aggravated indecent assault, 10 of indecent assault, one of aggravated act of indecency, 13 counts of assault and two of act of indecency.

(Source: Herald Sun)

 

Five British men have been released from US custody in Guantanamo Bay. Two of the men have made statements saying they were physically and psychologically tortured.

Jamal al Harith said that the psychological torture was worse than the physical beatings.

"Bruises heal after a week but the other stuff stays with you" he said.

"Recreation meant your legs were untied and you walked up and down a strip of gravel. They actually said that, 'You have no rights here.' After a while, we stopped asking for human rights - we wanted animal rights".

Tarek Dergoul issued a statement through his attorney which said he had experienced "botched medical treatment, interrogation at gunpoint, beatings and inhuman conditions".

Another one of the men, Jamal Udeen, was originally imprisoned by the Taliban, who accused him of being a British spy. He was nevertheless accused of being an al Qaeda or Taliban member by United States authorities.

The men were held without charge for two years.

(Source: Washington Times)

 

Almost four million Australians are living in poverty, a new report has found.

A Senate inquiry report found around 3.6 million people lived on less than $400 a week.

Figures cited in the report showed poverty was on the rise, from around 11.3 per cent in 1990 to 13 per cent in 2000.

One teenager reported her mother often went without food because she had to feed four children on $194 a week, while another family ate all their meals rugged up together in bed because they could not afford to run an oil heater.

Prime Minister John Howard dismissed calls for a new statutory body to tackle poverty and said "the poor have not got poorer".

(Source: The Age)

 

A large number of Australians are becoming 'working poor', according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The figures showed that, in the last 12 months:

59,000 working people went without meals, 95,000 were forced to pawn or sell something because they needed cash, and 36,000 were unable to heat their homes.

(Source: ACTU website)

 

Working women are the target of increasing workplace violence, according to new research.

The survey being run by the Victorian Trades Hall Council, suggests that the reason may be casualisation of industries where many workers are women.

Hospitality, healthcare and call centres have all been highlighted in the responses received in the survey so far.

Survey co-ordinator Ellen Kleimaker said the erosion of job security, the large number of women in casual or part-time jobs, and the small number of women in positions or power, all contributed to the problem.

She cited bullying, harassment, and even rape as forms of violence listed by respondents.

"Already we are seeing in the responses that many women put up with psychological, emotional or sexual violence because they are afraid that if they complain they will be dismissed" she said.

(Source: Melbourne Times. Survey website.)

 

The government and the Labor Party will unite to pass a new law which allows the Attorney-General to ban any organisation, without the decision being scrutinised by Parliament or any other body.

Under the Criminal Code Amendment (Terrorist Organisations), members of a banned organisation can be jailed for up to 25 years, and the organisation can be stripped of its assets. Anyone who collects money for that organisation's legal defence or produces material that defends the banned organisation can also be jailed for up to 25 years.

(Source: Indymedia)

 

Corporate 'downsizing' is deadly, even for those who do not lose their jobs, according to new research.

A study published in Britain's 'New Scientist' magazine found that in the first four years after a company downsizes, fatal cadiovascular disease was five times higher in workers who remained employed, compared to employees in companies that did not downsize.

Researchers say increased stress on those employees who kept their jobs was the main reason behind the drastic increase.

The study, published in New Scientist, also found that permanent staff took more sick days after a major downsizing compared to temporary staff. Researchers suggested that temporary workers felt their positions were less secure, obliging them to come to work when sick.

(Source: The Age)

 

A branch of the Liberal Party has taken money raised in a raffle and intended for rural charities.

The community raffle in South Gippsland raises nearly $30,000 a year for local sporting clubs, emergency services and community groups.

The local branch of the Liberal Party registered with the South Gippsland Shire Council as a beneficiary and so received some of the money.

(Source: Herald Sun)

 

The Victorian government has abandoned women who are smuggled from overseas to work in brothels, according to an advocacy group.

Georgina Costello from Project Respect said that the Victorian government had not delivered new legislation outlawing sexual servitude, and was not providing funding for the agency.

Ms Costello said that although the agency had Federal funding and there were Federal laws against the practice, federal laws were ineffective unless police could prove state borders had been crossed.

Project Respect says that more than a thousand trafficked women are working in Australian brothels - although no one had been charged with trafficking women until late last year.

(Source: Melbourne Times)