Wednesday, February 23, 2005
The government intends to deport a 104 year old woman who has lived with her adopted daughter and grandchildren in Melbourne for 10 years, and who has outlived her relatives overseas.
Cui Yu Hu has been a widow since 1973, no longer has a home in China and has outlived friends and family there.
She has been refused an aged-parent visa by the Immigration Department and will be deported unless she successfully appeals.
(Source: The Age)
Cui Yu Hu has been a widow since 1973, no longer has a home in China and has outlived friends and family there.
She has been refused an aged-parent visa by the Immigration Department and will be deported unless she successfully appeals.
(Source: The Age)
The government has announced it will send another 450 soldiers to Iraq.
The announcement broke an election promise not to substantially increase troop numbers.
Prime Minister John Howard conceded that the $300 million decision to send the troops to protect Japanese engineers and train local security forces for as long as a year would be unpopular and could put Australian lives in danger.
Mr Howard said that "...I have previously said I did not contemplate a major increase and that was a fair statement of the government's state of mind at the time I made that...but in these situations a government must have a capacity, if circumstances alter, and it is judged to be not only in our own interest but also in the broader interests of democracy and the Middle East that we make those changes."
(Source: The Age)
The announcement broke an election promise not to substantially increase troop numbers.
Prime Minister John Howard conceded that the $300 million decision to send the troops to protect Japanese engineers and train local security forces for as long as a year would be unpopular and could put Australian lives in danger.
Mr Howard said that "...I have previously said I did not contemplate a major increase and that was a fair statement of the government's state of mind at the time I made that...but in these situations a government must have a capacity, if circumstances alter, and it is judged to be not only in our own interest but also in the broader interests of democracy and the Middle East that we make those changes."
(Source: The Age)
Friday, February 18, 2005
Funding cuts to disabled Victorian school children could be life-threatening, experts have claimed.
More than 2300 disabled students now receive about $6000 less on average for vital school help and therapy, with some of the most severely disabled children losing more than $12,000.
The total shortfall is estimated at $14 million.
Principals Association of Specialist Schools president David Giddings said a drop in funding could potentially put children in life-threatening situations.
In some cases the students have life-threatening disabilities and need round-the-clock care to ensure they survive in the classroom.
Some children have been sent home from school because funding shortages mean there is no one to look after them.
(Source: Herald Sun)
More than 2300 disabled students now receive about $6000 less on average for vital school help and therapy, with some of the most severely disabled children losing more than $12,000.
The total shortfall is estimated at $14 million.
Principals Association of Specialist Schools president David Giddings said a drop in funding could potentially put children in life-threatening situations.
In some cases the students have life-threatening disabilities and need round-the-clock care to ensure they survive in the classroom.
Some children have been sent home from school because funding shortages mean there is no one to look after them.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Thursday, February 17, 2005
A senior psychiatrist who examined former Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib, says that his physical and mental state both suggest that he was tortured.
Sydney University professor of psychiatry Christopher Tennant said that Mr Habib "has evidence of having been exposed to very significant and unpleasant events, probably torture."
Professor Tennant also asked a doctor to examine Mr Habib. The doctor found traces of cigarette burns and bruising.
The Australian government has rejected Mr Habib's claims that he was tortured by the American military.
(Source: The Age)
Sydney University professor of psychiatry Christopher Tennant said that Mr Habib "has evidence of having been exposed to very significant and unpleasant events, probably torture."
Professor Tennant also asked a doctor to examine Mr Habib. The doctor found traces of cigarette burns and bruising.
The Australian government has rejected Mr Habib's claims that he was tortured by the American military.
(Source: The Age)
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
The government has been accused of letting thousands of Australians wait for years in pain for dental treatment.
An investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald said public dental patients in New South Wales were waiting up to eight years for attention, while the number of children needing hospital treatment had doubled over the past decade.
There were only about 240 public dentists to cater for more than 2.5 million health card holders, children and the elderly, the paper said, while there were more than 3,000 private dentists available to treat the rest of the population.
The Opposition claimed that the government had "yanked $100 million out of the system", and that it was 'routine' for people to wait four or five years for a public dental appointment.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
An investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald said public dental patients in New South Wales were waiting up to eight years for attention, while the number of children needing hospital treatment had doubled over the past decade.
There were only about 240 public dentists to cater for more than 2.5 million health card holders, children and the elderly, the paper said, while there were more than 3,000 private dentists available to treat the rest of the population.
The Opposition claimed that the government had "yanked $100 million out of the system", and that it was 'routine' for people to wait four or five years for a public dental appointment.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Quote of the Moment:
"So I think this is very promising to the American investors and to American enterprise, certainly to oil companies."
Then-Iraqi Finance Minister, and likely new Prime Minister of Iraq, Adal Abdel-Mahdi, speaking late last year about a proposed new law that would open Iraq's national oil company to private foreign investment.
"So I think this is very promising to the American investors and to American enterprise, certainly to oil companies."
Then-Iraqi Finance Minister, and likely new Prime Minister of Iraq, Adal Abdel-Mahdi, speaking late last year about a proposed new law that would open Iraq's national oil company to private foreign investment.
The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has found that tobacco companies have misled smokers about the health benefits of light or mild cigarettes; but they are likely to be unable to pursue them in court due to lack of funds.
According to the Cancer Council Victoria, 95 per cent of smokers now smoke "low delivery", or light, cigarettes. Studies have shown that light cigarettes are no less damaging than heavier cigarettes because smokers inhale them more deeply.
A statement by Finance Minister Nick Minchin to the Senate said: "The ACCC has concluded that the labelling of light and mild cigarettes and the way in which these cigarettes have been marketed over several years all combine to give a misleading impression of the health benefits of smoking these cigarettes."
The ACCC has indicated it would need a special injection of money from the Government to fight the tobacco companies in court.
However a spokesman for Treasurer Peter Costello, who has responsibility for the ACCC, said: "We substantially increased funding to the ACCC in the last budget. How they spend that funding is a matter for them."
(Source: The Age)
According to the Cancer Council Victoria, 95 per cent of smokers now smoke "low delivery", or light, cigarettes. Studies have shown that light cigarettes are no less damaging than heavier cigarettes because smokers inhale them more deeply.
A statement by Finance Minister Nick Minchin to the Senate said: "The ACCC has concluded that the labelling of light and mild cigarettes and the way in which these cigarettes have been marketed over several years all combine to give a misleading impression of the health benefits of smoking these cigarettes."
The ACCC has indicated it would need a special injection of money from the Government to fight the tobacco companies in court.
However a spokesman for Treasurer Peter Costello, who has responsibility for the ACCC, said: "We substantially increased funding to the ACCC in the last budget. How they spend that funding is a matter for them."
(Source: The Age)
Three of the four major banks have been given "Female Friendly Employer" awards by the government, despite the finance sector having the worst gender pay gap of any Australian industry.
Women in the finance sector earn an average of 57% of the average male wage for the sector.
(Source: Finance Sector Union website)
Women in the finance sector earn an average of 57% of the average male wage for the sector.
(Source: Finance Sector Union website)
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
A school principal used security cameras to monitor a teacher he later sacked, despite Government guidelines banning closed circuit television systems from being used to monitor worker performance.
Principal Wayne Craig used the computer classroom footage to back his claim that teacher Gloria Ng was incompetent.
The reason given for installing the cameras was to protect computers in the room.
Mr Craig showed Mrs Ng the recording at the end of 2002 then asked her to resign.
Victorian Education Department guidelines prohibit closed circuit television systems being used to monitor individual work performance.
Mr Craig claimed staff and students were aware they recorded 24 hours a day.
He also said that "no decisions were made on a basis of that video footage" but that "it was just an example of the quality of her teaching."
(Source: news.com.au)
Principal Wayne Craig used the computer classroom footage to back his claim that teacher Gloria Ng was incompetent.
The reason given for installing the cameras was to protect computers in the room.
Mr Craig showed Mrs Ng the recording at the end of 2002 then asked her to resign.
Victorian Education Department guidelines prohibit closed circuit television systems being used to monitor individual work performance.
Mr Craig claimed staff and students were aware they recorded 24 hours a day.
He also said that "no decisions were made on a basis of that video footage" but that "it was just an example of the quality of her teaching."
(Source: news.com.au)
Quote of the Moment:
"United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
"According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.
"The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the national election based on the incomplete returns reaching here."
The New York Times, September 4, 1967.
"United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
"According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.
"The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the national election based on the incomplete returns reaching here."
The New York Times, September 4, 1967.
An Aboriginal man who five witnesses say was bashed by Victorian police officers may need spinal surgery.
There are also fears that the incident may have triggered his first attack of epilepsy and damaged his hearing.
At least five people said they saw up to 10 police drag 27-year-old Raymond William Merritt through a smashed car window and slam his head onto its roof while arresting him on February 1 last year.
They said the police then pulled him to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him.
Merritt's mother, Lyn Young, of Leichardt in Sydney, yesterday said her son believed he lost consciousness more than once during the arrest and had been told he could no longer hear properly in one ear.
"He reckons it was the worst flogging he's ever copped in his life," Miss Young said.
"He has complained about ringing in his ears and he has also complained about his back and he's now having medical attention for that up here."
Miss Young said doctors at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital had told her son he had to have physiotherapy and he might need surgery to fix a dislocated disc, after he saw a medical officer in the NSW prison system following his extradition from Victoria last July.
His appearance before the Melbourne Magistrates Court last February had to be adjourned at the request of his lawyer when he suffered an epileptic seizure. Miss Young said he had never suffered epilepsy before.
Unlike several passers-by who witnessed his arrest, Merritt never made a complaint against police. "He said he was too frightened of getting another hiding," Miss Young said.
She said he was allowed to leave Victoria only after he pleaded guilty to one charge of resisting arrest, one of stealing the car in which he was arrested and one of possessing a stolen Discman, the receipt for which she said was held by his solicitor.
"He couldn't take any more. He said to me, 'Mum, I'm just gonna plead guilty to one (charge of) resist arrest and get it over and done with'. He said: 'I can't handle it down here'."
She said that not even his solicitor could talk him out of making the guilty pleas.
"He just wanted it finalised," Miss Young said.
She said that far from family and friends, he had become depressed and that this had been noted by a prison psychiatrist.
"It's too far for us to come and go. I managed to get down there the once and I had planned to go back. But he said, 'It's too far mum'," she said.
As it was, he had come to depend on an Aboriginal worker in the prison system for telephone contact with his family in Sydney. Had he opted to contest any or all of the charges, she said, he would have been held until December.
(Source: The Age)
There are also fears that the incident may have triggered his first attack of epilepsy and damaged his hearing.
At least five people said they saw up to 10 police drag 27-year-old Raymond William Merritt through a smashed car window and slam his head onto its roof while arresting him on February 1 last year.
They said the police then pulled him to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him.
Merritt's mother, Lyn Young, of Leichardt in Sydney, yesterday said her son believed he lost consciousness more than once during the arrest and had been told he could no longer hear properly in one ear.
"He reckons it was the worst flogging he's ever copped in his life," Miss Young said.
"He has complained about ringing in his ears and he has also complained about his back and he's now having medical attention for that up here."
Miss Young said doctors at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital had told her son he had to have physiotherapy and he might need surgery to fix a dislocated disc, after he saw a medical officer in the NSW prison system following his extradition from Victoria last July.
His appearance before the Melbourne Magistrates Court last February had to be adjourned at the request of his lawyer when he suffered an epileptic seizure. Miss Young said he had never suffered epilepsy before.
Unlike several passers-by who witnessed his arrest, Merritt never made a complaint against police. "He said he was too frightened of getting another hiding," Miss Young said.
She said he was allowed to leave Victoria only after he pleaded guilty to one charge of resisting arrest, one of stealing the car in which he was arrested and one of possessing a stolen Discman, the receipt for which she said was held by his solicitor.
"He couldn't take any more. He said to me, 'Mum, I'm just gonna plead guilty to one (charge of) resist arrest and get it over and done with'. He said: 'I can't handle it down here'."
She said that not even his solicitor could talk him out of making the guilty pleas.
"He just wanted it finalised," Miss Young said.
She said that far from family and friends, he had become depressed and that this had been noted by a prison psychiatrist.
"It's too far for us to come and go. I managed to get down there the once and I had planned to go back. But he said, 'It's too far mum'," she said.
As it was, he had come to depend on an Aboriginal worker in the prison system for telephone contact with his family in Sydney. Had he opted to contest any or all of the charges, she said, he would have been held until December.
(Source: The Age)
A mentally ill Australian resident was held in immigration detention for 10 months, and a mental health expert says immigration officials brushed aside his efforts to help her.
Cornelia Rau, who suffers from schitzophrenia, was eventually discovered by her family and released into psychiatric care in Adelaide.
South Australia's public advocate, Jonathon Harley, said yesterday that Immigration Department officials were the most arrogant he had encountered in his public service career, adding that they "basically ignore anything I do or say".
"The way she has been treated would have exacerbated her condition," he said.
It took a month for a psychiatrist at Baxter detention centre to assess Ms Rau.
(Source: The Age)
Cornelia Rau, who suffers from schitzophrenia, was eventually discovered by her family and released into psychiatric care in Adelaide.
South Australia's public advocate, Jonathon Harley, said yesterday that Immigration Department officials were the most arrogant he had encountered in his public service career, adding that they "basically ignore anything I do or say".
"The way she has been treated would have exacerbated her condition," he said.
It took a month for a psychiatrist at Baxter detention centre to assess Ms Rau.
(Source: The Age)
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
The Salvation Army allowed a man who they knew was a white supremacist, to allocate housing to people in need on their behalf for several months.
Stuart McBeth is president of the extreme right-wing Patriotic Youth League.
The Salvation Army became aware of his activities in August, but only sacked him after media reports in late January.
An Army spokesman said that in August Mr McBeth was given a "very hard interview", suspended for one week, and "asked to work within certain guidelines".
(Source: ABC news website)
Stuart McBeth is president of the extreme right-wing Patriotic Youth League.
The Salvation Army became aware of his activities in August, but only sacked him after media reports in late January.
An Army spokesman said that in August Mr McBeth was given a "very hard interview", suspended for one week, and "asked to work within certain guidelines".
(Source: ABC news website)
Quote of the Moment:
"I have a horrible feeling that we are sinking into a police state, and that's not good for anybody."
George Churchill-Coleman, who headed Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad as they worked to counter the IRA during their mainland attacks in the late 1980s and early 1990s, commenting on Britain's proposed new 'anti-terrorist' laws.
"I have a horrible feeling that we are sinking into a police state, and that's not good for anybody."
George Churchill-Coleman, who headed Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad as they worked to counter the IRA during their mainland attacks in the late 1980s and early 1990s, commenting on Britain's proposed new 'anti-terrorist' laws.
The first Australian has been killed in Iraq.
Flight-Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, 35 was the navigator of a British C-130 transport plane when it crashed north of Baghdad late on Sunday, killing up to 10 troops.
Flt-Lt Pardoel was born in Colac, Victoria and had dual Australian-British nationality.
(Source: news.com.au)
Flight-Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, 35 was the navigator of a British C-130 transport plane when it crashed north of Baghdad late on Sunday, killing up to 10 troops.
Flt-Lt Pardoel was born in Colac, Victoria and had dual Australian-British nationality.
(Source: news.com.au)
