MUSLIM WASHROOMS???

Why must non-Muslims be barred from them?

A row has erupted over Muslim-only washrooms at La Trobe University that can be accessed only with a secret push-button code. Muslim students have exclusive access to male and female washrooms on campus, sparking claims of bias and discrimination. The university and Islamic leaders have defended the washrooms as vital to Muslim students' prayer rituals.

A university student, who did not want to be identified, raised the issue with the Sunday Herald Sun this week. Australian Family Council spokesman Bill Muehlenberg said concerns over the exclusive facilities were valid. "Do we have a Christian washroom or an atheist washroom?" he said. "The whole thing is madness." Mr Muehlenberg said the separate facilities were divisive. "If Muslims are saying 'we are good Australians and want to integrate', why are they insisting on separate washrooms?" he said.

Victorian Muslim community leader Yasser Soliman said the washrooms were necessary. He said the separate facilities were also due to concerns from non-Muslim students. "Muslims need to wash their feet before prayer and in the past there have been complaints about them washing their feet in sinks, so this is a happy medium," he said. Mr Soliman said most universities provided Muslim-only prayer and washrooms for students.

A La Trobe University spokesman said the washrooms were established with the advice of senior Muslim religious leaders. He said the university also had a Christian chapel with a meeting room and four chaplains from major denominations had offices. La Trobe University Christian Union vice-president Richard Thamm backed the washrooms. "It's part of their religion, they need to wash in a special way before they pray," he said.

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Senior Australian conservative politician targets Left for stance on Iraq

Labor's exit strategy for Iraq is the product of entrenched pessimism in the political Left and a flawed pursuit of soft options, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says. Mr Downer yesterday launched a broad defence of Australia's involvement in the US-led war on terrorism as the Howard Government faces increasing pressure to end its military commitment in Iraq. He laments the "self-loathing" of the Left, saying it will only embolden extremists bent on imposing Islamic rule on the world.

The narrative of the Left, he said, had always been "either post-revolutionary heaven on Earth, or this year's version of catastrophe". Its avoidance of confrontation and tough decisions played into terrorists' hands. "In the West, the political Left often exhibits a kind of self-loathing that argues we have brought this battle with terrorism upon ourselves," Mr Downer said in a speech to the Young Liberals' national convention in Melbourne last night. "That the terrorists can trigger this predictable self-loathing within the Left, that it runs prominently in the media, that it saps the public's appetite for the struggle, that it places pressure on politicians -- none of this is an accident. The terrorists' attacks and propaganda are designed to produce these debilitating debates in the West."

As Labor pushes for phased withdrawal from Iraq, polling last week showed 62 per cent of Australians opposed the Government's handling of the war, including 41 per cent of Coalition voters. A pre-Christmas poll found more than 70 per cent believed the war was not worth fighting.

Prime Minister John Howard has shrugged off the figures, again insisting that withdrawing from Iraq would hand victory to terrorists. Mr Downer said while Britain's Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair had recognised terrorism could not be defeated without diplomacy and military might, the ALP was a "world away from Blair's clear and assertive view".

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Where the Greenies are heading us

Today I present a straightforward solution to ending the water crisis. Starting immediately, we must ban beer and Coke and stop eating beef. The production of all three is sucking the world dry. And let's face it: we'd be healthier without them.

The evidence is compelling. Did you know it takes nearly four litres of water to make one litre of XXXX [beer]? And did you know it takes 55,000 litres of water to produce a kilogram of beef? That is more water than in my backyard pool for goodness sake.

"Yes, those numbers are valid," CSIRO water expert Wayne Meyer says. Professor Meyer says the amounts of water required to raise cattle could be as high as 100,000 litres in some places where evaporation is highest. The figure includes the amount of water required to grow fodder to feed the animals. Then there is the water the cattle drink and the vast quantities used in abattoirs to slaughter them. Brisbane's Cannon Hill abattoir, for instance, uses more than 580 million litres of water a year.

By now I know vegetarians will be cheering and cattlemen fuming under their Akubras. Drought and government neglect has created a water nightmare for business, especially for food producers. More than half of our top 20 commercial water users are in the food or beverage business. Professor Meyer says city folk have no idea of the volumes of water required to put food on the table. It takes 500 litres of water to produce a kilogram of spuds. It is thirsty work for a planet that will have to double the rate of food production by 2050 to meet soaring population growth, says Professor Meyer.

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Government concealment of childcare breaches

Nearly 50 Queensland childcare centres failed to meet strict safety standards last year, but State Government laws prevent them being named. More than 73 compliance notices were issued to 48 childcare centres during spot checks in 2006, instructing them to either fix unsafe buildings and equipment, employ extra staff or improve their recordkeeping, cleaning and maintenance. But parents will never be told of the breaches, and the Communities Department will reveal only the regions where the centres were located.

Two centres - one in Brisbane and one in the Wide Bay area - had their licences revoked last year, but the department said confidentiality provisions in the Child Care Act also prevented those centres being publicly named. Communities Minister Warren Pitt said the number of centres issued with compliance notices represented only a fraction of the facilities operating in Queensland, and indicated that most were for minor problems.

Mr Pitt said the safety of children was "paramount" and the department had conducted more monitoring visits last year. "As there were 2212 licensed childcare centres in Queensland by the end of last year, the compliance figures show that only about 2 per cent of licensed childcare centres received notices during 2006," Mr Pitt said. "These figures show that the sector, as a whole, is operating well."

The figures come a week after the department revealed Wilbur Rhino Child Care Centre in Townsville, which cared for up to 75 children, had its licence suspended because of concerns over its management. The department again would not detail the concerns, but said they did not relate to child abuse. It was unclear why that centre was publicly named, but the two other centres which had their licences revoked last year were not.

Under the current system, departmental officers visit childcare centres and alert the licensees if there are any problems. If they fail to rectify the problems, they can be fined or, in serious cases, have their licences suspended and revoked. During 2006, the Wide Bay-Burnett area recorded the highest number of breaches at 25, following by the Mackay-Whitsunday region and far north Queensland. These ranged from problems with the buildings and equipment, inadequate staffing or qualifications to bad record-keeping, health and hygiene.

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Global cooling?: "Summer rains and a cold snap had Victorians retrieving their winter woollies yesterday - the coldest January day in seven years. The city [Melbourne] reached a cool top of 18.9C as yesterday's welcome rain dumped an average of 7mm on the city. The state's lowest minimum on Friday night - zero degrees - was recorded at Mt Baw Baw. Mt Buller and Mt Hotham recorded maximums of 7C. But the Department of Sustainability and Environment said the light showers failed to help firefighters in the state's northeast. "The rain neither helped nor hindered," duty officer Richard Alder said."