Labor Party to restart illegal immigration?

Labor has already promised to close the detention centre on Nauru and has previously stated that if people smugglers make it to Christmas Island with their human cargo, then entry to the mainland is guaranteed. Even if they don't make it to Christmas Island, Rudd has promised to take them there in the first instance. On the Alan Jones show (July 12, 2007) Rudd said that under a Rudd Labor government illegal boat arrivals would be "processed in the normal way and probably taken to Christmas Island for processing purposes". Such an equivocal response demonstrates that Labor is unfit to protect Australia's borders and maintain the integrity of our immigration program. This will simply give the green light to people smugglers that their repugnant criminal activity will be tolerated by a Rudd Labor government.

More disturbingly, Rudd makes no distinction between illegal and legal migrants. Labor's policy of "come one, come all", is further evidence that it does not have any policy to deal with illegal arrivals.

There will always be criticism of the Government's tough stance on protecting our borders from illegal boat arrivals. Regardless of where this criticism comes from, it will not deter the Howard Government from implementing its policies and ensuring that they are a success, and by any reasonable measure they have been.

More here





'Crippled' Left wrecking hope: Pearson

INDIGENOUS leader Noel Pearson holds little hope for the future of indigenous culture unless the political Left and Right can work together to tackle communities' dependence on the welfare state. "We are so crippled in our thinking that I don't hold out a great deal of hope we are ever going to get there," he told a packed crowd at the Melbourne Writers Festival last night.

Mr Pearson, chairman of the Cape York Institute, lashed out at the political Left, demanding its supporters rethink their views on the welfare state as it relates to indigenous policies. "Unless leaders of the cultural Left pull their heads out, I think it's going to be very hard for leaders of the indigenous community to do so," he said. The Left had "been the greatest justifiers of this state of affairs and we have never counted the costs. We just believed these things needed to be done".

Referring to drug and alcohol abuse in many Aboriginal communities, he added, "the facts have plainly spoken otherwise". "Giving handouts at the very bottom of society is a horrible thing that produces serious dysfunction," he said. When the Left "insists the blackfellas hold up the bottom end", Mr Pearson said, there was little hope the cycle of dependency would change. "The huge infrastructure of government, the parasitic infrastructure of welfare, has grown ... The minute you intervene in a person's life, inevitably you displace someone else's responsibility," he said. "The individual's responsibility. The mums' and dads' responsibility. The community's responsibility."

Mr Pearson's model for withholding part of Aborigines' welfare payments to ensure it is spent on food, child-rearing and other essentials rather than alcohol and drugs has been adopted by the Howard Government as part of its emergency intervention in the Northern Territory.

Mr Pearson told the audience of nearly 1000 people that one of the reasons he had worked closely with the Government was to bring on board Australia's conservatives, and to help them understand the plight of Aboriginal people. "Speaking to cheering crowds in Glebe and Fitzroy and West End in Brisbane might make indigenous leaders feel good," Mr Pearson said. "But you've got to do the hard yards with the hard people." Finding common ground with people on the political Right was vital, he said, adding that there was a "fundamental decency" within everyone.

Mr Pearson said the optimism and success of the Jewish community to secure a future after the Holocaust had given him great insight. He said Melbourne's Jewish community had shown him it was possible "to be victimised but not to become a victim", adding that the Jews had never forgotten or denied their history but had been able to continue and to thrive despite it. "This is what we have to do, to wake up and realise we are the guarantors of our destiny."

He recalled meeting the late Ron Castan QC, a civil libertarian and prominent member of Melbourne's Jewish community who died in 1999. In 1998, Castan connected Mr Pearson with conservative and right-wing thinkers so there could be a greater understanding of Aboriginal issues. This allowed Mr Pearson an insight into the potential for compassion and action among the political Right. "The starting place must be ourselves," he said. "The history of indigenous families tells us that the whole history of Aboriginal survival is not a history of government handouts."

Source






Government schools not so "free"

STATE schools have been warned not to use debt collectors to recover "voluntary" fees from parents. Draft regulations, obtained by The Australian, say parents should not be harassed or children humiliated because of a failure to pay materials fees or make voluntary contributions. The Victorian government policy follows controversy over what parents are expected to pay at state schools. There have been claims of parents being forced to pay up to $1000 in subject charges and students being humiliated if their parents could not pay. Other instances included students not being allowed to take home finished artwork, students being banned from excursions and others being embarrassed because they were not allowed a school diary until fees were paid.

The draft policy states that the Government only provides funding for "free instruction -- which is defined as the resources, materials and teaching of the "standard curriculum program". It says schools may charge fees to parents for "goods and services provided by the school". This can include textbooks, excursions and extra materials that students "consume" or take home, such as artwork. The draft regulations state that a school can charge a "voluntary" contribution but parents are not to be forced to pay it. "Payments and contributions are to be obtained without coercion or harassment," the document states. "It is not acceptable to send repeated requests for voluntary contributions beyond the initial notice to all parents." The regulations replace a 2004 policy which also instructed schools not to use debt collectors, threaten parents or humiliate students.

Victorian Council of School Organisations president Jacinta Cashen said the new regulations were much more explicit about what fees could be charged. "But the concern for us is the policing side," she said. "We know that previously schools have flouted the guidelines ... and in the past some have used debt collectors." Ms Cashen said the Victorian Government had failed to address the key issue. "If schools don't legitimately have enough money for free instruction, we should put more pressure on the Government for more funding," she said.

Victorian Association of State School Principals president Brian Burgess said he was pleased there had been an attempt to clear up confusion about fees. "There has been some lack of clarity about some of the issues regarding school materials charges," he said. Victorian Principals Association president Fred Ackerman said schools struggled to provide everything for students. "The system isn't funded at a sufficient level not to have to ask for charges," he said. "The books won't balance without a co-contribution from parents."

Source






Muslim plot thwarted by their own stupidity

THEY bragged of "owning the world starting from Lakemba", but a gang of young men who police say plotted to bomb ATMs seemed most concerned with not blowing themselves up. The young men from Sydney's south-west have been refused bail on charges of conspiring to use nitroglycerine explosives to attack safes and cash machines. Fadi Bassil, 20, from Lakemba, Elias Taouk, 19, from Kingsgrove, and Badawi Nassour, 20, of Greenacre, faced Sydney's Central Local Court yesterday. Linley Desire Jose Anthony, 20, of Yagoona was refused bail in the same court on Tuesday.

The men sparked a counter-terrorism operation when one, calling himself "Freddie", allegedly ordered 23 litres of chemicals from the Northern Territory on August 10. Australian Federal Police forensic experts said the batch of three chemicals could have been used to make up to 40 kilograms of high-powered explosive. Tipped off to the unusual order, police substituted dummy chemicals and monitored the men's phone calls and internet use, the court heard yesterday.

Police allege the men "googled" bomb recipes and tips, including searches on "how to blow up ATM machines" and "how much money is kept in bank ATMs". Phone taps revealed the men's dreams of criminal infamy and how they would spend their loot, the police version of events revealed. Taouk had said he "couldn't wait to be on video" and "couldn't wait until he parked his Porsche in front of Roxy's [nightclub in Parramatta]", the court heard. Police said Bassil asked a girl what she would do if her rich husband told her his wealth had come from robbing banks. When she asked him why, he replied that he was "just wondering". A text message said the men would "own the world starting from Lakemba".

The court was told other discussions involved the delicate process of bomb-making. "The mix is very sensitive and decomposes, anything, dropping or drying, it may explode," one man said. Another advised using "bungers to light it up", but cautioned they would need to "run away, straight away". Police allege that when the fake consignment arrived on August 24, Bassil and Nassour took the chemicals to Anthony's house in Yagoona. Faced with a room full of "explosives", Anthony was unnerved, and was recorded saying he was too scared to turn on his heater in case the house blew up.

Soon after, Bassil was taped revving up another of the gang to try out their new purchase. Surveillance teams later saw two men carrying ice and an esky to a table in Bicentennial Park in Glebe. They were then followed to a park in Georges Hall where they left behind gloves, eye droppers and 15 used sparklers, police said.

The men were arrested in police raids on Tuesday. Refusing bail, Magistrate Paul Lyon cited the strength of the police case and the need to protect the community. The "sheer magnitude of the quantity of substance that was bought brings it into a very serious category", he said.

Source