ETHNIC RIOT COVERUP

Read the three reports of the same event below. I initially read just the first report below on the general News Corp site but immediately smelt a rat because such a thing has never happened in Australia before to my knowledge. Googling turned up the other two reports below -- one of which mentions Muslims and the other of which mentions Africans. Was it Africans versus Muslims or just Africans?

(1). Six people have been arrested while shops and a cinema in Melbourne's west were forced to close during a brawl involving more than 150 people. Police were first called to the Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong when a brawl, lasting an hour, erupted inside the cinema at 5pm (AEST) yesterday. Officers helped eject a number of fighting youths then returned to Footscray police station.

But the officers were soon called back, when a second brawl, now involving more than 150 people, broke out. Scores of police cars blocked the shopping centre's entrance as officers from 15 stations attended, and the cinema and shops on level one were shut down as the fighting continued. Six people were arrested, some of whom were dragged away, and capsicum spray was used to subdue the crowd. Those arrested face charges including hindering police and resisting arrest. Police will review video footage of the incident as investigations continue.

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(2). Police have denied Highpoint shopping centre is a problem area for ethnic gangs after a wild post-Ramadan brawl at the weekend. It is believed the fight between up to 20 youths erupted about 5pm on Saturday after several members of the group were ejected from the Hoyts cinemas because they were caught without tickets. The group then spilled into the centre's food court where several girls began fighting each other. By the time police arrived to disperse the group, numbers had swelled to more than 100.

Sen-Sgt Dave Byrt, from Footscray police, said the group had gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan. "Saturday night was just one out of the box in terms of one cultural group coming together in the one place," Sen-Sgt Byrt said. Police arrested six people and were forced to use capsicum spray to subdue sections of the crowd.

Sen-Sgt Byrt denied there was a problem with ethnic gangs at the centre. "In terms of Highpoint we wouldn't have any more trouble there than at any other centre," he said. One trader disagreed, saying some of his staff were too intimidated to work weekend night shifts. "A lot of the girls just won't work nights, we have mostly guys on because they know what can happen," the trader said.

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(3). Restaurant patronage next to a cinema complex in Melbourne's west was yesterday said to be down, following a series of violent confrontations between rampaging teenagers and at least one altercation with police on Saturday night. African youths were among the crowd of at least 150 teenagers who confronted police in a series of fights that culminated in two brawls at the Highpoint shopping centre, in Melbourne's west, on Saturday. Teenagers charged at police as they arrived to contain a series of fights at the ground-floor entrance to the Hoyts cinema complex, off the Maribyrnong centre's Warrs Road car park, just after 5pm.

Six people were arrested for hindering police after a series of fights broke out between groups of African youths. Police yesterday said about 10 officers were initially called to the scene. They ejected about 30 people from the Hoyts complex and arrested four others. But after clearing the scene, 20 police in a convoy of more than 15 vehicles returned to the shopping centre less than an hour later to clear a crowd of 150 that had gathered outside. They arrested another two youths and used capsicum spray on a group of 20 who charged at them, then shut the cinema and nearby shops as the brawls continued. No police were injured.

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Big tax cut

"John Howard has promised to return $34 billion to taxpayers in one of the boldest starts to an election campaign in Australia's political history. Firing the first shot in what promises to be a Coalition "shock and awe" offensive to destroy Labor's bid for office before it gets started, the Prime Minister and Treasurer Peter Costello outlined a tax policy that would boost family incomes by up to $50 a week. The sweeping reforms - which Mr Costello insisted were fully funded - would set a new tax course for Australia until 2013 if the Coalition was returned to office at the November 24 election.

Labor appeared to be caught out by the announcement, with Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd saying that, while he supported tax cuts, Labor had yet to decide if it would match the Coalition's package.

The Coalition's tax proposal promises, within five years, an end to tax for anyone earning up to $20,000 and a top marginal tax rate of 35 per cent for 98 per cent of taxpayers. The reforms are also designed to spearhead an expected series of policies rolled out over the next six weeks to directly appeal to those missing out on national prosperity.

Mr Costello used an impressive mid-year economic review - showing growth will increase to 4.25 per cent, half a per cent more than budget forecasts - to back his claim the Commonwealth could afford the new tax regime.

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Labor to dump ID Card

Wise decision. Government computer databases are almost always a disaster. Britain's NHS database has cost 12 billion (Yes. billion) pounds so far and is still in trouble

A LABOR government would scrap the contentious $1.1 billion Access Card project, human services shadow minister Tanya Plibersek has confirmed. Labor would scrap the proposal entirely, says human services shadow minister Tanya Plibersek. "We have said all along that if the Access Card had not been introduced by the time of the election we would not proceed with it," Ms Plibersek said. "So, yes, we would scrap the proposal entirely."

Touted by the Howard Government as a health and welfare smartcard and anti-fraud measure, the scheme has met with sustained opposition as a de facto identity card. Originally proposed and promoted by then minister Joe Hockey in April 2006, the project has been in limbo since July, following a series of legislative and procurement stumbles.

Human Services Minister Chris Ellison was forced to withdraw enabling legislation in March, after the draft bill was rejected by an all-party Senate committee. A revised exposure bill has since been languishing, with Senator Ellison in June saying the consultation period would extend beyond the 2007 election. "I think the timeline we set was an ambitious one," he said, adding that he would not put the legislation forward until early 2008.

The future of two crucial technology contracts, systems integration and card issuing, is uncertain nearly a year after private sector tenders were called. But the bulk of the $1.1 billion project spend is related to the huge task of registering some 15 million Australians for the card. Other key tenders are for transaction services and the supply of Eftpos terminals. Overall, spending on project consultants, technology and advertising had reached $52 million by September.

Ms Plibersek said Labor considered smartcard technology to offer useful applications, "but we have no plans to look at any similar projects". Labor declared its opposition to the Access Card back in March, with Ms Plibersek describing it as "simply a national ID card in disguise". "It is an ill-conceived, poorly executed project that will cost a great deal more than the Government imagines or is prepared to admit," she said.

Ms Plibersek predicted the card would be an election issue. "It will be on the radar, as people realise every single Australian will have to attend an interview, be photographed and provide original documents they will have to apply for and pay for," she said. "With the potential for the information they provide to be lost, stolen or misused, I think they'll be very anxious."

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NSW government caves in -- authorizes full public hospital enquiry

ROYAL North Shore Hospital's emergency department was on its knees the night Jana Horska miscarried in a public toilet of its waiting room, but the hospital has refused to concede just how overcrowded it was. The Herald has learned that at the time she miscarried about 9pm there were 43 patients in emergency and all 28 acute beds were full, including the three resuscitation bay beds.

Ms Horska waited twice as long as her designated triage category of one hour. Sixteen patients had been admitted to the hospital but were waiting for an inpatient bed, and seven of those had been waiting more than eight hours.

Yesterday, the Premier, Morris Iemma, bowed to pressure and said he would support a full, open parliamentary inquiry into systemic problems at the hospital, proposed by the Christian Democrats MP Fred Nile.

Ms Horska, 32, was 14 weeks' pregnant when she miscarried on September 25 after waiting for two hours in acute pain for medical attention. The incident led to a flood of serious complaints by doctors, nurses and patients of similar cases, but the Government had insisted it would not broaden its investigation beyond the incident to examine the entire hospital.

The Herald has repeatedly asked the hospital to explain how crowded the emergency department was that night. Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the hospital said it had already explained that the emergency department was "busy". "Clearly, it was a really busy night, but I don't know whether all the beds were full," she said. She confirmed that 43 patients were in emergency at 9.06pm on September 25. Of those, she said one was categorised as the most critical triage one - a child suffering a seizure who required immediate attention. There were seven triage two patients who needed to be seen within 10 minutes, and 14 triage three (to be seen within 30 minutes). There were 18 semi-urgent category four cases needing review within 60 minutes, including Ms Horska, and five non-urgent cases requiring attention within two hours, she said.

She said the acting director of clinical operations, Julie Hartley-Jones, had previously apologised to Ms Horska and her family. "She [Ms Hartley-Jones] mentioned that the emergency department was busy with staff treating a number of critical cases on the night Ms Horska was waiting to be seen," the spokeswoman said. An internal investigation into Ms Horska's case was launched immediately. "Royal North Shore Hospital felt Ms Horska's case was serious and deserved to be responded to in its own right," she said.

Emergency heads from several public hospitals are to meet the Health Minister, Reba Meagher, this week to discuss their concerns about staffing. Mr Nile will move a motion in the upper house today for a joint select committee to inquire into clinical management systems at the hospital, staffing, resource allocation (particularly in emergency), complaints handling, and to consider strategies for improving patient care which could also be adopted at other public hospitals.

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