Australia's immigration detention 'worst in Western world'

This is laughable -- just the usual Leftist hysteria -- but one can only hope that it is widely publicized overseas -- particularly in places like Iran and Afghanistan (i.e. the places where most "boat people" come from)

A parliamentary inquiry has heard Australia has one of the harshest immigration detention systems in the Western world. A Joint Standing Committee on Migration is holding a public hearing in the west Australian city of Perth, as part of an inquiry into immigration detention.

Linda Briskman, from Curtin University's Centre for Human Rights and Education, told the hearing a Royal Commission is needed to expose the abuse of children in detention.

Meanwhile, a refugee supporter group told the inquiry the mandatory detention of asylum seekers should be abolished. Refugee advocate Anna Copeland says while a new Australian government changed some of the rules on immigration detention, asylum seekers are still being unfairly treated. "These people are not people who have committed any crime. In fact they're victims of crime, they're fleeing persuction, they're fleeing torture, inprisonment, threats to their family and themselves. We shouldn't be treating them like criminals."

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Shocking public hospital delays in one of Australia's major resort areas

A retiree facing a two-year wait for a surgical specialist's appointment at Cairns Base Hospital has switched to the Townsville Hospital group - and will be seen next week. Barry Wicks, 74, is on four painkillers a day for a trapped navel hernia but is still in constant pain and suffers from nausea when he eats. Doctors have said he needs surgery. But Cairns Base Hospital staff cannot fit him in for a pre-surgery specialist's appointment for another 18 months to two years because of a massive patient backlog.

"I thought I might die before I ended up under the knife," the fed-up 74-year-old said yesterday. "My life's on hold -I can' sit at my computer or in my car for too long, the only real relief is lying flat and I'vbeen told it could get much more serious if my bowel becomes trapped in the hernia."

Mr Wicks went back to his doctor, in the small town of Cardwell south of Tully, and was transferred to the Townsville Hospital group. He will see a visiting surgical specialist at nearby Ingham Hospital next Wednesday and has been told to pack a bag in case the operation goes ahead hours later. The long-suffering retiree said he was relieved to have escaped a "two-year sentence". "I really don't know how I could have held out that long . it' scandalous," he said of the Cairns Base Hospital's surgery backlog.

A Townsville Hospital spokesperson yesterday said no category two patient had waited longer than the recommended 90 days for their "non-urgent elective surgery" in the June quarter.

But a Cairns Base Hospital spokesman confirmed two-year waits for a surgical specialist appointment were "the norm" for category two patients, with a wait of up to three extra months for surgery. "We are very, very busy," the spokesman said, adding the hospital was trying to recruit a new full-time surgical specialist. Category one patients could wait up to two months for a specialist's appointment, while less urgent category three patients were in for a two to three-year wait, he said.

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Students missing out on basic literacy, numeracy skills

Too much time wasted on propaganda

STUDENTS' literacy and numeracy are suffering because they are tied up learning such life skills as bike safety and sex education, principals say. The Australian Primary Principals Association says teachers spend too much class time on lifestyle issues at the expense of reading, writing and maths, the Courier-Mail reports.

APPA president Leonie Trimper said sex, drug, car and bike safety tuition were key distractions. "We're not saying we don't have a role but we seem to be the only ones with it," she said. She said a plethora of "add-ons" had crept into overcrowded state curriculums over many years, making it "impossible to achieve" learning aims.

In a report released last month, 96 per cent of 5000 Australian principals and teachers surveyed wanted a simpler, less-crowded curriculum.

Queensland's Year 3 and 5 students came seventh out of eight states and territories in this year's first national literacy and numeracy tests. Year 7 and 9 students came sixth. At the same time, Queensland Association of State School Principals president Norm Hart said, teachers copped "another job" when Education Queensland made 2008 The Year of Physical Activity with its Smart Moves program. "If you put your focus everywhere you can't keep your focus," he said. "Literacy and numeracy should be the focus."

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Lives put at risk by corrupt police who leak information to crooks

LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, Victoria's police corruption watchdog has warned. Officers in the corrupt cells are "culturally influential" in the force and can exploit the common practice of police sharing inside information on investigations to big-note themselves to their mates. Information traded by corrupt police to criminal associates damaged investigations, and "in extreme cases lives can be, and have been, put in jeopardy", the Office of Police Integrity warned.

In the OPI's annual report, tabled in parliament yesterday, director Michael Strong said that in some instances inside information about investigations was being sold to criminals or traded in return for favours. "At other times, the information-sharing arises between individuals who have a longstanding relationship in which loyalty to the individual appears to replace loyalty to Victoria Police and to the police officer's oath to uphold the law," Mr Strong says.

Victoria Police was rocked late last year when it was revealed in sensational OPI public hearings that details about a top-secret underworld murder investigation were allegedly leaked from senior levels within the force to the main suspect. Confidential information was also leaked about police informer Terrence Hodson shortly before he and his wife, Christine, were murdered in a cold-blooded underworld execution in 2004.

Mr Strong said corrupt police often promoted the image they were high achievers, but actually did little productive work. "They regularly flout organisational rules and regulations and avoid accountability because of their cultural influence," he said.

But attempts to clean out the force were being hampered by a "code of silence" and a tendency for police to close ranks or turn a blind eye, including lying to OPI corruption hearings. "Too many police witnesses required to answer questions under oath in OPI hearings seem willing to sacrifice their credibility rather than break the code," Mr Strong said. "I am gravely concerned at the apparent disregard some police have for the oath or affirmation to tell the truth when they give evidence. "Perjury is a serious crime."

A growing awareness within the force of the investigative techniques used by the OPI, including telephone intercepts and other electronic surveillance, was making it more difficult to catch corrupt officers. As a result, OPI operations were becoming more complex and increasingly required the use of covert investigative tools.

Mr Strong said the improper handling of criminal informers by police was a potential opening for corruption, with officers failing to register their sources of information, as required. "Streetwise criminals may be adept at manipulating some police," Mr Strong said. "Access to a piece of the action may pose too great a temptation for unethical police."

Overuse of physical force on suspects was a problem, with an estimated 70 per cent of such cases not reported. Twenty per cent of complaints against police involved assault allegations.

Mr Strong recommended that a criminal offence of misconduct in public office be introduced. Assistant Commissioner for ethical standards Luke Cornelius acknowledged corruption was a problem, but said it was restricted to a small minority of officers. "The critical point for us is that we have to break the code of silence," he said.

Corrupt police clinging to the "old ways" needed to realise it was only a matter of time before they were caught and prosecuted. "There's nowhere to run, there's nowhere to hide," Mr Cornelius said.

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