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Australia to get compulsory internet filtering

The Federal Government is planning to make internet censorship compulsory for all Australians and could ban controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia. Australia's level of net censorship will put it in the same league as countries including China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea, and the Government will not let users opt out of the proposed national internet filter when it is introduced.

Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy admitted the Federal Government's $44.2 million internet censorship plan would now include two tiers - one level of mandatory filtering for all Australians and an optional level that will provide a "clean feed", censoring adult material. Despite planning to hold "live trials" before the end of the year, Senator Conroy said it was not known what content the mandatory filter would bar, with euthanasia or pro-anorexia sites on the chopping block. "We are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material," he told a Senate Estimates Committee.

Previously the net nanny proposal was going to allow Australians who wanted uncensored access to the web the option to contact their internet service provider and be excluded from the service.

Groups including the System Administrators Guild of Australia and Electronic Frontiers Australia have slammed the proposal, saying it would unfairly restrict Australians' access to the web, slow internet speeds and raise the price of internet access. EFA board member Colin Jacobs said it would have little effect on illegal internet content, including child pornography, as it would not cover peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. "If the Government would actually come out and say we're only targeting child pornography it would be a different debate," he said.

But the Australian Christian Lobby yesterday welcomed the Government's proposals. Its managing director Jim Wallace said he expected resistance from the industry but the measures were needed. "The need to prevent access to illegal hard-core material and child pornography must be placed above the industry's desire for unfettered access," Mr Wallace said.

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FINANCIAL CRISIS TAKES TOLL ON AUSTRALIAN CARBON SCHEME

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won office promising to be a climate change warrior but his chief weapon -- a carbon trade scheme to slash emissions -- is falling victim to shifting politics and world financial tumult. A former diplomat, Rudd made ratification of the Kyoto climate pact -- opposed by the former conservative government for more than a decade -- his first act after winning November elections tinged green by the seeming onrush of climate shift. "The Rudd government was elected partly on its promises to take strong action, not just symbolic and token gestures, to cut greenhouse gas emissions and in particular to build renewable energy," says carbon trade and environment academic Mark Diesendorf from the University of New South Wales.

Even before winning, Rudd commissioned respected climate economist Ross Garnaut to design an emissions scheme to rival in breadth the world's biggest regime already operating in Europe. Successive surveys showed Australians overwhelmingly wanted a government to fight global warming after climate scientists said the country was experiencing a pace of climate change unmatched elsewhere, bringing droughts, storms and agricultural hardship.

Now, after a sharp economic slowdown, bloodletting on world financial markets and unemployment lifting off a three-decade nadir, the government seems to have dropped its sights in line with Australians fast-shifting concern to their jobs.....

Rudd says the problem of global warming "doesn't disappear because of the global financial crisis", but appears to have softened his zeal, promising Garnaut only to take account of recommendations a year in the drafting.

Garnaut certainly sensed the shift, recommending a two-track approach towards Rudd's 2050 target of a 60 percent cut in 2000-level emissions, focusing on a "practical" interim cut of 10 percent by 2020 while also laying out more ambitious options. That offers Rudd the attractive post-crisis option of a scheme that will not bring too much upheaval, for business or the public, but allow him to have delivered on a key election promise in the possible environment of a global recession. "The government is hardly likely to have a stronger cap than Garnaut. Sadly the government has already rejected some of his best suggestions, like no free permits," says Diesendorf.

Quiggin says an artificially low fixed carbon price may go some way to mollifying big polluters, who unsurprisingly favour no scheme or a limited one, but warns it will drive international investment out of Australia's protected market and into the more lucrative $40 billion carbon trade in Europe.

Renewable energy firms want higher prices to make solar, wind and wave power more competitive, while coal-fired electricity generators and other emission intensive industries want adjustment costs as low as possible. When the prevailing carbon price in the European Union is around 22 euros, or $27, per tonne, insiders in Canberra are tipping a two-year price under A$10 a tonne, or just $6.70, with some saying it could even be as low as A$8.

"To have a serious target you need a price which is of the order of A$30 a tonne, while the other, and they go together, is you essentially need to close down brown coal power stations, replacing them with low-emission technologies," he says.

And that is Rudd's conundrum. While his public appeal is tied to recognition of climate change and helping Aborigines, he promised business to govern as an economic conservative. In Canberra, that means looking after coal and resource interests. Australia is the world's fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter on a per head basis and relies on ageing coal-fired power stations for 80 percent of its energy needs. It is also the world's biggest thermal coal exporter.

An Auspoll survey last week for the independent Climate Institute showed public backing for Rudd's management of climate change had slumped from a pre-Kyoto ratification high of 43 percent to just 28 percent. But a recent Lowy Institute poll showed voters did not back climate action if it costs jobs or income.

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A small victory for parents of bullied Australian soldiers

The mother of a young soldier found hanged at the Holsworthy barracks in 2003 alleges her son was bullied by soldiers returning from their tour of duty in East Timor because of his Portuguese background and that an officer told members of his unit: "With this wog, you can do whatever you want -- won't be charges taken."

The parents of another soldier who took his life in 2004 also allege that they were bullied and threatened by the army and told that if they spoke about the report into their son's death they would be committing a federal crime and would go to prison.

The allegations surfaced as thefederal Government made ex-gratia payments to the families of four young solidiers who took their own lives after suffering intimidation, bullying, abuse and neglect. The payments, after a decision by Kevin Rudd and cabinet, ended a three-year battle by the families to force theAustralian Defence Force to recognise it had failed in its moral duty of care.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the parents' claims against the military had been a long and sad saga. "The families are entitled to feel that the death of their sons was partly caused by shortcomings in the defence force system," Mr Fitzgibbon said, adding there had been substantial reforms to the military justice system and moves to change the defence force culture in recent years, "but we must always continue to work on that point".

In Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, tearful parents said their claims were aimed at revealing a culture of bullying and intimidation in the armed forces and opening up the system of military justice to independent investigation. Some of the parents are now pressing for an independent court to be established to hear charges against senior officers, and the federal Government is under pressure to make Australia's military courts fully independent, as recommended by a 2005 Senate inquiry.

In Melbourne, Rosa Satatas, mother of Gunner John Satatas, 19, who was found hanged at Holsworthy Army Base in Sydney's southwest in April 2003, alleged that her son's Portuguese background was a factor in his death and that soldiers returning from duty in East Timor were hard on him as a result.

Mrs Satatas had told a Senate inquiry that in the weeks leading up to his death, her son was subjected to racial abuse and assaults. When his body was found, the word "Spic" had been written on his forehead in felt-tipped pen and the word "Spiros" on his arm. A beard and moustache were drawn on his face.

Mrs Satatas said yesterday that, prior to his death, her son had told her that an officer, whose name she had been prevented from discovering, told members of his unit, "With this wog, you can do whatever you want - won't be charges taken." Crying, she said: "He treated him like a dog. I just want to know who this person is, but they won't show the names on the investigation."

Also in Melbourne, Wendy and Adrian Hayward alleged that they were bullied and threatened by the army after the suicide of their son David, 20, who was AWOL for more than two months before his death in March 2004. They said that a few days after his death they were told, "If you discuss this report with anybody it's a federal offence, you'll go to prison". Mrs Hayward, who said the pain of her son's death had reached so deep that "you can't hurt any more", said she felt frightened by the threat. "Can you imagine: losing your child and then having to deal with that?" she said.

Mr Hayward, who described his son as "a good kid", said the army had been "100 per cent negligent" by not contacting the family during his absence. Asked about the ex-gratia payment, he said: "It's not about the money; it's about trying to get a system in place for other children going into the army."

In Adelaide, the parents of Lance Corporal Nicholas Sheils, who took his own life in 1996, said they wanted an independent court established to seek justice against senior officers who neglect their men.

In Perth, Charles Williams saidhis son, Private Jeremy Williams, who hanged himself at Singleton, NSW, in February, 2003, was a proud and passionate soldier who had been made to feel "like scum". He hoped the compensation payment led to reforms "where the bullies ultimately dealt withare punished, not rewarded and promoted".

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Scientists discover how to switch obesity cells off

A WORLD-first breakthrough by Melbourne scientists could give them the ability to switch off fat, fuelling hopes of overcoming obesity and a host of weight-related diseases. In the past month tissue engineers at the Bernard O'Brien Institute of Microsurgery have discovered chemicals that act as the switch telling fat cells to grow and multiply. They have also found two drugs, which can switch off fat cells' growth, in the laboratory and will soon begin a long study testing them in rats to see if they could become an obesity treatment.

In other world-first discoveries over the past two years, Bernard O'Brien scientists have developed a technique to grow fat cells into breast and beating heart-muscle tissue. And they are now confident their latest discovery could help to reverse the process. The team is yet to publish its findings and can't release full details or the identity of the signalling enzymes and drugs. However, director of tissue engineering Prof Greg Dusting said the breakthrough could have a huge impact in the fight against obesity and weight-related disease. "We know what those molecular signals are and we have got some molecules that block them," he said. "We can modify these molecules and turn them on to enhance the development of a breast or heart tissue, or we might be able to change those molecules to ones that block those pathways. "It's fabulous and offers all sorts of possibilities. It's what pharmacologists always think about."

Prof Dusting hopes that within two years the animal trials will provide enough information for researchers to know if they can control fat growth effectively. But he warned there was still little idea of what the consequences would be for the body or what would happen to the excess fuel caused by overeating. The institute has already been able to grow a fist-sized lump of fat in a laboratory -- the largest piece of tissue grown through tissue engineering techniques -- but until recent weeks the researchers were unsure exactly how the fat growth was stimulated.

The breakthrough discovery of oxidase enzymes -- which signal fat cell growth -- was made by Prof Dusting and colleague Dr Keren Abberton, in collaboration with Melbourne University. It is believed to be the same process that is triggered by overeating and by fat-rich diets.

The Melbourne University collaboration has seen rats fed a diet of meat pies, chips and doughnuts, increasing their body weight and fat by about 10 per cent over a few weeks. As well as suffering high blood pressure, the fat rats showed an increase in the level of the special oxidase enzyme in both their blood vessels and in their fat deposits, which are also bigger. In the laboratory, the scientists can use drugs to turn the switch on in stem cells derived from fat to produce more fat. In the human and the rat body, the same process is triggered by excessive eating and a fat-rich diet, resulting in excess body fat.

Prof Dusting said fat was being revealed as one of the most active agents in the human body and had an effect on every organ. "We don't know whether it's the central box of something smaller, but the more we look the more we find that fat has an important impact on everything," Prof Dusting said.

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Nasty Greek doctor

Greek doctors are notorious for giving you any prescription you ask for. Ethics are not their strong point

A doctor ignored desperate pleas to help a man who collapsed outside his Adelaide surgery - locking himself in his office as the man died from a heart attack - the Coroners Court has heard. Brian Raymond Turner, 59, died in the car park of the Europa Medical Clinic at Salisbury Downs on Saturday, July 23, 2005.

Coroner Mark Johns yesterday heard evidence from the clinic's receptionist, Angela Conte, who said she was shocked when Dr Emmanuel Vlahakis refused point blank to help Mr Turner. Ms Conte said she was startled when Mr Turner's wife, May, started frantically banging on the locked office doors about 6pm. "She was screaming hysterically that she needed someone to help her husband. She kept saying someone help me, please help me," Ms Conte said. Ms Conte said she called Dr Vlahakis on the intercom and said there was a woman at the door begging for someone to help her stricken husband. "He asked me `is he inside or outside the clinic?' and I said he is outside, can you come out and help and he said `no, call an ambulance'," Ms Conte said.

Ms Conte and a waiting patient then went to Mr Turner's aid before she again approached Dr Vlahakis, telling him Mr Turner had blue lips and was not breathing. "I opened the doctor's door and said what do we do now, thinking we would grab an emergency trolley and go outside to help," Ms Conte said. "The doctor said `we don't do anything - lock all the doors and keep them locked until the ambulance arrives'."

Ms Conte said she had seen other doctors from the clinic help emergency cases in the past and had expected Dr Vlahakis to treat Mr Turner. Instead, she said Dr Vlahakis locked himself in his consulting room with the blinds drawn, then left as soon as the ambulance drove into the car park. Ms Conte said she later learned that the medical centre had a policy that doctors were not obliged to provide care if the patient was not physically inside the building.

Pathologist Dr John Gilbert told the court there was a chance Mr Turner would have survived the heart attack if proper CPR had been given immediately. "His situation was not necessarily irretrievable . . . you've just got to do it (CPR) to give him the best chance," Dr Gilbert said. Counsel assisting the Coroner, Amy Davis, said the inquest would examine whether Dr Vlahakis had a duty to help Mr Turner. Dr Vlahakis is listed to give evidence today.

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