ZEG

In his latest offering, conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG is disgusted by the gang rapes carried out by National Rugby League footballers.





Youths throw rocks, terrorise elderly home: No penalty

A NORTHERN Territory nursing home went into lockdown after a gang of youths jumped the back fence and terrorised elderly residents. The Northern Territory News reports that young thugs hurled rocks at the elderly residents' private villas and lurked around the premises, peering through windows.

Frightened nursing staff hit the panic button, which locks all the residents' doors, in fear of what the wayward teenagers were up to. "We were worried as the residents were vulnerable," a nurse said. "I don't know what (the youths) intended to do but we didn't want to risk it, so we went into physical lockdown."

The ambush happened at the 56-bed Terrace Gardens nursing home in Farrar, Palmerston, about 9pm on Tuesday. Police were called and quickly swarmed the area, rounding up almost a dozen kids hidden in bushland nearby. They were taken to the Palmerston police station where they were later released without charge.

Commander Rob Kendrick said the problem lay with "parents who just don't care". "Some of these youths are not from normal homes and police are left to deal with the consequences of their upbringing and actions," he said.

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At least SOME of the NSW police goons get caught

A TOTAL of 25 police officers have faced courts in NSW in the past six months for offences ranging from assault and theft to drink driving and drug supply. An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has found the officers' alleged crimes also include drag racing, conducting illegal searches and gaining unauthorised access to the NSW Police computer system.

Among the police officers charged is Senior-Constable Antoni Jozef Krawczyk, accused of taking $100 from a lost and found purse handed to police. The 33-year-old Quakers Hill police officer is the son of Parramatta's highly regarded Detective Inspector Jan Krawczyk. The younger Krawczyk has been suspended from duty with pay.

His case was heard in Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday along with the case of North Sydney Constable Luke Maxwell Sweetman, 28, who faces three charges of accessing restricted data in the NSW Police computer system. Sweetman remains on duty with full pay.

Krawczyk has been charged with larceny for allegedly taking two $50 notes from the purse on December 2. He is alleged to have taken the money after visiting a home in Glenwood, where the purse containing documents and cash was handed to him by a member of the public.

Krawczyk comes from a family with a long history in the police force. His younger brother Michael recently graduated from Goulburn Police College, his sister Fiona is with the police prosecution branch and his father Insp Krawczyk was awarded the NSW Police Medal after 40-years of service.

Solicitor Kenneth Madden, who is representing both Krawczyk and Sweetman, told the Downing Centre Local Court that he had 18 witnesses to give evidence on behalf of Krawczyk and wanted both matters to go to hearing. Neither has entered a plea.

Nine off-duty police have been charged with drink driving and four with assault.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said officers who committed crimes represented only a "tiny proportion" of the force. "The public expects the highest integrity of the 15,300 police officers in NSW and the tiny proportion of those who commit a crime let down the vast majority of officers who work to uphold the law," he said. "I am disappointed every time an officer is charged. "But police are not above the law and if they choose to behave illegally they will be dealt with."

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More on the vast and fatal government incompetence during the Victorian bushfires

Despite such fires being a frequent problem, they showed totally inadequate preparedness

DESPERATE Black Saturday residents calling for emergency help were put on hold by Telstra and in some cases diverted to Centrelink. As Victoria's worst-ever fire advanced towards them, callers heard a soothing voice say, "Don't disconnect, your call will be answered". The bushfires royal commission was told yesterday some people who tried to contact the Victorian bushfire information line on February 7 were diverted to Centrelink, the Herald Sun reports.

In an extraordinary breakdown, it also emerged that 24 hours after 34 people were killed in Marysville, Victoria's peak emergency body believed all there were safe. The Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner issued a situation report at 8am and 5pm on February 8, saying: "We understand everyone in Marysville is safe." The bushfires royal commission yesterday heard the situation report listed nearby Taggerty as a "concern", when the fire had ripped through the town the day before.

Counsel assisting the commission, Rachel Doyle, said the information was "just embarrassingly out of date". Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin agreed, saying the reports were "unfortunate and wrong".

On the communications breakdown, Mr Esplin said 9088 triple-zero calls and 970 SES calls were received on February 7. He said Telstra emergency calls were passed on to the state's Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority and if there was a surge, callers would hear the recorded message. "My understanding is that Telstra activated a recorded voice announcement," he said. "I have been advised that ESTA didn't activate a voice recorded announcement."

Mr Esplin said if ESTA was overloaded it went to "second, third and fourth responders", but he could not say if that happened on Black Saturday. Ms Doyle asked if emergency calls were passed to CFA volunteers at their homes during a windstorm that hit Victoria in April 2008. "Last year some CFA volunteers literally received triple-zero calls?" Ms Doyle asked. Mr Esplin: "That is correct. Passed through from Telstra."

Ms Doyle: "Some CFA volunteers responded by telling the person to wait while they themselves tried to call 000?" Mr Esplin: "That's correct."

Ms Doyle asked what happened when the bushfire information line, which was supposed to relieve the load on triple-zero, was itself overloaded. "My understanding is that there is a pre-arrangement with the Department of Social Security ... in other words Centrelink," Mr Esplin said.

Earlier, he said the Government did not approve a national phone alert system until 16 days after Black Saturday. If the system had been in place on February 7 it would have been an "important tool", but he could not say if it would have saved lives. He said the system would be in place by October.

Mr Esplin also said a radio and television emergency break-in signal was not activated on Black Saturday. He said the Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS) was used routinely in cyclone-prone areas but was never discussed in bushfire planning meetings between emergency services.

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How governments get people out of their cars (another example)

Where did they get this insane bus driver? What training was he given? Are they psychologically evaluated before being given charge of lots of people? And judging by many past verdicts (e.g. this one) he will do no jail time for his appalling behaviour

A BRISBANE City Council bus driver assaulted a 79-year-old passenger because he was "a few cents short" of his fare, a court has been told. Dennis Fath Chow, 38, was yesterday committed to stand trial for the serious assault of the man, who cannot be identified, at Chermside West in September 2008.

A Brisbane Magistrate's Court committal hearing was told the men had argued over the price of a bus fare. High school student, Jaqueline Williams, 16, told the court she was travelling on a No.345 bus when it stopped at the corner of Rode Rd and Maundrell Tce at Chermside West. She said Chow became involved in an argument with his elderly passenger when he could not produce the correct fare.

After rebuffing the girl's attempt to pay the fare, Chow started pushing and shoving the elderly man, the court was told. "The bus driver just started screaming at him," the girl said. "He was grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking and pushing him. He lifted him up and chucked him off, kind of like a footy."

The man fell headfirst on to the concrete footpath, the girl said. "I saw the old man bleeding and I went to see if he was all right. I had tissues in my bag so I was just trying to clean up as much blood as I could," she said. The court was told the man sustained facial fractures and extensive bruising and cuts to his hands, hips and elbows.

Another witness on the bus recounted hearing the sound of the man hitting the concrete. "I could hear his head crack like an egg on the footpath," he said. "(The bus driver) was going to drive off but I told him I was calling the police and to stay right there."

Magistrate Jacqueline Payne committed Chow to stand trial in the District Court.

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Amazing! Leftist Federal government allows an illegal immigrant to be deported

Will this be the last such episode? Judging by recent policy pronouncements, I expected that the illegal might just be given coffee and money instead

A Nigerian man who was pulled off a fence at Sydney's Villawood detention centre overnight will be deported tomorrow, just two days before he was due to marry an Australian woman. The man climbed onto the fence on Tuesday afternoon to protest against the Immigration Department's plans to send him home. He was given blankets, food and water before police were called to the centre about midnight last night.

Detainees threw rocks at police and security staff, who talked the Nigerian down while standing on a cherry picker around 2:00am (AEST).

The Fire Brigade also sent two crews to put out two small blazes that were lit inside the centre during the commotion.

Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, says it is a particularly sad case because the man had planned to get married this Sunday. "A woman, Marie, knew him before he arrived in Australia apparently but has been visiting since he arrived in May last year," he said. "It was very well known that they were to be married on Sunday and yet at the moment, he's still scheduled to be removed on Friday."

Immigration Department spokesman Sandi Logan says tomorrow's deportation will put an end to a long-standing case for the man. "We understand he may have been upset; however, he's exhausted every avenue of appeal to remain in Australia," he said. "It's only right - and I think the community would expect it - that people who have no right to remain in Australia should be returned."

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Will visa limits stop further illegals being allowed into Australia this year?

REFUGEE advocates are calling for an increase in humanitarian visas as a 12th refugee boat this year was intercepted in Australian waters yesterday. It was carrying 31 asylum seekers and three Indonesian crew members.

Immigration policy observers are expecting a "modest" increase to the humanitarian program beyond 750 additional spots announced in last year's budget for Iraqi nationals who assist Australian defence personnel in the Gulf war. That already-announced increase will take Australia's overall humanitarian intake to 13,750 annually.

Graham Tom, refugee advocate for Amnesty International, said as conflicts worsened in trouble spots such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Western nations would have to raise their humanitarian intake.

Earlier this year the UN Refugee Agency released figures showing an increase of 12 per cent globally across 2008 of people seeking asylum. That has correlated with a sharp increase in boat arrivals in Australia since September last year, 19 in total carrying 710 people.

Since September last year there have been 138 approvals for humanitarian visas for people in various forms of immigration detention on Christmas Island. Fourteen have been refused and four have returned voluntarily to Sri Lanka.

There are a further 459 people on Christmas Island with asylum seeker claims, with the additional 31 — believed to be adult Afghan men — now en route to the island for immigration processing. A spokesman for the Immigration Department said last night approvals of asylum seeker claims would fill all available visa spaces this financial year.

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