High mortality among Australia's black children

Maybe the simpletons who think that Aborigines are "just like us only browner" will take notice of this. Alcoholism, rape, wife-beating and child abuse are rife in Aboriginal communities and child deaths are one predictable result. Additionally, people who know Aborigines well will be aware that they not uncommonly "lose" their children -- as a probable product of their tribal customs. The whole tribe raises children rather than just one or two parents so the parents feel no need to keep a close watch on their children. But when much of the tribe is drunk, children can become seriously neglected.

And how is any government going to change all that? Coercion would of course be "paternalistic" and education is a laugh. Many Aborigines have been so propagandized by white do-gooders that they can recite all the "right" practices by heart already. They just don't do it. They can talk the talk but they don't walk the walk. The only thing that might help a bit is a bigger police presence but you will see no mention of that below

AUSTRALIA'S indigneous children aged under five are dying at a rate comparable to some of the world's poorest countries. A Save the Children report, released today, says indigenous children are three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than non-indigenous children. Indigenous and child advocates say governments need to address this disturbing disparity immediately and give communities more say in managing their own health services.

The report blames poverty and a lack of health care services for the high mortality rate. Poor nutrition was also a factor, with indigenous children under four suffering malnutrition at a rate almost 30 times greater than non-indigenous children. Indigenous infants die at a rate of 12.5 per 1000 births compared with the non-indigenous rate of 4.3.

The report says that is the same as East Timor and the Solomon Islands, which are among the world's most underdeveloped countries. They have poor life expectancy, poor food security and low literacy rates and earning capacities.

CRANAplus president Christopher Cliffe, who represents health workers in remote areas, said it was completely unacceptable for Australian children to have mortality rates similar to children in developing nations. "This absolutely should not be happening in Australia; we are a very wealthy country and we can actually afford to fix this," he said.

The Newborn and child survival in Australia report is part of Save The Children's five-year global "Survive to Five" campaign being launched today. The group has urged the Federal Government to double spending on children's health. Chief executive Suzanne Dvorak said the child mortality rate in indigenous communities must be reduced by two thirds within six years. "Every child deserves the right to a happy and fulfilling life, but today Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children have the same rate of survival as children born in East Timor and the Solomon Islands," she said.

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Big youth crime problem among blacks

And, as usual, the do-gooders think it can be solved. It would take genetic engineering to solve it. 40,000 years have adapted Aborigines brilliantly to a hunter-gatherer life (the way Aborigines note and remember tiny details in the landscape is legendary -- an ability much used in the past by "black trackers") but that adaptation is a poor fit to an advanced Western civilization

WESTERN Australia's juvenile justice system is in crisis and desperately needs more resources to reduce the number of children being detained, according to the head of the state's children's court.

Children's Court president Denis Reynolds said if the system continued without more prevention and diversion programs, crime rates among children would increase rapidly. "I think we're in a position of crisis quite frankly," he told The Australian. "We can't keep going the way we've been going without the necessary supports."

According to Australian Institute of Criminology figures published in The Australian on September 26, the number of juveniles in detention in WA on any given day had risen from from 118 in 2004 to 139 in 2007.

Judge Reynolds said there was a "crying need" for more safe houses designed to prevent vulnerable children committing crimes and ending up in detention. He said this would mean that some children suffering abuse and dysfunction -- both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal -- would have to be taken away from their families. "The court is confronted by damaged children, we get the train wreck. It's all happened by the time we get it and what there needs to be is a greater focus on prevention and diversion to prevent criminal behaviour," he said. Judge Reynolds said there was also a need for more bail hostels so children unable to get bail could avoid being remanded in detention. Currently around 55 per cent of the 146 juveniles held in Perth are on remand.

He said the unfortunate reality was Aboriginal children represented the vast majority of all children appearing before the court. It was vital that culturally appropriate programs run by Aboriginal people be made available because this would mean Aboriginal children could be placed on alternative community-based orders and bail programs.

Currently 66 per cent of all children detained in Western Australia are Aboriginal but Judge Reynolds said this was not a reflection of the court exhibiting bias against Aboriginal children. "It is an appalling statistic but it doesn't reflect the courts sending children to detention that it shouldn't send to detention. It reflects a lack of prevention and diversion," he said.

In the last state budget, the Barnett government allocated $655 million over the next four years to create more than 1600 adult prison beds across the state. Judge Reynolds said it would have been interesting if the same amount of money was allocated to prevention and diversion. The question that would arise in the long term was what would be better for the community. Attorney-General and Corrective Services Minister Christian Porter told The Australian there were huge problems in regard to the number of children remanded in custody. He said the government intended to expand the number of regional youth justice centres and this would help avoid children being placed on remand.

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Lebanese Muslims again: Sydney nightclub ban generates race row

Good to see that one person quoted below understood that the aggressiveness of many Lebanese Muslims is a problem

IT DIDN'T matter that Dr Saade Saade is hard-working and well-educated - when he tried to get into a trendy Sydney nightclub he claims it made a decision to bar him simply because he is Lebanese. The Balmain dentist has accused Bungalow 8 at King St Wharf of being "patronising, humiliating" and acting illegally when it bounced him at the door in September and again in November 2007.

He took the club to the Anti-Discrimination Board for mediation. When that failed he went to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, which last week ruled his account was "credible" but he did not have enough evidence to uphold his complaint.

Dr Saade said the first time he tried to enter the club a staff member of Mediterranean appearance stopped him and said: "You know what it's like, they don't let us in." He said the man continued: "It's our fault, we have created this reputation for ourselves and that's why we are not allowed into clubs.'We have no one else to blame, it is our fault."

Dr Saade left and wrote an email to the venue's management complaining of race discrimination. A manager wrote back offering him entry next time if he called in advance. But Dr Saade declined and said: "I want to be able to line up like anyone else and get let in like anyone else. I don't want preferential treatment."

Dr Saade said he and his brother returned two months later to meet female friends in the half-empty club. They were refused entry on the grounds they were "not on the guest list". When they said their female friends who were allowed in were not on the list either, the doorman said they must have "slipped through".

"It's extremely patronising," he said at his Balmain surgery. "We're not silly people, we know what's going on. "I'm a credible person in society. I help people on a daily basis. "A lot of people have this experience. I believe in equal opportunity."

In tribunal hearings, Bungalow 8 denied its staff told Dr Saade people of his appearance were unwelcome. It also denied having a policy of refusing to serve people based on race. But Dr Saade said the club was one of many with an unofficial policy of refusing service to people of certain ethnic backgrounds.

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Sydney suburb sees 34 shootings in two years

It is of course not mentioned below but I gather that Fairfield has a large Muslim population

GUN violence is so out of control there are three shootings a week in Sydney. The city's shooting capital is Fairfield, with 34 shootings in just two years to the end of June. Exclusive statistics from the Bureau of Crime Statistics show there were 157 drive-by and illegal shootings between July 2008 and the end of June, up from 129 the year before.

Police investigated 29 shootings in the Blacktown local government area, 25 in Bankstown, 24 in Auburn and 20 in Liverpool. There were even 11 shootings in the heart of the city.

Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher said NSW was awash with handguns, which were being imported from overseas and then traded on Sydney streets. "Criminals are getting their hands on illegally imported firearms," he said last night. A frightening array of guns have been seized in the past month, including a .357 Magnum handgun and a .22 shortened rifle with silencer. In one raid on September 9, police officers managed to seize five Colt M16 assault rifles, three Colt AR15 assault rifles, three 9mm assault rifles, a tactical assault rifle and seven 9mm handguns at Rosebery.

The last shooting victim was a 34-year-old Auburn man wounded in the shoulder six days ago in Sydney.

Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research chief Don Weatherburn blamed the spike in shootings on a sudden rise in bikie-related drive-bys [biker gangs are often Muslim these days] towards the end of last year. He added that the number of shootings had since stabilised.

The latest drive-by shooting was just two weeks ago at Smithfield, with a family at home when their house was shot at. Truck driver Bob Knight was an innocent victim caught in the crossfire in June when shot dead by a stray bullet from a gunfight that took place in Milperra. "I actually feel sorry for people that live in Sydney, people that lived near it wrote to us saying `It could have been my house'," Mr Knight's son David said yesterday. "I like to hope if something comes out of this for Dad that the Government or the police actually realise what is going on."

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Watchdog in the pocket of the government?

Their job is to police government misconduct in Queensland, misconduct by both the politicians and government employees

A former senior state government policy adviser has claimed he was sidelined and sacked by the Government after refusing to lie to Queensland's corruption watchdog. Scott Patterson yesterday said his ordeal was not an isolated incident among ministerial staff and showed the need for a far-reaching royal commission. Mr Patterson said he was the only office member not interviewed by the Crime and Misconduct Commission during a probe in late 2000 after he told senior figures that he would not lie.

Three months later Mr Patterson was shifted to another minister's office, sent on leave with pay and then sacked in late 2001. "I didn't trust the CMC then and I don't trust them now," the former Labor Party member said. "It seems there is an intimate connection between the CMC and the Government."

Mr Patterson said the inquiry needed to probe the Government's relationship with the CMC as well as its interaction with business so corruption could be exposed and public confidence restored. "From my knowledge of government, I believe that it is time for another inquiry to run the ruler over some of the activities of government," he said.

His claims come after numerous allegations have surfaced since corruption fighter Tony Fitzgerald warned in July that Queensland was at risk of returning to its "dark path". Another former ministerial staffer, Jacqueline King, recently claimed she was sacked after raising concerns about jailed former minister Gordon Nuttall in 2002. Premier Anna Bligh has refused to call a royal commission into the numerous claims and has insisted anyone with allegations should take them to the CMC.

Mr Patterson said he had no intention of complaining to the CMC after his past experiences and he believed there were other former staff with similar stories. He expected "sour grapes" accusations from some government figures but said the "predictable political response" only highlighted the need for an inquiry. "If people have got a story to tell then they should be allowed to tell it without fear of being harassed by what amounts to middle management of government," he said.

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