150 guests to attend 150th anniversary dinner at Queensland Parliament

I heartily endorse the comments of the Speaker below. How many other places have had 150 years of unbroken democracy? Not many: Mostly other Anglo-Saxon democracies. And Queensland is undoubtedly one of the best of the Anglo-Saxon democracies -- plenty of political snarling and occasional corruption but in the end a committment to honesty, fair play and respect for the will of the people. Extreme Leftism, with its total disrespect for such things, has never taken hold in Queensland, something one cannot say of the USA or the UK. I feel very safe from political madness in my home State. I note that the guest list is bipartisan -- including some fairly undistinguished politicians from both parties

It could be one of the most exclusive dinners ever in Queensland. No fewer than 150 people will attend a $150-a-head banquet at Parliament House tonight on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the first sitting of Parliament.

At the top table, choosing between grilled barramundi and roast eye fillet, will be the state's political heavy hitters led by Premier Anna Bligh, Speaker John Mickel and Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek.

Governor Penelope Wensley [I gather that Her Excellency is something of a Greenie but she is also a supporter of my old church so I forgive her for that!] and her husband Stuart McCosker will head a line-up of VIPs from across Queensland including political, academic, church and civic leaders and a plethora of current and former members.

"Tomorrow's 150th anniversary of the first sitting of the Queensland Parliament on 22 May 1860, in the old convict barracks building in Queen St, is a genuinely significant occasion," Mr Mickel said.

"To have had 150 years of unbroken democracy, and the rights and freedoms that go with that, is no small deal. It's a big deal actually, as much as we might take it for granted. "It's definitely a milestone worth marking, and an occasion worth celebrating."

More HERE




Injured waitress gets six-figure compo from 'negligent' north Queensland cafe

Cardwell is in Far-North Queensland, where I come from, and I can understand well what is reported below. The old Australian "She'll be right, mate" gospel rules up there, implying a general disrespect for rules, regulations and precautions. Sadly, however, things are sometimes NOT right and the case below would seem to be an instance of that. I am pretty sure that in Cardwell the general opion would be that it was just bad luck but the learned judge has found otherwise so he may be right. As a man of the Far North, however, my respect for learned judges is not high. It is easy to be wise after the event about precautions that SHOULD have been taken

A Cafe operator that failed to properly guard against cooking oil spillage was ordered to pay $463,158 to a waitress who slipped on the kitchen floor, yesterday.

In the Supreme Court, Justice Peter Lyons found Mollking Holdings Pty Ltd, which ran a cafe and service station at Cardwell in north Queensland, had caused by its negligence injury to employee Cherrie Ann Jones.

Last month in Cairns, Justice Lyons ordered Mollking pay $470,628 in damages but he reopened the case to make an adjustment of the damages amount in Brisbane, yesterday.

He reduced the figure by $7469 to reflect compensation already paid to Jones.

The court heard Jones, 34, was carrying plates on a tray away from the washing up area into the cooking area when her feet went from under her. She fell heavily landing on her buttocks. Jones suffered a fracture of the sacrum (vertabrae near the pelvis) and chronic soft tissue damage.

Mollking defended the case on the basis of contributory negligence in that it alleged Jones was walking too fast when carrying the tray. However, Justice Lyons rejected the contributory negligence claim.

Justice Lyons found the arrangements in the kitchen area were likely that oil would spill on the floor and it should have been known to those running the cafe. He said that increased the risk and a practical arrangement could have been made to avoid the problem.

Justice Lyons said it followed Jones's injuries were caused by Mollking's negligence.

SOURCE





More lying Greenie propaganda in the schools

Government trying to pass the buck


What a great little kid!

A 12-YEAR-OLD Queensland schoolgirl has taken aim at the controversial NAPLAN tests, claiming they are brainwashing children not to eat beef. Cheyenne McCamley from Bajool, 35km south of Rockhampton, a member of the famous Queensland cattle family, said she was infuriated by a Year 7 reading comprehension question headed "Moo to Roo".

The essay that was the subject of the test makes pointed comments about beef farming and promotes eating kangaroo as an alternative. It claims that beef contains 10 to 20 per cent fat. And it says the Garnaut report found the livestock industry more polluting than the coal industry.

"I was appalled to find the article they had chosen to use," Cheyenne said. "I felt that it was evil brainwashing, and it made me worried what other children would think about the cattle industry. "Some of the information seemed wrong at the time, and I have since found out that it is wrong. But other children would not know this, especially the city kids.

"I am disappointed in the Government for letting that type of article into an Australia-wide test. "It makes me concerned about how this could impact the future of the beef industry and my own future as a grazier [rancher]."

Cheyenne's response won support from Meat and Livestock Australia, which said assumptions in the test question were "plain wrong". General manager David Pietsch said the article was "poorly referenced" and contained a "biased point of view that unfairly denigrates the beef industry".

"The article suggests that a typical beef steak has a fat content of 10 to 20 per cent," he said. "The average beef steak has only 2.8 per cent fat, is an important source of nutrients and receives the National Heart Foundation tick. "Also, the national greenhouse accounts report that 37 per cent of emissions come from electricity generation, mostly coal, which is around three times the amount of the livestock industry."

The MLA has called for a "please explain", while other graziers have complained to the Ombudsman.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Julia Gillard said: "The national literacy and numeracy tests sat last week by more than a million schoolkids include written comprehension questions. "These questions are not set by politicians in Canberra. They are set by experts in curriculum who are interested in knowing that our kids can read a passage then answer questions on it."

She said if anyone wanted to raise an issue with any of the test questions, they could contact the independent statutory authority responsible, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. The authority was yesterday unavailable for comment.

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Guard threatened with prison-crafted 'shiv' as six teens make daring escape from Parkville's Juvenile Justice Centre

Interesting that only one of them appears to be of Northern European/British appearance, despite people of that ethnicity being the overwhelming majority of the Australian population.

Equally interesting that Victoria police refused to issue the pictures. It took a court order to get the pictures released. Victoria police are deeply committed to hiding from the public the huge problem of ethnic crime. I'm glad I don't live in Melbourne. A lot of Queensland police are thugs but they are not compulsorily dishonest and deceptive

THE Police Association has slammed the inadequacies of the state's justice system as the faces of six 'desperate' teens who escaped from a juvenile justice centre last were finally revealed.

The teens, aged between 15 and 17, fled the Parkville Juvenile Justice Centre about 10pm last night and are believed to have already committed an armed robbery on a Coles supermarket and stolen a car.

heraldsun.com.au can now reveal the faces and names of the escapees, after a court order was issued granting permission for their use.


Police have named them as: Jason Vaivao, 15, Liam Groeneveld, 17, Rodrigo Magele, 16, Vincent Pua, 16, Tony Ulu, 15 and Robert Marshall, 16.

Police Association secretary Sen-Sgt Greg Davies said the escape showed the inadequacies of the justice system.

"Incidents like this show how police are often stuck on a merry-go-round where they pick up people committing crimes, drop them at the exit and by the time the merry go round comes again the offenders are standing waiting to get back on the ride,’’ Sen-Sgt Davies said.

"It highlights that people with a propensity for violence or who commit serious offences, regardless of age, should be dealt with by the full force of the law and not be put in a position where they can walk away....

The six youths were serving sentences for various offences, including some for assault and armed robbery and were said to be wearing blue tracksuits when they escaped.

More HERE

UPDATE

ONE of six violent youths who staged a daring jail break from a youth detention centre is still on the run more that 24 hours after his escape. Fifteen-year-old Tony Ulu remains at large, but Det-Acting Insp David Defrancesco warned the young absconder "the net is closing".

Five were back in custody last night after police took the unusual step of issuing their names and photographs. Police quickly found success with the air unit, the dog squad and heavily armed officers swooping on two houses in Frankston.

The Department of Human Services was applying to the Children's Court to have two 16-year-olds moved to an adult prison. The youths each have a history of violent crime, including assault and armed robbery...

The security lapse happened despite a management warning that staff should not enter cells at night unless there was a medical emergency. The security breach was being taken very seriously, a DHS spokesman said. "A comprehensive internal review is under way into the events which took place and resulted in the escape," Bram Alexander said.

More HERE






Wow! Brutal and senseless crime attributed to an African

The iron curtain against mentioning the ethnicity of criminals is obviously more permeable in NSW than it is in Victiria

A young Sudanese refugee who was refused a cigarette has been jailed for at least 16 years for the "cowardly" Sydney murder of an innocent bystander. "This was an offence of the most disturbing and senseless kind," Justice Megan Latham said in sentencing the boy in the NSW Supreme Court today.

The youth, who was 15 at the time of the offence and cannot be named, was found guilty of the stabbing murder of Edward Spowart, 54, in the early hours of April 21, 2008, during a brawl in the streets of Granville.

"It might be said that his exposure to violence in the Sudan and Kenya desensitised him to some extent to the use of violence in order to settle disputes," the judge said. "However, the offender is not without intelligence and, according to his stepmother, was a respectful, polite young man until his entry into high school in Australia in 2006."

The murder arose out of a confrontation between members of Mr Spowart's group and the teenager's. The intoxicated teenager had asked someone in the other group for a cigarette but was rebuffed and told to go home. "Apparently reacting out of a wounded sense of pride, the offender threw a punch," the judge said.

A brawl then broke out, with various men and youths arming themselves with sticks, bricks and street signs. "However, Mr Spowart played no active part in that confrontation or in the later hostilities," the judge said.

"He was an innocent bystander who had retreated to the relative safety of a grass verge and was carrying nothing more than a plastic shopping bag when the offender ran towards him with a knife and viciously assaulted him." Describing the attack as "cowardly and vengeful", Justice Latham said Mr Spowart posed no threat and bore no responsibility for the conduct of his friends.

The murder "demonstrates yet again the havoc that is wreaked all too often when a knife is carried in public by intoxicated males, who resort to violence to vindicate themselves over some relatively petty slight," the judge said. She set a maximum term of 23 years.

SOURCE