Leftist authoritarianism never stops: "Buy our product or else!"

The Al Capones of politics

THE Gillard government and the key providers of the NBN are still working out how to ensure basic phone services to those people who do not sign up to it. In Tasmania, official estimates forecast that just 16 to 25 per cent of premises passed by the NBN rollout would subscribe. This prompted the state government to switch to an "opt-out" model, where homes and businesses would be automatically connected to the service unless they refused.

Last night, the government revealed that those wanting to retain a fixed-line telephone service in their home would be forced to connect to the NBN.

A spokeswoman for Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy said people living within the planned NBN fibre footprint - which is the 93 per cent of premises that would be covered by the network - must have fibre connected to their homes through the NBN if they want to maintain a fixed-line telephone connection.

"Anyone who has a fixed-line phone service will continue to have a fixed-line phone service," the spokeswoman said. But before a home owner can choose a telecommunications provider for their fixed telephone line they must opt in to the NBN network. The situation facing people within the NBN footprint who refuse to connect to the network remains unclear and is still subject to talks between the NBN Co, the government and Telstra.

Currently, Telstra has a universal service obligation requiring it to ensure basic telephone services are available to all Australians on an equitable basis, no matter where they live. Under Telstra's $11bn deal with the NBN Co, the telco would be relieved of that obligation, which would be transferred to the NBN Co for the areas covered by the fibre network.

That deal would see Telstra gradually shut down its ageing copper network - currently the main way of providing fixed-line telephone services - and "migrate" (transfer) customers to the new broadband network.

A spokeswoman for the NBN Co said yesterday there had been "detailed discussions" over several months about a "range of complex issues". "Those discussions are continuing and include issues such as migration," she said.

While Senator Conroy's office last night pointed to the implementation study into the NBN as proof the NBN Co could develop a "strong and viable business case", concerns have lingered that the project might need shoring up. While Tasmania has chosen an opt-out model, NSW and Victoria have ruled out a similar move. But this issue has sparked intense debate.

Last night, iiNet managing director Michael Malone said other states would need to follow Tasmania's lead in order to shore up the viability of the NBN project.

With an opt-in model, Mr Malone warned, "complacency means people don't opt in". "It's going to be very difficult to get the take-up rates that are needed, and also very expensive because technicians will need to keep coming back to do the houses that missed out the first time around," Mr Malone said.

Paul Broad, the head of the nation's third-biggest telco, AAPT, sounded a note of caution about forcing people into the project. He asked: "If people were forced on to it, what are they going to be charged?" He pointed to Sydney's Cross City Tunnel, where the NSW [Leftist] government initially adopted measures aimed at pushing motorists away from alternative routes and into the tunnel.

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Another rogue Qld. bus driver refuses to stop -- and this time a kid dies

It had to happen eventually. Too many of the drivers treat kids with contempt, flouting their official instructions in order to do so

A WOMAN who was on the bus that passed Daniel Morcombe minutes before he vanished says she had an argument with the driver for not collecting him.

Witness Katherine Bird told the inquest into Daniel's suspected death that she saw him motioning to get on the bus while waiting under an overpass on the Nambour Connection Road, on the Sunshine Coast, but the bus did not stop.

Queensland Coroner Michael Barnes is investigation whether Daniel is dead, how he died and the police inquiries into the December 2003 disappearance, The Australian said.

Despite an extensive investigation involving up to 100 police at its peak, he remains missing, presumed dead.

Other witnesses have described one or two identified men with an older style blue car close to Daniel under the underpass at the time. They are believed to be linked to his disappearance.

Ms Bird was on travelling on the 1A Sunbus to Sunshine Plaza, having been delayed when her first bus had broken down.

She said she got angry at the driver when he did not stop for the boy gesturing to get on the bus. "It was a child. He was already sitting there waiting," she told the Maroochydore Coroners Court. "We were already 40 minutes late. I've got kids, I would have liked somebody to pick my child up."

Both Ms Bird and her partner Matthew Findlayson said they previously heard the bus driver being told not to stop for additional passengers because the bus was late.

After making a statement to police and re-visiting the scene, Ms Bird said she did not hear from police at all. She said her statement did not include a description of an older man she saw at the same place. "From seven years ago I've heard nothing, pretty much, until now," she said.

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Bureaucrats getting fat on programs designed to help blacks

ABORIGINAL politician Alison Anderson has slammed the massive increase in bureaucracy under the federal intervention into remote indigenous communities.

Ms Anderson, the independent member for the central Australian seat of MacDonnell, said the dramatic increase in red tape was impeding the development of remote economies and entrenching the welfare dependence in remote towns.

"More and more money is being wasted in bureaucracy," Ms Anderson said. "There is more and more whitefellas coming to talk to us and nothing gets done. "Money is being just poured into the bureaucracy and there are no outcomes.''

An investigation by The Australian has revealed a massive increase in the number of public servants employed in the NT since the intervention began, with the number of extra bureaucrats employed since 2007 almost equalling the number of front-line workers such as police, teachers and health workers.

But indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin has defended the intervention's progress, saying it was important to ensure public funds for indigenous services were used effectively and responsibly.

As well as an increase of 141 teachers, more than 60 police officers, and hundreds of nurses and doctors, schoolchildren were being fed properly at school and safe houses and support services for women and children had been expanded, Ms Macklin's office said.

Ms Anderson was a strong supporter of the intervention in its early days, in opposition to her colleagues within the NT Labor government who slammed the program as the "black kids' Tampa".

But the Aboriginal politician - who was the NT's Indigenous Policy Minister but quit the government in disgust at the wastage surrounding the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program - has become deeply disillusioned with the direction of Aboriginal policy in the NT.

"I just think the intervention is finished, absolutely finished," Ms Anderson said. "Communities have actually gone backwards. There is no employment for indigenous people. It's all just training for the sake of training."

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Former top cop slams Victoria police

There's a lot to slam. They were never brilliant but they went downhill fast after the Leftist Vic. government appointed a totally incompetent but very "correct" fat feminist to lead them

OUTSPOKEN officer Gary Jamieson has reaffirmed his call for a return to "back to basics" policing in Victoria, saying the force's entire philosophy must change.

Former assistant commissioner Jamieson - a 37-year police veteran and one-time rival of Simon Overland for the force’s top job – in today’s Herald Sun accused Victoria Police of being distracted by "silly side issues" and raised concerns the force has been taken over by interstate and overseas career professionals who are "running their own agenda".

Speaking on radio 3AW today, Mr Jamieson said police numbers weren’t going to increase in great numbers no matter who was in government, so it was up to command to ease officer’s workload for their many "masters’’ and get them back on the streets.

"You’ve got to get more out of what you’ve got," he said. "And credit to Simon (Overland) he’s doing a lot of good work in trying to get more police back on the street. "But it’s also about trying to cut their workload back down so they can do the things which are important to the public.

"And I think that’s the missing link that we are just not doing that work that is really important to the public. "People just want to be safe. They just want to feel safe and so that means having people out on the streets to make sure that happens."

Mr Jamieson said work for other government departments and increasing PR spin was distracting Victoria Police from its core responsibility. "I think the spin is part of the problem,’’ he said. "But I think the other part is that police have lost momentum.

"It’s a little bit like St Kilda in the grand final. "They come out one week and play absolutely superbly. The next week they work very hard, they battle very hard, but they seem to get nowhere.’’

"This is a whole philosophy of policing that has to change. "The basic role of policing is public safety, keeping the community safe and meeting community expectations.’’

Mr Jamieson said Western Australian police had successfully implemented a back-to-basics approach but the idea had failed to win the Victorian government’s favour when he was a contender for the job of police commissioner. "That’s exactly the line that I took,’’ he said. "They obviously found a better model – a better person perhaps.’’

In today's Herald Sun Mr Jamieson wrote: "Over the past decade, the recruitment of police leaders from outside this state, bringing with them their unique policing models, has resulted in policing in this state becoming far too confused," Commander Jamieson wrote. "We have lost direction on what Victoria Police should be doing by making the model of policing far too complex."

The extraordinary breaking of ranks by Commander Jamieson is a clear broadside at former chief commissioner Christine Nixon, Mr Overland and Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones, all considered management specialists drafted from interstate and overseas.

Commander Jamieson writes the force's top brass drafted from interstate may be placing their own careers ahead of the community. "Can today's police executive create the excitement and passion their police force needs - or is their focus about continuing to experiment with their policing model?" Commander Jamieson writes. "And does the police executive have the ... unwavering commitment to serve our state, or are they happy to serve any state which presents an opportunity to further their own personal careers?"

Commander Jamieson also claims that police officers who understand the community have been passed over for promotion. "Leaders who have a burning desire to improve their own society - drawn from an ingrained understanding about local wants and needs and the best way of satisfying these - are often overlooked," he said. "It is clear to me that policing is very local, fundamental and based on traditional practices of serving your community.

"But does Victoria's own police command today understand grassroots policing? Does it understand the connection established between their police officers and the public? "Have today's police leaders had the same experiences - and therefore built up the same skills - presumably have the same skills - to support the difficult work that is frontline policing?"

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Trigger-happy NSW cop shoots frightened guy dead

Turns out he had good reason to be frightened of the NSW wallopers

A NSW officer tasked with bringing a mentally ill man back to hospital chased and shot him, despite warnings he was frightened of police. Elijah Holcombe died after being struck by a single bullet in the chest fired by plain-clothed officer Senior Constable Andrew Rich in Armidale, in northern NSW, on June 2 last year.

On the opening day of a two-week inquest into Holcombe's death, Armidale Coroner's Court yesterday heard police were warned the Macquarie University psychology student suffered from a mental illness characterised by paranoid episodes and a phobia of police.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Chris Hoy, said an "integral component" of the inquest would be to determine whether Holcombe's death was a result of justifiable homicide.

The inquest, which will hear from 71 witnesses, will also look at the role of police officers and how they interact with people with a mental illness.

In the months leading up to his death, Holcombe, who had battled depression for eight years, was living with his parents, Jeremy and Tracey, in Wee Waa, in the state's north, because of concerns about his mental health.

Four days before his death, Holcombe was treated at nearby Narrabri Hospital for "superficial self-mutilation cuts" to his wrists. He was prescribed the anti-depressant Zoloft and the anti-psychotic Risperidone and released the same day.

On June 1, Holcombe took his father's car and drove to Armidale. Mr Holcombe reported the matter to Narrabri police and warned them his son was experiencing paranoid delusions but "would not hurt anybody".

When Holcombe arrived at Armidale, he went to the police station, admitted stealing the car and asked to be taken to Armidale Hospital where he was assessed by nurse Carla Rutherford.

In a witness statement, Ms Rutherford said Holcombe appeared paranoid and despite attempts to keep him at the hospital as a voluntary patient, he was legally allowed to walk out.

When senior constables Rich and Christopher Dufty learned Holcombe had discharged himself, they went to the hospital and nurse Robyn O'Brien asked them to bring him back because of concerns about his mental health.

Soon after, the officers spotted Holcombe walking along Rusden Street, in Armidale's city centre. There was a brief exchange before Holcombe fled, pursued on foot by Senior Constable Rich.

Holcombe ran into a coffee shop, grabbed a bread knife and then fled out the back door to Cinders Lane. Senior Constable Rich confronted Holcombe in the laneway and asked him three times to drop the bread knife before shooting him in the chest.

The inquest heard from Narrabri officers Senior Constable Brett Allison and Leading Senior Constable Alexander Coates who both said they had not received formal training in how to deal with mentally ill people.

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Note that I have a special blog on Queensland cops, there is so much misbehaviour among them. And there's plenty up today.