Backlash against African influx in Melbourne

A faint Australian echo of events in Norway: In the last few years in Melbourne, there have been a lot of attacks on commuters and others by "refugee" African youths. That has obviously aroused resentment of Africans and legitimized pushback by those with violent inclinations.

It should be noted that the attack in Norway was on the youth wing of Norway's major Leftist party -- a party very sympathetic to Muslim immigration. The attacker was a known member of anti-immigrant groups. Killing 90 of their children was a clearly a warning for Norway's Leftists to rethink

A HEAVILY armed racist gang is terrorising communities across the northwest suburbs of Melbourne. The brutal thugs - who call themselves Bros Over Hoes or BOH - have been involved in drive-by shootings, home invasions and bloody clashes with African refugees.

Chilling photos of masked young men brandishing an arsenal of weapons including guns, machetes and a chainsaw have also been uncovered in a special investigation by the Sunday Herald Sun.

Ten frightened African families have fled the area and others, without the finances to move, remain in fear of their lives.

The Sunday Herald Sun has handed 25 photos of the Melton-based gang to Victoria Police. It shows them brazenly posing with guns, knives, spears, a bow and arrow and a chainsaw. There are also videos online of them taking drugs and bashing women, including stamping on one girl's head. Some are pictured in front of the Australian flag.

Supt Graham Kent said he was aware of the pictures and that many of the men were "well known" to police. "I don't like it (the pictures) but there is not much we can do about it," Supt Kent said.

"Many of these men are well known to us and anyone who comes to our attention we will deal with. Our understanding is that these men have a loose association. "They are not organised criminals but unsophisticated and the pictures are of them strutting their stuff."

He said some pictures had been online for a long time and that some men were in prison, or had been punished for a range of crimes.

A community leader has also told how ethnic minorities do not walk the streets of Melton alone, refuse to go out after dark and do not use public transport in an attempt to avoid horrifying, unprovoked attacks.

"We came here thinking Australia was a lawful country where everyone is protected, but that is not the case here," said Abraham Jongroor, a father of two. "Those who can, have moved away, but the rest of us are living here in fear of our lives. "Racist gangs have fired guns at our houses, nearly killing a family. "A boy they wanted dead was hit by a four-wheel-drive car, which had mounted the nature strip to get him.

"The gangs chase us with baseball bats and iron bars, physically beat us, throw rocks and eggs, smash our cars and windows of our houses and shout racist abuse, telling us to 'go home' and threatening to kill us if we stay. "We used to go to the police all the time but nothing ever happens. Our cases are never solved and we do not get updated with what is happening."

One woman was the victim of a home invasion in which eight youths smashed all the front windows of her home, then used a large wooden plank to break down the front door. The young men stormed into the house and stopped only when they were confronted by a grandmother who was protectively clutching her six-month-old grandchild. They demanded a young Sudanese boy fight them, but he was not there and they eventually left after spitting abuse at the terrified elderly woman.

Mr Jongroor said the situation had gradually improved since December when he warned police if they did not start clamping down, the African community would start fighting back. "I gave them a list of trouble spots across Melton and Kurunjang. I said if anyone calls from these areas, they must act quickly. "They know where we are from. If they do not protect us, we'll start protecting ourselves."

Don Nardella, MP for Melton, commissioned a report on the issues affecting the African community. The damning 19-page document lists a catalogue of "racial intolerance". "One respondent was forced from their new rental property by neighbours determined to stop their entry into the neighbourhood," the Bridging The Gap report states.

"The event involved police and came close to being violent. Indeed, the tension and anger displayed was so high that he claimed one neighbour shouted at the family, 'Get your f------ black a--- out of here or we will shoot you one by one'. "Racist graffiti has also been utilised by local racist gangs.

"It is believed that two 'anti-black' youth gangs are operating in Melton. One interviewee estimated membership of these gangs to be about 60-70. "He claimed gangs harassed and co-ordinated bashings of Africans, often driving their membership to predetermined locations."

The Bridging The Gap report details several complaints against police. "There exists a perception by some Africans living in Melton that dealings with police are unsatisfactory," it says.

"Complaints relating to police by some interviewees included perceived failure to act or follow through on issues, targeting Africans unfairly because of race, over-reaction and overuse of force, failure to attend call-outs, ignoring concerns and failure to protect/provide a safe environment for Africans. "One interviewee said she had been treated like 'an animal'."

Supt Kent said he had read the report, had a briefing with Mr Nardella and attended an African community forum. "We are doing our best to understand the issues raised in the Bridging The Gap report," he said.

"We are deeply concerned but I do not believe we have a history or particular issue. "We actively monitor people of interest as best we can and we will continue to do so. Our intelligence around this issue is very strong.

"We are always concerned about weapons in the community, especially if anyone has a prohibited firearm, and I would urge anyone with information to contact us or Crime Stoppers."

Mr Nardella said he was "very disturbed" by the gang that had "an outdated racist view of the world". "It's a small minority of people and 99.9 per cent have no problem with the African community," he said.

"We are being very proactive in looking at ways to tackle this problem and these people should know that if they break the law, the police will come down hard on them and they will face the full force of the law."

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Official political correctness much worse in Germany than in Australia

FORMER career civil servants and central bankers seldom have star potential. Their work rarely excites the public and their pictures do not usually appear on front pages. This would have been Thilo Sarrazin's fate as well. A former state treasurer in the city of Berlin and director of the German Bundesbank, Sarrazin was mainly known to political insiders.

All of this changed last August when he published the book Germany abolishes itself (Deutschland schafft sich ab). Within months the provocatively titled tome of 464 pages, laden with statistics and footnotes, became the best selling non-fiction book in German post-war history. More than 1.5 million copies have been printed to date. Its author developed into an unlikely media star whose name recognition in Germany now surpasses the Pope and the chancellor.

Sarrazin's media success may be unlikely but it can be explained. In a media society governed by political correctness, he did not play by the rules. Perhaps because Sarrazin was used to speaking his mind behind closed doors he believed he could also get away with it in public. As it turned out, that was too optimistic an assumption.

The main points Sarrazin made in his book were neither particularly new nor were they factually incorrect. Like many authors before him, he pointed out that German society is ageing and shrinking because of low birthrates. He also offered a blistering critique of the welfare state, which he claimed had created a persistent, uneducated underclass.

Sarrazin then dared to suggest that due to the availability of welfare entitlements for the poor and career incentives for the rich the great majority of children are now born to parents from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Finally, he explained how Germany's haphazard immigration system had failed to attract high potentials and instead became exploited by poorly educated migrants. The additional point that Muslim migrants are segregating from mainstream society, again backed up by unambiguous statistical data, was the icing on the cake of Sarrazin's assault on everything that the guardians of political correctness regard as sacred.

The media and Sarrazin's former colleagues in the political class were quick to condemn the book and its author. The empire of political correctness was striking back.

Before the book had even been released, Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the attacks on Sarrazin. "The book," she declared, was "not helpful", as if that had ever been a requirement for new publications. Of course, Merkel had not read it as she was frank enough to admit. Neither did she intend to, as she told a newspaper weeks later.

What was the slogan of George Orwell's Ministry of Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four? "Ignorance is strength." Quite.

Politicians from Sarrazin's own Social Democratic Party accused him of "economism" and "borderline racism". Protestant church leaders condemned the book's "cynical view of humanity". Left-leaning intellectuals protested against Sarrazin's alleged eugenicist, biologist and social Darwinist views.

Judging by the reactions he provoked, Sarrazin had turned himself from a respected member of society into a political pariah overnight. The witch-hunt did not even stop the chancellor and the federal president from pressuring the Bundesbank, still a formally independent institution, to sack its board member. In the end, however, it was Sarrazin who resigned from his position because he could no longer stand the stress, but not before being formally acquitted by the bank of all allegations of professional misconduct. In this way he also spared his employer from becoming further embroiled in the scandal.

Despite the whole affair it had triggered, the book at the heart of the debate is a remarkably sober account of Germany's social, economic and political problems. Reading through it, it is hard to understand how this dry and often technical analysis could ever have triggered such passionate reactions. But maybe that is because at the time few commentators gained an unfair advantage over their colleagues by actually reading it.

In this sense, the Sarrazin debate is revealing about the political climate of Germany. Apparently, it is enough to touch on a few taboo subjects to prevent a reasonable discourse. From an Australian perspective, however, Sarrazin's purported crimes against political correctness are hard to understand. With most of Sarrazin's positions he would find himself in the bipartisan mainstream of Australian politics.

Welfare reforms in Australia were controversial when first proposed. Started under the Hawke and Keating governments, they were extended under John Howard. Today, a welfare state based on mutual obligations and the principle of employment first are shared by both main parties.

In a similar way, Australia's basic immigration policies are not disputed between Labor and the Coalition, despite the excitement over illegal arrivals. Both sides of politics recognise that for migration into Australia to be successful it is important to ensure that potential migrants have the language and professional skills necessary to succeed in Australia. Nobody would consider it racist to say that a basic proficiency in English should be a requirement for prospective migrants.

It is quite likely that with these two very basic propositions on welfare reform and immigration policy, widely accepted across the Australian political spectrum, you would be considered an extremist in Germany. The rules of political correctness as applied in many European nations now consider it discriminatory to ask whether migrants can economically contribute to their host societies. And to question the unconditional right to welfare payments is seen as an assault on human dignity.

When a society can no longer seriously debate political issues, controversial as they may be, it is not just a blow to freedom of speech. It also undermines a nation's capacity for economic reform. Truths may sometimes be painful and feelings may be hurt, but a society that cannot stand vigorous debate risks becoming stale and stagnant.

Sarrazin was not a dangerous extremist but just worried about his country's future. Rightly so, as the reactions to his book show.

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Another case of regulation hurting those it is supposed to help

CHILDCARE centres have slashed their number of baby places by 20 per cent in the wake of federal government reforms that require them to increase staff ratios.

Under reforms that took effect in January, centres have to provide one carer for every four children, instead of one to five, but the industry has responded by cutting placements instead of putting on extra staff.

Already in extreme shortage, childcare places for children aged under two have become even scarcer, a survey of 120 Sydney childcare centres by Childcare NSW has found. "Overall we have found there has been a 20 per cent reduction in available placements," Childcare NSW president Vicki Skoulogenis said. "Parents are at the point where they can't afford childcare, and are seeking alternative care or backyard and unregulated care."

Lienna Mandic, who runs five daycare centres, has reduced baby placements in her centres for economic reasons. "At Quakers Hill we had five baby places, and now we have four because we could not put on another staff member for one baby. I had 10 places at Glenmore Park, it's gone to eight and I had 15 at Guildford and now it's 12 just to meet the ratios," Ms Mandic said.

Roxanne Elliott from care forkids.com said the industry had made it clear offering child care for babies was becoming too expensive. "There's always been a critical shortage for under-twos but, from a business perspective, the industry has indicated it might not be cost-effective to offer placements," Ms Elliott said.

John Owens, who runs two child care centres in Naremburn, said despite putting up fees $10 a day for babies, he could not afford to continue to offer places for under twos. "We will look at reducing our baby numbers because we can't afford it," Mr Owens said.

The impact is being felt by mothers like Emma Grogan who put her name down at several centres when she was five months' pregnant, but, with her maternity leave up in three months, is still without a place for her daughter Lilliana.

"It's ridiculous, this is my first baby - she is nine months' old and I started looking over a year ago, and they have all said I have to go on a waiting list," the 35-year-old business consultant from Leichhardt said.

Federal Child Care Minister Kate Ellis hit back, saying: "We will not let relentless fear-mongering on the cost impacts of these reforms distract us from delivering the right outcomes for Australian children and their families".

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Hospital whistleblower fired

Fake waiting-time statistics uncovered

A woman is claiming she was unfairly dismissed by the Joondalup Health Campus after uncovering inaccuracies in the hospital's attempt to meet the four-hour rule.

Raylene Reeve had been working as a data analyst for the hospital and was only three months in to a nine month contract when she was sacked, with the campus citing "poor performance" as the reason.

Ms Reeve refutes the claim saying she has worked in the industry for 15 years without complaint, has won an award for her contribution to the University of WA and is undertaking a Masters in Bio-statistics. She said two days after she presented her report, which she claims found gaping holes in the times presented by specialists treating emergency patients, she was fired.

"As I was working through the data and the integrity of the data, it didn't add up as far as the data is presented and times; you have to think about a time frame between when a specialist is requested in the Emergency Department and when they arrive, there is a certain time period," she told 6PR radio.

"And obviously the time period should be from one minute to so many hours. But as I started doing the statistics on the data I noticed that the means, which is the average times, looking at that sort of parameters in the data were negative.

"And negative times concerned me, so I went through the data with a fine tooth comb and I found thousands of negative times, which in reality is impossible and that is for a specialist to arrive before they were actually requested."

She said 50 per cent of the data was missing and not representing what was "actually going on". "Why [isn't] that data being put in? Was it because the specialists are taking a lot longer and the patient is in there a lot longer than four hours?" she said.

"The thing that is most upsetting for me personally, apart from that feeling that I have an obligation to report this because of what is going on in the hospital system and that obviously the four-hour rule is not working and I believe promoting not-so good practice in the Emergency Department.

"But the thing that is most upsetting for me [is that] to be great at what you're doing and to find all of this and to be thorough, and for a big corporation to say that you have poor performance, how does that go on my record and affect my career?"

Ms Reeve has applied to Fair Work Australia to see if it will review her case because she did not claim unfair dismissal within the 21 day deadline set for such cases. She says she will know the outcome of that decision in two weeks time.

In the meantime a Joondalup Health Campus spokesman has vehemently denied her allegations. "Raylene Reeve was sacked in March, 2011 – 10 weeks into a nine month contract - because of issues relating to her attitude, behaviour and performance," he said. "She was not terminated because of anything she thinks she may have uncovered in relation to the four-hour rule program.

"The Department of Health looked into Raylene's claims regarding the four-hour rule program at the campus earlier this month and exonerated Joondalup. "They also confirmed that the data Raylene refers to is not used to calculate four-hour rule compliance."

Royal Perth Hospital workers have claimed they have had their opinions on the four-hour rule program stifled by an operational directive, which states: "WA health employees are not permitted to use official information obtained through the course of their employment to provide public comment or communicate in writing or online without the express authorisation of their Chief Executive Officer.

"Public comment includes, but is not limited to, verbal comments to the media, written communication such as letters to the media and online communication by email, blogging and posts via social media sites. Unauthorised disclosure of official information is a breach of an employee's duty of fidelity and good faith which will result in disciplinary action and in some cases termination."

The United Voice union has claimed it is a gag order, which Minister Kim Hames has denied any knowledge of.

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