Australian Defence looks offshore to recruit troops

This is not as unusual as it might seem. I gather that about a third of the British army is comprised of "Commonwealth" troops, Pacific islanders particularly. And the U.S. army has many Hispanics, some of whom are non-citizens who get citizenship at the end of their stint

The ADF is looking overseas to recruit defence specialists in order to fill recruitment quotas.

The Australian Defence force is trying to recruit laid-off soldiers, sailors and air crew from Britain, the US and other western countries in order to fill quotas.

The Australian reports (subscribers only) the navy has sent a delegation to Britain to discover how many retrenched sailors, particularly engineers, are available.

A report on maintenance in Australia's navy suggested that as many as 200 engineers are needed to rebuild lost expertise.

The paper reports the department also is looking for defence specialists, such as fighter pilots, submarine crews and officers and are offering fast-tracked Australian citizenship as an incentive.

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His Eminence has a shot at the Warmists

Cardinal Pell's reference to the "Roman warm period" is completely factual. There is no way Hannibal could drive elephants over the Alps these days and yet that is one of the best known episodes in Roman history. But Warmists don't do real history. They just make up their own

The changeable environment loomed large in the Christmas message of Sydney's Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, who said the blessings of prosperity, peace and a good climate were taken for granted. "The unusual rains after 10 years of drought are a small price to pay in this run-up to Christmas," he said.

Every age was marred by some disasters, he said. "In Biblical times, only Noah escaped the great flood and Jacob's sons had to travel to Egypt for grain during a long drought."

Cardinal Pell said Christ's birth in the "Roman warm period" was a call to worship God and "to acknowledge how powerless we all are before the mighty forces of nature, unable sometimes to escape the caprice of disease and misfortune".

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Foster couple's adoption bid on hold over claims dad hit boy with wooden spoon

The child of a feral couple almost certainly needs a whack at times

A COUPLE has been stopped from adopting two children because of claims they smacked them and once hit one of them with a wooden spoon. The 11-year-old boy and his eight-year-old sister considered the couple who had fostered them for four years to be their parents and called them Mum and Dad, Acting Justice William Windeyer told the NSW Supreme Court.

The children's birth father was in jail on sex offences and their mother, who has another three children, all in care, acknowledged she could not look after them.

The judge said the foster parents were devoted to the children and were "very suitable" to adopt them. However, Justice Windeyer said he was not satisfied there was no risk to the children and he had to take into account the possibility the boy had been hit with a wooden spoon.

The judge postponed a decision on adoption until the end of next year and said, if it was established there was smacking and the use of a wooden spoon, then the children could be removed from the couple.

The judge said the boy had behavioural, physical and mental problems. During an interview with a clinical psychologist the boy said his foster dad hit him with a wooden spoon and it "hurt".

The man denied hitting the boy with a spoon but said he had once banged a wooden spoon on the kitchen bench to get the boy's attention when he was waving a knife around.

The man admitted twice smacking the boy "gently" - once when the boy had a "massive meltdown" and grabbed him by the testicles and a second time when the boy hit him in the ribs.

The judge said he had some sympathy for the man. "It seems impossible where someone is in danger of injury to go for a walk to calm down. After all, the three actions did get a result and no one was harmed," the judge said.

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Man left screaming in pain as ambos 'dealt with drunks'

RESIDENTS are furious an ambulance had to be sourced from another area while badly burnt chef Matt Golinski lay screaming in his Sunshine Coast driveway.

Neighbour Gary Siljac told The Courier-Mail he tried in vain to comfort Mr Golinski for more than half an hour, watching firefighters and police arrive before an ambulance.

Fairfax media reports the ambulance that first arrived on the scene had only one paramedic. That meant a police officer then had to drive the amublance to the hospital while Mr Golinski was treated in the back.

Mr Golinski, who has appeared on Ready, Steady, Cook, lost his wife and three daughters in the tragedy at Tewantin and suffered severe burns to 40 per cent of his body.

Residents of the quiet neighbourhood awoke to an explosion and screams about 3.30am, with several locals rushing to help. Mr Golinski's wife Rachael, their 12-year-old twins Sage and Willow and younger daughter Starlia died in the blaze. Neighbours found a badly burned Mr Golinski in his driveway, screaming for someone to help his trapped family.

"Where were they? It was an eternity before an ambulance came and then it was a guy on his own. We have an ambulance station only a few minutes away," Mr Siljac said. "The poor bloke (Matt) was burnt from top to bottom and was screaming in pain and there was nothing we could do for him," he said.

"We heard that other ambulances had been attending incidents in Hastings St involving some drunken idiots brawling. Surely something has gone wrong here."

Ambulances are allocated jobs by communications with the Sunshine Coast broken into four groups - Caloundra, Maroochydore, Noosa and Gympie. The stations closest to the fire are Tewantin (two minutes away), Cooroy (11 minutes) and Noosa (15 minutes).

A Department of Community Safety spokeswoman confirmed Queensland Ambulance Service had experienced "high operational volumes" at the time. She said three QAS units in the area could not attend the Tewantin job as they were responding to other cases.

The first ambulance to respond was sourced from Maroochydore, with the official log showing it arrived at 3.59am - 27 minutes after the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service notified the QAS at 3.32am.

Police said the first triple-0 call was logged at 3.31am and they had officers on the scene at 3.47am. A fire unit had been first to arrive at 3.41am.

The Courier-Mail was informed both police and ambulance were required to attend a disturbance on Noosa Pde, near Hastings St, at 3.30am.

The Department of Community Safety said the QAS was mindful that the details of the Tewantin fire would be subject to a coronial inquest. "The QAS allocated a total of four ambulance vehicles, including a Regional Operations Supervisor to this case and QAS crews remained on standby at the scene until cleared by QFRS," a spokeswoman said.

Mr Golinski was taken to Nambour Hospital and later flown to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital where he was last night said to be in a "critical but stable" condition.

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