Tony Abbott baits jihadis with hated Daesh tag

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has moved to rebrand terror group Islamic State by calling the evil jihadis a name they hate — Daesh.

The PM urged others to join him and stop calling the murderous hordes ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or IS (Islamic State).

His decision, to be mirrored by government MPs and officials, was made after talks two weeks ago with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

“Daesh hates being referred to by this term, and what they don’t like has an instinctive ­appeal to me,’’ Mr Abbott told the Herald Sun.  “I absolutely refuse to refer to it by the title that it claims for itself (Islamic State), because I think this is a perversion of religion and a travesty of governance.”  “I’ve never used that term and I would strongly counsel people against ever using the presumptuous title that they have given themselves.’’

Daesh is from an acronym formed from the Arabic spelling of the terror group’s name — al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa al-Sham.

International media has been reporting terror leaders’ threats to “cut out the tongues’’ of those referring to them as Daesh, or DAIISH, as it is also known. There are several theories on why the name is so ­despised, which include ­reports it was first used by supporters of Syrian President ­Bashar al-Assad whom IS is seeking to overthrow.

There are also reports it closely mirrors the Arabic words “daes’’ which means “to trample down or crush’’’ and “dahes’’ which reportedly means something similar to “one who sows discord’’.

The move to rebrand IS comes as western nations, ­including Australia, work to strip away any legitimacy the terror group is trying to build. “The reason why ISIL — or Daesh, as I’ll continue to refer to it — is an issue for Australians is because its ­apparent success in Syria and Iraq has galvanised the people prone to extremism right around the world, and it has become the inspiration for the potential terrorists,’’ Mr Abbott said.

“Given that the fight begins in Iraq and Syria, we probably should refer to this organisation by the term that is most used by its opponents in those countries — that is, Daesh.”

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Australian cartoonist Larry Pickering placed under police protection

Australian cartoonist Larry Pickering has been placed under protective police surveillance after he posted a picture depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad on his website.

Detectives from Queensland Police visited the controversial cartoonist at his home on Sunday evening and told him he was being put under high-priority protective surveillance, News Corp Australia reported.

"I guess they must have picked up some intelligence or chatter after I did the cartoon," Pickering told News Corp.  "They gave me their details and special phone numbers and said if I call they will be there in minutes."

Pickering posted a drawing on his website on Friday depicting the prophet on a spit roast, skewered on a pencil.  

Police reportedly told Pickering to warn them if he was planning to post any similar images in the future.

The security detail comes after the deadly attack on the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

Pickering has long been a controversial figure, and most recently came to prominence after waging a vitriolic campaign against former prime minister Julia Gillard when she was in office.

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Gillian Triggs’s advice a ‘betrayal’ of women

She's an evil old bag

DOMESTIC violence experts have condemned Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs’s recommendation to release back into the community a man who beat his de facto wife to death, lambasting her call that he be compensated for his detention as a “betrayal” of abused women.

A string of immigration ministers have acted to keep Indonesian killer John Basikbasik in immigration detention since he completed a seven-year manslaughter sentence in Queensland for brutally bashing his partner over the head with a ­bicycle. She was almost four months pregnant.

Dr Triggs is now under pressure to explain her finding that Basikbasik should be released and paid $350,000 compensation, as revealed by The Australian last week. The case is due to come before a Senate hearing next month.

Domestic violence specialists yesterday said Dr Triggs’s recommendation that Basikbasik be freed with conditions such as curfews and regular reporting raised the risk of other women being attacked.

DVConnect chief executive Diane Mangan, who runs Queensland’s domestic violence hotline, said she fully supported the government’s attempts to keep Basikbasik behind bars.

“You wouldn’t come across one person who works in domestic violence that agrees with the Human Rights Commissioner,” Ms Mangan said. “There were no human rights for that woman and that unborn baby.

“If you can beat a pregnant wife to death, you are more than capable of being a threat to another woman.”

Dr Triggs last year found ­Basikbasik’s human rights had been breached by holding him in immigration detention rather than monitoring him in the community, recommending he receive $350,000 compensation for his “arbitrary” detention since the prison sentence ended in 2007.

Her 4000-word report failed to mention that Basikbasik’s 28-year-old Australian partner had been pregnant when he killed her, or that he had a history of breaching court bail conditions.

Ms Mangan said women fleeing domestic violence would feel “absolutely betrayed” if the Papuan refugee received a single cent.

“Any money to be paid should be paid to the family of the woman who was killed,” she said.  “That man was well fed and cared for in an Australian jail; he doesn’t need any compensation.”

Basikbasik has been convicted of numerous violent offences since he arrived from Papua New Guinea in a canoe in 1985.

A psychiatrist who assessed him in 2008 found he was at high risk of further violent offences and would not benefit from treatment, having shown little insight into his aggressive behaviour.

University of Queensland social work lecturer Deborah Walsh said she would be very concerned if Basikbasik were freed and able to form a new ­romantic relationship.

“He will have had no serious perpetrator intervention,” said Dr Walsh. who has worked with domestic violence offenders for nearly two decades.  “Having no intervention would put other women associated with him at risk.”

Dr Walsh said none of the possible risk mitigation measures proposed by Dr Triggs — including a management plan to assist with his rehabilitation, curfews, travel restrictions or regular reporting — gave her confidence he would not hurt other women.

“The fundamental cause is the way he is thinking and behaving in relation to the way he views women,” she said. “He needs to be involved in a perpetrator intervention program and not go into an intimate partner relationship until the intervention program has got some clear evidence there has been a change in the way he views those relationships.  “Until that is assured, women aren’t safe around him.”

Dr Triggs declined to comment last night.

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Queensland election 2015: Annastacia Palaszczuk yet to release economic policy

OPPOSITION Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has insisted Labor’s economic strategy is “ready”, but says she will release it when she wants to.

Meanwhile, Ms Palaszczuk has declared voters have “every right to know” who will be premier if Campbell Newman loses Ashgrove — while refusing to say whether she will continue to lead the Opposition if Labor loses the election.

As voters enter day eight of the election campaign, they are yet to get a glimpse of the Opposition’s plan for managing the state’s finances and tackling debt.

“Our economic strategy is ready,” she said in Townsville.  “We will announce it at our timing of our own choosing.  “It will be at our own choosing, when I am ready.”

Ms Palaszczuk was repeatedly asked how Labor planned to pay down debt and manage the economy without resorting to privatisation or raising fees and charges, but would not say.

“Every single (one) of Campbell Newman’s election commitments is based on selling our assets,” she said.  “Let me make it very clear to Queensland, we will not sell your assets.”

Labor on Tuesday announced its latest policy. It plans to spend $139 million over three years to employ an extra 875 teachers.

Ms Palaszczuk also said Mr Newman must detail his succession plan.

“Voters, Queenslanders have every right to know who will be the premier if Campbell Newman does not win Ashgrove,” she said.

But when asked whether she would remain Opposition Leader if Labor suffers defeat, she said: “I’m focused on being premier of this state.”

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