Another one of our lovely Somali refugees

A 'sadistic' and 'cruel' father smeared chilli sauce in the eyes and mouths of his two young sons after beating them with a stick for misbehaving at school.  

Abdiwali Ahmed Aden, 44, bruised and potentially scarred his sons, eight and 10, after hitting them with a stick in Western Australia in 2016.

Aden was sentenced to two years and nine months jail for 'extreme violence' last week, according to a report by The West Australian.

The court heard now Aden came to Australia as a refugee from Somalia in 2007. He was previously found guilty of stamping on his wife's head until she passed out in a jealous rage in 2013.

 Rubbing chilli sauce in his boys' faces 'went so far beyond what might be regarded as punishment for misbehaviour as to be sadistic cruelty' District Court Judge Gillian Braddock said.

Aden left his children with injuries that were still visible when doctors examined the pair 10 days later because of 'excessive beating' to their arms, legs and backs. 

He found out his children were in trouble at school before thrashing them with a stick and rubbing chilli in their eyes.  

Aden's wife urged her husband to stop but he continued. She went to police to report the abuse the following week.

'To subject anybody, but especially a young child, to assault by applying chilli sauce to the vulnerable part of the face ... is so remarkable and cruel, it is hard to believe that any father would do such a thing,' Judge Braddock said.

Aden admitted using a stick to discipline his boys but insisted he only hit their hands and arms during a trial in December. 

The father whacked his eldest son's ankle so hard that he struggled to walk from swelling in a previous fit of rage.

Aden watched his mother be murdered in Somalia and had a traumatic upbringing before arriving as a refugee to Australia in 2007, the court heard.

He wanted his sons to have an education and was angry when he found out they were misbehaving at school.  

'What was required perhaps of you for these boys was stern advice, perhaps encouragement,' Judge Braddock said. 'Even a smack in some circumstances would not put you in the place where you are now.'

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Labor looks to Norway to drive electric car sales

Bill Shorten wants Australia to match the electric vehicle penetration of Norway, where taxpayers fork out a $3400 annual subsidy for every EV on the road, but has refused to say when Labor would introduce tough new ­vehicle standards to drive his transport revolution.

The Opposition Leader, who has set a target of 50 per cent of new car sales to be electric by 2030, yesterday declared Labor would transform the nation’s car market to drive the uptake of more fuel-­efficient vehicles in the same way the market for rooftop solar had changed over the past decade.

Delivering on the pledge will mean pushing electric car sales from the current 2500 a year to about 600,000 within a decade.

Mr Shorten unveiled a $100 million commitment towards the rollout of 200 fast-charging stations across the country, a 50 per cent electric target for government vehicle purchases, and new tax incentives for fleet buyers to purchase EVs rather than internal combustion engines.

“What we’re going to do is create a market, a market for vehicles which are more fuel efficient, which are more friendly to the ­environment,” Mr Shorten said. “It’ll take time. But remember back in 2007, only about 7000 households had solar rooftop.”

Mr Shorten has promised a new vehicle emissions standard of 105gCO2 per kilometre to help meet his promised 45 per cent carbon emissions cut, but Labor is putting off providing further details until after the election.

Four of the five top-selling vehicles in Australia last year — the Toyota Hilux (186-277gCO2/km), Ford Ranger (169-265gCO2/km), Mazda 3 (129-153gCO2/km) and Hyundai i30 (119-176gCO2/km) — all produce emissions well above Labor’s threshold. Only the Toyota Corolla (96-159gCO2/km) comes close to Labor’s 105gCO2/km limit.

The Australian Automobile Association, which represents eight million drivers through state motoring organisations, said voters deserved more detail on the plan before they cast their ballots.

“A poorly designed standard will drive up the cost of cars, the cost of petrol, and significantly curtail the availability of popular vehicle makes and classes, which is why the AAA expects both sides of politics to clearly articulate their vehicle emissions targets and timelines ahead of the election,” AAA chief executive Michael Bradley said.

Carmakers also warned car buyers would be hit hard if the new standard was rushed in too soon. “The 105g/km target would be extremely difficult by 2030,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Tony Weber said. “If you push too hard, you are unlikely to get there without restricting consumer choice.”

The Labor policy points to Norway — where EVs already make up half of new car sales — as an example for Australia to follow, citing a PwC study showing “if Australia achieved an EV take-up rate similar to that of Norway by 2030 it would inject $2.9 billion into the economy and lift net ­employment by 13,400”.

However, Labor has stopped well short of providing Norway-like incentives to encourage EV sales.

The same PwC study, undertaken for the Electric Vehicle Council, sets out the subsidies offered by Norwegian taxpayers to boost EV uptake, noting “indirect incentives are estimated at approximately $3400 per year for a battery electric vehicle owner”.

Scott Morrison, who has pledged an EV strategy under a re-elected Coalition government, demanded to know how Labor would meet its ambitious target and said EV drivers already enjoyed a significant benefit by avoiding the 41c-a-litre fuel excise.

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Upper house mavericks on a lockout law mission

These laws save lives

Gladys Berejiklian faces a new assault on Sydney’s controversial lockout laws, with two men expected to be part of the crossbench that will hold the balance of power in the state’s upper house set to press the Premier to repeal the restrictions.

Liberal Democrat David Leyonjhelm and Keep Sydney Open’s Tyson Koh are expected to be elected to the Legislative Council when preferences are finally distributed on April 12.

They told The Australian yesterday their priority would be to try to convince the government to get rid of the laws — which require patrons in CBD and Kings Cross venues to be in the venue before 1.30am and leave at 3am.

A change to the laws could now become an important bargaining chip with the government in terms of it getting other legislation through, with two Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MPs also opposing them.

As Mr Koh pointed out to The Australian yesterday, the favourite to be elected Labor leader when a ballot is held after the federal election, Chris Minns, had said when he ran for the Labor leadership last year he wanted to repeal the laws, indicating Keep Sydney Open may be able to get the state opposition onside.

Mr Leyonjhelm said he believed he could use his position on the crossbench to push for the laws, which he said were “killing the city”, to be changed.

Mr Koh, 37, a former producer of the ABC’s overnight music show Rage, said he started the Keep Sydney Open movement a couple of years ago with the intention of pressuring former premier Mike Baird to reverse the laws.

His political party has existed for only a year and now he’s on the cusp of being elected to the state’s upper house.

Mr Koh, a DJ, said he had seen a trial of 2am lockout laws introduced in Melbourne in 2008. It was quickly reversed after protests and he believed this could also happen in Sydney.

But politicians had resisted the change, despite a protest featuring thousands of people in 2016. Apart from Mr Baird relaxing the laws for music venues by half an hour in 2016, there has been no change.

With 18.8 per cent of the vote counted, both Mr Leyonjhelm and Mr Koh’s parties have 2.7 per cent of the vote and are expected to get a member elected with the help of preferences. Ms Berejiklian will need five crossbenchers to pass legislation.

The lockout laws were introduced in 2014 by former premier Barry O’Farrell after the one-punch killings of teenagers Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie and other violent incidents in the city and Kings Cross.

Francesco Turrini, 37, manager at the dimly lit cocktail bar Eau De Vie in the inner-city suburb of Darlinghurst told The Australian yesterday “severe” lockout restrictions on licensed venues had been “devastating” for the hospitality industry and its workers.

Despite sitting just 100m from the Kings Cross precinct in what was once a hive of nightlife, Mr Turrini said Eau De Vie had managed to withstand the economic impact of the lockout laws: “We’ve remained busy where others have closed and owners lost their livelihoods and in some cases their homes. Overnight we saw revenue at our Sydney venues drop by 25 per cent.”

Mr Turrini said this was in contrast to their sister bars in Melbourne, where revenue figures were almost “triple” those operating in the Harbour City.

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Principal of prestigious girls’ school says students should be able to use Google during their HSC exams

The principal from a prestigious Sydney private girls’ school has suggested a radical new idea to add more “depth” to the HSC — and its not studying harder.

Shane Hogan, the principal of Kambala in Rose Bay, has voiced his support for students being allowed to use the internet and search engines such as Google on mobile devices while they sit their final HSC exams.

Mr Hogan thinks changing the way students sit the exam could add more “depth” to their learning, saying many enter exams having memorised entire essays.

He says the test has become outdated and has little to do with the real world. “You have to think historically about the HSC and what it was designed to do,” Mr Hogan told Ben Fordham on 2GB radio on Friday. He explained the HSC, originally introduced in 1967, was designed for school leavers who were hoping to enter university.

Students are now required to stay at school until they are at least 16 or 17 years old and school leavers are required to engage in training. Three-quarters of students remain at school throughout the HSC.

But the principal said the current system has been reduced to a “memory test” with students entering exam rooms having rote learned entire essays.

Mr Hogan said the reality of “today is that we all grab our phone as soon as we’re asked a question”. “If we’re gonna test the kids let them use the tools that they will really use when they’re out in the workplace.” This means access to the internet during an exam. “It’s down the track but I believe it’s the way to go,” Mr Hogan said.

“The students have the essays prepared before they enter the room. It’s almost irrelevant. “There’s no depth in their learning, there’s no passion in their learning. It’s merely a race to the finish. It’s time the HSC entered this century.”

Mr Hogan also questioned the relevance of the ATAR ranking, a percentile score derived from comparing HSC marks against students across the country. ATAR ranks compare students who take on vastly different types of course work, offering no recommendation for higher learning.

He compared students who take on a number of language subjects to those taking on courses like design and technology, art, drama and music, achieving the same ATAR score.

“How is that … relevant? And what courses are they entering?” Mr Hogan said. “It’s a tool for universities to pick students. It’s not relevant to life.”

Mr Hogan pointed to the US model, where entry applications are individually assessed by the institution, as opposed to being “plucked” from their ATAR numbers.

“We’ve got a group who want to go to university, where we need to ‘depth’ their study more,” he said. “But I also think we have a group of young people that are yet to decide, and we need to educate them in the basic skills of team building, problem solving, but also passions.”

He suggested changes to the later years of school, where students could be given the option to focus on one or two subjects and develop greater understanding.

Kambala’s principal says the exams were set up for students hopeful to gain entry to university, at a time when many more students left school at the end of year 10. Students are now required to continue on at school until they complete year 12.

There are now over 142 subjects tested at the HSC, including 62 language subjects. He said fewer than 25 per cent of HSC students use the ATAR to enter university.

At Kambala School, 99 per cent of students are university orientated.

The ATAR was introduced as a national system in 2009 by the Gillard government for students in NSW and the ACT. It was further rolled out to remaining states and territories in 2010, excluding Queensland who plan to introduce the ATAR system in 2019.

The HSC was introduced in 1967, and underwent its last major revision in 2001.

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 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here