New Victorian abortion laws threaten Catholic hospitals

The usual Leftist hatred of Christianity in any form

The Catholic Church's extensive network of hospitals in Victoria faces a "real threat" from planned new abortion laws, Archbishop Denis Hart says. He warned parishioners that Catholic-run hospitals might have to stop running conventional maternity and emergency services if Parliament passed the laws. He warned in a pastoral letter that Catholic staff would face having to break the law if they wanted to maintain anti-abortion beliefs. "This Bill poses a real threat to the continued existence of Catholic hospitals," Archbishop Hart said. "Under these circumstances, it is difficult to foresee how Catholic hospitals could continue to operate maternity or emergency departments in this state in their current form."

Catholic hospitals are central to the state's health system and are responsible for handling about a third of all births each year. A radical shift in how the 14 major Catholic hospitals treat patients could cost the Brumby Government tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Archbishop Hart's opposition to the abortion Bill will place further pressure on undecided MPs in the Upper House, who are due to debate it next month. The church is insisting it won't allow abortions in its hospitals, and at the weekend parishioners were sent phone numbers and electoral office addresses of the state's 40 Upper House MPs. "The . . . Bill, if enacted, will lead to Catholic hospitals and doctors who have a conscientious objection to abortion, acting contrary to the law," Archbishop Hart said.

He said the church did not condemn women who had abortions. "Together with their children, they are the principal victims of the new culture of death," he said.

He has warned that the Bill goes further than existing arrangements, contradicting Premier John Brumby. Women have been able to have abortions in Victoria for decades under the protection of a 1969 common law ruling by Supreme Court judge Clifford Menhennitt. The Brumby Government's Bill decriminalising abortion controversially allows it to be performed at up to 24 weeks' gestation.

In his letter to parishioners, Archbishop Hart said health professionals who opposed abortion would have no option but to terminate a pregnancy if it were deemed an emergency. "The Bill is an unprecedented attack on the freedom to hold and exercise fundamental religious beliefs," he said. "The Bill is seriously flawed as much by what it omits as by what it contains."

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Far-Leftist sympathy for terrorists being preached to future army officers

A RETIRED Australian general has dismissed as "unmitigated rubbish" a defence force course which teaches soldiers that terrorists are "victims". A Bali bombing victim has also expressed dismay at the Australian Defence Force Academy's terror studies degree. Maj-Gen Jim Molan, who in 2004 was Chief of Operations of Coalition forces in Iraq, has hit out at the lecturers who run the security and terror course.

Prof Anthony Burke, senior lecturer at the University of NSW where ADFA classes are held, in his book Beyond Security, Ethics and Violence, said students should try to understand terrorists rather than fight them. "In the wake of 9/11, our critical task is not to help power seek out and destroy the 'enemies of freedom' but to question how they were constructed AS enemies of freedom . . . It is to wonder if we, the free, might already be enemies of freedom in the very process of imagining and defending it," he wrote. In another book, Fear of Security, Australia's Invasion Anxiety, Prof Burke said we should "abandon selfish visions of security, sovereignty and national interest".

Maj-Gen Molan said Prof Burke was "naive in the extreme". In 2004, he commanded major battles in Iraq during one of the most turbulent periods of the war. He said the experience taught him that Australia needed to heighten security, not go softly-softly with terrorists, but the ADFA degree seemed to be teaching surrender to a ruthless enemy. "It is like saying Churchill could have avoided World War II by surrendering to the Germans," he said.

He also rejected the idea that terrorists were victims. "Even if some of these people have had it tough, they are still making the choice to strap a bomb to their body, go to a location packed with innocent civilians and detonate," he said. "I didn't see any morality (in Iraq). These Islamic extremists are prepared to use extraordinary levels of violence. "If this is the view of ADFA staff then it is naive in the extreme."

Bali bombing victim Dale Atkins said he was shocked and upset that academics were excusing those terrorists who bombed the Sari nightclub killing 200 people. "Maybe this wouldn't have happened if we didn't go to war, but it's wrong to say it's our fault. We didn't deserve to go through such pain," he said.

Maj-Gen Molan, author of Running the War in Iraq, advocates a tightening in security and is shocked that ADFA is proposing the opposite. And Dr Mervyn Bendle, senior history lecturer at James Cook University, said the ADFA's course was being mimicked at other universities. "They are avoiding using terms like Muslim, Islam or Jihad as if we have to ignore the obvious religious connection that has been confirmed by the terrorists themselves," he said.

The Department of Defence said it encouraged "robust debate among ADF personnel at all levels". [I wonder if "robust debate" about the level of African immigration into Australia would also be permitted? I suspect that debate on that topic would be too robust altogether!]

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Dangerous fire station closures in NSW

Cut services, not the bureaucracy: Typical Leftist thinking

MORE than 30 NSW fire stations, including some in bushfire-prone areas, may close over summer, as pressure mounts on the Rees Government to reduce spending in the face of a budget blowout. While the stations would not shut down permanently, firefighters say the plan to take the stations "off line" if the NSW Fire Brigade cannot find enough staff to make up a standard crew of four officers threatens not only property but lives. The Government is trying to crack down on what it claims is an overtime rort by full-time firefighters, who have traditionally filled the gap left by a shortage of "retained", or part-time, staff.

But the secretary of the Fire Brigade Employees Union, Simon Flynn, told the Herald last night: "If fire stations are forced to shut down, even for a short period, it increases the potential that someone will die."

The Government's plan was put forward last by month by the Premier, Nathan Rees, when he was minister for emergency services. It will mean that if a station usually staffed by "retained" firefighters is short of crew, it will shut down for the duration of the shift, usually between four and 14 hours. Neighbouring fire stations will answer emergency calls.

The list of stations on the list for temporary closure includes five in the Sydney region, three along the South Coast escarpment bordering the Royal National Park, and two in Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury area, which is prone to bushfires.

Since 1995, the NSW Fire Brigade practice has been to make up a shortfall in staff at "retained" fire stations by calling in full-time firefighters to work overtime. But a ruling brought down on Friday by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission as part of a pay deal giving firefighters a 12.6 per cent increase over three years will allow the temporary shutdown of stations.

The state's Fire Commissioner, Greg Mullins, confirmed that 33 stations might come off line periodically. "I would have to put out a commissioner's order, overturning the 1995 order," Mr Mullins told the Herald. "I have not yet done that. But if they are taken off-line for a short period as a result of the commission decision, I can guarantee no one will be at risk. We would only do that if an adjoining fire station is available and fully staffed." Mr Mullins also said no part-time station would close during a major bushfire or emergency, such as a factory fire or explosion.

But Mr Flynn said calling in neighbouring fire crews might endanger public safety. "There is internationally accepted evidence that says from the time a fire starts to the time it takes to consume a room in a building can be as little as seven minutes," he said.

Mr Mullins said the practice of filling gaps in part-time crews with full-time firefighters on overtime had become "a rort". "I am being very blunt," he said. "I know they are strong words. My focus will be on keeping enough retained firefighters available to keep the stations open."

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Greenie laws threaten gas industry and would INCREASE CO2 emissions

AUSTRALIA'S $15 billion gas industry could shrink by more than a quarter by 2020 unless it is protected from the economic effects of the proposed emissions trading scheme. The industry will use new analysis to reinforce its concerns to the Rudd Government that excluding LNG from compensation under the proposed ETS will stall up to $60billion of new investment, and will actually worsen climate change by forcing developing economies, including China, to build more coal-fired power stations.

The new modelling, by Frontier Economics, estimates the 10 per cent cut in greenhouse emissions by 2020 proposed by the Government's chief climate change adviser, Ross Garnaut, will require a $54 a tonne price for carbon and will slow the economy by nearly 2 per cent over the next 12 years.

Victoria's brown coal industry will be forced to halve its output, while the nation's natural gas and LNG projects would be cut by about 25 per cent because they are not eligible for compensation under the scheme outlined in the Rudd Government's green paper in July.

The Frontier report says LNG and natural gas will suffer from a shrinking electricity market and the perverse effects of downstream industries such as copper and gold processing not receiving compensation under the scheme, while rival sectors such as coal mining will be eligible.

The gas industry's warning of "carbon leakage" - the flight of investment to economies with no carbon price, resulting in no net benefit to the environment - is in direct retaliation to claims made last week that the $15 billion LNG industry should not be protected from a carbon price. A report commissioned by the Climate Institute questioned the effectiveness of any scheme to compensate trade-exposed industries such as LNG without detailed cost-benefit analysis. The analysis by economists McLennan Magasanik Associates said all global LNG resources were already being exploited, so any reduction in Australian production as a result of increased costs under an emissions trading scheme would have no impact on global investment.

But the chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, Belinda Robinson, said yesterday less LNG production in Australia meant the emissions of Asia-Pacific countries would worsen as they used coal instead. "If the carbon pollution reduction scheme has the perverse outcome of penalising Australian LNG to the benefit of the Chinese coal industry, there will be massive carbon leakage and the Australian economy and the global environment will suffer for no good reason," she said. "We will be faced with a situation of leakage-plus, where lost Australian LNG production is replaced by coal production. "For every tonne of greenhouse gases emitted in Australia through the production of LNG, between 5.5 and 9.5 tonnes are saved in China."

Energy analysts Wood Mackenzie say Australia is substantially "underweight" as an LNG producer - accounting for only 8 per cent of the global market - and already supplies the most expensive LNG in the Asia-Pacific region.

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ZEG

In his latest offering, conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG comments on the push for a Republic now coming from both sides of politics





Economic madness about ethanol

The feedstock for producing ethanol is sugar and Queensland produces heaps of cheap cane-sugar. It also has a large reserve capacity to produce more of it. Using sorghum as a feedstock is much more costly. But Greenies don't care about what their obsessions cost other people, of course.

It would make a lot more sense to back Brazil-style integrated ethanol production at one of the now-closed sugar mills in North Queensland -- such as Goondi or South Johnstone. That process at present gives Brazil fuel that is cheaper than oil-based fuel. You've just got to crush sugarcane and sugar-laden juice flows out. And that juice can go straight into an ethanol distillery

ANALYSTS have warned that further food price rises are inevitable after the Queensland Government revealed almost half the ethanol to be blended in petrol used in motor vehicles in the state would come from grain. Queensland will become the national leader in biofuel use after the Bligh Government yesterday pledged to press ahead with plans to require petrol to contain 5 per cent ethanol by 2010.

The Weekend Australian reported that Premier Nathan Rees had ditched the commitment by NSW to introduce the nation's first mandated level of biodiesel and to boost the ethanol mandate from 2 to 10 per cent. NSW was the first state to introduce a biofuels mandate last October. Victoria and other states have gone cold on biofuels amid mounting evidence that taxpayer-subsidised mandates have contributed to growing world food shortages and rising prices. Up to 50,000 tonnes of grain a year are used for ethanol in NSW.

Queensland had indicated sugarcane waste would be used for ethanol production, but Regional Development Minister Desley Boyle told The Australian that 40 per cent of the ethanol needed for the 5 per cent mandate would come from grain. Most of the grain-based ethanol would be produced at Dalby Bio Refinery's new plant on the Darling Downs, which makes the biofuel from sorghum.

Ms Boyle said Queensland was not concerned by the about-face in NSW. "We will proceed with a 5 per cent mandate and that will be lifted to 10 per cent over time," she said. "A mandated level of ethanol is a good first step towards an alternative fuels industry." Ms Boyle said the use of sorghum for ethanol would have negligible impact on grain supply and prices. The sorghum would be livestock-feed grain standard. "This will have no effect on the food supply chain," she said.

Queensland would boost research to expand the use of algae, cellulose plant wastes and other environmentally friendly sources of biofuel production.

Biofuels analyst Geoff Ward, an agricultural scientist, said it was inevitable that the Dalby plant would reduce grain supplies and boost food costs. "It is nonsense to imply there is no effect on the food chain because it is cattle-feed grain," Mr Ward said. "Cattle-feed grain and food-quality grain are products from the same resource, produced from the same land and use the same inputs. Besides, feedlots use grain to produce a food - beef."

Meanwhile the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has rejected claims that service station operators were breaching the Trade Practices Act by misleading motorists about ethanol. The Australian Lot Feeders Association told the ACCC in a submission that motorists should be informed that ethanol-blended fuel should be sold for 4c a litre less than conventional petrol to compensate for its poor fuel economy. "Blended fuel is almost never priced less at this discount," said association president Jim Cudmore. However, the ACCC has told the association it was up to motorists to weigh the varying arguments about ethanol, including the possible benefits from its use such as improved urban air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

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Shock! Horror! Politician speaks the truth!

It's only part of the truth but we have to be thankful for small mercies. The previously unmentionable fact is that blacks are, by and large, educationally hopeless. And Queensland has a lot of blacks. But that is not of course the whole story. The other half is that Left-run educational systems don't educate very well and there is a lot of "postmodernist" nonsense in Qld. schools

STATE Education Minister Rod Welford has blamed indigenous and remote area students for dragging down Queensland's academic performance. In comments to the Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations' annual general meeting, Mr Welford said the state had been "weighed down" in the national literacy and numeracy tests for Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students. Queensland finished second last among the eight states and territories, prompting calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the state education system.

Mr Welford yesterday said he was simply making the observation that "statistically there are groups that get lower scores", which affected average scores. "This isn't a reflection on any of those communities," he said. Mr Welford also acknowledged more had to be done to lift indigenous and remote area classroom standards.

However Mr Welford's remarks have sparked an angry backlash from Aboriginal education leaders, who say Education Queensland has badly failed disadvantaged children. "I find it offensive," Indigenous Education Leadership Institute executive director Dr Chris Sarra said. "I acknowledge the lag associated with indigenous performance (but) the system is failing indigenous kids quite dramatically."

Dr Sarra, leader of a successful national program to raise classroom performance through self-belief, said that accepting low standards and poor use of current resources were at the core of problems.

Indigenous scholarship program founder and Yalari chief executive Waverley Stanley said Mr Welford was trying hard but repeated failures called for a new approach. "It's about time we gave the education system a big kick up the bum," he said. "The definition of insanity is doing things over and over and not expecting the same result."

Academics such as Dr Peter Ridd, of Queensland's James Cook University, claim a wider overhaul of education in Queensland is needed. "There is clearly a problem ... you have to fix the syllabus," he said. Dr Ridd said the Queensland Studies Authority - the statutory body responsible for syllabuses and testing - was "woolly eyed" and corrupted by modern teaching philosophies inferior to traditional approaches in other states and countries that get results.

Opposition education spokesman John-Paul Langbroek, the MP for Surfers Paradise, said Mr Welford's remarks were a sign of failure. The Isolated Children's Parents Association of Australia has been campaigning for more teachers and teacher aides in remote area schools for 18 months.

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A bigger hospital is better?

Public hospitals are impersonal and bureaucratic enough as it is and a bigger hospital is going to be even more so. And the bigger the bureaucracy the more error-prone it is

A NEW children's super hospital in Brisbane would save lives, foster research and improve training opportunities, says a respected specialist. As a turf war intensified between doctors over the merger of the Royal Children's and Mater Children's hospitals, Melbourne intensive care specialist Frank Shann said having a single facility was overwhelmingly the best choice for patients.

Professor Shann, who has consulted on children's hospital care worldwide, said bigger institutions delivered better quality care and at lower cost. "Very large centres that do a lot of work have lower mortality rates," he said. "The more you do, the better at it you get." Professor Shann said the existing public children's hospitals were both too small to offer advanced intensive care training for doctors. "Queenslanders who want to train in intensive care of children have to train in other states," he said.

Although some doctors have warned of an exodus of specialists from Queensland if the merger goes ahead, Professor Shann predicted it would attract better qualified staff.

A group of University of Queensland researchers last week warned the pending closure of the Royal Children's Hospital at Herston, in Brisbane's inner north, would cripple research into a vast array of diseases. But Professor Shann said the existing children's hospitals generated far fewer research papers than stand alone facilities in other states. "There'll be a bigger group of people working together rather than having two small groups. You can bounce ideas off each other," he said. "If you have an interest in a particular group of patients ... you'll also double your exposure to those patients."

The Queensland Government has pledged to build a $100 million research facility close to the new hospital but has yet to secure funding. Acting Premier Paul Lucas yesterday accused critics of being afraid of change. "The Government is not doing this to annoy people. The Government is doing this for all the mums and dads out there who expect to have world's best practice in our children's hospital," he said. Mr Lucas defended the current plans, saying all the evidence and analysis showed the Government was on the right track.

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ABARE Chiefs Warn Australian Agriculture is Doomed Under Emissions Trading Scheme

The current and former heads of ABARE have joined the growing chorus of Agricultural Economist who are warning that the Emissions Trading Scheme will have dire consequences for Australia's trade exposed Agricultural industry. Dr Brian Fisher, former head of ABARE for 18 years has expressed grave fears for the future of Australian Agriculture under the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme.

"Introducing a scheme ahead of other nations was not prosecuting Australia's national interest, it was prosecuting somebody else's and we are going to be damned if we do. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by going first here. We are a very, very small country. We constitute about 1.3 odd per cent of emissions on the planet. The government should focus its domestic climate change policy on adaptation because it will be "years" before there is an international agreement on emissions trading between the 190 countries involved in the ongoing negotiations."

Dr Fisher's views reinforce what Agmates said in the article: "ETS in Aust & NZ will Zero impact on global emissions" In fact if you are one of the 1,000's of informed Agmates readers you will have know for at least 2 months that the ETS in its existing form is disastrous for Australian farmers. Rural Press finally 10 weeks later have picked up on that fact. On the 5th of July we wrote:.

"What the main stream media have missed in the flood of coverage is the potential devastation to rural Australia the emission trading scheme will be."

Dr Fisher's successor at ABARE Phillip Glyde, supports his views. He points out that regardless of whether or not agriculture was included in the ETS from 2010, the impacts on farming through the use of emission intensive inputs would be significant.

"In the cropping sector, 39 per cent of the input costs to cropping came from emission-intensive inputs, while in livestock those costs were about 17 per cent. There's only one solution to all of this, particularly while the rest of the world doesn't introduce an ETS or have emissions trading schemes excluding agriculture - it is to continue down the path of productivity improvements.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), located in Canberra, is the Australian government's own economic research agency and is respected for its professional independent research and analysis. It is incredible that the chief architects of the Emissions Trading Scheme Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong are ignoring their own Economic experts advice.

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Global cooling hits Western Australia

PERTH today shivered awake to its coldest September morning on record. The overnight temperature fell to a chilly 1C just before 6am. The previous coldest September morning was 1.5C, which was recorded in 2005.

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THE PUBLIC HOSPITAL CHAOS CONTINUES

Three articles below

No meat at debt-ridden NSW hospitals

MEAT is off the menu at two NSW hospitals because the health service hasn't paid its butchers' bills, a State MP claims. Kevin Humphries has offered to pick up the tab so Gilgandra and Coonabarabran hospital patients, and local Meals on Wheels recipients, can have their meat supply restored. The Greater Western Area Health Service - which has already been accused of failing to pay a Sydney software supplier $22,500 for five months - has conceded it owes money to a number of creditors and has apologised.

Mr Humphries said he was appalled when he found cooks at Gilgandra and Coonabarabran hospitals were forced to provide meatless meals. "Our patients deserve better. It is a sad day when staff are forced to compromise patient care with a reduced and inadequate diet," he said. "I have even heard stories of staff buying meat for their patients out of their own pockets."

Murray-Darling MP John Williams said he knew of several cases of unpaid bills from the western health service. One Broken Hill business was owed almost $2000 and another business in his electorate had been owed more than $12,000 since May. "It's a bleeding ulcer for them - they are all suffering from the drought and they don't need this," Mr Williams said.

Greater Western Area Health is not the only one unable to pay suppliers. Yass air-conditioning mechanic Touie Smith said he is owed $18,386.50 by the Greater Southern Area Health Service for work at Yass and Goulburn hospitals. Part of the debt related to work done as far back as April and Mr Smith said it was putting a strain on his business. Most annoying was the fact that the health service would not return calls to discuss the problem. "We've been shunned," he said. "We are a small business with quite a low turnover - we have to be careful with our money management and outstanding amounts of this size can be very stressful." Mr Smith said the local hospital administrators were embarrassed by the situation caused by their head office.

It's understood Leeton Diagnostic Imaging is owed more than $30,000 by the Greater Southern Area Health Service. Part of that debt dates back to May and the business cannot get any answers about when it will be paid.

Health Minister John Della Bosca said it was reasonable for businesses to expect to be paid "in a fair and timely manner". "Since 2004-05, the department has set a benchmark that creditor payments should not exceed between 35 and 45 days from receipt of invoice," he said. "I believe the benchmark is being met in the majority of cases but I have asked the department to work closely with health services to ensure they're paying suppliers within the set time. "It is important these benchmarks are met as late payments can hurt small businesses."

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North QLD Health Services Third World Despite Billions in Mining Royalties

The mismanagement of the Queensland Health service in rural & regional Queensland is a disgrace. In the home of resource rich North Queensland all surgical proceeds now have to be performed at Townsville Hospital which is in crisis. Just 2 weeks ago the ABC `World Today" reported:

"In recent days, Brisbane's biggest hospitals have closed their doors to ambulances and the hospital in the major regional centre of Townsville has resorted to using conference rooms to accommodate patients."

TWO regional north Queensland hospitals at Richmand and Hughenden will close their fully equipped operating theatres. These theatres have not operated for 18 months after the QLD Labor government pulled the plug on funding the popular and very successful flying surgeon service to the centres. The Richmond and Hughenden communities had been waiting and hoping that the service which had operated successfully for many years would be re-instated. Hughenden & Richmand are 400 and 500kms by road from Townsville.

Following on from last months announcement of the closure of the Aramac hospital the people of north-west Queensland are shocked and angry after the latest Bligh Labor Government health plan had promised to close the gap in regional health care. In an email to Agmates QLD Shadow Health Minister Mark McArdle is scathing of the QLD Labor governments treatment of rural and regional Queenslanders:

"The Townsville Hospital is already at crisis point and this incompetent Health Minister is just making it worse instead of taking stress off the Townsville Hospital by de-centralising demand for surgical facilities," The Health Minister's claim that the operating theatres were closed because they didn't provide any surgical procedures as dishonest and arrogant. The reason these surgery theatres wasn't performing surgical procedures is because it didn't fund them.

This is another example of the Beattie-Bligh Government's systemic withdrawal of health services from rural areas. The Beattie-Bligh Government is killing off opportunities for accessible regional health services now, while it is spending millions of dollars on glitzy ad campaigns about what proper health services in 2020."

North West, North and Central Queensland is home to the vast fortunes generated by Queenslands resources boom. Last year the QLD state government collected $1.027 billion in coal mining royalties alone from the region. That figure this year is budgeted to explode to $3.213 billion yet the people of North Queensland have what can only be described as third world health services.

Those mining royalties have made QLD along with resource rich Western Australia the two financial powerhouse states that have largely insultated Australia against the world economic down turn caused by the credit crisis. Yet North Queenslands have seen there health services largely disappear.

It's no wonder that the WA Nationals are the King Makers after the recent state election. They campaigned on a "royalties for regions" policy that promised to return 25% ($700 million a year) of mining royalties too the regional communities of WA. If that policy was adopted in Queensland that would be $800 million just from coal royalties which would be invested into infrastructure & services in rural and regional Queensland each year just from coal royalties.

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Nurse backs reports of chaos at a major Brisbane hospital

A SENIOR nurse who recently resigned from Logan Hospital has backed up comments by emergency department doctor Michael Cameron that the hospital is "too dangerous and too dysfunctional". Bill Atkinson, a nurse for nearly 20 years, worked in the same high-pressure emergency department as Dr Cameron. He said his pleas for support were also ignored by hospital bosses and Queensland Health. "I have a lot of respect for the man," Mr Atkinson said. "He had the courage to step up and voice his concerns."

Dr Cameron, senior staff specialist in emergency medicine at Logan Hospital, revealed exclusively in The Sunday Mail last week that he had quit because staff were "overworked and overwhelmed". He had first spoken out about problems in Queensland's besieged health system in a frank open letter published in The Sunday Mail in May. The letter from Dr Cameron prompted Premier Anna Bligh and Health Minister Stephen Robertson to meet with him and appoint him as a special adviser to the Government. But he was largely ignored and the problems at Logan only got worse. "It had got to the point where I dreaded going to work each day," he said last week.

Mr Atkinson, who was a registered nurse and then a clinical nurse in the Logan Hospital emergency department's short-stay unit, had a similar story to tell. He kept detailed records showing a doubling of the number of patients pushed through the short-stay unit, which had a $7.5 million upgrade last year. "However, with this increase in patient turnover, there was no increase in the level of staffing or support," he said. "Like Dr Cameron, I too was dreading coming to work to the job I loved to do. I would often go home feeling overstressed and burnt out from a day's work." He asked the nurse unit manager about the possibility of increasing staff numbers. "I was bluntly informed that it was not going to happen as there was no budget for it," he said.

Mr Atkinson said he wrote to the director of nursing for medical services seeking a meeting. "I stressed that the pressure was overwhelming and that there was not enough staff and support to address the current issues . . . that it was not about me, it was about the quality of care that we were not able to provide to the community of Logan." Mr Atkinson resigned two months ago and said he was not the first experienced emergency nurse to leave Logan Hospital this year. "I know of four other clinical nurses leaving emergency before I did and a clinical nurse and clinical nurse consultant leaving after I resigned," he said.

Ms Bligh last week acknowledged the "very high-stress, high-pressure environment" at Logan but told staff there was "light at the end of the tunnel". The Premier said the State Government had bought nearby Logan Private Hospital and would refurbish it to provide extra beds by 2010. Mr Atkinson, who now works at Redland Hospital, will be joined there by Dr Cameron in emergency.

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Is PM Kevin Rudd another James Hansen Disciple?

If you still have doubts about whether man made climate change is real, stop it because according to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:

We must prepare for a low-carbon economy, to delay any longer, to stay in denial as the climate change skeptics and some members opposite would have us do, is reckless and irresponsible.

The Prime Minister made that statement in an unexpected and impassioned speech yesterday near the end of a long parliamentary debate on a government bill that clears the way for millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide to be stored under the sea. Throughout the speech Rudd emphasized the need for URGENT action:

Expert analysis points to severe global and national consequences including rising sea levels, more severe weather events, water shortages, large-scale migration, increased threats to border security, loss of infrastructure and regional conflict over increasingly scarce resources.

He finished up with the following emotional call to action (more about this later):

"For our generation, for our kids and future generations, we must act now."

The Prime Minister has continually maintained that he takes his advice from the IPCC science on this matter. But who are these expert analysts? From the Prime Minister's agenda and language it would appear that his adviser on the science is none other than James Hansen. Hansen is the father of the Global warming alarmist movement since the 1980's and just happens to be AlGore's science adviser.

A personal letter written from James Hansen written to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the 27th of March 2008 is most revealing. You can click through and read the letter in full at the Crikey web site, but here are some extract that show Rudd parroting what Hansen has written: In the letter Hansen urges Rudd to act - just notice how he plays to Rudd's ego and his ambition to be a major player on the world stage. Hansen lays it on with a trowel.

I recognize that for years you have been a strong supporter of aggressive forward-looking actions to mitigate dangerous climate change. Also, since your election as Prime Minister of Australia, your government has been active in pressing the international community to take appropriate actions. We are now at a point that bold leadership is needed, leadership that could change the course of human history.

Hansen then goes on to say the situation is URGENT, NEAR critical tipping points and then spells out what COULD happen:

"Global climate is near critical tipping points that could lead to .. progressive, unstoppable global sea level rise, shifting of climatic zones with extermination of many animal and plant species, reduction of freshwater supplies for hundreds of millions of people, and a more intense hydrologic cycle with stronger droughts and forest fires, but also heavier rains and floods, and stronger storms driven by latent heat, including tropical storms, tornados and thunderstorms.

Funny that's exactly what Rudd has been telling the Australian Public, almost word for word. Then Hansen goes on to chronicle the dangers of coal and recommend the development of the very thing that Rudd unexpectantly spoke so passionately about in Parliament yesterday, carbon capture. -

"Due to the dominant role of coal, solution to global warming must include phase-out of coal except for uses where the CO2 is captured and sequestered. Yet there are plans for continuing mining of coal, export of coal, and construction of new coal-fired power plants around the world, including in Australia, plants that would have a lifetime of half a century or more."

Then Hansen lays it on with a trowel again. Note the word COULD

Your leadership in halting these plans COULD seed a transition that is needed to solve the global warming problem. If Australia halted construction of coal-fired power plants that do not capture and sequester the CO2, it could be a tipping point for the world. There is still time to find that tipping point, but just barely. I hope that you will give these considerations your attention in setting your national policies. You have the potential to influence the future of the planet.

Prime Minister Rudd, we cannot avert our eyes from the basic fossil fuel facts, or the consequences for life on our planet of ignoring these fossil fuel facts. If we continue to build coal-fired power plants without carbon capture, we will lock in future climate disasters associated with passing climate tipping points. We must solve the coal problem now.

To finish, Hansen recommends 7 Australian scientist who are his disciples.... Oh don't forget the references to the little children. Hansen said:

Prospects for today's children, and especially the world's poor, hinge upon our success in stabilizing climate.

Or here from Hansen's report on his lobbying trips to the UK, Germany & Japan in July

If we continue to ignore obvious geophysical facts about the magnitude of fossil fuel reservoirs, our children and grandchildren will have little reason to forgive our obtuseness.

Kevin Rudd in Parliament yesterday:

"For our generation, for our kids and future generations, we must act now."

Or Here from his appearance on 60 minutes.

Look at your kids in the eye tonight and ask yourself this question - "If we have this much evidence available to us now "on climate change and just refuse to act, "then what are the consequences for them?"

It's comforting to know that an American NASA professor who cannot convince his own government to sign the Kyoto protocol is driving Australia to leading the world into a carbon constrained future. It appears that on the advice of a one US professor Kevin Rudd is about to launch Australia into the greatest shake up of our economy the nation has ever seen. By the time the Kevin Rudd / James Hansen agenda is in place we will be poorer as a nation, but at least we'll be cleaner.

Oh sorry I forgot because we only represent 1.3% of world CO2 emissions, cutting our Greenhouse gas emission will actually have zero impact on world emissions. But its important to be seen on the world stage as a visionary leader and savior of the planet, when you spend as much time overseas as Kevin Rudd does. Isn't it Kevin?

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"Sports" drinks are a con

VITAMIN and sports-water drinks are so laden with sugar and caffeine that claims about their health-giving benefits should be taken with a grain of salt, nutritionists have warned. Despite labels touting their ability to revive consumers and improve focus and energy, the drinks are simply "artificial concoctions" of additives more likely to undermine drinkers' health than improve it, Foodwatch nutritionist Catherine Saxelby said. The sugar content of the drinks - which account for $100million of bottled water sales - is so high the Australian Dental Association wants them to carry warning labels.

Consumer advocate group Choice says the public is being deliberately misled about the benefits of enhanced-water drinks, with some 500ml varieties containing eight teaspoons of sugar, high levels of caffeine and many additives, including flavours and colours.

Choice has complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the NSW Food Authority about the allegedly misleading labelling and marketing of Coca-Cola Amatil's Glaceau Vitamin Water. The drink has 6« teaspoons of sugar - that's one third of the average adult woman's recommended dietary intake of sugar. The beverage giant expects to sell 2 million bottles of the drink this year. Choice senior food policy officer Clare Hughes said many health-conscious Australians were buying Glaceau and the other leading enhanced-water brands, Nutrient Water and Smart Water, on the basis of deceptive marketing and labelling. While it purported to be healthy, a 575ml bottle of Nutrient Water had seven teaspoons of sugar, Ms Hughes said; Smart Water's 500ml bottle had eight. A 375ml can of Coca-Cola contains 10 teaspoons of sugar.

"What's marketed as a sensible alternative to sugary soft drinks is nowhere near as sensible or as healthy as the package implies," Ms Hughes said. Ms Saxelby said vitamin waters are an "artificial concoction" with additives such as fructose, sucrose, flavour and food acid. "It's not like drinking juice. It's actually a formulated product from a factory," she said. "I don't think we need these drinks. We can get our vitamins and minerals from normal, natural food."

Australian Dental Association Victoria deputy president Anne Harrison said the high sugar levels could lead to tooth decay and consumers had a right to know what they were drinking.

Coca-Cola South Pacific spokeswoman Sarah Kelly said neither the ACCC nor the NSW Food Authority had contacted the company to raise concerns about Glaceau Vitamin Water, which was launched in February and had "exceeded sales expectations".

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Victorian courts bend over backwards to protect child-molesters

And too bad about the victims

USUALLY, the law protects and defends. Sometimes, it makes mistakes. Two days ago in the County Court, I believe the law caused harm. Grandfather John Maria Beyer pleaded guilty to 31 counts of sexual assault committed between 1973 and 1985. The 12 victims were children - five of them were wards of the state. He had been their coach, their carer and taken some of them away on weekends. He had abused them in his home, in the car and on holidays.

The trauma he caused them as youngsters would have been unspeakable. The suffering they have carried with them ever since is unimaginable. As adults now, these 12 survivors had been questioned by the police. They had given statements. They had remembered as much as they could. They had summoned the courage to face their abuser again. With all that over, they came to court expecting their perpetrator to be sentenced. They came for justice, to reclaim their lives and hopefully put an end to years of torment.

Instead, they were sent away. The judge criticised the prosecutor for not providing sufficient details about the charges to enable him to deliver a sentence. He said he needed clearer information about how often and when the abuse had occurred. This means the prosecutor has to ask the victims to tell their story again. Without more details, he believed that the Court of Appeal might overturn his sentence, as it had done recently in similar circumstances.

In the place of justice, the victims have been re-traumatised. They have been told that what they remember is not enough. They need to remember even more. They need to talk about it again.

These events took place more than 20 years ago to children, some of whom were already very vulnerable and in need of protection. It is unrealistic for them to have detailed recall of everything that happened that long ago when they were so young. It is also painful to be forced to remember experiences that they have tried so hard over the years to forget. Remembering abuse is much more like reliving it all over again.

In pursuing the law, the Court of Appeal has put up an unnecessary barrier for sexual abuse cases. The harder it is for victims, the less likely they will want to come forward. Already, there are very few cases of child sexual abuse that result in successful prosecution.

Victims of child sexual assault require our compassion. They require understanding from the judiciary and fair treatment. Above all, they need to be respected for their strength and determination in telling the truth. The law offers an opportunity for real justice for victims. But it should not make them suffer so much to achieve it.

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Teachers of English or ideology monomaniacs?

Of all people, you would think those who run the professional organisation representing English teachers in NSW would be able to write a clear, precise sentence. You would also think they would want students to read books. Alas, no. The English Teachers Association's submission to an HSC syllabus review by the NSW Board of studies uses the sort of incomprehensible cant George Orwell warned against, to argue against the inclusion of more Australian literature in the syllabus. "The ETA opposes the selective nomination of some types of text as this implies hierarchies in generic form and medium rather than in the quality of the texts themselves."

The nine-page document takes some effort to decipher, with its mind-numbing jargon, bolted-together phrases, pompous tone and scare quotes, all cloaking the banality of its thinking. Essentially ETA opposes the board's plan to ensure students read more Australian books, plays and poems. It's not so much the Australian part the association people dislike. It's the books, plays and poems.

In their world, as in the curriculum, "texts" can be books as we know them - words on a page that ideally have some literary merit - and can also be music videos, movies, reality TV shows, comic books ("graphic novels") or songs. To ETA, all texts are equal, and sceptical students are required to expend considerable effort trying to prove it.

The author Sophie Masson recalls her elder son having in year 11 to compare Arthur Miller's play The Crucible - "which he loves and thoroughly responded to" - with an ad for a weight-lifting gym. "If it wasn't horrible, it would be hilarious, and in fact it's both [and stems from] I believe subconscious hate and envy of writers." Masson's sons, who both sat the HSC in the past three years, "had a horrible time with [Advanced and Extension] English despite both once loving it," she says. "They were utterly contemptuous of the syllabus, and the fact they hardly had to read anything at all."

She says defenders of the syllabus point to "heaps of great books on the curriculum [but what] they fail to say is that hardly ever are more than a tiny, tiny proportion of these books studied, because there is no time. What students have to do - and the poor teachers have to enforce - is a whole lot of crappy assignments that are all to do with themes, ideologies, frameworks and outcomes but no originality, curiosity, imagination or thinking for yourself . The students generally loathe it."

So do most teachers, she says, from her experience of hosting writing workshops at schools. "Most of them absolutely hate the new HSC and its heavy emphasis on theory, themes and so on, rather than character, story and response . But they are bound to do it. There is a huge burden on them to comply with curriculum rules and what has to be accomplished in a year."

In the 1980s, when Dr Kevin Donnelly taught high school English in Victoria, his students were hungry for literature. "Kids are like water. They'll find the lowest level. But if you challenge them, and help them, they just love it because they're mastering something difficult." At one boys' school, he said the student favourite was Shane, a short novel made into the classic 1953 cowboy movie. They loved a passage in which a gun slinger and a farmer dig out a tree root and act all "male and aggressive". But it became too politically incorrect to teach Shane and Donnelly was accused of reinforcing masculine stereotypes.

Donnelly, author of Dumbing Down, says Australian curriculums are suffused with a debased neo-Marxist and postmodernist theory that became fashionable among academics 30 years ago. This is the ideology that underpins the ETA submission. It is pure social activism, not aimed at helping children gain wisdom, but to "emancipate" them from blind belief in Western civilisation, especially what they might learn from "literature".

The association is "most concerned at the use of the term 'literature' [and the] privileging of 'print medium' ", its submission states. "This stipulation harnesses Australian literary achievements to an important technology, but one that no longer enjoys the cultural predominance it once enjoyed."

Well, words are words, whether they are on a computer screen, Kindle, iPod or papyrus. They are the marks we recognise as the 26 letters of the English alphabet in combinations to form words, which are then combined to form sentences, in groupings we call paragraphs, with additional marks we know as punctuation, all of which are combined to create meaning. Written language is the highest form of expression, the purest way of communicating ideas, of pinning down the abstract, describing the concrete, explaining the world.

While oral language and iconography - pictures - are important, it is the written word that has helped us most to think. To elevate pictures and sounds to equal status is to rewind human evolution and primitivise the brain. Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay Politics And The English Language that if you can't write you can't think.

English becomes "ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts". "If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself."

Which, of course, is why ETA people write the way they do. If they wrote in their submission: "students should not read good books because literature is elitist", everyone would laugh at them and parents would bite their heads off.

Of the 1800 English teachers the association professes to have as members, just 43 responded to the survey that informed the board submission. This is a clear sign the membership has switched off, as well it should.

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Far-Leftist academic teaching at Australia's defence academy

Some of Australia's top thinkers on national security have opened a new front in the culture wars - over whether a postmodernist interpretation of terrorism is brainwashing our next generation of military leaders. At the centre of the intensely personal battle is the appointment as an associate professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy of Anthony Burke - who after claiming he was being misrepresented as "pro-terrorist", has demanded his chief critic be investigated for academic misconduct. Dr Burke, 42, complained to James Cook University over an article in Quadrant magazine by Merv Bendle, a senior lecturer in history and communications, which claimed university terrorism studies had been hijacked by a "neo-Marxist, postmodernist orthodoxy" among academics.

Another senior Canberra academic, Paul Pickering, of the Australian National University, fired off a separate protest to the Townsville-based university, but stopped short of calling for action against Dr Bendle.

The barrage of complaints and counter-claims brought to a head a row that began two months ago when Carl Ungerer, former national security adviser to the federal Labor leadership, questioned Dr Burke's appointment to the defence force academy as "eyebrow-raising". Dr Burke withdrew his complaint against Dr Bendle yesterday after conceding "it may be that administrative action is not the best way to address the problem". He told The Weekend Australian: "I remain deeply unhappy about Dr Bendle's accusations, and the violation of scholarly protocols they represent."

Dr Bendle, 57, turned up the heat on Dr Burke, who describes his political orientation as "liberal-left", by singling him out for being part of an academic clique that had compromised university terrorism studies. "In the war on terror, a main battleground has become the universities where Islamist groups openly recruit members while an updated, post-9/11 version of the old neo-Marxist, postmodernist orthodoxy on terrorism dominates among academics," Dr Bendle wrote in the latest edition of Quadrant, a standard-bearer for Australia's conservative intelligentsia.

Dr Bendle accused Dr Burke of trying to deny the right of countries such as Australia to defend themselves against attack by terrorists. In doing so, "one wonders how students at the ADFA would feel if they are asked to place their lives on the line for Australia in Afghanistan, Iraq or other battlegrounds in the war on terror", Dr Bendle wrote.

Describing the ADFA man's published writings as "astonishing" for someone who was responsible for educating military officer cadets, Dr Bendle said Dr Burke had presented national security in "post-modernist terms, not as a concrete state of affairs or balance of political forces". He turned Dr Burke's words back on him, saying it was clear he doubted that "terrorists are enemies of freedom or that freedom has any particular value". Dr Bendle said Dr Burke's take on Australia's counter-terrorism polices was that they provoked "the very thing they claimed to defend us from - i.e. terrorism is Australia's own fault".

Dr Bendle quoted his fellow academic as saying that Australia's national values and way of life were merely "vast ideological abstractions". Talking up "fundamental freedoms" was actually a "narcissistic performance of self in which Australia is represented as pure and good, as falsely superior to the religion of Islam," Dr Bendle wrote of Dr Burke's work.

Dr Burke told The Weekend Australian that while Dr Bendle had quoted him accurately, he had misrepresented his broader view that terrorism was immoral and politically counter-productive. "The quotes are accurate, but the characterisation is not," he insisted. The inference that he was pro-terrorist was an outrageous slur, Dr Burke said.

In his letter of complaint to JCU vice-chancellor Sandra Harding, dated last Monday, the Canberra academic hit out at Dr Bendle for claiming that he and Dr Pickering, among others, had "relentless sympathy for terrorists, defend the Islamist terrorists who conducted the July 2005 London bombings and are generally pro-terrorist".

Dr Burke initially complained that the Quadrant article raised "serious concerns about the integrity and honesty of Dr Bendle's research", and invited a "formal and transparent investigation by JCU as to whether or not it constitutes a case of serious academic misconduct". Dr Burke, in withdrawing his demand yesterday, said he had decided that a university investigation was not warranted. "I think there is still a matter of principle there," he said. "But I don't believe that asking for administrative action is the best way to respond."

Dr Bendle said he was relieved, but stood by his criticism of Dr Burke's supposedly post-modernist interpretation of terrorism. He disputed Dr Burke's assertion that their altercation was an extension of the culture wars, "very much in the American strain where people see the university as a battleground". Dr Bendle said the issue was actually academic freedom. Dr Burke and Dr Pickering should have approached him with their concerns before going over his head at James Cook University. "It is a basic rule of academic etiquette for parties in an academic dispute to respect the right of free inquiry and free speech," he said. "These gentlemen could easily have emailed or telephoned me with their concerns and I would have done everything possible to reach some compromise."

Dr Pickering did not return calls yesterday.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon shied away from comment, referring questions on Dr Bendle's complaints to the Australian Defence Force. In a statement, the ADF said academic staff at the defence force academy were employed on their research and teaching record, according to the rules of the University of NSW. "Taking any course out of context of the whole degree program does not truly reflect the overall education being provided to students at ADFA," a defence spokesperson said.

However, the battlelines were hardening among supporters of the two feuding academics. Dr Ungerer, now director of national security for Canberra-based think tank, the Australian Strategic Policy Unit, yesterday backed Dr Burke's concerns. Many academics teaching terrorism-related courses at university were "off on a tangent", which had no relevance to real-world security issues, he said. Dr Burke's immediate boss at ADFA, humanities and social sciences head David Lovell, said the lecturer had his full confidence. He said the academy, which operates academically as an offshoot of the University of NSW, produced graduates for the military "with no particular ideological views ... who approach issues with an open mind, in a critical spirit".

Dr Burke said ADFA had a balanced mix of teachers. "If everyone was like me, it wouldn't be appropriate ... you don't force your views on students. You must teach a range of perspectives," he said.

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Thwarting jihad

Civil libertarian concerns are misplaced

CONTRARY to opinion in some quarters, bleeding-heart naivety and soft-headed stupidity are not virtues, especially in terror prevention. The sooner Australia's misguided civil libertarians understand this, the safer their fellow citizens will be. Law enforcement agencies ASIO, the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police deserve congratulations for the success of Operation Pendennis. After gathering 16,400 hours of electronic surveillance and bugging 98,000 telephone calls, seven defendants, including radical cleric Abdul Nacer Benbrika, have been convicted of being part of a terror cell. Despite evidence uncovered of plans to attack the 2005 AFL Grand Final at the MCG or Melbourne's Crown casino during Grand Prix week in 2006, the trial has drawn bizarre reactions from some who are well enough educated to know better.

Rob Stary, who represented seven of the men, claimed the fact that four were acquitted showed "they are casting the net too wide". A more rational interpretation might be that the acquittals showed due process worked and delivered justice. The Australian, especially in its coverage of the botched Mohamed Haneef investigation, has been a stickler for due process to maintain public confidence in the laws. It was upheld in this trial.

Sounding like an ingenuous student, Liberty Victoria president Julian Burnside QC condemned anti-terror laws after the trial for their impact on "minority groups". The vast majority of good Australian Muslims want terrorism stopped as much as, if not more than, their fellow citizens. Mr Burnside also claimed the laws "criminalise conduct most people would not regard as criminal at all, including words said or views held which never result in any actual harm to anyone".

Greg Barns, who defended Ezzit Raad, pointed to "a world of difference between preparing to act and acting, and merely thinking and talking". Such cavalier thinking beggars belief. Every week, criminals go to jail for such crimes such as conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit fraud, without actually murdering or defrauding anyone. In such cases, it is the evidence of intention that matters.

Pushed to its logical conclusion, Mr Barns's argument implies that anti-terror laws should not be invoked until terrorist acts are unleashed. This would be as unacceptable to the vast majority of Australians as his client Raad's recorded statement that it was a pity more people had not died in the 2005 London terrorist bombings. Raad was found guilty of belonging to a terrorist organisation and of making funds available to it.

After the World Trade Centre attacks and the Bali bombings, critics of the security services were quick to blame intelligence failures in preventing the attacks. In relation to September 11, the criticisms later proved valid as it emerged that some of the perpetrators had been known to authorities for years. In Australia in 2004, concerns over perceived intelligence failures in the lead-up to the Bali bombings prompted the then ALP Opposition, the Greens and the Democrats to demand judicial inquiries.

Despite such concerns, the exemplary intelligence gathering in the lead-up to the Melbourne terror trial, preventing preparation of a terrorist act that may have killed and maimed innocent people, has left parts of the Left upset. As Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman argues: "Predictably, a number of civil libertarians, academics and legal figures who have vilified those who predicted such a development since the 9/11 bombings and the Islamist attacks against civilians in Bali and the West, have continued their attacks on the legal system which enabled these men to be held, tried and convicted."

Such clouded thinking by the Left is nothing new. In February, Amnesty International's main concern about the trial was that the men had been denied bail. Yesterday, The Age's main concern was a front-page claim they had been "mistreated". During the trial, defence claims of terrifying "Nazi tactics" by authorities and suggestions that members of the alleged cell were too stupid and inept to be terrorists were also unconvincing. Unlike the bosses of Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qa'ida, many of those who perpetrate terror attacks are easily-led dupes.

Despite the controversies, Australia's largest terrorist trial and the investigation that led to it nailed a home-grown terrorist cell plotting to wage violent jihad on Australians. That justice was done, and seen to be done, reaffirmed the value of the anti-terror laws, properly implemented.

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Another black eye for arrogant regulators

I don't blame the TGA for disliking alternative therapies (though some of the things they have approved -- such as statins -- are arguably no better) but that does not excuse ruinous Gestapo-type attacks on a law-abiding businessman and the destruction of his business. And the two devious feminazis at the heart of the TGA action -- Fiona Cumming and Rita Maclachlan -- are apparently still in their jobs! Since their hatreds have already cost the taxpayers huge sums, they should be relegated immediately to clerk-typist duties only. Their involvement in the destruction of records should in fact lead to criminal charges being laid against them

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has dropped four criminal charges against former alternative medicine tycoon Jim Selim. Mr Selim, the founder of Pan Pharmaceuticals, had been charged with failing to disclose material information relating to four separate board meetings. Last month, Mr Selim won a $55 million compensation payment from the Federal Government over the collapse of his company.

Pan Pharmaceuticals went into liquidation in 2005 after a decision in 2003 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to suspend its licence and withdraw 219 of its products.

Outside the court, Mr Selim said he felt vindicated by today's decision and he would push ahead with preparations for a $200 million class action against the TGA over the collapse of the company in 2003. "It's good because here everything's over, nothing's left, there's no deal or anything," Mr Selim said. "That's the end of it."

He said an apology from the Federal Government would mean a lot to him, following his "persecution" over the past five years. "I think so," he said, when asked whether an apology should be forthcoming. "I was disappointed with the TGA from the start."

His solicitor, Andrew Thorpe, said there was a "high degree of interest" from former customers and creditors of Pan Pharmaceuticals in pursuing a class action. "We believe that the sort of value of the class action will be in the order of $200 million and perhaps greater than that," Mr Thorpe said. There would most probably be hundreds of parties involved and a claim would be made on behalf of companies which lost money as a direct result of the TGA's handling of the Pan matter, he said.

Mr Selim said it had been a "hard five years", with today's case the latest in a long series of court actions involving Mr Selim and Pan Pharmaceuticals. "We hope justice will be done and we hope people who were damaged and hurt by the TGA action will get compensation, will get justice," he said.

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Note: The firm was convicted of offences to do with disregard for government paperwork requirements but those offences were some years before the matters referred to above. And in the paperwork case the judge found no individual culpable but rather a firm-wide indifference to government paperwork. That attitude may have contributed to the TGA animus against the firm but does not excuse their reckless shutting down of the firm. The paperwork matters should have been and were dealt with by a court





Arrogant government auctioneer rejects the highest price

It will probably be challenged in court but government agencies have no hesitation in spending other people's money on lawsuits. Government workers think that no-one can touch them so they can do what they like -- and they're mostly right

Two prominent Brisbane identities are at loggerheads after a Queensland Government auctioneer refused to accept the highest bid for a million-dollar riverfront property. In a bizarre case which has prompted an official complaint and left real estate experts dumbfounded, the Queensland Public Trustee refused to accept a bid $5000 higher than the winning $1.54 million offer for a deceased estate at West End.

The auction last week has left outraged losing bidder David Waller - the nephew of billionaire property tycoon and former Super A-Mart owner John van Lieshout - threatening legal action unless another sale is held. Mr Waller had offered $1.545 million as the bidding petered out but the bid was rejected because auctioneer Wayne Johnson wanted $10,000 increments. The sale was awarded to a preceding offer by a mystery female friend of Brisbane doctor and one-time aspiring Liberal politician Ingrid Tall.

Mr Waller yesterday was backed by several witnesses. "No person would refuse $5000 or more, particularly when they are in a process designed to get the highest price," Mr Waller said. "It raises questions about the transparency of the process."

The Public Trustee was acting as an administrator of the two-bedroom home, built in 1915, which has river views. Dr Tall initially refused to discuss the bid process but yesterday said Mr Waller was "too obnoxious making his bids". "If he was nice, he probably would have got his way," Dr Tall said.

Attorney-General Kerry Shine defended the Trustee, saying the auctioneer had told bidders of the increment limit. "The beneficiary to the estate was present and was aware of the conduct of the auctioneer," he said.

However, several witnesses have confirmed the property was deemed "on the market" when the bid was rejected. Ray White South Brisbane auctioneer Neal Young yesterday said he had never felt so disgusted in his 20-year career. "There was utter disbelief," Mr Young said. "I said: 'You've got to take the bid'. He didn't know if bids would go even higher."

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Teacher overhaul report stresses standards for pay rises

TEACHERS would qualify for pay rises only after meeting performance standards under an overhaul of the profession's salary system recommended in a federal government report. The report, obtained by The Australian, recommends a comprehensive restructure of the way teachers are paid that would end the system of awarding pay rises based on length of service.

It outlines a model of performance pay that restructures the pay scale into bands reached by performance thresholds, with a level for accomplished teachers at the top. At present, teachers are paid according to an incremental scale that rises with years of service and reaches the maximum wage in about eight years, after which they must enter administrative or leadership positions to gain any further salary increase. The report will be considered as part of deliberations by the Rudd Government, and state and territory governments, over ways to improve teacher quality and reward good teachers.

The productivity working group of the Council of Australian Governments, chaired by federal Education Minister Julia Gillard, is developing a national partnership with the states on ways to improve teacher quality, including performance pay. The report -- Rewarding Quality Teaching, by Perth-based international management consultants Gerard Daniels -- was commissioned by the former federal minister Julie Bishop. In July 2006, Ms Bishop, now federal Deputy Opposition Leader, first floated the idea of paying teachers more based on their performance but the idea was universally rejected the following year by state Labor education ministers. The states have since agreed to work with the Rudd Government to investigate ways to reward quality teaching. A ministerial meeting in May agreed to research ways of rewarding teachers for performance and skills.

The Business Council of Australia and the Australian Education Union have since released models for paying teachers based on their performance. Western Australia has a limited scheme paying bonuses to teachers reaching a high standard, and the NSW Institute of Teachers launched earlier this year its system of accrediting teachers against standards of accomplishment and leadership. But the NSW Government, which is embroiled in a pay dispute with the NSW Teachers Federation, is yet to allocate any extra pay to teachers accredited as accomplished, which the federal report argues is crucial.

The report's recommendations are based on an examination of other merit-pay schemes for teachers worldwide and in analogous professions. It says the most effective systems exist within a national framework but aim to improve performance locally by linking pay to specific outcomes set at an individual, group or institutional level. The report says that, ideally, the performance-pay system should: use an evidence-based approach to demonstrate teacher performance; make the reward or recognition meaningful to teachers; and provide a clear career structure.

It also recommends a performance-management system be developed to support the pay model, focusing on regular reflection and feedback about teaching practices assessed against standards. It cautions about linking standards to pay. "The process of assessing teachers is most fraught," the report says. "Some independent schools reject any external assessment of their employed teachers. However, most stakeholders expect that for critical performance-based assessment -- between performance bands or for accomplished teacher programs -- there will be a mix of internal and external assessment."

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The admirable Philip Ruddock

He was once Minister for Immigration and Minister for Aborigines at the same time -- two of the most difficult and thankless portfolios there are

By Janet Albrechtsen

There are 97,573 voters in the electorate, and on November 24, faced with a contest between John Howard and Maxine McKew, they made the right choice. Living through this has given me a new respect for democracy, although I still don't know how we ended up with Philip Ruddock. No system is perfect.
- Margot Saville, in The Battle for Bennelong

The clueless author won't be there on Friday evening when Philip Ruddock celebrates 35 years in federal parliament. That's a shame. She, and the now notorious band of frenzied Ruddock critics, could do with at least some passing acquaintance with the whole Ruddock story. Facts, of course, will never suffice for some. But for those not hard-wired to hysteria, the facts tell a story about an honourable politician whose 35th anniversary is an opportune time to review his role in some of the most contentious areas during the past decade in Australia.

Few politicians in living memory, apart from John Howard, have been criticised, hounded and lampooned more than Ruddock. He's been accused of being a war criminal, of committing crimes against humanity, of being the minister for racism. Crowds have shouted at him. Audiences have walked out on him. Security details have followed him. Never fazed or flummoxed, Ruddock always responded with indisputable facts, not uncontrolled feelings. Even his demeanor infuriated the critics. Grey and cadaver-like, they said, befitting a man who killed compassion in the country. None of it mattered. Or if it did, Ruddock never let on publicly. He knew his contribution would outlive the criticism of a loud, emotive few.

And so it has. Much more than longevity defines time in parliament though more than three decades is an innings no other politician has matched, rightly earning him the status of father of the house. In that time, Ruddock has had a clear narrative, long before that word became fashionable. He steered Australia towards greater appreciation for, rather than suspicion of, immigration. Even for a country steeped in a migrant history, there is a need for Australians to feel comfortable about immigration.

Rigid leftist orthodoxy once mandated vicious condemnation of anyone who questioned immigration. Progressive minds treated such questioning as a sure sign of racism, ignoring the natural discomfort with strangers that is part of the human condition. As minister for immigration from 1996 until 2003, Ruddock recognised the need to take people with him, not scare them off, when advocating increased immigration. His policies dealt with the progressive dilemma well before British writer David Goodhart made the phrase famous back in 2004. That dilemma-a clash between values of diversity and solidarity-recognises that extracting tax from people to fund welfare works best when people think the recipients are like themselves, behaving the way they would.

Ruddock helped to allay the discomfort with strangers factor. He encouraged community acceptance of immigration where new arrivals would be seen as contributors, not freeloaders. By cracking down on family reunion fraud, cutting immediate welfare for new arrivals and putting a greater focus on the skills stream to address the needs of the country, Ruddock's carefully planned migration policy altered the image of the migrant sponging off Australia society. Rather than seen as stealing jobs from Australians, migrants came to be seen as the saviours for small towns looking to employ people in their abattoirs, on their farms and in their small businesses.

And when, in November 1999, boats of illegal immigrants started arriving on Australian shores just about every second day, border protection became integral to building long term confidence in an organised immigration program. Vocal critics cried cruelty and lack of compassion in response to the Howard government's immigration detention policies for illegal arrivals.

Ruddock knew better than to be swayed by hysterical emoting. His ministerial eye remained fixed on the long-term objective of securing mainstream community acceptance for increased immigration. Ruddock's place in Australian political history will record that immigration grew every year after 1996, rising from 67,100 in 1997 to more than 142,000 in 2006. The fair-minded will call that a genuinely compassionate outcome.

Ruddock was the perfect choice to manoeuvre the Howard government through the complex politics of immigration after Howard attracted criticism in 1988 for suggesting that Asian immigration needed to be slowed down. The appointment of Ruddock-one of four Liberal MPs to cross the floor of parliament to vote in favour of prime minister Bob Hawke's motion against discriminatory immigration policies-signalled a commitment to non-discriminatory immigration policies. Under Ruddock, more than 80 per cent of Afghans and Iraqis were granted protection visas at the primary decision-making stage and the local Islamic community is more than 40 per cent higher than it was in 1996. Under Ruddock, Australia had one of the largest per capita refugee and humanitarian resettlement programs in the world. More compassionate outcomes accepted and supported by the community because they knew that Australia, not people smugglers, determined them.

As attorney-general from 2003 until 2007, Ruddock was again thrown into the thick of the most contentious issues that emerged during the Howard years over national security and anti-terrorism laws. Despite the foaming wrath of vocal elites, Ruddock once again steered a course to ensure community acceptance of laws needed to protect Australia. By securing bipartisan support for security laws, Ruddock neutralised the issue. The significance of those laws unfolded on Monday when a Melbourne jury found six men guilty of terrorism charges, concluding what Attorney-General Robert McClelland described as the most successful terrorist prosecution this country has seen. Ruddock is that rarest of political beasts. In a profession famous for its factions, he was neither a Howard man nor a Costello man. He was a party man, who rigorously debated issues behind closed doors and then, once Liberal Party policy was settled, he would guard and sell the team's message without fail.

When the Howard government lost office last year, he did the honourable team thing. Insisting on the need for party renewal, the father of the house went to the back bench. It was a shame the party allowed him to do that. Ruddock's careful carriage of his portfolios should have seen him back on the front bench replacing some of the deadwood that remains. No matter. Ruddock's place in the history books as a politician with a clear moral compass is secure. The hysteria of his opponents confirms it.

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Department of Child "Safety" sends disturbed boy to live with convicted armed robber!

These social-worker a*holes are beyond belief at times. They even ignore their own agreements

A DISTRAUGHT Brisbane mother has launched legal action against the Queensland Department of Child Safety for the return of her young son after he was flown to Western Australia to live with a convicted armed robber. Her solicitor Debra Daniels and state Opposition child safety spokeswoman Jann Stuckey said the department had breached its power in circumstances Ms Stuckey described as "tantamount to kidnap". But Department of Child Safety acting deputy director-general Kath Mandla yesterday rejected the claims and said staff had acted in the best interests of the eight-year-old boy.

Ms Daniels said her client, a 28-year-old woman, entered a temporary care agreement with the department to place her son with a foster carer for a month after she sought help for his apparent suicidal behaviour. Ms Daniels said that under the written agreement, the woman retained full parental rights, was to receive contact details of the foster carer and could revoke the agreement with two days' written notice. But Ms Daniels said the mother was told last Thursday her son was being sent to Western Australia to live with his father, who served five-and-a-half years between 2001 and 2006 for violent armed robbery.

The woman told Ms Daniels it had not been proved that the man was the boy's father and he was not listed on the birth certificate, but Ms Mandla said the woman, the man and the child each identified him as the father.

The mother-of-three immediately revoked the order in writing, but the boy has not been returned to her and she did not know where he was or how to contact him. Ms Daniels said she was not aware of any allegations the woman was unfit to care for her son. "The man (called on Tuesday) and he's enrolled him in school and is applying for custody," she said. "(The boy) is in Western Australia, he's crying, he wants to come home, he's missing his brother and sister. The mother is very distressed. We just want the child returned."

Ms Mandla said while she could not reveal specific details, the boy had been placed with his father after extensive checks were completed and in consultation with his mother. She said the boy had a long-standing relationship with his father and wanted to be with him. Ms Mandla said staff dealt with thousands of parents who were struggling to cope with a multitude of issues, and sometimes could no longer care for their children. "Sometimes there is another parent not living with the child who is willing and able to look after the child. In these cases, we are legally required to allow that parent to look after their child," she said.

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Another Muslim rapist

There have been some notorious cases of Muslim rapists in Australis -- Bilal Skaf, Hakeem Hakeem etc.



He was the person she trusted to get her home safely. Instead, teenager Jess Loiterton's taxi driver dragged her into the back of his cab and raped her. But as cab driver Md Kowsar Ali, 22, was convicted of the appalling sex attack yesterday, Ms Loiterton said: "He thought he could get away with it. He definitely picked the wrong girl."

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph after waiving her right to anonymity, the 19-year-old said she spoke for every sexual assault victim who could not speak up for themselves. "Don't keep it to yourself, it eats you inside. You know you haven't done anything wrong. I didn't do anything wrong. If it happened to me, it could happen to anybody."

During Ali's trial, the jury was not told that Ms Loiterton is gay, and she was a virgin. "But it doesn't matter whether I am gay or not - what happened wasn't right," she said. She believes Ali took advantage of her because: "I was drunk and I was an easy target".

Ms Loiterton went drinking with friends in Darlinghurst last November, but when she became drunk she decided to go home. A friend put her into Ali's cab. The District Court was told that Ali twice indecently assaulted her as she drifted in and out of sleep. Then Ms Loiterton woke to find the cab stopped in a side street.

Ali forced her into the back of the taxi and raped her as she screamed at him to stop. Sobbing hysterically, she called triple-0 as she escaped. Played in court, the recording moved several people - including jurors - to tears. It took the jury less than two hours to convict Ali of having sexual intercourse without Ms Loiterton's consent, rejecting his claim that she invited it.

Arrested within an hour of the attack, the accounting student from Bangladesh told police he made a mistake but his passenger did too - by making him interested in her....

The law automatically protects the identities of sexual assault victims but Ms Loiterton made the brave decision to be named, saying: "There shouldn't be any reason I have to hide." Judge Peter Berman, who will sentence Ali in November, agreed when lifting a suppression order. "Why should a person in Ms Loiterton's position, entirely blameless, who has been preyed upon by a taxi driver, feel embarrassed about what happened to her?" he said. "She is entitled to hold her head up high and identify herself as a blameless victim."

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More deceitful climate propaganda

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Murray Darling Basin chief executive Dr Wendy Craik are adamant that the drought and water crisis in the Murray Darling Basin is caused by climate change. Rudd & Craik have both stated that the science proves the link between the current drought and global warming. But are they telling the truth?

Recently Rudd mocked opposition leader Brendan Nelson for saying that it had nothing to do with climate change.

BRENDAN Nelson was yesterday accused of being "blissfully immune" to the effects of climate change after he said the crisis in the Murray-Darling Basin was not linked to global warming. "You need to get with the science on this," the Prime Minister said. "Look at the technical report put together by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology."

Dr Wendy Craik says the current drought affecting Australia's largest river system has the fingerprints of climate change all over it. .

"from the Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO and places, there are elements we're seeing in the current water shortage availability that are relevant to climate change. "The reduction in late winter and autumn rainfall is linked by the Bureau of Meteorology to the intensification of the subtropical ridge and that's linked to global warming. "There are features of the current phenomenon that we find ourselves in - water shortage, drought, whatever you want to call it - that are linked to climate change. "CSIRO scientists . say this drought has the fingerprints all over it"

Agmates has on a number of occasions pointed out how dodgy the science is that Kevin Rudd and Wendy Craik are relying on. Now Associate Professor Stewart Franks, a hydroclimatologist and an associate professor at the University of Newcastle School of Engineering, very clearly & precisely explains to Prime Minister Rudd and MDB chief Dr Wendy Craik what the science in fact does say:

IS the ongoing drought in the Murray-Darling Basin affected by climate change? The simple answer is that there is no evidence that CO2 has had any significant role. In fact, the drought was caused by an entirely natural phenomenon: the 2002 El Nino event. In short, the drought was initiated by El Nino, protracted by further El Nino events and perhaps more importantly, the absence of substantial La Nina events. A key claim is that the multiple occurrence of El Nino is a sign of climate change. This is speculative at best. Recent analysis showed the nine-year absence of La Nina was not unusual."

Franks then goes onto deal with Dr Craik's statements:

"Indeed, Wendy Craik, the chief executive of the Murray Darling Basin Commission has stated that temperatures were warmer, leading to more evaporation and drier catchments. This is disturbing to hear from the head of the MDBC, as it is completely at odds with the known physics of evaporation. [ Franks explains the science in detail here]. Craik is not alone in her desire to view CO2-induced climate change as proven and affecting the drought. Numerous politicians, environmentalists and especially scientists have made spectacular leaps of faith in their adherence to the doctrine of climate change over recent years, too many to document here."

Then Stewart Franks delivers a stinging rebuttal to the Prime Minister:

However, the most literally fantastic claim on climate change must go to Kevin Rudd, who has guaranteed that rainfall will decline over coming decades; one can only assume he's based his view on deficient climate models and bad advice. There is no direct evidence of CO2 impacts on the drought, nor is there any rational basis for predicting rainfall in 30 years time.

Franks last statement will put a chill up the spine of each of us that live and work in rural and regional Australia.

One just hopes that sensible and sustainable management from our leaders will enable struggling rural communities to weather the vagaries of climatic and political extremes.

So folks, that is what the science actually says. So why does Kevin Rudd and his long serving Public Servant Dr Wendy Craik keep churning out this global warming alarmist hype? Are Rudd & Craik deceiving the public or are they just hopelessly ill informed by the 100% Government funded CSIRO and BOM ?

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Big brother is watching you



TIM RAHR was sitting in his backyard in Paddington "re-reading my tattered copy of Franz Kafka" when the phone rang. It was an officer from the City of Sydney council calling about his application for a resident parking permit. "She wanted to know why was I applying for a parking permit when she could clearly see on her computer satellite image of my backyard that I had off-street parking," Mr Rahr recalled.

It turned out the "apparatchik from central office" was looking at the wrong backyard but Mr Rahr was outraged that his council could monitor anyone's home: "It gave me a nasty feeling. It was just like Big Brother, like something out of 1984."

The council does not use Google Street View or Google Maps, but rather its own in-house aerial mapping program, E-view. Mr Rahr said "that makes me feel even more creepy. It's a bit weird they have their own program just to look at us."

In fact, it is common practice for councils to use aerial mapping programs to keep track of information they gather. Every time a dog attack is reported, a complaint made, a development application submitted or a bike rack installed, the information goes into the mapping system. "If councils didn't have this kind of information, it would be a concern. We wouldn't be able to do our job," said a City of Sydney spokesman, Josh Mackenzie.

More than half the council's staff can log into E-View, which allows them to search on a person's name or address or zoom in on the detailed aerial photos. The City of Sydney's spatial information co-ordinator, Matthew Dobson, said that the aerial shots were soon to be updated. "A number of councils have E-View or similar programs. You just couldn't get by without them," he said.

However, the secretary of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Stephen Blanks, said statutory authorities should not be gathering personal information without consent. "For example, on Google Street View you can email Google and have the photograph of your property removed. Where's the equivalent facility on this?" he asked.

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Stroganoff-Gate

It started as one MP's complaint about the portion sizes in the Parliament House cafeteria. But the Stroganoff Affair has detonated a depth charge in both major parties and the operation of Parliament itself.



Yesterday, after NSW Labor MP John Murphy's whine about the stingy portions of stroganoff served up to his wife ignited derision and disbelief across Sydney, senior figures in both major parties met and agreed that Parliament should no longer be used as a forum for trivial complaint. "Any reasonable member of Parliament would be embarrassed by it," manager of Opposition business Joe Hockey said last night, confirming that he had met both the Government leader of the House, Anthony Albanese, and the Speaker to discuss the incident. "It's unacceptable in my view that members should be using the people's house for these purposes."

Last night Mr Murphy issued a statement of apology. "With many families in my electorate facing cost of living pressures, I accept that the remarks were insensitive and unjustified," he said.

Plans are now under way for a formal resolution barring MPs from raising such trivial complaints.

On Tuesday afternoon, while Canberra's political establishment was debating the plight of pensioners and marvelling at the swift execution of former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson, Labor MP John Murphy rose in the chamber with a question for the Speaker. He claimed his wife had been served an inferior helping of stroganoff, and had moreover been treated brusquely when she complained. "Is this the attitude customers have to put up with from the new provider of the staff cafeteria?" he asked.

Immediately after Mr Murphy had spoken, the National Party MP for Riverina - Kay Hull - added her own complaint, describing the "quality, presentation and availability of food" as inadequate. Mr Hockey approached Ms Hull in the chamber to reprimand her, but witnesses said Ms Hull told him to "f--- off".

Yesterday, Mr Murphy received a reprimand at the direction of Mr Albanese, while the new Parliament House caterers entered a series of meetings with the building's administration, and news of the incident drew widespread comment on Sydney radio talkback stations.

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