Cafe sign 'joke' slammed as racist slur




The core of the joke is the very low educational level of Aborigines and there has been any amount of media reports about that.  Many Aborigines are functionally illiterate.  But we are not allowed to allude to that, apparently.

The "stolen generation" is a myth created by Leftists, using the fact that abused children taken by social workers from Aboriginal homes were sometimes relocated to white homes

A Caboolture cafe is at the centre of a brewing storm after numerous people branded a sign outside the Queensland shop as racist.

Caboolture man Ranald Link said he was disgusted when he saw it at Tarmac Takeaways, in Aerodrome Rd, on Friday and further angered when staff refused to remove it.  Mr Link, an Aboriginal man whose grandmother and great grandmother were members of the stolen generations, said the message was disrespectful of the pain they experienced at being taken from their families.

Mr Link said the sign also stereotyped Aboriginal people as thieves.  "We don't go around saying every white person is a thief... so why should they stereotype us?"

There have been more than 90 comments on his Facebook page since he posted a photo of the sign on Sunday.

Mr Link said he had also received more than 300 other messages.

The shop's owner, who wanted to be known only as Janelle, said the "joke" was something her daughter had seen on Facebook and was not something she had made up to cause offence.

Janelle said she had been putting jokes about various groups, such as blondes and New Zealanders, outside her shop for 10 years and this was the first time someone had complained. "I'm not actually having a go at them," she said.

People who contacted the Northern Times were outraged by the sign.

Cassy Stewart said: "Shame on Tarmac Takeaways... . There is no place for racism anywhere."

Sharlea Nicholson from Bribie Island said it was "disgusting".  "This is just a step backwards for the Aboriginal community in Caboolture," she said.

Some who commented on Mr Link's Facebook page were fired up, but older people urged calm.

Janelle said she would be more careful in future.  "I'll definitely not put anything like that out again. I'll keep it pretty bland," she said.

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Motels not allowed to keep out prostitutes

No right to say whom you will have on your own private property?

SEX workers were last night celebrating a stunning victory in their battle against motel owners in the booming mining towns, after the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled in favour of a prostitute who complained of discrimination after being told she could not rent a room.

The decision is likely to have ramifications for hotel and motel operators across Australia, who could now find themselves in breach of the anti-discrimination laws that exist in every state if they try to turn away prostitutes.

Prostitutes have descended upon small towns near the large mines in record numbers over the past few years, determined to take a slice of the mining boom.

They advertise their arrival in town in the local newspaper and see up to 10 clients a night. Motel owners claim they deter other customers.

But when the owners of the Drover's Rest Motel in the mining town of Moranbah, which services the Peak Downs mine in Queensland, tried to turn away a sex worker known as "Karlaa" she sued in the tribunal, using the Anti-Discrimination Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of lawful sexual activity.

She argued her use of the bed was no different from somebody who checked into a motel and used the phone or internet for business. Prostitution is legal in Queensland.

Karlaa told The Australian yesterday: "At the end of the day, it's not acceptable to discriminate against people. What I do might not be to everyone's taste but it's legal, and it's how I make my living.

"Not everyone would choose to do the job I do, but it's not right that they can treat me like a second-class citizen. They wanted me to go away, but I am a tenacious little terrier and I would not give up."

The full judgment has not yet been released, but QCAT confirmed Karlaa's victory. She is seeking $30,000 compensation.

Accommodation Association of Australia chief executive Richard Munro said the industry would have to examine the judgment before deciding whether to appeal "but in general terms, we say that it should be up to the owner, the proprietor, the licensee, to protect the amenity of their business".

"People go to motels to sleep, to enjoy the premises, and if they can't do that because of the activities of another guest, the motel owner should be allowed to protect their business."

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Buffalo milk hits red tape

SYDNEYSIDERS are missing out on a global super milk, and its value-added products, with buffalo milk farmers weighed down by legislation and restrictive permits that deal with feral pests.

Buffalo milk production in the Asian-Pacific region exceeds 45 million tonnes annually, with more than 30 million tonnes produced in India alone, and it is much sought-after in Italy for mozzarella cheese.

Despite the demand, just a few hundred head of buffalo produce milk in Australia.

Kim and Ian Massingham, who fell in love with the product during a trip to Italy, have 14 head of buffalo at their East Kurrajong property and another nine in Bathurst. They are forced to use milk from Cairns to make their artisan AusBuff Stuff cheese and gelato, plus lean meat products, as their property is not registered for milk production.

Water buffalo fall under non-indigenous species 3B and the Massingham's pay a three-year licence fee to keep the animals behind electric fences. Owners must have a permit to keep water buffalo as they are considered an introduced pest similar to camels.

Only recently a $100 transport fee, between farms or to the abattoir, was dropped.

The Massinghams said buffalo milk had a far lower cholesterol level than cow's milk, 11 per cent higher protein, 9 per cent more calcium, 37 per cent more iron and more phosphorus.

Buffalo also metabolise all dietary carotene into vitamin A, which is passed into the milk.

The presence of higher levels of immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, lysozyme, lactoperoxidase also make buffalo milk suitable for special dietary and health foods.  Lactose intolerant people rarely have a reaction to buffalo milk.

As opposed to the feral beast in northern Australia, domestic buffalo, in human care, are placid and patient.  "There is definitely a pecking order,"Mr Massingham said.  "If we were doing a business plan it would never happen."

The Massinghams hope to move to a more suitable property and set up their own buffalo dairy.

While they do not need pasture and can live off feed, buffalo produce about half the milk of normal dairy cows.

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Elderly South Australian woman waited two hours in the open for an ambulance after breaking hip

Aren't "free" government services wonderful?

AN elderly Elizabeth North woman has been forced to wait nearly two hours for an ambulance after falling and breaking her hip.   Irene Derby, 81, was found by her husband about 12.20pm on Tuesday afternoon after falling on their concrete driveway.

SA Ambulance is now reviewing their response to the case, apologising to the woman's family and admitting a higher priority should have been assigned to the call.

Ambulance pager messages show the call to the Elizabeth North property was listed as a priority five. Priority one is the highest level or urgency.

SA Ambulance spokesman Keith Driscoll said a large number of calls in the area at the time of the incident extended the delay.  "We had quite a number of cases occurring in that area during the timeframe," he said.  "What we didn't do well was that we didn't upgrade the case when it started to get protracted because she was out in the open.

"It's obviously less than satisfactory, we're not happy with the situation. We need to look at what caused it and then look at ways of ensuring that it doesn't occur again."

Mr Driscoll said senior clinicians in the call centre were in contact with the family throughout the wait.  "We had one of the senior clinicians in the comms room call them a number of times and asked them to let us know if anything changed with the patient's condition," he said.

"Each time we rang we re-assessed the patient to ensure there were no life-threatening issues occurring.  "If the patient's condition had changed we would have upgraded the case and immediately deemed a lights and sirens response."

The woman's husband, Jim Derby, told Channel Seven he and a neighbour made seven calls to emergency services but an ambulance did not arrive until after 1pm.  "I kept telling them she's in agony. Can you do something about it," he said.  "They said we'll be there as soon as we can."

When crews arrived a paramedic told Mr Derby she would report the delay, which she agreed was unacceptable.

Mrs Derby will undergo surgery today.

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