Green anti-coal seam gas activists at work

Anti-gas activist’s Bentley camp relies on gas cylinders, six drums of diesel and electric generator. Go figure.



Less than a week after a council vowed to shut down a large anti-coal seam gas protest camp in the state's north and promised police would be called in to send it packing, the activists have been told they can stay.

The Bentley camp, near Lismore, is a temporary home to between hundreds and thousands of people, depending on the day.

It was established in February on private land adjacent to the site where Metgasco plans to begin exploratory drilling for gas.

Richmond Valley Council announced last Wednesday the camp's approval would expire at the end of that week and not be renewed due to its burgeoning numbers, the length of time it had been there, and the "ongoing breach of many of the approval conditions".

The mayor, Ernie Bennett, said police would be required "for sure" to move the campers on.

But on Thursday morning, Mr Bennett said the protesters would not be moved, despite their occupation of the land being "illegal".

"I don't think it would be appropriate to remove them at this point," he said.

"Council is working with them to put an appropriate DA [development application] before council."

The Greens have said the police should not be used to break the protest.

“The NSW Police Force should not be used as private security to allow a coal seam gas company to force its way into a community that has overwhelmingly rejected the presence of gas fields in the Northern Rivers,” Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said this week.

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Australian Muslim marries off his 12-year-old daughter

THE father of a 12-year-old child bride advised her to only have unprotected sex after he organised for her to wed an older man in an Islamic ceremony, court papers claim.

In a case that has shocked the nation, the girl’s 61-year-old Muslim convert father was charged with procuring his young daughter for sex and being an accessory before the fact to child sex after consenting to her “marrying” a 26-year-old man.

The girl’s “husband” was charged with 25 counts of sexual intercourse with a child after he wed the girl in the living room of her Hunter Region family home on January 12.

They had met at a mosque through the girl’s father, who police allege facilitated the ­relationship by allowing them to exchange phone numbers and letting them meet three times before they were wed.

The matter was yesterday mentioned in Burwood Local Court, where the man and the girl’s father were expected to enter a plea. However the magistrate was told the parties needed more time to negotiate with authorities.

For the first time, The Daily Telegraph was granted access to court papers filed in support of a successful AVO application brought by police against the girl’s father earlier this year. The court papers claim that on the day of the wedding her father gave the girl sexual advice.

“The advice was that she should not use the contraceptive pill nor should (her husband) wear a condom when they have sexual intercourse,” the papers said.

The pair stayed at a motel in Nelson Bay on their wedding night and had sex several times that night, police allege.

They then moved into a home in southwest Sydney but visited her father’s home five times before the 26-year-old Lebanese international student was arrested in February.

Her father even organised a queen size bed for the pair and on one occasion allegedly asked the girl if she needed to shower before morning prayers. The girl, now 13, told him she did need to shower.

“The (girl) indicated that this is how the defendant would have known that (they) were engaged in sexual intercourse,” the papers claim. It is a requirement of Islam to ­shower after sex and before commencing prayer, the girl allegedly told police.

Asked about having knowledge of his daughter having sex he said: “It’s not something I want to think about.”

When the father was first told by police that the husband had been arrested he allegedly said “but they are married”.

The AVO application claims the father told police his main concern was his daughter was not committing “a sin against god” by having sex outside marriage, and he consented to the marriage because she was beginning to “become excited around boys” and he didn’t want her to live “a sinful life”.

Asked if he would allow his eight-year-old daughter to marry at 12, police allege the man said he would, to prevent the “sin” of sex ­before marriage.

The girl and her sister are now in Department of Community Services care.

The imam who performed the ceremony, Muhammad Riaz Tasawar, 35, was fined $500 after pleading guilty to solemnising the marriage.

The 26-year-old man is being held at Villawood ­Detention Centre after his visa was cancelled and the father is in custody. They will face court again in June.

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Labor frontbencher Tony Burke’s bizarre request to free notorious Villawood detainee

A SENIOR member of Bill Shorten’s shadow cabinet has written to the Abbott government on behalf of a woman asking that a convicted Nigerian drug dealer now charged with running an international drug ring from Sydney’s Villawood ­Immigration Detention Centre be released.

The Daily Telegraph has learned the manager of opposition business Tony Burke, a former immigration minister, wrote to the immigration minister last month on behalf of a constituent who wanted the man, Drichuckuv Nweke, released into community detention for family reasons.

At the time the letter was sent, Mr Nweke, 39, was being held at Villawood IDC since being released from prison in 2011 following a conviction in 2005 for importing 2kg of cocaine into Australia.

His spousal visa was cancelled but he successfully appealed against his deportation, citing the welfare of his young son.

Mr Nweke has since been re-arrested by NSW police and charged with new offences, including claims he was running an international drug ring from inside the Villawood IDC using his mobile phone. It is alleged he was involved in a transnational syndicate alleged to have imported 5kg of cocaine from South America and 140kg of ice.

Mr Nweke’s partner, a constituent of Mr Burke, the member for Watson, had asked the MP to write to the minister on her behalf, claiming she needed her partner at home to help care for their child.

Mr Burke wrote to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on March 20 on behalf of the woman. The letter was received by the Department of Immigration on April 10.

Mr Burke last night denied his letter constituted a representation on the woman’s behalf and was simply a letter to the minister outlining her request. He said he was not aware of Mr Nweke’s past, adding the letter did not constitute any request by Mr Burke for his release.

On ABC radio this morning Mr Burke said it was “completely wrong” to suggest he argued for Nweke’s release.

“All that letter says is someone has presented to my office and this is what they said,” Mr Burke said.

“There are some occasions where the member of parliament takes up the issue themselves, there are some occasions where the member of parliament actually backs in the character of an individual.

“This letter does not do that.” Mr Burke said the department’s response, outlining Nweke’s criminal history, had found its way into the media before arriving at his office, suggesting the government was trying to distract attraction from its unpopular budget

The Department of Immigration drafted a terse response to Mr Burke’s request, pointing out that Mr Nweke’s criminal history had been widely publicised. The letter, dated May 25 and obtained by The Daily Telegraph, is believed to have been sent to Mr Burke’s office late last week.

“…I draw your attention to media reports of July 27, 2011 indicating that Mr Nweke was convicted of drug importation and, as a result, his spouse visa was cancelled under s501 of the Migration Act 1958 on 21 April 2011,” It also stated. “More recently, media reports of May 2, 2014 state Mr Nweke appeared at a Sydney court on May 1, 2014 to face charges in relation to the importation and distribution of a marketable quantity of cocaine.”

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Gutless Queensland Government allow 'special people' a special exemption in the name of multiculturalism

The law in Australia only works when it applies to all people equally.  So to allow an exemption for a small group for fear of offence shows how spineless many in politics in this country have become.

The Queensland government has rejected a push by independents and minor parties to force Muslim women to remove their burqas or veils to prove their identity.

The bill, introduced by the independent MP for Nicklin, Peter Wellington, would have allowed lawyers, police, prison officers, justices of the peace and other “persons of responsibility” to require a person to remove any face covering to establish their identity.

The bill is more than reasonable. Officers of the law MUST be able to identify an individual to confirm who they are or are not.

Queensland Attorney General, Jarrod Bleijie showed how unfit he is for the job when he ran to the dumbest argument in the book to reject this ...multiculturalism : "The government believes in a multicultural Queensland. This government respects the rights of its citizens and individuals to practise the religion that they so choose,”

No-one is debating religion. The burqa is a cultural garment and not one required by the Islamic religion.

The women wearing it do it by choice or because their husband insists.

In NSW, we went through all of this 4 years ago when Carnita Matthews, used the fact that her Face and identity was obscured by her burqa to dodge 6-months in gaol for lying to police.

She'd played the "you can't see my face because of my religion" card with a Highway Patrol officer and then accused him of being racist when he tried to enforce the law.

Then the court found that no-one could be sure she was who she was underneath - all because she didn't have to co-operate.

The law has since been changed in favour of the common good.

And that's what it's meant to be about ... the common good.

Attorney General Jarrod Bleijie is a fool who just made the job of enforcing the law in his State that bit harder.

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