African Gang Violence: Don't Look at Us Says Top Cop

Victoria’s top cop says people are “looking in the wrong direction” if they expect police to clean up the Melbourne’s gang problem.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, who returned from leave this month to a politically charged debate on a spate of crimes linked to African youths, spoke this morning as a caller to radio station 3AW asked why police could not solve the gangs issue and protect Melburnians scared in their homes.

“If you’re looking for police to put it to bed, you’re looking in the wrong direction,” Mr Ashton replied.

“We’re locking ‘em up as many as we can … We’re responding more quickly than we’ve ever responded, we’re making more arrests than we’ve ever made in total so we’re doing plenty about it but you’re talking about bigger social issues than police (can) solve.

“Generally the social conditions that we’ve got out there are such that young people are out there looking for trouble.”

Mr Ashton spoke as police issued CCTV images of young women of African appearance, who are being sought in relation to two separate attacks on women travelling in an apartment building elevator.

A 24-year-old woman in the lift at a Southbank building was assaulted by the group when she tried to get onto her floor around 3.30am on New Year’s Day.

Police believe the same group attacked two other women in the lift about 2am the next morning.

Mr Ashton said the summer period had been a busy time for youth offending, with groups brought together through social media.

“We’ve certainly had a lot of young Africans, Australian kids offending as well (as) Islander kids, a lot of indigenous kids we’re getting as well,” he said.

He said he had visited the Ecoville estate in Tarneit — which has been trashed by thugs who use it as an informal hang out for drinking and troublemaking — twice last week, though not at night.

“I was a bit saddened,” he said. “When you go around areas like that Ecoville, everyone’s got their blinds drawn and their curtains pulled. “It was really noticeable to me … It just seemed like it was a bad way for people to be living.”

Mr Ashton also expressed support for tougher sentencing, saying police members were “very frustrated” by the level of repeat offenders.

Asked if he supported statutory minimum sentences, as proposed by the state Opposition for some serious crimes, he said: “In some cases I think we’ve got to send a message.”

“There’s a core of offenders that just offend and when they’re not inside in custody in the corrections system, they’re out there offending,” he said.

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More than 70% of Aussies don't want the date of Australia Day changed because they believe the country should be proud of its history

Mr Turnbull speaks for his people

More than 70 per cent of Australians do not want the date of Australia Day to change, according to a Institute of Public Affairs survey.

Out of 1,000 polled, only 23 per cent of people said council celebrations and citizenship ceremonies should be shifted to an alternative date.

About 50 per cent of people said they did not agree with some councils' decision to move the date and 76 per cent said they believe the country should be proud of its history.

Around 11 per cent of people said Australia does not have a history to be proud of.

A massive majority of 87 per cent said they were proud to be Australian.  

'It is encouraging that Australians overwhelmingly reject the negative rhetoric about our nation's history continually pushed by many on the left,' IPA foundations of Western civilisation program director Bella d’Abreras said.

'This is evidence that Australians both value and understand British institutions such as liberal democracy and the rule of law which have made Australia the successful nation that it is today.'

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'They're getting a soft touch because they aren't citizens'

Peter Dutton claims courts are handing foreigners light sentences to avoid deporting them

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has accused the Australian court system of going easy on foreign-born criminals so they aren't deported to their home countries.

He said 'soft pedaling' was becoming an all too familiar theme in their sentencing, with judges opting to dish out lighter penalties to keep them on Australian soil.

The country's tough laws demand foreign offenders be deported if they are sentenced to a year or more in jail.

But Mr Dutton claims the courts have been purposely refraining from imposing such penalties.

His accusation comes as several high profile cases have seen foreign-born criminals walk away with suspended sentences or probation, making them free to stay in the country. 'Some people are getting a soft touch because they are not citizens of this country,' he said.

Mr Dutton said across the board something had to change in order for community expectations surrounding sentencing to be met.

'If magistrates are imposing softer sentences because they're worried about somebody being eligible to be deported then that really undermines public confidence in the judiciary and it needs to stop,' he said.

Criminal lawyer Bill Potts slammed Mr Dutton's comments, arguing in favour of the country's justice system.

'It's not appropriate for ordinary people in the street to suddenly think that because a minister is criticising the courts, that somehow the system of justice does not work,' he said.

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Vic Libs pledge school curriculum overhaul

Schoolkids should be taught Australian values and "the principles of Western enlightenment" in a simplified curriculum, Victoria's coalition opposition says.

School kids will focus more on reading, writing and maths instead of learning "a politically correct gender and sexuality agenda" if the Victorian opposition wins power.

The opposition also plans to scrap cross-curriculum priorities afforded to Indigenous history, Asian engagement and sustainability, and place a greater emphasis on "the principles of Western enlightenment" if it wins the November state election.

A coalition government would ask senior research fellow with the right-leaning Centre for Independent Studies, Dr Jennifer Buckingham, to review the curriculum.

"Foundational events that occurred in Europe and North America before 1788 that underpin our national and state institutions are barely spoken of," the coalition's School Education Values Statement released on Wednesday said.

"Concepts like the inherent dignity of the individual, religious tolerance, the principles of the Western enlightenment - such as freedom of speech, equality before the law and government by consent.

"Of course, there are aspects of this nation's history we are not proud of, particularly the shameful treatment of the Indigenous peoples, and that must be taught in depth as well."

Opposition education spokesman Tim Smith said the current curriculum was "over-cluttered" while literacy and numeracy standards were dropping.

He also said young people were leaving school without an adequate understanding of how democracy worked.

"I wouldn't call it (the current curriculum) un-Australian, I just think that ... the working knowledge of our democracy should be improved," Mr Smith told reporters.

The opposition also wants to scrap the Safe Schools program designed to reduce bullying of LGBTI students, and replace it with an anti-bullying program particularly focused on cyber-bullying.

"Programs like Safe Schools add to curriculum clutter and impose a politically correct gender and sexuality agenda on schools," the statement says.

Premier Daniel Andrews is a long-time defender of Safe Schools and told journalists Victorian students were already being taught Australian values.

He said the Liberals cut education funding when they were in power.

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