Inside the remote Aboriginal community so dangerous that health workers need a POLICE ESCORT just to enter the town and shop owners fear for their lives amid theft and vandalism spree

When I was living in Cairns during my teens, Yarrabah was just across the water on the other side of Trinity Bay.  So we heard a lot about Yarrabah then.  I have also driven through it once a few years ago.  It was never a paradise but it was not remotely as lawless as it now is reported to be. 

Why the change?  I think it is of a piece with morality and ethics worldwide.  The old Christian standards have largely been lost and the Leftist gospel that "There is no such thing as right and wrong" is widely preached.  At Yarrabah we see that gospel in extreme practice.  The unfortunate Aborigines tend to accept what the do-gooders tell them


The remote Aboriginal community of Yarrabah has been deemed so dangerous that health workers require a police escort when they enter the town and supermarket workers are in fear for their lives.

Youths in Yarrabah, east of Cairns, have attacked ambulances with rocks and fishing sinkers - and medics fear they will be set upon again.

Locals blame the violence on boredom arising from unemployment, and acknowledged that it made the area 'a miserable place to live'.

Footage of recent attacks showed gangs of children, some as young as six, brawling with each other on the street.

Paramedics Richard Murgha and Lavin Keyes Jnr were discouraged by the violence. The medics told Yarrabah News: 'We want to look after our community and people within the community to the best of our ability, and when these sort of things happen it's very disheartening.'

A long-term resident, that wished to remain anonymous, told the Cairns Post  the town had become 'a miserable place to live' since the fighting had escalated recently.

She said: 'Kids are fighting and instead of sorting it out, the adults are jumping in and getting involved.  'It's been going on for the three months with these families — they bring in extended family from out of town and it's just snowballing. 'All these kids are just sitting on the side of the road waiting for the next fight.'

Yarrabah supermarket owner Jason Lee, 35, who opened his business in the community five years ago, witnesses violence regularly.

'The vast majority are unemployed so they don't have a lot to do, so all it takes is for a kid to say something stupid [to another] and they brawl,'  Mr Lee told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Lee has been assaulted on numerous occasions and his business had been broken into regularly, with 16 incidents between mid October and December 2018.

He said his attackers were mostly children, and some were as young as four or five.

The soon-to-be father said: 'They [children] know that they are untouchable and parents don't care.

'Kids will generally get banned from shops for theft or violence. They get upset and come back and throw things at the shop. Then their parents come and get aggressive because their children have been banned.'

The shopkeeper has also been attacked with a nine kilogram gas bottle on multiple occasions, had things thrown at him, and been beaten by metal poles.

He said the youths usually break into his shop through the roof and thrash the shop while stealing whatever they can.  Food items are left splattered across the shop floor and his ATM has been destroyed.

His car has also been smashed when parked outside the shop many times, with the most recent incident five months ago.

Queensland Police said officers had to escort workers into town to keep the medics safe. 'This is short-term measure being undertaken to increase safety and ensure the vital hospital operation continues without incident,' a police spokesman said.

'The small number of people, numbering two or four, involved in these incidents are usually motivated by family relationships or disputes and an attending crowd of supporters/onlookers not directly involved in the fighting.

'Police investigations are continuing, but four juveniles aged from nine to 14 are being dealt with in accordance with the Youth Justice Act and the support of their parents.'

Just last month Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service Aboriginal Corporation warned locals via Facebook that organisations would stop sending workers into the town.

'We are asking you to please talk to children about pelting rocks at cars and explain to them about how dangerous it is for the people in the cars, and that they can get into serious trouble with the police and also that some of the health services could be stopped,' the post read. 

Yarrabah community and its leaders do not shy away from admitting they have problems, Mayor Ross Andrews says. 'We acknowledge there are challenges around dysfunction and we're honest with ourselves – we know we have a problem,' he said. 'There are only a handful of kids causing these problems but we do not shy away from these issues.

'We could put more dollars into the community to try to solve the problem, but that's not going to make parents accountable for their kids.

'How can we stop this cycle where we are trying to educate and occupy kids to stop them from ending up in a perpetual welfare trap – a job their parents should be doing, even though they are often stuck in the same trap themselves.

'As a Council, and with the Yarrabah Leaders' Forum, we are looking for legislative backing to make parents responsible, we need a collaborative solution between all levels of government, we can't fix this on our own.'

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Fresh plan to drug test dole recipients and cancel their payments if they return positive - two years after the idea was shut down by the Greens and Labor

There is no way the taxpayer should be supporting someone's drug habit

A plan to drug test unemployed people receiving Centrelink benefits will be revived, two years after the same idea was shut down by the Greens and Labor.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will introduce the controversial idea to parliament next week, and will ask cross bench Senators to support his plan to introduce three trial site across Australia. 

The failed 2017 proposal would have tested for ice, ecstasy and marijuana - but Mr Morrison now wants to add cocaine and heroin to the list.

If the plan gets the green light, trials are expected to run in Canterbury-Bankstown in Sydney's south west, Logan in south-east Queensland and Mandurah, south of Perth.

The two-year trial would test 5,000 people who apply for Newstart and Youth allowance for the first time.

While the proposal in 2017 received a positive response from voters, opposition from Labor and the Greens saw it get canned.

The government is expected to need the support of four of the six cross benchers to pass the bill. 

If recipients tested positive to drugs, it would affect their payments for up to two years.

They will also be ordered to undergo a secondary drug test within 25 working days of the first positive result.

If the second test is also a positive, the recipient would then be sent to see a medical professional in order to seek treatment.

Up to $10 million would be set aside to support job seekers who test positive to drug tests more than once.

Depending on the type of test a person is selected for, it will either take place at a local Centrelink centre or a nearby facility.

Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said those who used their money to take drugs are hindering their chances to get a job.

'This trial will assess the use of drug testing as a means of identifying job seekers with substance abuse issues that may be preventing them from finding a job, and support them to address these barriers,' Ms Ruston said.

Ms Ruston said she hopes the trial will be about 'identifying people who need help' rather than punishing them for the drug use.

'Taxpayers expect the government to ensure their money is being spent responsibly and that welfare recipients are using it to put food on the table, send the kids to schools and pay the bills,' she said.

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Jackie Trad escapes probe, future still in the balance

Annastacia Palaszczuk to remove her deputy from infrastructure project; her chief of staff is to quit.  Trad is of Lebanese Muslim ancestry, although she herself appears to be Christian.  Lebanese Muslims in Australia are notorious scofflaws

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has escaped a full corruption investigation, but her political future is still hanging in the balance after a critical corruption watchdog decision.

The Crime and Corruption Commission has been assessing complaints against Ms Trad about an undeclared investment property for seven weeks and today released its verdict.

“Based on the information obtained and assessed by the CCC, no evidence or information was identified that supported a reasonable suspicion of corrupt conduct as defined in section 15 of the Crime and Corruption Act 2001,” a CCC statement said.

“The jurisdiction of the CCC to investigate suspected corrupt conduct by elected officials is limited to circumstances where the alleged conduct would, if proved, amount to a criminal offence. The CCC’s assessment did not identify evidence or information suggesting a criminal offence had been committed.”

“The CCC will therefore not commence a corruption investigation.”

The decision means Ms Trad will not automatically step aside from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s cabinet and may not lose her roles of Deputy Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships.

However, Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday promised to take “action” if Ms Trad was found to have breached ministerial and cabinet rules.

The CCC has been considering allegations that Ms Trad’s husband — through their family trust — bought a $700,000 investment property in inner-Brisbane’s Woolloongabba on March 27. The three-bedroom house stands to rise in value thanks to its proximity to the planned Boggo Road station of Ms Trad’s signature infrastructure project, the $5.4bn Cross River Rail.

Ms Trad has denied any wrongdoing, but has previously apologised for failing to update her public pecuniary interest register to disclose the house until months later, when she was contacted by a journalist from The Courier-Mail.

It is alleged she breached ministerial and cabinet rules by failing to declare the purchase — and the potential conflict of interest — at a key Cabinet Budget Review Committee meeting on April 3.

A senior Queensland Labor source told The Australian that Ms Palaszczuk should have acted weeks ago to remove Ms Trad from cabinet and sack Ms Palaszczuk’s chief of staff David Barbagallo, who is also under an integrity cloud.

“Objectively, it’s irrelevant what the CCC decides,” the source said. “The Premier should have acted ages ago. It’s destroying her government.”

“Trad should have gone to the backbench and Barbagallo should have been punted. This is not a Labor government I recognise.”

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Professor Ridd awarded $1.2m for unlawful sacking

The Federal Circuit Court has awarded Peter Ridd $1.2 million in damages and penalties after earlier finding James Cook University (JCU) acted unlawfully in sacking the physics professor.

Dr Ridd was sacked last year after he repeatedly questioned colleagues' research on the impact of global warming on the Great Barrier Reef, criticising it as untrustworthy and "misleading".

The court, which in April found his dismissal was unlawful, on Friday said Dr Ridd would now be seen as "damaged goods" and the university had "poisoned the well".

Outlining his final declarations and penalties, Judge Salvatore Vasta also suggested the university's conduct bordered on "paranoia and hysteria fuelled by systemic vindictiveness" and Dr Ridd must have felt he was being persecuted. He found Dr Ridd's intellectual freedom had been undermined by the "myopic and unjustified actions of his lifelong employer".

"In this case, Professor Ridd has endured over three years of unfair treatment by JCU – an academic institution that failed to respect the rights to intellectual freedom that Professor Ridd had as per [his enterprise agreement]," the judge decided.

The case has attracted intense focus due to Dr Ridd's scepticism about climate change science and the broader debate about free speech at Australian universities.

Judge Vasta said Dr Ridd had suffered a loss of income and agreed with the academic's view that "most big institutions don't want a bar of somebody who has been through my sort of controversy".

He said Dr Ridd would face difficulty securing employment "despite his considerable expertise", finding the problem had been exacerbated by a statement released by the university following the court's initial judgment.

Judge Vasta ordered a payment of $1.09 million in damages and compensation for lost wages and superannuation. This sum is provisional, with the university and Dr Ridd able to contest the calculation. Another $125,000 is to be paid to Dr Ridd as a penalty to "deter both this university and any other employer from dismissing an employee for exercising basic workplace rights".

Dr Ridd had originally sought reinstatement to his position but subsequently abandoned that request in favour of compensation.

On Friday, the university reiterated its intent to appeal Judge Vasta's decision. "The university has previously made clear its intention to appeal His Honour's decision in this matter. As a litigant it is entitled to do so. The university's position will be addressed in its appeal," a spokesman said.

The institution has maintained Dr Ridd was not sacked for expressing scientific views but rather his treatment of colleagues and breaches of confidentiality.

Conservative think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs welcomed Judge Vasta's findings, calling the university's conduct "shameful" and proof of a free speech crisis in academia.

"The sum awarded reflects the appalling nature of JCU's treatment of Dr Ridd and vindicates Peter Ridd's fight for academic freedom, free speech and integrity of climate science and peer review," IPA director of policy Gideon Rozner said.

"James Cook University must now rethink its stated plans to prolong this ugly dispute by appealing the decision. Dr Ridd won this case on all 17 counts. It is time for JCU to accept the decision and move on."

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