Australian Politics
Wednesday, June 07, 2023
Distressing moment little boy watches on in tears while his father gets 'bashed' and pepper-sprayed by cop
Disturbing footage showing a police officer beating an innocent man in front of his sobbing son has been released after the cop's desperate bid to clear his name was dismissed.
NSW Senior Constable Jay Maleckas was found guilty of unnecessarily punching and using capsicum spray on father Steven McIvor outside the Castle Hill metro station in north-west Sydney on September 5, 2020.
The officer of 21 years also had his appeal against the conviction thrown out by Judge Stephen Hanley in Parramatta District Court on Monday, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Footage recorded by Mr McIvor and captured on police body cams shows the tense exchange which followed a plea for help from from the dad after he was confronted by a group of 'eshays'.
The beginning of the video shows Mr McIvor repeatedly asking Maleckas if he could speak to a sergeant and if he was under arrest while Maleckas blocked him from moving along the footpath.
Eventually Maleckas told the distressed father that he was under arrest 'to prevent a breach of the peace'.
Mr McIvor was then told to get on the ground and was tackled as his seven-year-old son cried while crouched next to him.
The young boy was then moved to the side and watched in horror as Maleckas capsicum-sprayed his father to the point he could no longer breathe and punched him nine times, causing his head to bleed profusely.
Throughout the assault, Mr McIvor told the constable he was willing to cooperate, saying: 'I'll do whatever you want sir, tell me!,' and 'I'm over it, I'm over it, let me go!'.
Eventually Maleckas let the father roll onto his side and strangely went over to comfort the hysterical boy.
While walking to the police car behind his handcuffed father, Mr McIvor's frightened son asked Maleckas: 'Can you not kill him?'
Maleckas told the boy: 'Oh I'm not going to kill him mate, I'm not going to kill him. He's alright.' The seven-year-old insisted: 'But you have a gun.'
Maleckas shut down the exchange, saying: 'Nah, I'm not going to shoot him. I'm not going to shoot him mate.'
The court heard Mr McIvor had called for police claiming 'about 50 little kids' had threatened him with violence on the metro station platform after he'd left the nearby Hillside Tavern.
He admitted he was 'slightly' affected by alcohol at the time and was in a 'heightened emotional state'.
However, police seemingly didn't respond to Mr McIvor's call so he started to walk towards the local police station to make a report.
It was on his way to the station that he was confronted by Maleckas, who had two probationary constables shadowing him to learn about the job, at about 4pm.
The judge noted neither of the rookies wanted to arrest Mr McIvor.
Video shows Maleckas yelled 'don't you bite me, don't you bite me you c***' at Mr McIvor in between capsicum-spraying and beating him.
Judge Stephen Hanley found Maleckas had 'no basis' to arrest Mr McIvor, noting: 'Even if it had been lawful the appellant (Maleckas) needed to use reasonable force.'
Outside the court on Monday, Mr McIvor said the verdict left him 'relieved'. '(It's been a) big three years,' he told Seven News.
Maleckas has resigned from the police.
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QPS reveals number of officers sacked for refusing to get Covid-19 vaccine
The Queensland Police Service has sacked 38 people – including 16 officers – for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccination after a mandate was introduced during the pandemic.
Nine officers remain suspended over the mandate and are understood to be awaiting a Supreme Court decision after the directive was challenged in the courts.
Justice Glenn Martin has reserved his decision on applications to overturn vaccination mandates.
“The number of Queensland Police Service members suspended at any point because of noncompliance with the Commissioner’s directions on mandatory vaccination is 201, comprising 116 police officers and 85 staff members,” a police spokesman said.
“Several matters remain ongoing with respect to the Covid mandate, and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Commissioner Katarina Carroll made the direction in 2021, telling officers they were more exposed to the risk of Covid-19 than most occupations as they were on the frontline.
“Recent modelling indicates the QPS has over 2 million contacts with the community annually,” she wrote at the time to staff.
“These interactions are often conducted in uncontrolled and sometimes volatile circumstances that routinely involve close proximity to members of the public, which further increases our risk of exposure. As such, I have a duty to protect both our employees and the broader community.”
However a number of staff refused to have the Covid vaccine and were later stood down and then suspended. Challenges were lodged in the courts and Justice Glenn Martin has reserved his decision on applications to overturn vaccination mandates.
In December last year Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy revoked the directive but said public health advice suggested the virus would persist in the community for some time “with the severity and risk presented scaling up and down at various intervals”.
“While the COVID-19 public health environment continues to remain unpredictable, following the removal of the Public Health Emergency Declaration and changes to the public health risk environment, the QPS has reviewed the current COVID-19 vaccination requirements and it has been determined to revoke Commissioner’s Directions No. 13 and 14 as of Monday 12 December 2022,” Mr Chelepy wrote.
“The Deputy chief health officer of Queensland was consulted as part of the review process conducted by QPS to determine the outcome of the direction.
“Following the revocation of the mandate, any conditions attached to exemptions granted by the Vaccination Exemption Committee (VEC) will no longer apply. Members who had conditions attached to their exemptions will be required to engage with their local management to arrange a return to business as usual.
“Members who were subject to discipline action for failure to comply with the Commissioner’s Directions will still be investigated and dealt with in line with our discipline processes.
“The outcomes for these employees will need to be reviewed on an individual basis, with consideration given to the nature and details of each matter.”
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Vulnerable left behind in cashless welfare fiasco
Food, clothes and school excursions for children, rent to keep a roof over a family’s head – since when are these worth less than winning an inner-city vote?
The answer, apparently, is when federal Labor makes an election promise to win inner-city seats by abolishing the cashless debit card. So senior Labor minister Don Farrell told senate estimates last week.
The card in four trial sites across Australia was abandoned last year – without any new form of income management or support in place – to belatedly be replaced by a new voluntary “smart card”.
Last week in estimates we found how the smart card wasn’t that smart. At a cost to taxpayers of $217m, the card was being used by just 22 people from my electorate of Hinkler.
The year prior in Hinkler, around 7000 people were on the card: those aged 35 and under and receiving JobSeeker, Parenting Payment Partnered or Single and Youth Allowance (other). This meant 80 per cent of their welfare was placed on to the cashless card, ensuring there was money for the essentials like rent, food and clothing, leaving 20 per cent to be withdrawn in cash, or retained and saved.
That was before Labor cut the card up in a blaze of ideological zealotry, saying it was demeaning and taking away people’s human rights.
I ask you, how is it taking away human rights to leave welfare recipients to face huge cost-of-living pressures, rent increases, food and power price hikes, without the card to aid their financial management?
Labor’s timing could not have been worse for vulnerable children and families.
At a time when all the heavy lifting to set up the card, roll it out, test it and ensure it worked across the nation’s EFTPOS machines had been done; at a time when inflation was hitting record highs, when housing affordability and availability was becoming dire, Labor pulled the plug.
The smart card wasn’t even ready to put in the cashless debit card’s place, stranding people who wanted to retain any form of income management. And now, we find out that a massive $217m was wasted on the smart card; millions that could have been spent improving the quality of lives of vulnerable children and families.
Services Australia CEO Rebecca Skinner admitted in senate estimates last week that the smart card was a national system. That means the card can be accepted anywhere in Australia. The cashless debit card was accepted at EFTPOS machines anywhere in Australia.
Now that technology exists and welfare recipients can easily access EFTPOS payments across the nation, instead of limiting its use, I say expand its use across the nation so that welfare recipients have money for rent, food and clothes before welfare can be used on alcohol, cigarettes and other non-essential items.
But wait! The Labor left Twitter tweeters are choking on their soy lattes at the thought of destroying the rights of welfare recipients.
What about the rights of children to be fed and clothed, for domestic violence victims not to be bashed or intimidated to hand over their cash; for Australian taxpayers to be reassured that their hardworking taxes are going to actually help not hinder!
And remember, that welfare payments are meant to be a safety net until paid employment can be found. Post-Covid-19, Australia has been desperate for workers, mainly unskilled workers, in retail, admin, farming, trades, factories. Employers are still facing huge challenges in filling jobs.
If welfare recipients don’t like the mandatory cashless debit card/smart card, there are jobs to pick and choose from at their finger tips.
Sadly, Australia has a major problem with intergenerational welfare. In my electorate and many others, all kids have known is their parents and grandparents having been on welfare. In some cases, up to four generations of welfare dependence. It is the norm for these kids to believe that is what families do, they rely on welfare not work.
We’ve all seen way too many graphic and heart-wrenching images of towns in Australia in recent months where children aren’t being given the opportunities they should. Where crime, alcoholism, domestic violence and lawlessness are destroying children’s lives, their opportunities, ambition, dreams and hopes of a normal life.
Was an election promise by Labor to win votes in inner-city seats worth it?
It’s time to stop the political, ideological game playing and get the cashless debit card, by any other name, rolled out nationally for welfare recipients under the age of 35 to provide financial management, the essentials of life and safer, more functional communities for all.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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