Suspect hospital statistics

Queensland doctors say the public hospital system is still not working, despite improved waiting list figures. The September quarter waiting list figures show a 17 per cent drop in patients waiting too long for elective surgery and an improvement in emergency case timeframes. But Queensland is still behind national targets in four of the five emergency categories. Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson says overall it is one of the best reports. "The trends are going in the right way," he said.

However, the Queensland Opposition and the Australian Medical Association have questioned the figures. Australian Medical Association Queensland president Dr Chris Davis wants more time to study the data "We've been trying since early this morning to get a copy of this report," he said. Dr Davis says hospital performance is not improving enough. "The Government, despite record public spending, is actually relying increasingly on the private system to actually do the surgery," he said. "That means that our public hospitals are still not performing like they're meant to."

Opposition health spokesman Mark McArdle is not impressed by the results. "There are people who phone me every day and say they can't even get on the waiting list," he said.

Source






Trial ruled unfair due to sleeping judge

Rather amazing that this had to go to the High Court to reach an obvious conclusion

Two drug traffickers could not get a fair trial because a judge fell asleep for up to 20 minutes at a time during their trial, the High Court has ruled. Both Rafael Cesan and Ruben Mas Rivadavia appealed their 2004 convictions in the New South Wales District Court, saying Judge Ian Dodd was asleep for some of the trial. Judge Dodd, who suffered from sleep apnoea, retired from the bench in July 2005. Cesan was jailed for 13 years and six months, while Mas Rivadavis was jailed for 11 years after they were convicted of conspiring to import a commercial quantity of ecstasy.

The High Court, which upheld their appeals in September, published its reasons today. Evidence from a hearing of the NSW Criminal Appeal Court indicated Judge Dodd appeared to sleep for periods of up to 20 minutes at a time, sometimes accompanied by snoring. His sleep periods became longer as the trial proceeded with members of the jury visibly distracted and, at times, amused. Court officials sometimes loudly dropped documents in a bid to wake the snoring judge.

Cesan, in his appeal evidence, said the judge's snoring was disruptive when he was being cross-examined. Crown prosecutor Geoffrey Bellew swore an affidavit referring to occasions on which the judge appeared to be asleep.

The High Court unanimously ruled Judge Dodd did not exercise supervision of the trial as required by law and, as a result, the jury was distracted. Chief Justice Robert French said a judge must be seen to be upholding this duty. "Where the judge is noticeably and repeatedly asleep or inattentive during the trial, there can be a miscarriage of justice," he said. "The trial in this case was so flawed. There was a miscarriage of justice. It could not be said that the miscarriage was not substantial." The court ruled the men should be retried.

Source





Australia has crappy airport security too

Passenger belongings have been stolen and allegedly destroyed during security processing at Brisbane Airport, in the latest embarrassment for ISS security. The airport has been plagued with security breaches and staffing problems under ISS, which is contracted by airlines and the Brisbane Airport Corporation.

When Brisbane businessman Gareth Oram turned over his laptop to ISS guards at a Qantas screening point, it was the last he ever saw of it. ISS guards scanned the $2000 computer, then allowed another passenger to walk off with it while Mr Oram struggled to get his shoes back. "It was just a farce," Mr Oram said. "When I asked, 'where is my laptop?' they stuck their heads in the sand. No one wanted to know me. "No senior supervisor made themselves known to me at any time during or following this episode."

The product manager lost important business records and missed his flight waiting for an ISS supervisor to be located. He said he had to insist the incident be reported to police. "Surely once you hand over your belongings to be X-rayed, it should become the responsibility of these airport security personnel to ensure all your possessions are handed back correctly rather than having a free-for-all," he said.

Stanthorpe retiree Allan English claimed his $650 camera was dropped and destroyed when he was being searched by ISS guards in January. He wrote to ISS management and the Brisbane Airport Corporation, and has not received a response.

Mr Oram credited the Australian Federal Police and one ISS worker for eventually getting CCTV tapes and determining the laptop was taken by a foreign passenger. ISS company secretary Mal Day said ISS helped track down the laptop and it was being returned. He declined to comment further, except to say passengers were responsible for their belongings "at all times".

Mr Oram and Mr English said it was impossible to keep control under screening conditions, when they were prevented from entering certain areas.

Source

More on Australia's Nov. 4.

The victory for racism that took place in the USA on 4th. is sure to be very destructive so I much prefer the events in Australia on that date: The Melbourne Cup. There is still information emerging about events of the day and I am quite pleased to hear a little more about the winner of the "Fashions in the Field" contest. Fashions are completely opaque to me. They seem like unmitigated nonsense. So I originally clicked on some fashion links for a laugh at the hats. The hats are meant in good fun and they amuse me too.

As I noted on 5th., however, I was struck by what a pleasant-looking lady was Kirsty MacGillvray, winner of the "Fashions in the Field" contest. There was at the time, however, just the one picture of her and no information. So I reproduce below some of the information about her which has just been published, plus a couple more photos.

A 20-year-old retail assistant who has not yet got her driver's licence yesterday won the richest fashion prize in Australia, including a $66,500 Saab convertible. Kirsty Macgillvray, from Brighton in Melbourne, walked away with $100,000 of booty that also included Paspaley jewellery worth $10,000, a $5000 Myer shopping voucher and a $4000 Longines watch after winning the national Fashions on the Field competition on Oaks Day at Flemington. Ms Macgillvray captivated the judges in Melbourne's favourite colour, wearing a black Alex Perry jacket, a black Kirrily Johnston dress and a black and white hat by Ward and Wylie. "I'm a bit speechless," Ms Macgillvray said yesterday. "I don't even have my (driver's) licence yet."

Woolworths abuses its market dominance to dictate to customers

They are even "Greener" than the politicians. Below is a letter I wrote to them followed by their reply. Note that to them it is "progressive" to deny choice to customers. That's certainly consistent with "progressive" politics generally. And in the best Fascist style they say that "our decision is in the broader best interests of the community", and stuff the individual. Clearly, even having a little power corrupts.

The fact that I much prefer the warm yellow light of a tungsten bulb to the stark and glary light of a fluorescent tube just does not matter to our Green dictators, obviously. Fluorescent lights have been around almost as long as tungsten globes but most people have always chosen the tungsten ones. So I am not alone in my preferences. And it would hurt no-one to allow people to have their preferences in the matter. So what it all shows is that the Fascist urge to dictate to other people is sadly still with us. The only difference is that it now justifies itself by a Greenie ideology which is just as crazy as the old racist one

TO: Chairman, Woolworths
17 Oct 2008

Dear Mr Strong

I have the feeling that Woolworths is departing from commercial principles in its stocking polices and as both a shareholder and a customer I would like you to talk to management about it.

I notice in particular that Woolworths seems to be pushing the twisty lightbulb barrow very hard. You do stock convenient sixpacks of the old tungsten globes but they are almost always sold out at my local Buranda branch -- while every possible iteration of the twisty globe is always available. Shouldn't the firm be stocking what people want to buy?

Please remind management that they are running a business and not a government Department.

Woolworths Limited
29th October 2008

Dear Dr Ray,

Thank you for your letter and for taking the time to write. At Woolworths we appreciate customer feedback, both positive and negative, and see it as an opportunity to improve our business.

You are right that we are actively supportive of the new 'twisty' light bulb. The reason for this is that The Federal Government announced in June 2008 that many incandescent bulbs currently on retail shelves would be banned from import in November 2008; and banned from retail sale completely in November 2009. The list of products includes the six pack bulbs you refer to in your letter. Whilst the traditional incandescent bulbs remain popular, their sales volumes have been rapidly decreasing as more customers make the switch to the Energy Efficient alternates.

Woolworths has taken a decision as a corporation to remove the banned bulbs from sale completely as of November 2008, a full year ahead of the legislative requirement.

We've undertaken this action as we fully support the Government initiative to reduce the use of inefficient energy products. The move is consistent with Woolworth's decision to pursue an ambitious carbon reduction target of 40% by 2015 across its entire business through a broad range of initiatives.

Historically the Energy Efficient alternates have carried a price premium to the incandescent globe and this has discouraged some customers from making the switch. This is now more than ever a false economy as the Energy Efficient alternates last many times longer than the incandescent bulb and use a fifth of the energy to operate. Along with this the retail price of Energy Efficient lights has decreased significantly in recent times meaning that real savings are to be made within twelve months of use. The diversity of styles and quality of the Energy Efficient product has also greatly improved at the same time.

We appreciate our progressive move to remove the older inefficient incandescent bulbs will not please everyone, but trust our decision is in the broader best interests of the community.

Naum Onikul
Director of Supermarkets





Reserve Bank member calls for halt to green scheme

A RESERVE Bank board member has called for the Federal Government to delay the proposed 2010 start to its emissions trading scheme. Warwick McKibbin, who sits on the RBA board and is a climate change economist, says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should not act before Australia knows what commitments other countries will make to reducing carbon output. That will be discussed at the world climate change conference in Copenhagen in December next year.

"There is no way that at Copenhagen there can be a firm commitment on abatement because the US administration, whoever it is, won't have the people in place to negotiate a rules-based system," Professor McKibbin told The West Australian newspaper. "What they will negotiate in Copenhagen is a set of principles - if you're lucky - and hopefully they'll separate mitigation or cutting emissions from investment in new technologies and forestry and land use actions.

"We've got the Kyoto period to run until 2012 and whatever new system begins would begin in 2013. Now we should have something in place (by then), we need a couple of years to get it going and I think 2011 is feasible, depending on the nature of the system."

The Government, in a green paper published in July, outlined plans for a carbon pollution reduction scheme from 2010, covering 75 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions.

Source





Public hospital turns abused boy away

A toddler was locked out of Beaudesert Hospital and his family turned away despite their fears the boy had been sexually assaulted. Queensland Health said the incident should never have happened, The Courier-Mail reports.

The boy's grandfather called Beaudesert Hospital before 5am on Monday when he suspected his three-year-old grandson had been sexually assaulted. Hospital staff told the man to bring his child to hospital immediately. But the family was not let inside the hospital when they arrived at the emergency department, but was instead spoken to outside its main entrance. The nurse then returned inside and continued the conversation over an intercom. She said the family would need to go to Logan Hospital - 45km away - where there was a child sexual assault unit.

The grandfather, who cannot be identified to protect the child, said he told the nurse he couldn't get the child to Logan because the family could not afford any more petrol. The nurse later denied knowledge of this.

On Tuesday, Queensland Health issued an apology and began an investigation. "The situation was not handled appropriately, or in accordance with Queensland Health policy," Southside Health Service district manager Dr Mark Mattiussi said. "Queensland Health takes any allegation of child sexual assault seriously and is following up these concerns in accordance with child safety laws." Under Queensland Health policy, the family should have been taken into Beaudesert Hospital for support, initial assessment and referrals.

When asked if hospital staff faced disciplinary action over the incident, Mr Mattiussi said: "Staff have been given feedback . . . and relevant Queensland Health policy has been discussed and clarified." The Beaudesert Hospital registered nurse in question has claimed the boy's grandfather "appeared angry", which was why she retreated inside to use the intercom.

But the boy's grandfather said he was just desperate to get the young child treated. "It was a terrible experience, to be so worried and to just get turned away," he said.

Child protection campaigner Hetty Johnston said the hospital should have offered preliminary care and advice to the family. "I can't imagine it being handled in a worse way," Ms Johnston said. Opposition health spokesman Mark McArdle said all cases of suspected child abuse should be reported as a matter of law: "The parents of any child should not be treated like participants in a game of pass the parcel," he said. The boy ultimately received further treatment at a GP and later attended the Logan Hospital.

Source






Hospitals hurting, say doctors

Clinicians fear the financial crisis may distract governments from the need to fix public hospitals

Even for the scandal-plagued NSW hospital system, the news two weeks ago struck a new low: that a doctor in a busy regional city hospital had to spend $700 on her personal credit card to buy a three-day supply of a chemical reagent essential for routine blood tests. The chemical's supplier, fed up with the chronic non-payment of bills by the state's Greater Western Area Health Service, had decided enough was enough. It only seemed to make it worse, not better, when it later emerged the company had all along been prepared to continue supply in essential cases, such as this. Communication was so bad that even this vital message had not been passed on by health service management. Other hospitals in the same area had already been reduced to serving meatless meals, after butchers similarly put their foot down over ballooning unpaid accounts.

Coming after a barrage of previous disasters -- ranging from a miscarriage in an emergency waiting room toilet, to the botched design of a brand-new hospital where trolleys could not fit through doors, nor ambulances into the car park -- all this seemed to be moving from the tragic to the ridiculous.

But while the doctors, nurses and other health workers are hoping for some strong medicine to be prescribed by a parliamentary inquiry, due to report within a month, there is now concern that the opportunity for a once-in-a-generation shake-up is starting to recede.

The Garling Inquiry was announced by the NSW Government in January after strong criticisms from an inquest into the death of a 16-year-old girl who died in Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital two days after being admitted with a skull fracture. Since then the inquiry has become imbued with extra significance. As well as the clinical and organisational disasters, and tangled bureaucracy, other problems are coming to light -- such as concerns that a lack of training positions in hospitals will soon reach critical proportions as the massive increases in medical student places starts flowing through the system. At some point in the near future, critics say, these newly-minted doctors will emerge from medical school with no training places in hospitals where they can complete their training and further their careers.

That issue, which is clearly national, is slowly coming to a head, with a rally of medical students, junior doctors and medical educators being organised by the NSW Australian Medical Association at 11am this Saturday on Sydney's lower north shore. But more generally the inquiry's outcome has implications for other states, which have been experiencing some of the same problems, if usually to a lesser degree. Health experts say other state governments will be watching what happens after Garling reports almost as intently as NSW itself does.

But there's an increasing fear that the inquiry's recommendations will be buried -- either drowned out by the welter of economic bad news, or pushed out of the limelight by a state government that suddenly finds itself with more pressing political problems and a quickly souring financial position. "We are expecting quite a lot out of the Garling report," says emergency physician Clare Skinner, one of a number of doctors, nurses and others who are part of the Hospital Reform Group. "We think it's probably the last chance to help fix the NSW hospital system. Every single state in Australia has overcrowded emergency departments. Every single state is struggling to find enough doctors and nurses, and every state is watching this (inquiry) to see how we can do things smarter." However, the caution stems from the long existing list of previous health inquiries that have received little more than lip service from the government of the day, and are quickly forgotten.

Skinner puts workforce and training as the two highest priorities on the to-fix list. Both of these problems, she thinks, require taking politically unpopular decisions: a feature of NSW hospitals is that there are many more specialised units spread across many smaller hospitals, which she says disperses the available expertise.

While NSW has six to eight trauma centres across the state, Victoria has just one. The difference means that Victoria's centre has the best staff, and enough of them to ensure 24-hour cover; while in NSW, someone taken to hospital after a 2am car crash is much more likely to arrive with no specialist on duty to look after them.

Physician and immunologist Professor Brad Frankham agrees, saying for too long rosters have been run along old-fashioned lines that benefit senior doctors rather than patients. Although elderly and complex cases increasingly arrive in hospitals in the evenings and at weekends, he says these are exactly the times when senior doctors aren't around, and instead there is a skeleton staff of inadequately supervised more junior clinicians.

But despite the workforce pressures, budgets are controlled so tightly and centrally that it's usually impossible to hire an extra staff member, as the request has to go through as many as nine management levels before approval -- by which time the need, or more often the candidate, has evaporated. Often this merely ends up wasting money, as when hospitals prevented from hiring permanent staff bid against each other to secure locums at sky-high rates, costing the system far more.

Another area of waste that the Garling inquiry may sort out is in how hospitals are funded. Currently budgets tend to be based on adjustments of previous budgets, whereas reform advocates are arguing for a more comprehensive roll-out of Victoria's activity-based funding, also known as casemix, which pays for the work that hospitals do.

What Skinner, Frankham, a senior nurse who spoke to Weekend Health, and another member of the Hospital Reform Group, emeritus professor at Sydney University Kerry Goulston, all agree on is the need to give back to clinicians more say in the running of hospitals and how care is delivered. Currently doctors and nurses are kept so far from the decision-making that Frankham, even though he's an area director, says he "can't spend even $100" without getting authorisation from several rungs up the management ladder. Frankham says given a greater say, clinicians would be more innovative, working out "clinical networks" or teams of doctors, nurses and allied health workers involved in particular diseases, to ensure the best ways of dealing with those patients.

Goulston says restoring clinicians' decision-making autonomy would both restore trust between clinicians, managers and patients, and also restore clinicians' morale, which he says is currently as low as it has been for some years. "Our main concern is that the recommendations, when they are released, are implemented," Goulston says. "We think Garling and (counsel assisting the inquiry, Terence) Tobin have done a very thorough job. "My concern is that the Government and the bureaucrats will say 'We are doing all these things', when in actual fact they are not doing them."

Source

Climate, coral and the attention-seeking Dane

Can Prof. Hoegh-Guldberg read a textbook?

Once again Hoagy has been on TV and in the news recently moaning piteously at the impending doom of Australia's Great Barrier Reef due to global warming. So I thought the brief history lesson below might explain why he is essentially talking though his anus. The reef has been around for half a million years at least, and is still there despite going through far greater climate upheavals than we have seen in our times.



The excerpt is from World Atlas of Coral Reefs by Mark D. Spalding et. al.

Hoagy is a crook.




The other winners



On the Left above: Melbourne Cup Myer Fashion in the Field. Winner Kirsty MacGillivray. What a charming lady. The judges judged well. I suspect that it is also she who appeared in the big hat in my post of yesterday.

In the middle: My personal pick of the funniest photo. Former Miss Australia and Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins with Melbourne Lord Mayor John So. Mayor So is very popular and I believe deservedly so but his Han ancestry does leave him rather short in some ways.

On the Right: My personal pick of the best fascinator (A fascinator is a hat that isn't really a hat). Worn by Daria Komyza of Russia.

Below: Hats/fascinators galore



Some background on the off-field activities here.





Queensland "Free" education not so free

PARENTS at a state primary school have been hit with unexpected "mandatory" fees to fund basic classroom equipment and resources. Robina State School on the Gold Coast last week wrote to parents demanding up to $120 per student for ink, work sheets and computer software. The first page of the 2009 Resource Scheme Years 1-7 Contract Form demanded parents participate in the scheme or have their child's access to equipment and resources cut off. The second page gave a choice for parents who opted out to pay for and secure themselves the resources and services, including technology licences and classroom readers.

According to the Education Act 2006, state education is to be free. Section 56 allows principals to ask parents for "voluntary" financial contributions. And it demands there be no negative consequences for those who do not pay.

This case has outraged parents, who say it is a mockery of so-called free education.

Education Queensland is unaware how many Queensland schools have made similar demands, citing a lack of data. Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations president Margaret Black believed it was the first time a school had omitted the word "voluntary" and issued the request as a contract. She urged parents to "make sure the word voluntary is included". Only after The Courier-Mail asked about the legality of the contract did Education Queensland instruct the Robina school to change its tune. "The principal has been asked to clarify the statements in the letter to rectify any misunderstanding it may have caused," a department spokeswoman said.

McCullough Robertson Lawyers partner Malcolm McBratney said the school's Resource Scheme appeared to be compulsory. "It's a legally enforceable contract," he said. "It doesn't seem you've got much choice."

Angry parents said the letter was deceptive. "The letter basically aims to blackmail parents into paying the voluntary annual state school contributions," the parents said. "We send our kids to a public school because we cannot afford a private school and the fees. "The school is trying to force parents and caregivers to pay voluntary contributions by sneakily ... calling it the 'resource scheme' and saying there's 'membership' to be had."

Ms Black will seek an explanation from the Assistant Director General for Education. "I'll ask, 'When did voluntary contributions become signed contracts?'," she said. Primary and high schools often send letters to parents in October and November seeking money to shore up resource budgets for the following year.

Source





Just one example of tyrannical "Guardianship" laws

Petty and unaccountable bureaucrats are given vast powers and act like mini-Hitlers

A MAN whose affairs were taken over by the state after he spent $200,000 on phone sex will appeal the orders he says have made his life a misery. "The mental stress has been unreal," the 78-year-old told The Courier-Mail. "It's with you every minute you're awake and it's cost me $40,000 in medical and legal fees, and that's a conservative estimate. "I've also lost money as a result of being under the financial orders because of the way the Public Trustee has invested my money in shares."

The man was placed under the orders by the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal in October 2006, after relatives claimed he had spent tens of thousands of dollars on 1902 calls in almost 10 years. The relatives alleged the man was delusional, incapable of looking after himself and had dementia. However, The Courier-Mail reported last year, medical evidence stated he did not suffer dementia or other mental disability.

His challenge to the tribunal's ruling is supported by Carers Queensland and pro bono lawyers appointed by the Queensland Public Interest Legal Clearing House.

It follows the recent distribution of more than 1000 discussion papers by the Queensland Law Reform Commission, as part of the second stage of its sweeping review of the state's controversial guardianship laws. The discussion paper - Shaping Queensland's Guardianship Legislation: Principles and Capacity - looks at changes that need to be made to the guardianship of people with impaired decision-making capacity and their right to appropriate health care.

Source

ZEG

In his latest offering, conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG comments on the imminent execution of the Bali bombers and the pennypinching over travel for schoolkids in NSW

What a great occasion!

I have just watched the running of the Melbourne Cup on TV. Bright sunlight, a track of perfect green, the colourful silks of the jockeys and the drama of the slow buildup to the race. The horses spend more time getting to the barrier than they do racing and seeing them parade out is fascinating: Beautiful, noble but very tense animals.

And the winner was yet another horse trained by Bart Cummings, a legendary Australian trainer. And the emotion of the occasion of course got to him. Some stupid interviewer asked him: "Is it an emotional occasion for you?" Bart said: "It's just a nice win" -- with tears streaming down his face!

A great day today

Note the date at the head of this post. Nov. 4th. A great national day of decision. A great race will be decided. Millions will watch the outcome. And the outcome will make many jubilant while others will be sad or indifferent. I am referring, of course, to the Melbourne Cup, Australia's premier horserace and the one race of the year for which everyone stops in Australia. They flock to their nearest TV or glue a trannie (transistor radio) to their ear. Businesses stop. Schools stop. Factories stop. Offices stop. And even Presbyterians have been known to bet on the outcome. Due to the peculiarites of timezones, however, the race will be run on Nov. 3 in America. And the election in America on 4th, will happen on 5th in Australia. Below is a good comment written by an American last year:

On the first Tuesday of November, most people in Melbourne get the day off for the public holiday. What holiday you ask? Is it the Queens birthday? Boxing Day? Australia Day? No friends, today is a holy occasion where a little over 100,000 people dress up, get drunk, and bet on a bunch of horses as they run around a track. Basically, everyone gets the day off for a race that only lasts minutes.

This is actually a big deal here. Someone told me that teachers in grade school have the kids do "play bets" on what horse they want to win. Women seem to especially love this day as they dress up all pretty and wear funny hats as you see below. There are several contests as well at the cup including "best hat" and "best overall dressed". Today a horse named "Efficient" won the cup and the owner won a prize of $5 million dollars. I know what you are asking me now, "well who won the best hat!?!" Well, I scoured the internet and couldn't find the winner of best hat, which is the thing I was really interested in. Again, what a fun and great country. I'm in Brisbane and so didn't get the day off, but I still got to enjoy a city full of pretty girls wearing funny hats.

I have got two horses in a sweep: 19 Red Lord and 23 Barbaricus. So I will be watching the race keenly when it runs shortly.





Famous Australian weather forecaster is a warming skeptic

The Crohamhurst observatory was started by Inigo Jones in 1927 and became famous for accurate long-range weather forecasts. Jones based his forecasts on solar variability and planetary movements. It was claimed that his forecasts were not "scientific" but farmers swore by them. At one stage many Brisbane couples would not set their wedding date without first consulting Jones. After Jones's death, first Lennox Walker and then his son Haydon Walker carried on the work

The Sunshine Coast could be in line for substantial flooding over the next five months with the first of the rains only two or three days away. That's the tip from long-range weather forecaster Haydon Walker who has warned that not only will the Coast experience serious flooding, it is ill-equipped to deal with major downpours. "Look at the 1893 floods where Crohamhurst, in the hinterland, received 36 inches (914mm) overnight," he said. "If that happened now, we would all be in Moreton Bay." Coast drainage simply would not cope with such a deluge.

"I maintain that higher (population) density in coastal areas has had more impact due to run-off from subdivisions, roadways and increased roof areas," he said. Mr Walker is predicting "good strong rains" starting shortly and continuing through November, mainly from storms, with some likely to register more than 100mm or more. "They will continue good and strong in December," he said. "Going into January we will continue to get good-to-heavy rains, and cyclonic activity probably as far as the NSW border." While things should settle down a bit after that, the wet weather will return in March, Mr Walker said....

While some old-timers might describe his prediction as nothing more than a return to normal weather for the region, he disagreed. "This will be more intense than `normal'," he said. "And there will be (at least) local flooding." Mr Walker said sunspot activity, which he uses to make weather predictions, was on the increase. "Solar flares make changes to the barometric pressures." The sunspot cycles are 11.15 years, but we are moving into "a strong phase". "There's a fair bit of water coming," he said. "The fronts are here already and we can expect rain in the next two to three days."

Mr Walker said he held a sceptical view of predictions about climate change at this stage. "Until someone can show me further evidence, I am unconvinced. "I have (weather) charts from the year dot, back prior to the Industrial Revolution. "I am disgusted with what we are putting into the atmosphere but I believe the climate change debate is too politically driven."

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) data tends to cautiously support Mr Walker's predictions, indicating the chances of exceeding average rainfall between now and March is 50%. The BOM website said the Southern Oscillation Index has been at +14 - a strong La Nina influence - pointing to more rain likelihood, with the same conditions predicted for the remainder of spring and summer.

Source






"Muslim Massacre" game



Previous comment here

The Australian Muslim community has accused the Federal Government and police of double standards over their treatment of a free online game in which the aim is to kill as many Muslims as possible. Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association, wrote to the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, expressing outrage over the game, Muslim Massacre, saying it teaches young people to "further hate Muslims" and encourages them to carry out "acts of discrimination, vilification or outright violence against Australian Muslims".

The game, launched as a free download on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, invites players to take control of an American "hero" and "wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons". It was created by a 22-year-old programmer going by the online handle Sigvatr, who says on his website that he is from Brisbane and works part-time as a service station attendant. Sigvatr, who claims the game is "fun and funny", is also responsible for the website spreekillers.org, which ranks real-world killing sprees based on the number of victims.

In his letter, Trad said he believed Muslim Massacre was a breach of the sedition provisions of counter terrorism laws and laws that prevent the incitement of violence against sections of Australian society. He cited the case of Belal Saadallah Khazaal, 38, from Lakemba, who was found guilty in September of making a "do it yourself terrorism guide" knowing it could be used to assist a terrorist act. Khazaal had compiled the online manual, which included an assassination hit list of prominent political figures, based on information sourced from the internet.

But the response to Trad from the Attorney-General's department was little more than a two-page explanation of Australia's content classification and racial discrimination laws and the government bodies tasked with administering them. The response noted that the game's creator "has voluntarily taken the game down from the internet". However, the game is still freely available to download from muslimmassacre.com.

Trad said the letter looked like a standardised form response and accused the Government and police of selectively applying counter-terrorism laws. He said the Khazaal case had set a precedent that should be applied to Muslim Massacre and its creator. "I could imagine what would have occurred if the game had been developed, God forbid, by a Muslim with Western people as the targets. The people would have been immediately subjected to criminal prosecution," Trad said.

The Attorney-General's Department said it was up to the Australian Federal Police to investigate whether the game breached sedition laws. Trad said he received a response from the federal police "telling me that I can complain to the Australian Communications and Media Authority if I wished". But it is unlikely ACMA can do anything to have the game removed from the net as it is not hosted on Australian servers.

Trad said he felt he was being "palmed off" to bodies such as the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, which took years to investigate claims. "I do not have faith in ACMA. You may note that even though they found a certain radio station to be in breach of the code prior to the Cronulla riots, all they did was ask them to get some cultural training," he said.

British Muslim youth organisation the Ramadhan Foundation has also called for the game to be banned, saying it was "unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive". "When kids spend six hours a day on violent games, they are more likely to go outside and commit violence," the group's chief executive, Mohammed Shafiq, said.

In September, Queensland Police Minister Judy Spence said police were investigating the game to see whether it breached any legislation. No announcements relating to the case have been made since then. Comment was being sought from Queensland Police.

But even if the creator is charged, local authorities could run into trouble in trying to get the game removed from the web if it is hosted on servers located outside Australia. In 2006, the Government was powerless to remove from the internet a racist board game based on the Cronulla riots. It was eventually removed by the US-based web host, Angelfire, following extensive lobbying by anti-racism groups.

Similarly, in 2007 a game based on the Virginia Tech massacre, developed by a Sydney man, was removed by its web hosting service after the Federal Government failed to come up with a way of using its powers to have the game blocked.

However, this sort of content could be blocked in future if the Government proceeds with its controversial plans for mandatory ISP-level filters of "illegal" material

[So ACTUAL massacres by Muslims are OK but just playing at massacring Muslims is not?? Has Mr Trad condemned Osama bin Laden and his ilk? Have the hate-preaching Mullahs all been silenced?]

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Orthodox Jews fined and insulted for jaywalking in Melbourne

If they had been Muslims, all would have been fine, of course. You can't even laugh at Muslims, let alone be rude to them

Police are investigating allegations officers made "rude and inappropriate" remarks to Jewish women who flouted pedestrian crossing rules. Orthodox Jews are forbidden to touch anything electrical on holy days. Last month, two women were fined $57 each for crossing on a "red man" because their religion prevented them from touching the button at the crossings.

A Caulfield North woman was fined after crossing the intersection of Glen Eira and Hawthorn roads on the morning of Yom Kippur on October 9. Her $57 ticket has since been revoked. Nine days later a St Kilda East woman was fined for crossing at Hotham St and Alma Rd on October 18.

Police are now investigating the behaviour of officers who allegedly made rude and inappropriate comments to the women, and met several Jewish community leaders on October 28 to discuss the issue. Caulfield Insp Margaret Lewis expressed regret and concern over the incidents. She said the police investigation would take about a month.

Jewish Community Council of Victoria executive director Geoffrey Zygier said all Melbourne synagogues would be consulted to find out which intersections should have an automatic function on the Sabbath and Jewish festivals. State government, local government or the synagogues themselves would pay, he said.

Mr Zygier said he accepts police have a duty to look after public safety. "At the same time the Jewish community has religious obligations," Mr Zygier said. "We live in a multi-cultural society. "If we can make changes without inconveniencing others, I think that's fair enough."

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ACADEMIC "ANTI-ZIONISM" IN AUSTRALIA

When it comes to radical trends including anti-Zionism, Australian campuses are like most other Western universities, only even more extreme. The ubiquity of left-wing politics in Australian academia means that writing about campus Israel-phobia requires discrimination since the range of subjects is so large. The focus here will be on just a few of Australia's most egregious academic anti-Zionists.

Evan Jones

The most virulent is the University of Sydney's Evan Jones. Although his field is economics, he maintains a political web-log called Alert and Alarmed.[1] Its name is a play on the slogan of an Australian government public awareness campaign on terrorism-"alert, but not alarmed." Jones detests the Bush administration and the Australian government of John Howard. His hostility toward Israel runs so deep as to apparently render him unaware of the anti-Semitic overtones of his rhetoric.

For example, Jones often claims that the Jews dominate press coverage on issues relating to Israel. In a blog posting called "The Wall and `topographical considerations,'" he asserted: "All university programs in politics should have a compulsory unit on propaganda, and all such units should include a compulsory component on Israeli propaganda. The Israeli propaganda machine makes the Nazi apparatus under Geobels [sic] look like amateur hour."[2]

The Israelis are not very skilled at public relations. The opinion pages of Australia's newspapers regularly feature leftist critics of Israel. ABC, the country's main publicly funded broadcast network, models itself on the BBC, with predictable results in its Middle East coverage.

Nevertheless, Prof. Jones upholds the idea that pro-Israeli Jews dominate journalism. He refers to the "reactionary war-mongering Zionist Wall Street Journal."[3] The British writer of a pro-Israeli letter to the editor of TheIndependent is nothing more than a "lobotomised Zionist."[4] ....

Jones also constantly equates Zionism with Nazism. In his view, Israel was established through conscious collaboration with Hitler's Germany. In support, Jones cites an assertion by the radical Israeli anti-Zionist Uri Davis: "Zionist leaders made themselves accomplices by default, and sometimes by deliberate design, to the mass murder of Jews by the Nazi annihilation machinery."[7]

Amin Saikal

Other academics cloak their animus toward Israel in a pseudosophistication that facilitates their access to the media as commentators. One such anti-Zionist op-ed contributor is Amin Saikal, who heads the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS) at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. Founded in 1994 as the Centre for Middle East and Central Asian Studies, CAIS assumed its current name six years later. This reflected a radical shift in orientation that stemmed from an influx of funding from various Middle Eastern sources.

In December 2000, the Centre announced the receipt of an A$2.5 million donation from Sheik Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai and brother of the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.[10] This sum not only purchased the name change but also the creation of a Chair of Arab and Islamic Studies that was eponymous with the Centre's new title. The government of Iran contributed another US$350,000,[11] which underwrote the establishment of the Centre's perpetual foundation in Persian Language and Iranian Studies. In both these cases, the ANU's Endowment in Excellence provided matching funds for these foreign donations, bringing the total amount generated in support of the CAIS to almost A$6 million.[12]

Centre director Amin Saikal's view of both U.S. and Israeli policies is profoundly negative. But if the Americans can at times be excused for their folly because of naivety, Israel receives no such leniency. Saikal takes a "less is more" approach that is more pernicious because it seems reasonable on the surface. At first glance he appears simply to be deploring the violence that plagues the Middle East. But a closer look reveals that his regrets are selectively applied to serve his anti-Zionist views.

This reticence to condemn Palestinian violence against Israelis is so deeply ingrained in Saikal's worldview that it infuses his vocabulary. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, he accused Israel of using disproportionate force "to contain what it calls terrorism, including suicide bombing."[14]

Saikal demonstrates ignorance of simple geostrategic matters. Again in the Sydney Morning Herald, he asserted that the Israeli navy has deployed "nuclear-powered submarines" to launch preemptive strikes against Iran.[15] The Israeli submarine fleet, however, consists of three German-built Dolphin-class diesel boats. Although the Germans' submarines are world-class, their own navy does not possess nuclear vessels.

Saikal also praises the Islamic Republic of Iran as "a sort of democracy which may not accord with Western ideals, but provides for a degree of mass participation, political pluralism and assurance of certain human rights and freedoms which do not exist in most of the Middle East."[16] He has nothing to say about the reign of terror that is inflicted on political opponents, and the many other human rights abuses.....

Scott Burchill

In Melbourne, as in other venues of Australian academia, there are many anti-Zionist academics. A notable example is Scott Burchill, who teaches international relations theory at Deakin University. In the wake of 9-11, Burchill argued in the Sydney Morning Herald that any American military reaction would constitute a "myopic and undemocratic" exercise of extrajudicial injustice.[25] Moreover, he claimed in the Australian Financial Review that these were "not irrational, cowardly or random attacks"; instead, "the rational logic of cause and effect" made 9-11 an understandable response to "US aggression."[26]

In October 2003, The Age published Burchill's thoughts on the first anniversary of the Bali bombing, which killed eighty-eight Australian tourists among others. It was, he wrote, an inevitable reaction to "Washington's support for Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine," and to a "Western collective of terror whose leaders had bombed Islamic states such as Afghanistan and Iraq."[27]

Yet, however profound Burchill's hostility toward the United States, he does not challenge the legitimacy of its existence. He does, however, in the case of Israel. Burchill describes the Palestinians as a "looted people" who justly refuse to "reconcile themselves to occupation and humiliation, regardless of the odds stacked against them."[28] Israel, then, is a "thief" who must return the "stolen property" of Palestine to its rightful Arab owners.[29] ....

Andrew Vincent

A final example is Prof. Andrew Vincent, who heads the Centre for Middle East and North African Studies at Sydney's Macquarie University. Last year in the Macquarie University News, he put forward a viewpoint that: "the Israelis quite possibly murdered Yasser Arafat."

Typically, in the wake of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Vincent wrote an apology for this aggression in Melbourne's Herald newspaper. Citing Iraq's small coastline and Kuwait's historic association with Baghdad, Vincent argued that Saddam's expansionism was legitimate.[34] More recently, Vincent invited blogger Antony Loewenstein - a far-Left freelance writer - to join the board of the Centre that he heads.

Antony Loewenstein

It was "bigotry, hatred and intolerance," Loewenstein suggested, that motivated Jewish opposition to Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi's receipt of the Sydney Peace Prize in 2003.[35] He apparently could not conceive of honest opposition based on Ashrawi's statements and deeds. In Loewenstein's view, Israel is a nation of "apartheid-like policies."[36] This author, after publishing an article in The Australian on the impact of Ariel Sharon's stroke, was characterized by Loewenstein as one of the "dutiful Zionists who are already lining up to praise the unindicted war criminal."[37]

Loewenstein's superficial knowledge of the Middle East was evident last December when he referred to a senior female Israeli cabinet minister as a man. In an article for the leftist online magazine New Matilda, he wrote:

Yet more evidence of Israel speaking the language of "peace" but acting entirely differently came from a senior ally of Sharon, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. He [sic] told a legal conference in early December that, despite years of Israeli denials, Sharon himself imagines the 425-mile separation barrier as the future border between Israel and a potential Palestinian state.

As one commentator on his blog pointed out: "if Loewenstein can't even get the gender of an Israeli cabinet minister right, then what does it say about the quality of his analysis of the Israeli political scene? Nothing good." When confronted with evidence of his gaffe, Lowenstein pleaded that he was "rushed" and that "mistakes do happen."[39]

Conclusion

In their anti-Zionism, Evan Jones, Amin Saikal, Scott Burchill, and Andrew Vincent[42] are some examples among many in Australian academia where radical Leftist ideology is monolithically predominant. A core element of the far-Left doctrine is a relentless hostility to Jewish national self-determination. With Australia's youth being exposed to this outlook during their university years, it remains to be seen how this will affect the next generation of Australian leaders.

More here

Great Barrier Reef could adapt to climate change, scientists say

Hoagy, the Danish nature-lover, gets a long overdue kick in the pants. Coral already grows in very warm waters -- in the Torres Strait, for instance. Species diversity is greatest there, in fact. Hoagy is a nut

The prediction of a prominent marine biologist that climate change could render the Great Barrier Reef extinct within 30 years has been labelled overly pessimistic for failing to account for the adaptive capabilities of coral reefs. University of Queensland marine biologist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said yesterday that sea temperatures were likely to rise 2C over the next three decades, which would undoubtedly kill the reef. But several of Professor Hoegh-Guldberg's colleagues have taken issue with his prognosis.

Andrew Baird, principal research fellow at the Australian Research Council's Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, said there were "serious knowledge gaps" about the impact rising sea temperatures would have on coral. "Ove is very dismissive of coral's ability to adapt, to respond in an evolutionary manner to climate change," Dr Baird said. "I believe coral has an underappreciated capacity to evolve. It's one of the biological laws that, wherever you look, organisms have adapted to radical changes."

Dr Baird acknowledged that, if left unaddressed, climate change would result in major changes to the Great Barrier Reef. "There will be sweeping changes in the relative abundance of species," he said. "There'll be changes in what species occur where. "But wholesale destruction of reefs? I think that's overly pessimistic." Dr Baird said the adaptive qualities of coral reefs would mitigate the effects of climate change.

His comments were backed by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chairman and marine scientist Russell Reichelt. "I think that he's right," Dr Reichelt said. "The reef is more adaptable and research is coming out now to show adaptation is possible for the reef." Dr Reichelt said the greatest threat facing the reef was poor water quality in the coastal regions, the result of excess sediment and fertiliser. "If a reef's going to survive bleaching, you don't want to kill it with a dirty river," he said.

Professor Hoegh-Guldberg, who in 1999 won the prestigious Eureka science prize for his work on coral bleaching, said the view "that reefs somehow have some magical adaptation ability" was unfounded. "The other thing is, are we willing to take the risk, given we've got a more than 50 per cent likelihood that these scenarios are going to come up?" Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said. "If I asked (my colleagues) to get into my car and I told them it was more than 50 per cent likely to crash, I don't think they'd be very sensible getting in it."

He told the ABC's Lateline program on Thursday the threat posed by climate change to the Great Barrier Reef should be treated as a "global emergency". "Why we aren't just panicking at thispoint and starting to really make some changes? Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said. "It just ... it blows my mind sometimes."

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Challenges ahead for Australia

By Rupert Murdoch (Rupert Murdoch is chairman and chief executive of News Corporation. This is an edited extract of the first of his Boyer Lectures, Aussie Rules - Bring Back the Pioneer, delivered in Sydney last night.)

I appreciate that many Australians will debate whether I still have the right to call myself one of you. I was born in Melbourne, was educated in Britain and now make my home in Manhattan. My answer is that people can call me whatever they like - and believe me when I tell you, they do. But this country means a great deal to me. And the main reason I agreed to come to Australia to deliver these (Boyer) lectures is that the country I see before me simply is not prepared for the challenges ahead.

As I speak, the Australian economy is coming up against one of these challenges: a financial crisis whose origins are overseas. In recent weeks, the Australian dollar has fluctuated as wildly as a whirling Dervish, and the impact is beginning to be felt in the real economy. There is no use bemoaning the problem. Australia is wedded to the world - mostly for richer, very occasionally for poorer, certainly for better, and only rarely for worse. And I fear many Australians will learn the hard way what it means to be unprepared for the challenges a global economy can bring.

I want to start today by talking about some areas at home. By this I mean a need to reduce dependency on government, to reform our education system, to reconcile with Australia's Aboriginal population, and to maintain a liberal immigration system. At a time when the world's most competitive nations are moving their people off government subsidy, Australians seem to be headed in the wrong direction.

In a recent paper, Des Moore pointed out that while real incomes increased since the end of the 1980s, about 20 per cent of the working-aged population today receives income support, compared with only 15 per cent two decades ago. While a safety net is warranted for those in genuine need, we must avoid institutionalising idleness. The bludger should not be our national icon.

Traditionally the Liberals have been more free-market in their outlook than their opponents. But the Labor Party has also recognised that central planning does not work. The larger the government, the less room for Australians to exercise their talents and initiative. That is why earlier this year we heard a Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, declaring that his Government is unashamedly pro-market, pro-business and pro-globalisation.

That's a good start. But being pro-market, pro-business and pro-globalisation means working for a society where citizens are not dependent on the Government. That means ending subsidies for those who do well. It also means sensible targeting and persistence - so that when subsidies are given, they help those passing through a rough patch or born into abject poverty build themselves up to a point where they can provide for themselves.

And it means smaller government and an end to the paternalism that nourishes political correctness, promotes government interference and undermines freedom and personal responsibility. Remember, it's not the Australian Government that competes in the global market, it's Australian businesses and workers. With the relatively small domestic market, Australian workers and businesses must be able to beat the best of them.

Second, we need to reform our education system. The bottom line is this: it is an absolute scandal that we are spending more and more and getting less and less in return. For those still in school or just entering the workforce, the opportunities a global economy offers are greater than at any time in our history - if you have the right skills.

Australians have always been a people who stress equality, who believe what you make of yourself is more important than where you came from. That's still a good philosophy for a frontier society. But let's be honest, tens of thousands of people are going to be deprived of these opportunities if we continue to tolerate a public education system that effectively writes off whole segments of Australian society. In short, we have a 21st-century economy with a 19th-century education system, and it is leaving too many children behind.

School reform leads me to the next domestic priority: full reconciliation among all Australians. We are now beyond the day when Australian governments would take Aboriginal babies from their mothers' arms and hand them over to be raised by white Australians. Even that action was inspired as much by ignorance as arrogance. Many of the missionaries of the past were full of good intent, but simply did not understand or respect Aboriginal culture.

Members of both major parties have made eloquent, clear-headed statements expressing regret for the historic injustices visited on our Aboriginal Australians. That there were victims, and many of them, is beyond dispute. But apologies alone will not achieve true reconciliation, and neither will allowing victimhood to remain dominant in our national psyche. Far from liberating our Aboriginal brothers and sisters from the colonial yoke, we have cultivated a well-intentioned but stultifying dependency. The best way to redress the past and advance true equality for all Australians is to ensure the next generation of Aboriginal children have access to top-quality schools and teachers, which they do not now have. Australia's system of public education can never be called a success until Aboriginal Australians benefit from it as much as any other citizens.

At the same time, we cannot avert our eyes to the abuse of women and children within Aboriginal communities. These are not simple problems. And they will remain serious problems until our response is informed more by true compassion and less by remorse.

Finally, Australia will be strong only if it is open to immigration. Thank goodness we are beyond where we were a few decades ago. In a relatively brief time, we have buried "White Australia" and in its place have raised a modern, diverse society. This does not mean we are neutral or valueless. We must expect immigrants to learn our language and embrace the principles that make Australia a decent and tolerant nation. At the same time, Australia needs to recognise that immigrants bring energy, skills and enthusiasm. They often better recognise the virtues of Australian society, virtues we are too shy or embarrassed to laud.

In my view, Australians should not worry because other people want to come to our country. The day to worry is when immigrants are no longer attracted to our shores. We should be a beacon to all. To our region in particular, we should be a living, happy, civil and contesting democracy that is a model for the emerging democracies around us.

Those are priorities for Australia on the home front. But Australia also has a role to play on the world stage. Part of this role is ensuring that Australian interests are represented and advanced internationally. In the 21st century, we must lead rather than react. In trade, for example, Australia is one of the few resource-rich societies that have embraced the open market. In many ways, our experience is the exception rather than the rule. Generally when nations have natural resources, they sit back and savour these resources rather than do the hard work of building a competitive economy around them.

Today Australia is probably the leading country for freedom in the area of trade that is most restricted around the world - agriculture. Restrictions on agriculture hurt many of the world's poorest nations, and we have both a moral and strategic interest in seeing them lifted. The global trade dialogue should echo with Australian accents.

Climate change is another area where Australia needs to lead rather than follow. I'm not sold on the more apocalyptic visions of climate change. But I do believe that the planet deserves the benefit of the doubt. I believe there will be great rewards for those Australians who discover new ways of reducing emissions or cleaning the environment. Here at News in Australia, we are encouraging that process through an initiative called One Degree. It's about every one of our people making small changes that together make a big difference. This program is part of a larger corporate initiative that is designed with a clear goal - to have all of our businesses around the world carbon-neutral by 2010. And we are counting on the talents and creativity of all our employees to meet that goal. Our emphasis should be on practical solutions. We cannot address climate change merely with emotion.

The ultimate solution is not to punish the Australian economy by imposing standards that the rest of the world will never meet. It's to take the lead in developing real alternatives to solve the problem by offering clean, cheap energy to meet the growing demand. The world desperately needs these cleaner and more abundant sources of energy. That will require huge investments in new technology. But the upside is huge. If we can develop cleaner and cheaper sources of energy, we will grow our economy while leaving a greener, cleaner world for our children and grandchildren.

Our world remains a dangerous place. In this promising new century we are still seeing naked, heartless aggression - whether it comes from a terrorist bombing in Islamabad or a Russian invasion of Georgia. At the same time, our traditional allies in Europe sometimes seem to have lost the will to confront aggression, even on their own doorstep. We can lament these developments, but we cannot hide from them. Throughout our past, Australian lives have always been affected by events in distant, unfamiliar places. That will remain true for the future. We need to be prepared to respond to these threats, as we have done in Iraq and are doing in Afghanistan.

But we need to be more than a reliable partner that the United States can call on. Australia needs to be part of a reform of the institutions most responsible for maintaining peace and stability. I'm thinking especially of NATO. Though NATO was designed to prevent a land war in Europe, it is now fighting well beyond its borders. As we see in Afghanistan, not everyone is doing their share, and that is a problem too many people want to ignore. The only path to reform NATO is to expand it to include nations like Australia. That way NATO will become a community based less on geography and more on common values. That is the only way NATO will be effective. And Australian leadership is critical to these efforts.

Finally, there is an even more fundamental constitutional question about our identity. Should Australia be a republic? There has been more maturity to this debate over the past couple of years, and there is now no need to rush to the exit. But the moment is not far away when the country will decide its fate. And if I were in a position to vote, it would be for a republic. The establishment of a republic of Australia will not slight the Queen, nor will it deny the British traditions, values and structures that have served us so well. But we are no longer a dependency, and we should be independent.

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Is Australia persecuting Falun Gong followers too?

It seems so. There is no doubt that Falun Gong followers are persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime -- even though they are a spiritual movement rather than a political one

The Immigration Department is endangering failed Falun Gong asylum seekers by forcing them to apply for travel documents from the Chinese consulate in Sydney, exposing their status to authorities and putting them in danger of persecution, refugee advocates say. One woman, Zhang Lilin (not her real name), now needs to file a sur place claim, one created when the Government's actions, in forcing her to go to the consulate, initiate a need for her protection.

A spokesman for the department denied that it alerted foreign authorities about former protection visa applicants. Australia deported 770 Chinese nationals in 2007-08 but the department could give no figure on what percentage of them were failed protection visa applicants.

The chairwoman of Balmain for Refugees, Frances Milne, who works with Chinese asylum seekers, said it was naive to assume, as the Australian Government did, that because it did not consider the asylum seeker a refugee, the Chinese Government would not be offended by a person claiming protection from alleged human rights abuses. Last month a Chinese consular officer told Ms Zhang that China opposed its citizens applying for asylum. "If you don't understand, I have to say simply this is policy. As you applied for a protection visa, you should know this is against the Chinese Government's policies." A transcript of that conversation has been sent to the Immigration Department.

The Chinese Government has described Falun Gong as an "evil cult" and banned its practice since 1999. Since then it has staged frequent crackdowns on practitioners, detaining and torturing members because of their religious beliefs, Amnesty International says.

Mrs Milne said "the crackdown on human rights protests throughout the Olympics clearly indicates that China is very sensitive and brutal when it has to defend its human rights record against overseas claims of human rights abuses". In a letter to the Immigration Minister, Mrs Milne said "the Government has created the situation where [Ms Zhang] needs to make a sur place claim for protection". She called on the minister to change departmental regulations that create such situations.

The Herald spoke with three Falun Gong practitioners who have had their claims for protection rejected, and are facing deportation. However, none of the women has a valid Chinese passport - two have expired passports and the third has lost hers since arriving in Australia - so new documents must be issued.

The three are caught in a Catch-22 scenario: the Department of Immigration, seeking to deport them, will only issue a bridging visa (removal pending) that allows them to stay if they present travel documents that show their intention to leave Australia. The Chinese consulate will only issue them with travel documents if they spell out the nature of the bridging visa E they are seeking. Fearing persecution from authorities, none of the women want to reveal they have applied for protection from China. A second woman, 57, who came here in 1999, was told to get a new passport or the department would send her to Villawood. She said, through an interpreter, that she went six times to the consulate, and each time she was refused help. The consulate had said her letter from the department did not clearly mention the immigration category so it would not take the application.

One time a consular officer asked her directly: "Are you applying for the refugee visa? They said if you are . you must give us all the [protection claim] documents. I dare not say directly [I am a refugee] because spies here take pictures of Falun Gong activities here," she said.

A third woman, 47, who arrived in 2002, gave the consulate with a letter from the Immigration Department requesting travel documents. The consulate asked "'What is an E visa? What kind of visa?' Finally I said I am a refugee and they threw [the passport application] back across the counter at me. They looked very angry." Despite the women's experience, a departmental spokesman said its officers would undertake to get travel documents for them if asked.

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The Dr. Moeller immigration case: Where is the flexibility at the political level over this?

The bureaucrats are just following their rules. The immigration minister should see that this is an exceptional case and intervene. Or has all that Leftist "compassion" gone out the window? The pic below is of the minister concened, the rather dimwitted Chris Evans



Former Cabinet minister Mary Delahunty has blasted Immigration officials over the handling of a migrant doctor's visa application, saying she is "flabbergasted at the stupidity". Dr Bernhard Moeller's application to stay in Australia was rejected last week because his son has Down syndrome.

The prospect of losing the only internal medical specialist at Horsham has outraged its residents, who have demanded the decision be overturned. Ms Delahunty yesterday revealed the German-born doctor had treated her late father in hospital at Horsham until August this year. "If we're serious about providing decent health care in regional Australia this decision has to be overturned," she said. "Why are we disadvantaging regional Australia? We must end this lunacy."

Ms Delahunty's comments follow Premier John Brumby's slamming of the decision to reject Dr Moeller because the potential long-term costs of caring for his 13-year-old son are too great. Mr Brumby said last week he was shocked to learn the specialist's application had been rejected, and had written to Immigration Minister Chris Evans demanding an urgent review.

Ms Delahunty, a former arts minister who retired before the last election, said she and her family got to know Dr Moeller this year, and was outraged the decision had not already been overturned. "We are so short of doctors in regional Australia, and you have to experience it to appreciate the disadvantage," she said. "I've been out of government coming up to two years and I've never spoken on anything, but there has to be an end to this lunacy, this doctor has to be allowed to stay."

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Australia is enjoying a baby boom. Why?

In what he says below Bernard Salt tries desperately to avoid giving credit to the policies of Australia's previous conservative government. Salt says the boom is mostly due to prosperity. But the birthrate rise did not coincide with any obvious leap in prosperity, even allowing for some lags. But the big leap did coincide with the introduction of monetary rewards for having babies. So I am inclined to think that the rise is almost entirely due to the Howard/Costello baby bonus payments and that Rudd's likely scrapping of the payments will largely end the baby boom

Big news during the week: Australia is in the grip of a baby boom. New figures confirm that 285,000 babies were born during 2007 - up 19,000 over the previous 12 months, and up 50,000 from the number recorded in 2001. Australia's fertility rate now stands at 1.93 births per woman. Japan, for example, can manage only a paltry 1.1. The yen might be rising against the Aussie dollar but we can still beat the Japanese at breeding.

Babies are everywhere. But why? During the Great Depression the birth rate plummeted. People do not breed when they are uncertain about the future. But this also means that during times of prosperity, such as the past 18 years, the birth rate rises. Although this increase was far from immediate. It took the whole of the 1990s for Australians to get used to the idea that prosperity was here to stay, for a while at least. As such the birth rate didn't do its hockey-stick up-turn until 2002 - some two years in advance of the baby bonus.

The baby bonus merely accelerated a rising trend, which I think reflected a broader confidence in the future. Australians were already well on their way to "having one for the country" before former treasurer Peter Costello popularised the notion.

There is also the argument that Gen X women who had delayed having children in the 1990s to concentrate on careers suddenly switched priorities at about this time. And to some extent you also have to admit that babies really are infectious. One person has one and before you know it everyone is having a baby. Even celebrities are doing it. Role models such as Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett show that motherhood and glamour are not mutually exclusive. (Are you reading this, Kylie?)

Other factors have also contributed. Medical advances in IVF, and especially in the care of later pregnancies, have given older women the confidence to have children.

A firm and rising birth rate is a federal treasurer's dream. After all, this is an investment in the taxpayer population base in the late 2020s. (A rising tax base makes politicians look good economic managers.) Although it must be said that a rising birth rate can also place pressure on the labour market since more women come out of the workforce to have children, adding to the immediate skills shortage.

But the future of the current baby boom must be questioned with the likely onset of recession in 2009. The figures released this week relate to births in 2007. This time next year the figures will reflect the 2008 trend. And most babies born in 2008 will have been conceived amid the euphoria of prosperity but will be born into a period of uncertainty. Oddly enough the fluctuation of the birth rate over the next two years will be one measure of how seriously Australians regard the current economic crisis.

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A crazed basher free to work with kids

The notorious Leftist VCAT again. If the guy had said anything critical about Muslims he would have been finished. But bashings and insanity are no problem. This should be appealed to the Supreme Court

A court has granted a convicted killer described as "brutal, vicious and cowardly" a licence to work with children. The man spent three years of a five-year sentence in jail for the race-based gang killing of a Samoan teen. But the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has overturned a Justice Department ban, allowing him to work with children.

Despite the Sunday Herald Sun obtaining the killer's name and image, we are gagged from using them. We are also banned from showing a photo of the fresh faced youth he killed, or identifying the young people's groups the killer works with.

The Justice Department refused him a permit to work with children after checks revealed his past. But a tribunal judge overturned the ban when the killer - a youth worker - appealed against the department's decision.

Before being convicted of manslaughter, the man was convicted of possessing and using cannabis and cultivating and trafficking cannabis and amphetamines. His most recent conviction was in 2002 - after being released on parole from his manslaughter sentence - after he tried to buy amphetamines from an undercover cop.

In her decision, VCAT judge Marilyn Harbison said that in 1995, the man was drinking with a group in Frankston who mistook a family out for ice cream for a rival ethnic gang. "After some preliminary heckling, a fight ensued. In the course of the fight one of the members of the family group was attacked viciously by the group," Judge Harbison said.

The killer and three other main offenders punched and kicked the man, before one of the other offenders stabbed him. ". . .(The) applicant hit him several times viciously with a stick whilst he was lying on the ground," she said. Judge Harbison said the victim died of his stab wounds, but a pathology report found he could have just as easily died from the repeated kicking and punching. The victim died in hospital.

Summarising the Justice Department position, Judge Harbison said: "How could a man who had committed such a violent act be entrusted with the care of children?" But she concluded there was "no unjustifiable (sic) risk to the safety of children from this applicant". The killer had schizophrenia, but it had not contributed to the killing.

She also noted the applicant was remorseful, was in a long-term relationship, had a child and wanted full-time work to set up his family. She said the man's family gave evidence that he was devoted to youth work and wanted to warn others off drugs, alcohol and violence. The sentencing judge in the manslaughter trial described the gang's actions as "brutal, vicious and cowardly". The Justice Department would not comment, but warned identifying the killer would breach an order made by VCAT.

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The faddist hatred of salt has had a worrisome side-effect

Iodine deficiency was long ago thought to be dealt with adequately by putting iodine in table salt. Your salt container probably says "iodized" somewhere on it. There is iodine in sea salt naturally as well. But the report below reveals that iodine deficiency is now showing up. Obviously the totally unwarranted hatred of dietary salt has had the intended effect of reducing consumption of it and the unintended effect of reducing iodine intake

AUSTRALIA'S top food regulator Food Standards Australia New Zealand has ruled that iodine must be added to all bread by September 2009. Food Standards Australia New Zealand is responding to its Australian Total Diet Study, which found that about 43 per cent of Australians have an inadequate iodine intake. It estimates this will drop to no more than 5 per cent after iodine-fortification of bread.

The ATDS is conducted about every two years to ensure the Australian food supply is safe and nutritious. "Insufficient iodine intake, particularly in groups such as pregnant women, babies and young children, is of great concern," Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing Senator Jan McLucas said. "Mild to moderate iodine deficiency can result in children having learning difficulties and can affect the development of motor skills and hearing. "In extreme cases it can result in severe intellectual disability."

Women aged 19 to 49 need between 100 and 200 micrograms of iodine a day but the study found 70 per cent were not getting enough. Ten per cent of children aged two to three years are also not getting enough iodine.

Ninety-six types of food were tested in a "table-ready" state for the trace elements selenium, chromium, molybdenum, nickel and iodine. The survey found that selenium intake also needed further investigation. FSANZ chief scientist Dr Paul Brent said that the agency had taken a new approach to producing a world-leading total diet study focused exclusively on nutrients.

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Brain-dead Greenie assumptions underly Australian climate proposals

China and India have ALREADY said: "No deal"

You don't have to be a Treasury modeller to work out that if the developed world signs up to a global climate change deal next year and the biggest emitters in the developing world agree to follow suit soon after, then "carbon leakage" isn't going to be a huge problem. Carbon leakage is the spectre raised by many emissions-intensive trading industries - such as LNG, cement and aluminium - that they will be forced offshore if made to bear a domestic carbon price when their competitors overseas pay none.

If their competitors overseas are already paying a price, or are clearly going to have to pay one in the relatively near future, then long-term investment decisions won't be influenced by the international price differentials. That, effectively, is what the comprehensive Treasury modelling released yesterday assumes. Given the stated intentions of the European Union and both US presidential candidates, this assumption may prove right. Given the back-pedalling by some EU members and the political ramifications of the present economic meltdown in the US, it might not be.

If it does prove right, then the news from this ambitious modelling exercise is good. The costs to Australian businesses and households of the proposed emissions trading scheme seem manageable. Electricity price rises of between 17 and 24 per cent are not insignificant. But translated into an extra $4 or $5 on the average weekly power bill they don't seem impossible either, particularly with the compensation the Government has already promised.

The upheavals in Australian industry will also be significant, with some sectors thriving and others shrinking. And there will, of course, be major changes in the way we generate electricity, this being one of the main points of the exercise. But if the carbon price ratchets up slowly and structural adjustment money is available for sectors and regions hit hardest, these difficulties don't seem insurmountable either. Kevin Rudd made it pretty clear on the 7.30 Report last night that a slow rachetting up is exactly what he has in mind. The Prime Minister sounded like a thesaurus reciting the entries for cautious: "calm", "cool", "sober", "practical". He was going all out to be reassuring. And the modelling makes the economic case for acting quickly clear. The environmental case for rapid action already was.

But the big unanswered question is where we will end up if the assumption is wrong, if Copenhagen fails, if the outcome is messy. Surely we have to take into account the possibility that the pressures of the global economic crisis will mean isolationist short-term self-interest prevails over a multilateral solution in the interests of all.

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"Soft" female judge lets child rapist walk free

She should be removed from the bench and put on administrative duties only

Cairns judge Sarah Bradley is again under scrutiny after a teenage boy with a previous conviction for rape walked free from court despite pleading guilty to sexually assaulting three sisters. Attorney-General Kerry Shine yesterday requested a copy of the sentencing remarks, the first stage in what could be an appeal following local outrage over the case.

The controversial judge came under fire last year for giving lenient sentences to a group of men and boys who raped a girl at Aurukun, in far north Queensland, but was later cleared of judicial misconduct. Mr Shine successfully appealed the non-custodial sentences given to the nine males. Chief Justice Paul de Jersey said Judge Bradley made several errors in that case, which led to the imposition of manifestly inadequate sentences.

Judge Bradley again hit the headlines this week when she reportedly sentenced the teen rapist to two years' probation and 408 days in detention. Local media reported Judge Bradley said the boy should not be required to spend any more time in jail because he had already served 204 days, angering the victims' family who said the sentence was too short.

Cairns District Court heard the boy had repeatedly sexually assaulted three foster sisters aged 14, 16 and 17. The boy was 14 at the time and living in foster care. He pleaded guilty to 14 counts of indecent treatment.

Judge Bradley could not be contacted for comment yesterday, while Attorney-General Shine also did not want to comment before seeing the sentencing remarks. "The Attorney-General has requested the sentencing remarks to determine whether there are grounds for an appeal," his spokesman said.

But the Department of Child Safety also came under fire over the case yesterday, with the Opposition demanding to know why the boy was placed in the foster home when he had a conviction for raping a toddler. "Placing a youth who had already raped a child back into foster care with young girls was the last thing that should have occurred," Liberal National MP Jann Stuckey said. "This Government has again failed children in care."

Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech said she was "distressed" by the incident but was unable to comment because of pending legal matters. "It is a terrible thing to occur in a family," she said. Mrs Keech indicated an investigation would be conducted.

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Amazing public hospital negligence in Melbourne

The Alfred hospital allowed its former trauma chief to operate on patients' vital organs despite his medical licence restricting him to orthopedic surgery. The revelation could pose further legal problems for The Alfred, which already faces the prospect of medical negligence claims from some of Thomas Kossmann's former patients. A report by State Ombudsman George Brouwer found Professor Kossmann performed surgery on lungs, kidneys and bladders - procedures normally done by specialists.

The report, which exposed Professor Kossmann's systematic rorting [misdirection] of public funds and serious administrative failings at The Alfred and the Transport Accident Commission, also found he attempted "difficult and dangerous" surgery in areas in which he had "little experience or proven skill".

Mr Brouwer said The Alfred allowed Professor Kossmann to operate in areas outside his speciality of orthopedic surgery between 2002 and 2007. Orthopedic surgeons primarily deal with bones. The approval was despite an August 2002 ruling by the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria which stated: "You are restricted to practising within the speciality of orthopedic surgery and are not permitted to practise outside this speciality." Mr Brouwer said the restriction was clearly visible on Professor Kossmann's annual practising certificate and the medical board's online register of practitioners.

Medical negligence lawyers told The Age yesterday that the failure to ensure Professor Kossmann stayed within his area of speciality could pose legal problems for The Alfred because it had a duty to ensure its surgeons were operating in their accredited fields. Law firm Slater & Gordon is already examining potential medical negligence cases against The Alfred and Professor Kossmann.

Alfred chief executive Jennifer Williams earlier this year announced a new policy requiring surgeons to demonstrate their skills before getting hospital approval to perform specialist surgery.

Mr Brouwer found that The Alfred did not act on an undertaking to review Professor Kossmann's credentials after he received an orthopedic fellowship from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in 2002. While he awaited acceptance from the college, The Alfred granted temporary approval for him to perform a broad range of procedures under the close supervision of college fellows. At the time, The Alfred acknowledged it would need to review Professor Kossmann's credentials once he was made a college fellow.

But Mr Brouwer found: "There is no evidence that Professor Kossmann's credentials and clinical privileges were ever reviewed. It appears Professor Kossmann, his surgical colleagues, his divisional directors and hospital medical administration did not revisit this important issue during the six years he was with The Alfred."

Professor Kossmann told Mr Brouwer he did not understand that his medical licence from 2002 onwards only permitted him to perform orthopedic surgery. It was only in the course of the Ombudsman's investigation that he became aware he had operated in areas he was not registered to do so. Professor Kossmann resigned from The Alfred in April.

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Another breast cancer victim sues government for negligence

A NSW case was reported here just a couple of days ago.

BREASTSCREEN Queensland radiologists failed to detect a malignant tumour in a woman's breast, according to a claim filed in the Supreme Court. She is the second breast cancer sufferer to file for damages in the Supreme Court in the past month over alleged medical negligence. A central Queensland resident has also sued four doctors and Queensland X-Ray after she was allegedly told all was well following a breast image and biopsy on October 19, 2005.

However, according to a claim filed in the Supreme Court registry in Mackay, her Queensland X-Ray image and biopsy report stated: "I am uncomfortable with the cytology (analysis of cells) finding so reassessment of the films is recommended with a review to a repeat biopsy." It is alleged a second doctor she visited did not advise the woman of this, while a third doctor on March 12 last year also failed to advise her. Despite that, two days later they suggested an early follow-up mammogram.

The woman, 53, has since allegedly been diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer with bone, breast and liver lesions. "Had the plaintiff been warned and advised ... she would have undergone further testing," her claim stated. It went on to say that had the further testing been carried out, an early diagnosis of cancer would have been made. Along with pain and suffering, she faced a "loss of expectation of life" and is suing for $276,400.

The woman's case came after another breast cancer sufferer, who now lives in Port Headland in Western Australia, claimed two radiologists at a BreastScreen Queensland service at the Nambour Hospital mistakenly interpreted an increased tissue density in her right breast as "benign". A claim filed in the Supreme Court registry in Brisbane alleged she in fact had a malignant tumour in her right breast, which radiologists should have detected at the time, in June 2005. A proper diagnosis was delayed by 15 months as a result of the negligence of the radiologists, her claim alleged. As a result she would need breast reconstruction surgery in the future and faced a 14 per cent increased chance of dying within the next 10 years. She has sued the state of Queensland for unspecified damages.

Spokeswomen for Queensland Health and Queensland X-Ray declined to comment, saying the matters were still before the court.

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Slow but steady climate backdown underway

The Rudd Government has no ambitions to set an example by moving dramatically ahead of other countries with its emissions trading regime, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has indicated. Senator Wong told The Weekend Australian the Government had "very deliberately" timed the final decisions on the limits or "caps" it would put on Australian greenhouse emissions so they would be taken after a crucial UN meeting in Copenhagen next year. "We will clearly have strong regard to the outcomes of Copenhagen when we are taking those decisions," she said. "We modelled what we are working towards."

Treasury modelling released this week, which found the costs of an ETS would be modest, assumed that developed countries would clinch a deal in Copenhagen and that developing countries such as China would agree on specific emission reduction plans soon afterwards. But industry remains concerned, because of the Government's promise to introduce a scheme regardless of the outcome of Copenhagen.

Business Council of Australia policy director Maria Tarrant said: "The entire focus of the modelling is on there being a global agreement and a global carbon price. It is very disappointing that we don't get any information about what happens if a global agreement does not eventuate."

Kevin Rudd yesterday highlighted the economic dangers of failing to act, pointing out that some countries had threatened border taxes against imports from nations without a cost on carbon. Malcolm Turnbull repeated his call to delay the ETS, saying: "We won't know how much this (ETS) is going to cost until the Government takes into account this global financial crisis".

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