Freedom of religion preserved

A bill to overturn controversial laws that allow private schools to expel students for being gay or transgender has been shelved indefinitely after the NSW Coalition indicated it was unlikely to support the change.

But Sydney independent MP Alex Greenwich, who had been pushing for the change, said he was pleased by statements from Education Minister Adrian Piccoli highlighting the impact of discrimination and urging students to report private schools which did not look after their welfare to the Board of Studies.

Mr Greenwich had introduced a private member's bill to remove exemptions for private schools from parts of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act, which otherwise makes it unlawful to expel or discriminate against gay students.

Labor, the Greens, mental health advocacy groups including BeyondBlue and the Law Society of NSW have voiced support for the bill, but some faith-based schools argued it could threaten religious freedom.

Mr Greenwich withdrew the bill on Wednesday after indications that the government, whose support would be required to pass it, was unlikely to do so.

But he said he was heartened by comments from Mr Piccoli saying discriminatory language, vilification and bullying of any student had no place in schools.

Mr Piccoli told Parliament he was "moved and concerned" by stories of bullying and mistreatment highlighted by Mr Greenwich. He had asked the Board of Studies, which registers non-government schools, to advise him of what it could do to protect student welfare.

Mr Piccoli said providing a "safe and supportive" environment for students was a requirement of registration and the board would investigate complaints from students where schools had failed to do so.

"I urge anyone who has concerns about a school’s welfare policy to bring it to the attention of the Board where it will be investigated fully," he said.

Mr Greenwich said he was disappointed the government had not demonstrated support for his bill but was pleased by the comments.

“I will reintroduce my bill in parliament next year if the new Board of Studies process fails to protect vulnerable students from discrimination and I remain committed to anti-discrimination law reform and removing religious exemptions," he said.

Two groups working in the mental health sector - BeyondBlue and the Australian Clinical Psychology - had thrown their support behind Mr Greenwich’s bill, as had the Law Society of NSW.

"As private educational authorities are recipients of public funds, the standards that apply to public educational authorities in terms of the protection of students or prospective students against discrimination on protected attributes should also apply..." the Law Society wrote in a letter.

But groups representing private schools have argued there are few if indeed any known cases of students being expelled for being gay, and said their religious freedom was at stake.

"Removing exemptions wouldn't increase protections for the students at all, but what it would do is remove protection for the school to teach their ethos and values and expose them to litigation," Geoff Newcombe, the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools NSW, told Fairfax Media this year.

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NSW minister calls for cap on teaching degrees

Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has called for a cap on the number of students allowed to enrol in teaching degrees to curb the state's oversupply of primary school teachers.

Fairfax Media revealed on Sunday more than 40,000 teachers are on a waiting list for permanent jobs in NSW and the oversupply of primary teachers is likely to last until the end of the decade even if resignations or retirements double.

Mr Piccoli says he has long held the view that university places should be limited in teaching to better align supply with need. He says Finland, which is often celebrated for its high educational standards, has a very tight cap on the number of students accepted into teacher training.

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne says the government has no plans to cap placements but would review teacher training courses to ensure they produce the highest quality graduates. "We don't intend to pre-empt the outcome of that review, but it will be wide ranging and look at many aspects of teacher training," he said.

While the state government cannot implement a cap, Mr Piccoli says it can control who is accepted into teaching and that is why it is bringing in tougher entry requirements.

From 2015 school leavers must score at least a band five, or more than 80 per cent, in three HSC subjects, including English.

"What we want to do is to take out some of the lower achieving students who go into teaching by setting that high standard," he said. "We want students with an ATAR of at least 70 and higher."

A Fairfax Media analysis of the 2013 university entry cut-offs found the average ATAR needed to enter a degree to teach in primary schools was 71. The Australian Catholic University, the University of Newcastle and the University of Western Sydney offered at least one teaching course with an ATAR below 65. But universities say the issue is not the number of teachers they are training but how and where they are employed.

Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven says teachers are increasingly being hired in casual or temporary positions, which often amount to full-time work. "The reason that's happening is not because universities are producing too many teachers, it's because employers of teachers obviously find certain cost and flexibility advantages in hiring teachers in that way," he said.

The executive dean of Charles Sturt University's education faculty, Toni Downes, says it should not be up to the government to control how many people study teaching. "Graduates go to the non-government school system, the catholic school system, interstate, they go overseas, they use [their degrees] in educational settings that aren't schools and a range of human services using HR," she said.

English and History teacher Andrew Bigwood has been on the "casual roundabout" for 10 years and has no work lined up for next year. He supports two children and a wife who cannot work because she has multiple sclerosis. "There is this fantasy that you will walk out of uni into a job but it's simply not the case," he said.

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Qld. police to gain protection from being sued

This is deplorable.  The courts are just about the only remedy for police misbehaviour

Premier Campbell Newman introduced the Public Service Amendment bill on Tuesday, announcing it was designed to protect "public service employees, police officers and other persons in particular circumstances relating to engaging in conduct in an official capacity" from civil action.

Mr Newman said he was following through on an election promise to review the laws.  "Police perform a critical role in ensuring safe communities in Queensland," he said.

"In the often highly complex situations they respond to, and despite performing their roles professionally and in good faith, the nature of their business means there are occasional incidents that cause injury to people or damage to property."

The legislation amendments are designed to protect state employees who are working in an official capacity from civil liability.

Instead, that liability will be transferred to the state. But the legislation does include a clause which allows the government to recoup costs from state employees who "have engaged in conduct other than in good faith, and with gross negligence".

The Queensland Police Union had been calling for the change for several years, after a Brisbane constable was found guilty of an assault of a 65-year-old homeless man in 2006.

Bruce Rowe brought a private prosecution against Constable Benjamin Arndt following his own arrest. Mr Arndt was found guilty in 2011 and fined $1000 and ordered to pay court costs.

At the time, the police union decried the situation as an attack on how police did their job and demanded the law be changed.

On Tuesday, QPU president Ian Leavers called the legislation "a great start for police to achieve criminal and civil protections for police acting in good faith without gross negligence".

"...We are very pleased with the introduction of the bill as it now gives police greater peace of mind as they go about their job protecting Queensland," he said.

The bill has been referred to a parliamentary committee for review and is expected to be passed early next year.

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Spy row: No sign of apology from Tony Abbott as Indonesia freezes cooperation with Australia

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is showing no sign he intends to apologise to Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the spying scandal.

Indonesia has now suspended cooperation with Australia on people smuggling, including combined military patrols, military training exercises and intelligence exchanges.

Two hours after Mr Yudhoyono announced he was freezing cooperation with Australia late yesterday, Mr Abbott rose in Parliament to reiterate his regret over the spying reports.

"I want to express here in this chamber my deep and sincere regret about the embarrassment to the president and to Indonesia that's been caused by recent media reporting," he said.

Mr Abbott said he would respond "swiftly, full and courteously" to a written request for an explanation, but there was no indication he had any plans to say sorry.

No doubt mindful of the fact the phone tapping program was in place during Labor's time in office, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten lent his support to the Government.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek supported the bipartisan approach when she fronted reporters this morning.

"We are absolutely committed to working with the Government to restoring good relations with Indonesia," she said.  "[We are] absolutely willing to support any moves they make to restore the relationship to its normal footing."

Australia's longest serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer, has also supported Mr Abbott's position.

He told the ABC's Lateline program that Australia does not owe Indonesia a detailed explanation of its spying activities.

He says Mr Abbott's priority is to defend Australia's intelligence assets, adding that while Mr Yudhuyono had been "a great friend" to Australia, "he is not responsible for Australia's intelligence assets".

"I think the best way to handle these issues, stick with the time-worn formula that you never confirm or deny allegations in relation to intelligence, because the more you start to do that, the more - as time goes on - you'll get yourself into increasing trouble," Mr Downer said.

US secretary of state John Kerry has also supported the approach not to discuss intelligence matters.

Speaking at a press conference with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Washington this morning, they both refused to say whether they discussed the spying controversy - one that was sparked by the leaking of documents by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

"As I have said on numerous occasions and as the Prime Minister has said, we do not discuss intelligence matters, certainly not allegations," Ms Bishop said.  "We do not discuss them publicly and we will not do so."

Mr Kerry said: "We just don’t talk about intelligence matters in public, and we’re not about to begin now."

He added that the US has a critical working relationship with Australia, "likewise we have great respect and affection for Indonesia".

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ZEG

In his latest offering, conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG is amused at the "spying on Indonesia" beatup by the Green/Left





Some sustained feminist arrogance

The sustained feminist diatribe by  Clem Bastow below purports to review a piece of market reseach.  What one looks for in such a review is at least a summary of what the research says.  But we don't get that here.  All we get is a few sentences held up here and there for ridicule.  No attempt to bring evidence to bear on anything the author disagrees with is made.  The proposition that men watch what they say in front of women is such a tradition that I would have thought it unquestionable but our femiminst writer simply dismisses it as absurd.  That rather shows how little she knows about men  -- not surprising, I guess.  The article amounts to nothing much more than a torrent of sneering denigration of men.  The degree of insecurity that makes such defensivenes necessary can only be imagined.  The lady is sick with hate. Too much feminist writing is of that ilk and that does tend to explain why many capable women refuse to call themselves feminists

If you’ve spent much time online or in the public sphere - or, for that matter, simply existing in the world in general - you might have been under the impression that men don’t feel particularly hobbled when it comes to speaking their minds.

Not so, if the release of The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper is any indication. It has been prepared by advertising/marketing behemoth M&C Saatchi Australia’s senior strategist Carolyn Managh, who apparently lives in an alternate universe, if her quotes in the press release are to be believed: “The White Paper steps around the female minefield that stops academics, politicians and everyday men from saying what they really think, this research says what every man is thinking.”

(At the risk of sounding like a Carry On film, I don’t think my female minefield has ever stopped everyday men from saying what they really think, at least if you take the comments section on any Daily Life piece as evidence.)

The paper - written after eight months of interviews with 140 Australian men aged 27 to 55, which is, despite the paper’s “unprecedented” and “landmark” claims, not really an immense sample group - trumpets that Australian men are “so conditioned to being told they’re wrong, they’ve developed gender issue laryngitis”.

The irony of the phrase “gender issue laryngitis” being raised at the 10th annual Men’s & Father’s Roundtable, on International Men’s Day (funny, I thought that was the other 364 days of the year aside from March 8th, a ho ho ho), is not lost on me. Nonetheless, I persevered and read The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper.

By the time I reached the page - and all of them are impeccably designed - featuring a pull-quote from Richard Wilkins that bellows, in huge type, “Women fall in love with the way you are, then try to change you”, followed on the next page by an inexplicable photo of G.I. Joe dolls, I had a pretty good idea of what I was dealing with. To wit: absolute twaddle.

The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper comes off like an effort from The Gruen Transfer’s ‘The Pitch’ segment, however unlike ads convincing Australians to invade New Zealand, it does not appear to be a joke.

I was not alone in this reaction. “I initially thought it might have been written by the Chaser team. Or Alan Jones,” Men’s Referral Service and No To Violence CEO Danny Blay told me. “It attempts to describe all men as a singular type, [but] ignores the impact of traditional masculinity on violence against women, violent crime, criminal activity, sexual harassment, sexual assault, porn, child protection notifications, the prison population, road trauma…”

Indeed, the terrible irony of tone-deaf stunts like The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper - announced as it was with an email blast bearing the subject header “Not All Men Are Bastards” - is that they cloak what is essentially market research in a flimsy patina of social science, attempting to fool the reader into thinking they are dealing with a serious research paper and/or genuine concern about the emotional status of Australian men.

That seems to be what has happened to Julia Keady, who writes, inspired by the white paper, “What I won't stand for is the advancement of one gender at the sacrifice of another”, and it’s that misguided stance (to say nothing of “gender issue laryngitis”, a phrase that made me hoot with laughter) that has, presumably, fuelled the paper’s creation, or at least its cod-scientific tone.

Keady also reckons “men's wellbeing and safety is not part of this nation's gender conversation” (I guess the roaring success of Movember is just a blip on the gender conversation radar), a claim that might hold some weight in the context of the white paper were it not for the fact that the study’s “key findings” include pressing issues like “[Australian men are] traumatised about buying women presents”.

Makes you think of the old Margaret Atwood line about men being “afraid women will laugh at them [...] We're afraid of being killed”, doesn’t it? But, you know, NOT ALL MEN ARE BASTARDS!

“Complaining that not all men are bastards is a blatant attempt to tell women to shut up; ‘it’s not all bad, deal with it’,” Blay says. “The white paper makes no mention of the physical, historical or social context of men’s power over women (and children – see recent investigations of institutional sexual abuse of children – not a lot of women implicated there) and negates the reality of the inherent unequal power imbalance based solely on gender.”

The paper’s conclusion bleats (in a font size that Superman would struggle to leap in a single bound), “The results of The Modern (Aussie) Man study were ASTOUNDING [...] Men miss being treated like men. Real manly men.” Really? “Astounding”? You interviewed 140 men and collated their responses in a “paper” that is essentially a 61-page version of such storied bits of wisdom as “you have to eat meat to feed meat” and “I’m not a poof or nothing”?

When the presser includes gems like “The Modern (Aussie) Man White Paper goes where few have dared to go; opening the gender conversation from men’s perspective, at a deeply personal level”, I can only think about how great a slice of the last, say, two thousand years worth of conversation has been from men’s perspective.

Nobody is here to deny the very real trauma of male suicide rates, depression, rape within the prison system (not to mention the prison industrial complex), workplace safety, alcohol-fuelled violence or war - issues that all but the most radical throwback feminists would agree are pressing.

Suggesting that there’s a “female minefield” that prevents men from speaking their minds, on the other hand, makes me wonder if whoever prints the calendars accidentally switched International Men’s Day with April 1st for 2013.

The Modern (Aussie) Man crew have really saved the best ‘til last, however. Despite great fanfare accompanying the release of the white paper, there’s nothing remotely scientific about it. And that’s because (if the presence of M&C Saatchi didn’t clue you in from the very beginning) you have to read all 61 pages to get to the truth: the final line, “M&C Saatchi hopes this study is the first step to bringing brands and men closer together.”

Who knew? “Opening the gender conversation from men’s perspective, at a deeply personal level” was just another way to say “Buy more Lynx and sick V8s.”

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Food fanaticism gets a response

The response is deplorable but so is the fanaticism that evoked it.

THE owner of a Townsville children's play centre was bashed after he refused to let a man bring cupcakes into the establishment due to health concerns.

Lollipop's Playland and Cafe director Dylan Gray (pictured) was kicked and choked during the frenzied attack, which happened in front of children outside the centre. Mr Gray said he was working on Monday morning when he noticed a customer had brought cupcakes for a birthday party.

When he told the man he wasn't allowed to bring the baked goods in due to allergy concerns, the man flipped.

Mr Gray, who took over the business at Domain Central about eight weeks ago, asked the man to hand over the cupcakes and when he refused, asked him to leave.  "On the way out he commented we were going to hear from him so I followed him outside to try and rectify the situation," Mr Gray said.

"He grabbed me around the neck and lifted me up, he said, 'I'm not going to punch you, I'm going to strangle you'."

Mr Gray said his memory of the attack was blurry but he also remembered being slapped and kicked.  "I'm fairly bruised and sore around the neck and jaw area and I'm really sore down my side," he said.

"Hindsight is a great thing and if I had that day over ... well they left in a huff, why did I follow them outside?

"It's not really something you want to go through and it will probably stay with me for a while."

Mr Gray said he would continue to uphold the centre's policy of refusing to let customers bring in food to keep children safe from a possible allergic reaction or life-threatening anaphylactic shock.

Customers who pre-book birthday parties can organise to bring cakes in if the ingredients can be confirmed prior to the party.

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Aliens in our midst

Why are these people here?

HUNDREDS of Muslims attending a community meeting in western Sydney were warned yesterday that they should refuse to co-operate with Australian governments and their agencies, including ASIO and the federal police.

The annual conference of Hizb ut-Tahrir heard speakers say the federal government had a covert plan to marginalise and suppress activist and traditionalist Islam under the guise of engagement and fostering harmony with moderates in the community…

In an address entitled Forging an Independent Path for the Community, speaker Wassim Doureihi told the 600-strong audience gathered in a hall in Sydney’s western suburbs that many Muslims had been cowed by the federal government and its agencies into abandoning traditional and activist Islam. “Out of defeatism, they crawl to the doors of the government,” he said.

He added that those imams and other Muslim community leaders who co-operated with the government lent legitimacy to what Mr Doureihi claimed was Canberra’s campaign against Muslims at home and abroad. “They sit at the table with those who are waging war against Muslims,” he said.

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Patrol boat diplomacy with Sri Lanka

The article below has the Leftist slant that one expects from the Sydney Morning Herald.  The unfortunate people of Sri Lanka have only recently freed themselves from a grisly terrorist insurgency by Tamil communists but somehow that makes them the villains.  For balance, below is what champion  cricketer Muralitharan said recently about the Tamil North:

Mr Cameron is in Colombo to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and was also given a working over on politics by the sportsman.

Muralitharan suggested the Prime Minister had been 'misled' about the latest situation in the war-scarred north of the island.

Mr Cameron is pressing the Sri Lankan regime to do more to improve conditions for the minority Tamil population still suffering the effects of a 26-year civil war which ended in 2009.

But asked about the politician's calls for more action from the government of Mr Rajapaksa - which has been criticised internationally over human rights abuses - Muralitharan, a Tamil, said Mr Cameron was underestimating the improvements already made.

'I'm a sportsman and we don't think about politics,' he told reporters. 'My opinion is, there were problems in the last 30 years in those areas.

'Nobody could move there. In wartime I went with the UN, I saw the place, how it was. Now I regularly go and I see the place and it is about a 1,000 per cent improvement in facilities.

'Cricket is the main game to narrow the bridge between the people. But facilities-wise, schools are built, roads are built. Businesses are started. So many things have happened. It is improving.

'Thanks to the Sri Lankan army, they are putting a lot of effort there. This country is 20-odd million people. In the north there are only one million people. They are getting more attention than the south at the moment.'

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended giving military hardware to a country the United Nations has accused of war crimes, praising Sri Lanka as now freer and more prosperous.

His laudatory assessment of the nation's human rights progress since the end of its civil war was in stark contrast to that of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who infuriated the regime by visiting displaced families in the formerly war-affected north, and demanding an international inquiry into war crimes.

At a Colombo dock on Sunday, Mr Abbott announced Australia would give two Bay-class patrol boats, recently retired from surveillance service in Australia, to the Sri Lankan navy to capture asylum seeker boats before they leave Sri Lankan waters.

"People smuggling is a curse. It is an evil trade … the promises that people smugglers offer are promises of death, not life," he said.

Critics have condemned the gift, which will cost Australia about $2 million. Greens leader Christine Milne said: "The Prime Minister's silence on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka was inexcusable complicity but this is nothing less than collaboration and it is abhorrent.

"I am devastated and heartbroken at the thought of Australia assisting a disgraced government to suppress and control its citizens."

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke said he wanted to see the detail of the agreement on the use of the ships at sea. Speaking on the ABC's Insiders he said: "I'm not sure how it works … because you are not dealing with a transit country. There may be some people who claim to be directly seeking asylum."

The details of the agreement, what materiel the ships could carry, and how they could be deployed, has not been made public, and on Monday, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison refused to say what, if any, limitations Australia had placed on the use of the boats.

"We'll work through those arrangements with the Sri Lanka government," he told ABC Radio.  "That is the appropriate place to have those discussions.

"I make no apologies for the fact that we are endeavouring to work with the Sri Lankan Government to stop boats coming to Australia. That is the point."

Mr Morrison said on a visit to Sri Lanka in December last year, then foreign minister Bob Carr gifted surveillance equipment to the Sri Lankan government to monitor people smuggling activity.  He said Senator Carr had discussed providing other assistance, including the kind of patrol boats the Abbott government was providing.

"I don’t recall any great hubbub about that at the time from the government and members of the Labor Party. We’re continuing that approach,’’ he said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he was not "specifically aware" of the outcome of the former Labor government's discussions with Sri Lanka.

Responding to Greens criticism that the gift represents Australian collaboration in Sri Lankan human rights abuses, Mr Morrison said he would not take advice from the party.

"The Greens' approach was tried by the previous government. The softening of our borders and all of that, they tried it all and over 1100 people ended up dead. I am not going to repeat the mistake of the previous government in being led around by the Greens," he said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles said on Monday that Labor supported co-operation with neighbours, but it was "deeply concerning" that there appeared to have been no limits placed on how Sri Lanka used the vessels.

While acknowledging "progress" on human rights in the country, Mr Marles said the boats must be used only to combat people smuggling.  "There needs to be a clear understanding with the Sri Lankan government about the terms on which these vessels will be used," he said.

The chief of Sri Lanka's Navy, Vice-Admiral Jayanth Colombage, said the ships would improve its surveillance capabilities.  "The ships will be put into good use to maintain the freedom of the Indian Ocean from any kind of maritime crime," he said.

Mr Abbott dismissed concerns that Sri Lanka could not be trusted as a partner in stopping people smuggling.

Four Sri Lankan sailors including a senior officer are under arrest on suspicion of being key players in the country's largest - and most profitable - smuggling racket. More are being investigated.

Sri Lanka, as host of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at the weekend, has faced intense scrutiny over its human rights record, particularly allegations of war crimes committed by government forces at the end of its civil war in 2009, and of continuing abuses, including abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings by state forces, land seizures and repression of political dissent.

A report by the United Nations found in the final months of fighting credible allegations of violations, "some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity", committed by Sri Lankan government forces and the rebel Tamil Tigers.

And Australia told Sri Lanka at the UN last year that it must "take action to reduce and eliminate all cases of abuse, torture or mistreatment by police and security forces … and eliminate abductions and disappearances".

But Mr Abbott said he had come to Sri Lanka "to praise as much as to judge" and that significant progress had been made since the conflict. "I welcome the opportunity that Sri Lanka has had to showcase itself to the world.

"Sri Lanka has come through many troubles but today there is more freedom and more prosperity. I'm here as a friend, I'm here as the representative of the country that wants to do the right thing by Sri Lanka."

By contrast, Mr Cameron criticised reconciliation efforts and continuing abuses, allegedly at the hands of state security forces.  He infuriated President Mahinda Rajapakse by visiting the former war zone city of Jaffna, meeting the families of people who had disappeared, and those whose land the military had seized.

Mr Cameron said Sri Lanka had enormous potential but the Commonwealth had a responsibility to speak frankly to its members.

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Senator slams ABC's objectivity

A FEDERAL politician has taken a swipe at the objectivity of ABC journalists, questioning whether taxpayers should continue to fund the national broadcaster.

Queensland Liberal senator Ian Macdonald told the upper house on Thursday he faces an increasing number of queries from constituents about when the ABC will be privatised.

"Quite clearly the ABC ... its news broadcasts, its television broadcasts, are no longer in the way of dissemination of fact," Senator Macdonald said.

Presenters are offering their own opinions to viewers, he said.

"You've only got to look at any of their current affairs programs and it's always the Green-type agenda that comes up, or the ultra left-wing social agenda."

Senator Macdonald conceded same-sex marriage is an important issue but questioned why it dominates the broadcaster's news agenda.  "The ABC seems fixated on it."

The Senate is considering the broadcaster's latest annual report ahead of an estimates hearing next week when ABC managing director Mark Scott will face the scrutiny of parliamentarians.

Senator Macdonald said people were asking why the public purse should pay for the ABC when it is doesn't appear to be a balanced provider of news.

"There are a lot of lovely people in the ABC and I'm sure very good at their work," he said, adding that regional ABC radio always gives everyone a say.

"But I'm sorry that I can't say the same for the capital city disseminators."

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NSW: New laws will see babies taken from addicted or abused mothers who refuse to seek help

BABIES will be taken away at birth from drug-addicted or abused mothers who refuse to seek help, under new state laws that will kick in while the child is still in the womb.

Pregnant women who abuse drugs or alcohol will be made to sign a Parental Responsibility Contract ordering them to undergo treatment for the sake of their baby.

If they refuse or show no intention of complying, the government will be able to remove the child the moment it is born and use the broken PRC to immediately start formal proceedings to place the baby in the Minister's care.

The new legislation will also extend to pregnant woman who suffer domestic violence. In those cases, the women will be asked to sign a PRC ordering them to either leave their partner, move in with a relative or seek help through domestic violence counselling.

HOW THE NEW LAWS WILL WORK

While the PRC process has been operating for several years, current laws state they can only be applied to a parent after their child is born rather than while it is still in the womb. This means expectant mothers with a drug addiction can continue feeding their habit up until birth.

It is hoped that under the new scheme that will no longer happen and, in best case scenarios, the pregnant women will seek treatment and immediately cease their drug habit.

Babies born with a substance addictions cry in pain for hours, suffer tremors, respiratory problems and have low birth weight.

Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward said the changes were designed to put the child first and provide the strongest possible incentive for troubled mothers to turn their lives around.

"I make no apologies for taking this bold new approach to child protection, which ensures we are putting the best interests of the child at the centre of every decision we make," Ms Goward said.

The new laws are awaiting final approval from Cabinet before they are submitted to parliament.

"Whether it is raising the stakes on early intervention or improving access to open adoption, these reforms are about providing families and caseworkers with the support and tools they need to ensure vulnerable children have a safe home for life," Ms Goward said.

While it will be a magistrate's decision on whether to place the child in the minister's care, the legislation will state that a broken contract should be viewed as a strong case for a child to be placed in foster care.

NSW Health does not record the number of babies born with drug addictions, however in the three years to 2011 John Hunter Hospital on the Central Coast recorded 238 babies born with an addiction to substances including heroin, cannabis and amphetamines.

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Tony Abbott rejects Commonwealth climate change fund

Colombo, Sri Lanka: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected a proposal from the 53-nation Commonwealth to establish a new fund to help poor and island countries to combat climate change.

As an extraordinary Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting concluded in Colombo, Mr Abbott joined with Canada in rejecting a decision by the summit to push for a Green Capital Fund to help vulnerable island states and poor African countries address the effects of rising sea levels, prolonged droughts, or catastrophic weather incidents, caused by climate change.

The proposal is for Commonwealth countries to work within the UN climate change network to build the fund for small and poor countries to access.

But the final agreement from the 53 members of the Anglosphere Commonwealth noted that “Australia and Canada… indicated they could not support a Green Capital Fund at this time”.

One of the key themes of the summit was the plight of low-lying, and poor states who are especially vulnerable to climate change, but don't have the money for adaptation.

Malta will host the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, offering to stage the event after Mauritius withdrew in protest over Sri Lanka hosting this year's forum.

Prime Minister of Mauritius Navin Ramgoolam did not attend the Colombo meeting in protest at Sri Lanka's human rights record, and said his country would not be prepared to present the next one.

The issue of human rights violations dominated the final day of CHOGM 2013. Under questioning from foreign journalists, and in response to spirited defences from local reporters, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse asked the international community to give his country time to reconcile after 30 years of civil war.

“This is not something you can do overnight. You must also respect our own views without trying to push us into a corner, so please be fair.”

Four years since the war's end, relations between Sri Lanka's Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim communities remain strained. But Mr Rajapakse said he felt responsible for the welfare of all citizens of the island nation.

“They are all my people, my citizens, I will look after them, it is my responsibility… I will do it.”

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The chickens are coming home to roost

Labor told of $31bn NBN risk

A SECRET review of the NBN prepared for the Gillard government almost three years ago estimated it would leave taxpayers up to $31 billion worse off and warned of major risks in the plan, many of which were later realised.

The Weekend Australian has learned that the review by investment bank Lazard found the project would confront construction problems leading to cost increases for the building phase.

It also found that the project - once touted by the former Labor government as ideal for "mum and dad investors" - was so risky that no private investors would stump up the capital.

It is believed Lazard had raised concerns about Telstra's involvement under a multi-billion-dollar deal transferring many risks associated with the project from Telstra's books to NBN Co, while leaving Telstra with the option of competing against the NBN - yet still receiving funds from it - after 20 years.

Significantly, The Weekend Australian has learned that Lazard's calculations concluded that taxpayers would own an asset, NBN Co, with a negative net present value - the difference between the cash a project is expected to achieve and its costs - as high as $31bn.

Net present value calculations are done specifically to take the risks involved into account.

The advisers said the project had significantly underestimated the cost of its capital, and provided alternative figures, but in the end reasoned that this was a theoretical endeavour.

Citing the risk of the project and the long investment horizon, Lazard concluded that "no investor group other than the government" would provide equity finance to NBN Co while key planks of the business case were plagued by uncertainty.

The information clearly suggests that Lazard's views of the project were very different from those of NBN Co, which used Goldman Sachs as an adviser. The Goldman Sachs conclusions have never been made public.

The Coalition came to office promising it would build the NBN more quickly and at less cost to taxpayers by scaling back Labor's "Rolls-Royce" fibre-to-the-premises model and using Telstra's existing copper network for the final few hundred metres to many homes. The government has ordered a strategic review of the project that will report next month on the cost of the project, how long it will take to complete, and how savings can be made by changing the plan.

The Australian revealed in November 2010 that Lazard was due to deliver a review of the deal to the Gillard government.

The Lazard review was commissioned to examine the heads of agreement between Telstra and NBN Co and raised concerns about the agreement.

Its broader assessment of the project is understood to have been so damning that it would have raised alarm bells nationally if it had ever been made public. On the Telstra deal, it found inadequate allowance for the cost of the company being relieved of its universal service obligations as part of its involvement.

The Rudd and Gillard governments long refused to do a cost-benefit analysis of the project.

It is understood that Lazard likened the NBN to a venture-capital project, but one of a sheer magnitude that had never been attempted in Australia.

It warned that 30-year estimates of revenues and costs were inherently speculative and the projected customer take-up and average return per user were likely to be proven optimistic in such a competitive industry.

Lazard is understood to have warned about the competitive threat posed by wireless internet, which could limit take-up - a major driver of revenue needed to repay the government's equity contribution to the huge project. It pointed to anecdotal evidence that 20 per cent of premises could ultimately be wireless-only.

In doing so, it echoed Labor's corporate advisers, Greenhill Calliburn, which warned in 2011 that some consumers "may be willing to sacrifice higher-speed transmissions for the convenience of mobile platforms".

NBN Co has long argued that wireless services were "complementary" to fibre.

It emerged in 2011 that Telstra had agreed that it would not promote its wireless internet services as a substitute for fibre for 20 years.

Later that year, pressure from the competition watchdog, which warned that the agreement had the potential to undermine competition for wireless voice and broadband services, forced NBN Co to back down on its attempt to restrain Telstra from promoting its wireless internet services as a substitute.

On construction risks, Lazard raised warnings that the size of NBN Co's contingency fund could be insufficient. This year, NBN Co revealed that the contingency fund was worth roughly 10 per cent of the project's capital expenditure, or $3.6bn.

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Federal Government has welfare rorts in sights as eligibility tightened

HANDOUTS will be slashed and eligibility tightened as the Abbott Government eyes off welfare wastelands draining the budget of billions of dollars.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has given his strongest indication that a crackdown on welfare is coming - and in his crosshairs are the 822,000 Australians receiving the disability support pension.

Mr Andrews has begun a review of the system with government agencies and the not-for-profit sector in a bid to curb a welfare blowout. The review will help guide the extensive reforms, which could be rolled out as a matter of urgency.

Those on a disability pension - now one in 20 working-aged Australians - face being booted off the entitlement and moved on to Newstart, which is less money and requires people to more actively look for employment.

Some doctors could also be stripped of their ability to assess patients as concerns grow about some overworked or lazy medicos not properly scrutinising claims.

It comes as the Government and the Human Services Department have been tipped off about people claiming the disability pension while being involved in physical criminal activity.

Key details of the Government's 2013 disability support pension report, exclusively obtained by The Sunday Mail, shows that just in the past financial year alone, $15 billion was paid out to almost 821,738 recipients - a 22 per cent increase in 10 years (673,334).

One-third of the disability pensioners claim they cannot work full time because they severely depressed, anxious or a debilitating mental illness. While having a "bad back" was often cited as the reason for not being able to work, the greatest category of people now claim to have a psychological illness.

Fears are growing that too many recipients are getting too much money because they are on the wrong type welfare benefit because they have been able to game the system. A single disability pensioner gets a maximum of $751 plus a $61 supplement a fortnight. A single person on Newstart gets $500.

Mr Andrews told The Sunday Mail the safety net would be there for people who had a genuine a disability.

"The Coalition Government is committed to improving opportunities for Australians with a disability participate in work," Mr Andrews said.

"We are consulting with stakeholders including employers to seek their ideas on ways to improve opportunities for Australians with a disability to participate in work. "

It is likely reforms will go beyond disability payments and include a broadening of quarantined payments for areas outside indigenous Australia.

Australian Medical Association president Steve Hambleton said doctors knew their patients well. "Doctors have got no reason to second guess their patients," Dr Hambleton said.  "Doctors aren't the policeman of the department; they are the advocate of the patient.  "GPs don't have private investigators ."

About 270,000 people are on disability pension in NSW, 200,000 in Victoria, 163,000 in Queensland, 76,000 in South Australia and 64,000 in Western Australia.

Human Services Minister Marise Payne said the Coalition is serious about tackling welfare fraud, including people wrongly claiming the Disability Support Pension (DSP) or any other payment.

"My department has sophisticated data-matching and fraud-detection systems, so if you cheat the system, chances are we will catch you," Senator Payne said.

"The DSP is only available for people with a permanent, fully diagnosed medical condition likely to last more than two years."

The former Gillard government introduced policies to get more people on the disability pension to work more hours.

The Department of Human Services received more than 55,000 tip-offs through the Australian Government Services Fraud Tip-off Line in 2012-13.

Ms Payne urged anyone who was aware of others cheating the system to call the anonymous Australian Government Services Fraud Tip-off Line on 131 524.  "This information helps to make the system fairer for everyone," she said.

Fast facts about DSP

 * To be eligible for a DSP you must have a permanent, fully diagnosed, treated and stabilised medical condition likely to last more than two years without any significant improvement.

 * You also must have participated in a Program of Support (unless exempt), where trained allied health professionals tailor a program to help you find and maintain work.

 * Claimants must have a minimum score on the Impairment Tables. These tables are designed to assess impairment in relation to work. They consist of a set of tables that assign ratings in proportion to the severity or impact of the impairment on function as it relates to work performance.

Medical eligibility for DSP is assessed by experienced allied health professionals using clear guidelines to assess DSP claimants' work capacity.

 * A doctor's certificate advising the medical condition of an applicant for Disability Support Pension is just one piece of evidence that is assessed by the Department of Human Services in regards to a person's eligibility for DSP.

SOURCE





Sri Lanka confirms people-smuggling deal

THE Sri Lankan government has confirmed an arrangement is being negotiated with Australia to tackle people-smuggling.

Sri Lankan Minister for Media, Keheliya Rambukwella, told journalists in Colombo on Saturday the deal was a memorandum of understanding between the two navies.

"There is an arrangement, an MOU to be signed between the two naval forces," the minister said.

"All the details have been discussed and once it is signed it will be made a public document."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, in Colombo for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, will meet with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa later on Saturday with people-smuggling set to be on the agenda.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is understood to have discussed the new strategy with her Sri Lankan counterpart when she was attending a meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers in Colombo this week.

The coalition took to the federal election a policy of intercepting all identified asylum seeker vessels travelling from Sri Lanka outside the Australian sea border and arranging for the immediate return of all passengers.

The key to the policy is ensuring what have been described as "safe transfer arrangements" involving the Sri Lankan government.

Mr Abbott told reporters in Colombo on Friday that Australia had "good and close co-operation" with the Sri Lankan government and navy.

"I'll be thanking the Sri Lankans for the co-operation which they have extended to us on this important issue and I will have more to say about this in the next day or so," Mr Abbott said.

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How minority government built a legal wall to save Craig Thomson

FOR more than 15 years, former Health Services Union leader Michael Williamson had been gathering mates, favours, files and influence. Now, as he contemplates jail for defrauding the union of millions of dollars, Williamson must wonder whether it was all worth it.

By 2009 it had all come together for Williamson, who had focused on amassing power. Nothing captures his hubris like his words to the HSU 2010 national conference: "I am the president of the federal ALP, member of the ALP industrial committee, executive member of the ACTU, vice-president of Unions NSW, vice-president of the ALP NSW branch, trustee of First State Super, director UE Pty Ltd, director IPO Pty Ltd, member of the Australia Day Council and Unions NSW finance committee," Williamson told his disciples.

Craig Thomson, who is facing allegations he misused his HSU-issued credit card to hire prostitutes, was Williamson's protege, a valuable and useful investment, the first HSU member elected to federal parliament. In parliamentary terms Thomson was a nobody, yet he was rewarded with the coveted position of chairman of the economics committee from day one. As the credit card scandal broke, Williamson's network went into overdrive to keep their man secure.

Knowingly or not, Val Gostencnik was a key player in that network. Outside the industrial relations clique he's not especially well known. But to insiders he's a formidably connected lawyer - with distinctive competence in matters involving health unionists.

FOR a few months in 2009 it looked like Australia's industrial registrar Doug Williams might succeed in establishing an investigation into the Thomson allegations. July 1, 2009, was the deadline.

Previously confidential documents released under Freedom of Information this year and Williams's extensive on-the-record interview with me have filled in many blanks. What emerges is Fair Work Australia's seemingly conscious encouragement of delays and frustrations to the investigation of a relatively straightforward alleged swindle. It would likely be handled by a local detective rather than a multi-million-dollar government agency - that's if the alleged offender were a suburban accountant, not a unionist with connections.

Now retired, Williams says had his investigation plan been followed, the matter would have been "done and dusted, it would have been wrapped up during the passage of the following year (2010)". That Thomson seems to have been shielded from inquiry should disturb us all. Discovery of how that happened must be a priority for the government.

FWA's "summary of events" for the HSU investigation records this for April 8, 2009: "Industrial registrar advised deputy prime minister's chief of staff Ben Hubbard inquiries were under way into HSU and formal coercive investigation may ensue."

This week Williams told me Hubbard's call was "unusual" and memorable, coming in the dark of night on the rarely used Williams landline. Williams told me Hubbard had only one short, sharp question. "He asked had the name Thomson come up in my inquiry."

Williams was untroubled by the call from the deputy PM's chief of staff. Ministers, even the deputy PM, could not influence him in a role where his independence was protected in law. He told me: "I was a statutory officer accountable independently to the parliament, not to a minister." His replacement, the general manager of the new FWA, is not - they report to the FWA president and are subject to his or her directions.

By June 30, Williams had overseen weeks of preparatory work to set up a coercive investigation. "We had taken considerable care to determine that we had enough material to demonstrate an abject failure of governance in that organisation and that the move on to the investigative phase was warranted, which is why I took that decision before I left."

He told me about previously confidential legal advice from the Australian government solicitor that endorsed his plans. He sought specific guidance on any potential legal issues that might restrict him in reporting apparent crimes to police. "I recall advice from the Australian government solicitor that there was nothing circumscribing me or the organisation taking that kind of action" he says.

On June 30, Williams issued written instructions to his direct report, Terry Nassios, directing him to establish the investigation. He added this unmistakable provision: Nassios's plan should include "actions arising from the inquiries to date, including referrals to police, which can occur on the strength of discoveries which do not require further investigation".

This week he said, "An industrial registrar, a statutory officer, does not issue such an instruction lightly, and it's issued in the expectation that it will be fulfilled".

So why was his instruction ignored? Why did it take another year for FWA to start the investigation? "That is a mystery to me," Williams says.

That mystery may not be so perplexing for FWA commissioner and former law firm partner Gostencnik. He began his career as an industrial officer, or union official with the HSU (known at the time by a different name). After gaining law and economics degrees and a Corrs Chambers Westgarth partnership, Gostencnik worked with Julia Gillard on drafting the Fair Work laws. He gave legal advice to FWA as it investigated Thomson. He "settled" a letter to police in which FWA's GM Tim Lee "regrettably advised" detectives he was unable to assist - or even meet - them if the subject included anything to do with Thomson. It's worth looking at that letter in detail.

On behalf of HSU members, national secretary Kathy Jackson formally reported Thomson's alleged embezzlement of HSU members' money to NSW Police on August 24, 2011.

Forty-five minutes later email records show Superintendent John Watson of the fraud squad wrote to FWA's Lee seeking details about "Craig Thomson and transactions that have been charged against a health services union credit card".

The next day Watson wrote again. Soon after that second letter arrived, Lee chaired a meeting of the HSU strategy group with Nassios, FWA lawyer Ailsa Carruthers and AGS lawyer Craig Rawson.

Lee tabled Watson's letters along with Jackson's letter to Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, in which she authorised police to contact FWA to retrieve HSU documents police might require in evidence. Jackson herself had lodged four boxes of credit card and other original records with FWA in 2009.

The minutes of that FWA meeting of record were quietly released after an FoI review this year. For the first time we now read this critical legal advice from the Australian government solicitor: "Craig Rawson advised that this letter (Jackson's to police, copied to FWA) would constitute authority for FWA to release HSU documents to police."

But documents were not released and that advice was not taken. Lee directed a vastly different course. The minutes record: "Tim Lee asked Craig Rawson to prepare a letter to the NSW fraud squad and to settle that letter with Val Gostencnik of Corrs Chambers Westgarthof Corrs Chambers Westgarth".

Here was a "senior executive lawyer" from the AGS being second-guessed on a legal question by a line manager.

The question in issue was serious, a request by police for access to potential evidence identified by police as of interest in a criminal investigation.

The target named by police was a former union official, Thomson. The direction not to act on the Australian government solicitor's legal advice came from a former union official, Lee. He enlisted a former union official, Gostencnik, to "settle" that advice in a letter to police.

Later when FWA wanted its investigation into the HSU independently reviewed, it turned to Gostencnik to recommend the reviewer. He suggested KPMG and FWA accepted his recommendation immediately and without tender. The effect was that Gostencnik chose the reviewer to report on the quality of work that had been guided by Gostencnick's own legal advice.

Pressure mounted for the release of the FWA report into Thomson week by week. By April 1 last year it was long overdue. The transmission of the report to a Senate committee (to engage parliamentary privilege for its public release) was still weeks away, but FWA sent Gostencnik the report and its appendices on April 3 last year. Just days later he began an action in the Federal Court on behalf of minister Bill Shorten, seeking orders that an administrator be appointed to the HSU. That action was said to have damaged the interests of Jackson, named in the then unreleased FWA report.

She could not know what was in the full report, but Gostencnik did and Shorten's application compounded its advantage by funding courtesy of the taxpayer. Gostencnik swore a detailed affidavit in those proceedings on behalf of Shorten, displaying exquisite knowledge of the HSU's affairs and its internal who's who.

ABC1's Lateline program reported on Shorten's court move on April 26 last year.

Shorten said on the program:: "I would hope that the warring Jackson-Williamson groups would actually recognise that an administrator is a good step forward."

HSU official Jackson told Lateline: "This (should) not be about putting an administrator in place that suits Bill Shorten ... he wants to make sure that he ends up in a position where he controls this union personally, not as the minister - personally, that's what I'm offended about.

Jackson is alluding to the Labor Party faction and national conference votes held by each union. It's through control of those voting blocks that political careers are made. It's hard to argue Shorten didn't have an advantage in those proceedings by selecting the learned Gostencnik, whose legal library boasted one of the few complete FWA reports into the HSU, information no one else had.

Then opposition leader Tony Abbott said, "What does the government know about the Health Services Union that it wants to put it into administration for? What misuse of money, what maladministration, what potentially criminal activity is the government aware of?"

While Gostencnik was giving legal advice to Shorten, FWA's report into Thomson remained tightly and confidentially held.

Affected parties were shown the elements of the report referring to them and were given time to respond. Until those processes were completed, the report would officially remain a tightly controlled secret.

Three days after Shorten applied for a court-appointed administrator to the HSU, prime minister Gillard fronted the cameras. "I do believe a line has been crossed here and because a line has been crossed, I have acted," she told a media conference, referring to Thomson (and separately to Speaker Peter Slipper).

Gillard had asked Thomson to quit the Labor Party. It had been her call alone and she volunteered that she had not consulted cabinet about the issue.

As The Australian reported at the time, "Mr Thomson's resignation from the party comes as two damning reports on the scandal-plagued HSU are due to be made public in the coming days and weeks. Fair Work Australia has promised to soon hand over its long-delayed report to the Senate's education, employment and workplace training committee."

FWA's general manager would not name Thomson or any other official in connection with the report. General manager Bernadette O'Neill was "not protected against defamation" claims. Her concern for herself would go down poorly in police stations, where every charge, arrest and decision to caution brings the same exposure.

Newspapers in Australia have two edition-free days - Good Friday and Christmas Day. This year, late on Easter Thursday, Shorten announced Gostencnik's appointment as a FWA commissioner. He promoted Gostencnik to director of Fair Work Building and Construction just three months later.

One of Gostencnik's last acts before his appointment to the bench was to draft and file the FWA statement of claim setting out the allegations against Thomson. That legal process is now headed to a mediated settlement by mutual agreement of Thomson and his investigators.

In April 2007, Gillard announced a Labor government would abolish the Industrial Relations Commission and set up a new IR umpire to be called Fair Work Australia. Who knew that Gillard's police force, prosecutor, judge and jury within the one-stop-shop would work so hard for one union official who's alleged to have ripped off thousands of union members.

It is the workers and their money that is at the heart of this, isn't it?

SOURCE

Climate tax, aid and fees off table as cabinet toughens stance

The federal cabinet has ruled that Australia will not sign up to any new contributions, taxes or charges at this week's global summit on climate change, in a significant toughening of its stance as it plans to move within days to repeal the carbon tax.

Cabinet ministers have decided to reject any measures of "socialism masquerading as environmentalism" after meeting last week to consider a submission on the position the government would take to the Warsaw conference.

A further document was produced after the meeting that outlines the government's position.

The Australian has seen part of the document and it declares that, while Australia will remain "a good international citizen" and remains "committed to achieving the 5 per cent reduction" by 2020 of the 2000 levels of emissions, it will not sign up to any new agreement that involves spending money or levying taxes.

This rules out Australia playing any role in a wealth transfer from rich countries to developing nations to pay them to decrease their carbon emissions.

The decision hardens the nation's approach to the UN's negotiations amid a renewed push from less-developed countries this week for $100 billion a year in finance to deal with climate change.

Cabinet decided that Australia would consider joining a new scheme after 2015, but only if all the major global economies did likewise.

Senior ministers believe there is absolutely no chance of that happening.

The Abbott government has explicitly decided that it will not agree to any payments or accept any liabilities as part of any carbon agreement.

The government's document also says that Australia "will not support any measures which are socialism masquerading as environmentalism".

The document's commitment that the government "will review its commitment in 2015 in light of the science and international developments" deliberately allows a range of policy outcomes.

In the unlikely event that all major economies move in a concerted way, Australia could join in. However, the language provides that if the science becomes more unclear, and if nations move away from their earlier enthusiasm for action, then Australia also could wind back its efforts.

This explicitly does not mean winding back on the 5 per cent reduction target for 2020, but does mean that after 2020 things are less clear.

The government's document also says Australia's efforts on greenhouse gases will be conditioned by "fiscal circumstances"....

Mr Abbott has been strongly critical of agreements in which Australian funds are used to buy permits that are meant to fund cuts to greenhouse gas reductions in other countries - a key mechanism in the global talks.

The Coalition based its criticism of Labor policy on official forecasts showing Australian emissions would rise over time and that the 5 per cent target was only reached by purchasing overseas permits at an eventual cost of $150bn a year in 2050.

"This is by far the biggest wealth transfer from Australians to foreigners that's ever been contemplated," Mr Abbott said of purchasing offshore carbon permits.

By formalising these concerns in official policy, federal cabinet is preparing to counter any move at the Warsaw talks to accelerate climate change financing deals meant to be worth $100bn a year.

On a per-capita basis, Australia's contribution to the $100bn in global climate change finance would be $2.4bn or more.

More HERE





MPs warned off Armenia with Anzac threat

Turkey is still in denial.  Just more disgusting Muslim denial

Gallipoli centenary commemoration in 2015. Photo: Mike Bowers
Turkey has warned Australia against any further formal recognition of the Armenian genocide to avoid undermining its relationship and the special centenary commemoration of Gallipoli in 2015.

And NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has retaliated, saying it was "deplorable" for the 100-year anniversary of the Gallipoli landing to be used for political purposes.

Turkey has also made it clear that NSW MPs are not welcome to attend the ceremony because of bipartisan support for a motion moved in Parliament by Mr O'Farrell in May which recognises and condemns the Armenian genocide.

The warning from the Turkish speaker of the parliament, Cemil Cicek, has come on the eve of a public ballot for 8000 tickets reserved for Australians to attend the special ceremony in Gallipoli on April 25, 2015. The ballot opens at midnight on Friday and closes on January 31.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald through an interpreter, Mr Cicek said:  "One of only two things that could disrupt good relations between Turkey and Australia", he said, was for Australia "to support any claims about genocide without hearing the Turkish side ... this could cause huge rifts between the nations and even jeopardise commemorations around Gallipoli."

Mr Cicek called on the NSW Parliament to withdraw its resolution, saying reports of an Armenian genocide were "still inconclusive".  "We have no problem with Armenian communities in Turkey," he said. "We have a problem with the Armenian diaspora who are still propagating this argument."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has ruled that only four federal MPs including himself will receive VIP tickets, but they will not be offered to premiers or state MPs.

The NSW Premier said two similar resolutions had been moved in past years without any similar threats being made to disrupt the 100-year anniversary of the Anzac landing in Gallipolli.

"Bipartisan motions concerning the genocide were passed by the NSW Parliament in 1996 and 2012," Mr O'Farrell said. "It's deplorable anyone associated with the Turkish government would try and use next year's centenary of the Gallipoli landing for political purposes."

In opposition, Treasurer Joe Hockey called for formal recognition of the Armenian genocide in Federal Parliament, but is now reluctant to make any further comments that might jeopardise his dealings with Turkey in forums including the G20 which Australia will host next year. In May 2011, he said the Armenian genocide "is one of the least known, least understood and least respected human tragedies of the modern era".

Armenian National Committee of Australia executive director Vache Kahramanian said it was "extremely troubling" the Turkish government had threatened to ban NSW MPs who had recognised the Armenian genocide.

"For almost 100 years the Turkish state has continued to deny what is publicly and widely known as a historical reality."

A spokesman for the Turkish embassy said that while it could not respond to the comments, "it is highly inappropriate for foreign parliaments to politicise this matter and pass one-sided judgments on a controversial period of Turkish history".

SOURCE





Child porn suspects slip through net after Australian Federal Police bungle

CHILD sex predators from Queensland, including teachers, a lecturer, nurse and bank manager, were allowed to roam free for almost a year after an Australian Federal Police bungle.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the AFP sat on the names of suspected Australian pedophiles who had been identified as using a Canadian sex abuse website.

Despite trumpeting their success yesterday, the AFP had failed to pass on to state police a tip-off list from Canadian counterparts about Australian customers of the website.

A WA pastor and his former police officer son are among six WA people charged for being involved in an international child abuse ring.

Canadian police were shocked Queensland's crack Taskforce Argos investigators knew nothing of the operation until a chance conversation with a detective earlier this year.

"They hadn't even heard of it ... Once we had that conversation the game completely changed," lead Toronto detective Paul Krawczyk said.

Toronto's Project Spade investigation had found a website advertising "naturist films" was selling videos and photographs of naked boys to pedophiles worldwide.

Sixty-five Australians have been arrested as part of a global investigation into a child porn ring.

Canadian police then passed on customer information to countries including Australia, Spain, Mexico, South Africa, Hong Kong, Norway, Ireland and Greece

Detective Krawczyk said a goldmine of information about Australian customers - including names, addresses, computer numbers and banking details - was forwarded to the AFP in the middle of last year.

However Australia appeared only to act after he mentioned the list to Argos Detective Inspector Jon Rouse earlier this year.

"It just so happened that Jon and I were talking back earlier this year and I mentioned to him how the case was going and actually they hadn't even heard of it," he said.

Upon learning of the operation, Argos asked Toronto to send the list directly to Queensland and immediately launched its own investigation.

Four teachers, a lecturer, nurse, bank manager and tradies were among 33 men who have been arrested in Queensland since May as a result of the information.

Det Insp Rouse confirmed Argos only became aware of the list in February and immediately moved to arrest the men who had most access to children.

Sixty-five Australians have been arrested and 399 charges laid in an investigation into child exploitation.

There are also fears Australian pedophiles interstate may have slipped through the net entirely, with Queensland accounting for more than half of the 65 arrests nationwide.

The AFP said yesterday Canadian police provided information in June last year but refused to say how many names were on the list - leaving open the possibility that many have not been arrested.

AFP Superintendent Todd Hunter denied federal police were slow to act and said his unit received more than 3800 referrals from international counterparts last year.  "In every case our priority is to focus on whether or not there is a child at risk," Supt Hunter said.

SOURCE






How Julia Gillard was ready to censor our free media

JULIA Gillard began to squeeze the trigger of a powerful weapon aimed directly at the media on August 29, 2011. The story she wanted dead and buried that day, and forever after, had the potential to be extremely damaging to her as the then prime minister. It revolved around a secret union fund she had quietly, without even the knowledge of her law firm partners, given advice about setting up for her former client and boyfriend, the allegedly corrupt Australian Workers Union boss Bruce Wilson, who would allegedly use what was later described as a "slush fund" in a serious fraud.

This little-known scandal had been largely concealed since Gillard left her job as a salaried partner at Slater & Gordon lawyers in Melbourne in late 1995, when several of her colleagues discovered facts about her conduct. Her unceremonious departure from the firm would launch her career as a professional political adviser and, subsequently, as an ambitious Labor parliamentarian. But the facts about the slush fund were known to very few people in 2011. The sanitised, official version was misleadingly different.

How Gillard responded on that Monday morning, August 29, 2011, and subsequently, should be a salutary lesson about the lengths that powerful political figures will go to crush a damaging story, neutralise journalists, intimidate media outlets and even attempt to permanently alter the freedom of the media.

My then colleague at The Australian, Glenn Milne, had published in his column that morning a mere handful of paragraphs about his previous attempts to investigate the slush fund. Milne was essentially flagging a deeper story that was being prepared for imminent airing by a 2UE radio host, Michael Smith, a former police officer who had been digging among union scams after his recent success in cross-examining alleged Health Services Union fraudster and federal Labor member Craig Thomson.

Gillard already knew that Andrew Bolt, the conservative and widely read commentator for the Herald Sun (sister paper to The Australian), had flagged the revisiting of the slush fund scandal - he had written of a "tip on something that may force Gillard to resign". "On Monday, I'm tipping, a witness with a statutory declaration will come forward and implicate Julia Gillard directly in another scandal involving the misuse of union funds," Bolt wrote on his Herald Sun blog over that August weekend.

On the Monday morning, early, a furious Gillard called John Hartigan, the then head of News Limited in Australia. News, and Milne's column, were in her sights. "She said they were very damaging accusations," Hartigan told The Australian a few days later. "She wanted some action and she wanted it quickly."

Gillard demanded a public apology, the immediate expunging from the website of Milne's column, and undertakings that the allegations never be repeated again in The Australian. Leaving nothing to chance, the PM extended this demand to cover all News Limited newspapers and their websites. The Australian's editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, who was told to call Gillard that Monday morning, described her reaction at the time as "apoplectic". Paul Keating's rages were nothing compared with this one from Gillard, Mitchell noted.

Almost all of Gillard's demands were met. Seeing what was happening over at News Limited, Smith's bosses at the Fairfax-owned 2UE then lost their nerve and pulled his carefully researched story, too. Smith protested but lost his job over it. Bolt, appalled at the censorship and the cave-in, considered resigning. Milne lost his column and his place at The Australian.

But this ugly, self-serving assault by a prime minister on the Australian media was not over by a long shot. The Gillard government's announcement of a public media inquiry just a couple of weeks later, in September 2011, was the next blunt instrument to ensure we were more poodle than watchdog.

The slush fund story had been torched and reduced to ashes. But it could not be permitted to flare up again. The media inquiry, headed by former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein QC, was a precursor to the government's threats of unprecedented media regulation.

Gillard had said in 2011 that News Limited's journalists in Australia had "questions to answer", apparently arising from the unlawful hacking of telephone voicemails by journalists at the News of the World in Britain. There was never a skerrick of evidence of any hacking by any staff of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers in Australia.

As a government strategy, the crackdown in 2011 was ruthlessly effective.

My colleagues were intimidated by Gillard's and the government's extraordinary overreactions to Milne's and Smith's ill-fated attempts to report without fear or favour on the slush fund.

The media steered a wide berth around the ruins of the slush fund story - except to mock Milne and Smith for being foolish enough to think it ever was a story worth pursuing. This pusillanimous conduct continues today among the more naive and partisan commentators, despite numerous documents, witnesses and other evidence being subsequently produced and reported in The Australian, and by Mark Baker in The Age, in 2012 and this year.

And in the dying days of Gillard's government, earlier this year, draconian proposals for media regulation were warmed up again. Would this incredible attempted stifling, aimed squarely at News, have even been put back on the agenda if The Australian had not published revelations in leaked, and extremely damaging, slush fund-related documents in 2012? The seriousness of the disclosures made Gillard's disproportionate protests about a relatively innocuous column by Milne in 2011 appear confected and absurd. We may never know for certain, but the attempted regulation this year reeked of payback.

When leaders in journalism across the media landscape in Australia fight the good fight against attempted censorship and intimidation by politicians and other powerful figures, great and lofty arguments are rolled into the public arena about the vital importance of the fourth estate.

We know these arguments well: in a nutshell, inquisitive journalists who uncover the truth without fear or favour are a cornerstone of democracy, and their efforts must be defended at all costs, particularly from governments that deploy vast powers and taxpayer-funded resources in craven attempts to stymie media scrutiny.

Why, then, have so many media-freedom-loving leaders in the Australian journalistic community, and in academe, been silent and, worse, sneeringly critical of two journalists who have been censored, intimidated and seen their reputations trashed for disclosures in late August 2011, about Gillard's conduct?

Now, in the new light of hard, documentary evidence from exhaustive investigations during the past 11 months by Victoria Police fraud squad detectives, who will be back in court early next month, it is difficult to avoid one disturbing conclusion.

It is that Milne, Smith and their employers were subjected to a shameless, unprecedented, unfair and disproportionate counterattack by Gillard, who wanted their attempted reporting about her role in setting up the slush fund killed off for all time. A conga line of media critics (for whom party-political preference and ideology appeared to trump the principles of a free press) joined in to make sure the credibility of the two was shredded. Despite the rhetoric we often hear about the importance of repulsing overt intimidation of the media, Milne and Smith were cut down, and lampooned as conspiracy theorists. Attempted media regulation followed.

For those unsure of where things are at, the police interest remains high. The police are due to go back to court in a couple of weeks. A month ago, lawyers for Victoria Police explained to the Melbourne Magistrates Court why they have been taking the slush fund fraud investigation so seriously. The police, who have numerous incriminating statements, want to peruse more than 360 documents seized from Slater & Gordon relating to Gillard's former client and lover, Wilson. He is fighting to prevent the police from having access to this material.

Ron Gipp, for lead investigator Senior Sergeant Ross Mitchell, told the court last month that police were confident in their case so far. "The evidence is very strong," Gipp said. "What we are talking about here is not merely Mr Mitchell saying: 'Look, I've got a suspicion.' This is going way, way beyond just mere suspicion."

Earlier this year, police seized hundreds of documents under the warrant, which specifically sought files held by Slater & Gordon relating to Wilson and Gillard, including her personnel files, invoices, travel records and documents from the firm's partner meetings relating to Gillard and the AWU.

Perhaps those who still don't get it - who still lampoon The Australian, Milne, Smith, Baker and other journalists, including this one, who have been involved in exposing these issues - should explain to the fraud squad detectives and the police lawyers why they, too, are barking up the wrong tree.

SOURCE

ZEG

In his latest offering, conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG is suspicious of Kevvy's motives for resigning





Health bureaucrats to be paid just for showing up to work

As the federal public service plans mass redundancies, one government department is preparing to pay hundreds of bureaucrats up to $130,000 a year "just for showing up''.

Health Department insiders warn that its new "Business Services Centre" will be a place to park up to 200 Canberra-based officials who have lost their jobs.

They have been told their jobs are "unfunded," instructed not to use the word "excess" and that they will move to the new Business Services Centre from December 1 with no idea what their duties will be or even if there is work for them to do.

In internal documents, obtained by Fairfax Media, the departmental hierarchy says the BSC is meant to undertake tasks in the future for other divisions of the cash-strapped department, but could not point to one project assigned to the unit.

Many of the public servants, who find themselves still employed by the government but with no jobs to do, are executives earning up to $130,000 a year.

One departmental insider said the workers and managers would be parked in the new division applying for jobs in the Health Department and the broader public service while waiting for a project to work on.

The Health Department refused to answer questions about the new unit and departmental chief Jane Halton has declined to be interviewed on the job losses.

In response to questions, a departmental spokeswoman continued to deny there was a "spill and fill" process under way.

Several workers have described the process where some of the department's divisions forced staff on the pay scales between Australian Public Service 5 and Executive Level 2 to submit "expressions of interests" in keeping their jobs.

"If they are not successful, then they will be placed in a Business Services Centre," one public servant said.  "Basically, it's a place for people to be sent, while waiting to be picked up for any vacancies within DoH or other APS agencies.

"While they are waiting here, whether they are assigned to a project or not, they continue to get paid their usual salary, just for showing up to work."

According to internal Health documents, the BSC might be called on to undertake jobs for other divisions that were "unfunded".

SOURCE






Fred Nile wins one: Same-sex marriage bill defeated in NSW upper house



I like Fred.  He is very impressive when you meet him personally

The upper house of the NSW Parliament has narrowly voted down a bill to legalise same-sex marriage.

Despite initial hopes the upper house would pass the legislation, MPs voted against it by 21 votes to 19 in the Legislative Council on Thursday afternoon.

Independent MP Alex Greenwich, a member of the cross-party working group who devised the bill, said he took heart from the closeness of the vote.

Mr Greenwich, who is the member for Sydney in the lower house and therefore did not participate in the vote, said it was the first time Coalition MPs had voted in favour of a same sex marriage bill in Australia.

Liberals Catherine Cusack and Greg Pearce and Nationals Sarah Mitchell and Trevor Khan supported the bill.

"It's shown the effectiveness of cross-party co-operation," Mr Greenwich said.

However, Christian Democratic Party MP the Reverend Fred Nile, who campaigned against the legislation, said the outcome was "a great victory for marriage in the NSW upper house".

Mr Nile said he believed a decisive factor in the bill's defeat was Premier Barry O'Farrell's announcement that he would vote against the bill if it came before the lower house.

Mr O'Farrell revealed his support for same-sex marriage a day after New Zealand's parliament voted to change its national laws in April.  But in a statement released the night before the bill's introduction to the upper house last month, Mr O'Farrell said that while he was a supporter of marriage equality, he would not support the NSW legislation.

He argued that "only change enacted by the Federal Parliament can deliver true equality in our marriage laws".

After Thursday's vote, Mr Nile revealed he had urged Mr O'Farrell to make the statement.  "It certainly had an effect on some Coalition members and that was the reason I asked him to issue the statement," he said.

"It was important for the Premier to make a stand, indicate where he stood on this issue. He was a bit reluctant, but he finally agreed to make that public statement. And it did have the effect I was hoping it would have on some of the wavering members of the Coalition."

The Liberal MP for Coogee, Bruce Notley-Smith, another cross-party group member in the lower house, said a key consideration for many MPs was the prospect of change in the federal Parliament.

"Many members gave their reason for not voting in the upper house as [their belief] that marriage is a federal matter," he said.

"I think there's also a feeling among members that there will be movement at a federal level. They feel the tide is turning in their favour."

SOURCE





Abbott to the rescue

Andrew Bolt

I thought Tony Abbott was supposed to be bad at diplomacy:

A SECRET meeting in the Middle East between Tony Abbott and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, preceded this week’s stunning legal reversal of the bribery case against Australian businessmen Matthew Joyce and Marcus Lee.

    The Australian can reveal that the Prime Minister met Sheik Mohammed, the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, in Abu Dhabi on October 30 on the way back from Mr Abbott’s visit to Australian troops in Afghanistan. The meeting was not announced.

    During their discussions Mr Abbott urged the UAE government to reconsider the high-profile case against the two Australians. Sheik Mohammed is understood to have told the Prime Minister he was aware that the case was of significant concern to Australia and that the UAE justice system was aware of the circumstances surrounding it.

    Mr Abbott’s personal intervention follows comments he made as opposition leader in May when he said the sentence against Mr Joyce was harsh and that the then Labor government should be doing everything it could to help the two men…

    A spokesman for the Prime Minister declined to comment.

Fairfax missed the Abbott angle in its own report on this “surprise” verdict.

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Thomas Kelly death: NSW DPP to appeal 'manifestly inadequate' sentence handed to Kieran Loveridge

The Director of Public Prosecutions will appeal against the four-year sentence handed to the man responsible for the death of Sydney teenager Thomas Kelly.

In a statement, DPP Lloyd Babb, SC said the appeal was on the grounds that the sentence handed to Kieran Loveridge was manifestly inadequate.

The 19-year-old randomly punched Mr Kelly in the head in July last year as he walked with his girlfriend at Kings Cross.  Mr Kelly, 18, was knocked to the ground unconscious and he died from head injuries in St Vincent's Hospital two days later.

Loveridge was last week jailed for at least four years for manslaughter, with a maximum of six years.  He will be eligible for parole in November 2017.  Manslaughter carries a maximum 25-year term in NSW and there was public outcry over the sentence.

Thomas Kelly's parents Ralph and Kathy were completely shocked when the sentence was handed down.  "We have spent the last hour in court listening to the verdict, which supports the offender and leaves us as the victim's family completely cold, shocked, and just beyond belief that the sentence was just so lenient," Mr Kelly said outside court.

"It's time that this state, that (Premier) Barry O'Farrell, finally did something about alcohol-fuelled violence to make a difference, to make us all safe so that we don't have to see these situations continuously happening in the city."

The New South Wales Government has responded, confirming it will introduce so-called "one-punch" laws to cover situations where an unlawful assault causes death.

Attorney-General Greg Smith said he was drafting a bill based on similar legislation in Western Australia, which he hopes to introduce next year.

But he said the NSW legislation will double the maximum penalty available.  "The laws I'm proposing for NSW will carry a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment," he said.

"The new offence and proposed penalty will send the strongest message to violent and drunken thugs that assaulting people is not a rite of passage on a boozy night."

SOURCE

Anti-civil liberties arms race
 
The thoughts below are reasonable in general but fail to take account of the infiltration of bikie gangs by Muslims, mostly Lebanese Muslims.  This has led to an escalation in bikie crime and difficulty in prosecuting it  -- with witness intimidation, codes of silence etc.  The government had to try something

The last few weeks have seen polarised views on the passing of controversial anti-bikie legislation by the Newman government in Queensland.

A bikie gang member or office bearer convicted of a serious crime will receive a mandatory additional minimum sentence because of their gang membership on top of the original sentence for the crime. There are also anti-association laws which bar bikies from riding together in groups of three or more. Victorian police are seeking advice on implementing similar laws.

Anti-bikie legislation was passed in NSW last year and changes to the right to silence earlier this year, where juries can be instructed to draw negative inferences from a defendant's silence in police questioning. The changes were inspired by a spate of gang-related shootings in Sydney.

This week, there were three separate incidences of shootings in Sydney linked to the Brothers 4 Life gang. Experience tells us that civil liberties are the first casualty when horrific tragedies happen. The O'Farrell government has already legislated against the right to free association of bikie gangs, and there is reason to be concerned that the response will escalate. According to The Daily Telegraph, there are plans to introduce legislation for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for gang members found to be in possession of a firearm.

The community's concerns about gang violence are valid, but reducing the freedom of all is not a solution. Shootings are crimes in their own right. Criminals deserve to be punished under the full force of the law, but it is antithetical for a free society to apply extra punishment simply on the basis of group membership. It contradicts equality before the law. A gang member should be punished for any crime in exactly the same way as you or I.

Any expansion of NSW's existing anti-association laws could come at a great cost. Aside from the fact that they are a violation of civil liberties, such laws have unintended consequences. Legal opinion suggests that the Queensland legislation could catch innocents in its wide net, and the existing anti-association legislation in NSW has already had that impact.

The Queensland and NSW examples show that no matter how draconian, no matter how profoundly illiberal and no matter how they may counteract centuries of established tradition, serious threats to civil liberties are never off the table if the government thinks that the situation is dire enough.

SOURCE





Feminist circus defunded in Qld.

Vulcana Women’s Circus has lost funding in the latest round of funding allocations for arts companies in Queensland.  "We are shocked at the news,” said the arts company’s General Manager Kitty Carra today.

"We employ over twenty female trainers and support hundreds of women a year in their journey towards wellbeing, empowerment and arts employment. The news that the Government will not support us in 2014 is devastating.”

"Our funding priorities for 2014 include our Circus Anywhere Program, our ongoing work with disadvantaged youth, women in the deaf community and our ongoing Circus Dreaming program. This work is important and must continue.”

Vulcana Women’s Circus has been a part of the Queensland arts scene for over fifteen years moving from West End to New Farm when the Powerhouse opened. A place to train, learn, share and perfect skills, Vulcana has been a home and a haven to many of Queensland’s most well known female acts and circus performers.

"As anyone who has ever attended one of our classes, worked with any of our trainers or seen one of our shows knows, Vulcana is special, something rare and precious, something to be valued. Something to be nurtured.” said Ms Carra.

Celia White, artistic director of the circus, is calling on the community to step up to keep this incredible organisation going.
"Vulcana is like home. We need you all now. We need to your love, your ideas and your support. Women matter. Women’s spaces matter. And when women work together something extraordinary is created.”

SOURCE







Everything the Australian Green Party claims about this typhoon is wrong

Andrew Bolt

The Greens are despicable. They are enemies of reason, and the question is whether their sin is ignorance or deceit.  Here is deputy Greens leader Adam Bandt today:

"Well, I think if the Prime Minister is out there referring to the Leader of the Opposition as ‘Electricity’ Bill, then he can be expected to be referred to as Typhoon Tony himself. The head in the sand approach to global warming in the face of the leaders of the Philippines themselves saying this is what we are in store for unless we get global warming under control makes Australia an international pariah and shows that really at the end of the day Tony Abbott does not believe the science."

Here is Greens leader Christine Milne yesterday:

"In our region Typhoon Haiyan and 10,000 people if not more dead in the Phillipines from a storm with such intensity there is now debate whether it is the strongest typhoon ever. Prof Steffen, one our leading scientists, is out saying that it is the warming of the oceans off the eastern Philippines that has led to the intensity of the typhoon."

Almost everything both Greens have said is false, baseless or misleading.  Fact check:

* Was this typhoon the strongest ever? No. Typhoon Reming, which struck the Philippines seven years ago, was stronger, says the Philippine Met Agency.

* Was this typhoon the deadliest ever? No. The death toll, now estimated by the Philippines president at 2000 to 2500, is dwarfed by death tolls of 300,000 or even more from past typhoons and cyclones. The deadliest 35 cyclones in history all killed more than 12,000 people.

* Does data show we’re getting more or worse cyclones? No, says the latest IPCC report.

*  Did this typhoon pass over seas made warmer than usual, thanks to global warming? No. Sea temperatures in the typhoon’s path were at the 30 year average.

*  Have more cyclones struck the Philippines over recent decades? No, say experts.

This was an incredibly strong typhoon, and it has caused a terrible loss of life. But there is no global warming signal here.  Nor would anything Tony Abbott did - or failed to do - make cyclones more or less likely.

Adam Bandt has ignored all the science and all reason to slur Abbott.  He shames himself. This is ignorance posing as virtue.

UPDATE

The Greens have censored almost every sceptical comment from their thread on this topic:

Off-topic and abusive posts have been removed. Please do not allow conversation to be derailed by those people refusing to confront the scientific reality of climate change. The debate has been had, the science is in. Links to conspiracy theorists, deniers and the blog of News Limited’s highest-paid internet troll will be removed.

SOURCE 





Negative  meaning of 'that's so gay' became popular in Australia because of South Park: educator

TEENAGERS fling the word 'gay' around as another word for 'bad' or 'stupid' -- "that's so gay" -- but what took the derogatory term mainstream may surprise you.

The word's meaning has been distorted so much it has even changed the definition overseas, it was revealed this week.

When a US high school student looked up 'gay' in her Apple MacBook's dictionary she found one of the three definitions was "stupid" and "foolish".  "It was just insulting," Becca Gorman told ABC News America, who hopes Apple will retract the definition.

Just how the term developed its derogatory meaning is startling.

Daniel Witthaus, an anti-homophobia educator who visits schools across Australia, said the phrase's popularity can be traced back to the adult-themed cartoon South Park.  Mr Witthaus noticed the phrase caught on after the TV show used the term in an ironic sense in the late 1990s.

"You can trace it back to South Park in the late 1990s," he said. "It exploded in terms overnight and certainly became part of the common language."

The term was sometimes used beforehand as a disparaging remark to people who did not fit, he said, but the TV show's producers made it even more popular.  "They tapped into something that was already happening and made it even cooler. They were like a catalyst."

"It was used to some extent in the '80s and '90s but it didn't really catch fire to become a popular term, it kind of happened overnight.

While there has never been a better time to be a gay or lesbian child. Mr Witthaus said the use of 'gay' as another word for 'shit' or 'crap' was damaging for young people.  He added that being called 'gay' or a 'faggot' is often the worst playground insult for young men.

SOURCE