Friday 31 October 2008

Sacked Victorian police squad lawless


The black suits, white shirts and team-issue black ties worn by the armed offenders squad imitated the violent criminals in the film Reservoir Dogs, the OPI report says.

THE police corruption watchdog claims some members of the former armed offenders squad took the law into their own hands.

Office of Police Integrity director Michael Strong said too many squad members believed assaulting criminals was a community service.

In a report tabled yesterday in State Parliament, Mr Strong also said some squad members believed they were a "force within the force" and above the law.

"Undoubtedly some police have been prepared to decide guilt without recourse to courts, mete out punishment to those they consider deserve it and lie on oath or turn a blind eye to protect themselves or their colleagues," he said.

Mr Strong said members of the scrapped squad had a disproportionate number of complaints compared with other Victoria Police squads.

"The armed offenders squad should be regarded as a cultural relic within Victoria Police," he said.

"Too many of its members believed that 'the end justified the means', and that bashing a 'crook', was a community service.

"The squad, through a lack of appropriate monitoring and accountability within Victoria Police, was allowed to develop its own culture, out of step with the organisation's direction."

The OPI secretly bugged an armed offenders squad interview room in 2006 and filmed members committing assaults.

Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon scrapped the elite squad within weeks of a July 2007 OPI raid on it.

Disgraced ex-squad members Robert Dabb, Mark Butterfield and Matthew Franc initially denied it was them who were caught on camera bashing a suspect.

But each of the former detectives this year pleaded guilty to assault and misleading the OPI director.

They were sentenced to intensive corrections orders involving community work, education and training of between 17 and 22 weeks.

Mr Strong said he was concerned the violence revealed on the secret tape was not an isolated or unusual occurrence, but was symptomatic of broader problems in the squad's structure and ethos.

"Lack of a stable and strong middle management clearly contributed to the fact that an unhealthy squad culture was able to continue unchecked," he said.

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Kieran Walshe said yesterday that the OPI's identification of the unhealthy culture in the armed offenders squad vindicated Ms Nixon's decision to scrap it.

"That culture does not, in my view, exist anywhere else in the organisation," he said.

But Police Association secretary designate Greg Davies said scrapping the 35-strong squad was an over-reaction.

He said only three members were dealt with in court, but disbanding the squad created the impression all the others also did something wrong.

"Those people were hard-working, honest, solid performers and were all tarred with the one brush," he said.

Mr Strong praised Victoria Police for acting swiftly to disband the squad.

"Not only has there been a significant reduction in complaints against detectives working in the area, but arrest and conviction rates have also improved," he said.

The OPI report reveals the old armed offenders squad solved only 47 per cent of cases between July 2003 and September 2006 whereas the new armed crime taskforce has a clean-up rate of 80 per cent.

There were 31 complaints lodged against armed offenders squad detectives in that 39-month period.

Camera in police cars 'to deter bashings

POLICE should install video cameras in police cars and throughout stations to deter officers from bashing suspects, the Office Of Police Integrity has recommended.

In a report tabled in Parliament yesterday into the now defunct armed offenders squad, OPI director Michael Strong said video surveillance would deter police from assaulting suspects and would protect them from false allegations of assault.

The investigation into the armed offenders squad found that the unit behaved as a force within a force, believing "that bashing a crook was a community service".

It found the squad deliberately branded itself as a separate unit within the police force that lived and worked by its own rules.

"Squad members became renowned for wearing black suits, white shirts, dark sunglasses and a team-issue black tie." The report said it was part of the image of "an unyielding clique or band, united together, separate and apart from the broader Victoria Police organisation. The outfits imitate the costumes worn by a network of violent criminals in the film Reservoir Dogs."

The OPI found the squad was poorly supervised, refused to alter its illegal behaviour and resisted any attempts at reform. It also found members were prepared to lie to cover-up assaults.

"The absence of a stable leadership and lack of diligent supervisors gave squad members free reign to use whatever police methods they liked.

"Throughout the OPI investigation into the armed offenders squad, police regularly invoked the code of silence in an attempt to frustrate the investigation," the report found.

"The investigation exposed the flagrant disregard by some members of the squad for suspects' rights."

In February 2006, the OPI began an investigation into allegations that suspects were being mistreated by detectives from the armed offenders squad. Three months later, an OPI secret camera hidden in one of the squad's interview rooms captured a suspect being bashed.

Three members of the squad, Robert Dabb, Mark Butterfield and Matthew Franc, were called to OPI hearings and denied involvement. They later resigned and earlier this year pleaded guilty to assaulting the suspect and attempting to mislead the OPI. They were sentenced to intensive corrections orders that involve community service work.

The OPI said the case exposed "the alarming willingness of some police to lie on oath or turn a blind eye to protect themselves or their colleagues".

The armed offenders squad was disbanded in 2006 and replaced with the armed crime taskforce. Figures published in the OPI report show that since the change, the solution rate has jumped from 47% to 80% and the complaint rate has dropped.

Mr Strong was critical of the Police Association's vigorous defence of the squad and its opposition to Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon's decision to disband the unit.

Police Association secretary Greg Davies rejected the criticism, saying the union believed the OPI had ignored due process during the investigation.

He said the association opposed "criminal conduct by any member of the police force".

Mr Davies said the association had been calling for cameras to be installed in all police cars for the past five years.

Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said all crime department interview rooms were fitted with new video cameras to monitor questioning. The state's 160 divisional vans, all 24-hour police stations and new 16-hour ones had also been fitted with cameras.

He said police would examine the recommendation of fitting the 2200-vehicle fleet with video cameras. "We think it has merit but we will look at it in the context of costs."

Police Minister Bob Cameron said the report exposed an unhealthy culture that had now been broken.

But Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said he doubted the force was rid of the problems, and it would be wrong to assume that the culture was confined to police.

Related:

Lives put at risk by corrupt police

LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, a police corruption watchdog has warned.

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI
VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.

50pc of homeless 'dependent on alcohol, drugs'

New research from the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) shows a large percentage of homeless people are dependent on alcohol and drugs.

The ANCD estimates over 100,000 people are homeless every night with a third under the age of 25.

ANCD executive director, Gino Vumbaca, says a number of these people have problems with alcohol and drugs.

"What the council has found is that the levels are quite high - [they are] six times more likely to have a drug use disorder," he said.

"In some cases almost 50 per cent of people who are sleeping rough are dependent on alcohol and 50 per cent of clients would smoke cannabis on a regular basis."

"So what we're seeing is quite a substantial level of substance misuse amongst the homeless. I don't think that's startling but we've got some figures now to back that up."

Mr Vumbaca says greater focus needs to be placed on people who are homeless and dealing with addictions.

He says in some areas like Canberra the homeless are often overlooked.

"Often people don't see homeless people. They might see one or two people ... who have slept rough overnight ... but we are talking about over 1,000 people on any given night are homeless in Canberra," he said.

"As a result, they are sort of out of the way, out of sight and unfortunately out of our minds sometimes.

"So we don't invest what we need to invest in homeless shelters because we don't see the dimensions of the problem."

Online support

The ANCD in conjunction with the National Drug and Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology have today launched a new support website for people working in the homeless sector.

"Homeless services are often being stretched to capacity dealing with the day to day crisis that people are facing," Mr Vumbaca said.

"This makes it very hard for them to then address any underlying issues."

Mr Vumbaca says the Homeless Information Portal provides information on drug and alcohol use and how to address problems as they present.

"It also provides a database for services who will be able to look at what is in their local area and search for drug and alcohol services and other homeless services that may exist nearby," he said.

"So they can work with them and maybe co-manage clients, given they often haven't got the resources to deal with those client problems as they present on the night when people are looking for a roof over their head."

The ANCD is also working with the Federal Government to help raise awareness of the issue.

Mr Vumbaca says the Government will be releasing a white paper on homelessness and launching a major new strategy in the next few months.

"To make sure that we also invest in the difficult end of the homelessness problem which is people who have significant substance abuse problems, or mental health problems or for a lot of people both," he said.

"There needs to be a lot more support given to homeless shelters and the like to actually address the underlying causes of homelessness."

Fashion designer Cooper guilty of assault

Fashion designer Wayne Cooper has been placed on a two-year good behaviour bond for pushing his estranged wife Sarah Marsh during a domestic dispute.

Cooper, 45, today pleaded guilty to common assault stemming from an argument on June 19 at the couple's beachside home in Tamarama, in Sydney's east.

Earlier, charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intimidation stemming from the incident were dropped.

Both were in Waverley Local Court today, where Magistrate Michael Dakin placed Cooper on the good behaviour bond, with conditions he stay away from Ms Marsh during that time.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Leesa McEvoy told the court Cooper pushed Ms Marsh during an argument over finances two weeks after she left hospital for gall bladder cancer surgery.

"This is not a matter that is trivial. It does involve domestic violence," Sergeant McEvoy told the court.

"Mr Cooper knew his partner had undergone surgery ... he was aware of that your honour."

Cooper's barrister Ian McClintock said his client was mimicking Ms Marsh when he pushed her, after she asked him how he could have allegedly pushed her on an earlier holiday.

Mr McClintock had argued for no conviction to be recorded, saying it may hinder Cooper's ability to travel abroad for business.

Mr McClintock said the couple's 12-year relationship had recently deteriorated and they sought counselling, during which Ms Marsh revealed she was in a relationship with someone else.

"We would suggest there is some elements to some degree ... of provocation by Ms Marsh," he said.

"This is a domestic argument that ascends on both sides."

Outside the court, Ms Marsh said she was relieved the matter had been dealt with.

"Absolutely," she said.

"I'm looking forward to November 25."

The former couple return to the NSW Supreme Court court next month to settle the separation of their assets.

Ms Marsh on Wednesday lost a bid to prevent Cooper selling their Tamarama house this weekend.

She had wanted the sale delayed until next February.

But NSW Supreme Court Justice Richard White ruled the sale could proceed on the grounds Cooper pay Ms Marsh $13,700 within seven days of the house sale.

Cooper must also pay the former model $17,000 within a week of her finding rental accommodation.

He currently pays Ms Marsh $500 a week in maintenance.

Child porn offender dead, court told

A court has been told that a man awaiting sentencing for possessing child pornography has died.

John Leslie Ireland was charged with 10 child pornography offences.

More than 100 stills images and 25 movies were found at his Adelaide home in January.

Sentencing submissions had been due today in the District Court in Adelaide, but Ireland's lawyer told the court his client died yesterday.

The case was adjourned until December when the prosecution is expected to formally drop the charges.

Gamblers empty more from pockets

Tasmania's love affair with gambling has continued, with punters losing more than $213 million on poker machines last financial year.

The Opposition parties say the State Government must do more to help problem gamblers.

The annual report from the Tasmanian Gaming Commission shows gamblers spent $280 million, mostly on gaming machines, during the last financial year.

That is an increase of $15 million on the previous 12 months.

More than $4.5 million went to the government for community programs, including for problem gamblers.

The Opposition Leader Will Hodgman, says that is not enough.

"They're not returning enough of that dividend to assist people who've developed a gambling addiction," Mr Hodgman said.

The Greens Kim Booth says there is only one way to help.

"Removing the machines, particularly out of pubs and clubs," Mr Booth said.

The Racing Minister, Michael Aird, says that is nonsense.

"Gaming machines are a legal activity."

Mr Aird says the Government is concerned about problem gamblers and will act on a report into the issues once the commission and stakeholders have had input.

Thursday 30 October 2008

New prisons deferred by SA Govt

Plans to build new prisons in South Australia have been put on hold, to save millions of dollars in borrowings.

Treasurer Kevin Foley says it is in response to global financial instability, which has already reduced the state's balance sheet by $280 million.

Mr Foley has told State Parliament a new prison at Murray Bridge will be delayed for two years and a new secure mental health facility at Mobilong and a youth training centre are also being deferred.

"The overall budget impact of delaying this project will improve the Government's net lending outcomes over the period of (financial years) 09-10, 11-12 by $359 million and will ease clearly the financial liabilities to revenue ratio for this period," he said.

NSW slumps even further into red

The state's financial woes have deepened as the global financial crisis hits the property and financial markets. NSW went into the red by $493 million last month alone.

This has dragged NSW to a $656 million cumulative deficit for the September quarter, the first quarter of the financial year.

It prompted NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal to warn in Parliament today that tough decisions would be made in the November 11 mini-budget.

Last week, the Rees Government disclosed that the surplus for the financial year to June was only $73 million, well short of the $700 million surplus flagged midyear.

With the slump in taxation revenues, this has made it all but impossible that the $268 million surplus forecast for this financial year, ending June 2009, would be achieved.

The mini-budget is aimed at slashing spending in light of the slump in tax revenues.

The NSW Government is also anxious to maintain the state's triple-A creditworthiness rating from credit agencies such as Moody's and Standard and Poor's.

"The Government must reduce recurrent expenses and reprioritise the forward capital program to address the shortfalls in income that are being experienced," Mr Roozendaal told Parliament.

"This means tough but necessary decisions will be announced in the mini-budget to put NSW on a sustainable footing."

Midnight glass ban for 'problem' pubs

New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says the state's most problematic licenced venues will be banned from using beer glasses after midnight and will face a mandatory 2:00am lockout.

Mr Rees also says no more 24-hour licences will issued as part of an overhaul of alcohol laws in New South Wales.

He says the measures are designed to tackle a drinking culture, which he has described as spiralling out of control.

"The 50 most problematic venues across the states [will] have tough new licensing conditions applied that will include a mandatory 2:00am lockout," he said.

"It will include the cessation of alcohol service 30 minutes before closing time, it will include the introduction of plastic glasses for use after midnight and it will include limits on drink purchases after midnight."

Mr Rees says the State Government wants the changes in place by this summer.

"[There are] 21,000 incidence of alcohol-related incidents each year and we want to drive that down," he said.

He says he has not spoken to pubs and clubs about the measures.

"The people of New South Wales are demanding we change the laws," he said.

SA teachers to strike today


Half-day strike in SA schools over pay.

Some South Australian public schools will be closed this morning as teachers rally for a pay increase from the State Government.

Teachers unanimously knocked back the Government's pay offer of a 12.5 per cent rise over three years, and are still demanding 21 per cent.

More than 400 schools and preschools will close until a 12.15pm, while nearly 360 will operate as normal.

Anne Crawford from the Education Union says teachers are insulted by the Government's offer.

"The wage rise they have offered is fundamentally less than the cost of living, less than the CPI and the Government has completely forgotten about school leaders, preschool directors, TAFE employees and non-teaching staff," she said.

The Union's state president, Correna Haythorpe, says teachers voted unanimously to strike for a bigger rise.

"We know that over 80 per cent of our members have voted in favour for the stop-work action and parents are advised to make contact with their local schools," she said.

Jan Andrews from the Education Department says parents should already know if their children will be affected by today's strike.

She says year 12 students will not be disadvantaged.

"Schools are prioritising the needs of those students and I'm told that the AEU has had some regard to that as well," she said.

"But the programs in schools that have been affected have been tailored around the year 12s so that their work won't be interrupted even if those children are working at home."

Lawyer prepares UN case against intervention

An Indigenous leader from central Australia has asked a human rights lawyer to take a case against the federal intervention to the United Nations.

Barbara Shaw from the Intervention Rollback Action Group says she believes the compulsory quarantining of welfare payments and the continued suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act is wrong.

Her UN case will argue that the federal intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities is racially discriminatory.

The Government says it will reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the next phase of the intervention, once it has consulted with Indigenous communities.

But Ms Shaw says that is not acceptable.

"I believe that the intervention is wrong and a lot of people are suffering," she said.

"The Minister for Indigenous Affairs and the Prime Minister thinks that everybody likes the intervention and it's helping our children and women, and in fact it's not."

Related:

Aboriginal welfare quarantine 'like apartheid'
An Aboriginal health lobby group is asking the Federal Government to reconsider its decision to keep compulsory income management as a part of the Northern Territory intervention, against the advice of an independent review panel.

Damning report on Aboriginal scheme
THE radical intervention into remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory has "fractured" the relationship between governments and indigenous people and led to an even greater sense of betrayal and misery among many people, an independent panel has found.

NT intervention blamed for man's suicide
The family of a Northern Territory man who killed himself two months ago has blamed the federal intervention for his death.

Indigenous rights complaint lodged with UN
The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) has now sent a formal complaint to the United Nations about treatment of Indigenous people.

NT intervention failing to curb abuse
The head of one of Australia's peak Aboriginal child protection agencies says the federal intervention has failed to achieve one of its key goals.

NT intervention increasing murders
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is blaming the federal intervention for an increase in the number of murder cases it is defending in the Northern Territory.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention
Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.

New NT laws: 'more Aboriginal people jailed'
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties says more Aboriginal people will go to jail under proposed mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern Territory.

Intervention delivering 'empty shipping containers, no houses'
A member of the Maningrida community in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land says he cannot see any infrastructure changes as a result of the emergency intervention, and wants to know where the money has been spent.

Abandon NT intervention: Commissioner
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald says the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities should be abandoned and the legislation underpinning it should be repealed.

Budget to roll out new welfare card
Welfare plan: The new card will be initially rolled out in NT Indigenous communities. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Rudd Government's proposed welfare debit card is not the best way to help struggling families.

Police cannot cope with backlash
Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, has warned the Federal Government that many indigenous people displaced by the emergency intervention are creating unrest and straining police capacity.

Discrimination Act should apply to intervention: Calma
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner wants the Racial Discrimination Act immediately reinstated in the Northern Territory's Indigenous communities.

Porn ban in Indigenous communities 'racist'
The Australian National Adult Retail Association (Eros) says the Federal Government's ban on X-rated pornography in Aboriginal communities is pointless, racist and should be revoked.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies
EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Aboriginal delegation heads to UN
The National Aboriginal Alliance is taking its concerns about the Northern Territory intervention to the United Nations

Indigenous welfare quarantine scheme gets go ahead
Parents in four Cape York Indigenous communities could soon have their welfare payments quarantined if they do not take care of their children and homes and do not stay out of trouble with the law.

Wednesday 29 October 2008

NSW prisoners confined to cells for strike


Sydney's Long Bay Jail will be impacted by the strike.

Most prisoners in New South Wales will be confined to their cells today as prison officers strike against privatisation plans.

The strike action, which began last night, is affecting some of the state's major prisons including Long Bay, Parklea, Cessnock and Goulburn.

Prison officers says safety will be compromised if the NSW Government goes ahead with plans to privatise jails and security in court lockups.

Corrective Services spokesman Bob Stapleton says he has no concerns about security for the duration of the strike.

"The jails on strike will be locked down - fully locked down - for security reasons obviously," he said.

He says around 5,000 prisoners will still be provided with meals, showers, exercise and medical attention.

"The jails will be staffed by commissioned officers, those that are on strike," he said.

"Inmates will be locked in but there'll be provisions for them to shower and have meals provided and exercise and medical attention will be there as well."

The prisoners' advocacy group, Justice Action, is supporting the strike, saying that adding the profit motive to prisons is wrong.

Prison officers will hold a protest rally outside State Parliament this morning.

Cessnock MP Kerry Hickey says he hopes today's strike by prison officers prompts the NSW Government to abandon prison privatisation plans.

Mr Hickey says he believes the State Government rather than private interests, is better placed to run jails.

"I look at the reform services and the problems inside privatised jails and I'm yet to be convinced that it's conducted better by private entrepreneurs in the correctional services than the State Government," he said.

"We need outcomes that benefit our communities."

Prisoners support Prison Officers’ strike against privatisation

“NSW prisoners generally agree that adding the profit motive to the horror of prisons is wrong. Prisoners support the prison officers’ strike beginning tonight. Only a morally corrupt government would invite overseas private corporations to make profit from our misery, to control citizens like slaves in cages,” said Justice Action spokesperson Brett Collins.

“The ultimate responsibility for government is the creation of a safer society. Corrective Services spends $70,000 a prisoner a year, yet 44% of prisoners return to prison within two years. Cutting services through privatisation will mean worse results and higher costs eventually, which will be borne by the victims and taxpayers” said Justice Action spokesperson Michael Poynder.

Prison officers began their industrial campaign following the Cabinet decision to transfer the Long Bay Prison Hospital from Corrective Services to Health. This returned to the forensic patients their 12 hours out of cell, but meant the loss of 105 officers’ jobs to the private firm which services the Health Dept.

Justice Marks ordered them in the IRC on 26/9 to lift their bans on overtime, but now the Department of Corrective Services has widened the dispute to include privatisation of other functions.

“We support the prison officers in their campaign. Corrective Services cannot drop its responsibilities like this, disguising its budget costs with private deals. Its callousness with the mental health patients’ lockdown, cutting 28 officer positions to save costs whilst causing mental illness shows its failure in its core functions.

It is critically important that prisons be adequately staffed and with vital programs such as health and education provided to prisoners” Mr Poynder said.

Contact: Brett Collins 0438 705003
Michael Poynder 0401 371077

Record level of complaints against NSW police

The number of complaints against NSW police has grown to a record level of more than 1000, new data reveals.

The Police Integrity Commission received 1422 complaints in the past financial year.

The figure represents an increase of 15 per cent in complaints, continuing the steady rise in the number of complaints seen over the past several years.

However, the Commission decided to pursue only 95 of the complaints, with its Investigations Unit "recommending that consideration be given to commencing either a preliminary or full investigation", it noted in its 2007/08 annual report, released today.

The largest category of complaint received was 'improper association' by police with 143 complaints, followed by 137 cases with complaints of improper disclosure of information, and 112 cases of misuse of authority.

There were also 30 cases alleging police had perverted the course of justice, with 47 offences punishable by a maximum five-year prison sentence, the report shows.

During the past financial year, the Commission held public hearings in relation to Operations Pegasus and Luno, concerning allegations that NSW police "engaged in serious police misconduct related to the road side breath testing of persons in regional areas".

Reports on these two investigations is to be presented to State parliament before year-end.

Sea-level rise threat to coast

SYDNEY'S iconic beaches, coastal houses, commercial property and roads will be threatened by rising sea levels by 2050, while the city's temperature is expected to rise by at least 2 degrees, a new scientific study, launched by the Premier, Nathan Rees, reveals.

"Today, the science is in for Sydney," Mr Rees said yesterday as he proclaimed the influence of the climate sceptic and former treasurer Michael Costa at an end in NSW.

"The Costa era of ambiguity around this issue is over. Along with the rest of the NSW public, I recognise that climate change is a reality and that the NSW Government needs to prepare for it," the Premier said. "There is no longer a climate-change sceptic at the centre of government decision-making in this state".

The study commissioned by the NSW Department of Climate Change, and adopted by the Government, was carried out by the University of NSW and uses research from the United Nations' peak scientific body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It examines the effect of climate change on the greater Sydney metropolitan region from the Central Coast to Wollongong, along with other regions in rural NSW. The full state study is expected to be released in January.

"We've used world's best science to understand what will happen in different parts of this state so we can start planning now for the future," Mr Rees said. "We will all have to change the way we live to some degree."

The study finds that bushfires are likely to be more intense while rainfall may become more erratic, creating water shortages. But while winter rains decline, intense summer rain in parts of Sydney could increase flash flooding.

This, combined with higher temperatures, is expected to put the state's emergency services and health services under stress.

The study has enormous implications for urban planning, building standards and flood-risk mapping as well as agriculture. It finds by 2050 the expected sea level rise is likely to be 40 centimetres, reaching 90 centimetres by 2100. While the figure sounds deceptively small, a one-centimetre sea-level rise can cause erosion effects of up to one metre.

The projections would mean changes to the Sydney coastline, including the harbour, Parramatta River and the Georges River, said Professor Andy Short of the University of Sydney's coastal studies unit.

"Beaches with a low gradient like Narrabeen, Dee Why and Curl Curl are going to be the most heavily affected," he said.

This sea-level rise would also affect river estuaries and bays. As seawater invades estuaries, fish populations are likely to decline and water birds disappear.

A senior scientist with the Department of Climate Change, Peter Smith, told the forum, "Where you've got a hard promenade at beaches like Manly, you can expect a reduction in beach shape and the actual width of the beach. In some cases, beaches will possibly disappear."

The temperature rises, coupled with more erratic rainfall, are expected to hit southern NSW hardest, said Gary Allan, the project leader for climate risk management in the NSW Department of Primary Industries in NSW.

"In the Riverina, we have to consider the possibility of fairly significant change to agricultural practices as we have known them," he said.

Mr Rees said he would strongly support the federal Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and bring forward spending on energy efficiency measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

He said a proposed $63 million energy efficiency program to help low-income households cut their emissions would start next month in Orange and Bathurst, and move to Sydney early next year.

The plan, which had been flagged by the previous climate minister, Verity Firth, will affect up to 200,000 people including pensioners, public-housing tenants and Aborigines.

Tuesday 28 October 2008

Prison officers to stage 24-hour strike

NSW prison officers will stage a 24-hour strike over fears the government is planning to privatise prisons and prisoner transport services.

NSW Public Service Association (PSA) general secretary John Cahill says officers will stop work at 10pm (AEDT) on Tuesday and hold a protest rally outside NSW parliament on Wednesday morning.

Mr Cahill says the government is market testing plans to sell off Parklea and Cessnock correctional centres, as well as aspects of court security and prisoner escort.

"Our concern is that Treasury will push to have these vital services privatised in the November 11 mini-budget as they search for cost savings," he said.

"The message to the government from frontline prison officers is that this proposal would undermine security both within jails and in the broader community."

Mr Cahill said privatisation of prisons interstate and overseas had shown that assaults on officers had increased and security had been compromised.

"Prison officers are seeking a clear indication from the NSW government that privatisation is not on the agenda.

"The message to the premier (Nathan Rees) is that the state's prison service is at breaking point and the proposed response of privatisation and casualisation will only make matters worse."

Comment was being sought from the government.

Super funds gutted, more cash frozen

THE retirement savings of millions of Australians have been savaged by the global financial turmoil with the average superannuation fund falling 11.6 per cent in the year to September.

The latest bad news about super returns came as the sharemarket hit a four-year low and Colonial First State, the Commonwealth Bank's wealth management arm, froze $3.3 billion of funds invested directly by 61,000 small investors to avoid a run on deposits.

The research agency SuperRatings said the latest fall meant the median balanced super fund had lost 3.4 per cent in value over the first three months of the financial year. Funds have had their worst 12-month performance since compulsory superannuation was introduced in 1992.

Senior Treasury officials and corporate regulators are working on a plan to allow retail investors in frozen funds to withdraw their savings if they would suffer severe personal or financial hardship if their capital remained locked up.

But the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made it clear the Federal Government would not extend its guarantee of bank deposits to funds such as mortgage trusts that are being hit by a flight of capital.

Mr Rudd said bank deposits were fundamental to the financial system but "providing guarantees to market-linked investments, that's quite something else".

"We will work through the implementation of this over a long period of time but market-linked investments go beyond the scope of the guarantee that the Government announced the other day, and we did so directly on the advice of the financial regulators."

The Australian sharemarket fell 1.65 per cent yesterday as investors sold up due to growing fears about an extended global recession. The benchmark All Ordinaries index fell by 63.3 points to close at 3768.3, its lowest in four years.

The latest sharemarket falls would depress super funds' returns further, the managing director of SuperRatings, Jeff Bresnahan, said.

SuperRatings found the median balanced fund - with investments in a mix of shares, bonds, property and cash - posted its fourth consecutive quarterly decline in the three months to September.

Mr Bresnahan said super fund members were increasingly moving out of balanced portfolios and into more conservative cash investment options. Funds needed to improve their communication with members to ensure they did not panic, he warned.

The Government's guarantee of bank deposits earlier this month has contributed to a rash of withdrawals from mortgage trusts and other managed funds as investors try to move their savings into banks.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said he had asked the Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman, Tony D'Aloisio, to consider ways of helping unguaranteed financial institutions "weather the storm".

"I can't and won't promise instant solutions in a time of unprecedented uncertainty, but I can promise that we will work as hard as possible, consistently and decisively, to resolve as many issues as possible," he said.

Executives from the managed funds industry met government officials in Canberra yesterday and pressed for measures to stem the flight of capital amid concerns that some funds could be forced into fire sales of their underlying assets.

The talks are focusing on two issues: how to provide relief for the minority of investors who will suffer hardship if they cannot withdraw their funds; and wider approaches to restoring confidence and stemming the flow of funds from managed investment vehicles.

Officials said they hoped a plan to deal with hardship cases could be announced by the end of the week.

This is likely to rely on ASIC's powers to exempt managed investment schemes from the Corporations Act's requirement that all investors are treated equally in distributing funds.

The Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, said the Government's handling of the bank guarantee had been a serious blunder.

"A lot of people are suffering real hardship because of that: their assets have been frozen and that has been as a direct consequence of Mr Rudd and Mr Swan's mistake."

Related:

Dollar dives as investors flee to greenback

The Australian dollar is trading near Friday's closing price of 61.7 US cents this morning after suffering its biggest sell-off since it was floated in 1983 over the weekend.

Freefall Friday: $84b - worst day in 21 years
The Australian share market has plunged in opening trade after a disastrous session overnight on Wall Street.

Economists predict unemployment rate rise
The unemployment rate has jumped from 4.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

Market plunges 5pc, dollar crashes
The Australian share market plunged 5 per cent today, as the dollar hit a new five-year low. Fear of a global recession has seized markets, with big falls across the major indices overnight.

Associate Pofesor Steven Keen.
Steven Keen has come increasingly to prominence over the past couple of years specialising in the economics of Australia's spiralling household debt burden.

$50b Aussie wipe-out
Australian stocks wiped more than $50 billion off the value of the market today after the US House of Representatives rejected a $US700 billion ($860 billion) plan to rescue the financial system.

Upwardly immobile: mortgage stress bites
Reserve Bank statistics do not begin to tell the real story of housing stress in Sydney's western suburbs, according to financial counsellor Mike Young.

Households give up three years of gains
AUSTRALIAN households have been hit so hard this year that their financial gains of the past three years have been wiped out, a Reserve Bank report has found.

16 years jail for sex assault naturopath

A Melbourne naturopath has been sentenced to 16 years' jail for the sexual assault of 12 patients over almost 20 years.

Michael Morris Wilson, 53, formally of suburban Armadale, will serve 12 years' jail before being eligible for parole.

In sentencing him on Tuesday, County Court Judge Liz Gaynor described Morris as a "callous and self-centred sexual abuser" who exploited the trust of his patients.

"I can only regard each of your victim as vulnerable females on who you prayed on remorselessly," she said.

Morris was found guilty in May of 22 counts of indecent assault, 11 of rape and one each of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and committing an indecent act with a child under 16.

His victims were all women who sought naturopathic and massage treatment at his practices in Mont Albert and Prahran between 1987 and 2006.

19-drink thug beats jail by 'skin of teeth'

A YOUNG man who had 19 alcoholic drinks before bashing the son of a former Geelong Football Club captain yesterday was ordered to serve a jail term in the community.

Judge Frances Hogan warned Joshua William Martin, 20, that he had escaped jail "by the skin of your teeth".

The County Court heard Martin was out with friends at Geelong's Room 99 nightclub on June 2, last year when he was involved in an unprovoked attack on Che Turner.

Mr Turner, 21, the son of former AFL Geelong captain Michael, was confronted by Martin's group after he said goodbye to an ejected friend.

He was surrounded and assaulted. Martin hit him so hard that a patron reported hearing the cheekbone cracking above the music.

Martin told police he could not remember it, and had drunk eight rum and cokes, six tequila slammers, three vodkas and two jaegerbombs.

But Judge Hogan said Martin later gave evidence in "extraordinarily elaborate detail" that he acted in self-defence.

Martin, of Leopold, was found guilty by a jury of recklessly causing serious injury.

His victim, a member of an AFL Academy, now has four titanium plates in his face.

Judge Hogan, saying Martin had shown no remorse for his "cowardly" attack, sentenced him to 12 months' jail, to be served by an intensive corrections order in the community.

Monday 27 October 2008

Greens name Meredith Hunter as leader


Meredith Hunter will lead the Greens in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

The ACT Greens have named Ginninderra MLA-elect Meredith Hunter as the party's leader.

The mother of three is one of four Greens to win a seat in the next ACT Legislative Assembly.

Ms Hunter, Shane Rattenbury, Amanda Bresnan and Caroline Le Couteur will hold the balance of power in the Assembly but are yet to announce which major party they will support to form a minority government.

The Greens will meet with both the Liberal and Labor parties tomorrow for further talks and have not said if they will seek a ministry.

Afghans sent home to die


Mr Glendenning says he has documented the deaths of nine of the rejected Afghans at the hands of the Taliban, but he believes the figure is actually 20.

Allegations up to 20 Afghan asylum seekers rejected by Australia under the Howard government's so-called Pacific solution were killed after returning to Afghanistan, and others remain in hiding from the Taliban.

Phil Glendenning, the director of social justice agency the Edmund Rice Centre, has spent the past six years tracing many of these rejected asylum seekers.

About 400 Afghans detained on Nauru were returned to Afghanistan after having their asylum claims rejected. They were told by Immigration officials it was safe to go home, and that if they refused, they would remain in detention forever, according to accounts given to Mr Glendenning.

Another 400 who refused to go voluntarily were eventually found to be refugees and were resettled in Australia or other countries including New Zealand.

Mr Glendenning says he has documented the deaths of nine of the rejected Afghans at the hands of the Taliban, but he believes the figure is actually 20.

Of the other Afghans who returned home, many are hiding in Pakistan, or are forced to move between Pakistan and Afghanistan to evade the Taliban. They include a man whose two daughters were killed in a Taliban attack on his family's home near Kabul, after his asylum claim was rejected by Australia in 2002.

Much of the information Mr Glendenning used to locate the rejected asylum seekers was provided to him by sympathetic Immigration officials, concerned at what had occurred under the Howard government.

He believes the Afghans who left Nauru were "lied to" by Australian officials, and he wants the Government to reopen their cases.

Philip Ruddock was immigration minister until October 2003. Asked for his comment on the rejected Afghans, he said, "I would never say mistakes are impossible."

"It is the case that Afghanistan is a dangerous place but the [United Nations] Refugee Convention does not say you cannot be returned to a dangerous place," Mr Ruddock said. "The fact that somebody might tragically die [in Afghanistan] may well be as tragic as a road accident in Sydney."

Related:

Immigration officials should face action
A former human rights commissioner says Immigration Department officials who breached human rights under the Howard government need to face disciplinary action.

Australia pays family of Afghan governor
Australia has made an honour payment to the family of Afghan tribal district governor Rozi Khan who was shot dead in a confused firefight involving Australian special forces troops.

Australian boat arrivals from Middle East
The Immigration Minister Chris Evans has confirmed that a group of people caught illegally in Australian waters last week are from the Middle East.

Govt attacked on 'asylum' boat issue

Human rights groups have attacked the federal government over its treatment of a group of suspected asylum seekers intercepted en route to Australia.

AFGHANISTAN: End the slaughter
On 22 August, 95 civilians were killed by NATO forces, 60 among them were children. Yesterday 1 September another 70 civilians suffered the same fate.

Austraila detained Afghans in 'dog pens'
Australian special forces troops detained suspected Taliban militants [or indigenous Afganistanis] in "dog pens" in actions which have prompted a protest from the Afghan ambassador.

Dollar dives as investors flee to greenback

The Australian dollar is trading near Friday's closing price of 61.7 US cents this morning after suffering its biggest sell-off since it was floated in 1983 over the weekend.

On Friday the currency hit a five-year low against the greenback of just over 60.5 US cents.

CommSec analyst Juliana Roadley says the dollar could fall below 60 US cents.

"Well here at CBA we are looking that it might move below 60 but moving into the new year, we feel it will stabilise around these levels at the moment," she said.

"There is a lot more water to go under the bridge before we possibly see stability coming back into the markets."

At around 7:00am AEDT the dollar was buying around 61.9 US cents.

In futures trade, the Share Price Index 200 had fallen by 1 per cent, or 37 points, to 3,840.

Related:

Freefall Friday: $84b - worst day in 21 years
The Australian share market has plunged in opening trade after a disastrous session overnight on Wall Street.

Economists predict unemployment rate rise
The unemployment rate has jumped from 4.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

Market plunges 5pc, dollar crashes
The Australian share market plunged 5 per cent today, as the dollar hit a new five-year low. Fear of a global recession has seized markets, with big falls across the major indices overnight.

Associate Pofesor Steven Keen.
Steven Keen has come increasingly to prominence over the past couple of years specialising in the economics of Australia's spiralling household debt burden.

$50b Aussie wipe-out
Australian stocks wiped more than $50 billion off the value of the market today after the US House of Representatives rejected a $US700 billion ($860 billion) plan to rescue the financial system.

Upwardly immobile: mortgage stress bites
Reserve Bank statistics do not begin to tell the real story of housing stress in Sydney's western suburbs, according to financial counsellor Mike Young.

Households give up three years of gains
AUSTRALIAN households have been hit so hard this year that their financial gains of the past three years have been wiped out, a Reserve Bank report has found.

End 'witchhunts' - Whistleblowers Australia

Whistleblowers Australia is calling for greater protection for people who speak out about wrongdoing in government departments and agencies at a federal parliamentary inquiry in Sydney today.

The House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee will also be hearing from the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Police Integrity Commission and the Australian Press Council.

In Australia, there are no uniform laws to protect public interest disclosures.

One of the more recent cases of whistleblowing centred on Allan Kessing, a public servant who leaked classified reports exposing airport security breaches.

The leak prompted a big inquiry into crime and security at Australia's airports and led to a $200 million overhaul of procedures, but the whistleblower himself was given a nine-month suspended jail sentence for his actions.

The president of Whistleblowers Australia, Peter Bennett, says there should be an independent agency to oversee complaints.

"Whistleblowers being able to stop malpractice, misconduct or public waste would in itself just pay for a whistleblowing commission," he said.

He has praised the Federal Government for initiating the inquiry.

"For the last 12 years there has actually been witchhunts for whistleblowers," he said.

The inquiry has already heard from a number of agencies in Canberra and Melbourne, including the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Ombudsman and will continue in Brisbane tomorrow.

Related:

Whistleblowers hung out to dry: report
A national study led by Griffith University says fewer than 2 per cent of public interest whistleblowers get support from their government agency.

Inquiry to address whistleblower protection
A federal parliamentary committee is to hold an inquiry into protection for whistleblowers in the public service.

Saturday 25 October 2008

Aboriginal welfare quarantine 'like apartheid'


The Racial Discrimination Act should be immediately reinstated.

An Aboriginal health lobby group is asking the Federal Government to reconsider its decision to keep compulsory income management as a part of the Northern Territory intervention, against the advice of an independent review panel.

Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory spokesperson John Paterson says income management is racially discriminatory and he has likened it to apartheid.

"It's taken us back to the dark old days of the South African apartheid regime," he said.

"I thought we'd come past that era. Aboriginal people in 1967 were given the referendum to vote and the freedom to be treated as Australian citizens."

Mr Paterson says men in the Territory have been screaming out for a response to a health summit held in Alice Springs earlier this year.

He wants the Territory to have programs such as 'Men's Sheds' where men get together, support each other and hear talks by role models.

"We seem to be the forgotten component of this whole intervention," he said.

"Aboriginal men are also in need of the amount of support and programs and services for themselves, that they can have the opportunity to be good fathers and good parents and good role models for Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal families."

One of the communities covered by the intervention has also criticised the decision to keep compulsory income management.

Darwin Bagot Community president Lyle Cooper says the Racial Discrimination Act should be immediately reinstated.

"After going and visiting 31 communities ... all we want to do is be responsible for our actions and roll back intervention in terms of taking back the blanket approach for income management," he said.

He has questioned the purpose of having the review.

"We're at a loss understanding why all this money was spent on a review committee, going in and speaking to us who live the dream at the moment, going back to Canberra and having Prime Minister Rudd and Macklin having our recommendations fall on deaf ears," he said.

Related:

Damning report on Aboriginal scheme
THE radical intervention into remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory has "fractured" the relationship between governments and indigenous people and led to an even greater sense of betrayal and misery among many people, an independent panel has found.

NT intervention blamed for man's suicide
The family of a Northern Territory man who killed himself two months ago has blamed the federal intervention for his death.

Indigenous rights complaint lodged with UN
The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) has now sent a formal complaint to the United Nations about treatment of Indigenous people.

NT intervention failing to curb abuse
The head of one of Australia's peak Aboriginal child protection agencies says the federal intervention has failed to achieve one of its key goals.

NT intervention increasing murders
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is blaming the federal intervention for an increase in the number of murder cases it is defending in the Northern Territory.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention
Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.

New NT laws: 'more Aboriginal people jailed'
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties says more Aboriginal people will go to jail under proposed mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern Territory.

Intervention delivering 'empty shipping containers, no houses'
A member of the Maningrida community in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land says he cannot see any infrastructure changes as a result of the emergency intervention, and wants to know where the money has been spent.

Abandon NT intervention: Commissioner
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald says the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities should be abandoned and the legislation underpinning it should be repealed.

Budget to roll out new welfare card
Welfare plan: The new card will be initially rolled out in NT Indigenous communities. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Rudd Government's proposed welfare debit card is not the best way to help struggling families.

Police cannot cope with backlash
Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, has warned the Federal Government that many indigenous people displaced by the emergency intervention are creating unrest and straining police capacity.

Discrimination Act should apply to intervention: Calma
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner wants the Racial Discrimination Act immediately reinstated in the Northern Territory's Indigenous communities.

Porn ban in Indigenous communities 'racist'
The Australian National Adult Retail Association (Eros) says the Federal Government's ban on X-rated pornography in Aboriginal communities is pointless, racist and should be revoked.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies
EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Aboriginal delegation heads to UN
The National Aboriginal Alliance is taking its concerns about the Northern Territory intervention to the United Nations

Indigenous welfare quarantine scheme gets go ahead
Parents in four Cape York Indigenous communities could soon have their welfare payments quarantined if they do not take care of their children and homes and do not stay out of trouble with the law.

Not one shred of evidence, Haneef case


Federal police knew they had nothing to link Mohammed Haneef to terrorism, but pressed on regardless, writes David Marr.

Even before charging him last year, the Australian Federal Police knew Mohammed Haneef's old SIM card was not used by [an alleged] terrorist cell. In the public's mind, that card was the one sexy piece of evidence somehow linking the Gold Coast doctor to [alleged] botched attempts by his cousin Kafeel Ahmed to blow up a London nightclub and Glasgow airport. The police have now admitted they knew the card was never used and never there. But it grounded the charge.

From the mountain of paper about the Haneef fiasco - to which the AFP added last Thursday a brief public defence of its role in what was known as "Operation Rain" - it is now clear the Australian police had run out of options by the time the Indian medico was charged with recklessly giving his card to a terrorist cell. The case was threadbare. The lawyers were circling. It had come down to this: Haneef had to be charged or released.

For 11 days the AFP had been holding him in the Brisbane watchhouse under brand new powers [draconian laws] that allow terrorism suspects [witches] to be imprisoned without charge virtually indefinitely. Public scrutiny was intense. The laws had never been used before. The Prime Minister, the Attorney-General and the Police Commissioner were calling almost daily press conferences in Canberra to underscore the grave allegations Haneef faced. [To promote the fear of terrorism and the reason for expanding the illegal and degrading war on Iraq and Afghanistan.]

But despite the public air of 'national emergency', Operation Rain was in trouble. Intense police efforts here and in Britain were yielding nothing to implicate this man in the British outrages. Police had their suspicions. They had seized a huge amount of material to analyse. There were many interesting leads to follow. But after nearly a fortnight they had found nothing that would hold up in court.

And they knew it. A document released to Haneef's lawyers under freedom of information shows a senior investigator with Operation Rain concluding at this time: "I do not believe that I currently have sufficient evidence to charge Haneef." ASIO was delivering the same verdict to the Government. Queensland police attached to Operation Rain also believed there was insufficient evidence to charge the man.

But three days later, at the end of an all-night interrogation, Haneef was charged under section 102.7(2) of the Commonwealth's Criminal Code with providing a SIM card to a terrorist organisation a year earlier and "being reckless as to whether the organisation was a terrorist organisation". How and why that charge was laid is the central question to be answered by John Clarke, QC, the former NSW Supreme Court judge now investigating the Haneef shemozzle.

Haneef found his visa cancelled and facing the prospect of immigration detention and deportation. A mighty national controversy erupted. A fortnight later the then Commonwealth DPP Damien Bugg, QC, intervened to discontinue the charge. He too was "not convinced that the evidence establishes a reasonable prospect of conviction against Dr Haneef".

Embarrassment, acrimony and blame-shifting followed. The AFP is still ladling it out in the submission to Clarke released this week. It is blaming the DPP for the charge ever being laid; Scotland Yard for supplying incorrect information; the DPP again for not publicly correcting crucial errors in police briefings; Haneef's legal team for releasing transcripts of his interrogation; and the press for too often getting the story wrong: "The erroneous reporting was not only unhelpful to Dr Haneef and the AFP, it was unfair to the Australian community who might reasonably have expected that accurate information on such an important issue was being made available to them."

[The press for intentionally getting the story wrong? Propaganda do you think? All information incorrect from the source to the witch!!! Who?]

Meanwhile, the AFP has been extremely reluctant to make basic information available. It has declined to release the full submissions plus witness statements and documents actually given to Clarke. No "UK-sourced information" has been released. A pile of documents obtained under FOI by Haneef's legal team are heavily redacted. But they - together with submissions to Clarke from the DPP, ASIO, the Queensland Police and even the AFP - allow a fairly complete answer to be given to the question: what on earth was going on here?

In a nutshell: they never had anything concrete to link Mohammed Haneef to his cousin's [alleged] crimes; they were never very interested in the SIM card; they were living all along in the hope that something damning would turn up in Britain. The mantra of Operation Rain and the hapless DPP official drawn into the police net was: something's on its way from over there. But it never came.

Two Mercedes-Benz cars packed with gas canisters, petrol and nails were parked in central London early in the morning of June 29 last year [allegedly] by Kafeel Ahmed and [an alleged] accomplice. Police allege the second man was Dr Bilal Abdulla, an Iraqi diabetes specialist now on trial for this crime in Britain. The bombs failed to explode. The next day, [it is alleged] the two men mounted a suicide ram raid on Glasgow airport. This, too, was a fiasco. The only casualty was Kafeel who later died of burns.

[Allegedly] On his way north, Kafeel had sent his brother, Dr Sabeel Ahmed, an email confessing his mission. British police and courts have accepted this jihad message as evidence that Sabeel knew nothing of his brother's plans. Haneef had left his SIM card with Sabeel in the summer of 2006 as he prepared to fly out to a new job and a new life in Australia. Sabeel was not a terrorist or the member of a terrorist cell. Giving him a SIM card could not assist - recklessly or otherwise - a terrorist organisation.

The AFP has now admitted it knew of the [alleged] jihad email but this critical information [allegedly,]never reached Haneef's lawyers and was not given to the DPP before Haneef was charged. The AFP argues in its submission to Clarke that the email had to be tested to make sure it was not created to help mask Sabeel's "true knowledge" of the terrorists' plans. Despite the verdict of the British courts, the AFP's submission still does not clearly endorse the email as genuine.

Phone records alerted British police to Haneef's existence. Far from being useful as an untraceable component in a terrorist bomb, the SIM card revealed a connection between Haneef - in whose name the card remained registered - and his cousins Sabeel, who usually paid the fees, and Kafeel, who paid them once. With the help of some neighbours in Liverpool, England, and Sabeel's mother in India, British police then got a message through to Haneef at the Southport Hospital on the Gold Coast: please ring.

He tried half a dozen times without success to get through to Scotland Yard's Tony Webster. These attempts punctuated a crowded day in which Haneef took leave from his job; had his father-in-law buy him a ticket home to Bangalore; left his car, laptop, documents and wife's jewellery for safekeeping with his colleague Dr Asif Ali; spoke several times to family members in India; and left for Brisbane airport where, a little before midnight, he was taken into custody.

The magistrate supervising Haneef's detention in the watchhouse never heard of those attempted calls to British police. But it was worse than that. Haneef's lawyers say in their submission to Clarke: "No public statement of which we are aware by any Australian agency has referred to this crucial information as a matter relevant to or taken into account by them in their decisions concerning Dr Haneef. The AFP's actions in respect of this information require the closest scrutiny by the inquiry."

Police had many reasons to be suspicious. British police were "linking" this man to botched attempts at mass murder; he appeared to be doing a bunk; he had only an expensive one-way ticket; in his baggage were documents that seemed hardly useful on a seven-day dash home; and the sudden concern to see his newborn child seemed odd as the baby was by this time six days old.

That the AFP needed to investigate Haneef is beyond dispute. [?] The question is: did they have the right to detain him for nearly a fortnight without charge in the Brisbane watchhouse while they did so? At one point over the next few days, one of the police gave Haneef his snapshot view of the situation: they would hold him until they were absolutely certain he had had no part in the British bomb attempts. "We obviously investigate things to a point that we can say Mohammed's definitely not involved and we are happy and can categorically state that."

But Haneef's lawyers argue that this turns the law on its head. The AFP could only hold him without charge under the anti-terrorism provisions [draconian-laws] of the Criminal Code while officers had a "reasonable belief" that he had actually committed the crime for which he was detained: giving his SIM card to a[n alleged] terrorist cell. His lawyers say that certainly after the first day's interrogation - when Haneef gave his explanation for the issues concerning police - his continued detention was unlawful. The evidence wasn't there to sustain a "reasonable belief" in his guilt. "There was a duty … for the state of arrest to be brought to an end, and for Dr Haneef to be released."

CLIVE PORRITT only heard about Haneef from the media. Porritt was the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions' man in Brisbane. Normally, the AFP would bring him in at an early stage of such operations. Not this time. So Porritt rang the police on the first morning of Haneef's detention. The DPP's submission to Clarke states: "The officer said he appreciated [Porritt's] offer of assistance but did not have the time to talk further." Porritt checked again next day and was told, "The AFP did not anticipate this matter coming to court imminently."

Porritt was brought in on various bits and pieces of the case, but the DPP's man had no role in the central, controversial and untried system of judicial supervision of a suspect's detention. Essentially that meant the police asking magistrate Jim Gordon for extensions of time to hold their prisoner. The magistrate would never speak to Haneef. Police material handed to Gordon was full of errors. Little or nothing exculpatory was shown to the magistrate. Gordon was told time and again of the "enormity" of the task facing police. They always needed more time.

A huge police operation in Britain and Australia was under way. Though heavily redacted, police documents obtained under FOI show the AFP was barely interested in the SIM card. Operation Rain's first priority was tracking down Haneef's petty but complex financial dealings - including payments to and from his terrorist cousin Kafeel of a few thousand dollars over the years. Police did not accept Haneef's claim that these were gifts or remittances through Kafeel to his own family in Bangalore.

The question in Brisbane was: how much longer could they hold Haneef? With the encouragement of officers involved in his case, Haneef had hired a solicitor, Peter Russo, and he brought Stephen Keim, SC, onto the legal team. The balance was shifting. The lawyers were demanding to see some of the police material. So far they had seen none. Gordon gave police what they wanted on July 5, but on July 9 he rejected a request for 120 hours and granted only 48.

A fallback strategy was already in place. Plans were well advanced to cancel Haneef's visa and transfer him to immigration detention if the magistrate should order his release. This was not a last-minute exigency as it would later appear, but an integral part of the strategy all along. By whatever machinery was available, Haneef was to be kept locked up.

July 11, when Gordon would be asked for the next extension of time, was looming as the showdown. In preparation, the AFP collated a summary of the facts. Clearly it did not make compelling reading. The author of a heavily redacted AFP document - probably the senior investigating officer of Operation Rain, Ramzi Jabbour - wrote: "Having reviewed the material in possession of the investigation team at this stage and assessed that against the offences outlined above, I do not believe that I currently have sufficient evidence to charge Haneef."

ASIO was delivering much the same conclusion on July 11 in written advice to "the Government and various agencies". In its submission to Clarke, ASIO says its inquiries had turned up nothing to show Haneef had foreknowledge of the British attacks. "Nor was there any information to indicate that Dr Haneef was undertaking planning for a terrorist attack in Australia or overseas."

Keim was allowed to see some of the AFP documents handed to the magistrate that day. Tucked away in a sub-paragraph is the first admission that the SIM card was found, not at the scene of any of Kafeel's [alleged] crimes, but with his brother in Liverpool. This correction of Scotland Yard's original advice appears to have made absolutely no difference to the AFP's approach to the case.

Gordon gave the police another 48 hours. The showdown was postponed. Early next morning, the AFP Commissioner, Mick Keelty, rang the Commonwealth DPP Damien Bugg who was waiting to catch a plane at Melbourne airport. According to the DPP's submission to Clarke, Keelty remarked: "He did not think that at that stage of the investigation that there was a case against Dr Haneef."

Yet later that day in Brisbane, Clive Porritt was at last called in by Operation Rain to assess the case against the prisoner. He was shown a mass of material which he found "incomplete and unfocused" but there was enough there for him to tell police they could not charge Haneef with financing terrorism. It was the SIM card or nothing. Police promised to prepare a briefing paper overnight.

Porritt spent most of the next day, July 13, at AFP headquarters digesting a 48-page brief that came with complex charts and statements. His superiors say they made it clear to him early that afternoon that he was not to approve a charge. If the police wanted to go down that track, it was to be on their head alone. But for reasons that are not clear in the DPP's submissions to Clarke, Porritt gave police what they wanted. He says he "felt an unspoken but extreme pressure to provide positive reassurance to police that they were lawfully entitled to charge Dr Haneef … It was a fraught and stressful time."

Porritt advised Haneef could be charged with intentionally providing "resources" - that is, the SIM card - to a terrorist organisation "consisting of a group of persons including Sabeel Ahmed and Kafeel Ahmed, being reckless as to whether the organisation was a terrorist organisation".

By the time he confirmed his advice in writing about 6pm, the second long interrogation of Haneef was under way. It would go for 12 hours until abruptly terminated about 4.30am. To Haneef's barrister Keim it seemed the second examination showed how little headway the AFP had made in its investigations. The most interesting new material was a chatroom exchange in which a number of ambiguous statements were made by Haneef and his brother. Once again, this raised suspicions but fell way short of proof of any offence.

About dawn, Haneef's interrogators and several Queensland police attached to Operation Rain met its commander, Ramzi Jabbour. They had been up all night observing the interrogation. In its submission to Clarke, Queensland police make it clear they still didn't think Haneef had a case to answer. Detective Superintendent Gayle Hogan, the most senior Queensland officer attached to Operation Rain, told Jabbour that, based on what was known at that time, "there was insufficient evidence to support a charge against Dr Haneef".

The submission continues: "Detective Superintendent Hogan was present when Senior Investigating Officer Jabbour had a telephone conversation with his senior AFP management and heard Senior Investigating Officer Jabbour articulate during that conversation that the [Queensland police] view was that there was insufficient evidence to charge Dr Haneef. Detective Superintendent Hogan was then advised by Senior Investigating Officer Jabbour that he was going to charge Dr Haneef."

A fortnight later, Haneef flew home to India a free man. Australia couldn't keep him. Britain didn't want him. The AFP's plans had gone terribly wrong from the moment of his charging. First, the magistrate Jacquie Payne, unimpressed by the case against him, granted him bail. That spurred an immediate review of the case by the DPP himself, Damien Bugg. He opted not to appeal the magistrate's decision.

Haneef remained for the moment in detention. Plan B had been activated and his visa cancelled. That caused public uproar. Embarrassment for the AFP and the Government deepened on July 20 when the story that the SIM card - despite all public impressions to the contrary - was not connected to the London and Glasgow bombing attempts. That was no news to the police.

As the DPP pressed them for more evidence, they fought back, insisting Haneef was only charged because of Porritt's advice. Keelty would even claim later that he was "surprised" by the charging. The AFP has told the Clarke inquiry: "If the AFP had ignored the CDPP advice this would have been without precedent. The AFP would have been severely criticised for refusing to accept the advice, which it understood to be the settled corporate advice of the CDPP."

Budd gave the AFP a deadline of midday July 26 to advise if there was any material forthcoming "to address the concerns about the sufficiency of the likely evidence". There wasn't. Next day, Budd pulled the plug. Haneef left the country. The AFP continued to investigate Haneef for a year without result. In April this year, the Clarke inquiry was set up with high expectations and essentially no powers to investigate the fiasco. It is due to report on November 14.

"This has impacted so much of my life - my family, my career, my reputation," Mohammed Haneef said. "I hope that this inquiry gives a comprehensive account of what happened and address all the wrongs that have been done to me. My family needs to be assured that all wrongs are corrected and redress is given."

Quote: Ostensibly false flag operations have been used by the Coalition of the Killing to promote their wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. These include the 911 bombings on the twin towers in the US, the Madrid train bombings and the London 77 bombings. The very reason for the [alleged tags] in this article. No one can say for sure what the British say is the truth. I.E. Nothing coming from the authorities can be believed especially in light of these draconian witch-hunt laws that go along with the alleged war on terror. Much more could be said about it. However, not many people would believe the British government either when it comes to false flags, alleged terrorist attacks and alleged terrorists. In short the intelligent community is over the wars, bad laws and the witches and the witch-hunts that are intended to support them. Finding these people completely innocent is no surprise. Just look at the list of links and it soon becomes very clear that all the terror doctrine, is as our friend David Marr suggests above, a shemozzle.

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Faheem Lodhi - another non-terrorist jailed under Australia's 'anti-terror' laws? Jack Thomas, a non-terrorist, has been jailed under Australia's anti-terror laws. Now Faheem Lodhi has been convicted under the terror laws on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. It is likely he is another non-terrorist jailed for political purposes under the terror laws.