Students protest against academy closure

Students and teachers from the Australian National Academy of Music have played classical music in Parliament House to protest against the school's closure.

Two violinists entered the House of Representatives entrance and a lone cellist greeted senators on the opposite side of Parliament House.

Last month federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett announced that funding for the classical music school will be cut and instead go to a new body operating in conjunction with Melbourne University.

The academy is set to be stripped of its funding and the $2.5 million will now be given to Melbourne University's School of Music instead.

The academy's artistic director, Brett Dean, says the Government is throwing the baby out with the bath water.

"Any institution needs to have accountability," he said.

"My big difficulty with all of this is that it hasn't acknowledged the artistic credibility of the place."

Mr Garrett announced that students from the academy will be given help to find a place in the new school, which Mr Dean says is a sign Mr Garrett has been listening.

But Mr Dean says he does not want a situation where students are being moved from a place where they have flourished to a place where their future is much less certain.

"The language of the most recent announcement certainly seems to acknowledge that the academy has a fine reputation and isn't the dysfunctional baby that they thought they were getting rid of," he said.

He says current facilities at Melbourne University's music department or conservatorium and Victorian College of the Arts are already overstretched.

Greens moratorium

Greens will move a Senate motion today calling on the Government to impose a 12-month moratorium on the closure of the academy.

Greens Senator Christine Milne says the Government needs to allow the students to remain at the school while its future is discussed.

"These brilliant young students don't know where they're going next year, there are no transitional arrangements in place," she said.

"The Prime Minister would not do this to his own children nor would Minister Garrett, nor would I, and so this is a bad decision and the Parliament needs to intervene here."

Being heard

Rock musician Paul Kelly and actor Geoffrey Rush are among other high-profile Australians who have come to Parliament House in support of the Australian Academy of Music.

Mr Dean says the protest is designed to have their music be heard.

"I think actions often speak louder than words," he said.

"This decision has been made without the minister or his advisers ever setting foot in our premises in South Melbourne or ever hearing a note of music that we play.

"We've been criticised in the past for being inefficient and ineffective, now on Friday the Minister claims that we have such a strong reputation that they want to keep the name [for the new school at Melbourne University].

"They need to realise how that name has come to stand for such excellence and that is because we have a team that can deliver and provide these services."

PM urged to tackle homelessness

'Dead wrong' ... Mr Rudd has been urged to follow through on homelessness

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is under pressure to make good on his promise to help the plight of the nation's homeless.

Mr Rudd put homelessness on the national agenda in January, announcing he was forming a committee to improve crisis services and help people get long-term housing.

He also told MPs to learn more about the plight of the homeless by spending a night in an emergency shelter.

"It is dead wrong that in a country as wealthy as ours that on any given night some 14,000 people are sleeping rough," he said at the time.

But Deb Tsorbaris from the coalition Australians for Ending Homelessness says the situation has deteriorated over the past year, and the global financial crisis is already biting the Australian community hard.

"We already know that in one of the last sets of data, the data that is collected from our services, that nearly 3,000 people had had mortgages before they appeared at our services," she said.

"That was at least a year ago, so we would expect those numbers to double or triple. Now that's frightening."

The coalition is in Canberra with a five-point plan to reduce homelessness and holds out hope that action can begin before the end of the year.

"Kevin Rudd has distinguished himself as the only prime minister, in my memory anyway, who has singled out homelessness as an issue that he wants to tackle," she said.

"We have had the white paper delayed. COAG is in a week and at that time there will be discussions between the states and the Commonwealth about huge amounts of money, in excess of $33 billion, and we are keen to make sure that a chunk of that goes to the area of homelessness."

The group's plan includes a proposal to build an additional 250,000 low-cost and community houses by 2020.

Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek says she expects the issue will be raised at next Saturday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.

"I think we are at, obviously, a very difficult time because of the global financial crisis, but the Government's early and decisive action with its $10.4 billion economic security strategy, I think, has certainly given a lot of people comfort and security and our actions on homelessness have been critical," she said.

"But we have got to ask ourselves, not just how the economic circumstances are affecting the number of homeless people, but how successful we are as a community and as governments working together to turn around some of these numbers."

Ms Plibersek says the Prime Minister's commitment to dealing with homelessness "has been full and unwavering".

Financial crisis no excuse for homeless neglect: Greens

The Greens say the Federal Government should not use the financial crisis as an excuse to water down its commitments to homeless people.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlum says the Government's rhetoric on homeless people has not been matched by action.

He says he is worried the Government will continue to stall and blame the financial crisis.

"It is something that's starting to colour the debate, if it's anything the Government's trying to put off or might be politically difficult it's certainly something being raised," he said.

"With due acknowledgment that the world economy is in serious trouble, people are still homeless right across Australia so I think it's time we saw some concrete action."

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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."

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.

Greens 'deserve' to take part in debate'

The ACT Greens have expressed disappointment that they will not be taking part in a leaders' debate at the Australian National University today.

With some polls pointing to a Green vote of more than 20 per cent on Saturday, the party says it deserves a place in the debate.

But Greens candidate for Molonglo Shane Rattenbury says his party will not be crashing the event as it did a Labor policy launch last week.

"The event last Friday was a specific situation where the Labor Party had been misrepresenting the Greens policy." he said.

"We felt the need to correct the record there but the Greens are keen to take part in serious debate during this election.

"So far all the debates at leadership level have taken part between the Labor and the Liberal Party and they have failed to address key issues."

Mr Rattenbury says the focus of the leaders' debate is too narrow and will not address key issues like climate change.

"The opinion polls are showing that one in five Canberrans is considering voting for the Greens next weekend," he said.

"That's a very significant proportion of Canberra residents and on that basis it does indicate that a number of people would want to hear what the Greens have got to say when it comes down to having a debate about the key issues affecting the future of the ACT."

More families needing emergency support

The welfare group Anglicare says it is noticing a growing need among working families for emergency relief and housing support.

The group, which has more than 400,000 welfare clients, released its annual State of the Family report at Parliament House in Canberra this morning.

Anglicare chairman Dr Ray Cleary says people are applying for its services just to make ends meet.

"Our agencies, day by day, work with disadvantaged people," he said.

"And in particular we have seen over the past few years a growing number of people who are in employment but are now feeling the stress of the current global economic scene."

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HIV sex worker jailed

Hector Scott been sentenced to two months and 14 days in jail.

A Canberra man who worked as a prostitute while infected with HIV and hepatitis C has been sentenced to less than three months in jail.

Hector Scott, 42, pleaded guilty to operating a commercial sexual service from his Kingston flat last year while knowingly being infected with HIV.

As a public health measure, the ACT health department contacted nearly 500 people known to Scott.

Forty-three of them admitted to having a sexual encounter with him and were urged to be tested for HIV.

Magistrate John Burns said it was impossible to know whether Scott had unprotected sex with any of his clients.

But he said Scott's breach of the prostitution act was very serious because he chose to put others at risk for his own commercial benefit.

Magistrate Burns sentenced him to two months and 14 days in jail and a two year good behaviour order.

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.

It says there is a huge gap that needs to be filled to prevent mistreatment of workers.

Over 7,500 public servants from more than 100 government agencies around the country were interviewed for the three-year project.

Project head Dr AJ Brown said that around a quarter of all whistleblowers within the public sector say they have been mistreated.

"It's an inherently difficult issue to manage, and inherently stressful, so the question is how do we actually lift the bar on making sure that there are better outcomes for a higher proportion of those conscientious public servants," he said.

"We've got clear evidence from the research that people who do find it more stressful than it need be and who get mistreated are less likely to do it again.

"And clearly send the message throughout the organisation is that this is not an organisation where it's safe to blow the whistle."

Dr Brown says Australia's laws are lagging behind other more progressive countries, such as the United Kingdom, and there needs to be stronger Commonwealth legislation to protect whistleblowers and serve the public interest.

"It's almost impossible in a large number of cases to separate out what might be a private motivation from the public interest content of what it is that people are disclosing," he said.

"[This is] one of the reasons why there needs to be strong legislation and strong systems within agencies to help guide the whistleblower and the agency through the process of sorting the wheat through the chaff and making sure that responsible action is taken on those matters which it does need to be taken."

The Federal Government says it is considering a new report which has found whistleblowers in the public service need greater support and protection.

Special Minister of State John Faulkner says no changes will be made until a Parliamentary inquiry into the current laws reports back in February next year.

"The report will help to inform the Government's consideration of changes to our public interest disclosure system, providing very useful input as we work out the best way forward," he said.

The Federal Government expects to draft national whistleblower legislation some time next year after a parliamentary inquiry reports its findings in February.

French sworn in as Chief Justice

Robert French replaces Murray Gleeson who retired last week.

Robert French has been sworn in as Chief Justice of the High Court at a special sitting of the court in Canberra.

Justice French is the first Western Australian to head the court and is well known for his work on Aboriginal rights.

He chaired the Native Title Tribunal for four years and helped establish the Aboriginal Legal Service in WA in the 1970s.

Law Council of Australia president Ross Ray paid tribute to Justice French's early career.

"Your law firm practice was extraordinarily diverse and you did a substantial amount of work without fee," he said.

"You found it hard to say no.

"It's said that Your Honour took to a new level the tradition in the Australian legal profession of putting back into the profession and into the administration of justice significant voluntary and informal pro bono work."

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland told the ceremony, Justice French has an outstanding reputation as a jurist.

"You are renown for combining your technical legal excellence with a wide interest in broader social and economic issues," he said.

"As a result of your experience at the National Native Title Tribunal, Your Honour has had first hand exposure to cultural diversity and the particular problems facing Indigenous Australians."

Senators sworn in to Upper House

Federal Parliament's new and re-elected Senators have been sworn in to the Upper House.

The 15 new Senators pledged their allegiance to the country.

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson and former treasurer Peter Costello sat side by side in the chamber to offer support.

The new Nationals Senator from New South Wales, John Williams, had a cheer squad who welcomed him at the Senate doors.

Labor Senator John Hogg was elected the Senate's new president.

It was the last swearing in ceremony for the Governor-General Michael Jeffery.

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Robert French next High Court chief justice

Justice Robert French is the first West Australian to be appointed Chief Justice of the High Court.

Robert French has been appointed as the new chief justice of the High Court, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced.

He will be the first Western Australian to be the Chief Justice of Australia.

Justice French will take over from Justice Murray Gleeson who is retiring at the end of August.

Mr Rudd has congratulated Justice French on the appointment and has thanked Justice Gleeson for his contribution.

"Justice French brings to this appointment 22 years worth of service on the Federal Court, he is well regarded across the legal profession, he has had a distinguished career so far," he said.

Justice French graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia and practised as a barrister for 11 years before serving three years at the Western Australian bar.

He was appointed to the Federal Court in 1986.

He now also serves part-time on the Australian Law Reform Commission.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland says Justice French is seen as a fair-minded judge who has maintained passion for the development of the law.

"He is regarded academically as a lawyer of great expertise ... he is regarded as a constitutional law expert," he said.

"We are confident that he will provide outstanding leadership."

Mr McClelland has described Justice French as a "black letter" lawyer.

"He has written a number of articles commenting on the development and the evolution of the law so he brings to bear an interest in the practical development of the law but in accordance with legal principles," he said.

Mr McClelland would not confirm whether those justices already sitting at the High Court were considered for the role but he says Justice French was chosen from 24 nominations which were drawn from extensive consultation in the legal profession.

However, neither he nor the Prime Minister interviewed Justice French before the appointment.

Ex-AFP officer jailed for child porn

A former Australian Federal Police officer has been sentenced in the ACT Magistrates Court to 14 months in jail for accessing child pornography.

Michael Edward Hatch was one of about 100 people arrested as part of the country's biggest child pornography investigation, Operation Centurion.

The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to downloading 20 images depicting child pornography on his home computer.

Magistrate Karen Fryar identified Hatch as a prisoner-at-risk.

He will be eligible for parole in five months.

Inquiry to address whistleblower protection

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

The Lower House committee on legal and constitutional affairs says there are no uniform laws to protect whistleblowers.

A spokesman says effective protection can increase the likelihood of information being disclosed in the public interest.

Call for sexual abuse investigation

Dozens of alleged victims are launching civil action against other former teachers.

Former students of Canberra's Marist College are forming a lobby group to call for a full investigation into sexual abuse allegations at the school.

John William Chute, who taught at Marist under the religious name of Brother Kostka in the 1980s, is now behind bars for molesting students.

Dozens of alleged victims are also launching civil action against other former teachers.

Former student Mike Desmond says those who attended the school 20 years ago deserve to know the full extent of the sexual abuse.

"There's a lot of comment being passed around Canberra, or across Australia, just expressing discontent with the way things are going with what's happened, the general culture at Marist over the last 20 or 30 years," he said.

"Myself and a couple of ex-students thought it would be good to get together a forum or a group so we can discuss this and hopefully get some resolution for the victims."

Marist College Principal Richard Sidorko says the school has always encouraged students to come forward.

"We wanted anyone who was a potential victim or who had been a victim, their families, or others to come forward and to let us know, to make it known," he said.

"The other thing we did right from the start was to take an approach of openly and honestly communicating with the college community."

Housing dept under scrutiny over neglect

Better monitoring of public housing may have uncovered the problem earlier.

Questions have been raised about the role of public housing authorities in a case of alleged child neglect in Canberra.

A woman has been charged with neglect for allegedly allowing her four children to live in squalor.

The 35-year-old appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court yesterday and was remanded in custody.

The court heard police found the children alone in a house, in the inner-north suburb of Ainslie, which was littered with dog faeces, moulded food and rubbish.

But better monitoring of public housing may have uncovered the problem earlier.

Housing ACT have many questions to answer in relation to this case.

If there were regular inspections on properties where we can cleary see there is a mess then that should have been attended to by housing authorities.

They have some 40 housing managers to service over 11,500 properties, clearly they're under pressure and more resources may be needed.

The Housing Minister needs to really respond in saying why this property was not picked up during regular inspections.

Meanwhile, doctors are calling for a new parenting program to be rolled out in Canberra to help reduce cases of neglect.

Australian General Practice Network CEO Kate Carnell says the parenting scheme has been trailed successfully in Brisbane at a cost of about $20 per family.

"This is a program that's now been evaluated," she said.

"What it shows is that if it was rolled out right across Australia you would end up with 72,000 fewer parents reporting problems with depression, nearly 100,000 fewer parents using coercive parenting practices, a whole range of really good data that runs off the back of this."

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Marist brother jailed for sexual assault

A former teacher at Canberra's Marist College will spend two years in jail for the sexual assault of his students.

John William Chute, 76, - also known as Brother Kostka - pleaded guilty to 19 acts of indecency on young teenage boys at Marist College between 1985 and 1989.

The victims were aged between 11 and 16.

Chute was this morning sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court to two years full-time custody, one year of weekend detention and a three year suspended sentence.

Civil libertarians angered by police website

Civil liberties campaigners have attacked a new Crimestoppers website that encourages Canberrans to help police solve crimes.

The website displays mugshots of wanted criminals, CCTV images of people who police want to contact because they have witnessed crimes, and a secure information line to police.

Bill Rowlings from Civil Liberties Australia says that invades the privacy of innocent bystanders.

"It's not reasonable if you are walking down the street or going on a bus or going about your business that suddenly you are plastered all over a website by the police when you have done nothing wrong," he said.

"They can generally appeal for witnesses, people know whether they were near an event or a crime or whatever."

But Police Minister Simon Corbell says the website obeys all federal laws, and privacy does not automatically trump competing concerns.

Civil liberties are very important and protection of people's privacy is a very important consideration but that does need to be balanced against broader public interest in solving crime and achieving a safe community.

Police say they hope the website will lead to more arrests.

Shot man having psychotic episode

A Canberra man shot by police and left a quadriplegic was warned at least twice to stop advancing before a federal officer fired his gun, an ACT court has heard.

Jonathan Anthony Crowley, 40, is suing, for unspecified damages, the commonwealth, the ACT government and the police officer who shot him when he was having a psychotic episode in late 2001.

Mr Crowley believed he was Jesus Christ and had 1,000 years to save the earth when he took to the streets of Chapman in southern Canberra on December 11 wielding a 1.2 metre-long kendo bamboo stick.

He was shot in the neck after attacking an Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer who was trying to arrest him.

The ACT Supreme Court heard from an eyewitness to the shooting for the first time on Thursday.

Leonard Richter was working with his father installing an air-conditioning unit in a house in Chapman on the day Mr Crowley took to the streets with the stick.

Mr Richter told Justice Hilary Penfold he heard a commotion and rushed outside where his father told him he had been hit by a man with a stick.

He saw a police car arrive at the scene and two officers confront Mr Crowley.

"One officer attempted to spray the gentleman (Mr Crowley)," Mr Richter told the court.

"That didn't thwart his actions."

The court has heard senior constables Glenn Pitkethly and Ben Willis were first on the scene after leaving a command point just 800 metres away.

Mr Richter said Mr Crowley struck the officer with a "quite heavy, forceful" blow.

After Snr Const Willis fell into some bushes Snr Const Pitkethly tried to strike Mr Crowley with his baton which then "ended up on the ground".

Snr Const Pitkethly then took a number of steps backwards before pulling out his firearm, Mr Richter said.

"I distinctly remember hearing: 'Stop or I will shoot' at least two or three times," he said.

But Mr Crowley "just kept coming ... as if the officer didn't have a gun".

Then "the officer shot ... pulled the trigger".

Last week, former NSW Police assistant commissioner Norman Hazzard told the court the officers should have stayed in their police car and waited for back-up before confronting Mr Crowley.

Asked by Snr Const Pitkethly's lawyer, Peter Semmler QC, how he would have felt had the police "run off", Mr Richter replied: "I would have been very disappointed".

"Police are supposed to protect the public."

However, under cross-examination from Mr Crowley's lawyer, Bernard Gross QC, Mr Richter said he could have "unconsciously" absorbed some of the details from his father's account of events.

Thursday is the last day of the hearing for nine months.

The hearing will resume in late February 2009 due to a lack of civil court dates before then.

Same sex couples add names to ACT register

Same sex couples in the ACT say they are delighted they can now legally register as partners.

Laws permitting same sex couples to formalise their relationship in the ACT were passed earlier this month, and came into force today.

Gay lobby groups say several people have already fronted up to the Registrar General's office.

One of those is Chris Healey, who says she is delighted she took the step with her partner.

"This is a recognition that we've been in a loving relationship for 23 years," she said.

Heidi Yates from lobby group Good Process says it is likely that many more same sex couples will follow.

"I imagine some couples will be waiting until they gather family and friends together," she said.

Couples will be also able to take part in a civil ceremony, but it will not be legally recognised after the Federal Government blocked the original legislation.

ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell is still smarting at that.

"The civil partnership scheme that commences today is not the complete scheme that the ACT is seeking," he said.

But he says he is still proud of the laws, calling them an important milestone for the ACT.

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New crime commission facility

The Federal Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, says the new headquarters for the Australian Crime Commission will play a big role in helping to dismantle organised crime syndicates.

The purpose-built facility in Canberra will be an administrative and intelligence hub for the Commission.

Mr Debus says organised crime is estimated to cost the community around $10 billion a year.

"The Australian Crime Commission is enormously important in its capacity to gather together the kind of information that allows other law enforcement agencies to fight organised crime, and now they've got a facility to match the importance of their task," he said.