Showing posts with label pornography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pornography. Show all posts

Thursday, 18 September 2008

Child porn man wants sentence cut

A Hobart man caught with 145,000 child pornography images wants his five-and-a-half year sentence reduced.

Michael John Coulbourn was tracked by the FBI during a global investigation into online child exploitation.

The 49-year-old was jailed last August after pleading guilty to possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to access it.

When police searched the former public servant's Moonah home last year, they found pornography involving children as young as six months.

The prosecution described the crime as one of the worst of its kind Tasmania has seen.

The Hobart Criminal Court heard Coulbourn was suspended from his job with the Tasmanian public service after his arrest and has since resigned.

He is now appealing against his jail sentence, on the grounds that it is excessive.

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

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.

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

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.

As part of the Government's intervention, X-rated films were banned from Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

Eros's chief executive Fiona Patten says there is no proof that the ban has reduced the level of sexual assault in the Territory.

She says it would be better to educate Aborigines about film classifications and what they mean for children.

"It's inherently racist and inherently patronising and it goes back to the times of the 30s and 40s when you would say its all right for me to read Lady Chatterly's Lover but I wouldn't want my servants to read it," she said.

"The absolute hypocrisy of this is that sexually violent R-rated material that may depict sexual assault and even child sexual assault is absolutely legal to possess and view in and display in the remote communities.

"It is very negative towards Indigenous Australians."

Related:

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.

Stolen generation compensation ruled out
A FEDERAL parliamentary committee has recommended a "healing" fund be set up to help members of the stolen generations, but knocked back the suggestion of compensation payments.

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.

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.

Union urges PM to act on Stolen Generations promise
The Australian Education Union (AEU) wants the Federal Government to follow Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations with a significant funding boost for Indigenous education in the Northern Territory.

Racism to blame' for Aboriginal health problems
The Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR) group says racism is directly to blame for many health problems in the Aboriginal community.

Union calls for $2.9b to fund education shortfall
The Education Union is calling on the Federal Government to provide an extra $2.9 billion in funding for public schools

Govt, union defend remote community schooling
The Centre for Independent Studies says Aboriginal students in the Northern Territory are finishing school with the numeracy and literacy skills of five-year-olds.

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.

2020 Indigenous youth delegate calls for national body
An Indigenous youth representative at this weekend's 2020 summit says a new national Aboriginal body should be created to avoid some of the add-hoc policies surrounding the federal intervention.

Call for new indigenous body
Former ATSIC Commissioner Klynton Wanganeen says he will raise the idea of a new national body to represent indigenous communities at the 2020 Summit.

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

Roxon signs off on Indigenous health pledges

Indigenous Australians will have access to the same health services as the rest of the population by 2018, under a Federal Government plan.

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.

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.

Aboriginal inmates '22pc and rising' of prison population
The Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health says new research is urgently needed to address the worsening rate of Indigenous incarceration.

Friday, 18 January 2008

Top prosecutor Power 'sorry' for child porn


Power out: The former crown prosecutor says his time in jail was very difficult.

Disgraced former New South Wales crown prosecutor Patrick Power has apologised for his actions after serving six months in solitary confinement for possessing child pornography.

The 55-year-old made the apology in a statement upon his release from Sydney's Long Bay Jail this morning.

Mr Power was arrested and charged last year after 433 pornographic images and 31 videos were found on his personal computer.

He had given it to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for repair.

The former crown prosecutor was sentenced to a maximum of 15 months' jail but the District Court reduced his non-parole period to six months in July last year.

"I'd just like to say I deeply regret my inappropriate behaviour," he said outside jail.

"I'm very sorry and I'd like to apologise to my family and friends and my former work colleagues."

Mr Power said his time in jail had been hard.

"I've been held in complete isolation," he said. "It's been very difficult."

In sentencing, judge Brian Boulten described the contents of the computer as "disgusting" and "depraved".

Mr Power was later stripped of his right to practice law by the NSW Bar Association.

A spokesman says Mr Power currently has no practising certificate, and a hearing is planned for May in the NSW Court of Appeal to have him permanently disbarred.

He has also had his name added to the list of the state's sex offenders.