Pat Dodson delivers peace prize lecture

Patrick Dodson...Important for indigenous people to play a role in determining solutions for their problems "and be resourced to do so".

The winner of this year's Sydney Peace Prize, Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson, has labelled the commonwealth intervention in the Northern Territory a "crude, racist and poorly considered policy".

Delivering his peace prize lecture at the Sydney Opera House, Mr Dodson said legislation introduced into federal parliament to allow the intervention was "some of the worst ever passed".

"The failure by the government to enter into a dialogue and negotiation over the nature of the engagement with the Aboriginal society of the Northern Territory will be seen by Australians in the future as a model for worst-practice imposition of public policy," he said.

The former priest and founding chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, now disbanded, said it was important for indigenous people to play a role in determining solutions for their problems "and be resourced to do so".

He acknowledged that illicit drugs and abuse of alcohol had led to greater intergenerational health problems in Aboriginal communities, including schizophrenia, diabetes, coronary and renal disease.

"They are primarily outcomes of the exclusion of many Aboriginal people from access to services and resources related to health, education and substance abuse programs over many years and several generations," he said.

He called on young Aborigines to participate in government strategies aimed at bringing more indigenous people into the nation's workforce.

"The opportunity is there for you to enter the workforce, but you should look to the possibilities in other fields apart from the traditional industries and aim to become creators as well as wealth consumers," he said.

He called on all Australians to stop presenting one face to Asia and the Pacific as "tolerant and accepting", while treating Aboriginal people "only as social welfare mendicants".

Mr Dodson said he believed the Rudd government's national apology to the stolen generations in February had given indigenous Australians "a wonderful opportunity to begin to make justice possible, not only for the Aboriginal people but for all the people of this nation".

The Sydney Peace Prize is the only international peace prize awarded in Australia.

Mr Dodson will receive the 2008 award on Thursday night at a gala ceremony in the Great Hall of Sydney University.

Previous award recipients include former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and Swedish diplomat and nuclear disarmament advocate Dr Hans Blix.

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Damning report on Aboriginal scheme
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Aborigines want end to NT intervention
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Too many athletes just 'arrogant bullies'

AGGRESSIVE, uncompromising, arrogant, hypocritical, bullies, racist, sexist and violent … they are ways Australian athletes can be described, the sports commentator Tracey Holmes says.

The names of Australian greats Edwin Flack, Marjorie Jackson and Evonne Goolagong Cawley risk being besmirched by "a group of arrogant, alcohol-fuelled bad winners and losers", says Holmes, who will argue the affirmative in tonight's IQ2 debate, "For a sporting nation, we're not very sporting". On her side are the noted cricket writer Gideon Haigh and the Monash University lecturer Brett Hutchins.

Arguing the negative is retired cricket vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, the former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons and the broadcaster Adam Spencer.

Outlining her case Holmes says Australia's lack of sportsmanship is demonstrated in the way we consider our athletes clean and our sporting coaches traitors if they dare take their knowledge elsewhere.

We do not question our Beijing Olympic gold medal winners, she says, but we harbour doubts about Jamaica's 100-metre world record holder, Usain Bolt.

Our blindness may have allowed Shane Warne to try the claim that he failed a drug test because of a diet pill his mum gave him. We are happy to take the expertise of foreign coaches such as Robbie Deans, Guus Hiddink and the diving guru Wang Tong Xiang, yet we hounded Jessicah Schipper's 78-year-old coach for offering his services elsewhere.

Holmes writes that Australian sport has become synonymous with alcohol, saying that 30 per cent of 13-to-17-year-olds drink at sports clubs and footballers' drunken indiscretions no longer shock us.

She points out the national cricket team has never won the Spirit of Cricket Award.

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One in 10 Aussies are racist: study

The lead author of a 10-year study into the attitudes of Australians towards cultural diversity says the findings are encouraging.

Researchers from the University of Western Sydney surveyed about 12,500 people across the country about their opinions on cultural diversity and racism.

It found that New South Wales is the least tolerant of all the states and territories.

Human Geography and Urban Studies Professor Kevin Dunn says overall Australian's are accepting of cultural differences.

"More than 80 per cent of people see cultural diversity as a benefit and that's a good thing for Australian society," he said.

"More than half are comfortable with the experience of cultural difference too and they reported that to us as well.

"Well this is a positive and negative, probably only one in 10 we would call racial supremacists, they believe in racism that some are inferior and superior to others."

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."

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Xenophobic racists reject Islamic school

Xenophobic racist Kate McCulloch

ABOUT 200 Camden residents cheered wildly as their council formally decided to reject an application for an Islamic school in their area last night.

Dressed in a hat decorated with Australian flags and a long yellow dress, a resident, Kate McCulloch, emerged from the meeting declaring a victory for "decency" - and insisted Muslims were incompatible with the local community.

"The ones that come here oppress our society, they take our welfare and they don't want to accept our way of life," she said.

Police blocked off the street outside the hall last night and about a dozen security staff kept guard inside the meeting. But no supporters of the Islamic school turned up and the crowd inside was unanimous in its opposition.

A council report recommended that the application be refused after more than 3000 submissions had been received from the public. The vast majority opposed the development. "Racist is just a word," Ms McCulloch said. "I have many English, Irish, Greek and Italian friends. I even have a Turkish friend who opposes this."

If the council had no cultural concerns, residents did. One, Simon McCarthy, said: "I've been rolled before and we came out here for the quiet life. The fact is that Camden has been a strongly white community for a long time and the people here are scared. I'm not a racist person - that's just a statement of fact."

Addressing the meeting, the Camden Macarthur Resident Group's spokesman, Andrew Wannet, said there had been "name-calling and abuse for anyone who opposed this development, even likening us to Nazis". Opposing residents' wishes were Muslims, the Greens and the "politically correct".

Leichhardt Council, meanwhile, met last night to discuss the closure of a photographic exhibition about Palestinian refugees at the council library this month. A local pro-Palestinian group, Friends of Hebron, had condemned the decision to shut their exhibition as "an act of censorship" after a visit from counter-terrorism police, while the Jewish group Inner West Chavurah wanted to know why it was not invited to stage its own exhibition.

The council voted that all future events for the two groups would be vetted by a subcommittee of councillors and representatives from both organisations.

Cr Jamie Parker censured police for visiting the display. "That has been the most divisive thing about all of this. The police really need to think about the way they interact with the community."

Quote: We've seen it all before in Cronulla, these xenophobic racists are a product of war criminal John Howard and his government. We don't need xenophobic racists in Australia, a multi-cultural society with tolerance, for all people no matter what race, religion, creed or colour. Wake up Camden residents you've been brainwashed by the John Howard government into thinking some people don't fit. How could you? How dare you promote racist hatred in Australia !!! As if you didn't get on a boat to get here???

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No conviction recorded over leaflet scandal

A man who pleaded guilty to distributing leaflets from a bogus radical Islamic group during last year's federal election has had no conviction recorded.

Robert Holstein was one of five men involved in distributing the pamphlets in the key western Sydney seat of Lindsay.

The leaflets claimed to be from an Islamic group that had links to the Labor Party.

They alleged the ALP wanted the Bali bombers forgiven and urged Muslims to vote Labor.

The court heard Holstein had never been a member of any political party but had volunteered to hand out how-to-vote cards for the Liberal candidate for Lindsay, Karen Chijoff.

The 29-year-old's lawyer said his client had no involvement in the creation or production of the leaflets and that he knew it was wrong as soon as he saw the content of them.

He said Holstein was very sorry for what had happened and deeply regretted his involvement in the incident.

The magistrate took into account Holstein's limited involvement in the matter and no conviction was recorded.

Two others, including Karen Chijoff's estranged husband, have already been dealt with in the court.

Greg Chijoff was fined for his involvement in the scandal, while 37-year-old Troy Craig had no conviction recorded

The husband of the then outgoing MP for Lindsay, Jackie Kelly, has also been charged under the Electoral Act. Gary Clarke has pleaded not guilty.

Ms Chijoff lost her seat to Labor in the election, days after the scam was revealed.

Chijoff fined $750 over bogus leaflets

The estranged husband of former Liberal candidate for Lindsay Karen Chijoff has been fined $750 for his role in a bogus leaflet drop in the hotly contested federal electorate.

Greg Alex Chijoff, 44, last week pleaded guilty to distributing unauthorised election material in the lead-up to last November's federal election.

Downing Centre Local Court Magistrate Ian Barnett fined the IT engineer $750 plus court costs of $70, reducing the maximum $1,000 penalty in recognition of the personal consequences of his actions.

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Racist escapes conviction over 'disgusting' fake leaflets incident

Liberal Party member ... Jackie Kelly's husband, Gary Clark, has pleaded not guilty.

A Sydney magistrate has told a man who escaped conviction over the distribution of fake leaflets during last year's federal election campaign there was national disgust over the incident.

The leaflets, attributed to a non-existent Islamic group, were distributed in the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay days before the election.

They alleged the ALP wanted the Bali bombers forgiven and urged Muslims to vote Labor.

Two of five men charged over the incident have pleaded guilty, but 37-year-old Troy Craig had no conviction recorded.

Magistrate Pat O'Shane said although there was national disgust over the incident and he should feel ashamed, it was at the lower end of the scale of offences.

The estranged husband of Liberal candidate Karen Chijoff, Greg Chijoff, did plead guilty. His case has been adjourned until next month.

Quote: What about some community service? Washing Muslims feet!

Updated: 30 April 2008

Kelly seemed involved, court told
THE former federal Liberal MP Jackie Kelly appeared "at the face of it to be involved" in the fake leaflet affair in her western Sydney seat at the last election, a court has heard.

A volunteer who was asked to distribute the leaflets - and who faced court yesterday with four others, including the husbands of Ms Kelly, the retiring MP, and the Liberal candidate contesting the seat - might have been entitled to think it had been approved, because he had been asked to meet at Ms Kelly's home, his barrister said yesterday.

The party machine also owed its volunteers a "duty of care" not to ask them to engage in unethical and criminal behaviour, the barrister and former NSW Liberal Party vice-president, Alex Howen, told the Downing Centre Local Court.

Five men were accused of allegedly breaching federal election legislation by distributing a brochure that did not bear the names, address and authorisation of their political masters. The brochure, distributed by the Liberal Party volunteers, was claimed to have been published by the fake "Islamic Australia Federation", and bore the ALP insignia.

But the magistrate, Pat O'Shane, said the stupid and offensive action was "an ugly chapter" and the community had shown its view of it already. The Liberal Party lost the seat of Lindsay, which Ms Kelly had held with a margin of almost 10 per cent.

The court heard about 15 brochures were distributed in the St Marys area on November 20 before witnesses saw the men.

Those being prosecuted include Ms Kelly's husband, Gary James Clark, who pleaded not guilty, and the now estranged husband of the election candidate Karen Chijoff, who sought to replace Ms Kelly as the local member. Greg Alex Chijoff pleaded guilty yesterday, but disputed some of the facts.

Another senior Liberal party official, Jeffrey Michael Egan, who left the party after the scandal, also pleaded not guilty. Robert Mathew Holstein, who failed to appear in court, did not enter a plea.

Mr Howen said his client, Troy Matthew Craig, had not been a party member for about seven years, but had volunteered because he was a friend of Ms Chijoff's.

Mr Howen said Craig was asked to come to Ms Kelly's and Clark's home, where he saw the brochure for the first time.

"He is entitled to think that this was all approved. The federal member appears at the face of it to be involved," he said.

Craig thought it was stupid, crude and "dumb politically and dumb because of its content", Mr Howen said. He also realised it lacked the required authorisation but "simply went along with the distribution".

Craig had been told "the brochure was OK and everything in it is true", Mr Howen told the court.

Clark had pleaded guilty, facing a maximum $1000 fine, but Ms O'Shane discharged the case against him without recording a conviction, after hearing he would lose his job as a valuer if he received a conviction.

"That kind of material arose in a political climate of divisiveness and disharmony which had been generated over several years. It is now well recognised across the country that this was an ugly chapter in our history. The people of this country have moved on … and are trying to build an inclusive civil society and you need to be part of it," she told Craig.

Chijoff's lawyer told the court he disputed the allegations that he distributed the leaflet with the other co-accused in the suburb of St Mary, but instead pleaded guilty to distributing the leaflet by himself in Oxley Park. His case was adjourned until May 7. The cases against the others will return to court later next month.

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Georgiou repeats call to scrap citizenship test

Liberal backbencher Petro Georgiou says Australia's controversial new citizenship test should not just be reviewed - it should be scrapped altogether.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans says he has no plans to abolish the Howard Government-era test, but he is open to making improvements.

Mr Georgiou broke party lines to oppose the test when it was introduced by the former government and says his views have not changed.

"I would hope that the review recommends that we go back to the early form of the test which was about basic English and not have funny little questions about which cricketers were the best cricketers in Australia's history," he said.

Mr Georgiou says the test is deterring substantial numbers of people from applying for citizenship.

His comments came after the release of new Government figures showing there has been a drop in the number of people applying for citizenship.

There are also reports that some people fear they will fail the test and be deported.

Mr Evans says there may have been a surge in applications before the new test was introduced six months ago.

He said that application numbers will be looked at.

"It may be in part explained by a surge and a dip, but we have had reports from some communities that people are concerned about failing the test, and some have expressed concern that they might feel they would be deported if they failed the test," he said.

"There's a real fear in a couple of communities."

Question: Who was Australia's war criminal Prime Minister? Now that would be a better question, sport!

Related:

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Things can only get better, Howard tells party faithful
What about asking about John Howard's top three failures? War crimes against humanity. Waging illegal and degrading war against innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan. Introducing draconian laws and racism.

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.

Mr Henderson told the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, in confidential discussions last month that the intervention was having a perverse effect on towns and cities and further action was needed to make it work.

His comments are the first official indication that the $1 billion territory intervention to eradicate child abuse and improve education standards is running into difficulties despite bipartisan support.

Alice Springs is battling to cope with the unintended consequences of the intervention, including a rise in public drinking and a jump in the number of violent assaults.

The town's once-thriving small business sector has also been hit by Centrelink's quarantining of welfare payments, a policy that encourages Aborigines to shop at the big three retailers Coles, Woolworths and Kmart.

Leaked minutes of a ministers' meeting in Darwin last month show Mr Henderson confirmed that many people had migrated from remote communities to urban centres to avoid alcohol and gambling bans and welfare quarantining. Cards issued by Centrelink for food and clothing are more easily traded in urban centres such as Alice Springs for cash and alcohol.

The newly elected mayor of Alive Springs, Damien Ryan, this week called on federal and territory governments to rethink aspects of the intervention and face the unintended negative effect on indigenous and non-indigenous residents and business.

There is consensus among police, politicians, business groups and welfare agencies that an influx of bush people into Alice Springs has led to further overcrowding and a worsening of conditions in the 20 or so town camps home to more than 2000 people.

The camps, notorious for violent assault, domestic violence, substance abuse and theft, appear mostly untouched by the intervention. At one camp people drink openly despite a liquor ban. Many children do not go to school and can be seen playing among empty beer cans and bottles.

Territory crime statistics show that in December in Alice Springs the number of assaults rose 16 per cent from the previous quarter to an average 93 assaults each month, and house break-ins rose 17 per cent from the previous quarter. But much of the violence in the camps goes unreported.

Emergency workers report greater numbers of people forced to sleep in parks and the Todd riverbed because of the acute accommodation shortage.

In an interview, Mr Ryan urged an immediate review of Centrelink's policies that were affecting small businesses. He also called on the big retailers to provide work for the town's swelling indigenous population.

A Country Liberal Party MP and former opposition leader, Jodeen Carney, said there were insufficient resources to implement the dry-town policy and called on governments to take the matter more seriously.

Ms Macklin is understood to be reviewing the situation and has indicated that $18 million in housing funds is available to refurbish accommodation.

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'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.

The group has launched a national campaign called "Racism makes me sick" to highlight the issue.

ANTAR's national director Gary Highland says heart disease, mental illness, premature births and other illnesses in the Indigenous population can be directly attributed to the negative impact of racism on a person's health.

He says the life-expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous will not improve unless some positive changes occur in attitudes.

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Things can only get better, Howard tells party faithful

History lesson … Mr Howard urged party members to keep their defeat in perspective.

JOHN HOWARD told the Liberal Party it needed to keep a sense of historical perspective about its current woes, out of office federally and in every state and territory.

The former war criminal prime minister used his first Australian speech since he lost government and his seat to tell a gathering of Queensland Liberal faithful in Brisbane last night that the dark days of opposition would pass.

"It's very, very important at this moment in Australian history that we keep a sense of history about the Liberal Party of Australia," he said. "This party has been the government of Australia for 42 out of the 64 years that it has been in existence. It's a party of enormous depth, and resilience and it has a great future."

He used the Liberals' tumultuous years of the early 1990s for inspiration. "Just as we came through the difficult years long ago, we'll come through these difficult years again."

Mr Howard was introduced by the most powerful Liberal now in office, Brisbane's Lord Mayor, Campbell Newman, who, after screening some of the Liberal ads used during the last campaign, bemoaned the rewriting of history he said was now under way in Canberra.

Mr Howard added to the historic revisionism theme by telling his audience all the big reform milestones in Australian history had happened under Liberal governments, but he acknowledged things were tough.

"Being in opposition is very difficult. Brendan [Nelson] does have a very difficult job in opposition because in the early days of any government there's a political honeymoon," he said, and the Opposition had to balance the need to adjust to the new reality against its willingness to defend the legacy of the previous government.

"I will do everything I can, in a quiet way, to help you," he said, in an apparent dig at the former prime minister Paul Keating.

"I think former prime ministers should give quiet assistance. People were very fair to me when I was there; well, most of them."

Dr Nelson paid tribute to Mr Howard by listing his government's achievements, but said arguably his greatest achievement came through the love of his wife, Janette, who was also at the dinner for more than 500 people.

Mr Howard said he continued to grieve for parliamentary colleagues who had lost their seats, and learned two things while on a recent trip to the United States.

One was that the Labor Government was praising the strength of the Australian economy overseas, but criticising the Howard Government's economic performance at home.

The other was that his diplomacy needed work. Asked at a function at the George H. W. Bush presidential library in Texas to name his top three achievements, he started with gun control. No-one in the Texas audience clapped.

Quote: What about asking about John Howard's top three failures? War crimes against humanity. Waging illegal and degrading war against innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan. Introducing draconian laws and racism.

Related:

Prosecute War Criminal John Howard

The Anti-terrorism Bill 2005

Howard's racist country: a better Australia is possible

Push for overhaul of laws on terrorism

Faheem Lodhi - another non-terrorist jailed under Australia's 'anti-terror' laws?

Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Ian Carnell, has called on the Federal Government to make substantial changes to anti-terrorism laws, saying some of them can hinder counter-terrorism efforts by unnecessarily antagonising Muslims.

[However anti-terrorism laws are just 'state sanctioned terrorism' aimed at 'innocent people' and using them as 'scapegoats' for Australia's 'alleged war on terror'. These laws were meant to project 'fear' in the community that we somehow need to be protected so that the government can wage war on innocent people for resources around the world unchallenged.]

Mr Carnell said there was a strong case for reviewing the strict rules that keep "national security" information secret in trials.

"My belief is that a key test for liberal democracies in the area of counter-terrorism is a willingness to revisit what was introduced when there was a sense of urgency and, if necessary, modify the measures to ensure effectiveness, balance and proportionality," he said.

"This is particularly so if some aspects may be counter-productive, such as adding to the sense of alienation and discrimination which members of the Muslim communities can suffer."

An alienated Islamic community not only provided more fertile ground for violent extremists to emerge, but discouraged Muslims from providing counter-terrorism authorities with vital information.

[But that is what the laws were meant to do, alienate the islamic community, now let's be honest because that's all they have done and all they will do. The laws are draconian and all should be repealed.]

[However] Mr Carnell ['playing the game'] has simply recommended the repeal of the vaguely worded offence of "associating" with a terrorism group, which carries jail terms of up to 10 years.

The offence can cover those who have an innocent relationship with suspected terrorists or groups, and Mr Carnell believes the offence transgresses human rights and interferes with "ordinary family, religious and legal communication".

[As does the whole of the Anti-terror laws transgresses human rights and interferes with "ordinary family, religious and legal communication".]

He also called for the process of proscribing a terrorist organisation to be taken out of the hands of the attorney-general.

"Action on the recommendations is needed," he said.

[Allegedly], the intervention by Mr Carnell comes as the Federal Government stalls on plans to amend the anti-terrorism laws, while lawyers and judges involved in terrorism trials continue to express disquiet about them.

Justice Anthony Whealy, who conducted the [sham] trial of Faheem Lodhi and is now presiding over the trial of nine Sydney men charged with terrorism offences, has been notably vocal.

In a paper in Judicial Review he said that the National Security Information Act "gives the appearance of having been drafted by persons who have little knowledge of the function and processes of a criminal trial".

Mr Carnell said this "trenchant criticism … surely points to it being ripe for review".

[And we say totally repealed.]

The act - which dictates what evidence can be presented in open court, including whether defence teams have access to it at all - has resulted in lengthy delays before terrorist suspects appear before a jury.

In the case of the nine Sydney men before Justice Whealy, it has been 2½ years since they were arrested, and it is expected to take at least another three months before a jury is empanelled.

Related:

Haneef's lawyer says inquiry is weak
The inquiry into Australian authorities' handling of the Mohamed Haneef case needs stronger powers to avoid becoming a "toothless tiger", the former terror suspect's lawyer says.

Hicks media gag order ends
As part of the deal, he was also banned from speaking to the media after his release in December 2007.

Terror trial halted over prison conditions
A Supreme Court judge has put a Melbourne terrorism trial on hold and ordered Corrections Victoria to change prison conditions of the 12 accused men

ASIO, police don't trust each other, report finds
A LACK of trust between the Australian Federal Police and ASIO has hindered co-operation between the anti-terrorism agencies, a report commissioned after the collapsed prosecution of the Sydney doctor Izhar ul-Haque has found.

Secret policemen's bill: $7.5m
Mr McClelland separately ruled out compensating or apologising to the Sydney medical student Izhar Ul-Haque, who a Supreme Court judge said had been kidnapped by ASIO officers. The conduct of ASIO in the case of Mr ul-Haque, who was cleared of terrorism charges, is being reviewed by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Ian Carnell.

Tough police powers outlive APEC
CONTROVERSIAL powers granted to NSW police during last year's APEC summit are likely to be made permanent - or at least available to police for any special event - under a proposal to be taken to state cabinet.

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.

Refugee killer loses bid for reduced jail term

A teenager who punched and killed a Sudanese refugee has failed in a court bid to have his four-year jail term reduced on the grounds that he was "immature" at the time.

Father-of-four Kuol Agang, who fled his homeland to escape endemic violence just five months before his death, was punched by the youth on an Auburn Street in January 2006.

The offender, now 19, this month narrowly failed in his bid to convince three Court of Appeal judges that the attack amounted to "juvenile behaviour" or "adolescent bravado" rather than adult thuggery.

The teenager, who was referred to as "KT" in court proceedings, still cannot be identified because of his age at the time of the offence. He was then just days short of his 17th birthday.

On the day of the killing, he was "riding shotgun" in a car driven by a 17-year-old friend while throwing eggs at passers-by.

When an egg narrowly missed Mr Agang, he retaliated by throwing a can or bottle at the teenagers' car. The teens then turned the car around.

The judge, who convicted KT of manslaughter in February last year, was told the heavy-set youth leapt from the car and said: "Let's fight" to Mr Agang before punching him heavily on the jaw.

KT later told authorities he heard a loud noise when Mr Agang fell and hit his head on the ground but rather than help, said: "You want more? I'll be back" before fleeing in the car at high speed.

He admitted during a police interview that he confronted the man for "canning the car", even though he had thrown the egg at him first.

"That's no damage. This [throwing the can at the car] is damage, money, man," he said.

Mr Agang, who weighed 60 kilograms, suffered a 10-centimetre fracture from the base to the middle of his skull and died a few days later at Westmead Hospital.

KT, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to four years in jail but his legal team launched an appeal, claiming the trial judge was wrong for concluding that the teenager had conducted himself in an "adult manner".

KT had left school, was employed and was physically well developed.

One of the three appeal judges, Justice Peter McClellan, agreed that the actions of KT "were typical of the irresponsible and unthinking actions of an immature person" and found that his sentence should be reduced by a year.

But the other two judges hearing the appeal backed the original judge's decision and ruled that the sentence should remain.

"I do not, with respect, consider that the conduct of the kind in question involving such a high level of criminality can be characterised simply as 'immature'," one of them, Justice Peter Hall, found.

"[KT's] offence involving, as it did, a highly-charged confrontation, an intention to injure and a very forceful blow so powerful as to fracture Mr Agang's skull, in my opinion, places it in a category beyond mere immature conduct.

"The evident mixture of anger and malevolence stamped the offence as one involving serious criminality."

REOPEN THE TJ ENQUIRY!

TJ died 4 years ago. His bike was rammed by a Redfern police vehicle, driven by then, Constable Michael Hollingsworth. As a result, he was impaled on the metal spiked fence.

Proper medical practices were not followed by the police and he died in hospital the next day. If standard medical practices were followed, TJ would probably be alive today.

As is the norm in all police-initiated Black Deaths in Custody, the cover up started immediately. Every one was involved, from the then Premier, Bob Carr and to the Police Commissioner. Even the State Coroner did his bit by placing very tight conditions on what could be presented to him in the ‘manufactured’ police Brief of Evidence. The Hickey Family’s legal team, forced upon the Family, blocked some witnesses, did not give proper legal representation to TJ’s Family, and stopped, or agreed to, some crucial evidence not being presented in Court. Whilst the police were exonerated, despite their admitted collusion of evidence, those Aborigines who were provoked by the Redfern Police and vented their collective anger and grief, as was to happen on Palm Island, Qld, at the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee by Snr. Sgt. Christopher Hurley in November, 2004, were found guilty and gaoled. Another corrupt whitewash had occurred.

On Palm Island, Snr Sgt Christopher Hurley. in the Police Station, assaulted Mulrunji so badly that he died shortly after on the cell floor, in great pain arising from his injuries that included 4 broken ribs and a split liver. As usual, in these cases, the cover up started immediately with police, working friends of Hurley, ‘investigating’ the circumstances. But something went very wrong for the Qld. Government and their police. The Palm Island Community, and the solidarity of the Brisbane and Queensland Communities, firstly, and then later from all around Australia, demanded JUSTICE.

Two Coroners, a long enquiry, Government, police and DPP pressure that was resisted, meant the cover-up failed. The acting State Coroner, Ms. Christine Clements, recommended that Hurley face Court on charges of killing Mulrunji. Still the corrupt forces of injustice kept working. The DPP ‘found that Hurley had no case to answer’. And again Aborigines from Queensland and their Supporters around the Nation came out demanding JUSTICE. The then Premier, Peter Beattie, was forced to accept the outcome of this struggle and a new enquiry by Sir Laurence Street recommended the charges against Hurley be reinstated. But eventually, when the Trial was held, “White Australian Justice” was at work and Hurley was acquitted by a racially picked jury.

THE IMPUNITY AND INJUSTICE, AS FAR AS POLICE DEATHS IN CUSTODY IS CONCERNED, FOR TJ, MULRUNJI AND SO MANY OTHERS WAS CONFIRMED ONCE MORE.

Too many koori kids are dying at the hands of the ‘law’

Whose Son, Brother, Sister, Cousin, Uncle, Aunt will die this year
at the hands of the police?

Protest to put a stop to the deaths and get true justice for Koori kids