160 juveniles housed in NSW police cells

We have seen a massive increase in the number of kids who are being held on remand partly due to the changes in bail laws: Juvenile Justice Minister

The New South Wales Government says overcrowding in the juvenile justice system will be alleviated by the availability of new beds in the next few months.

Last year, about 160 juveniles who were remanded in custody spent time in police cells because there was not enough room at detention centres.

The Juvenile Justice Minister, Graham West, says while there is a short-term problem, a new facility in Sydney's west and extensions to other centres will eventually relieve the pressure on the system.

"We recognise there is a shortage of beds in our facilities which is why we are building an extra 80, including 50 in a specialist remand unit," he said.

"We have seen a massive increase in the number of kids who are being held on remand partly due to the changes in bail laws and also because of changed policing practices."

But the Opposition's spokesman on juvenile justice, Anthony Roberts, says union sources have told him the changes will not be made in time.

"There'll be no juvenile justice beds for young offenders between Sydney and the Victorian border," he said.

"The Government, in light of this - they are spending $2,000 a day keeping young juveniles locked up in police cells - needs to overturn the decision to close the Keelong Juvenile Justice Centre and they need to do that immediately."

Related:

Judge rules youths be taken out of adult jail
IN A victory for prisoner rehabilitation, a Supreme Court judge has ordered three young offenders be removed from adult jails and returned to juvenile detention centres by Monday to complete their sentences.

Laws will push teenagers into adult prisons
TWELVE young offenders who have brought a court challenge against their transfer from juvenile to adult jails have been dealt a blow after the State Government rushed laws into Parliament that may ensure they are moved.

Juvenile jails crisis: inmates turned away
THE state's juvenile justice system is so overcrowded that at least three institutions are refusing to accept any more inmates.

Juvenile detainees sharing single cells
SEVERE overcrowding in the state's juvenile detention centres is forcing young people to share cells designed for one person, to sleep on mattresses on the floor and be held in "segregation" rooms usually used as punishment cells.

More backpackers having risky sex

A HIGHER level of sexually transmitted infections being diagnosed among young international travellers has prompted the NSW Health Department, four Sydney councils and the NSW Backpackers Operators Association to target the group with free condoms and safe sex messages over the summer holiday period.

New research by the Sydney Sexual Health Centre, based at Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street, showed that a culture of binge drinking among young travellers may be contributing to unsafe sexual behaviour and higher rates of infection when compared with the general population.

The centre's acting director, Lynne Wray, said yesterday a study of 4382 travellers and 8810 non-travellers aged 18 to 30 who visited the clinic between 1998 and 2006 showed that the travellers were more than twice as likely to drink excessively.

"The number of heterosexual backpackers coming to the clinic with new sexually transmitted infections is of great concern. A small proportion of these also have HIV infections that they have acquired in other countries on the way to Australia,"

Nineteen per cent of the travellers drank alcohol at hazardous levels, compared with 8 per cent for non-travellers, she said.

Dr Wray said 25 per cent of female travellers drank more than 140g of alcohol (14 standard drinks) and 15 per cent of male travellers had more than 280g of alcohol a week.

They were more likely to drink that amount in "one or two sessions a week".

"Often when they take risks with their sexual health and have unprotected sex they will often say to us, 'I'd had too much to drink,' " she said.

The incidence of chlamydia among travellers was 8 per cent, compared with 5 per cent for non-travellers. This may be due to travellers arriving from South-East Asia, where infection rates are higher. Also, 43 per cent of travellers had two or more sexual partners in a three-month period, compared with 30 per cent of non-travellers.

The Safe in the Sack Project, run by the Health Department in conjunction with City of Sydney, Manly, Waverley and Randwick councils and the NSW Backpackers Operators Association, will begin on December 1 and continue until March.

Sexual Health Infoline: 1800 451 624.

Youth gets three years for manslaughter

EJC, today was sentenced to three years in a Youth Justice Centre by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Robert Osborn.

Ryan "Jack" Ellis, 17, fractured his skull and suffered a brain injury after he was hit at a party in October 2006.

The punch caused him to fall backwards and strike his head on the footpath.

He died two days later in hospital.

Last month, a Supreme Court jury found EJC guilty of Ryan's manslaughter.

The court was told the punch came at the end of an 18th birthday party attended by about 100 people, most of whom were drinking alcohol.

Prior to the punch, Ryan, who was upset about an incident at a party three weeks earlier, confronted EJC calling him a "c*** of a bloke", the court was told.

Justice Osborn said EJC stepped forward, grabbed Ryan by the collar and delivered "one or two" blows to his face.

The judge said he was satisfied the punch was not a forceful one but more of a "jab from the shoulder".

But he said the punch was dangerous because of poor lighting and the footpath next to where the teenagers were standing.

"It was you who chose to come to grips with Ellis. However abusive his language he had offered you no violence," said Justice Osborn.

Justice Osborn said tragically the punch had caused the death of a teenager.

"A young man with the same promise of full adult life, which you and the other young people at the party shared," he said.

"There can be no crueller loss to a parent, than the inversion of the natural orders of things, involved in the loss of a loved son."

Justice Osborn said EJC's sentence needed to reflect the fact that the community regarded fighting between young men as "senseless and totally unacceptable".

EJC has already served 29 days in custody.

Self-harm increasing among girls

TEENAGE girls are more likely to be admitted to hospital for overdoses, slashed limbs or other forms of deliberate self-harm than for any other type of injury, including road accidents.

The alarming development, revealed in new national figures, illustrate the effects of intense academic pressure, changing family dynamics and rising drug and alcohol use, experts say.

The rate of self-harm among girls aged 13 to 19 has risen by one-third in the past eight years, moving in the opposite direction to the improved suicide rate, analysis from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows. For every 100,000 girls in that age group, 300 were admitted to hospital after harming themselves last year, compared with 100 boys, the institute's report, Making Progress, says. The report brings together key measures of children's health and social wellbeing from several government sources.

Bruce Tonge, the head of Monash University's Centre for Developmental Psychiatry, said increasing academic pressure, even on high-achieving girls, was undermining their self-esteem at a vulnerable age.

Busy parents who set strict rules but did not put aside time to talk to their teenagers could be especially damaging. "There may be some alienation within families," Professor Tonge said.

Youth suicide rates were down, he said, probably as a result of suicide prevention programs and better treatments for depression, but while there was an overlap between suicide and self-harm, "they're not the same behaviour. [Self-harm is] a cry for help, a communication where other communications have failed."

There was also, "a copycat element, a cultural element," to

self-harming, Professor Tonge said, with the practice apparently more socially acceptable in some countries than others. And self-harm was promoted within some youth subcultures.

Patrick McGorry, the chairman of the executive committee of the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, which operates 30 youth mental health centres under the Headspace program, said the self-harm rates were indicative of worsening psychological health.

Young people already suffered, "the worst mental health of the whole life cycle", Professor McGorry said, and evidence from Britain and elsewhere suggested this was deteriorating with successive generations.

This might be because of, "the changing landscape of transition to adulthood … People are now in the mid-20s before they are financially and socially independent." Fees for higher education and debt created extra pressure, Professor McGorry said.

"Young people are not well equipped to deal with unbearable feelings and can be totally overwhelmed," he said.

Brain development was incomplete and this meant teenagers often could not manage intense emotions.

But self-harming could become, "recurrent or even a bit addictive", if it gave temporary relief from the negative emotion.

Increasing alcohol use was likely to be another factor, Professor McGorry said, because it lessened inhibitions that might otherwise stop young people from harming themselves.

Young people have lost faith in politics

A new report indicates that a decline in the number of young Australians voting may be due to an erosion of confidence in the political process. [Not maybe, absolutely!!]

The report from the University of Western Sydney's Whitlam Institute is the first publication from an ongoing research project exploring how young people engage with the democratic process in Australia.

The Institute's director, Eric Sidoti, says young people are now more likely to connect with political causes rather than specific parties.

He says many young people appear to have lost faith in party politics.

"The scepticism ... appears to be driven in part by a sense that the big issues are bigger than any individual government, they are global issues, they lie in the hands of multinational corporations, global institutions," he said.

"It's not going to be enough for Australia to sign the Kyoto protocol, for example."

Quote: Certainly the issues are world politics, for instance look at the related documentary and you may never ever vote again or have any confidence in the government or the crown here in the commonwealth, which is the corporations. The problem does relate to multinational corporations and the power. However it's not just young people it is all the people who want more ice-cream flavours instead of just two nasty flavours in the two party prefered elections. Who goes into and ice-cream shop expecting two flavours only? Voters get a choice, the super wealthy or the wealthy. Not fair!!

Related:

The Secret Rulers of the World – New Link 

The Secret Rulers of the World
The Secret Rulers of the World - Present/Past [part 1 of 29] You Tube Video The source of most if not all our woes, revealed (from the present to the past): Connecting the dots through ~3000 years of revisionist human history, spanning from the time of the pharaohs, all the way up to the present dynasties creating the New World Order, in a quest to perfect the enslavement of mankind. From pirates to banksters, to the ruling elite, who run the world's finances, the media and cover both side of nearly every conflict or war: the world may make more sense after watching this. See additional episodes on the sidebar. In particular 9. The Secret Rulers of the World - The Queen and 12. The Secret Rulers of the World - The Cult of Amen and 13. The Secret Rulers of the World - Committee of 300 and 14. The Secret Rulers of the World - Rothschild. That truth will set you free.

NT election turnout lowest in 20 yrs
The raw final figures from the Northern Territory election have revealed the lowest level of voter turnout in at least the past two decades.

Labor’s intervention roll out contributes to low voter turn-out: campaigners
Anti-intervention campaigners in Alice Springs have today argued that a lack of confidence amongst Aboriginal people in the political process has contributed to the historically low voter turn-out in the NT government elections.

Central Land Council: Communities have their say on intervention
"The Central Land Council says a survey of people in Central Australian Aboriginal communities has given them a chance to voice their views on the Federal Government's emergency response in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities. The research was undertaken in six case study communities – Titjikala, Papunya, Yuendumu, Ali Curung, Kintore and Hermannsburg - between February and June this year with the help of local Aboriginal researchers. It focussed on the main measures of the intervention, including income management, housing repairs and maintenance, the abolition of CDEP, the introduction of store licensing, voluntary child health checks, increased police resources, the introduction of five year leases over communities, the roll out of government business managers and changes to the permit system."

See Central Land Council's Survey Report:
"Reviewing the Northern Territory Emergency Response: perspectives from six communities in Central Australia”

Juvenile justice supervision figure 4yr high

An Institute of Health and Welfare report has found that the number of young Australians being detained under juvenile justice supervision has reached a four-year-high.

Almost 6,000 young people are now under juvenile justice supervision in Australia each day.

Ninety-two per cent of those being detained are male and almost half are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders.

The report says Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are nearly 14 times as likely to enter juvenile justice supervision as non-Indigenous young people.

The Institute's Rachel Aalders says the over-representation of Indigenous young people in the juvenile justice system is continuing.

"While only 5 per cent of Australians aged 10-17 are Indigenous, over a third of those who had supervision in 2006-2007 were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander," she said.

Related:

Education forum: focus on employability?
What about a greater emphasis on social skills? They are things like communication, conflict resolution, self preservation, street wise, vulnerability, self-worth, self presentation, efficacy, mentoring. Because up to three generations of parents don't have social skills to pass on to their children. Corporate interests already reap from the academics but what about the tens of millions spent on the 5 per cent of people who don't make it? The money spent on those people make up a very large sum of taxpayer’s money spent on police, prisons, courts, hospitals, the morgue, and the victim industry. Those 5 per cent of children don't get a life or become a corporate asset if they don't make it!

More youth, women committing violent crimes
Queensland's Police Commissioner says more young people and more women are committing violent crimes.

Boy housed at DOCS office 'last resort'

The New South Wales Department of Community Services (DOCS) has confirmed a violent nine-year-old boy spent four nights sleeping at its Wollongong office because of a lack of suitable accommodation.

DOCS says the boy was placed in its care just over a week ago because his mother could no longer manage his outbursts.

The department initially paid for him to stay in a motel, under the supervision of a caseworker, but he lashed out, damaging property, and the manager demanded he leave.

He was taken to DOCS' Wollongong office last Saturday where he spent four nights.

The executive director of Operational Support for DOCS, Helen Freeland, says the decision was a last resort.

"This is exceptional circumstances and it really was a decision taken only because there were no other placement options available at the time," she said.

"While we think this is very, very undesirable and exceptionally rare, it was the only option available to our caseworkers at the time."

Ms Freeland says the situation has since been resolved.

"The good news is that the boy is now safe with a foster carer, and DOCS is looking at strategies to make sure the situation doesn't happen again," she said.

Related:

Taking the scalpel to DOCS
"People assume because a child is in the child protection system he or she is getting help, but usually they don't get anything, and certainly not the intensive family support they need," says Jane Woodruff, chief executive of Burnside, a non-government child welfare agency.

Alarming rise in teen abuse of parents

TEENAGE children are bashing and bullying their parents at an increasing rate, in a largely hidden form of abuse that can arise from violent role models or overindulgent parenting.

Studies in NSW and Victoria show an increasing number of parents are the victims of physical and psychological violence perpetrated by their children, usually adolescent sons directing their attacks on their mothers.

A new Victorian report reveals a 23 per cent increase in domestic violence involving a person aged under 19 between 2002 and 2006. One in 10 of the state's police family violence call-outs involves an adolescent perpetrator, and about 3500 cases happen each year.

While NSW police do not have readily available statistics, a recent study by University of Western Sydney researchers found 51 per cent of women experience some form of violence at the hands of their children. And the researchers say the figures could be even higher, because the shame and secrecy associated with child-parent violence prevents many mothers from reporting the abuse to authorities.

Jo Howard, a clinical family therapist who co-wrote the Melbourne report, said mothers often suffered years of violence before calling the police or seeking other assistance.

Many parents were confused about whether their children's violence was normal teenage behaviour, and they minimised serious abuse as "just mucking around". "They would absolutely have to be at the end of their tether to call the police," she said. "A lot of parents don't even know they can call the police with these kinds of issues. It's absolutely the last step."

Ms Howard's report documents adolescent violence in 10 families. Almost all of the sons had experienced or witnessed abuse by their fathers or other men - towards their mothers and sometimes themselves - and most also had learning and behavioural problems from an early age.

Mothers told the researchers how their sons would spit at or punch them, swear and call them names, threaten to use weapons such as knives, steal money, break objects and not allow them any privacy, even in the bathroom. They talked about always being fearful at home, and worried about how the young men would treat future girlfriends.

Ms Howard said another scenario in which adolescent violence was increasingly common was where stressed parents working long hours overindulged children and failed to set boundaries. "Parents are trying to compensate for not being available, [they] are generally wanting to give their kids the best," she said. "Then the kids just start to use quite bullying tactics and slowly over time they will start to up the ante until they are smashing things and becoming quite abusive."

In the University of Western Sydney study of more than 1000 mothers from the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Penrith areas, 51 per cent reported some form of child violence ranging from physical abuse to more common forms such as swearing, denigrating, "silent treatment" and aggressively making demands.

Mothers were most fearful of sons aged between 13 and 18, and the younger the child when the behaviour began, the longer it continued and the more severe the violence became.

Lesley Wilkes, from the university's school of nursing, oversaw the study, which also found that mothers who were young, single, had low education or were in casual employment were the most likely to suffer abuse from their children.

"Teenagers may swear at you once but they shouldn't be doing it every day [and] no teenager should hit their mother," Professor Wilkes said.

Related:

Education forum: focus on employability?
"What we're hoping for today is to start a conversation nationally about what we should expect every student to achieve, what are the basics, how can we set minimum expectations for all students.

More youth, women committing violent crimes
Queensland's Police Commissioner says more young people and more women are committing violent crimes.

Students finishing school 'without basic skills'
A leading education researcher is calling for national education standards to be imposed, saying that many students finish high school lacking basic reading and writing skills.

Young offenders face curfews
Young offenders could face curfews, strict limitations on their movements and controls on who they socialise with in an Australian-first program to be piloted in New South Wales.

Laws will push teenagers into adult prisons
For the past two years the department's director-general has had the power to move detainees to jail once they turned 18, irrespective of judges' orders.

Principals agree: cut out social subjects
"The curriculum is far too crowded and we know from our research that not all schools can do what is being asked of them," she said. "The social responsibilities being placed on primary schools are ever increasing, taking time and resources away from our core business."

Binge drinking teens: 'two deaths a week'

South Australia's Drug and Alcohol Service says there are about two deaths a week in Australia involving young people who have been binge-drinking.

Teenager Daryl Horner, 15, died at Peterborough in the mid north of South Australia at the weekend reportedly after drinking home-brewed alcohol.

Keith Evans, from the Drug and Alcohol Service, says the death is a tragic reminder of the need to prevent underage drinking.

"We are seeing across Australia around about two deaths a week in relation to young people who are heavily intoxicated," he said.

"I mean it's obviously eminently preventable - this is a real tragedy, a tragedy for that family but we really do have to change this culture that says it's ok to drink to get drunk and, at 15, it's not ok to drink at all," he said.

Related:

Govt to tackle violent crime increase
The Victorian Government says it will tackle the rising level of violent crime in the state. "We intend to keep up with our efforts in public education, in things like tougher liquor-licencing laws, the Safe Streets Taskforce, all of those things which are about cracking down on binge drinking, cracking down on alcohol abuse and cracking down on night-time violence," he said.

Record blood alcohol reading for a woman
A driver who recorded what is believed to be Victoria's highest blood alcohol reading for a woman, has been sentenced to six months jail.

Girls gone wild
Not long ago, the women in Victorian prisons were there largely because of drug or property-related crimes. But that picture is slowly changing, with a rising number of women being convicted for assault and other violent crimes.

Calls for binge warnings on alcohol packaging
The Public Health Association (PHA) says warnings about the dangers of binge drinking should be pasted on all forms of packaged alcoholic drinks.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Message on a bottle for binge drinkers
BOTTLES of alcoholic drinks could soon carry graphic pictures warning of the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption as part of the Federal Government's latest series of measures to cut down on under-age and binge drinking.

Young offenders face curfews

Young offenders could face curfews, strict limitations on their movements and controls on who they socialise with in an Australian-first program to be piloted in New South Wales.

Young people charged with low-level anti-social offences, who would usually be dealt with under the Young Offenders Act, can avoid serving time in a detention centre and will instead be placed on a conduct order for up to a year.

NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos says the scheme is not a soft option and young offenders risk facing court if they break the terms of the order, which can include school attendance requirements.

"Offenders can also be asked to undergo intensive case management with their families, forcing them to confront issues like drug and alcohol dependence," he said.

"They can also be referred to mental health treatment for mental health problems and their families can be given extra help for family support and housing."

Youth Action And Policy Association executive officer Rae Reodica believes the laws will unfairly target young people.

"It's obvious from where similar programs have been trialed or implemented both overseas and in other places that these sort of laws are open to abuse," he said.

Mr Reodica says there must be a better option.

"There's a significant amount of research to show that a firm commitment to diverting young people away from the system through working at those underlying causes is something that's positive both for the young people and society in general," he said.

The $14 million trial will run for two years and starts from December in Armidale, in the state's north-west, and the Sydney suburbs of Campbelltown and Mount Druitt.

Tas lags in support youth leaving state care

A new report has revealed Tasmania could be doing more to provide resources and support for young people leaving state care.

The Create Foundation report shows Tasmania has few transition services and the lowest budget for people leaving care.

It focuses on young people who have reached the age of 18 and left care , or those younger who have already made independent living arrangements.

It found when people leave the state care system without support, they are more likely to enter the Juvenile Justice System.

Jacqui Reed from Create, says young people moving from state care are vulnerable and the government is responsible for ensuring they are supported.

The Tasmanian Government allocates just over $1,500 to help each young person move from state care, when on average, all other states pay more than $5,000 per person.

In most states, assistance is provided until the person turns 25, but in Tasmania it stops at age 21.

Youth self-harm 'up 43pc in last decade'

New figures from the Institute of Health and Welfare show there has been a large increase in the number of young people intentionally hurting themselves.

In the most recent statistical year, more than 7,000 young people were taken to hospital because of self-harm.

The two main causes were poisoning and cutting.

The Institute's Deanna Eldridge says the rate of intentional self-harm amongst young people has gone up by 43 per cent in the past decade, and it is an even bigger rise for girls.

"Overall it only accounts for about 2 per cent of all hospitalisations of young people, but in terms of injury it's about the sixth leading cause of hospitalisation," she said.

The Institute's report shows there has been a drop in the suicide rate, although it is still the second highest cause of injury deaths amongst young Australians, after traffic accidents.

Unsafe corporations, unsafe sex, drugs, binge drinking 'normal' for teens: study

Researchers say the tax on alcopops will do little to curb binge drinking which is seen as 'normal' (Get Images)

A university study has found binge drinking is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to teenage risk-taking behaviour.

Education researchers at the University of Tasmania surveyed 1,000 parents and 1,000 high school students over five years about their perception of risky behaviours.

Thirteen per cent of students surveyed said they got "blind drunk" regularly while 43 per cent said they did so occasionally.

Education researcher, Professor Joan Abbott-Chapman, says she was surprised to find that many young people do not regard binge drinking as high-risk.

"Teenagers seem to think that normal teenage behaviour includes drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and to a certain degree smoking marijuana and also to a lesser extent unsafe sex," she said.

Professor Abbott-Chapman says parental involvement in setting standards can reduce teenage risk-taking behaviour.

"And it's the teenagers who rely only on peer groups for support or feel isolated and have no one to turn to these are the ones that tend to drink more and we also found that school engagement was also involved," she said.

Alcopop tax little use [to corporations]


The Federal Government's tax on so called 'alcopops' is likely to have only a minimal impact on teenage binge drinking according the researchers [from the business association?]

Taxes on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks have increased by around 70 per cent, making them to $1.30 more expensive, in a bid to curb binge drinking.

Professor Abbott-Chapman says more needs to be done to address the problem.

"The effects are likely to be marginal unless they are linked to a widespread range of community and family programs which tackle some of the problems of social and educational engagement or disengagement rather," she said.

Updaedt 350:pm (AEST)

Greens want alco-pops tax revenue spent on alcohol education

Greens leader Bob Brown says his party will not be inclined to support the Government's increased tax on pre-mixed drinks unless the money is put aside to combat alcohol abuse.

The Coalition says it will block the legislation to approve the 70 per cent tax increase, which is expected to give the government $3 billion in revenue.

Senator Brown says the Greens do support the tax and believe it will reduce consumption of so-called alco-pops.

But he says the revenue raised must be spent on education and health programs.

"We're not inclined to support this legislation unless there's a program for re-mediating the impact of alcohol abuse goes with it, in other words unless a sizeable part of this money goes to tackling the big problem of alcohol abuse in our communities" he said.

Related:

Calls for binge warnings on alcohol packaging
The Public Health Association (PHA) says warnings about the dangers of binge drinking should be pasted on all forms of packaged alcoholic drinks.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy

Conference told drinking needs to be 'denormalised'
A conference in Brisbane has been told that society needs to change the way it thinks about alcohol before there will be a reduction in binge drinking. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation organised the conference to discuss ways to tackle the problem, with organisations and researchers from across the country attending the event.

Alcohol boosts cancer risks: experts
A new study has found that drinking just two standard alcoholic drinks a day significantly increases the risks of developing breast, bowel, throat and mouth cancer.

Balmain hotels fill as young mourn pub mates
Many of those involved in the accident were from Balmain. Friends gathered, embraced and cried openly on Darling Street, and soon after were intoxicated with alcohol as well as grief. Balmain bar staff described the incident as a pub staff night gone wrong.

Calls for binge warnings on alcohol packaging

The Public Health Association (PHA) says warnings about the dangers of binge drinking should be pasted on all forms of packaged alcoholic drinks.

The Australia-New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council has requested Food Standards Australia to consider putting warnings on all alcoholic drinks.

PHA chief executive Michael Moore says mandatory warnings are a must if Australia is to properly combat binge drinking.

"I think people should be warned about intoxication," he said.

"I think they should be reminded that drinking sensibly is one thing but drinking to get drunk is an inappropriate way to use alcohol and an unhealthy way to use alcohol."

Mr Moore says warnings must carry the basic message that getting drunk is unhealthy.

"I think that it is appropriate if we begin a labelling regime to apply to alcohol across the board," he said.

"I think it is appropriate to remind people that what we ought to be doing is drinking sensible and binge drinking or drinking regularly is really not good for your health."

Man stabbed in night of brawls

Three men have been arrested over a stabbing in Sydney's Darling Harbour, after police had to respond to three separate fights involving up to 30 people. A 24-year-old man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, after being stabbed in the back during one brawl, which occurred at a hotel on Wheat Road. Police say they were called to the hotel around 1.30am (AEST), with reports that three separate fights had broken out involving 30 people. Three men were later arrested over the incident. Two 18-year-olds and one 19-year-old have been taken to City Central police station, where the are currently being questioned, police said.

Meanwhile, two teenage boys have been charged after a separate altercation in Sydney's Hyde Park last night. Police say a group of 15 teenagers had gathered at the park, before a fight broke out among the youths at 1.30am (AEST). A 19-year-old Croydon Park man and 17-year-old from Burwood Heights were arrested by police patrolling the park.
Both have been charged with affray and will appear in court later this month. The 19-year old will appear at Downing Centre Local Court on May 23, while the teenager will face Bidura Children's Court the same day.

Related;

Balmain hotels fill as young mourn pub mates
Many of those involved in the accident were from Balmain. Friends gathered, embraced and cried openly on Darling Street, and soon after were intoxicated with alcohol as well as grief. Balmain bar staff described the incident as a pub staff night gone wrong. The Commercial Hotel on Darling Street had changed hands on Wednesday and it is understood that staff from hotels in the area had gathered to mark the occasion with a night of drinking and celebration.

Police name 6th harbour crash victim
Thirty-two-year-old Ashlei Ayres, a single mother of two, has now been named as one of the five people who died at the scene of the crash.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy

Alcopop tax an ineffective 'quick fix': Tas AHA

The Tasmanian Hotels Association has described the Commonwealth's move to increase the tax on ready-to-drink spirits as a quick fix for a complex problem.

The Federal Government has raised the tax on pre-mixed spirits by 70 per cent, saying it will help curb binge drinking by teenagers.

But the association's state manager, Steve Old, has said the plan probably will not work.

"We don't want to see young kids getting into trouble with alcohol, and we want to sit down with the government, but at this stage we've been put at arms length and the government has said 'we'll solve the problem, we know how to fix it'," he said.

"Well I'd argue that they don't, and they'd probably be best to sit down with us and work through it."

Alliance tackles drunken violence
THE TOLL of alcohol-related violence has reached the point where one in five Australians now say they have been directly affected or know someone who has been affected by this type of violence, a new survey shows.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

Australia's cocaine use up, smoking down

AUSTRALIANS are smoking fewer cigarettes and less cannabis but using more cocaine, a report shows.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare survey found that from 2004 to 2007, the proportion of people aged 14 and more who smoked daily fell from 17.4 to 16.6 per cent.

Recent cannabis use dropped from just more than 11 per cent to just more than 9 per cent.

The 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: first results report also found methamphetamine (or "ice") use had declined, in contrast with popular perceptions it was increasing.

The proportion of men and women using cocaine, however, increased from 1.3 to 2.2 per cent.

Welfare agency spokesman Mark Cooper-Stanbury said Australia now had one of the lowest smoking rates.

The report found about one in four teenagers put themselves at risk of short-term alcohol-related harm at least once a month. "The proportion was higher among females (28.3 per cent) than males (24.5 per cent)," he said.

The report also raised concerns about girls' smoking habits - 16 to 17-year-old females were "almost twice as likely to be daily smokers (7.4 per cent) as their male counterparts (4.1 per cent), although both of these figures dropped by about half from the previous survey".

Related:

Ciggy substitute abuse on rise
ABOUT 425,000 Australians are fuelling a boom in the nicotine replacement market, now worth more than $90 million a year.

Alliance tackles drunken violence
THE TOLL of alcohol-related violence has reached the point where one in five Australians now say they have been directly affected or know someone who has been affected by this type of violence, a new survey shows.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy.

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.

National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia deputy chair Tim Goodwin says issues like domestic violence and alcohol abuse in Indigenous communities can only be tackled properly with proper consultation with Aboriginal people.

"The intervention is a classic example of highlighting where the relationship just isn't right between Indigenous Australia and non-Indigenous Australia," he said.

"You need to build those foundations properly before you can build policies and programs which attack those immediate issues, such as child protection and domestic violence."

He says a treaty should be signed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians because the agreement would be good for our the county's national identity.

"Not only something that recognises the history ... that talks about the way this country has been built on the sacrifices of Indigenous people, but also really setting the guidelines on which the relationship needs to be built, which can then contribute to how we can build practical policies and programs," he said.

Related:

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.

Teen offenders face Army camp

Nine western Sydney teenagers will head to an Army training camp this weekend as part of a police program aimed at kerbing youth crime.

The boys and girls, aged between 14 and 17, have been selected to take part in Camp Victory, where they learn military approaches to dress, courtesy and discipline.

This weekend will be the third the group spends at Glenfield Scout Activity Centre, where they will undertake discipline activities such as military drills.

Superintendent Ray Filewood says the teenagers are offenders or considered at risk of offending.

"It's a youth-based program targeted at children between 14 and 17 that require some direction," he said.

"They're normally at a crossroads in their lives and have made some bad decisions.

"We're running this program to give them some support and guidance."

Superintendent Ray Filewood says the initiative of the St Marys Local Area Command is about changing attitudes.

"So far, everyone's going well through the program," he said.

"The phase-two part of the program aims to look at things like team-building activities, leadership-focused activities, life skills like conflict resolution and also, some crime prevention workshops."

Quote: When no one wants to enlist then just re-program ex offenders who don't have any choice. The military is one of the root causes of domestic violence. Just ask Julian Knight.

Climate change hot topic at youth 2020 summits

Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Australian schoolchildren have put forward ideas mostly about climate change from their own 2020 summits.

More than 500 schools held talks during the past month ahead of the Federal Government's Youth Summit in Canberra this weekend.

Ms Gillard says she is not surprised the environment is the number one concern of many children.

"A lot of the ideas are about the environment, they're about climate change, water, about better transport systems, better ways of getting around without creating greenhouse gas emissions," she said.

Juvenile detainees sharing single cells

SEVERE overcrowding in the state's juvenile detention centres is forcing young people to share cells designed for one person, to sleep on mattresses on the floor and be held in "segregation" rooms usually used as punishment cells.

The Department of Juvenile Justice is shifting detainees who have turned 18 to adult jails despite judges' orders their sentences be served in juvenile detention until age 21 because of special circumstances that can include immaturity, mental health problems and rehabilitation prospects.

Some detainees have been unable to get a place in the centres' schools, and rehabilitation programs are under pressure, staff said.

A departmental spokesman admitted yesterday that some detainees had shared cells on mattresses as "a temporary measure to deal with unexpected surges" in numbers, and youths had been moved to adult jails.

Detainee numbers surged after the NSW Government's changes to the Bail Act in November as well as increased policing, the spokesman said.

Counsellors and lawyers are concerned that vulnerable young people and model detainees who have responded to rehabilitation will come to grief in adult jails.

"My fear is that you get high-risk young people who don't want to be moved into adult prisons becoming another death in custody - all for the sake of a friggin' bed," said Bradley Freeburn, a co-ordinator at the Aboriginal Medical Service.

The State Government amended a law two years ago to enable the department to override a judge's orders detaining young offenders after their 18th birthday. But until the overcrowding problems this year, these orders were countered only if youths were disruptive or a danger to other children, lawyers said.

"A lot of these young people are fodder from DOCS and a high number are Aboriginal kids, and now because of overcrowding they're being funnelled into the adult system," said a centre worker who could not be named.

Ten youths have been transferred this year, and staff said a further 20 are to be moved. A departmental spokesman said the offenders were adults who had committed serious offences including murder, sexual assault and armed robbery.

Andrew Haesler, the deputy senior public defender, has been asked to advise on whether legal challenges to the Supreme Court can be made in two cases to reverse or prevent transfers.

Confidential departmental information shows there were more children than beds in the system virtually every night last month with all nine centres consistently at overcapacity.