Showing posts with label abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abuse. Show all posts

Friday, October 14, 2005

Anti-terrorism laws inquiry 'too short'


Australia: The Opposition says the inquiry effectively gives senators just one day to examine the bills.
Labor's homeland security spokesman, Arch Bevis, says the inquiry will be unable to scrutinise whether the legislation provides a balance between security and civil rights.

"You don't get that considered, balanced outcome by rushing legislation through the Parliament," he said.

The Democrats deputy leader, Andrew Bartlett, says the Government is abusing its control of the Senate to establish a farcical inquiry into laws that have a significant impact.

Senator Bartlett says it is outrageous that such an important piece of legislation is being pushed through Parliament with such little scrutiny.

"What the Government has offered us is a one week inquiry into anti-terrorism legislation [draconian laws] or no inquiry at all," he said.

Labor and the Australian Democrats believe the inquiry will be unable to properly examine the anti-terror legislation.

"From the Democrats point of view, that is an absolute disgrace. It is an unprecedented abuse of basic parliamentary procedure."

Mr Bevis says the Government should reconsider its position when Parliament resumes in two weeks.

"We will again offer to the Government a practical solution to deal with this legislation, to enable the Senate to conduct a proper inquiry and give about two weeks after that, to consider that Senate report," he said.

Senator Bartlett says Coalition senators need to pressure the Government into extending the length of time they will have to examine the bills.

"Our immediate concern is to pressure each and every one of the National and Liberal Party senators to ensure that at least we get a minor opportunity for some sort of vaguely credible inquiry into the anti-terrorism legislation," he said.

But the Special Minister of State, Eric Abetz, says the Government had allowed for a longer inquiry but was stymied by the Opposition.

"They should be looking into themselves as to why they moved an amendment, knowing in doing so they would be deferring this matter," he said.

The Government wants to pass the new anti-terrorism laws by Christmas.

UK: Shot man was not bomber - police


UK: The man shot dead in Stockwell tube station yesterday was not connected to the attempted bombings of London on July 21, police said tonight.

By injustice 14 October 05

Related:

Australia: Draconian laws draw rights watchdog's ire
Human Rights Watch has condemned Australia's proposed anti-terrorism laws as a "shocking departure" from its historical championing of the rights of the individual.

Dissent Isn't Taken Lightly Down Under
Historian Michael Foley said during times of war pacifists often get mugged. As a nonviolent activist working to end the war in Iraq and the corporate war profiteering that comes with it, September 2005 has been the most surreal time of my life and I definitely feel like I got mugged by Australian Attorney General Phillip Ruddock and the Australian government.

Australia: Rattling the cage
Recently, the federal government announced a controversial new 'counter-terrorism' package. Civil libertarians were quick to raise the spectre of a police state . Yet Muslim groups argued that the new security regime is already having an impact on the democratic freedoms and everyday safety of their communities.

AUSTRALIA: MUSLIMS SOLD OUT!
Hand picked alleged Australian Muslim leaders are being used to cut their own throats the same as the hand picked Indigenous mob have been used by the John HoWARd Government to screw ATSIC.

Anti-terrorism laws put rights at risk: Fraser
Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser says Australians could be treated unfairly under the Government's anti-terrorism [draconian] laws unless a human rights act is introduced.

Stop the war on civil liberties!
Prime Minister John Howard is using the "war on terror" to promote widespread fear about "terrorists" and "terrorism" in Australia. This is despite the fact that the biggest act of terror being committed today is being carried out by foreign troops, including Australia's, in occupied Iraq.

Spots and Stripes
It is well known that John Howard, infamous lackey and liar, is devoid of anything that could be remotely regarded as masculine or manly; the draconian measures he has implemented to 'secure' Australia against the terrorist bogeyman are astounding.

They know where you live
Twenty-four hours after the country's leaders agreed to draconian counter-terrorism laws this week, the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, was playing down media claims that ASIO believed there were 800 would-be suicide bombers living in Australia.

When Terrorism Outlaws Democracy
On September 27, 2005, Australian democracy surrendered to terrorism. On that day, a coalition of willing federal and state leaders agreed to anti-terrorism legislation that will enable police persecution of the Muslim community and threaten dissidents with imprisonment. In a country without a Bill of Rights, the prospect of more draconian Terror Laws delivers ultimate control through fear. Australia, with its history of penal colonies, racism and detention centers, is now set to become a police state.

Evans: moderate threat
Evans doubts reports that 800 potential terrorists are living in Australia.

No! Your Rights Australia
You have the right to not remain silent.

800 people deemed a potential security risk?
As reported in the Australian today, ASIO has apparently identified up to 800 people deemed a potential security risk. Ruddock says the draconian COAG measures "deal with people who pose a risk to the safety and security of the Australian community." Hmmm, like detained and deported US peace activist Scott Parkin perhaps? What is this broad definition of a "Terrorist"?

Democrat Will Oppose Anti-Terrorism Laws
NSW Democrat MLC, Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, has accused the Premier, Mr Morris Iemma, of selling out to John Howard after agreeing to new 'Anti-Terrorism' laws yesterday. Dr Chesterfield-Evans said the proposed laws agreed to by Morris Iemma will not work.

Mein Kampf by John Howard
Months before Bali Au warships were seen invading Iraqi territorial waters in deliberate provocations under American protection. It was obvious that Howard had decided before Bali to join in an illegal and aggressive invasion of Iraq and in fact , when that happened, it was led by Au stormtroopers BEFORE the ultimatum given Baghdad had even run out!

Collection of Terrorists Meet to Take Away Our Rights
Tomorrow (27th of September) the State Premiers and the Federal Government are meeting to conspire to strip Australians of their rights. Welcome to the brave new world of electronic tagging and "preventative" detention.

Tell Your State Premier: Don't Do Ruddock's Dirty Work
Over the past several years, the Howard government has passed a series of dangerous new laws. These laws have undermined our basic legal and democratic rights.

Australian government unveils legal framework for police state
In the lead-up to his September 27 "counter-terrorism summit" with the eight Australian state and territory leaders, Prime Minister John Howard last week unveiled a package of legislation that goes well beyond the already deep inroads made into essential civil liberties under the fraudulent banner of the "war on terrorism..."

Australia: Counter-liberty plans unveiled
AUSTRALIA: VIC: BLACK Hawk helicopters and fighter jets will patrol Melbourne's skies during the Commonwealth Games next March, as part of counter-terror measures outlined today.

John H.o.W.A.R.d line roars at Fascism Week
AUSTRALIA: Parody: (Rooters) - While Attorney General Phillip Duddock helped wrap up a US protester for Prime Meanster, John HoWARd during Australia's Fascism Week after a 5 day detention debut and the removal of Mr Scott Parkin a peace activist who was deported back to Houston, Texas. The h.o.W.A.R.d fascism line, adding a dash of despotism to a week of largely draconian styles.

Parkin charged $11,700 for detention and removal
Los Angeles Friday, 16 September, 2005 : American peace activist Scott Parkin arrived back in the US today, escorted by 2 Australian immigration officials. He is expected to arrive in Houson, Texas on a Continental Airlines flight at around 3pm AEST.

Government out of control on security: Wilkie
Australia: Canberra Thursday, 15 September, 2005 : Former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie today staunchly defended US peace activist and teacher, Scott Parkin, saying that the government's national security agenda is out of control.

Australia, USA, Iraq: Scott Parkin
The rapid and widespread response to the detention of US peace and global justice activist, Scott Parkin, has been heartening and effective on many levels. Actions have taken place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and outside several Australian Consulates in the United States.

Peace Activist Agrees to be removed but challenges security review
ATTENTION: CHIEFS OF STAFF - IMMIGRATION REPORTERS - LEGAL REPORTERS

Australia's fascist ideal: Proof
Philip Ruddock, Federal Attorney General to Australian, hopes to eclipse the neo-cons of the US in the race toward the fascist ideal of social uniformity and control (oppression).

Anti-War Extremists Loyal to Scott
What can I say to someone like Scott Parkin? Sorry mate, to get a PEACE prize in this country you need to be drop dead sexy, go-tees are out - you gotta go. Peace Prize.

US Peace Activist to be Deported
Scott Parkin, a Texas based peace activist was detained by Federal police at approximately midday Saturday. He was en route to give a workshop about the progress and success of the peace movement in the US and companies profiting from the Iraq war.

Howard government threatens academic freedom
As Peter McGregor noted in GLW #639, I recently resigned in protest from a committee of the federal government's National Health and Medical Research Committee (NHMRC) and called for a boycott by academics of government committees generally.

'Different times' call for bill of rights, says QC'
To ensure no future government can erode basic human rights. Lex Lasry, QC, gave last night's key note address at the University of Western Australia's annual Day of Ideas.

Australia: a little dab will do ya .....
Reflections on the phoney, hypocritical "values" debate being promoted by the federal government, as part of its proscriptive program to emasculate our democracy.

Government warned Terror Laws "inherently dangerous, draconian and open to misuse" John North, Law Council of Australia: "In times of fear, it is easy for governments to impose ever (more) draconian laws."

Fishing expedition pays off
A man whose home was targeted by ASIO in fishing raids this year is facing fraud charges along with a co-accused who is linked to firearms offences.

The Terrorism of ASIO Laws
Wanda Fish asks Australian Senators to reject Howard's proposal to strengthen laws that already erode our basic legal rights. This legislation has the potential to turn ASIO agents into terrorists who can kidnap and detain innocent Australians simply because they "might know something".

Terrorgraph not quiet on 'Aussie militant' probe
AFP refuses to comment on investigation into militant video: hoWARd's abc.

Phillip Duddock's 'accent' heard in militant broadcast
Australian/Arab television has broadcast a video showing a masked militant with an apparent Australian accent criticising British Prime Minister tony bliar over Iraq.

HICKS: Not a Happy Birthday!
AUSTRALIA/CUBA/US :David Hicks, the Australian imprisoned at the US Base of Guantanamo Bay, will be 30 years old this coming Monday August 7, 2005.

GetUp! Stand Up! Stand Up For Your Rights!
Because of you, something exciting happened in our democracy last week. From every corner of the country, more than 20,000 emails were sent to the Coalition Senators. Our message was simple: now you have control of the Senate, we will be holding you to account. Thousands of you added personal messages to your representatives about the issues you care about.

Australia: We're Living In A War Zone
Prime Minister john hoWARd and his cronies have now placed us in a war-zone moving defence capabilities to Australia's south-east coast.

All the alleged terrorists are Muslims
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner mick keelty, a well know propagandist and liar, now claims that 60 Islamic extremists are operating in Australia and they are not news to the police and intelligence agencies.

All the wicked witches in Pakistan?
Pakistani authorities say 800 suspected militants [scapegoates and patsies] have been arrested in raids following the deadly London [false flag operation] bombings, as Islamic groups protest a move to expel 1,400 foreign students.

It's just not cricket: Khan
The perception in the West remained that somehow Islam was connected to militarism and terrorism, that all Muslims believe that all suicide bombers go straight to heaven. No one mentioned that before [false flag operations of] 9/11 70 per cent of suicide bombings in the world were committed by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, who were Hindus.

Lawyer dismisses ASIO fishing raids as PR stunt
Fascist federal Police (AFP) and ASIO officers conducted more raids in Melbourne and Sydney yesterday but the publicity surrounding the raids has been dismissed as a public relations exercise by the Melbourne lawyer for an accused terrorist.

Howard off to US, UK - part 5
PART-5- PRIME minister john hoWARd will meet US president george w buSHIT, British prime minister tony blair and queen 'imperialism' herself during a 10-day visit to the United States and the UK next month.

hoWARd, ruddock, ellison, keelty and news ltd plotted chaos
AUSTRALIA/CUBA: Government and corporate propaganda agencies 'believe' they have foiled an attack on the Melbourne Stock Exchange by a radical Islamic network linked to a covert group, which has carried out surveillance on key Sydney sites.

Houses raided over 'possible' political attack plans?
ASIO have raided a number of properties in Melbourne on a 'fishing expedition' in relation to a 'possible' political scare campaign by the hoWARd government, playing on the fears of all Australians... again!

Is this our most dangerous Newspaper?
The Daily Terrorist should be managed with manacles and flown into Siberia via a jumbo jet tomorrow amid fears government fascists may attempt to use them again on someone else.

HOSTAGES OF THE WAR ON TERROR
This forum will bring together legal representatives and victims of counter-terror, along with justice campaigners and organisations in order to share strategies for achieving justice for these men and the many other like them.

WAR ON TERROR, WAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS: AMNESTY
The Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group & the Justice for Hicks & Habib Campaign welcome the statement by Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan, condemning the US Administration for condoning torture and the suppression of 'human rights' in their 'war on terror'.

Murdoch's war on truth in war reporting
People who remain to be convinced that cross-media laws are important to maintaining the fabric of our democracy need look no further than today's page one of The Daily Telegraph.

Chomsky signs on for justice
Noam Chomsky has signed the Justice for Jack campaign petition which calls on the Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock and Director of Public Prosecutions to "drop any charges reliant on records of interviews conducted under duress without the presence of a lawyer."

If he'd been given his passport he'd be a free man
A Sydney man [scapegoat in the Coalition of the Killings resource wars in the Middle East] has been found not guilty of preparing for a terrorist attack on a Commonwealth building [ruling class propaganda.]

Trial by unrelated video clips
Should alleged terrorist suspects [scapegoats for the resource wars in the Middle East] be shown on television side-by side-'terrorist training camp film clips' gathered by the government and media archives to give the wrong impression of accused people facing trial?

Accused Australian Citizen 'denied passport in 2002'?
AN AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN who was refused a passport by DFAT in mid-2002 became frustrated at the government for treating him differently.

Court should be told Gov't using 'Jack'!
A Melbourne court should have been told a man accused of working for Al Qaeda is being used by the fascist Australian Government as a pawn in their leverage to win support for their illegal and degrading activities.

Noble Cause Torture?
AUSTRALIA: The Labor Party has decided not to support a Senate inquiry into new allegations made by Mamdouh Habib that the Australian Government cooperated with Egyptian intelligence authorities who he insists tortured him.

New account adds weight to interrogation claims
Australia/Cuba/Iraq: The fascist Federal Government is under further pressure today because Australians were involved in the interrogation of tortured Iraqi prisoners.

Australian senate accused govt of war crimes
Did you hear the one about David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib having a Barbeque in Afghanistan with Bin Laden? Yeah it was reported on Channel Seven's Sunrise this morning! But they don't know if it was a sheep or a goat, but sources say it was most likely a goat.

DPP to appeal innocent man's bail
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will seek to have an innocent Melbourne man Joseph 'Jack' Thomas, returned to isolation in custody?

Fascist Australian Govt torture exposed
The fascist Federal Government has been exposed for the torture of Australian Mamdouh Habib and the US Government's allegations against him (if they were true) would have been made under duress.

Innocent witch verballed by federal fascists!
Shame on the federal fascists. The wicked old witch is dead! A Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard that a 31-year-old innocent Victorian man was facing terrorism charges?

Lawyer blames police for Habib break-in
John HoWARd, Alexander Downer, Phillip Ruddock, Robert Hill, to name just a few....HOW DO YOU PLEAD?

No reason for Habib to sell story: Beazley?
Federal Agreement Leader Kim Beazley is a well-paid loser. A loser who supposed to be defending our democratic rights by standing up to the HoWARd Government's fascism.

Australia: a presumption of guilt......
KAREN PERCY: Two of Australia's leading barristers have seized on the return of Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mamdouh Habib, to launch an unprecedented attack on the Federal Attorney General, Philip Ruddock.

Aust Community criticises Govt for 'crimes'!
Australia: The Law Council of Australia is warning that the Federal Government must learn from its mistakes over Guantanamo Bay? Now that's a mistake!

Australian Govt Guilty of Crimes: Community
Australia: The community says federal fascists who allowed the torture of its citizenry including Mamdouh Habib may be arrested when the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal address the War Crimes Indictment set out by the community.

What they did to Habib
Mamdouh Habib was the victim of atrocities fit for a concentration camp, including being tied to the ground while a prostitute menstruated on him, his lawyer said yesterday.

Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes
Complaint to Australian law officers about Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes.

There is no justification for torture
In the weeks since the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were revealed, evidence continues to seep out of similar mistreatment of prisoners in other US military detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

Howard rejects spy agency overhaul
Prime Minister John Howard has played down the need for a major overhaul of Australia's spy agencies as a result of an inquiry by former intelligence officer Phillip Flood.

Fascist Australian Govt torture exposed
The fascist Federal Government has been exposed for the torture of Australian Mamdouh Habib and the US Government's allegations against him (if they were true) would have been made under duress.

Innocent witch verballed by federal fascists!
Shame on the federal fascists. The wicked old witch is dead! A Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard that a 31-year-old innocent Victorian man was facing terrorism charges?

Innocent Victorian man held in custody for Xmas?!
Lawyers have argued the case against Mr Thomas was weak and based on a statement he made in Pakistan without a lawyer present and therefore unlawful.

Innocent Melbourne man makes second bail bid
Rubish, just plain propaganda, fear-mongering, draconian nonsence from the HoWARd goverment's war agenda stink tank.

MPs to review spy agency powers
Australian spy agency ASIO'S controversial powers to detain and question suspected terrorists [scapegoats for HoWARd's resource wars] will be re-examined by a parliamentary committee. Parliament passed the new counter-terrorism powers in July last year.

Goulburn Jail breaches UN standards
NSW: Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Justice Minister John Hatzistergos to bring Goulburn Jail's Maximum Security Wing into line with United Nations standards, after a prison inmate's covert survey of his fellow inmates revealed problems with rehabilitation programs and basic amenities.

Lodhi toilet paper: crap!
He is facing nine charges and is accused of planning a major terrorist attack on Sydney defence sites and the electricity grid using downloads off the internet and having 100 rolls of toilet paper to wipe his arse after low level bombs and farts.

Brain injury for suspicion 'inhumane'
Faheem Khalid Lodhi refused bail by a Sydney court and remanded until June in hell at the (HARM-U) High Risk Management Unit at Goulburn. While he is in there he will receive a brain injury and is likely to self-harm due to the gross violation of living standards.

Ul-Haque 'the man who wants to become a doctor'
The taskforce is investigating French man Willie Brigitte, who was tipped back home for a visa breach. Allegedly the Un-Australian Newspaper claimed he also attended training camps before his six-month stay in Sydney. Police have not alleged Mr Ul-Haque knew Brigitte. The Un-Australian just mentioned it because they are 'you guessed it' up John Howard's butt and they like the USA want 'you guessed it' our Federal Government. Well Yankee go home!

Daily Terror rolled-over for Howard's war games
The DAILY TERROR is suspected of being the source of the news this morning that Willie Brigitte is a terrorist and that Sydney faces a bomb attack.

Ruddock foreshadows new terrorism laws
The new laws will allow police to access emails and mobile phone SMS messages, enable wider use of surveillance devices, and protect sensitive national security information during terrorism trials.

Community seeks more power to interrogate ASIO suspects
Greens Senator Bob Brown does not think increased police powers are necessary. "We have enormous powers for surveillance, apprehension or punishment of people who are engaged in or intending to engage in or thinking about being engaged in terrorist acts in this country," he said.

Greens warn of 'politicised' terror trials
AUSTRALIA/CUBA?: The Australian Greens say they are concerned that new anti-terrorism laws being debated in the Senate allow for the "political black-banning" of defence lawyers at terrorism trials.

Lawyer claims Al Qaeda suspect's evidence tainted!
Before returning to Australia last year, Thomas was arrested and held in custody for five months by Pakistani authorities before being released without charge.

Man terrorised by ASIO remanded in 'AA' isolation!
A Victorian man has been remanded in custody after being charged with terrorism offences, including having links to Al Qaeda?

Melbourne man charged over ASIO links
ASIO a know Australian terrorist organization is verballing the community again...about allegations that a man, while living overseas, received funds from Al Qaeda and had close association with the members of the terrorist group.

DING DONG! THE WITCH IS DEAD
A court has been told Joseph Thomas is a sleeper? ZZZ! Melbourne Australia: A court has been told that Osama bin Laden asked a Melbourne man to become a "sleeper" in Australia before undertaking activities for the Al Qaeda network? Munchkins: "Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead."

AFP: The unlikely CRIMINAL
It was born of a bombing and it made its name after a far more devastating act of terrorism. But for most of the 25 years in between, little was known about the Australian Federal Police force or the work it did.

Mamdouh Habib: Taunted and Tortured!
Four Corners [Walls]: Terrorist - or Taunted by the Australian Defence Force who sacked him as a cleaning contractor? Who is Mamdouh Habib? And why was he harassed by the Australian Federal Police? Then tagged and labelled as a spy? Why was he vilified by the community? When he fled to Pakistan how did he end up being tortured in Egypt? And how did he end up at Guantanamo prison camp reserved for the men America calls "the worst of the worst.

He was an undercover agent for the blues
He was my journalist, he was working undercover. The fellow knew all of the moves.... He really had me romping, bare footing stomping. He just kept igniting my fuse....

Up there Khasali: Innocent man new bail laws
The New South Wales Supreme Court has asked innocent man Bilal Khazal to increase to amount of surety offered, before the bail is formally continued.

HEY! BIG BROTHER? LET INNOCENT PEOPLE GO!
Young men terrorised, tortured, and threatened with charges for no crime by Australia mate the lucky country. Lucky if you're not used for Howard's FEDERAL ELECTION and George Dubya's WAR ON LIBERTY! Who shot liberty? IGNORANCE!

Keelty foresees more terrorism
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty says terrorist groups will continue to find new ways to threaten countries.

Islamic movement denies links to Al Qaeda
The Islamic Youth Movement has denied having any links to Al Qaeda and says it is considering legal action against the Four Corners program. In a statement released early this morning, the group rejects allegations it is helping coordinate any kind of terrorist network inside Australia and says it is being unfairly targeted.

2nd Renaissance -10 The War on Witches [150]
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal Bull that became the rationale for establishing the Inquisition in Germany. The following excerpt from the Bull sets out the official view of the danger of witches to the community. The Bull and this this passage provided the sole excuse for the torture and cruel executions that were, ultimately, to be the fate of up to fifty percent of the population of some villages.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Assaulted, intimidated or harassed in custody?

"Then make an Apprehended Violence Order application against the police, says assault victim Ms Teresa Kiernan.

On 29th July 2005, the Downing Centre Local Court heard an application against Leading Constable Mathew O'Neil of Surry Hills Police Station.

The court heard that O'Neil and his colleagues threw Teresa Kiernan on the floor in a concrete cell, pushed and shoved her, deliberately caused her to be parted from her essential possessions during her arrest, and unnecessarily teased, jeered and humiliated her.

"I believe there are only two reasons why police abuse vulnerable people in custody" Ms Kiernan said to Magistrate Timothy Keady. "The first is to influence by fear. Police try to get arrested people to plead guilty by using intimidation. The second is because there is no evidence or witnesses, and violent and abusive people throughout the ages have always committed such crimes in this condition."

The AVO application was heard in a matter of minutes before it was dismissed. "To everybody's credit, everybody kept a straight face." says Ms Kiernan. "The industry is not going to cause detriment to one of its own. I note that public servants, lawyers, security guards, police and correctives manage to escape the AVO system."

An AVO means a defendant cannot have a gun license for ten years and cannot work in law enforcement, as well as experience other barriers. My point is that cops, screws, security guards need gun licenses. .. a cop with an AVO is finshed: he will lose his job.

Department of Corrective Services staff can't be employed if they have an AVO. Magistrate Pat O'Shane had an AVO put on her and now can't hear domestic violence cases, thus her employment prospects have been reduced. The legal industry doesn't give a hoot about violence and abuse: all its employees are violent and abusive themselves and they are not getting AVOs put on them.

AVOs in NSW are serious business, with the industry slapping AVOs on people at an alarming rate without the benefit of sophisticated and robust legal system. There is an extraordinary lack of support and structure for defendants in the system, which seems to be looking for new ways to criminalise and marginalise people.

The majority of people in custody in NSW are defendants accused of breaching AVOs, and may be arrested merely on the say-so of an amonial other.

"If every person who got mistreated in custody made an AVO application against abusive police officers, or at least the ringleader, NSW would capture a more accurate profile about abuse of its police powers" says Ms Kiernan.

"It is a well established culture that police know where the video footage is in custody and where it isn't; it is a game to them to dodge it." In addition, Ms Kiernan points out, making an AVO application against a police officer intervenes in the police's intimidation tactics in the court environment, engaged in so that defendants can be as rattled as possible before gracing the witness box.

"From a scientific point of view, it costs the police money to get their own lawyers to defend their own officer's behaviour. This, coupled with the public embarrasment factor, is a deterrent for abuse of police powers."

"We can only send our condolences to Tracey Twaddle, who I am sure doesn't think it is a game." Ms Twaddles husband, died in police custody in Palm Island last November from four broken ribs and a ruptured liver, where video surveillance only partially covered the police custody area.

By InJust Us posted 9 August 05

Related Comments:

From the Indymedia news wire:

Full story, please
by Vas Deferens Friday August 12, 2005 at 05:31 PM

On the one hand, the author is implicitly criticising the 'system' for discharging the defendant (the police officer) in this case. Yet on the other, she laments the lack of support and structure for defendants in the system. Oh, that must be unless the defendant is a cop. We can't have rights for everyone, I guess. She's right about AVOs having a seriously detrimental effect on police and others in the legal system. What a great tactic it is for defendants and their lawyers to hamstring law enforcement by bringing vexatious AVO complaints against the police. Little cost if they lose, big result for the crook if they win.

Please give us more facts about the above case. What was she charged with? Were there any corroborative injuries presented in evidence? Did she give sworn evidence and was she cross examined? More details please. You say it was over in a minute. Did she withdraw the application? If it proceeded, there is no way it could have been heard in a minute.

Give us the whole truth, not just the hyperbolic rant which shows your prejudice.

Keep up the good work
by Gregory Saturday August 13, 2005 at 04:43 PM

Hi Vas Deferens,


I guess if you followed the links you'd get the picture sure enough and in my opinion, what this person said was quite true.

Cops and a range of others can harass the community, use corporal punishment, inflict sexual assault, strip-search, plant evidence, verbal them, threaten them, place them in a dangerous situation, in a confined space or psychologically abuse them in custody just because they've been accused of some breach of the law. And some cops are truly arseholes. Personally I've had to tell one or two off myself at the Downing Centre during an AVO hearing that they should get a real job because these losers were bullies who used their power to intimidate, harass and victimise people! Were they on drugs? Well you'd have to ask them!

The AVO was brought on by a politician against her constituent that sought her help because he was being harassed by the police. Ring a bell? But these Surry Hills police were smarter than your average dumb cops so they got in first. So when the complainant's politician contacted the police to complain on behalf of her constituent the police told the politician that her constituent was dangerous and that she should avoid her constituent at all costs?

Hence the politician then took out an AVO against her constituent. I have the paperwork to prove it accept no tribunal will here it! And if you were a politician why wouldn't you believe the police over your constituent's concerns? Any person can have an AVO made out if they can prove they have a reasonable fear of another person. So I guess AVO's work for people who use them no matter who is in the right because right in not determined on whether there is a 'reasonable fear'.

Keep up the good work Teresa.

Assaulted, intimidated or harassed in custody?
By InJust Us Sunday August 14, 2005 at 12:41 PM

Thanks for your response and the questions you raise Vas. Yes I am highly critical of the AVO system, and yes I am highly critical of the magistrate dismissing the case within minutes without hearing sworn evidence and forensic evidence that proves injury, just because the defendant is a cop. Yes I am highly critical where most defendants in AVOs can't afford lawyers, yet when the defendant is a cop the public purse pays for his lawyer. I do not think this is in the public interest.

It wasn't a veracious application, Vas. Police are seasoned and cunning at abusing people in custody. That is one of the reasons why we had a Royal Commission and that is why the public purse pays for video cameras in police cells, and why in NSW we spent millions of dollars per year running a Police Integrity Commission and an Ombudsman's office and even a commission against Corruption. None of these things work in terms of accountability, I believe. You have to hold police accountable yourself by taking them to the courts. Problem is, like all abusive people, they're a bit sly and know how to assault people without leaving evidence, and know where there video surveillance isn't. Yes I agree with you that one of the problems with AVO's is that there is little cost if the applicant loses, and a big impact for the defendant if the AVO is made.

I was charged with knowingly contravening an AVO. I did have corroborative injuries but as the magistrate (unlawfully) wrote off my AVO application t the first available opportunity, I didn't get opportunity to present it. I gave sworn evidence and yes I was cross-examined.

I am going to privately prosecute NSW Police for doing this. I highly recommend anyone who has been assaulted or harassed in custody to do the same. Even though I feel your comment about prejudice is strange, please feel free to post more questions. If you want more info about my case please visit

PS: Can I ask what you do, Vas? Are you a cop?

The AVO experiment
By InJust Us posted posted 14 August 05

Apprehended Violence Order


.. are just an idea. No one can really stop you from doing anything. There are plenty of people with criminal records, especially from my generation eg: Baxter protests.

But I am still appealing.

When we come to power all of us in parliament/government will have criminal records. All it will mean is that we came from a climate that was interested in marginalising people as much as possible. If they create too many criminals they will get a large class of us fighting back.

I note that oppressive laws and legal climates such as the Family Law Act and Domestic Violence oppress and incriminate innocent people for about 15 years until the group gets too big and sick of it, so they lobby and fight back, then laws change..recent reform for ostracised Dads is a good example. Who does the state think it is treating Dads like that?

I don't have any kids but if the state took my kids off me I'd go ballistic. No wonder kidnappings happen in these cases.

The criminal system including Department of Corrective Services and including cops are bastards in these examples. They just warehouse people and try and make things worse. They are interested in extending criminality as much as possible.

I have every confidence the system couldn't give a hoot about the status of women and families and that AVOs are just a system of extending the criminal justice system. They are rent seekers. Without AVO legislation you would never have got someone like me in the back of a police van or in custody.

AVO legislation was introduced as an emergency measure because the police were not doing their job in regards to delivering the social contract to women and children. They still don't. Nothing has changed except more innocent people are in jails. Violent people become aware of AVO law they become very manipulative.

The modern condition is that you abuse someone and get in first, and get your victim in trouble.

Related Links:

MISTREATED IN CUSTODY - NO ACCOUNTABILTY
I was in custody in NSW six weeks ago, and was a victim of an aggravated assault incited by a prison officer. Despite this happening in front of many witnesses, including correctional services officers and other detainees, and under mandatory video surveillance, a formal complaint to the NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services an his Professional Conduct Management Committee only revealed that as far as they were concerned, this didn't happen.

Community Forum on Law Enforcement Violence
This educational forum will provide an opportunity for community members to develop and share organizing strategies to address the various forms of violence perpetrated against our communities including: police brutality; race/gender profiling; sexual harassment; sexual violence; strip searches; beatings; deportation; illegal arrests, detainment, and searches; use of excessive force; and police killings.

Death in Custody: Douglas Bruce Scott
We congratulate Ms Letty Scott, her Family and her supporters, of which the writer counts himself and this Association as being, towards their successful twenty year struggle for Justice.

OUR STORIES MUST BE TOLD. THEY HAVE TO BE
This is for all the children, now, and those to be............

Rally to seek fresh Hickey hearings
A community rally calling for the reopening of the inquest into the death of Aboriginal teenager Thomas 'TJ' Hickey will be held at Walgett in northern New South Wales today.

Doomadgee's body released for burial
The body of a man who died in custody on Palm Island last month has been released for burial.

NSW Police Force: 2 dead, $1 million dollars to catch a thief?
NSW police have expressed concern about their response to the Macquarie Fields riots in south-western Sydney after a police pursuit that killed two young youths Dylan Rayward 17, and Mathew Robertson, 19 that went horribly wrong.

Monday, July 18, 2005

The reason the Richmond recommendations failed

Callan Park NSW

The reason the Richmond recommendations failed is because the supported community accommodation and therapeutic programs that were envisaged as replacing the nut houses were never funded, unlike in the Scandinavian countries Richmond studied during his inquiry and which have had a very successful experience of psychiatric deinstitutionalisation.


Whether you keep people designated 'mentally ill' bombed out on zombie pills in prisons, locked hospital wards, secure psychiatric institutions or immigration detention centres you are writing a blank cheque for their abuse.

I suspect that most victims don't particularly distinguish between the type of institutions that abuse them or whether they should be calling their abusers 'doctor' or 'warden'.

Philip Mitchell's suggestion that moving the Long Bay loonie bin less than 100 metres will somehow make a difference to the treatment of forensic prisoners is ludicrous.

As Mark Brown of Melbourne Uni points out in 'We are neutral therapists', prison psychiatrists and psychologists are at least as abusive towards their charges as are prison officers.

If "the 1980s were ... a different kind of community" its because now Big Pharma is a much more powerful and organised lobby group than it was then. Because antipsychotics are used primarily to control patients - not treat mental illness - the drug companies have a major interest in keeping as many people in institutions and 'managed' with their pills as possible.

Those companies also fund the organisations and research projects.

Drug company funding is also behind the resurgence in the utterly debunked tabloid portrayal of the mentally ill as dangerous that is exploited them.

There are about 2000 murders in Australia over six years so if only 30 (1.5%) are committed by the mentally ill - who make up at least 5% of the population - that suggests that the mentally ill are less than one third as likely as the healthy to kill someone.

Studies on schizophrenia and violent offending fail to control for the way the legal culture interacts with these sorts of offences.

If you are up on charges and mentally ill you are less likely to mount a competent defence and more likely to be convicted.

If you do *not* have a pre-existing diagnosis of mental illness you are more likely to end up with one if you are up on violent offence charges - especially if you let your lawyer run your case.

Lets not forget that it was a NSW psychiatric hospital that Cornelia Rau was running from when she ended up in Baxter.

To the psychiatric industry, the problem isn't that Ms Rau found it so abusive that she needed to run from it, but rather that she was able to escape.

She must be very grateful to Bob Ellis for busting her out of Glenside instead of just exploiting her situation for his own narrow agenda as everyone else seems determined to do.

More emergency mental health beds? Sure. We need more emergency beds of all kinds in our health system.

What we *don't* need is an extension of the mental health gulag that already keeps far too many Australians out of sight and bombed out of their minds.

Some people want to remain anonymous


The federal attorney-general has suggested that two women wrongfully detained by the Immigration Department could have avoided being locked up if they had cooperated more with authorities.

By Reader Posted 18 July 05

Related


Time to get mentally ill out of jails
The psychiatrists are demanding a radical review of mental healthcare, claiming prisons have replaced asylums as holding centres for the mentally ill.

The New Asylums
US: Fewer than 55,000 Americans currently receive treatment in psychiatric hospitals. Meanwhile, almost 10 times that number -- nearly 500,000 -- mentally ill men and women are serving time in U.S. jails and prisons.

JAILS AND PRISONS - THE NEW ASYLUMS:
Nearly 500,000 mentally ill men and women are now locked up in America's jails and prisons. That's 10 times the number who remain in its psychiatric hospitals.

Submission to Senate: Inquiry into Mental Health 2005
We appreciate that the urgent issues of Human Rights and other abuses including institutionalisation and the use of force, and the lack of progress on Burdekin are being examined by the Committee.

Mental Treatment and Pharmacy Profit $$$$$
Mentally ill patients are being kept in solitary confinement within maximum security NSW prisons as punishment, against the most basic principles of human rights law.

'Killing Rational' and Prisoner Control in NSW
Dear Justice Action, I'm writing to you regarding xxxx, he has rung me a few times in the past weeks and has been drugged to the max, he rang today twice and could hardly speak to me, he said he was going to ring you and talk to you about it but he couldn't so I told him I would get in contact with you and see what you could do! He has told them he doesn't want the sedatives but they hold him down and give it to him anyway, they have drugged him 4 times in the last 2 days he said.

Mental Health Tribunal recommendations on forensic inmates
Below is the answer we have received from the Minister for Health regarding prisoners recommended for parole or release by the Mental Health Tribunal FYI

Death in custody: In memory of Scott Simpson
Scott Simpson 34 died in custody on 7 June 2004 leaving behind one child. It is alleged that he hanged himself in a segregation yard at Long Bay Prison Complex. Justice Action has reasons to believe that Scott had been mistreated from the time he was taken into custody and the subsequent events that ensued that led to his sad death. We think that his treatment may well have caused his death.

Doctor Ron Woodham I presume?
"Corrections Health staff provide medical care. However, its staff's authority is essentially limited to making recommendations to corrective services on treatment. Corrective services staff can then decide what treatment can be given."

Isolation, psychiatric treatment and prisoner' control
The 2003 NSW Corrections Health Service (now Justice Health) Report on Mental Illness Among NSW Prisoners states that the 12 month prevalence of any psychiatric disorder in prison is 74%, compared to 22% in the general community, and while this includes substance disorder the high rate cannot be attributed to that alone.

Call for royal commission into NSW prison health system
Mr Tony Ross a social justice activist said yesterday that a royal commission into the health system in NSW should be wide reaching to ensure that the Corrections Health Service is also exposed because of reported widespread cover ups in the prisons health system.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.

Escape proof but not so the prisoners mind
Fewer prisoners escape from prison these days because they're "cemented in" by materials that do not break and by legislation that can keep prisoners in jail until they die.

Carr's Castle the real story H.R.M.U.The High Risk Management Unit Goulburn Correctional Centre. A prisoner writes, " I was unsuccessful in my letters to Dr Matthews CEO of the Corrections Health Service on my problem regarding air - claustrophobic effect the cells have on me. Just recently the management decided my injuries are not seriously affecting me so no further discussions are necessary.

Risdon prisoners' seize prison to protest mistreatment
Apparently one prisoner had been mistreated and held in isolation in an SHU (Segregation Housing Unit) [Solitary Confinement] because, he'd had and altercation with a screw. SHUs cause severe mental harm - regarded as torture - and are a cruel, inhumane and degrading way to keep prisoners.

No Safe Place
In a brief four month span from August 1999, five men died in Tasmania's Risdon prison. Their deaths have put the state's corrections system in the dock and led to the planned demolition of a jail which even the State's Attorney-General now calls an "appalling facility".

Association for the Prevention of Torture
The Optional Protocol requires 20 ratifications to enter into force. All States Parties to the UN Convention against Torture should seriously consider ratifying the OPCAT as soon as possible. National Institutions and others promoting the human rights of people deprived of their liberty need to be informed of their potential role as national preventive mechanisms under the OPCAT.

Corrected or Corrupted
A psychiatrist from the prison Mental Health Team attached to Queensland Health made the comment that 25 per cent of inmates suffer from a diagnosed mental illness.

ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.

Ex-Prisoner Locked Out of Prison
The NSW Department of Corrective Services (DCS) has revealed a policy which bans ex-prisoners from entering prisons.

Justice Action: Access to our community
NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

Overhaul Department of Justice: Reform Group
WA: The Prison Reform Group of WA is calling for a complete overhaul of the Department of Justice following recent events which have compromised its integrity, placing prison staff, prisoners, their families and the community, at risk. We call for the Minister to publicly apologise for last week's debacle which has seen the public badly let down by the Department of Justice yet again.

Detention Centres, Solitary Confinement
On Friday night the NSW Council for Civil Liberties awarded Sydney solicitor John Marsden honorary life membership. Julian Burnside was invited to make the speech in Marsden's honour. In the course of his speech, Burnside referred to the unregulated use of solitary confinement in Australia's immigration detention centres, criticising it as inhumane and also as unlawful.

2nd Renaissance - Beyond Industrial Capitalism and Nation States Some Practicalities Of Emptying The Prisons [287] Given the importance that prisons and punishment have in maintaining control of increasingly restless populations, the task of achieving the release of the people in the jails and the closure of those institutions, seems daunting. But it is so vital to the 2nd Renaissance that we must find ways to do it.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Nick Papps not guilty but far from innocent?

Nick Papps may be a free man but he's still a superstar molester...

Jermaine Jackson: "We always felt he was 1000 per cent innocent." "It takes one person to tell the truth, but it takes many to concoct a lie."


That was the stunning admission from one of the fans just the next day after Jackson was acquitted yesterday and went home to Neverland for some peace and quiet away from that mongrel want-to-be journalist at the Daily Telegraph. Rough, Ruff.

The journalist wrote an article this morning claiming amongst other things "Michael Jackson was found not guilty, but far from innocent".

Well is he drunk as skunk on alcohol? Drugged up to the max on cocaine? Super bias? Or just plain deluded beyond belief?

There has got to be some reason why Papps is in contempt of the community and still gets paid by the right wing media corporation to do the devils work.

But as he grovelled with the decision, the jurors went on TV to talk about how they came to their decisions.

'And that evidence made us come back to the same thing: it just wasn't enough.'

Jurors in US criminal cases are required to find that a defendant is guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt," a standard that Sundown's team failed to meet despite an exhaustive search of Jackson's sprawling Neverland estate and prosecution victories on every key ruling by the judge

'We had to look at him like any other individual, not a celebrity'".

The jurors made it clear that they did not like or trust the accuser's mother and suspected that she could be behind the charges.

"I disliked it intensely when she snapped her fingers at us," said a 79-year-old grandmother on the jury. "I thought, 'Don't snap your fingers at me, lady.'"

Legal experts say another critical flaw in the prosecution case was the timeline.

The boy said he was molested by Jackson weeks after the broadcast of a documentary about the singer that touched off a worldwide furor over his practice of sleeping with young boys. Jurors found that claim difficult to accept.

The jurors' comments followed a dramatic day in court where Jackson was emphatically found not guilty of 10 charges that could have sent him to jail for 20 years.

Michael Jackson fans said Nick Papps, has been proven "beyond a reasonable doubt" that he's a superstar molester, taking into evidence his article this morning in the Daily Terror.

But the reason he won't be found guilty of contempt of the community is because there is no one policing the corporate media.

"Have police the means to prosecute them?"

"Have you been a victim of newspaper abuse?"


Jackson appeared relieved as the verdicts were announced yesterday, wiping tears from his eyes and hugging his mother.

Moments later a feeble looking, emotionally drained Jackson was whisked from the court after giving a weak wave to the dozens of fans screaming for him outside the court.

"Justice has been done," Jackson's lawyer Tom Mesereau declared just minutes after the verdict was read.

Jackson himself was saying nothing last night, leaving it to his brother Jermaine to declare the Jackson family was "very, very happy".

"We always felt he was 1000 per cent innocent," he said.


"It takes one person to tell the truth, but it takes many to concoct a lie."

As Jackson bunkered down in Neverland, famous friends like Elizabeth Taylor came out in support of the 46-year-old father of three.

"Thank God Michael is vindicated for all time. Now maybe people will leave him alone," Taylor said.

Jackson's former wife and the surrogate mother of two of his children, Debbie Rowe praised the court decision declaring: "I would never have married a paedophile. And the system works."

Super losers

Disappointed prosecutor Tom Sneddon, who tried unsuccessfully to prosecute Jackson but said he would not just move on to other cases.

Disappointed want-to-be journalist Nick Papps from the Daily Terror a fascist, religious pro government right wing tabloid, also tried unsuccessfully to prosecute Jackson, and Jackson's fans believe Papps could possibly be suffering from delusions of grander and they have suggested he see a good therapist.

In the end, for a jury, which had to decide on guilt beyond reasonable doubt, there could only be one verdict -- not guilty.

As another jury member said: "We actually challenged one another in the deliberation room. We challenged the issues, and we came to the decision that pointed to reasonable doubt."

"We were able to deal with it as fairly as we could as with anybody else," a juror said.

Newspaper bullies destroy people's lives!


NSW: Who's policing corporate media? Have police the means to prosecute them? Have you been a victim of newspaper abuse? Please make a comment and send your complaint to the Daily Terrorist, the police and ATTORNEY GENERAL Bob Debus!

By Michael Jackson Fan 15 June 05

Related:

Michael Jackson Not Guilty: Jury
US: SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The jury in the Michael Jackson trial reached a verdict in the 'lies innuendo and exaggeration' inquisition, certainly a conspiracy case against the pop superstar.

'Child abuse police left me a broken man'
UK: Operation Aldgate was supposed to uncover a paedophile ring. In fact it snared innocent people. Now the inquiry is to be investigated amid allegations of incompetence and perjury.

Jackson jurors deliberate for week without verdict
Jurors in Michael Jackson's 'lies innuendo and exaggeration' sex-abuse trial' have completed a full week of deliberations without reaching a verdict, prolonging the culmination of a trial that should free the pop star.

Jackson waiting for fifth day: Jury
Jurors in pop star Michael Jackson's 'lies innuendo and exaggeration' sex-abuse trial have ended a shortened fifth day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.

Michael Jackson Innocent: Fan Club!!!
They told him don't you ever come around here, don't wanna see your face, you better disappear. The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear, so beat it... just beat it...

JACKSON TRIAL Or Inquisition
"Ye shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall. William J. Wagener does a weekly Libertarian TV show in Santa Maria since October 1, 2000, which is sometimes bicycled around the nation. Libertarians believe in individual freedoms and rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Wagener has been a court "watcher" since 1992 in Santa Maria, and especially of Judge Rodney S. Melville, and his tendency to give Prosecutors leeway, not usually afforded to public defenders, or private defense attorneys.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Newspaper bullies destroy people's lives!

The Daily Terrorist: Newspaper Bullies!

NSW: Who's policing corporate media? Have police the means to prosecute them? Have you been a victim of newspaper abuse? Please make a comment and send your complaint to the Daily Terrorist, the police and ATTORNEY GENERAL Bob Debus!

NEW legislation should be targeting paperbullies not cyberbullies.

After police said they had no means of prosecuting the creator of a malicious website about Hurlstone Agricultural High.

But have police ever targeted the Daily Terror about their malicious website? And have police the means to prosecute them? And have you been abused by pro government News Papers or the Corporate Media?

I bet lots of you have, but it seems the authorities just want to strike down any opposition to themselves on the net - sounds more like it, and their story, about cyberabuse, AND NOT NEWSPAPER ABUSE, is just the sort of platform they need to place a blanket ban on anything they don't like on the net!

The Daily Terrorist: " has learned Attorney-General Bob Debus will pursue cyberbullying legislation - either at a state level or with the Commonwealth - to keep the Crimes Act relevant to the internet age.

Statements made on the Throwstones website ended the career of teacher Greg Frawley, defamed other teachers and racially slurred students."

GKCNN: And even though they have 'learned' they're still asking on the bottom of their article in today's Daily Terror. Have you been a victim - so they can run another 100 stories? But I know lots of victims of Newspaper abuse! So what's being done about that? ZIP!

And it makes you wonder if the 'boy' had a reason for his protest doesn't it? But you're not going to get it from the terror.

ALLEGEDLY, police have identified an embittered former male student as responsible for the allegations that damaged the selective high school.

What was he embittered about? Can we get the other side of the story?

The Daily Terrorist: "Documents show Macquarie Fields police told the Department of Education and Training last December they could not charge the individual as "no criminal offence was able to be identified".

Reports and pages from the website, obtained under Freedom of Information, reveal the depth of the hurt inflicted by the cyber-bullying incident.

GKCNN: But nothing about the abuse inflicted on the student?

The Daily Terrorist: "As well as hurtful accusations, the Throwstones site included crude caricatures of teaching staff.

Because the 'perpetrator' was neither a present student or a departmental employee, there were no other avenues of disciplinary action.

GKCNN: So how do we know he's a perpetrator? He hasn't been charged with any offence? Nor has he been found guilty of any crime? How about the Daily Terrorist's allegations about other people? Who incidentally run the National Newspaper slandering people with false and misleading allegations everyday?

The Daily Terrorist: "Mr Frawley -- accused on the Throwstones website of being a child molester -- claims vital evidence from the police investigation has not been made public. The allegations have cost Mr Frawley, 57, his career at the elite selective high school. He says he cannot enter a school again because his confidence has been shattered. It is almost a year since Mr Frawley and several other teachers at Hurlstone Agricultural High School fell victim to the 'malicious' students' website."

But the teacher's involved did nothing; the 'boy' just hates school right? Wrong!

The Daily Terrorist: "It said two teachers should be "executed", accused some of paedophilia and one of stealing. Mr Frawley said he had been "stained with the worst social stigma of all".

GKCNN: From a boy? Not unlike the Daily Terrorist either! And something an embittered boy would say, no doubt!

The Daily Terrorist: "He claims education bosses did not move quickly enough to shut the website. But the department says it was closed as soon as it was discovered."

GKCNN: So what's the problem? Why the new legislation now - if they had the 'power' to close it down, and did close it down, already?

Do they want to lock the boy up? In a jail? To 'teach' him another lesson?

The Daily Terrorist: "Education Minister Carmel Tebutt last week sent a letter to Mr Debus, a copy of which has been obtained by The Daily Terrorist, seeking help with "the emerging problem of cyberbullying".

GKCNN: BUT REALLY SEEKING HELP TO CLOSE DOWN THE OPPOSITION ONLINE! AND CERTAINLY NOT SEEKING HELP WITH THE CURRENT PROBLEM OF 'NEWSPAPER-BULLYING'. THEY CAN'T EVEN LIE STRAIGHT!

The Daily Terrorist: "While police apparently identified a person as being responsible, they determined [prosecution] was not possible," Ms Tebbutt wrote. Ms Tebbutt sought advice on law reform, including amending the Commonwealth Criminal Code and determining if telecommunications laws required revision."

MORE SLANDER SO YOU CAN HATE THE YOUNG BOY AND IMPLORE THE NEW LEGISLATION -YIPEE! ATTACKING EVERYONE ELSE ON THE NET FOR THE SAKE OF A BOY'S LEARNING CURVE! ORWELLIAN!

The Daily Terrorist: "The website purports to be about Throwstones Agricultural High School in Berlin, Germany, in the time of the Nazis.'

It carries detailed allegations about teachers with names parodying those at Hurlstone. "Please do not e-mail me telling me they are mighty similar to alleged incidents at Hurlstone Agricultural HS in Australia, because they are not," the website read.

The website was viewed by students at school and teachers complained of sniping remarks based on the content. The documents show the principal reported the site to the department's information technology directorate helpdesk on July 27, 2004.

The website continued to be accessible outside the school until August 30."

GKCNN: But it was not until two days later that the school's internet provider blocked access within the school."

Well there you go, 'see' they did have the 'power' and now they want more? WHAT FOR?

What ARE they going to do next - lock the young boy up in prison for his learning curve so he can learn some really bad habits?

Have you been a victim of newspaper abuse?

Don't go to the Daily Terror they won't really let you "Have your Say" they say what they want!

By BRUCE DINGLE and KELVIN BASSETT HOUND 14 June 05

Related:

Is this our most dangerous Newspaper?
The Daily Terrorist should be managed with manacles and flown into Siberia via a jumbo jet tomorrow amid fears government fascists may attempt to use them again on someone else.

Lying and bullshitting the same thing
Australia: The Un-Australian Newspaper: "AS well as all the bullshit in politics, there's even more in our metaphoric and colloquial language. Bullshit is the subject of serious philosophical inquiry in a little book called On Bullshit, published by the 'highly respected' Princeton University Press. To the surprise and delight of the author, it's stampeding out of bookshops all over the world."

Murdoch's war on truth in war reporting
People who remain to be convinced that cross-media laws are important to maintaining the fabric of our democracy need look no further than today's page one of The Daily Telegraph.

Rene Rivkin beaten to death by Media and Judge!
RENE Rivkin committed suicide last Sunday; after he was nearly beaten to death by the mainstream media and the Judge who sentenced him, which no doubt had an impact on his marriage, after 32 years.

Community: Daily Telegraph, you're out of "touch"
This morning the Daily Telegraph has reported that, "judges and Magistrates are out of touch on every crime and penalties should be increased." Turn up for the books? The Daily Telegraph's paid a NSW prisoner $3,000 to go into the prison while doing weekend detention to take a picture of Renee Rivkin. Police failed to lay any charges against the Terror's reporter.

Daily Terror rolled-over for Howard's war games
The DAILY TERROR is suspected of being the source of the news this morning that Willie Brigitte is a terrorist and that Sydney faces a bomb attack.

"If I Could Turn Back Time" Daily Terror, CH/7
THE real cause of last month's violent Redfern riots was the death of teenager Thomas "TJ" Hickey but perhaps only one element of the racism, harassment and bullying by the New South Wales police force and in this case Redfern police at the Block.

The Daily Telegraph licensed to set up prisoners?
A man who smuggled a mobile phone into a Sydney jail and took pictures of stockbroker Rene Rivkin has been sentenced to 400 hours of community service.

Eye for an eye or blind toothless people?
Terrorists ALLEGED by the Daily Terror, 7 August 03, have claimed responsibility for the Jakarta bombing and are alleged to have sent a chilling warning that they will kill more Westerners if Bali bomber Amrozi is sentenced to death today.

The Daily Telegraph's prison mates
Who convinced a prisoner on periodic detention to take a mobile phone into prison to take a photo of Rene Rivkin? The prisoner said no and contacted the Daily Terror to say no.

Daily Telegraph asked to pay Jim's Legal Bill
A man has pleaded guilty in a Sydney court to smuggling a mobile phone into Silverwater jail, which was then used to take photographs of convicted insider trader Rene Rivkin.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

MISTREATED IN CUSTODY - NO ACCOUNTABILTY

Management Practices of NSW Department of Corrective Services

NSW: Frank Crook's article (Violence an desperate outlet for caged fury: Daily Telegraph Tuesday May 10, 2005) draws attention to abuse and degrading treatment of inmates in NSW reported twenty and thirty years ago, and a lack of accountability of management practices within the NSW Department of Corrective Services.

I was in custody in NSW six weeks ago, and was a victim of an aggravated assault incited by a prison officer. Despite this happening in front of many witnesses, including correctional services officers and other detainees, and under mandatory video surveillance, a formal complaint to the NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services an his Professional Conduct Management Committee only revealed that as far as they were concerned, this didn't happen.

My reports of many other abuses by their staff merely went unanswered.

The NSW Department of Corrective Services clearly needs an external watchdog, much like the Police Integrity Commission, as the DCS's Professional Conduct Committee will only work in its agency's interest.

The NSW Department of Corrective Services needs managerial reform and a professionalisation of its roles in order to stop this abuse of its powers. A performance management model of management is needed to make these rednecks accountable, or else the agency can look forward to getting sued.

Recently some corrective services officers in NSW have ended up behind bars themselves for their corrupt and criminal conduct. Perhaps we will see more of this if the NSW Department of Corrective Services doesn't have an overhaul.

The average Correctional Services Officer seems to be a violent and abusive redneck who, as a matter of luck, made it to 30 years old without obtaining a criminal record, and so gets at NSW Department of Corrective Services instead.

Set out below are my initial complaints in relation to my mistreatment and the subsequent response I received from those authorities, but the matter is not finished, obviously someone needs to make these people accountable.

If the agency investigates itself and the Ombudsman merely rubber stamps the investigation how is that going to fix a problem that may exist in an agency?

In short it's not fixed it's just like a virus it spreads and affects everyone else down the track. Everyone else making complaints as I did, everyone else ending up with answers that fall along way short of community expectations about whose really offending in our community. If people are going to have respect for the law then the law has to show some respect.

See for yourself how these people take no responsibility and how the oversight body rubber stamps the agencies investigation rather than investigates the matters independently of the said agency complained about. With respect it's a license to abuse the general public.

Letter to Mr Ron Woodham, Commissioner NSW Department of Corrective Services.

Dear Mr Ron Woodham,

I seek from you a response about unlawful conduct by your corrective services officers as requested below:


I was arrested on 27th of March. On the morning of 27th March I was taken to Parramatta Local Court and was admitted in custody. I was rough handled in police custody and in Parramatta court custody by police and Correctional Services Officers (CSOs) respectively. I believe video footage of the cells, and other mandatory surveillance mechanisms you have, will prove this. I was assaulted by another detainee whilst in a shared female cell at Parramatta Court.

I believe video footage will prove this. Please see enclosed police statement and review your video footage, and address my allegation that your CSO1, (who was a short blond man in his late 20's or early 30's, with brown eyes and who) I can identify by sight, incited aggravated violence by making the comments that he did. Please will you obtain the doctors report made by the custodial nurse and his witness that he saw on video footage that I was mistreated by a group of your CSOs.

CSO2, (who was of medium to chubby build, was short, had receding hair, olive skin and brown eyes and was in his late 20's or early 30's and who) I can identify by sight, called me a stupid bitch. He told me I was not going to get bail and that I'd better watch for all those big lesbians when I went to goal. I am a victim of sexual assault by both women and men and this is an appalling thing to say. He said this to taunt me, as he knew that I am a victim of sexual assault, as I had revealed this to CSO's when they were trying to talk me into being strip-searched.

I will point out to you that I had been arrested for an alleged breach of an AVO made in regards to allegations of intimidation, stalking, molestation and harassment. The allegation made that got me arrested was that I approached a person at a party when there is an order for me not to approach or contact that person. Your staff's conduct and the harm from it I endured was much worse than any allegations made on me.

After the court granted me bail I got sent to Mulawa for asking about my rights in regards to signing a Bail Undertaking Form 5A Clause 9. I asked the Administrator, who I can identify by sight, at Parramatta Court Custody if I "had to" sign it and they said yes. I then wanted to know the repercussions by law if I didn't, that is; is it a condition of bail that if I did not sign it they had the right not to release me. They would not tell me and would not let me consult with the lawyer present.

Now I am asking you within this letter to tell me and to refer to the applicable legislation. It is my right to be informed and decide on every document I sign. I do not believe that they had the right to detain me if I did not sign it. They punished me for this by shouting that my bail had been revoked and that I was being taken to gaol and they transported me to Mullawa. CSO2 said, "The Registrar has just revoked your bail in there - we went back in to Court and got it revoked." This is not true, is dishonest and is lawless.

At Mulawa, where I was detained for four hours, the CSO in charge "Kate", who I can identify by sight, told me in the presence of another CSO whom I could identify by sight that I looked like a prostitute in the outfit I was wearing. This was uncalled for. I believe the CSOs at Mulawa abuse the rights of vulnerable detainees for fun and I do not think that this woman's comments have anything to do with her job. I believe the CSO's at Mulawa have the integrity and moral development of child abusers. I am serious and not exaggerating: their unnecessary meanness, callousness and dishonesty and their enjoyment of abusing vulnerable people is of the same ilk.

All these incidents occurred with many CSOs present. I expect all of them will be recorded on video footage. I expect that all verbal incidents will be recorded on audio recording, and if not I would like you to explain to me why not. I can see how such conduct can manifest in a correctional services culture if there is no audio surveillance - that is they can say these things as they no there is no audio surveillance to prove it.

These methods and behaviour are unacceptable for people who work in the criminal justice system. This contravenes the values you are meant to uphold. I believe these methods and behaviours are an entrenched culture in custody and extend to the custodial police as well.

I am available to give descriptions and any other evidence and further detail. Please do not hesitate to contact me.

Teresa Kiernan (Ms)
enc police statement


28 March 2005

Response:

Alleged incident a Parramatta Court Escort Security Unit

Dear Ms Teresa Kieman,


I refer to your letter dated 28 March 2005, received at my office on 6 April 2005, in which you make a number of allegations, including that you were assaulted, during your time in custody at Parramatta CESU on 28 March 2005.

I referred your letter to the Professional Conduct Management Committee which cased inquiries to be made into your allegations.

I am informed that inquiries revealed that there is no video recording of any incident involving you during the time you were in custody at Parramatta. Justice Health Nurse Bob Cruickshank (who is not as you believed a medial practitioner), was asked his recollection of events. Mr Cruickshank recalls viewing a closed circuit television monitor when you were with custodial officers and he did not observe any improper actions by them.

Having considered all the evidence, the Professional Conduct Management Committee has decided to take no further action about the letter.

I am satisfied that your allegations have been properly addressed and I will not take any further action about this matter.

Ron Woodham
Commissioner
28 April 2005


Complaint to the Ombudsman

Subject: Aggravated violence/ Department of Corrective Services

I am very concerned about an act of aggravated violence that happened to me in court custody. Please see the enclosed copy police report which pertains to COPS event number E23617906.

I am writing to the NSW Ombudsman because this act of violence was aggravated as it was:

1. incited by a corrective service officer (CSO) at Parramatta Bail Court
2. in front of many other detainees and other CSOs.

Although the Parramatta police are currently investigating this matter I do not assume the police will necessarily investigate it to the full extent that it was a malicious and aggravated assault by a NSW public sector employee in a position of authority who deliberately abused a vulnerable detainee in his care.

This is because I assume the NSW Police have strategic and cultural links with Department of Corrective Services (DCS) as they share functionality. I believe they may share loyalty, camaraderie and purpose.

I imagine that the police will easily find video evidence that the assault happened and will easily be able to charge the woman who assaulted me.

However, the real injustice and outrage is that the CSO incited and set up the assault with language and timing. As there is no audio surveillance in police or court custody, the police and CSOs are cunning and adapt to this and can get away with such crime.

I believe that the woman who assaulted me was a vulnerable person (mentally ill, long history in and out of jail) and was just following orders of the CSO in authority who prompted her to bash me.

I would hate to see Parramatta Police's investigation dwindle away the serious nature of this crime (aggravated assault is a hideous crime) to a mere common assault charge for the woman. I would hate to see the CSO in question merely be investigated by the DCS as a concern about work conduct (although his conduct is of extraordinary concern) when what he did is a actually a malicious and serious crime. Recently in NSW jails people were murdered when they had asked for protection and didn't get it, and it concerns me the lack of surveillance, including audio surveillance, of staff and their own criminal behaviour could lead to this.

I would hope that the Department of Corrective Service's corrective service officer will get charged and the woman let off comparatively lightly for this.

Sincerely,
Teresa Kiernan (Ms)
Enc police report
15 April 2005


Complaint to Police

Inner Metropolitan Regional Commander
151 Goulburn Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010


Subject: administrative errors, or 'administrative errors', within the Kings Cross Police/accountability, police discretion

On 27th March 2005, I made a police statement to NSW Police at Kings Cross police station. I reported an aggravated assault in custody at Parramatta Bail Court that had occurred that day. I refer to Cops Event number E23617906 and associated Statement of a Witness made by me.

This aggravated assault was incited by a corrective services officer. This is something I regard as very grave and expect the police to as well.

Today I telephoned Parramatta police to check up on the progress of the investigation. (This was the third time I had done this.) This time I received the news from Officer Baghurst at Parramatta Police Station that this event had never been disseminated to Parramatta Police by Kings Cross Police. He read documentation about E23617906 and said that it declared that Kings Cross crime management had documented that the investigation was meant to go to Parramatta Police.

This evening I visited Kings Cross police and Constable Fitzhenry declared that an administrative error must have happened. They assured me they would disseminate it to Parramata right away.

How could Kings Cross police have made such an error? An aggravated assault is a serious crime, particularly when it is incited by a NSW corrective services officer. How could Kings Cross crime management let such an administrative error happen?

I fear that Kings Cross Police's administrative error greatly diminishes the prospects of this case. As a month has passed, it could be argued by police, or a defence, that my memory may have lapsed in regards to identifying witnesses, remembering sequences of events, etc. The corrective services officers involved have had time to conspire. The police often have the discretion to not investigate historical complaints.

Could Kings Cross crime management in fact have done this on purpose? Accidentally on purpose behaviour is an excellent way for the NSW Police to let the community down whilst remaining unaccountable.

I am concerned that Kings Cross police may have an incentive to let the community down in this circumstance as this is an aggravated assault in custody and the NSW Police have strategic links and loyalties with the Department of Corrective Services.

Previously, when I thought the matter was under investigation, I wrote to the Ombudsman and copied this correspondence to the Crime Manager of Parramatta Police Station. I have enclosed this letter for your perusal. I did this as I am using the Ombudsman to provide surveillance with this investigation.

It is a good thing I did, because so far the investigation hasn't gone very well, wouldn't you agree?

In addition, I am familiar with watchdog investigative bodies such as the Police Integrity Commission, the Commissioner of Police, my Minister for Police and Shadow Minister for Police, and the ICAC. And of course, Regional Commands.

On this occasion I have decided to appeal to you to give me answers why such a disgraceful assault wasn't treated as a priority by Kings Cross Police. I would also like you to investigate if this was a genuine administrative error. If it was, there is a problem with their process which lets the community down. Could you rectify?

Please confirm to me that NSW Police regard as aggravated assault in custody incited by a corrective services officer as a serious community concern.

Sincerely,

Teresa Kiernan (Ms)
enc Ombudsman
Saturday 25 April 2005


Response from the Ombudsman

Dear Ms Kiernan,

Your complaint about the Department of Corrective Services


This office is generally recognized as one of last resort. As a matter of policy, we expect that the agency concerned should first be given a chance to review a complaint about its conduct before we will take any action.

I have sent a copy of your complaint to the Commissioner of Corrective Services for assessment and review by the department's Professional Conduct Management Committee. I have asked the Commissioner to advise me of any action the committee decides to take. I have also asked the Commissioner to send me a copy of the report on any investigation arising from your complaint.

When I receive the Committee's advice an/or report, I will assess the department's handling of your complaint and the decision it makes. I may investigate the matter myself if I am not satisfied with the department's handling of your complaint.

I will contact you again when I have heard from the department, which I expect to be in a few months.

Mary McCleary
Investigation Officer, Corrections
For the NSW Ombudsman

By Teresa Kiernan 26 May 2005

REPORT: NSW Department of Corrective Services 2004

The Hon Charlie Lynn: How many complaints were there by inmates or staff assaulting or abusing inmates?

The Hon John Hatzistergos: I do not know. Do you want me to ask every inmate who was in every correctional centre how many people?

The Hon Charlie Lynn: No how many complaints were there. Do you have a complaints system or registration of complaints system?

Related:

Department of Corrective Services fails to rehabilitate offenders
NSW: Unpopular people will be forced to wear tracking devices at a cost of $5,000 dollars per unit because the NSW Department of Corrective Services failed to rehabilitate those offenders at a cost of $65,000 a year while they were held in custody for many years.

PRISON ACTION & REFORM INC: Tas Prison Complaints
TASMANIA: Prison Action & Reform was formed in response to the five deaths in custody that occurred between August 1999 and January 2000. Chris Wever, Vickie Douglas, Rose Macaulay, Judith Santos and others came to together to fight for reform in an outdated, increasingly cash-strapped and uncaring system. Of the original members, three lost loved ones to the Tasmanian prison system.

Corrected or Corrupted
A psychiatrist from the prison Mental Health Team attached to Queensland Health made the comment that 25 per cent of inmates suffer from a diagnosed mental illness.

ICOPA XI International Conference on Penal Abolition
We are excited to announce that ICOPA X1, the eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition will happen in Tasmania, Australia from February 9 - 11,2006. Please pass this onto all networks.

Ex-Prisoner Locked Out of Prison
The NSW Department of Corrective Services (DCS) has revealed a policy which bans ex-prisoners from entering prisons.

Justice Action: Access to our community
NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

Why We Oppose Home Detention
NSW: Justice Action opposes the use of Home Detention (HD). It damages the family and the home for others without any consideration of the effects, or acknowledgement of the costs. It discriminates by disproportionately effecting women. Families become prison guards to their loved ones, and the home becomes an extension of the State.

MORE PRISONERS LOCKDOWNS HAVE OFFICERS ON EDGE
NSW POLICE Commissioner Ken Moroney has issued an ultimatum as well, to the lawless youths holding Sydney's streets to ransom?: Learn some respect or face jail?

Tough line on crime fills jails
The tough law-and-order policies of governments around the nation are behind an explosion in the prison population by almost 80 per cent in the past two decades.

LEGAL VISITS AT PARKLEA PRISON
I am a prisoner in NSW and I am currently held in Parklea Prison. I am concerned about what is going on in NSW prisons and this is my story.

Parklea Prison: No calls for six days
The last calls that were made out of Parklea Correctional Complex by my partner, an inmate in remand at Parklea, was on Wednesday 2 February. The phone lines for the inmates have been out of service to this date.

Prison visits in crisis in NSW
The reason I am writing today is to address a difficult situation that my husband and my family are going through. My husband is currently serving a sentence at Lithgow Correctional Centre in NSW.

Prison boom will prove a social bust
Hardened criminals are not filling NSW's prisons - the mentally ill and socially disadvantaged are, writes Eileen Baldry.

The prison system requires assiduous oversight
As NSW Attorney General Bob Debus noted in 1996: "The kinds of complaints which occur in the system may seem trivial to outsiders but in the superheated world of the prison, such issues can produce explosive results."

Crime and Punishment
Mark Findlay argues that the present psychological approach to prison programs is increasing the likelihood of re-offending and the threat to community safety.

Justice Denied In NSW Corrective Services
There used to be a (VJ) or Visiting Justice who would go into the prison and judge any claim or accusation that was made by any prisoner or prison guard. If it were found that a prisoner had offended then punishment was metered out.

Prison guards test positive for drugs
NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet The visit is only for about one hour and any thing less than that is an insult. If it's proved that a visitor has broken the rules the punishment should apply to them. But collective punishment on all visitors should not be made general when others haven't broken the rules especially if it restricts all visitors from normal human needs like using a toilet.

NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet
The New South Wales Government has introduced several initiatives to stop contraband getting into prisons they said last Friday. But under the guise of "stricter rules" the department had also introduced banning all visitors including children from using the toilet unless they terminate their visit at any NSW prison after using the toilet.

NSW Legislative Council's Inquiry on Home Detention
Justice Action's submissions Justice Action opposes the use of home detention, whether front-end or back-end, as a sentencing option in our criminal justice system.

Watchdogs slaughtered in NSW
On Tuesday the Carr Government reduced transparency and accountability yet again and New South Wales is in danger of becoming entrenched with cronyism and intimidations with the Carr Labor Government that continues to slaughter the watchdogs.