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.

I believe the current attack on our universities by the Commonwealth government has gone too far for me to continue to serve on any of its committees. I therefore resigned from the NHMRC committee I was on and refuse to work for the NHMRC in any capacity.

Many academics sit on advisory committees to help the government devise policy on all sorts of things - health, agriculture, economic policy, etc. I am urging my academic colleagues across the country to join me in boycotting these committees.

In resigning I also attempted to draw attention to the fact that on two occasions while on the committee, to two separate academic members, I expressed concern that each had suggested that the committee needed to "cut its cloth" of its recommendations to suit what the government might find acceptable. One of these comments was prompted by the fact that I had suggested a heading for the discussion we had just had as "social justice"! When academic scientists sitting on such committees, instead of giving frank and fearless advice, begin to think in terms of what is palatable to government, we are in a sorry mess.

I do not blame the two committee members for what they said. The comments are, however, symptomatic of the problems we face in academia in retaining and practising academic freedom under this government.

I subsequently wrote to Professor Alan Pettigrew, the CEO of the NHMRC. In reply, Professor Pettigrew stated that I had implied that members of the NHMRC's committees had been "directed to tailor their advice and recommendations to suit political considerations". I had never implied such a thing.

The NHMRC deliberately misconstrued my reasons for resigning. By doing this, the NHMRC got themselves off the hook and failed to address the substantive issue that I was raising.

What is pleasing is the very considerable support I have received from fellow academics for my stand.

We do need to be vigilant today in defence of academic freedom. For example, I find it very worrying, indeed scary, that federal education minister Brendan Nelson was recently jumping up and down about the freedom of the University of Western Sydney to invite whomsoever they wanted to talk on their campus, in this case former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib. Minister Nelson, commenting on a forum on war, terrorism and civil liberties organised by the UWS students, said that he would seek an explanation from the vice-chancellor over Habib's appearance.

According to an August 24 news.com.au article, Nelson stated: "When I saw the report of that ...I immediately got on to the vice-chancellor's office out there at the University of Western Sydney ...to find out what on earth is going on."

It is ironic that the meeting Habib spoke at was on, among other things, civil liberties. Nelson might have learned a few things had he attended.

I have to wonder how often government ministers contact university vice-chancellors to get this or that stopped or investigated. I have it on high authority (but not directly from the vice-chancellor) that Amanda Vanstone rang my vice-chancellor to get me to shut up (although about what I do not know - it could have been many things). I heard nothing of this from my vice-chancellor - he believes in academic freedom.

Presumably, however, such ministerial contacting of vice-chancellors does sometimes result in a vice-chancellor trying to curb academic freedom. This is such dangerous territory. We must watch with interest what the UWS vice-chancellor does or does not do in the wake of Nelson's inquiry into "what on earth is going on" at UWS.

By Gavin Mooney posted 9 September 05

[Gavin Mooney is professor of health economics, director of the Social and Public Health Economics Research Group at Curtin University in Perth and co-convenor of thhe WA Social Justice Network]

Green Left Weekly

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Dear Kerry Nettle,

I am writing to you because I am concerned about people living in poverty in Australia. In Parliament, legislation will be introduced to put many people with disabilities and single parents on unemployment payments. If this law goes ahead unchanged, more people will live on less money after July 2006.

Many people who apply for payments will be around $20-40 a week worse off. It is good that the Government aims to help more people gain access to paid work but I think this process should not make people poorer.

I have two specific concerns that I ask you, in your party room and in Parliament, to advocate for.

- Don't make more jobless people live on less

Legislation must be modified so that people with disabilities, who often have high health and travel costs, are not struggling to pay their bills. Jobless single parents must have the time and money they need to care for their children if they are studying or looking for work.

- Give them a chance

Any one can lose their job or have trouble finding one where they live. As part of this bill, some jobless people could lose their payments for two months. This is too long to leave people in difficult circumstances without money to live on. Rather than punishment, jobless people need training, advice and support to get ready for work.

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Kind Regards,
Just Us

This letter was sent using ACOSS's Action Network.

Senator Kerry Nettle

Thank you for your email about the proposed changes to welfare rules that were detailed in the federal government's 2005 Budget in May.

The Australian Greens support helping people with disabilities, sole parents and low-income parents, long-term jobless and older unemployed people to find paid work. However, we do not support the measures in the government's plan because they:

- Will leave people worse off financially, even if they can find part-time paid work. This is partly the result of withdrawing income support at a higher rate compared with the payments people will be moved from.

- Are not backed by adequate assistance. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) estimated that $2 billion per year is needed to make a serious investment in helping people find employment but the government provided only a quarter of this.

- Fail to address some of the main barriers to long-term reliance on welfare, such as discrimination, extra costs for work equipment and transport, and lack of training and education.

- Provide insufficient affordable childcare which is critical to parents, especially those who can find only casual work at irregular hours.

- Punish jobless people by imposing harsher work-for-the-dole rules, including automatic eight week suspension of payments and up to 10 months work at $8 an hour, two-thirds of the minimum wage.

- Treat sole parents and low-income parents less favourably than middle and high income couple families. The government makes a regular payment (Family Tax Benefit B) to households where one partner is a full-time carer, regardless of whether the household has a high income. Yet the government wants to remove the choice of sole parents and parents of low-income partners to be full-time carers. The decision about when children need less supervision and care should be left to parents because every family's circumstances are different.

Congratulations on your lobbying efforts, I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Yours sincerely

Kerry Nettle
Australian Greens Senator for NSW

By Just Us 8 August 05

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Legal advisor Giovanni Di Stefano said that London-born Biggs "did not belong in prison and in any other European Country would be on home detention".

Solicitors have written to Home Secretary Charles Clarke to ask for Biggs's release on compassionate grounds "in view of our client's age and infirmity".

Biggs, who was born in Lambeth, was sentenced to 30 years for his part in the raid on the Glasgow to London mail train on August 8, 1963, when the 15-strong gang made off with £2.6 million in used bank notes.

He fled Britain after escaping from Wandsworth prison in a furniture van after just 15 months in jail.

After using plastic surgery to change his appearance he fled to Spain, Australia, and then Brazil.

He then spent 36 years on the run but surrendered himself back into custody in 2001.

His solicitors have made a series of attempts to transfer him to a lower security prison or have him released.

By Just Us posted 18 June 05

The transition from juvenile to adult criminal careers

NSW: More than 68 per cent of the juvenile offenders who appeared for the first time in the NSW Children's Court in 1995 reappeared in a NSW criminal court within the next eight years. More than one in 10 (i.e. 13 per cent) ended up in an adult prison within this period.

This is one of the main findings to emerge from a new study published today by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. The study identified a sample of 5,476 juvenile offenders who appeared in the NSW Children's Court for the first time in 1995 and followed them up for a period of eight years.

The researchers found that, within eight years of their first court appearance, juvenile offenders re-appear in court, on average, 3.5 times. Rates of re-appearance in court, however, are much higher for Indigenous offenders and those whose first court appearance occurred when they were relatively young.

Indigenous offenders re-appeared, on average, 8.3 times over the eight-year follow-up period, while those whose first court appearance occurred when they were 10-14 years of age, reappeared, on average, 5.2 times over this period. Indigenous males, who were aged 10-14 at their first court appearance, re-appeared 12 times.

More than half (57 per cent) of the juveniles examined in the study went on to appear in an adult court within the eight-year follow-up period. The likelihood of a juvenile re-appearing in an adult court, however, was higher for Indigenous offenders, those with a prior record and males.

More than ninety percent of Indigenous juvenile offenders who were aged 16 at their first court appearance, ended up in an adult court and eighty-five per cent of this group with two or more Children's Court appearances went on to appear in an adult court. Interestingly, the principal offence for which a juvenile is first brought to court, is not a good indicator of whether they will re-offend. Roughly equal proportions of those convicted of property or violent crimes went on to re-offend.

The Director of the Bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn, said the study findings highlighted the critical importance of intervening as early as possible to break the cycle of juvenile involvement in crime.

"This is not a job that can be carried out by the Department of Juvenile Justice acting on its own. If we want to reduce the risk of a juvenile getting involved in crime we need to improve their family life, their school performance and their physical and mental health. This can only be done if the Government agencies responsible for juvenile justice, family services, education and health work together to reduce the risk factors for juvenile involvement in crime".

Further enquiries: Dr Don Weatherburn on 9231-9190 or 0419 494-408

By Lawlink posted 27 May 05

Of course its all pie-in-the-sky

Government agencies and NGOs keeping their hands to themselves and off the kids whose stigmatisation justify their existence? That would be the day.

"The Director of the Bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn, said the study findings highlighted the critical importance of intervening as early as possible to break the cycle of juvenile involvement in crime."

Of course the figures could equally be read as suggesting that there should be *less* early intervention in young people's lives - especially by the NSW criminal justice system.

As Joanne Baker of the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has shown, more than half of NSW young people have committed an imprisonable offence by the time they complete high school ("Juveniles in crime part 1: Participation rates and risk factors", Joanne Baker"). [BOCSAR, 1999).]

But the overwhelming majority of them are not caught, not charged and not dragged up before the Children's Court. And (what do you know?) they don't go on to become reoffenders, but rather become 'normal', 'law-abiding' citizens.

On the other hand, the heavily over-policed ones (e.g. Aboriginal kids) end up being dragged before the courts, stigmatised, told that they are criminals and locked up with a large group of other kids who have had the same experience. Lo and behold - they adopt criminal self-identification and go on to chronically reoffend.

No-one can argue against Weatherburn's suggestions of better health & education for disadvantaged communities. It sure beats more prison slots - which is the only thing the Carr government seems happy to invest in.

But please spare these kids the additional disruption and stigmatisation of having every government department and NGO shoving themselves into their lives in the name of 'early intervention' for 'kids at risk'. We've already had a long and sorry history of such 'early intervention' in Australia.

These days, we call the results 'the Stolen Generations'.

Related:

MISTREATED IN CUSTODY - NO ACCOUNTABILTY
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.

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.

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.

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.

The way the world works: Abbott

Abbott rejects Indigenous health funding appeal?

Federal fascist Health Minister Tony Abbott has rejected a call by the Australian Medical Association (AMA) for a doubling in funding for Indigenous health.

A Productivity Commission report out today paints a bleak picture for Aboriginal Australians. The report says Aboriginal Australians are more likely to drop out of school, go to jail, smoke and live in poverty.

And I might add, more likely to end up in jail or die in custody? Bleak indeed! And I'm sure that the Indigenous people could add a lot more to that list of problems in their sometimes isolated communities.

Abbott says there will be an increase in funding in the next Budget, but he says the Government cannot double its contribution.

"I don't think it's realistic to suddenly more than double Indigenous health spending and think that you are suddenly going to get results which are twice as good," he said.

"I just don't think the world works that way."

But what if doubling the Indigenous health spending makes indigenous people equal to non-indigenous people? That means you were ripping them off! Is that really how the world works?

The West Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation said the major parties in WA need to focus on the continuing problem of chronic diseases in Indigenous communities.

How the world works for Indigenous people Mr Abbott?

The organisation said it has had to cancel vital research projects because its state funding has been cut by almost $500,000.

Spokeswoman Vanessa Davies says the organisation wants a pledge that adequate funds will be restored.

"What happens is that some of the priorities and strategic directions for Aboriginal health fall along the wayside - there's no mechanism there or limited mechanism for all of the AMSs to get together to be speaking with Government about setting and establishing those sorts of priorities," she said.

By Sorry 28 January 05

QUESTION: HOW MUCH MONEY DID HOWARD SPEND IN THE ILLEGAL AND DEGRADING WAR ON IRAQ?

Hill primed for war!
Australian Caretaker Defence Minister Robert Hill has announced a multi-million dollar upgrade of the Pearce Air Force base in Western Australia. Hill says $87 million would be spent on a major upgrade of the base, which is Australia's main flying training facility.

Defence people need to vote for the Greens
Caretaker Prime Minister John Howard will today unveil a plan to step up the fight against terrorism in the region, using specialist teams of Australian Federal Police (AFP) that could be sent to work in neighbouring countries.

Auditor Generals damning defence report
The Defence Department computer system upgrade has cost Australia tens of millions of dollars in a gigantic bungle, according to the Federal Opposition. The Commonwealth auditor-general has issued a damning report into the project.

Troop deployment not a deepening of effort: Hill
Deploying an extra 30 troops to Iraq was not a deepening of Australia's involvement because they were being sent to protect those already there, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.

Indonesian Election: Australia $48 Million?
Australian Payoff Call to Arms Bali Bombing Indonesia? Stated as a given for an anti-terrorism initiative? But it could have just as easily have been a payment for the Bali Bombings - 1012 Call to Arms.

Is that how the world really works?

Related:

Govt accused of isolating Indigenous public servants
A national reconciliation group says the federal Government's main-streaming of Indigenous services into government departments will continue to isolate Aboriginal public servants.

Vanstone defends asking Aborigines to wash for fuel
The Federal Government has defended its offer to provide a remote Indigenous community with petrol bowsers and new health programs, if it meets conditions including ensuring children shower every day.

Clark crashes Indigenous affairs ministers' meeting
Aboriginal leader Geoff Clark says he gatecrashed a meeting of federal and state Aboriginal affairs ministers today to highlight the plight of Aboriginal people.

Long says journey far from over
Michael Long has emerged from a meeting with the Prime Minister in Canberra saying it is still the beginning of his journey.

Second autopsy to delay Palm Island funeral
A spokesman for the Palm Island community in north Queensland says the funeral for a man who died in police custody may be another two weeks away.

Indigenous welfare plan breach race act!!!!
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has issued a warning about the Federal Government's plan to link Aboriginal welfare to behavioural change.

HoWARd's 'attitude' to Aboriginal welfare racist
The Federal Government says it is still considering a radical plan to rebuild the Aboriginal welfare system, which could make financial assistance dependent on behavioural change?

UN rates Indigenous health poorly
The Australian Nursing Federation says the United Nations has rated Indigenous Australians as having the second worst quality of life in the world after China.

Poverty cycle must be addressed: Ridgeway
The Democrats' Aden Ridgeway says Prime Minister John Howard should stop beating up on people who are on welfare, and focus on solving the national Indigenous unemployment rate.

Whitewash over Hickey's death
The New South Wales coroner has cleared police of any responsibility for the death of Aboriginal teenager Thomas 'TJ' Hickey.

"MESSAGE STICK" NEWSLETTER:
1. ATSIC abolition: the story so far. The last few months have seen both major parties buying into Indigenous Affairs in destructive and politically opportunistic ways. First the ALP and then the Government announced they would abolish ATSIC, but now the decision has been referred to a Senate Committee so the full implications of the Government's proposal can be examined. For more information on the Senate Inquiry into Indigenous Administration call 02 6277 3419 or go to:

AMA calls for extra health funding for Aborigines
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is asking for an extra $450 million a year to be spent on the health needs of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.

Labor to request Senate inquiry into ATSIC's future
The Federal Opposition has announced it will call for a Senate inquiry into the Government's plan to abolish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).

Reconciliation dreaming
Djerrkura had witnessed the collapse of ATSIC, which he led from 1996 to 1999, with sadness. Despite the peak indigenous organisation's flaws, which he did not deny, its abolition, he said, had been done in "the classic imperial fashion, without negotiation, without understanding and with little empathy". He noted that as early as December 2001 he had called on his successor Geoff Clark to resign for the good of the organisation. But he reserved his harshest words for John Howard.

Amnesty sees lack of progress on reconciliation
Amnesty International says the Federal Government must be held accountable for its commitments to Indigenous services.

The bone has been pointed at Howard
A Queensland Indigenous leader says an ancient Aboriginal curse placed on Prime Minister John Howard is no laughing matter and could even have deadly consequences.

Indigenous Social Justice Association Djadi Dugarang
INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT. Part 1

Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research: Aboriginal Crime
In 2001 more than forty percent of the Aboriginal male population aged 20-24 in NSW appeared before a NSW court charged with a criminal offence. One in ten Aboriginal males in NSW aged 20-24 received a prison sentence.

Inquiry told reforms will decimate Indigenous education
A Senate inquiry has been told the Federal Government's proposed higher education reforms will decimate education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The National Indigenous Postgraduate Association Aboriginal Corporation says Indigenous students will be the hardest hit by increases in student fees, interest on postgraduate loans and attacks on student representation.

Charities urge Howard to tackle poverty

Four of the country's charities and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) are calling on the re-elected Howard Government to do more to help the poorest Australians.

The groups are asking the Coalition to create a national anti-poverty plan. ACOSS president Andrew McCallum says 2 million Australians live in poverty.

"We need to have programs that are actually going to get those people back into work, give them proper opportunities to actually move from welfare to work and have a strategy that has job creation as part of it," Mr McCallum said.

"We need to look at education, health, employment and all of those things that actually go to make up the issues that create people in poverty."

Mr McCallum says tackling poverty should be a priority.

"We do have economic growth, we know that that's actually reaped a lot of benefits to a lot of people but we still have 800,000 children growing up in jobless families," he said.

"We still have 2.2 million people living below the poverty line.

"That's a national shame when you look at the economic process in this country.

"We know that there's budget surpluses, we saw that in the lead-up to the election."

Nothing will save us from gullibility and greedy self-interest

A small book turned up last week entitled How to Kill a Country. It was written by three Sydney academics about our "free trade" deal with the United States.

Auditor Generals damning defence report

The Defence Department computer system upgrade has cost Australia tens of millions of dollars in a gigantic bungle, according to the Federal Opposition. The Commonwealth auditor-general has issued a damning report into the project.

By Golden Age 18 October 04

Related:

Opposition pension claims valid
The Federal Governments secret agenda to cut pensions, including the disability and single parent payments while spending billions on military hardware is just too much for most disabled people to accept.

Poverty cycle must be addressed: Ridgeway
The Democrats' Aden Ridgeway says Prime Minister John Howard should stop beating up on people who are on welfare, and focus on solving the national Indigenous unemployment rate.

Thousands march for disability protest
"We are not prepared to go back to the dark ages. This has to be reversed," Mr Preston said. "We are hoping that the community sees that we shouldn't be taking money from people with disabilities. These people have had it tough all their lives (and) there is already more unmet need than we can cope with."

Labor slams GST windfall figures
The Federal Opposition says the latest figures on GST revenue confirm the Howard Government is the highest taxing government in history. The Government has revealed revenue raised by the tax is $2.9 billion greater than forecast.

Work for the dole is legal slavery
Work for the dole was originally sold to us by Howard as a warm and fuzzy light work project. We would be working for nothing but we would be enjoying giving back something to the community, so it was reckoned.

Transport costs 'discourage' unemployed renters
A report on housing assistance has found that one of the biggest work disincentives for unemployed renters and public housing tenants is the cost of public transport.

Governance a misfortune to experience
As an employee with the Australian government agency Centrelink my job was to interpret Australian law to determine entitlements for Australian citizens.

Families worse off under Lib/Lab: Community!The London lights are far abeam, behind a bank of cloud. Along the shore the gaslights gleam, the gale is piping loud; And down the Channel, groping blind, we drive her through the haze. Towards the land we left behind -- The good old land of "never mind", and old Australian ways.

Democrats call for improved accountability
Democrats' Senator Andrew Murray says reform of the rules governing political donations and politicians' salaries is needed, as well as measures to help whistleblowers in the public service.

FIGHT UNEMPLOYMENT!
Peter Costello commended this result in his budget speech. Even if we were to believe this figure it still means more than half a million living at a level much lower than that is recognised as poverty.

Mark Latham's, token gestures for older unemployed
StandUp appreciates the fact that Mark Latham is concerned about older unemployed people. His specialist job network proposal aimed at older people might provide a bit of assistance.

Department of Housing Tenants
A leaflet put out by the Inner city Tenants Advice and Advocacy Service contains some interesting information about how the Carr Government is planning to take some more rights away from the Department of Housing tenants.

Govts failing homeless, ACOSS says
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) says many homeless people are being refused shelter because support services are not properly funded to cope with demand.

Work for the dole failure for two thirds
"The study provides strong support for our view that 'Work for the Dole' is a "cruel hoax" that fails to truly help jobseekers." ACOSS President Andrew McCallum.

Bonus prompts baby talk, principal says
A western Sydney school principal says the Federal Government's $3,000 baby bonus is encouraging his students to fall pregnant.

Government ignoring housing crisis: ACOSS
There are 100,000 homeless people nationwide and one third of those are children. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says low-income families are facing a crisis in affordable housing that the Federal Government is choosing to ignore.

Youth welfare system unfair: ACOSS
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is warning urgent action is needed to fix youth poverty and disincentives for the unemployed to improve their job prospects.

Australia: Private job network agency blues
Can you trust a private job network agency? No you can't! A friend of ours is registered at MTC Marrickville. This agency has a practice of forcing unemployed to fill out preparing for work agreements. Of course they didn't offer him any work! So why was he cut off the dole?

Work for the dole? $10.00?
StandUp! Wishes to draw your attention to a serious attack on all of us--work for the dole. We were assured that unemployed would not be forced to work in areas where employed workers would normally be employed.

INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT: ISJA
If we want to survive we must work at it Indigenous unemployment reaching crisis: welfare group Action to lower Indigenous unemployment rate Govt underspends on indigenous employment: dept Economic development: The outback malaise Call for end to Indigenous welfare cycle.

Howard's Job Network Bailout
Up to 670,000 people on disability support pensions will be encouraged to sign up to the Job Network under a radical new plan to get disabled people off social services and into work.

ACOSS urges C'wealth to invest in families
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is urging the Federal Government to abandon any plans for a pre-election tax cut and instead increase benefits for families.

'WORK FOR THE DOLE' REDUCES JOB PROSPECTS
A major independent study commissioned by the Government and released today under Freedom of Information by The Australian newspaper indicates that the 'Work for the Dole' program actually reduces the job prospects of unemployed people.

The Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 Qld
The Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986 (Qld), requires that any person who has committed an offence which is less than 10 years old or which resulted in a prison sentence of more than 30 months, must disclose that offence if requested eg. for employment purposes. If a criminal record is disclosed in a job application, it is unlikely that person will be given the job.

Tax cuts wrong way to help battlers: ACOSS
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Budgets fails to deliver anything for low and middle income Australians.

Public housing on a precipice
THE booming housing market was squeezing thousands of low-income earners out of private rental accommodation into a public housing system on the verge of collapse, Australia's peak social body has warned.

Democrats approve tougher welfare penalties: But how does that pan out? There used to be an old saying in Australia" if you're hungry steal a sheep and leave the pelt on the fence. How do you plead, Peter Saunders?

Shoplifting and homelessness
Shoplifting increased by 7.5 per cent last year, making it the only major crime category to register a significant increase in 2002, crime statistics show. "It's a chain reaction kind of thing. No payments, more crime. More crime, more cops. More cops, more harassment. It goes back to the bloody payments, basically," he said.

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?
The director of the NSW Council for Social Service, Alan Kirkland, said it was very difficult to balance the impact of problem gambling against the broader community benefits.

Democrats approve tougher welfare penalties: But how does that pan out? There used to be an old saying in Australia" if you're hungry steal a sheep and leave the pelt on the fence. How do you plead, Peter Saunders?

Social services groups swamped
A new report has revealed higher costs and increasing demands are forcing [social services] groups to turn more people away.

Fears for poor if Social Services take a social slide?
The director of the NSW Council for Social Service, Alan Kirkland, said it was very difficult to balance the impact of problem gambling against the broader community benefits.

Social Services small change? Or wast the money on WAR!
Lone parents on [social services] average 12 years of benefits - and are often worse off if they work. But reforming the system is risky and often costly, Bettina Arndt explains.

EX-PRISONER UNEMPLOYMENT: SENTENCED FOR LIFE
Name removed by request served time in prison decades ago. Shes still being punished today. According to commonwealth and state legislation, ex-prisoners applying for jobs must declare any conviction that fits into the following categories: less than 10 years old, more than 10 years old but served more than 30 months in prison.

Unemployed farm postings would cost jobs: AWU
The Australian Workers Union has rejected a proposal to place work-for-the-dole participants on drought-affected rural properties.

Tough luck! Kicks the poor to death
Australia is urged to adopt a United States-style welfare system, [?] cut welfare spending [social services spending] and encourage people to help themselves in a book on poverty published today.

Economy benefiting from non-profit institutions
Non-profit institutions are contributing $30 billion a year to Australia's economy. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found about a third of that comes from volunteers who worked free for more than 550 million hours in 1999/2000.

NSW prisons - primary industry bailed up!
In many quiet regional centres around NSW there is a new primary industry shaping up. It has something to do with Bail but not with bales. The minister for Agriculture Richard Amery who also has the prisons portfolio is now committed to farming prisoners.

Robin Egan
Two thirds of fines are never collected because they go beyond the means of the defendants and because in lots of cases people do not see that they are responsible. Especially where people know their in the right and no fine ought to have been a penalty.

Child sex offenders to be monitored in NSW

New South Wales Police Minister John Watkins says convicted child sex offenders in south-western Sydney will be monitored during a six-month trial.

The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties says it is concerned that the monitoring could become a system of harassment.

The vice president of the council, David Burnie, says there is a danger that intensive monitoring could hinder attempts by offenders to reform their behaviour.

"That is the real danger, that the system just becomes a system of harassment," he said.

"That'd be our concern that after a period of time it may just degenerate into a period of harassment rather than actually a system of assessment."

Watkins says a Child Protection Watch Team will track convicted sexual predators living in the community.

He says police, corrective services officers, health professionals, and housing department workers will be on the team. He has told State Parliament that the group will review offenders' criminal histories and behaviour and make risk-assessments. Watkins says the team will take steps to protect children who are perceived to be at risk.

"They will provide an early warning system for inappropriate actions or associations or living arrangements and they will take proactive measures to prevent these criminals from re-offending," he said. "They'll ensure police are ready to pounce if the danger does increase."

In Other Developments:

Crime facts INFO: Australian Institute of Criminology 13 April 2004

A report titled Recidivism of sexual assault offenders rates, risk factors and treatment efficacy provides an overview of Australian and international research on sexual, violence and general recidivism among sex offenders.

Despite the assumption that sexual offenders are particularly prone to reoffend, reconviction rates for sex crimes are relatively low.

Sexual offenders are similar to the general offender population in terms of their criminal histories and their sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics the report says.

"They are versatile offenders, with a large proportion having convictions for violent and 'other' offences, such as drugs or property crimes.

At the same time, they may specialise in particular types of sexual offences within their general criminal careers.

The risk of recidivism varies for different types of sex offenders, with rapists tending to be more criminally versatile than child molesters.

A retrospective study of 629 persons aged 16 years and over, who were apprehended by Victoria police on suspicion of sexual assault of adults pointed to a considerable degree of recidivistic activity between 1993 and 2001. A substantial number had been previously apprehended for violent (n=222) -and other-offences (n=348)."

" The number of sexual offences per individual was lower than for the other crime categories."

By Monitor 23 September 04

ED: Most child molesters come from families by focusing on people outside the families the children affected are less likely to believed when they say it was for instance 'my uncle Bill'.

WHY WE SHOULD OPPOSE HOME DETENTION
Surveillance is done with an electronic bracelet, which is attached to you for the length of your sentence and tracked through your phone back to central control. If you go outside the house without permission, it registers an escape. You must stay at home 24 hours a day unless you get permission to eg. work, do community hours, education. You receive phone calls at home throughout the day and night to monitor you.   

Related Sex Offender Links:

NSW: Rapists more criminally versatile than Paedophiles
Parents to be given paedophile details? But rapists are more criminally versatile than Paedophiles! So who let the dogs out? Police Minister John Watkins! That's who.

NSW Prisons Inmate Development Committee speaks out
I am writing on behalf of the IDC Inmate Development Committee in area 3, MSPC at Long Bay. Area 3 is where, the Department is congregating minimum-security offenders within maximum-security walls whilst awaiting mandatory programs at Cubit (Sex Offenders Program).

Vic database to track sex offenders' movements
The Sex Offenders Registration Bill is due to be tabled in Parliament later this week. Sex offenders will have to tell police if they change their names, address or work and will not be allowed to work with children.

Today Sex offenders TOMMORROW YOU!
To suggest there is a need to restrict their movement is rubbish! This is a grab for civil liberties in NSW and it offends everyone else who is free to associate because soon it could be you who is restricted or someone you know.

Gang-rape, police, disparity and the law..
The young woman and her friend have told police they met the players in Coffs Harbour on the evening after the Bulldogs played a trial match there and went back to the team's hotel with them.

Govt stands by child sex offender program
The Western Australian Government is standing by a taxpayer-funded agency that offers conditional confidentiality to child sex offenders.

Therapy key for teen sex offenders
US: One girl allegedly was raped in the boys' bathroom at Folsom High School on a warm midday in March. Another told officials the same boy, a freshman at the school, had tried to rape her days earlier in a girls' bathroom. Two other girls told investigators the boy had committed lesser sex crimes against them at school within the previous week. If true, such a pattern of escalation is worrisome, according to experts who study and treat sex offenders.

Sexual Abuse: Testimony
I'm Debbie Ingraham, and I'm an activist for Restorative Justice. I'm also a former litigant who filed an unsuccessful civil suit against a family member for incest, and a former victim advocate. I bring a 30 year personal perspective of "real life" experiences that come from living with the effects of sexual abuse.

Related Surveillance Links

Xerox workers to strike over satellite tracking plan
Over 250 Xerox workers will go on strike this morning over plans to use global positioning system technology (GPS) to track them throughout their day. Australian Services Union president Sally McManus says the proposal affects workers who repair Xerox photocopiers and other equipment in offices around Melbourne and Sydney.

Police want you to pay for their wire taps......
Ottawa — Canada's police chiefs propose a surcharge of about 25 cents on monthly telephone and Internet bills to cover the cost of tapping into the communications of terrorists, [scapegoats for the Coalition of the Killing's resource war's in the Middle East], and other criminals, [but not war criminals?]

Blunkett to extend long arm of the law
UK: Sweeping changes to police powers were proposed by the government yesterday, with officers in England and Wales to be permitted to arrest suspects for any offence, rather than only those which attract prison sentences.

Welcome to the MatrixB
US - In what civil liberties advocates call the most massive database surveillance program in US history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism, [scapegoat and patsy], Information Exchange, or Matrix, continues to compile billions of records on law-abiding citizens and receive federal funding, despite public outcry and suspicion.

Govt tests airport security eye scanner
Technology that identifies people by scanning their eyes could be introduced into Australian airports as early as next year.

law and order days over, says Blair
Their 3D-iD system is ideal for both stationary assets, such as large physical inventories or for mobile assets like people and portable equipment.

Fingerprints now required for US visas
United States consulates in Australia have begun taking fingerprints from Australians applying for visas.

I won't be a criminal for you!
The only looming rules are for fools giving up personal details to the Devil in the first place when visiting the US.

Putting Your Finger on the Line: Biometric Identification Technology The NSW Department of Corrective Services has progressively been implementing biometric identification technology (BIT) for use on all entrants into maximum security prisons since August 1996. It currently operates in seven prisons in NSW and is scheduled for introduction at Parklea prison later this year. BIT has raised the ire of many community agencies, the legal fraternity and government authorities. Framed examines what the controversy is all about and what the implications of this technology are.

Mossad agents Killing Oz Tourists Steal their Identity to use in terror opps
The fugitive Israeli Mossad intelligence agent Zev Barkan has been dealing with Asian criminal gangs to obtain Australian and other passports stolen from Australians Killed in Asia, a New Zealand security official has said.

The U.S. system of 'justice' is a tragic joke
US: Police abuse, and sometimes kill, innocent persons at will. Cops plant evidence, they lie, they coerce confessions and they commit perjury. Many are, simply, criminals.