Forgotten war widow broke

Brett and Breeana Till on their wedding day

Nick Leys
Herald Sun, September 27, 2009


JUST six months after her husband was killed in Afghanistan, Breeanna Till is broke -- let down by the government which promised solemnly to look after her. Heavily pregnant with the child Sgt Brett Till will never know, the Sydney widow fears becoming a "single mum on the dole" when she gives birth in a few weeks. The $905-a-week pay packet her husband earned lasted just two weeks after he died in a roadside bomb explosion. In its place, the military gave Mrs Till a compensation payment of $305 a week. Sgt Till, 31, was a highly respected Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician from the Incident Response Regiment stationed at Sydney's Holsworthy Barracks. On March 19 he was with a group of soldiers conducting "route clearance" work in southern Afghanistan. An improvised explosive device was located and in the course of disposing of the bomb, it exploded and killed him instantly. Mrs Till, who looks after Sgt Till's two children from a previous marriage, Jacob, 10 and Taleah, 7, has made ends meet with part-time work, but will soon have to give that up because of the baby. Last Thursday she broke down in tears as she told a Department of Veterans Affairs review panel of her plight at a public meeting in western Sydney. She said most Australians would be outraged to learn how little financial support was afforded the families of servicemen killed fighting for the country. In a week which saw politicians and heads of government agencies awarded a pay rise, Mrs Till revealed she was receiving the same amount of financial support as a single mother on welfare payments. "What the DVA are offering the family of a man who died in the service of his country is the same as if I was on the dole as a single mum. It's disappointing," she said. "The public opinion is if a guy is killed overseas, his family will be looked after. Obviously I have had to deal with Brett's death itself. But when he died, we got the rest of the fortnight's pay, one extra fortnight's payment, then it stopped." The Department of Veterans Affairs had also given her a choice of whether to receive a pension or a lump sum. "It's like having to choose whether to house the family or feed them," she said. "The lump sum won't pay for a house, the pension won't pay the rent and bills." The Rudd Government is reviewing the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act after a series of complaints by former servicemen. Mrs Till's treatment flies in the face of the solemn public promises and expressions of sympathy made by officials immediately after her husband's death. Chief of the Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston described Sgt Till as "highly skilled and very courageous".

Dignitaries at Sgt. Brett Till's funeral 31st. March 2009

Mrs Till spoke of conversations with other serving members of her husband's regiment about their expectations of compensation should they get killed or injured on the frontline. "The boys say before they go overseas they want to do their service but also set up their families," she said. "They are under the impression that if something happens to them, their families will be supported. But when I've spoken to other guys in Brett's troop, there is a difference to what they think they are entitled to against what happens.

Comrades farewell Sergeant Brett Till at Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan

Rob Hulls judicial appointments show gender bias

Former County Court judge John Barnett

Keith Moor
Herald Sun, September 18, 2009

FORMER judge John Barnett yesterday accused Attorney-General Rob Hulls of appointing some inappropriate women as County Court judges for gender balancing reasons. The recently retired County Court judge claimed Mr Hulls picked them because they were women, rather than the best candidates. He is the second former County Court judge to claim several sitting judges are not up to the job and should never have been selected. Mr Barnett said he backed claims by fellow former judge John Dee, QC, that Mr Hulls had appointed undeserving people as County Court judges for political reasons. He said some of the women appointed to judicial positions in Victoria were very good "but some are not and that is the issue". The Herald Sun last month revealed Mr Dee's concerns about the make-up of Victoria's County Court bench. He alleged then that some current County Court judges didn't have the necessary background or skills and were making costly mistakes. Mr Hulls yesterday defended women judges. "John Barnett's comments are not only wrong and an insult to all judges, but are reflective of a bygone era where women were not considered fit to serve on the bench," he said. "The Government will continue to appoint the best and brightest to our benches." Mr Dee recently refused a written request by County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes to apologise for criticising judges. "I stand by my remarks. The Chief Judge has not suggested to me that my remarks were untrue or inaccurate," he said. Mr Barnett yesterday said Judge Rozenes should be tackling the problem rather than asking Mr Dee to apologise for raising what was a legitimate issue. "I think Michael Rozenes would be well aware of who the poor performers are, but there is not much he can do about them as judges are appointed by the Attorney-General," he said. "Some of the bad appointments were an attempt at gender balancing by the Attorney-General. It is a terrible nonsense all this stuff about widening the horizons and getting judges from different walks of life. But the problem is they are picking people from the wrong backgrounds. They have no background in criminal law or civil personal injury cases, which are the backbone of the business. It's like picking out cricketers to play tennis." There are 60 County Court judges in Victoria, 36 males and 24 females. Of the 20 County Court judges appointed by Mr Hulls since 2006, 15 have been men and five of them women.

Police warrant full force of law

Sgt. Brett Ward was attacked by cowardly thugs and bashed
on 22nd. August 2009. See http://tinyurl.com/ydzsrlk

September 09, 2009

THE bashing of an off-duty officer and a former officer in Mitcham last weekend has focused further attention on the violent lawlessness in Victoria. There have been more than 2000 assaults recorded against police officers in the past 12 months. Enough is enough! It is time to send a message to the thugs that our community has had enough and we won't take it any more. Yet, there remain many who are opposed to perpetrators of sickening violence being held accountable. Some are even opposed to the idea of a person who bashes an emergency services worker being jailed. Minimum sentencing is not new. It is not radical nor Stalinist. It is not unfair, nor does it undermine the discretion of the judiciary any more than restricting the upper limits of sentencing available to the courts. Chief Magistrate Ian Gray argued on this page last week that mandatory sentencing was a blunt instrument. Yes, Your Worship, but nowhere near as blunt as some of the instruments used to crack the skulls of our members on the streets of Melbourne. The community is demanding tough, blunt action to make our streets safe. Our drink-driving legislation has had minimum sentences for years. Those of us old enough to remember when there were 1034 deaths in 1970 on Victorian roads have no problem with a minimum sentence being legislated alongside a maximum sentence. This allows the judiciary to provide appropriate sentences that meet community expectations. This model raises two major questions in relation to street violence:

SHOULD people found guilty of violent assaults have to wear the consequences of their actions?

IS it unreasonable that a person convicted of bashing a police, fire or ambulance officer, who are there to protect the the community, should be sent to jail without exception?

The inclusion of a minimum sentence for anyone convicted by a jury of an indictable assault on police will make the perpetrators think twice. Yes, police are trained to deal with violent offenders and with drug or alcohol-affected people, but they are neither Supermen nor Wonderwomen. They are ordinary people doing an extraordinary job. Police represent the community; they are the community's police and they are there to protect law-abiding citizens and to apprehend those who break the law. An attack on a police officer, firefighter or paramedic is an attack on the community itself. The maximum sentence that can be imposed by a magistrate under the Summary Offences Act for assaulting police is six months' jail. The maximum available to a judge after a finding of guilt under the Crimes Act is five years. Regrettably, sentences for such offences rarely come within a bull's roar of these maximums. This is why minimum sentences must come into play. And before the bleeding hearts swarm into the fray, where were the cries of outrage from our civil libertarians about the infringements of the human rights of bash victim Sergeant Brett Ward, nursing a broken nose and fractured eye socket? The silence speaks volumes. If the people of Victoria want realistic sentences imposed on criminal thugs - and, make no mistake, that is all they are - then there's a compelling argument for minimum sentences in legislation. Community expectations can and do change, with altered circumstances, and governments need to keep in step with those who elect them. Right now, the community is demanding action against street thugs, and the Government ignores the community's voice at its peril.

Senior Sergeant Greg Davies
Secretary Police Association of Victoria

Peter Masters - Inglourious Basterd

Herald Sun, August 23rd. 2009.

Quentin Tarantino's ultra violent Nazi revenge movie 'Inglorious Basterds' has drama, but the real story of a secret troop of Jewish soldiers is far better, writes Bryan Patterson.

PETER Masters was one of the most dangerously effective soldiers of World War II. A member of a secret squad of Jewish commandos, he regularly slipped behind enemy lines to kidnap and interrogate German soldiers. In Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's blood-and-guts version of the story, sadistic fighting Jews, led by Brad Pitt, scalp the Nazis and carve swastikas into their foreheads. The real story of the secret Jewish troop is better. Peter Masters was one of 87 young Jewish men in the elite, secret commando force in the British Army called X Troop. They spoke almost perfect German, had false identities and were highly trained. Their existence was one of the best kept secrets of World War II. The troop was recruited in 1941 from mainly German-speaking Jewish refugees who had escaped Nazi persecution. Most had family and friends in concentration camps. They were told their duty was "special and hazardous" and given the chance to quit immediately. None did. Peter Masters, who later wrote the book Striking Back, told a British officer who interviewed him: "I think part of this war belongs to me, sir". The risks were real. If captured behind enemy lines, they would be shot immediately. And their surviving relatives would be executed. All documents and private posessions they carried gave them false origins. Their names were changed to sound more English. Alfred Samson, originally of Hamburg, called himself Percy Shelly because he liked the English poet. Ernst Freytag named himself after Welsh boxer Tommy Farr. And Peter Arany became Private Peter Masters, who had been born in London, was a member of the Church of England and had volunteered for the commandos from the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. Kim Masters said her father Peter, who died four years ago, practised his new signature until he could write it fluently. Then he and his associates started rigorous training in Wales. X Troop was trained to parachute and to use guns, bayonets and knives; and to kill with bare hands. They were also schooled in fieldcraft, camouflage, compass marching, street fighting, housebreaking and lockpicking. Peter Masters once boasted that they probably knew more about German weaponry than most German soldiers. They became expert at capturing prisoners behind lines and interrogating them. Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations, named the band 3 Troop, but Winston Churchill, who highly praised these "unknown warriors", always called it X Troop. Often X Troop commandos went on raids behind the lines. Shortly before June 6,1944 - D-Day - their mission was to infiltrate enemy strongholds, get information and return home undiscovered. They were also to test rumours the Germans had laid a new type of hairtrigger mine on French beaches. The troop was sent back three times to confirm the mines were conventional. The Jewish soldiers were among the first to land on the beaches on D-Day. Equipped with folding bikes, they were ordered to draw enemy fire. Nearing Sword Beach, Peter Masters saw several of his comrades die. As the unit moved inland, their leader was shot through the head. Masters was told to walk down a village main street to draw any German fire. He remembered having seen the film Gunga Din in which Cary Grant, surrounded by the enemy, says coolly: "You are all under arrest."That inspired Masters. As he walked down the street, he yelled in German: "Surrender, all of you! Come out! You are completely surrounded and don't have a chance!" For a moment there was silence. Then a German soldier fired from behind a parapet. Masters dropped to his knee and fired back. Each missed. Then Masters heard his comrades charging with bayonets fixed. After the war, many in the troop continued sensitive, secret work in the Occupation Forces. They tracked war criminals, translated captured documents and interrogated prisoners. X Troop paid a heavy price for its heroic actions. Of its 87 commandos, 21 were killed and 22 wounded - a 50 per cent casualty rate, among the highest of any British military unit in the war. For many years after the war, few knew of the existence of X Troop. Masters wrote the first book about the troop in 1997, when he was 75.

See also.. My Father, The Inglourious Basterd by Kim Masters

Former judge John Dee slams Rob Hulls' 'jobs for the boys'

A FORMER judge has accused the State Government of making undeserving and inappropriate appointments to the bench. John Dee, QC, said some judges were not up to the job and were making costly mistakes. He claimed the judges don't have the background or skills and were appointed for political reasons by Attorney-General Rob Hulls and his Liberal predecessor Jan Wade. "These particular appointments have been classic jobs for the boys and girls," he said. "There are, unfortunately, a lot of people there that Hulls has appointed, and to a lesser extent that Wade appointed, who just aren't up to it. "Most of them are still on the bench now. "They have been mainly to the County Court and judges and the legal profession know who they are." Mr Dee stressed that while he had concerns about some County Court judges, there were some excellent judges whose jobs were made harder by having to carry others. "And Victoria's Supreme Court judges are among the finest in Australia," he said. Attorney-General Rob Hulls said all appointments to the County Court were made after an advertising process and extensive consultation. "Particularly with the chief judge," Mr Hulls said. "I have absolute confidence in the judiciary and reject outright Mr Dee's allegations, which are an insult to serving judges." Mr Dee was a County Court judge from 1990 to 2002 and became chairman of the Legal Profession Tribunal after retiring from the bench. He used his new autobiography Bars & Benches to call for the creation of an independent board to review the selection of judges by the Attorney-General.

In his book, Mr Dee also:

BLAMES a combination of legal precedent and legislation for Victorian judges not being able to hand down maximum penalties in rape and other serious cases.

CALLS for an end to suspects being able to hide behind their right not to answer police questions.

Mr Dee told the Herald Sun some of Victoria's finest lawyers were reluctant to become judges because they had lost respect for some judges on the County Court bench.

"I was talking to a senior counsel the other day and she said to me she would not accept an appointment to the County Court because of the poor quality of people who have already been appointed," he said. "That is not an isolated view." Mr Dee said the large number of County Court decisions being thrown out by the Court of Appeal was evidence of too many judges getting it wrong.

- Article from: Herald Sun, Keith Moor, August 20, 2009

Teen's life of crime

A TEEN criminal who has escaped with a slap on the wrist pulled off five burglaries and six thefts in two days during a 13-month spree. The 15-year-old was so prolific that even a broken arm did not slow him. He kept stealing for several months after breaking his arm - an injury sustained when he tripped while fleeing the scene one of his crimes. In one case, he stole a laptop from the bedside of his sleeping victim. In another, he took a safe worth $3500 and tried to break it open with an axe when he arrived it home. Police have described the brazen burglar as one of the most prolific young offenders they have seen. His lawyer even admitted in a children's court that the teen's offending was "extreme". The teen admitted to 65 offences including aggravated burglaries, burglaries, thefts, possessing weapons, growing drugs and property damage between March 2008 and April 2009. The Children's Court was told the youth and a gang of co-offenders targeted hi-tech items such as MP3 players, GPS units and mobile phones. Raids also netted passports and, on one occasion, a high-end archery set worth more than $1000. They stole cars to make their escapes and in one raid snatched a $16,000 motorcycle later sold for $1000. The total haul during the crime spree has been estimated at more than $100,000. The court heard the youth was also on probation for previous offending when the crimes were committed. Now Magistrate Jane Gibson's decision to spare him detention and even a conviction has prompted fresh calls for an overhaul of the justice system. Even the youth admitted to the Sunday Herald Sun that he was surprised by the lenience of his sentence. "Yeah, I guess I was surprised," he said. "But I had a good lawyer. My lawyer told me I would probably get off." Neighbours said the youth and his gang had terrorised their suburb for years. "They're running riot and getting away with murder - maybe that'll be next," one said. Another said they were too frightened to confront the young thugs. "You can't even say anything or you'll come home to a rock through your window," the resident said. "It's a joke of the law what's happened. What's the use of having a law when these kids can just do whatever they like knowing they won't go to jail?" In sentencing the youth, Ms Gibson said his crimes must have been "terrifying" for his victims. But she praised him for not committing any further offences while out on bail. "You have been on strict bail conditions, but you have kept them," she said. She placed the him on a nine-month Youth Supervision Order, but did not record a conviction. She also lifted a curfew imposed earlier as part of his bail. "Just remember that even though I am taking away the curfew, it is really important you are not out at night committing offences and that you are at school," she said. A crime victims' group has slammed the sentence. "He will finish up a career criminal - there is no way he is going to rehabilitate with this kind of treatment," Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said. "It's Mickey Mouse justice being handed out by the Children's Court. A Supervision Order is virtually allowing someone to walk free. "The Children's Court comes under the DHS, it should come under the Attorney-General or the Minister for Corrections." Because he is under age, the Sunday Herald Sun cannot report who the young thief is or where he lives. - Article from: Sunday Herald Sun, Samantha Amjadali, James Campbell August 02, 2009

Louts rule Melbourne's streets

A POLICE blitz on alcohol-fuelled violence in the CBD has been axed after the State Government last month cut funding for extra muscle. The boost to the Safe Streets taskforce, which has quelled violence in the city on Friday and Saturday nights, has been scaled back by about 100 police officers. The trial run, which was launched in October 2007, initially put a taskforce of 150 cops on the city's streets on its busiest nights, but was boosted by an additional 100 reinforcements in February. Despite being hailed a success, the funding for police overtime ended on June 30 and has now been deemed by the force an over-reaction. Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe said the extra police assigned to the taskforce between February and June would be sent to other areas. But he said 150 members of the taskforce would continue to patrol trouble spots. "We're comfortable that . . . the numbers we're putting out there are sufficient to deal with the issues," he said. "We think really we got to a point (where) we probably had over-policed it. "We've always been comfortable with those numbers of around 150 . . . we're not stepping away from Safe Streets." Mr Walshe said other crimes, such as stabbings and attacks on Melbourne's rail network, also demanded police resources. Bill McCormack, whose son Shannon died after he was assaulted outside QBH nightclub in May 2007, said the cut was a sign the Government wasn't serious about stopping bloodshed on the streets. "We just haven't got enough police," he said. "People are getting bashed and killed in the CBD and the Government doesn't want to do anything about it. "Anarchy prevails when good men do nothing, and that's what we've got, anarchy on our streets." Opposition police spokesman Andrew McIntosh and police union secretary Greg Davies both criticised the Government for jeopardising public safety. Sen-Sgt Davies said: "We wouldn't say for a moment the Safe Streets campaign was over-resourced. It was never going to be sustainable the way that it's being run, with overtime and dragging resources from elsewhere." He said the State Government had overseen Victoria's force become the most under-resourced in the country and Melbourne's violence spark international tensions. "This situation has seen Victoria not only become the laughing stock of the Australian policing community but now we're seeing international outrage at what's been happening on Melbourne's streets," he said. Mr McIntosh said the decision to cut CBD patrols had put Melburnians at the mercy of violent hoodlums. He said: "We have the lowest number of police per head of population anywhere in this country -- fact. "We have record levels of violence -- fact." A spokesman for Police Minister Bob Cameron said it was up to the force to spend its budget how it saw fit. "The Brumby Labor Government has provided Victoria Police with record funding of $1.9 billion this year and it is for police to determine how their resources are best used. "The Chief Commissioner has made it clear to government that the Safe Streets effort will be maintained." - article from Herald Sun, Anthony Dowsley, August 01, 2009

Veteran cop threatens to quit over violence

A much respected police, officer has threatened to walk away from the force, fed up with increasing violence and attacks on his family.

Sen-Sgt Josef Sestokas, a 32-year police veteran and the officer in charge of Sale police station, has broken police protocol to speak out against a drug and alcohol fuelled break-down in social behaviour. He said vicious assaults were happening almost weekly in the Gippsland town. His own son was the victim of a brutal attack. The final straw came when his 17-year-old daughter received a blood-curdling death threat to her whole family on the day a man was jailed for the assault on his son. "It is hard work standing up to violence and holding my family together - trying to believe that we live in a community of decent people," Sen-Sgt Sestokas said. "Is this the community our sons are dying for in Afghanistan? "Or the community my maternal grandfather was bayonetted by a Turk at Gallipoli and gassed and shelled by the Germans in World War I for? "Is it the community my father crossed the world for in 1947, to escape communist tyranny?" Sen-Sgt Sestokas's 20-year-old son was attacked in the town's Kazbah nightclub last year by a trained boxer. The attack left his son with a plastic implant in his face, breathing difficulties and nerve damage. He was forced to abandon his mechanical apprenticeship and is considering moving away from the town. The offender was sentenced to 18 months' prison last week with Judge Damien Murphy describing the unprovoked attack as "unbridled violence". Later that day, Sen-Sgt Sestokas's daughter received a vile Facebook message threatening her whole family. "Everybody knows I'm in charge of the local police station, but that hasn't stopped these attacks on my kids," he said. "People just don't have any respect any more. They don't care about the consequences. "It's all about acting like a gangster, even for young people from good families." Sen-Sgt Sestokas said more police was not the answer to increasing violence. "There needs to be societal change. People need to know what is and isn't acceptable behaviour," he said. "The police can't be everywhere. The community needs to send a message that violence and intimidation won't be tolerated." Sen-Sgt Sestokas is considering leaving the force for the sake of his family's safety. "Bringing up children and being a policeman in the country are problematic, but it's a life I chose," he said. "There has been and will be a lot more emotional wear and tear. We have terrific supportive neighbours, and have found Sale to be generally a good place to live. How the community responds, however, will define our future." Police have interviewed a local woman about the Facebook message. Sen-Sgt Sestokas said she is expected to be charged on summons with making a threat to kill and using a telecommunications device to menace. The towering police officer began his career in 1977. He graduated dux of his squad and has spent nearly all of his career in Gippsland.

Article from: Herald Sun, Padraic Murphy, July 29, 2009

Indian community outraged over jail terms

More lunacy from our 'justice' system.
What is it going to take for criminals to be punished for violent crimes!

Indian student Sukhraj Singh

THE Indian community has reacted with outrage after a magistrate ruled that the young thugs who beat an Indian man almost to death will walk free after serving only six months. On Wednesday, Magistrate Kay Macpherson said five teenagers acted "like a pack of animals" when they bashed Indian student Sukhraj Singh in December and left him in a coma for three weeks. But she sentenced four of them to only 12 months' youth detention - meaning they will be eligible for parole within weeks after serving more than six months on remand. Another youth involved in the attack escaped custody, instead being sentenced to a 12-month youth attendance. One of the youths - who at 14 already had an earlier conviction for armed robbery - had been involved in 12 violent incidents since he had been on remand, Ms Macpherson noted in sentencing him. Mr Singh was initially speechless when told of the sentences. "I don't understand this at all," he said. But a source revealed that all four of the youths had been involved in violence while on remand at the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre. The source said the youths had been kept apart at the centre. "We would have had no hope of controlling them if they had been together," he said. Mr Singh was bashed by the gang in December in a grocery store in Sunshine. The five youths, then aged between 14 and 17, were originally charged with attempted murder over the attack, which fractured Mr Singh's skull on three sides. But the attempted murder charges were dropped when the five agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of intentionally causing serious injury. The five also pleaded guilty to armed robbery over the attack. Another man and a youth have pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and will be tried later. Indian community leaders reacted with outrage to the leniency shown by the court. "What sort of a sentence is this?" said Vasan Srinivasan, president of the Federation of Indian Associations, Victoria. - Article from: Sunday Herald Sun, James Campbell, June 28, 2009

Hulls silent on lenient sentencing

AS expected, Attorney-General Rob Hulls came out swinging at the brilliant piece of Sunday Herald Sun reporting on the Court of Appeals and how sentences are discounted for reasons known only to the judges. ["Scales of justice", Your Say, April 26] I am confused at his stating the figures used in the story ["100 years' jail time slashed", SHS, April 19] were distorted. When Mr Hulls is questioned about the leniency of a sentence his standard reply is that he believes in judicial independence and will not comment. Yet when a detailed report tells people how soft the Court of Appeal has been on serious cases he cannot wait to defend it. Perhaps Mr Hulls would like to answer the following: How can it be driver Brett Franklin's sentence was reduced to 51/2 years' jail when he was guilty of killing two sisters and grievously injuring the daughter of one of them? He had lost his licence and was three times over the alcohol limit when the incident happened. Three Court of Appeal judges found Franklin's sentence of 11 years' jail, with a minimum of seven, too harsh and "crushing". Mr Hulls, why don't you tell the families of sisters Glenda Thomson and Michelle Hurst and Ms Thomson's daughter, Tara Wells-Thomson, how just and balanced the court can be - and why it put the welfare of a criminal ahead of the victims? Oh, I forgot. You believe in judicial independence and will not make a comment!

Steve Medcraft, president,
People Against Lenient Sentencing

Australia's worst arsonist is 'sure to strike again'

Six dead ... the ruins of the Downunder backpacker hostel
in Sydney's Kings Cross in 1989 and Gregory Brown

JUST weeks after the worst bushfires in Australian history, a killer branded as probably our worst arsonist has been freed - despite a bid by Victorian authorities to keep him locked up. Those who have dealt with Gregory Allan Brown say he is an incurable, compulsive firebug who will almost certainly strike again. The Department of Human Services was so concerned about Brown being released without restrictions that it this week took the very rare step of applying for a guardianship order, so it could make his decisions for him. But the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal rejected the application, leaving Brown free to do as he likes. He set fire to the Downunder backpacker hostel in Sydney's King's Cross in 1989, killing six and injuring 18. He was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility after evidence he was brain-damaged. On Thursday, Victoria and NSW police were warned Brown was being released that day. Authorities had no choice but to free him because he had served his full 19-year sentence. Brown became eligible for parole in 2001, but refused to apply because he didn't want to be subjected to restrictive parole conditions. He has volunteered to stay in DHS-arranged accommodation, where he is under 24-hour supervision, but can opt out of that whenever he likes and go wherever he chooses without having to tell authorities. At his 1992 trial, evidence was given that he told a fellow prisoner he wasn't concerned about the six deaths he caused. "That's why I lit it. I love hearing people scream and watching them die," he said. He also confessed he was involved in starting some Ash Wednesday fires in 1983, which killed 46 in Victoria and destroyed more than 2000 homes. Brown, 46, also admitted lighting several fires in the St Kilda area, including torching the Regal, Majestic and George hotels, the Salvation Army hostel in Gray St, and the Uniting Church in Fitzroy St. He confessed responsibility for more than 200 blazes in Melbourne and Sydney from July 1989 to July 1990, telling police he wanted to "make the Guinness Book of Records". The County Court was told in 1995 that just nine months after the King's Cross blaze, Brown set fire to the Carlton Hotel in Bourke St, also used by backpackers. He was jailed for another year. Brown told leading forensic psychiatrist Dr Rod Milton: "I'm very fascinated with fire, since I was a kid, of what it can do, what destruction it can do. It can kill people." Dr Milton said: "I cannot recall ever seeing anyone as dangerous to others as Mr Brown. I believe he will remain dangerous until he reaches such a state of mental or physical infirmity as to render him unable to put into effect the destructive urges which give him so much pleasure." Brown, who he said gained a sense of power from lighting fires and loved the destruction it wrought, was of relatively poor intellect, displayed frequent aggression and anti-social behaviour at school, and spent six months in a psychiatric hospital at age 18 after trying to strangle his father. Dr Milton discovered Brown had lit a string of fires as a teen and sometimes helped firefighters battle the blazes. - Article from: Herald Sun, Keith Moor May 02, 2009

Sex crimes soar

Article from: Sunday Herald Sun
Peter Rolfe

April 26, 2009 12:00am

AT LEAST one rape or sexual assault is reported inside a Victorian pub or nightclub every week, police figures reveal. Police and rape support groups say drunk and drug-affected women in bars are being targeted by sex predators and they believe reported figures are a fraction of the real number. Now experts are calling for the urgent formation of a taskforce to deal with the sickening problem. The Brumby Government yesterday pledged to investigate. Never-before-released data on pub and club offences shows there were 61 sexual attacks in Victorian licensed premises last financial year - 22 rapes and 39 sexual assaults. At least 10 of the offences were committed in premises in Melbourne's CBD, but attacks were also recorded in regional centres including Echuca, Lorne and Ballarat and inner-city venues in Prahran, South Melbourne and Collingwood. Most rapes took place in toilets, private rooms, alcoves and offices and sexual assaults happening anywhere from beer gardens to dance floors, police and sex abuse counsellors said. The real number of sex crimes would be even higher as they were "notoriously unreported", police said. "In the majority of cases the victim has been drinking heavily and these predators have preyed upon them in a vulnerable state," Sexual Crime Squad Det Acting Insp Robert Ridley said. "These people are going out there and finding people vulnerable and taking advantage of them. They are sexual predators picking an easy target." The Victorian Centre Against Sexual Assault also said it had anecdotal evidence of "many more" rapes occurring in licensed venues. Reported cases included a woman in her 40s raped in a Prahran nightclub, a mid-20s woman raped in the male toilet of a western suburbs nightclub and a teenager raped in a regional hotel. Drink spiking was suspected in some cases and tests found alcohol was involved in all but two of the rapes. More than half involved drugs. Insp Ridley said the figures did not include instances where people had been followed from a pub or club and raped outside the premises or plied with drugs or alcohol and assaulted elsewhere. He also said the problem was widespread. "You couldn't say it's concentrated in one area geographically, it's spread around Victoria," he said. "People might think it's just a case of people putting drugs in drinks, but it also might be that they're drinking too much alcohol and letting their guard down or someone buying them a drink that has more effect than they expect." CASA spokeswoman Karen Hogan said sex crime was a "huge problem" in pubs and clubs. "We see it every week - repeated rape, attempted rape and sexual assault," she said. A government spokeswoman said a taskforce established to tackle city crime including police, government and liquor licensing would investigate the problem. She said licensees had legal and social obligations to minimise the risk of harm to patrons and their communities. Australian Hoteliers Association Victoria chief Brian Kearney did not respond to inquiries.

Failure to build Victorian dam is shameful neglect

Article from: Herald Sun
Andrew Bolt

"the bungling of Melbourne's water supplies has been one of the most dangerous, expensive and shameful failures of public policy in this state. Melbourne Water's wild excuses just prove how indefensible that failure is."

April 24, 2009 12:00am

It's taken eight years, but I've finally goaded Melbourne Water into trying to defend its disastrous refusal to dam the Mitchell River. We sure can't accuse it of panicking. Melbourne's dams are down to record lows of 28 per cent and draining fast, much as I predicted from 2001, when we still had time and green gardens. Yet only now do these jokers, who have left us so dry, explain why they still won't even consider the one cheap and obvious solution. Mind you, when I say "Melbourne Water" I really mean the "Labor Government", whose orders it takes and for whom it now tries to cover up. But first, the background. Once both this puppet and its Labor master simply ommed away any pleas for a new dam with a green mantra: "New dams do not create any new water. They simply take it from somewhere else -- either from farmers who currently rely on it or from the environment." But who says the "environment" needs that water more than do humans and their gardens? Why put fish before people? Sheer New Age blather. Had this green philosophy ruled in the 1970s, the city would not have built its biggest dam, the Thomson, and we would now have not a drop to drink. But now this green philosophy does apply, which is why we're in the shtook. It's now a quarter of a century -- and a million extra Melburnians -- since the Thomson Dam was built, and with a million more yet to come within the next 20 years you'd wonder which fool couldn't see we'd need more water. Yet not one large new water supply has been found in all that time. Nor, until two years ago, was one even planned. And new dams were simply banned, without study or debate. The Government chose instead to impose bans to cut our per-capita water use by a third, ruining gardens and inconveniencing thousands of citizens. Worse, the two "solutions" it suddenly promised in 2007 to fix a crisis grown too desperate to ignore -- a pipe to steal irrigation water from the Goulburn, and a $3.1 billion desalination plant -- are still at least two years from completion. Worse still, the Essential Services Commission now warns the pipe will in its first years carry much less water than the Government predicted. But even if both these fixes are on time, and do work, fast-growing Melbourne will need yet more water, as even Melbourne Water chairwoman Cheryl Batagol warned last year. And, as other (safely retired) water executives concede, the cheapest and cleanest alternative would be a huge dam on, say, the Mitchell, in Gippsland. Yet Melbourne Water still refuses to even do a comprehensive study on its feasibility, although it admits the dam would cost just $1.35 billion -- less than half the price of the desalination plant, but producing three times the water. But that near-total silence on a Mitchell dam has been broken at last. Melbourne Water has now posted on its website a preposterous defence of the mad ban on a dam on the Mitchell. Let's see if it holds water, so to speak:

EXCUSE 1: "Climate change -- while the Mitchell has flooded recently, investing billions of dollars in another rainfall-dependent water source in the face of rapidly changing climate patterns is very risky." Actually, "risky" is what Melbourne Water did to leave this city so short of water. But relying on dams is not risky if you build enough to tide you over droughts. It's how Melbourne survived. As for the Mitchell, it floods regularly and has three times more flows than the Thomson, which fills our main dam. That's unlikely to change. Even the warming-alarmist CSIRO in 2004 said the river was in a part of Victoria least likely to get less rain -- even if global warming does ever resume.

EXCUSE 2: "Gippsland Lakes -- these lakes . . . to a large extent rely on the Mitchell for their health. They already suffer from blue-green algae outbreaks, so damming the Mitchell River could have serious consequences for the health of the lakes and industries that rely on them." Where's the studies? Why can't a dam's water releases be timed to prevent these blue-algae blooms? Indeed, couldn't a dam's releases stop the blooms that already occur when the river runs naturally low in summer? And what about the industries that will suffer from a lack of dam water? Or the ones -- like irrigation in the Mitchell Valley -- that a dam would help? We need a proper cost-benefit analysis, not these airy claims sucked from an anti-dam zealot's thumb.

EXCUSE 3: "Time -- it could take 10-15 years before a new dam could even be built." So start digging already. Even after the desalination plant comes on line, we'll need more water for the million more Melburnians the Government expects by 2030 alone. Why wait?

EXCUSE 4: "Other considerations include the farms and towns that would be flooded . . ." A problem, but no deal-breaker. Much of the site was a dam reservation until recently. The only two towns that would be affected -- Dargo and Tabberabbera -- are so small that we'd need to compensate just some 200 to 300 people at most, including children.

EXCUSE 5: "The Mitchell itself has Heritage River status and is Victoria's last, largely untouched major river." Wait! Excuse 4 was that the site was so full of people it couldn't be flooded. Now it's an "untouched" wilderness. Someone's playing games -- just as the Government did in turning the Mitchell dam reservation into a national park, and then passing heritage river laws just to be sure humans would never drink this water. No, the bungling of Melbourne's water supplies has been one of the most dangerous, expensive and shameful failures of public policy in this state. Melbourne Water's wild excuses just prove how indefensible that failure is.

Drunken hoon's sentence halved for running down sisters

Article from: Herald Sun
Elissa Hunt

April 22, 2009 12:00am

A DEVASTATED family torn apart by a hoon driver has branded the justice system weak for cutting the man's sentence to just 5-1/2 years behind bars. A drunk Brett Douglas Franklin was doing burnouts and fishtailing along a Korumburra street when he ploughed into Glenda Thomson, 49, and her sister Michelle Hurst, 47, killing both as they walked home with relatives from a party in 2006. Franklin, 28, had been at the party and was so drunk that other revellers begged him not to drive. But he ignored them, losing control of his high-powered ute while showing off, then hitting a group of pedestrians. Ms Thomson's daughter Tara Wells-Thomson, 25, is still having treatment almost three years later after both her legs were broken. Franklin was jailed for 11 years and ordered to serve at least seven for two counts of culpable driving causing death and two of negligently causing serious injury last year. Culpable driving carries a 20-year maximum sentence. But the Court of Appeal this week found Franklin's term was too harsh and "crushing". It would have given Franklin "a feeling of helplessness" and destroyed any hope of a useful future, the court said. Chief Justice Marilyn Warren and Justices Robert Redlich and Jack Forrest said killer drivers were often good people who ended up in jail for one foolish mistake. The justices found Franklin's term was excessive. They cut it to nine years and nine months and ordered he serve 5 1/2 years. Ms Thomson's widower, Peter Thomson, said the legal system was "weak" and the sentence sent the wrong message to road users. He said the court hearings were all about Franklin and his future, not the two people who had been killed and his daughter who had been left with lasting injuries. "What about Glenda, Michelle and Tara? No one's speaking for them," he said. Instead of wanting revenge, the Thomson family are sharing their tragic story with local school kids to show how irresponsible driving can ruin lives. "Anger and revenge just burn you up," Mr Thomson said. "I don't chalk it up to hate towards him. I just want something good to come from it, to save a few lives." He and Ms Wells-Thomson are campaigning for better education for young drivers through their Roadsafe Attitude website. They also want designated tracks where would-be hoons can let loose without hurting anyone. Franklin, of Leongatha, was three times the legal limit that night. He had previously lost his licence for speeding.

Attorney General Rob Hulls won't be drawn on gran-basher case

THE Attorney General admits judges have been known to get it wrong but refused to be drawn on the sentence handed to a gran-basher yesterday. Rachel Williams, 91, was brutally bashed in her bed by John Andrew Kelsen, who had broken into her Broadmeadows home for the sixth time. She died a month later as Kelsen continued to break into the homes of elderly people in the area. Yesterday, Kelsen was sentenced to a minimum of eight years in jail. Speaking today, Attorney General and Deputy Premier Rob Hulls refused to comment on the victim's family's demand for a review of the justice system. “I don’t adhere to the view that politicians should be the judges, juries and sentencers,” Mr Hulls said. “Independent judiciary is the cornerstone of democracy.” Mr Hulls said the hardest part of a judge’s job is sentencing and from time to time they do get it wrong. Victorian courts on average hand down about 90,000 sentences a year, but Mr Hulls said only a small number of these sentences are ever appealed. Rachel's family say the jail term for her attacker is not enough. "I was looking at 10 to 12 (years), but . . . that's the system," daughter Peta Gent said outside court yesterday. "I just hope to hell he doesn't want to appeal." Ms Gent said her mother would have been looking down on yesterday's hearing. "She will be watching over this and saying, 'We've got the bastard'," she said. Kelsen, 31, breached a suspended sentence by repeatedly breaking into homes to steal food and cash. While police hunted for Mrs Williams' attacker, Kelsen appeared in court on charges of theft, burglary and possessing the proceeds of crime. He walked free with a 12-month suspended jail term and within days was back at it. He committed a further 20 offences on four properties, leaving another elderly woman too scared to live in her home. The County Court heard Kelsen was tracked to a park in Jacana in May last year where he was living under bushes. Kelsen admitted bashing Mrs Williams on August 13, 2007, because he panicked after she stirred in her sleep, the court heard. Fearing she would identify him, he used a wooden object to hit her on the head at least four times, leaving her curled up on her bed. Mrs Williams was taken to hospital suffering a heart attack, a deep cut to her head and extensive bruising. She died a month later but there was not enough evidence to link the assault and her death to charge Kelsen with murder or manslaughter. Mrs Gent said Kelsen showed no remorse and she had hoped the sheer number of offences would attract a higher sentence of up to 12 years. "That's where the system needs to have a good look at it," she said. "The amount of cases that are up against him. I mean, God almighty, you get worse for drink driving. "There was nothing in his face to say, 'I am sorry'." Kelsen pleaded guilty to 32 charges including intentionally causing serious injury and aggravated burglary. The court was told he grew up in a violent household and at 11 lived on the streets for a time. It previously heard he was a loner who shunned welfare support because he mistrusted people. Judge Rachel Lewitan said although Kelsen had a personality disorder he would have been able to recognise right from wrong. She said his prior convictions left her concerned about his prospects for rehabilitation. "The facts in this case are very serious and disturbing," Judge Lewitan said. "Burglaries committed on private homes destroy people's personal security and erode their capacity to feel safe in their own homes. "The victims were elderly and vulnerable and experienced strong feelings of fear and violation." Ms Williams' oldest surviving sister, Kathleen Morris, said she believed Kelsen was a "product of society". "I'd like to see him turn his life around and become a decent, productive member of society," she said. Judge Lewitan set an 11-year maximum term for Kelsen, saying she took into account his co-operation with police and his guilty plea.

Article from: Herald Sun, Stephen McMahon, Katie Bice. April 02, 2009

Rudd policies prove harsh for illegal immigrants

Australia now has a people smuggling problem again, thanks to the stupidity of the Rudd Labor government..

Andrew Bolt

Herald Sun News. April 17, 2009

JOHN Howard was called cruel for his Pacific Solution. But at least no one died. At least three boat people now dead. So how much "kinder" do Kevin Rudd's policies seem now? John Howard was supposed to be the cruel one, said Labor. It was Howard when Prime Minister who put in the Pacific Solution, whisking illegal boat people to Nauru, rather than land them here. Too harsh, said Kevin Rudd, and scrapped it. It was Howard who cut the legal circus that allowed illegal immigrants to play the system for years, until we gave up trying to deport them. Too harsh, said Rudd, and laid on lawyers. It was Howard who cut the lure of benefits and then imposed on illegal immigrants the imminent threat of return. Too harsh, said Rudd, and scrapped the Temporary Protection Visas, giving all illegal immigrants -- including well-heeled ones fleeing no particular danger -- instant access to permanent residency with all the tempting benefits and rights. Too harsh, said Rudd. And enlightened opinion cheered. Now we were nice. Really? So how nice is it to have now lured at least three people to their deaths? To have not one child overboard -- oh, what a confected scandal that was -- but a whole boatload of 49? Yes, indeed. This is a "people overboard" scandal, but for real this time. The Rudd Government tried at first to deny and dodge, but West Australian Premier Colin Barnett let the mangy cat out of the bag -- Defence sources had told him the explosion was caused when the boat people spread petrol around their vessel, clearly to prevent being turned away. Here's now what critics of "cruel" Howard so conveniently and willfully forgot or overlooked. Howard's "cruel" policies saved lives. While Rudd's "kind" ones now kill. Howard stopped the illegal people smuggling almost instantly from the introduction in 2001 of his Pacific Solution. Boat arrivals went from 54 in 2000-01 to none in 2002-03. There was only one boat arrival in the two years after that, and just three in the year before Rudd's election. But now? The boat that blew up yesterday was the sixth to arrive this year -- and the fourth in just a fortnight. It's also the 13th since September, when the Rudd Government announced its latest measures to soften our treatment of refugees. This short year already, we've had 276 boat people arrive, compared with just 179 in all of last year. But it wasn't just the illegal immigrants that Howard stopped -- people rich enough to pay perhaps $10,000 a head to get here, and choosy enough to pass through several safe countries before settling on ours. Howard also stopped the deaths -- the drowning at sea of people drawn to our wealth, peace and too-easy welcome. Hundreds had died before he acted, most notoriously in the foundering of the SIEV X just off Indonesia's coast. A whole conspiracy over that sinking was built that falsely suggested Howard had blood on his hands, refusing to let the navy rescue the drowning. The Melbourne Theatre Company even commissioned a play showing a character clearly meant to be Treasurer Peter Costello letting the SIEV X passengers drown. But if politicians must be blamed for boat people dying, then blame Rudd rather than Howard. It's still unfair, yes, but far, far more justified. RUDD and his ministers have tried to insist the sudden rise in arrivals has nothing to do with them going soft. It's Afghans fleeing a country gone bad, they claim, as if Afghanistan hasn't been a basket case for years. But Steve Cook, chief of mission for the International Organisation for Migration in Indonesia, had warned already in December: "People smugglers have clearly noted that there has been a change in policy and they're testing the envelope. "Up until about a year ago there was very little people-smuggling activity. Over the last year there's been a considerable up-kick. There are rumours of a lot of organising going on." And it was already clear that tragedy was just one boat away. As I wrote at the time: "Howard's 'inhuman' policies stopped not just the people smugglers but the deaths at sea. If some of these boats lured here by Kevin Rudd now sink, how truly 'kinder' is he?" Ask the moralisers now. But good news. Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus at last admitted yesterday that laws against people smuggling must be toughened, after all. But here's the sick joke. It's Indonesia's laws that are too soft, he claims, not our own. "We are in negotiation . . . and have been for some time with the Indonesians," he burbled. "We are hopeful that they will change a number of their laws, particularly the laws that affect people smuggling directly." A farce. Pardon if Kevin Andrews, the former Howard Government Immigration Minister so reviled as vicious by Labor and the media, now allows himself a smile. "Labor's response shows how different it is to govern than criticise," he said yesterday. And how different is seeming good from actually achieving it.