Thursday, 28 March 2002
Tuesday, 26 March 2002
Monday, 25 March 2002
Teen crime taken by force, The Australian, 25 March, 2002.
Teen crime taken by force: [1 Edition]
Martin Chulov, John Stapleton. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 25 Mar 2002: 4.
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Alleged incidents causing concern include the firebombing of a deputy principal's car, a student bringing a 9mm handgun to school and the alleged recruitment of students into a Red Dragon gang, one of several offshoots of the notorious 5T crime group.
Twelve months ago former detective Tim Priest told the NSW Parliament gangs had infiltrated southwestern Sydney schools. There are new claims that local high schools are being held to ransom by gangs.
THE NSW Government has been forced to establish a taskforce on gang and teenage-related violence in schools after a string of scandals, particularly in Sydney's southwest.
NSW Police Minister Michael Costa said yesterday the taskforce would bring together education officials and the police.
Alleged incidents causing concern include the firebombing of a deputy principal's car, a student bringing a 9mm handgun to school and the alleged recruitment of students into a Red Dragon gang, one of several offshoots of the notorious 5T crime group.
At Cabramatta, a centre for heroin supply in Sydney, four out of five students were born overseas. There had long been concern that students were being recruited to sell the drugs on the streets because they were less likely to be busted by police and more likely to receive lenient sentences if they were.
Twelve months ago former detective Tim Priest told the NSW Parliament gangs had infiltrated southwestern Sydney schools. There are new claims that local high schools are being held to ransom by gangs.
Last week, disillusioned and bitter after the appointment of Cabramatta's local Labor member for parliament, Reba Meagher, over his head, Mr Priest quit his new government adviser's job.
Mr Costa conceded yesterday that Mr Priest's advice was prescient.
Asked whether the spectre of gangs in schools had been raised before and ignored by the Government, Mr Costa said: "You'll have to ask my predecessor about that."
He said he had only become aware of the problem in the past fortnight.
Illustration
Caption: Hard lines: Mr Costa, right, and Deputy Commissioner Dave Madden discuss strategy; Linsday Moller; Photo: Photo
Friday, 22 March 2002
Monday, 18 March 2002
Priests make sex confessions, The Australian, 18 March, 2002
Priests make sex confessions: [2 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 18 Mar 2002: 3.
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The study by Anthony Cumming, a priest and psychologist, surveyed 93 male clergy from two Australian metropolitan dioceses.
A THIRD of all Anglican priests believe they have engaged in sexual behaviour inappropriate for a minister, according to a study on clergy stress.
The study by Anthony Cumming, a priest and psychologist, surveyed 93 male clergy from two Australian metropolitan dioceses.
It found about 25 per cent of priests suffered significant stress, causing anxiety, depression, fatigue and confusion.
Wednesday, 13 March 2002
Fight against intolerance the theme of Kirby's life, The Australian, 13 March, 2002.
Fight against intolerance the theme of Kirby's life: [2 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 13 Mar 2002: 2.
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JUSTICE Michael Kirby, who will turn 63 on Monday, is an Australian judge with a reputation for activism.
In an unprecedented move last year, John Howard condemned Justice Kirby for intervening in the debate over public versus private school funding.
Justice Kirby raised many eyebrows when in 1998 he "outed" himself by listing his partner of more than 30 years, Johan van Vloten, in Who's Who in Australia.
JUSTICE Michael Kirby, who will turn 63 on Monday, is an Australian judge with a reputation for activism.
To the consternation of some, he regularly speaks out on the two major issues close to his heart: gay law reform and public education.
In an unprecedented move last year, John Howard condemned Justice Kirby for intervening in the debate over public versus private school funding.
Justice Kirby is understood to be the longest-serving judge in Australia.
He had already held judicial office for 20 years when appointed to the High Court in 1996.
Rising from working-class origins to become one of the most senior judicial figures in Australia, the constant themes of his life's work have been international human rights, the complexities of human sexual experience and the battle against intolerance.
In a recent book of essays Through the World's Eyes, he recalled the days when it never occurred to anyone that homosexuals would also enjoy human rights.
Justice Kirby raised many eyebrows when in 1998 he "outed" himself by listing his partner of more than 30 years, Johan van Vloten, in Who's Who in Australia.
He told The Australian he viewed his "self-outing" as a moral obligation.
"I think judges should be honest," he said. "It's not easy for everybody to do what I did because many people live in a world where there is still real prejudice and discrimination against them, when their jobs would be on the line, where they would suffer attacks in their family and in their social circumstances.
"But I feel that, in part, if I had remained silent I would have been conspiring in my own belittlement, and I was not willing to do that."
Justice Kirby said one of the reasons he made his homosexuality public was for the benefit of young Australians either who may be homosexual or who needed to know that there were homosexual people in all walks of life.
He said: "We've reached a point in time, spurred on by science and by our knowledge of the variety of human sexuality, that we are not willing any more to go along with our own denigration."
Monday, 11 March 2002
Friday, 8 March 2002
Producers hope for rural policy shift, The Australian, 8 March, 2002.
Producers hope for rural policy shift: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 08 Mar 2002: 2.
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"If the approach [John Anderson] has outlined was adopted, it would unleash an era of co-operation and volunteerism from farmers that would significantly and rapidly improve the sustainability of natural resource management in Australia," he said. "JohnAnderson's statements today are the best news farmers have had for decades from governments on environmental policy. Mr Anderson has highlighted the inequity and ineffectiveness of government environmental policies that simply rely on regulation, with no consideration of the social and economic costs to regional communities."
Queensland Farmers Federation executive director Brianna Casey echoed NSW Farmers, and said Mr Anderson's approach was a fundamental shift forward in management of natural resources.
PHIL Gentle points to the salt scalds starting to show on his country near Northam in Western Australia.
The fourth-generation farmer, who grows wheat and runs sheep on his 1800ha property Mannadene, 100km east of Perth, puts it down to the time the land has been cleared, and the rising water table.
"It is not affecting production," he says. "But there are new spots showing. I reckon within five to 10 years those new spots will go out of production. We are fencing off remnant bush so it can regenerate without stock running through it.
"As for sharing the burden around, I think it is a good idea. It is unfair to be left to individual landowners."
Mr Gentle was joined by his agri-political leaders in hailing John Anderson's call for governments to compensate farmers for the cost of city-inspired environmental legislation as a once in lifetime policy shift.
NSW Farmers Association president Mal Peters described the National Party leader's statement on environmental policy as a "once in a generation" policy shift.
Mr Peters said present policies were inequitable for landholders, ineffective in achieving environmental results and economically devastated rural communities.
"If the approach John Anderson has outlined was adopted, it would unleash an era of co-operation and volunteerism from farmers that would significantly and rapidly improve the sustainability of natural resource management in Australia," he said. "JohnAnderson's statements today are the best news farmers have had for decades from governments on environmental policy. Mr Anderson has highlighted the inequity and ineffectiveness of government environmental policies that simply rely on regulation, with no consideration of the social and economic costs to regional communities."
Queensland Farmers Federation executive director Brianna Casey echoed NSW Farmers, and said Mr Anderson's approach was a fundamental shift forward in management of natural resources.
"It is now time to implement the four principles espoused by the Deputy PM -- information, property rights, incentives and partnership. Tree-clearing has been made a political football in Queensland. A commitment such as this may see the end of the game, and we will all come out winners."
National Farmers Federation president Ian Donges called on state governments to work with farmers to achieve fair and equitable solutions to resource management.
"Environmental expectations and legislative changes are undermining the commercial viability of individual farms, eroding their asset base on farm management practices," he said.
Illustration
Caption: Salt of the earth:Mr Gentle walks through remnant and dying bushland on a salt-affected area on his farm near Grass ValleyPicture: Andy Tindall; Photo: Photo
Tuesday, 5 March 2002
Emotions take flight at staff farewell parties, The Australian, 5 March, 2002.
Emotions take flight at staff farewell parties: [2 Edition]
Nicole Strahan, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 05 Mar 2002: 6.
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In Melbourne, amid chants of "Ansett, Ansett, Ansett", hugs to long-time friends and autographing of each others' uniforms, more than 1000 workers farewelled a part of Australian history.
There were similar tearful scenes in Sydney, as hundreds gathered at the Ansett terminal. Shortly after 9pm, as one of the last Ansett flights to leave Sydney taxied on to the tarmac, Ansett workers spontaneously gathered at a balcony overlooking the airport and began singing: "Leaving, on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again."
AMID emotional scenes in both Sydney and Melbourne, Ansett staff partied through the night, saying farewell to the airline they loved and the workmates they had come to regard as family.
In Melbourne, amid chants of "Ansett, Ansett, Ansett", hugs to long-time friends and autographing of each others' uniforms, more than 1000 workers farewelled a part of Australian history.
There were similar tearful scenes in Sydney, as hundreds gathered at the Ansett terminal. Shortly after 9pm, as one of the last Ansett flights to leave Sydney taxied on to the tarmac, Ansett workers spontaneously gathered at a balcony overlooking the airport and began singing: "Leaving, on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again."
In Melbourne, the originally jovial atmosphere gave way to tears as the last flight departed.
Administrator Mark Korda was welcomed at the wake, where staff thanked him for his efforts to save their jobs. "It is the greatest privilege of my career to have worked for the Ansett family," he said. "We got within 48 hours and we are just sorry we did not get there."
Partygoers blamed years of company and government mismanagement. Sally Gardener, who took her 10-month-old son to the party in Sydney, said: "Ansett staff feel like they have been let down by everybody." Another partygoer, an unnamed trainee pilot, said: "It is absolutely disgusting what has happened. TheGovernment never wanted Ansett to succeed. All roads lead to the Government."
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