Meanwhile, in the West Island....

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

John Key visits Oz to meet-up with his latest love (now that RITCHIE is no longer available)....

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Washington Post....

In an Australian state, aboriginal kids 53 times
more likely to be in jail than others

By A. ODYSSEUS PATRICK | Saturday, March 05, 2016


Aboriginal protesters hold banners and chant slogans during a protest outside a government office building in Sydney, Australia, on July 6th, 2015.
 — Photograph: David Gray/Reuters.

SYDNEY — An 11-year-old boy charged with murder has come to epitomize Australia's great shame: the plight of its aboriginal citizens, who may be the most jailed people in the Western world.

The boy is one of the youngest people to be charged with murder in Australia. He was part of a gang of seven or eight — boys, teenagers and young men — who roamed the remote city of Perth late into the night on Australia's national day, January 26th.

Equivalent to Independence Day in the United States, Australia Day has been dubbed “Invasion Day” by some aborigines who resent the colonization of their lands by the English starting in 1788.

About 3 a.m., the boy's gang got into a fist fight with another group in the city's downtown. But some of the gang members were armed with wooden stakes, screwdrivers, glass bottles and metal fence pickets, and they chased 26-year-old Patrick Slater into an alcove of a tram stop. Slater, also an aboriginal, was left bleeding from fatal wounds to his head, chest and leg.

The 11-year-old, who cannot be named under Australian law, was arrested nine days later.

The nature of the death horrified Perth, an affluent city of 1.8 million known for its laid-back bars, balmy evenings and beautiful beaches overlooking the Indian Ocean. Beneath the surface, though, the state of Western Australia, of which Perth is the capital, has always been a tough place to grow up aboriginal.

Despite a century of mostly well-intentioned policy, experts say, more aborigines than ever are going to prison. “They are the most imprisoned people in the world,” said Harry Blagg, a professor of criminology at the University of Western Australia who specializes in aboriginal policy, in an interview.

Aboriginal children in Western Australia are 53 times more likely to be jailed than other Australians, according to the Change the Record Coalition, which is trying to reduce incarceration rates for aborigines. Eighty percent of children in state detention in Western Australia are aboriginal, even though aborigines make up about 4.5 percent of the state's juvenile population, according to the state government.

A high proportion of aboriginal children do poorly in school, and their truancy rates are high. Many live in squalor, in communities where alcoholism and drug taking are rife and where domestic violence occurs daily.

Parental authority has broken down in many families. Parents' expectations for their children's professional prospects are close to zero, a standard that many aboriginal children find it depressingly easy to meet, community leaders say.

“If aboriginal families can be given stronger structures to provide better support, then hopefully that will be an answer,” said Jackie Huggins, the co-chair of the Change the Record Coalition. “Strong families is what's needed. Hopefully, we can bring this back within a generation.”

Some legal experts and aboriginal leaders, including Huggins, say they think the 11-year-old is too young to be charged with a serious offense such as murder. In Australia, the age of criminal responsibility is 10.

That is low by international standards — the global average was calculated at 12 by criminologist Don Cipriani in 2009. In the United States, 33 states have no minimum age for criminal responsibility, according to the Child Rights International Network, an advocacy group. In the other states, the age varies from as low as 7 in North Carolina to as high as 10 in Wisconsin.

At the boy’s first court appearance, the prosecutor revealed that at the time of the killing, he was out on bail after being charged with threatening and robbing a man of 50 Australian dollars (US$35) in October. A newspaper published a Facebook photo of him holding up a fistful of hundred-dollar bills and making what looked like a gang symbol.

Australia's only aboriginal federal minister, Ken Wyatt, has known the boy's family for many years and recently met with members of Slater's family. Wyatt, who is a deputy health minister, said that he thinks some of the media coverage has been inflammatory and that information could emerge in a trial that might blunt some of the public anger toward the boy.

“I suspect that if he was caught up in this melee, then you could suppose … when you are caught up in the events that happened, then sometimes fully rational thinking doesn't prevail,” Wyatt said in an interview.

The boy's lawyer, Helen Prince, did not respond to an email and phone call. She told the court the boy's parents were at a hospital with a dying relative and had left their son under the supervision of a sister and aunt on the day of the death. He attended school one day in four on average, she said, and his teachers had described him as a “lovely young man” and a “gentle and sensitive boy who had a positive outlook and a genuine desire to please.”

The victim's family wants the boy to be tried as an adult, which could lead to a custodial sentence of decades instead of the four to five years that would be more likely if he were found guilty as a child.

At the court hearing, the two families were kept in separate rooms. Outside, members of Slater's family threatened to kill the boy. One of Slater's cousins, Vanessa Brockman, said: “From one aboriginal family to another, there is no excuse.”

A magistrate decided to keep the boy in jail until it becomes clearer where he would live if granted bail again.

The state's prisons minister, Joe Francis, has made it his personal mission to cut the number of aboriginal children in custody by finding alternative forms of punishment and rehabilitation. During the past 2½ years, the number has fallen to 130 from 220, he said in an interview, and an innovative project pays a prominent aboriginal elder if he can help young offenders stay out of trouble.

But Francis said that some children, regardless of their race, are dangerous and must be locked up. “Just because you are 11 doesn't mean you can't take a life,” he said.

__________________________________________________________________________

Related stories:

 • Top Vatican cardinal grilled about clerical sex abuse that rocked Australia

 • Jehovah's Witnesses face child sexual-abuse investigation in Australia

 • Ted Cruz's claim that Australian gun control spurred sexual assaults

 • Did Canada commit a ‘cultural genocide’?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-australian-state-aboriginal-kids-53-times-more-likely-to-be-in-jail-than-others/2016/03/05/210dadc4-e15a-11e5-8c00-8aa03741dced_story.html

[nitpicker1]

with vid


Former prime minister John Howard urged Tony Abbott to get rid of his chief of staff Peta Credlin

March 11, 20167:07am
Staff Writers,News Corp Australia Network

FORMER prime minister John Howard has confirmed he urged Tony Abbott to remove Peta Credlin as his chief of staff and Joe Hockey as his treasurer.

Howard’s confirmation came in an exclusive one-hour interview with Sky News Australia’s Political Editor David Speers tonight.

Howard denied claims that he had a falling out with Abbott, but did say they did disagree on occasion.

“I did give him advice on two personnel issues,” Howard said.

“(Credlin) was one of them and also the treasurer, I did offer that ...

“But I’m not hanging around trying to give daily advice.”

He also said he felt for Abbott, who was humiliated by being removed after winning an election. But he called on other members of the party to “stop raking over old coals” and “focus on the main game which is the coalition is re-elected”.

“The people who have the authority to make the decision, they’re not going to reverse the decision,” he said.

During the one hour interview, Howard also said the public is “demanding too much” from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and urged them to “give him a go”. ...

read the rest at
http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/former-prime-minister-john-howard-urged-tony-abbott-to-get-rid-of-his-chief-of-staff-peta-credlin/news-story/6e078d193dbd6e6eabb0a36780f890d0

[nitpicker1]

ANZ Bank sued over alleged misconduct
Date
March 13, 2016 - 1:18AM
Chris Vedelago, Cameron Houston


Tanya Hutchins hadn't worked in eight years when she walked into an ANZ branch in mid-2010. But she left with an $800,000 loan, and now she stands to lose her home.
Ms Hutchins was receiving Centrelink payments at the time, but ANZ records say she was a successful businesswoman earning $180,000 a year with a million-dollar property portfolio. She and her husband, Laurie Rounds, say bank employees deliberately ensnared her in a loan she could not afford.
In a lawsuit filed in the County Court, the couple claim the saga began after a meeting at the Elsternwick Hotel in 2010, where they were encouraged to invest in an off-the-plan apartment project in Caulfield East.
Property developer Charles "Chas" Sheridan Dale and consultant Shady Elmahmoud allegedly arranged a meeting for the couple with an ANZ lending officer to arrange a $300,00 loan to purchase two apartments.  The couple was told the units were supposed to double in value.

Read the rest
http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/anz-bank-sued-over-alleged-misconduct-20160305-gnbcgh.html

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[nitpicker1]

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/why-arthur-sinodinos-fails-the-pub-test-20160325-gnr0vo.html

who is arthur Sinodinas    ? go goog

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

(click on the picture to read the news story)

[nitpicker1]

Brent McIntyre hitchhikes from Perth to Sydney...starting nude


Last updated 15:53, May 22

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/80257194/Brent-McIntyre-hitchhikes-from-Perth-to-Sydney-starting-nude





[nitpicker1]

Bats invade Aussie seaside town
Home » News » Australia
Wed, 25 May 2016
News: Australia
 
More than 100,000 bats have descended on the New South Wales holiday town of Batemans Bay with one local politician declaring it a disaster after residents were hit with a wave of dirt and destruction.

The noisy bats, commonly known as flying foxes, have caused power outages, kept tourists away and hit property prices in the south coast town, according to Australia's Seven News.

"Well, I think it's a natural disaster. It's a disaster for residents, it's a disaster for the flora and fauna," said local MP Andrew Constance.

The bats, a protected species that cannot be culled, set up a colony in the town years ago but numbers have multiplied over time, media said. 


Read the rest at
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/australia/384544/bats-invade-aussie-seaside-town

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[nitpicker1]

...Intense storms continue to slam Sydney and the Illawarra on Sunday, a day after the rain and wind belted Queensland and northern NSW.

New Zealander Kate Messervy, who has been living in Sydney for 15 years, said the situation was quite bad.

READ MORE: Sydney hit by 'very dangerous' weather


"Visibility is very bad and there are sections of inner city roads completely under water. I went in to work this morning to deal with storm damage and leaks in the roof," she said.

The storm has brought down trees, including on that crushed a car across the road from Messervey's home in the Sydney suburb of Annandale.

Messervy sent a photo of the carnage back home to family in New Zealand, who thought it was "crazy".
Emergency services have received almost 5500 calls for help and the State Emergency Service NSW has performed 105 flood rescues, half of which involve stranded motorists.

One woman has been charged with drink-driving after she was rescued from flood waters in the Illawarra region, police say.

Emergency Services Minister David Elliott has warned people not to take the risk.
"You wouldn't walk into a bushfire so why would you drive into floodwaters?" he asked reporters in Sydney.

More than 28,500 homes and businesses remain without power, according to energy networks Ausgrid and Endeavour.

Ausgrid workers are facing strong winds and fallen trees across the network as they work to restore power, a spokesperson said in a statement.


Red the rest see pics and vids at
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/80757337/storm-pummels-new-south-wales-floods-five-river-systems



Meanwhile there seems to be something nasty looming on our horizon

It's called winter

😖

[nitpicker1]

Bats invade Aussie seaside town
Home » News » Australia
Wed, 25 May 2016
News: Australia
 
More than 100,000 bats have descended on the New South Wales holiday town of Batemans Bay with one local politician declaring it a disaster after residents were hit with a wave of dirt and destruction.

The noisy bats, commonly known as flying foxes, have caused power outages, kept tourists away and hit property prices in the south coast town, according to Australia's Seven News.

"Well, I think it's a natural disaster. It's a disaster for residents, it's a disaster for the flora and fauna," said local MP Andrew Constance.

The bats, a protected species that cannot be culled, set up a colony in the town years ago but numbers have multiplied over time, media said. 


Read the rest at
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/world/australia/384544/bats-invade-aussie-seaside-town

Millions of bats mysteriously vanish overnight in Australia
TONY MOORE
Last updated 07:07, June 6 2016
The bats on the east coast of Australia have left some of their largest colonies, opening the door on one of the biggest mysteries in the world of nature.

That means towns and forests in southeast Queensland are about to suddenly find they are host to anywhere between 15,000 and 500,000 bats feeding on newly-flowering eucalypts.

This change is linked to Australia's drying and warming temperature, one of Australia's leading bat researchers says. ...

Read the rest at

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/80771780/Millions-of-bats-mysteriously-vanish-overnight-in-Australia

?

[nitpicker1]

Three dead, houses destroyed as king tide, wild weather lash Australia's east coast  video

Last updated 04:49, June 7 2016


At least three people are dead and several houses have been destroyed as a storm hammers eastern Australia, with a king tide causing major damage to coastal areas in Sydney.

Seven homes at Collaroy in northern Sydney were "gone" and a beachfront block of units was under threat from severe erosion.

The worst damage was expected between 8-11pm on Monday (10pm-1am NZ time) as big waves and a king tide encroached on homes. ...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/80779997/man-drowns-as-car-is-swept-away-by-floods-in-nsw