An Australian news roundup



Stay away! "Germaine Greer wants to call Australia home again. One of Australia's most famous expatriates, Professor Greer has spent two-thirds of her life in Britain and has for years been a vocal critic of Australia. But she still regards it as "the best country in the world". The Melbourne-born academic keeps a foothold in her homeland with a rainforest property at Natural Arch in the Gold Coast hinterland and wants to see out her days there. I don't expect to die in Britain," the 67-year-old said yesterday. "The thought of dying in Britain makes me feel very sad. And I guess one of these days I will come back (to Australia) for good." Professor Greer, whose 1970 tome The Female Eunuch made her internationally famous and boosted the feminist movement, said she only remained in Britain for the money... Professor Greer said even though she had spent so much of her life in Britain, Australia had been the major influence on her. "I would say that I owe everything about me to Australia . . . everything," she said at an International Women's Day function on the Gold Coast."






Left admits to no clue about blacks: "Federal Labor has announced a major policy shift after admitting its policies have consistently failed indigenous Australians. Opposition indigenous affairs spokesman Chris Evans today said the health, education and employment of indigenous Australians did not improve during 13 years of Labor rule. Nor had those key indicators improved under a decade of the Howard Government, he said. While inroads had been made in the areas of basic rights for indigenous Australians, Labor had decided a shift was necessary to pursue policies that would deliver results in those three key areas. "Despite all the debate, despite all the ideological argy bargy, we are not actually doing anything that seriously impacts positively in indigenous lives and I think we need to be held accountable for that," Senator Evans said.






A good start -- the hip-pocket: "Aboriginal parents who do not send their children to school will be punished under a radical welfare experiment to be trialled in remote communities. The proposal, put forward by indigenous leader Noel Pearson and designed to cut truancy rates and get Aborigines off the dole, will also test whether people should receive incentive payments for good behaviour. Under the scheme, which will create a unique welfare system for four communities on Cape York in far north Queensland, young people who fail to look for work or study will also face reduced dole payments. The Prime Minister's Department has begun drafting a proposal to implement the trial, applying different rules on welfare in an effort to break indigenous welfare dependence and end the cycle of poverty".






More rapes by Muslims: "Two Brisbane brothers already convicted this year of a brutal rape yesterday pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court to a second vicious attack on a teenager. Afsheen Kashef Hussien, 26, and Azhar Zuhayr Hussien, 21, had pleaded not guilty in January to raping the 19-year-old, but yesterday changed their plea after learning their two accomplices would testify against them at trial. The Hussien brothers were each convicted on their own confessions of one count of deprivation of liberty and 10 counts of rape, arising from the attack on February 13, 2005. Afsheen was also convicted of one count of stealing. Earlier this week, brothers Zaak Imitiaz Ali, 22, and Zane Iftiaz Ali, 23, were sentenced to 8« years' jail after pleading guilty to the same offences, and were declared serious violent offenders. Their sentences were reduced during closed court proceedings - subsequently made public yesterday - by Judge Warren Howell, because the men identified the Hussien brothers to police and were expected to give evidence against them at a trial set down for May.... Crown prosecutor Michael Byrne yesterday submitted the Hussien brothers were the main protagonists in "calculated and predatory" attacks and should be sentenced to 17 years' jail. A serious violent offence declaration - requiring them to serve 80 per cent of their sentence - would be automatic for a term of more than 10 years' jail".







Papuans tortured by Muslim Indonesians: "A US State Department report alleging torture and intimidation by Indonesian security forces against Papuan separatists may add weight to the case of 43 Papuan boatpeople seeking asylum in Australia. The US report on human rights in Indonesia said abuses had decreased in the past year, but there were still serious problems in Papua province, where separatists have struggled against Jakarta's rule for decades. Widespread intimidation was occurring even though the military estimated there were only 620 guerillas belonging to the Free Papua Movement, or OPM, armed with only about 150 weapons among them, the report said. The use of torture to obtain confessions from suspects was most apparent in Papua and Aceh, where rebels have concluded a peace deal with the Indonesian Government. "Torture was sometimes used to obtain confessions, punish suspects and seek information that incriminated others in criminal activity," the report said. "Torture used included random beatings, bitings, whippings, slashings and burnings." The report said the Papua Legal Aid Foundation and national rights watchdog Komnas HAM had reported 35 cases of torture by security forces in Papua during the year."






Muslim community protects its thugs: Police have received "little or no information" from the Middle Eastern community in finding men who carried out reprisal attacks after the Cronulla riots. Their comment comes after half the 20 suspected rioters whose photos were splashed across the media yesterday were identified and at least three men were charged. Two fathers called detectives from Strike Force Enoggera, set up to investigate the Cronulla race riot and revenge attacks, to report their sons after seeing images on television and in newspapers. At least five of the 20 suspected Caucasian rioters came forward voluntarily, said the head of Enoggera, Detective Superintendent Ken McKay. The rest of the 10 were identified by members of the public and would be pursued, he said. Superintendent McKay said it was pleasing that detectives had received "numerous phone calls from people saying that is so-and-so" after seeing the photos, but that he had received "little or no information" about revenge attackers of Middle Eastern extraction seen in two grainy videos. The Police Minister, Carl Scully, yesterday accused "Middle Eastern Australians" of harbouring "grubs" who "should be in jail".

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