How many police are assigned to the NSW North Coast?

When individuals on the NSW North Coast become dissatisfied as a result of their interactions with police, they often point to perceived low police numbers in their area as one of the reasons for any failings with regard to law enforcement.

Excerpts from the MINISTERIAL AUDIT OF THE NSW POLICE FORCE: Version 2 – October 2011 below appear to indicate that, although authorised and actual local police numbers compare favourably with other regional areas, these numbers are disproportionally impacted by the level of sick leave occurring across North Coast area commands.

At the beginning of the 2011-12 financial year the combined personnel shortfall in these northern commands totalled 145 officers, with 172 officers being on long-term sick leave for 45 days out of the previous 60 days.

Northern Region Local Area Command Strength Figures at 31 July 2011:

Coffs/Clarence Authorised 193 Actual 194 Operational 153 Variance –40

Mid North Coast Authorised 174 Actual 171 Operational 141 Variance –33  

Richmond Authorised 197 Actual 196 Operational 165

Variance – 32

Tweed/Byron Authorised 172 Actual 171 Operational 132 Variance -40  

  

Long term sick (LTS) does not impact on LACs in the Central Metropolitan Region as it does on the country Regions. The LAC with the highest number of staff not available due to LTS is Sutherland with 5 - compare this with Newcastle City (33) & Tweed/Byron (15) - Northern Region; Wollongong (21) & Lake Illawarra (16) - Southern Region; and, Oxley (Tamworth)(14) & Chifley (Bathurst)(14) - Western Region.

Northern Region has the highest percentage variance of operational strength versus authorised strength of the six Regions

 The most occurring category for unavailability is Long Term Sick

 172 officers in the Region as at 31.6.2011 had been recorded as having been off duty on Long Term Sick 45 days out of the previous 60 days

 124 officers in the Region were unavailable due to having been placed on "restricted duties‟ - this includes permanently restricted (37); temporary

restricted (65); pregnancy-related protocols (21); and, disciplinary (1)

 46 officers were officially classified as "Medically Overstrength‟ (awaiting discharge)

In Northern NSW the top five LACs for Long Term Sick are - Newcastle (33); Tweed/Byron (15); Richmond (14); Coffs/Clarence (12) and, Mid-North Coast and Port Stephens (Both 11).

On the subject of verballing - just how stupid does Meeja Tart Abbott and Poodle Pyne think Aussie punters are?

“I’ve been verballed!” cries Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. “He’s been verballed!” cries Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne. “Julia dun it and the police should help us make political capital out of this!” they both yell in the meeja.

So what do we have here as the basis for a politically motivated police investigation into who said what and when?

On Thursday 26^th January 2012 one of the Prime minister’s media advisers was allegedly informed by a journalist of what Abbott said about the Aboriginal Tent Embassy’s relevance and future. It is possible that the journalist expanded on these remarks.

The advisor informed a union official, stating where Abbott was attending an function. The official in turn informed another at the Embassy and also pointed to where Abbott could be found.

People at an Australia Day event at the Embassy reacted and attempted to confront Abbott at The Lobby restaurant shortly afterwards.

Police appear to have been called to the rowdy demonstration at around 2.30pm.

Accepting the dubious proposition that Abbott really was verballed (and leaving aside the possible involvement of his own media advisers), who did this alleged verbally first?

Was it members of the Prime Minister’s staff?

Nah, it was the mainstream meeja that the Leader of the Opposition so assiduously courts– and here’s the visual evidence which was online on the 26^th January beginning at 10.35am with what was probably an item drawn from the the Australian Associated Press news feed:

Snapshot of Perth Now AAP report at 10.35am on 26th January 2012
Click on image to enlarge

Snapshot of Sky News report at 1.03pm 26th Jaunary 2012
Click on image to enlarge

Snapshots of The Telegraph online AAP report at 1.35pm on 26th January 2012
Click on images to enlarge

So before either Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott arrived at the restaurant for the National Emergency Services Medal ceremony, an inflammatory version of Abbott's remarks had been spread across Australia coast to coast - without any help from prime ministerial staff.
And all the Coalition political spin in the world won't change that fact.

* Thanks to Clarencegirl for the snapshots

NSW Police, Steve Cansdell and those intriguing "technical legal issues"

The Daily Examiner 25 January 2012:

POLICE have moved a step closer to laying charges against former Clarence MP Steve Cansdell for falsifying a statutory declaration.

Detective senior sergeant Peter O'Reilly, the officer investigating the matter, said he had sent a brief of evidence to the NSW Police Legal Services section who were working through some "technical legal issues".

He said the case was then likely to go to the Department of Public Prosecutions considering Cansdell's "standing in the community"…...

It is over four months since disgraced former Nationals MP Steve Cansdell admitted breaking the law in order to have a “clean slate” in the lead up to the 2006 state election; the Clarence by-election is over and the new Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis is safely sworn-in.

Now NSW Police raise the possibility of "technical legal issues" further delaying the day Cansdell faces court.

A term which perhaps hints at overlapping jurisdictions because of a complaint/s to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption concerning Steve Cansdell's time in Parliament.

One has to hope that these technical legal issues are genuinely the delaying impediment that has been implied, or NSW Police will lose all credibility and be seen as mere puppets of an O’Farrell Government determined to bury Cansdell's actions under a mountain of spin until time past sees the matter fade from memory.

NSW Police fight to keep mug shots of persons found not guilty by courts and succeed

NSW Police has given us more reason not to fall foul of the law – it intends to keep all those physical and digital copies of mug shots even after people are found not guilty by the courts.

The reason why police get to keep these records forever? Well the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal tells us it's because those lawmakers in Macquarie Street forgot to consider mug shots and surveillance photos when framing LEPRA.

The Tribunal also says; “NSW Police Force is not required to comply with the information protection principles when taking photographs of a person in lawful custody under s 133 of the LEPRA”

LEPRA allows for the destruction of finger and palm prints, but this legislative oversight leaves the way wide open for police to indulge in some petty revenge by keeping people in the database who have no criminal record.

Now I had a wee hunt back in time and discovered that LEPRA was enthusiastically embraced in 2006 by none other than the present NSW Police Minister who said in Parliament that “We want to re-empower police in relation to arrest and research with what is known as LEPRA—the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act.”

So the O’Farrell Government can’t just blame NSW Labor for the current stupidity.

Here’s one recent example of a person having prints destroyed but photos retained by police.

Gulaptis on the campaign trail - but wait, there's more!

The Nationals candidate in the Clarence by-election, Chris Gulaptis, has escaped the reservation again with a message that The Cops are Coming and they will be on the beat by the end of the year.

Now the entire Clarence Valley is aware that ten more police are on their way there and Casino is hoping for three additional probationary constables, but Gulaptis is promising more, more, more!

Do we want 20, 30, 35+ extra officers? Just name the figure and Chris is apparently privately promising to deliver these coppers to our door.

It is almost certain that NSW Premier O’Farrell, Deputy Premier Stoner and Police Minister Gallacher are blissfully unaware of the actual size of the blue army they are expected to march north by Christmas.

Will NSW Nats MP Steve Cansdell take up Lynne Mowbray's challenge?

On Page One of The Daily Examiner on 9 August 2011 one distressed local threw down a gauntlet in front of the Nationals Member for Clarence and Parliamentary Secretary for Police, Steve Candell, who is part of the NSW OFarrell Government:

ON WEDNESDAY afternoon several people at a Maclean car park witnessed an incident involving three people who appeared to be severely affected by alcohol and drugs.....
The two males continued harassing the woman to get back behind the wheel and continue driving as she was the only one who appeared to possess a licence.
It was obvious the two males were agitated. One appeared to be extremely volatile and aggressive and the other reeked of alcohol.
They ended up taking off in the car, driven by the highly intoxicated man and leaving the woman behind.
This incident was reported to the police out of fear these people were a mobile time bomb.
The Maclean police station was unattended at the time and the communication machine on the wall was faulty....
He explained there was no police presence in the Lower Clarence area on that day and an earlier domestic violence matter at Harwood had to be attended by the only available police car, which had to travel from Grafton.
I was in disbelief there was not one officer on duty in the whole of the Maclean, Yamba and Iluka areas.
As the police officer relayed this information to me I couldn't help but flash-back to three years ago when I witnessed a motorist asleep behind the wheel of his car, which was parked in the middle of the road leading into Maclean, at night with the lights off.
After waking him that night he appeared hostile and to be under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. I followed him into town as he drove on the wrong side of the road towards oncoming traffic.
I phoned the police twice, pleading with them to stop him before he killed someone, but I was told there was no police presence in Maclean, as they were called out to Yamba.
There were several other accounts of people being forced off the road as he headed towards his destination.
I remembered the gut-wrenching hopelessness and desperation I felt when the police called me back a short time later and asked me to come into the station the next day to provide details for a coronial inquest into the man's death. He ended-up hitting a tree at Ashby at high speed.
I remember how I sobbed uncontrollably, knowing I did my best to save this man but the “system” let me down.
The lack of police in the area that night not only left me scarred for the rest of my days, but also affected the police who attended that scene, the tow truck operator, the undertaker who attended and the family, neighbours and friends who were left to grieve.
The system let us all down that night.
In his new appointment as Parliamentary Secretary for Police and Emergency Services, I challenge the Member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, to table this editorial in parliament.
The days of talking the talk are gone. It's now time to walk the walk.
Your electorate is lagging in police numbers and it's up to you to not just fight for change, but to deliver it. You have been given the baton and now is your time to run with it.
Give our police the control they need in their own area and enough police officers to staff our stations and reduce the work-related stress of our officers.
I can't help thinking that if we had our police station in Maclean staffed three years ago, that man would still be around today. It grieves me to think that while we play politics it is our community that suffers.
Please end this absurd disregard for our struggling officers and this community's safety and peace of mind.

Who's been stealing my name?

Google Earth snapshot of the fictitious residence of the creator of the suspicious domain names

 Who's been stealing my name?

That will probably be the question on the lips of NSW Police Commissioner Andrew P. Scipione and two North Coast police officers when they find that their given names have been used to create web addresses and/or they are the nominal owners of not one but at least ten Internet domain names.

One of which spectacularly leads to a male escort website homepage graphically displaying photographs of nude torsos and erect genitalia.

These domain names were registered in 2011 and some are now being offered for sale by the 'owners'.

It seems that one particular New South Wales resident has experienced a burst of dubious creative flair at the expense of the state police force.

Some good news for NSW Police after Yamba debacle

On 20 April 2011 The Daily Examiner ran with Yamba riot police inquiry launched which confirmed that the NSW Police Commissioner had instigated an investigation into how the police brief was prepared for use by the public prosecution team.

So it was perhaps fortunate that the day before the NSW Police media unit had released the latest Bureau of Crime Statistics (BOCSAR) figures indicating major categories of crime are at their lowest rate for 20 years.

Comparing 10 main crime categories from 1990 to 2010, BOCSAR has found the murder rate has halved while robbery with a firearm has fallen 66 per cent.

In other trends,

· Motor vehicle theft is down 70 per cent
· Break and enters (non-dwelling) is down 62 per cent
· Break and enters (dwelling) is down 43 per cent
· Robbery with a weapon (not firearm) is down 23 per cent
· Robbery without a weapon is down by five per cent…..

a 14 per cent reduction in assaults in New South Wales in the past two years…..

a 27 per cent reduction in ‘glassings’ in licensed premises during the same period.....

in the 24 months to December 2010, all major categories of crime in New South Wales are either stable or falling.

They include:

· Robbery with a weapon not a firearm: down 11 per cent
· Robbery without a weapon: down 6.9 per cent
· Break and enter (non-dwelling): down 11.4 per cent
· Steal from person: down 10.6 per cent
· Malicious damage to property: down 10.1 per cent
· Motor vehicle theft: down 9.3 per cent
· Steal from motor vehicle: down 4.8 per cent…..

The BOCSAR website is now interactive and you can compile your own statistical sets here for the area in which you live.

Major stuff up by NSW Police a candidate for Ripley's Believe It Or Not

From the pen of The Daily Examiner editor, David Bancroft, on Page 8 of the 12^th April 2011 newspaper issue:

“IT is almost beyond comprehension that no-one has been convicted of anything more serious than a misdemeanour following the Valentine's Day riots in Yamba last year.

It is beyond dispute that a police car, probably worth in excess of $100,000, and another vehicle were set alight and that police from all over the North Coast were pelted with a variety of missiles, including bricks and rocks.

It is conceivable someone could have been asleep in the second car to catch fire, with disastrous consequences.

All this was caught on police video and from the mobile phones of those attending a loud, late night party in the Yamba industrial estate.

Scores of people were there and witnessed the action.

But despite there being enough evidence to keep a trial going for six weeks, no riot convictions were recorded.

In fact, the only charge that stuck was that of failing to comply with a noise abatement order and, because of his previous good record, the occupier of the premises, Craig McNeill, was released on a good behaviour bond. One of the difficulties in prosecuting a case where there are multiple accused is that almost everyone has a different interpretation of what occurred and, in the court's mind, that can be enough to create the reasonable doubt required for acquittal.

This trial has already cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for no result, but that figure could climb substantially higher if those who have now been released (remember some spent months in jail) pursue compensation.”

The Daily Examiner article “Yamba riot accused set free” on Page 1 of the 12^th April 2011 issue:

“In handing down his findings, Mr Andrews questioned why police held a debrief on February 17 before they prepared their statements.

“It is difficult to believe why experienced police officers would undertake a process that would lead to their evidence being criticised by the defence,” he said.

He then went on to question the honesty of police evidence.

“If police are prepared not to be honest in such matters, how can a court be prepared to consider their evidence seriously?” he said.

“There is little doubt that the various police witnesses have collaborated with their evidence.”

The cheque really was in the mail

A Yamba resident fought the law and won on Tuesday when he managed to get his fine for driving his unregistered ute overturned.
Documents tendered to the court proved Mr Y (name changed) had paid his green slip, pink slip and posted a cheque to the RTA with his rego papers on May 31, 2010.
After posting the letter thinking he had renewed his registration, Mr Y flew from Ballina to Bathurst on June 1, to visit his sick mother, and returned on June 8.
When he got home, although he had not received his registration papers from the RTA, Mr Y presumed it had been paid and began moving green waste to the tip in his ute.
Police conducting random breath tests on Yamba Road stopped Mr Y at noon on June 11.
When he passed the breath test, police noticed the vehicle’s registration had expired on June 2.
When police questioned Mr Y about the expired registration he replied: “I posted it to the RTA.”
It turns out the mail was stuck in transit for more than a week at Maclean Post Office, not reaching the RTA until Mr Yintervened.
After checking with his bank, which confirmed his cheque hadn’t been presented, Mr Y phoned Maclean Post Office staff, who said they had his letter.
But they hadn’t put it with the shared mail for the council chambers.
After a 45-minute phone call to the RTA customer service hotline pleading to be transferred to the Maclean RTA, Mr Y finally spoke with a Maclean staff member, agreeing to pick up the letter in their lunch hour and process the payment.
Mr Y hand-delivered it to Yamba police station at 5.45pm that day, thinking the matter was over
That was until he found a $506 infringement notice on his doorstep a couple of days later, which he challenged in court.
The Magistrate found Mr Y had done everything he could to pay the registration and dismissed the infringement notice under Section 10 of the Crimes Act.

Source: The Daily Examiner, 19/2/11

"Torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and widespread": US Ambassador Margaret Scobey in 2009

In the face of wide spread civil unrest Egypt's President Hosni Murbarack has sacked one government and installed another. With the head of the secret police Omar Suleiman now designated Vice-president and uncertainty as to whether Interior Minister Habib El-Adly will be dismissed, this may not bode well for protestors and dissenters in light of this U.S. diplomatic cable 09CAIRO79 sent on 15 January 2009:

C O N F I D E N T I A LCAIRO 000079 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, DRL/NESCA, INL AND INR/NESA NSC FOR PASCUAL AND KUTCHA-HELBLINGE.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2029TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM EG........

¶1. (C) Summary and comment: Police brutality in Egypt against common criminals is routine and pervasive. Contacts describe the police using force to extract confessions from criminals as a daily event, resulting from poor training and understaffing. Brutality against Islamist detainees has reportedly decreased overall, but security forces still resort to torturing Muslim Brotherhood activists who are deemed to pose a political threat. Over the past five years, the government has stopped denying that torture exists, and since late 2007 courts have sentenced approximately 15 police officers to prison terms for torture and killings.

Independent NGOs have criticized GOE-led efforts to provide human rights training for the police as ineffective and lacking political will. The GOE has not yet made a serious effort to transform the police from an instrument of regime power into a public service institution. We want to continue a USG-funded police training program (ref F), and to look for other ways to help the GOE address police brutality. End summary and comment.........

¶2. (C) Torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and widespread. The police use brutal methods mostly against common criminals to extract confessions, but also against demonstrators, certain political prisoners and unfortunate bystanders. One human rights lawyer told us there is evidence of torture in Egypt dating back to the times of the Pharaohs. NGO contacts estimate there are literally hundreds of torture incidents every day in Cairo police stations alone. Egyptians are bombarded with consistent news reports of police brutality, ranging from high profile incidents such as accidental but lethal police shootings in Salamut and Aswan this past fall (refs B and C) that sparked riots, to reports of police officers shooting civilians following disputes over traffic tickets. In November 2008 alone, there were two incidents of off-duty police officers shooting and killing civilians over petty disputes. The cases against both officers are currently making their way through the judicial system.

¶3. (C) NGO and academic contacts from across the political spectrum report witnessing police brutality as part of their daily lives. One academic at XXXXXXXXXXXX told us XXXXXXXXXXXX the police proceeded to beat a female suspect into confessing about others involved in the theft and the whereabouts of the stolen valuables. A contact from an international NGO described witnessing police beat the doorman of an upscale Cairo apartment building into disclosing the apartment number of a suspect. Another contact at a human rights NGO told us that her friends do not report thefts from their apartments because they do not want to subject “all the doormen” in the vicinity to police beatings. She told us that the police’s use of force has pervaded Egyptian culture to the extent that one popular television soap opera recently featured a police detective hero who beats up suspects to collect evidence.

¶4. (C) Contacts attribute police brutality to poor training, understaffing and official sanction. Human rights lawyer XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX speculated that officers routinely resort to brutality because of pressure from their superiors to solve crimes. He asserted that most officers think solving crimes justifies brutal interrogation methods, and that some policemen believe that Islamic law sanctions torture. XXXXXXXXXXXX commented that a culture of judicial impunity for police officers enables continued brutality. According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, “Police officers feel they are above the law and protected by the public prosecutor.” Human rights lawyer XXXXXXXXXXXX attributed police brutality against common criminals, including the use of electric shocks, to the problem of demoralized officers facing long hours and their own economic problems. He asserted that the police will even beat lawyers who enter police stations to defend their clients.......

¶5. (C) XXXXXXXXXXXX explained that since the GOE opened a dialogue with formerly violent Islamists, such as the Islamic Group, following the 1997 Luxor terrorist attacks, torture of Islamists has decreased. XXXXXXXXXXXX claimed that the GOE now treats Islamists better than common criminals. Some Islamist detainees are “spoiled,” he asserted, with regular access to visits from friends and family, decent food and education. Before the Luxor attacks, XXXXXXXXXXXX commented, the government would torture Islamist detainees on a daily basis.

¶6. (C) Attorney XXXXXXXXXXXXXX commented that the GOE is more reluctant to torture Islamists, including Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members, because of their persistence in making public political statements, and their contacts with international NGOs that could embarrass the regime. XXXXXXXXXXXX speculated that the exception to this rule is when MB members mobilize people against the government in a way the regime deems threatening, such as the April 6 Facebook strike (ref D). According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, the MB-affiliated blogger and “April 6 Movement” member XXXXXXXXXXXX whom police arrested XXXXXXXXXXXX (ref A) falls into this category, and the GOE is probably torturing him to scare other “April 6” members into abandoning their political activities. XXXXXXXXXXXX’s assessment tracks with “April 6” member XXXXXXXXXXXX’s accounts of his own torture and the alleged police sexual molestation of a female “April 6” activist this past November (ref A). Bloggers close to XXXXXXXXXXXX told us that following his arrest he was tortured severely with electric shocks and needed to be hospitalized, but that security forces stopped the torture when he began cooperating.......

¶7. (C) Contacts agree that in the past five years, the government has stopped denying that torture exists and has taken some steps to address the problem. However, contacts believe that the Interior Ministry lacks the political will to take substantive action to change the culture of police brutality. XXXXXXXXXXXX asserted that following alleged standing orders from the Interior Ministry between 2000 and 2006 for the police to shoot, beat and humiliate judges in order to undermine judicial independence, the GOE made a political decision in 2007 to allow the courts to sentence police officers to short prison terms. XXXXXXXXXXXX described the 2007 Imad El-Kebir case as a turning point in influencing the government to permit the sentencing of police officers.

(Note: Per ref E, a court sentenced two police officers to three years in prison in November 2007 for assaulting and sodomizing bus driver Imad El-Kebir. The case gained notoriety after a cell phone video recording of the torture was posted on YouTube. End note.)

¶8. (C) An estimated 13 cases of officers accused of brutality are currently working their way through the courts, and judges have handed down moderate sentences, usually the minimum three-year prison term, against policemen over the past few months, often for heinous crimes. For example, in October 2008, a court sentenced a policeman to three years in prison for beating and drowning a fisherman. In November 2008, a court sentenced two policemen to three years in prison for hooking a man to their car and dragging him to his death. XXXXXXXXXXXXX characterized the sentences as “light,” in proportion to the crimes, but commented that any prison sentences are an important development toward holding the police responsible for crimes. XXXXXXXXXXXX commented that the prison sentences demonstrate that the GOE is providing political space for judges to operate somewhat independently, in response to criticism from foreign governments and international NGOs. XXXXXXXXXXXXX described the sentences as important in drawing public attention to brutal police crimes, and strengthening the hand of advocates who call for reforming systemic problems within the police force......

¶11. (C) Former senior Interior Ministry official Ihab Youssef, Director of the NGO “The Police and the People for Egypt†told us in late 2008 that his NGO did not receive many proposals from the public in response to its solicitation for ideas on developing projects to build trust between the police and citizens. Youssef said that the NGO’s Facebook site, which provides a forum for the public to complain about the police, has generated more interest. In September 2008, Youssef publicly announced the formation of his NGO, which counts establishment figures such as former FM Ahmed Maher among its board members (ref C). Youssef does not receive GOE funding for the NGO, and has turned to private Egyptian businesses to raise money. XXXXXXXXXXXX.....

¶12. The GOE has not begun serious work on trying to transform the police and security services from instruments of power that serve and protect the regime into institutions operating in the public interest, despite official slogans to the contrary. It seems that the government would have the strongest interest in preventing future accidental shootings of innocents, such as the Salamut and Aswan incidents that resulted in riots. We imagine that halting the torture of common criminals, who are usually poor and voiceless, is lower on the GOE’s agenda. We want to continue USG-funded police training, and we will look for ways to help XXXXXXXXXXXX’s NGO launch productive work.

SCOBEY

Best flood evacuation centre in Australia 2011?

Tweet sent out on 14 January 2011:

VictoriaPolice VictoriaPolice
Town of Great Western to be evacuated due to being inundated. Evac to Great Western Winery. Emergency alert will be sent to homes #vicrains

I shouldn't laugh, but......

* A plague of locusts is due to hit Australia in time for the next federal election according to Bloomberg:
"Locusts are expected to hatch from August to October in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia states, according to the commission. The first-generation spring hatching alone could occur over a total area of 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres), the commission's Adriaansen said."

* One small mining company Metgasco is shooting itself in the foot. Assiduously lobbying federal government for regional infrastructure funding (which will help corporate development plans) while at the same time dissing the local MP over the new resources Super Profits Tax. Word is that Canberra is not amused.

* Someone locked a Labrador in the house - oh noes!

"MAX, the black labrador was accidentally locked inside a Daily Examiner reporter's house yesterday and decided to leave his mark in more ways than one. Not only did he wee in the master bedroom, he pooed in one of the kids' room, chewed up a nappy, raided the pantry and vomited after the debauchery."

* At least one dedicated reader of NSW State Library online offerings is threatening to cut that library card in half because it's becoming a bit of a lottery as to which webpage links actually work each day. Ah, life in rural 'n' regional Oz!

* Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata lets its slip show this month in that version of Teh Great Tax Fight:

"Mining company Xstrata Coal has revealed it will continue to buy up farmland within its Wandoan exploration lease area in Queensland despite last week suspending plans for the $6 billion project on the grounds the government's mining tax would make it uneconomic."

* Patrons at one Byron watering hole were overheard debating how long it would take a sheila to do a Corday if Tony Abbott became Australia's 27th prime minister.

* rod3000 Nothing perks you up like a 3 yr old's headbutt on the nose #wrestlemania

* The U.S. state which spawned Sarah Palin shows just how low dumb can go:

"The state of Alaska filed a lawsuit last Friday seeking to overturn the listing of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, home to the Port of Anchorage, as an endangered species."

* An oldie but a goodie from 2007 with an object lesson for Oz e-health proponents:

"An Italian woman who was mistakenly reported dead has won a yearlong battle to have her existence recognized by the government.
Pension agency INPS issued a formal apology to Maria Giuliani and reinstated her into its databank after removing her in January 2006 when another woman by the same name died, ANSA reported Thursday.
"But they only did it because the local media got hold of my case," Giuliani said of the apology.
Giuliani's removal from the databanks caused her pension rights to be revoked and she was removed from municipal and health computers.
"The first I heard about it was the following March when I went for a checkup."
"My GP fell back into his chair and said, 'But you're dead!'
"'No, I'm alive and kicking and I want to be examined,' I said. But he said he couldn't do it because officially I no longer existed."

* NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is staring down the barrel of massive electoral loss at the next state elections according to the bookies, :

"A specialist election punter from Sydney with leading bookmaker Centrebet has sounded a "death knell" for the NSW Labor government, outlaying nearly $25,000 on the Coalition at short odds to sweep to power next March! "The punter in two bets has taken just $1.15 and $1.14, with the Coalition now a red-hot $1.14 favourite to win, with Labor out to a whopping $5.35."

But she will never beat Sir Geoge Fuller's short 7 hour record as state premier.

* With all the media hoo-ha lately over Victoria Police, no-one's noticed a teeny weeny question surrounding the tale of two Garden State police commissioners having corresponded with a person convicted of serious offences.

When the Rudd Government decided that it wanted to first install and now extend ISP traffic interception, I bet it didn't factor in the possibility that some of this carefully saved info might be potentially embarrassing for future Labor governments if it 'leaked' onto the Internet.

Driver of golf buggy really blew it

NSW Police report that a man has been charged after allegedly being caught driving a golf buggy whilst intoxicated at Yamba on the state’s Far North Coast.

About 8.50pm yesterday (Friday 4 June 2010), patrolling police saw a golf buggy being driven north on Clarence Street towards the Pilot Street intersection.

It will be alleged a 51-year-old Yamba male then drove the buggy to the kerb on the road’s northern side and attempted to mount the gutter. The buggy was not equipped with head lamps, brake lights, or turn signals. The man was stopped by police and breath-tested, returning a positive reading of 0.135.

He was taken to Yamba Police Station and issued a Field Court Attendance Notice (FCAN) for drive with middle range PCA, and use unregistered vehicle on road. Police also suspended the man’s driving licence.

Source: NSW Police

Favourite word picture of 2009 and other quirks

Favourite word picture of 2009:
"just got booted out of the conference center..."
{The limp lettuce leaf in any Oz political salad, Senator Steve Fielding, tweeting at COP15}

Least favourite second incarnation on the Internetz:
The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) died years ago. This think tank had fun slogans like "American leadership is both good for America and good for the world", "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity" and "a secure foundation on unquestioned U.S. military preeminence.
Unfortunately Kristol and Co are now up and running again at Foreign Policy Initiative which started up in 2009. The new website tells us that "The United States remains the world's indispensable nation -- indispensable to international peace, security, and stability, and indispensable to safe-guarding and advancing the ideals and principles we hold dear."

Most predictable election result:
"Preference data for the Bradfield by-election has now been published by the Australian Electoral Commission, making it possible to assess the success or otherwise of the Christian Democratic Party's tactic in nominating nine candidates for the by-election.Standing nine candidates has been costly for the CDP, as none of its candidates reached the 4% required for return of deposit or to attract public funding. In total the nine candidates received 2,524 votes or 3.58% of the vote, but 1,054 votes or 1.49% were recorded by James Whitehall who had the Number 1 position on the ballot paper and so received the donkey vote." {Antony Green's Election Blog 25th December 2009}

A quote to remember:
"As Boris said over on Stoat, "If there's something stupid to believe, there is someone on the internet who believes it." {From Rabett Run 21st December 2009}

The growing litigation pile belonga Monsanto:
"A mountain of lawsuits against Monsanto and related companies have been removed to federal court.This summer and fall, 161 lawsuits were filed in Putnam Circuit Court alleging Monsanto and related companies are responsible for causing cancer." {The West Virginia Record 23rd December 2009}

Worst OZ commercial decision of 2009:
iSnack 2.0 - nuff said!

Something for the 'Obama is the Anti-Christ' assorted nuts:
"The first family arrived on the island of Oahu and President Obama and his wife Michelle started Christmas Day with a gym workout at 6.40am, returning more than an hour later. The first couple did not exchange gifts, aides said, and did not attend church." {The Sydney Morning Herald 27th December 2009}

A little festive season hysteria:
"Police from Blacktown Local Area Command want to dispel rumours circulating on a social networking website that a man, Dennis Ferguson, is living in Doonside in Sydney’s west.The claims have been investigated by police, in consultation with the Department of Housing, and the information posted on the website is incorrect. This is a case of mistaken identity and the resident of a street in Doonside is not Dennis Ferguson as has been reported on the social networking site. Police are urging those people transmitting false information to cease immediately." {NSW Police media release 22nd December 2009}

Most disturbing statistic of the year:
"NSW Council for Civil Liberties secretary Stephen Blanks said a pattern of police shootings had emerged in the past year. Four people have been killed by NSW Police this year." {The Sydney Morning Herald 27th December 2009}
This propensity to ape a fictional vision of police machismo by using deadly force appears to have been growing steadily in recent years.
Between 1990 and 2007 87 people were shot and killed by police in Australia and the most dangerous time of day to have an aggressive confrontation with police seems to be between 4pm and 8pm.

Most likeable blog:
Still Life With Cat - Clarencegirl once told me that this was a quietly insightful, gently humorous, venom-free zone and I wholeheartedly agree!

That unwanted prediction for 2010:
"ELECTRICITY, gas, water and public transport costs will all increase in 2010, while the average grocery shop will make a bigger dent in the family budget." {The Sydney Morning Herald 27th December 2009}

Most laughable Oz politician of this any year:
Just take your pick! Abbott, Abetz, Tuckey, Minchin, Pyne, Joyce, Fielding, Keneally,............

The Arsehat of all Arsehats in 2009:
Andrew Bolt - for services to Oz's racist underbelly, the anti-science lobby and general contrariety. {See almost any post on his Herald-Sun blog}

Pic from Crikey

The information Yahoo! keeps about you

Wikileaks has published the Yahoo! COMPLIANCE GUIDE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT which helpfully assists in identifying what information is available on its users, how to request that data storage on a particular individual be extended and how much it is willing to 'sell' this information for.

Click on image to enlarge

MySpace also has a Law Enforcement Investigators Guide, now available on Wikileaks along with Microsoft's Computer Online Forensics Evidence Extractor.

Taking Neighbourhood Watch that step too far?

Sometimes it's hard not to gasp aloud when a particular piece of local gossip comes one's way.

The latest is that a certain Neighbourhood Watch committee is tentatively considering allowing a person found guilty of criminal offences to join as a volunteer member.

A rather novel idea to say the least - stretching membership demographics so far.

I'm sure that the NSW Police Force as insurance policy holder for and active partner with Neighbourhood Watch NSW would be most impressed.

So impressed that a NSW Police Local Area Command could perhaps exercise the right to wind up any NHW group where police are satisfied that it is no longer functioning effectively?

No wonder the committee seems to feel a move like this might be explosive.

What on earth were they drinking thinking at the time?

Cartoon: Best of the Web

'Keystone' Keelty goes out on the heels of yet another bungle

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty must wonder why his last day as head of the Aussie federal police will not be remembered for praises sung in his honour, but instead for the fact that a national security breach became very public and his force was placed in the position of trying to deny that it had a surveillance plane with heat seeking technology.
It seems no-one in the AFP thought to tell Vic police that this small plane was a s-e-c-r-e-t.
Just another blunder to remind us all of the many which occurred under his watch.
Over to you, Tony Negus....

The Herald Sun has all the laughs here.

A case of the biter bit, but few are chortling over AFP intelligence fiasco

I was watching ABC Four Corners last Monday when this little comment came up:
"ANDREW FOWLER: The site was called root-you.org, and for the last two weeks the Australian Federal Police in cooperation with the South Australian Police have run the perfect sting.

TIM DAVIS, FEDERAL AGENT, HIGH TECH CRIME OPS. AFP: We've infiltrated that site and so now we've got control as well.

NEIL GAUGHAN: What we've done with that particular network is we've captured all the identities of all the people that've been using that network. We can operate in a covert activity here fairly seamlessly with no harm to our members with continual and actual significant penetration.....

ANDREW FOWLER: In the case of root-you.org, the Federal Police decided the best result was to effectively blow up the site by posting a notice that it was under law enforcement control.

TIM DAVIS, FEDERAL AGENT: Mate are you right to post that message on the forum.

MAN (on phone): Yep.

TIM DAVIS, FEDERAL AGENT: Well if you can do that now that'd be great."

I did idly wonder if there would be a cyber response and thought - "Naw, won't happen".
Then it well and truly did and F-Secure has links to this not so funny episode of counter-hacking, which was the almost inevitable result of all that televised bragging by the boys in blue (this also saw police computer files of actual bank, building society and corporate credit card details exposed to the view of at least one other hacker).

Some of the hacker chatter {A little **** covers words which offend those bluidy filters}:
"After the authorities FINALLY posted their little "ohhh, we have been monitoring this website", we finally said "Enough is enough, we are sick of these f**ks acting like they are hackers, lets see what they really know".
So After writing another FTP report yesterday.. I decided I would move on to getting control of r00t-y0u.org. See what the authorities know about server maintenance.. and how secure they can make stuff.
Lo and behold, their server was windows! I couldn't stop laughing at the sight of this, but I soon moved on. After visiting a 404 page, I instantly noticed that they were using Xampp. Those lazy f***s
can not even just install apache, and php themselves. So instead, they download some application to do it all for them.
Figures.
Now, of course.. they were just SO F***KING SMART, that they left the MYSQL password BLANK! After screwing around with their database, I dumped a vulnerable query into a php file, thus giving me full access to their servers.
After taking a look at the r00t-y0u database, lookie what we find.
User: "h1t3m" (Administrator)
Email: macrobber@gmail.com
These dipsh*ts are using an automatic digital forensics and incident response tool.
They can't do sh*t all themselves, because like I have said before, they have no skill. Anyways, after looking on their win32 machine for a while, I noticed some really awkward stuff. They have credit cards, and bank accounts all on a seperate drive (G:\)."

Four Corners transcript

Pic from Google Images