Monday 12 March 2012

MONEY TAKEN FROM CRIMINALS TO FUND LISMORE PCYC


THE HON. JASON CLARE MP
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS
MINISTER FOR JUSTICE
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE MATERIEL

JANELLE SAFFIN
MEMBER FOR PAGE 

MONEY TAKEN FROM CRIMINALS TO FUND LISMORE PCYC

9 March 2012

Lismore PCYC will receive a $75,000 grant funded by money confiscated from criminals to fund their Bundjalung Midnight Sports program.

The program will be delivered in conjunction with the Aboriginal Community Justice Group and will operate in Ballina, Lismore, Casino and Coraki targeting young indigenous people aged between 14 and 18. 

The sessions will be held in prime time for youth crime – with participants being picked up from home at 5pm and taken to Lismore PCYC, where they will have dinner and undertake educational and sporting activities. They will then be taken home at 11pm. 

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare made the announcement today with Page MP Janelle Saffin, PCYC President John Maxwell and Lismore Police Inspector Matt Kehoe.

Ms Saffin said the grant would make a huge difference for the local community.

“I congratulate Lismore PCYC and the Aboriginal Community Justice Group for this grant, and thank them for all the work they do in our community”, Ms Saffin said.

“The Lismore Crime Prevention Plan and the Lismore Youth Survey both identified the lack of activities for young people as a contributor to crime.

“This program addresses the problem head on.”

Mr Clare said money seized from criminals was now helping young people and communities across Australia.

“We’re taking money from criminals and investing it in PCYC’s across the country to help young people who are at risk of falling into a life of crime,” Minister Clare said.

“PCYC’s are terrific organisations. They’re a great example of community policing at work.

“That’s why the Federal Government is supporting the crime prevention work they do.”

The program will run over eight weeks, each session will match a recreational activity like basketball or kickboxing with an educational component such as road safety, drug and alcohol use and aboriginal culture.

The eight week program will run four times a year with 20 young people participating at once.

The funding is part of almost $2 million provided to 16 Police and Community Youth Clubs (PCYCs) around Australia to help young people at risk of falling into a life of crime.

The funding comes from the Proceeds of Crime Fund which enables money confiscated under Commonwealth laws to be returned to the community to prevent and reduce crime across Australia.

A list of the funded projects is attached. Information regarding crime prevention funding can be found at http://www.crimeprevention.gov.au/.

Over the border round Beenleigh way: I almost believed the bloke


I almost believed the bloke………almost.
Yahoo News 8th March 2012:
"The Liberal National Party (LNP) will retain a Gold Coast candidate linked to a soft porn website.
A party spokesman has confirmed that Mark Boothman will contest the seat of Albert for the LNP.
In a statement issued through the LNP on Thursday afternoon, Mr Boothman claimed a website he helped to run was shut down six years ago because it was hacked by people uploading adult content.
The site was set up almost 10 years ago as a forum for car enthusiasts, he said.
"But, unfortunately over a period of time, adult content was uploaded to the site," he said.
"In 2004, the site was continually under attack from hackers and was being hijacked from its original purpose and was getting beyond my control."
Because of this, it was shut down in 2006, he said."
But according to Gold Coast on 11th March:
"A check of the now-archived website shows the administrator had a designated VIP adult section and a warning about the pornographic images on the site."
And this old comments are still showing in Google Search:
More Women Pics - CruisingBrisbane.com - Page 4.75
http://www.darkosiris.com/ is a good site for pics of gals its one of the guys from boost's site i forget who though.
Sorany y Carolina Galleries (1) - PeachyForum
"These babes are so hot! http://www.darkosiris.com/photokorn/index.php?action=showgal&cat=127
Any more? I would really like more of this set! =)"

Finally it seems the present LNP candidate in his past life was not above promoting his website:
xspsi 2002 "mark (57OCK) sent me the site."
RhOmEL2002 "surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre you did.
you read penthouse for the articles as well dont ya??
The cream of the crop though is Mark (now standing for Laura Norder) bragging as 57ock in 2006 about messing with the heads of police:
“A while back, my mate and I went cruising on a Saturday night. We pulled up at the local BP Servo centre. While my mate was inside the servo, a cop car pulls up and has a look at my mates Supra. Mainly because its too low. One of the coppers asked me if I owned the Supra, I said no.. The copper walks around asking a few people if they owned it.
After a while of asking, the coppers decided to sit and there car and wait for the owner of the supra to turn up. About 30 mins pass and the coppers think there smart, so the drive their car off and park there car behind a bush around the corner so they can't be seen.
My mate came up with a brillant idea. If I can't drive the car out, why dont I hirer a tow truck. The look on the coppers face when they saw the Supra they had waited for 1hr and a half for drive away on the back of a tow truck was priceless.”

8 March 2012
Whois info on website
Reverse Whois:
"Mark" owns about 872 other domains
Email Search:
is associated with about 3 domains
Registrant:
Mark
PO Box 769 Springwood
Logan City, Queensland 4133
AU
Domain name: DARKOSIRIS.COM
This domain name is up for auction for a limited time.
To place a bid, visit: http://www.snapnames.com
Administrative Contact:
Boothman, Mark

69 Burow Rd
Logan, QLD 4133
AU
+61.0738087133
Technical Contact:
Boothman, Mark

69 Burow Rd
Logan, QLD 4133
AU
+61.0738087133
Registration Service Provider:
Hover,

416.538.5498
http://help.hover.com
Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 31-Jan-2012.
Record expires on 28-Jan-2012.
Record created on 28-Jan-2003.
Registrar Domain Name Help Center:
http://tucowsdomains.com
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.RENEWYOURNAME.NET
NS2.RENEWYOURNAME.NET

Server Type:
Apache/2.2.17 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.17 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635
Domain Status:
Registered And Active Website

Site Trail info on website
IP Address:
IP Block:
118.127.0.0 - 118.127.11.255
Reverse DNS:
jupiter.quikservers.net
Host:
Dedicated Servers Brisbane, Queensland, AU
Location:
Brisbane, Queensland,  

Sunday 11 March 2012

Was it only media pressure which saw NSW Police & the DPP finally act on Cansdell's confession?




A far as I can tell it was the Clarence Valley’s good ol' Egg Timer aka The Daily Examiner which asked the hard question of NSW Police: Are you going to refer the matter of retired Clarence Nats MP Steve Cansdell on to the Commonwealth DPP?
Local journo Terry Deefholts in The Daily Examiner on 9th March 2012:
"THE NSW Department of Public Prosecutions' decision to drop the case against former Member for Clarence Steve Cansdell is an example of the "wafer thin" separation of powers between the politics, the executive and the judiciary in Australia, a Sydney academic said yesterday.
Dr Michael Kennedy, a former detective of 18 years, is the head of the University of Western Sydney's Bachelor of Policing program and specialises in ethics and the politics of policing.
"You would have thought the NSW Government would want to put this matter to bed as a matter of public interest; they're not going to get any sympathy from the federal Labor Government," Dr Kennedy said.
He said magistrates and judges were politically appointed and most attorneys-general became senior counsels within a month of ending their jobs despite, in some cases, having less-than-impressive work records.
"At the end of an attorney- general's role they usually get a job on the Supreme Court; the separation of powers in this country are wafer thin," he said.
The case of Mr Cansdell reinforced this view, he said.
Mr Cansdell admitted last September to signing a false statutory declaration in 2005 to avoid a speeding fine but it was revealed on Wednesday the NSW DPP, which comes under the control of the NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith, dropped the case on the basis that Cansdell had signed a Commonwealth statutory declaration.
"NSW Police can act under the Federal Crimes Act," Dr Kennedy said.
Even if there was some special provision for the Statutory Declarations Act to be dealt with by the Commonwealth DPP, Dr Kennedy said: "Surely there are some Federal Police in NSW that can deal with it.
"There are rule makers, rule enforcers and rule breakers. It is beyond the pale to think that rule makers are dealt with differently to the rest of us when they break the rules."
Unfortunately, he said, there had been repeated evidence of this being the case in NSW. For example, he said very few prosecutions emanating from the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption in the mid-1990s were successful.
A spokesperson for NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson said if shadow police minister Nathan Rees had not asked questions of Mr Smith about the Cansdell case on February 23 it would have been dropped altogether.
It was only that journalists asked Mr Smith if he was going to refer the case to the Commonwealth DPP on Wednesday after Question Time that Mr Smith said he would do so yesterday, the spokesperson said."

It was aslo the Egg Timer's Rod Stevens who pointed out:
"Despite NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith and the NSW DPP saying because Mr Cansdell signed a Commonwealth statutory declaration it was out of their jurisdiction, the law states otherwise.
Section 12 of the Statutory Declarations Act of 1959 states "the several courts of the states (other than the Northern Territory) are invested with federal jurisdiction."

100 richest people in the world, in 2012 according to Forbes


Forbes.com this week has me indulging in the politics of envy disbelief in this post – who could possibly need all this money?






Name
Net Worth
Age
   Source
Country of Citizenship
1
Carlos Slim Helu & family
$69 B
72
   telecom
Mexico
2
Bill Gates
$61 B
56
  Microsoft
United States
3
Warren Buffett
$44 B
81
  Berkshire Hathaway
United States
4
Bernard Arnault
$41 B
63
  LVMH
France
5
Amancio Ortega
$37.5 B
75
  Zara
Spain
6
Larry Ellison
$36 B
67
  Oracle
United States
7
Eike Batista
$30 B
55
  mining, oil
Brazil
8
Stefan Persson
$26 B
64
  H&M
Sweden
The rest of the super rich, including WA's Gina can be found here
  

Saturday 10 March 2012

Visitors, words of caution


Initially, a letter to the editor in Saturday's Daily Examiner touched my funny bone. However, it didn't take long for reality to return and all I could think was, "Been there. Done that. BUT, this is bl##dy serious!"

Bev's letter (read it below) is cause for many businesses and organisations to give a lot more serious thought to their workplaces' health and safety, especially in relation to their provisions for all persons' egress from their workplaces.

The Examiner might just as easily have titled Bev's letter "Enter at your own risk!"

Remember, employers also have responsibilities associated with the health and safety of visitors to their places of work. The legislation does not only relate to their employees.

The joys of marriage - just jokin'!



Source: The Voice, CPSA, March 2012

A little NSW North Coast National Party history



It seems that the former Member for Clarence Steve Cansdell is not the only NSW North Coast National Party MP who fell afoul of the rules and lost his seat.
Here is mention of the former NSW Minister for Administrative Services and former member for Coffs Harbour, Matt Singleton, who was previously the Member for Clarence from February 1971 to August 1981.

That makes two out of the last four Nationals MPs representing Clarence coming to a sticky political end.


Mr CARR: …… But I have done the National Party a great disservice, because the coalition had barely been elected to government and ICAC had not even begun its work on the north coast land deals when Matt Singleton was sacked overnight by Greiner. Matt Singleton had a great deal going. He was busily promoting to his Minister the rezoning of a nice little territory in his electorate. But he forgot to declare that he owned the property - a pretty big thing to overlook…


Dr REFSHAUGE: …… The most grave of these omissions was that of the former Minister, Matt Singleton, whose failure to declare shareholdings in finance and property development companies was brought to light. The Deputy Premier also had failed to declare shareholdings in Matt Singleton's company, STR Finance. Mr Singleton not only failed to include shareholdings in a declaration to the Parliament; he completely ignored the former Premier's demand for a separate pecuniary interest file exclusive to him. Mr Singleton's indiscretion did not end there. He was found to be lobbying a ministerial colleague to have land rezoned for development. If the rezoning had occurred, Mr Singleton would have benefited substantially. It took Opposition pressure to have this disgraced Minister forced from office. This is the cleanskin Government. Matt Singleton, within a year of the Government coming to office, was forced to resign because he lacked the probity and the propriety to perform his ministerial responsibilities appropriately.

Antarctic: When is the Government of Japan going to get its priorities straight?


Photograph from Hervey Bay Tourist Centre

When is the Government of Japan going to get its priorities straight?  Hopefully before 2013. Its state-sponsored whale killers must be must be near a financial bottom of the ocean by now.

News.com.au March 9, 2012:

JAPAN has ended this season's whale hunt in the Antarctic Ocean having caught less than a third of its original target, the Fisheries Agency says.
Japanese whalers killed 266 minke whales and one fin whale, the agency said, well below the roughly 900 they had been aiming for when they left Japan in December.

The West Australian March 9, 2012:

The Japanese whaling fleet has pulled out of the Southern Ocean and is heading home three weeks before the whale hunt was scheduled to end.
The Japanese consul in Perth and the Institute of Cetacean Research have both confirmed the whalers are heading back to Japan.

You know you're an Aussie when..............


Currently doing the rounds on the Internet.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE AUSTRALIAN WHEN

You believe that stubbies can either be drunk or worn. You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something legal such as watering the garden. You understand that the phrase 'a group of women wearing black thongs' refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds. You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'. You believe the 'l' in the word 'Australia' is optional. You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas'.

You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is just 'a bit of a bastard'. You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place. You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife. You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin. You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'.

You believe that cooked down axle grease makes a good breakfast spread - you've squeezed it through Vita Weats to make little Vegemite worms. You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis. Beetroot with your Hamburger... of course! You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' And 'Living next door to Alice'. You wear ugg boots outside the house. You believe that every important discovery in the world was made by an Australian but then sold off for a pittance.

You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them. Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language. You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, While 'scuse me' is always polite. You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose. You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron. Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket. You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac Cookies'.

You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours'. When working in a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer. You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in "o": arvo, combo, garbo, kero, lezzo, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto, goodo etc... You know that there is a universal place called 'woop woop' located in the middle of nowhere, no matter where you actually are! You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer, because it tastes like piss.

You sleep with Aeroguard on in the summer and don't mind it as a perfume. You've only ever used the words - tops, ripper, sick, mad, sweet, to mean "good" and when you place 'bloody' in front of it then you really mean it. You know that the barbecue is a political arena. You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realise it or not. You understand what no wucking furries means. You've drank your tea/coffee/milo through a Tim Tam. You own a Bond's chesty - in several different colours.

You know that some people pronounce Australia like "Straya" and that's ok. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand!

Friday 9 March 2012

Not happy B0F! The Clarence electorate responds to Cansdell's get-out-of-gaol-free card in NSW


By bandicoot from Palmers Island,
Rather strange that this stat. dec. was acceptable to get him off after breaking a state-based law but not good enough to charge him!

By bertson from Yamba,
What a neat little loophole for Mr Cansdell! Was he advised - perhaps by some of his police friends - to use a Commonwealth stat. dec.? And why has it taken over five months for anybody to point it out? Something very fishy here!

By yambaproud from Yamba,
No wonder so many were lining up for the Nationals pre-selection, it apparently comes with it's very own 'Get Out of Jail Free" card.

By yambaman from Yamba,
Well there you have it - 40 odd comments (compared to the usual 2 or 3 on normal issues) and none supporting Steve Candell - get the message government?
An absolute disgrace - the guy has admitted to a lie and isn't charged - now that destroys all of the public's faith in the judicial system - no politician is exempt, in fact all pollies must adhere to a higher level of accountability than ordinary citizens and yet here we have a perfect example of pollies doing the reverse!

By Jonnny2b from Maclean,
Deceit by people we trust why do we accept it?
We all know Steve Cansdell committed a crime and now the DPP says no charges.
They must be sitting back laughing at us.

The Daily Examiner online polling on 8 March 2012:

It must be true - it's on the Internet! according to one NSW climate change contrarian


One example of climate change contrarianism found in a Sydney Morning Herald report on 6 March 2012 where the financial trigger is more than obvious:

But a property developer, Jeff McCloy, said he was contemplating leading a class action suit against the council, which he said was ''falling for this unjustified, worldwide idiocy about sea level rises''.
Mr. McCloy recently arranged for climate change sceptics Ian Plimer, Bob Carter and David Archibald to address residents and councillors,…..
Mr. McCloy is seeking to gain approval for a subdivision of 24 homes that is likely to be affected by the Lake Macquarie planning guidelines…..
He said he had studied sea level rise on the internet and concluded it was rising at only a very slow rate, and that rate had slowed in the past decade, so any planning restrictions were unjustified.


He is also Chairman of the McCloy Group which says of itself that it is a Hunter-based property group with a diversified portfolio of commercial and residential assets. Our portfolio currently holds more than 21,000 m2 of commercial office space in the heart of Newcastle’s CBD, attracting long-term, quality tenants, including Telstra, The Wests Group and Wesfarmers’ subsidiary, Blackwoods. The McCloy Group is staging construction of over 1,600 council-approved residential lots geographically spread in the Hunter. And we have almost 2,000 lots in the pipeline.

That he is seeking to publicly pressure Lake Macquarie Council and the NSW O’Farrell Government at this time probably has some relationship with the fact that Lake Macquarie Council has recently reviewed its  Draft Lake Macquarie Waterway Flood Study (2012) and Draft Lake Macquarie Waterway Flood Risk Management Study and Plan (2012) to include the effects of predicted sea level rises to the year 2100.

During this review climate change contrarians and local residents received a fair hearing in the community consultation phase (more than 90% of workshop participants were residents who own foreshore properties that are vulnerable to flooding and sea level rise) and it appears no additional properties were identified as affected by flood or sea level rise.

So it would appear that Mr. McCloy already knew his own residential property was in an ‘at risk’ area and his present concerns are purely commercial in nature.

Sadly the McCloy Group stance is typical of developers operating along the NSW coast.

What is it with these rednecks from over the range?


The Daily Examiner on the 5th March 2012 ran with this:
“A PROPOSED two-way railway line from Moree to Yamba could ease the bottleneck experienced by coal exporters in north-west NSW, its proponents say.
Preliminary plans are afoot to build a two-way double-height railway line from Moree to Goodwood Island to speed the export of coal from the Gunnedah coal basin and overcome the congestion in the state's two major coal ports - Port Kembla and Newcastle.
According to one proponent, Inverell Shire councillor and civil engineer David Jones, it would require a 12m deep channel to be dredged from the river mouth at Yamba to a fully redeveloped Goodwood Island about 5km upriver.
The channel is around 4m deep at low tide.
The total cost of the ambitious project is estimated at $6 billion.
Though the proposal is in its infancy and has been touted and dismissed in the past, funding ($1-$2 million) is being sought by the northern inland committee of Regional Development Australia (RDA, NINSW) to complete a feasibility study on the idea.
It is being championed by RDA, NINSW chairman Mal Peters, who is also the head of the newly established Regional Institute, a former NSW Farmers president and mayor of Inverell…”
A 12m deep dredge field all the way up to Goodwood Island? In one of the best family tourism and fishing areas on the NSW North Coast? 
It's a safe bet that the Yaegl community won't be too impressed with this plan either as the Dirrangun Reef spiritual site is smack bang in the firing line.
What is it with these New England rednecks? First they want to steal our fresh water and now they want to permanently wreck the lower Clarence River.
Fair dinkum – it’s enough to make a bloke chunder!
I agree with Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson - "In the words of Darryl Kerrigan (in The Castle), 'tell 'em they're dreaming' - it's not going to happen".

Thursday 8 March 2012

Steven Rhett Cansdell, retired NSW Nationals MP. The story so far....


In 2003 Nationals candidate Stephen Rhett Cansdell was elected to the NSW Parliament representing the Clarence electorate.
In 2005 he was caught on a Roads & Traffic Authority camera, driving in excess of the speed limit on the Pacific Highway at Woodburn NSW.
He subsequently made a false statement to a NSW Government agency in order to avoid losing his driving license. This false statement was made in a signed statutory declaration presented to that agency.
A part-time member of his electoral staff was allegedly induced to falsely agree that she had been driving the car when it was caught by the speed camera.
In 2007 he was elected to the NSW Parliament for a second time and in March 2011 he was returned as the Member for Clarence for the third time.
In between that time, he reportedly went on to lose his licence in 2009 after he was pulled over for doing 100kmh in an 80kmh zone at Clarenza. [The Daily Examiner,7 October 2011]

In April 2011 Cansdell publicly attacked a Local Court magistrate hearing charges relating to the Yamba riot, calling him pissweak and his decision a total travesty of justice. [North Coast Voices, 15 April 2011 and ABC North Coast NSW,13 April 2011]
On 16 September 2011 Steve Cansdell resigned his seat and, his position as Parliamentary Secretary for Police and Member of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Economic Development.
He left with the full financial benefits accruing to a Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly who had been in that position for eight years, five months and twenty-eight days.
On the morning of the day he announced his retirement, Mr. Cansdell was said to have attended Grafton Police Station and made a formal confession. Sometime later NSW Police commenced an investigation [The Daily Examiner,17 November 2011].
In the print, radio and television mediums Mr. Cansdell publicly admitted his wrongdoing.
He also admitted that he had avoided the driving license penalty because he wanted a "clean slate" in the lead up to the next election. [The Daily Examiner,7 October 2011]
He further admitted that he would probably never have confessed to his crime if a whistle blower hadn't drawn attention to it. [ABC North Coast NSW,22 November 2011]
So on one hand we have a former Member of Parliament who by his own admission broke the law and, as an undiscovered political miscreant twice successfully stood for re-election in part on a law and order platform. In the 2011 election campaign it was reported that Mr Cansdell said people were fed up with a system of law and order which failed to effectively demonstrate to people that actions had consequences. [The Casino Times,10 March 2011]

On the other hand we have an O’Farrell Coalition Government that did not suspend this government member when he confessed to the Deputy-Premier and, a parliamentary political party which did not expel him and continues to publicly support him despite his admitted wrongdoing.
A category of wrongdoing which is included in the Criminal Code and an act which a reasonable person might say brought State Parliament into disrepute.
Then in 2012 we have a NSW Director of Public Prosecutions who decides to ignore the fact that the false statement was made to a state agency in order to gain a benefit and refers the matter to the Commonwealth – because the statutory declaration form used was apparently one created under the C’wealth Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and not the NSW Oaths Act 1909. Mr. Cansdell apparently having elected not to use the form sent out with the NSW Office of State Revenue State Debt Recovery penalty notice. [NSW Attorney General and Minister for Justice in Hansard,7 March 2012 and NSW Office of State Revenue,2012]

According to The Daily Examiner on 7 March 2012; Late Wednesday the NSW Police Media Service released the following statement: "After receiving internal legal advice, the NSW Police Force will tomorrow hand over the brief of evidence in the Cansdell matter to the Commonwealth DPP. The office of the Commonwealth DPP declined to comment.

To be continued...........

STATUTORY DECLARATIONS ACT 1959






Click on images to enlarge

Sources:
http://www.ag.gov.au/Documents/StatutoryDeclaration200602.pdf
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/sda1959280/s11.html