Rebels Losing the Battle in Libya

The US is considering a plan to send private contractors into Libya to help rebels fight Gaddafi. They have pleaded for ground support as the dictator's forces take control of the fighting.

A senior former Pentagon official said "This has worked well in the past, such as when the US company MPRI provided military training for the Croatian Army in 1994 in the civil war with the Serbs," the former official said. "The private sector has plenty of experience in this sort of work and it doesn't even need to be training on the shooting end of the war, they could be used to provide logistical support to get the rebels more organised," the source said. The CIA sent operatives into Libya to make contact with rebels yesterday.

The Allies were encouraged by the defection of Gaddafi's foreign minister Moussa Koussa who has sought refuge in the UK and are hoping that more will follow. Intense negotiations are going on behind the scenes to find a country prepared to give Gaddafi a safe haven. His justice and interior ministers resigned shortly after the uprising began last month, but Koussa is the first high-profile resignation since the no-fly campaign began.

Gaddafi's forces are now using civilian vehicles - minivans, sedans and 4WDs fitted with weapons - which makes it much harder to distinguish Gaddafi forces from the rebels. But they are still better armed, better trained and better organised than the opposition and pushed the rebels back 160 kilometres in just two days. Undisciplined with no real directiion, it's becoming clear that they have little hope of winning on their own.

The Sea of Humanity Nobody Wants

The tiny island of Lampedusa just south of Sicily has been overwhelmed by people arriving by fishing boat and other small craft from Libya and Tunisia. Almost 19,000 migrants have arrived since January and 3,000 arrived in just three days with thousands more on their way.

The population of the peaceful island is around 5,300 and the main industry is fishing and tourism. The locals feel so helpless and angry, they have tried to blockade the harbour to keep more people from coming ashore. A sign which read "Enough, we are full' was held up by desperate local protesters.

A former mayor of the island said "If the ships promised by the government don't come tomorrow, there will be a total shut down and no one will be able to eat on the island, including the immigrants who arrived last night". There are now thousands of North African men living in tents on the hillsides, waiting to be taken to the mainland.

So far there has been no violence but it was reported that the Tunisians are starting to go into people's houses and threatening them for food. On Monday the Interior Ministry promised to send six large navy transport vessels to clear all the migrants from the island and take them to other parts of Italy.

Silvio Berlusconi has pledged more than 200 million euros in aid and credit lines to Tunisia and demanded that European Union partners contribute a solution, especially since many of the migrants want to go to other countries in Europe, especially France.

Most of the immigrants from Tunisia are young men looking for work in Europe. Hundreds of migrants have been moved to Mineo on the Sicilian mainland or to Manduria near Taranto on the heel of Italy where a tent city is being completed today. But many have escaped over the fences surrounding the camp and run away, only to be caught by police and brought back. And every day they just keep coming.

Westgate Bridge Father Guilty

It was meant to be her first day of school for Darcy Freeman who was turning 5 years old in a few days time. Her father was taking Darcy and her two brothers to school. Just after 9 am, driving over the Westgate bridge towards the city of Melbourne, Freeman got in the left hand lane, slowed down and finally stopped.

He got out of the car, walked to the rear passenger door where his two sons Ben 6 and Jack 2 were sitting, learned over to Darcy and unbuckled her seat belt. He then carried her to the edge of the bridge near its highest point. The child seemed to go limp, she didn't fight or struggle or cry out. He walked to the edge of the bridge, lifted her over the railing and let her go. She fell 58 metres into the water below. Freeman then got back into his car and drove off as frantic motorists called police.

Water Police got to her first, she had shocking injuries and was taken to the Children's hospital in a critical condition. Then the police, who feared for the safety of the other two children, started a massive search for her father.

At around 10.30am they were called to the Family Law Courts in the city. Security staff phoned police after seeing a man in the foyer crying and shaking uncontrollably. His two sons were clinging to him and he begged the security guards to take them. When police arrived, Freeman was arrested and taken away. His ex-wife Peta, rushed to the hospital to be with her daughter but she died shortly after.

So why did he do it? Freeman was so angry with his ex-wife, he carried out the ultimate act of revenge. The day before, the family court ruled that his access time with his children was to be reduced and he decided to punish his ex wife by killing all their children. No one knows if given the opportunity, he would have carried out his threat to also murder his two sons.

On Monday, the jury foreman told Justice Paul Coghlan that they would never be able to agree unanimously on a verdict but the judge told them they must try. One day later, they made their final decision and yesterday found him guilty.

The jury heard that Freeman rang his ex-wife and said ''Say goodbye to your children'' just minutes before he dropped Darcey to her death. Of the six psychiatrists who assessed Freeman, Professor Graham Burrows was the only one who said he was suffering a major depressive disorder. Yvonne Skinner and Douglas Bell didn't agree and said there was no evidence to suggest he was mentally impaired and did not know what he was doing was wrong.

Update: Today, 11 April 2011, Freeman was sentenced to life in jail with a non-parole period of 32 years.

Labor Party Thrashed in NSW

It was a great relief to see Labor thrashed in the NSW state election on Saturday - the Liberals were stunned to find they had won seats held by Labor for generations. It was also satisfying to see that the Greens and Independents, who expected to do well, didn't. I think the electorate has been turned off Independents for life because of Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor. We will never forget what they did at the last Federal election - they made it possible for the Labor Party to govern. It won't matter to Tony Windsor because he won't be standing again at the next election but Rob Oakeshott has 4 kids and a career to think of and he needs to start looking for another job. Surely he must realize that his political career is over.

Nationals leader Warren Truss said "The message to the two independents who gave federal Labor power last September is crystal clear - they got it dead wrong" and added "Voters have rejected their so-called 'new paradigm'."

Swings greater than 30 and 35 per cent occurred in individual seats, with an average swing of 17 per cent across the state. Barry O'Farrell has 65 seats in the 93-seat Lower House and Labor is struggling to exceed 20.

So would Mr Oakeshott be given a second chance if he backed a no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister? "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it" Tony Abbott said.

Bondi Rescue Lifeguard Saves Toddler

Mouse Jenkinson (right)

A celebrity lifeguard saved the life of a two year old girl who ran into the dangerous corner of Bronte Beach yesterday. Michael (Mouse) Jenkinson, one of the lifeguards in the the Channel 10 reality series Bondi Rescue, went in after the girl whe she was swept 20 metres off shore.

When he reached the little girl she was unconscious, blue and had no pulse but when Jenkinson started CPR, after a few breaths, she gave a little cough and started to cry. "Then I started crying too" he said as he headed back to shore.

The toddler's distraught father ran into the water to try to save his daughter but he too got into trouble and had to be rescued by a quick thinking surfer. When the mother also attempted to enter the water, she was pulled back by other swimmers. The family were tourists from China and naturally have no knowledge of how treacherous our beaches can be.

Head lifeguard Anthony Carroll said it was the most amazing moment. "What Mouse did was above and beyond - she was dead," he said. All three were taken to hospital where the girl is in a stable condition.

London Workhouse Saved from Demolotion

The earliest medieval Poor Law was issued by King Edward III of England on 18 June 1349, and revised in 1350. In 1348-1350 the outbreak of the Black Death killed almost 40% of the British population and labourers for agriculture were in high demand. To combat inflation, a law called the Statute of Labourers of 1351 said that every able-bodied person must work, wages were kept at pre-plague levels and food was not overpriced. During the reign of Henry VII in 1495, the poor and unemployed were put in stocks for three days and nights on a diet of bread and water, let out and told to get out of town. There was no solution to the problem, the needy were simply moved on.

In 1530, King Henry VIII said that idleness was the “mother and root of all vices” and ordered that whipping replace the stocks for beggars and the unemployed. But the following year a change was made giving the old, the sick and the disabled licence to beg. So able-bodied men who could not find work were in trouble, they either starved or turned to crime.

There was a story circulating in London of a destitute pregnant girl begging at the gates of the workhouse on Norfolk Street and it was picked up by a newspaper. Clutching her belly, she pleaded with the keeper to let her in because she was about to give birth and had nowhere else to go. But the gatekeeper had his orders - babies were expensive and required feeding, clothing and couldn't work to earn their keep until they were six years old, so he shut the gate. It was bitterly cold and windy that day and a crowd gathered as the young woman went into labour on the pavement. It was no surprise when the newborn died. The newspaper said 'The infant perished during this inhuman scene' and the incident was repeated throughout London and the seed of pity was sown into the minds of the wealthy.

A few years later a five year old boy and his family moved into a house a few doors away from the workhouse. From his window a young Charles Dickens watched the pathetic scenes of destitute people begging to get in. He saw boys and girls only six years old herded into carts and taken to work in the factories, mills and coal mines, working 16 hours a day for a spoonful of gruel. He never forgot those terrible scenes and when he grew up, he wrote a book about it - Oliver Twist – his first major novel. It was published in 1837, the same year Queen Victoria came to the throne.

Norfolk Street is now the southern end of Cleveland Street. The workhouse was built in 1775 and was scheduled for demolition but now the government has given the building listed status and it will stand forever to remind us of those dark, wretched days. In 1948, shortly after the end of World War II, the modern welfare state was established and no one ever went hungry again.

Carbon Tax Protest Fallout

School children in the Gallery at Parliament House would have seen our elected politicians behaving very badly yesterday. The Prime Minister and Tony Abbott are having a hate session resulting from the 'No Carbon Tax' protest on Wednesday. He says she's a multi-faceted liar and that John Howard had to endure insults just as bad and she was being precious about "a few nasty placards".

But he got very personal when he took a swipe at the Prime Minister's atheism and unmarried status during the party-room meeting on Tuesday and again at the protest meeting. Ms Gillard said he is a disgusting and revolting individual who associated himself with extremism and gross sexism. ''For going out to a rally and associating himself with One Nation, with the League of Rights, with anti-Semitic groups and with grossly sexist signs" she said.

''We have seen real Julia, we have seen fake Julia, we have seen wooden Julia, we have seen teary Julia, we have seen all the way with LBJ Julia, we have seen Bible expert Julia, we have seen George Washington 'I will never tell a lie' Julia. The fact is: the one thing we have never seen is a truthful Julia,'' Abbott said. ''Today, we saw precious Julia, very precious Julia, complaining about a few nasty placards.''

The frustrated Speaker, Harry Jenkins is having to constantly intervene and remove members from chamber. He said "I'm happy for you to have a robust debate, but to carry on the way the House carries on is ridiculous". No doubt they are all be looking forward to their upcoming six weeks break.

Carbon Tax Protesters March 2011

The government and Bob Brown are demanding an apology from Tony Abbott for appearing to endorse derogatory placards in the crowd yesterday at the 'no carbon tax' rally outside Parliament House. Tony Abbott said he was sorry for any abusive behaviour that was hurled at the Prime Minister and said that some people went over the top with signs that read "Ditch the Witch" and "Bob Brown's Bitch". He will be meeting the Prime Minister later today to discuss another intervention proposal in NT indigenous communities but he didn't say whether he would be making an apology.

Climate change spokesman Greg Hunt told ABC Radio "The ALP website right now is comparing Tony Abbott with a Nazi war criminal." Sophie Mirabella said the rally was an expression of people power. "The reason so many were angry was that they felt they had been lied to," she said. "They are not going to be shut up by the glib spin of the Prime Minister and Mr Combet."

Remember when Belinda Neal said those infamous words "Don't you know who I am?" The woman who took her place at the election last year - backbencher Ms Deb O'Neill, was also at the rally. Christopher Pyne got kicked out of the chamber at question time when he said "Would it be more relevant for the minister to point out that the member for Robertson was at the rally greeting busloads of people from her electorate and encouraging them to take part?"

So what was she thinking? Ms O'Neill said "Even though I disagree with today's protest, I wanted central coast residents who have taken the trouble to come down and express their views to know that I value their contribution to our democracy" and added "To paraphrase the French writer Voltaire, I may disagree with every word they say, but I will defend to the death their right to say it." Mmmmmm.

Deb O'Neill

Some members of the government have tried to belittle the people in the demonstration as being yobbos but it was plain to see that most of the crowd were quiet, orderly people, many experiencing their first ever protest meeting.

And at the end of the day they did what they set out to do - they came to tell the Prime Minister that they don't want a carbon tax and that she doesn't have a mandate to introduce one.

Carbon Tax Protest at Parliament House

Julia Gillard's popularity slumped in the polls recently, soon after she admitted her lie before the election - that there would be no carbon tax under her government. Tony Abbott was suddenly preferred Prime Minister but a few days later, his rating slumped to an all- time low and everyone is scratching their heads and wondering why. Tony Abbott intends to fight the tax and will address a protest rally today at Parliament House. Hundreds of people are being bussed in to show their contempt of being lied to about an election promise and their belief that their cost of living expenses will be put under pressure if a tax is introduced.

Tony Abbott said this week that the science hasn't been proved and he's right, it hasn't, but the Opposition has backed itself into a corner because they are now seen as climate change deniers. The scientific community did the world a terrible wrong when a few were found to have lied about the affects of global warming - it made sense that the world was going through a normal climatic cycle and there was no need to be alarmed. But we've moved on from there and now it's time to have another look at it. Time and education can change people's minds.

Climate change advocates including the ACTU, GetUp, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Greenpeace and others are ready to take on the protesters. It should be an interesting morning in Canberra.

Christmas Island Riots

The situation on Christmas Island is now out of control. A second boatload of asylum seekers was on its way to the mainland last night, by-passing riot-torn Christmas Island. Federal police have done a head count to try and work out how many detainees have disappeared into the jungle after they tore down fences. Officials think around 20 asylum seekers are still at large. Police have found robber crab carcasses at a campsite which means they have been surviving on the protected species which tastes like lobster.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is besieged by the media looking for answers but he doesn't have any. He said the latest boat of 57 people would still be processed as if they were offshore.

And this is where it gets complicted. Opposition Minister Scott Morrison said "The bypassing of Christmas Island raises potential questions over the legal status of the boat's passengers as offshore entry persons and their access to onshore processing pathways, including the Refugee Review Tribunal for appeals. These questions can only be really tested in court,'' he said. Chris Bowen said that as soon as order was restored on Christmas Island, they will continue to process people there but will strive to lower the numbers.

The local residents living on the beautiful island had warned that trouble would result from overcrowding. It started last Thursday when about 250 asylum-seekers set fire to buildings and threw homemade bombs at police. Two RAAF Hercules delivered more teargas, ammunition and about 80 police to the island over the weekend and more reinforcements were due to arrive today. This gives us an indication of just how intense the fighting has been.

The government is still looking for a regional solution in East Timor and will raise the issue at the Bali summit next week but our near neighbours have shown little interest in the proposal. The delegation to Bali will be led by Mr Bowen and Kevin Rudd.

UN Sanctions Bombing of Libya

Pictures of burning tanks belonging to Colonel Gaddafi are coming out of Libya and returning British RAF pilots have declared their mission a success. David Cameron pronounced the action was “legal and right’.

But there’s a problem already. The head of the Arab League has criticized allied strikes on Libya because they say they are causing too many civilian deaths. Their support for a no-fly zone last week helped overcome resistance in the west for action. The UN authorised not only a no-fly zone but also ‘all necessary measures’ to protect civilians. Arab League head Amr Moussa says the military operations have gone beyond what the Arab League agreed to and wants the killing of civilians to stop.

Enter the Russians. They have lodged a protest and called for a stop to the ‘indiscriminate’ use of force and said that the air strikes went beyond the mandate of the UN resolution. Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Lukashevich said the US and European air raids killed 48 civilians and a medical centre was partially destroyed.

Libyan officials seized the Italian tugboat ‘Asso 22’ and their crew made up of 8 Italians, 2 Indians and 1 Ukrainian. Italian Defence Minister said that Italy was prepared to evacuate the crew ‘with every possible means.” Italy’s oil and gas giant Eni has vast interests in Libya and they had rented the tug for use at oil platforms off the coast. It’s around this time that a cynic would say “it’s really all about the oil.”

Last night the US Pentagon reported that 112 Tomahawk missiles had been fired from both US and British ships and submarines in Operation Odyssey Dawn while three B-2 stealth bombers from the US have dropped 40 bombs on Libyan airfields.

A spokesman said “The missiles struck more than 20 integrated air-defence systems and other defence facilities ashore. These strikes were carefully co-ordinated with our coalition partners. The targets themselves were selected on a collective assessment that the sites either pose a direct threat to the coalition pilots or, through use by the regime, pose a direct threat to the people of Libya." He added "I want to stress that this is just the first phase of what will likely be a multi-phased military operation designed to enforce the UN resolution and deny the Libyan regime the ability to use force against its own people."

Now the UN has to answer to the Arab League and the Russians about whether it’s “legal and right.”

Tokyo Electric Power Company Cover-Up

The operator of the Fukushima reactors, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), is in serious trouble. Not only because their share price has dropped by half, but Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan is furious that he wasn't notified immediately that a serious explosion had taken place after the earthquake. "What the hell is going on?" he asked last week when he finally caught up with Tepco officials. "Retreat is unthinkable" he told them, thinking they were going to completely abandon the stricken reactor site. It was a strange situation, company officials didn’t have any answers to the questions being asked at the press conferences, and would say things like "Hang on, we'll check on that."

After an earthquake in 2007, Tepco had to shut down a plant in the Niigata Chuetsu-Oki area when they had to admit it had not been designed to cope with earthquakes. In 2002, the company was found to have falsified nuclear safety data at least 200 times which led to the resignation of company president, Nobuya Minami and a number of board members. Since Tepco’s new President Masataka Shimizu took over, there has been little change.

WikiLeaks has revealed there is grave concern about all the nuclear power companies operating in Japan and accuses Japan's ministry of economy trade and industry of "covering up nuclear accidents."

The Americans have around 104 nuclear power stations but Australia only has one nuclear reactor and it's in the Sydney Metropolitan area of Lucas heights. Over the years the focus of the facility has changed to a broader range of nuclear activities including uranium mining, nuclear medicine and nuclear research, industrial uses and environmental management of former uranium mining sites. Yesterday, Science Minister Kim Carr asked department officials to make sure that occupational health and safety practices were in place.

Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe

We know from history that the Japanese people are stoic and courageous and never surrender. Because they showed no sign of ever giving up during WWII, America's war plane Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" a 8,900 pound atomic bomb on Hiroshima on the 6th August 1945 and within eight days, Japan surrendered and the war was finally over.

I think we can see that same resolve of 'no surrender' in the way they have handled their nuclear disaster - they haven't asked for any help and are desperately trying to solve the problem themselves. But if we can believe the news media, Washington grew impatient and took matters into their own hands. The Pentagon is getting ready to send up to 450 radiological and disaster specialists to the site.

Japan's nuclear safety agency last night raised the Fukushima accident level to five from four but France's Nuclear Safety Authority has already rated it at a six. The Chernobyl disaster is the highest at seven.

Admiral Robert Willard who will head the US Mission said "I have requested a force of about 450 radiological and consequence management experts to be available to us. They are on 'prepare to deploy' orders." The Admiral believes a joint American-Japanese effort could avert a serious meltdown within the six Fukushima nuclear reactors.

He wouldn't be drawn on the suggestion that Japan had been keeping information secret from the public but according to the New York Times, the US is up to date on its own information - they were sending out unmanned aircraft equipped with radiation-detection equipment and image monitors. About 17,000 US military personnel are helping the Japanese with the relief effort, but they have been ordered to stay outside an 80km radius of plant. The Japanese continue to operate a 20km exclusion zone.

President Obama has called for a review of safety of their own 104 nuclear power plants. Public anxiety is running high and he is trying to assure his people that harmful raidation was not expected to reach the US.

The Japanese people are in dire straits, half a million people are homeless, they are grieving for lost family, it's freezing cold, there is no electricity, hardly any food, limited water supply, and now the country has to endure the fear of a nuclear catastrophe. And never one word of complaint.

Christmas Island Asylum Seekers Riot

Last night around 250 asylum seekers on Christmas Island went berserk. Two accommodation buildings were burnt to the ground and a dozen smaller fires were set around the centre. Federal police were flown in and had to resort to using tear gas and rubber bullets to take control. A mob of around 250 detainees set out looking for trouble after some people received a letter from Canberra yesterday afternoon. Although the contents of that letter is unknown we can guess what was in it - asylum denied - you are on your way home.

Australia's Human Rights Commission wants the government to stop mandatory and indefinite detention of asylum seekers. It is also a policy The Greens embrace. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is sitting on the sidelines watching and waiting. The Labor government refuse to contemplate his plan to reintroduce John Howard's policies that almost completely stopped the boats from coming.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has ordered an independent inquiry into the Christmas Island unrest and how it was handled. But he has warned of further protests by disgruntled detainees who miss out on refugee status.

Meanwhile to accommodate the growing number of asylum seekers arriving by boat, yet another detention centre is almost ready to open on the mainland - a disused army camp at Northam, 100kms north east of Perth. It will have a 1500 bed capacity.

And the boats keep coming.

Bullied Sydney Schoolboy Fights Back

The video that had parents all over Australia cheering yesterday has been taken down by UTube. We watched as a much larger boy is taunted and smacked in the face by a skinny little runt. It became an internet sensation and went all over the world after video emerged of him body-slamming another student during a verbal and physical attack.

Now the mother of the bully, Tina Gale said that she and her son Richard had been victimised by the video and has demanded an apology from her son's victim. She said she was "shocked" at her son's behaviour, but did not think he deserved to be bodyslammed by Year 10 student Casey Heynes at Chifley College's Dunheved Campus, St Marys in western Sydney. Doesn't she realize that the tables have turned - Casey is now a hero and her son has been outed as the pathetic little bully he is.

The international interest comes on the eve of the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. The focus of tomorrow's campaign will be bystanders.

But now we have to suffer parents and educators who are appalled by his behaviour and insist that children must 'walk away' from trouble. I just wish these people would wake up to reality and applaud this bullied child who finally had his day in the sun.

Doomadgee's Murder Goes Unpunished

Queensland police from the ‘deep north’ are a law unto themselves. They protected an officer who caused fatal injuries to an Aboriginal man in custody on Palm Island in November 2004. Sergeant Hurley beat him so badly, he cut his liver in half and busted the portal vein in his abdominal cavity. The Coroner, Brian Hine accepted the fatal injuries suffered by Mr Doomadgee, (known as Mulrunji) were caused by Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley but couldn’t determine if the injuries were inflicted deliberately or accidentally. Surely he must have been joking when he said the injuries could have been caused by Sen Sgt Hurley accidentally falling on top of Mr Doomadgee or by the officer "dropping a knee into his torso". He also accepted Sergeant Hurley had punched Mr Doomadgee in the face and abused him during his attempts to force him into the police station.

When it became clear that Sergeant Hurley was not going to be charged with Doomadgee’s murder, the Aboriginal community rioted and burnt down the Palm Island Watch house, the police station and Hurley’s residence. The Sergeant later received $102,955 compensation payment, even though there was an allegation that he had obtained the money dishonestly.

An investigation into Doomadgee’s death has been going on for six long years and yesterday they dropped a bombshell - the police involved and Sergeant Hurley in particular, have no reason to be disciplined. This prevents them from ever being prosecuted by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC). The decision was finally made by Deputy Commissioner Kathy Rynders - who gave bravery medals to two of the six officers she was investigating - for their actions during the ensuing riot. By not taking disciplinary action against the officers, Rynders has ensured, under Queensland's often peculiar laws, that it is now impossible for the CMC to bring these men before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

So now there is nowhere else to go, all eyes turn to Premier Anna Bligh to do something about it but she already refused to have a Royal Commission into the case, so no one is holding their breath.

Julia Gillard Fronts Q and A

The Prime Minister faced a large, live audience on the ABC’s Q and A last night and handled the questions from the audience with ease. And there were some curly ones. Like a surprise question from Julian Assange in a video link from the UK, asking if she had swapped information with foreign powers (meaning America) about Australian members of WikiLeaks and suggesting she should be charged with treason. Another confronting question from a woman in the audience - was she aware of how Australians were sickened with her ‘gushing’ speech to the American Congress and will Australia go nuclear in light of the disaster unfolding in Japan.

She said the Labor Party had not entertained the proposition of nuclear power in Australia "We are a country with abundant solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, you name it, we have got renewable sources of energy, so we don't think nuclear energy is right for this country," she said.

In regard to Julian Assange’s question, she said she respected whistle-blowers but did not support his “anarchic” ways. "My view about his conflict is neither here nor there because we do support him," she said. She also made the point that Australia will never extradite a citizen if there is any chance they may face the death penalty.

Ms Gillard admitted she broke her promise about a carbon tax and said she would have introduced an emissions trading scheme straight away, instead of starting with a carbon tax, if she had won power in her own right. But because the election result was so tight, it meant she had to negotiate with the Greens and take a different route, something we knew and are angry about. "When I said during the election campaign there would be no carbon tax I didn't intend to mislead people - what I believed then is an emissions trading scheme is right for this country, I believe that now and we will get to that emissions trading scheme," she said.

Overall, I thought she was confident throughout and defended herself well.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3157403.htm?show=transcript

Greens NSW Election Campaign

New South Wales is in such a mess, it's depressing. The state is broke and has been for some time. Barry O'Farrell, the leader of the Liberal Party has hardly opened his mouth - he doesn't have to, all he has to do is wait to be elected.

Yesterday the Greens launched their NSW election campaign and Bob Brown said he was confident they could steal two lower house seats off Labor – Marrickville and Balmain. After the election he’s expecting to have Greens in both houses of parliament.

So what are the Greens offering? The headline policy is a pledge to build three new baseload solar thermal power plants at a cost of $2.1 billion, to be paid for by issuing $525 million in Green infrastructure bonds each year over the four years of construction. With the catastrophe unfolding in Japan, this should be a popular decision. They would also provide free preschool education for two days a week for all children in NSW. Now that would be a real sweetener for working couples struggling with outrageous preschool rates in Sydney of almost $100 a day. They also intend to fill the huge hole left by lack of dental care for the vulnerable - $102.5m was earmarked for the training of specialists, new public dental clinics and services for people in remote and rural areas.

State Greens MP David Shoebridge said that NSW Labor was working overtime shredding documents in an attempt to hide its many failings", And added "They have had 16 years of failing to deliver and will be running those shredders 24 hours a day to try and hide the truth from the incoming administration." Roll on election day.

Carbon Tax Protests

Outside Julia Gillard's electorate office in Werribee on Saturday, 400 protesters gathered with Victorian Liberal Senators to protest against the federal government's plan to put a price on carbon. Meanwhile 8,000 people gathered at Treasury Place in Melbourne's CBD to support it, the result of a well organized campaign by GetUp.

And this is how they did it:

This weekend, we're coming together to fight for clean energy and a price on pollution. You can join us here.

The price on pollution fear campaign has become so absurd that talkback radio hosts are claiming that a price on pollution means the end of our economy and life as we know it. Now, these same radio hosts have joined with climate deniers and far-right politicians to organise anti-climate action rallies. The first rally is this Saturday in Melbourne - and we must make sure that on the other side of town, our movement comes together to express support for clean energy, climate action and a price on pollution.

Paul Mackay, a spokesman for GetUp and an organiser of the pro-tax rally, said supporters for the carbon price plan had won the battle. "We were overwhelmed with the amount of people that came out - the entirety of Treasury Place was packed," he said. "It certainly eclipsed that of the anti-carbon tax rally".

The coalition has committed to taking its current climate change policy to the federal election in 2014. Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt says the so-called "direct action" policy of the coalition, which would pay polluters not to pollute, will stay in place. The Gillard government wants a fixed price on carbon from July 1, 2012.

But Tony Abbott must be doing a good job of frightening people to death because Labor had its poorest showing ever in the polls last week. Australian Workers Union secretary Paul Howes is not worried, he said putting a price on carbon was necessary and the poor Newspoll giving Labor just 30 per cent of the primary vote was no reason to panic. Labor frontbencher Mark Arbib, another powerful figure in the NSW Right, said that with 2 1/2 years until the next election, the polls were irrelevant.

Oh really? We'll have to wait and see.

Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe

Chernobyl Infant

William Pentland, a clean energy advocate, wrote this about the nuclear catastrophe that could be happening in Japan. When Australia is thinking about future energy needs, this terrible event in Japan makes one think very hard about nuclear energy.

The Institute for Public Accuracy issued the following statement by nuclear expert,Kevin Kamp, about the risk of nuclear disaster in post-Earthquake Japan: “The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.”

“In addition to the reactor cores, the storage pool for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel is also at risk. The pool cooling water must be continuously circulated. Without circulation, the still thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel in the storage pools will begin to boil off the cooling water. Within a day or two, the pool’s water could completely boil away. Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.”

Kamps is a specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear and conducted research last year assessing the state of nuclear facilities in Japan.

Meanwhile, Japan has ordered thousands of residents near a northeastern nuclear power plant to evacuate today following a massive earthquake that caused a problem in the plant’s cooling system, according to the Associated Press.

Abbott Supports No-Fly Zone Over Libya

What hope have we got? Now Opposition Leader Tony Abbott supports a 'no-fly zone' over Libya. He said "The important thing is that the people of Libya deserve reform not repression," and "I think Colonel Gaddafi and his crew have well and truly forfeited any legitimacy and that the sooner we have a more democratic form of government in Libya the better."

So it looks like Australia is going to be involved yet again in bringing democracy to the middle east, although I fail to see that it is any of our business. Granted, dictators like Gaddafi are to be despised, but surely the Egyptian example is better than outsiders from the west getting involved. Blind Freddy can see that it will be called another invasion because that's what it will be.

Good men have said that the world would be a better place if dictators were to end their rule and I agree, it probably would be. But surely the price of another war is just too high.

Julia Gillard Addresses American Congress

Only Bob Hawke and John Howard have been offered the opportunity to address a joint sitting of Congress - Robert Menzies addressed the lower house in 1955 - so it was a memorable day for Julia Gillard.

And what a speech it was, it went down a treat even though it could be described as a bit gushing in parts. "In both our countries, real mates talk straight," she said. "We mean what we say - you have an ally in Australia - an ally for war and peace - an ally for hardship and prosperity, an ally for the 60 years past and Australia is an ally for all the years to come." I think this brought a tear to the eye of some in the audience. She said Australia had not forgotten that the US helped defeat the Japanese in World War II.

She went on "I have told Australia's parliament in Canberra . . . what I told General Petraeus in Kabul . . . what I told President Obama in the Oval Office this week," she said "Australia will stand firm with our ally the United States. Our friends understand this and our enemies understand this too."

She noted that political power was shifting towards China and India, and urged the Americans to "call on the same courage that saw them provide leadership during the Cold War and to apply it to the emerging new world order." The US leadership could rely on its allies in Asia -- Australia in the south and Japan and South Korea in the north to ensure the whole region, including China, can share prosperity and economic growth.

She finished with "I firmly believe you are the same people who amazed me when I was a small girl by landing on the moon," and then "On that great day, I believed Americans could do anything and I believe that still. You can do anything today."

Kevin Rudd wants to intervene in Libya

Kevin Rudd is cracking his neck for the United Nations to intervene in the civil war in Libya and said that Australia is ready and willing to go. Britain and France have said they want to go ahead with it but Russia and China don't like the idea and America has showed remarkable common sense by staying out of it.

A no-fly zone would prevent Gaddafi from unleashing air raids or moving reinforcements by air. But the rebels don't want foreign interference, they sent the British packing and if a no-fly zone is agreed on, surely that will be considered an invasion.

Gaddafi has accused the west, especially France of plotting to "colonize" his oil-rich nation. When questioned on the stand taken by Western powers he said they "want to colonize Libya again", adding "it's a colonialist plot".

We don't want another war Mr Rudd, stay out of it.

Pauline Hanson will run in NSW Election

Last year Puline Hanson said she was moving to the UK because Australia was no longer the land of opportunity. She was leaving politics for good after she missed out on a seat in the last Queensland state election. But she said there were far too many refugees in Europe and she came home. Now she's ready to shake up the NSW State elections by standing as an Independent. Premier Keneally said Labor would never give Ms Hanson any preferences and the Liberals have said the same thing. But now there's a rumour that Barry O'Farrell has a ex-member of Pauline's One Nation Party standing for a seat on the central coast. Suddenly this election gets a bit more interesting.

You have to give it to this woman who once owned a fish and chip shop, she gets full marks for perseverance - she never gives up. Her racist views cost her a jail sentence - 11 weeks behind bars. It was a terrible injustice and a lesson to all of us about what can happen if you try to swim against the tide of powerful people in politics and the media.

She was sentenced to 3 years jail and even Prime Minister John Howard said at the time he found it severe. She received six times the jail term the same judge gave a pedophile who molested an 11 year old girl in her bed. Chief Judge Patsy Wolfe sentenced the 52 year old man with a history of sexual, drug and violent offences to six months jail. He was a repeat offender and had been jailed for 1 1/2 years for attempted rape. After servicing 11 weeks in jail in 2003, she was cleared on appeal.

The State Electoral Commission confirmed that she had nominated and all she needed to be eligible to run was to be enrolled on the NSW electoral roll. In 2003 she ran for the NSW Upper House and narrowly missed out to the Shooters Party so she has reason to be hopeful.

After all she's been through, she's still coming back for more and we are about to find out once and for all how much support, if any, one of the most maligned and hated women in the country, still has out there in the community.

Julia Gillard's Visit to Washington

Kevin Rudd must be gnashing his teeth after seeing how nice President Obama is being to our Prime Minister. It's being said that Obama is going out of his way to spend more time with her. She rode with the President in his limousine to a school in Virginia and a State Department official said it was very usual for the president to go "off campus" with a visiting leader.

Had Kevin Rudd still been prime minister for this visit which coincides with the 60th Anniversary of the ANZUS treaty, the scheduled meeting of the US House of Representaties Speaker John Boehner would have been rather embarrassing. In November 2009 when Republican Boehner was the House minority leader, he received a mouthful of contempt from Rudd who accused him and all those who denied the science of climate change as "holding the world to ransom" and "destroying momentum, playing with our children's future" and being "prepared to destroy our children's future".

As scheduled, Julia Gillard will meet Moehner tomorrow morning and I wonder what he'll say when she tells him she's just put a price on carbon. Meeting Boehner is part of the formality that occurs before Gillard addresses a joint sitting of Congress - a Republican-controlled Congress. A senior official said this would not happen if there was a deep objection to the Prime Minister.

Back at home Julia Gillard's popularity has hit an all-time low. Australians are battling the rising cost of living and putting a price on carbon, without a mandate from the people, seems to be the last straw. She clearly said before the election that it would never happen but now she says it will. Unrepentent Ms Gillard said last night ''I will continue to press to price carbon and we will get that done from July 1, 2102.'' Good luck with that Julia, it seems that only a small minority agree with you.

The Iron Lady - Maggie Thatcher

After the success of The Kings Speech at the Oscars, there's another movie in the pipeline about Britain - this time about the Iron Lady, Maggie Thatcher - the grocer's daughter. They had to bring in mounds of fake rubbish to recreate scenes of the 1979 garbage men's strike. The biography of Margaret Thatcher is due to be released at the end of the year, with Meryl Streep playing Baroness Thatcher as a confused octogenarian looking back on her time in power.

The Labor government tried to control inflation by keeping pay rises below 5 per cent but it didn't work. Gravediggers went on strike, NHS workers blockaded hospital entrances and finally the bin men's strike paved the way for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative party to win the 1979 election.

Miss Streep visited the House Of Commons to watch Prime Minister’s Question Time and was briefed by a variety of people with political insight. She said of her role: ‘The prospect of exploring the swathe cut through history by this remarkable woman is a daunting and exciting challenge.'

Can't wait to see it.

Judge Marcus Einfeld's Hubris

It's still hard to believe that former Federal Court judge, Marcus Einfeld ended up in prison because he refused to pay a $77 speeding fine. The 72 year old once had a brilliant career but he threw it all away. He will be released from Sydney's Silverater prison on March 19 after serving two years of a three year sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

He's planning a new career as a charity worker to redeem himself in the eyes of the pubic. But people have long memories - we will never forget the way he arrogantly swore under oath and signed a 20 page statement stating that he wasn't driving his car when the speeding ticket was issued - it was driven by a friend, Professor Teresa Brennan. But he knew only too well that his friend had been killed in a car accident in 2003.

He went to such extraordinary lengths to avoid paying the fine, you have to wonder why. He even had a friend Angela Liati testify that she had driven with Theresa Brennan on the day the ticket was issued. She too was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice and ordered to do community service.

The Court of Appeal looked at his 20 page statement and made the following comments:

This statement reflects a studied, careful and premeditated attempt through a series of direct lies to influence the outcome of the administration of justice. It involves not a passing mistake, not an unfortunate and apparently uncharacteristic lapse but a studied and deliberate attempt to avoid the consequences of his actions and to deflect and pervert the course of justice.

Einfeld is a former UNICEF ambassador and spokesman for Israeli and Jewish causes. During his time in jail, he relinquished his Order of Australia and his commission as a Queen's counsel and stepped down from the NSW Bar Association.

My School 2.0

Merrylands East Public School

Merrylands East Public School in western Sydney represents the changing nature of Australian schools with 40 different socio-cultural backgrounds. "We're really pleased with our achievements, especially with the growth of our academic standards," said principal John Goh.

http://www.myschool.edu.au/

The Federal Labor government's My School 2.0 released yesterday shows that students at NSW's worst performing schools have improved on academic performances after receiving more funding. Almost one quarter of the most disadvantaged schools lifted results in numeracy and literacy in the Naplan test and 150 showed definite improvement.

My School 2.0 exposes funding inequalities for all to see - private schools with plenty of money compared to government, under-resourced public schools. Education experts believe the continued government funding of rich private schools was creating a school resources war and not a genuine competition to see who provided the best education.

But there was nothing about teacher performance. Research has shown that teaching quality is the fundamental reason for lifting school performance and a subject the teacher unions choose to ignore. They continue to attack the whole concept of My School and vehmently deny that schools can actually be compared and differences measured and that teachers should be exonerated from accountability. That's why there's a lack of data on teacher performance. What My School does not address is individual teachers who are not able to lift the standard of their student outcomes and it doesn't reward those teachers who do. This plays into the hands of the unions and is obviously the next step to My School's success.

There's no doubt that the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) has put the cat among the pigeons in Australian schools and given national education a good shake. We hear stories of angry parents going to parent-teacher evenings waving their student NAPLAN results and demanding an explanation. The teachers union movement are hell bent on telling anyone who will listen that My School is a failure and has nothing to do with teaching. But ask any parent, and they will tell you that's a lie and good teachers are worth their weight in gold.

I believe My School is slowly producing better results for Australian children but they need to stand up to the unions and present teacher performance data which will leave the bad teachers with nowhere to hide.

New Detention Centre for Darwin

Seven months ago Julia Gillard promised voters that she would fix the asylum-seeker problem by building a refugee processing centre in East Timor – we now know that will never happen. Today we learn that the government is planning to build a massive new detention centre on the mainland near Darwin at a cost of nearly $10 million. Bringing the centre to the mainland is something nobody wanted, it’s the last resort and an admission of defeat. At a recent Senate committee hearing, Andrew Metcalfe was forced to admit that not a single country had agreed to host a processing centre.

There are many issues on the minds of Australians at the moment - the back-down on the mining tax, the carbon tax and one that causes more angst than any other - people risking their lives to come to Australia in leaky boats. Currently we have 6194 asylum seekers in detention plus the latest arrival of 102 people and three crew. The Prime Minister is making sure that in the future, there will be room for them all.

Labor Senators Mutiny

I wondered how long it would be before Labor's relationship with the Greens came to a head and yesterday, three Labor Senators spat the dummy. They demanded that the Prime Minister overturn her support for the Greens same-sex and euthanasia policies. They were angry they weren’t consulted and are furious that the Greens have been given so much ground. One unhappy senator said last night "We are confident of reversing this decision and rectifying the mess we are now in".

So what happened? Right wing power broker and boss of the Shop, Distributors and Allied Employees Association Joe de Bruyn was beside himself. "Everybody in the federal parliament knows that this is simply a way of letting the territories into euthanasia or whatever else they want to do" he said. "It would be grossly irresponsible for the Australian parliament to give powers back to the ACT government when it has made it clear how it intends to exercise those powers". Mr de Bruyn went on "From comments made by the ACT Chief Minister and the Greens, it's very clear that they will misuse these powers to make it legal to get rid of people when they get old". He added "This is about euthanasia, pure and simple and everybody knows it".

Yesterday morning the three senators went to Ms Gillard's office. They were incensed with Mr Crean’s comments in the party-room on Tuesday morning. Mr Crean had not taken the decision to cabinet for discussion, he had not given the caucus notice of the bill and he had misled MPs over the potential impact of the plan. They said that the government's support for the bill would ensure same-sex marriage was introduced in the ACT and would encourage a revision of the euthanasia ban in the territories. The rebel senators finally appealed to Julia Gillard to reverse the decision.

And last night the Prime Minister said “Following the Senate inquiry into the bill, the government may reconsider the matter in response to any issues arising”.