Dominic Strauss-Kahn Pleads Diplomatic Immunity

When Nafissatou Diallo's rape case against Strauss-Kahn fell apart because it was claimed that she had lied in the past and lacked credibility, she filed a civil suit. Now DSK's lawyers have asked the judge to dismiss it on the grounds that he is entitled to absolute diplomatic immunity because he was head of the IMF, even though he had resigned.

Bradley Simon, a New York criminal defense lawyer said "I think his lawyers are feeling somewhat emboldened and are trying anything but I don't think it's got legs." He thinks that if the immunity defense had any legitimacy, his lawyers would have raised it early in the criminal case, before he stepped down as head of the IMF.

But his lawyers are citing a 1947 United Nations convention under which heads of specialized agencies are immune from civil and criminal suits, regardless of whether they are acting in their official capacity when the alleged offence took place. Although the US is not party to the UN convention, his lawyers insist that its absolute-immunity provision has "achieved the status of customary international law" and must be honoured.

When DSK returned to France on 17 September, he gave an interview on French television and said that the encounter with the Manhattan maid was consensual but added "It was a moral error and I am not proud of it."

Meanwhile on Thursday, he came face to face with French writer Tristane Banon who has accused him of trying to rape her eight years ago. They met at a French police station without their lawyers present, as investigators tried to get a better picture of what happened. "I looked at him constantly but he didn't dare look at me" she said. "I knew I'd be given a hard time, just as Diallo was in the US." She went on "In what kind of country do you attack my lawyer, my childhood, my family, my father, in order to explain that I wasn't the victim of an attempted rape?

When asked about what she thought of his request for the civil case to be dropped she said "It's just like him, I ask myself why would an innocent man need immunity, what does it mean - that you have the right to attack and rape women?"

Ms Banon was asked by her mother not to go ahead with the attempted rape charge eight years ago because she belonged to the same political party as Strauss-Kahn but she changed her mind and went ahead after the American rape case fell apart.

It's cases like this one that make a mockery of the American justice system. Just like OJ Simpson, if you have the power and more importantly, plenty of money to buy the best lawyers, you can't lose.

I hope DSK's legal team fail in their endeavours to discredit this young woman by digging up as much dirt as they can about her. The world is watching with interest to see how the French handle this sensitive issue that is crying out for justice.

Andrew Bolt Loses Racial Discrimination Case

Andrew Bolt is a popular Australian journalist with a huge following. He's a champion of the Liberal Party and has powerful friends. Yesterday he looked rather shocked and confused as he stood outside the court after losing a Racial Discrimination case that had dragged on for two years.

Yesterday Justice Mordacai Bromberg found that two of his newspaper columns were unlawful under the Racial Discrimination Act and News Limited, the paper he works for, has had to cough up huge dollars in legal costs.

In 2009 he jumped to a conclusion. In his opinion, there were Aborigines who could pass for white but deliberately chose to identify as black for personal or political gain. Judge Bromberg said that if Bolt intended to accuse people of having appalling motives, he better get his facts straight.

Bolt said that Anita Heiss (who is very light skinned) chose to be Aboriginal because it would help her career. She vehemently denied it and said "I have always identified and lived as an Aboriginal woman, I'm a Williams from Cowra, a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation. Bolt said she chose to be black so she could win plum jobs reserved for Aborigines at Koori Radio, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Arts Board and Macquarie University's Warawara Dept of Indigenous Studies. The facts are that she has a PhD in Media and Communication and none of the jobs he mentioned were reserved or identified as Aboriginal positions and the Koori Radio was voluntary.

Bolt's lawyers had to agree that nine of the "white" Aborigines named were not given any choice on how they were brought up, they were all raised as blacks from childhood. Bolt also made the incorrect assumption that Larissa Behrendt's father was a white German when in fact he was a black Australian and she was raised as a black child.

Judge Bromberg said Bolt made "gross errors" in the genealogy of the nine people involved and inferred that he used online research instead of making diligent enquiries to get at the truth.

Some people are saying that Bolt is now a martyr but it's clear he made mistakes and should say so. The nine "white Aborigines" said they don't want to sue, they don't want any money, they are happy with the public correction that this case has provided.

Woodside's Natural Gas Row in Broome

Carol Martin

The first indigenous woman to be elected to any Australian Parliament is Labor MP Carol Martin 54 who was elected to the seat of Kimberley in 2001. She has been called a "toxic coconut" in a newsletter and is so upset, she plans to leave politics and not contest the next election in March 2013.

Cranky Camel

We all love the Kimberley and having been there, I was appalled when I heard that the huge mining company Woodside was going to mine for natural gas in the area but it looks like they have convinced the traditional owners to go ahead. In June, they signed a deal to

relinquish their rights over land at James Price Point and in return, they will receive $1.5 billion in community, health education and employment benefits.

Carol Martin MP is right behind the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr people's decision to proceed after they voted 60-40 in favour of the project but it puts her at odds with her own extended family in a town where there is strong anti-gas feeling. Last week she was named in an anonymous newsletter as "brown on the outside but full of the ilk of the of white man's money on the inside." Her name appeared on a list of nine Kimberley Aborigines under the heading "toxic coconuts".

Broome sunset

Lindsay Greatorex is one of the traditional owners and an employee of Woodside and says it's upsetting to see Aboriginal people fighting among themselves. Concerns about the atmosphere of Broome being ruined and air quality compromised are not true, the project is not visible from Broome and is far enough way not to be a problem. But indigenous academic Dr Anne Poelina says 3,000 signatures were collected on a petition opposing the project on environmental grounds, so fighting continues.

But there is no doubt that this mighty project will go ahead, bringing hundreds of jobs and business opportunities with it. Broome didn't exist until 1883 and was created by an emerging pearling industry. If Woodside keeps its promise to honour the traditional owners' concerns about the environment, it should be a win win situation for everyone, not only for Broome, but for the whole country.

The seat of Kimberley is up for grabs and The Nationals hope to take it from Labor at the next election.

Westmead Hospital in the news again

Westmead hospital is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. When we threw out the state Labor government, we were told that conditions in hospitals would improve, especially in the area of patient care and waiting times. But now there is another scandal - letters from Westmead Specialists to GP's regarding their patient's care, have taken up to two years to arrive.

Westmead Administration knew there was a shortage of typists needed to type up Specialists letters to GP's but nobody did anything about it, so the correspondence backed up and up until it reached the ridiculous level where 700 people have waited up to three years for their letters to finally arrive back on their GP's desk.

A Sydney GP sent a woman with a skin cancer concern to a Westmead specialist on 21 August 2009 and didn't receive a letter from him until 16th September 2011, by which time, the woman had been dead for a year. The Westmead specialist doctor dictated a letter to the GP on the same day he saw her, the 21st August 2011, but it went into the queue for typing and arrived back on her GP's desk nearly two years later.

Dr Sheen who is the President of GP group Doctors Action leaked a letter to the journal Medical Observer, to be released today. "It is an absolute utter disgrace - the family doctor is the most important thing in the community, they are the ones who get people through the health system - how am I supposed to help a patient when the letter arrives nearly two years later?" he said.

Liberal Health Minister Jillian Skinner blames the previous Labor government for the mess. "This debacle has come about because the previous government kept slashing staff numbers in Sydney's west, even when it was clear that the system and its people were crumbling under the pressure" she said. She has told Westmead to hire staff immediately to shift the backlog and three weeks to bring everything up to date.

On Sunday we learnt that Westmead had tagged an 80 year old woman as a 58 year old man with cancer and after she was given the wrong medication, she died. Last month a boy died from a ruptured appendix after staff at Westmead Childrens and also Liverpool Hospital failed to notice a warning in the GP's referral letter. Then to top it all off, someone inadvertently closed one of the hospital water valves this month and there was no water for over six hours. Five dialysis patients had to be transferred to Auburn Hospital and elective surgery rescheduled as surgeons couldn't "scrub up".

No, this is not happening in a third world country, it's happening here in Sydney and it's a disgrace.

Kevin Rudd tipped to return as leader

Opposition leader Tony Abbott has told his front bench they will be gearing up for a political war with Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister before Christmas. It seems that Pyne, Brandis, Hockey and Julie Bishop believe that Rudd will challenge for the leadership.

Surely the Labor Party can't be serious? They would be admitting they made a terrible mistake by getting rid of him in the first place and then when things get tough, they want him to forgive and forget and come back to bail them out. It sure wouldn't put the so-called backroom powerbrokers in a good light, in fact it would become abundantly clear that they couldn't run a chook raffle.

It's also fairly obvious that Tony Abbott would prefer to deal with Julia Gillard as PM, Kevin Rudd would be a whole new ballgame. He could delay the carbon tax, change asylum seeker policy, break the alliance with independents - who knows what he would do - and the Liberals are trying to work out strategies on how to proceed if he gets re-elected as leader.

The Labor Party are saying they still support the PM and all this speculation from the Opposition is rubbish. But Andrew Wilkie's poker machine legislation is causing some angst in the caucus and it's thought that they will eventually put pressure on Julia Gillard to dump him.

Yesterday the AFL said it would team up with the NRL and join the clubs to strongly campaign against the bill during Grand Final week. Wilkie's proposed plan to self-regulate poker machines to help problem gamblers, although a worthy ambition - is an unpopular one. Clubs need that revenue to survive, especially the smaller clubs and the hundreds of community bowling clubs all across the country.

But Wilkie is a tough nut to crack. Just before Australia became involved in the Iraq war, he resigned from the intelligence agency he was working for because he said the excuse to invade Iraq what a sham and as we now know, he was right. And he's a self-confessed bully-boy, he has admitted that as a senior cadet at Duntroon Military College in 1983, he was involved in "bastardization" and set "some sort of record" for dishing out punishments and giving junior cadets a hard time.

And he hasn't changed a bit, he's threatening to withdraw his support if he doesn't get his way and will continue to hold Julia Gillard to ransom over this issue. The question is, can she stop him from bringing down her government?

Millionaire calls in loans from siblings

Remember last weekend when the millionaire's wife wept because their riverside mansion was passed in at auction for $4.9 million? Poor thing. She was the wife of Mark McIvor 55, a merchant banker and property investor who is one of the richest men on the Gold Coast.

McIvor has just launched legal action against his younger brother Wayne and sister Janeen Pelly in the Southport District Court. He says that he loaned his siblings around $465,000 over ten years and he wants it back - $259,429 from Wayne and $205,790 from Janeen. He insists that the loans were entered into under the condition that they would pay interest and repay the money on demand. And on 30th May this year, he demanded payment within 7 days so it looks like he didn't get it.

Mark McIvor (2nd from right)

Wayne McIvor was his brother's right hand man at Equititrust, the Gold Coast funds manager whose investors, along with others like City Pacific, have had their investments frozen since 2008. Wayne resigned as a director last year after 17 years faithful service and the brothers haven't spoken since.

McIvor owns three properties in the Gold Coast's most prestigious and exclusive suburb Cronin Island and a beachfront property at Palm Beach. Originally from the Darling Downs, the three McIvor siblings are children of former bookmaker John McIvor.

There is a lesson to be learnt here - never enter into a business transaction with a family member. While it can be very tempting, it usually ends in tears.

Sophie Mirabella's Will Dispute

Sophie Mirabella

When Sophie Panopoulos met Colin Howard, she was a bright 26 year old with a promising legal career ahead of her and he was a 66 year old brilliant constitutional law expert. But the 40 year age different didn't seem to matter and they became lovers in 1995.

When Dr Howard died from Alzheimer's disease this month at the age of 83, he left behind a mess for his adult children and for a man with an abundant knowledge of the law, he failed to ensure that his children were adequately catered for in his will. Instead, he chose to name Sophie Mirabella as the main beneficiary and executor of his estate. Now his children, Lesley and Mervyn Howard will mount a challenge in the Victorian Supreme Court to contest his will.

It is alleged that she received gifts from him valued at well over $100,000 to help her election to Federal Parliament in 2001 and another substantial sum to buy her Wangaratta farmhouse in 2007. If she is the sole beneficiary, she will inherit his home in Melbourne worth $1 million.

In 2006, after their affair ended, Sophie married Greg Mirabella, a former army reserve officer, and they now have two daughters.

But this is where this case gets bizarre - Mervyn and Lesley Howard insist they are not after their father's money because he made it clear to them that they would not get any. One wonders what his children did to deserve this. They acknowledge that their father's feelings for Mirabella never wavered, before or after her marriage, they just want to know if she did the right thing by their father.

Professor Howard was a man highly regarded by the Victorian Bar Association who put together an obituary outlining his achievements in law and academia. Originally born in England, he came to Australia at the age of 30 and from 1965 he was a law professor at the University of Melbourne and Dean from 1978 to 1983. He took silk while with Ms Mirabella and served as general counsel to the Victorian Government Solicitor.

A socially awkward man, Professor Howard spent the latter part of his life battling Alzheimer's Disease in an aged-care facility.

Burglar's Fatal Mistake

Donald Brooke

Donald Brooke was in the backyard when he heard noises coming from inside his house around 3.15pm on Tuesday. When he went inside to investigate, he came face to face with a thief who threatened him with a stun gun. After a short struggle, Mr Brooke managed to stab the 31 year old man twice, once in the arm and once in the chest.

When the intruder started to run away, 54 year old Brooke called out to him "Come back, you're injured" but he managed to stagger to a waiting car where another man was waiting and drove off. He got out of the vehicle at Fairfield and was taken to Liverpool hospital where he died that night at 9.30pm.

The dead man is well known to police and was due to appear in Burwood court next week on a string of burglary charges. Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Gillam said "It's too early to talk about charges - it's a complicated matter and all aspects of the law have to be considered, including self-defense."

Now Donald Brooke has an agonizing wait to find out if he will be charged with murder. How many times in the past have we seen our bizarre legal system come out in favour of the criminal instead of the law-abiding citizen? Let's hope that this time, they get it right.

Asylum Seeker Madness

It's lonely at the top

Tony Abbott has refused to agree to changes to the migration act which would allow Julia Gillard to proceed with her Malaysian solution for asylum seekers. Furious, the PM accused him of not acting in the national interest. And it's clear to see why the PM is so frustrated - Tony Abbott won't come to the party, the Greens have deserted her on this issue and a large proportion of her own party members are giving her grief.

At yesterday's Caucus meeting of 20 members, about half were in favour of onshore processing and half were against it but when members voiced their opposition, they were told they must vote with the government on this or risk expulsion from the party. When the vote was finally taken, it was narrowly carried on the voices of Pro Gillard proposals.

This is the first time I've seen the PM so rattled. Yesterday she said Opposition members would be judged by history. "They should record their votes, name by name, person by person, stand up in the Parliament and say they are the people who believe their cheap politics is more important than protecting our borders and protecting Australian values in the way we deal with refugees" she said.

Abbott is sticking with Nauru even though he's been told over and over that it won't stop the boats. The last time it was used in the John Howard era, most of the refugees ended up in Australia anyway so it follows that people smugglers will still be able to operate and guarantee their passengers an Australian visa in the long run, but first they will have to spend some time on an island in the middle of nowhere for a while. Tony Abbott needs to address this point.

Julia Gillard insists that the Malaysian solution will work because refugees would be effectively "turned around" and would then face years waiting for asylum. I think the idea has merit but there's a flaw that she can't ignore - Malaysia is not a signatory of the UN Human Rights Convention and nobody can guarantee they will be treated humanely if we send them back. And that's the bottom line.

Wind Farm Threatens Wool Producers

Gus and Annie Gardner

Gus and Annie Gardner live on a property near Penshurst in Victoria and its taken them thirty years to build up a flock of 2900 merinos able to produce some of the world's finest wool. This week in Sydney they will be recognised by fashion icon Ermenegildo Zegna with a second prize trophy for producing Australia and New Zealand's finest and most valuable wool.

But now their business in threatened by the proposed plan by AGL Energy and Meridian Energy to develop Australia's largest wind farm at Macarthur. It will have 140m high wind turbines within 1.75 kms of their homestead and 100 metres from their sheep.

Mrs Gardner said the sheep have a sensitive nervous sytem "These sheep are supposed to have a controlled environment because if they get stressed, the wool breaks..... it's not going to be a little disturbance, it's going to be a big one" she said. It seems that any stress on a sheep can affect the wool's tensile strength which in turn, affects the price.

AGL are well aware of the Gardner's concerns because they have kept bombarding them with their complaints and objections. An AGL spokeman said "A wind farm and an ultra-fine wool enterprise already exist in close proximity at Challicum Hills with no ill effect" he said. "We believe the Gardner's enterprise and wind turbines on neighbouring properties can comfortably co-exist".

It seems there's a lot of work that needs to be done with the alternative energy source. It's wrong for big companies to push ahead with these plans without first consulting all the affected neighbours. Okay, it sounds a bit bizarre that care must be taken not to upset the nervous system of a sheep in case it affects the quality of the wool but it's already proved that low frequency noise adversely affects the health of humans, so why not sheep?

But it's easy to see why many farmers are giving companies the go-ahead, property owners are being offered $7,000 per annum per turbine so 15 gives you $105,000 a year for doing nothing. But we've got such a big country, why do we have to put these monsters next to farming and agricultural endeavours, why not put them out in the middle of nowhere, the kangaroos won't complain.

Watch the video: http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/wind-turbine-syndrome

Boy survives in German Woods

There is a real life mystery surrounding a teenage boy and his father who have been living rough in the woods in Germany for five years. They were always on the move, sleeping in tents and dugouts and hunted and foraged for food. Is it possible they survived without any welfare assistance and lived entirely off the land in the twenty first century? German police say that the story is actually "credible".

The boy 17 who calls himself Ray is 5 ft 11 in with blond hair and blue eyes. He told police that his father died after a fall and he buried him in a shallow grave with rocks piled on top, just before he set off for Berlin to get help. He can't tell police exactly where his father is buried, only that he followed his compass north towards Berlin as his father had instructed him to do in the event of an emergency.

The teenager turned up at Berlin Town Hall on the 5th September. He speaks a little German but is fluent in English and experts are working on his accent to find out where he comes from. Interpol are trying to match the description of any missing child from countries all over the world. He says that he and his father Ryan moved to the forest after his mother Doreen was killed in a car accident.

Because there is a possibility that he may have suffered mental trauma, he is being interviewed for psychiatric evaluation. Berlin police will release a photograph of the youth if no further progress is made on his identify.

He arrived wearing winter clothes and a backpack containing a tent, sleeping bag and some survival tools, including a compass. Although he looked rather dishelvelled, he is in good physical health.

Update 16/06/2012:   It's a hoax. Police published his photo worldwide on Tuesday and his Dutch step-mother recognized him.  He left Holland just 3 days before showing up in Berlin with his fantastic story.  Posing as a teen, he was collecting youth welfare benefits in Germany, when he is actually a 20 year old adult.

France bans Muslims from praying in the street

Islam's public visibility in France is now a political issue and President Sarkozy's ban on street prayers came into effect yesterday. The 5 million French Muslims have been told that praying in the street will no longer be tolerated and they have been directed to alternative prayer venues away from public view.

Officials have made it clear that temporary prayer spaces are to be used pending the building of a huge, new 30 million euro Institute for Islamic Cultures set for completion in 2013. Police will be brought in if necessary to ensure that worshipers are kept off the streets.

France has the largest number of Muslims in Europe but as a rule, radicals are in a minority. However, an hour before the first prayer, a group of young men with beards, green headbands and banners tried to stop worshipers from moving to the new site at a disused barracks.

"No system in the universe can control us aside from Allah" shouted one young man. "There is more dignity in praying in the grass than in their false mosque" said another. As prayers began a group of young men called Forsane Alizza disrupted the service with shouts of "Allaha akbar" until security took control.

Maybe you can't imagine that ever happening here in Australia. Wrong, the above picture is outside the Lakemba mosque in Sydney, celebrating the end of Ramadam in 2010.

US Military Bases in Australia

It now becomes a little clearer as to why Australia has been such a staunch supporter of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our politicians knew something we didn't - the USA is coming down under to shore up a strong defense force against China. They are set to expand their military presence here in a big way and those who object to it are fools.

The Americans are already established in Guam, Japan, South Korea and Hawaii but those bases are all within range of Chinese missiles. Australia is not in Asia, it's on the edge of it. Personnel at the US base on the border between North and South Korea would be the first to be wiped out in the event of trouble as the US President would rush to the aid of South Korea. Not so in Australia, US forces would have plenty of time to redeploy.

Washington wants to increase its size of training exercises here but we don't have the right facilities - let's face it, pouring money into becoming a powerful military entity is the last thing on our minds, so we need all the help we can get. But the US needs to make urgent cut-backs in defense so can they afford it?

Experts say that China's rapid military build-up is very real and of grave concern. Their military budget has grown nearly 70 per cent over the last five years but it pales into insignificance when compared to the US budget for 2012 of $553 billion.

And then there's the problem of Taiwan, we know only too well how touchy China is about it - there was a rumour floating around that the US refused to sell Taiwan 66 new Lockheed Martin F-16C/D fighter jets because China told them not to.

Meanwhile, we are preparing our biggest military build-up since WWII which includes 12 new submarines and 4 AWD to the Navy armed with cruise missiles capable of striking 400 kilometres from the Australian shoreline.

So should we be worried? I don't think so. Why would China want to wipe out America anyway, they would lose 300 million of their best customers and the way they are buying up real estate in Australia, they'll own half of the country anyway.

Glen Stevens and the Reserve Bank of Australia

Treasurer Wayne Swan wasn't happy when he found out that the RBA decided to give their Governor, Glen Stevens a $234,000 pay rise. So he took the power away from them - from now on, they no longer have the power to independently set salaries of their governors, board members and top executives. After the pay rise, Mr Stevens annual package is $1.05 million, which is almost triple that of the Prime Minister.

The Remuneration Tribunal who sets salaries for top public servants, judges and the chairmen of the ACCC and ASIC will take over control of the RBA's salaries. Mr Swan said "I have put into place a set of arrangements that will mean future decisions taken about those salaries will be in the context of other salaries paid to comparable people in the public sector."

As usual, there are two sides of the story. One side says that Mr Stevens' salary is warranted because he did a great job steering us clear of a recession in the GFC. The other side says that his salary is obscene and way out of line with community expectations.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank is spending millions on renovations to their headquarters in Sydney and Governor Stevens has been boasting about how they paid $18,000 for his custom-made Anton Gerner timber desk.

I wonder if Mr Stevens realizes just how much he is hated, sitting up there in his ivory tower pontificating about our future, while we struggle to make ends meet. This man is completely out of touch with what's really going on in our economy and should be replaced at the first opportunity.

Andrew Wilkie's Poker Machine War

One of the reasons that Julie Gillard is still PM is because of Independent MP Andrew Wilkie. This man is on a crusade against poker machine problem gamblers and wants to stop them putting their salaries, housekeeping money and old age pensions through the pokies. It's a worthy cause but his idea on how to fix it is flawed. He's threatened to withdraw his support of the government unless he gets his mandatory pre-commitment proposal through Parliament.

Naturally the clubs are worried and 10 NRL leagues clubs have said they will cut millions in funding to their football teams if the Federal Government goes ahead with its plan to limit how much people can spend on poker machines. Even the Salvation Army have pulled their support after it was suggested that clubs were prepared to bar the Sallies from collecting at their venues.

Like drinking, gambling is so entrenched in our culture, it's hard to imagine life without it. It's all around us and gambling online from the privacy of your own home is growing in popularity. It doesn't make it right but it will take a miracle to change the bad habit of gambling on just about anything, that has been handed down from generation to generation.

Now we learn that mandatory pre-commitment poker machines introduced in Norway in 2009 haven't fixed the problem. Problem gamblers over there almost doubled from 48,000 to 81,000.

Aristocrat has brought in a pre-commitment machine from Norway so it can design and develop similar machines here. It looks totally different - it has a slot for the player to insert a card and unlike the Australian plan where players nominate their own limits, in Norway there is a limit of $70 per day and $380 a month.

Big clubs will be forced to introduce the scheme by 2014 and smaller clubs by 2018. When you think about how many people clubs employ right across the country and how many kids and adults will miss out on sporting grants, it becomes a serious issue. Mr Wilkie shouldn't be allowed to hold the government to ransom on this, there is a lot at stake here.

Carbon Tax D-Day

Greg Combet

Shortly after midday today, Greg Combet will introduce the Carbon Tax Bill which will be debated as one package. The Opposition is furious that the government has only allowed 35 hours to debate the entire package which is less than one minute of debate per bill per member.

But Mr Combet said there have been 35 parliamentary enquiries into climate change and it was now time to get on with it. "Everyone will get the opportunity to speak on the bills" he said.

Tony Abbott said it was a "travesty of democracy" for the government to rush this legislation through Parliament because they had no mandate to introduce a carbon tax and promised to repeal the laws once the Coalition government was elected.

When asked about concerns that repealing the tax could cause disruption to business Mr Abbott replied "It's never disruptive to get rid of a bad tax."

Brothel Extensions planned for Sydney

Eddie Hayson

The owner of a Sydney brothel has an application before Sydney Council to double the size of the Stiletto brothel in the inner-city suburb of Camperdown. At the moment it has 20 beds but the owner wants to spend another $12 million, making it the biggest brothel in Australia, with 40 beds and 21 waiting rooms. As long as he's prepared to spend $400,000 improving the quality of the suburb of Camperdown, his application is likely to be approved, in spite of the 80 objections lodged by residents.

The brothel is located on Parramatta Road near Sydney University and is very close to high density residential, educational and medical establishments and as such, it's thought to be a risk to women, students and children. Another objection is about the extra noise and traffic congestion it will create in an already heavily congested area. The claim that the brothel will cause noise and disturb neighbours has been overruled because council said there "was no record of complaint relating to the existing operations of the premises."

But council aren't concerned with any of these objections and unless a miracle happens, tonight they are likely to give owner Eddie Hayson the go ahead. All he has to do is agree to give council $400,000 for improvements to "the public domain" including footpaths, kerbs and build a pedestrian refuge within 800 metres of the brothel, and he's home and hosed.

Hayson is an imfamous figure in racing circles and has a thoroughbred stud of horses. He's also good mates with Rugby League identities Andrew and Matthew Johns and once placed a bet of $100,000 on the Newcastle Knights to beat Parramatta Eels and collected $191,000 for his efforts. He was declared bankrupt in 1999 but had it annulled in 2002 after full repayment.

The mind boggles at the thought of a business that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has 21 waiting rooms. The final decision will be up to Clover Moore, our esteemed Sydney Lord Mayor - the woman who spent $70 million on 200 kilometres of bike lanes around town that nobody wanted.

Update:

City of Sydney councillors rejected the plans last night, having received 80 objections. "This brothel is the Westfield of brothels. We're not prudes, we're not opposed to brothels, but we have a policy of spreading them out," councillor Shayne Mallard said.

Health Services Union Rotten to the core

Kathy Jackson

The Health Services Union represents highly skilled health professionals like radiographers, physiotherapists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and social workers and one can only imagine what they think about the latest revelations about how their hard-earned union fees were handled.

National Secretary of that union and whistle-blower Kathy Jackson was offered police protection after someone left a dirt-covered shovel on her front doorstep at 3 am one morning. She refused their offer and put on a brave face but it didn't last long. She suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the psychiatric unit of a Melbourne hospital.

Michael Williamson

Now another union whistle-blower has come forward and the focus now shifts from Craig Thomson who was General Secretary of the union, to Michael Williamson, nicknamed the "Million dollar man" who is the National President. There has now been a complaint issued with NSW Police alleging "systemic and organized fraud within the HSU including the procuring of secret commissions and corrupt rewards from suppliers and contractors."

Craig Thomson

Enter John Gilleland whose company Communigraphix is paid $680,000 a year to produce the union's newsletter Health Standard. He gave Michael Williamson and Craig Thomson credit cards which were attached to his own American Express account. But Mr Gilleland's wife was outraged when she saw what Williamson was up to - buying expensive wine for his cellar and paying for his children's private school fees so she went to the union to complain.

One ex-union member who was part of those heady days remembers the free-spending ways under Williamson and Thomson. "If we went somewhere, we didn't just buy a bottle of wine, we bought the best bottle of wine. Thursday was boozy lunch day, 10 or 12 people would indulge themselves with the best of everything, all paid for by Williamson. He said "We would go down to Chinatown in Goulburn Street, start eating at 12 and were still there at 6 or 7 at night." He went on "We were quite conspicuous in the way we consumed the members' money - none of this behaviour was secret within the ALP and when this was all going on, the party in many ways lost its moral compass. No one said to these guys you are not doing the right thing."

Police have dropped the case against Craig Thomson after it was alleged he misused his credit card for more than $100,000 of personal spending, including prostitutes, lavish meals and airline tickets for his then wife Christa. Police said he had not deceived anyone because he used his own name and phone number when he booked appointments with escort agencies and because he was given authority to use the card, there is no case to answer.

Another ex-union official remembers when an excited Craig Thomson was given his new black credit card, it was made of titanium and came in its own presentation box. It's the most exclusive of all credit cards and offered by invitation only to those who spend more than $25,000 a month and the holder pays a fee of $4,000 a year for the privilege.

After these appalling revelations, I wonder what the union members think about it. It seems their fees were spent on sustaining the good life for a privileged few union heavyweights and it just goes to prove what George Orwell said is true "Some people will always be more equal than others."

Australia's Bright Future

According to a report by ANZ Bank and Consultants Port Jackson Partners, Australia has a bright future, riding on the back of the mining boom. They say a new economy will be formed based mainly on mining, and the benefits should flow through to everyone, if the government gets it right. Over the next twenty years, we will be capable of generating $480 billion dollars worth of exports which will create 750,000 jobs and the number of workers employed in the mining industry is expected to more than double, from 693,000 to 1.45 million.

Unemployment jumped from 5.1 to 5.3 per cent last month and strangely enough, the economy grew by a strong 1.2 per cent in the June quarter which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. ANZ have called the report 'Earth, Fire, Wind and Water' and forecast that the Australian dollar could go as high as $US1.25. ANZ CEO Mike Smith said "If Australia can expand capacity, export revenues from hard and soft commodities could reach half a trillion dollars in real terms by 2030 - and the scale of investment required is unprecedented." Most investment would focus on new mines but agriculture will also be important to feed the growing nations of the world.

ANZ Chief Economist said the government should forget the old concept of "The Lucky Country" and bring in more ambitious economic reforms. He wants the government to introduce new infrastructure - more school and hospital spending to attract workers in areas already facing skills shortages which will only get worse as mining investment grows. He expects there will be a shortage of labour in some areas and job losses in others, like the recent sacking of 1400 workers by BlueScope in Wollongong. BHP Billiton wrote to all those workers offering them work in Queensland and the Pilbara.

Labor mobility is a real problem for mining companies who have to rely on a "fly-in, fly-out" workforce and it makes perfect sense to get families to move the these remote areas permanently. It's up to governments to make life more appealing to ambitious families who will pull up stumps from wherever they live and move to Gladstone or the northwest of WA to make their fortune. But it comes at a price - it's stinking hot. I found this ad for dump truck drivers wanted in WA and it's interesting to see how they tackle the scorching heat problem.

Articulated dump trucks operate in Australian mines and if you obtain a position, you are referred to as a "dump truck driver". It's a very popular job as you don't have to have a high level of fitness and you are out of the harsh conditions that the desert provides which are typically where the mining is taking place. We are talking up to 55 degrees celcius in summer. From around September, the hot, dry weather can start to get annoying, right up to March. The heat in Western Australia is described as a very "dry heat", so if you are working outside and can find shade, you can have a break from the heat. On the East Coast of Australia, it's more a tropical type of heat with high humidity and it hits you even if you are standing in the shade.

Anyone interested: http://www.getajobinthemines.com/mining-jobs-western-australia.html

Qantas CEO Pay Rise

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was awarded 2.2 million dollars worth of shares in 2010/11 which gives him an annual $5.1 million dollar package. It's easy to see why he's the golden boy, Qantas management have just given themselves a pay rise to celebrate Mr Joyce's brilliant idea - to sack 1,000 Australian workers and replace them with lower paid staff offshore.

The Pilot Union's President Richard Woodward said there will be around 180 pilots who will either have to face redundancy or take leave without pay to avoid being made redundant. Pilots will voice their fury at the Qantas AGM next month and are hoping a motion of no confidence in the management team will be put forward.

Fair Work Australia have been a big disappointment, they rejected the pilots' bid to work for a Qantas subsidiary that was covered by Australian pay and conditions. Pilots employed by Jetconnect are paid about 30 per cent less than pilots of similar seniority and rank working for Qantas in Australia.

The plane is painted in Qantas colours, but it's got a New Zealand registration and you have to look down the back end of the plane to see it. The pilot and cabin crew wear Qantas uniforms and the interior is fitted out like a Qantas 737. They will attempt to fool people into believing they are flying Qantas when in fact they are not.

Our beloved airline is under attack from a little Irishman who set out to make Qantas a handsome profit, but in so doing, he's been allowed to destroy one of our most treasured Aussie icons.

Rick Damelian Car Yards Go Broke

Rick Damelian 61 and wife Jacqueline 28

Rick Demelian was once described as the "King of Taverners Hill" and "Car dealer to the stars." But not anymore. Eight of his Sydney car yards were placed in receivership yesterday and a statement from receivers said that he owes around $80 millions to the National Australia Bank. Past clients include Kerry Packer and Lara Bingle who paid $200,000 for her Aston Martin and his companies once turned over $300 million a year and sold over 100 cars every week.

Twelve days ago there was a desperate attempt to sell off three properties on Parramatta Road - his Honda, Renault and Saab dealerships - but they were passed in because there were no bidders. The reason for the decline is said to be the GFC and falling sales of Hondas, once its lifeblood and real estate used as collateral to the banks has been devalued by a slump in the market.

Experts think that Rick Damelian is just the first of many to hit the wall in NSW, as consumers tighten their belts, a new car is not on the priority list. NSW Motor Traders Association CEO James McCall said manufacturers have been too greedy, they force dealers into spending $5 million upgrading their yards then only give them three year contracts to recoup their investment. "Add to that unsympathetic banks, this is an industry under extreme stress" he said. He went on "His (Demelian) cash cow, the Honda, declined in popularity and he had all his money tied up in cars just sitting there in the yards. He had to pay interest on them but they were not going out the front door."

So it looks like there are rough times ahead for those vested in the motor industry in Australia.

New South Wales Budget 2011

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell is going to increase mining royalties in the budget today to offset the cost of the carbon tax but the Federal Government will be livid because it will cost them around $1 billion. Mr. O'Farrell says the carbon tax will cost NSW around $950 million over the next four years and like Western Australia, the booming mining industry will help pay for it.

It seems the NSW Liberals are also guilty of breaking promises - in May when WA Premier Colin Barnett said he was going to increase mining royalties, Mr O'Farrell assured Julia Gillard they would not follow suit. In hindsight, it wasn't a great deal for the government, royalties for coal now range from 6.2 to 8.2 per cent and the Commonwealth has promised to reimburse miners for their state taxation liabilities.

Federal Treasurer Swan was furious when WA made their announcement and threatened to hold off billions of dollars in GST payments and help with infrastructure funding, and he's likely to feel the same way now about NSW.

NSW Treasurer Mike Baird will also increase the climate change levy payable by utilities. But after the mess Labor made of ruining the state of NSW, it's not surprising that drastic cost-cutting measures need to be taken to help fix it - naturally there will be a deficit this year and hefty cuts to public service jobs. O'Farrell has to honour his promise to build the north-west rail link and somehow find $2.5 billion to pay for it over the four years.

Meanwhile, a 2.5 per cent cap on public sector wage increases is likely to cause havoc - teachers plan to go ahead with their 24 hour strike on Thursday and they will be joined at the Domain by firemen and nurses in what they have called the "Day of Chaos Rally".

Asylum Seeker Bipartisan Solution?

There is talk of a bipartisan plan to tackle the asylum seeker problem but can Tony Abbott be trusted? The 330 asylum seekers who were being sent to Malaysia, will now be processed in Australia. Yesterday Mr Bowen said the Government was considering changing the Migration Act after being advised by the High Court, that along with Malaysia, Nauru and Manus Island were also untenable. "Obviously it will take some time, even if we went down the legislation road, that would take time to get through the Parliament. It's necessary for us to process these people - that's the right thing to do and that's what we'll be doing" he said.

Tony Abbott said he was willing to back changes to the Migration Act as long as the Government re-opened John Howard's detention centre of Nauru. "If you want to resurrect something out of this mess, if you want to have something that is credible border protection policy, we'll work with you" he said.

The Government have not responded to this offer but say it will consider all options carefully. I would wager that hell would have to freeze over before the Labor Party cuts a deal with the Liberals, but stranger things have happened and a bipartisan approach sounds sensible.

Coalition Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the offer came with "no strings". "It comes in good faith" he said "Of course we would like them to embrace Temporary Protection Visas. We think it is good policy but it is not a condition."

Federal Labor Cabinet meets today and the Left has made it clear to Julia Gillard that sending asylum seekers to Nauru is not an option and they will not be moved to change their minds. They want to scrap offshore processing altogether and so do the Greens.

So is Tony Abbott sincere in wanting to solve our overwhelming asylum seeker problem? Independent Tony Windsor said "It is highly unlikely that Tony Abbott would offer anything to a Labor side but apparently he has" he said "That may be about political wedge more than genuine compassion and trying to work with the government of the day to help the Prime Minister out of a particular issue."

Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson said some months ago that Labor would "run off a cliff" with Julia Gillard rather than have Kevin Rudd back as leader and it looks like he's right. When there was doubt about her leadership, every one of the PM's ministers said that she had their full support and made it pretty clear there would be no challenge to her leadership.

Richo thinks the government should ignore the advice from the solicitor-general and send asylum seekers to Nauru using the Coalition to get the legislation passed. This would enrage the Greens, he said.

Asylum Seekers High Court Decision

Yesterday, when the High Court ruled that it was not going to allow the government to send asylum seekers to Malaysia, Julia Gillard looked stunned. Chris Bowen told us before the verdict was announced that the government was on very strong legal grounds but he lied, because they were not. One would think that the Commonwealth's legal experts would anticipate what the High Court's concerns might be, but they didn't, they were completely incompetent and negligent in their duties and now the Prime Minister has egg all over her face.

Thinking about how much money Labor has wasted on trying to solve the problem of people smugglers is very distressing, pouring millions of dollars into saving face by not reinstating Temporary Protection Visas and sending refugees for processing to Nauru, something they have said for years was an “inhumane Liberal policy”. And what about Malaysia? Imagine how they are feeling today after learning that their country didn’t measure up to Australia’s High Court standards, pretty insulting.

It's a terrible feeling, knowing that the Gillard government is ruining our beautiful country and not being able to do anything about it. But the Independents can. Wilkie, Oakeshott and Windsor want us to believe they are honourable men, well let's see how honourable they really are.

They now know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this new disaster regarding asylum seekers, is proof that the Gillard government is not fit to govern and someone should do something to bring their disastrous rule to an end. The money they have wasted, not only on this issue, but on every other policy they have undertaken, is criminal.

They are spending more money on asylum seekers than us - their own people - we need new hospitals, more nurses, more public housing and more jobs. Our standard of living is going down the toilet so, hello Ms Gillard - what about us?