Andrew Wilkie's Revenge

This year has started very badly for Prime Minister Gillard with the latest poll showing that support for her government is at it’s lowest level on record – Labor 30% compared to the Liberal-National coalition 45% and with her parliamentary majority at just one seat, anything is possible.


She will also have to contend with Andrew Wilkie, waiting in the wings to wreak revenge on the PM for not following through on her promise to tackle poker machine reform.


Then we have the Australia Day fiasco when a member of her own staff tipped off Aboriginal protesters about Tony Abbott’s whereabouts, deliberately hoping for a confrontation that would embarrass him. But it all went horribly wrong, the PM's staffer got the sack and the Labor Party has egg all over its face – again.


Today, Simon Crean warned Labor must not change leaders again in a desperate attempt to increase popularity in the polls. The PM’s backers have started counting heads among MPs so they must be worried about a Kevin Rudd challenge. The rumour is that the powerful NSW right faction is not happy and are thinking that Kevin Rudd as leader could be the only way back, and out of 18 MPs, Ms Gillard now has only 5 behind her. Mr Rudd has eight MPs already commited with the remainder undecided.


Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis says the Opposition suspects a cover-up of the Australia Day riot and it’s clear they will be relentless is keeping it at the forefront of everyone's mind. And now they have a potential trump card - Mr Wilkie said it was "inconceivable" the PM's former adviser, Tony Hodges, acted alone.

Djokovic beats Nadal

It was the longest men’s final in Grand Slam history, a gruelling 5 hours and 53 minutes. On Monday, July 4, 2011, the day after he won his first Wimbledon, Kjokovic realised his life’s dream - he became the best player in the world, and after last night, he's still the best. The stamina of both Kjokovic and Nadal was amazing to watch, they put on a super-human performance that went on until 1.37 in the morning.




Nadal said it was the toughest match he has ever played. “I think we played a great tennis match, it was I think a very good show, my opinion, I enjoyed being part of this event and this match, that’s the truth, no? I wanted to win, but I am happy about how I did.” He added “I really had a fantastic tournament, I will never forget this match, even though I lost, it is something special, I will come back for many, many years.


Novak Djokovic was four when he took up tennis, and eight when he was spotted by the eagle-eyed Jelena Gencic who said at the time ‘This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monika Seles.‘

Burning the Australian Flag

Paul Coe (centre)


Aboriginal activist Paul Coe, a disbarred lawyer, said yesterday “Either you respect us as a sovereign people or piss off out of our country.” Then, surrounded by little children, the group ceremoniously burnt the Australian flag, spat on it and a child wiped his feet on the ashes. I felt sorry for the kids, they didn’t have a clue what was going on but those images will remain with us forever, and no amount of back-pedalling or apology from other Aboriginal groups will make any difference, the damage was done.




Tony Hodges


Paul Coe doesn’t know it yet, but he’s only added to the resentment Australians already feel towards Aboriginal people, especially their ability to live out their entire lives on free handouts, never having to work a day in their lives.


“It’s not fair” people say, and it’s not. Why should a 60 year old widow have to keep applying for a certain amount of jobs to qualify for the NewStart benefit, when an Aboriginal person does not? Mr Coe has been knocking around with like-minded people for so long, he’s lost touch with reality and badly needs a wake-up call. This pillar of the community and example to the young was banned from practising law in 1997 for lying about his income, and was later found to have accepted money for offering legal advice.







Now we learn that Tony Hodges, a member of the PM’s staff, rang the tent embassy and told them that Tony Abbott wanted to close them down and that he was attending a function just down the road.

Aboriginal activist and former Greens candidate Barbara Shaw revealed she had been tipped off about Mr Abbott's comments and the location of the function and admitted to whipping up the tent embassy crowd gathered in front of Parliament House to celebrate its 40 year anniversary.



Barbara Shaw


Now the question needs to be asked – did Tony Hodges deliberately try to embarrass Tony Abbott and did the PM know about it?

Australia Day Horror

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra consists of a few rough shelters erected on the lawn in front of Old Parliament House, put there by a group of young Aboriginal activists forty years ago. The embassy has been demolished and rebuilt many times over the years, but it’s still there, an ugly eyesore that doesn’t seem to serve any purpose. The official reason is that it is sitting on Aboriginal land and is a sacred site but it’s unclear what they want the government to do about it.


Two days ago, Opposition leader Tony Abbott said that after 40 years, it was time “to move on” but his comment so enraged activists at the embassy that when they heard that Abbott and the PM were attending a function at a restaurant just down the road, they decided to front up and tell Mr Abbott what they thought of his comment.


When an angry mob starting banging on the glass windows of the restaurant, security guards got very nervous and said it was time to move. Their main concern being the PM, they overlooked Tony Abbott’s safety until the PM reminded them that he too might need protecting and it was decided to make a dash for it together. It was not a good look, seeing the extraordinary images of our Prime Minister and Tony Abbott running for their lives, that sort of nonsense just doesn't happen here.






Warren Mundine, indigenous leader and former ALP National President, agreed that the protesters over-reacted to Abbott’s comments and said “It is irrelevant to the mainstream of Aboriginal people today and it has been for the last 20 years.” He added “We’ve actually moved on from those days.”





The 26th January may be “Invasion Day” to the Aboriginal people, but it’s cause for celebration for us, and always will be. A few angry activists set out to bring attention to the problems of Aboriginal people yesterday but instead brought attention to themselves in the worst possible way, their actions didn’t endear us to their cause, in fact it widened the gap that already exists between black and white in this country, even further.

Muslim Spies Wanted

ASIO wants to recruit Muslim spies. That’s what ASIO director-general David Irvine said during a rare speech to the Sydney Institute. "ASIO needs to recruit more people from within our newly arrived migrant communities," he said. “ASIO is not against Islam, it’s against terrorism.”


Ahmed Kilani from Muslimvillage.com said he welcomes the comments but thinks ASIO has been engaging with the Muslim community in a “very covert way”.


That’s what ASIO does Ms Kilani, when you are under suspicion, they don’t broadcast it to the world, they check you out in secret, it’s what they do.


Mr Kilani said that although it’s been ten years since the 9/11 attacks, there has been a lot of suspicion in the Muslim community regarding ASIO. And unfortunately, there has also been a lot of suspicion in the Australian community regarding immigrants who follow Islam. Happy Australia Day Mr Kilani.

IMF wants Australia to help save Europe

IMF chief Christine Lagarde sent a chilling message to the world today – we all face a 1930s moment if we don’t come together and help the floundering European countries. She says $1 trillion would be needed to stave off a deeper crises, half of which would come from fund backers such as Australia. "This is a defining moment," she said. "It is not about saving any one country or region. It is about saving the world from a downward economic spiral."


My first reaction is, why should we help out European countries like Greece who spent all their money living it up and to hell with tomorrow? Greek creditors have begged European officials who rejected their bond swap offer to come up with a solution to save Greece from falling into default and it looks like we, along with the rest of the world, will have to support it.


She suggests that countries like Australia could easily afford higher deficits and we should go into more debt rather than cut back if the world turned down. Oh really Ms Lagarde, easy for you to say. Mr Swan agreed and said no country would be immune from the global threats it identified.


Joe Hockey said that if the IMF asks Australia for more money "The government must explain to taxpayers whether it would be in Australia's national interest to contribute, and from where it plans to fund any such contribution".

Will Iran close the Strait of Hormuz?

Iran had "failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme", British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement.


The UN say they have evidence that Iran is designing a nuclear weapon. If they have the proof, show it to the world, we need to know for certain this isn’t just an excuse to go to war with Iran, we've been down that road before.


As American and European aircraft and warships move into the Strait of Hormuz, Iran now has its back to the wall as 27 EU countries voted to immediately ban all new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude oil. They will also freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank to add further pressure. EU chief Catherine Ashton says the sanctions have been put in place to get Iran to back to the negotiating table.


But Iran is not without friends. Russia and China have said the new sanctions are unnecessary and they will continue to buy their oil, no matter how hard the West tries to dissuade them.


Iran could easily close the Strait, the narrow channel between the Gulf and the open sea, but Washington has said it will not tolerate any closure.

So we have a stand-off and I'm wondering who really calls the shots in Iran, the Supreme Leader, the President or the Revolutionary Guards.

Japanese Banks coming to Australia

The big four banks have hinted they won’t pass on an expected 0.25 per cent cut in February, using the European financial crisis as an excuse. We now learn that the Japanese are thinking of opening banks in Australia and wonder what took them so long. The experts are saying there is $100 billion to be made and you can see desperate mortgage holders leaving the big four in droves if a lower interest rate was on offer. There won’t be any loyalty either because we hate them with a passion, especially when they announce their latest profit figures.


Last week Westpac committed the greatest insult ever - they made 188 employees redundant but before they go, they must train the Indian workers, here on temporary visas, who will take their place. “She’s been shadowing me, sitting next to me and I have to teach her how to do my day-to-day job” said Russell Siachico, a Westpac employee of 15 years.


There are at least three Japanese banks interested – Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group.


Mark Bouris from Yellow Brick Road said "It's what our marketplace needs." Bouris and John Symonds from Aussie Home Loans are both millionaires because they took a gamble and introduced a serious competitive challenge to the big banks. So ‘come on down’ Japan and give us a reason to bid our bank goodbye.

Turn the boats around says Abbott

Finally we have a policy that makes sense. If Tony Abbott is elected at the next election he is going to Jakarta to tell them Australia will no longer accept boat arrivals leaving Indonesia. And it’s about time, the Indonesians are laughing their heads off at our passive attitude, just sitting back and allowing it to happen, powerless to stop it, especially when we now know that Indonesian police have been involved.


And the question must be asked, what’s wrong with using our Navy to protect our borders? Some are worried that it could create bad Australia-Indonesia relations. They must be joking - we give them billions in aid yet they won’t lift a finger to help us stop them coming.


Will it be a problem for the Navy? Probably because we know from experience what might happen – the asylum-seekers will deliberately sabotage the boat and jump into the sea, which leaves the Navy no other choice but to pick them up and take them to safety, probably Nauru. Abbott admits it might not be possible in some instances and would rely upon Navy advice on how to make the boats safe for the return journey.


Tony Abbott has ruled out Labor’s Malaysian solution completely and is planning to toughen up temporary protection visas. Under Howard, almost all TPV holders were eventually granted visas but Abbott will impose a quota on how many visas are issued, in other words, it won’t automatically apply to everyone, some will definitely miss out.


The TPVs will apply from between six months and three years and denies family reunion and any holder who leaves Australia won’t be allowed back in. At expiry date, people will be sent home if the threat of their home country has eased.


A permanent visa would only be granted if the refugee claim was valid and a place was available under quota so people will stay on TPVs until they either go home or until a permanent place becomes available. And to top it all off, a maximum 3750 quota would apply to both boat arrivals and those who arrive legally - the legals would get first priority and boat arrivals would be last in the queue.


So it sounds pretty good, we get to stop the boats and the true refugees, too poor to pay the people smuggler fares, will finally get a fair go.

Racism in Australia

As Australia Day looms, Neurosurgeon Dr Charles Teo, the son of Chinese immigrants, says that racism is still alive and well in Australia. As if we didn’t know. We are all guilty of it and unfortunately, our children feel the same way. You can be a good example to your children and show tolerance for different races, but it makes no difference, when they start school they will still avoid children who are “different”.


Dr Teo gets mad when he hears politicians rambling on about how we are a multicultural community and reassuring the Indians that there’s no racism in Australia. “That’s bullshit” he said and of course, it is.



"My daughter was just saying to me the other day, very sadly, she doesn't like Australia Day because she has in the past dressed up, got into the spirit of things, put a sticker on her face, worn the green and gold and been told by drunk Australians to go home because she looks Chinese," he said. But Dr Teo also said something that makes total sense - migrants also have a responsibility to integrate into Australian society. Easier said than done, look how the Aussies congregate together in London.


There is a theory being put forward that an uneducated person is more likely to be xenophobic than an educated one, in other words, the smarter you are, the more accepting you are of foreigners. I don’t agree because the behaviour of some migrants is unforgiveable.


Mansour Almaribe is a Shiite Muslim who fled Iraq in 1990s and became an Australian citizen. Last year he decided to go to Saudi Arabia to attend the Haj pilgrimage. In November he was arrested in the city of Medina and sentenced to 500 lashes and one year in jail. Australian officials reduced the 500 lashed to 75 and arranged for him to wear a leather jacket so he wouldn’t be hurt, then they organized a pardon for him and the Saudis sent him home. Mr Almaribe said he was furious with Canberra for not acting quickly enough and intends to sue the government. And the fact that he had to speak through an interpreter didn't help.


Racism is something you can’t legislate against and every race is guilty of it. I feel sorry for migrants on Australia Day because they are not included, it happens and have no idea how to change it.

Australian Open 2012

Margaret Court is Australia's greatest women's tennis player ever and has a stadium named after her. She is also a senior pastor at Perth's Victory Life Centre church. The gay movement in America thought it was a great idea to champion their cause for same-sex marriage by hijacking the Australian Open and urging activists to wear and display “Rainbow” colours and flags at the Margaret Court arena.


Not surprisingly Pastor Court doesn’t support homosexuality or same-sex marriage which puts her at odds with tennis greats Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King and because of her views, she’s been accused of directing hatred towards homosexuals. Court said she has never felt hatred towards gay people and was merely expressing God’s word, as taken from the Scriptures.


"I think I have a right, being a minister of the gospel, to say what it says from a scriptural side. I have been married for 44 years this year and, to me, marriage is something very special, wonderful, ordained by God. I look at the children of our next generation and think of the problems they are having in America with all this -- we don't need it in our nation." This puts Australian Open organisers in a tight spot and while acknowledging Court’s great achievements, Tennis Australia nor the Women’s Tennis Association share her views that homosexuality is a choice.





Last night we saw two angry men behaving badly. Marcos Baghdatis and David Nalbandian both put on extraordinary displays of anger, each destroying their racquets by bashing them into the ground in a fit of rage.


But it was Baghdatis who took the best tantrum award, smashing four racquets in a row into the ground after he was two sets down to 21st seed Stanislas Wawrinka at Margaret Court Arena. Baghdatis is a favourite among Aussie fans and was runner-up in 2006 but the audience watched in amazement as he completely lost it, fully aware that he was being filmed. Sadly it didn’t help, he eventually lost the match.





There was more controversy in the earlier marathon match that went on for nearly five hours between Argentinian David Nalbandian and American John Isner. When Isner served straight down the middle, a linesman called it out but French umpire Kader Noun overruled it and when Nalbandian challenged, Nouni said it was too late.


When a replay showed the ball was in fact a fault, he marched to the umpire’s chair “Can you be that stupid?” When he finally lost the match, he threw his racquet across the court. "It's ridiculous playing this kind of tournament with this kind of umpire," said Nalbandian. "Incredible." It was no surprise when the king of tantrums, ex champion John McEnroe agreed that the umpire was indeed an “idiot.”

Brad and Angelina at Golden Globes

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt easily won the “best dressed couple” on the red carpet at the Golden Globes and it’s easy to see why – Angelina was a sight to behold in her Atelier Versace dress with minimal accessories.


Brad Pitt was up for Best Actor in a Drama and Best Motion Picture Drama for “Moneyball” which he produced and starred in, but missed out to George Clooney’s “The Descendants”. Angelina directed her first film, the “Land of Blood and Honey” which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film but missed out to the Iranian film “ A Separation”.


A stunning dress for a beautiful woman.

Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes

Ricky Gervais doesn’t run with the pack. He won’t marry Jane Fallon, his girlfriend of 29 years because he said “there’s no point in us having an actual ceremony before the eyes of God because there is no god.” And he doesn’t want children because he believes there are far too many children in the world already and he and Jane “didn’t fancy dedicating 16 years of our lives.”


He is a member of the National Secular Society, a British organisation promoting secularism and the separation of church and state. Ricky believes that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it, especially in poitics. He also abhors fox hunting and bull fighting and wrote to Gordon Brown asking him to stop using black bear fur to make caps for the Foot Guards. He lives in Hampstead but also has a second home in Manhattan.


But Ricky Gervais is back because he’s good value for money. In 2009 before he took over as host for the Golden Globes, 15 million watched the show, last year there were 17 million and this year, because of the controversy, who knows?


The HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) were reluctant to bring him back, they thought some of his comments were offensive. Billy Crystal knew how to carefully poke fun at some of the richest, and most pampered people in the world, but last year Ricky implied that Angelina Jolie’s movie The Tourist was rubbish.


"Am I nervous?" he was asked. "No, everything I say, I can justify it, I can stand by it, as I do every joke I did last year, then I don't care. I don't care if you're offended."

Ben Cousins - Such is Life

Cousins with his dad


There comes a time when friends and family of a drug addict have to make a painful decision – to finally cut them loose. And that’s when Ben Cousins admitted himself into rehab last Monday. His partner Maylea Tinecheff, with whom he has a baby son, and his parents, were not seen at the hospital.


Then the former AFL legend had a fall at the rehab clinic and hit his head on a wash basin and yesterday, after displaying paranoid behaviour, he was committed to a psychiatric unit of a Perth hospital “for his own safety.”


Cousins was one of the most decorated West Coast Eagles players, winning the 2005 Brownlow Medal and playing in their 2006 premiership side before the club sacked him in late 2007 because of his drug addiction.


Such a sad episode for a young man who had the world at his feet.

Aussie gets 75 lashes in Saudi Arabia

After receiving 75 lashes for religious blasphemy - insulting the companions of Muhammad - Mansour Almaribe is very glad to be home. The 45 year old father of five is a Shiite Muslum who fled Iraq in 1990s and became an Australian citizen. Last year he decided to go to Saudi Arabia to attend the Haj pilgrimage.


Shiite Muslims are a minority in Sunni Saudi Arabia and are often targeted by police and on the 14th November he was arrested in the city of Medina and sentenced to 500 lashes and one year in jail.


Australian officials should be gratified for a job well done because the 500 lashes were reduced to 75 with the promise that they would be administered in such a way that no physical damage would be done to the prisoner and he was allowed to wear a leather jacket. He was then pardoned and released.


A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd said the government appreciated the leniency granted by the Saudis.


Footnote: Mr Almaribe also said yesterday that he was furious with Canberra for not acting quickly enough and will be suing the government.

Sydney Gun Wars

Nearly every morning, we wake to the news of yet another drive-by shooting in Sydney. In fact there have been 49 shootings in nine months and police seem helpless to stop it. So far, no one has been killed or injured but bullets fired into houses and apartments have narrowly missed women and children by inches. There were 2 drive by-shootings on Monday night and a gun battle on Mimosa Road, Greenfield Park at 2 am. Bullet casings were littered across both sides of the street.


Police have failed to lay a single charge and people living in the targeted suburbs are getting edgy. There were around 25 people in two homes targeted on Monday night and up to 35 bullets fired.


Police are frustrated by the lack of information coming from the victims and witnesses and want tough new powers to force them to co-operate with police.


Opposition police spokesman Nathan Rees said it was clear there was a "gangland war" going on and failure to introduce anti-bikie laws was to blame. The government had failed to act since the High Court last July knocked out NSW's anti-bikie laws, which aimed to ban gangs.


Mr Rees suggested that if this was happening on the North Shore in Barry O'Farrell's electorate, all resources would be deployed. "The Attorney-General must give the Police Minister the necessary powers to crack down on bikies and on organised crime."

Another Scientist Killed in Iran

Another nuclear scientist has been murdered in Iran, the fourth in two years. Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan 32, and his bodyguard were driving to work yesterday when a man on a motorcycle placed a magnetic bomb onto his car during the morning rush hour in northern Tehran. Roshan was a university professor and Director of Commercial Affairs at the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.


The reaction of the government was swift. “The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its deep concern over, and lodges it strong condemnation of, such cruel, inhumane and criminal acts of terrorism against the Iranian scientists.” They again insisted that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only but would not be diverted from their pursuit of nuclear technology. “America and Israel’s heinous act will not change the course of the Iranian nation.”


Washington strenuously denies any knowledge of the bombing and Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen Yoav Mordechai said “I don’t know who took revenge on the Iranian scientists, but I am definitely not shedding a tear.” Iran accuses the West of trying to “degrade and delay” their nuclear program in various ways, including a computer worm known as Stuxnet and doctored computer software.




Amir Mirzaei Hekmati



But Iran now has a bargaining tool, they have arrested, tried and sentenced to death, an American former Marine, Amir Mirzaei Hekmati for spying. Born in the US to Iranian immigrant parents, his family is devastated and say he was only visiting relatives. But in December, Hekmati, was shown on Iranian state television speaking in fluent Farsi and English, that he was a CIA operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry.

McDonald's New Anti-Theft Spray

McDonalds restaurants are easy targets for quick cash grabs so a hi-tech spray has been developed to help catch the culprits. Developed in the UK by a police officer and a chemist, the spray has been used by McDonald’s restaurants in Britain and Europe.


Once a panic alarm system is set off, a device above the exit doors showers the fleeing robber with a fine spray which remains on the suspect's skin for two weeks and on his clothes for up to six months. The Sydney suburbs of Parramatta, Granville, Auburn, Lidcombe, Kingsford and Wollongong, are trialling the spray and if successful, all 780 McDonalds outlets across the country will adopt the system. The marking can’t be washed off and can only be seen by using a UVA light.






Police in the UK have given the spray kits to residents who fear their property will be robbed and is being widely used by schools and businesses.

Russian protest leader in fake photo scam

Navalny with Prokhorov in the original photo, top left, with Berezovsky in the doctored image, top right, and with Putin and an alien in pictures posted on his blog.



Putin’s regime must be getting desperate. They made a clumsy attempt to ruin the reputation of Alexei Navalny, the 35 year old blogger and lawyer who is leading Russia’s protest movement.


A recent photograph in a Russian news-sheet turned up last week showing a laughing Navalny meeting Boris Berezovsky, now living in London who was convicted of fraud in absentia in Russia in 2007. It was an attempt to suggest that the opposition is funded by crooked foreigners plotting to overthrow Putin. The picture caption read “Alexei Navalny has never hidden the fact that Boris Berezovsky gives him money for the struggle with Putin."


Navalny picked up the image from fellow bloggers and exposed it online as a pathetic fake. Another example of how Putin will have a tough time playing sneaky tricks when the Internet stands ready to shoot his lies down in flames.


The original picture in fact shows Navalny meeting Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who owns the New Jersey Nets basketball team and is also running for the Russian presidency.


It looks likely that Putin hasn’t had a change of heart about running for President on the 4th March and Navalny has a huge protest planned on the 4th February.

Australians board Japanese whaling ship

Three WA men Geoffrey Owen Tuxworth 47, Simon Peterffy 44 and Glen Pendlebury 27


The Japanese have been following the Sea Shepherd’s anti-whaling flagship, the Steve Irwin, presumably to keep them occupied while they continue their whale slaughter without interference.


Frustrated by the Labor government’s broken promise to end whaling in the Southern Ocean, three Aussie activists snuck onboard the Shonan Maru 2 and delivered a message. It said “Return us to shore in Australia and then remove yourself from our waters.” But they have continued to follow the Steve Irwin with the Australians still on board.


Spokesman for the Japanese whaling program, New Zealand-based Mr Glenn Inwood said the men are unhurt and are being questioned. He insists that the men boarded the vessel well outside Australian territorial waters – about 40 kms from the coast and any suggestion otherwise was false.


Not so, says the Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson, it happened 16.2 miles off the coast which is outside territorial waters but inside Australia’s 24-mile contiguous zone. So we’ve got a stand-off. Our embassy in Tokyo has contacted the Japanese Government asking for more information, especially about where they are now and is it likely they will be put back onto Australian soil?


Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said the Government’s options were restricted because the incident happened outside territorial waters. "It is likely that these three Australians may be taken back to Japan," she said. Captain Paul Watson urged the government to take swift action to prevent that from happening. "Japanese vessels have no right to take prisoners in Australian waters" he said.


Opposition spokesman Greg Hunt said the government had ignored repeated warnings this sort of incident might happen. "They should immediately dispatch a Customs vessel" and added "They should also seek the immediate transfer of the prisoners from the Japanese ship to Australian authorities."

Britain sends new destroyer to the Gulf

Now the British have reacted to Iran’s threat to block the Strait of Hormuz. UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said in a television interview last week that he wanted to send a ‘very clear message to Iran’ that the UK would not allow the Strait to be closed. He said: ‘We are an integrated part of the naval taskforce in the Gulf and one of the missions of that taskforce is to ensure that those shipping lanes remain open."


The Royal Navy’s newest and most advanced destroyer HMS Daring will join the British presence in the Gulf next week. At a cost of one billion pounds, it has the world’s most sophisticated naval radar able to track incoming missiles and fighter jets. HMS Daring is the first of six new destroyers and will have a crew of 180.



The US and Israel are getting ready for major missile defence exercises in the area in the next few weeks.

US destroyer saves 13 Iranian fishermen

When an American destroyer, the USS Kidd, received a distress call from an Iranian fishing boat on Thursday, they took immediate action. They sent a helicopter to get a closer look and spotted what looked like Somali pirates on board. With sufficient force, they convinced the fifteen pirates to lay down their weapons and surrender to a boarding party. They had been holding the men hostage for more than a month and using their boat as a mother ship for other raids.



The pirates were transferred from the Kidd to the aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis and the fishermen were fed, loaded up with provisions and headed for home wearing USS Kidd baseball caps.



The US has no diplomatic relations with Tehran so there has been no communication with Iran about the rescue, described as a “humanitarian gesture.” But nobody seems to know what to do with the pirates. The US have picked up over 1,000 who are under prosecution in 20 countries but it’s not clear where to send them and who will do the prosecuting.



I wonder if Iran sees the irony – last week they were threatening dire action if the Stennis returned to the gulf saying “We are not in the habit of warning more than once” and 13 lucky fisherman are very glad that she did.


Footnote: Iran responded to the rescue yesterday. "We consider the actions of the US forces in saving the lives of the Iranian seamen to be a humanitarian and positive act and we welcome such behaviour," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran's Arabic-language broadcaster Al-Alam. He added "We think all nations should display such behaviour.”

Blocking the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's navy


If Iran follows through with its threat to block the Strait of Hormuz, the price of oil would go up by 50 per cent within days. The Strait is the only sea route from the Persian Gulf and US Navy’s Fifth Fleet stands ready to defend it. At its narrowest, the Strait is 54 kilometres wide and around 14 tankers carrying crude oil pass through it every day. Iran’s shaky economy needs to keep it open so they can keep on exporting their oil and it would punish China who buys more Persian Gulf oil than anyone else so what are they thinking?


Iran has done this before. In the 1980s they attacked Kuwaiti tankers carrying Iraqi oil and President Reagan organized American warships to escort them through. Iran backed down but continued to plant mines and in 1988, an American ship hit one and nearly sank.


“To close the Strait of Hormuz would be an act of war against the whole world,” said Sadad Ibrahim Al-Husseini, former head of exploration and development at Saudi Aramco. “You just can’t play with the global economy and assume that nobody is going to react.” Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates all rely on the strait to ship their oil and natural gas exports and analysts are saying that if the worst case scenario happens, China and the US might have to form some sort of alliance to get the oil moving again.

Last weekend President Obama signed legislation that will make it even tougher for Iran to sell its oil and the European Union is threatening to do the same.

Aboriginal girl dies in desert on hunting trip

Tjirrkali is a remote closed Aboriginal community 180 kilometres north west of Warburton in Western Australia. On New Year’s Eve a known paedophile, Augustine “Gus” Winter Miller 38, took an 8 year old girl living at the community into the desert on a hunting trip. When they failed to return, a community elder raised the alarm.


When police finally tracked them down, the man was carrying the unconscious child in his arms. They were both severely dehydrated and taken back to the Jirrkali community for medical treatment but the child’s condition worsened. Police frantically tried to revive her for more than an hour, refusing to stop CPR until the nurse arrived from Warburton. She also continued CPR but it was no use, she could not be revived and passed away.



At this stage, it’s not clear who is the official carer of the child although it's thought that Miller's de facto partner had been taking care of her. Yesterday her mother was in a sobering-up health centre in Kalgoorlie “in a pretty bad way.”


Miller remains under police guard in hospital where he is being treated for dehydration and sun exposure. A bedside hearing is expected to be held today but so far, Miller has only been charged with firearms offences. An autopsy on the child and forensic examination of the car and area where they were found is still being carried out. Police need to speak to the community before Miller is released because of tribal law issues and it sounds as though they are ready for retribution.



Miller was convicted of child sex offences in January 2006, and if the community were aware of it, why was he allowed to take an eight year old girl on a hunting trip?

Bradley Manning Hearing

Adrian Lamo




For seven days inside a military base in Maryland as 2011 came to a close, evidence was heard about the life of Bradley Manning, a small man, only 5ft 2in tall who is accused of betraying his country by selling secrets to the enemy. They talked about gender identify, gay Army personnel, freedom of speech but most importantly, should Bradley Manning face a court martial?

He seemed calm and composed until former hacker and friend Adrian Lamo entered the courtroom. Lamo befriended Manning then betrayed him after he made a chat room confession. But there is some doubt about his mental capacity and his defence team are playing it for all it’s worth.


Before being sent to Iraq, there were episodes that clearly showed he had psychological problems – he was prone to violent outbursts and paranoia. He was found curled up in a ball on the floor of his work unit and he punched his superior, a woman, Jihrleah Showman in the face - surely an incident that should have started bells ringing. It was suggested at the hearing that nothing was done about it because he was the best computer operator in the unit.


Manning’s defence team said his mental state was compounded by the army’s refusal to acknowledge his struggle with his sexuality and how he desperately wanted to become a woman. He sent a picture of himself dressed as a woman to his superior and created a Facebook page as Breanna Manning.


But the question is – does this justify stealing 251,287 top secret state department cables and giving them to WikiLeaks to be released to the world? In the eyes of his country, he is a traitor, responsible for giving secrets to the enemy and every effort will be made to lock him up and throw away the key.


The hearing ended and the investigating officer Lt Col Paul Almanza has until 16 January to wade through all the evidence and inform the convening authority of his recommendation – whether Manning is to face a court martial or not.

Iran puts on a show

Iran's Navy commander Habibollah Sayyari points while standing on a naval ship during Velayat-90 war game on Sea of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz on January 1.



Iran says they are in complete control of the Strait of Hormuz, pathway for one-sixth of the world’s oil supply. They test-fired surface-to-surface cruise missiles on Monday designed to evade radars and successfully hit their intended targets during war game exercises.


Presumably, it was to show the West that they are serious about closing the Strait of Hormuz. France is not impressed and says the Strait must remain open at all costs, the US has its Fifth Fleet based in the Gulf and has warned it will not tolerate a closure and Iran says they will close it if more sanctions are put in place.


So we’ve got a stand-off. And all it would take to resolve it, is for Iran to allow inspectors to come in and see just what they are doing with their nuclear program. They insist it is only for peaceful purposes only - well show us then. I just hope they’ve got it right this time, the US insisted that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, we don’t need any more bad intelligence.



If the European Union puts an embargo on Iranian oil imports, it will be the death knell for Iran. Their economy is really struggling from other economic sanctions already in place and it’s hard to understand why a regime would deliberately bring about such hardships to their own people. Their powerful friends, Russia and China would surely think again about continuing their support, rather than risk open warfare with the US.



Dangerous events so early in the new year.

Bob Hawke and Paul Keating feud continues

More revelations from the release of 1982 and 1983 cabinet documents by the National Archives, particularly about the rift between our two ex Labor Prime Ministers, Paul Keating and Bob Hawke. When Hawk gave himself a pat on the back for saving Australia from becoming “the poor white trash of Asia” Paul Keating couldn’t let it go.


Mr Hawke placed particular emphasis on the national economic summit which brought together federal, state and local governments, trade unions, small business, churches and other community groups. With the exception of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, they agreed to bring back centralised wage fixing and resolved to tackle inflation and unemployment.


Mr Hawke said of the summit "That was, in many senses, I think the foundation of the total success of our government." And then "I was in the fortunate position that I was probably better prepared in economic terms and knowledge of the Australian economy than anyone before or since coming to the job." He added "I understood we were in a mess and what had to be done, it is very difficult to overstate the extent of the economic challenges then confronting Australia."


Not so, says Paul Keating who yesterday blamed Hawk for the wage explosions in the 1970s and said he was responsible for wage blowouts that nearly destroyed the economy twice, both times as ACTU President. The first time was between 1974-75 under Whitlam and the second time was 1979-80. According to Keating, wage increases in the 1970’s contributed to two recessions and unemployment went up to 10.3 per cent.


Mr Hawke blames Malcolm Fraser for the wages blow out and told him "For Christ's sake, why don't we sit down and work out a more sensible approach, rather than going flat out for unions getting as much as they can and employers price gouging. He wouldn't listen. He was basically anti-union."


At 82, Bob Hawke is still playing golf and is committed to helping develop the Boao Forum as an Asian version of the World Economic Forum and establishing a centre for Muslim and non-Muslim understanding.

US plan to test missiles off Australian Coast

Cabinet papers released today by the National Archives have revealed an extraordinary plan involving the US and Australia. In 1984 the Americans wanted to test MX missiles by firing them from California to the coast of Australia.


During the Cold War, Ronald Reagan was worried about the Russians and raised the subject with Liberal PM Malcolm Fraser. The test would not involve warheads, contain any nuclear material or touch Australian soil.


Prime Minister Fraser and most senior members of the government okayed the plan but insisted it be kept secret because it was “preferable for the matter not to become an election issue.” James Killen presented the plan to cabinet who decided there was “no objection in principle to the US proposal.”


Mr Fraser said he would never agree to such missile tests today. "The Cold War was still in progress, it was a different world.” He added “We’ve gotten far too close to the Americans.”


In 1985, Labor PM Bob Hawke withdrew support for the missile tests after a meeting with US Secretary of State George Shultz.