British couple defend welfare benefits lifestyle

Currently in Britain, welfare benefits are sufficient for a young couple with a child to live a reasonably comfortable life without having to work. They recently appeared on a morning TV Show and made shocking revelations about why they believe the state owes them a living.

Danny Creamer 21, and Gina Allen 18, live in a comfortable, two bedroom flat in Portsmouth with their four month old daughter, Talulah Rose. They make the point that most jobs on offer pay less than the benefits they receive, so why go to work?

Gina said "I don't see that we're living off the taxpayers, we're entitled to the money our parents paid all their lives." 

The couple receive $A2217 per month or $A26,621 per year which includes housing benefit, child tax credit, child benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance.

Although neither have any qualifications, Danny has worked as a shelf-stacker and although he's currently looking for a job, he won't accept anything. "What's the point of a minimum wage job?  I'm not going to work to be worse off" he said.  "We can't be scroungers because the government wouldn't give us the money or pay towards our living expenses if we didn't need it."

But it seems the good old days are almost over.  A government statement was read out on the show that said in part "We have to end the absurdity in the welfare system where people are better off claiming benefits than they are in work."

When asked what they would do when the new system is introduced? Gina said "He'd have to get a job I suppose."

Australia is a racist country, says Tony Mundine

Tomorrow night, two Aboriginal boxers, Tony Mundine and Daniel Geale will fight for the IBF middleweight title.


"Australia is a very racist country" Mundine said "I live here and I know it."  He hates our flag and our National Anthem and wants them changed. "The truth is, that anthem was composed in the 1800s when Aborigines were considered fauna" he said.

Tony Mundine

"From 1901 to 1973, there was a White Australia Policy to make Australia white, and guess what the theme song of that policy was - Advance Australia Fair.  So what were they really singing? Advance Australia White" he said.


Mundine was going to make a political statement while the Australian National Anthem was played at his fight tomorrow night by turning his back.  That decision angered many fans and he has since changed his mind.

Daniel Geale's family

Geale comes from Tasmania and last October, Mundine joked about the genocide of Tasmanian Aboriginals and said "I thought they wiped all the Aborigines from Tasmania out."  He later apologised for the remark.  Daniel Geale identifies as Aboriginal and is proud of his heritage.

Mundine said Geale is a "glorified amateur" who would never have won two world titles on German soil without the influence of his US promoter Gary Shaw.

Daniel Geale

Mundine's rant could be nothing more than another stunt to fill the Sydney Entertainment Centre tomorrow night, and judging by the amount of publicity the fight is receiving, it seems to be working.

Edit:  Geale wins unanimous points decision.

Queensland flood crisis

The people of Queensland must be totally fed up. They have already been down this road in 2011, and now more water is pouring into their homes.

Choppers are battling to get to those still stranded on rooftops.

There were higher than expected rain falls in waterways that feed into the Brisbane River, downstream of the Wivenhoe dam overnight.

After saying goodbye to their famous son in Sydney - Josh Klinghoffer, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist - Steven and Kathlene Klinghoffer flew to Cairns and decided to hire a car and do some sight-seeing.

When they came to a flooded causeway, Mr Klinghoffer felt confident enough to drive through it, but half way across, the car stalled and they were trapped.

Mr and Mrs Clinghoffer

With the help of a local family, they managed to get out of the car into waist-high water and climb to safety. The car was totally submerged and disappeared. "We are very, very thankful to everybody and we learnt a valuable lesson about the outback of Australia.

As the torrential rain slowly moves down the east coast, a deluge is forecast for Sydney later tonight.

Australia Day 2013

Children who are lucky enough to live close to the beach, have the opportunity to join "Little Nippers" -  a junior program that introduces children aged 5 to 13 to surf lifesaving and every Surf Lifesaving Club around the country has a Nippers program. On Australia Day every year, the most iconic beaches in every state  raise money for Nippers in what is called the Havaianas Australia Day Thong Challenge. 

Havaianas is a brand of designer thong, ranging in price from $30 up to $80 a pair. Although you can buy an ordinary pair of rubber thongs anywhere for around $10, Havaianas is the brand everyone  wants.

http://vimeo.com/46409618

Irwin children growing up fast

Cottesloe beach, Perth

Ferry race

Tall ships

Argyle Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney

Andy Murray beats Roger Federer in Australian Open

Lance Armstrong has a lot to answer for.  Because of him, honest men and women in all sports have a black cloud hanging over their heads - was that an honest performance or not?

Andy Murray's girlfriend

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) warned players against working with a doctor involved with Lance Armstrong - Luis Garcia del Moral (aptly named). Although disqualified from the ITF, he worked with Italian star Sara Errani this year and has also been involved with several players in Spain.  

Luis Garcia del Moral

One of our all time favourite players, Andre Agassi talked about his own drug use during his career, admitting that he used crystal meth in the late 1990s. When he failed a drug test he lied to tennis officials and said he had unknowingly consumed a spiked drink.  

He thinks that more drug testing is a good thing.  "It would have kept me from destroying a few years of my life" he said, but his confession hardly fills us with confidence.

The way Andy Murray has been playing over the past 12 months, we could be forgiven for wondering if he could be on some undetectable, magic potion too, after he beat Roger Federer last night. 

He's probably as honest as the day is long, but Armstrong's cheating proved that it can be done. The Scot has had a dream run - a gold medal at the Olympics in London, winning the US Open and now he's in the final against Djokovic tomorrow night.

Murray has already proved he can beat Djokovic. "I'm ready for the pain" he said. 

Yes indeed, scumbag Armstrong sure has a lot to answer for.

Edit January 28 2013:  Djokovic hit 47 winners to Murray's 29, despite making 61 unforced errors to Murray's 46.  Djokovic takes home $2,436,00.00 and retains the world No 1 ranking, while Murray received $1,215,000.00.

Pat O'Shane retires today

Pat O'Shane is a controversial Sydney Magistrate who identifies as Aboriginal and is described as a "black activist." She is also a staunch supporter of Australia cutting ties with Mother England and becoming a republic.

She's controversial because a study found that there were 56 Supreme Court Appeals lodged against her decisions, and 35 were upheld. Michael Eburn and Ruth Townsend from the National University College of Law, who conducted the study, said "The Supreme Court has found that O'Shane got the law wrong in 14 out of 16 criminal cases and in one case, she dismissed charges, even though the accused had entered a guilty plea."

O'Shane dismissed the charges against Michael Kanaan, a Lebanese Australian, who murdered three people and criticized police who risked their lives to arrest him after a shoot-out.  He's currently serving life in prison with no hope of parole.

Michael Kanaan

But there's another reason why Pat O'Shane is so unpopular.  Some academics and criminologists argue that the judiciary treats Aboriginal offenders favourably and we know it's true, because we see it reported in the news all the time. Pat O'Shane's record shows that she has been guilty of this.  But it's not only Aboriginal people she favours in her court, it's anyone she believes has suffered from a disadvantaged life, regardless of circumstances. 

Kasian Wililo

The Supreme Court overturned her decision to dismiss charges against an African-born man, Kasian Wililo, accused of assaulting a paramedic, Chris Martin.  Martin ordered him out of his ambulance when he called him a "filthy pig" and spat on the floor. Wililo then allegedly punched him several times in the head.


Ms O'Shane asked the paramedic "Would the court be correct in inferring, Mr Martin, that you don't like blacks?

"No" he replied.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm positive"

Ms O'Shane  then concluded that the paramedic had initiated "physical interaction" and dismissed the charges.

Pat O'Shane will retire today and some will say she jumped ship before it sank. In a few weeks, she was due to face a verdict from the Judicial Commission which could have ruled her unfit for the job.


She was born in Queensland in 1941.  Her father was Irish union activist and boxer Patrick O'Shane and her mother was his Aboriginal wife Gladys. She became the first Aboriginal woman in Queensland to become a teacher and Queensland's first Aboriginal barrister in 1976.

Nova Peris moves into politics

Nova Maree Peris is an indigenous Australian athlete. She was born in Darwin and represented Australian Women's Hockey team at the 1996 Olympics and became the first Aboriginal woman to win a gold medal. In 1997, she switched to athletics and won double gold medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. 

 

Julia Gillard wants her to run for Labor in the Northern Territory Senate this year. Nova was only admitted to the Labor Party a few days ago, a day after the PM announced she had ended the career of Senator Trish Crossin.

Trish Crossin

Ms Crossin is a 15 year Senate Labor veteran who had no idea the PM was planning her demise and although devastated, she will still seek pre-selection. She is a known Kevin Rudd supporter.

Nova's entry into the bloody arena of politics has caused bad feeling among many high profile indigenous political heavyweights, who feel they have been overlooked and are much more deserving than Nova.  It looks like she will have a fight on her hands, mainly with her own people.

Allison Anderson

Allison Anderson, a former Labor politician, said Nova would be a "maid", fetching tea and changing sheets for the party.

Aboriginal boxer Tony Mundine approves of the move. "You can't go on continuing to say you are the champion of the indigenous people when you don't have an indigenous person sitting next to you in Parliament" he said. "For 112 years in the Federal Parliament, there has not been an indigenous person representing the Labor Party and for years, myself and many other people have been campaigning. It's about time that it happened."

So is Nova tough enough to stand up to bullies who will come at her from all sides?  We'll just have to wait and see.  Go Nova.

Ellen DeGeneres giveaway to Sydney fans

Ellen made a surprise giveaway to Sydney fans yesterday - come down to the Opera House with your passports and bags packed, ready to go, and you could win two tickets to fly to Los Angeles and appear on her show.

Jennifer and Carly at Sydney airport

Ellen was impressed with the operatic version of a Taylor Swift inspired song performed by two Sydney girls, Jennifer Kenyon and Carly Heading and they were declared the winners.

They were swept into a waiting car and rushed to Sydney airport where disaster struck when it was discovered that Jennifer didn't have a passport. Frantic arrangements were made for Carly's sister Briony to take the free ticket and Jennifer will still go when she gets her passport.

A spokesman for Qantas said "They just never imagined they would be chosen, we'll make arrangements for Jennifer to fly at another time." Jennifer said she was disappointed but wanted to help out her friend who was celebrating her birthday and desperately wanted to go.

Julian and Dailius Wilson

Two Sydney brothers, Julian and Dailius Wilson also get to go on Ellen's show at a later date. They had very large signs that read "Ellen The Generous" and "Pick the brothers" and like thousands of others, are huge Ellen fans.

Ellen and her Australian wife Portia will appear in two or three public events when they arrive on March 17. Fans will have the chance to meet Ellen in person and details of the competition will be posted on Twitter, sponsors Swisse Wellness and Qantas Airways.

RuneScape gaming junkee

RuneScape is a fantasy role-playing video game that has 200 million registered players.  It's set in a medieval fantasy world and players have a choice of what character to play. They compete with, or work together to fight monsters, complete tasks and earn new skills.  But the game never ends, it goes on for as long as you want, and tearing yourself away isn't easy.

When Aussie mum Karen's 17 year old son Sam started spending 16 hours a day playing RunEscape, she knew it was out of control.  She tried everything to get him to stop and finally, at her wit's end, she took his computer away.  He couldn't bear it and left home.  Sam is one of the new age addicts, he's a RuneScape junkee.

He went to internet cafes and slept rough to save money.  You can play RuneScape for up to 13 hours straight for just $10 at some cafes.

Two years ago, Karen's son was a bright teenage boy with a normal social life and an interest in team sports, then half way through Year 10, he dropped out of school. She enrolled him in TAFE but he dropped out of that too. He withdrew from family and friends and his mother was afraid he was developing schizophrenia and went looking for help but there wasn't any.

She called emergency mental health services, but they couldn't help because Sam was under 18. Police couldn't help either and their only suggestion was to lock him up in a cell overnight, but Karen couldn't bring herself to do it.

Sam is entitled to $407.50 a fortnight youth allowance and when his mother got his bank statement, he was spending most of it on internet cafes, fast food and gambling games within RuneScape itself. When she finally tracked him down, he looked terrible - gaunt, sad and dirty. She pleaded with him to come home and worked out a plan to break his addiction that has not yet been proven.

She bolted the computer to the wall of the lounge room and for the past few weeks has given him free reign, just to keep him at home.  The next step will be to install an internet lock to restrict access at certain times of the day and gradually reintroduce him to regular meal times and sleep patterns.

Karen wants gaming addiction recognized as a serious problem, with advice for parents about how to prevent it getting to the addictive stage and what to do if it does.

In 2012, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) handed down its review into the classification system. "All online games remain exempt for classification for two years while the recommendations from the ALRC review are considered" a spokesperson for Justice Minister Jason Clare said. Hurry up people, we need this problem sorted.