Nomad bikies arrested in Sydney

Gang Squad police arrested 13 Nomad bikies and closed down their Wetherill Park clubhouse in Sydney last night.

"The arrests have been made under legislation that makes it an offence for a person to associate with two or more convicted offenders" Gang Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Deborah Wallace said.

"My message is that if further offences are detected under these laws, my detectives will continue to enforce the legislation to the fullest extent by arresting and charging those involved" she said.

Gang squad boss Debbie Wallace

Michael Clarke on collision course with Cricket Australia as his teammates move on.

By Andrew Webster

Andrew Webster is the Chief Sports Writer of The Sydney Morning Herald

In the lead-up to the Sydney Test, the Australian team enjoyed a barbecue at the luxury South Coogee home of opening batsman Dave Warner. The six-bedroom, five-bathroom, three-level mansion reportedly cost Warner and his fiancee Candice Falzon $6.5 million last year. It was made famous two years earlier as the set for the UK reality TV show Geordie Shore.

On the surface, there is nothing exceptional about the Australian side's pre-match get-together, save for the person who wasn't there.  That Michael Clarke bizarrely didn't attend is a glimpse into the hurricane that is forming ahead of the World Cup and onwards to July to an Ashes defence on English soil.

How the final chapter of Clarke's career plays out will make Geordie Shore as eventful as Romper Room. Almost everyone involved in Australian cricket knows about it, is talking about it, and wonders where it will all end.

Probably in tears.

Clarke is at war with his superiors. And, as much as he belligerently holds onto the idea of playing for his country again, it is also clear his teammates have moved on without him.

In Steve Smith they trust. It's that simple.

Former South African captain Graeme Smith probably doesn't know how close to the bone he cut when he said this last week: "Michael has been an outstanding captain, but is more of an abrasive personality. It will be interesting to see now that they have been under Smith for the last few months and if Michael moves back into that space, how then that shifts the personality of the team."

There are two issues at play here: Clarke's broken relationship with Cricket Australia management and his relationship with his teammates.

The captain has been on a collision course for months with almost every level of the Cricket Australia hierarchy, from chief executive James Sutherland to high-performance manager Pat Howard to chairman of selectors Rod Marsh to coach Darren Lehmann. Some officials complain he's refused to return their phone calls.

Part of the tension is about team selections. When Queensland batsman Joe Burns was selected for the Boxing Day Test, Clarke was said to be angry about not being consulted.

Yet much of the animosity concerns his dodgy hamstrings and lower back problems.

There's a case for being the ultimate competitor, doing everything possible to get on to the field. On this score, Clarke has to be admired. There's another case for being an unwanted distraction for the team.

It was going to come to a head on November 25 as Clarke vaingloriously told anyone who would listen of his desire to play in the first Test against India at the Gabba.

The day before, he publicly contradicted Marsh about playing in a two-day warm-up match in Adelaide to prove his fitness.

Sutherland and others had enough of it. They were going to rule him out of the Test side and select Phillip Hughes.

Then everything changed.

Later that day, a Sean Abbott bouncer felled Hughes at the SCG and two days later the batsman's life support was turned off.

Clarke, his teammates and officials were united in grief. The skipper was the definitive leader as they laid their friend to rest in his home town of Macksville.

Suddenly, Cricket Australia suits changed their tune. They wanted their inspirational captain in the side for the rescheduled Test in Adelaide, where he scored a ton and tore a hammy.

Now, though, the issue of Clarke's future has flared again.

Privately, he is furious about selectors setting a deadline of February 21 — the second pool match against Bangladesh — to prove his fitness for the World Cup after hamstring surgery.

An eternal optimist and tireless when it comes to preparation, Clarke is adamant he will be fit – although most behind the scenes tell you he is a slim prospect at best.

They predict he won't recover in time, and that's when the hurricane will hit. Clarke's camp says he had initially been given until March 4 — the fourth pool match against Afghanistan — to prove his fitness.

There has either been a major miscommunication or Cricket Australia is setting up its own captain to fail.

If Clarke is ruled out, expect fireworks. At the very least, he will want to play Sheffield Shield cricket for NSW to prove a point. The Blues are already saying they don't want to be caught in the middle of the fight.

Meanwhile, in the Australian dressing-room, those in baggy greens are humming along quite nicely. They have seen life without the Clarke sideshow and they quite like it.

Smith is a laid-back character who carries a form guide in his back pocket. Clarke has often been described as a player who would rather spend time with celebrity mates.

And Clarke has no greater celebrity mate than Shane Warne. It was never more obvious how close the pair are than during their stint together in the Channel Nine commentary box.

During the Brisbane Test, Clarke was effectively commentating on the match via his own Twitter feed. He also retweeted a post from a fan who demanded he be part of the Nine commentary team while injured.

Like magic, Clarke was there in the middle of the MCG on Boxing Day, with a Nine microphone in hand.

For Nine, securing Clarke for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests was a coup. For Clarke, joining the commentary team of past players while still playing was an air swing.

He might've been insightful, he might've shown where his future will be in retirement, but many of his teammates were far from impressed as their captain openly discussed strategies, technique and what players were thinking and should be doing in the centre.

It was dangerous territory for a current captain to traverse. For instance, each time he passed comment on Shane Watson it was nearly impossible not to recall the ugly fallout between the pair in India in 2013.

Clarke's teammates were also said to be less pleased with his appearance in the dressing-room during those Tests.

It's been argued that Clarke was there for rehab purposes. Others say his presence was odd and a distraction.

How does Clarke return to a successful side? If at all?

He has been a polemic figure inside and outside the dressing-room almost every step of his undulant career. A platoon of former players often ask whether Clarke puts himself ahead of the baggy green.

Doubtless, he will see this column as an attack. It is not.

His decency and selflessness were there for all to see when Hughes died.

Yet everywhere you stepped this summer, the topic of conversation among some of the highest echelons of Australian cricket hasn't been about Warner's sparkling form, or Smith's captaincy, or whether Warney is single or not.

It was about Clarke and the hurricane looming on the horizon.

For a player who has played more than 100 Tests, scored more than 8000 runs, and captained Australia to an unforgettable Ashes victory, you would ideally hope his career finishes in dignity.

From Ferraris to being grabbed by Simon Katich by the throat at the SCG to Bingle-gate to Homework-gate to this latest imbroglio, it seems certain to end as it has always been.

Like an episode of Geordie Shore, probably in tears.

Tony Abbott's death wish

Tony Abbott made his own death wish when he decided not to consult with anyone, (except his chief of staff) about bestowing a knighthood on Prince Phillip.  

Conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch tweeted that the PM should sack Peta Credlin and most of  the LNP team agree with him. MPs have complained bitterly about her condescending, controlling manner in dealing with them and even John Howard has been made aware of the trouble she has caused.  She has a list of enemies that grows longer every day and rules with an iron fist.

Rupert went further, he said that if Tony Abbott won't sack her, he called on Ms Credlin to do her patriotic duty and resign for the good of the party.

But yesterday the PM said that it was he alone who made the knighthood decision and he did not consult Ms Credlin.  The question now is - do we believe him?

In December, when unhappy MPs voiced their displeasure about how Ms Credlin ran the PMs office, Mr Abbott accused them of being misogynistic.  "Do you really think my chief of staff would be under this kind of criticism if her name was Peter instead of Peta?"

Rupert Murdoch is convinced Credlin is to blame and behind the knighthood decision, even though privately she would like to see Australia cut ties with England and become a republic.

There are rumblings in the backbench with several MPs believing his ability to lead is now irrecoverable.

Yesterday the PM conceded the public had not reacted well to the appointment of Prince Phillip but he stood by his decision, while promising greater consultation for future appointments.

To me, that statement simply reeks of his arrogance - he vehemently believes that as 'captain' of the ship, he can, and will do whatever he likes, something we've learned about his character that we didn't know before.

If he doesn't move Peta Credlin along, it will be just another nail in his coffin.

Bondi house of horrors to be auctioned

After years of having to put up with the Bondi house of horrors, neighbours who live in Boonara Avenue, are getting ready to celebrate. Real estate agent Raine & Horne, Double Bay, say the property could go for up to $2 million.

The house is being marketed as 'one of the suburb's most desirable streets', and it is - walking distance to Bondi Beach.

The block isn't very big, only 550 square metres, but it's big enough to build your dream home, according to the real estate advertisement.

Waverley Council have cleaned up the property 15 times in 25 years which cost them $350,000 but every time they cleaned it up, within a month, the rubbish was back again, just as bad as ever. 

The owners, Mrs Bobolas and her two daughters Elena and Liana guard their rubbish as if it were gold and have tied the council up in courts for years.  But last year it finally came to an end.  

The Land and Environment Court ordered the owners to pay the cost of every cleanup - around $350,000 - and when they refused, the council sent the Sheriff in.

The NSW Sheriff's office was instructed to recover $180,000 for cleanup and legal fees owed to the council and later scheduled an auction for the sale of the property.

Bobolas sisters

Now the neighbours will finally get the break they have waited so long for and the vermin will have to find another home.

Japan still lying about WW2

Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister

It's hard to believe that after all this time, Japan is still in denial about their behaviour in WW2.

Japan has asked a US publisher, McGraw-Hill, to "correct" a school textbook that talks about women who were forced to work in military brothels as "comfort women."

They said "grave errors and descriptions conflict with our nation's stance on the issue of "comfort women."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't agree with mainstream historians who say that around 200,000 women, mainly from Korea but also from China, Taiwan the the Philippines, were forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers in a formalised system of slavery.

The PM would rather the world believe that the women were common prostitutes, not worthy of concern.

McGraw-Hill Education confirmed they had been approached to change the description of 'comfort women' in one of their publications but said "Scholars are aligned behind the historical fact of 'comfort women' and we unequivocally stand behind the writing, research and presentation of our authors."

In the 1990s, a series of articles were written about a former Japanese soldier who claimed he was involved in rounding up Korean women to work in brothels.  He was quickly labelled a liar but the paper stubbornly refused to withdraw the articles.  That was until last year, when Japan's Liberal Asahi Shimbun finally retracted them.

The right-wing PM was delighted and insisted the paper apologise.

But comfort women isn't Japan's only concern, they want China to change their history books too.

Chinese President Xi Jinping

They have asked that any reference made to the 300,000 Chinese people massacred by Japanese soldiers as they swept through the Chinese city of Nanjing, be obliterated from history.

Chinese President Xi Jinping made the comment in a speech just before Christmas 2014, calling on Tokyo to acknowledge the gravity of its past crimes.  

But Australians old enough to remember know all about Japanese cruelty because of what they did to our soldier in WW2.

Australian war trials were held in 1946 in Morotai, Wewak, Labuan, Rabaul, Darwin, Singapore, Hong Kong and Manus Island. In all, Australia conducted nearly 300 trials in which 924 Japanese servicemen were accused of war crimes.

Accused in Australian court, 1946

Of these, 644 were convicted and 148 sentenced to death by firing squad.  Eleven sentences were commuted.

Sargeant Seiichi Okada, also known as 'doctor death', for his role as medical orderly was sentenced to ten years in Singapore.  The Korean Arai Koei, also known as 'boy bastard', was sentenced to death by hanging for his treatment of prisoners on the Burma side of the railway.

Lieut Seizo Tanaka, executed in 1946 on Morotai, wrote to a family member.

It is decided that I will be shot at 7am on the 6th March.  I am sentenced to death, but not because I did a shameful act, rather I think it was an honour for me...by my culture, I am resigned facing death.

Another dangerous Jihadist let out on bail

Khodr Moustafa Taha

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been told to stay out of court business. The PM said he could understand why people were "aghast" at the decision to grant bail to Khodr Moustafa Taha, who police believe is a seriously dangerous man.

It's alleged that Taha has a history of violence, has threatened police and used social media to support IS.  So why was he granted bail?

Ms Popovic

The Magistrate's name is Jelena Popovic, the same woman who sued Andrew Bolt and won.

Victorian police asked the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) to consider an appeal against her decision but it was denied.

"The director has carefully considered this request for an appeal and has concluded that an appeal pursuant to Section 18A Bail Act 1977 should not be brought" a spokesperson for the office said. 

Well it's time we threw out that law and brought in a new one.

"The matter will return to her on 22 January when the OPP says the question of bail "can be reventilated then if necessary."

The president of the Law Institute of Victoria, Katie Miller, described Mr Abbott's remarks as "unhelpful" reminding us that it is not appropriate for politicians to interfere with the courts.

"We are talking about the integrity of the court system and its processes and magistrates need to make decisions based on the evidence before them and not on political comments that might be made through the media" Ms Miller said.

Integrity of the court system?  She must be joking. You would think that the Sydney siege would give magistrates a clue as to why it's prudent to keep dangerous men locked up.  Yet again, these magistrates have put our lives at risk.

Cartoonist Larry Pickering offered police protection

Queensland journalist and cartoonist Larry Pickering had a visit from the police the other day, concerned that his rants against Isam have put him in danger of an attack.  They offered him protective surveillance after he posted a provocative image of Mohammed on his website after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

"If you run away and hide in a corner, then they've already won" he said.

Taken by surprise when two policemen knocked on his door he said "It seems very strange that two coppers would drive all the way from Brisbane on Sunday night in the pouring rain just to have two hours with me.  

".....they were very nice guys, they weren't trying to stop me from doing anything, they were just saying 'we've got reason to believe that you should be careful' - whatever that means, I don't know."

"They just said, look, if you plan on doing anything provocative again, give us some notice."

Considered by many to be the best cartoonist in the country, Pickering takes no prisoners.  If he thinks the Charlie Hebdo cartoons were crass, take a look at his website, the Pickering Post, and see what he thought about ex PM Julia Gillard.  https://pickeringpost.com/archive/news

The Pickering Post is gaining popularity because it is totally politically incorrect and how he gets away with it is a mystery.  Rumours abound about his past but nobody seems to know the truth.

There was talk of him being involved in a fraudulent investment scheme, not paying his many wives child support and was once a bankrupt which meant there was no point suing him because he was broke.

But as his popularity grows and his vicious rants against Islam continue, Larry had better watch his back.