Mafia alive and well in Australia

Joseph Acquaro

Melbourne lawyer for members of the Mafia, Joseph Acquaro was shot dead last Tuesday.  Police warned him there was a bounty on his head and to beef up his security but he refused, and now he's dead.

The prime suspect is Antonio 'Tony' Madafferi who police say was convinced the lawyer was leaking information to journalist Nick McKenzie, but Mr Madafferi has vehemently denied the allegation.

Tony Madafferi

Mr Acquaro, also known as Pino, had previously represented a number of prominent Italian-Australian crime figures and had strong links to the Calabrian community.

The deceased lawyer had represented Mr Madaferi's brother Frank, an alleged Mafia heavyweight who was jailed with a number of other men linked to the Calabrian Mafia in 2014 over the world's largest ecstasy bust.  He also represented at least one of Frank Madafferi's co-accused in that case.

Nick McKenzie

Madafferi was convinced that Acquaro was giving information to journalist Nick McKenzie and tried hard to find out the name of his source/s.  But McKenzie refused to name them because he knew what would happen if he did.

In reply, Mr Madafferi's lawyer, Georgina Schoff said it was "absolutely fanciful" somebody would try to "knock off" one of McKenzie's sources.

Oh really?  We know what Tony Soprano would have done.

In a separate incident, the murdered man had plenty of enemies, including one big time crime boss he represented who is currently in jail serving a hefty sentence.  Understandably, he was furious with the way he handled his defence.

So police have to figure out if Joseph Acquaro was killed because he was a bad lawyer or because he was telling tales out of school.

Anders Breivik back in court

It's hard to accept that mass murderer Anders Breivik isn't mad. Surely someone who murders 77 people can't be sane, but his conviction was based on the premise that he was not psychotic at the time of the killings.

Breivik told his lawyers to strenuously argue that he knew exactly what he was doing at the time, while the prosecution insisted he must be insane to carry out such a heinous crime.  The defence won and he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Yesterday he was back in a make-shift court to begin his human rights case against the Norwegian government and as soon as his handcuffs were removed, he turned to the media and gave a Nazi salute.

He says his human rights have been violated by holding him in isolation in Skien prison.  His lawyer claims he has been subject to inhuman and degrading treatment which has forced him to drop out of his political science course at the University of Oslo.

His cell includes three sections for sleeping, exercise and study.  He complains that he has no views and said "I highly doubt there are worse detention facilities in Norway."

At his trial four years ago he used a clenched fist and told the world he was fighting to protect Norway and Europe from Muslim immigration.

Breivik is the only inmate in the high security wing of Skien prison. He is allowed some mail correspondence but it is strictly controlled and he's not allowed to communicate with other right-wing extremists.

The government says the restriction are well within the European Convention of Human Rights and are needed to make sure he isn't able to build military extremist networks from prison - something he would be very good at and knows there would be many like-minded people around the world lining up to join.

Boy 4, sexually abusing playmates

The people involved with this horror story, teachers who refused to report a four year old boy for sexually abusing his kindergarten playmates, both orally and anally, should be sacked.

There is only one reason why a child of this age is doing this and that's because he's been taught. Alarm bells should have rung loud and clear because there was an obvious risk that he was being sexually abused at home.

The mother of a boy at this South Australian school claims the Education Department ignored her complaints and staff refused to consider his behaviour as abusive and instead, said it was 'normal developmentally appropriate behaviour.'  

"I went to work and received a call about 2.30 pm saying my child was hysterical and the teacher was unable to calm him down" she said.  "And what my child disclosed to me has haunted our family ever since."

The young victims were removed from the school and they were forced to hire a full-time minder to watch him.

The parents pleaded with the school to expel the boy but they refused.  The South Australian Education Department said they could not force the boy's parents to get him treatment.

"The Department treats inappropriate sexualised behaviours with the utmost seriousness and any incidents of this kind are investigated and managed directly by senior staff" a spokesman said.

Well, those senior staff members should hang their heads in shame for the way they handled this matter.  The boy's parents should have been referred to the police immediately the moment the abuse was discovered.

Aboriginal 10 year old girl commits suicide

A 10 year old Aboriginal girl from a remote WA community committed suicide on Sunday and there have been 19 Indigenous suicides in WA since Christmas.

In January, the government committed $1 million to find out why but no answers are forthcoming.  

Gerry Georgatos has been chosen by the government with providing crisis support to families who have been affected.

"It's tragic that a young child would be so trapped in a sense of hopelessness....it's a tragedy that needs to be heard across the nation" he said.

"Usually we have 30 or 40 suicides each year in WA but we are already about half-way there" he said.  

The Coroner is preparing to launch a major coronial investigation into why this is happening in remote, isolated communities in the Pilbara and Kimberley and public hearings will begin later this year.  But will we get to the truth?

Why do these children have a sense of "hopelessness?"

Mr Georgatos skimmed around the problem.  "It's not one particular factor....domestic violence is a factor which cannot be understated."

"In some cases, child sexual abuse has been a contributing factor but the majority of these suicides are intertwined with acute poverty that translates completely as hopelessness."

We have to get to the bottom of this and finally tell the truth - that Government health workers and others have found that child sexual abuse and bashing your wife is part of Aboriginal culture.  This shocking statement has already been made and hushed up, but it must be addressed if we are to get to the truth. 

But that's not all - parents who live in these remote communities often refuse to send their children to school so they are perpetuating yet another generation of hopelessness. What possible hope is there for a child with no education?

Government health workers have been silenced from reporting horrific sexual abuse injuries found on small children in these communities, so why are they still there?

Because we are afraid of being accused of orchestrating another 'stolen generation' so Aboriginal children are left alone, utterly helpless.  

We have to save these children, and if it means taking them away from their family, so be it.

Peta Credlin's power over Tony Abbott

Niki Savva

In 1997, Niki Savva quit as head of The Age bureau and joined Peter Costello's staff as the Treasurer's press secretary, the first woman ever to hold the job.

Those in the know say that there is no other political journalist in the business more experienced or credible than Niki Savva, but like most seasoned journalists who are on call 24/7 she suffered from burnout and in 2004, she told Costello she wanted out.  She currently writes for The Australian.

Now Savva has written a book about the dysfunctional relationship of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his chief of staff Peta Credlin called "The Road to Ruin."

Abbott and Credlin have vehemently denied claims made in the book and although the author can't say for certain they were having an affair, it's clear she thinks Credlin's powerful influence over Abbott ultimately brought about his downfall.

While some excerpts from the book were published over the weekend, the full book is not out until today.

As a journalist for The Australian, Credlin tried to have Savva sacked because of her weekly column depicting the turmoil within government ranks, but she didn't succeed.

Credlin's husband Vince Woolcock currently works in logistics as part of Malcolm Turnbull's Prime Ministerial team.

Credlin had a reputation for running Tony Abbott's office with a rod of iron, denying MPs she didn't like a meeting with Abbott and he is accused of bowing to her will in all things.  Yesterday on The Insiders she said

“Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin, any day, any night can get out there and give their version of events. And their version of events often differs very wildly from everybody else's and there are people who had been abused for years during that administration who suffered in silence. And I thought they should be given the chance to tell their story.” 

Dr Gerard Stoyles, Psychologist and Exorcist

Dr Gerard Stoyles began working in religious education as a Catholic priest in 1977 and went on to study clinical psychology at the University of Wollongong where he later secured a position as senior lecturer specialising in children and teens.

So because of his religious background, Dr Stoyles is a rare breed - he's a psychologist who believes in demons.

But a complaint has been made to the Psychology Council of NSW over the comments he made on a radio program last October.  During an interview, he discussed the exorcism of an adult female and a child and the complainant alleges he was "promoting" the bizarre practice.

Dr Stoyles ended 17 years of employment with the University in October 2015.

"The University has nothing further to add to Dr Stoyles' own public statement" a university spokesman said.  "The University of Wollongong rejects any suggestion that any redundancy has been initiated as response to, or in connection with, any allegations or public controversy."

Enter Dr Mitch Byrne, also a senior lecturer in psychology at the same university who does not believe in demons but still thinks the method of exorcism has its merits.

"If you are a person who is possessed of a delusional or a psychiatric disability, and you have a strong religious belief, and that belief can be marshalled to help you overcome your distress, then why not?"

"I wouldn't say it's the best call or should be the first call in terms of a way of dealing with psychological disturbance, but people should never underestimate the power of belief."

"Suicide bombers and Kamikaze pilots are evidence that the power of belief is beyond any sort of rational argument so perhaps working within someone's belief system is the best way to help them recover from their disability or distress."

He thinks that people who believe they are possessed do incredible things, but he attributes this to the mind, not demons.

"There is an enormous amount of power and energy in the human body that we don't usually exert and people under the right sort of circumstances can marshal that power for a very brief and short period of time, usually at some psychological cost" he said.

"They can marshal it to engage in acts of human strength and agility.  So if a person is possessed of a delusional belief or a psychotic condition, they may evidence some degree or excessive or unusual behaviour which we might interpret as being possessed or as evidence of a demon."

But who is to say that Dr Stoyles hasn't been right all along?  As a priest, he could immediately recognise someone with strong religious beliefs and exorcism could be the ideal solution to their problem.

Dr Stoyles has provided the Psychology Council of NSW with a response to the complaint and has been asked to attend a "counselling interview" over the matter.

Cardinal George Pell swears on the Bible

Cardinal George Pell admitted yesterday that priests preying on young boys was rife during his time as a powerful official of the church, yet won't admit that because of the shame, he did everything in his power to cover it up.

And that's why this image of him swearing on the Bible is so offensive.