Monday 27 February 2006

Two men killed in state gun spree, The Australian, 27 February, 2006.

Two men killed in state gun spree: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 27 Feb 2006: 3.
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Constable Elizabeth Roth was in a stable condition in Liverpool Hospital in southwestern Sydney last night after undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel.
At Kellyville on the city's northwestern outskirts a 37-year-old Iranian man was killed at his front door on Saturday night in thenormally quiet McMansion-style street of Patya Circuit after answering a knock on his door.
Mr [Masoud Faroughi] is believed to to have worked part-time as a taxi driver as he completed a PhD in chemistry. Police said no clear motive had been established.

A SPATE of shootings in NSW over the weekend -- which left two men dead, a police constable in hospital and an 80-year-old wounded - - has led to claims that criminals are "running rings around the police".
The series of unrelated attacks, which occurred in a 24-hour period between Saturday morning and early Sunday, have reignited thepolitical debate over law and order in Australia's largest city.
State Opposition Leader Peter Debnam yesterday blamed the violence on police staffing cuts and the Government's failure to deal with increasing levels of gun crime.
While criminals were "running rings around the police" the Premier was "in denial about the level of violence," he said.
But Premier Morris Iemma said police numbers were adequate and he was confident police would track down the gunmen. "My message to them is we have a strong and very highly skilled police force that will track down these perpetrators," he said.
Constable Elizabeth Roth was in a stable condition in Liverpool Hospital in southwestern Sydney last night after undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel.
Constable Roth was stabbed in the arm and shot in the side by a man who jumped the counter at Wetherill Park police station and grabbed her service revolver early on Saturday morning.
From her hospital bed yesterday Constable Roth said with so many visitors and so much support she felt "on a continual high".
After a 36-hour search and a number of tipoffs from the public, a 33-year-old man surrendered to police in the company of a relatives and was assisting with inquiries last night.
At Kellyville on the city's northwestern outskirts a 37-year-old Iranian man was killed at his front door on Saturday night in thenormally quiet McMansion-style street of Patya Circuit after answering a knock on his door.
Masoud Faroughi's wife and six-year-old son were inside and were later taken to hospital suffering from shock.
Mr Faroughi is believed to to have worked part-time as a taxi driver as he completed a PhD in chemistry. Police said no clear motive had been established.
Most neighbours were too distressed or frightened to speak yesterday, but one man described hearing two shots fired within seconds of each other.
Another neighbour said a Mercedes Benz had been torched at Mr Faroughi's house last year.
A 36-year-old man was found shot dead in the front yard of his home at Robertson, south of Sydney. Police are seeking witnesses to an earlier fight at a Robertson hotel.
In another gun attack an 80-year-old man was wounded in the foot in a drive-by shooting at Guildford in Sydney's west while he lay in bed.
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Thursday 23 February 2006

Climate debate too PC: scientist, The Australian, 23 February, 2006.

Climate debate too PC: scientist: [6 NSW Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 23 Feb 2006: 5.
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Climate expert and retired founder of the Antarctic Co-operative Research Centre Garth Paltridge said yesterday he was told to keep quiet in the early 1990s when he suggested there was doubt about the science behind global warming.
Professor Paltridge said a senior CSIRO chief threatened to pull the agency's promised funding for the Antarctic Research Centre, an institution designed to examine the role of Antarctica in the global climate, if he persisted in making his claims publicly.
The claims by Professor Paltridge, now an emeritus professor with the University of Tasmania, come in the wake of accusations by retired CSIRO scientists that they were gagged from talking about global warming in ways that reflected poorly on government policy.
CSIRO scientists who say they were gagged from talking about greenhouse emissions have had a "walk in the park" compared to those who dared question thescience behind global warming.
Climate expert and retired founder of the Antarctic Co-operative Research Centre Garth Paltridge said yesterday he was told to keep quiet in the early 1990s when he suggested there was doubt about the science behind global warming.
Professor Paltridge said a senior CSIRO chief threatened to pull the agency's promised funding for the Antarctic Research Centre, an institution designed to examine the role of Antarctica in the global climate, if he persisted in making his claims publicly.
The threats were made when the CSIRO had applied for tens of millions of dollars in research funds from the newly formed Australian Greenhouse Office.
The claims by Professor Paltridge, now an emeritus professor with the University of Tasmania, come in the wake of accusations by retired CSIRO scientists that they were gagged from talking about global warming in ways that reflected poorly on government policy.
One claimed he was told not to talk about ethanol and another said he was ordered to remove from a report a section referring to how rising sea levels could lead to millions being displaced in Asia and the Pacific.
Professor Paltridge said it was far more difficult for any scientist reliant on public research dollars to go against the accepted wisdom that global warming would be disastrous.
He said one of the fundamental reasons scientists had gone overboard on global warming was because they could feel like "knights in shining armour fighting the good fight against the terrible enemy of multinational business".
While he did not question that putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would warm the planet, Professor Paltridge said evidence suggested thetemperature rise would be less than a degree over the next 100 years, not the seven or eight degrees regularly predicted.
"The climate debate has become politically correct," he said. "It is quite difficult to propound a view that goes against that view. In my experience censorship of the other side of the debate has been much more extreme. Those advocating cutting greenhouse emissions have had a bit of a walk in the park when it comes to being censored.
"To go against the popular beliefs on global warming you are being politically incorrect. People are willing to believe politically correct rather than factual arguments, that is the danger of it all."
A CSIRO spokeswoman said the alleged censorship was in the early 1990s and was too long ago to make comment.
This week CSIRO chief executive Geoff Garrett announced a review of the organisation's role in providing scientific input into policy development by a team of leading scientists.
The team held its first meeting yesterday and is expected to report in three months.
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Wednesday 22 February 2006

Call for caring as a third skeleton found, The Australian, 22 February, 2006.

Call for caring as a third skeleton found: [1 All-round Country Edition]

John Stapleton, Imre Salusinszky. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 22 Feb 2006: 5.
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THE discovery of the badly decomposed body of an elderly man in Sydney -- the third case in a fortnight -- has sparked calls for a return to old-fashioned values of neighbourliness in Australia's biggest city.
The man's unit was on the 15th floor of the Joseph Banks building, one of the notorious 1950s Waterloo public housing blocks colloquially known as the"Towers of Despair" which have a mixed population of elderly, the mentally ill and the drug addicted.
Senior vice-president of the Combined Pensioners Association Grace Selway said the deaths highlighted the way Australian society had changed, with everyone too busy to care about each other. "There is no contact with your neighbours," she said. "In the old days, families looked after their elderly. That doesn't happen any more."

THE discovery of the badly decomposed body of an elderly man in Sydney -- the third case in a fortnight -- has sparked calls for a return to old-fashioned values of neighbourliness in Australia's biggest city.
On Monday night, police found the skeleton of a man sitting at a table. The remains had gone undetected in his inner-Sydney housing department unit for more than seven months.
The man's unit was on the 15th floor of the Joseph Banks building, one of the notorious 1950s Waterloo public housing blocks colloquially known as the"Towers of Despair" which have a mixed population of elderly, the mentally ill and the drug addicted.
The grisly find comes little more than a week after that of the badly decomposed body of a 62-year-old man in another nearby housing block, and that of a 79-year-old woman at Umina, on the NSW Central Coast.
The deaths have also sparked criticism of the lack of support networks for elderly people in NSW.
Police commander for the Redfern Local Area Command, Catherine Burn, said the latest incident came to light after a friend of the man contacted them.
"A situation like this is very tragic," she said. "It is very, very difficult for police and everyone involved."
Anthony Tarry, a neighbour of the man discovered dead on Monday, said he felt badly that he hadn't tried to break down the door or alert authorities, after he noticed the man was not around, but that he hadn't wanted to intrude.
He described the dead man as a quiet, reclusive character who made regular trips to hospital. They had become friends because the man had taught him to play chess. "There was no smell, nothing," he said.
"When the police opened the door, within three metres there he was, sitting at a table, skeletal."
Director of the NSW Council of Social Services Gary Moore said the death highlighted that the Department of Housing had a duty of care to all its tenants to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
"Some elderly people want to be alone, but equally there are many others who crave company but can't access appropriate services," he said.
"This could be an increasingly big issue because the population is ageing. Already, 50 per cent of us live in one- or two-person households."
Senior vice-president of the Combined Pensioners Association Grace Selway said the deaths highlighted the way Australian society had changed, with everyone too busy to care about each other. "There is no contact with your neighbours," she said. "In the old days, families looked after their elderly. That doesn't happen any more."
Mrs Selway said many elderly people valued their privacy, liked to live alone, and it didn't matter how many neighbourhood centres there were, they would not participate in community events.
One solution was the provision of emergency bracelets that the elderly could activate if they got into trouble, but at present these were too expensive for most pensioners.
Co-ordinator for South Sydney Community Aid Jan Leach said more bodies would be found in similar circumstances and she was not the least surprised by thelatest find.
"We are very concerned at social isolation in Redfern and Waterloo," she said.

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Monday 20 February 2006

Property markets up, The Australian, 20 February, 2006

Property markets up: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 20 Feb 2006: 3.
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Australian Property Monitors research director Louis Christopher said the clearance rate for Adelaide was 73.9 per cent while the rate for Melbourne was 56per cent.
SIGNS of a property recovery have emerged with Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide recording strong auction clearance rates over the weekend.
Sydney's clearance rate of 62.8per was the city's highest for two years and represented a significant increase from the previous week's 51.1 per cent.
The city's auction clearance rates bottomed out in 2004 at 33per cent -- a 15-year low -- and remained weak right up until December, when clearance rates were hovering at 40 per cent. House prices fell throughout 2004 and 2005.
Australian Property Monitors research director Louis Christopher said the clearance rate for Adelaide was 73.9 per cent while the rate for Melbourne was 56per cent.
Clearance rates for the rest of the country are not available until later this week, but Australian Property Monitors said they too were expected to increase.
"Clearance rates are higher than last year in most capital cities," Mr Christopher said.
"Overall, we are still in a weak market. It is still a buyers' market. But it is looking more and more likely that we are at the bottom of the downturn now."
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Libs pledge to reclaim tunnel-affected roads, The Australian, 20 February, 2006.

Libs pledge to reclaim tunnel-affected roads: [2 All-round First Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 20 Feb 2006: 4.
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NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said roads blocked, narrowed or altered to encourage people to use the 2km tollway would be reopened under a Coalition government, regardless of the contractual obligations to operator CrossCity Motorway.
"I am putting the operators of the Cross City Tunnel and any other company looking at buying the tunnel on notice today that we will take those roads back. Labor sold off public roads; the public want them back," Mr Debnam said.
SYDNEY'S contentious Cross City Tunnel moved up in the political stakes yesterday when the NSW Opposition promised to reopen more than 70 public roads.
NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam said roads blocked, narrowed or altered to encourage people to usethe2km tollway would be reopened under a Coalition government, regardless ofthecontractual obligations to operator CrossCity Motorway.    
Mr Debnam said that the day after a Coalition win at next year's election, public roads effectively controlled by the tunnel owners would be returned to government control.
"I am puttingtheoperators oftheCross City Tunnel and any other company looking at buyingthetunnel on notice today that we will take those roads back. Labor sold off public roads;thepublic want them back," Mr Debnam said.        
The Labor Government hit back yesterday, saying reopening public roads would trigger a compensation payout of up to $1billion of taxpayers' money.
"That is $1billion that will be taken from hospitals, schools, police stations and every other frontline service provided by theGovernment," a spokesman for Premier Morris Iemma said.
A spokeswoman for the Cross City Tunnel said the tightly written contract with the Government contained compensation clauses.
"One of the objectives of the project was to reclaim land for pedestrians and pubic transport, particularly buses, and to restrict cars coming into the CBD," she said.
The tunnel has outraged motorists by causing congestion throughout inner-city suburbs.
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Sunday 19 February 2006

On the job, pix, The Australian. With the legendary Gough Whitlam. 2006.


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Friday 17 February 2006

Protecting Muslim Thuggery From Criticism, Free-Market News Network, 17 February, 2006.



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Monday 13 February 2006

Outsiders from Warwick Farm storm home in photo finish, The Australian, 13 February, 2006.

Outsiders from Warwick Farm storm home in photo finish: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 13 Feb 2006: 3.
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The jury gave prizes in 10 theme categories to 63 photographers from 25 countries including Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the US.
[Mark Evans] said yesterday he was on holidays, bored and lonely while his wife was working taking photographs at Warwick Farm racecourse in southwestern Sydney, when he decided to go out and take some behind the scenes shots. "Normally we just do the action, the finish of the race," he said. "But at Warwick Farm there are all these characters, some look like they're still in the 1950s. It is more like a country course, it is full of die-hards. I wanted to catch all these faces of the people who go to the races."
PHOTOGRAPHERS Mark and Jenny Evans only entered the World Press Photo Awards to receive a free copy of the glossy book of award winners sent to each entrant.
Instead the husband-and-wife team walked away with the coveted award for best Sports Feature Stories for their black and white series on a Warwick Farm race meet on the outskirts of Sydney.
For a photographer, the award is akin to a Pulitzer Prize and only rarely won by Australians.
While Mark Evans has previously secured a Walkley Award for sports photography the only thing the pair had won together was for a netball photography competition two years ago.
The beautiful series depict die-hard racegoers and one with a delicate silhouette of a horse against a troubled sky.
The award means that the couple's work will receive international attention in a pantheon of some of the world's best photographers.
"We were totally shocked at winning," he said. "It is the pinnacle of world photography. It is the best photography in the world. We submitted in black and white because that gives it a more timeless quality."
Mark said yesterday he was on holidays, bored and lonely while his wife was working taking photographs at Warwick Farm racecourse in southwestern Sydney, when he decided to go out and take some behind the scenes shots. "Normally we just do the action, the finish of the race," he said. "But at Warwick Farm there are all these characters, some look like they're still in the 1950s. It is more like a country course, it is full of die-hards. I wanted to catch all these faces of thepeople who go to the races."
Mark Evans' boss, picture editor for The Daily Telegraph Andrew Darby, said his best attribute was his dedication and passion for photography.
"His photographs consistently reflect the emotion and true atmosphere in any situation; as seen in this award winning series," he said.
"We are very proud of him."
This year 4448 professional photographers from 122 countries entered 83,044 images in the awards, the most prestigious annual international press photography competition.
The judging sessions took place in Amsterdam from January 28 to February 9 and were completely digital.
The jury gave prizes in 10 theme categories to 63 photographers from 25 countries including Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the US.

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