NT changes laws after 'sex sleep' case

The case of a man found not guilty of rape after a jury heard he may have been "sex sleeping" has prompted Northern Territory politicians to pass new laws.

NT Attorney-General Delia Lawrie said the legislation would make Supreme Court trials "fairer and more efficient".

Leonard Andrew Spencer made history when he was acquitted last May, marking the first time in an Australian court that "sex sleep" had succeeded as part of a defence.

The 48-year-old entered the bedroom of a guest at his home at Nhulunbuy in northeast Arnhem Land in the early morning of June 2007 and got into the 21-year-old's bed.

Mr Spencer, who claimed he had no recollection of the event, was accused of gross indecency and sexual intercourse without consent.

But his lawyer argued Mr Spencer was asleep at the time and depressed over his marriage break-up. (so does that make it acceptable to RAPE someone?)

Towards the end of the trial, the defence called on psychiatrist Lester Walton who told the jury that Mr Spencer may have suffered from the condition "sex sleep".

On Thursday, NT parliament passed laws that mean lawyers will no longer be able to call expert witnesses without prior notice.

"During the so-called "sexsomnia" case the defence called on an expert witness late in the trial and it can be argued that the prosecution was unable to prove its case," Ms Lawrie said.

"(They) didn't have enough time to adequately challenge the expert's testimony...

"The Henderson government wants Supreme Court jury trials to be as fair as possible to all parties concerned, and that's why we have introduced this legislation."

Ms Lawrie said the NT's Criminal Code Amendment (Expert Evidence) Bill brought the NT into line with Victoria, South Australian, Western Australia and Queensland.

"While most defence lawyers do provide adequate notice, public prosecutors have certainly had experiences where they are told at the 11th hour the defence expert's name but have had no real opportunity of challenging their expertise due to time or cost constraints," Ms Lawrie said.

"The bill provides certainty and consistency."

Ms Lawrie said the bill amended the Criminal Code to make the trial process fairer, reduce trauma to witnesses and cut court time and costs.

She said most stakeholders were supportive of the legislation.

ninemsn 8 May 2009

What an absolute joke at the expense of the Australian public.

His lawyer should be raped in his sleep, and then we'll see if he'll "argue" the same.

Bullied boy, 5, scalped and stoned

A five-year-old boy was chased into a brick wall, scalped, stoned and tortured during years of schoolyard bullying from a group led by a student in charge of protecting him.

Lachlan Antony Guerin also suffered a minor brain injury during the attacks at the Queensland school in 1997 and 1998, the Courier Mail reports.

His guardian Evelyn-Joy Lindsay-Park filed a claim for $250,000 in Brisbane's District Court but agreed to an offer of $150,000 from St John's Lutheran Primary School during an out-of-court settlement.

In the claim, Ms Lindsay-Park said Lachlan's school-assigned buddy was supposed to "provide guidance, support, mentoring and/or friendship" but instead abused him.

The "buddy" and his mates regularly pegged rocks at Lachlan and stopped him from using the bathroom, once to the point where he wet himself.

Lachlan, now 16, was also hit, kicked, ridiculed and, in one incident, chased into a brick wall and scalped. He suffered bruising and scarring to the head as well as cuts and a chipped tooth.

The attacks were so intense that Lachlan also suffered a minor brain injury which affected his upper limb function, speech and co-ordination.

Ms Lindsay-Park claimed the school breached its duty of care and that parental complaints were not taken seriously to prevent future bullying.

The school's principal Helen Folker declined to comment.

ninemsn 8 May 2009

Pathetic inaction from the schooling system, and Principle concerned.

Global Financial Crisis 101

In order to understand what is going on in the SECRET financial world, one must understand WHO has the money, and HOW they control it.


Modern day banking is controlled by amongst others, the Rothschilds (Red Shield)







I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the empire which the sun never sets. The man who controls Britain’s money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply. -- Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777 – 1836)

Within the banking elite, money is kept in strict control, and is generally inaccessible to others.

Richard Pratt's lover Shari-Lea Hitchcock hoping for inheritance from will

• Richard Pratt's lover waiting for will
• Hopeful she will receive inheritance
• Was paid a monthly retainer

THE love of Richard Pratt's life, or so she is called by her Sydney friends, Shari-Lea Hitchcock is hopeful of receiving a multi-million dollar inheritance when her former lover's will is read in future weeks.

But Hitchcock, according to sources, is agitated and concerned she may receive nothing in Pratt's will when his personal fortune of some $2.3 billion is finally divided among family, charity and other allegiances.

Hitchcock remains confident that her daughter to Pratt, 11-year-old Paula, will be looked after in the will but is anxious about the prospects of a future windfall coming her way, The Daily Telegraph reports.

While sources say Pratt showered Hitchcock with gifts and money during their 18-year relationship, others maintain that Hitchcock is by no means a rich woman.

"Previously she has received maintenance for both herself and for Paula. She doesn't know if she will continue to be paid a monthly retainer by Pratt's estate," a source said.

"She has been a full-time mother since Paula was born - dabbling from time to time in other projects. There is the possibility that she may have to return to work (Heaven forbid this Occupation Ho to do this menial task) one day. Her financial security is completely up in the air."

Pratt, it should be noted, believed there were many benefits to work. He was passionate about his own business and instilled similar values in his three children by Jeanne Pratt.

"His last message to Shari might be, it's time to go back to work," one friend said this week. "We'll have to wait and see."

While the Watsons Bay property Hitchcock calls home is held in trust for her daughter, it is assumed there will be a provision for a nanny in the will as Paula has enjoyed a very close bond with a series of nannies over the years.

Paula was with her nanny when she learned her father had died at 7pm last Tuesday.

new.com.au 6 May 2009

Nothing more nothing less, than a pure Occupational Ho.

The Ho's in it for the dough.

Andrew O'Keefe's big lesson over drunken video

• TV host still reeling from drunken display
• O'Keefe's wife struggled to deal with fallout
• Celebrity news: ShowBUZZ, Shooting Stars

DEAL or No Deal host Andrew O'Keefe, who remains shocked by the controversy sparked by video footage of a drunken night, has told of the effect the scandal has had on his private life.

O'Keefe, the nephew of late rock 'n' roll legend Johnny O'Keefe and son of former Supreme Court judge Barry O'Keefe, says his wife, Eleanor, struggled to deal with the fallout.

"Eleanor is a tremendously private person and she really does not embrace the public life," the father of two said. "She's a writer ( in other words she has NO JOB !!! ) and her world can be a very interior one. She just doesn't like the gauche attention. It was all terribly stressful for her."

While the public response to the video, taken outside a club in Prahran's Chapel St last year, has been overwhelmingly supportive of O'Keefe, he said:

"In the eye of the initial maelstrom, I felt pretty disoriented. It felt to me like a fabricated moral hysteria.

"The support I received from my colleagues and bosses reaffirmed my faith in the common sense of the average person.

"I felt I knew what the man in the street would think. Let's face it, I was the man in the street, or on the street," he said in reference to footage of him on his back on the footpath.

"When I say I'm over it, I don't mean to suggest I've not learned a lesson. Fairly or unfairly, if you are in the public eye you are held to a higher standard."

It staggers O'Keefe that magazines now pay for paparazzi shots of him going about his daily life - including beach snaps of him.

"I think the magazines put those in there for the same reason they run those celebrity cellulite articles. It's just to make everyone else feel better about their lives," O'Keefe said.

news.com.au 6 May 2009

There are plenty of people that get DRUNK every weekend.

Realistically this is FRONTLINE news ??

Who really cares about a no talent ass clown who got drunk ???

When one looks into the 'Entertainment Industry' one can see that it is closed.

He comes from an entertainment background, and would not be there if it were NOT for his connections.

The Australian judicial system IS controlled by an elite group with an Ango - Masonic background.

Mick Gatto offer refused by Victoria bushfire devastated town Marysville

• Mick Gatto's fire offer may be accepted
• Has offered to help build aid centre
• Earlier report had him turned down

VICTORIA'S former top cop Christine Nixon denies she is blocking an offer by Melbourne identity (Drug Lord - did we forget about this fact??? !!! ???) Mick Gatto to help build a large aid facility in Marysville.

Ms Nixon, who now heads the state's bushfire reconstruction authority, says she is aware of the offer and had asked her colleagues to investigate the legitimacy of it before proceeding.

She said "of course'' the offer from Mr Gatto to build the facility as part of the temporary village in Marysville was being considered.

"This is about an offer that was made to the community,'' Ms Nixon said.
Mr Gatto welcomed the news that his offer was still on the table.

"Well that's great,'' he told ABC Radio.

Mr Gatto said he had been contacted by Melbourne crime writer and former public relations manager Robin Bowles after his recent Country Fire Authority fundraiser and asked to assist Marysville residents by building the shed to distribute aid items.

"The winter is coming on and the people up there are freezing cold,'' Mr Gatto said.

"They really need this stuff ASAP and it's stored in a facility about 10km to 15km out of the city and it's not accessible.

"It's got no walls and its open to the weather.''

Mick Gatto was charged with murder before being acquitted over the 2004 shooting death of underworld hitman Andrew Veniamin.

"We are managing the village, and we wanted to make sure that if someone was offering something that we were responsible for, that village, that it was a legitimate offer and when that was going to be delivered so we could take it into account.''

Ms Nixon flatly denied she was letting her former interests as a police chief commissioner intrude into her current role as the head of the bushfire reconstruction authority.

news.com.au 6 May 2009

Mick Gatto is a Drug Lord, who produces and distributes drugs that in some instances kill people.

He killed his competitor, and 'got away with it'.

The police know his moves, are aware of his illegal activities, yet have done NOTHING about it, and have let this criminal roam free in society.

Organised crime in Australia, has influences in the very top level of the police and judicial system.

Victoria on the move - Backwards

There was a slogan by the Victorian government in the 90's to promote the 'fact' that Victoria is a State that is on the move (where? as most Victorians were going to NSW).

Today more than a decade later this 'slogan' still exists on some cars, and one can only scoff at the reality of the slogan.

On Australian roads the easiest way to reap revenue is from 'speeding' motorists. Also there is a vigorous campaign for drivers to 'slow down'.

Statistics can also be forged to imply that speeding is the cause of the accident, NOT driver error, or any other factors.

Victorian freeways / highways in some areas have a 110km/h (68mph) speed limit, whilst the norm is 100km/h (62mph).

The majority of freeways that had 2 lanes had a speed limit of 100km/h, have recently been upgraded to 3 lanes, BUT with a speed limit of 80km/h (50mph).

In the ever congested Melbourne traffic, an increase of an extra lane should account for an extra capacity flow of 50%, BUT the resulting lane, with the lower speed limit ONLY allows 20% more traffic flow.

The move to LOWERED the speed limit of previously 100km/h to 80km/h is NOTHING more than a move to raise REVENUE for the government.

Everyone must pitch in for budget: Rudd

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has hinted welfare payments to high-income households might be pruned in the May budget, saying everyone has to do their bit for the nation.

The budget was being framed amid the toughest global economic circumstances any government had faced in three-quarters of a century, he said.

Mr Rudd was asked if he shared the view Australians - even high-income earners - had developed an "entitlement mentality".

"We are a nation where everyone has got to pitch in and do their bit," Mr Rudd told reporters in Canberra.

He also warned the opposition not to get in the way of the government's national broadband network plan.

He said the government's cash handouts in two stimulus packages were aimed at supporting 1.5 million workers in the retail industry.

He said there was also medium-term stimulus in the pipeline with the biggest school modernisation program the country had ever seen under way.

"We will be kicking in with longer-term stimulus with the biggest infrastructure project we've seen, since the Snowy (Mountains Hydro) and before the Snowy, with the national broadband network," he said.

"Operating at all these three levels we're providing stimulus, and I would be pretty disappointed if anyone gets in the way of that."

theage.com.au 29 Apr 2009

Except politicians, where they give themselves a payrise of $4,700.

See couriermail.com.au article:
Pay rise for politicians as recession bites

Australians face genetic discrimination

Insurers have been found to discriminate against Australians because of their genetic make-up, with experts warning employers could soon do the same.

The first study in the world to provide proof of genetic discrimination has shown a number of Australians have been refused insurance after undergoing genetic tests.

Most cases were found to relate to life insurance, with one man initially excluded from income protection and trauma insurance claims relating to all forms of cancer after insurers discovered he had a faulty gene linked to breast cancer.

The findings have sparked calls for policies to prevent the insurance industry misusing genetic test results.

According to Professor Margaret Otlowski from University of Tasmania, the Australian Law Reform needs to create guidelines for the proper use of genetic test results, which are expected to have a growing impact in Australia.

Professor Otlowski said employers could soon begin to use genetic tests to choose potential employees and protect themselves from compensation claims.

"There were indications that at least some employers would be interested in using genetic testing in the future if it were inexpensive and accessible."

Director for the Centre of Genetics Education at Royal North Shore Hospital, Associate Professor Kristine Barlow-Stewart said people need to be better informed about their rights.

"Eighty-five per cent of the people in the study didn't know where to go to seek assistance if they had been discriminated against," she said.Under present industry guideline insurers cannot force people to have a genetic test, but any who have been tested are compelled to reveal their results.

Companies may only legally use the information if they can justify their decisions.

livenews.com.au 9 Mar 2009

Army tactics could be used on unemployed

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has refused to confirm reports the federal government is considering introducing army-style training for the young and unemployed.

Under the proposal, News Limited reports jobless youth would be offered training positions with Department of Defence for a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months in return for additional welfare benefits.

The scheme would also help contain rising unemployment figures and could increase full-time military recruitment.

But Mr Fitzgibbon would not be drawn on whether the initiative would feature in Labor's May 12 budget.

"It will be a budget focused on jobs and nation building in a sustainable way," he told the Nine Network on Sunday.

"Of course, the Australian Defence Force already makes a substantial contribution towards ensuring that young Australians have every opportunity to secure a job."

Mr Fitzgibbon said protecting young Australians from unemployment was a shared departmental responsibility.

"I think there are a range of government departments and agencies that could do more to ensure that we cushion Australia from the impact of the global recession," he said.

livenews.comn.au 3 May 2009

Generally a precursor to war,
and what better use of canon fodder than the useless unemployed people.