Camera blitz slowing down drivers

MORE speed cameras will be installed in high-risk accident areas as figures show Victorians are driving slower than ever.

The VicRoads statistics indicate a link between steadily declining rates of speed and fewer road deaths in the past 14 years.
The average speed in 60km/h zones has dropped by 10 per cent since 1998.
The average metropolitan speed in that year was 70.6km/h.
By last year, it was down to 63.3km/h. In that period, the annual road toll in 60km/h zones in metropolitan Melbourne plunged from 102 to 30.
"The statistics show the camera system is working, drivers are slowing down and that saves lives," said Victoria's top traffic officer, Assistant Commissioner Robert Hill.
"If you don't speed, you have nothing to worry about. It's only those in the minority who speed who have a problem with the cameras."
The speed figures emerged as the Government considers the VicRoads speed-limit review, which will recommend restrictions around the state.
The numbers are based on the 85th percentile measurement, the major parameter used by engineers and traffic planners. It is the speed at which 85 per cent of vehicles travel under free-flowing traffic conditions.
This year's state road toll of 165 is 22 down on the same time last year.
But Mr Hill said he had been challenged by Chief Commissioner Ken Lay to find the next "watershed moment" and drive the toll down further.
Mr Hill said 30 per cent of road trauma last year was caused by excessive speed.
"We had the introduction of seatbelts, breath-testing, random breath-testing, speed cameras and then drug testing," he said. "Each one saw significant decreases in the road toll.
"I now have to work on the next watershed moment, find the silver bullet that will improve road safety again."
Mr Hill said the risk of collision doubled for every 5km/h over the limit.
"There will be further deployment of speed cameras in identified high risk areas," he said.
Transport Accident Commission director Julian Lyngcoln said connection between excessive speed and road death was well-understood.
"It would definitely appear from this data that the culture is changing," he said. "Speed cameras are definitely a part of that."
Speeding, red-light and unregistered vehicles fines levied after speed camera breaches totalled $65.9 million in the first three months of this year.

hearaldsun.com.au 10 Aug 2012

Drivers are becoming 'speed - cam - phobes' to such a degree that they are driving (dangerously) in the right hand (overtaking) lane on freeways with 100-110km/h speed limits at speeds of 80-90km/h.

The requirement to "Keep left unless overtaking" is there for a reason, and road users that are not only endangering other drivers, but causing frustration, and overtaking to be done on the blind side, are risking the lives of others as well.

Since this type of dangerous road activity requires more police to enforce and does not bring in the revenue as easily as speeding fines, it is deliberately hushed by authorities and their corporate media lap dogs.

The truth is simply distorted by both parties.

Speed camera secret is out

A LANDMARK ruling could give Victorians access to previously secret speed camera data in a big boost to motorists fighting their speeding fines.

In what the Herald Sun believes to be a Victorian first, the Supreme Court has backed an accused speeder's right to secret government documents that should reveal the accuracy and service history of the camera that nabbed him.
Legal experts say the precedent could allow every driver to demand access to previously secret speed camera data when challenging their speeding fines.
Until now drivers have had to hire expensive experts to help prove the cameras may be faulty.
Driver Barry Lane had been fined five times in 19 days - three times at 106km/h, once at 107km/h and once at 112km/h - at the Dandenong Bridge overpass on EastLink in 2009.
The engineer, aged in his 50s, claims the cameras were malfunctioning.
It was Mr Lane's first fine on the road, despite driving between work and home regularly, and he had not been fined before or since.
He first took his case to Dandenong Magistrates' Court where he persuaded a judge that there was enough doubt surrounding the camera's accuracy that he should have access to the government's reports.
In detailing his efforts not to speed, including using cruise control and a GPS, Mr Lane's lawyers persuaded the judge to give him access to the series of secret reports on the three EastLink cameras, including service history and calibration.
His lawyers hope the reports will prove he had not been speeding.
The State Government appealed against the decision, claiming Mr Lane had no "legitimate forensic purpose'' to inspect the documents and the magistrate made other errors.
But Supreme Court judge Emilios Kyrou ruled Mr Lane had been relying on several reasons to deny he was speeding - from the use of his GPS, cruise control and a clean driving history - and the camera documents might help him properly defend his case.
He also dismissed suggestions the original magistrate made other legal errors.
Barrister Theo Alexander said the ruling gave drivers a new way of challenging fines.
"This decision provides new hope to motorists . . . by providing an avenue to test the reliability or accuracy of the speed camera, which recorded the speed,'' he said.
Mr Lane's lawyer, Sam Norton, said: "Mr Lane is pleased that a man of his vintage with his exemplary driving history is entitled to access to materials which might cast doubt on the accuracy of readings which come from unmanned cameras fixed high up on a bridge on the road that is used all the time.''

heraldsun.com.au 8 Aug 2012

The government is deliberately keeping information away from the general populous that will implicate it in a nationwide fraud that has robbed the motorists of hundreds of  millions of dollars per annum.

The government warns that if any information given to it false or misleading then there are severe penalties enforced.

Violent criminals let out early

VIOLENT and dangerous criminals are being released up to 35 days before completing their minimum sentences because of generous cuts agreed by prison bosses.

The Department of Justice admits it has no idea ( is this a joke?) how many prisoners are being let out before their minimum term or how many discount days inmates received for being locked up during prison guard strikes.

heraldsun.com.au 7 Aug 2012

As mentioned in the Corpau article Corporate media free information shutdown at: http://corpau.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/corporate-media-free-information.html, the above information is all that is available.

The rest of the article reads as follows:

Spokesman Michael Newhouse confirmed the vast majority of Fulham prisoners received a discount, ranging from one to 35 days.
The State Government will also launch an investigation into bureaucratic bungling that is resulting in victims being given as little as 48 hours notice that their attacker is about to be set free.
Prison bosses classified the April strikes as "emergency management days", with inmates confined to their cells, then receiving up to four days off their sentence for each day they were "adversely affected".
One victim, who was left for dead with horrendous stab wounds and other injuries from the attack, was working to secure her home before her attacker's release in September.
But she was forced to flee her home after learning the man who almost killed her was about to be released.
"The entire ordeal has been very upsetting. This man has done a terrible crime and is clearly a violent and nasty individual, but in the end he is back on the streets early," the victim's sister said.
"She has never had a chance to get on with her life, and for him to get out early and for him to start his life again isn't right."
The victim was working with support services to be ready for her attacker's release in September.
The letter informing her he would be out early left her stunned. "She's gone to stay with other people ... and she is going to probably move," the sister said.
A spokesman for Corrections Minister Andrew McIntosh said the Government "empathises" with the victim and said the Community and Public Sector Union should answer to every victim upset by their attacker's early release.
"I am sympathetic for workers who want good pay and conditions, but when you are affecting the lives of other people so dramatically ... it is not the way our world works," the sister said.
CPSU industrial officer Andrew Capp said while he also felt for the victims, the Government was at fault.
"The Government and Corrections Victoria are responsible for these arrangements, and for the Government to blame the union is a cop-out," he said.

The government agenda, to let out criminals into the community to keep the masses at bay. Another assault on the community by the government.

Corruption in the prison system is greater than reported by the corporate media.

Drugs a well as weapons are brought into prison, where the guards turn a blind eye in exchange for favours.

Planned killings are carried out with the official verdicts, as 'bungles in security' with the full knowledge of the courts and signed and sealed by corrupt judges.

Corporate media free information shutdown

In the new age of media information that is available to the masses, the corporate media has gone through a ‘shakeup’ that has included the sacking of many employees, from their publishing companies with the plausible excuse that the ‘internet’ or the new information age is to blame.

As a result the corporate media is in the process of shutting down the distribution of its previously free information available to the anonymous masses.

This implementation now can be seen through Rupert Murdoch’s news empire in that the news site is not longer offering news stories via its website news.com.au.

News articles that were able to be read for free, or without personal registration require you to be registered now, as in line with the political agenda of the order of the new world.

Anonymous internet surfing was never part of any deal, but now corporations have your information at their fingertips, in the name of ‘marketing’. 

It is through the ignorant and uneducated masses that these actions of the corporatocracy are supported.

City council drink driver goes free again

If official government statistics are to be believed (which are falsified), then speed (high velocity) and DUI (Driving Under the Influence – an American term, or better known in Australia as DD – Drink Driving) are great killers on the Australian roads.

This is so true that current government advertisements show how travelling at 5km/h less will save a life of a person that has jay walked (committed a road offence), yet there are no credible accident figures to support these claims, even if they were they would be falsified, to promote a current agenda.

It is programmed into the masses minds that “If you drink, drive you’re a bloody idiot”, or if you’re on drugs “you’re out of you mind” (quoted advertising slogans), but do these laws apply to people of governance?

The role of the police is to keep the masses in line and not to punish the lawmakers and their brethren.

A member of a Melbourne City Council has been caught (not the first time, but rather the third) for drink driving offences.

The offender’s reading was much more than the Victoria’s legal limit of 0.05%, but was noted down by corrupt police as 0.058% BAC (Blood Alcohol Content). The identity of the source of the information, together with the offender and corrupt police is kept in confidence by corpau, as the naming of the individuals concerned will not nett any results.

This offender is not only (still!) a member of the City Council of Hume, but also poses a risk to the community at large.

Another example, of the law protecting its own to the detriment of society.

London Olympics anti Greek jabs

 Most people would be aware that the modern Olympic Games feature the convergence of nations with all political views aside to compete in sporting events with its origins from Greece.

At the opening ceremony in London, it was mentioned that the games are ‘back where they belong’. What is that supposed to mean? Does this mean it (England/London)  is where they originated, and is about time they returned?

Does the old age saying of “He who has power, writes history” hold true in this case? Surely not!

Also Australian commentators could not resist having a jab at the Greeks for the state of the economy, implying that it was the fault of the Greeks.

If these comments were directed at maybe another nation or religion, then there would be a global outcry, suggesting racial intolerance which must be brought before the world courts.

Nothing more, nothing less than pathetic racist behaviour by the persons involved, within an event that breaks down the political and economical barriers. Something the corporate media has not drawn attention to.

City Council building permits fraud

City council engineers are involved in multimillion dollar building permit scams with builders with the support of their ‘bosses’.

The government is aware of this practice, as it has been going on for decades, but chooses to turn a blind eye, once again to the detriment of the general populous.

Information has been given to corpau that engineers are passing building permits without inspecting the sites, either residential or commercial, putting occupants at risk.

The engineers and their supervisors will not be implicated in this post, as even if the information was made public, there would be an enormous government cover-up that would lead to the criminal conviction of the whistle blowing source, and not the perpetrators or the law, as always is in governance.

Engineers and their supervisors from Melbourne’s City Council’s of:

 Stonnington, Moreland, Hume, Melton and Ballarat are responsible for falsely providing certificates of works that has not been inspected. 

Slabs, walls, and many other components of the building industry are put together below the Australian Standards (which incidentally are very low), only to be passed by the engineer, with a reward at the end of the year, or part payment via ATM card withdrawals or night’s out at the builder’s expense.

This fraud is worth tens of millions of dollars to each of the City Councils mentioned above, but is not limited to those alone.

Gillard's ex a 'crook'

Detectives investigating an alleged $400,000 union fraud in the 1990s wanted to prosecute a former boyfriend of Julia Gillard over the matter, it's been reported.

The Weekend Australian says internal police documents into a union funds scandal in the 1990s show that detectives wanted to prosecute former Australian Workers' Union boss Bruce Wilson and an associate, Ralph Blewitt, over the affair.

At the time, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was then working as a lawyer, was in a close relationship with Mr Wilson, the paper said.

Documents from the police probe showed police regarded the duo as "crooks".

It's also reported the documents show senior AWU officials were not happy that the two men escaped criminal charges over the matter.

Ms Gillard has repeatedly denied any knowledge of any wrongdoing.

ninemsn.com.au 4 Aug 2012

As usual the standard political response is that of no knowledge / wrongdoing, even though they are involved in the crime.

More corruption and fraud in governance that will go unpunished.

Big mark-up on IT goods 'not justified'

AUSTRALIANS are paying about 50 per cent more for IT products than customers in the US because of the high cost of doing business here, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.

In some cases the price difference can be almost double - with Nintendo Wii games costing 88 per cent more here.

Suzanne Campbell, the head of peak industry body the Australian Information Industry Association, told the IT pricing inquiry the cost of rent, wages and warranties were higher in Australia than other markets.

"Where operating costs are higher and the market is smaller, prices may need to be higher to get a reasonable return on investment," she said.

Ms Campbell, whose association represents companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Google, Canon and Adobe, also said IT products cost more because of research and development investment.

But consumer group Choice and members of the committee driving the inquiry did not accept this reasoning, with Federal Labor MP Ed Husic calling the mark-ups a “convenient” excuse.

"I think basically the vendors have the ability to set the price, but they argue the price itself gets set by resellers on the way through,” Mr Husic, a member of the Government's Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communication, told news.com.au.

“I think it's a very convenient way for both the resellers and the major vendors to point fingers at each other." Mr Husic also said research and development costs could not justify higher prices because most IT products were not developed in Australia.

Choice head of campaigns Matt Levey told the inquiry the most likely cause of higher prices was international price discrimination - meaning the wholesalers were setting higher prices for the Australian market.

"We don't think rent, marketing, labour costs, GST, we don't think these factors amount to the 50 per cent price difference," Mr Levey said.

Choice compared prices on a number of products including iTunes, PC games, software, console games and hardware and found there was an average of 50 per cent difference between Australia and the US, the biggest being an 88 per cent different for Nintendo games.

"Some of the starkest figures coming out of that were I think finding that Australians pay around 52 per cent more on iTunes on the equivalent top 50 songs than US consumers,'' Mr Levey said.
"We pay 88 per cent more for Nintendo Wii console games.''

Australians also pay about 34 per cent more for popular home and business software titles and 41 per cent more for Dell computers, he said.

The Inquiry also heard from the Australian Publishers Association, the Australasian Performing Rights Association, the Australian Retail Association and the Communications Alliance.

The inquiry, which is still accepting submissions, aims to find out why Australian prices are so much higher, and find a solution to improve the position of local consumers.

heraldsun 30 Jul 2012

Whilst the article does hold merit, unfortunately the whole story is not always told.

Corpau has previously published prices of electronics goods from major retailers which are a blatant rip off to the consumers.

Mark-up on goods can be also from 300%-1000%, depending on the goods.

Certain cables manufactured in China can be brought into Australia in the magnitude of $2, sell in the mid $30's at the retailers.

Exploitation of the worker enables corporate giants to make millions from the 'suffering' of others, barely giving enough for survival.