Father of bikie brothers Daniel and Ben Pegoraro wins a legal brief encounter

Ben and Daniel Pegoraro. Source: News Limited

 

THE father of notorious bikie brothers Daniel and Ben Pegoraro has won a secret settlement after suing a law firm he accused of ripping him off. 

The intimidation that might be the favoured approach of outlaw bikies was not Joe Pegoraro’s way: he took his complaint to the Legal Services Commissioner, then a tribunal.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard that at 9am on March 7 last year, Mr Pegoraro and his wife delivered $15,000 cash to law firm Balot Reilly as a retainer to represent Daniel and Ben at court that day over allegations they were part of a gang that had stolen caravans.

Ben, 23, was represented by Balot Reilly’s George Balot. But Daniel, 28, contacted his preferred brief, Zarah Garde-Wilson, who represented him.

Joe Pegoraro later unsuccessfully sought a $7500 refund, arguing Balot Reilly had done only half the expected work.

He later approached the Legal Services Commissioner, and then applied to VCAT for a review.

Sam Tatarka, for Balot Reilly, told VCAT there’d been some “ping pong” over who’d represent Daniel, but the family were warned that if they switched lawyers their money had “already been spent”.

However counsel for the Pegoraros, Fraser Cameron, disputed that they had been told “if you change, you have done your dough”.

Mr Cameron said the family considered the $7500 fee for Daniel excessive, and felt he’d got “zero dollars’ worth”.

After an adjournment for talks, the parties agreed to settle the dispute for a confidential amount.
VCAT dismissed the case.

The charges against Daniel, a Hells Angels Nomads member, were thrown out late last year.
Ben was ultimately jailed and remains behind bars for his role in the caravan thefts.

heraldsun.com.au 18 Apr 2014

Law firms in Australia propagate Australia's false laws, and are set up in such a manner that they are able to rip customers off.

The term 'rip off' is a commonly used term indicating fraud or theft.

As the general populous is aware, fraud and theft is illegal in Australia, or at least that is what everyone is told to believe.

For the privileged few, theft and fraud is part of normal daily transactions and they are untouchable by the law.

A great 'win' nonetheless for Joe Pegoraro.

More airplane needed for weather modification in Indonesia: BPPT

F. Heru Widodo. (ANTARA)

It depends on the government policy, we already have the technology."

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Agency of Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) required at least 15 airplane to optimally implement the weather modification technology across Indonesia, an official said here on Wednesday.

"We now have only five airplane, three of which are available for weather modification. The other two are rented out for pioneer flight service," Head of the Technical Management Unit of Artificial Rain of the BPPT Heru Widodo said here at a press conference on Wednesday.

According to Widodo, the weather modification technology should cover all the regions in Indonesia, which are divided into western, central and eastern.

Five airplane per region was enough for optimal weather modification in the region, Widodo said.

"Four aircraft are on standby for operations, while one or two is used for research," he added.

Unfortunately, BPPT only has five airplane currently, four Casa C-212 and one Piper Cheyenne.

The Agency had to rent out two of their planes due to the high cost of maintenance, Widodo said.

Therefore, Widodo added that weather modification technology implementation in Indonesia was way behind Thailands.

The government of Thailand, according to him, has 24 airplane spread among five task force across the country.

Thailand has been frequently conducting weather modification not only to prevent natural disasters, but also to maintain its water supply and agriculture sector, Widodo said.

The BPPT had proposed procuring seven additional airplane, estimated to cost Rp500-600 billion (around 45 million US Dollar), to support the weather modification task force, Widodo remarked.

The proposed seven airplane consists of Cassas: CN 235, C-212 and N-219.

"It depends on the government policy, we already have the technology. If we can combine the two, it is hoped that food, energy and disaster related issues can be reduced in Indonesia," Widodo said.

Weather modification technology has been widely used to avert floods in Jakarta and several regions in Java and also to reduce hotspots or forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan islands.

Meanwhile, a researcher of the Science and Atmosphere Technology Center of The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (LAPAN), Didi Satiadi, said Indonesia had extreme meteorology.

Most of the disasters in the country were hydro-meteorological disasters, which were caused by heavy rain, floods, landslides, whirlwind and droughts. However, the geologic disasters were responsible for the largest number of victims.

Science and technology can be applied to mitigate disasters, such as for understanding and predicting extreme weather.

"Furthermore, technology can be used to create an Indonesia that is weather-ready," he said.

(Reporting by Aditya EX Wicaksono/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

Source: http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/93378/more-airplane-needed-for-weather-modification-in-indonesia-bppt

 antaranews.com 26 Mar 2014

ANTARANEWS.com is Indonesia's official news agency.

From wikipedia:

"Antara is an Indonesian news agency organized as a private company under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises. It is the country's national news agency, supplying news reports to the many domestic media organization."

See article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antara_(news_agency)

To put Australia's corporate media news agency that the 'conspiracy theorists' are at work and should be locked up in a 'mental institution', the facts are presented in the 'official' Indonesian media.

One MUST also note that chemtrails are alive and well in Australia.

Power giants illegally disconnecting hundreds of Victorians each year

ELECTRICITY and gas retailers are illegally disconnecting hundreds of Victorians each year as customers struggle with soaring bills. 
 
Some have suffered up to two months without supply before winning compensation.

Retailers are supposed to follow strict rules for cutting off customers over unpaid bills.

These include first offering help to those in financial stress, giving enough warning, and being careful not to disconnect the wrong address.

But the Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria says that in almost half of its investigations of disconnections, companies were revealed to have flouted regulations.

The unfair treatment is exposed in its submission to the State Government, which has proposes doubling payments for wrongful disconnection to $500 a day.

Disconnection complaints to the ombudsman exploded by 380 per cent in five years.

Last financial year alone, 845 cases were found to deserve compensation. In 309, retailers agreed to pay without admitting rule breaches.

“From 2008-09 to 2012-13, on average 48 per cent of actual energy disconnection investigations received were found to have a WDP (wrongful disconnection payment) applicable,” the submission says.

“These results reveal that the retailer had breached the terms and conditions of the customer’s contract, following almost one in every two actual energy disconnections investigated.”

Disputed findings can be referred to the Essential Services Commission for a final ruling.

Consumer groups support proposed higher compensation for customers unfairly cut off.

But Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert was unsure this would solve the problem. She said identifying and helping those in financial strife earlier was the priority.

“Given there are a growing number of Victorians being disconnected, and that the number of wrongful disconnections is not decreasing, a focus is required on improving retailers’ processes,” Ms ­Gebert said.

Repeated concerns have been raised about disconnection as a debt-collection tool in place of payment plans and other assistance.

Power companies pulled the plug on a total of 25,254 residential customers with unpaid bills last financial year.

Gas firms disconnected 16,979 households.

heraldsun.com.au 27 Mar 2014

In most cases one would have to take the power giants to court, an action that most families cannot afford, and the power giants know this.

Power fee fraud

Former Australian Power & Gas customers owed refunds in power blunder 

Thousands of former and some present Australian Power & Gas customers based in Victoria are entitled to refunds. Source: News Limited

 

ENERGY customers have been overcharged more than $750,000 in a huge penalty fee rip-off. 

Thousands of former and some present Australian Power & Gas customers based in Victoria are entitled to refunds after the state's utilities regulator uncovered the billing scandal.

The company blamed "an error regarding the interpretation of allowable charges".

The Herald Sun understands consumers were slugged excessive contract exit fees from as far back as April 2012 through to August last year.

The retailer has written to those who were unfairly stung when they quit APG within the first year of a contract.

It is trying to compensate $754,242 that was overcharged to 11,610 accounts - an average of almost $65 each.

The price gouging only emerged after an Essential Services Commission industry wide website sweep and early termination fee policy check.

Energy giant AGL, which acquired APG in October last year, apologised.

"We have been working to remedy the situation and affected customers will be refunded in full over the coming months," spokeswoman Nicole Rizgalla said.

About 6500 so far have either received credits or will be sent cheques late this month.

But it is unclear whether all dudded consumers will be tracked as they include people who have changed address.

The controversy follows APG's $1.1 million fine for dodgy doorknocker tactics.

Under state regulations businesses can charge exit fees of up to $20, plus GST and a "proportionate" return of paid incentives such as rebates and gift and movie vouchers.

The Herald Sun reported in October that an excessive fee investigation was taking place but only now has the company's identity and full scale of the problem been revealed.

ESC spokeswoman Amanda Clark said APG had given a voluntary undertaking to identify and reimburse customers.

The State Government has previously ruled out an exit fee ban. The industry argues scrapping the charges would shrink price discounts offered in contracts.

Opposition energy spokeswoman Lily D'Ambrosio said tougher enforcement of retailers was needed to avoid rip-offs.

The Government is reviewing a range of consumer protections.

heraldsun.com.au 12 Jan 2014

What the corporate media call 'blunder' is actually fraud.

Even though this article is from January of this year, Corpau has just received information from an industry insider who mentions that the company does this on purpose to have a greater sum of money in the bank in order to obtain higher interest.

"They all do it" said the industry insider.

The company then 'deals' with any complaints as they come, and 'stalls' to give back payments that were fraudulently obtained.

Currently the law supports this kind of white collar crime.

Brisbane Aboriginal sovereign protest Royal visit

Sydney has turned out to greet the royal couple who arrived down-under today but they were faced with a far from royal welcome upon entry into the Sydney Opera House.

Sovereignty campaigners gathered on the harbour today, demanding that the British crown return all land on the Australian continent that they hold illegally. "Give back what you stole" being the main message of today's protest. Tara Callinan reports for NITV.

See video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB4TMV2V8GU


sbs.com.au 16 Apr 2014

Unfortunately the corporate media still use the term 'Aboriginal' meaning non-original referring to the people who have lived on the land for 40,000 year, what the English occupiers have called 'Australia'.

The English have taken the land from the 'original' people under firearms, without any treaty. Under this arrangement, the people living on this land are under Martial Law.

This is a fact that no corporate media outlet is exposing, but is reasonably well known within certain circles of the legal community.

The people born in 'Australia' are conscripted as 'non-combatants'.

There is no pride given to a war mongering family, known as the 'Windsors' whose real heritage stems from the family names of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Federal Court finds Woolworths breached ACCC shopper docket agreement

 

Woolies breached its shopper docket agreement with the ACCC.Source: News Limited

SUPERMARKET giant Woolworths breached an agreement it had with the competition watchdog over its fuel discount scheme, the Federal Court has found.
 

Woolworths and its rival Coles agreed to limit their fuel discounts for shoppers to four cents per litre in a deal struck with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in December last year.

But only months after the undertaking was forged, the ACCC took the retailers to court alleging they were in breach of this agreement by offering larger discounts to shoppers who also spend money on groceries in their service stations.

In the case of Woolworths, the ACCC argued this breach occurred over two periods.
The first was from January 1 to March 9 this year, while the second dated from March 10.
On Monday, the Federal Court found that Woolworths was in breach of the agreement in the first instance but not in the second. The court also dismissed the ACCC's claim against Coles.

In the instance where Woolworths was found to be in breach, the ACCC had argued that customers were able to obtain an eight cent per litre discount on fuel if they spent at least $30 in a Woolworths supermarket as well as $5 or more at a petrol station. The ACCC said this fell squarely within the terms of the undertaking as “neither component of the total discount could be obtained unless the customer had spent the requisite sum in a supermarket”.

Woolworths, though, made a number of arguments as to why it did not breach the agreement, including that the discount offers should be regarded as “separate”.

But on Monday, Justice Alan Robertson disagreed with the supermarket giant, saying it was in breach.

This was because the total discount was not only double the four cents agreed to with the ACCC but that it was also contingent on customers spending money on non-fuel goods.

Likewise, in relation to the Coles case, Justice Robertson said although the total discount that customers were potentially able to get at the fuel pump was well above the four cents - at 14 cents per litre - the full offer was not linked to supermarket purchases. “In my opinion, four cents per litre of the offer only was contingent on supermarket purchases and 10 cents per litre of the offer only was contingent on an acquisition of goods or services from Coles Express.” Therefore, he found they were not in breach.

news.com.au 14 Apr 2014

Coles and Woolthworths the giant supermarket duopoly are also in collusion with each other in price fixing of 'foodstuffs'.

The so called penalties are far too leninet compared to the revenue generated from fraud and deception.

As always the people are on the short end of the stick, as the corporatised government is pro business.

Google kept Heartbleed bug hidden from the government

Reuters / Mal Langsdon

The Heartbleed security bug disclosed last week may be among the most wide-reaching vulnerabilities on the web to ever be discovered, but the researchers who detected the glitch didn’t exactly rush to reveal it to the world.

While the days between the discovery of the bug sometime last month and the public disclosure on April 9 are documented to have included intense discussions between security experts searching for a proper patch and a way to push the news forward, the United States government may have been left in the darks for days, according to recent reports.

On Monday this week, Brendan Sasso wrote for the National Journal that it’s unclear when, exactly, the US government did in fact find out about the flaw. But if it wasn’t ahead of last month’s discovery by security experts and the announcement on April 9 that followed, then Google, cyber firm CloudFlare and certain Linux-based developers were familiar with the exploit well ahead of the feds for once.

“Companies often wait to publicize a security flaw so they can have time to patch their own services,” Sasso wrote. “But keeping the bug secret from the US government could have left federal systems vulnerable to hackers.”

Indeed, just this week Canada’s federal tax agency admitted that it had fallen victim to Heartbleed, and some of the biggest websites on the internet have issued warnings to their customers about the potential effects of the exploit. Sources told Sasso, however, that security experts may have purposely waited to keep government agencies from getting on the same page.

According to a recent report published by Sydney Morning Herald, any ignorance about the exploit on the part of the US government ahead of last week’s disclosure would have put the feds way behind certain tech firms when it came time to patch up the exploit. Ever since the NSA was accused on April 11 last week by Bloomberg News reporter Michael Riley of having relied on Heartbleed to hack high-value intelligence targets for at least two years prior to the official disclosure of the exploit, the government has insisted it only recently became aware of the bug.

Moments after the Bloomberg article was published last week, agency spokesperson Vanee’ Vines told TIME magazine that the “NSA was not aware of the recently identified vulnerability in OpenSSL, the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability, until it was made public in a private-sector cybersecurity report. Reports that say otherwise are wrong.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and a White House spokesperson have both made similar claims.

Google security researcher Neel Mehta first discovered Heartbleed on March 21 or before, the SMH reported, and by that evening the Mountain View, California-based company had committed a patch for the flaw. CloudFlare found out by March 31, OpenSSL was informed the following day and soon after certain tech firms were told under embargo that the exploit had been discovered and needed to be processed as efficiently as possible in order to disclose it to the public quickly.

"If the federal government, including the intelligence community, had discovered this vulnerability prior to last week, it would have been disclosed to the community responsible for OpenSSL," White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement recently.

Regardless of when the NSA actually did discover the vulnerability, recent reports certainly did not help the agency claim ignorance this time around. In the midst of the ongoing NSA disclosures first published to the web last year by journalists working with former contractor Edward Snowden, the US intelligence community has been accused of exploiting other security vulnerabilities to hack the computers and correspondence of targets. RT has previously linked the NSA to French exploit-merchants Vupen, and last December a review panel assembled to assess the agency’s abilities said that the NSA must avoid stockpiling so-called “zero-day” exploits and instead disclose them to the security community to be promptly patched.

“Eliminating the vulnerabilities — ‘patching’ them — strengthens the security of US government, critical infrastructure, and other computer systems,” the group urged President Barack Obama.
But in the statement released by the White House after word of the exploit surfaced last week and copied by the ODNI, the US government said it would have apparently handled Heartbleed differently than the other exploits it’s been accused of implementing in cyberattacks.

Nevertheless, some now say that the NSA is the only one to blame if the US government was, in fact, in the dark ahead of the April 9 announcement. According to Sasso, American Civil Liberties Union technologist Chris Soghoian said that American cyber firms are likely hesitant to share information with the NSA after it became clear in the wake of the first Snowden leaks that the agency will risk undermining the security of the entire internet if it means it can use an exploit to hone in on a high-value intelligence target.

"I suspect that over the past eight months, many companies have taken a real hard look at their existing policies about tipping off the US government," he said. "That's the price you pay when you're acting like an out-of-control offensive adversary."

Soghoian’s comments mirror remarks made in late 2012 by computer hacker Andrew Auernheimer, who shortly after was sentenced to spend 41 months in prison after disclosing a security vulnerability on the servers of AT&T that allowed him to access the email addresses of 114,000 Apple iPad owners. Last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated that conviction.

“It’s not unheard of for governments, including that of the US, to use exploits to gather both foreign and domestic intelligence,” he wrote at the time for an op-ed published in Wired. “In an age of rampant cyber espionage and crackdowns on dissidents, the only ethical place to take your zero-day is to someone who will use it in the interests of social justice. And that’s not the vendor, the governments, or the corporations — it’s the individuals.”

rt.com. 15 Apr 2014

Home insulation scheme consultant paid $1800 a day but could not recall any ideas provided

A KEY consultant to the Rudd government’s failed home insulation scheme had difficulty recalling any helpful ideas she had provided to earn her fee of up to $1840 a day.

Janine Leake, who was hired to provide “strategic project management assistance” for the scheme, faced lengthy questioning from the royal commission

probing management flaws in the scheme.

Ms Leake, who acknowledged having no qualifications in risk management, workplace safety or insulation work, helped facilitate the $3 billion scheme by working with ­bureaucrats, attending meetings and keeping tasks moving.

The scheme ultimately led to the death of four installers.

“I wasn’t specifically focused on safety,” she said.

“I was a generalist, providing helpful ideas about the process. I was careful not to overstep the mark. As a consultant, I was observing interactions with people. I wasn’t taking a leadership role.”

She rejected earlier testimony from Kevin Keeffe, former assistant secretary in the Department of the Environment, that her expertise was needed to “guide the ultimate decision-makers” on steps to manage the program.

Ms Leake, employed by Sydney-based Everything Infrastructure Pty Ltd, which charged the government $1840 a day, including accommo­dation and airfares, was asked what strategic advice or helpful ideas she gave to the department.

 

Could the deaths of four men have been prevented? The Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program begins in Brisbane
 

“I’d have to think about that more,” she replied. She could not recall anything specific.

The consultant said when she joined the effort in April 2009 she was “very surprised” the government intended to launch the scheme by July 1, and even doubted whether it could be done.

The timetable was set by ministerial announcement and seemed “absolutely a given”, she said.

Concerns raised about the lack of compliance regime in place by the rollout were answered with the need for money to stimulate the economy.

“Just hurry up and get the money out the door, that was the priority,” she said, although she was unable to identify a specific document making the statement.

Government staff believed their planning for the insulation scheme was a success even before the launch, with the planning team telling a workshop that things could have been done better if there had been a celebration, such as “lunch and after-work drinks”.

She said she provided professional services “to the extent I was asked” but Mr Keeffe was the actual project manager and she only provided assistance to his staff.

news.com.au 17 Apr 2014

This is just one example that has made it out into the public arena of government corruption, which facilitiates 'Money for Mates' deals.

Australia's corrupt government costs tax payers billions of dollars annually.

Five Melbourne companies guzzle water

Five unnamed Melbourne companies each use more than a billion litres of water a year. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

 

FIVE Melbourne companies used more than five billion litres of water last year — enough to fill 2500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. 

The five unnamed companies each used more than a billion litres of water a year, but all are taking steps to reduce their water use.

Annual reports from Melbourne’s three water retailers reveal the identities of the city’s biggest industrial water guzzlers.

Crown Casino, Foster’s Abbotsford brewery, The Victoria Racing Club, Melbourne Airport, and Toyota were among 33 companies that used more than 18 billion litres of water in 2012/13.

Three universities — Melbourne, La Trobe and Monash — were named along with two hospitals, Melbourne and The Alfred.

Three poultry producers, soft drink manufacturers Schweppes and Coca-Cola Amatil, and the Mobil Refinery at Altona North also made the list.

Melbourne University spokeswoman Monique Edwards said the university was a 24-hour, seven-day operation servicing 47,000 students and 6,500 staff, equivalent to Victoria’s fifth largest city.

La Trobe University spokesman Tim Mitchell said the university was constantly working to reduce its potable water consumption.

Crown spokeswoman Natasha Stipanov said since 2010, Crown Melbourne has invested in a number of water saving projects.

“This year, Crown have continued operating our water-recycling system, generating 1.4 million litres of recycled water used for toilet flushing, and also expanded our rainwater harvesting system by adding a 125,000-litre rainwater collection and re-use system,” she said.

“These systems have the potential to save 5.5 million litres of drinking water every year.

“Crown have also upgraded more than 500 shower heads, 300 taps and 140 toilets.”

Melbourne Airport said its water demand is expected to increase as the airport grows but is sourcing alternative water supplies like rainwater and stormwater.

The Victorian Racing Club is nearing completion of a $1.8 million world-first in situ desalination project that will save millions of litres of drinking water each year.

City West Water managing director Anne Barker said its non-residential customers cut their water usage from 56 billion litres per year in 2000/01 to 39 billion litres in 2012/13.

Yarra Valley Water managing director Tony Kelly said since 2001 usage for its highest commercial users dropped from 6 to 3.8 billion litres per year.

South East Water spokeswoman Caitlin Rode said the water authority worked to assist its non-residential customers to reduce their water consumption and improve efficiency.

news.com.au 10 Apr 2014

Another example where the government is keeping information from the general public, maybe for the best interest of the public, or is it to conceal something else?

Coca Cola Amatil receives water from the Australian government for approximately $1.40 per 1 million litres, where the domestic rate is approx $1 for 1 thousand litres.

From a health perspective Coca Cola sell their carcinogenic products (lemonades) for anything up to $3.50 per 1.25 litres of their premium trademark product 'Coke'.

Adelaide-based Shiekh Sharif Hussein free to preach race hate

Sheikh Sharif Hussein during his videotaped sermon. Source: The Advertiser

 

POLICE say they will not act against a radical preacher who publicly prayed for the slaughter of Hindus and Buddhists, leaving him free to spread his messages of hatred. 

A sermon videotaped in South Australia last year also showed Sheikh Sharif Hussein accusing Australian troops, whom he called “crusader pigs”, of helping to rape tens of thousands of women in Iraq, but SA police say he has broken no laws.

This has prompted outspoken SA conservative senator Cory Bernardi to demand changes to race-hate laws, or the way they are enforced.

He says the police decision proves that Australian freedoms are “being used against us” and claims that any similar attack on the sheik’s fundamentalist Muslim ideologies would be met with outrage.

Buddhists and Hindus have expressed shock at the police decision and say the sheik will lash out again.

According to a translation of the Arabic video, published by the US-based Middle East Media Research Institute, the sheikh publicly prayed: “Oh Allah, count the Buddhists and the Hindus one by one. Oh Allah, count them and kill them to the very last one”.

A police investigation was launched after The Advertiser last year revealed details of one lecture recording, believed to have been delivered, in part, at the Islamic Da’wah Centre of SA, in Torrensville.

In the video clip, posted online in August last year by the research institute, the preacher also attacked Jews, former prime minister John Howard and US President Barack Obama, speaking in Arabic.

Senator Bernardi said the fact Sheikh Hussein had not been prosecuted showed that Australia’s freedoms were “being used against us to further a dangerous cause”.

“I can only imagine the political and legal repercussions if similar statements were made about adherents to Mr Hussein’s ideology,” he said.

“Frankly, the Australian public have had enough of the double standards that seem to apply to people like Sharif Hussein. They appear free to spread their poison, while those who challenge their world view are condemned as bigots or racists.”

A South Australia Police spokesman said the matter had been investigated and that “in this instance, no criminal offending occurred and no charges (were) laid. No further comment will be made on this matter.”

The controversial Senator Bernardi has previously come under fire for his views on banning the burqa and what he calls the “totalitarian” ideology of Islam, as well for as his views on abortion and “traditional families”.

His comments come as debate rages over free speech. The Government wants to repeal part of the Racial Discrimination Act that makes it illegal to insult, offend or humiliate people based on their race. It says protections against racial vilification would still be strong enough.

Senator Bernardi said that if South Australian vilification laws, or the way they were enforced, did not stop Sheikh Hussein, they need to change.

“We are now faced with a challenge for law makers and law enforcers alike,” he said.

“If our anti-vilification laws can’t or won’t be upheld against someone who encourages the killing of those who don’t subscribe to a particular religious and political system, I can only conclude things need to change.”

State Attorney-General John Rau pointed to the Government’s policy on the Racial Discrimination Act.

“Presumably Mr Bernardi is outraged that (federal Attorney-General) Mr Brandis proposes to water down relevant federal laws further,” Mr Rau said.

Sheik Hussein, who in the video singled out Mr Howard and Mr Obama, had preached at the Islamic Da’wah Centre of SA and was previously connected to the Marion mosque in Park Holme.

He has previously been under surveillance by the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police.

In 2007, the Federal Government blocked $250,000 in funding from Saudi Arabia for the Park Holme mosque, amid “security concerns”.

It is not known if Sheik Hussein has preached in SA since the video went public last year. His friends have claimed the video was heavily edited and misrepresented him, while he has declined to comment.

“I have told you many times before I don’t want to do any interviews,” he told The Advertiser. The Islamic Society of SA has condemned his comments in the past but declined to comment when approached by The
Australian Buddhist Councils Federation president Kim Hollow was flabbergasted that Sheikh Hussein could “get away with” his comments.

“It is disappointing … because they would have had to look at the video,” he said.

“I personally thought it was abhorrent. How someone could get away with it is beyond me. Chances are he will lash out again, I would be surprised if he doesn’t.

“It just beggars belief. It is just horrible to have people make these sorts of statements in this day and age. It is just ridiculous. Words escape me.”

Mr Hollow has previously said that Tunisian-born Mr Hussein should be deported.

Hindu council spokesman Himanshu Pota urged the sheik to attend mediation.

“We don’t know the letter of the law, so we leave it to the police and the courts to enforce it the way they consider it proper,” he said.

“But we do understand the spirit of the law and we are confident that once that it is communicated to the Sheikh, he will change his views.” he said.

Balesh Singh Dhankhar, the president of the Overseas Friends of BJP Australia, an Indian group whose membership is mainly Hindu, said he took the sermon as a “very serious threat”.

“I would like to very strongly condemn the dropping of charges into this matter and urge the law enforcement agencies and South Australian leader of community to take strong stand against Mr Hussein.”

news.com.au 13 Apr 2014

In a precedence set by the South Australian government, from this action one can also propagate:

• Anti Christian,

• Anti Jewish,

• Anti Muslim

materials without any repercussions whatsoever.

Australia the pioneer for free speech.