MORE AUSTRALIAN NEWS

FIVE MEN FOUND GUILTY OF PLANNING JIHAD ATTACK

[The Daily Telegraph, October 16, 2009]

Five Sydney men have been found guilty of conspiring to plan a terrorist attack using high-powered guns and home-made bombs designed to cause mass death and destruction on Australian soil. A Supreme Court jury took four weeks and three days to find the men, aged between 25 and 44, guilty of conspiring to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act or acts.

The men, all from Sydney's south-west, were accused of stockpiling weapons and chemicals for use in the pursuit of "violent jihad'' in accordance with their extremist Muslim beliefs. Family members listening to the verdicts silently bowed their heads as the verdicts were read out individually.

In the 10-month trial, held in a purpose-built court room in Parramatta, the jury has viewed more than 3000 exhibits, including hours of audio and DVD surveillance footage, and heard from more than 200 witnesses. The trial heard the men were motivated by Australia's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in particular, former Prime Minister John Howard's support for then US President George Bush.

Crown prosecutor, Richard Maidment, SC, said the men believed Islam was under attack and they entered into an agreement to come to its defence by waging violent jihad in Australia involving "extreme force and violence including the killing of those who did not share their fundamentalist, extremist beliefs.'' In their homes, police found volumes of literature, videos, CDs and computer files supporting violent jihad and glorifying the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Instructions for building bombs were also found, along with receipts for mobile phones set up in fake names, which were used to place bulk orders for chemicals such as acetone, hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid.

The trial also heard some of the men travelled to remote properties in rural NSW to practice paramilitary training and target practice. One of them, also allegedly trained at a Lashkar e Taiba camp in Pakistan in 2001, Mr Maidment said. The men were arrested in November 2005, after police detected a "flurry of activity'' following changes to anti-terrorism laws.

Mr Maidment said the men were preparing to bury the weapons in a military style cache and had bought pipes, sealing tape and shovels, and hireda high-powered metal detector in the days prior to police raiding their homes.

The men will face a sentencing hearing on December 14.

DICK SMITH THREATENS TO BECOME TAX MINIMISER

[The Australian, June 21, 2008]

Dick Smith, who every year gives $1 million to charity and pays more than $1 million in tax, has threatened to "do a Kerry Packer" and become a massive tax minimiser. The famed philanthropist, aerial adventurer and face of a thousand Dick Smith brands has told the Australian Tax Office he is considering becoming the "greatest legal tax minimiser in the history of Australia." An angry Mr Smith has protested directly in a letter to tax commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo about a billion-dollar bureaucratic bungle, after receiving advice from the tax office that he would be subjected to closer scrutiny.

Mr D'Ascenzo sent a letter and brochure to Mr Smith, as someone who "effectively controls $30 million or more in net wealth," about the ATO building "an open and co-operative working relationship" with him and his tax advisers. The letter said that "given your position of influence in the community, it is important that you don't take unacceptable risks when it comes to tax." It also warned that, as part of a long-term crackdown on wealthy Australians, "our scrutiny of your tax affairs and the assistance we can provide may greatly increase."

The commissioner's letter, headed "Wealthy and wise -- A tax guide for Australia's wealthiest people," and the brochure called "Wealthy Australians and tax compliance," prompted the threat from Mr Smith to change his attitude to paying tax. "In the past, I have been proud to pay a lot of tax -- even if more than that required by law -- because I have received great satisfaction from knowing that I'm paying for some of the great things we have in Australia," Mr Smith said in a letter to Mr D'Ascenzo. "That view has now changed."

Mr Smith cited the words in 1991 of the late Packer, once Australia's richest man, that "if anybody in this country doesn't minimise their tax, they want their heads read." Mr Packer, who was accused of paying no personal tax, said the Government wasn't "spending it so well that we should be donating extra." Mr Smith said in his letter: "I didn't agree with this statement at the time, but I certainly do now."

Mr Smith told The Weekend Australian he and his wife had donated $1 million a year to charity and "I still pay more than $1 million a year in tax. I'm not in the rich list, but I am well off and have never complained about paying tax," he said. The Sydney businessman said he changed his attitude because $1 billion of taxpayers' money was lost in the failed Super Seasprite helicopters project.

"Michael, do you understand that $1 billion could have given us a completely new Royal North Shore Hospital (in Sydney)?" Mr Smith asked the commissioner in his letter. "It could increase pensions to people who are suffering at the moment and be put to better use in thousands of ways. Why shouldn't I minimise my tax in every way I can see when I see the waste that is taking place from decisions made by your fellow bureaucrats in Canberra? At the present time, I don't have any offshore funds or trusts. I don't even have a foundation for making my donations -- even though I have been continuously told that it would be more tax-effective to do so."

Mr Smith said his tax advisers were the "most conservative that you could ever get" because he told them he would hold them accountable for any advice they give him that resulted in legal action from the ATO. "This results in advice being so conservative that no doubt there are times I pay more tax than I should," Mr Smith told the commissioner. "In the past, I was happy to do this, but not any more. I can tell you I am considering becoming the greatest legal tax minimiser in the history of Australia." Mr D'Ascenzo did not comment when contacted by The Weekend Australian yesterday.

In 2000, after then Labor MP Mark Latham accused Mr Packer of offensively losing $34 million in Las Vegas casinos while not paying his share of tax, the owner of the Nine Network struck back. Mr Packer told The Australian in 2000 that his companies in the previous 10 years had paid more than $2 billion in government fees, charges and taxes. "Over the last 10 years, in government charges, whether they be licence fees, income tax, payroll tax, levies on spectrum, we have paid as a corporation in excess of $2 billion," he said. As for his personal income tax, Mr Packer said he had always paid "what I am told to pay" by his accountants.

"I pay a lot more tax than they give me credit for," he said. "There are no tax schemes involved in my tax, and I pay tax. Whatever the accountants tell me that I've got to pay, I pay it. My motto basically is: never complain, never explain. But this has now become so absurd that I have to answer it myself."

Al-Masjid al-Nabawi Mosque, Medina, Saudi Arabia

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY, QUEENSLAND, ASKED FOR SAUDI ARABIA MONEY

[The Australian, April 22, 2008]

A prominent Australian university practically begged the Saudi Arabian embassy to bankroll its Islamic campus for $1.3m, even telling the ambassador it could keep secret elements of the controversial deal. Documents obtained by The Australian reveal that Griffith University -- described by vice-chancellor Ian O'Connor as the "university of choice" for Saudis -- offered the embassy an opportunity to reshape the Griffith Islamic Research Unit during its campaign to get some "extra noughts" added to Saudi cheques.[Pic shows King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia]

The revelation comes despite a claim last year by Ross Homel -- then director of Griffith's key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, which manages the Islamic unit -- that the university did not chase money from the embassy and that the $100,000 down payment was offered with "no strings" attached.

While the Brisbane university says its centre is designed to promote moderate Islam, the Saudi Government espouses a hardline version of the faith, policed at home by the Mutaween, the country's religious police notorious for enforcing strict Muslim laws. Women are subjected to particularly harsh treatment in Saudi Arabia, and foreigners face severe punishment for not obeying the religious laws.

The Saudi Government -- largely through its embassy -- is believed to have funnelled at least $120m into Australia since the 1970s to bankroll radical clerics, build mosques and propagate hardline Islam When presented with the documents, Professor Homel admitted the university had asked for the money. He said the Islamic unit director, Mohamad Abdalla, and his team were always "proactively" seeking funding from a range of sources, including foreign embassies.

"Mohamad Abdalla and his colleagues in the Islamic Research Unit are always looking for funds," Professor Homel said. "So the Saudi funding was one of a number of sources of funding that the (unit) has received. They've always been proactive about seeking funding." The Australian revealed last September that the Muslim community feared Griffith's $100,000 Saudi grant would skew the university's research and create sympathy for an extremist Islamic ideology -- Wahabbism -- which is espoused by al-Qaeda. Professor Homel maintained the Saudis had no control over the university funding, but documents obtained by The Australian reveal that vice-chancellor O'Connor, among other staffers, offered the embassy a chance to "discuss ways" in which the money could be used.

Professor O'Connor says the money would go towards funding research fellowships and PhD scholarships. "We would be pleased to discuss ways in which your contribution could be recognised through, for example, the naming of a particular research fellowship position," said the letter to Saudi ambassador Hassan T.Nazer, dated September 11, 2006. "The university is actively seeking to attract additional support from governments, industries and other benefactors to allow us to enhance the activities of the unit. As you may be aware, Griffith is rapidly becoming a popular 'university of choice' for students from Saudi Arabia ... and we look forward to seeing a greater number of Saudi Arabian students on our campuses in the future."

Dr Abdalla even offered Mr Nazer the chance to keep the Saudis' financial contribution a secret if he did not want the embassy, "a core sponsor, to be acknowledged in the Griffith's newsletters, promotional material and seminars." "Anonymity will be respected, if preferred," Dr Abdalla says in the May 8, 2006 letter to Mr Nazer. "We would, of course, welcome the opportunity to discuss any requests from sponsors for particular recognition of donations."

James Cook University's Mervyn Bendle, a senior lecturer in the history of terrorism, yesterday attacked Griffith University for accepting the money and accused the Saudi embassy of wanting to promote hardline Islam. "A country awash with oil revenue is using its massive wealth to promote a minority and sectarian form of Islam," he said. "Australian universities using such funds threaten not only the traditional values of academic freedom and scholarship but also threaten our moderate Muslim communities."

Dr Abdalla denied the money would be used to promote Wahabbism, saying he would not have accepted the money if it came with such condition attached. "People can make accusations as they like," he said. "All they have to see is what we do and realise that we don't follow that line (Wahabbism)."

The push to obtain Saudi funding is also revealed in an email exchange between Dr Abdalla and Griffith's Centre for Ethics research and business development manager, Jenny Wilson, who congratulates the Islamic unit's director on obtaining the $100,000 cheque, believed to be the first payment towards an expected $1.37m grant sought by the university. "Congratulations Mohamad," she writes in the email sent on July 12 last year. "Now how do we get the extra noughts on this cheque." In another email, Ms Wilson writes to the vice-chancellor's correspondence secretary Kelly Collyer: "I understand the Saudi embassy has sent a letter ... to VC inviting him to accept $100,000 for Griffith. For your background, I believe this might be a part of a far bigger commitment as there are discussions ongoing with the Saudi Government and embassy for $1 million -- fingers crossed, anyway!"

Dr Abdalla defended Ms Wilson's enthusiastic approach to obtaining funds, saying: "That's a normal response of any university. If you get funding, you'd like to see if you can get more funding -- that's absolutely normal." Griffith University yesterday said the Islamic unit had not received and was not expecting the remainder of the $1.37m the university sought. "At this stage, we do not expect further funds, nor have we received any additional funds," a spokeswoman said. "The Saudi Government has not at any stage sought to influence how this donation is allocated."

The Saudi embassy did not return calls yesterday.

NO MORE GROG AT SUNSET AT ULURU

[The Courier-Mail, August 27, 2007]

Enjoying a cold beer or wine while watching the sunset at Uluru will be banned from next month as part of the crackdown on alcohol on Aboriginal land. The tradition of a chilled "sundowner" will be banned as part of the Federal Government's intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities to stamp out alcohol-related child abuse. Chairman of the Central Australian Tourism Industry Association Steve Rattray said the ban would spoil the experience for many travellers, thousands of whom gather each day to watch a sunset over Uluru.

The ban is sure to prove particularly annoying for the growing number of "Grey Nomad" tourists, who spend much of their time in the Top End and Western Australia travelling through areas similarly affected by the alcohol bans. "What has happened is that under the restrictions of alcohol on Aboriginal land you will be able to drive through Aboriginal land with alcohol but you can no longer drink it or dispose of it," a spokeswoman for Parks Australia said. "Uluru is on Aboriginal land which is why the bans affect people who are visiting the Rock."

The ban will not apply to the nearby Ayers Rock Resort. The new rules come into effect on September 14.

ABORIGINES LIVED IN SYDNEY 30,000 YEARS AGO

[SMH, September 15, 2007]

A cache of charcoal, stone tools and artefacts unearthed to make way for a high-rise apartment block has been found to be 30,000 years old, more than doubling the accepted age of Aboriginal settlement in Sydney. The discovery, to be presented to an archaeological conference opening at the University of Sydney next weekend, was the result of a dig originally set up to search for signs of convict era occupation.

It is the oldest evidence yet found of humans occupying what is now metropolitan Sydney. Aboriginal burial sites at Lake Mungo, in south-western NSW, have been dated at 40,000 years, The archaeologist who led the dig, Jo McDonald, said the previous oldest evidence of human habitation around Sydney had been found in the Blue Mountains (14,700 years), at Kurnell (12,500), and near the old Tempe House on the Cooks River (10,700).

"We have always thought that humans arrived much earlier in Sydney, having made their way down the coast from northern Australia and moving inland up major rivers like the Hawkesbury and Parramatta rivers. But most of that earlier occupation evidence was drowned on the coastal plain when the sea level rose to its current height around 7000 years ago." After some old factories were demolished in 2002 to make way for Parramatta's Meriton apartment block, archaeologists began digging for convict-era relics.

When they started finding Aboriginal relics as well, Dr McDonald was called in to help. The sandy site, on the corner of George and Charles streets, may have once been part of a crescent-shaped beach on the Parramatta River. Possibly 800 metres long and 100 metres wide, the sand body was deposited by the river when the sea level was higher around 120,000 years ago. The archaeologists dug in three spots -- the future Meriton apartments, a construction site across George Street, and the site of an old RTA office down the road. "We found lots and lots of stone artefacts, around 20,000 of them," said Dr McDonald. "There were lots of spear points, axes, and quite a few anvils and grinding stones."

The finds indicate the Aboriginal inhabitants used some of these tools to crush water plants to make starch-based meal. There were also stones Aborigines had placed in their beach camp fires to retain the heat of the flames. Rounded cobbles and pebbles made of yellow volcanic stone, not natural to the Parramatta area, were typical of tools used more than 5000 years ago. "Most likely they were carried in from the Hawkesbury and Grose Rivers," said Dr McDonald. "People carried around large pieces of the stone because they had good flaking properties, and they could rely on these when they were in unfamiliar territory." If a new tool was needed, the Aborigines simply fashioned it on the spot from one of the stones.

But the most extraordinary discovery was charcoal, possibly from ancient campfires, found about a metre beneath the surface, and very close to some artifacts. Radiocarbon dating showed that the tiny fragments, with a total volume equalling "about 10 pinheads" were 30,735 years old, give or take 400 years. Four other charcoal samples, recovered from shallower depths, gave increasingly younger ages, with the uppermost dated at 3270 years, plus or minus 35 years. The age pattern suggested Aborigines had been routinely camping on the site for at least 300 centuries. "It's proof of the perseverance of Aboriginal culture."

AUSTRALIA TO SELL URANIUM TO INDIA

[The Australian, August 15, 2007]

Australia has decided to start uranium shipments to India with the condition that Australian inspectors be allowed to check on-site that the yellowcake is used only for peaceful purposes and electricity generation. The Australian nuclear safety inspectors would check the "chain of supply" of nuclear material from Australia to India to ensure none was siphoned off into weapons programs. The National Security Committee of federal cabinet decided last night, after more than two hours, to allow the uranium shipments to India, despite the subcontinental nuclear power not signing the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Australia has only recently decided to ship uranium to China for the first time.

The National Security Committee discussed ways for Australia to export uranium to India without contributing to nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan or assisting the spread of nuclear weapons. John Howard will contact his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, who is also Minister for Atomic Energy, to explain the conditions before formally announcing the agreement. The cabinet committee was under pressure to both allow India access to uranium -- a process the US has offered to assist with -- and defend its record on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. It is understood Mr Howard will be personally contacting Mr Singh as soon as possible.

Labor has accused the Howard Government of being prepared to water down strict controls on uranium exports and move away from the international agreements limiting nuclear weapons. Pakistan has also asked for uranium to power its domestic electricity grid if India is sold it. The Australian Government wants to help India with its peaceful energy needs but does not want to contribute to the nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan.

The decision comes as the ALP has committed to a scare campaign over nuclear power reactor sites in Australia. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday the fact India already had nuclear weapons meant "there is no risk" of contributing to nuclear proliferation by exporting uranium to the energy-hungry economy. "I think the reverse in fact is the case -- that the more you can get the India civil nuclear program under UN inspections and under the UN protocols of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the better," Mr Downer told the ABC. "I think that creates a safer and more secure environment for those power stations."

Labor foreign affairs spokesman Rob McClelland said any step towards uranium exports to India would be moving away from the NPT signed by Australia. "We see that the Government is prepared to further undermine the NPT by selling uranium to India while that country remains outside the non-proliferation regime," he told the UN Association of Australia last night. "The bottom line is that the Howard Government is worse than ambivalent when it comes to nuclear non-proliferation -- it is positively obstructive."

Even the uranium industry has reserved judgment on the Government's support for uranium exports to India until it hears how the NPT can be protected. Michael Angwin, executive director of the Australian Uranium Association, said Australia's policy of exporting uranium only to signatories to the treaty had been successful to date.

India now needs to win IAEA approval of its planned safeguards, the support of an international grouping of nuclear suppliers, and ratification of its nuclear co-operation agreement with the US. Only then can it do a bilateral deal with Australia to allow the uranium trade and start negotiating with local miners. Last week Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs, Ejaz ul-Haq, said Australia should consider selling uranium to Pakistan as well. He rejected concerns Islamabad would use the uranium in nuclear weapons. But Mr Downer ruled out selling uranium to Pakistan.

LAWYERS AMONG VISITORS BANNED FROM NSW JAILS

[SMH, August 5, 2007]

Three lawyers are among 467 visitors banned from NSW jails after a crackdown uncovered attempts to smuggle in weapons ranging from tomahawks and carving knives to machetes as well as mobile phones and other contraband. One female lawyer was accused of conducting an improper relationship with a prisoner and abusing the greater freedoms afforded visiting legal representatives. The relationship was discovered after an examination of legal documents found intimate messages to her client.

Elite taskforce Con-Targ personnel and corrective services officers investigated the conduct of eight lawyers in correctional facilities over 12 months to June this year. Three solicitors, including the female lawyer, have been banned for up to two years from visiting any NSW jail as a result of their actions. Legal representatives have much greater access to inmates than other visitors and their visits are usually longer, conducted away from other prisoners and generally in a private room with a lower level of supervision.

NSW Justice Minister John Hatzistergos has asked Corrective Services commissioner Ron Woodham to form a working party and recommend whether greater restrictions on access are required. Corrective Services officers have searched more than 10,000 visitors and their vehicles so far this year, using a variety of methods including drug-detection dogs. Weapons found on visitors which officers believe were to be smuggled into NSW prisons included machetes, a tomahawk, carving knives, slingshots, batons and a shotgun shell.

Last weekend a visitor was stopped by detector dogs at Parklea Correctional Centre with a subsequent search yielding a 30-centimetre knife, five mobile phones, two SIM cards, $2070 in cash, 2.5grams of cannabis and a quantity of jewellery. Late last year a search outside the John Morony Correctional Centre near Windsor uncovered a spear gun and pistols, among other weapons, as well as fake police material and mobile phones.

Mr Hatzistergos said officers were most concerned about mobile phones as these could be used by inmates to intimidate officers, prosecution witnesses and their families, as well as to organise an escape or help co-ordinate outside criminal activities, including potential contract killings. In June the Iemma Government made it an offence for inmates to use a mobile phone; the maximum penalty is two years' jail.

Mr Hatzistergos said: "While the vast majority of lawyers do the right thing, it is disappointing a small number have abused the privilege of their office. They have put the whole question of legal privilege under the spotlight".

KERRY PACKER'S DYING WISH

[The Daily Telegraph, June 28, 2007]

Kerry Packer was set to remove his own son James and right hand man PBL chief John Alexander from operating the Nine network in a dying wish, it is revealed in an explosive new book.

Former Nine news director Gerald Stone reveals in his new book Who Killed Channel 9? that the late billionaire feared the pair were going to "f..k the joint.'' "We need to keep James and Alexander out of the place. They're going to f..k the joint,'' Kerry is quoted as saying.

Quoting sources from the top of the Nine and PBL management stable, the book reveals the fractured relationship between father Kerry and son James and explains how the network plunged from it's number one spot in a few short years.

The book also reveals:

* The real reasons behind David Gyngell's resignation - and how he was forced to choose between his conflicting loyalties to James and Kerry.

* The story of how production talents Julian Cress and David Barbour were robbed of millions of dollars for their material.

* Cress' explosive diary notes which talk of Eddie McGuire's locker room approach to management, including his use crude jokes in which he bends over, "feet splayed apart and his hands pressed firmly on the desk. 'From what I've heard about you guys, I guess I'm going to have to assume the position'," he tells colleagues, according to an extract.

* A Sunday program interview which went on to win a Walkley award was "one of the worst examples of unfair reporting'' the author has ever seen.

* And how former Nine news chief Peter Meakin called Alexander a "24-carat c**t" after he secretly hired Jana Wendt without prior consultation, promised not to go behind his back again only to try to do the same with Seven's David Koch.

Pan Macmillan publisher Tom Gilliatt today said despite an unprecedented 100,000 copy print run, they had been legally advised to have a soft launch with the book appearing quietly on shelves today.

KERRY PACKER'S MISTRESS - COME - MADAM COMMITTED SUICIDE

[SMH, July 26, 2007] A mistress of the late media tycoon Kerry Packer ran a private bordello for his business and political associates and after their affair ended and they became estranged committed suicide, a new book says. Paul Barry has updated his best selling biography The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer, including in it the sad story of one of Packer's mistresses that on legal advice was withdrawn from the 1993 edition.

Carol Lopes was a black American model with whom Packer had a four-year affair from the late 1970s. Described by Barry as "gregarious, glamorous, gorgeous" and a star at society parties, Lopes told friends she was Packer's "SONAP: Sex Only, No Appearances in Public" and referred to him as "His Nibs." Packer put her up in lavish apartments in Bellevue Hill, near his family residence, and she enjoyed brief public fame as a late-night B-grade movie hostess on Packer's Nine television network.

After their affair ended in the early 1980s Lopes began organising for Packer private bordellos each summer in expensive and secluded rented houses in Palm Beach. Lopes travelled to New York, London and South America to find intelligent, well-educated and beautiful women who were paid about $10,000 a week at the bordello, the biography says. Barry writes: "Carol confided to friends that Kerry ran this private bordello to thank men who had done him a good turn." He says politicians and business people attended the bordellos, but does not name any.

The relationship between Packer and Lopes soured later in the 1980s. After he stopped supporting her financially she attempted to kill herself three times before succeeding in 1991. Much of her 16-page suicide note was addressed to Packer. It is on file with the NSW coroner's office, but has not been made public.

A second letter found in Lopes's apartment says: "Kerry Packer is the only family I know [Lopes had been raised by foster parents]. He has taken care of me for 12 years. I have been denied access to this man. For what reason, I don't understand. "He is not aware of how distressed I am … I have no alternative but to end my life."

Apart from the media baron's "notorious" love of prostitutes, Barry recounts Packer's stream of mistresses given apartments and found jobs, with Packer footing the bill. After Packer died in December 2005 the Herald revealed he had transferred property shares worth at least $10 million to his long-time mistress Julie Trethowan. Gerald Stone, in his recent book Who Killed Channel 9?, recounted that Packer divided the final days of his life between Trethowan and Ros, his wife of more than 40 years.

He also revealed that in his 30s Packer had a brief, torrid affair with his then employee Ita Buttrose, who became a magazine editor. The updated biography, which won the 1994 Banjo award for non-fiction, is published on August 1, but copies appeared in bookshops this week.