http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/police/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lay-off-the-tatts-and-have-a-debate-the-real-issues/ At Melbas nightclub on the Gold Coast they won’t serve people with hand, neck and facial tattoos. You can, however, front up to the bar wearing a stocking on your head. Helpfully you don’t even have to bring your own. For just five dollars you can buy a stocking at the club door. “It’s a policy that really works for our venue,” a worker at the bar told The Punch. Imagine if cops were subject to the same measures. They could be, if the draft proposals being considered by NSW Police Association come into force. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lay-off-the-tatts-and-have-a-debate-the-real-issues/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/lay-off-the-tatts-and-have-a-debate-the-real-issues/#item7638 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-an-act-of-crime-ever-too-trivial-for-investigation/ It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-an-act-of-crime-ever-too-trivial-for-investigation/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-an-act-of-crime-ever-too-trivial-for-investigation/#item7550 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/ Stepping out for a fun night and a few drinks sure isn’t as simple as it used to be. In case you hadn’t noticed, an increasing number of Australian bars and clubs are introducing security technology that would be more fittingly encountered in a Police state than a casual night out for a drink in one of Australia ‘s cities. In a dystopian display of modern surveillance technologies overtaking common sense, nowadays if you feel inclined to venture out for a dance in one of Melbourne or Sydney ‘s bars or clubs, you can expect to have your ID scanned into a computer. And in extreme cases, be prepared to have your irises scanned as a pre-requisite for entry. Talk about a party killer! feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Stripped-of-civil-liberties-for-a-night-on-the-town/#item7562 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-great-wall-of-cabramatta/ On Tuesday night, four shots were fired into the front of a Wetherill Park home. Inside a woman and her two children were sleeping. This incident was the ninth shooting to take place in Sydney in eight days. NSW Police have not laid any charges and have voiced their frustration, blaming the “wall of silence” in the community. On Saturday, 25 May 2002, a man shot and wounded seven people including a child attending a wedding at a restaurant in Cabramatta. There were 140 witnesses in the New World Restaurant but no one was able, or willing, to give a clear description of the gun man. It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-great-wall-of-cabramatta/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-great-wall-of-cabramatta/#item7570 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/public-service-message-beware-flirty-journalists/ You know that shirt really makes your eyes look amazing. I bet you know lots of really important stuff. Would you like to go back to your place and show me all your confidential files? A report has been handed down in the UK by Dame Elizabeth Filkin, “The ethical issues arising from the relationship between police and media”, prompted by allegations the News of the World phone hacking scandal was not properly investigated by Scotland Yard. It’s a fascinating document, surprisingly free of the usual bureaucratic mangling of the English language, although it does contain case studies with a traffic light system of assessing risk - red for high, yellow for medium, green for low. But the most up-front part carries the title: “Ten tactics used by some in the media. Watch out.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/public-service-message-beware-flirty-journalists/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/public-service-message-beware-flirty-journalists/#item7483 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Bullies-in-suits-unleash-their-uniformed-henchmen/ I’d like to thank the Occupy Melbourne protesters, from the bottom of my heart. They’ve opened my eyes. It’s not about their message. I’m pretty sure I already knew about the all-too-cosy relationship between banks, corporations and the media. Hell, I was told that money was the root of all evil fairly early on at Sunday School. Nothing new there. No, they’ve shown me, through their treatment at the hands of Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, the City of Melbourne and Victoria Police, that for all the talk of freedom of political expression and peaceful demonstration in this country, if you antagonize the wrong person in authority you can expect harassment and intimidation. If you show up a puffed-up, red-faced bully, no matter the elevated position of responsibility, they’ll reach down and thump you. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Bullies-in-suits-unleash-their-uniformed-henchmen/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Bullies-in-suits-unleash-their-uniformed-henchmen/#item7322 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-the-high-court-exposed-suburbia-to-biker-mayhem/ At a guess you could probably assume that none of our seven High Court judges lives in Merrylands, in Sydney’s west, where the Nomads and Hells Angels are engaged in what the police reassuringly describe not as a bikie gang war but merely “tit for tat violence”. It is also unlikely that any of these eminent jurists lives in Northmead, where an innocent woman had her house strafed with bullets while she was sleeping last week in a zany address mix-up by a bikie who was having trouble reading his UBD. Presumably, none of the judges lives in Adelaide’s north-western suburb of Semaphore where an 11-year-old boy, the son of a former member of the Finks, was shot in the leg while he slept during a home invasion last month. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-the-high-court-exposed-suburbia-to-biker-mayhem/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-the-high-court-exposed-suburbia-to-biker-mayhem/#item7090 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sick-folk-subjected-to-a-sick-terrifying-mental-health-law/ My illness is psychiatric in nature. It’s biological. It lurks in everybody’s genome, and is active in mine. The name of my illness is weighty. It’s called Seasonally Affected Bi-polar Disorder 1. As opposed to the very brainy Stephen Fry, who reminds us of the severity of mine by calling his Bi-polar 2 (facetiously) Bi-Polar Lite. An illness that slowly over the years, with many lengthy hospital stays, has become manageable. No longer visible to the naked eye, even. To the point that I work, study, raise a family and participate at all levels of the society as best I am able, good health permitting. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sick-folk-subjected-to-a-sick-terrifying-mental-health-law/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sick-folk-subjected-to-a-sick-terrifying-mental-health-law/#item6845 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sorry-but-christine-nixon-deserves-the-criticism/ There can be no doubt that Christine Nixon’s size played an unpleasant part in some of the public criticism she faced over her decision to dine with friends at a flash restaurant as the Victorian Bushfire inferno unfolded on the evening of February 7, 2009. If Christine Nixon weighed 60kg she would have been shielded from the kind of snide public remarks about how, frankly, she wasn’t about to die of starvation anyway and could probably have made do with a quick sandwich as she liaised with and – crucially – led her team at the bushfire control centre. That’s where any sympathy for Christine Nixon should end though. If her detractors have at times offensively used her weight as a vehicle to pile on the ridicule, the former Victorian Police Commissioner has probably been just as guilty of using the “fattist” issue (that’s her term) as a foil for her abrogation of responsibility on that horrendous night. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sorry-but-christine-nixon-deserves-the-criticism/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sorry-but-christine-nixon-deserves-the-criticism/#item6434 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australia-is-still-a-long-way-from-france/ Waleed Aly is a well-rounded kind of chap. A lecturer in politics at Monash Uni and a former member of the executive committee of the Islamic Council of Victoria, he is also said to wield a mean axe in his rock, funk and jazz band. Of Egyptian heritage, the Melbourne born-and-raised Aly has the gift of talking straight. And on the issue of the impending new NSW police powers to order drivers and suspects to remove their veils, he has a simple message: it was inevitable. “This is the inevitable response to the scenario we saw a few weeks ago,” he told The Punch today, in what might cheekily be termed a “thinly-veiled” reference to the Carnita Matthews case. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australia-is-still-a-long-way-from-france/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/australia-is-still-a-long-way-from-france/#item6224 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen.