OPEN LETTER TO JULIA GILLARD

Since she has either disabled online submission OR most of Australia is appalled at her lack of ethics or morals and are bringing the site down OR Senator Conroy has been meddling again, here is the letter I TRIED to send her...

Refusing to allow a conscience vote on live animal exports reveals you to be a compassionless and ruthless dictator and I will rejoice when the compassionate society that you evidently despise unite at election time to remove you from a job you are clearly unsuited for.

And while I normally have grown in fifty years to assume that the term 'Honourable' which is applied to elected government officials is one largely sarcastic in nature, it seems clear to me that in your case this is very true indeed. You can introduce carbon taxes, you can fiddle about with this or that - we, as Australians, do not have to agree with decisions such as these because frankly, they are decisions based on a certain amount of rationale and logic. But by withholding the right to cross the floor on an issue which is ethical you are being UN ethical and are no longer fit to be a Prime Minister of Australia.

Please note that I am hardly alone in this opinion. Be sure that come the day, most Australians will remember and ensure that you go. Pity you'll get pay for life - if I was a Prime Minister I'd stop that damn quick. But at least the majority of Australians who believe in FREEDOM OF CHOICE and who are appalled less at the animal export issue as to the fact that you wield your power of office over people on moral and ethical issues will get their chance and you will NOT see a second term.

Big News - Our Justice System Got It Right (for once)

No Jail Time For Obsessive-Compulsive women who left maggot infested mother to die on kitchen floor

Naturally, the press headlines are clear about the case but fortunately, and quite out of keeping with our normal run of the mill justice system, Justice Paul Coghlan has got it right.

Carers have it tough and in many cases they can be the victims of life-long manipulation and control and, yes, training, by those that they end up caring for.

It is not as simple as saying 'they should have done the right thing' because after a lifetime in a relationship that bonds far tighter and more restrictive than even marriage, the 'right thing' can be impossible.

Naturally, the mother should not have been left to die on the floor.
Naturally, she should not have been 'maggot infested'.

But things are rarely that simple.

Of all those surveyed recently, Carers have the lowest self-esteem, the highest levels of stress and the worst health. Many are chronically depressed, almost all are isolated.

And in 2003 there were 2.7 million carers but less than 300,000 received Centrelink benefits which means the rest (2.4 million!) were doing it the hard way.

So when these isolated, depressed and physically and emotionally exhausted people do not respond like you or I do, they do not need jail. They need support.

Do you work weekends? Carers do.
Are you on call 24 hours a day? Carers are.
Do you have annual leave? Carers don't.
Do you have long service leave? Carers don't.
Do you have Public Holidays? CARERS DON'T.

Carer's don't even have superannuation.

In this one case, justice has prevailed.

For another carer, Agnieszka Miller, justice has been denied. As has compassion. As has understanding.

Boycott United Arab Emirates!

While every country is entitled to their own laws, they are also responsible to ensure that such laws are just. This is not the case in the United Arab Emirates. There, a woman can be forced to have sex - it's called rape in more advanced countries - and then sent to prison because she did.

Please acquaint yourself with the case of Alicia Gali. She is the victim of rape but due to the justice system in that county she is the one who was sent to prison for eight months because "it is illegal in the UAE to have sex outside marriage".

This situation is disgusting - not because she is an Australian who have been assaulted and violated which is bad enough, but because the practice of rape in that country evidently has no legal precedent.

Until changes are made to protect the rights of women it should be every Australian's duty to boycott the United Arab Emirates, Starwood Hotels and any other business associated with this criminal justice system.

Wonko will not suffer any connection with UAE until justice is done. That is the opinion of Wonko the Sane.

Wonko Regains His Voice!

Wonko apologizes for the break in transmission. He has been dealing with a family death which had to take priority.

But the voice is back. Wonko, the voice of sanity in an insane world.

All the world now knows Polar bear Knut found dead at Berlin Zoo. The world mourns for Knut. This animal captured the hearts of millions.

Unfortunately though, while the world mourns for one polar bear, twenty-two THOUSAND children are dying every single day but the world does not mourn for them. That's one DEAD little girl or boy every four seconds... and their DEATHS are PREVENTABLE. Why not spend the time it takes for 15 children to die looking at the UNICEF website and see what you can do?

On a lighter note, it appears that some councils in Australia run hard-rubbish collections. These are where people can put unwanted items on the nature-strip for collection by authorized collectors. Note the word 'authorized'! Trevor Flood discovered to his horror that some councils actually claim to own goods left on the nature-strip and he was arrested for taking away an unwanted vacuum cleaner! Fortunately the location in this case actually don't have this stupid and unreasonable by-law and he was freed.

Quite apart from the service that people such as Trevor do in re-using rather than recycling or even discarding rubbish, there is a bigger issue at stake. I won't tell you what it is, but you might like to take care the next time you park your car on the nature-strip!

And finally, for this time, there is a long-term concern of Wonko with respect to Australia. It is the foreign ownership of what used to be Australian resources. For years Wonko has been warning fellow Australians of the buy-out of primary industries. We have lost most of our manufacturing; we have lost much of our intellectual services (call centres, I.T. support & development) - even tourism is gradually falling into the hands of foreign ownership. But the biggest most dangerous risk was and still is - primary industries.

Finally someone is recognising the problem of our Foreign land buys go(ing) unchecked in Australia. As the article says (if you click the link) .... "NO ONE knows how much of Australia's farmland is owned by foreigners".

Is that really a problem?

There are three reasons why it is a significant problem.

1. The Australian economy cannot survive with no service industries, no manufacturing industries and no primary industries. Where do you think the money will come from?

2. With foreign ownership will come more automation and (where labour is required) foreign labour. Anything that can be done outside Australia will leave our shores. Where do we expect employment to exist?

3. Access to produce will be restricted. Because of the foreign ownership, the best quality produce will be exported at low cost - we will get what's left and then be forced to pay through the nose for it.

Think about it Australia!

This is the opinion of Wonko the Sane.

And the Madness Continues...

Well, Wonko has been in recess for a few weeks - not relaxing unfortunately, but strewn with family issues. So, to start the year off on a positive note, how about a few items where some sort of justice does seem to have reigned:

• COWARD who bashed a 91-year-old grandfather in his own home could face years in jail under new anti-violence laws. Wonko applauds Premier Ted Baillieu!
  
• A New Zealand man who thinks it is OK to speed has been booked by the same policeman in the two continents!
  
• A TEENAGE boy who bashed a man to death with a fence paling in an unprovoked attack has become the youngest person in Queensland history to be sentenced to life.
  

Unfortunately, it is not all good news. For example, a drunk driver who raped a ten year old girl is living a free life in the community. True, he has been ordered to pay her $18.750 in compensation but I ask you, what sort of compensation is that to a girl of ten who was raped by a drunk driving round the streets? Judge Ian Dearden obviously thinks that this is acceptable. WONKO THE SANE DOES NOT. Read more...

Then, there is Victoria's Supreme Court which thinks it is better and fairer for pensioner Jean Priest who is 72 and the mother of murdered girl Linda Stilwell to pay for Derek Percy, convicted child murderer's court costs when he refused to give evidence. How much does the Victorian Supreme Court want from the victims of crime? Is it not enough that she lost her daughter? Is it not enough that this her daughter lies dead without justice? The Victorian Supreme Court is an abhorrence to all those who look to it for justice. How would you feel if it were your daughter? Read more...

Then there is the case of the abused wife who's payout was cut because Judge Richard Jones thinks that a history of abuse lessens the impact. If I cut Judge Richard Jones' fingers off one by one, would he consider the last one of no matter? Would he adopt this same strange, selfish and un-insightful attitude? I doubt it. Judge Richard Jones is not fit to be a judge. Like so many of our Judges and Justices, he should be sacked. THAT is the OPINION of WONKO THE SANE. Read more...

And probably worst of all, while all of Australia should be up in arms about the sad case of Agnieszka Miller - and why aren't you????? - it is all going to happen again to another woman. While the press delight in headlines such as Woman left gangrenous mother to die, the real story is often one spanning years and involving manipulation and relationship control that Australian Judges and Justices have no understanding of. Mary Pyrczak is yet another carer who has been failed by the system and is now likely to be further punished. Australia is becoming internationally known as the UN-CARING COUNTRY - not because of it's carers who are dedicated and who give up their own lives for the good of those that they care for, but because our support systems and ultimately Justice systems continuously and reliably fail them. With almost three million carers in Australia and an increasingly aged population, one of you reading this will end up in jail because you our so-called caring government actually cares nothing for carers and our legal system is too wrapped up in Martinis, champagne, Mercedes cars and basically using the powers that should be reserved for justice to punish those who are most vulnerable. So isn't it time you did something about it?

THIS IS THE OPINION OF WONKO - THE SANE.

And the UN-JUSTICE continues ...

Wonko is thinking that he might need to start up a special blog, just to cover the ludicrous, irresponsible and down-right appalling decisions made by Australia's so-called 'Justice System'.

Here are a few new examples of why our justice system needs to be totally overhauled and made more accountable:

Killer driver walks free.

A KILLER driver on parole for the culpable driving death of 16-year-old Tamika Moyle walked free after facing court yesterday on new driving charges.

Michael James Chambers, 23, of Cloverdale Court, Corio, pleaded guilty in Geelong Magistrates' Court to driving while disqualified, driving an unregistered motorbike and not wearing a helmet.

He received one month's jail suspended for two years and a $500 fine.

Chambers outraged Geelong in 2005 when, drunk and stoned, he smashed his unregistered car into a pole at high speed on La Trobe Tce.

Ms Moyle was fatally injured in the crash and another female passenger was seriously hurt.

Chambers, who has priors for recklessly causing injury, unlicensed driving, speeding and carrying a prohibited weapon, pleaded guilty in 2006 to culpable driving and recklessly causing serious injury.

How many people have to die before our legal system takes these things seriously?


Increased Prison Sentence for Serious Repeat Offender Machete Attack Not Warranted

"Your prospects of rehabilitation at the present time do not appear to be all that good," Judge Tilmouth said.

"The escalating nature of the violence you are prepared to inflect on innocent citizens by using dangerous weapons, has grown to a point that it is appropriate to declare that you are a serious repeat offender."

But, Judge Tilmouth said he was "far from satisfied" an increased prison term was justified to protect the community from Saunders.

Instead, he said Saunders would be subject to strict conditions while on parole.

Jude Tilmouth described the NorMetals attack as "brutal, callous, violent and unnecessary".

He said the men had feared for their lives, suffered painful and serious injuries.

Saunders had threatened he would "chop" the head off one of the men.

Perhaps is Judge Tilmouth's son had been one of those sliced open by a machete, things would have been different.

Road Rage Killer's Sentence CUT

"While this was a very bad example of the offence ... it did not have those additional features such as evasion of the police, disregard of a police direction, or considered persistence in highly dangerous driving over a long period and distance, which would have put this into the worst category of dangerous driving or criminal negligence," Justice Hugh Fraser said.

I would have thought that running away from the police was a negligible crime compared with killing someone. Road rage is not some freak accident or even being out of control through drink or drugs. It is out of control because of anger - how much worst does Justice Hugh Fraser think it can get?

Speeding is OK in a Lamborghini
The police car could not keep up with him and still Magistrate Michael Wheeler let this hoon off. This Magistrate does not deserve to hold his job. His self-confessed enjoyment of fast cars has clearly corrupted his sense of values. In the hall of shame you can see the Ferrari driver whose speeding has reduced his victim to learning to walk again. You can read of the child that is now dead through the out of control hooning of someone else. Magistrate Michael Wheeler has allowed this to happen again. The police car could not keep up remember. When this particular speeder kills someone, let Magistrate Michael Wheeler feel responsible.

Baby Basher Free!
It sounds like a funny advert in a comic. But it is possibly one of the saddest examples of Australian Justice's Hall of Shame. With prior convictions for assault, this monster is walking the streets. Magistrate Franz Holzer seems more interested in the amount of alcohol the poor child's mother drank than the fact that, at 18 months, it was battered and bruised by Patrick Baskin.

Magistrate Franz Holzer condemned the actions of Baskin but also took a swipe at the child's mother.

"I'm frankly staggered by the amount of alcohol consumed by Mr Baskin and Ms Quarrell," he said.

"It's a sad indictment on our society that the only way people can enjoy themselves on a night out is by getting smashed.

It is a much sadder indictment on our Justice system that people like this are allowed to make such inexplicable decisions without question or accountability. Why is this creature allowed out to get drunk and pursue further violence upon others? What exactly did he have to do to the baby for Magistrate Franz Holzer to take this seriously?

And so it would appear that killing people and bashing children are all offenses unworthy of significant or responsible action on behalf of our legal system. The Justice Hall of Shame has just grown longer and the people have much more to fear now as they drive to work, rest in their beds or just play in their gardens.

It is past time for the justice system to be open and accountable. This situation grows sicker each day.

More Incredible - and Unaccountable - Decisions Courtesy of Our 'Justice' System

Quite apart from the callous and cruel treatment of Agnieszka Miller and Wonko's previous examples of what can only be called disgusting sentencing, this week has some additional examples on offer.

Firstly, there's the case of the drug-driver who killed in a nurse while joyriding.

This is not just one life - think how many people that nurse might have saved.

Rhonda Negal was off to celebrate her sister's 50th birthday but instead she ended up lying in the gutter. And then on a mortuary slab.

The man who did this will spend five years in jail and then emerge free.

Judge Freeman sentenced the now 25-year-old Totten to serve at least four years and 10 months in prison, taking into account that he fled the crash scene without offering assistance.

"I should say, finally, there is no doubt that the injury, emotional harm, loss or damage caused by the offence was substantial," Judge Freeman said.

"It is clear that the community as a whole suffered a loss with the death of this vibrant and valuable woman in the prime of her life."

Judge Freeman further acknowledged that a plaque recognising the efforts of Ms Negal had been placed in the emergency department of Royal North Shore Hospital, where she worked for almost 30 years.

Despite that Judge Freeman (an appropriate name for a judge given recent events!) still only chose to sentence this killer who has a criminal history of violence and weapons offences to less than five years jail.

Of course, this is not an isolated case of Australian 'justice'.

Magistrate Peter Mellas evidently thinks that driving at speeds of up to 150km/h in a 70km/h zone and smashing into a 60 year old man causing such injuries that he needs to learn to walk again, is a 'solid citizen'.

Police prosecutor Leading Sen-Constable Angela Coulson called on magistrate Peter Mellas to jail Cassar, but the magistrate let the Altona Meadows man walk free.

We are continuously bombarded with warnings about speed yet this particular Magistrate - PETER MELLAS - obviously doesn't watch the TV or read the papers or listen to the radio or - presumably - drive with his eyes open.

Speeders who travel at over DOUBLE the speed limit are 'solid citizens'.

Here lies madness.

Then, there is the treatment of drunk, unlicenced driver Gary Edward Ryan who felt that spinning tyres and showing off was something he might remember in his old age. Hopefully he will because he killed six year old Bangoang Tut as he played in his own front yard. That six year old will never grow up. That six year old will never have his own family. That six year old has had an entire future stolen from him.

Judge Liz Gaynor sentenced this killer to 8 years, but evidently feels that a six year old's life is only worth a year for every year he has lived because Gary Edward Ryan is eligible for parole in SIX years. He'll have spent one year in for every year that Bangoang has lived.

Had he not been killed in his front garden he may well have lived another 74 years. That Judge Liz, is how long this killer should have been sent to prison.

But wait - there's more!

Another case where you can bash people without being punished - I refer you to Judge Meryl Sexton's ludicrous decision to reject prosecution arguments that Comensoli (assaulter and beater) should be sent to an adult jail and instead ordered he be detained in a youth justice centre for three years. During which time he can be set free.

The victim of this callous and unprovoked attack which saw him beaten into unconsciousness now suffers nightmares and is afraid to go out at night or use public transport.

"The effects of your attack have been felt not just by him, but by his friends, who are foreign students and his family in India," Judge Sexton said.

But despite this we have another case where the criminal is essentially set free.

People have been killed - sometimes children - others beaten and their lives ruined and you can see from the above the treatment that these violent criminals receive. They are treated as though they are the sons of gods.

It's not as if our sentencing were consistently lax. That would show that these judges and justices were only 'too soft'. But that isn't the case.

Take the case of the He suffered nightmares, was afraid to go out at night or use public transport and moved house twice.

"The effects of your attack have been felt not just by him, but by his friends, who are foreign students and his family in India," Judge Sexton said.

A serial burglar was in a "drug-induced stupor" when he photographed his penis with mobile phones he stole and sent the images to the owners' contacts, a court has been told.

Shane Anthony Willis, 33, has been jailed for a minimum four-and-a-half years for a string of burglaries in inner Melbourne and regional Victoria between January and April this year.

A minimum of four and a half years for burglary YET by the above standards:

* If he'd beaten one of his victims to unconsciousness, he'd be allowed free.
* If he'd killed one of his victims, he'd go to jail for a couple of years

In Wonko's opinion, we really do need accountability when these people (yes, people because that's all Justices and Judges and Magistrates are) make their decisions.