Queensland Government clarifies laws on American Pit Bulls

Media Release

Minister for Local Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships

The Honourable Desley Boyle

31/07/2010

Confusion over American Staffies no longer: Minister

Local Government Minister Desley Boyle has today announced she will amend the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008 to clarify once and for all that American Staffordshire terriers are not classified as "restricted dogs".

This follows a Supreme Court case in April, Gold Coast City Council v. Chivers, which ruled the Amstaff involved was the same as a restricted American Pit bull.

Ms Boyle said pit bulls have been prohibited by many Queensland Councils under their local laws, listed as "restricted" under State legislation and banned from importation by the Commonwealth.

There are an estimated 4,000 Amstaffs in Queensland, some 230 on the Gold Coast.

"The amendment will state categorically that for the purposes of the Act, Amstaffs will not be considered the same as the restricted pit bulls," Ms Boyle said.

"This will give Amstaff owners especially on the Gold Coast certainty about their rights and obligations yet it will give Queens landers peace of mind that the legislation's tough penalties remain for irresponsible pet owners whose dogs cause fear or harm," she said.

"While it was never the State's intention for the Act to classify Amstaffs as restricted dogs, the recent court case has meant the amendment is now necessary."

It is generally accepted among experts that Amstaffs and pit bulls descended from Staffordshire bull terrier-type dogs however the restricted pit bulls were bred specifically as fighting animals.

Amstaffs on the other hand were bred almost exclusively as show and companion dogs, widely recognised as trainable and family-friendly pets.

Amstaffs are even used as therapy dogs including in hospitals. Well-known Brisbane Amstaff Nudie, owned by Mrs Melissa Greenall, visits aged-care facilities, special care and children's wards.

"Importantly the proposed amendment to the legislation will not compromise community safety as owners of all dogs, including Amstaff owners, will be held accountable for the behaviour of their charges," said the Minister.

"The same rules apply to all dog owners and you will feel the full weight of the law if your dog behaves badly or causes harm."

If a dog bites someone, Ms Boyle said a fine of up to $30,000 can apply under the Act and the dog can be seized by Council and declared as dangerous.

"If a dog bails someone up on the street, a fine of $2,000 can apply and Council can declare the animal as menacing," she said.

"Special provisions apply to animals declared as dangerous or menacing, such as fencing, muzzling and kennel requirements.

"I take this opportunity to thank Dogs Queensland President Barry Vickers in particularly and his team who have worked with departmental officers in sorting out the confusions flowing from the recent court decision and this amendment will put the matter to rest.

Would You Post that on a Billboard? Then Don’t Post it on Facebook

http://southern-courier.whereilive.com.au

Residents are urged to be aware of new, increasingly sophisticated forms of fraud and ID theft. 

 

Speaking at a conference on fraud and ID theft organised by Crime Stoppers, Police Minister Michael Daley said that NSW Police detectives were seeing new scams, where personal information gleaned off social networking sites was then used to target victims over the phone, or by email. 

 

"For all its benefits, technology has made it easier than ever for criminals to separate people from their hard-earned money," he said. 

 

"In the past, criminals have sourced their information about an individual by rummaging through garbage bins for bank statements, tax returns, any documents which can be used to compile a profile on a person.

 

"These days, social media and networking sites are routinely 'surfed' to compile a profile on a target individual.

 

"The people compiling the profiles are not necessarily the people who will scam you. The information-compilers will often on-sell their data to scammers," Mr Daley said. 

 

The advice follows new figures released by the Attorney General showing that since new laws targeting identity crime were introduced, police have issued some 50 court attendance notices.  The DPP has also advised that 18 matters involving 111 counts are currently being prosecuted in the District Court.

 

"These new offences, which commenced on 22 February this year, recognize that crime is evolving, and that criminals are now dealing in information that can be used by others to commit crimes like fraud" NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos.

 

The laws make it a crime to sell, use, or possess identification information with criminal intent. 

 

"These figures showing the number of charges since the laws commenced demonstrate that Police are working hard to stamp out a crime that costs the Australian community nearly $1 billion a year" he said.

 

Mr Daley gave an example of a recent scam through which a woman was told in an online chat room that they thought their mum went to school with the target's mum. 

 

The alleged offender then asked for the victim's maiden name – a common security question for various accounts to verify a person's identity.

 

Mr Daley said that once a scammer has personal information such as your date of birth, address, occupation or mother's maiden name – it can be very easy for them to convince a victim that they are from a legitimate Government agency. 

 

"There have been approximately 120 reports since mid-February of a new scam that involves the scammer contacting the victim, and purporting to work for the Australian Tax Office or another Government Agency or a bank," he said. 

 

"These scammers use information gleaned off social-networking sites or chat-rooms to convince their target that they are from a legitimate organisation. 

 

"Scammers are typically excellent salesmen, they are people who can 'read' individuals.

 

"They know how to appeal to a person's weaknesses, be it a person willing to pay money to secure a fictional lottery win in Nigeria or a beautiful Russian bride. 

 

"So I'd ask the community to protect their online information and to remember that if the offer is too good to be true, it probably is," Mr Daley said. 

 

Tips and Hints:

 

• Never put any information about yourself on a social networking wall that you would not feel comfortable also putting on a billboard on a busy road;

 

• Is the person who wants to be "friended" actually who they say they? Make sure you know the people you are adding as friends; 

 

• Ensure your security settings are up to date and your page is not available to everyone.

 

• Information which can be used by criminals includes; date of birth, address, photos and images suitable for ID Theft, occupation, pets names (a common password choice),

when people are going on holidays, or information about the purchase of a new home, car or holiday house. 

 

Background:

In the current scam, the offender convinces the recipient that they have been selected from a number of people who are eligible to claim a reward for continually paying their taxes or they have been overcharged bank fees or Government fees. 

 

The caller promises to have funds electronically sent to their bank account if the details of this (with other personal identification details) are supplied verbally. 

 

The details provided then allow the offender to withdraw funds from the victim's bank account.   

 

The offender could also request that money be sent via Western Union as a form of "advance".  This is represented as a Service Fee, Transfer Request or a Rebate Fee. 

 

Very recently these representations have been made by email, with very authentic looking logos and a convincing, but fake, Tax Office form. The email may also direct victims to a bogus ATO website and request personal identification and financial information. 

 

Any person who believes they may have received such telephone call or email of this nature is advised to report the matter to the local police. 

 

Under no circumstances should they respond to or engage in further communication with the caller / sender of suspicious email.

 

 

The Great Ice Cream Ripoff: Australia's Biggest Ice Cream Ripoff at Kuta Cafe Brisbane

Is this Australia's biggest ice cream ripoff?

On top of Mt Coot-tha in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane, Kuta Cafe is one of the most-popular cafes in Queensland with tourists flocking day and night to witness the magnificent panoramic views of Brisbane.

But at $4.90 for a single ice cream cone, Kuta Cafe is engaging in a consumer ripoff which deserves an immediate place in the Guinness Book of Records.

With a markup - including the average looking cone - estimated at 2000%, the operators of Kuta Cafe are creating a very poor impression particularly for our foreign and Australian tourists.

Brisbane City Council leases the Kuta Cafe and it's about time the next lease places some price controls on the operator to stop this embarrassing international ripoff.

In Aboriginal, the word "kuta" or its anglicised version of "coot-tha" means "place of honey".

For the operators of Kuta Cafe, it undoubtedly means the "land of milk and honey" - based on their great ice cream ripoff, possibly the greatest ripoff of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

Consumer Watch spokesman Paul Tully said prices charged by operators in tourist areas should protect Australia's international reputation.

"Ripoff prices particularly those charged by operators with no immediate competition are embarrassing to all fair-minded Australians."

Kuta Cafe is more than welcome to publicly justify their prices. Their response is just an email click away.
............................................
Do you know of a bigger ice cream ripoff than the one being perpetrated by Brisbane's Kuta Cafe? Email full details to QueenslandConsumerWatch@gmail.com

Australian Telco bombshell: Telstra fined $18.5million for blocking broadband competitors

CourierMail.com.au

 

TELSTRA has been fined $18.5 million for illegally blocking broadband competitors from using its local exchanges.

 

The corporate watchdog had pushed for a $40 million fine for the breaches, which occurred between January 2006 and February 2008, but Justice John Middleton believed the telco's conduct was not deliberately anti-competitive.

 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had taken Telstra to the Federal Court of Australia for refusing competitors access 27 times to installing ADSL equipment at seven exchanges around Australia.

 

Justice Middleton said Telstra's relevant managers and employees who denied the access were either not properly trained in regard to access obligations or failed to comply with their training.

 

He said Telstra had no adequate system in place to check on compliance.

 

``In most cases Telstra staff did not understand their responsibilities or roles within Telstra,'' Justice Middleton said.

 

He also said Telstra had shown no remorse during the proceedings.

 

``I am not satisfied, however, that Telstra has demonstrated any remorse, nor that it appreciates the seriousness of its conduct,'' he said.

 

A Telstra spokeswoman said the telco had acknowledged mistakes were made and will not be appealing the decision.

 

``Since these events occurred, Telstra has taken proactive steps to improve our processes in this area, and more generally, to improve service to our wholesale customers,'' the spokeswoman said.

 

``We have learned a lot as a result of this process and like many changes at Telstra, we are endeavouring to improve our performance.

 

``Since the start of the case, we have acknowledged that mistakes were made. We accept the judgment which has been handed down - we will not be appealing.''

LNP loses candidate in mysterious circumstances in the Federal seat of Oxley

What is the real reason behind the withdrawal of the LNP candidate James Downing for the safe Labor seat of Oxley?

 

Rumours circulating in the electorate are that James was in perfectly good health until he heard that he was about to face a torrent of embarrassing publicity which could have seen the minority LNP vote dip even further, giving Bernie Ripoll one of the safest Labor seats in Queensland.

 

James' good health suddenly took a turn for the worse and a tap on the shoulder from the Liberal / National Party bosses in Brisbane's saw one of the shortest political careers in Australian history come to a sudden end.

 

Out of the public spotlight, James' quick recuperative abilities have apparently seen his good health magically restored!

 

 

VexNews.com reports:

The Queensland LNP has lost yet another candidate, this time in the safe Labor federal seat of Oxley.

LNP officials say the UQ politics student James Downing withdrew for health reasons, although would not elaborate on the nature of his condition. Preselection interruptus is certainly doing the rounds in Queensland conservative circles.

Local party insiders though say the twenty-one year old was "told to resign" and that he is actually in perfectly good health.

With a federal election expected to be called within weeks, the LNP does not currently have a candidate in Oxley.

The young lad has been out campaigning and had set a cracking pace according to local party members.

Battle for Blair in great debate as Ipswich becomes the centrepiece of the the Federal election

QT.com.au

 

POLITICAL opponents Shayne Neumann and Neil Zabel agree on one thing – they need to follow the lead of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott and have a debate before the election.

 

Mr Neumann said he would be happy to debate his Liberal National Party rival ahead of the August 21 poll.

 

"Any time, anywhere, any place," he said.

 

"I'd look forward to it because I think my opponent Neil Zabel has many questions to answer.

 

"Why would his party stop construction on the Ipswich Motorway? That's the number one question I want to ask him."

 

Mr Zabel was quick to fire back with a question of his own.

 

"Why has Mr Neumann allowed the national debt to grow at such a rapid rate?" he said.

 

Mr Zabel said he would welcome a local debate between the two major parties.

 

"You name the time and place and I'm there," he said.

 

Ms Gillard won Sunday night's leaders' debate by a 63 to 37 per cent margin, according to the Channel Nine worm that monitored audience reaction.

 

Not surprisingly, Mr Neumann also awarded the debate to the Labor Party leader.

 

"The worm doesn't lie. Julia clearly won the debate, while Tony Abbott spent the entire time whinging," he said.

 

Mr Zabel disagreed, saying Ms Gillard once again put style over substance, while Mr Abbott was focused on the future.

 

"Sunday night's debate was a decisive moment in the campaign. It was the first and only opportunity for the electorate to see the leaders go head to head and outline in detail their plans for Australia," he said.

 

"Julia Gillard put on a show to get through the election, but she failed to persuade Australians that she is any different to former PM Kevin Rudd or that Labor's approach has changed.

 

"Tony Abbott was the only leader to set out clear and precise commitments for the future. He addressed all the major issues; the economy, cost of living pressures on families, illegal boats, Labor's mining tax and the environment."

 

Tony Abbott loses the women's vote in the great debate tonight

The worm has turned.

Tony Abbott is losing the women's vote in Channel 7's PollieGraph Debate tonight against PM Julia Gillard.

The Liberals will be thinking of bringing back Malcolm Turnbull in a few weeks.

Brisbane Airport Corporation hits the name Eagle Farm for six: Jim Carden's plan to scrap Queensland aviation history

Brisbane Airport Corporation's
Executive Manager Jim Carden
wants to dump an important
part of Queensland history from
the Brisbane Airport


It was disturbing to read the report in the City North News of 15 July 2010 that the Brisbane Airport Corporation is unhappy with its current suburb name of Eagle Farm under the Queensland Place Names Act and wants to change the name of the suburb surrounding the area to "Brisbane Airport".

 

And who is leading this idiotic charge - none other than BAC's usual spokesman Jim Carden.

 

Good one, Jim!

 

Jim seems to have a habit of regularly attracting the wrong sort of media attention. 

 

Just look at the recent debacle when the BAC unilaterally closed part of the vehicular drop-off area at the domestic terminal, creating one of the biggest traffic jams seen at the airport for many years.

 

That was called a "solution" one day and scrapped the very next day after Jim apparently realised his blunder.

 

How could you possibly solve a parking problem by blocking off half the car parking bays?

A few weeks before that, the Brisbane Airport became the laughing stock of the world when television reports around the globe showed cab drivers being arrested after complaining about the lack of taxi parking at the airport.

 

Now, everyone knows that Jim's ego is estimated to be as big as a couple of 747s but this latest stunt to dump the name Eagle Farm is nothing short of a disgrace.

 

Next, Jim Carden will want his own local government and the title of mayor to run his own personal fiefdom.

 

This latest move is utterly offensive to every decent, fair-minded Queenslander.

 

The name Eagle Farm is synonymous worldwide as the home of aviation in Queensland.

 

Eagle Farm was first used as a landing strip in 1922 and became the home of Qantas in Brisbane in 1926.

 

On 9 June 1928, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm and two others landed in the Southern Cross at Eagle Farm airport at the end of the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean from Oakland, California.
 
16,000 people rushed to Eagle Farm to greet the Southern Cross.

 

Now, Jim Carden wants to dump this important link to the City of Brisbane into the depths of Moreton Bay.

 

Jim, you are out of your depth on this issue and it's about time you read and understood the important history of the Eagle Farm airport and its contribution to the City of Brisbane.

 

One scintilla of decency would see this crazy plan dropped immediately.

Jim, you are invited to have your say on this sensitive issue so that the people of Queensland can understand what is driving you with such desperation to abandon the name of Eagle Farm for the Brisbane Airport.

 

Your response is only an email click away.

 

 

This is the full online City North News report:

We want more: Darren Chambemain, Sarah Weldon, Hayley Cook.

BRISBANE Airport wants to follow in Teneriffe's footsteps and become an official suburb.

Brisbane Airport Corporation spokesman Jim Carden said they were applying to the State Government to change the area's name.

He said a variety of suburbs were currently used by businesses in the area including Eagle Farm, Hendra and Pinkenba.

``It's about clarity for hundreds of businesses in the airport,'' Mr Carden said.

``You've got 17,000 people and that workforce will effectively double in 20 years.''

Other cities have recognised their airports as suburbs or localities including Melbourne and Adelaide.

The name Brisbane Airport has also not been attached to a postcode, making it the only major mainland airport not to have its own digits.

``Brisbane Airport not only deserves this formal recognition, but more importantly the services of a post office to service this growing workforce,'' Mr Carden said.

``Formal recognition of the location is required by Australia Post to enable such postal services to be secured.''

He said they were not looking to compete with the CBD.

``I think it's about building our identity as a place of significance in Brisbane.''

There are 320 businesses in the area.

Significant institutions like the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the University of Queensland are other places with their own postcodes.

 

New Liberal candidate in NSW Venus Priest is Facebook mates with dumped Liberal candidate in Queensland Michael Johnson

Politics works in mysterious ways.

The new Liberal candidate for the Federal seat of Chifley in western Sydney Venus Priest is friends on Facebook with disgraced LNP candidate for the Federal seat of Ryan in Queensland Michael Johnson.

 

Is she secretly in cahoots with Michael after she was pre-selected by the Liberal Party hierarchy in New South Wales following the spectacular dumping of David Barker in the safe Labor seat of Chifley?
 
The former disgraced Liberal candidate used his Facebook site to accuse Labor of moving the nation closer to a Muslim country and attacked his ALP opponent in Chifley, Ed Husic, over his religion.

 

Now, he cannot work out why he was dumped by the Liberal Party.

 

If he is that stupid, it now makes sense why he joined the Liberal Party in the first place.

 

This is Venus Priest's Facebook link to Michael Johnson in Queensland:

 

 

Add as Friend

 

Michael Johnson Mp Libs cut foreign student intake into Australia. This will upset a lot of universities, colleges who depend on foreign income.

about an hour ago - via Selective Tweets

Laurie Oakes savages Joe Hockey on Channel Nine

The Liberal Party's Joe Hockey put in the worst performance of the election campaign this morning when he was totally savaged by incisive questioning by the formidable Laurie Oakes from Channel 9.

It was almost as bad as his embarrassing grilling on the ABC's 7.30 Report earlier in the week by Kerry O'Brien.

Joe was caught out manipulating immigration figures and was punched from pillar to post by Laurie Oakes who is clearly unimpressed by politicians who have turned spin into a new art form while attempting to dupe the people of Australia.