Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he takes heart from a new opinion poll that shows the Coalition is level pegging with Labor. The poll of New South Wales voters in today’s Fairfax newspapers shows the Coalition is equal with Labor on a two-party preferred basis. However, Kevin Rudd remains the preferred prime minister at 53 per cent compared to Mr Abbott’s 40 per cent. Bugger. Mr Abbott welcomed the poll result but said the Coalition had a long way to go to win government. About 13 “I’m not making too much of this poll,” he told Channel Ten. I’m unhappy...

First of all, I really don’t like the title of this post, what the hell is knife culture? Second, it’s in Vic, let them lead by example and the rest of the states do the same. The Victorian Government has announced plans to give Consumer Affairs inspectors the power to seize knives that are being sold illegally across the state. The announcement follows the latest knife incident in which a 27-year-old man was slashed across the face as he tried to stop gatecrashers from entering a 16th birthday party at East Bentleigh. The Consumer Affairs Minister Tony Robinson says he is appalled...

The Federal Government is under pressure to refer new claims concerning the mismanagement of its home insulation program to the Auditor General. The Federal Opposition is calling for an independent inquiry into whether Environment Minister Peter Garrett ignored warnings from his own department about potential problems with the home insulation program. The Opposition’s call comes after Mr Garrett was yesterday stripped of his responsibility for overseeing the troubled scheme. Government frontbencher Greg Combet has been handed the job of winding up the old insulation program and rolling out...

Tasmania’s political leaders have attempted to woo the information technology sector at a forum in Hobart. The Premier, David Bartlett spoke first promising to create a new minister for innovations, science and information technology if re-elected. He also pledged almost $5 million to boost health and education programs linked to the proposed national broadband network. The Opposition leader, Will Hodgman is promising to appointment a chief technology officer and chief information officer to drive progress in the sector. He says the Liberals new advisory body, Infrastructure Tasmania, would...

Anyone nominate these experts for receiving a medal? Victoria Police say there were 13 incidents involving knives in Melbourne at the weekend, most of which were alcohol or drug-related and involved young men. The director of the Alfred Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Centre, Dr De Villiers Smit, says the past weekend is one he will never forget. “I worked this weekend and to the best of my knowledge I can’t remember it being so busy with regard to stabbings,” he said. “We see quite a variety of injuries – on the weekend specifically we saw some stabbings to...

Fairly old news but I found a bumper sticker on a car with the above slogan. Here’s an article on how it came around – and how they got fined: SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian hire firm which painted “Save a Whale–Harpoon a Jap” on the side of one its camping vans was accused by a senior politician Thursday of racism and risking a tourist backlash. Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh said she was concerned that Japanese tourists should feel welcome in the state. Money brought in by Japanese visitors is an important part of Australia’s tourism earnings, despite...

Fingers crossed he’s forced to resign. STEPHEN Conroy has been a guest of the three commercial television networks at some of Australia’s biggest sporting events during his time as Communications Minister. The extent of the largesse received by the sports-loving minister adds to the appearance of a conflict of interest after his decision to offer a rebate to the free-to-air TV networks worth $250 million over the next two years. Parliamentary documents reveal that Senator Conroy has attended football, AFL, motor racing and horse-racing events as guests of the commercial TV networks...

And now for justice. He should be charged as an adult, as he committed an adult crime (just like the kid who blew someone’s fucking head off with a shotgun) and not get out scot free with it (like the aforementioned did) . Summary, and full story bit. A 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a fellow student at a Brisbane school has been refused bail. The boy, who cannot be named, is charged with the murder of 12-year-old Elliott Fletcher, who was stabbed in the chest at St Patrick’s College at Shorncliffe on Monday and later died in hospital. The accused year nine student did not...

Now for the cyber-bullying bit: Police are investigating offensive messages posted on a social networking site honouring the life of a 12-year-old boy allegedly stabbed to death by a fellow student at his north Brisbane school. Thousands of past and present students of St Patrick’s College at Shorncliffe, where the incident occurred yesterday morning, wrote moving tributes to Elliott Fletcher throughout the afternoon. But within hours the page had been vandalised with offensive messages and links to other sites, reported to include pornography. Police are this morning working to confirm the...

Here’s the first real school-yard murder, there was one where a child died after hitting his/her head, but it was really accidental. This of course is on purpose. Bullying is a problem, whether it be mental, or physical. You’ve probably already hears this, but it’s worth a post. And it’s from Brisbane. Police have charged a 13-year-old boy with murder after the fatal stabbing of Elliott Fletcher at St Patrick’s College north of Brisbane this morning. Elliott, 12, died of stab wounds after an altercation at the private Catholic boys’ high school at Shorncliffe...