Hunt for hillbilly roo killers

Scores of kangaroos are reportedly being maimed. Source: HWT Image Library

A GANG of hillbilly bandits is shooting up mobs of kangaroos in Melbourne's north and fed-up residents are offering a reward for their arrest.

Upper Plenty local Sandy Hall says she is sick and tired of "ferals" illegally shooting wildlife on her property. She says scores of roos are being maimed and even cut up and thrown in pieces around her property in the dead of night.

Ms Hall, from the tiny hamlet just near Wallan and Whittlesea, says a lack of resources from nearby police means a gang of out-of-control "ferals" are terrorising neighbours with late night shoot-outs.

"This is happening left, right and centre. They killed a whole family of roos last night - a dad, mum and baby. The wildlife people pulled the joey alive out of the mother's pouch this morning, it's just appalling," she said.

Ms Hall says she believes local trouble-makers shooting unregistered firearms are to blame for the roo slayings.

Ms Hall is offering a $500 reward for someone to turn the killers over to police.

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Libs cautious on Corby parole plan

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop, supports the Government's attempt to help free Schapelle Corby, but says more detail is needed on how the pledge would work.

JULIE Bishop says the Opposition cannot yet commit to a plan to see Schapelle Corby released from her Bali jail cell on parole.

Corby's lawyer Iskandar Nawing said a parole application may be lodged as early as Wednesday or Thursday after the Gillard Government offered Indonesia a formal guarantee that the convicted drug mule would not breach conditions if released.

The application is not guaranteed to succeed but has been given a better chance by the Government's promise.

Under such a plan, Corby, 35, would stay in Bali to see out the rest of her sentence, due to end in January 2017, while adhering to strict requirements.

But Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop has questioned how Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr is able to make such a promise.

Her office cited a statement by Senator Carr's department last year, which said: ''The Australian government can't give guarantees about the behaviour of Australians overseas, nor take legal responsibility.''

Ms Bishop wants to know what has changed since then, exactly what the government had promised and what would happen if the ''unprecedented'' guarantee was called upon.

Australia has offered Indonesia a guarantee that Schapelle Corby will not breach parole if released.

A spokesman for Ms Bishop said she needed answers from the department before a decision was made on whether a Coalition government would support such a guarantee.

''Senator Carr must make it very clear the status of this guarantee,'' Ms Bishop said.

''He says there is no legal liability so precisely what is Senator Carr offering ... and what are the consequences if that guarantee is called upon?''.

Schapelle Corby breaks down when the Bali court sentenced her to life in prison. She now has a chance to walk free on parole.

Ms Bishop said Senator Carr had an ''erratic approach'' to consular matters and perhaps was attracted to certain cases with high media interest.

''I am concerned he has not thought this one through,'' she said.

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Beggars warn of turn to crime

Daniel Harvey begs at Southbank. Picture: Jon Hargest Source: Herald Sun

BEGGARS have warned crime will increase in Melbourne's CBD if police crack down on desperate people asking for money.

People struggling to live on pensions and disability support told the Herald Sun the kindness of Melburnians was helping them to survive their life on the streets.

Their response comes after Lord Mayor Robert Doyle called for vagrants to be removed from the streets after complaints about threatening behaviour. But the move has prompted outrage among Victoria's poorest residents, who fear they will be forced into a life of crime.

Daniel Harvey, 34, has been homeless since he was 17 and suffers a mental illness.

Dressed in an old T-shirt and shorts, he sports a black eye from the most recent time he was attacked while living on the streets.

Have your say below:  Should beggars be banned?

He warned many people were living below the poverty line and even a few dollars made a difference.

"Would he (Doyle) rather me make my living through crime?" Mr Harvey said.

"I guarantee it would happen. The Government allows asylum seekers in this country and gives them housing, even loans for cars.

"They're not looking after their own. It makes me question what is going on."

Another beggar, David, said: "What do they want us to do - start robbing people?"

Gabriele Falone said he was so desperate he begged so he could eat. "I don't walk up to people, I would feel ashamed to," he said.

He said on Saturday he made $15. At 11am yesterday he had made 15c from one mother's donation.

A cabinet maker, he has been on the streets since 2000, the year his parents died.

He admitted he did not like asking for money, but said free food was not easily accessible.

The anti-begging strategy, an initiative by Melbourne City Council, police and the Salvation Army, aims to place the struggling citizens into a compulsory diversion program.

Cr Doyle said complaints about beggars had risen.

He labelled some beggars as "confronting and threatening" and urged people to "never give beggars money".

christopher.gillett@news.com.au

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Radical route to gridlock-free cities

SCHOOL starting times would be staggered and congestion charges trialled under a radical plan to unclog Australia's congested capital cities.

A taskforce of eight key transport, planning and health industry bodies will tomorrow night release a 130-page report warning Australian cities are in crisis, as creaking urban infrastructure fails to keep pace with our growing population.

User-pays fees like tolls, congestion and heavy vehicle charges should be expanded to fund investments in roads, rail and public transport, according to the Moving Australia 2030 report, to be launched by the federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese.

Innovative ways to ease congestion are recommended, including getting parents to drop children at to school at different times, increased use of telework, stamp duty and insurance premium reductions on car-share schemes, incentives for car pooling and extending programs that encourage people to walk to work.

Taskforce spokesman Michael Apps told News Limited that all Australian cities were beset by the same congestion problems that led Julia Gillard to campaign in Western Sydney last week.

"Our capital cities are in crisis and national leadership is required," he said.

Australians are being forced into their cars because of a lack of public transport options, the report says, exposing them to rising petrol prices and the health effects of physical inactivity.

Staggering start and finish hours of schools would help alleviate the twice-daily school rush, Mr Apps said.

"Everyone drops their kids off and picks their kids up at exactly the same time, which also coincides with the start of our work times.

"Congestion in every capital city effectively drops off by 5 percent in school holidays, which actually clears you a lot of road space.

"Clearly if you can stagger the start times, and schools can look at what is best for their own communities and parents, they may be able to come up with new and innovative ways to do it.

Different schools within the same area could elect to start at different times between 7 am and 9am. Within schools, different year groups could also be staggered to start at different times.

"It's really about spreading the peak time to manage the impact of congestion," Mr Apps said.

The report predicts that by 2030, Australia will be home to five million more people. It says congestion costs will soar from $9.4 billion a year now to $20 billion a year by 2020.

Congestion charges, which use number-plate recognition technology to track and charge cars entering busy CBD areas, were a key recommendation of the Ken Henry review.

However, the taskforce says congestion charging should only be established if revenue funded public transport.

Physical inactivity costs Australia $13.8 billion a year, the report finds. Even among people who live less than 5km from their workplaces, 70 per cent drive.

The taskforce comprises eight industry bodies including the Bus Industry Confederation, the Australasian Railway Association, the Tourism and Transport Forum, the Planning Institute Australia and the Heart Foundation.

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Drunk women hit the mean streets

A highly intoxicated woman at a bus stop is helped by a friend as she is sick all over the ground. Picture: Gordon McComiskie Source: The Daily Telegraph

YOUNG women are getting drunker than ever on Sydney's streets.

More than 80 per cent of all sexual offences, including rape and indecent assault, involve either the victim or the offender being affected by alcohol, an analysis of police data for Sydney shows.

More women in the city are coming to police attention as being well affected or seriously affected by alcohol - the equivalent of 10 to 20 drinks, or two bottles of wine.

In NSW, more than a quarter of those who come to police attention as "seriously affected" by drink are women.

Superintendent Mark Walton of City Central local area command - the largest in the Sydney's CBD - and the NSW Police Force spokesman on alcohol-related crime, said it was obvious every Friday and Saturday night.

"Women are drinking to excess. When women are seriously or well affected by alcohol they are more likely to be involved in violent incidents," Supt Walton said.

Involved, he said, as a victim or an offender.

"The one thing that keeps me up at night is the vulnerability of women, when they are well affected by alcohol, to sex assault," he said.

"They are more likely to be preyed on. That certainly doesn't excuse the actions of perpetrators. It's just a fact.

"This is not to apportion blame to the victim, it is just to increase the awareness that alcohol use makes you more vulnerable and we need mates to look after each other."

A day after a Daily Telegraph special report revealed the rate of crime involving women was soaring, police data showed the number of females identified as "persons of interest" where alcohol was tagged as an associated factor had jumped from 17.6 per cent in 2007 to 18.9 per cent last year.

It now averages 2700 women a year in the city.

Supt Walton said the increasing representation of women reflected society's growing acceptance of equality in our drinking culture. "Certainly in the last 50 years it's become more culturally acceptable for women to drink late into the night and we are becoming more and more desensitised to that behaviour," he said.

He said aggressive marketing by alcohol companies was a factor, with boutique beers and "the lolly water" drinks such as alcopops being pitched at young women.

"You've only got to look at the bottle shop and bar shelves to see what is sold at the late traders - they taste very sweet and are easy to drink, but these are high-alcohol content drinks," he said.

But tougher enforcement by police and greater compliance by publicans and nightclub owners have helped cut the number of alcohol-related assaults since 2008.

Supt Walton attributed that to the "enough is enough" attitude led by Commissioner Andrew Scipione and supported by hotels and clubs.

Ivy nightclub is now the only licensed premises in the city remaining on the NSW list of violent venues. It is rated level 1, meaning 19 or more violent incidents a year, and has a 2am lockout.

In 2005, police began recording details of all crime where alcohol was an associated factor - including how much the person had drunk and where they had consumed their last drink. The Daily Telegraph's analysis of police data for all alcohol-related crime in the four CBD commands - City Central, Kings Cross, The Rocks and Surry Hills - showed incidents rose from 2002 to peak in 2008, but have since declined or stabilised.

Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data supported the findings but also revealed an increase in women charged with offensive conduct or offensive language. This month the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre found people now typically have their first drink aged just over 14 - three years younger than the female Baby Boomers.

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Anti-vaccine group faces deregistration

The AVN has been blamed for a growing number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children

THE future of the Australian Vaccination Network is in doubt, following the government rejection of five suggested new names for the group because they don't reflect its anti-vaccination stance.

The AVN has until March 21 to change its name or it faces deregistration, after NSW Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts issued a formal order that its name misleads the public.

The organisation does not present a balanced case for vaccination and has no medical evidence to back its anti-vaccination stance, he says.

The controversial group has been attacked by doctors and scientists for discouraging parents from vaccinating their children and NSW Fair Trading has received complaints about its name.

The organisation will this week attempt to thwart the minister's order through an appeal in the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal.

AVN president Greg Beattie told News Limited it was vital the words Australia and Vaccination remained in the group's name because they defined what the organisation was about.

He said the group had sent a letter to the Fair Trading Department to ask whether they would accept one of five suggested name changes.

These include Australian Vaccination Information Network and Australian Vaccination Choice.

"We can't just change our name under the Association's Incorporation Act, we must go through a process of consulting with our members and we need a 75 per cent majority vote," Mr Beattie said.

"We've had the name for 19 years, so we want as small a change as possible."

Mr Roberts said he was demanding the name change "because we will not tolerate parents being misled by its name and children's health being put at risk".

"Here's my tip for the AVN, suggest a name which reflects your anti-vaccination stance."

Australian Medical Association president Dr Steve Hambleton said parents visiting the AVN's website may think they were getting a balanced view of immunisation, rather than just the case against.

"The name changes they are proposing still suggest they are providing both sides of the argument when indeed they don't," he said.

The lobby group has been blamed for a growing number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children, a move that reduces the herd immunity from vaccination and potentially exposes babies and children to deadly diseases like whooping cough and measles.

Late last year, the Academy of Science published a guide for parents on the importance of vaccination to fight the group's influence.

The number of Australian babies not fully immunised is now one in 12 and the number of parents registering a conscientious objection to immunisation has leapt from 4271 in 1999 to more than 30,000.

Professor Ian Frazer, who developed the cervical cancer vaccine, has warned immunisation levels for some diseases were falling below those required to prevent deadly outbreaks.

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Labor bounces back in poll surprise

Prime Minister Julia Gillard wore plenty of criticism over management of her visit to Western Sydney, but her bounce in the polls has been linked to that campaigning effort. Picture: Matthew Sullivan Source: News Limited

JULIA Gillard will have a bounce in her step today with a three-point rise in support for the Government that will dampen talk of a push this week against her leadership.

Today's Newspoll, published in The Australian, puts Labor within striking distance of winning an election and has Ms Gillard back in front of Tony Abbott as preferred Prime Minister.

Ms Gillard's controversial crackdown on 457 visas for skilled foreign workers and her week-long visit to Labor's problem area of western Sydney appear to have driven the boost.

Newspoll shows support for Labor rose three points to 34 per cent while the Coalition fell three points to 44 per cent. The Greens were steady on 11 per cent.

In two-party terms, the Coalition's 10-point lead a fortnight ago has narrowed to four points with the Opposition ahead 52 to 48 per cent.

Ms Gillard enjoyed a six- point leap as preferred PM to 42 per cent while Mr Abbott dropped two to 38 per cent.

The national poll was taken at the weekend at the same time Labor suffered a drubbing in the WA state election that sparked calls for Ms Gillard to quit.

Cabinet ministers Penny Wong, Peter Garrett, Bill Shorten and Craig Emerson rallied in support of Ms Gillard ahead of today's sitting of Federal Parliament.

Chatter about the leadership and calls in some quarters for a change is consuming the ALP. Some MPs said there was despair about the ALP's prospects at the September 14 Federal Election and "growing anticipation" of a circuit-breaker.

Senate leader Stephen Conroy said Ms Gillard "is the best leader" and said voters would dump Labor if it didn't pull itself together.

"If the Labor Party wants to keep talking about itself and the lint in its navel then the Australian public will treat it accordingly," he said.

The PM met senior MPs and faction chiefs yesterday but sources insisted it was a regular strategy meeting.

One of Ms Gillard's supporters said "there's no way she'll throw in the towel" like Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu last week.

MPs who want a return to Kevin Rudd insisted he would not challenge and one backer said he believed the former PM would not take the job unless it was clear cut and on his terms.

A rumour that spread through the ALP that Senator Conroy was sounding out numbers for a switch to install Mr Shorten as PM was dismissed as a prank.

Special Minister of State Gary Gray, from WA, who also supports Ms Gillard, gave an insight to the fragility in the caucus when he conceded a leadership ballot was a possibility. But Mr Gray said the Howard government had faced seemingly sure election defeats in 2001 and 2004, yet still won.

"I believe not only can Julia Gillard win, I believe Julia Gillard is capable of governing not just for the next term, but for the one after that. She's a Prime Minister of great standing, great quality, great character and great tenacity," he said.

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Hopping mad? Scientist wants more toads

PEST PROBE: University of Sydney researcher Rick Shine believes importing toads could be key to controlling the pesky pest. Pic: Alan Pryke Source: The Courier-Mail

A LEADING scientist wants to import more cane toads into Australia.

But his proposal is all for a good cause, with University of Sydney researcher Rick Shine seeking to use 40 toads for research he believes may contain the key to controlling the pest, hundreds of millions of which have devastated wildlife across much of northern Australia.

It's proposed they be brought from Venezuela, their native range, and Hawaii because toads were originally introduced to Queensland from those countries.

The original 40 will be bred then euthanased, with research conducted on their offspring. This will minimise the transmission of any parasites or disease. When research is finished, all offspring will be destroyed.

Professor Shine, a 2012 Australian Laureate Fellow and leading researcher, hopes that no one will get hopping mad about his idea which is yet to be approved by the Federal Environment Department.

His work will start in May and last five years, costing $1 million, funded from an Australian Research Council grant.

"By bringing in these toads we will be able to see what Aussie toad ancestors looked like and it will give us a much clearer idea of how they have adapted here," he said. "Hopefully, this will give us ideas about what to do about them.

"The bottom line is that we'll be looking at the biology of toads and any vulnerabilities which eventually might be used in control methods."

PEST PROBE: University of Sydney researcher Rick Shine believes importing toads could be key to controlling the pesky pest. Pic: Alan Pryke

Professor Shine said toads had spread to more than 40 countries but they particularly prospered in Australia.

This was due to a suitable environment and because we had no native toad species. This meant no animals here had evolved either to eat poisonous toads or to avoid them.

"Our animals just don't understand that a toad for breakfast is a bad idea," he said. "Bringing in animals like toads, cats, rabbits and foxes has been a catastrophe for native animals."

Professor Shine is intrigued with the speed with which toads have evolved in Australia, developing long legs that enable them to cover 1km in a single night and allowing them to spread at 50km a year.

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