April 11, 2009
P 116 Case study The obligations of agencies: Mr Allan Kessing Background On 29 June 2007, Deputy Chief Justice Bennett of the New South Wales District Court sentenced Allan Robert Kessing to a suspended period of nine months imprisonment for an offence against s 70 of the Crimes Act 1914. While Mr Kessing was working with Customs, he had drafted and circulated documents relating to security at Sydney airport. These reports had been submitted to line management at the airport but senior managers in Canberra were not aware of their existence. Details of the documents later appeared in the press.
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Breathing space for lazy and corrupt Chris Merritt | February 26, 2009 THE Dreyfus committee's proposed federal whistleblower law is a good first effort. Once its obvious flaws are fixed, it should work. If Labor has the courage to build on this foundation, it will have a real shot at delivering on its promise of a new era of openness. But as things stand, the committee's scheme has a dreadful shortcoming: it provides breathing space for public servants who are lazy, corrupt or inept. That, of course, is not the intention. But it will flow directly from the committee's plan
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Labor's Mark Dreyfus focus of media anger Chris Merritt, Legal affairs editor | March 25, 2009 THE federal Government came under sustained attack by senior media figures yesterday over concerns that it will not go far enough in protecting whistleblowers in the public service. Senior Labor backbencher Mark Dreyfus was the target of criticism over proposed whistleblower reforms that were labelled "pathetic" by Nine Network journalist Laurie Oakes. Oakes told yesterday's Right to Know conference that a scheme drawn up by a parliamentary committee chaired by Mr Dreyfus would not improve the protection for whistleblowers. The scheme, which is being
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Bikie Brawl Mark DODD - The Australian
Mark Dodd | March 25, 2009 The Australian FOUR men had been arrested, police had arrived and were taping off the public concourse area of the departure terminal, but the woman's voice quivered with nervousness at what she had just witnessed: a vicious killing in full public view at Sydney airport. The horror was fresh, the images indelibly fixed and the words tumbled out freely. "It was awful, I'm sick, it was appalling, I've never seen anything like it in my life," the witness told me. "Babies were getting knocked out of strollers, they were fighting all through here. It read more ...Post Bikie Fracas OZ Editorial
Keelty must respond to airport outrage March 24, 2009 The Australian Police were unprepared for a brawl, let alone a bomber WHO does Mick Keelty think he's kidding with his claim Sydney airport security was "acceptable" on Sunday when two gangs of feuding bikies fought in the domestic terminal? Whatever the Australian Federal Police Commissioner thinks, it is not acceptable for brutes to brawl in what should be the securest public place in the city. It is not acceptable for ordinary Australians to be caught up in the equivalent of a cage fight, and be forced to witness a man read more ...
As we say at Qantas, there's no CCTV like no CCTV Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes: It’s a cosy world in the security industry. Steve Jackson is Qantas’s new General Manager of Security. With immaculate timing, he replaced the retiring Geoff Askew this week, although Jackson has been Askew’s deputy for the last five years. Jackson was previously a senior Australian Federal Police officer. He was operational commander during the 2000 Olympic Games and received the Order of Australia for his performance as Field Commander of the joint investigation with the Indonesians into the Bali bombings. It’s fair to say
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Xenophon's push to improve shield laws http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,,25281212-17044,00.html Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs editor | April 03, 2009 INDEPENDENT senator Nick Xenophon is working on a plan to force the federal Government to improve its proposed shield laws for journalists' sources. He hopes to mobilise Senate cross-benchers to force the Government to give more certain protection for journalists who seek to protect their sources. Senator Xenophon is also planning to force changes on the proposed whistleblower protection laws that are being considered by the Government. His warning about the need for change comes soon after he forced the Government to spend more
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25281214-17044,00.html THE Australian Council of Civil Liberties supports an attempt by whistleblower Allan Kessing to have the High Court rule on the validity of his criminal conviction. ACC president Terry O'Gorman said he agreed with Mr Kessing's call for the federal Director of Public Prosecutions to lift its opposition to Mr Kessing's application to appeal to the High Court. "I think what he is asking the DPP is both reasonable and common sense," Mr O'Gorman said. It would be consistent with the Commonwealth's prosecution policy for the DPP to drop its opposition and clear the way for the High Court
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http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/kessing-critical-of-whistleblower-laws-20090405-9soj.html Kessing critical of whistleblower laws April 4, 2009 SMH A former Customs official convicted of leaking confidential reports about failures in airport security to the media says the federal government's proposed new whistleblower laws are not enough protection. Allan Kessing was accused of leaking two highly-confidential Australian Customs Service reports to The Australian newspaper in 2005, sparking the biggest overhaul of airport security in the country's history. Kessing was found guilty by a NSW District Court jury in March 2007 and given a suspended sentence. Kessing denies being behind the leaks, but failed in a bid to have his
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Julia GILLARD Deputy PM Alan JONES 2GB
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Ministers/Gillard/Media/Transcripts/Pages/Article_090326_121819.aspx The Hon Julia Gillard MP E&OE TRANSCRIPT INTERVIEW 2GB 715AM THURSDAY 26 MARCH 2009 ISSUES: PM meeting with President Obama; temporary guarantee of state borrowing; whistleblowers protection; Fair Work Bill; Building the Education Revolution; Bradley Review ALAN JONES: Right. Kevin Rudd, to his credit, has said yesterday in Washington, just on this Sydney Airport carnage, that there’ll be zero tolerance of this rubbish that we’ve seen in Sydney Airport. Back in 2005, the Australian newspaper published details of two reports relating to drug trafficking by airport staff and gaps in anti-terror security. Then followed the biggest overhaul, allegedly, of read more ...