Recently Mick Keelty the AFP commissioner criticised the media over terrorism case coverage.
The Story can be found here and the Audio of Mick Keelty's comments is here.
I can see a bit of What Mr Keelty is saying people are entitled to the presumption of innocence and to be fairly tried in a court of law. Trial by media is a nasty thing and can be manipulate to easily by unscrupulous lawyers. So to this part I agree. The media should stay out of the courts and only report that there is a trial under way, report the crimes and comment on the progress of the case. They shouldn't really be bringing peoples names and emotional arguments about the consequences of the crimes to the public. In depth interviews with family friends and associated people can wait until after the trial. This can help the public find out about what happened and why.
There are several problems with Mick Keelty's comments though.
The first is that the government of the day and the Aust Federal Police were using the media first to blacken the name of the man charged under terrorism laws. This from Journalist Hedley Thomas: "But the facts are that in the Mohamed Haneef case and others, it's been the police and security agencies and the politicians using police information that have smeared the character of the suspects before they've even been charged." Mick needs to start abiding by his own rules. Once the police and others start the media circus the cannot very well expect that no-one else will be submitting information to the media. If the police want a media blackout before trials then they need to abide by them as well.
Next media mostly commented about the handling of the Haneef case and very little was about the actual charges or weather Dr. Haneef was guilty or not. The Media stories were mainly about lack of evidence and subsequent dropping of charges and extended detention before charges had been layed. I think that most Australians disagreed with the extended detention of Doctor Haneef and the way in which the case was handled.
Finally public institutions that apply the rule of law and have control over daily part of lives need to be subject to public scrutiny to keep them functioning properly. Otherwise you slowly move down the gradient of corruption until you have a Secret police that is used by those in power to control the populace. Comments like the following from Commissioner Keelty are absurd and very dangerous. Someone who makes such comments probably shouldn't be leading the AFP.
He also says criticism of the AFP and other government agencies should be limited.
A quote of Mick Keelty-
"We've just got to call a halt to criticising public institutions when it's the same public institutions that we rely upon to keep good governance,".
Media and Public scrutiny should continue, and if these comments are any indication should increase in intensity. Comments like these show that dangerous seeds have taken root in some of the countries most powerful institutions. Maybe it's time for a bit of Weeding.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Diving Activities
So Min is a diver. Diver Min she shall be known as from now on.
Seriously though we went on the live aboard trip on the weekend and we both had a great time. We left on Friday night about 8pm. True to form Min and I were packing and buying the last necessities on the way to the boat at about 5 to 8. Eventually we made it and were introduced to the crew. Ian the Trip director, Rhys the Instructor, Possum the Cook and Ron the Skipper. The crew were really friendly (not al skippers are friendly) and were easy to approach when we had problems.
The first day we were off to Wheeler reef. All of Mins dives on this reef were training dives. I mixed it up between diving with others and tagging along on the Open water course. This way I managed to get some photos of corals and animals as well as some of Mins outstanding preformance as an open water student.
So 4 dives on Wheeler Reef, including the night dive. The night dive was awesome (my first in a while) you get to concentrate more on a smaller patch of reef and see some of the things that you miss during the day as you are to busy looking around. No photos from the night dive though as the camera didn't like the low light conditions and flashes just don't represent the proper atmosphere that you get out on the reef at night.
Next we were steaming over to Davies Reef. This is the reef that AIMS has its weather station on. There were meant to be another 4 dives here but I only managed 3, well 3 and a half. I was down at 10m and waiting for the open water students to descend when I noticed a stream of bubbles coming from my 2nd stage (The Regulator bit that goes in your mouth for those that don't dive). I thought to myself "That's weird I'm not breathing out". Well I took the reg out of my mouth and looked at it as I had determined with my lightning quick brain that something may be amiss. Well I saw that it was leaking from a join in the hose, It was not a dive ending leak though as it was only a bit of a trickle. Then all hell broke loose as I placed it back in my mouth. I herd a large burst almost like a bang, then a absolute gush of air. I looked around and the only person I could see who was looking in my direction was Henrick a Dutch guy and a student on the open water course. I quickly signalled that I was going up and he nodded with large eyes looking at my regulator spewing forth air. The reg had become hard to breath from by this stage due to a lack of pressure reaching my mouthpiece so I decided too switch to my alternate air source. I slowly ascended (not exceeding 18m per minute) watching my pressure gauge slowly dial down. I lost 80 bar or over a 3rd of the air in my tank in the minute (roughly) it took to ascend. I didn't panic but I couldn't say that It wasn't worrying when I was down at 10m. Anyway drama was over then and I slowly swan back to the ship.
Everyone other than Henrick though was wondering where I had gotten to. Henrick signalled that I was OK and then proceeded to write down on the slate that I had surface and gone back to the boat. The big problem was that he wrote it down in Dutch so everyone just looked at the slate in confusion then assumed that I was an experienced diver and could look after myself. They were right but it does illustrate a point about diving. You really should develop your own skills and abilities so that you can look after yourself because buddies and groups are not always that helpful. I do still recommend diving in groups of at least 2 though as other people can and do help in many situations, there are as they say safety in numbers.
The trip was excellent in General and Min loved the diving so we could be doing a bit more of it now that we are both certified.
A concern voiced to me by Min though was that she might get sick on the yacht trip at the end of the year. So we are off to the Whitsunday's to hire a yacht sometime this year as a practice. When would be a good opportunity maybe a long weekend. Oh well details of that to follow.
Cheers L.
Seriously though we went on the live aboard trip on the weekend and we both had a great time. We left on Friday night about 8pm. True to form Min and I were packing and buying the last necessities on the way to the boat at about 5 to 8. Eventually we made it and were introduced to the crew. Ian the Trip director, Rhys the Instructor, Possum the Cook and Ron the Skipper. The crew were really friendly (not al skippers are friendly) and were easy to approach when we had problems.
The first day we were off to Wheeler reef. All of Mins dives on this reef were training dives. I mixed it up between diving with others and tagging along on the Open water course. This way I managed to get some photos of corals and animals as well as some of Mins outstanding preformance as an open water student.
So 4 dives on Wheeler Reef, including the night dive. The night dive was awesome (my first in a while) you get to concentrate more on a smaller patch of reef and see some of the things that you miss during the day as you are to busy looking around. No photos from the night dive though as the camera didn't like the low light conditions and flashes just don't represent the proper atmosphere that you get out on the reef at night.Next we were steaming over to Davies Reef. This is the reef that AIMS has its weather station on. There were meant to be another 4 dives here but I only managed 3, well 3 and a half. I was down at 10m and waiting for the open water students to descend when I noticed a stream of bubbles coming from my 2nd stage (The Regulator bit that goes in your mouth for those that don't dive). I thought to myself "That's weird I'm not breathing out". Well I took the reg out of my mouth and looked at it as I had determined with my lightning quick brain that something may be amiss. Well I saw that it was leaking from a join in the hose, It was not a dive ending leak though as it was only a bit of a trickle. Then all hell broke loose as I placed it back in my mouth. I herd a large burst almost like a bang, then a absolute gush of air. I looked around and the only person I could see who was looking in my direction was Henrick a Dutch guy and a student on the open water course. I quickly signalled that I was going up and he nodded with large eyes looking at my regulator spewing forth air. The reg had become hard to breath from by this stage due to a lack of pressure reaching my mouthpiece so I decided too switch to my alternate air source. I slowly ascended (not exceeding 18m per minute) watching my pressure gauge slowly dial down. I lost 80 bar or over a 3rd of the air in my tank in the minute (roughly) it took to ascend. I didn't panic but I couldn't say that It wasn't worrying when I was down at 10m. Anyway drama was over then and I slowly swan back to the ship.
Everyone other than Henrick though was wondering where I had gotten to. Henrick signalled that I was OK and then proceeded to write down on the slate that I had surface and gone back to the boat. The big problem was that he wrote it down in Dutch so everyone just looked at the slate in confusion then assumed that I was an experienced diver and could look after myself. They were right but it does illustrate a point about diving. You really should develop your own skills and abilities so that you can look after yourself because buddies and groups are not always that helpful. I do still recommend diving in groups of at least 2 though as other people can and do help in many situations, there are as they say safety in numbers.
The trip was excellent in General and Min loved the diving so we could be doing a bit more of it now that we are both certified.
A concern voiced to me by Min though was that she might get sick on the yacht trip at the end of the year. So we are off to the Whitsunday's to hire a yacht sometime this year as a practice. When would be a good opportunity maybe a long weekend. Oh well details of that to follow.
Cheers L.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
First Event for 2008
The first event for 2008 is going to happen this weekend, and it's probably not what you think it might be.
Min is finishing her dive course this weekend. She did the classroom and pool sessions last weekend and she is off out into the wild blue for her first open water dives this weekend. It's a three night and three day live aboard trip to Wheeler Reef, Davies Reef and the Wreck of the Yongala. It should be an awesome trip, we are going out with Pro-dive the company that Ollie and Anika went out with when they were up here. Oh yes I suppose that I forgot to state that I will be tagging along for the ride.
This will be my first non-work dives in a long time. It will be good to get out and just relax look at things and not take the dive to seriously. My camera is not back from the shop yet (more on that later) grrrrr. So I will be borrowing a camera from someone at work. Hopefully a post on that soon with pickies.
Cheers L.
Min is finishing her dive course this weekend. She did the classroom and pool sessions last weekend and she is off out into the wild blue for her first open water dives this weekend. It's a three night and three day live aboard trip to Wheeler Reef, Davies Reef and the Wreck of the Yongala. It should be an awesome trip, we are going out with Pro-dive the company that Ollie and Anika went out with when they were up here. Oh yes I suppose that I forgot to state that I will be tagging along for the ride.
This will be my first non-work dives in a long time. It will be good to get out and just relax look at things and not take the dive to seriously. My camera is not back from the shop yet (more on that later) grrrrr. So I will be borrowing a camera from someone at work. Hopefully a post on that soon with pickies.
Cheers L.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
2007 a Year in Review
One of the interesting things that a blog gives you is a look into your year that has gone. It show easily what has happened and how you felt at the time. In a couple of years time I'll even be able to do a look at the decade that was.
2007 has been a fun year but a busy year. This is evidenced not in the abundance of posts this year but in the dearth of posts to come from me. Well I'll try to rectify that this year but it's already not looking good as I have just started working on another website over at Wordpress. It is the Maggie Island Outriggers Website. We'll see how the posting goes though.
I also didn't get around to participating in rogaines much this year. I did how ever venture out into the bush twice this past year and on one of those occasions I introduced a new person to the sport (Karina for those who are not regular readers). I had a more relaxed time though while rogaining and I never even really went out to push myself, Just get out there get a respectable total and see some of the amazing bush that you get to see with these events.
So you ask if I wasn't posting much here and I didn't participate extensively in Rogaines what was I doing all year that made it such a busy year. There is a twofold answer to this question and that is paddling and working. Work has been pretty full on this year with the centre increasing in size and the admin staff not changing in number. This means that my job has has about the same amount of research work but an increasing load of administrative work. I still enjoy working here and I have gotten to go to some very cool place in this last year but it is getting busier. Speaking of amazing new places and work, my work took me to Papua New Guinea last year and also to Heron Island. These were both fantastic trips and well worth the trip. It would be really interesting to spend more time in PNG but alas I am once again chained to the desk trying to help with the production of another Annual report.
Paddling well what can I say about that. I was more involved in the club in 2007 than I was in 2006. I became part of the committee and I managed to get the club some Marques through a government grant. I also trained harder than in 2006 and managed to get close to the Medal positions (we finished fourth in the last couple of regattas of the season). I'm set to be more involved again as I've put my hand up to be the club Secretary. The club is at a bit of a low point as there are fewer members in the club now than there has been at any time in the last 10 years. On the bright side though we have an enthusiastic committee and we have set up some things that could rapidly grow the club and also help it actually earn some money to be financially viable. More news on this later.
Anyway to 2008 what do I want to achieve this year. Well I have decided to loose a bit of weight. Well I'll probably put it on but I need to loose the fat around the mid section. I think that about 5kg of fat could go to bring me down to a nice healthy shape. My total weight has been changing continuously over the past two years and always in the same direction and that's up. I now weigh in at over 122 kg but I have acttually lost some of the fat on my body. Well I've decided that it's time that I loose the last of the fat. I think I need an aim to help me achieve this so I'm going to get fit and ready for the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic at the end of the year. Now I just need a paddling partner (Hey Glen didn't you say that you'd do it with me), oh yes and an OC2 to do it in, and a support crew (any volunteers). These are just minor details though to be sorted out later.
Lastly I hope everyones 2008 is a great an healthy year.
Cheers Lewis
2007 has been a fun year but a busy year. This is evidenced not in the abundance of posts this year but in the dearth of posts to come from me. Well I'll try to rectify that this year but it's already not looking good as I have just started working on another website over at Wordpress. It is the Maggie Island Outriggers Website. We'll see how the posting goes though.
I also didn't get around to participating in rogaines much this year. I did how ever venture out into the bush twice this past year and on one of those occasions I introduced a new person to the sport (Karina for those who are not regular readers). I had a more relaxed time though while rogaining and I never even really went out to push myself, Just get out there get a respectable total and see some of the amazing bush that you get to see with these events.
So you ask if I wasn't posting much here and I didn't participate extensively in Rogaines what was I doing all year that made it such a busy year. There is a twofold answer to this question and that is paddling and working. Work has been pretty full on this year with the centre increasing in size and the admin staff not changing in number. This means that my job has has about the same amount of research work but an increasing load of administrative work. I still enjoy working here and I have gotten to go to some very cool place in this last year but it is getting busier. Speaking of amazing new places and work, my work took me to Papua New Guinea last year and also to Heron Island. These were both fantastic trips and well worth the trip. It would be really interesting to spend more time in PNG but alas I am once again chained to the desk trying to help with the production of another Annual report.
Paddling well what can I say about that. I was more involved in the club in 2007 than I was in 2006. I became part of the committee and I managed to get the club some Marques through a government grant. I also trained harder than in 2006 and managed to get close to the Medal positions (we finished fourth in the last couple of regattas of the season). I'm set to be more involved again as I've put my hand up to be the club Secretary. The club is at a bit of a low point as there are fewer members in the club now than there has been at any time in the last 10 years. On the bright side though we have an enthusiastic committee and we have set up some things that could rapidly grow the club and also help it actually earn some money to be financially viable. More news on this later.
Anyway to 2008 what do I want to achieve this year. Well I have decided to loose a bit of weight. Well I'll probably put it on but I need to loose the fat around the mid section. I think that about 5kg of fat could go to bring me down to a nice healthy shape. My total weight has been changing continuously over the past two years and always in the same direction and that's up. I now weigh in at over 122 kg but I have acttually lost some of the fat on my body. Well I've decided that it's time that I loose the last of the fat. I think I need an aim to help me achieve this so I'm going to get fit and ready for the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic at the end of the year. Now I just need a paddling partner (Hey Glen didn't you say that you'd do it with me), oh yes and an OC2 to do it in, and a support crew (any volunteers). These are just minor details though to be sorted out later.
Lastly I hope everyones 2008 is a great an healthy year.
Cheers Lewis
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