A World Turned Upside Down: Australian News

Wanderfound · September 22, 2021, 9:22am

Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance is in the news today, so let’s have a history thread:

Wanderfound · September 23, 2021, 12:42am

Victorian cops continuing their long tradition of behaving like Victorian cops:

Wanderfound · September 24, 2021, 2:33am

The relationship between Defence Minister Peter Dutton and the military top brass has frayed badly over the fallout of the Brereton war crimes inquiry, with armed forces chief Angus Campbell now described as a lame duck by senior politicians and former military generals.

Serving and former senior military officials have privately lashed what they regard as Mr Dutton’s undermining of efforts by special forces command and the military top brass to reform the SAS in the wake of the Brereton inquiry.

Military insiders, who requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak publicly, said Mr Dutton had ditched or challenged a number of General Campbell’s reforms – including the military chief’s plan to remove a unit-wide citation for meritorious service in Afghanistan and his reform of special forces recruitment. These decisions had left General Campbell increasingly isolated and powerless, the sources said.

…

The military hierarchy is continuing behind closed doors to try to push through General Campbell’s curtailed war-crimes reform agenda, including sidelining senior officers and soldiers associated with the alleged war crimes scandal in Afghanistan and standing firm on the decision to disband SAS 2 squadron, a move that was hurriedly postponed earlier this month.

This masthead has confirmed that the decision by General Campbell to remove the SAS 2 squadron from the order of battle was based partly on a classified portion of the Brereton inquiry report, read by a small number of top military officials, which found former soldiers from the squadron had contributed to “possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australian military history” by allegedly executing multiple Afghan people during a single deployment.

Wanderfound · September 24, 2021, 3:11am

Wanderfound · September 24, 2021, 8:59am

Wanderfound · September 24, 2021, 9:07am

Lucy_Gothro1 · September 24, 2021, 4:56pm

Nothing endures forever.

Wanderfound · September 24, 2021, 10:20pm

NSW cops:

TLDW: cops have a couple of people on the ground, presumably arrested. Multiple people filming, all at distance (~15m+). One of the arrested sits up, probably gives a bit of lip, cops knock him to the ground. Some commentary from the observers in response.

Cop calls for backup and begins threatening everyone in sight (who have apparently done nothing but film at a distance and speak) with pepper spray. Swarm of backup cops arrive, cops tackle and beat up everyone they can get their hands on.

Wanderfound · September 25, 2021, 8:05am

Wanderfound · September 25, 2021, 8:21am

Some seasonal history for the Festival of the Boot.

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Mr & Mrs FirstDog are watching it live in Perth; Tasmania’s Strategic Reserve Cartoonist Kudelka has portrayed Mr FirstDog for the occasion:

Wanderfound · September 27, 2021, 1:20am

Go Team Wood Duck.

adonai · September 27, 2021, 3:36am

I voted for the wedge tailed eagle, just because the ABC ran some poor article about a farmer crying about one catching a lamb, and if there’s one thing farmers love more than backpacker slave labour, it’s poisoning wedgies.

Lucy_Gothro1 · September 27, 2021, 4:25pm

Being a person who was brought up with all kinds of music, I had a Disney LP with songs from around the world, sung by a boys’ choir. The first Oz avian I ever heard of was this:

Lucy_Gothro1 · September 27, 2021, 10:59pm

Wanderfound · September 27, 2021, 11:02pm

BTW:

Lucy_Gothro1 · September 28, 2021, 6:32pm

But then there’s this one; you gotta cassowary eye when one of these are around!

Wanderfound · September 28, 2021, 11:22pm

Wanderfound · September 29, 2021, 6:05am

Wanderfound · September 29, 2021, 10:55pm

In 2017, the senior constable, who is anonymous in court documents due to the nature of the allegations, drove a marked police vehicle while affected by prescription medication.

While driving, his body-worn camera recorded the officer talking to himself – in what was described as “disturbing detail” – about how he would sexually exploit a child if he had “two weeks alone with her”.

The child was later interviewed twice to ensure the comments were not acted upon.

The body-worn camera also caught the officer, who has been serving with the police force for 20 years, telling himself his driving was “getting worse” and he could not stay on the road.

The officer, who previously had an “unblemished record” and received a QPS medal of honour and awards over the years, also accessed confidential and official information on the QPS QPRIME system from March 2016 and June 2019, which was said to have had the potential to compromise two separate criminal investigations.

The information included multiple searches of family members, past associates, addresses and vehicles.

The officer, who admitted the allegations, was stood down in September 2019 and ordered to perform administrative duties for two charges of alleged misconduct.

Following a disciplinary hearing, Assistant Commissioner Maurice Careless ordered 12 months’ probation on several conditions, including a requirement that the officer enter a plan to manage his anxiety, depression and other stresses identified in a mental health report.

Wanderfound · September 29, 2021, 11:01pm