Author Archives
Vic Police accused of Nazi links
By ALEC SMART A Victorian police officer, who was accused of making a racist hand gesture while policing anti-mining protests during the recent International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Melbourne, has been identified as a supporter of white supremacist groups. Senior Constable Travis Gray (who uses 'Gravis Tray' as his Facebook pseudonym) - made […]
School dumped, ship hotel mothballed, buses bull: Hubbub – 30 Oct 2019
Bite-sized bulletins by ALEC SMART School is a Dump The Dept of Planning are working with NSW Dept Education and Northern Beaches Council to relocate French’s Forest High School on Sydney’s North Shore, in order to build a new town centre on the school site, with shops, bars, a sports oval and 3,000 apartments. However, […]
Killer dead but unburied
by ALEC SMART Ivan Milat, Australia’s most notorious, and perhaps most prolific, serial killer died on Sunday 27 October, aged 74. The unrepentant murderer succumbed to terminal oesophageal and stomach cancer in the medical wing of Long Bay Jail in Malabar, where he was being treated. He was transferred to Long Bay from Goulburn’s Supermax […]
Glebe Island dust-up
by ALEC SMART The proposed construction of a facility for the delivery, storage and distribution of construction materials, including sand and concrete, on the east side of Glebe Island in Sydney Harbour, faces strong community opposition. On Monday 28 October, the Port Authority of NSW granted approval to its own plan for a ‘multi user […]
Cops strip kid, festivals fiasco, horses knackered, tiger time: Hubbub – 23 Oct 2019
Bite-sized bulletins by ALEC SMART Scents and sensibilities On Monday the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) opened an investigation into whether NSW Police engaged in "serious misconduct" during the allegedly unlawful strip-search of a 16-year-old girl at a music festival. The public inquiry heard that the girl was stopped after a drug-sniffing dog sat down […]
Hopes fade for Assange
By Alec Smart Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who returned to Court in London on Monday this week, is losing ground in his struggle to avoid extradition to the United States from Britain, where he is currently in detention. If Assange is extradited to the USA after his February 2020 British court hearing, he faces multiple […]
Solar Solutions
BY ALEC SMART The Australian Government’s Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy is holding a feasibility study into introducing nuclear power. A public forum inviting submissions and comment closed on September 16. But does Australia, which emits significant climate-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) from its fossil fuel fired power stations, need to transition to nuclear […]
Religious leaders preying, holy shoes, camouflaged cows: Hubbub – 16 Oct 2019
Bite-sized bulletins by ALEC SMART Anglicans tell progressives: “Bugger off!” The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, told Anglican supporters of same-sex marriages they should “leave” the church. Addressing the 51st Synod of the Diocese of Sydney on Monday, of which he is also the president, he said, “My own view is that if people […]
Building safety on the edge
BY ALEC SMART Residents of a four-year-old building in Sydney’s inner-southern Rosebery have been warned not to let their children play on the balconies, or allow more than three people to stand on them, after safety investigators found they were of “inadequate strength”. Otto Rosebery, an ‘island site’ of 298 multi-storey apartments bordered by four […]
Climactic clash, riled Royals, traumatic trawler, gay apple: Hubbub – 9 Oct 2019
Bite-sized bulletins by ALEC SMART Climate Chained Radical environmentalists Extinction Rebellion (XR) have chosen this week and next for rallies and civil disturbance to draw attention to the climate crisis threatening the planet. Protests, many involving activists chaining themselves to immovable objects (or each other), have taken place in the USA, Europe, India, and Australasia. […]
