Rant 1 - Ugly Street Fight In Front Of NightOwl

Rant 2 - Right To Silence Under Attack

Rant 3 - Payment Of Rewards To Informants Or Narks

Rant 4 - Local Council Election Looming

Rant 1

The streets of Lismore certainly did not disappoint last week on Friday Fight Night. A very ugly fight erupted quickly from nowhere in front of the Night Owl convenience store on Woodlark Street.

The area in front of the Night Owl convenience store is fast becoming known as a trouble spot particularly at night. If people are not being hassled for money or cigarettes, they are regularly being abused or assaulted.

Lismore City Council candidate Nick Woodham operates the Night Owl but seems reluctant to publicly admit there is a problem. This may be as a result of the negative perception of the area which may keep customers away or as a result of the negative publicity those who speak up about the problems in the Lismore area seem to endure which may hurt his chances running for council.

There are often a lot of ridiculous fights in the streets of Lismore and this was another one. I walked around to my Woodlark Street shop to check the premises as I often do. There have been a lot of incidents involving malicious damage recently.

As I approached my second shop, a Night Owl customer standing at their doorway began to abuse me for no apparent reason. He was very intoxicated and carried on like a fool. His friend also got involved running at me, yelling in my ear and trying to nudge me. He was trying to intimidate me for reasons unknown to me. I did not know either of them at the time. I stood my ground and pushed the second guy back.

After a minute or so of this carry on, more people gathered around the altercation. I also realised who the first guy was after listening to some of what he was saying. I will call him SS for the purposes of this rant.

SS was a Lismore City Council employee who tried to have a go at me online a few months back after an earlier street incident involving one of his work colleagues who also had a go at me in the street while intoxicated. It should be noted that personal information is definitely not kept confidential at Lismore City Council.

I quickly got the impression that Council employees were being misinformed about what had transpired during that incident a while back. The Lismore City Council General Manager advised me on Monday that SS no longer works for Council.

After noticing street security arrive and the crowd building, and after realising who I was speaking to, I decided to walk away. I knew such situations could get very ugly very quickly. As I walked away, SS made a racial comment which I found extremely offensive. I could not walk away without saying something so I turned back towards him and asked what he said. He repeated the comment. He said it a third time as I made comments about racism.

While I was making comments, I noticed a piece of paper land on SS’s chest. I don’t think he noticed it. Very soon after, a second one landed on his face. He immediately got up and ran at the crowd and punched someone in the face. He can’t have known who threw it since we were looking at each other when it came from the side.

I don’t remember all the hits but SS ended up in a choke hold by someone trying to stop him. I made the person holding him release the choke hold because it was so tight. As he was releasing it, SS head butted the guy using the back of his head and jumped forward and turned around ready to fight again.

SS was king hit by another person and knocked to the ground. He got back up, got king hit again and was knocked to the ground again. I intervened to try and stop the fight even though SS kept trying to go back for more. Street security, his mate and his female friend were also trying to stop SS and the other guys fighting. I think SS was knocked down one more time before we finally separated everyone.

SS and his friends eventually moved towards a taxi on the other side of the road while the other guys got in a car and went on their way.

Police walked away from the beginning of the incident possibly unaware of what was happening. They went out of view around the corner in Keen Street just before the fight broke out and returned shortly after it finished. They are looking at CCTV footage.

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Rant 2

I am pretty sure the right to silence is a right that a lot of people would like to see me exercise a lot more than I do. What many don’t realise is that I use this right a lot.

Whenever police try to question me in relation to an offence, I remain silent. Silence is the best way not to get yourself in trouble or saying the wrong thing which may incriminate you.

When facing a serious prosecution, it is always better to remain silent and wait for the police to provide the brief of evidence so you can provide an informed response to the evidence if you deem it necessary to provide any response at all.

The right to silence is now under attack from the O’Farrell Government.

The State Government, supported by the NSW Police Force, is planning to water down the right to remain silent. The motion seeks to allow jurors to draw negative inferences if a defendant refuses to answer police questions and later provides a new alibi or evidence in court. If this is allowed to go through, the situation arises where silence can harm a defence.

The current caution is:

You are not obliged to say or do anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say or do may be used in evidence. Do you understand? 

The anticipated caution would read something like:

You are not obliged to say or do anything unless you wish to do so but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. 

The proposed changes mirror those in the UK with one major difference. In the UK, an accused person is provided with legal representation free of charge before answering police questions. In NSW, the accused must organise their own legal representation but often do not have access to representation during questioning.

The High Court, in Petty’s Case, supported the proposition that the right of silence is only meaningful if it cannot be used against you. A link will be provided to this case on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au.

The NSW Law Society president said that under the proposed law, the prosecution would not have to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and the person accused may have to prove their innocence.

Guilt is not the only reason many individuals remain silent. Things such as fear, confusion, language difficulties, intoxication or a medical condition may be one of many more reasons any of which would not justify a negative inference being made against someone who does not say something to police. The presumption of innocence would be no more.

The media reported that the changes would only apply to those arrested for an alleged crime and not to witnesses. Witnesses would also include victims. The day after the media reports about the right of silence being diluted, another news story was published about a man shot in the leg in Sydney being charged with hindering police. The circumstances are unknown but it seems rather unusual for a victim to be charged with such an offence. A link will also be provided to this story on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au.

I strongly believe that this fundamental human and civil right must remain in its current form to ensure that more innocent individuals do not find themselves being bullied by police or being convicted of offences just for remaining silent. Writing to your State MPs will greatly help stop this happening. You can also help by signing an online petition that is doing the rounds. A link to the online petition will also be posted on the Big Rob’s Facebook page and the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au.

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Rant 3

I often post photos of or comments about narks on Facebook. A ‘nark’ can be defined as a police informer or someone who reports to a higher authority. I personally prefer the latter definition.

In the real world, narking is not considered appropriate except in certain situations. These include situations where someone is in immediate trouble or to get back at those who have wronged us.

Since it is sometimes difficult to get people to nark, the payment of rewards by police was a way they identified to provide incentives for individuals who normally would not speak up to come forward with information that may result in the arrest and successful prosecution of a guilty person.

An article with the title ‘Big rewards rarely paid to informants’, written by Erin Tennant, appeared yesterday on the NineMSN website. It makes for very interesting reading.

It tells of one nark being paid $250,000 about two years ago for helping put away the mastermind behind the assassination of Sydney MP John Newman. Other than this single payment, no other nark has been paid a six figure amount in five years even though many rewards are being advertised ranging between $100,000 and $1,000,000.

In the five years between 2006 and 2011, 341 payments were made totalling only $1.4 million across five states. That is an average payment of just over $4,100. That is not a large amount. However, Victoria is expected to payout $1 million to the nark who helped catch Tony Mokbel who was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria to thirty years last month. That nark provided a current phone number to police for Tony Mokbel and helped locate him in Athens. 

Not only is the evidence of narks often considered ‘suspicious’, it is mostly not used in court but only as intelligence according to Professor Bronitt from the ARC Centre for Excellence in Policing and Security.

Rewards can also take many years before being paid out.

A link to the article will be posted on the Big Rob’s website at bigrobs.com.au.

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Rant 4

With the local council elections looming, things are really heating up. I feel it is important to provide as much information as possible to ensure voters are informed particularly with such a hotly contested election.

This year will see five candidates running for Mayor. These include the current Mayor Jenny Dowell running again together with current Councillors Battista, Marks and Meineke who are joined by newcomer Greg Bennett. Mayor Jenny Dowell is the Country Labor Party candidate. All other candidates are running as Independents.

What is interesting to note about the candidates for Mayor is that no other candidates have been put forward from the ‘six pack’. Noticeably absent is a candidate from The Greens. Councillor Yarnall did not put himself forward and his former Party, Roads and Services, is also noticeably absent from this campaign. Councillor Clough’s Our Sustainable Future Party is also staying out of the running.

Of the many Facebook pages that have appeared for this election, one has been created by Councillor Isaac Smith supporting Mayor Jenny Dowell. She posted the following on Sunday at 21:46:

‘Well folks, less than 3 weeks to go until the election. Just to recap- there are 5 candidates running for Mayor in Lismore. I'm the only progressive nominee- I thank Vanessa Ekins, Simon Clough, Kate Olivieri and David Yarnall for ALL supporting me for Mayor.’

And this at 21:47:

‘For the Councillors election, there are 11 teams including 5 progressive teams headed by me (with Isaac Smith, Ray Houston, Glenys Ritchie, Kevin Bell and Naomi Worrall), Kate Olivieri (Girls in Government), David Yarnall, Simon Clough (Our Sustainable Future) and Vanessa Ekins (Greens). These are 5 good teams and our team recommends preferences to them all’

It seems Mayor Jenny Dowell represents not only her Country Labor Party, she also represents The Greens, Our Sustainable Future, the new ‘Girls in Government’ group and the former Roads and Services, now Independent, group.

It is very important that voters are aware that all these representatives work together since anyone voting for one of these groups who does not support Mayor Jenny Dowell and her Country Labor Party will be indirectly supporting her.

My prediction for Mayor will see Mayor Jenny Dowell easily returned for another term off the back of her Coal Seam Gas activities since she has achieved very little in any other area and even though Coal Seam Gas is a State issue. Her ‘experienced team’ has seemingly very little business experience and her commitment to ‘listening and leading’ falls far short of implementing or acting. To this day, no-one has been able to tell me what she has actually achieved in our local area.

Mayor Jenny Dowell is truly a puppet master.

I am of the view that the ten Councillor positions will not see great change although I hope I am wrong. Councillor Graham is retiring and Councillor Chant is running at number 2 on Councillor Meineke’s ticket. I expect Councillor Marks, Battista and Meineke will be easily returned. I can’t see Councillor Meineke’s team getting enough votes to see Councillor Chant return which will be a great loss to the community.

Since I believe Mayor Jenny Dowell will easily return and get a lot of votes as a result of her CSG activities, Councillor Smith will definitely return and it is likely Councillor Houston will also come back once all the die-hard Labor voters cast their votes. Councillor Ekins will also easily return and she may see her number 2, Susan Stock, get a seat as well. The environment is the hottest issue at this election so Councillor Clough should also get his seat handed back to him.

I do not think Councillor Yarnall will return since he has achieved nothing throughout his term. That leaves two seats up for grabs which I believe will see one easily taken by Greg Bennett. The final seat may be snapped up by Mathew Scheibel, one of the young candidates.

I am anticipating that we will again see a six five split in favour of the environmentalists which will see many Lismore business owners very disappointed.

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