Australian tourists defy security warnings and head to Bali in record numbers
By Stephen Fitzpatrick in Jakarta
The Australian
December 23, 2008
Travel Australia
Bali tourist resort
Cheap holidays ... Aussie tourists are returning to Bali in greater numbers than ever, defying government security warnings and terrorism threats
* Aussies off to Bali in record numbers
* Ignoring security warnings, terror threats
* Garuda, Jetstar close to capacity
AUSTRALIAN tourists are returning to Bali in greater numbers than ever, defying government security warnings, terrorism threats, booze shortages and even a rabies outbreak to enjoy a cheap tropical Christmas holiday.
Garuda and Jetstar are running close to capacity to the Indonesian island, despite a downturn in arrivals last month linked to security concerns around the executions of the Bali bombers, The Australian reports.
"Advance bookings did drop off but there has been a lot of last-minute bookings for next week," Jetstar spokeswoman Simone Pregellio said.
"And our premium flights, like the Saturday Melbourne to Bali route, are chockers."
Garuda's Jane Milojevic concurred, saying that although a lot of schoolies trips appeared to have been deferred because of the executions, "we're confident that Bali will come out of it reasonably well, as people make their holiday plans and they start to reconsider going there".
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show Bali remains the third-most popular foreign holiday destination, behind Thailand and New Zealand.
Indonesian records put Australian arrivals in Bali to the end of September this year at about 230,000, with officials hoping this figure will swell to 350,000 next year.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Cocaine-smuggling grandparents use baby bank accounts to launder drug money
Cocaine-smuggling grandparents use baby bank accounts to launder drug money
The Daily Telegraph
December 23, 2008
Electronics Australian
Scam found ... cocaine-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million
* Cocaine-smuggling grandparents open accounts
* Use names of their infant grandchildren
* Scam revealed when money used to buy cars, property
COCAINE-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million, it has been revealed.
But the scam came unstuck when investigators became suspicious after the accounts were used to buy luxury cars and property.
It was among the most elaborate financial scams of the year, uncovered by the country's anti-money laundering regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
"The amounts of money were very unusual for childrens' accounts," AusTRAC chief executive Neil Jensen said.
In another case, a sharp-eyed bank teller foiled a three-year-old $6.3 million crime after spotting a thief trying to launder what was - literally - dirty money.
The man had started digging up notes he had buried after scamming one ATM over four months using stolen credit cards and was depositing the $50 bills into his bank accounts.
The bank teller noticed the notes felt "washed" and "waxy".
Police arrested the man, charged him with money laundering and recovered $4.5 million in cash.
Legitimate businesses such as restaurants and grocers were used to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars raised under the guise of charities to a terrorist organisation in South East Asia.
Others incidents included a Canadian crime syndicate which sent members to Australia to place skimming devices on ATMs to copy card details.
And lonely men were fleeced of up to $30,000 each after choosing Russian "brides" from a dating website.
They were asked for upfront payments for air tickets for the brides but the trick was discovered when AusTRAC tracked substantial sums of money being remitted to Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Hungary.
Mr Jensen said that while scams were becoming more elaborate, cracking them often came down to the frontline troops, like bank tellers spotting what was suspicious.
There were more than 20 million transactions reported to AusTRAC in 2008, including an increase of 20 per cent in the number of suspected illegal transactions.
Every wire transfer of money in and out of the country and nearly 3 million transactions involving $10,000 or more were also notified.
Over five weeks in July and August, the Australian Federal Police and Customs working with AusTRAC charged 37 people with 87 charges and stopped 14.6 tonnes of drugs with a street value of $3billion from being distributed.
The Daily Telegraph
December 23, 2008
Electronics Australian
Scam found ... cocaine-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million
* Cocaine-smuggling grandparents open accounts
* Use names of their infant grandchildren
* Scam revealed when money used to buy cars, property
COCAINE-smuggling grandparents opened bank accounts in the names of their infant grandchildren to launder around $20 million, it has been revealed.
But the scam came unstuck when investigators became suspicious after the accounts were used to buy luxury cars and property.
It was among the most elaborate financial scams of the year, uncovered by the country's anti-money laundering regulator, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.
"The amounts of money were very unusual for childrens' accounts," AusTRAC chief executive Neil Jensen said.
In another case, a sharp-eyed bank teller foiled a three-year-old $6.3 million crime after spotting a thief trying to launder what was - literally - dirty money.
The man had started digging up notes he had buried after scamming one ATM over four months using stolen credit cards and was depositing the $50 bills into his bank accounts.
The bank teller noticed the notes felt "washed" and "waxy".
Police arrested the man, charged him with money laundering and recovered $4.5 million in cash.
Legitimate businesses such as restaurants and grocers were used to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars raised under the guise of charities to a terrorist organisation in South East Asia.
Others incidents included a Canadian crime syndicate which sent members to Australia to place skimming devices on ATMs to copy card details.
And lonely men were fleeced of up to $30,000 each after choosing Russian "brides" from a dating website.
They were asked for upfront payments for air tickets for the brides but the trick was discovered when AusTRAC tracked substantial sums of money being remitted to Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania and Hungary.
Mr Jensen said that while scams were becoming more elaborate, cracking them often came down to the frontline troops, like bank tellers spotting what was suspicious.
There were more than 20 million transactions reported to AusTRAC in 2008, including an increase of 20 per cent in the number of suspected illegal transactions.
Every wire transfer of money in and out of the country and nearly 3 million transactions involving $10,000 or more were also notified.
Over five weeks in July and August, the Australian Federal Police and Customs working with AusTRAC charged 37 people with 87 charges and stopped 14.6 tonnes of drugs with a street value of $3billion from being distributed.
Girlfriend of David Hicks, Aloysia Brooks, tells media to leave her man alone
Girlfriend of David Hicks, Aloysia Brooks, tells media to leave her man alone
By Verity Edwards
The Australian
December 23, 2008
Dating Australia
SHE is the new woman in the changing life of former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. And Aloysia Brooks, a postgraduate student, is fiercely outspoken in defence of her man.
After flying in with Mr Hicks to spend his first Christmas in nine years at home with his family in Adelaide, Ms Brooks yesterday took The Australian aside to plead to "give him space".
Mr Hicks was no longer a "confessed terrorism supporter", she said, despite the former kangaroo skinner's guilty plea before a US military commission last year.
"You don't know what went on there; you don't know under what conditions he signed (the confession)," Ms Brooks said.
Mr Hicks should instead be referred to as a free man after the expiry of a court-imposed control order last Saturday.
Freeing Mr Hicks after more than seven years in custody, including five years at the US military's controversial prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, was what brought the couple together.
Ms Brooks writes poetry on human rights issues and was this year enrolled at the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. A Sydney woman with her distinctive first name leapt to Mr Hicks's defence on a newspaper website in 2006.
"David Hicks is someone's brother, son and father," Aloysia wrote. "He gets scared, bleeds and feels pain just like you or I ... He is someone who deserves to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion no matter what he has done."
Ms Brooks also signed a petition last year calling for justice for then-terror suspect Mohamed Haneef.
The romance blossomed after Mr Hicks moved from his home town of Adelaide to Sydney six months ago, where he found it easier to access rehabilitation services and settle back into the community.
The couple, photographed together for the first time by The Australian yesterday, kept their relationship under wraps until now.
Mr Hicks remained tightlipped when he flew into Adelaide to meet his father, Terry, his staunchest defender through his imprisonment.
Terry Hicks said he was pleased to have his son and new partner home for their first Christmas together this decade.
Fears family poisoned after toddler's death at Tambar Springs near Gunnedah
Fears family poisoned after toddler's death at Tambar Springs near Gunnedah
By Gemma Jones
The Daily Telegraph
December 22, 2008
Baby Products
A 23-month-old boy has died and his three siblings and their parents are being flown to Sydney after an incident near the northern New South Wales town of Gunnedah.
It is believed the toddler, his brother and a three-year-old and five-year-old may have been poisoned, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Locals in Gunnedah said they had heard the children had been poisoned and that it was the result of an accident.
Police have set up a crime scene and called in forensic experts because they are unsure what caused the children to fall ill.
The surviving twin, the other children and their parents were due to arrive at Westmead Hospital in two helicopters tonight so that doctors could perform tests.
An ambulance was first called to the family’s property in Tambar Springs just after 2pm today.
The toddler was found in cardiac arrest and he died a short time later in hospital.
By Gemma Jones
The Daily Telegraph
December 22, 2008
Baby Products
A 23-month-old boy has died and his three siblings and their parents are being flown to Sydney after an incident near the northern New South Wales town of Gunnedah.
It is believed the toddler, his brother and a three-year-old and five-year-old may have been poisoned, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Locals in Gunnedah said they had heard the children had been poisoned and that it was the result of an accident.
Police have set up a crime scene and called in forensic experts because they are unsure what caused the children to fall ill.
The surviving twin, the other children and their parents were due to arrive at Westmead Hospital in two helicopters tonight so that doctors could perform tests.
An ambulance was first called to the family’s property in Tambar Springs just after 2pm today.
The toddler was found in cardiac arrest and he died a short time later in hospital.
Internet filtering plan may extend to peer-to-peer traffic, says Stephen Conroy
Internet filtering plan may extend to peer-to-peer traffic, says Stephen Conroy
By Andrew Ramadge, Technology Reporter
NEWS.com.au
December 22, 2008
Internet Providers
THE Federal Government's controversial internet censorship scheme may extend to filter more online traffic than was first thought, Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy revealed today.
In a post on his department's blog, Senator Conroy today said technology that could filter data sent directly between computers would be tested as part of the upcoming live filtering trial.
"Technology that filters peer-to-peer and BitTorrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial," Senator Conroy said.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing technology is the most common way for computer users to share video, picture and music files over the internet.
It was previously thought the Government's filtering plan would be restricted to traffic on the "world wide web" – the channel through which users view websites like news.com.au.
Senator Conroy revealed the plan to trial peer-to-peer filtering technology in a reply to critical comments made on the Digital Economy Future Directions blog launched earlier this month.
The blog was launched to encourage public input on the future of Australia's digital economy, but has so far been saturated with comments attacking Senator Conroy over the Government's filtering plan.
Senator Conroy addressed the level of critical feedback in his post and said he had been following discussion of the plan on social networking websites such as Twitter.
"I'm aware that this proposal has attracted significant debate and criticism – on this blog and at other places in the blogosphere," Senator Conroy said.
"I'm following the debate at sites like Whirlpool and GetUp and on Twitter at #nocleanfeed."
The filtering scheme has made headlines around the world in the The New York Times and British newspapers and was the target of protests held in major cities across the country earlier this month.
Live pilot trial
A live trial of filtering technology is scheduled to begin this week, but internet service providers have so far been kept in the dark over the details.
Less than a week before the trial was due to begin, participating ISPs Optus and iiNet said they had not been told if their applications had been accepted.
Related story Read the story here »
An Optus spokesperson today said the company had still not been notified of the status of its application.
"We still have not received notification about whether or not our proposal has been accepted, however our proposal does not include peer-to-peer filtering," the spokesperson said.
Comment is being sought from iiNet.
'Not like China'
Despite announcing the live pilot trial would likely include filtering peer-to-peer traffic, Senator Conroy rejected accusations that the scheme was similar to internet censorship in countries such as China.
"Freedom of speech is fundamentally important in a democratic society and there was never any suggestion that the Australian Government would seek to block political content," Senator Conroy said.
"In this context, claims that the Government's policy is analogous to the approach taken by countries such as Iran, China and Saudi Arabia are not justified."
Senator Conroy said the internet filter would be in-step with existing methods to censor books, films and video games.
"Australian society has always accepted that there is some material which is not acceptable, particularly for children," he said.
"That is why we have the National Classification Scheme for classifying films, computer games, publications and online content."
"Australian ISPs are already subject to regulation that prohibits the hosting of certain material based upon the Scheme.
"All the Government is now seeking to do is to examine how technology can assist in filtering internationally-hosted content."
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