Tomberforce posted:

Meanwhile in Texas:



Yee Haw!

adamantium|wang posted:

Looking at house and rental prices in western Sydney and I'm starting to think I might be better off systematically killing baby boomers until the prices take a hit killing myself.

Anemone Thief posted:

Hire Pinoys to apply everywhere for you and enjoy your newstart while it lasts

Nibbles141 posted:

We don't want to limit any kind of fuel that requires government funding

*Ignoring subsidies for coal companies*

BlitzkriegOfColour posted:

First of all, I don't think you should be using the word Pinoy unless you are Pinoy yourself. Second of all, if you live at home with your parents, why not? Or, if you've got money left over from previous work, why not? My phone rang off the loving hook with offers for interviews when I did that.

slingshot effect posted:

Can someone tell the Prime Minister For Whatever to please brush his teeth, tyia.

Orkin Mang posted:

a mongoloid pos

Jumpingmanjim posted:

So i've just been watching What Really Happens in Bali and now I want to know where can I sign up for Al-Qaeda?

Tommofork posted:

I was going to link to a Herald Sun shitpost by Tom Elliot excusing negative gearing and blaming immigration for high house prizes but I've read my limit of free articles this week, which would be zero.

Tommofork posted:

I was going to link to a Herald Sun shitpost by Tom Elliot excusing negative gearing and blaming immigration for high house prizes but I've read my limit of free articles this week, which would be zero.

quote:

Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie.
Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie. Photo: Michelle Smith
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By KIM STEPHENS

Queensland’s allegedly leak-prone Attorney General is threatening the independence of the state’s judiciary, an influential Australian body for barristers said on Saturday, amid mounting calls for Jarrod Bleijie to resign.

Australian Bar Association president Mark Livesey QC joined a rapidly growing chorus of legal fraternity discord in Mr Bleijie, questioning the Attorney General’s suitability for the job following allegations he has repeatedly leaked details of confidential conversations to media outlets.

Mr Bleijie declined to comment on the leak allegations or rising resignation pressure on Saturday.

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Tim Carmody, newly-named chief justice.
Tim Carmody, newly-named chief justice. Photo: Daniel Hurst

In a stinging attack, Mr Livesey said the process that led to the appointment of Tim Carmody as the state’s Chief Justice had lost him the support of the vast majority of the legal fraternity.

“The present position is untenable”, Mr Livesey said.

“The Attorney General of Queensland must consider whether the breakdown in trust can be repaired – if confidentiality in the judicial appointment process cannot be assured he must reconsider whether he can continue in his position.”

Mr Livesey’s comments came soon after the resignation of Queensland Bar Association president Ian Davis QC, who said he believed a conversation he had with Mr Bleijie on June 3 involving a discussion of Judge Carmody’s potential appointment had been leaked.
Mr Livesey supported Mr Davis’ move.

“On Friday, Davis QC explained his belief that what he had said in confidence to the Attorney General and a member of his staff had been passed on inaccurately and that the Bar’s right to issue practising certificates was threatened,” he said.

“It is regrettable that Davis QC felt it necessary to resign.

“His frustration about the process and the threat made to the Bar is understandable. His principled stance is supported by barristers across Australia."

Mr Davis also received the support of the Queensland Law Society on Friday.

President Ian Brown also expressed concern about Mr Bleijie allegedly leaking information.

“We are deeply concerned by the matters raised by Mr Davis QC in the notice announcing his resignation to members of the Bar Association of Queensland, particularly relating to confidentiality,” he said.

“What is of the utmost importance is the preservation of the integrity of the judiciary and our system of justice.”

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk accused the Attonrey General of leaking confidential correspondence she had sent him addressing suitable candidates for the Chief Justice Role in May.

In addition to the conversation with Mr Davis, Mr Bleijie is also alleged to have leaked details of a confidential conversation with Justice Margaret McMurdo.

“I think Queenslanders should be very concerned because no-one in this state can have a conversation with the Attorney General, a private conversation they believe is being kept confidential, because he will leak it,” she said.

“This government is more interested in leaking than listening.”

Ms Palaszczuk said the drastic resignation protest action taken by Mr Davis, a highly respected member of the Queensland Bar Association, reflected, “a fundamental breach of confidentiality”.

In a statement, the Attorney-General’s office denied leaking Ms Palaszczuk’s letter to the media.

“While nothing came from the Attorney-General or his office, Annastacia Palaszczuk breached confidentiality when she publicly disclosed her recommendations for Chief Justice during a press conference on May 7, 2014,” the statement read.

quote:

Queensland's attorney-general had a private dinner at an upmarket Brisbane restaurant with Tim Carmody a week before he officially took over as chief magistrate.

The personal dinner between Mr Bleijie and Mr Carmody between 7pm and 8.30pm on September 9, which took place a week before he officially took over as chief magistrate, does not feature on the public diary of ministerial meetings.

But Mr Bleijie told AAP through a spokesman that personal diary events were usually exempt from public reporting rules, adding the dinner with Mr Carmody was social.

quote:

Queensland chief justice appointment described as throwback to corrupt era
Tim Carmody's rapid promotion to supreme court chief justice has angered the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties

Jarrod Bleijie and Tim Carmody
Jarrod Bleijie (left) and Tim Carmody, who dined together before Carmody officially took over as chief magistrate last September. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP
Australian Associated Press
Saturday 14 June 2014 12.31 EST

Civil libertarians are describing the appointment of Queensland's next chief justice as a throwback to the corrupt era of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Tim Carmody's promotion from chief magistrate to supreme court chief justice, in just nine months, has angered the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties.

The council's vice-president, Terry O'Gorman, said it was a throwback to the mid-1970s, when Terry Lewis, in a year, went from being an obscure country inspector at Charleville to police commissioner, leapfrogging better-qualified senior police.

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The condemnation comes a day after Peter Davis, QC, quit as head of the Queensland Bar Association after the attorney-general, Jarrod Bleijie, leaked confidential discussions he had had with one of the minister's senior staff about Carmody's possible selection.

"The leaking of confidential discussions the attorney-general had with Peter Davis, QC, ... is an extraordinary development that cannot be left unaddressed," O'Gorman said in a statement.

O'Gorman, a criminal lawyer, said this was a serious breach of convention.

And it has been revealed that the attorney-general had a private dinner at an upmarket Brisbane restaurant with Carmody a week before he officially took over as chief magistrate.

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Carmody, who this week was controversially appointed as the state's next chief justice, is being criticised for being too close to the government.

He was announced as Queensland's new chief magistrate on September 5 last year, and four days later he had a private dinner with Bleijie at Urbane Restaurant, documents obtained by AAP show.

The personal dinner between Bleijie and Carmody between 7pm and 8.30pm on September 9, which took place a week before he officially took over as chief magistrate, does not feature on the public diary of ministerial meetings.

But Bleijie told AAP through a spokesman that personal diary events were usually exempt from public reporting rules, adding that the dinner with Carmody was social.

"I do see various members of the judiciary socially from time to time," he said.

"That particular dinner was a congratulatory catch-up following his honour's appointment as chief magistrate."

The Queensland premier, Campbell Newman, announced in November 2012 a policy whereby he and his cabinet would publicly release their diaries every month.

Meanwhile, a former state solicitor-general, Walter Sofronoff, QC, said Carmody needed to reconsider his supreme court chief justice appointment.

"He shouldn't be chief justice. He should do the gracious thing and realise that all of this has been a horrible mistake and say that he wouldn't accept the appointment," Sofronoff told ABC television.

"Judge Carmody is somebody who has, by his own actions, identified himself too closely with the government."

As chief magistrate in late 2013, he angered the legal profession by issuing a directive that only he would deal with disputed bail applications made by alleged bikies.

The attorney-general's spokesman said that Carmody's directive last year stipulated that bikie bail matters be heard in one courtroom.

Bleijie resisted calls at the time for Carmody to step down as chief magistrate, while the Queensland Law Society and civil libertarians slammed Queensland's anti-bikie laws.

The president of the Australian Bar Association, Mark Livesey, QC, speaking after
consultation with all the independent bars of Australia, on Saturday expressed serious concern about the events surrounding Carmody's promotion to chief justice.

“The handling of this matter has seriously called into question the appointment process and judicial independence,” Livesey said.

He expressed the ABA's strong support for Davis, who resigned in protest over the process that led to Carmody's appointment.

“It is regrettable that Davis felt it necessary to resign. His frustration about the process and the threat made to the bar is understandable. His principled stance is supported by barristers across Australia.

“It is essential to public confidence in the administration of justice that the process for the appointment of a chief justice should ensure that the appointment is made, and is seen to be made, solely on the basis of merit and with complete impartiality.”

“The present position is untenable,” Livesey said. “The attorney-general of Queensland must consider whether the breakdown in trust can be repaired. If confidentiality in the judicial appointment process cannot be assured he must reconsider whether he can continue in his position.”

quote:

Morwell coalmine firefight cost $32 million

The cost to firefighting authorities of fighting the 45-day blaze in the Hazelwood open cut coalmine has been revealed - $32.5 million.

Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley revealed the figure during the 14th day of the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry, and said the costs had been borne by the CFA and MFB.

But he told the inquiry that legislation allowed the CFA to seek recovery of firefighting costs from mine owner and operator GDF Suez. He said the CEO of the CFA would lead negotiations with GDF Suez on recovering costs. ''It's very unlikely that that provision provides total cost recovery. And there would obviously be a discussion with Suez, led by CFA,'' he said.

Tomberforce posted:

quote:

Greg Hunt kept Prime Minister in dark on solar policy
June 15, 2014
Jonathan Swan and Fergus Hunter


Greg Hunt was forced into a humiliating backflip by senior colleagues after the Environment Minister re-announced a half-billion-dollar solar-power policy without the Prime Minister's permission.

Fairfax Media can reveal that Mr Hunt took his colleagues by surprise when he announced to an industry gathering last November that the Coalition was committed to its $500 million ''1 Million Solar Roofs'' program. Mr Hunt described the flagship solar program - which was to have provided $500 rebates for installing 1 million rooftop solar-energy systems over the next 10 years - as a ''shining beacon'' of the Abbott government's Direct Action climate policy.

But Mr Hunt's ''shining beacon'', a leftover from the 2010 election campaign, had not been approved by Prime Minister Tony Abbott or his top economic ministers.

Mr Abbott's lack of interest in climate change is keenly understood by his colleagues, and has been a focus of media attention in the past week as he met US President Barack Obama.

Yet Mr Hunt effectively ''went around'' the Coalition leadership by announcing the policy, sources say, and in the months after his public pledge he was told the money would not be forthcoming. The Abbott government's budget ''razor gang'' - the expenditure review committee - had already told ministers that unless a policy had been specifically confirmed at the 2013 election, it was no longer official government policy.

Mr Hunt either ignored or did not receive that message. In his presentation to the Clean Energy Council on November 29 last year, the Environment Minister declared: ''The government will provide $500 million for the 1 Million Solar Roofs program. And a further $50 million each,'' he added, would be given to ''the Solar Towns and Solar Schools programs''.

''Each of these three new programs is being prepared for implementation and will commence in the 2014-15 financial year.''

As the budget drew closer, Mr Hunt continued to assure industry figures that the solar policies would proceed, but bureaucrats in his department were privately conveying their pessimism.

Mr Hunt was ultimately forced to abandon all but $2 million of his $600 million in promised policies.

The 2014-15 budget allocated no money for solar roofs and nothing for solar schools. Just $2.1 million was given to the solar towns policy despite Mr Hunt promising $50 million in November.

Mr Hunt declined to respond to questions from Fairfax Media.

Solar industry sources say they wonder how they can take the Environment Minister's promises seriously. A senior figure in the solar industry said Mr Hunt was ''fighting to the end'' but the same optimism was not shared by bureaucrats in his department.

Jumpingmanjim posted:

http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/north...t-1226954854588

‘This is not right’: Aboriginal boy in nappies locked in police van

Jumpingmanjim posted:

http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/north...t-1226954854588

�This is not right�: Aboriginal boy in nappies locked in police van

Fruity Gordo posted:

Apartheid.

quote:

why does nt news mention its an aboriginal boy.... so a white boy locked in the back is ok? i dont think there was a need to state the aboriginity at all.

The Australian posted:

THE proportion of young Australians with a job has plunged to its lowest level in two decades, with evidence that fewer than 60 per cent are working sparking calls from employers for the government to respond to an emerging crisis with steps to cut penalty rates and youth wages.

New figures released yesterday revealed the jobless rate among people aged 15-24 has risen to 13.1 per cent � almost three times the 4.4 per cent rate for people aged 25 and over � with participation in the workforce continuing to fall.

Only 57.4 per cent of young people now have work, down from a peak of 65.6 per cent ahead of the global financial crisis and the lowest level since September 1994 as the economy was emerging from the last recession.

The rise in youth unemployment comes as the government prepares to push budget measures through parliament that sharply curtail access to unemployment benefits for those aged under 30.

Employment Minister Eric Abetz defended the budget strategy, saying it was designed to force the young to either get a job or undertake study. �Clearly youth unemployment is a significant issue and that is why our �earn or learn� policy is so vitally important to ensure young Australians don�t disengage from the employment market,� he said.

Senator Abetz cited budget measures to provide incentives for long-term unemployed to move residence in search of work and to keep jobs they find.

He echoed the concerns of employer groups that excessive pay was preventing companies from hiring young people.

�One cannot help but wonder what increases in youth wages is doing to their employment prospects,� he said.

While the unemployment rate nationally has come down from a peak of 6 per cent in February to 5.8 per cent in May, this has �concealed the diverging trends between entry-level and experienced workers.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist Saul Eslake said that since the onset of the financial crisis, the number of people aged 15-24 with a job has fallen by 6.6 percentage points, while employment among those aged 25 and over has risen by 10.3 percentage points.

Mr Eslake said business had resisted mass sackings during the GFC but overall employment growth had been weak ever since. This meant that entry-level employees bore the brunt.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry described the deterioration of the �labour market for young people as an �emergency�.

Chief executive Kate Carnell said a lost generation was being created as participation rates fell. She said there was a group of young people that had simply disappeared. They were neither earning or learning.

She said they may be living at home and not looking for work, couch surfing or working in the cash economy.

�This shouldn�t be happening. It doesn�t spell good things for their future,�� Ms Carnell said.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that among 15 to 19-year-olds, the number who are neither in work nor undertaking any education now stands at 111,400.

University of Newcastle labour market economist Bill Mitchell said over the past 12 months teenagers had lost 37,900 jobs, while the rest of the labour force had gained 136,700 jobs.

Since the financial crisis, the number of jobs for teenagers had dropped by 117,300 positions.

Ms Carnell called for the government and the Fair Work Commission to tackle the crisis in the youth labour market as a matter of priority.

One of the solutions would be to make it easier to employ young people by tackling penalty rates, the minimum wage and addressing a significant drop-off in �apprenticeships, she said.

Labor�s employment spokesman, Brendan O�Connor, said that while there was undoubtedly an �intersection� of pay levels and rates of employment this had not changed in recent years and did not explain the deterioration in job prospects among the young.

�It is more complicated than the rates of pay. What is expected of young people entering the �labour market today, in terms of the skills employers are wanting, is very different to 20 years ago while the labour market itself is changing,� he said.

�Fewer major public and private corporations are maintaining a high number of apprenticeships and traineeships while training providers haven�t shifted quickly enough to res�pond to the growing sectors of the economy.�

Mr O�Connor criticised the budget cutbacks to apprenticeship funding while saying the measures to deny jobless benefits to people under 30 for periods of six months were too harsh.

Mr Eslake said many economists had mistakenly ascribed the fall in the overall participation rate � the number of people who have a job or are looking for one � from a peak of 65.8 per cent to 64.6 per cent now to the ageing of the population.

He said while babyboomers were certainly retiring, this was largely offset by the increasing number of people remaining in the workforce in their 60s. Overwhelmingly, the decline was due to the falling participation of those aged 15-24, down from 75.3 per cent to 67.8 per cent since the GFC, he said.

Professor Mitchell echoed Ms Carnell�s comments about a lost generation, saying many school-leavers who left school in 2008 were still without employment, with their time out of the workforce making them ever more �unattractive to employers.

He said that, among 15-24 year olds, about 38 per cent either did not have a job or were working fewer hours than they wanted. �This is up around the bad European numbers,� he said.

Analysis of yesterday�s labourforce survey by UBS fixed-�income analyst Matthew Johnson revealed it was harder for a person who was jobless to get a job than at any time since the global downturn in 2001, with only 20 per cent of the unemployed finding work each month, down from a peak of 26 per cent.

There had also been a sharp fall in the numbers who were out of the workforce finding a job, down from 5 per cent each month to 4.3 per cent.

The unemployment rate has now held steady at 5.8 per cent for three months. Among the states, jobless rates range from 5 per cent in Western Australia to 7.5 per cent in Tasmania.

Fruity Gordo posted:

Apartheid.

Anidav posted:

quote:

Most baby boomers have no intention of retiring
BABY BOOMERS � 12 DAYS AGO
Research from the University of Adelaide shows that almost three quarters of South Australian baby boomers do not intend to completely give up work.

In a survey of almost 900 people aged 50-65, only 26% said they would completely retire, while 74% said they would either: move from fulltime to parttime employment (42%); reduce their parttime hours (25%); or not retire at all (7%).

The study was conducted by a team of researchers in the University's Population Research and Outcome Studies unit (School of Medicine) and the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre (School of Social Sciences) to better understand the health, social and economic factors involved in people's intentions to retire.

"What surprised us about the results of this survey is the large number of baby boomers who indicated that they would either just reduce their hours and keep working beyond the age of 65 years, or not retire at all," says Dr Helen Feist, study co-author and the deputy director of the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre at the University of Adelaide.

"This group represents almost three quarters of baby boomers surveyed, which is a significant number with major implications for the future of the Australian workforce,� she says.

Australia's culture of early retirement, which has been so pervasive over so many years, is, according to Dr Feist, being replaced by a culture of gradual retirement, with continued part time employment.

"At a time when there is national debate about the retirement age being lifted to 70 by 2035, studies such as this will help us to better understand what our population is intending to do, and why. Importantly, this survey was conducted before the federal government was elected," Dr Feist says.

quote:

Greens to set up renewable energy double dissolution trigger before July

Greens Leader Christine Milne will move in the Senate to defeat the government's plan to abolish investment in renewable energy and set up a double dissolution trigger.

"This crash or crash through Prime Minister is set to crash over his global warming denial," said Greens Leader Christine Milne.

The Greens have received advice from the Clerk of the Senate which indicates a first double dissolution trigger can be achieved before the new Senate takes its place on July 1 by bringing on a second vote on the repeal of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).

Senator Milne will move to guarantee a vote on the CEFC repeal bill before the new Senate comes. The bill will be defeated again and therefore set up a double dissolution trigger.

"The Greens are ready for an election over the Prime Minister's global warming denial and his brutal budget," said Senator Milne.

"If the Prime Minister refuses to follow through on his threats for a new election the unpopularity of his brutal budget and global warming policy sham will be fully exposed once and for all. He will be lame duck.

"The Australian people didn't sign up for Tony's global warming denial or his brutal budget. They now see through his three word slogans.

"It's clear Tony Abbott does not have the skills to negotiate with the cross bench in the Senate, huge parts of his agenda will be blocked.

"The Greens won't entertain any compromise on our values in order to allow the Abbott government to govern a so-called �stable government'.

"We expect either a new election if the PM has the ticker for it, or, a completely lame government, shackled by a Prime Minister incapable of dealing with the hand he has been dealt with in the Senate.

"As the Prime Minister's agenda grinds to a halt in the Senate, the Greens will refocus efforts on grassroots campaigning on the threat of global warming and against the cruelty of Abbott's agenda as we prepare for an early election."

Anidav posted:

quote:

...

The propaganda feed to The Courier-Mail is best illustrated by an unresolved investigation involving the acting chairman of the Crime and Misconduct Commission, Dr Ken Levy. Soon after the new laws were enacted, Tony Fitzgerald, QC, jolted from his preferred obscurity, dealt Newman and Bleijie a series of resounding whacks in a Courier-Mail opinion piece: "... parliamentarians ... don't have a mandate to give effect to prejudices and ill-informed opinions, ignore ethics and conventions, or attack fundamental values such as personal freedom or essential institutions such as the judiciary".

Fitzgerald argued that repressive laws weren't effective, and that "laws which erode individual freedom and expand a state's power over its citizens are fraught with peril. Although free societies provide opportunities which criminals can exploit, in totalitarian states the worst criminals are commonly those in power."

Newman responded by getting Levy, of the supposedly independent anti-corruption Crime and Misconduct Commission (now called the Crime and Corruption Commission), to write his own opinion piece in support of the new laws. Levy did this, after some apparent reluctance, in an article published by The Courier-Mail last October: "The Attorney-General and the Premier ... are taking the strong action that is required."

Levy was asked at a sitting of the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee (PCMC), whether he'd had discussions with "anyone from the government" before submitting his article. Levy denied that he had. A few days later, he contacted the PCMC to say he'd made an "error", and that he had been contacted by Newman's senior media adviser, Lee Anderson. But he denied that Newman or anyone from his office had asked him to write the article.

Then Anderson gave evidence to the PCMC that he had approached Levy on Newman's behalf and asked him to write the piece. Anderson said he'd proposed the theme of the article to Levy, "prepped" him for a possible interview with the newspaper, and suggested Houghton as the journalist Levy should speak to. Houghton's interview with Levy ran the day before Levy's opinion piece, and concluded: "Mr Levy said the Newman Government crackdown had rocked the criminal gangs."

Two days after Anderson's stark contradiction of Levy's evidence, with calls growing for Levy to resign, Newman instead used his huge government majority to sack the entire PCMC, claiming it was biased against Levy. The following morning, Houghton posted Levy's defence of the VLAD regime on his Courier-Mail "Pineapple Politics" blog site, with the comment: "Here is a re-run of the popular essay by CMC boss Ken Levy that so upset supporters of the criminal bikie gangs."

ewe2 posted:

Yep, same sinking feeling. Lewis was a thorough crook, none of which came out until after his reign of terror at the tip was brought down. It was an entire career of corruption kept quiet, and if Carmody is a similar problem that needs to come out now.

quote:

THE AWU scandal has revealed almost as much malpractice in the nation�s media as it has in the labour movement.

If this scandal had been fully ventilated before 2010, Julia Gillard most likely never would have become prime minister.

There is every chance a proper airing in 1995 would have ended her political career before it began.

Gillard gave legal advice to establish an entity that the commission was told was used by her client and lover, Bruce Wilson, to fraudulently raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.

She says she did nothing wrong...l

... �A really strong, great performance,� agreed Fairfax�s Jacqueline Maley. �There�s nobody complaining about the slush fund,� said David Marr, trying to explain away the scandal.

�One way of understanding this story and getting it, sort of corralling this story,� he said, �is to see that the fund ... everybody knew what it was for.�

Even Wilson�s testimony this week shows how untrue that was; deliberate deceptions were everywhere.

In the topsy-turvy world of our national political debate an alleged punch to a wall by Tony Abbott 30 years ago was a major issue but Gillard was largely quarantined on this serious issue in her professional life just prior to entering politics.

�She�s done this remarkable press conference,� Marr told Insiders in 2012, �but it�s not going to drive a stake through the heart (of the story) because this campaign is not being run by sensible calculation over what did or didn�t happen, it�s being run by very deep political passions.�

On the contrary, it is the facts that matter.

Yet even this week the denial continues, especially at the ABC. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/many-hands-made-light-work-of-gillard-protection-racket/story-fn8qlm5e-1226953819341

quote:

Asylum seeker babies secretly moved to Christmas Island
June 15, 2014 - 3:26PM
Sarah Whyte
Immigration correspondent


Newborn babies and their families are being secretly moved in the dead of night to Christmas Island detention centre, which is widely considered as unsuitable for young children by medical practitioners.

It is believed at least five two-month old babies, their siblings and parents were given no notice as they were forced to leave Adelaide's Inverbrackie detention centre at 3am last week, without access to any legal advice.

The sudden relocations come as Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced a $2.6 million educational package for school aged children in the island's detention centre, run by Catholic Education Office of Western Australia, suggesting that the government is planning to increase the population of children detainees on the island.

Jacob Varghese, who is representing 26 Australian-born asylum seeker babies, said the families were living in daily fear that they would be "shipped off" to Christmas Island.

"There is really heavy-handed and unnecessarily cruel approach taken to removing people, which is knocking on their door in the middle of the night and shipping them off," Mr Varghese said, who is the principle of Maurice Blackburn lawyers.

"Christmas Island is the worst place in Australia to put these people, because it is very remote and a long way from any first-class medical services," he said.

Mr Varghese said the families also had children under four-years old.

The new educational arrangement on the island will provide full-time educational services from kindergarten to high school for the 56 children currently living in the centre, it was announced on Friday evening.

But the government is expecting the centre will enroll "to up 150" children - nearly three times the number of children currently on the island.

The increased number of children is likely to come from the nine onshore detention centres that the government will close over four years, including Inverbrackie in Adelaide and Darwin Airport Lodge which both house family groups.

The Royal College of Physicians said that while it "cautiously welcomed" the plans to provide full-time education to the children, it slammed Australia's decision to detain children in such harsh environments.

"We are not fulfilling our international obligations by detaining children in any setting in terms of their human rights," the college's president Professor Nick Talley said.

A Human Rights Commission inquiry into the treatment of asylum seeker children on Christmas Island detention centre in March found children in a state of gross neglect, with little to no access to education.

If a baby is currently born to asylum seeker parents in detention they are considered "unlawful maritime arrivals" by the government.

But this could change following the decision of test a court case in Brisbane where lawyers are fighting to release an Australian-born baby Ferouz from detention.

Ferouz was born in Brisbane on November 6 after his mother, Latifar, a 31-year-old Rohingyan asylum seeker, was flown from the Nauru detention centre to the Mater Hospital following pregnancy complications.

Until the decision is made whether babies can be considered UMAs, the immigration department have provided an undertaking not to send 26 Australian-born babies or their immediate family members to offshore detention.

The Ferouz case continues on Monday.

Comment has been sought from the immigration department.

adamantium|wang posted:

quote:

THE proportion of young Australians with a job has plunged to its lowest level in two decades, with evidence that fewer than 60 per cent are working sparking calls from employers for the government to respond to an emerging crisis with steps to cut penalty rates and youth wages.