An application for approval of the Northern Coalfields Community Care Association and Controlled Entities Enterprise Agreement 2017 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will fall to Fair Work Commissioner Saunders at Level 3, 237 Wharf Road in Newcastle.
July 30, 2018
Community Accommodation and Respite Agency Inc is facing a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) before Fair Work Commissioner Platt in Conference Room 6b – Level 6 in Adelaide at 2pm (Kumarapperuma).
July 20, 2018
A teenage girl with an intellectual disability was sexually assaulted as she walked along a road in Melbourne’s south-east, police say. A man aged 30-40 approached the 15-year-old last in June on Chesterville Road, Cheltenham and had a short conversation with the girl and then assaulted her.
July 18, 2018
For the first time, a Māori state house tenant has been appointed to the Housing NZ board. Disability activist and lawyer Dr Huhana Hickey looks to bring a new perspective to the director role. Hickey says, “I hope I can actually bring the voice of the very tenants that live in there. There’s a range of us- we’re not all P addicts, we don’t all have a lab in our house.” Hickey is a panel member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal and has a PhD in law and science. The Auckland-based resident says the numbers of elderly, disabled and families living on the streets is a big concern.
July 17, 2018
A Melbourne disabled pensioner has been committed to stand trial for allegedly funding hostile activity in Syria. During a hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court, Isa Kocoglu, 44, pleaded not guilty to seven charges of giving money to a person “engaging in a hostile activity in a foreign state, namely Syria”. He is alleged to have forwarded a total of more than $4,000 to John Georgelas, an American who fought for the Islamic State group in Syria. Charge sheets allege from December 2013 to September 2014 Mr Kocoglu transferred money from his Commonwealth Bank account on seven different occasions via the online system PayPal. The smallest amount was $30, the largest $2,360. American intelligence flagged Mr Kocoglu to the local counter-terrorism unit, who undertook Operation Pontefract in late 2015. The court heard in June 2016, the Australian Federal Police seized six electronic devices from his home, including hard drives and USB flash drives. All up investigators seized 4 terabytes of data, which took some time to assess and analyse. Mr Kocoglu was charged in October 2017. After a hearing on Friday, some of it behind closed doors, Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt committed Mr Kocoglu for trial. His bail has been extended. A directions hearing will be held in the Supreme Court this week.
July 13, 2018
Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford has announced the appointment of three new members of the board of Housing New Zealand (HNZ), including the first state house tenant to be on its board since the corporation was created in 2001. “I want Housing New Zealand to be a world class public housing landlord that better meets the needs of families who live in state houses. I believe that the appointments of Leigh Auton, Dr Huhana Hickey and Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman will help provide the direction that we need to make this happen,” says Phil Twyford.
July 10, 2018
Another person has been sentenced in a Bendigo court for begging in public following a police crackdown last year. The man in his 40s, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was sentenced in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Monday on multiple counts of begging alms. He was spotted sitting in front of Coles in the Bendigo CBD at 6.30am on September 18 asking passers-by for money. Coles staff asked the man to move on, but he refused to leave. Police were called to the area and he was offered referrals to public housing organisations, which he refused for various reasons. He told police he asked three people for money before staff came out and asked him to leave. The man was spotted begging again 10 days later at a bus stop on Mitchell Street. When approached by police, he told them to “get —-ed” and boarded a bus, making an obscene gesture to police as it drove away. The man told the court he was begging because he wanted money to help him move out of his unit, which had no heating and no insulation. He was living off the Disability Support Pension due to his schizophrenia. The man was begging on the streets of Bendigo for seven months before police picked him up. Since last year, he has been able to find permanent housing through Haven; Home, Safe. The man told the court things had improved in 2018. “Everything is fine. I don’t beg anymore,” he said. “I’ve thrown all those old friendships out that were causing me to get into trouble.” The man had previously been jailed for begging, but police did not suggest another jail term. Magistrate Sarah Leighfield agreed and said it was good to see the man had found better accommodation. “It’s obvious you’ve made lots of positive changes in your life, and I won’t step in the way,” she said. The man was placed on a six-month good behaviour bond. Police in Bendigo charged 31 people with begging alms in 2017 – an increase from just one charge in 2016. There were no begging charges in 2015, and just over one per year from 2008 to 2016. In 2017, police encouraged the public to report begging so they could refer the homeless to housing organisations.
July 10, 2018
Community Accommodation and Respite Agency Inc has a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) with which it must deal before Fair Work Commissioner Hampton in his Adelaide chambers (Kumarapperuma).
