National stories

Defence losing out in asylum camp fight

By Bianca Hall and Edmund Tadros

Senior Defence brass opposed the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s bid to use the remote Scherger RAAF base as a detention centre, documents released under freedom of information show.

19 Sep, 2011: ADF refugee role attacked

By Bianca Hall and Edmund Tadros

The Federal Government is improperly using the Defence Department to support its refugee policies, the Australian Defence Association says.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has entered into contracts worth at least $176million since 2010 – including $35million with Defence - to prepare and operate the Curtin and Scherger remote RAAF bases as detention centres

12 Sep, 2011: Border security’s real cost

By Edmund Tadros and Bianca Hall

Detention centre operators, an international training company, a NSW Government department and a multinational IT firm are the big winners from the Federal Government’s immigration policies.

An analysis of tender data by The Canberra Times has identified, for the first time, the companies that have won the most lucrative contracts from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship since 2008.

Business stories

Workplace  Qantas loses fight with Falun Gong flight attendant QANTAS has been ordered to reinstate a flight attendant banned from international duties over her practise of Falun Gong. Sheridan Genrich, of Sydney’s Lane Cove, was demoted to short-haul after she was threatened by authorities during a 2008 Beijing stopover and deported due to her spiritual belief. Qantas passengers exposed to toxic air, alleges book Law firms ban workplace gossip site Firm Spy Casino stood by as clerk lost stolen millions

Retail Costco pumps $140m into Aussie growth  THE nation’s most powerful shopping centre owners are trying to stop the expansion of US discount warehouse chain Costco, claiming a planned multi-million dollar development is illegal. In a raft of objections, the group – including Westfield, AMP and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia – says the proposed store breaches existing state planning laws, is “inappropriate” and that to create any exemptions would be “anti-competitive”. Cult fashion label Ed Hardy collapsed owing $15 million The IKEA ‘honey pot’ effect

Economics Interactive economic charts  news.com.au has a series of interactive economic charts using the amCharts tool that I helped to create (along with the talented designers). The pictured interactive Australian dollar vs US dollar chart allows readers to zoom in and out and highlight key events during the Aussie’s 30 year journey. More: unemployment, interest rates, inflation and GDP. Other economic stories

Crime stories

The murder of Jody Galante

Book: What the Mother Knew, the true story of the murder of Jody Galante

On January 7, 2006, pregnant mother-of-one Jody Galante was reported missing by her husband Mark.

A week later Jody’s body was found in bushland and Mark was later arrested over her murder.

Whistleblower Gillian Sneddon exposes child sex allegations about NSW minister Milton Orkopoulos

Crisis in care series

NSW prisons, a captive State: A Special Investigation

Rougher-than-usual justice

Dead at 19: killed by a drug cocktail in his cell

The high cost of being a police officer

Technology stories

Technology key to rebuilding Christchurch  The massive earthquake that destroyed large parts of New Zealand’s second biggest city struck at 12:51pm on an overcast Tuesday in February  killed 181 people and destroyed or badly damaged about 900 buildings in Christchurch city. The government and residents are now using a mix of high- and low-tech methods to reimagine how a rebuilt Christchurch could look and to remember what they have lost. Ad agency cribbed my lecture notes: professor Stolen photos from laptop tell a tawdry tale

Freedom-of-Information stories

ADFA’s decade of sex claims

Australia’s military university has filed at least 29 formal reports of alleged sexual offences over the past decade, including claims a female cadet was king-hit and raped while unconscious.

But the records, obtained under freedom of information law, may represent a mere fraction of all reported assaults at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

APEC 2007 – Truth revealed by Freedom-of-Infomation

Activist ‘Paddy’ Gibson lands payout after APEC arrest  POLICE made a secret payment to an activist wrongly arrested during the 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit and then used this payout as an excuse to stop an internal investigation into the arrest, documents released under Freedom of Information laws reveal. NSW Police made the payment to activist Padriac “Paddy” Gibson after he launched a civil case over his illegal arrest and detention after the major anti-APEC rally in September, 2007. The APEC wall that couldn’t keep The Chaser out cost $2m THE steel and concrete fence that became a symbol of the 2007 Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit cost an amazing $2 million to hire for seven days, documents released under Freedom of Information laws reveal. The “Great Wall of Sydney” – which left police and the NSW Government red-faced after it was breached by The Chaser comedy team during APEC – infuriated locals and tourists by caging off the Sydney Opera House and sections of the CBD.

Prison Guards rob and bully: FoI report

NSW Police, a big group of teenagers and the ensuing riot

Universities violate privacy laws

Bashings, robberies rife at city stations

Hidden truth of joyflight crash pilot

Blog: Data Journalism – Embedding Tables

One of the best parts about The Wall is watching the way our data gurus crunch information. Their ability to filter large datasets into meaningful topics has tickled an itch I’ve long had about how data can be used to write and extend stories. I’m going to explore this area by blogging every two weeks about different tools journalists and non-programmers can use to embed data into their online stories. It’s a big topic, so I’ll begin with tools that help embed tables into stories. The first tool I’ll look at is tablesort.me. Please, email me with any thoughts or suggestions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Defence losing out in asylum camp fight

By Bianca Hall and Edmund Tadros

Senior Defence brass opposed the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s bid to use the remote Scherger RAAF base as a detention centre, documents released under freedom of information show.

Defence refused to release more than half the pages in the heavily redacted package of documents.

But the documents it did release about the arrangements between it and the Immigration Department show preparations to convert the base into a detention centre were being made on an ad hoc basis.

Read more about how Defence resisted its base being used for immigration detention at The Canberra Times.

ADF refugee role attacked

By Bianca Hall and Edmund Tadros

The Federal Government is improperly using the Defence Department to support its refugee policies, the Australian Defence Association says.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has entered into contracts worth at least $176million since 2010 – including $35million with Defence - to prepare and operate the Curtin and Scherger remote RAAF bases as detention centres.

Read more about the ADF’s refugee role at The Canberra Times.

Border security’s real cost

By Edmund Tadros and Bianca Hall

Detention centre operators, an international training company, a NSW Government department and a multinational IT firm are the big winners from the Federal Government’s immigration policies.

An analysis of tender data by The Canberra Times has identified, for the first time, the companies that have won the most lucrative contracts from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship since 2008.

Combined with information from DIAC, a fuller picture has emerged of the true cost of the Federal Government’s asylum-seeker policy, with a refugee advocate saying the money could be better deployed in cheaper community-based alternatives.

Read more about the cost of Australia’s immigration policies at The Canberra Times.