THE Future Fund has no record of any correspondence alerting it to the Federal Government’s plan to split Telstra, a Freedom of Information search has revealed.
Read more about the Future Fund at news.com.au.
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. Read more at news.com.au here.
This is my first story for news.com.au. I have reported previously on the farce of the APEC excludable person’s list and a botched police attempt to blackmail an activist into spying. Read more here.
Read more about Freedom of Information laws at Peter Timmon’s excellent Open and Shut blog here. He has written a short piece about my article here.
DOZENS of prison officers committed criminal offences last year, including bashing inmates, assaulting and bullying co-workers and stealing, according to a confidential Corrective Services report. Read more here at The Sun Herald.
In the months before the 2007 APEC forum, the NSW Government passed special legislation so police could create a list of “excludable persons”, who were considered so dangerous they would be immediately arrested if they entered Martin Place and other public areas around the Opera House during APEC Leaders’ Week.
It turns out that university activists and Greenpeace members made up a third of the secret list of 61 people. Pictured above are nine of the excluded. Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald.
This was a freedom-of-information request that came back with a useful police document.
A blog link to this story.
Other stories I’ve done about police and APEC for The Sydney Morning Herald.
August 24, 2007: Cheney protester convicted
June 18, 2007: Spy for us and we’ll drop charge
June 19, 2007: Those on APEC black list ‘know who they are’
June 21, 2007: Protesting at APEC a bad idea, activists told
June 29, 2007: Cages on wheels: APEC plan to keep the peace
Two more useful freedom-of-information searches that came back with useful results about the way universities and the police interact.
July 11, 2007: Uni lets police see personal records
THE University of Technology, Sydney, has given police access to student and staff information during the past two years without the knowledge or consent of those involved. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.
July 13, 2007: Police got student data just by asking
THE University of Sydney has provided confidential student information to law enforcement officials without demanding a warrant, subpoena or even an explanation. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.
RAILWAY stations in central Sydney are the most dangerous in the state. Passengers are most likely to be bashed, sexually assaulted or robbed at city stops, confidential police figures show.
Despite a 2005 RailCorp promise to work more closely with police, there are an average of 18 crimes a day across the metropolitan and country rail network.
There were 1300 assaults, 417 robberies and 111 sexual offences committed during a 13-month period to November 2006.
The data, obtained from police under freedom of information laws, show for the first time the extent and location of crime on the rail network. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.
April 28, 2007: Rail chief defends network
THE acting head of RailCorp, Rob Mason, says more needs to be done to reduce crime on the rail network.
Mr Mason was responding to a report in the Herald yesterday that showed there were 1300 assaults, 417 robberies and 111 sexual offences in a 13-month period on the NSW rail network. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.
AN ADVENTURE pilot who died with his passenger in a jet fighter crash in October had a history of complaints and investigations into his flying and aircraft maintenance - but after the crash the air safety authority denied all knowledge of his record.
Documents obtained from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority under freedom-of-information laws reveal it conducted at least two investigations and received at least five complaints about the pilot, Nick Costin, but let him continue his air adventure business. Read more.
