Category: Australia

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Australia

Neo-Nazis allegedly extort Melbourne pub owner after staff recognize fascist tattoo, spit in beer

Neo-Nazis allegedly extort Melbourne pub owner after staff recognize fascist tattoo, spit in beer

The number 51 in the monetary request holds special significance for the group because it is the number of victims in the Christchurch massacre.

Jimeone Roberts drinking at The Irish Times Pub with distinctive black sun tattoo.

Jimeone Roberts drinking at The Irish Times Pub with distinctive black sun tattoo.

On The Irish Times Pub Facebook page, Parashar apologized to Roberts, Eracleous, known neo-Nazis Neil Erikson and Thomas Sewell, and their friend. The Age is not aware of any evidence that Roberts, Erikson, Sewell or their friend were involved in making the demand for money. The pub also sacked the two staff members involved.

“The Irish Times Management team strongly disapproves of the ex-employee’s unprofessional conduct by spitting into the patron’s drink as a consequence of a discussion with the patron over a political topic,” the message said.

In the 10 days since the incident, the pub has received a litany of one-star Google reviews written about its service, many referencing the incident. The campaign was amplified by social media channels with far-right activists co-ordinating across borders to ruin the reputation of the pub.

An audio memo posted to a secret channel and obtained by The Age also suggested using complaints to regulators to apply pressure to Parashar, who was overseas at the time of the incident.

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The audio memo said they were considering making reports to Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, taking legal action in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and reporting the pub to the Melbourne City Council.

“I think we should get the ball rolling, get everything in motion, so when [the owner] does come back from overseas [he] is confronted with emails and f—ing complaints from Melbourne Council, Consumer Affairs, VCAT,” the voice said.

“He’ll be like ‘what the f—, I don’t want to deal with this shit’.”

Police said they were notified of the incident.

“It’s believed a number of men became involved in an altercation with a staff member and have subsequently made a number of demands from the business. As the matter is currently being assessed, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time,” a police spokeswoman said.

Eracleous pictured in a recent online discussion with other neo-Nazis.

Eracleous pictured in a recent online discussion with other neo-Nazis.

Eracleous, a former Young Liberal member turned neo-Nazi from Victoria, was responsible for a January 19 propaganda video depicting three masked men burning an Aboriginal flag, reciting a white supremacist manifesto and criticizing Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe.

Erikson, a far-right nationalist, has previously been convicted of inciting serious contempt for Muslims by making offensive remarks in a LGBTQI church service. He maintains his innocence of him and is currently appealing his conviction and jail term.

Though not in attendance at the pub but mentioned in the apology request, Thomas Sewell, leader of the Australian nationalist socialist movement, is currently on bail as he awaits trial on allegations he attacked and robbed a group of hikers in regional Victoria. Sewell has pleaded not guilty.

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Parashar says he now feels sandwiched between two groups: the neo-Nazis that insisted on the sacking of the staff, and people who think it was wrong to sack the employee who spat in his beer.

“We’re still recovering from the impacts of COVID and the next thing we’re getting dragged into this,” he said.

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Australia

Adelaide family given last-minute visa extension to stay in Australia, but their future is still in limbo

A man and two women in a park wearing identical black hoodies with a petition QR code and photo on it

An Adelaide-based family who is pleading with the federal government to allow them to stay in Australia says the country’s visa laws need to change to give more people to “fair go”.

Mark and Kelly Green moved to Australia from Scotland a decade ago when their daughter Rebecca was nine.

Mr Green and his family are like thousands of bridging visa holders who have become accustomed to living in limbo, and have found it difficult to secure their future in Australia.

Mr Green, a qualified electrician who has been working on solar projects in Australia, has not yet met the criteria for permanent residence because he has been unable to stay with the same employer for the required amount of time.

The family sold all their belongings and had been booked to board a flight back to Scotland late on Wednesday night, but were granted a last-minute extension after Premier Peter Malinauskas called federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.

“We were just so stressed out, we didn’t know what was happening and we thought it was the end yesterday, then to have that news at the very end brought to us, it was fantastic,” Mr Green said.

“We can’t thank these people enough, you know, just for that chance to stay a little bit longer and hopefully forever, because this is our home.”

the green family
The Green family says Australia has been their home for 10 years.(Change.org)

Mr Green, who stood holding his wife and daughter while speaking to the media, became emotional when he described how much he loved Australia and wanted to stay.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to fight, fight for what’s right,” he said.

“I’ve got these two people here, they mean the world to me and that’s worth fighting for.”

Mr Green said he hoped the immigration minister would make the “right decision”.

“All we can do is plead with him and say please look at our case and look at it with all your heart, we’ve done nothing wrong,” Mr Green said.

‘So much to offer’ Australia

Mr Green said he had now found a supportive employer who was willing to sponsor him for the full amount of time required to meet the permanent residency requirements and he just needed permission from the federal government to stay.

“We’re still not out of the water yet, all the support we can still get would be fantastic,” Mr Green said.

He said he wanted the system to change to make it easier for others like him and his family.

“There’s been people waiting out there for years to try and get into this country, and no wonder why this country is fantastic, it’s brilliant,” he said.

“There’s so much to offer here and people have got so much to offer this country as well and that’s what they’ve got to take into consideration, the rules have got to be changed a little bit to be brought up to the times. It’s not fair that people are stuck in these situations.”

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Australia

Family of Queensland man Ian Seibel, who was killed by speeding, unlicensed driver slam ‘ridiculous’ penalties

Family of Queensland man Ian Seibel, who was killed by speeding, unlicensed driver slam 'ridiculous' penalties

The family of a man who was killed after being hit by an unlicensed and speeding driver north of Brisbane have slammed the punishment handed to the man responsible as “ridiculous” after learning he will spend less than two years in jail.

Manpreet Singh Brar pleaded guilty in the District Court on Thursday to one count each of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death and driving without a licence.

During a sentencing hearing in Brisbane, the court heard Ian Seibel, 51, was crossing an intersection in Kallangur in the Moreton Bay region with his wife and their dog in November 2020, when they were hit by the 33-year-old’s car.

The court was played graphic dashcam footage of the crash, which showed Brar speeding through a red light, before colliding with another car, then slamming into the couple.

Mr Seibel sustained extensive head injuries and died in hospital several days later.

Ian smiles in a cap.
Ian Seibel was killed by a speeding, unlicensed driver while walking his dog with his wife in November 2020.(Supplied)

A woman in the second car was also critically injured and spent more than two weeks in hospital and “likely would have died” without surgery, the court heard.

The court heard Brar, who is an Indian national residing in Australia on a partner visa, had been driving unlicensed since 2016 and continued to do so after the crash, breaching his bail conditions.

He also has a lengthy traffic history dating back several years which included multiple counts of speed.

Crown prosecutor Chris Cook told the court tests also determined Brar had a low level of cocaine and high level of cough medicine in his system, but it was not alleged he was adversely affected by the drugs at the time.

“He was fatigued having used those drugs earlier,” he said

“He shouldn’t have been on the road that day.”

‘A kind, loving, gentle giant’

Mr Cook told the court it was clear from victim impact statements submitted to the court by family members that Mr Seibel was a “much loved” husband, father, son and friend.

“Mr Brar has caused his unnecessary and untimely death through his actions that day,” he said.

Paula Seibel looks distracted.
Widow Paula Seibel described the current justice system as “a toothless tiger.”(AAP: Jono Searle)

In Paula Seibel’s statement, she described her husband as her “best friend” and “better half”.

“I feel like I am less than a whole person now that I don’t have him by my side,” she said.

“I am beyond angry that I have not had the opportunity to spend the rest of my life with this kind, loving, gentle giant.”

Mrs Seibel made an impassioned plea to the judge, urging her to apply the maximum penalty to Brar, calling the current justice system a “toothless tiger.”

“I hope that my voice will not go unacknowledged and that lan will not be victimized once again,” she said.

“Our society is crying out for harsher penalties… Where is the incentive to stop committing crimes when a mere slap on the wrist is the only punishment received?”

Family ‘beaten’ after sentence

Judge Katherine McGinness acknowledged the “enduring heartache” Mr Seibel’s family would suffer but said there were sentencing considerations she had to make under Queensland legislation.

“No sentence I impose can turn back time or alleviate in anyway the profound pain,” she said.

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Australia

Perth woman Moe Moe Myint Kelly jailed over ‘ruthless’ theft of $2 million from employer

Perth woman Moe Moe Myint Kelly jailed over 'ruthless' theft of $2 million from employer

A 65-year-old Perth woman who over seven years “ruthlessly” stole $2 million from trusting family friends she worked for, has been sentenced to more than four-and-a-half years in jail.

Moe Moe Myint Kelly was employed as a bookkeeper and accountant for a Northbridge business, which operated both a pharmacy and a newsagent.

She was a family friend of the owners, and the District Court was told when the business started struggling, Kelly agreed to work for free until things improved.

However, unknown to the owners, she began funneling sums of cash from the daily takings into her own accounts.

The thieving began in 2011 and only stopped when Kelly made what was described as “a minor error” in 2018 which led to an audit that uncovered her crime.

The court heard when the owners confronted her, she claimed she had sent most of the money to charities in Burma.

State Prosecutor Justin Whalley SC said bank statements showed the sums Kelly deposited into her accounts ranged from just under $1,000 to $15,000, with most of them being around the $5,000 mark.

A woman in sunglasses, a black top and apricot pants outside a Perth courthouse.
Moe Moe Myint Kelly’s earliest possible release date is April 2025. (ABC News: Glyn Jones)

In total there were more than four hundred separate instances of stealing, with records showing that between 2011 and 2015 she lost large amounts of money at the casino.

The owners provided victim impact statements to the court which detailed the struggles they went through including working around 100 hours a week and using their savings to pay their staff.

Woman was ‘riding a gravy train’

Mr Whalley said Kelly was a trusted family friend of the owners and he described her offenses as “a massive breach of trust”.

“We say she continued to work for nothing because she was riding a gravy train, that was providing her with hundreds of thousands of dollars a year,” he said.

Kelly was initially charged with stealing $3.5 million and had been due to stand trial earlier this year.

However, after negotiations, she pleaded guilty to stealing the lesser sum of $2 million, although Mr Whalley said it was not accepted the figure was that low.

“But it was not in the public interest to litigate the difference,” he told the court.

Kelly’s lawyer said her client, who was born in Burma, had an extremely deprived childhood that effectively included being “abandoned” by her parents when she was seven.

She said Kelly was now married to a man who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Aggravated, ‘ruthless’ offending

Judge David MacLean told Kelly her crimes were aggravated because she was a trusted family friend of the business owners.

“You had a ringside seat to their suffering… you cynically abused that position of trust,” he said.

He also described her actions as “ruthless”.

“You stole directly, repeatedly without guilt, remorse or shame from someone who you appeared to consider as a family,” he said.

Judge MacLean said greed appeared to be the motivation for the offenses.

“It was undertaken by reason for a desire to either enrich yourself or to spend more time at the casino.”

He also described the sum stolen as “enormous”.

“It was an amount of money which was squandered on a parasitic enterprise, something in the order of $1.2 million at the Crown Casino,” he said.

Judge MacLean said Kelly continued to try to justify her actions by claiming she had not been properly paid, and because of that he did not accept she was entirely remorseful.

After taking into account her deprived upbringing and her pleas of guilty, Judge MacLean sentenced Kelly to four years and eight months in jail.

She will have to serve two years and eight months before she is eligible for parole — her earliest possible release date will be in April 2025.

The court heard none of the money had been paid back.

Victim says Kelly ‘cost year years of her life’

Judge MacLean did make a compensation order and the court heard any of Kelly’s assets will be forfeited.

The business owner, Diana Quan, was in court for the sentencing.

She said the jail term was not enough.

“She took 10 years of my life,” she said.

“It’s been an emotional toll. It’s brought up a lot of emotions.

“It was a hard time for us and it continues to be a hard time, we’ll never recover from this, we’re just a small family business and we work really, really hard.”

Ms Quan also said she did not believe the business would get any of the money back but she was grateful the Judge did not accept Kelly was truly remorseful.

“The picture that she presents to the world is very different from who she actually is.”

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Australia

Veterans’ Affairs Minister apologizes to ADF members after royal commission report released, ‘National tragedy’

The veterans’ affairs minister has apologized to Australian Defense Force members and veterans after a royal commission report detailed the failures to address the rate of commit suicide.

The interim report from the Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide says the prevalence of suicide among serving and ex-ADF members “should concern us all” and the commissioners are “dismayed” by the lack of action from past governments to previous inquiries and reports .

It makes 13 recommendations for immediate action, including eliminating the backlog of compensation claims, simplifying and harmonizing veteran compensation and rehabilitation legislation, and improving the administration of the claims system.

Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh.
Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh apologized to ADF members and veterans. (9News)

Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said the government will make a formal response to the recommendations before getting on “with the task of saving lives.”

Keogh called the rate of veteran suicide a “national tragedy.”

“It is devastating that Australia has lost more serving and former serving personnel to suicide than it has lost through operations over the last 20 years in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

Keogh said he is “deeply sorry” for the failings and lack of action within the defense force and veterans’ affairs department.

The commissioners also noted the considerable number of previous reports and inquiries since 2000, identifying over 50 previous reports and more than 750 recommendations.

“While we acknowledge that many of these reports and inquiries were about discrete topics, we have been dismayed to come to understand the limited ways that Australian governments have responded to these previous inquiries and reports,” the report said.

In response to this, Keogh said it is “vital” that the recommendations are urgently addressed.

“It is clear that a number of recommendations from this interim report call on the government to get on with recommendations that have been the subject of numerous previous reviews in this area and it is vital that these are addressed as a priority,” Keogh said.

Keogh acknowledged the recommendations and details of the report will be confronting ADF members, veterans and families and urged them to seek support.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the Coalition would support “reasonable steps” the government took in its response to the royal commission.

“It is a national tragedy and this is a problem that’s been frankly decades in the making, back to the Vietnam War where people were treated very poorly when they came home,” Dutton said.

“The way our country provides support to our veterans should be a source of national pride, not shame.

“I want to make sure we can support the government in every reasonable step they take to reduce and hopefully bring to zero the numbers who seek to take their own lives.”

SAS soldiers take part in a training exercise in Afghanistan in 2002.
SAS soldiers take part in a training exercise in Afghanistan in 2002. (Wade Laube)

Dutton called on the government to move the veterans’ affairs portfolio back into cabinet after it was made a junior ministry.

He refused to be drawn on whether the Coalition, which had been in government from 2013 until this year’s federal election, would take responsibility for issues faced by veterans, saying it was an issue which has “been going on for decades” and “is not about politics”.

The final royal commission report will be handed down in June 2024.

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Australia

Port Kennedy driver charged with running over a man in Warnbro incident

Port Kennedy driver charged with running over a man in Warnbro incident

A Port Kennedy driver has been accused of running over a man and pinning him under his car after a brawl at a Warnbro service station.

Police allege that the incident unfolded about 8.20pm on Wednesday, when the accused went to the Caltex petrol station on Warnbro Sound Avenue to buy a couple of items.

When he returned to his Mitsubishi Lancer, a man known to him hopped into the front passenger’s seat and a fight broke out between them.

Your local paper, whenever you want it.

The 29-year-old man in the passenger’s seat got out of the car and started to walk away.

It is alleged the 33-year-old driver then sped towards him, with the Lancer jumping the kerb and ploughing into the victim, pinning him under the vehicle.

A man has been hospitalized after he was hit by a car at a service station in Warnbro.
Camera IconA man has been hospitalized after he was hit by a car at a service station in Warnbro. Credit: 7NEWS/7NEWS

Several people nearby managed to lift the car off the victim.

He was then given first aid by police officers before being taken to Royal Perth Hospital with third degree burns to his back.

The driver was arrested and charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to harm and no authority to drive.

He will appear at the Rockingham Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Photos of the aftermath showed the Mitsubishi dumped in the bushes near the service station, with the scene taped off by police.

Police have taped off the scene.
Camera IconPolice have taped off the scene. Credit: 7NEWS/7NEWS

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Australia

NT police searching for missing mum Laura Hinks and 5-year-old daughter Grace say pair may have left Darwin

A young girl of age five smiles into the camera.

Northern Territory police have renewed a call for information in the search for a mother and daughter from Darwin who have been missing for several days.

Laura Hinks, 34, and her daughter Grace Hughes, 5, were last seen during a parental visit around 1pm on Sunday, according to NT Police.

Ms Hinks took her daughter from an address on Hidden Valley Road in Berrimah at this time.

“We are investigating all possibilities, all leads, including the possibility they have left the Darwin area,” Senior Detective Sergeant Jon Beer said.

“Our team is working around the clock to locate them and make sure they are safe.

A woman and a young girl smile into the camera. The photo is in black and white.
Police say Ms Hinks was previously living in the Palmerston suburb of Moulden.(Supplied: NT Police)

“We continue to appeal to the public for any information on their whereabouts.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Beer said Ms Hinks’ last known address was in the Palmerston suburb of Moulden but that she no longer appeared to be living there.

Grace is described as having a fair complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.

She was last seen wearing a short-sleeved white dress, white socks and black sneakers.

Ms Hughes is described as having a slim build with a fair complexion and dark hair and dark eyes.

She was last seen wearing a white and green floral-patterned ankle-length dress or skirt with a white/cream long-sleeved shirt over the top.

NT Police have asked anyone with information on the whereabouts of the pair to contact them on 131 444.

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Tristar medical clinics to close across four states and territories after failing to attract a buyer

Tristar medical clinics to close across four states and territories after failing to attract a buyer

Ten GP clinics across four states and territories previously owned by Tristar Medical Group have failed to attract a buyer and will cease operations on Friday.

McGrathNichol Restructuring were appointed as Tristar Medical Group’s administrators in May after the company owed creditors more than $9.3million.

“It is regrettable that the clinics must close,” administrator Matthew Caddy said.

“In the absence of buyers for the clinics, which are loss-making, we have been left with no other option.”

Clinics include those at Avoca, Ararat, Dandenong and Grovedale in Victoria, Kempsey and West Wyalong in New South Wales, and at Bruce in Canberra.

Three Northern Territory centers across Darwin and Palmerston will also close.

The administrators said doctors and staff working at the clinics had been advised of the closure.

The ABC heard that there was a potential buyer for the 10 clinics, but that deal fell through at the last minute and clinic staff were only notified of the closure on Tuesday afternoon.

The Family Doctor group on August 5 purchased 12 of Tristar’s clinics, which were mainly located in Victoria.

Bulk billing ‘unsustainable’

Tristar medical clinics offered bulk-billing patients but Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Karen Price said it was unsustainable.

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Australia

Police on the hunt for man who allegedly grabbed student at Glenelg Primary School

play equipment and sign of a school with greenery inside a fence that has print ads on it

SA Police say “significant” police resources have been deployed near a school in Adelaide’s west following an alleged incident where a student was grabbed by a man.

The incident at Glenelg Primary School was reported to police about 10am on Tuesday.

Police say a man approached a female student on the first floor of the school’s main building, grabbed her right wrist and pulled her down the stairs.

The girl was able to pull away from his grip before the man ran away.

The man is described as being about 180cm tall, bald and was wearing a knee-length light blue shirt, black pants, a black face mask and carrying a beanie.

The student told detectives the man had purple nail polish on one thumb and was wearing a distinctive black ring with bright dots.

The suspect was also wearing a black twisted bracelet on his wrist as well as two earrings on one of his ears.

A man in police uniform speaking into microphones at a reading
Assistant Police Commissioner Scott Duval has dismissed incorrect information shared about the incident.(ABC News: Ethan Rix)

Assistant Police Commissioner Scott Duval said detectives have spoken with staff and students and viewed security footage in the vicinity, but have not found any witnesses.

“So, someone who is not meant to be there, and in this case approaching a student, is really concerning,” he said.

“We have had significant police deployment in the area around the school. The amount of deployment to this investigation is really akin to the type of seriousness we put in it.

“The involvement of the police has not wanted and will not want until we get to a point [where] we’ve exhausted all our investigation, or hopefully arrested the person responsible for this incident.”

The student was not injured during the incident.

A protective security car outside school grounds
Security at Glenelg Primary School after a man allegedly trespassed and grabbed a girl.(ABC News: Chris McLoughlin)

Assistant Commissioner Duval said reports that the man was in the female toilets at the school and chased students were incorrect and “unhelpful.”

“There have been reports of this man going into the female student toilets — I can categorically say that is incorrect,” Assistant Commissioner Duval said.

“There have been other reports that this man chased the student, and again, I say that is not true.

“There were reports that other students, and perhaps staff, witnessed this incident and again I say those reports are untrue and in many respects are not helpful to this investigation.”

He urged anyone who witnessed the incident or may have seen a man matching this description in the area to contact Crime Stoppers.

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Australia

Julie Bishop turns heads in stunning $3,750 Balmain mini dress at David Jones fashion show in Sydney

Julie Bishop turns heads in stunning $3,750 Balmain mini dress at David Jones fashion show in Sydney

Former foreign minister and fashion icon Julie Bishop has turned heads in a bedazzling $3,750 Balmain mini dress.

The ex-politician was all smiles as she posed for photos at the David Jones Spring/Summer 22 showcase in Sydney on Wednesday night.

Ms Bishop wore her hair in a sleek side swept bob as she stepped out in a glamorous jacquard long sleeve mini dress from luxury French fashion house Balmain.

The look was teamed with black stockings and matching pumps, while Ms Bishop accessorized with a pair of statement hoops and a designer chain clutch.

Ms Bishop took to Instagram to share the look with her 95,000 followers.

“You stunner,” wrote activewear designer Pip Edwards.

“So chic,” commented another.

“Oh Julie you’ve outdone yourself! Simply spectacular,” added a third.

Over the years Ms Bishop has showcased her impressive designer wardrobe at red carpet events and even during her time in parliament.

She revealed some of her favorite brands include Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Hugo Boss and Rebecca Vallance.

Ms Bishop stepped away from politics in February 2019 and has pursued different ventures in that time, including a Barbie doll created in her honor and a collaboration with global cosmetics brand Estée Lauder.

She took up the position of Chancellor of the Australian Nation University in 2020.

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