Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) is the fortieth monarch since William the Conqueror, and is also the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
She is Head of State of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms, including Australia.
The elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, she was born in 1926. She became Queen at the age of 25, and has reigned gloriously for more than five decades.
She is married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and has four children and eight grandchildren.
Her Majesty is 38th in direct line of descent from Egbert (c.775-839), King of Wessex from 802 and of England 827 to 839.
On February 3, THE QUEEN had ~ a magnificent victory ~ over
ABDUL NACER BENBRIKA,
AIMEN JOUD,
FADL SAYADI,
ABDULLAH MERHI,
AHMED RAAD,
EZZIT RAAD and
AMER HADDARA
in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The seven men will now reside at Her Majesty’s Prisons for periods of between 15 (Benbrika) and 4 1/2 years, after having been found guilty by a jury of their peers of belonging to a terrorist group between July 2004 and November 2005.
So much for The Good News.
The Bad News is that Melbourne’s Moreland Council has become
a playground for professional multiculturalists of the far Left.
This follows its public condemnation of the “Israeli massacre in Gaza” (Moreland councillors blast Israel on Gaza action, Moreland Leader, February 2, 2009).
According to the Moreland Leader, only one of the eleven members of Council — John Kavanagh — opposed the motion. This means — I assume — that the Mayor, Lambros Tapinos, supported it. Which is odd, as Lambros is or was a member of Labour Unity, and Labour Unity is generally supportive of Israeli policy. (The council is dominated by the ALP, which has eight members (three Socialist Left [sic] faction, five Labor Unity faction) while The Greens have two and the DLP (Catholic right) one.)
Tapinos-the-professional-multiculturalist-of-the-far-left / Labour Unity member had his campaign for election in November 2008 subsidised by former MP Evan Thornley to the tune of two thousand dollars. Chump change for millionaire Thornley, but an investment which is paying handsome dividends for Tapinos:
Labor’s novice mayor for Moreland
Simon Craig
Moreland Leader
December 21, 2008MORELAND’S Labor councillors headed off a bid by Greens councillors last week and installed newcomer Lambos Tapinos in the mayoral position.
Greens Cr Jo Connellan nominated experienced independent Cr John Kavanagh for the position at a special mayoral meeting on Monday evening, saying she wanted someone “whose sole purpose of being on the council is to work for Moreland”.
Her nomination was supported by fellow Green Toby Archer and Cr Kavanagh.
But Moreland’s eight Labor councillors followed the party line and voted for 29-year-old Cr Tapinos as mayor for 2009.
Cr Tapinos said he would quit his job with federal Labor senator David Feeney to take on the role full-time.
The mayor is set to be paid $77,300 a year, up from $57,500, after councillors voted at the same meeting to raise their annual allowance. The increases, subject to a 28-day public consultation period beginning in February, will also see councillor allowances rise from $18,000 to $24,200.
Despite being voted in only at the November 29 elections, Cr Tapinos said his experience in student politics, including a stint as president of the Victorian branch of the National Union of Students, had given him political experience.
“There’s a lot of similarities to the university councils that I have been on,” Cr Tapinos said.
In his mayor’s speech to 100 or so residents at Coburg Town Hall, Cr Tapinos said he would use his term in office to:
* “Develop an infrastructure program to make sure our local roads and footpaths are repaired and made safe for our entire community”.
* “Rebuild Coburg through the Coburg Initiative and start similar projects for Brunswick and Glenroy”.
* “Redevelop the Brunswick baths (and) renew the Oak Park Aquatic Centre and review the opening hours of all outdoor pools” and
* “Deliver more and better services, like Meals on Wheels and Home Help to assist you (seniors) maintain your independence and sense of community”.
See also:
EVERYNIGHT…EVERYNIGHT
Production Date: c. 1993
Release Date: 1994
Follows Australia’s (second, after Mark Brandon Read?) most notorious hit man, Christopher Dale Flannery’s (Field) time inside the infamous H Division of Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison. Dale, remand prisoner, is thrown into H division, where he’s subjected to relentless beatings, mind games and despair at the hands of sadistic warders, led by Berriman (Hunter). Remarkable story from playwright Mooney, whose original play is based on his own experiences inside H Division. Shot in gritty black and white, it’s amazing that this film isn’t more widely known: it tells an incredible, horrifying story of the disregard of basic human rights as recently as the 1970s. Field and Hunter are terrific in their lead roles – it is interesting to note that Field and director Tsilimidos teamed up again for the inferior but still impacting SILENT PARTNER seven years later. Films like these make you wonder what is really happening inside detention centres today. For those who are interested, LOUGHNAN v R [1981] VR 443 is a case in which the defendant sought to escape from Pentridge but was captured in the process (he broke both ankles jumping from the prison wall). He argued duress and necessity (both recognised defences to most crimes in Australia), saying that he had been threatened with death, and did not want to be placed under any prison protection scheme (which simply meant either solitary confinement, or being placed in H Division) because he believed his life would in even more danger there. The Full Court of the Victorian Supreme Court decided that the response of the defendant was not proportionate to the danger, and dismissed his action; interestingly, it was noted in a later case – ROGERS (1996) 86 A Crim R 542 – that had the defendant, upon escaping in fear of his life, immediately handed himself over to relevant authorities, he might be able to use necessity or duress as a defence. Rogers was never in Pentridge during the 70s or 80s, however, and, in any event, Loughnan broke both ankles and couldn’t have reported to any authorities anyway.
