In the child’s best interest?

An excerpt from the Qld. Sunday Mail 4/11/06

“A confidential staff survey, obtained by the (Qld.) State Opposition under Freedom of Information, revealed serious problems in the embattled department (of Child Safety), including an exodus of experienced officers and lack of funding.
The annual report of the independent child-death case review committee, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, said 51 children known to the department died last year.

It found Queensland children with links to the child protection system were nine times more likely to die from fatal assaults and five times more likely to commit suicide than other children.”
Link to Full Sunday Mail article

Watch this space!

Starting in January 2007 this blog will be run from Palm Island (an Aboriginal community in Queensland, just off the coast of Townsville).

Between now and then I will put a few posts up and the comments are open. However I will not breath life into it until January. At this stage it is just a pilot blog

Check out About Paradigm Oz there is already an impressive list of people who have agreed to be contributors, and this is just the beginning!

J.T. (editor)

Rednecks and Dreadlocks

By John Tracey
Earlier this year I had the honour of initiating an indigenous issues discussion on the John Butler Trio fan website. Not long after I had the greater honor of being banned from the forum. Not long after that the indigenous forum was removed altogether. Ill tell you the gory details soon but first I’ll try and put a few things in perspective.

Click up for David Hicks

Australian citizen David Hicks has been detained in Guantánamo Bay for nearly five years. The Australian government must act to bring David Hicks home to face a fair trail or be released.

Click here to Amnesty International’s David Hicks campaign and send an email to the Prime Minister

The Errol Wyles Justice Foundation – Building Bridges to Justice

The Errol Wyles Justice Foundation is a non-profit, community based, non-Government organisation established in 2006.

Named in remembrance of an Aboriginal boy, Errol Wyles Junior, who was killed in violent and tragic circumstances in 2003, the Foundation provides legal redress for Aboriginal victims of crime and injustice and promotes the equal protection and treatment of Aborigines under State and Federal law.

Errol Wyles Justice Foundation website