Month: January 2020

A man will appear in court today charged over the alleged online grooming of a child in the state’s Hunter region.
In December 2019, detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) began engaging online with a man in the state’s north.
Police will allege in court that the man believed he was speaking with a 14-year-old girl and engaged in conversations about sexually-explicit acts he wished to perform on the child.
Following extensive investigations, strike force detectives arrested a 23-year-old man at a home near Newcastle about 9.30am yesterday (Wednesday 22 January 2020).
Shortly after, a search warrant was executed at the home, where detectives seized a mobile phone and documents.
The man was taken to Waratah Police Station and charged with use carriage service to groom person under 16 years for sex.
He was refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court today (Thursday 23 January 2020).
Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad Commander, Detective Acting Superintendent Chris Goddard, said all parents need to speak with their children regularly about online safety.
“With school holidays about to end, it’s a timely reminder to keep an eye on how much time your child is spending on the internet, what websites they are visiting, and who they may be speaking with,” Det A/Supt Goddard said.
“Not only should young people be very careful about providing personal information details to a person they only know in an online environment, they should never organise to meet as doing so may place them at further risk of harm.
“If they encounter something or someone they are not comfortable with, we encourage them to speak to someone they trust, who can then let our investigators know,” Det A/Supt Goddard said.
More information and educational packages for parents and children are available from ThinkUKnow, a multi-agency program designed to educate and promote cyber safety: https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/

Three months after the Parliament agreed to re-establish a committee to oversee the implementation of the National Redress Scheme, the Morrison Government has failed to appoint four of its six members.
When Labor put forward a motion to re-establish the committee, the Government cynically used its numbers to dump the former multipartisan approach and wrested control for itself. Now, in the final week of Parliament for 2019, it has failed to appoint four of the six committee members it demanded.
The National Redress Scheme is the outcome of the four-year long royal commission into child sexual abuse in institutions but it’s failing to deliver on multiple fronts. It was projected to provide redress to an estimated 60,000 survivors. Yet, almost 18 months after its commencement, only 469 payments have been made, and some institutions still haven’t signed up to participate.
The Committee is a critical means of providing Parliamentary oversight of the National Redress Scheme.  It’s also one of the few ways survivors can share their experiences of the scheme directly with the Parliament.
Because the Government has been dragging its feet, the committee held its first meeting on the very last day of Parliament for 2019, which has all but ensured it won’t be able to get started on its important work before February 2020.
The Government’s failure to appoint members to the joint committee may be evidence of a concerning lack of interest – or, worse, an active attempt to hold off scrutiny for as long as possible.
Survivors deserve a fair, effective and timely scheme, but this will require the Government to participate fully and actively in the committee process.
The Redress Scheme is lagging. People are dying waiting for their redress payments. And key institutions are yet to sign up. Survivors deserve better from this Government.

The release of a scathing report into the NDIS has prompted Federal Member for Newcastle Sharon Claydon to write a letter to request that a hearing of the Parliamentary NDIS committee be held in Newcastle.
Ms Claydon said the independent report painted a picture of a system in crisis.
“This confirms everything my constituents have been telling me about an under-resourced system plagued with delays and inconsistency and gravely lacking in transparency,” Ms Claydon said.
“Many people in our community have also seen their NDIS plans slashed for no good reason. Regretfully, the situation seems to be getting worse with each passing year.”
Ms Claydon said the Liberals have ‘utterly neglected’ the NDIS in the six years they have been its custodians.
“The fact that that 1200 Australians died while waiting for an NDIS support package is damning evidence of this Government’s neglect,” Ms Claydon said.
“But in the face of the obvious and desperate need for proper resourcing, the Morrison Government instead choose to rip a further $4.6 billion out of the NDIS to prop up their ailing budget. That’s a recipe for disaster, not a remedy, and it’s time the Morrison Liberal government fixed this mess.”

A man will appear in court today charged by Strike Force Trawler detectives over the alleged online procurement of a child and possession of child abuse material.
In December 2019, detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) began engaging online with a man from the Hunter region.
Police will allege in court that the man believed he was speaking with a 13-year-old girl and engaged in conversations about sexually-explicit acts he wished to perform on the child and sent sexually-explicit material.
Following extensive investigations, strike force detectives arrested a 48-year-old man at Williamtown just before 12.30pm yesterday (Tuesday 21 January 2020).
Shortly after, a search warrant was executed at a home in the Hunter region, where detectives seized laptops, mobile phones and electronic storage devices.
The man was taken to Raymond Terrace Police Station and charged with use carriage service to procure person under 16 years for sex and possess/control child abuse material using carriage service (x2).
The man was refused bail to appear at Raymond Terrace Local Court today (Wednesday 22 January 2020).
Strike Force Trawler is an ongoing investigation by the CEIU into the sexual abuse and exploitation of children facilitated through the internet and related telecommunications devices.

The overwhelming popularity of Newcastle’s light rail has helped free up more on-street parking in the CBD, with the number of parking transactions declining in 2019.
More than a million light rail passenger trips in the service’s maiden year exceeded City of Newcastle expectations, based on the State Government’s projection of 657,000, and saw the number of parking transactions decline by seven per cent to 916,704 in the second half of 2019, down from 983,392 in the final six months of 2018.
City of Newcastle Governance Director David Clarke said the resulting $335,000 decline in parking revenue was bitter-sweet because it was evidence that the general public is embracing public transport in the city.
“The fact that light rail has been more successful than anticipated is a good planning problem to have,” Mr Clarke said.
“The parking transaction numbers for 2019 tell us that plenty of parking remains available for inner-city shoppers and visitors, which is news we want both traders and shoppers to know about even though it amounts to a hit to our bottom line. Opal card data shows an average of 100,000 light rail trips are occurring each month, which translates into fewer cars in the city and 11,000 less parking transactions.
“The positive uptake of public transport helps reduce greenhouse emissions and traffic congestion and supports activation of our City, so it’s good to see plenty of people using the light rail, with ferry patronage also increasing by 34,000 rides last year.”
The City’s 2019/20 budget has absorbed a further $280,000 from temporary discounts offered to motorists who took up the EasyPark app, with phone transactions skyrocketing to 339,126 in the second half of 2019 to account for 37 per cent of all parking payments.
With just 77,799 transactions, or eight per cent made via the app in the same period in 2018, Novocastrians have enthusiastically embraced the digital convenience of EasyPark, which allows them to pay remotely and save money by receiving a refund for any unused paid parking time.
“Now that the app has been widely embraced to become the dominant platform for paid parking, it’s time to end the introductory discount to bring consistency back to pricing in line with that charged when paying at the meter with cash or by credit card,” Mr Clarke added.
“With that, the temporary 15 per cent discount applied to EasyPark transactions will cease from 1 February.
“The app’s popularity has been rising every month, to the point it now accounts for almost 40 per cent of all payments for on-street parking.
“We anticipate that more than three quarters of parking payments will be made through EasyPark within the next few years given the continued roll out of features such as parking refunds, the car-space finder and SMS reminders 15 minutes before your paid parking expires.”