A Victorian policeman says he genuinely thought he was facing a “suicide by cop” scenario when he repeatedly hit a disability pensioner with a baton and stood on his head during a welfare check. Preston pensioner, John, was also pepper sprayed and hosed down at close range during the ordeal with six police in his front yard in 2017. The incident was sparked after John failed to return a counsellor’s messages while withdrawing from opioid medication. Senior Constable John Edney, one of three officers fighting assault charges, defended hitting John with an extendable baton six times and stepping on his head, as fellow officers restrained him. “I did believe it was a real suicide by cop scenario,” Sen Const Edney told Heidelberg Magistrates Court on Monday. The court has heard paramedics refused to attend John’s address without police escort. Video footage shows John answering a knock by police at his front door that day, urging to be left alone. “I don’t want to f***ing talk,” he screams. “Get off my f***ing property. “If you get the crowbar, you’ll have to shoot me. “I’ve been maced before and nothing happened.” Sen Const Edney said he believed the pensioner posed a real threat. “Part of the reason of going into his house was to check for weapons,” he told prosecutor Diana Manova. “I did believe he was armed.” However, he conceded he didn’t search him or make any reference to him being armed in his incident notes. Footage shows officers pulling the pensioner to the ground and restraining him while Sen Const Edney hits his calf with the baton six times and steps on his head with a pressure he described as “minimal, not much more”. When Ms Manova put to him John offered no resistance, he replied: “I can’t recall”. Sen Const Edney defended his actions as justified and appropriate. His colleagues, Senior Constables Brad McLeod and Florian Hilgart, are also contesting assault charges over the incident. Sen Const McLeod told the court on Monday he had previous dealings with John, who was a known suicide risk – a risk present on that day. The officer said when confronted, John was aggressive and threatening suicide. He came at him with his fist raised but missed the punch. “I was concerned for my safety and safety of other members,” Sen Const McLeod said. He sprayed John with pepper spray to subdue him so he could be arrested but he resisted forcefully. He sprayed him a second time as he was on the ground, telling him “It smells good doesn’t it?” Sen Const McLeod said on Monday he regretted his choice of words. “It wasn’t done with malice, it was a tactical option and a complete and utter poor choice of words,” he said. He defended his use of force as reasonable and necessary, given the potentially volatile situation, which also included John possibly grabbing an officer’s gun during the ordeal. Sen Const McLeod said he considered the operation successful as no one was injured. The hearing continues.
January 20, 2020
A midwife at a busy public hospital and a Extinction Rebellion activist claimed sick leave at taxpayers’ expense on the same day she was arrested for protesting. Redcliffe Hospital midwife Emma Dorge – who calls herself Emma Jade on social media – was arrested on October 9 for allegedly breaching her bail conditions, which banned her from entering Brisbane’s CBD. Hospital management is agonising over what to do about Dorge, 23, given that she tried to claim sick leave on the taxpayer when she was also involved in a protest, where she is accused of breaking the law. It is understood management found out she had not been that sick because on the day she live-streamed herself in a police watch-house after she was arrested. Posted on her Facebook page, Dorge said, “Resist. Do something. Do not uphold the state. Our lives, our ecosystems are at stake. “Every morning I wake up exhausted and terrified of the world we live in and how much worse it’s going to get. And if you’ve got the privilege and ability to have some sort of resistance, and you don’t then, I’m angry at you too. “You’re living on stolen land, in an illegal occupation of so-called Australia and you’re watching the sixth mass extinction unfold.” When asked what action had been taken against Dorge, a Redcliffe Hospital spokesman said: “Redcliffe Hospital’s maternity service has appropriate staffing arrangements in place that ensure clinical care is not compromised when individual staff are absent. “Metro North Hospital and Health Service demands high standards of personal integrity and professional conduct from all its staff. “Should any staff member fail to meet those standards, appropriate action can be taken through the relevant industrial process,” the spokesman said. “As this matter is currently before the courts, it would not be appropriate to make a comment about this matter at this time. For privacy and confidentiality reasons, we also do not comment on individual HR matters.” Ms Dorge questioned where the information had come from and which hospital was involved. She hung up after being asked if she took sick leave on October 9 to attend a protest.
January 20, 2020
The disaffected labour market is well represented in today’s Fair Work Commission lawlist: Eastcoast Beverages (Robinson), Pty Ltd (Hilario), Albury Wodonga Health (Manwaring), Alphabeta Business Management Services (Silva), Food Health Australia Pty Ltd (Li), Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (Makande), RAC Insurance Pty Ltd (Cox), Qube Ports Pty Ltd (Huggins), Viva Australia Group (Hyde), Carers of Africa Inc (Luong), The Better Health Generation/Back2Work (Cooper), ARCARE Pty Ltd (Ranasinghe), Adand Pty Ltd (Hilario), Hazeldeness Chicken Farm Pty Ltd (Matthews), Corsec Services (Elliott), Victorian Freight Specialists (Haidar), Tegra Australia Pty Ltd (Regan), Macquarie Telecom Group (Rathwell), Crafty Fox Investments Pty Ltd (Quartermain-Smithies), Abilities and Beyond Pty Ltd (Lloyd), Brisbane Container Terminals Pty Ltd (Kisona), Downer EDI Limited (Parker), Pintupi Homelands Health Service (Smart), Miller’s Roofing Pty (Gannon), SA Water Corporation (Trevena), Trustee for The Wingrain Trust AKA Grain Brokers Australia (Tolmachoff), Advanced Health Invest Pty Ltd (Chan), RSU Mining Services Pty Ltd (Kabbara), Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (Downes), Tricare Labrador Aged Care Pty Ltd (Tickle), Australia No 1 Custom Print Pty Ltd (Ge), Uniting Church Homes (Warburton), ASC Pty Ltd (Case), Perth 178 Backpackers and Convenience Store (McCare), SMS Contracting Pty Ltd (Murtagh), Mario Polimeni/The Trustee for M & A Polimeni Family Trust (Bingol), Zoom Recruitment & Training Pty Ltd formally Zoom Recruitment & Training Group Pty Ltd formally TBC 1 Group Adand Pty Ltd formally NWZRT Pty Ltd formally Zoom Recruitment & Training Pty Ltd (Tomisich).
January 15, 2020
The queue crush to be heard in the Fair Work Commission is lengthening: Cutlet Brands Pty Ltd (Heinicke), Lavender & Sons Pty Ltd (Lavender), Coles Supermarket Australia Pty Ltd (James), Murray Farming Pty Ltd (Yao), Collings Airlines Staff Pty Ltd (Hyde), Smart Water Corporation Pty Ltd (Sas), SME Commercial Finance (Cholewick), Southern Cross Care (Bunsy), Express Plumbing Gas & Air (Galbraith), ISS Property Services Pty Ltd (Reid), Technical and Further Education Commission (Waite-Pullan), Horticulture Innovation Australia (Krowitz), Coles Supermarkets (Australia Pty Ltd (Ittyerah), Appian Software Australia Pty Ltd (Barnes), Teys Australia Southern Pty Ltd (Ismail), Hot Bargain Investment Pty Ltd (Truckner), Raedy Bake Pty Ltd (Pancholi), PJDH Pty Ltd (Baillie), Platinum Blasting Services (Boettiger), Krisgold Pty Ltd (Irvine), Woolworths Group Limited (Moore), Wodonga Rendering Pty Ltd (Mann), A & L Windows Pty Ltd (Shil), Jeremy Lawson P & D (Caughey), Executive Risk Solutions (Staffing Solutions) Pty Ltd (Van Kuyk), Chad Group Australia P/L (Meredith), Express Plumbing Gas & Air Pty Ltd (Galbraith), Victory Management Services Pty Ltd (Cislaghi Lanza), Kent Ngyen (Pham), Anycool Refrigation (A Division of Forbes Brown Industries Pty Ltd (Caldwell), Food Health Australia Pty Ltd (Li), The Advice Spot (Goldberg), Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (Makande), Sydney Tools Pty Ltd (Bye), Norman Chee & Thu Tram Chee Pty Ltd (Thakur), P & J Cole (Williams), Executive Risk Solutions (Staffing Solutions) Pty Ltd (Van Kuyk), Innovative Hair Loss Solutions Pty Ltd (Best), Sigh On Group Pty Ltd (Griffiths), Carers of Africa (Luong), Pea in Pod Pty Ltd (Birkill), Spachoice Pty Ltd (Devenish), Wazzas Water/ Wazzas Transport/ Winchelsea Firewood (Fanning), Collings Airlines Staff Pty Ltd (Hyde), Woolworths Group Limited (Moore), Teys Australia Beenleigh Pty Ltd (Muhinyuza), The Music Bus Australia Pty Ltd (Skinner), South Pacific Laundry (Kitt), Safety Barrier Solutions Pty Ltd (Beddoes), Traffex (Black), Woolworths Group Limited (Moore), SEQ Electrical Contractors Pty Ltd ATF Electrical Contractors Unit Trust (Harris), Transport Workers Union, Queensland Branch (Cavanagh), Surf Life Saving Queensland (Nugent). Blackcloth Investments Pty Ltd (Prentice), Rainbow Bay Surf Life Savings Supporters Association INC (Edwards), Spachoice Pty Ltd (Devenish), Glass Expansion Pty Ltd (An), Orora Packaging Australia Pty Ltd (El-Chami & Cuthers and Others), Smart Water Corporation Pty Ltd (Sas), Ausco Modular Pty Ltd (Vitale), Cockburn Cement Limited (Sakic), Sign On Group Pty Ltd (Scott), Essential Energy (Supple), Crchiaro Nominees Proprietary Limited & Fontaniva Pty Ltd & Red Gem Growers & Packers Pty Ltd (Fleming), BHA Media (Berich), MJ Lev Pty Ltd (Ellis), Quantum Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd (Munit), Equigroup Holdings Pty Ltd (Lee), Green Vic Pty Ltd (Martin), Dr Suresh Rajapaksa (Kies), Programmed Skilled Workforce Pty Ltd (Delphin), Agile Group (APAC).
January 13, 2020
A queue has formed since Christmas made up of applicants seeking relief from the Fair Work Commission for alleged breaches of labour hire and conditions. The lawlist includes: Anaconda Group (Woonton), Regal Innovations Pty Ltd (Magdi), Best Bar Pty Ltd (Deaibes), Community Services Directorate (Gonzalez), Department of Defence (McKenzie), Star Residential Care Pty Ltd (Sands), Wazzas Water/Wazzas Transport/Winchelsea Firewood (Fanning), Sigmatek Pty Ltd (Salisbury), Royal Botanic Gardens Board (Hunt), Qantas Airways Limited (Sikalias), Workforce Solutions (Hall), Stowe Australia (Towill), Your Kids Our Kids Early Learning (Vasconcelos), Unilever Australia Trading Ltd (Munoz), Opera Australia (Lewis), Qantas Airways Limited (Sikalias), The Trustee For The Synergy Vision Trust (Reid), LGB & Co Pty Ltd (Cowham), DHHBC Contracting Pty Ltd (Mallalue), Australian Taxation Office (Smythe), Cutler Brands Pty Ltd (Heinicke), Everard Pty Ltd atf EH Services Trust (Snell), Queensland University of Technology & McNamara and Others (Wolff), Hills Golf Academy (Cavanagh).
January 13, 2020
The labour dispute application list in the Fair Work Commission today includes: Obrien Real Estate Mentone Pty Ltd (Sinclair), BRM Bulk Resources Management (Battersby), Edge Recruitment (SA) Pty Ltd (Thomas), Food Health Australia Pty Ltd (Li), Melbourne Mailing Pty Ltd (Berry), Coles Supermarkets Australia (Janes), Sussan Corporation (Aust) Pty Ltd (Jones), Chad Group Australia P/L (Meredith), Victorian Ambulance Union (The Trustee for P&J Cunningham Family Trust), Kaurere Farms Pty Ltd (Bain), Language Smart Pty Ltd (Chandan), Lecia Geosystems Pty Ltd & Shilov (Nunn), Arcare Pty Ltd (Mazi), Cerebal Palsy League of Queensland (Whale), The Trustee for the Whitlock Family Trust (Cohen), Softwoods Timberyards Pty Ltd (Murphy).
December 20, 2019
The labour dispute application list in the Fair Work Commission today includes: Butcher’s Block Wine & Dine Pty Ltd (Drotschmann), Jewels Restaurants (Giree), Unitrans Asia Pacific Pty Ltd (Kerehoma, Lake, Taurari), Edison Light Globes Pty Ltd (Morrison), Neozoic Pty Ltd (Nicholas, Van Der Westhuizen), Belfast Sinks.com.au Pty Ltd (Quigley), Pilbara Iron Company (Services) Pty Ltd (Gilbert), Norman Chee & Thu Tram Chee Pty Ltd (Thakur), P rimeline Contracting Pty Ltd (Folwell), Naada Pty Ltd (Tyson), BE Campbell Pty Ltd (Ma), The University of Melbourne (Pillbrow), Electronic Boutique Australia Pty Ltd (Cortez), Light Industries Laundry Pty Ltd (Deng), Millennium Security Specialist Service Pty Ltd (Teio), Peninsula Health (Ross), Department of Parliamentary Services (Mammarella), Edison Light Globes Pty Ltd (Morrison), Kuriara Investments Pty Ltd ATF Ranges Unit Trust (Rubio), Billboard Media (Zelman), Corsec Services (Elliott), Diamond Protection Pty Ltd (Shaw), Dr Suresh Rajapaksa (Kies), Kone Elevators Pty Ltd (McCappin), Department of Human Services (Quill) and BTG PLC (Dunstan).
December 19, 2019
The labour dispute lawlist in the Fair Work Commission today includes: Steggles Food Products Pty Ltd (Cooper), Essential Energy (Supple), DPG Services Pty Ltd (Cutting), ACE Civil Pty Ltd (Anani), Toll Transport Pty Ltd (Hancock), Realestate.com.au Pty Ltd (Mzxwell), Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (Makande), Australian Unity Group Services Pty Ltd (Clarkson), Siemens Healthineers (La Rocca), Pickwick Group Pty Ltd ATF The Trustee for the Pickwick Cleaning Services Unit Trust (Kipefa), Dave Does Lawns (Katthagen), Fletcher International Exports (McInnes), FishboyZ Pty Ltd (Musumeci), MZ2 Roofing Pty Ltd (De Silva), Melbourne Mailing Pty Ltd (Berry), Vue Group Pty Ltd (Chervet), Radiolines Pty Ltd (Marshall), The Trustee for Maxwell Family Settlements (Hardy), Diversity Council Australia Limited (Hocking), Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd (Mayali), DPG Services Pty Ltd (Cutting), Third Age Australia Pty Ltd (Ashenden), Adelaide Fencing and Steel Supplies Pty Ltd (Nguyen), Illawarra Retirement Trust – IRT Dalmeny (Ochicha), Livebetter Services Limited (Brennan, Turner), Intrax Consulting Group Pty Ltd (Khoshaeen), Nestview Pty Ltd (Coleman), Martin-Brower Australia Pty Ltd (Tito), Queensland University of Technology & McNamara and Others (Wolff), Australian Investors Association Ltd (Meadows), Cerebal Palsy League of Queensland (Whale), Aged Care and Housing Group Inc (ACH Group) (De Angelis), Colonial Services Pty Ltd (CBA Group) (Felderhof), Adelaide Fencing and Steel Supplies Pty Ltd (Nguyen) and James Contract Supplies Pty Ltd (Start).
