More than 7000 sign petition on Change.org calling for Queensland to reform law that allows “gay panic” defence in murder cases

A Queensland priest has gathered more than seven thousand supporters to his online campaign to close a legal loophole that allows people accused of murder to defend themselves by claiming “gay panic”.

Just over two years ago, a man was brutally killed in Father Paul Kelly’s church grounds in Maryborough. The defendants used the notorious “gay panic” defence - that if someone they think is gay “comes onto” them, the sheer panic they feel is partial justification for murder.

The two men were eventually acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter (although their “gay panic” defence was not accepted). There have been a number of other cases in Queensland where non-violent homosexual advance has been put forward as a partial defence to murder.

Father Kelly was so outraged that the “gay panic” law still existed in Queensland that he started a Change.org petition calling for it to be dropped. More than 7000 people have already signed the petition.

“I’m utterly appalled that a law that so revoltingly and openly discriminates against gay people is still tolerated in a modern society,” said Father Kelly, at the St Mary’s parish in Maryborough.

“Laws like the ‘gay panic’ defence are a crucial part of legitimising and reinforcing a culture of hate which means that 73% of gay and lesbian Queenslanders are subjected to verbal abuse or physical violence for their sexuality.

“Queensland is now one of the last states upholding the idea that a person can be panicked enough by homosexual people to justify grievously bashing them to the point that they die, no matter how mild the alleged action.  In addition, the mere introduction of this evidence arguably pollutes jury deliberations. That’s why I am calling on the Queensland parliament and LNP leader Campbell Newman to eliminate this law as a partial defence for murder.”

Father Kelly said discussions with the Attorney General’s department indicated the Bligh government was not prepared to go far enough to close the loophole.

“Given the failure of the Government to act, the petition is an opportunity for the Opposition Leader to take a positive step towards reducing discrimination and violence towards gay and lesbian people in Queensland,” said Father Kelly.

The LNP Member for Hervey Bay, Ted Sorensen, has promised Father Kelly he will take the issue to Parliament if the petition hits 10,000 signatures.

Change.org is the world’s fastest growing platform for social change, enabling anyone, anywhere to start, join and win campaigns for change in their community.

For updates on Father Kelly’s petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/eliminate-the-gay-panic-defence-from-queensland-law-gaypanic

For more information on Change.org, please visit:
http://www.change.org/about

A world away from the turkey and tinsel of an Antipodean Christmas, Australian Red Cross aid workers will be helping out across the globe in disaster, conflict and development zones this festive season.

At any one time Australian Red Cross has around 50 aid workers – skilled, experienced paid professionals such as nurses, doctors, nutritionists and engineers – working in countries as diverse as Pakistan, Panama and the Philippines. Australian Red Cross’ aid worker program is partly funded by the Government’s aid agency, AusAID.

Aid workers help ensure humanitarian assistance reaches the most vulnerable, whether it be food, water and shelter for communities cut off by an natural disaster or medical treatment for civilians caught up in a conflict. They are often faced with challenging, isolating and sometimes insecure working conditions, but they say the rewards of helping – and living among – those most in need are enormous.

These are some of the Red Cross aid workers from Australia on assignment this Christmas:

Ann-Marie McCabe will be spending this Christmas in Gaza City, Occupied Palestinian Territory. Ann-Marie, who arrived in Gaza in March on a year long posting, runs food security and livelihood programs for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The programs provide agricultural and income support projects, such as cash for work schemes and small business grants, aimed at helping farmers living near the Israeli Security Fence, people with physical disabilities and those affected by the high levels of unemployment due to the closure of the Gaza Strip.

The Melbourne woman, who has plans for a traditional Christmas dinner with the other expats in Gaza, says it can be hard being away at Christmas. ‘I miss my family and friends, the good vibes of the silly season. When I was in Afghanistan, obviously a Muslim country, for Christmas a few years ago, our colleagues were sensitive to the fact that we missed our families and did their bit to make us feel at home – we were given personal "Merry Christmas" cards, and they even got us a pine tree to decorate. So I’m not sure what to expect this year in Gaza.’ Ann-Marie previously worked for Red Cross in Herat, Afghanistan, and in Cambodia with Australian Volunteers International and CARE International.

Chris Howe will be in Haiti this Christmas. Chris, a retired builder, is involved in a recycling project which uses the rubble left behind by the devastating earthquake which stuck the country in January 2010 to make concrete products, such as pavers, drains, and steps. He’s also involved in a livelihood scheme for local people, which provides training programs, access to finance and marketing. The Mildura man, who is based at the Red Cross Base Camp in Port au Prince, has been in Haiti for the last 15 months.  He says he plans to spend his Christmas reading, cooking and gardening.

Operating theatre nurse Kass Keenan, from Brunswick, Melbourne, will be working in a hospital in Peshawar in northern Pakistan this Christmas and Boxing Day. The hospital, run by the ICRC, those from both sides of the conflict injured in fighting in Afghanistan and the Pakistan tribal areas. The patients are mostly men, but also women and children, with injuries from gunshots, landmines, and mortar blasts.  Kass, who grew up in Perth, WA, has also worked in Cambodia, Ethiopia, the West and Gaza with other NGOs.

‘My family are always away around the world, so it's not such a big issue to be apart from them at Christmas – we always try to meet up somewhere, so we’ll have a belated Christmas in January. We're planning an orphans Christmas here in Pakistan too with the other expats,’ said Kass, who has been in Pakistan since July.

Peter Giugni will be setting up the ICRC's first regional office in Afghanistan’s volatile Khost province, one of the most conflict-affected areas in the country. The Sydney man will head up the new post from which the ICRC will help families who have been separated by conflict to keep in touch, run health programs for civilians and wounded combatants, visit prisons and detention centres, provide material assistance to civilians displaced by armed conflict, and work to protect civilians through confidential dialogue with those on all sides of the conflict.

Peter isn’t sure what he will be doing for Christmas. ‘We have a big job moving truckloads of generators and equipment to our new office, which began on December 15. If we're settled in, I'll try and come back to Kabul for Christmas.’ He says Christmas doesn’t figure much in Afghanistan. ‘It’s definitely one of the tougher times of the year to be away, and I’ll be craving my family and friends. At the same time, it's an interesting experience to be away from all of the usual rush and celebration and to reflect on the past year in a very different setting.’

Arts Minister Simon Crean today announced an independent review of the Australia Council for the Arts ahead of the development of the nation’s first National Cultural Policy in almost 20 years.

Mr Crean said the Australia Council had a proud record of helping local artists develop their talent and connect with national and international audiences.

“The new National Cultural Policy will set the framework for Australian Government support for the arts, culture and the creative industries for the next decade,” he said.

“In line with the broader conversation about Australia’s future cultural policy, we have an opportunity to look closely at what aspects of the current model can be improved.

“There has been a huge response from artists, audiences and community groups to the discussion paper on the National Cultural Policy.

“As part of this work, we must have responsive, timely and expert agencies to deliver support to artists and arts organisations as they respond to new audiences and opportunities including those opening up with emerging art forms and technologies.

“That is why I am pleased to announce that Mr Angus James and Ms Gabrielle Trainor will review the Australia Council for the Arts and its links with other arts support organisations and agencies.

“The Australian Government is strongly committed to the independent peer assessment process to assess and award grants to artists.

“Through the broader consultation on the National Cultural Policy, stakeholders also told us there were areas of arts support delivery that needed to change to deal with a vastly changed cultural landscape and an increasing convergence of art forms.

“This is the first major review of the work of the Council and other agencies since the 1980s. The reviewers will consider the feedback and work closely with the Australia Council and its Executive and the outcomes of their independent review will be considered as part of the National Cultural Policy.”

Mr Crean said Mr James and Ms Trainor had extensive experience in corporate change and governance in both the public and private sector.

Angus James is a Principal Partner of Aquasia, an independent corporate advisory partnership which he founded in late 2009.

Mr James is also a board member of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, and the Deputy Chairman of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.  He was previously Chief Executive of ABN AMRO Australia and New Zealand, and a member of ABN AMRO’s Asian Management Team, which oversaw all of its retail, investment banking and asset management activities across 17 countries in Asia Pacific. He is also past Non-Executive Director of the Business Council of Australia.

Gabrielle Trainor is a company director and former lawyer, journalist and public sector executive. She was a founding partner in John Connolly and Partners, a firm which advises large listed companies on the management of difficult issues.

Over the past 15 years, Ms Trainor has been a director of a range of public, private and not for profit entities. Of particular relevance to the review is her experience as a director of organisations including Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Youth Orchestra and Cape York Partnerships.

Ms Trainor was a member of the Victorian Government’s Aboriginal Economic Development Group which reported last year. She is an honorary associate in the Graduate School of Government at Sydney University.

Minister Crean said a Reference Group would now provide expert advice on the development of the National Cultural Policy in 2012.

More information about the policy is at www.culture.arts.gov.au

In a new blow to broadcaster Southern Cross Austereo, at least 15 major brands pledge not to advertise on any program Kyle Sandilands hosts on the station in 2012.

Some of Australia’s biggest brand names, including Coles, Bunnings, Vodafone, McDonalds, Ford and Blackmores, indicated their boycott of the 2Day FM host would extend into next year.

The announcements counter suggestions by some industry commentators that the advertising backlash against Sandilands, sparked by his on-air attack on a female journalist, would be temporary. It also comes at the time of year when broadcasters traditionally try to lock in long-term advertising contracts for 2012.

“Our very clear position in relation to the offensive and inappropriate comments made by Kyle Sandilands remains that we are not and will not advertise on programmes hosted by him,” Coles said in a statement posted today on the Change.org website.

“[Vodafone is] committed to not advertising with on any show (TV or radio) hosted by Kyle Sandilands in 2012,” Vodafone said in its statement.

In confirming it would not advertise in 2012, Blackmores said: “We have put all our advertising with the Austereo network on hold until we have a conversation with their management about how they will handle this situation. There has been no movement on this, our situation still stands.”

Ford said: “Ford won't be advertising with the Kyle & Jackie O show or other Austereo programs with which Kyle is involved (such as the Top 40 for example) at all going forward. Our action to withdraw that advertising was permanent.”

The list of companies pledging on the Change.org website not to advertise on any Sandilands platform in 2012 includes Coles, Bunnings, Vodafone, McDonalds, Blackmores, Ford, CUA, Tourism NSW, University of NSW, NIDA, Beaurepaires, Amex, GIO, Libra and the Art Gallery of NSW.

At the same time, consumers who signed the petition on Change.org calling for the advertising ban are now turning to social media to target those companies who are silent on their plans for 2012.

Companies feeling the heat on social media include:

Myer: https://www.facebook.com/myer.mystore?sk=wall&filter=1

Telstra: https://www.facebook.com/Telstra?sk=wall&filter=12

Harvey Norman: https://www.facebook.com/HarveyNormanAU?sk=wall

More than 26,500 people have signed Emily Hehir’s petition on Change.org, with at least 60 advertisers withdrawing their support at an estimated cost to SCA of $8 million.

But some industry commentators questioned whether the boycott would be short-lived and that many of those 60 advertisers may come back on air next year when the controversy died down.

The announcements by major brands such as Coles, McDonalds and Vodafone that they will not be back in 2012 will likely increase pressure on the remaining advertisers to follow suit.

For a more complete list of advertisers and their current status:

http://news.change.org/stories/advertisers-rule-out-sandilands-for-2012

For live signature numbers:

http://www.change.org/petitions/2day-and-fox-fm-sponsors-cancel-advertising-until-kyle-sandilands-is-dumped-from-radio-vilekyle

With hot weather on its way vets are providing some practical tips to keep your pets cool over the summer months.

“Vet clinics are often inundated by calls from concerned pet owners during summer heat waves but there are some simple tips that can help to prevent or minimise problems,” said Dr David Neck from the Australian Veterinary Association.

“It’s important to remember that dogs and cats can’t sweat to cool down like we do. They need to pant in order to regulate their temperature, and dogs and cats with long hair can be more susceptible to the effects of the heat,” he said.

Ten top tips for dogs and cats in the Queensland climate:

▪ Make sure there is cool, fresh water available at all times. Leave this in a shady area.
 On really hot days it might be worth leaving multiple bowls of cool water in the shade that can’t be tipped over.

▪ Keep an eye on older pets as they will be more susceptible to the heat particularly if they have problems with their breathing.

▪ Dogs love to sit in the sun, but prolonged sun exposure can quickly lead to heat exhaustion and can cause skin cancers so it’s important to provide them with a shaded area.

▪ One way to provide relief from the heat is to fill the kids’ paddling pool with a couple of inches of water and leave this in a shady spot for your dog to sit in.

▪ Tossing a few ice cubes in your dog or cat’s water bowl can help to keep their temperature down and provide some relief on a hot day.

▪ If you don’t have air conditioning think about leaving a fan on during those really hot days in the height of summer.

▪ Try to exercise your dog in the early morning or the late evening to avoid the hottest part of the day.

▪ Consider putting some treats in the freezer. These can be given to your pet as a pet popsicle on really hot days. They’ll help cool your pet down and give them something to do when you’re out.

▪ If you own a long haired dog, consider giving them a trim to help them cope better with the hotter summer months.

“And it goes without saying that you really must never leave a pet unattended in a car, even when the weather isn’t very hot,” said Dr Neck.

Your local vet can give you further advice about ways to keep you pet cool during the summer months.

Australian Red Cross has spearheaded a decision taken on the weekend in Geneva by the supreme governing body of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to work towards a legally binding international agreement to ensure nuclear weapons are never used again and are ultimately eliminated.

The decision to support the initiative was taken by the Council of Delegates of the Movement which is comprised of representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the 187 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and the International Federation.

The decision is of critical importance as it challenges the legitimacy of nuclear weapons ever being used as a weapon of war because of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences, in particular on civilian populations, and the threat to world food production over wide areas of the world.

‘Australian Red Cross is proud to have played a leading role in the decision which is the first time the supreme decision making body of the International Red Cross has taken such a definitive stand on this critical issue of International Humanitarian Law,’ said the President of Australian Red Cross, Greg Vickery AM speaking from Geneva.

‘Australian Red Cross worked with Japanese Red Cross and the Norwegian Red Cross to drive the campaign on this issue by convening a meeting in Oslo, Norway earlier this year to draft the resolution which was ultimately passed on the weekend,’ Mr Vickery said.

Australian Red Cross CEO, Mr Robert Tickner said ‘within Australia we have already gained huge public support for this initiative through our Facebook tab and campaign website promoting a referendum on the use of nuclear weapons and building public awareness of the massive destructive capacity of nuclear weapons through a simulated nuclear bomb explosion.’

The ‘Target Nuclear Weapons’ campaign has already received over 23,000 votes with 86% of people voting YES to ban the use of nuclear weapons. Our campaign has reached more than 565,000 people through a social explosion of Facebook posts and tweets calling for a ban on the use of nuclear weapons, and this number is still growing.

‘We are also delighted that we have received strong support for our initiative from the Opposition, from the Australian Greens, and from prominent members of the Government side of the Parliament,’ Mr Tickner said.

‘How wonderful it would be if Australia could be a global champion in support of this Red Cross initiative,’ Mr Tickner said.

Australian Red Cross Head of International Law Dr Helen Durham said ‘the weekend decision makes it abundantly clear that the use of nuclear weapons can never again be considered as legitimate weapons of war.’

‘The proliferation of these weapons in an increasing number of countries and the threat of other groups gaining capacity to use nuclear weapons should be a wake-up call to the world and Red Cross will be carrying the message to the Government and to the wider Australian community.’

‘Nuclear weapons are an increasing threat to all civilian populations in the event of conflict. If we can achieve treaties to control the use of land mines and cluster munitions as we successfully have, then we cannot turn our backs on the need to get agreement on a global convention to outlaw this evil weapon forever,’ Mr Tickner said.

Human Development Index

Norway, Australia and the Netherlands lead the world in the 2011 Human Development Index (HDI), while the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger and Burundi are at the bottom of the Human Development Report’s annual rankings of national achievement in health, education and income, released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The United States, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Germany and Sweden round out the top 10 countries in the 2011 HDI, but when the Index is adjusted for internal inequalities in health, education and income, some of the wealthiest nations drop out of the HDI’s top 20: the United States falls from #4 to #23, the Republic of Korea from #15 to #32, and Israel from #17 to #25.

The United States and Israel drop in the Report’s Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) mainly because of income inequality, though health care is also a factor in the US ranking change, while wide education gaps between generations detract from the Republic of Korea’s IHDI performance.

Other top national achievers rise in the IHDI due to greater relative internal equalities in health, education and income: Sweden jumps from #10 to #5, Denmark climbs from #16 to #12, and Slovenia rises from #21 to #14.

The IHDI and two other composite indices—the Multidimensional Poverty Index and the Gender Inequality Index—were designed to complement the Human Development Report’s HDI, which is based on national averages in schooling, life expectancy, and per capita income. The 2011 HDI covers a record 187 countries and territories, up from 169 in 2010, reflecting in part improved data availability for many small island states of the Caribbean and the Pacific. The 2011 country rankings are therefore not comparable to the 2010 Report’s HDI figures, the authors note.

“The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index helps us assess better the levels of development for all segments of society, rather than for just the mythical ‘average’ person,” said Milorad Kovacevic, chief statistician for the Human Development Report. “We consider health and education distribution to be just as important in this equation as income, and the data show great inequities in many countries.”

The 2011 Report—Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All—notes that income distribution has worsened in most of the world, with Latin America remaining the most unequal region in income terms, even though several countries including Brazil and Chile are narrowing internal income gaps. Yet in overall IHDI terms, including life expectancy and schooling, Latin America is more equitable than sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia, the Report shows.

To assess income distribution, as well as varying levels of life expectancy and schooling within national populations, the IHDI uses methodology developed by the renowned British economist Sir Anthony Barnes Atkinson. “We use the Atkinson approach to measure inequalities in health, education and income, because it is more sensitive to changes at the lower end of the scale than the more familiar Gini coefficient,” Kovacevic said.

Average HDI levels have risen greatly since 1970—41 percent globally and 61 percent in today’s low-HDI countries—reflecting major overall gains in health, education and income. The 2011 HDI charts progress over five years to show recent national trends: 72 nations moved up in rank from 2006 to 2011, led by Cuba (+10 to #51), Venezuela and Tanzania (+7 each to #73 and #152, respectively), while another 72 fell in rank, including Kuwait (-8 to #63) and Finland (-7 to #22).

The 10 countries that place last in the 2011 HDI are all in sub-Saharan Africa: Guinea, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Chad, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Despite recent progress, these low-HDI nations still suffer from inadequate incomes, limited schooling opportunities, and life expectancies far below world averages due in great part to deaths from preventable and treatable diseases such as malaria and AIDS. In many, these problems are compounded by the destructive legacy of armed conflict. In the lowest-ranking country in the 2011 HDI, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than three million people died from warfare and conflict-linked illness in recent years, prompting the largest peacekeeping operation in UN history.

Gender Inequality Index

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) shows that Sweden leads the world in gender equality, as measured by this composite index of reproductive health, years of schooling, parliamentary representation, and participation in the labour market. Sweden is followed in the gender inequality rankings by the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Germany, Singapore, Iceland and France.

Yemen ranks as the least equitable of the 146 countries in the GII, followed by Chad, Niger, Mali, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Central African Republic and Sierra Leone. In Yemen, just 7.6 percent of women have a secondary education, compared to 24.4 percent for men; women hold just 0.7 percent of seats in the legislature; and only 20 percent of working-age women are in the paid work force, compared to 74 percent of men.

“In sub-Saharan Africa the biggest losses arise from gender disparities in education and from high maternal mortality and adolescent fertility rates,” the Report’s authors write. “In South Asia, women lag behind men in each dimension of the GII, most notably in education, national parliamentary representation and labour force participation. Women in Arab states are affected by unequal labour force participation (around half the global average) and low educational attainment.”

Multidimensional Poverty Index

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) examines factors at the family level—such as access to clean water and cooking fuel and health services, as well as basic household goods and home construction standards—that together provide a fuller portrait of poverty than income measurements alone.

Some 1.7 billion people in 109 countries lived in ‘multidimensional’ poverty in the decade ending in 2010, by the MPI calculus, or almost a third of the countries’ entire combined population of 5.5 billion. That compares to the 1.3 billion people estimated to live on US$1.25 a day or less, the measure used in the UN Millennium Development Goals, which seeks to eradicate “extreme” poverty by 2015.

Niger has the highest share of multidimensionally poor, at 92 percent of the population, the Report says, followed by Ethiopia and Mali, with 89 percent and 87 percent, respectively. The 10 poorest nations as measured by the MPI are all in sub-Saharan Africa. But the largest group of multidimensionally poor is South Asian: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have some of the highest absolute numbers of MPI poor.

The MPI provides insight into environmental problems in the poorest households, including indoor air pollution and disease from contaminated water supplies. The Report notes that in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, more than 90 percent of the multidimensionally poor cannot afford clean cooking fuel, relying principally on firewood, while some 85 percent lack basic sanitation services.

Nick Car, NSW spokesperson for Sustainable Population Australia is calling for a limit to global population growth or else our children and their children risk being unable to meet future food, energy and water demands. Aged 29 and expecting his first child in next May, Car says that he is very concerned about what kind of future his children will have in a world that has 10 billion people and even in Australia with a projected 36 million. With a career background in agricultural research and time working at the CSIRO, he is particularly worried that population growth may eventually outstrip our ability to produce food.

Now running his own IT business, he joined SPA because of his concerns that Australia’s population was growing so rapidly that our children and grandchildren will face hardship in meeting the food, water and energy requirements for the growing population predicted.

"When you look at everything that's required to produce food - good soil, fertilizer, reliable rainfall, oil for production and transport, you realize that a shortage of any of them could make us extremely vulnerable and the more people we have, the more vulnerable we will be.”

The likelihood of shortages on these resources by the time his own child will reach middle age, has motivated Car to call for urgent action to stabilise the world's population as the only viable plan to give humanity a chance of having security and prosperity in the future.

He is particularly angry at people who suggest that our success in handling population growth in the past means that we will always be able to cope with more in the future, calling these ideas “dangerous, delusion and intellectually indefensible.” He also expresses concern about the effect expanding human numbers are having upon nature. "I don't want my children to grow up into a future where the natural world has been beaten back into a corner with only token amounts of flora and fauna remaining".

Car is clear about how we should go about achieving his desire to stabilize the world's population as soon as possible:

“All the evidence suggests that when you give people education and ensuring all women have access to modern family planning methods, birth rates fall and the global population eventually stabilises.”

Instead of being given a government-funded ‘baby bonus’ for his new child Car says he would prefer to see the Australian government increase its foreign aid, giving targeted assistance to countries that are struggling to cope with unmanageable levels of population growth:

"This is an Australian problem as well as an international one. If people start running out of food they will soon start jumping on boats to get to places that have more food. It may make the number of refugee boat arrivals this year look like a trickle.”

Spring is high season for swooping magpie attacks but a wildlife expert from the Australian Veterinary Association has some helpful tips to help you avoid becoming the target of an attack this year.

“It’s high season for swooping attacks. Birds defend their young in nests where they often incubate eggs for up to three weeks and then spend about three weeks raising their chicks,” said Dr Anne Fowler a wildlife expert from the Australian Veterinary Association.

“Fast moving objects such as people on bikes and anyone who moves directly towards their nests are perceived as threats and are likely to be swooped on. Dog walkers are also a common target.

“Native Australian birds such as magpies, butcherbirds, kookaburras and plovers are common culprits, but invasive species like Indian Mynas can also be highly aggressive at this time of year,” she said.

Dr Fowler says that if you’re perceived as a threat you’re likely to be attacked, magpies in particular generalised about an attacked, which can include anyone wearing a helmet, people on bikes or even small children.

“At this time of year tolerance is the best policy. Think about using different pathways because moving the bird is not an option as it can cause the death of the bird,” said Dr Fowler.

“You can also consider carrying an umbrella which can be raised to fend off a sustained attack, and if you’re riding a bike getting off and walking in the danger areas can help reduce the chance of an attack.

“Don’t try to scare off the bird. Wildlife is protected and this type of action could lead to a more serious and sustained attack. We’re lucky to live in a country where we share our environment with such amazing birds, so we simply need to find a way to live in harmony,” she said.

One of the most publicised beliefs about cannabis is that it causes schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

However, at this very moment, people all over the world are getting relief from many debilitating illnesses; relief they wouldn’t ordinarily be getting from conventional medications. Many people wonder, why can’t Australians benefit from recent breakthroughs in herbal medicine?

Some believe the truth of the matter is that there is no clear evidence of a direct causal link between cannabis and schizophrenia but rather of an association. This is an important distinction. Evidence has shown that people with a personal or family history of a mental illness are at greater risk of triggering or worsening that mental illness and are thus strongly advised not to use cannabis, but cannabis itself hasn’t been proven to cause mental illness. In fact, anxiety, panic attacks, depression and other mental illnesses have all been treated successfully with cannabis and its components, all over the world.

Between 2003 and 2006 some 250 patients who suffered from a wide range of mental illnesses were treated in a Vienna practice with dronabinol, a component of cannabis.

In Austria the active ingredient of cannabis— tetra-hydro-cannabinol (THC) — has been legal for medicinal uses since 1998. Some 75, or 30%, of the tested patients suffered from depression, a sense of being overwhelmed or from burnout syndrome. For almost 80% of the patients, use of the medication led to swift improvement of the depressed mood or the sense of being overwhelmed. Only 20% of patients did not experience any significant mood brightening. To that group a combination therapy of dronabinol and a selective serotonin reabsorption inhibitor (SSRI), such as fluoxetine hydrochloride or a serotonin noradrenalin reabsorption inhibitor (SNRI), such as milnacipran, was administered.

The therapy generally resulted in rapid and satisfactory improvement of depression and the lack of drive. Side effects were generally low. Effective daily doses of dronabinol ranged mostly from 7.5 to 12.5 mg per day. Only few patients required a higher dosage, generally those also suffering from a sleeping disorder. The findings of this trial were published in an article called Treating Depression with Cannabinoids for the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine by the doctor who conducted the trial, Dr Kurt Blass.

National Director for the American Alliance for Medical Cannabis Jay Cavanaugh, PhD, wrote in his 2003 article Cannabis and Depression, published on the American Alliance for Medical Cannabis website:

“Numerous patients report significant improvement and stabilisation with their bipolar disorder when they utilise adjunctive therapy with medical cannabis. While some mental health professionals worry about the impact of cannabis on aggravating manic states, most bipolar patients trying cannabis find they 'cycle' less often and find significant improvement in overall mood. Bipolar disorders vary tremendously in the time spent in the depressive versus manic states. Those who experience extended depressive episodes are more likely to be helped with cannabis.”

Dr Cavanaugh then went on to write, “Patients who use cannabis to 'relax' may be treating the anxiousness sometimes associated with depression. Cannabis aids the insomnia sometimes present in depression and can improve appetite. Better pain control with cannabis can reduce chronic pain related depression. While cannabis cannot yet be considered a primary treatment of major depression it may improve mood when used under physicians’ supervision and in combination with therapy and/or SSRI’s.”

Unfortunately, the sorts of public trials performed by Dr Blass in Austria and others in the United States are nearly impossible in Australia due to cannabis’ illegality throughout the country. If a psychiatrist or a doctor wanted to follow their example they would have to commit a crime. That doesn’t mean the use of cannabis as medicine doesn’t happen in Australia. Whitsunday Health Service Deputy Director of Medical Services Dr Kenneth McCallum says that more often than not, especially in North Queensland, cannabis is both cheaper and more easily accessed than prescription drugs.

Dr McCallum says, “If a patient with cancer or some other problem were to come to us and say, ‘Look, this medication you’re giving me isn’t really working but I tried some pot and I feel a lot better.’ We would say, ‘Great, but we can’t prescribe that for you because it’s illegal.’”

Associate Director for Clinical Research Dr Stephen Sidney wrote the following in his 2003 article titled Comparing Cannabis with Tobacco – Again, published in the British Medical Journal:

"No acute lethal overdoses of cannabis are known, in contrast to several of its illegal (for example, cocaine) and legal (for example, alcohol, aspirin, acetaminophen) counterparts...

"Although the use of cannabis is not harmless, the current knowledge base does not support the assertion that it has any notable adverse public health impact in relation to mortality."

This opinion is supported by former US Surgeon-General Dr Joycelyn Elders, who wrote the following in her 2004 editorial published in the Providence, "Unlike many of the drugs we prescribe every day, marijuana has never been proven to cause a fatal overdose."

Freelance illustrator Lisa Manuzak was prescribed medicinal marijuana for her panic attacks when she lived in California. She says:

“It takes no great stretch of the imagination to assume that a government that doesn’t want to legalise marijuana, for medical use or otherwise, will only fund trials that will give negative results.”

The Australian Government still puts out fact sheets to the public that say: “… long term side effects of cannabis include development of mental illness...” as well as, “Marijuana is a gateway drug that can lead to the use of more serious drugs such as cocaine and heroin.”

An Australian paper, Reforming the Old and Refining the New: A Critical Overview of Australian Approaches to Cannabis written by Maurice Rickard says:

“Cannabis use that is not heavy and sustained (but which is occasional and recreational) generally does not involve the same significant risk of health related harm; except for particular contexts such as operating vehicles or machinery.”

The gateway theory has also been called into question by new research done by the University of New Hampshire in the USA.

Conducted by UNH Associate Professors of Sociology Karen Van Gundy and Cesar Rebellon, the research appears in the September 2010 issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behaviour. The researchers found that whether teenagers who smoked pot will use other illicit drugs as young adults has more to do with life factors such as employment status and stress. In fact, the strongest predictor of whether someone will use other illicit drugs is their race/ethnicity, not whether they ever used marijuana. The journal reads:

"While marijuana use may serve as a gateway to other illicit drug use in adolescence, our results indicate that the effect may be short-lived, subsiding by age 21. Interestingly, age emerges as a protective status above and beyond the other life statuses and conditions considered here. We find that respondents 'age out' of marijuana's gateway effect regardless of early teen stress exposure or education, work, or family statuses."

It would appear that Australia is missing out on the potential medical breakthroughs that could be possible with a more lenient legal standpoint on the drug. Considering the biggest fear associated with cannabis is its potential for developing mental illness in its users, perhaps a rethink is in order regarding its criminal status given the success overseas psychiatrists are having treating their patients with the drug and its components.

Regardless of the political or social agendas those in power have that kept cannabis on the list of criminally offensive drugs, the possible medical benefits should first be explored. If a prescription of cannabis can give a bi-polar man fewer mood swings or help a cancer patient on chemotherapy to eat, then maybe it’s worth exploring. What have countries like Austria, the USA and others that have at least legalised cannabis for medical use, discovered about the drug that still eludes Australians?

Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis, with cannabis sativa being the predominant species used for recreational use. Dronabinol and nabilone are cannabinoids, which are medicines created synthetically from chemical components of the cannabis plant. The term “medical marijuana” means the use cannabis or cannabinoids to treat a mental or physical illness.