I don’t know about you but I find this highly offensive. The S11 Protesters from the 2000 civil riots are to be awarded damages for being treated harshly by the Victorian Police. $700,000 to the protesters and $600,000 legal bill. A group of 47 litigants blamed heavy-handed policing for injuries sustained at a riotous anti-globalisation protest outside the World Economic Forum at Melbourne’s Crown casino in September 2000.

Mr Bracks said the court case had been dragging on for four years and said Victoria Police had settled the claim on the advice of their insurers, who wanted to cut their losses on ballooning legal costs. “(It’s) a good outcome which does not expose the police to further litigation,” Mr Bracks said.

There shouldn’t have been any legal costs; the whole debacle should not have got to court and how can anyone, in their right mind say it’s a good outcome.

In the State of Victoria criminals who suffered injuries whilst resistiing arrest or legal ‘move on’ orders can sue the police for the injuries that they brought on themselves. No wonder thousands of Victorians are flooding into Queensland every month.

The height of the bar has been set.

FEDERAL Human Services minister Ian Campbell today resigned from Cabinet over his meeting last year with disgraced former WA premier Brian Burke.

Will Rudd go under or over the bar?

Meanwhile Kevin Rudd’s story is being attacked;

“I went, as I said the other day in Canberra, as the guest of (Labor MP) Mr Graham Edwards, so what I said the other day stands,” Mr Rudd told reporters in Melbourne.

“I went purely as Mr Graham Edwards’ guest,” he said.

The Weekend Australian quotes a Perth businessman;

…..(who was) one of Mr Burke’s clients (and) who was invited to the dinner, told The Weekend Australian yesterday the dinner was deliberately arranged and paid for by Mr Burke to introduce “a future leader of the Opposition” to West Australian businessmen, who were his clients, and also to state bureaucrats. The guest said the Labor leadership, including the previous leader Mark Latham, then leader Kim Beazley and Mr Rudd as a prospective leader, had been discussed at the dinner.

Labor’s more optimistic souls hope Rudd can ride out this saga. They point to his honesty in fessing up to making a mistake, and hope the cleanskin image has not been too badly tarnished.

Honesty? I thought he said he only went as a guest of Graham Edwards. He didn’t even know Burke was going to be there and now we hear Burke organized the whole dinner for Rudd…….tellng porkies in the House Mr Rudd?

Meanwhile, as if the Rudd/Burke controversy isn’t doing enough damage to Labour’s chances, Kevin Rudd has firmly committed Labor to scrapping the government’s Work Choices legislation, in an address to a party conference.

Mr Rudd vowed that if Labor is elected to office at the election expected late this year, it would “consign these laws to the dustbin of history”.

Small businesses are going to love that one.

Good week for us conservatives.

Burkes influence moves east; Brian Burke, ex Premier of WA, previously charged and goaled for corruption, is shaking the ALP world as the West Australian Corruption and Crimes Commission releases daily reports on Burke’s control of the WA Carpenter government.

The Coalition in Canberra have spent all day attacking Kevin Rudd over his meetings with Burke and all Kevin can come up with is this;

“Would it have been better for me not to have met with Mr Burke, had I known what Mr Burke was up to at the time, of course,” Mr Rudd said.

“Did I have the faintest idea that Mr Burke was engaged in activities which are now the subject of the CCC, of course I did not.

Sorry, don’t believe him,. Burke is a personal friend of Kim Beasley and Graham Edwards; he is entrenched in WA Labour circles and is one of the biggest power brokers in WA. If Rudd didn’t know what was going on then he should be questioned for not having a tab on the ALPs machinations.

“So therefore, with the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, of course I would not have met with Mr Burke. I had no knowledge of those matters then.”

One wonders if Rudds 20:20 hindsight goes back as far as WA Inc. You remember Kevin? Paper bags of cash in his office safe..goaled for corruption….yeah that guy.

UPDATE: Maybe I missed this yesterday but it’s worth mentioning. Hidden in the text, halfway down the page is this startling revelation;

Mr Rudd said he was unaware of the ban on contact with Mr Burke imposed by then WA premier Geoff Gallop.

Everybody in Australia who reads newspapers was aware of the ban on contact with Brian Burke imposed by Geoff Gallop except Kevin.

Yeah, I believe that!

Many have joined the “Wish it were so” division as the news that Maxine McKew has nominated for Bennelong hits the media. The ABC managed to extract a statement from former Liberal national president John Valder who tipped John Howard could lose his seat of Bennelong. True, he could but there’s a lot of campaigning between could and did. The ABC’s electoral analyst Antony Green suggests

Prime Minister John Howard should be worried that high-profile media personality Maxine McKew is standing as the ALP candidate in his electorate of Bennelong……

Maybe, but being a talking head high-profile celebrity is a long way from being a believable politician. After all, the other celebrity Garret, isn’t exactly starring. A comment at Matt Price’s blog suggests it leaves Labor open to charges of seeking salvation in celebrity rather than with a battle-hardened, local candidate and he is not a Howard fan. He could be right though. I imagine Peter Costello noticed the nomination with interest but I doubt he’s booked the removalist van to move to the lodge yet. Shaping up to be an interesting battle.