The case of a Tasmanian MP charged with having sex with a prostituted 12-year-old girl has returned to court in Hobart.

Independent Upper House MP Terry Martin pleaded not guilty in October to having sex with the girl, as well as to taking a photograph of her performing a sex act and possessing the photograph, deemed as child pornography offences.

Mr Martin did not appear today in the Tasmanian Supreme Court, where the case was briefly mentioned by Justice David Porter, who adjourned it until May 10.

Gary Devine, 51, of Hobart, was last month sentenced to at least eight years in jail for prostituting the girl to more than 120 men in September last year.

Devine's 41-year-old girlfriend has been charged with similar offences and is yet to enter a plea.

She is due to appear in the Supreme Court in Hobart tomorrow after being remanded in custody.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/

THEY may be holy places of worship and reflection, but new figures show you may not be as safe in a NSW church as you are at a strip club or in a brothel.
The latest data, compiled by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, showed 1600 people were charged with committing a range of 27 offences in the state's "places of worship'' in 2008.

Surprisingly, the figures showed only 282 people were charged in premises classified as adult entertainment over the same offences.

Bureau director Don Wedderburn said the data showed people were just as likely to be assaulted or robbed in the sanctity of a church as they were on the streets.

"Most people would think of churches and synagogues as sanctuaries in society,'' he said.

"But maybe that's naive, because the statistics show they are likely to rob, assault or steal from people there like anywhere else. The figures are genuinely surprising.''

A breakdown of the figures showed that 85 people were assaulted in places of worship, compared to 66 at an adult entertainment premises.

According to the report, places of worship include churches, synagogues, monasteries, mosques, convents, cathedrals and chapels.

Premises listed under adult entertainment included strip clubs, sex shops, brothels, massage parlours, homosexual clubs, gaming houses as well as gambling clubs.

Places of worship were also ahead on sexual offences (16), theft from motor vehicles (33), resisting arrest (seven) and liquor offences (10).

Harassment and threatening behaviour at places of worship (30) was more than double that of adult entertainment (13).

Two people were charged with possessing or using marijuanain places of worship. The figure was a 90 per cent decrease on the previous year, when 20 people were charged with the offence.

Only one person was charged with the offence at an adult entertainment premises in 2008.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/

THE Obama administration has questioned the Rudd government's plan to introduce an internet filter, saying it runs contrary to the US's foreign policy of encouraging an open internet to spread economic growth and global security.
Officials from the State Department have raised the issue with Australian counterparts as the US mounts a diplomatic assault on internet censorship by governments worldwide.

The news is a blow to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who is defending the plan for internet companies to mandatorily block illegal and abhorrent websites -- for instance, child pornography -- but faces growing opposition.

While considered a noble idea, any filter is considered by many -- even within the Labor caucus -- to be unworkable and a misdirection of resources away from enforcement and policing.

That the US government joins a widening coalition of agencies with concerns about the plan is sure to turn up the political heat on Senator Conroy.

It follows criticism from Google -- in the midst of a high-profile battle in China over political censorship -- that Australia's plan for mandatory filtering of blacklisted websites may prevent the free flow of information and would probably be ineffective in curbing the spread of child porn.

Responding to questions about the filter, commentary website The Punch reports today that US State Department spokesman Noel Clay has raised concerns on the filter plan.

"The US and Australia are close partners on issues related to cyber matters generally, including national security and economic issues," Mr Clay said.

"We do not discuss the details of specific diplomatic exchanges, but can say that in the context of that ongoing relationship, we have raised our concerns on this matter with Australian officials."

A spokeswoman for Senator Conroy declined to comment on Mr Clay's remarks, saying only that the Australian and US governments "liaise regularly on a broad range of issues (and) it would be inappropriate to discuss the details of these consultations".

The federal government's proposed filter is mainly aimed at blocking access to content deemed RC (refused classification), by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

RC typically applies to illegal material such as child sex abuse content, bestiality, and instructions for criminal activity, and the filter would oblige internet service providers to block access to a content blacklist.

Critics, including Google, say the scope of blacklisted material is too wide and it will slow internet speeds in Australia.

Some also worry the restrictions could be applied even to media organisations reporting details of criminal activity.

In January Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flagged the Obama administration's intent to use an open internet to advance its diplomatic goals.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

A HOLE in Alice Springs' prostitution market could be filled by an agency looking to cash in on a mining boom with its own fly-in fly-out operation.
Businesswoman Julie Partridge, 52, has applied for a licence to set up an agency that would bring sex workers in from Darwin or interstate on a two weeks on, two weeks off roster.

"I am very positive about an escort agency business in Alice Springs because of all the mining activity that is going on," she told the Northern Territory News.

Another businesswoman said she was approached by an interstate group looking to take advantage of the surge of male mine workers, who spent their working week "in a hole" and emerged with cash to burn and "one thing on their mind".

She said they were looking to set up a "Shag Bus" in a refurbished Winnebago to service horny clients up and down the Stuart Highway.between Alice and Tennant Creek.

.."It's ... the Love Boat but on wheels," she said.

"It's quite clever - a new take on the phrase 'sex tourism'."

The idea that a mining boom was attracting sex industry entrepreneurs to Alice Springs came as no shock to NT Resources Council chief executive Scott Perkins.

"Well, the mining industry has a long history of supporting local businesses," he said.

"On top of mining, there are many drilling operations."

The NT Justice Department confirmed it was considering an escort agency manager licence application for Alice Springs.

If approved, it will be the only regulated and licensed agency in Alice Springs, with the sole existing agency operated by prominent local identity Tracey Randall (aka Minnie Maid) about to move to Cairns.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/

A PAIR of 200-year-old sex toys shaped as gigantic wooden phalluses have been sold at a UK auction for £3,600 ($5800).
The Sun reports staff at Brentwood Antiques Auction in Essex described the sex toys as "extraordinary and exceptionally rare" and said they were probably French and dated back to the late 1700s.

"You might laugh but it's a good opportunity for investment," aptly named auctioneer Wendy Wood said.

"You won't see another one in a long time."

Auctioneers listed the lot on the website under "Erotica".

A catalogue description read: "An extraordinary and exceptionally rare 'Travel Godermiche' being a pair of wooden phallus contained within a fitted kid leather covered Treen case with strap fleurs-de-lys decoration, one phallus 10 inches and with testicles and the other 11 inches and without testicles."

"The case, although having a relined interior appears to have age commensurate with those of the phallus," the listing adds.

Source: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has extended an olive branch to the gay and lesbian community, back-pedalling on recent remarks in which he described the lifestyle as ''threatening''.

He also offered in-principle endorsement of recognition of same-sex relationships and stronger anti-discrimination laws.

Choosing a gay and lesbian community radio station in Melbourne to launch his mea culpa, Mr Abbott said his recent comments were ill considered and a ''poor choice of words''.

''I think blokes of my generation and upbringing do sometimes find these things a bit confronting,'' he said. ''Anything that is different can be a bit challenging.''

Mr Abbott reiterated his opposition to gay marriage but said he favoured formal recognition of same-sex relationships. He was ''very happy to look at'' civil unions.

''I'm in favour of stable, enduring relationships. I'm in favour of people keeping their commitments to people. I would be very sympathetic to some institutional arrangement which encouraged that across the board, rather than in just what might be described as the more common or traditional contexts,'' he said.

He also favoured stronger anti-discrimination laws if they stood up to what he termed ''quality control''. ''In principle, I would support it,'' he said.

Mr Abbott's remarks won a mixed response from the gay and lesbian community.

His positive response to anti-discrimination laws was welcomed by the Australian Coalition for Equality. ACE spokes-man Corey Irlam urged the Rudd government to strengthen the current laws.

''The absence of national discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people is a shameful gap in Australia's human rights framework,'' Mr Irlam said.

But the lobby group Australian Marriage Equality said Mr Abbott needed to grapple with same-sex marriage, not simply relationship recognition.

''Why does Tony Abbott want to invent an entirely new federal scheme for recognising and fostering 'stable, enduring relationships' when we already have one, called marriage,'' said AME spokesman Alex Greenwich.

Source: http://www.watoday.com.au/