Death of Mulrunji: Palm Island Coronial Inquest yields positive outcome for family

Mulrunji's sister, Elisabeth Doomadgee, with Murandoo Yanner

It's nice to see that the coronial inquest into the death of a man on Palm Island two years ago has yielded some genuine results.

When the man, known as Mulrunji, died after being arrested for public drunkenness, the initial coroner's report that found his massive internal injuries were 'consistent with a fall' was greeted with rioting. And no wonder- it's not quite up there with the Chinese human rights activist who broke his own neck, but it's close. At the time of the Palm Island riots after the initial findings of the autopsy on Mulrunji, Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson proclaimed

"The police version is that after the deceased person was arrested, when they got back to the police station, as he exited from the police vehicle he punched the police officer in the head, there was a scuffle between the two and they fell to the ground on some concrete steps," Commissioner Atkinson said.

The finding of the Deputy Coroner, that Mulrunji punched Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, before Hurley retaliated and kicked him while he was on the ground, sounds a lot more probable.

I don't think it sounds like Senior Sergeant Hurley intended to murder Mulrunji, but the man died, and if Hurley is responsible for the death he deserves to be punished for it. I think the Police Union have showed just how little they think of the value of Mulrunji's life by condemning the Deputy Coroner and urging that the matter be abandoned. No doubt they will still proclaim that they do everything they can to prevent deaths in custody.

Peter Beattie is being predictably populist by supporting the decision not to stand Senior Sergeant Hurley down while the Director of Public Prosecutions deliberates on the matter. If Queenslanders gave a hoot about the death of Mulrunji, Beattie would probably be at the front of the mob waving a noose.

Still, I hope the outcome of the inquiry is of some comfort to the people of Palm Island. What comes of it remains to be seen.

The Exclusive Brethren

Previously unseen photograph of the initiation rites for new members of the Exclusive Brethren

Larry B at Watermelon Rant digs further into the pit of poo that is the Exclusive Brethren.

They're not just scary little men who evade tax and throw political mud; it seems they're a lot more ubiquitous and a lot more powerful than they first appeared.

Blogless week in review

A week since my last post. Gam and I are on our mid-semester 'break', otherwise known as 'catch-up week'. We went to see Queensland Roar vs. Adelaide United at the Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. It was basically a replay of the last home game against Adelaide, only this time the Roar only had 27 attempts on goal without a single goal scored. To be fair to the Roar boys there weren't any cringe-worthy moments like last season, and the resulting nil-all draw was due purely to the efforts of Adelaide's phenomenal goalie. Queensland Roar really dominated the entire match, which was something I didn't expect to see. Adelaide looked under pressure even prior to ShenQing Shu's red card for a seemingly random headbutting of Queensland Roar Captain Chad Gibson They've really improved since last season. Unfortunately the concession ticket price has gone up to $18 from $15, so it's a bit tougher to scrape together the money to go and see them regularly.

My parents came up for a visit over the weekend (plus a bit extra) and left today; I woke up sick on Monday morning, barely able to talk and even less able to swallow. It wasn't the worst sore throat I've ever had, but being unable to swallow was pretty disconcerting. When I went back to bed for a few hours' extra sleep I drooled all over my pillow because I couldn't swallow the saliva. Über-gross. Thankfully Gam made me a doctor's appointment and he (correctly, as it turned out) diagnosed it as a bacterial pharyngitis and prescribed me some penicillin. Hooray for antibiotics! I was anticipating feeling crook for another 5 days or so, but a few hours after some tablets I could talk again!

That was after he charmingly discussed with us the possibility of it being an STD transmitted via oral sex, telling us gonorrhoea can be passed on orally and offering to take swabs for testing. I was happy to be able to discount that particular scenario, as I'm participating in a trial for a new HPV vaccine and was recently tested for a whole bunch of STDs as part of the trial. They didn't take mouth swabs, but I figured it would be highly unlikely that I'd get gonorrhoea of the tonsils and not get it in one or more other places besides. Fair enough of the doc to bring it up though. It must be difficult to do without offending anyone or potentially creating an awkward situation.

While Mum and Dad were here I didn't have newsradio on and I didn't watch SBS news (or any other news) the entire time, so as to avoid the sort of heated rants and arguments our opposing views give rise to. We didn't even watch MediaWatch. We were pretty successful overall, and Dad and Gam spent most of their time talking about computer stuff, which is a lot more pleasant than the usual situation. I didn't talk about computer stuff because I know almost nothing about computers, so I spent most of my time reading about proteins in my food chemistry textbook. The damn thing cost $164, so I'm making as much use of it as I can. Doesn't even have colour pictures or a cover protector... I don't know where that $164 goes.

I didn't move my Playboy magazines from the living room this time (last time Mum and Dad visited I hid them in the wardrobe to avoid arguments or nagging), although I did put a Linux magazine and a Nature Australia magazine over the top of a couple of them so it looks like I have interests other than Playboy. Surprisingly, the only comments I got from them on the Playboy mags were from Mum, who couldn't believe that Diora Baird's boobs aren't fake, and that Dita Von Teese's waist hadn't been airbrushed (she was wearing a very tight corset, I had to explain). Speaking of Playboy, this month's issue hasn't arrived in the mailbox (I've been expecting it for a good 2 weeks) and I'm getting worried some sod at Australia Post has made off with it or something. Grrr.

One thing my parents and I do have in common is a love of cheese, so while they were up here my Dad bought a couple of lumps of Spanish Valdéon that I'd been eyeing off in the Fruity Capers Deli in Toowong for months now. It was even better than it looked, and we were all trying to guess what kind of leaves it came wrapped in- Gam and Dad guessed vine leaves, I guessed tobacco leaves. Wikipedia came to the rescue, confirming Chestnut leaves as the answer.



In other cheese-related matters, I recently tried the Tasmanian Heritage Signature Camembert, which won best cheese at the 2006 World Cheese Championships in Wisconsin. To be honest, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, particularly as I'd recently purchased a reduced price Tasmanian Heritage regular camembert nearing its use-by date that was probably the best I've ever had. The 'world champion' was bland by comparison.

Now for some photos of a redback Dad found living under the rim of our kitchen bin last time they visited, after we stayed in NSW in July (some of them are pretty blurry, and yes, it was dead when I took the photos!):

RIP, Pork Beast

Our lovely Porkie died suddenly on Tuesday. She had been very slightly off her food for a couple of days, but not to the extent that I felt she needed to see the vet. I'd been to see her around midday and take her some melon, and when I went out in the afternoon to take her some vegetable scraps I couldn't find her. She had busted out of her side of the garden into the side I grow my veges, and I found her lying under the pea plants.

She used to sleep with her eyes open- it always scared the hell out of me, because she would look for all the world like she was dead. She died with her eyes open, looking like she was asleep.

We got Porkie on an impulse in August 2003. She was tiny, and incredibly cute. It took a while for us to think of a name for her, and eventually she was christened 'The Pork Beast' because of her eating habits. The name was inspired by the crazy website called Fat Chicks in Party Hats, and Porkie sure lived up to it. She was an eating machine. In fact, I wouldn't rule out her death being due to obesity-related causes.




She used to squeak whenever she heard the sound of a plastic bag rustling, thinking that plastic bags always contained food. She was less and less inclined to run around as she got older, preferring cuddles and sitting on my lap to watch tv. Still, 3 years is not old for a guinea pig, and I anticipated she would live to a ripe old age. Our fish, Big Red, also died on tuesday, but she was the same age as Porkie, and had been ill for a long time. Needless to say, Tuesday was a pretty shitty day, as far as life goes.

Whenever I prepared vegetables for dinner I would always cut off a little bit more than I needed to in order to share it with her. I would always keep an eye out for nice tomatoes at the supermarket because they were her favourite food. Personally, I hate supermarket tomatoes, but Porkie loved them and would look quite comical running around with an entire large tomato in her ridiculously tiny mouth.

Before we got Pork Beast I had always thought of guinea pigs as silly, flighty animals. I soon came to realise that my impression was based on my experiences with guinea pigs that had been bought as pets and essentially dumped in a cage in the backyard, having little interaction with their owners. Porkie was engaging, beautiful, bossy and always hungry.

I miss her like hell.

The only reason a photo this crappy is going on the web is because it's the only one I have of me with Porkie.

Performance-based salaries

Watching a promo for the Insight programme (SBS, Tuesdays, 7:30pm) just then, on the topic of whether teachers' pay should be performance-based, Gam pointed out the hypocrisy of the government's insistence that the 'best' teachers should be paid more than their colleagues, and while simultaneously proclaiming that politicians' salaries need rise after rise after rise in order to attract "high calibre" candidates of the sort that are currently in office. The old 'pay peanuts, you'll get monkeys' argument gets dredged up time and time again in relation to the salaries of politicians, but the bastards are incredibly dismissive of the same principle in relation to teachers.

Naomi Robson's Cannibal Adventure headlines UK news

Naomi Robson has managed to make an appearance in the pages of a credible news source: the UK's Independent newspaper.

Of course, it's not a story by her, rather it's about her. Still, it's probably the highest pinnacle of journalism she'll ever be able to reach, so hopefully she's savouring the moment.

The best bit of the article was what UNICEF had to say about the dangers facing children in West Papua:

A spokesman for Unicef, the UN children's agency, told the ABC that Papua province had one of the world's highest infant mortality rates. He said that children there needed to be immunised against common diseases, protected against malnutrition and given access to clean water. He did not mention cannibalism.

Fei is for Vendetta

Feifei capable of violence?

A couple of days ago I got a piano. An electric one (so I don't annoy the neighbours); a gift from my parents.

Our cat Feifei's reaction, typical to anything new and unfamiliar we bring in the house, was one of terror. I mentioned a couple of days ago that he kept stealing my chair. That was before the piano arrived. After it arrived he didn't come into the study voluntarily for two days.

Tonight, while I was practising, Feifei walked up to the piano stool and put his paws up on it. "How cute," I thought, "He's coming to terms with the piano." I moved over and let him jump up and sit on the stool next to me.

While I was patting him, reassuring him that the piano was a nice place to be and it wasn't going to eat him, he put one of his paws on the keyboard, but drew it back quickly when it made a noise. A minute later he tried again, ignoring the noise and walking half the length of the keyboard before climbing on top of the piano and sitting down.

I started to play again, and Feifei heard the noise coming from the speaker he was sitting next to and decided it had to stop. First he tried 'catching' the keys as I played them, but when that didn't work he tried to bite the speaker. When that didn't work either, he walked up to some sheets of music on the stand, grabbed them with his teeth and threw them on the floor. I put them back on the stand and continued playing, while Feifei alternately attacked the speaker and tried to get his paw down behind the piano to catch whatever 'animal' was making the noise. Feifei then chewed the music one more time for good measure before I finished practising and closed the lid. He watched carefully, convinced that something was hiding from his under the lid.

Far from coming to terms with the piano, I think Feifei has decided it has to die.

I can't help thinking how much vengeance he'll feel the need to wreak if we ever have a baby...

Surely not...

Perhaps it isn't what it looks like...

There must be some kind of mistake...

No 'control order' for neo-nazis

This is fucking scary.

The idea that someone like Peter Campbell is free to do whatever he pleases in the community while a guy like Jack Thomas grabs headlines as a menace to society shows that there is something seriously fucked up with government priorities.

If it was a muslim group distributing the sort of hate-filled, violent propaganda and bomb-making instructions that the 'White Pride Coalition of Australia' is full of, all the people involved would be in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison, simply for possession of such material.

Instead, they get 'investigated', and their material gets 'examined' while they are free to carry on with their lives.

Why do white extremists get treated differently from muslim extremists? Surely it couldn't be because there's more votes in frothing at the mouth over foreigners? Not in Australia, surely!

SuperNaomi, saviour of small children

"This sounds like the story for which Naomi Robson would get off her arse and think 'LOGIE!'"
-Gam

I was being way too optimistic when I said this morning that it appeared that Today Tonight wanted to do a story on the plight of West Papuans when they were busted entering the province on tourist visas.

Nope, West Papuans under the murderous rule of Indonesia can continue to burn for all Naomi Robson cares. Get this- the word from the good people at Today Tonight is:

Robson and a Today Tonight crew say they were trying to save a Papuan orphan from being eaten by his cannibal tribe when they were detained by Indonesian authorities this week.

[...]

Today Tonight was following up on a Nine Network report about an orphaned boy, Wah-Wah, who was going to be killed and eaten at some stage in the next 10 years.

When Nine refused to go in and rescue the boy, Today Tonight stepped in, leading to the crew being detained, the program claimed

They are pointing the bone at Channel Nine, for dobbing them in to the Indonesian authorities.

Of course, the boy might be lucky not to die of malaria or some other horrible disease during the next 10 years, but that's not a concern for SuperNaomi and the TTTeam.

What would have happened if they'd succeeded in bringing the boy back? Would he have been locked up on Nauru?

This story just keeps getting better and better!

Naomi Robson arrested as 'journalist'

Naomi Robson, journalist.

I wonder if Indonesia realise the enormity of the mistake they have made in arresting Naomi Robson and the Today Tonight crew on charges of entering West Papua on tourist, rather than journalist, visas? Don't be fooled by the television cameras, guys; Today Tonight are about as far from being journalists as Kerry O'Brien is from being the sultry host of a nightly tabloid TV programme.

On the one hand, I have to agree with the sentiments expressed by the SMH, that Today Tonight must have been morons to think that five journalists could waltz into West Papua carrying cameras (and possibly a large luxury campervan full of makeup) and not be noticed by the Indonesians. The idea is pretty laughable.

On the other hand, it appears that Today Tonight was about to try its hand at a real story on a very serious situation in West Papua that needs to be brought to the attention of all Australians, and I don't want to knock them for that. After this episode they might just figure it's easier to go chasing the lastest fast cure for flab than real stories.

The head of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry Imron Cotan claims that journalists are allowed to enter West Papua, but as the SMH points out, the Herald last year became the first Australian news organisation permitted to enter West Papua in two years.

The Indonesians have plenty to hide in West Papua, and keeping a tight rein on journalists is a part of that process. Good on Today Tonight for trying, even if they went about it all the wrong way.

UPDATE: Cannibals? WTF? See here for more.

Beazley's Bleatings

Preaching about 'values' never looks good coming from a politician. Kim Beazley has shown that the chief Beazley policy is still to out-Howard John Howard, as we've all seen today from his "let's make immigrants sign an Aussie Values™ contract" policy.

Kim wants muslims immigrants and anyone applying for a visa to sign a piece of paper declaring their support for Aussie values such as 'mateship', 'fairness', 'freedom', 'acceptance of different religions and culture' (ha!) and equality for women. Whatever the hell any of that really means, I don't know, but I'm quite sure that being a part of this country or a Member of Parliament has never hinged upon whether a person holds with those all-but-intangible principles. What to do about all the Aussie bigots? Oh, right, they're the ones who are supposed to be voting for the guy.

I'm pretty sure I also heard him on the radio today saying that the Aussie Value of 'hard work' should be included in that list as well. Come on... immigrants are the original hard workers. To have true Aussie Values they'd have to sign a little contract stating that they'll drink twenty times as much beer as is good for them and chuck sickies when the weather is good so they can go to the beach.

Beazley's claim that this is a way of combating terrorism and extremism is worthy of nothing more than ridicule. It would be just as effective to have people tick a little box saying "I am not a terrorist". Which they pretty much have to do already.

Values™ Registered trademark of Conservative Wankers Worldwide Ltd.

I haven't been as lazy in real life as blogging

I've been slack on blogging lately, but not because I'm sick of it and not because I'm resting on my laurels after making it to the 1 year mark. I simply haven't had the time. Perhaps somewhat ironically it's because I haven't been quite so apathetic about my studies as I typically am.

The main reason is that I surprised myself by getting good enough grades last semester (despite almost failing statistics) to warrant a letter of congratulations from the Dean of my school... I never even knew they sent out letters for good grades, but now instead of plodding along and aiming for a credit average I have to aim a bit higher or I'm in for a letdown at the end of this semester. Which means I actually have to put in a bit more effort than my usual last-minute jobs. Which entails trips to the library (a place I managed to avoid for the entire first six months of the year, if memory serves me correctly) and reading of texts and journals outside the minimum requirements. Of course it also helps that I really enjoy 3 of the 4 subjects I'm doing, and the fourth subject really isn't so bad, it's just a bit industry-oriented for my interests.

I have 3 pracs a week and prac reports due every week. The number of hours I have to put into these things, worth ~2.5-5% each, is about the same number of hours I would normally put into an exam worth 25-40%.

On top of it all I've joined the Body Corporate Committee for the complex Gam and I live in, and so far it's been a real bitch-fest. I hope my first impression is wrong, but my first impression was "oh shit, what have I got myself into?". I've been wading through email after email related to that at a time when I have even been restricting myself to briefly scanning the SMH website only every couple of days, and the regular blogs even less frequently. Given that I am a compulsive slacker it's been a very difficult time.



On top of it all, if I sit in the study to work our cat harasses me because he believes the chair I thought was mine is in fact his, and our two fish are unwell because I used expired water-ager last time I changed their water. D'oh. I'm not so concerned about Big Red because she's now ~3 years old and at the end of her lifespan anyway, but Armando we only got this year. I'm worried he might have suffered neurological damage, because I put some mozzie larvae in as a treat after I changed the water, and although he showed his usual enthusiasm in catching them, he struggles to swim and his aim is off. I hope it's just residual effects of the bad water and nothing permanent, but it's been 3 days now.

Today I have a small amount of respite because a prac report I thought I had due is in fact not due until next week (when I have two due for that subject). Time enough to slack off and blog. And maybe do some housework.

Phew.

Unfair funding doesn't stop elite schools' rort

Keeping out the rabble.

The government's handouts to wealthy private schools have counted for nothing when it came to fee increases. A list of elite schools in the SMH have raised their fees by anywhere from 17-53% over the past 4 years.

This is something that Mark Latham wanted to put a stop to at the last election and people simply weren't motivated by the issue. It's a frigging rort. None of the Howard government's multimillion dollar handouts have made these private schools more accessible to ordinary people. That's the whole point of these places. They're exclusive. They're also very good schools; any public school would be as great if it had that level of both public and private funding.

I can't believe there isn't a greater level of public concern about issues like this.

Peter Beattie Elected for Fourth Term

Peter Beattie declaring victory in the 2006 State Election.

I guess the result of the Queensland election comes as a surprise to no-one, despite Peter Beattie's persistent attempts to claim underdog status during the campaign. The Liberals and Nationals failed to outline any real policy alternatives, and the case for a protest vote against Peter Beattie just wasn't strong enough; they should never have tried to run on that in the first place.

Gam and I went to vote at Ironside State School around midday and were surprised at how empty the place was- a real contrast to the queues at the last Federal election in 2004. We turned down 'How-to-vote' cards first from the Liberals manning the school gate, including 'our' Federal member Michael Johnson (who is really short!), then Labor and the Greens. There were, after all, only three candidates. Anyone who needs telling which order they should put their preferences in on a ballot with only three candidates probably shouldn't be voting.

The Greens were first on the ballot for the seat of Indooroopilly, followed by Labor and then Liberal. A Green vote with preferences to Labor, putting the Libs last, made my ballot the first donkey vote I've ever made, albeit not a real one.

Both the State and Federal seats for our area have an interesting dynamic, as there is a fairly high proportion of Green primary votes (~17% this time around) along with a huge primary vote for the Liberals, due to the mix of students and rich luxury-4WD-driving suburbanites who inhabit this area. Sitting Member Ronan Lee only just scraped back in with preferences from the Greens. Apparently this seat used to be safe Liberal. I'm glad it's not quite so safe any more.

There was a small state-wide swing against Labor this election, and a small swing of 1.2% to the Greens. That's probably pretty good for The Redneck State. It's not surprising that Family First did well in the seats with a high National Party vote.

Boganville, a.k.a. the Sunshine Coast, delivered the Labor seat of Kawana (pronounced nasally as 'Ka-waaah-na') to the Liberals. Remember, just because they're 'urban' doesn't mean they can't be morons. The Nats hold the seat of Maroochydoore, which is also part of Boganville.

I'm relieved to see Peter Beattie returned for a fourth term. Sure, I'd have liked the Greens or maybe some more independents to gain a seat or two, but I'm realistic. The Opposition didn't present a real alternative for Queensland, and when it came down to it, Peter Beattie has been doing a fairly good job as Premier.

I note that the federal ALP has been mooching up to the Queensland Labor Party over this election campaign hoping that some of the success will rub off on them. Somehow I think it will take a heck of a lot more effort than that to oust the Liberal-National coalition at the next election. Better hop to it.

Old news is new enough

The Australian is reporting on the death of the Kalangiri elder who was dumped at a remote airstrip, almost a week after the news first appeared on the ABC news website.

The headline, "Aboriginal elder dies on remote air strip" is obviously designed to mislead people into thinking the death is news, rather than being a week-old story.

Still, credit to The Australian for running the story at all- I couldn't find a single mention of it on the SMH website.

Costello's mark is a stake in the heart for FOI

Happy now?

Peter Costello may never get the Prime Ministership he craves so dearly, but he has succeeded in killing Australia's Freedom of Information laws, enabling every Australian government from now until eternity to refuse to release information that is politically embarrassing on the grounds that it is against the interests of the Australian public.

What's really against the public interest is having a judiciary that is more interested in protecting the wishes of the government than the public's right to know about their own tax system and how much of their money has been used paying out fraudulent First Home Buyers Scheme grants.

Steve Irwin Dead at 44

This is one of the saddest deaths of a public figure I can recall. The Sydney Morning Herald is likening the death of Steve Irwin to that of princess Diana. Fuck that, it's demeaning the guy. Steve Irwin was an Aussie, and someone who actually did a lot of good for this country.

Gam is a huge fan of Steve Irwin and I've always bagged him mercilessly for it, saying that 'only foreigners' love Steve. I gave him a particularly good ribbing when Steve Irwin proclaimed that John Howard was the 'greatest Prime Minister this country has ever had', but Gam still defended his honour. To be honest I just put it down to him being a bit dopey or having spent too much time in the bush.

I'm just sorry I've always put off Gam's wish to visit Australia Zoo while Steve was there.

Steve Irwin and his wife had two kids, an eight year old daughter and a son who is only 3 years old. The little boy probably won't remember a whole lot about his dad by the time he grows up, but I'm sure both of those kids will always know their dad as an Aussie legend.

RIP Steve.

Bruce Flegg not an ambulance chaser

Queensland Liberal leader Dr Bruce Flegg.

The Queensland election campaign is well underway, with all the usual shenanigans you'd expect to see during such an event, but I was surprised to see the ABC yesterday almost openly criticise Queensland Liberal party leader Bruce Flegg for not taking advantage of the opportunity presented by a long queue of ambulances outside a hospital he was visiting.

That's right: they were criticising him for not being an ambulance chaser.

The same report was replayed tonight on Stateline.

As much as I wouldn't like to see a Liberal-National win in Queensland, the fact that Dr Flegg didn't indulge in such a grubby piece of political opportunism certainly raised my opinion of him. I think Peter Beattie would have done it...

'Missing' Kalkaringi elder died at airstrip

The community store and service station at Kalkaringi

This is a horrible story.

Exactly who or what is to blame for the death of an ill 78 year old man left at a remote airstrip south of Darwin isn't yet known, but on the face of it it doesn't look good for established practices in the Northern Territory.

I don't think the NT government is right to launch an 'internal' health department enquiry and ignore the family's call for a full coronial inquest.

I think anyone whose 78 year old uncle or grandfather died in such circumstances would feel the situation deserved a full coronial inquest. I would.

Pushers: Tobacco Companies Upping Nicotine Levels

Other drug dealers aren't this audacious.

The news that tobacco companies have been quietly raising the level of nicotine in their cigarettes over the last six years isn't really shocking, given the scummy nature of the people who run them, but you do have to marvel at the sheer audacity of the bastards.

SMOKERS struggling to stub out that final cigarette may have new insight into why it is so hard to quit. A report shows American tobacco companies increased nicotine levels by an average of 10 per cent over six years.

Anti-smoking groups called on the Australian Federal Government to introduce tougher tobacco industry regulation after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found nicotine in all brands of cigarettes rose by an average of 9.9 per cent between 1999 and 2004.

Some of the highest levels were in brands popular with high school students, leading to claims cigarette companies were trying to get youngsters hooked.

The figures were revealed because of legislation in some American states that requires tobacco companies to report nicotine content each year.

"Tobacco companies may be increasing their nicotine content by 10 per cent in Australia but nobody knows, there's no accountability, no disclosure for them to inform anybody or get approval to do it," said Action on Smoking and Health's chief executive, Anne Jones.

"What other manufacturer could do that? A pharmaceutical company couldn't do it for their nicotine replacement therapies. The only legal requirement, and it's a voluntary agreement anyway, is that they've agreed to put a benign list of some of the contents … on a Commonwealth website. That's pretty useless information."

Increasing levels of nicotine was a ploy by the tobacco industry to reverse declining smoking rates by making it harder to quit, Ms Jones said.

Testing of cigarettes in Australia was carried out by tobacco companies, said the executive director of Quit Victoria, Todd Harper. "That's like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever," he said. "The problem at the moment is that there is no public health requirement around disclosure of what's in tobacco smoke. That should be managed by public health authorities, not by the tobacco companies."

Tobacco companies in America use a machine that mimics smoking to record the nicotine delivered by each cigarette. Between 1999 and 2004, levels jumped from 1.72 milligrams to 1.89 milligrams.

Of 116 brands tested, 92 had higher nicotine yield in 2004 than in 1998 and 52 had increases of more than 10 per cent.

There was a 12 per cent rise in levels of Marlboro cigarettes, the brand preferred by two-thirds of American secondary student smokers. Levels in Kool Menthol lights, popular with African-American smokers, increased by 30 per cent.

In 1998, Newport menthol filter 100s and Camel non-filters tied for highest nicotine at 2.9 milligrams. By 2004, Newport had 3.2 milligrams; five brands had 3.0 milligrams or more.

The corporate affairs director for Phillip Morris in Australia, Bert Van Gossum, said: "We would welcome government-mandated reporting and testing of tar nicotine levels, but we believe that regulation should be comprehensive and address everything in relation to tobacco companies and product."

A spokesman for the Australian branch of British American Tobacco said he could not comment on the figures because they were based on an American study.

WASHINGTON POST

Of course they still claim they don't target kids...

Update: Patrick has also posted on this topic.