The Riverman Reports - Inc. Huttz World

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Ahmadinejad - the last president of Iran?

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The message from Iran’s most powerful man was clear: the post of president could be removed sometime in the future. If this happened, the parliamentary system could instead be used to elect officials holding executive power. ‘There would be no problem in altering the current structure,’ stated Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a speech in the city of Kermanshah on Sunday.

What we have here is a tussle between Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over their respective legacies. And Khamenei is taking this matter so seriously that he’s threatening to remove the very position of the presidency altogether. For now, this is only a threat. But it’s one that can’t be ignored, especially by Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad isn’t eligible to run for president again when his term expires in June 2013, as Iran’s Constitution is clear a president can run for only two consecutive terms. To ensure his legacy, then, Ahmadinejad seems to be backing his right hand man Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as a presidential candidate. Ahmadinejad likely hopes that with Mashaei as president, he will be able to retain a powerful cabinet position – think an Iranian twist on what Vladimir Putin has done in Dmitry Medvedev’s government. When Mashaei finishes his four year term, Ahmadinejad would then be able to use his likely high profile in Meshai’s government as a platform to develop a renewed bid for the presidency.

This concerns Khamenei, and rightly so.

Mashaei is an extremely divisive figure. Many conservatives despise him. For some, it is because of reports that he married a former member of the opposition Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), which he was interrogating in the early 1980s, as well as reports that his brother was also member of the same organization. Others, though, are furious that he said publicly that the people of Iran have no problem with the people of Israel.

Jealousy is another factor. Soon after Meshai’s daughter married Ahmadinejad's son, his political career started to take off. From once being a virtually unknown politician, these days Mashaei is seen as Ahmadinejad’s right hand man (some even speculate that it’s Mashaei that holds the real power in the Ahmadinejad government).

But the animosity felt toward Mashaei isn’t confined to Iranian politicians – even Ahmadinejad’s brother Davood has been attacking him publicly. Ahmadinejad’s son-in-law, Mehdi Khorshidi, meanwhile, has joined in on the attacks against Meshai. Some believe that Davood left his post as chief of the presidential inspection unit because of Meshai.

It’s clear, then, that if Mashaei runs for president, it will create ferocious pitched political battles inside Iranian politics, conflicts that could even spark violence. This is the last thing Khamenei needs for a regime that already faces sanctions and a host of economic problems, as well as opposition from the Green movement. Khamenei therefore won’t want serious conflict among conservatives, who in the political world of the Islamic Republic are his biggest supporters.

Acknowledgements: The Diplomat

http://the-diplomat.com/2011/10/21/ahmadinejad-iran%E2%80%99s-last-president/?utm_source=The+Diplomat+List&utm_campaign=9c1c9da37a-Diplomat_Brief_2011_vol31&utm_medium=email

The iconic Big Ben clock tower in London is developing a tilt

The clock tower of Big Ben at dusk. The north ...

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The iconic Big Ben clock tower in London is developing a tilt.

Monitoring instruments show that the tilt has been increasing by one centimetre a year since 2003.

The problem has been blamed on decades of building work that have gone on around the foot of the structure.

Big Ben now joins this motley crew of precarious buildings.

Images: AAP http://travel.msn.co.nz/glance/195787/londons-leaning-tower.glance

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Facing Autism in New Brunswick...

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Autism Woe Canada: From Coast to Coast, No One Stands On Guard for Canadians with Autism Disorders

Two news reports show all too clearly that no one stands on guard for autistic children, youth and adults in Canada:

EDMONTON — A 51-year-old Edmonton man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse and neglect of his teenage autistic son that left him looking like a "concentration camp victim." Vancouver Sun, Postmedia News, October 18, 2011

Leave the Wild Rose province of Alberta and head to Canada's Ocean Playground in Nova Scotia and things don't get much better for Canadians with autism disorders.

"The provincial government has suspended Braemore's licence and replaced its executive director. The Cape Breton District Health Authority's board of directors is now acting as the interim board for the home.

The review was ordered by the province's Department of Community Services in February after officials found that an autistic resident of Braemore was locked inside a constantly lit room for 15 days last fall.

Minister says she feels 'absolutely terrible'

At the time, Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse said the review was needed after her department concluded the 20-year-old man, who was allowed out occasionally for exercise and meals, sometimes urinated in the room when he couldn't leave to use a bathroom. The home's executive director, Debra MacPherson, later apologized.

Peterson-Rafuse, who was in Sydney on Tuesday to meet with the interim board, said she was taken aback by the report's findings.

"I accept the responsibility as minister to say that we could have done better too," she said in an interview." CBC News, October 28, 2011"

A father in Alberta doesn't see what the fuss is all about over his failure to provide a humane level of care for his autistic son. In Nova Scotia a government Minister is "taken aback" and, golly gee whiz, she is just all shocked and surprised to see that a group home which is supposed to care for its residents didn't care at all and put adult squabbles and interests ahead of the dignity and well being of an autistic resident.

Other Canadian provinces are no better. Here in New Brunswick we have twiddled our thumbs and stuck stubbornly with an adult care system that does not provide safety, security and a dignified life for its autistic residents. Adults who suffer from severe autism disorders are sentenced to spend their lives in a psychiatric hospital. No one, including an Ombudsman's Office that has done little to help autistic children and adults in New Brunswick, will do anything to provide a decent life for the autistic adults in the care of the government once their parents succumb to old age and death.

Our Supreme Court of Canada reversed decisions by a British Columbia trial judge and three BC Court of Appeal justices and put deference to government decision makers ahead of the best interests of autistic children in the Auton Case. Our federal governments under both Liberal and Conservative Prime Ministers have done nothing to provide Canadians with a Real National Autism Strategy.

A Real National Autism Strategy is needed to ensure that regardless of where autistic Canadians live in this country they will be able to live in decent, humane conditions. If we can't we should stop parading around the world, with a holier than thou attitude, lecturing others about the way they treat autistic people.

Acknowledgements to the author.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Violent occupiers worldwide while NZ peaceful - but for how long...

Aotea Square and Auckland Town Hall, 1990

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Occupiers watch look on and listen to movement organisation

It has been a day of sometimes violent, protest across the globe, with 950 co-ordinated demonstrations against corporate greed and austerity measures in more than 80 countries.

What began with a handful of people in the Occupy Wall Street movement has swelled to a global movement, with protests in more than 80 cities on six continents, including in New Zealand.

The biggest and bloodiest demonstration was in Rome. Up to 200,000 people took to the streets to protest against corporate greed and the state of the Italian economy.

The march ended in a riot as protesters set fire to police vans, and tried to smash their way into banks and shops.
Police responded with tear gas and water cannon.
Italians have been hit hard by austerity measures. They are angry about their government’s handling of the country's financial crisis.

In London protesters gathered at St Pauls Cathedral and hundreds attempted to occupy Paternoster Square, home to the city's stock exchange; their attempts were thwarted by police.

By nightfall, numbers had grown and tensions were fraying.

The movement continued across Europe, from Portugal and Spain to Berlin, Athens and the financial hub of Brussels.

Protests in Asia were peaceful but the message was the same.

In Aotea Square in Auckland around 100 protesters set up camp last night and say they are here for the long haul.

“Whatever it takes because at the moment the economy has a death grip on the planet and it's not letting go,” said one occupier, Dan Clark.

Another, Alex Port, says this is about the process itself of finding out how we can make our society, “one that's based on kindness and compassion rather than greed and cynicism”.

It is a family atmosphere at Aotea square but in other parts of the world expressing that message has turned streets into battlefields.

The re-election of the rightwing Key-led government could change all that. National's plans for a second term are causing alarm in some quarters in New Zealand. Protests have been planned in both Auckland and Wellington. Australian protests could commence in Sydney.

Acknowledgements: 3 News
http://kiwiriverman.blogspot.com
http://huttriver.blog.co.uk

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Indian armed forces to the rescue...

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Indian armed forces to the rescue...

India’s armed forces are frequently called upon to assist following natural disasters. But will they get what they need to defend the border?

On October 3, the head of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Air Chief Marshal NAK ‘Charlie’ Browne, announced a slew of new measures that the force is planning to take to strengthen and upgrade its capabilities around the country.

Among them was the decision to extend the runway at Kargil, a small town in Jammu and Kashmir made famous by the 1999 skirmish between India and Pakistan. Located midway between Srinagar and Leh, a north-eastern town not far from the Chinese border, Kargil airstrip will be turned into a full-fledged airport capable of handling the heavy and medium transport aircraft like the C-130J Hercules and the C-17s that the IAF is in the process of inducting.

The decision to strengthen the Kargil airbase has come almost exactly a year since the Ladakh region was lashed by a devastating cloudburst that killed over 100 people and which critically affected the deployment and winter stocking of Indian Army troops along the Chinese border following the total collapse of the tenuous road network in the area.

The Indian Army, present in the region in substantial numbers, responded almost immediately. More than 6,000 soldiers, along with personnel of the quasi-military Border Roads Organisation, set out with their heavy engineering equipment to reopen roads and rescue civilians trapped under the debris. The swift initial response saved hundreds of lives, although the Army itself lost a platoon of soldiers (over 30 personnel) when a landslide came crashing down onto their barracks.

The inadequacy of infrastructure in the remote border area of Ladakh was brought home that same month when convoys of Army Supply Corps got stuck a number of times after roads were washed away completely. That’s when the Air Force decided to extend and upgrade the Kargil air base to provide an alternative supply base. Another forward air base at Nyoma—barely 25 kilometres from the China border—is also being modernized to initially allow transport operations, which will be followed by facilities for fighter operations.

If it was Ladakh last year, last month it was the turn of another Himalayan state, this time Sikkim, to face the wrath of nature. An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit the tiny state abutting China and Bhutan, killing more than 90 people and cutting off two crucial roads connecting the border areas in East and North Sikkim.

Once again, the Indian Army pulled out all the stops to deploy its reserves, as well as elements of its Special Forces, to rescue those trapped in remote areas made inaccessible by roads that had been completely washed away. Temporary camps were opened; food was distributed; blankets were provided and medical help was given across the state.

In both Ladakh and Sikkim, the Indian Air Force was the second responder. It moved hundreds of tonnes of engineering equipment, relief material like food, winter clothing, blankets, tents, medicine and rescue personnel to calamity hit areas by utilizing its transport planes, helicopters and even the newly acquired C-130J. Pilots of the Indian Air Force and the Army Aviation flew hundreds of risky missions to extricate those trapped in remote hamlets in high mountains, demonstrating once again the importance of the Indian Armed Forces in responding to natural disasters across this vast country.

Armed forces the world over are trained and equipped to deal with such emergencies, but what makes the Indian situation different is the frequency with which the Army, Navy and Air Force get called in, and the effect this has on their preparedness, especially along the sensitive borders with China and Pakistan.

Photo Credit: Uniphoto Press

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Friday, September 30, 2011

Tell Southwest Airlines to apologise for over-reacting to public expression of endearment...

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 05: A Southwest Airli...

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Tell Southwest to apologize for kicking lesbian couple off flight

Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey weren't expecting anything out of the ordinary when they boarded their Southwest Airlines flight last Monday. Camila kissed Leisha -- just a typical "I love you" peck like any couple might share.

Apparently, this was not okay with their flight attendant, who came over to explain that two women kissing was not acceptable, because Southwest is "a family-oriented airline."

Leisha and Camila were extremely upset. The flight attendant wouldn't back down. The conflict escalated. And Leisha and Camila were kicked off their flight.

Jeremy Sharp is a college student and a fan of Leisha's -- Leisha was one of the stars of the TV series "The L Word." Jeremy started a petition on Change.org demanding that Southwest apologize to Leisha and Camila. Please sign Jeremy's petition to Southwest today.

Southwest claims to be a supporter of LGBT rights -- and, as corporations go, Southwest has excellent anti-discrimination policies. It's even the official airline for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). But now that those policies are being put to the test, Southwest is failing miserably.

In multiple statements, Southwest has refused to accept responsibility for the actions of its employee, and has instead blamed Leisha and Camila for bringing this discrimination on themselves. But Leisha and Camila would have had no cause to get upset if they hadn't been targeted by their flight attendant for their sexual orientation.

Eradicating homophobia means more than saying the right buzzwords and sponsoring the right organizations. It means making sure that LGBT families are treated equally every day. If Southwest can brush this incident under the rug, what's to stop other well-meaning companies from doing the same?

Southwest has already received an avalanche of bad publicity for both its employee's discriminatory behavior and its failure to accept responsibility for the incident. The airline's executives need to understand that potential customers aren't going to let this go until Southwest issues an official, meaningful apology.

Please sign Jeremy's petition asking that Southwest apologize to Leisha and Camila:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-southwest-to-apologize-for-homophobic-employees

Acknowledgements: Eden and the Change.org team

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Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Danger for US - China Ties - US actions criticised...

The national emblem of the Republic of China (...

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By Wenran Jiang

The US is wrong if it assumes it can always be business as usual after arms sales to Taiwan. As China rises, the temptation to push back grows.

The Obama administration’s decision to sell $5.8 billion in arms to Taiwan has been roundly criticized by Beijing, and has clouded bilateral relations at a time of global economic uncertainty, increased tensions in the South China Sea and ahead of the leadership transition in China next year. Add in presidential elections in the United States and Taiwan in 2012, and it’s clear that this is an extremely sensitive period in Sino-US ties.

Unlike the $6.4 billion arms sales to Taiwan last year, which had been initiated by President George W. Bush in 2008 and only implemented by the current administration, Obama’s package to Taiwan reflects his administration’s own delicate balancing act between multiple interests. By providing one of the largest ever weapons sales to Taiwan, the White House hopes to satisfy demands from Taiwan for continuous US political and military support while staving off critics at home who charge he is backing down in the face of Beijing’s threats of retaliation.

But by choosing to upgrade Taiwan’s existing fleet of F16 A/B fighters rather than offering the newest F16 C/D models as requested by Taiwan, Obama has also tried to mitigate Beijing’s concerns and soften its response. Indeed, editorials in the West have already been quick to dismiss the expected outcry from China as simply a formality. Much thunder, little rain, they predict, arguing there’s very little the Chinese government can do
.
In the short term, it may well be the case that after some measured retaliatory response, the bilateral relationship will indeed return to normal, as we witnessed last year. The United States may be tempted to believe it can have it all: jobs for its arms industry at home, a strategic presence in East Asia and political leverage over mainland China’s ties with Taiwan, all the while maintaining good political and economic ties with Beijing.

But in the long run, continued US arms sales to Taiwan will have a profoundly negative impact on how the Chinese mainland perceives US intentions. One recent online opinion poll in China showed that 84 percent of those surveyed opposed US arms sales to Taiwan, with 76 percent demanding the Chinese government adopt strong retaliatory measures; more than 50 percent supported sanctions against US enterprises. While polls like this in China's state-controlled media may have to be taken with a grain of salt, a no doubt still angry Chinese public certainly isn’t good news for the United States.

Still, the retaliatory options for the Chinese government are limited, for now at least. Its economic interdependence with the United States is deepening, with $400 billion in annual bilateral trade at stake, mostly in China’s favour. Any punishment of US firms, then, could also hurt China’s own interests.

In addition, Beijing also has to balance its opposition to the US arms sales with support for the administration of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who Beijing hopes will prevail in next year’s poll. Ma advocates a stable and closer relationship with the mainland, while seeking US arms – it’s less about the beefing up of Taiwan’s military strength than ensuring political backing from Washington that gives Taipei leverage in its dealings with Beijing. Ma therefore remains the best choice for the mainland in terms of being able to provide a predictable and manageable cross-strait relationship.

Despite this, the Chinese leadership will be under increasing pressure to take more substantive steps in countering US arms sales. As China’s economy and military grow stronger, Beijing will have increasing leverage over Washington in the coming years. The current pattern of large scale arms sales to Taiwan, followed by vehement complaints and some response from China, followed by business as usual, can’t go on forever. It’s likely that Beijing will further strengthen its military capabilities with an eye on Taiwan at the regional level, and the US globally. If US sales continue, China will undoubtedly feel the urge to retaliate – an extremely dangerous prospect that will leave no winners.

China’s rise a reality, and the United States needs to understand that arms sales to Taiwan won’t change the balance of power across the Taiwan Strait. Washington therefore requires a long term vision for how to deal with China’s rise. Beijing, for its part, needs to reassure Taiwan that it won’t use force to achieve its goal reunification.

Ultimately, Washington and Beijing need to do more to weaken the hardliners in both countries who perceive the other as an enemy, and who believe that both sides need to prepare for a war they believe is inevitable. It’s the only way forward.

Wenran Jiang is associate professor of political science at the University of Alberta and senior fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Is it time to withdraw NZ troops from Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan?Two members of t...

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Claim SAS man killed in family feud

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Lance Corporal Leon Smith was flown by helicopter to a hospital 10 minutes away, but died on the operating table soon after he arrived there. Photo / New Zealand Defence Force

A New Zealand SAS soldier who was shot dead in Afghanistan yesterday may have been caught up in family feud, it has been alleged.

Lance Corporal Leon Smith was shot in the head during an operation in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, at a compound suspected of housing Taleban bomb-makers preparing for an attack in the capital.
An Afghan Crisis Response Unit of about 50 men went to the compound with an Interior Ministry arrest warrant.

They were accompanied by legal officers and about 15 of the 38 SAS troops in Afghanistan.
At 1.30 pm, when Prime Minister John Key, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp and Defence chief Lieutenant General Rhys Jones announced Lance Corporal Smith's death - without naming him - the operation was continuing. It ended later in the afternoon
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General Jones said he had reports that two civilians, a child and a man, had been injured.
He said insurgents shot Lance Corporal Smith as coalition forces set up a cordon around the compound.
He was flown to a medical base about 10 minutes away where a neurosurgeon was available, but died on the operating table.

However Dutch investigative journalist, Bette Dam, told Radio New Zealand Afghan authorities had told her the soldiers may have been caught up in a family feud.

She said she was told the SAS and the Afghan allies were incorrectly told by one family that the home was occupied by Taleban bomb-makers.

The governor of Warduk told her the Afghan man who was killed, Younus Khan, was innocent, as were nine others who were injured.

"The governor's office told me that the people actually in the house that got raided were unarmed," she said.
"A lot of things are not clear yet, but for me, from he governor's office and even from the head of the response unit, there seems to be a different situation than you expect, like a Taleban being in the house, trying to Kabul, here at a hotel or whatsever - that seems not the case."

She understood the bullet that killed Lance Corporal Smith "came from in or around" that house.
Ms Dam said it was a possibility the victims were related to the government in some way and the governor's office were attempting to cover this up.

Late last night, Defence Force officials refused to give any other details about Corporal Smith.
Aged in his early 30s, Lance Corporal Smith is the fourth New Zealand soldier to die in just over a year.
The Defence Force and the Government still describe the SAS troops' role as "mentoring" the Afghan Crisis Response Unit (CRU), despite two New Zealand deaths in two months.

Last month, Corporal Douglas Grant died after he was shot through a gap in his armoured vest during a Taleban raid in the capital, Kabul.

Prime Minister John Key said Lance Corporal Smith had "paid the highest price for his service to this country and we will mourn his death".

"His death, however, does not alter our commitment to helping Afghanistan. It continues to be the Government's intention to keep the SAS in Afghanistan until March as planned."

The PM said he deeply regretted Lance Corporal Smith's death, "but I don't regret the decision that we made to commit the SAS to Afghanistan".

"I think they are playing their critical part to free the world from global terrorism."
The SAS is on its fourth deployment to Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

A foreign policy analyst at the University of Auckland says the SAS soldiers appear to have moved from their mentoring role.

Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley said two deaths in two months showed the unit was involved in frontline combat.

"The two deaths is certainly an indication that the SAS is no longer leading from behind, but is now leading from in front."

Professor Hoadley said there was a "slight disjunction" between what the public was being told and what the SAS was doing in Afghanistan.

"It appears that the SAS is doing a bit more than mentoring and training - and that may lead some to question whether the Government is telling the whole story."

Earlier, General Jones said the operations involving the SAS were led by the CRU, but the New Zealanders could be drawn on.

"Their primary role, though, is to train and assist in the decision-making and the execution that the Afghanis do in conducting that operation.

"To provide the level of advice and support and reassurance that the Afghans need, our people need to be quite close to the operation."

The death forced a change in Mr Key's plans. He cancelled arrangements to host Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri at his country's World Cup match against Romania last night in Palmerston North.
Mr Key said he would still have dinner with Mr Gilauri, but "I think it would be insensitive for me to go to the game"

The second death of a NZ SAS trooper in Afghanistan in just over a month, is beginning to create some opposition in New Zealand just a couple of months out from the general elections in November. The NZ Government plans to withdraw remaining SAS soldiers from Afghanistan in March, 2012, next year. They will not be replaced.

http://news.msn.co.nz/video.aspx?videoid=0ede9481-c880-4036-97e7-040e8e7987f7

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Sunday, September 25, 2011

The lowdown on the Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform - the Wasp...

Aerovision Fulmar UAV during a recent flight

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Mike Tassey posing with the Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform, WASP.

How do one ex-Air Force official and one former airplane hobby shop owner, both of whom happen to have decades of experience as network security contractors for the military, spend their weekends? Building a flying, unmanned, automated password-cracking, Wi-Fi-sniffing, cell-phone eavesdropping spy drone, of course.

At the Black Hat and Defcon security conferences in Las Vegas next week, Mike Tassey and Richard Perkins plan to show the crowd of hackers a year’s worth of progress on their Wireless Aerial Surveillace Platform, or WASP, the second year Tassey and Perkins have displayed the 14-pound, six-foot long, six-foot wingspan unmanned aerial vehicle. The WASP, built from a retired Army target drone converted from a gasoline engine to electric batteries, is equipped with an HD camera, a cigarette-pack sized on-board Linux computer packed with network-hacking tools including the BackTrack testing toolset and a custom-built 340 million word dictionary for brute-force guessing of passwords, and eleven antennae.

“This is like Black Hat’s greatest hits,” Tassey says. “And it flies.”

Read more:http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2Xtff6/www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/07/28/flying-drone-can-crack-wifi-networks-snoop-on-cell-phones/

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Veiled French Muslim women flout ban in freedom bid...

This image shows Nicolas Sarkozy who is presid...

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Veiled French Muslim women flout ban in freedom bid...

News from PARIS – A Frenchwoman who wears an Islamic face veil, despite a nationwide ban, wants to run for president in next year's elections.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kenza Drider said she wants to defend the rights of all French women.

She is among a group of women mounting an attack on the law that has banned Muslim face veils from the streets of France since April. They want to prove the measure contravenes fundamental rights.

The law's backers, including President Nicolas Sarkozy, say the veils imprison women.
Drider said she plans to declare her candidacy Thursday in Meaux, a city east of Paris run by top conservative lawmaker and Sarkozy ally Jean-Francois Cope, who championed the veil ban.

Two other women stopped for wearing veils are facing trial Thursday, also in Meaux.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/12/french-veil-ban-woman-niqab-fined

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Kiwipete

Monday, September 19, 2011

Accused priest denies his guilt - not guilty of male rape...

Accused priest Monsignor Ian Dempsey denies his guilt - not guilty of male rape...

Accused Catholic clergyman Ian Dempsey, with members of his parish in Adelaide's Brighton, makes a statement to the media yesterday. Picture: Kelly Barnes Source: The Australian

FLANKED by his parishioners, the senior Catholic clergyman accused in parliament of raping another priest has denied the allegations and said he may seek to make a statement in the Senate to clear his name.

Monsignor Ian Dempsey fronted the media outside his Brighton parish in Adelaide's southern suburbs yesterday to deny having raped the leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth, more than 40 years ago.

"I am aware of John Hepworth's unsubstantiated allegations against me through an inquiry instigated by the archbishop," Monsignor Dempsey said yesterday.

"I have made it clear in writing to the inquiry that I categorically deny the allegations, which I note are said to relate to events that occurred some 45 years ago and have nothing at all to do with under-age people."

He later told The Australian that he was relieved to have finally spoken about the allegations, before going on a month of annual leave. Monsignor Dempsey said he would consider applying to the president of the Senate to address the allegations levelled against him by South Australian senator Nick Xenophon. "If they are the same privileges as the senator used last night, it could be an avenue whereby I could be able to correct some of the things he said which were inaccurate," Monsignor Dempsey said.

On Tuesday night, Senator Xenophon named Monsignor Dempsey as Archbishop Hepworth's last surviving alleged abuser, after the Adelaide Archdiocese ignored the independent MP's demands that Monsignor Dempsey be stood down during an investigation into the claims.

Senator Xenophon told the Senate that people of the parish had a right to know that the allegations had been outstanding for four years, and that the church leadership had failed to make "appropriate inquires" or stand the priest down.

The Archbishop of the Adelaide Diocese, Philip Wilson, yesterday attacked Senator Xenophon for naming Monsignor Dempsey and saying the church had not responded properly.

"We have shown Archbishop Hepworth every courtesy, sensitivity and care in the process," Archbishop Wilson said.

Senator Xenophon also questioned the appropriateness of the federal government's appointment of David Cappo, the vicar-general of the Adelaide Archdiocese, as chairman of Julia Gillard's new Mental Health Commission, due to the alleged delay in investigating Archbishop Hepworth's complaint.

Archbishop Wilson said he was "fully supportive of the manner in which Monsignor Cappo has given priority to this matter and the sensitive way in which he has dealt with it".

"I am deeply distressed that Senator Xenophon has named the priest in parliament," Archbishop Wilson said. "The damage to the priest's reputation is obvious and severe and -- in my opinion -- this serves to undermine the presumption of innocence which all of us are entitled to enjoy."

Archbishop Wilson said Monsignor Cappo had met Archbishop Hepworth on at least eight occasions between the time the issue was first raised in 2007 and February this year.

"On my behalf, Monsignor Cappo urged Archbishop Hepworth, at the end of each meeting, to give his permission to proceed with an investigation into the allegations," Archbishop Wilson said.

"On each occasion Archbishop Hepworth declined, indicating that he was not in a proper emotional state to deal with an investigation.

"He was also informed that if he was alleging any form of abuse, including rape, that this is a criminal allegation and he should go to the police."

Archbishop Hepworth said yesterday he had been encouraged to go to police only twice.

Archbishop Hepworth raised allegations on the weekend that he had been raped and sexually abused by Melbourne priest Ronald Pickering and father John Stockdale, who have both since died, while studying at the seminary in Adelaide aged 15. He also alleged he had been raped later by another priest, who Senator Xenophon named in parliament as Monsignor Dempsey.

Archbishop Hepworth did not regret Senator Xenophon naming Monsignor Dempsey in parliament.
"I have a sense of peacefulness now because I've done the best I could," he said.

Monsignor Dempsey has a right of reply in the Senate if he feels he has been defamed. He can write to the Senate president to have a formal right of reply, which is then referred to the Senate privileges committee. The committee can then decide on whether to release the statement and publish it in Hansard.

Senator Xenophon was yesterday criticised from all sides of politics for using parliamentary privilege to name Monsignor Dempsey.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said members of parliament needed to tread carefully when airing allegations under privilege.

"If you are a member of parliament and have the benefit of parliamentary privilege you need to use that very carefully," Mr Smith said. "And when you name an individual or individuals in the parliament you firstly have to be sure and clear of your ground and you have to have made a considered and deliberate judgment as to why that's necessary."

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham said parliamentary privilege should be used "cautiously, judiciously, sparingly".

"It's not the role of politicians to play police, prosecutor, judge and jury," Senator Birmingham said.
Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said that using parliamentary privilege circumvented rights and liberties.

"We've got to make sure that everybody has got a certain presumption of innocence until proven otherwise," Senator Joyce said.

"If you have got the story wrong, then you've done an incredible injustice to the person."
Senator Xenophon told The Australian he did not regret his actions but said he was baffled by the church's decision not to tell him that the priest was being sent on leave.

"All this could have been avoided (on Tuesday)," Senator Xenophon said.
"I just want to make it clear that all I was asking for was a proper investigation and if they had told me the priest in question was going on leave it could have changed the course of action."
Acknowledgements: Additional reporting: Milanda Rout

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