Your rights to have children?

Increasing cases of child abuse of the most horrendous are coming to light in Australia, with one such case of 14 children found to be living in absolute squalor and 7 being sent to hospital. Only two weeks ago, twin 18 month old babies were found dead inside their cots, allegedly malnourished and they had been dead for near on a week before they were discovered by their 11 year old sibling.
After reading this story , the comments are varied. The woman was jailed for 4 years after her 18 month old daughter died when she was hog at night to teach her a lesson to stay in bed. This young woman, 27, is now pregnant again and says she fears what the authorities will do when the baby is born. One comment in particular caught my attention and I think is valid:

If pedifiles are being castrated for there crimes i think mothers that also harm there child/ren should also be made to have there tubes tied before they leave jail , this is a disgrace

Posted by: mel of brisbane 12:13am today

Yes, pedophiles are to be chemically castrated before release from prison here in Queensland on a voluntary basis. Anna Bligh, Queensland's premier says, that it will be for pedophiles and other sex offenders classed as dangerous only if they consented and was agreed to by a psychiatrist.
She ruled out mandating chemical castration – where prisoners take medication to reduce sexual urges – saying research showed mandatory measures did not work.

Fifteen dangerous sex offenders have been jailed indefinitely since the laws were introduced in 2003, while 38 have been released under supervision orders.

Corrective Services Minister Judy Spence said the number living in the community was expected to rise to 100 by 2010.

Under the changes, corrective services officers would have extra powers to decide where sex offenders were housed and if they should be banned from drinking alcohol. And prisoners kept in jail would have their cases reviewed every two years, rather than annually.

Judges would also be forced to consider indefinite sentences when an offender first came before the court, rather than when they were due to be released, and there would be a five-year limit on supervision orders to encourage more judges to keep them in jail.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23914065-3102,00.html

Now to the question asked by the previous commenter, what about sterilisation for women who are jailed for the serious abuse/neglect of their children and those who contribute directly or indirectly to the deaths of their children . Does this woman deserve to have another child, many say the baby will be at risk. Maybe this woman has reformed, which brings the forth another question, what price a child's life? If we are to have voluntary castration of serious male sex offenders, then perhaps women who carelessly neglect/abuse/kill their children should have the same type intervention made to them. Voluntary or mandatory for both males and females? Children are a gift and it is with great shame that they are treated as a dispensable. So many grey areas, civil liberties, second chances, reformed prisoners. Each case would be different and where do governments draw the line?

Students on the Net

Queensland State Government is planning on entering personal details including photos of every state school child in an online data base. Photographs, personal details, career aspirations, off-campus activities and student performance records are being collected from all 1251 state schools.

Queensland Education Minister Rod Welford has warned the state-wide rollout of the OneSchool database is "non-negotiable" and any student who doesn't divulge the required information could be refused an education.

The system is to be available for teachers and principals to access information on students.
Terry O'Gorman, Civil Liberties Council vice-president says that the system needs to be restricted so principals and teachers could access data only on their won students , with non-teaching staff excluded and no access for home computers.

"Why should anyone other than the teacher of a particular student and the principal of that school have a right to know what a child's academic performance is, behavioural status is or what their life aims are?" he said.

"It just puzzles me as to how it can have any possible benefit to centralise that information, whereas it has a clear privacy downside."

OneSchool users will have passwords to one of 12 different levels of access to the encrypted data, according to their role.

Until now schools have used paper records and offline computer or internet-based databases to store student information.

Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Association vice-president Charles Alder rejected concerns about security breaches.

"The security standards on this are as high as on any other system," he said.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Norm Hart also supported OneSchool.

The first phase of the database rollout, to be completed by December, focuses on developing accurate student-management records including school reports, contact details, attendance, extra-curricular activities, behaviour, career aspirations and parental contact.

I for one do not want my childrens photos along with all their details available on the net, makes it too easy for some smart ass or sicko to gain access if they can get into the site. A hacker with correct knowledge would be able to do so. If I wanted to share my kids details I feel I should have that right, not the government taking it into their hands and basically forcing parents to agree or they may lose the right to an education which will force parents to use the private system , that is not within many parents financial reach. Too many decisions regarding families and children are being taken over by the government , the civil rights of parents are being eroded by stand over legislation. Compared to many countries we do have a good life in Australia but I don't see this country as good as it is made out to be.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/