Battlers eager to succeed

Melanie Lowe, 14, with sister Shania Morgan, 12, and other Bridgewater area students (inset) Cameron Lowe, 17, and sisters Skye Langford, 10, and Mikayla Gillie, 14, are working hard at school to achieve their dreams. Pictures: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

TEACHER, policewoman, SAS officer -- these are the career dreams of a new generation of Tasmanian children.

Jordan River Learning Federation, formerly Bridgewater High School, has had its share of educational challenges.

The school has struggled in NAPLAN testing.

In 2011, nearly one-third of year 7 and year 9 students were in the lower levels of achievement, compared with 6 per cent of students in schools nationally.

But many of the young students the Mercury spoke to recently are ambitious and excited about their future.

Melanie Lowe, 14, is one of five children in her family, aged 19 to three, and they all have big plans.

Melanie's ambition is clear -- to join the police service.

"I want to be a police officer. To enforce the law," she said.

She said she had often been bullied at school and that made her aware of justice.

"I'll go to college and maybe university. I'll go all the way if I have to," she said.

The Jordan River student has been involved in the student representative council and a range of school and community groups.

"Whatever comes up at school, I'm into it," she said.

But she said she had copped flak from other children for being so keen in the classroom.

Her brother Cameron Lowe, 17, a Claremont College student, wants to join the defence force, and ideally the Special Air Service.

"The travel, the people you get to meet, the sights you see, friends for life," Cameron said.

"I love the training."

He said he had done boot camp with well-known trainer Tim Sproule, a former SAS officer, through Bridgewater Police and Citizens Youth Club.

Cameron also said the navy was good for discipline, and he even looks forward to ironing his trousers to create sharp creases.

"The discipline's excellent. I would say people need it, some people miss discipline a lot," he said.

Cameron said he was wild in his early high school years.

"I've got my eyes on the goal now," he said.

Mum Andrea Morgan agreed that he had "run amok".

"They've done a wonderful job with him [at Claremont]," she said.

Shania Morgan, 12, aims for further study.

"I'd like to be a teacher, a primary school teacher," Shania said.

Sister Sam Rajkumar, 19, is studying a vocational course in business at Claremont College.

"I'd like to work in police administration or births, deaths and marriages [office]," Sam said.

Mrs Morgan said education was the key to the future for her five children.

"I would like to see them have a better life, a better job. Kids do need something to build on," Mrs Morgan said.

"There are a lot of year 11 and 12s sitting at home."

In another family, Mikayla Gillie, 14, wants to be a chef.

"I've been cooking at school since grade 7," said the My Kitchen Rules fan.

She has two uncles who are pastry chefs.

Her sister Skye Langford, 10, dreams of being a hairdresser.

"I want to dye mum and dad's hair. I already dye my mum's hair," Skye said.

Their mum Nicole Langford said she wanted her four children to have opportunities.

"As long as they get a good education and a decent job. They're having pathway planning at school."

michelle.paine@news.com.au

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Doin' it Langman style ...

SEAN Langman's affinity with the water started from the day he was born on a boat on Sydney Harbour.

Everything he has done since has revolved around the water -- work, sport and lifestyle.

Given that, it was an easy decision for the 50-year-old Sydney businessman and crack seaman to buy and rejuvenate the Kermandie Hotel and adjacent marina and create a home away from home -- or, in his words, his spiritual home.

That's where Langman retreated to this week after the madness and mayhem of his record-breaking run from Sydney to Hobart last weekend aboard a super-light, ultra-quick 60-foot trimaran.

You could hear a pin drop in the tranquillity of Kermandie, nestled on the Huon River, where Langman keeps some of his most prized possessions -- vintage, fully restored timber boats.

Some date back to the 1880s, such as his beloved Olive May, a 130-year-old workhorse now powered by an engine built to pump water on to the fires of the Blitz in London during World War II.

"They say she's had more oysters across her deck than any other boat in Tasmania," Langman said proudly.

The Olive May couldn't be further removed from Langman's speed machine, Team Australia, the French-built carbonfibre beast that is now the record-holder for the fastest trip by sail between the two capital cities, arriving in Hobart last Saturday in one day, five hours, 52 minutes and 23 seconds.

That was 13 hours, 29 minutes and 11 seconds faster than the previous official record held by supermaxi Wild Oats XI, set in this summer's Sydney-Hobart yacht race.

The record attempt was a thrill-a-minute, and though Langman had done the trip many times in the Sydney-Hobart, it delivered the most frightening moment in his 40 years of sailing.

Just after sunrise on Saturday, the trimaran did what he feared most -- buried its noses into an oncoming wave. Langman's heart was in his mouth.

"You're sailing so fast, and it's so different to what any monohull sailors are used to, you have to be always on your guard and be prepared," he said.

"On a boat that goes half the speed, you ease into a scenario, but things happen very quickly on a boat like this.

"We buried it down to the mast, and all the rudders came out of the water -- that got my attention somewhat.

"You never cleat the sails on these boats, you've always got them in your hand.

"So as soon as we nose-dived very hard, the boys blew the jib off and when we came up again all that would come out of my mouth was 'Thank you'."

Langman and his crew left Sydney at 11am last Friday and arrived in Hobart 29 hours later.

"It was a goal I wanted to achieve and it's only just starting to sink in," he said.

"I've had a few pinch-myself moments, and the most heartening thing is the support we've gotten by the idea of us going on a good old-fashioned adventure.

"There's been so much negative stuff in sport over the past year or so that people all round the world have contacted us with congratulations for making that trip in 29 hours."

Team Australia is so powerful that it hit a top speed of 40.1 knots and at times was fully airborne.

"It's as close to flight as you can get. It's an astonishing feeling," Langman said.

The noise onboard has to be experienced to be believed.

"It sounds literally like a machine gun going off," Langman said. "That's from the pellets of spray hitting the carbonfibre hull and beams."

There was no time for sleep and Langman only left the helm three times -- each time to go to the toilet -- and eating was ad hoc, but consisted of meatloaf sandwiches, pasta and one canned meal.

Each of the seven crew carried a knife so that in the event of a capsize they could cut their way through the safety net and get to the surface.

In December, Langman did the Sydney-Hobart onboard his 80-year-old sloop Maluka of Kermandie, which is still at his Kermandie marina.

Maluka, the oldest yacht ever to do the race, was the slowest competitor in the 68th Sydney-Hobart.

"I shared a watch with my daughter on Maluka and as we crossed Bass Strait we sat there and counted stars," Langman said. "This time [in Team Australia] we were watching the clock as we crossed Bass Strait.

"On the [radar] screen I could see Green Cape, and then in a blink there's Flinders Island. It was so quick it was astonishing."

This week Langman was happily back on dry land running his bar and tapas lounge Sass Restaurant at the Kermandie Hotel, and taking charters aboard Olive May.

"I call Tasmania my spiritual home because, not being born here, I'm told I'll never be local, but I'm part of the furniture," he said.

"My heart and soul have belonged to Tasmania for a long time, and to have people arrive each day to see the boat and offer their congratulations, it has been very humbling."

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Super trawler leaving Australia

THE super trawler Abel Tasman is to leave Australian waters without catching a fish.

After a massive community and political campaign against the ship, its Tasmanian operators have confirmed it has been sold, its Australian registration abandoned and the vessel is to depart within days.

The news was greeted with joy by fishing and environment groups, which waged a long campaign against the trawler on the grounds it could ravage local fish stocks.

Seafish Tasmania director Gerry Geen last night confirmed the ship would sail soon.

"This is a lost opportunity for Australia to create sustainable jobs and economic benefits from an undeveloped fish resource," Mr Geen said.

"The vessel will be leaving Australia in the near future."

He accused federal Environment Minister Tony Burke of waging a "non-scientific, populist campaign" against his company.

"This political interference to override the science-based fisheries quota system has made Australia a laughing stock internationally," Mr Geen said.

Formerly known as the FV Margiris, the 142m ship is the world's second-largest fishing vessel.

It has been a lightning rod for controversy since plans by Seafish Tasmania for the vessel to catch a quota of 18,000 tonnes of jack mackerel and redbait from waters stretching from southern Queensland to Western Australia.

An Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the Abel Tasman had changed its registration and was "no longer an Australian registered vessel".

"We believe it is seeking Lithuanian registration," she said.

Stop The Trawler Alliance spokesman Nobby Clark welcomed the news.

"If it is heading back I'd be very happy to hear it," Mr Clark said.

"I won't be comfortable until it's back where it came from.

"I'm not against super trawlers, we just haven't got the data what fish are out there."

The ship has been berthed at Port Lincoln for months while controversy raged.

Last month after Seafish revealed a proposal to work with a flotilla of smaller fishing vessel, Mr Burke signed an interim declaration to prevent the Abel Tasman from operating as a freezing and processing vessel.

Mr Burke said the initial ban for 60 days would be assessed before a decision was made whether the ban should stay in place for two years while further scientific research was undertaken.

Legislation banning the super trawler from fishing in Australian waters for two years passed the Senate in September.

Yesterday, Mr Burke was not sad to see the vessel go, saying: "The message to everyone is clear -- this Government won't take risks with our ocean. And if the Liberals take charge it will be back by Christmas."

Seafish Tasmania is taking legal action against the Federal Government following the decision to ban the Abel Tasman from fishing in Australian waters.

david.killick@news.com.au

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Plane delays plague Tassie

Bad weather in Sydney is causing flight delays across Tasmania and beyond.

IT'S going to be a frustrating day for travellers at Tasmanian airports, with widespread flight delays.

It is believed bad weather and equipment woes at Sydney airport are causing flight problems for airlines -- and their passengers -- right across the country.

Several flights in and out of Hobart and Launceston have been affected, including services from cities other than Sydney.

An Airservices Australia spokesman said delays at Sydney were caused by a "combination of several factors".

He said there was low cloud coverage, low visibility and rain, with gusting winds of up to 35 knots.

"What we have to do is separate our planes (coming in and out of the airport) even further apart when that happens," he said.

The spokesman said they were also upgrading instrument landing systems on the main runway at Sydney airport, which are used to enhance navigation for pilots in poor conditions.

"That means that one runway is not as usable as the others (at the moment)," he said.

A Jetstar spokesman said flights out of Tasmania were experiencing delays of up to 90 minutes.

"We thank our customers for their patience," he said.

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Chicken 'carnage' at Kingston

A DOG has been shot dead by a property owner after it killed 39 chickens and four turkeys near Kingston today.

Other chickens drowned as they tried to escape.

Kingborough Council said compliance officers found a "scene of carnage" when they were called to the rural property.

They found at least 37 chickens, two roosters and the turkeys killed by the Siberian husky, which had roamed from an urban property about 3km away.

It was believed a large number of chickens drowned in the nearby dam when they tried to escape.

Council compliance co-ordinator Darren Pallot said he was appalled at the injuries.

"Our officers are very experienced and this was the worst case they had come across in a long time," he said.

"We are lucky that the property owner was able to stop the attack before more animals were killed or he himself was attacked.

"He was visibly shaken by the incident."

Mr Pallot said he was concerned there was a small group of irresponsible dog owners in the community that allowed their dogs to roam.

"Some owners just don't get it," he said.

"This is the second serious attack on defenceless animals in recent months and both could have been prevented by keeping the dogs secure."

It comes after 24 little penguins were killed by dogs near Kingston last July.

The husky's owner faces substantial fines and is liable to pay compensation to the poultry owner.

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Jail time for 'mindless' crime

THE actions of a Kingston man who torched his neighbour's unit have been described as "mindless and stupid" by a Supreme Court judge.

Father-of-two Darrell John Smith, 35, was earlier convicted in the Hobart court of arson, attempted arson and breaching a restraint order.

Justice Shan Tennent said Smith started the fire in the Wattle St unit in November 2011 after a long-running dispute with the female occupant.

The unit was destroyed and the uninsured woman lost all of her possessions. Her cat was also killed.

The court heard the blaze broke out after Smith tried but failed to set fire to the unit with a Molotov cocktail made from a sauce bottle earlier that evening.

Smith told police he had nothing to do with the crime, but a listening device planted in his unit recorded him telling associates he was responsible.

When confronted with the evidence against him, Smith threatened to burn his own unit down.

His sentencing hearing heard he sometimes found it difficult to make good decisions.

Justice Tennent sentenced Smith to three-and-a-half years in jail, with a two-year non-parole period.

"Your actions on this night were dangerous in the extreme," she said.

"People could have been killed as a result of your mindless and stupid actions.

"Considerable property damage was caused as a result of your actions."

Justice Tennent also ordered Smith to repay the cost of the unit and the woman's lost possessions -- a bill which will exceed $200,000.

"Despite the fact that you have said you will pay off the cost, the likelihood of Housing Tasmania recovering that cost in the foreseeable future is in my view very low.

"The crime of arson is easy to commit and difficult to detect, yet it carries with it such a great potential for harm.

"There must in the circumstances be a sentence which might deter you from committing this sort of crime again and also deter others who might also be minded to try it."

david.killick@news.com.au

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Nailbiting end to summer

TASMANIA'S climate experts are in the grip of a meteorological nailbiter as they wait to see if Hobart has just recorded its hottest summer ever.

The Bureau of Meteorology will know at 9am tomorrow if summer 2012-2013 will enter the history books as a record-breaking scorcher.

While Hobart recorded its hottest day ever on January 4 (41.8C), the bureau has to wait until the end of the last day of summer to make a call on the season as a whole.

"It really has come down to the last 24 hours of the season," BOM climatologist Ian Barnes-Keoghan said today as the temperature sat at a very cool 15C at noon in Tasmania's capital.

"We are sitting just on a record as we speak but we have to wait to see what happens during the rest of the day and overnight before we can call it.

"Whatever happens, we know it has been a hot, dry summer overall."

In total, Hobart recorded nine days over 30C this summer.

Tasmanians got their first taste of autumn yesterday when the overnight temperature fell to 10.9C just after 5am.

Firewood merchants say early orders are already coming in.

Mr Barnes-Keoghan said long-range forecasts indicated Tasmania would experience a cooler autumn than usual.

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Arsonist says penalty too harsh

A MAN given Tasmania's second-longest jail sentence for arson in the past 40 years says he was punished too harshly for attacking his wife and burning down the family home.

Adam Robert Groenewege, 33, of Ulverstone, was convicted of arson and assault by Justice Alan Blow last September and jailed for four-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.

The court heard Groenewege's crime took place as his marriage broke down and the fire had left his estranged wife and four children homeless.

The family members not only lost their home but all of their possessions in the blaze.

Groenewege's lawyer Evan Hughes told the Court of Criminal Appeal today the sentence was too harsh.

"The term of imprisonment exceeds what we submit would have been appropriate by two years," he said.

"My submission is that an offence it falls at the lower end of the range."

Mr Hughes said while 91 per cent of arsonists were jailed, half received suspended sentences and the median jail term was about 12 months.

The court heard Groenewege assaulted his wife by placing his hands around his wife's neck on the day of the fire. She fled before he torched the home.

As the fire blazed, he rang her father and sang "burn motherf--ker burn".

Groenewege's legal team also claimed the sentencing judge did not adequately take into account their client's mental health problems, which had left him nihilistic and self-destructive.

But Crown Prosecutor Jackie Hartnett said Groenewege's sentence was spot on.

"In my submission, this was an extremely bad instance of a very serious crime," she said.

"The sentence that was imposed was one that was warranted given the circumstances of this case.

"The impact of the appellant's criminal conduct ... was nothing short of devastating."

Justices Shan Tennent, David Porter and Helen Wood reserved their decision in the case.

david.killick@news.com.au

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Check cheques, police say

POLICE have warned businesses to be vigilant when accepting cheques after a 32-year-old woman was charged with a number of fraud offences.

Tasmania Police Fraud and e-Crime detectives yesterday charged the Campania woman with 23 counts of obtaining goods by false pretences and one count of acquiring a financial advantage by deception.

The false pretences charges relate to a series of dishonoured cheques allegedly used to buy goods between November 2012 and January 2013 for a total amount of $15,915.

A police spokesman said businesses needed to be wary when accepting personal cheques.

Steps which can be taken to reduce the potential of cheque fraud include:

• Seeking identification from the customer, which provides name, address and date of birth as well as a signature. Photographic identification is the most preferred form of identification and should be requested.

• Matching the name and the signature to the cheque.

• Ensuring the customer provides a current address and phone number.

Businesses did not have to accept payment by cheque and should not do so where suspicions arose, the spokesman said. They also had the option of waiting until funds cleared before handing over goods.

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Crown appeals dealer's term

THE two-year jail sentence handed to a Hobart man caught with a smorgasbord of drugs and $400,000 cash was manifestly inadequate, the Director of Public Prosecutions has told the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Commerce graduate and carpenter Norton Dudley Williamson, 44, was searched after getting off the Spirit of Tasmania in 2010.

Inside his car were quantities of methamphetamines, ketamine, cocaine, dimethyltryptamine, butanediol, LSD, ecstasy, methylene dioxymethcaninone, diazepam and Viagra.

He also had $13,700 in cash, scales, snap lock bags and drug dealer's tick sheets.

A search of his Lenah Valley home found more drugs, more scales and more snap lock bags.

Under his neighbour's house, police found even more drugs, more drug dealer's paraphernalia and almost $200,000 in cash in two paper bags.

A further $195,000 in cash was found at another home nearby and traced to Williamson.

In August last year, Justice David Porter sentenced Williamson to two years' imprisonment with a one-year minimum term for five counts of trafficking in a controlled substance and three counts of dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime.

DPP Tim Ellis SC appealed against the sentence, saying three-and-a-half to four years was more appropriate.

"He is one of the worst in all of the ways you look at it," he told the court.

"It was as if he was setting up a one-stop shop.

"This was large-scale trafficking that the respondent was engaged in, it was a for-profit exercise.

"Two years, in my submission is inadequate. This was a major drug trafficker who should have been visited with a major sentence."

He said Williamson had lied when apprehended, had pleaded guilty only at the last minute when he realised his case was hopeless, has shown no remorse and there was little else that could be considered in mitigation.

But Williamson's lawyer Kate Cuthbertson said the sentence fell within the range of sentences handed down for similar crimes - and that around nine months in prison was the median of comparable cases.

She said Williamson had not been to prison before and found it a "foreign and disturbing environment" where he had been assaulted.

Justices Alan Blow, Shan Tennent and Helen Wood reserved their decision.

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