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Writing exclusively in his column for the Herald Sun, Cousins urged people not to take the finger salute out of context and insisted there was no malice intended by the action. But the 31-year-old also candidly refused to apologise and said he never expected the footage to be broadcast.

“I’ve done enough pre-scripted apologies to last a lifetime. This isn’t going to be one of them,” Cousins wrote. “I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t frustrated. It wasn’t a message to the world.

“In no way did I think the footage was going to air. If nothing else, I thought someone on the end of the camera in a van outside the ground might have got a chuckle out of it. “Obviously others saw it differently. “

The dynamic midfielder said he made the “tongue-in-cheek” gesture in a light-hearted manner and was surprised it was taken out of context. “I would like to think people would take the gesture in the light-hearted manner of which I did it,” Cousins said.

“Fair dinkum, I had a bit of fun.

“To everyone, I would like to say: let’s not get too precious.

“If people are upset or concerned about what I did, then I wonder where we are headed as a society.

“In fact, I’ve done that gesture to the change rooms cameras about a half a dozen times in my career. It’s just tongue in cheek, a sort of ‘hello mate’ to the poor bugger in the mini-van.”

Cousins is not the first AFL player to issue a middle-finger salute and will unlikely be the last. Fellow Tigers Matthew Richardson and Nathan Brown have both previously made headlines after giving the gesture to members of the crowd. And Cousins said he expected the fiery interactions with fans as they were a result of the passion in the game and he insisted players often got worse than they dished out.

“I really enjoyed going back to Subiaco. I’ve played plenty of football there, have some unbelievably great memories, and the average person in the street has been fantastic to me,” Cousins said.

“But let me tell you I copped a fair bit from over the fence on Saturday night, far and above my little gesture. And I took it in the spirit it was given.

“We, as players, know it is part of football and I don’t expect any apologies from any of those people.”

Cousins moved on from the finger issue to heap praise on Richmond coach Terry Wallace. A retrospect Cousins said he empathised with Wallace situation and was happy he got to celebrate a win with the coach. “First and foremost I was rapt for Terry in his 500th game as a player and coach,” Cousins said.

“To be the only coach to stick his neck out and give me an opportunity, I have nothing but utmost respect for him.

“I am one person who can empathise with him regarding the media scrutiny he’s been under and I think he’s handled it with dignity.

“At the siren, I don’t know if I sought him out or vice versa, but we met up on the ground. It was my first victory and obviously one that Terry would cherish.

“It’s been close to 18 months since I was involved in a winning game of football, and when you come to a new club all you want to do is succeed.

“As I’ve said many times, winning is not everything, it is the only thing.”

Speaking on ABC TV, AFL boss Andrew Demetriou labelled Cousins’ gesture as “totally unnecessary”. The dogged midfielder could face a fine of up to $5000 for his actions.

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The WA Local Government Association described the State Government move as revenue raising by stealth that would cost metro councils $15 million a year. WALGA president Bill Mitchell said local governments would have no choice but to pass on the increased fees to householders. The new proposal is part of the the state Budget and is to be introduced by July 1.

“After this date, councils will be required to pay the State Government $15 million per year for the right to dump their own rubbish in their own landfill sites,” Mr Mitchell said. “A further $25 million per year will be needed to be paid by industry calculated on figures from the past financial year.”

Mr Mitchell said the landfill levy would increase from $7 a tonne to $28 a tonne, adding about $20 on to council rates. The additional $21 a tonne was simply a new tax that would go directly to a government department instead of alternative waste treatment programs run by the Waste Management Authority.

“This will return in excess of $40 million per year directly to the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) for state-wide conservation programs,” he said.

“This is a waste levy collected by local governments in the metropolitan area, only to be spent by a state government department.” It would turn councils into tax collectors to cover the Budget shortfall of the DEC.

“It means metropolitan councils will need to pass on the costs to ratepayers to cover the shortfall in managing the costs of household waste,” Mr Mitchell said. Residents who dumped household rubbish at landfill sites would be hit with a double whammy _ increased waste service fees (rates) and tip charges.
He warned the new tax could lead to a major increase in illegal dumping of rubbish with associated clean-up costs for councils.
Environment Minister Donna Faragher said the levy increase would provide a “disincentive” to dispose waste to landfill, while encouraging recycling.

She said low levies had resulted in poor recycling rates in WA compared with other jurisdictions.

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Education Minister Liz Constable said Operation Richmond was launched in June 2008 by the WA Department of Education and Training to identify employees accessing suspicious internet sites. An arrest was made within days, followed by five more since the operation began.

“Just two days after Operation Richmond was introduced, information had been gathered which led to a teacher’s arrest and a further five teachers have since been charged by police with possessing child pornography,” Ms Constable said.

The minister said the education department had worked with police to immediately arrest anyone caught with material exploiting children. The six teachers arrested were a tiny proportion of the state’s 21,500 public school teachers, Ms Constable said.

“The vast majority of WA’s teachers are dedicated and trustworthy professionals,” she said.

“However, parents can be assured that where their child’s safety is placed at risk, we will make sure the staff members responsible are quickly identified and removed immediately.”

The operation was part of the education department’s response to recommendations made by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC). The CCC had advised on the adoption of measures to handle complaints and allegations of sexual contact with children. The Minister said the department would continue to work closely with police on issues of child protection.

“Parents rightly expect their children to be safe and secure in school and we have strong procedures to ensure convicted teachers, whose crime indicates that they may pose a threat to children, are not employed in our schools,” she said.

Suzanne Parry, director of the WA College of Teaching, said WACOT was pushing to have the law changed so that teachers convicted of pornography offences had their teaching registration immediately suspended. Dr Parry said the board of WACOT, in its submission this month to the review of the Western Australian College of Teaching Act 2004, urged that pornography convictions be placed on the schedule of offences that led to an immediate suspension.

“As the Act stands now, the College is required to conduct an inquiry into the conviction before a person’s registration can be suspended or cancelled,” Dr Parry said.

“In reality, teachers facing charges of pornography are invariably removed from their classroom duties immediately, (so) the Board believes that it would be in the public interest that cancellation of registration was immediate on conviction.”

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The Housing Industry Association (HIA) survey, released today, found new homes sales increased by 0.5 per cent to 8,191 homes, the highest since February, 2008, after a 3.1 per cent rise in March.

“The combination of low interest rates and the first home boost have lifted prospects for the housing industry, which is expected to convert to a recovery in home building activity from the June quarter of 2009,” HIA chief economist Harley Dale said in a statement. “The leading indicators point to housing as an emerging bright spot in the economy.”

But sales in Western Australia fell by four per cent, painting a bleak picture of economic health for the once booming state. The HIA forecasts that new home starts will increase by 6900, or eleven per cent, in the second half of 2009.

Australian building approvals rose by 3.5 per cent to 10,494 units in March, seasonally adjusted, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said last month.
The ABS will release April’s building approvals report tomorrow. Sales of detached homes drove the overall sales increase in April, while apartment sales remained subdued.

Purchases of detached homes rose by 1.1 per cent to 7,496 houses in April, HIA said in a statement. That was driven by the disproportionate stimulus to project home builders from the Federal Government, HIA said. In mid-October, the Federal Government doubled the first home buyers grant to $14,000 for established dwellings and tripled it to $21,000 for newly built homes.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has lowered the cash rate by four percentage points to 3.25 per cent between September and February. Subsequently, the RBA cut official interest rates on April 7 by 25 basis points to three per cent, a 49-year low. Sales of flats fell by 5.6 per cent to 695 units, as investors continued to be reluctant to commit in an environment where it’s difficult to secure credit.

In individual states, new home sales rose by 4.5 per cent in NSW during April, with Victoria up 1.5 per cent and Queensland 2.9 per cent higher.
South Australia experienced a 4.8 per cent fall.

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If you’re looking to move to Perth at the end of 2009, or are thinking of visiting family and friends over Christmas, then this might be the perfect holiday home for you.

Located in the picturesque suburb of Mindare, just 30 minutes North of Perth, this house offers all of the creatures comforts you could possibly need, with a few added luxuries thrown in for free.

Available for rent from the 28th November 2008 through to 3rd January 2009, the house comes with plenty of living space, a private garden and a large pool. Great for kids and lots to do for the whole family, Mindaire is nearby to plenty of sporting facilities and just minutes from a beautiful sandy beach.

This could be the perfect place chill out in the sun or park your cases when you first arrive.

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