HERALDSUN.COM.AU WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2014 NEWS 05

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Tradie bashed tool thief with shovelA THIEF who stole a youngplumbing apprentice’s toolsfrom outside his home waschased down, run off the roadand brutally beaten with ashovel, a court has heard.

Jesse Jack Farrugia, 24, ofCaroline Springs, pleadedguilty in the County Court tothe savage attack on the thief.

The court heard Farrugiacaught the thief stealing toolsoff his father’s ute outside hisCaroline Springs home in Julylast year and took chase after abrief struggle.

A wild pursuit throughpeak-hour traffic followed,with Farrugia sideswiping thethief’s stolen car until it veered

off the road and into a tree. BillKounelis, 41, of Braybrook, wasdriving past when he saw thethief running from the wreck.

He agreed to help Farrugiachase down the crook. The paircaught up with the 25-year-oldand Farrugia let fly with theshovel, smashing him repeat-edly while Kounelis beat himwith his bare hands.

Farrugia pleaded guilty toone charge of reckless conductendangering serious injurywhile both men pleaded guiltyto intentionally causing seri-ous injury. They will be sen-tenced on Friday.

WAYNE FLOWER

Breaking the trade barrier for womenA TRAINING provider haswon a special exemption to re-cruit only female apprentices.

The company will tour gov-ernment secondary schools inMelbourne’s north, scoutingfor 40 women who want to betradies. They make up lessthan 10 per cent of all trades-people statewide.

Cabinet-maker and carpen-ter Amanda Woods, who isleading the Women in Tradesinitiative, said women were toooften overlooked for positions.

“It is definitely dominatedby men,’’ she said. “And therestill unfortunately are employ-ers that just aren’t willing totake on females.”

The project, to be launchedin Fitzroy North today, is orga-nised through not-for-profitgroup training organisationAPlus.

It aims to recruit 40 femaleapprentices in 40 weeks withfour-year traineeships in theautomotive, building and con-struction, engineering andhorticulture industries a focus.

A “tradie trailer” will beused for the school tour, whichwill involve hands-on sessionsfor students of both genders inyears 10-12.

“It’s just putting the idea outthere that females can do it.”

WES HOSKING

BIG DAY FOR MODERN MENTHE makers of Modern Family are marking the show’s gay wedding by paying for New Yorkers’ City Hall wedding licences for a day.

The double episode wedding of Cam and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet, above) will screen in Australia on Network Ten on May 25.

SNOW QUEEN FOR TV LANDTV series Once Upon a Time is set to welcome a new addition to the cast from Disney’s animated hit Frozen.

Elsa (above), the Snow Queen, will enter Storybrooke following the two-hour season-three finale in the US, which showed a glimpse of a character from behind.

GHOSTS of Labor leaders pasthave returned to haunt theparty as fingers are pointedduring inquiries into unioncorruption and the disastroushome insulation scheme.

Drama yesterday trailedformer federal figureheadsacross three states as disputeserupted over who should takethe blame.

Former environment minis-ter Peter Garrett conceded to aroyal commission in Brisbanethat he bore “ultimate respon-sibility” for Labor’s home insu-lation program, which hasbeen blamed for four deathsand hundreds of house fires.

But he said then senatorMark Arbib oversaw elementsof the $42 billion stimuluspackage, including the insu-lation plan.

But Mr Arbib blamed publicservants for failing to warn himof serious safety risks given hewas not an electrical expert.

Former prime minister

Kevin Rudd was said to befuming as speculation rose hisformer colleagues would makehim the “fall guy” as he returnsfrom overseas to face intenseinterrogation today.

Meanwhile, questions re-mained unanswered with an-other former PM, Julia Gillard,snubbing the media in thewake of evidence given to thecommission that she was homewhen a parcel of dirty moneywas delivered under instruc-tion from her former boyfriendBruce Wilson.

Ms Gillard was yesterdayawarded an Honorary Degreeby Victoria University at Flem-ington in recognition of hercontribution to Australian so-ciety and for her role cham-pioning important reforms ineducation and disability care.She arrived by a back entrance.

It came a day after Mr Wil-son, a former Australian

Workers Union secretary,allegedly punched a photogra-pher outside the Royal Com-mission into Trade UnionGovernance and Corruption— the same day it was allegedby Ralph Blewitt that he de-livered $20,000 to Ms Gillard’shome in 1994.

At the inquiry in Brisbane,Mr Garrett said everyone in-volved in the home insulationprogram — from state regula-tors to employees — had a roleto play in minimising risks. In-stallers Matthew Fuller, Rue-ben Barnes, Mitchell Sweeneyand Marcus Wilson died underthe scheme in 2009 and 2010.

“I was responsible for therollout of the HIP and bore ul-timate responsibility for its im-plementation,” Mr Garrettwrote in a statement. Butunder cross-examination, MrGarrett said various bodies hadto “share” responsibility tominimise risks.andrea.hamblin@news.com.au

GHOSTS OF LABOR’S PAST

Disputes haunt ALP as blame game erupts

GHOST 1Peter Garrett

ANDREA HAMBLIN

GHOST 2Julia Gillard

GHOST 3Kevin Rudd

GHOST 4Mark Arbib