Springs Old Boys invited to unite at annual old assembly
Springs Boys' High School is calling on its proud brotherhood to return to where it all began. The school invites all former learners, staff members, the Mothers Club, and SGB members to the Old Boys Assembly at Bob Gouldie Hall on August 1 at 07:30.
This will be the second time the school hosts this event after its debut last year.
The principal, Diane Freeman, said, 'The purpose is to merge the past with the present. We want the boys to know their brothers.'
Freeman, having been at the school for 38 years, says it is important for the learners to be inspired by those who came before them and to cherish the school's legacy.
Attendees must wear their school blazer if possible. To RSVP for catering and seating, contact 011 818 2175 or use the email [email protected]
At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ya Biladi
a few seconds ago
- Ya Biladi
Diaspo #402 : Abdelaali El Badaoui, driving social change through holistic health
Born in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region to parents from Foum Zguid and Agdz in the Zagora area, Abdelaali El Badaoui grew up in a working-class family in France. His father, grandfather, and uncle all worked in the mining industry until its decline in the 1990s. This hard labor left them with irreversible health conditions: silicosis, asbestos-related diseases, and lung cancer. From an early age, the native of Dechy faced learning difficulties linked to hyperactivity, undiagnosed dyslexia, and graphic distortion. It was not until the age of 33 that these issues were formally diagnosed, revealing at the same time a high intellectual potential (HPI). These assessments helped him make sense of a life shaped by obstacles, as well as encounters that turned into blessings. At six years old, El Badaoui suffered a domestic accident that caused burns over 70% of his body, leading to a long hospital stay in a sterile room and multiple skin grafts. Over time, he recovered from this early trauma and went on to become a cross-country champion in middle school. As a high-level athlete, he competed with the French athletics team and became European vice-champion in his discipline. Yet his learning difficulties eventually led him to drop out of school before earning his baccalaureate. At 16, he left high school and entered the healthcare environment almost by chance. During this period, a hospital director opened doors for him, offering a two-week internship in cleaning services. His contact with an elderly patient left a profound impression on him, prompting him to reflect on the importance of care. Equally transformative was the positive feedback he received, which changed his self-image. At the end of the internship, he was immediately offered a position at the facility. Seven years later, the same director, convinced of his abilities, advocated for his entry into nursing school, despite his lack of a high school diploma. A Reflection on Holistic and Community Health El Badaoui graduated after three and a half years and worked as a nurse in various departments, cardiology, intensive care, pediatrics, before moving into private practice. Over the years, he developed a broader vision of health, embracing a holistic approach that considers physical, mental, and emotional well-being, along with lifestyle factors, and approaches health proactively rather than reactively. This path led him to found Banlieues Santé in 2018, an organization at the intersection of healthcare and social action. «I position myself within an associative framework aimed at social entrepreneurship, or even impact entrepreneurship. The goal is to transform or improve public policies, both in health and the economy, by creating jobs, wealth, and value. The idea is to start from this social fabric, with its human value, to equip people for social innovation, improve their quality of life, and thus positively impact their health, directly or indirectly. We are addressing a blind spot in public policies». For him, the value of combining his roles as nurse and entrepreneur lies in addressing both public policy and economic challenges: «It's about putting the economy at the service of social needs, giving those needs a much stronger common-law dimension in the territories and for the inhabitants». Thanks to a fellowship with the American NGO Ashoka, he is now internationally recognized as a social entrepreneur. Since January, he has been enrolled in an advanced public service studies program at the prestigious École nationale d'administration (ENA) in Paris. Looking beyond healthcare, El Badaoui has created a foundation encompassing Banlieues Santé and other NGOs, Banlieues School, Banlieues Climat, Banlieues Sport, and Banlieues Droit. «I wanted to approach things holistically, not in silos. I don't think the most sustainable way to support vulnerable populations is to address their issues from one angle. We need to start from the basics—the economy of life and health». «Health is not just the absence of symptoms and disease. It's a state of social, mental, and physical well-being. The idea is to start from health and branch into education, environment, law, and sports. This means creating independent organizations by theme to embed in the territories, while keeping a holistic, participatory dimension, listening to people, gauging the 'social thermometer' on the ground, and better responding to their needs». For him, this is where the concept of a public health economy lies—seeing it as an investment, not an expense. «Investing in the prevention of social inequalities in a broad sense will, in the long term, achieve this». Developing a Health Economy in France and Morocco On a personal level, he is committed to restoring justice to the elders of migrant workers: «Many of our ancestors fell ill, and the health system didn't take care of them in time, even though these workers contributed the most while benefiting the least. We are restoring justice through scientific studies with the CNRS and Public Health France, focusing on retirees and our chibanis through the 'bien-aînés' program». «Public health economies have a greater impact than others because if we invest massively in prevention, training, equipment, and tools that allow the most vulnerable to access common rights and become autonomous, it ultimately improves their health and prevents what we call non-recourse, or late recourse, to healthcare». In 2020, his territorial work in France earned him the European Citizen's Prize from the European Parliament. He later received the Paul Vigné d'Octon Prize from the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences of the Institut de France. In 2022, Ashoka named him a lifelong social entrepreneur. He now sits on several boards, including foundations of major CAC 40 companies, investment funds like Mutuelles Impact, and state bodies such as the Regional Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESER). El Badaoui is also co-founder of Banlieues Capital, an investment vehicle supporting impact startups, some valued at several billion euros, in early childhood, health, and education. He now intends to bring this expertise to Morocco and Africa, adapting it to local realities while introducing best practices learned abroad. Since the September 2023 earthquake, his association has been active in Al-Haouz, fostering a community health approach and empowering residents, particularly women, on issues of well-being and value creation. This work continues, and he plans to create synergies with local organizations. In the coming months, Essaouira will host the first Women's Café, a concept successfully implemented in several French municipalities. «Beyond being a meeting place, women will be able to access support for personal and family health, particularly through training». In line with this vision, he plans to launch an African entity headquartered in Morocco to coordinate local and continental initiatives. Nationally, his actions aim to align with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM) and the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME), to strengthen the contribution of Moroccans worldwide to territorial development. «It's about engaging in a social transformation in the spirit of His Majesty's speech. As dual nationals, we make ourselves available, with all humility, to serve our country, our continent, and the most vulnerable», he shared.
ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Prefabricated homes could be the answer to Australia's housing and climate issues
Pre-fab housing has a long history in Australia. ( ) From early colonial settlers to the post-war construction boom, prefabricated and modular housing has a long history in Australia. Can factory-built homes fix our housing woes and help the climate? The donga is a quintessential Australian term that no one really knows the origin of. For those unfamiliar with the term, according to the Macquarie Dictionary, it's a "makeshift shelter" or "a portable prefabricated structure". It's often associated with temporary accommodation and offices, in industries like mining and construction. If you went to a state school during the second half of the 20th century, you'll likely associate prefab with demountable classrooms. The donga is a word describing a wide range of structures, but where it comes from is a mystery. ( ) It's this history that's left a stigma on prefabricated and modular housing construction in Australia. "We need to change the mindset within the community because the history of prefab in Australia is not very good," Dr Ehsan Noroozinejad from the University of Western Sydney says. "Most people think that the current generation of prefab and modular housing is very similar to the housing that they were using as temporary shelters in the 1950s, which were not very high-quality shelters." A small prefabricated home in Altona, Melbourne, about 1950–1952. ( ) Originally assembled in Fitzroy in 1854, the Bellhouse was then moved to its present site in South Melbourne. ( ) Modern prefab buildings are now often higher-quality than their traditional counterparts, but still make up less than 5 per cent of new builds. As Australia struggles to build the homes it needs, governments are grappling with how to increase supply and ease affordability. Productivity in housing construction has remained stubbornly stagnant for more than three decades. At the same time, climate change is putting an increasing number of people's homes at risk, with floods, fires and cyclones destroying thousands of homes in the last decade alone and damaging countless others. Prefabricated or modular homes have been touted as a possible solution to both crises, with the possibility of building climate-resilient, energy-efficient homes at scale, quickly and cheaply. With the side effect of creating less greenhouse gas emissions and waste in the process. "You're seeing amazing, beautiful, architecturally designed [modular] homes that are being delivered all around the country now," says Damien Crough, the co-founder of peak industry body prefabAus. This modular home by architect Daniel Burnett was constructed at the Blok Modular factory in Brisbane and assembled on-site on Stradbroke Island. ( ) The multi-residential design was the winner of the 2025 Australian House of the Year award. ( ) So if prefab could be the answer to Australia's housing and climate issues, what's holding the industry back? How does prefab work? Prefabrication is an umbrella term that means most of the building work is done in a factory, as opposed to traditional construction, where the majority of the building is done onsite. Building components, including the walls and roofs, are manufactured off-site and then transported to the final destination. Modular is going one step further, with the whole house or building constructed in a factory and put on the back of a truck. "Even the facade, even the plumbing, the wiring, everything will be manufactured and tested in the factory," Ehsan says. "All modular systems are definitely prefab but all prefab systems are not definitely modular." A prefab module for an apartment building bound for Queensland at the Modscape factory in Melbourne. ( ) The company specialises in sustainable, high-quality modular homes and commercial buildings. ( ) Advanced manufacturing used in prefab includes robotic technology. ( ) Pre-fabricated housing remains the subject of task forces and reports, rather than a mainstream building method. ( ) Damien Crough says it's a diverse industry, with many different materials, systems and techniques. "You've got timber prefab systems, steel systems, concrete-based construction, hybrid materials and composites. We've now got 3D concrete printing." The advanced manufacturing used in prefab includes robotic technology, AI and digital twins — a virtual replica that mirrors the physical world. These systems make the final product much better than traditional construction, according to Ehsan. "If you see a modular or prefab house from a street view, you cannot distinguish the difference between a traditional system and the modular system," he says. "From the inside, I would say they are much better compared to the traditional system." It's a world away from the tin dongas of the past, in which you typically boiled alive in summer and froze in winter. It's no surprise that the pioneer of factory-built homes is Sweden, the country that brought the world IKEA. It's estimated that around 85 to 90 per cent of homes there are built using prefab. Japan, where many car manufacturing facilities have been converted to house manufacturing, is also touted as a model Australia should look to emulate. Prefab components for homes are manufactured in a factory in the Netherlands. ( ) But so far, the industry in Australia has been unable to get the scale and volume needed to really take off. "It would be great to have factories like that in every state in Australia. That would be excellent. We would really go a long way to contributing to the National Housing Accord targets if we did that," Damien Crough says. "But again, you need the demand and the volume." In the past, governments across the country have been major contributors to building housing stock. In the post-war era from 1945 to 1970, government builds accounted for 16 per cent of residential constructions, but since the 1990s, that's dropped to just 3 per cent, according to analysis by the Australia Institute. "We've got a lot of our members who would definitely invest in scaling up to meet the demand if there was a transparent pipeline of work," Damien says. "It's not the government that's going to deliver this, it's the private sector." A wasteful industry Alongside the speed of construction, one of the major advantages of prefab and modular is the reduction in waste and carbon emissions, of which Australian homes are a major culprit. Residential buildings contribute to waste and emissions in three big ways: the initial build the initial build the waste when you build it the waste when you build it the energy used over the lifetime of the building Construction and demolition is the country's biggest contributor to waste, with around 27 million tonnes sent to landfill each year. The building of residential homes is also the largest contributor to the construction industry's greenhouse gas emissions. As the grid decarbonises and homes become more energy efficient, up-front construction is on track to be the biggest contributor to a building's emissions, and it's locked in during construction. According to a report by the Green Building Council of Australia, an average home built today will contribute 185 tonnes of CO2 equivalent during construction, compared to 24 tonnes of CO2 emitted over its lifetime. On-site construction creates a lot of waste. ( ) Factory-built homes are better on all fronts, according to researchers like Ehsan. "We can reduce the waste and we can do that near to zero," he says. "The final product will be more energy-efficient and higher-quality. So in the long term, during the building life cycle, there will be less maintenance, there will be less energy use." "All these together will produce less carbon emission using this technology." Geelong-based modular startup founder Matt Dingle says while some of this can be done using traditional construction methods, the biggest advantage is planning. "You can design these systems really carefully beforehand and then execute them in the factory," he says. "That often doesn't happen onsite. You see many occasions where there are bandaids over bandaids because something wasn't considered properly at the outset." A low-carbon home Let's break down a typical new Australian build against the types of modular homes Matt is designing. To do that, we'll use the Green Building Council of Australia's "reference home" — which uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to get a picture of what a typical new residential build is like. The major building materials such as concrete, brick, steel, timber, aluminium and glass contribute on average 43 per cent of emissions. All the remaining materials and finishes make up the rest. Emissions are generated by all parts of construction. ( ) A concrete slab is the biggest up-front contributor to carbon emissions during the construction phase — because of both the concrete and the steel reinforcement mesh needed. Pressed brick is the next big-ticket item. That's why making building materials reusable is front of mind for Matt Dingle when designing prefabricated homes. Modular homes can be designed to so components can be reused. ( ) Starting at the ground level, Matt has chosen not to use a concrete slab, instead going with a new type of steel footing that doesn't require any digging. "It won't work in 100 per cent of applications, but we've managed to use it in probably 85 or 90 per cent of ours," he says. "It's also a system that can be removed, and you can take most of those components and use them again." Then there's the external structure of the house. Timber and CLT — "cross-laminated timber" — are common in modular and are a low-carbon option. But Matt uses a special kind of corrugated iron that can seal up gaps in a home to protect against bushfires and provide better energy efficiency. But there are downsides to using so much steel. "We've elected to use a lot of steel in these buildings rather than timber and so the first question really was, what impact [on emissions] does that have?" he says. "If you can also maximise the opportunity for reuse, then steel very quickly outperforms timber in a number of ways." But he admits it's a hotly contested debate. In order to maximise the potential for the steel and other materials being reused, the design doesn't use any welding, instead opting for bolts. And they try not to join dissimilar materials — again, so they can be more easily reused. Climate-proof designs As well as reducing emissions, the industry is also leading the way in building climate-resilient homes, from bushfire-proof materials to homes that can float. Matt's modular homes are designed for the second-highest bushfire rating and can be easily adapted for the highest risk area in the fire zone. "The only thing you have to spend extra on is the windows." An artist's impression of the FORTIS house, a climate-resilient home. ( ) The house has external shutters that close for protection. ( ) There's innovation for modular homes that can survive on flood plains, too. On the NSW mid-north coast, Cicely Sylow has installed the first "amphibious cabin" at the Dunbogan caravan park. The cabin is connected to a pontoon, which is designed to float the house when the waters rise. Cicely and her husband decided that instead of paying exorbitant amounts for flood insurance, they would invest that money into flood-resilient infrastructure instead. "We've really been looking at how to make our businesses more resilient to climate change," she says. "Every decision we make is really long-term. At what point can you build to live with the climate? And at what point do you say we need to move away?" After the devastating floods in 2021, they teamed up with an architect, a modular builder and a maritime company that makes pontoons — to see what was possible. When the Dunbogan Caravan Park flooded in May this year, the amphibious cabins almost lifted off the ground. ( ) An amphibious cabin at Dunbogan Caravan Park. ( ) Cicely hopes the floating cabin will help the communities at her two caravan parks stay where they are for longer, and the cost is on par with building raised homes. "We just thought, we need to demonstrate that there is a way so that people don't need to be inundated," she says. "We'll have a section in the park that has amphibious homes and then a section in the park that will have raised." A recent Productivity Commission report highlighted the importance of boosting resilience as climate risks intensify, saying it can lower the costs of disaster recovery and create a healthier, more productive population, with a better quality of life. "People's experience of climate change will depend on the resilience of their home. Resilient housing reduces exposure to the health and wellbeing impacts of climate change and the disruption and displacement caused by natural disasters," the report stated. The commission has made a raft of recommendations to the federal government, which include creating a climate resilience rating system for housing and actions to boost the resilience of housing stock over the coming decades. Associate Professor Lyrian Daniel from the University of Adelaide is leading a project for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), into this very question — how to achieve a climate-resilient housing stock by 2050. "The really big question is thinking about climate change and whether our housing is going to be suitably protective or adaptive to climate change in the future," she says. People look out at the swollen Hawkesbury River from the deck of a partially submerged house as floodwaters rise in western Sydney in 2021. ( ) Debris lies outside residential properties affected by floods next to the Manning River in Glenthorne, Australia, in May this year. ( ) Just what a climate-resilient house is will vary depending on its location, but as climate change increases the severity of natural disasters, more homes are at risk. Outside of bushfires, floods, storms and other natural disasters, how homes cope in heatwaves and blackouts will also be important. "Energy efficiency gets us a long way in that we can think about how the house performs in terms of heat and cold with and without air conditioning or heating, for example," Lyrian says. "So if there's a blackout in the middle of summer, will our house still be comfortable for a period of time? If we can't rely on the electricity grid, you know, are there other ways that we can source that energy?" A fundamental flaw Despite its potential, the hype around prefab is yet to materialise, and it's not just public perception holding the industry back. From planning to regulation and finance — everything is designed around building onsite, according to Damien Crough from prefabAus. "A builder goes to a site where the bank has security over that asset, and the builder is building stage by stage and getting paid as they add value." Traditional on-site building is slow and resource-intensive. ( ) It is also harder to get a mortgage for modular homes. While the rules vary from state to state, someone wanting to buy a modular home can typically only get access to a small deposit of around 5 to 10 per cent. That means the manufacturer needs to have the capital to fund the production of the home. "It devalues their business, it makes it hard to grow," Damien says. "We've had a lot of these things which have really limited the growth of prefab in the conventional domestic housing market." Until recently, there had been no contract that existed to buy a modular home, but that's about to change. "We've now got a contract that will be ready by the end of July and available to the market very soon thereafter. We've also had Commonwealth Bank come on and support the creation of that [contract] and also change their lending policy to allow the flow of funds to manufacturers." Flat-pack houses The other major barrier is scale and volume, which are needed to bring the price of modular down to be more competitive with traditional construction. "Modular is usually a little bit more expensive, but much faster. But the fact is, traditional building is way too expensive. If we're going to solve the crisis, we have to find ways of driving the cost lower than traditional building, not just on par with it," Matt Dingle says. "And the only way of doing that is to embrace more efficient ways of doing things." Most modular and prefab businesses rely on large single contracts like education buildings or social housing, rather than residential, Matt says. "Each of the builders has visibility of how many they're going to need to build and what they're going to need to build each year. They get allocated a quota — that makes the planning process and investing process a lot easier. "We wanted to focus on [residential] housing and we found it difficult to generate enough consistent demand to keep it all rolling." These modular homes were installed in Middleton Beach in Western Australia. ( ) That's despite the federal government's goal of building 1.2 million homes by mid-2029, which is currently falling well behind. "It's quite damning," Matt says. "We really need to take a big step in the direction of improving efficiency and getting that volume is going to be part of how it's done." Matt is leading a project with Deakin University to design climate-resilient modular communities in regional Victoria, in the hope it could be an answer to increasing volume and improving housing productivity. While Sweden and Japan are often touted as the leaders in factory-built houses, Australians have very different ideas about what they want from a home and how we live. But Matt believes there is a mindset shift in younger generations' views on housing. "This is where the project is going to be fascinating, because we'll get a chance to talk to the people who are really interested in accessing the housing that we're proposing to build and ask them what they want." An artist's vision from FormFlow, which is part of a project that will test housing that is sustainable, adaptable, and resilient to the future challenges of climate change. ( ) He hopes it will provide a blueprint for residential modular projects across the country. In what could be the next step in the evolution of the donga, which has helped shelter Australians through major housing booms over the last two centuries.
ABC News
a few seconds ago
- ABC News
Serial rapist trusted by Australian doctor to run strip club jailed for 145 years
A male exotic dancer who persuaded an Australian doctor to buy a gay strip club in the US used the venue to prey on female patrons in the biggest serial rape case investigators have seen. Ali Quraishi, who was trusted to run "day-to-day" operations at the Portland club by its Brisbane-based owner Julian de Looze, was sentenced to 145 years in jail in February. Warning: This article contains content that may be upsetting for some readers. Quraishi plied women at Stag PDX with alcohol and lured them to a $US1,800-a-month apartment he rented solely for the purpose of raping and filming them, documenting his crimes in a diary he called his "stripper journey". Dr de Looze, who runs a department at Australia's largest hospital, the Royal Brisbane and Women's, told police and licensing officials that he knew nothing of Quraishi's crimes until after his arrest in March 2023. "Licensee De Looze explained that he trusted Ali since he had known him for a while and because he had been the one who suggested that he purchase Stag PDX," an Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) report said. Dr de Looze told licensing investigators that he texted Quraishi in jail after he was taken into custody. And Dr de Looze was present in Washington County Circuit Court last November when Quraishi was convicted on 23 charges involving nine victims, according to police. This included first-degree rape, sexual abuse, sodomy, invasion of personal privacy, unlawful dissemination of intimate images and assault. Dr de Looze, who is clinical director of acute medicine at the Royal Brisbane, declined an interview request from the ABC. The venue issued a statement saying Quraishi's "disturbing criminal actions were shocking to Stag PDX and its corporate officer". "These criminal actions were in stark contrast to the values upheld by Stag PDX, its employees and its corporate officer and were not known at the time," it said. "Stag PDX expresses its utmost sympathy with the victims of these crimes, and all those affected by them." Portland Detective Maggie Brown, speaking to the ABC in the first media interview of her 21-year career, said that it was "by far the biggest sex assault case I've ever worked". Detective Brown said there were more victims in other jurisdictions. Quraishi kept offending even after police raided his apartment and seized his phone in February 2023. The next month, he raped a woman from the club, whose friends contacted Stag that night to report the assault. But Quraishi was still employed by Stag when arrested weeks later. "Ali knows police are digging around, he knows I now have two cases on him, that I've served a warrant on this apartment, that I've taken his cell phone, that I'm poking around, like, 'I'm now in your space, and I'm looking through all your stuff,'" Detective Brown said. Detective Brown said that while there was no suggestion of criminal conduct by Dr de Looze, her police reports recorded multiple witness accounts of him failing to act on staff complaints about Quraishi's behaviour at work. "They were all trying to raise these concerns with Julian, and they told me, 'For whatever reason, Maggie, Julian protects him, and we don't understand why,'" she said. These complaints are under investigation by Oregon's Bureau of Labour and Industry (BOLI), with former staff alleging they suffered reprisals, including dismissal, for speaking up about Quraishi. In an interview with police and licensing officials from the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) in May 2023, Dr de Looze described the relationship between Quraishi and other staff as "fractured and difficult", Detective Brown said. "He was getting complaints, and he wasn't sure what was true and what wasn't true," she said. "When we asked him about any sexual harassment allegations or complaints, he said he didn't know about any until Ali was arrested." The ABC obtained CCTV recordings from September 2021, in which bartender Franki Lucas told Dr de Looze that Quraishi was "an abuser" who targeted women at the club, including a patron who suspected he had drugged her and stolen her phone. Ms Lucas alleged that Quraishi had told her that "he's going to get me pregnant and I should carry his child" and then "pulled his dick out [and] charged me with his penis in the kitchen". Dr de Looze responded: "Is everything Ali's fault?" An OLCC report obtained by the ABC shows that when an investigator asked Dr de Looze how he was able to run a business from his home in Australia, he said he "trusted Ali to run the day-to-day operations". The OLCC investigated complaints about Quraishi, including "drug and alcohol use while [on] duty, masturbating in front of patrons/employees, inappropriate touching of patrons/employees, sexual harassment, pressuring bartenders to overserve customers, specific ones in particular, and complaints regarding how he would have people fired if they complained about his behavior". It said Dr de Looze "ultimately admitted to having at least some knowledge of Ali drinking on duty, telling people he (Licensee De Looze) would 'stick up for him' if anyone complained about his behavior, and a sexual harassment claim from Brittany Brock, a former bouncer at Stag PDX". He told the licensing officials that he "didn't learn of the other allegations until after Ali's rape arrest". An OLCC spokesman told the ABC there was "an open investigation [which] is not completed, and for that reason, we can't comment". The venue told the ABC it "takes any issue raised by its American regulators seriously and, as a good faith actor in such matters, is unable to provide commentary relating to any ongoing investigation or any review process". "Stag PDX has always cooperated proactively with its regulators," it said. "Stag PDX maintains comprehensive employee policies to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation, investigates complaints and takes appropriate action to enforce those policies in compliance with prevailing American and Oregon law and regulation." Ultimately, the judge found there was a "tidal wave of consistent testimony" from Quraishi's victims, Detective Brown said. "The consistent statement was, 'He would buy me a drink, told me he owned the club, and then I woke up in this strange apartment and had no memory of how I got there,'" she said. Some victims have never seen the videos Quraishi secretly made. At the sentencing, the detective said former employees thanked her "because for so long they have been trying to tell people and to get some sort of action about Ali and the problems that he was creating and the unsafe work environment that he was creating". "I got very positive feedback from them that it was good to see that he was held accountable and obviously the BOLI thing was moving forward, so there was some movement on what they had been observing all these years," she said. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) did not respond to the ABC. Complaints to BOLI include one by former Stag general manager Matthew Aspiri, who said his concerns about Quraishi were "dismissed and brushed aside". "Many people were fooled and lied to," Mr Aspiri said.
