Your government will protect you -- again

Would YOU buy a car and drive around in it knowing that it had faulty brakes?

A botched contract saw Melbourne's troubled Siemens trains begin passenger service with brakes that didn't work properly in the wet. Brake problems were discovered in early 2003, before the trains went into service. The extraordinary contract oversight was detailed in documents obtained by the Herald Sun under Freedom of Information law. Melbourne's rail system was plunged into chaos earlier this year after a series of brake failures. A Herald Sun investigation has found:

* THE original $500 million Siemens contract required trains to be tested in the wet, but did not set minimum braking standards in those conditions.

* INITIAL complaints by train drivers about brake problems were dismissed as teething problems.

* THE trains started passenger services in 2003 on the basis of theoretical tests by Siemens.

* A PEDESTRIAN crossing at Williamstown station was moved after a Siemens train overshot the platform in 2004, the year Connex took over Melbourne's entire rail.

Former operator M>Train wrote a scathing letter to Siemens on April 22, 2003, complaining of poor braking in wet weather. "In some cases drivers are reverting to the emergency brake in order to stop at stations without overshooting the platform," M-Train wrote. "This situation poses a significant safety risk and will not be tolerated. "Our drivers have raised the issue during commissioning, however the claims were always along the lines that the trains were still being set up."

State Government rail officials, who received a copy of that letter, ordered the trains out of service until August that year. [After which they went back into service] On July 16, 2003, M-Train wrote to the Department of Infrastructure, admitting the trains entered service on the basis of theoretical testing not reflected by real life. M-Train said drivers had raised concerns about the brakes during tests in the wet. "Siemens were requested to produce test results and calculations, which indicated that the theoretical performance was acceptable," M-Train said. On the basis of this advice, the trains were allowed to begin passenger services. "On commencing 'real' wet running conditions, actual performance did not reflect this, and the units were removed immediately from service as soon as this became evident." M-Train said subsequent tests found stopping distances were up to twice as long in the wet....

Brakes were modified in mid-2006 after a number of incidents in which trains overshot stations in the wet during May.

Despite the problems, Siemens has been invited to tender for 10 new trains, worth $360 million, due to begin service in 2009.

Source





RURAL CLIMATE CHANGE SCEPTICS SHOCK BELIEVER

A man paddling and pulling his kayak from Brisbane to Adelaide to promote the need for action on climate change says he is disappointed with the sceptical nature of outback Australians. Steve Posselt, who is pulling his kayak along the Darling River road due to a lack of water, says that many rural people do not believe in climate change. He says he did not expect so many people to doubt what the majority of climate scientists agree on. "I've been astounded by the actual lack of belief on this trip," he said. "Many people want to argue the issue about whether there is such a thing as global warming. "You can talk to blokes in the pub and they say yep winters aren't what they used to be, they're a lot shorter. "And you say, 'well do you believe in climate change? No, mate its just a cycle'."

Source





Elite maths 'discouraged'

SCHOOLS have been accused of discouraging average maths students in an attempt to boost their academic results. As the number of year 12 students enrolled in advanced and intermediate maths continues to slide, the chairman of the national committee for mathematical sciences, Hyam Rubinstein, said because maths was viewed as a difficult subject in schools, only the best and brightest were encouraged to pursue it at an advanced level. "If a school wants to maximise their performance, they may feel that 'if we encourage weaker students not to take maths, our results will look better'," he said.

Professor Rubinstein's concerns precede the release of a report ordered by federal, state and territory governments on numeracy teaching, learning and assessment practices. The report is due later this month. Last year 10 per cent of students took advanced maths and 21 per cent took intermediate maths compared with 14 per cent and 27 per cent in 1995

Source




Small business exemption still on cards for Labor

It will be disastrous for jobs unless they do this. The present direction would put Australia in the same league as France

LABOR is still considering exempting small businesses from unfair dismissal laws despite strong opposition from the union movement. The final version of Labor's industrial relations policy has yet to be released and the idea of placating small businesses on one of their burning economic issues is still alive.

No decision has been reached and the official position is that there is not going to be any shift. But senior figures, including federal leader Kevin Rudd, have been testing views in the party to gauge the mood for an approach that goes back to the pre-Work Choices position.

The ACTU remains opposed to the existing policy and has told Labor's leadership that unions would not support any change. Some, however, believe that if Labor gets the process right -- getting the lawyers out of the process, focusing on reinstatement, and having employer-friendly hours for mediation -- it will represent a significant advance on the Howard Government's approach.

The internal debate comes as the Howard Government presses its attack on waste by the states, claiming that the Labor-controlled provinces have spent $22 million fighting the Coalition's workplace laws. Despite the states' increasingly tight budgets, and public concern over the standard of services and infrastructure, the spending includes $1.6 million on a failed High Court challenge. Federal Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey said the states have embarked on "the best-resourced and most misleading fear campaign in the history of Australian politics".

Council of Small Business Organisation of Australia chief executive Tony Steven said exemption from the unfair dismissal laws was "extremely important" to small business because it had given them the confidence to hire. Mr Steven noted that most of the jobs created since the laws were introduced in March last year were permanent full-time -- proof, he said, of the confidence the new regime had created. "If there is any inkling of a movement on this issue I would strongly urge them (Labor strategists) to support a full exemption for small business from unfair dismissal laws," he said. "I strongly encourage members of the ALP to adopt this as good policy."

Mr Rudd will today address the Australian Industry Group, which has been one of the most vocal organisations criticising the first half of Labor's industrial relations package released during the party's national conference in April. Labor announced then it would abolish John Howard's unfair dismissal laws, which exempt businesses with up to 100 employees. The party said it would introduce a system for all businesses where employees earning less than $98,000 would be covered by the laws. Any claim must be made within seven days, and the employees should be seeking reinstatement.

Fair Work Australia, a workplace watchdog to be established by a Rudd government, would mediate any unresolved claims. Labor will develop a fair dismissal code to help these employers meet their obligations under the law. An employee of a small business would not be able to make an unfair dismissal claim until after 12 months. For all other companies it would be six months.

Source