An old, old story in South Australia

Why governments cannot use off-the-shelf database progams remains a mystery. It's just hubris -- and very expensive hubris in every way. You appreciate how good Microsoft are when you see how unable other people are to construct much simpler programs

The Public Service Association (PSA) says Department of Transport staff have been struggling with a new computer program, designed to streamline the issuing of vehicle registrations and drivers' licences. PSA general secretary Jan McMahon says there have been long delays for customers and staff have been bearing the brunt of their frustration. She says the computer program is modelled on one used in Western Australia which has been fraught with problems.

"The new system is often throwing up incorrect data," she said. "It might tell a customer that their car has been stolen. So many more people are having to access the actual shopfront where there are long queues and often the system is still not helping resolve the issues."

The Department of Transport's registrar of motor vehicles, Martin Small, says he is confident that a computer glitch will be rectified soon. Mr Small says there have been problems with the new computer program, which was introduced this month, but he satisfied with the progress being made to sort out its faults. "As at yesterday afternoon we've had 272 errors logged and we've cleared over a third of those," he said. [Well done! -- I don't think!]

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Reserve Bank "destroys the myth" of migrants on welfare (not)

What a huge crock! The most the story below proves is that immigrants tend to be younger. Figures that are allegedly about the dole don't in fact discriminate between those on the dole and those not on the dole! Quite amazing! Propaganda does not get much more blatant than this

THE stereotype of the dole-bludging immigrant is a myth, research by the Reserve Bank has found. Drawing on unpublished figures from the Bureau of Statistics, the bank's researchers found workforce participation among immigrants who arrived between 2001 and 2005 was higher than for the total population. The proportion in or looking for work in July this year was 68.2 per cent, compared to 65 per cent for the population as a whole.

A strong economy, increased skilled migration and the fact that immigrants were more likely to be of working age were behind the result, the bank said. "With immigrants relatively more concentrated in the prime working-age group, it may not be surprising that they have participation rates above the national average," a paper released yesterday said.

Immigrant unemployment had also fallen dramatically over the past two decades, the bank found, from above 30 per cent during the 1991 recession, to roughly 7 per cent last year. The longer someone had been in Australia, the further this fell. For migrants who arrived between 2001 and 2005 their jobless rate in July this year was almost the same as the national rate, 4.9 per cent compared to 4.3 per cent. For more recent arrivals, in 2006 or 2007, it was still higher at 13.1 per cent. "While in the year after arrival the immigrant unemployment rate is consistently higher than the national unemployment rate, in recent years this gap has narrowed significantly," the Reserve Bank said.

Immigrants accounted for almost a third of all jobs growth between 2001 and 2006. In an economy close to full employment, migrant workers and increased participation by older and younger workers have helped keep pressure off wages and inflation - the trigger for higher interest rates. "Immigrants have accounted for a considerable proportion of employment growth in a historically tight labour market," the bank said.

More than 180,000 permanent visas were granted in 2005-06, with more than half granted under the skilled migrant scheme. A quarter were granted to family members of Australians, 24,000 for New Zealand settlers and 14,000 for humanitarian reasons. The bank said there was still scope for increased participation by older people in the workforce. While participation had increased dramatically in the past decade, Australia had fewer people aged 55 to 64 in the workforce than comparable economies. It was 57.5 per cent in Australia, 59 in Canada, 63.5 in Britain and the US, and 73 in Sweden.

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Negligent NSW police have to pay up big

POLICE have been ordered to pay almost $60,000 in legal costs to a man wrongly charged with the murder of a six-year-old girl who was found to have died from a methadone overdose. In ordering the Crown pay $59,968 to John Robert King, a businessman of Cattai, the Central Local Court magistrate, Robyn Denes, said in her costs judgement that criminal charges laid against him had been "initiated without reasonable cause".

Mr King was charged with murdering the girl in September, 2005. She had been living at his Cattai home, on Sydney's north-west outskirts, with his de facto, Julie Anne Austin. Mr King was also charged with supplying a commercial quantity of methadone and cultivating cannabis - charges that were also dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions last year along with the murder charge.

But the department proceeded with its prosecution of Mr King's partner, who was in May committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court, on a date to be set, for the murder of the girl and a charge of supply of a prohibited drug. It was during Austin's committal hearing that Ms Denes first criticised police for laying charges against Mr King. "In this case, although the police were faced with the death of a child, a number of methadone bottles and evidence that other children had ingested the drug, one would have thought it prudent to thoroughly investigate the scientific aspects of the case before proceeding to charge," Ms Denes said. She said the investigation of Mr King was "improper" and "unreasonable".

In evidence at the committal hearing, the Crown prosecutor, Ian Davidson, challenged a claim by Austin that she had accidentally mixed up bottles of children's cough medicine and methadone. Mr Davidson said that scientific evidence showed the methadone dose was not a "one-off" incident. Mr King's lawyers argued that their client had been arrested because of publicity over the child's death. In Central Local Court on Wednesday, Ms Dene agreed the Crown should pay Mr King's legal costs, but not $98,000 originally sought by his defence team.

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Kids and guns: time for commonsense action

Tasmania firearms legislation may soon be brought in line with other Australian states by allowing monitored firearms use by junior permit holders from 12 onwards. The increasingly shrill voice of the anti-gun lobby tells us this will put a gun in the hand of every child, and cries of 'God Bless Aus-merica' on every lip. Questions of whether Tasmanian laws should reflect other states' legislation have been obscured by a campaign of misinformation, as has the fact that nobody is proposing to alter the stipulation that under 18s are not permitted to own a firearm or use a firearm without strictest supervision.

There is no evidence-based justification for opposing the controlled introduction of juniors to legal shooting activities. The only excuse given is a vague muttering about tough gun laws being a moral imperative for avoiding "US gun culture". An increasing body of peer-reviewed research, including by the Australian Institute of Criminology, shows the 1996 gun bans and $500 million buyback scheme did not impact on the pre-existing decline in firearm homicides. The majority of firearm homicide perpetrators are unlicensed. Despite our tough gun laws, young men use illegally obtained firearms in the course of crimes that are all too often drug-related.

In contrast, consider the young people interested in learning about legal firearms use, and judged by their parents or guardians as ready for the responsibility. They know their participation depends on staying on the right side of the law, and that involvement with violence or drugs will bring an end to legal firearms use. Under the direct supervision of adults who have been approved by police to handle firearms, they are taught that the "US gun culture" seen on television is not the Australian way. They learn the only "gun culture" should be one of safe and sensible use.

NZ laws 'world class'

Some take the ideological view that any "gun culture" is negative, but New Zealand proves otherwise. New Zealand has higher gun ownership and lower firearms abuse per head of population than Australia, and does not expend scarce resources policing the already compliant. Instead of bans and buybacks, they emphasise voluntary training through the Mountain Safety Council, and genuine co-operation and consultation between the firearms community, police, and government.

Like Australia, New Zealand has not had a public mass shooting in over a decade, even though licensed New Zealanders still use the types of firearms Australia banned. Why there has not been a mass shooting despite the availability of these firearms remains unexplained, and poses significant challenges for those who believe the 1996 bans are responsible for preventing mass shootings in Australia.

The New Zealand model has been hailed 'world class' by Mr Tsutomu Ishiguri, Director of the UN Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific. Their down-to-earth laws recognise that firearms licensees and the associated culture of responsible gun ownership do not pose a danger to the fabric of society and the morals of young people.

Illegally used firearms, and the circumstances surrounding their possession, are where we should place our attention. Preventing our future champions from taking their first steps on a lifelong path of achievement, and discouraging motivated young women from following the positive example set by our highly successful Olympic and Commonwealth female shooters, cannot achieve this. Rather, we must recognise that allowing disadvantage, social exclusion, and gross inequality to permeate our society is what can lead us down the US path. If we commit to tackling these issues, then we truly stand a chance of protecting young people.

Preventing young people from learning about firearms from suitably licensed adults has no bearing on protecting youths. Labelling young people with an interest in using firearms in a supervised environment as an undesirable element of the community contributes nothing to protecting the teens who are at real risk of being drawn towards crime, or are already involved in the justice system.

Legal firearms ownership in Australia is not the harbinger of apocalypse created by gun prohibitionists' fertile imaginings. Their rhetoric does not withstand scrutiny, containing only tired slogans where once there were great promises of a safer Australia. Sadly those promises were never about compassion, equality, or progressive social policy - qualities that are key to making Australia a better place for future generations.

With no factual support to justify further restrictions upon legal firearms use, anti-gun lobbyists must find the courage to accept that demanding change on the basis of stringency alone, or decrying modification as "watering down", does not engender effective policy. It encourages simplistic dichotomies between good and bad that actively impede debate and progress. So when it comes to kids and guns, or guns in general, it is time for commonsense - exactly what the Tasmanian Government is trying its best to use.

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