HOW PESKY CAN THAT GLOBAL WARMING GET?

It sure is tricky in what it does. Note the contrasting reports from Australia in the two articles below. Perth and Adelaide are roughly in the same latitude but have a big desert in between them. Extreme weather is ALWAYS blamed on global warming so we KNOW what is causing the events below

Perth wettest for four years

PERTH has recorded its wettest September in four years. The city got 101mm of rain in September, slightly above the long-term normal of 90mm. It was a wet month right across the southwest corner of the state, weatherzone.com.au meteorologist Matt Pearce said. "However, the rain did not penetrate very far eastward," he said.

"Forrest, in the Eucla district, did not record any rain during the month, the first time this has occurred for September in 11 years of (the company's) records." With the exception of the stormy southwest, the rest of WA experienced warmer than normal days. "Warburton, in the state's Interior, had an average maximum of 31C, making it the equal hottest September there in 28 years of records." Perth had an average maximum of 20C, right on the long-term average.

Mr Pearce said he was expecting the next few months to continue wetter than normal across WA. "It is also likely to remain warm, especially by night."

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Adelaide suffers driest September in decades

This September has been the driest in Adelaide for 20 years. The city had 23 millimetres of rain, compared with the average of 64. Temperatures were also above average. Weatherzone meteorologist Matt Pearce says there is more rain on the way. "The waters of the Indian Ocean, just off the west coast of Australia, are in the process of warming up at the moment," he said. "Now that does tend to result in increased rainfall, especially in Western Australia but also extending into South Australia as well. "I guess the bad news however is that temperatures will remain above average, especially the daytime temperatures so we're looking at quite a warm spring and summer."

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Your government will protect you -- again

Australian airport workers sidestep security

QANTAS has employed casual staff to work at Brisbane airport without Australian Federal Police security clearances. The airline has rushed to hire 60 extra staff from an outside agency for Qantas Flight Catering Ltd, which prepares food for its own and many other international airlines. The Transport Workers Union, which says other staff have had to undergo full security clearance checks, has expressed major concerns about the risk of terrorist or criminal infiltration. "Under the present climate of terrorism around the world, I don't think anybody should be working in the airline industry, particularly near food preparation, without first having full and thorough security checks," TWU state secretary Hughie Williams said.

Qantas says the casuals will work in the washing-up area at the airport catering facility to cope with the busy period before Christmas. A former Qantas catering employee said this area was next to the room where food for passengers, pilots and crews was stored and loaded on to trays and airline trolleys. "There's nothing to stop them walking from one area to another," he said. "There are already people from that agency working in the food areas."

Australian National University terrorism expert Clive Williams said there should be security and criminal checks to clear any catering employee who prepared airline food or worked close to and had access to food preparation areas. "You could actually get somebody vexatious, who doesn't have to be a terrorist, who doesn't like a particular airline, who might contaminate the food," he said. He said it was relatively easy to contaminate food and if an airline catering company was preparing food for an American airline, there would be increased concern.

Qantas Flight Catering Ltd's Brisbane people manager Graham Beal told the union in a letter on September 21 the company had to employ 60 extra staff "to cover all positions in the business" over the next three months. He said he had asked the agency to supply the extra labour "as quickly as possible". "The advice we have received from Qantas security is that we can have agency labour admitted to work in the building before they are given a clearance from the Australian Federal Police," Mr Beal said in the letter. He said the staff could work in catering as long as they had put in an application to the AFP, which required them to have Queensland Police Service clearance. The Queensland check would show only state criminal convictions, but staff could have come from other states.

The TWU was told on Friday that 18 people from the agency already had started work without AFP checks. Union boss Mr Williams was told it could take up to two months for the AFP criminal history checks. "I'm very concerned about the security within the airline industry and the security in the catering division is absolutely necessary," he said.

Qantas executive general manager services Curtis Davies said the casual workers, employed in the washing up area, did not need Aviation Security Identification Cards because they were not working in a security restricted area. However, he said they would be supervised at all times. "Qantas is in the process of obtaining background checks for these staff," Mr Davies said.

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Government hospitals crisis is Statewide

Sacking half the bureaucrats and employing medical staff instead would transform the situation rapidly but Leftist governments regard bureaucrats as sacrosanct -- far more important than healthcare for the peasants. Bureaucrats = CONTROL in their sick thinking

DOCTORS in charge warn that every emergency unit in the state public health system is plagued with chronic management problems that jeopardise patient care. Valerie Malka, head of trauma at Westmead Hospital, said the situation was so critical that lives were at risk. "My philosophy is that patients should get the care I would want my mum and dad and family to get, and there is no way that would happen, certainly not at Westmead," she said. "You cannot get anything done for patient care at Westmead because everything you try to do is an obstacle." The head of the trauma unit since 2000, Dr Malka said she was at the "end of her tether" and ready to quit.

Sally McCarthy, head of emergency at Prince of Wales Hospital, and Tony Joseph, head of trauma at Royal North Shore Hospital, have also warned of systemic problems across NSW. "They just don't listen to anyone at the clinical coalface," Dr McCarthy said.

Dr Malka said some toilets in the wards at Westmead were so filthy that patients refused to use them. Misdiagnosis was common because junior and inexperienced doctors were left alone after hours and at weekends. "Patients are at the mercy of the system and its failures," said Dr Malka, a surgeon. Her comments followed a wave of complaints about lack of staff and resources in emergency departments after Jana Horska, 32, miscarried in the toilets of Royal North Shore last week after waiting two hours to be seen.

Dr McCarthy, who is vice-president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, said every emergency department was under intense pressure. She said the problems at Royal North Shore were "the tip of the iceberg" and all emergency departments had similar issues.

The Health Minister, Reba Meagher, has launched an inquiry into Ms Horska's treatment but has refused to broaden it to include all emergency departments. Instead, she announced a new "model of care" for pregnant women.

The Opposition health spokeswoman, Jillian Skinner, said the announcement was a knee-jerk reaction, while Dr McCarthy described it as "absolute rubbish" because it was devised by bureaucrats who were not emergency specialists.

Ms Meagher's spokeswoman said the minister had also established a taskforce to examine workforce issues, but doctors say the system is in crisis and will only improve when the Government's attitude changes.

Dr McCarthy said that two weeks ago an elderly woman was made to wait on an ambulance stretcher at Prince of Wales for almost six hours, with 12 ambulances in the bay, because there were no emergency beds. "There needs to be a change in attitude because out-of-date bureaucrats in NSW Health think that emergency departments are meant to be chaotic but fail to acknowledge that we are treating the most critically ill people there are, people who are often much sicker than anyone that turns up in an ambulance," Dr McCarthy said.

Dubbed the "invisible minister", Ms Meagher has been accused of refusing to meet doctors and health groups in the six months since taking on the health portfolio. Her spokesman rejected the claim, saying she had made more than 50 visits to hospitals since March.

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Fertility rate link to family policies



AUSTRALIA has become one of the world's most generous nations for family handouts after more than trebling taxpayer-funded assistance in real terms over the past 20 years. Public money flowing to families ballooned from 1.1 per cent of the national economy in 1985 to more than 3.3 per cent by 2003, putting Australia sixth among developed nations, analysis undertaken by the Australian Institute for Family Studies shows. The funding has contributed to Australia keeping its fertility rate above the average for developed countries, the AIFS report finds.

Australia is almost certain to rank even higher today because policies introduced since 2003, such as the baby bonus, currently worth $5000 for each child born, were introduced after the international comparison was made by the OECD.

In 1990, Australia was near the bottom of the ladder of OECD countries for expenditure on families with children, but by 2003 it was eclipsed only by the Scandinavian countries, Hungary and Luxembourg.

The AIFS report, titled Fertility and Family Policy in Australia, highlights the spike in family payments over the past decade. "It is estimated that between the years 1993-94 and 2003-04, expenditure on family payments increased in real terms by about 115 per cent, from $7 billion to $15.3 billion in 2003-04 dollars," the report said.

AIFS director Matthew Gray said a strong economy over the past decade meant "massive amounts of public money was now being committed to families" via policy initiatives. Dr Gray, a co-author of the report, said family-focused policy measures were in part responsible for the nation's fertility rate remaining higher than most European and Asian countries. "Our fertility rate hasn't tumbled like it has in Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, South Korea, Japan," he said. "It is now at the upper middle of OECD countries, and government spending does play its part in a nation's fertility level. "The fertility rate ... is affected by financial incentives, but also I think there is a message to parents that runs alongside the actual policy that says their government believes having children is important."

The report finds "government support to families as a proportion of GDP has increased rapidly in Australia over the last 25 years with the level of spending ... having gone from being at the lower end for OECD countries to being well above the average". "Policies which lower the direct and indirect costs of raising children to families and allow women to combine paid employment with child-rearing are likely to boost fertility rates," it said. "Recent policy changes in Australia have certainly reduced the direct costs of child-rearing through expanding the family payment system to include families with relatively high incomes, (and) the recently introduced maternity payment also provides significant financial support."

In 1985, the OECD average of family spending in cash, services and tax measures was 1.6 per cent of GDP, while Australia's was just 1.1 per cent. By 1990, the OECD average had barely moved but Australia's percentage had risen to 1.5 per cent. In 2003, the OECD average had increased to 2.1 per cent, whereas Australia's was more than 3.3 per cent.

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