A small personal note



Life is not all politics (Thank goodness) so I cannot resist a little note of satisfaction here about the results my son has just got in his university examinations for the final year of his B.Sc. All his subjects were in mathematics and he got 7s (the maximum possible mark) in all subjects. He will be heading for his doctorate in mathematics now. I am sure it is very evil of me to say so (according to Leftists anyway) but it is a great satisfaction to have a very bright son. His mother is over the moon too. Neither of us have ever "pushed" him in any way. He is just a natural-born academic. I can't imagine where he gets that from! Since IQ is not genetically inherited (according to Leftists) it must just be a random event! I will be going to his graduation ceremony in a couple of weeks. I wonder if I should wear my doctoral robes?

We will be having a small family celebration of the occasion this Sunday -- at which I will of course be opening a bottle of Penfold's Grange.






Your government will protect you (NOT)

Appalling foster parents kill child. But no doubt they had a good attitude to homosexuality. That seems to be a major selection criterion for foster parents these days. And having 17 people living in one small house is no problem, of course

On the day of her death, a 12-year-old girl in foster care lay in the dirt outside her Darwin home, delirious with pain and covered in ants, a court heard yesterday. She was so sick that she defecated in her clothes and could not walk without help, Darwin Magistrates Court heard. She died after allegedly being laid outside in the dirt by one of her carers, who the court heard is alleged to have said if she "wanted to soil herself" she "might as well go outside and act like the animal".

The girl died from acute septicaemia in a Royal Darwin Hospital emergency room on July 12. Two women, one 42 and the other 43, have been charged with her manslaughter. Director of Public Prosecutions Richard Coates told Darwin Magistrates Court the girl was limping three weeks before her death and "during the last week of her life'' needed help "to go to the toilet". "There is evidence that she urinated and defecated in her clothes as she was unable to go to the toilet," Mr Coates said.

And, on the day she died, he said the girl lay in the dirt with bleeding gums and "ants on her nose, eyes and mouth", deliriously telling her siblings she could see fairies in the trees.

A niece of both women said when she asked why the girl hadn't been taken to a doctor for her limp, one said it was because it was a muscle injury from a school sports day. The niece said the girl was still limping by the second week of the school holidays, and "never moved off the couch" when she visited. But she said she was "gobsmacked" when she was told the girl had died, and St John's ambulance officer Craig Garraway also said he didn't see any injuries on the girl when he tried to resuscitate her.

Two Family and Children's Services officers told the court they had seen the girl lying on the kitchen floor crying, and although she was "unsteady'' on her feet they considered she did not need medical treatment. A neighbour, who is also a NT police officer, said the "bubbly" girl became "real crook" just before her death and "was in pain". The court heard that nine of the two accused's children were living in the three bedroom Woodroffe home, as well as another adult and five foster children.

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Businesses race to escape Leftist labour laws

SMALL businesses are being urged to sack workers before Labor overhauls the industrial relations laws, as one of Australia's biggest employers races to put 15,000 staff on five-year employment contracts before Work Choices is scrapped. Telstra yesterday outlined a post-election strategy to urgently sign up thousands of its staff already employed under Australian Workplace Agreements to new deals that do not guarantee pay rises. The AWAs being offered by the telecommunications giant could also be offered to new employees who join Telstra before the new laws are passed.

The move comes as small businesses were being advised to seize the "window of opportunity to take advantage of Work Choices" before Labor's new laws are implemented. "The exemption from unfair dismissal laws for businesses with 100 employees or less could be gone by early 2008," says Smartcompany, an online magazine for business that attracts 80,000 hits a month. "SME (small and medium enterprise) owners who move quickly to get rid of unsuitable staff could save themselves on legal costs and go-away money down the track. "There is also an opportunity for SMEs to maximise the benefit they derive from (AWAs). Labor has promised AWAs signed before its laws come in will be allowed to operate until 2012."

While Julia Gillard, the incoming deputy prime minister and industrial relations minister, has warned companies against rushing in new AWAs, Labor has acknowledged that employers would be free to keep signing up workers until the legislation is passed - potentially months away. Even then, the Rudd Government could face problems in the Senate, with the remnants of the former Coalition government divided on whether they should respect Labor's election mandate to scrap Work Choices. The Coalition will retain control of the Senate until at least July next year.

The ACTU last night attacked the moves, accusing business of ignoring the federal election result, which it said was an unqualified repudiation of the Work Choices laws. And a wary Council of Small Business of Australia rejected the call to sack staff now, describing the advice as "just a red rag to a bull". "Running out now holus bolus sacking staff because they might be unsuitable now or in the future, I don't think is the way to go," said the council's chairman, Bob Stanton.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow urged small business to ignore the advice. "Surely, small businesses would be appalled to think that staff they had with them for quite a long time would suddenly be feeling insecure because they were being urged to sack them," she said. Ms Burrow said Telstra's move was "extraordinarily provocative", accusing the giant telco of trying to intimidate workers to sign away their right to a collective agreement for five years. "Clearly some CEOs and many Liberal Party members still haven't heard the voters' message that they want the Howard government's extreme IR laws abandoned," she said. "We would urge the Telstra management to respect the rights of their staff, allow them to negotiate a collective agreement and rebuild a working relationship that is based on rights at work that Australians just overwhelmingly voted for."

Telstra said its strategy was entirely legitimate, despite the change of government. "Telstra is giving 15,000 employees on AWAs the opportunity to renew their contracts -- a choice allowed by the new government," a spokeswoman said. "It is a voluntary process. If employees don't wish to sign an AWA, they will just say 'no thanks'. "Giving employees a choice to renew their workplace agreements and achieve certainty around employment terms and conditions over the next five years is an opportunity, not an imposition. Some will choose to renew. Some will choose to do otherwise. But it is the employee who gets to choose, not Telstra and not the union. And that is the way it should be."

Telstra confirmed the AWAs did not contain automatic pay rises for employees, saying annual wage increases would be "based on market reviews and individual performance". The Telstra spokesman said many Telstra employees earned significantly more money on AWAs than existing collective arrangements. For example, communication technicians on AWAs earned, on average, $30,000 a year more than those on the current enterprise agreement.

Ms Burrow said Telstra employees on AWAs had no certainty about receiving a pay rise for up to five years. Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Stephen Jones said Telstra management was pressuring staff on existing AWAs to sign new five-year contracts, regardless of how long their current agreement had to run. "Even Joe Hockey has declared Work Choices dead," Mr Jones said. "Yet Telstra remains hell-bent on moving as many staff as possible on to Work Choices agreements."

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Huge mob of blacks attacks Melbourne police

AN attempted arrest descended into a mass brawl last night as police came under attack from up to 100 youths in Flemington. One officer suffered a bruised chest and ribs as the aggressive crowd turned on police. When police stopped to speak to a rock-throwing suspect on Racecourse Rd he became abusive and was arrested. It was during this arrest that another man - also believed to have been involved in the rock-throwing - attacked police officers. After he was also arrested, scores of youths and adults - many believed to be of African descent - surrounded police and attempted to free the men.

One police officer was injured and a total of 15 police units from the CBD and inner suburban areas attended to disperse the crowd. Two further teenagers were arrested. Four males aged between 14 and 18 years of age were eventually taken to the Moonee Ponds Police Station before being released. They are expected to be charged on summons at a later date.

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