The NSW Labor party really is amazing

They have elected a corruptocrat as leader

New South Wales has its first female premier. American-born Kristina Keneally was installed following the sacking of Nathan Rees last night in one of the most extraordinary scenes in the state's political history. Ms Keneally's elevation also resulted in the first female double act in Australian political history, with Carmel Tebbutt her deputy.

Mr Rees, whose fate was sealed after he labelled sections of his Government treacherous, was executed by Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi in an ambush caucus meeting, The Daily Telegraph reported. Despite earlier vowing not to hand over the state to the two factional bosses, at 7.15pm (AEST) Mr Rees resigned in front of his caucus, following in the footsteps of the man he replaced last year, Morris Iemma.

He walked from the party room at Parliament House and simply said: "It's a difficult decision and we move on." An overwhelming 47 MPs of the 70 members of the party's full caucus then voted to install Ms Keneally.

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Gagged government scientist resigns

Politicized climate science again. Warmism is a cancer of the intellect

Eminent scientist Clive Spash has resigned from the CSIRO and called for a Senate inquiry into the science body following the censorship of his controversial report into emissions trading. Dr Spash has lashed out at the organisation which he says promotes self-censorship among its scientists with its unfair publication guidelines. He has been stunned at the treatment he's received at the hands of CSIRO management, including boss Megan Clark, and he also believes he's not alone.

"I've been treated extremely poorly," he told AAP on Thursday. "There needs to be a Senate inquiry. "The way the publication policy and the charter are being interpreted will encourage self-censorship. "It's obviously happened before at the CSIRO - and there's issues currently."

Last month, Dr Spash accused the organisation of gagging him and his report - The Brave New World of Carbon Trading - and restricting its publication. The report is critical of cap and trade schemes, like the one the federal government is seeking to introduce, as well as big compensation to polluters. Dr Spash advocates a direct tax on carbon.

The CSIRO said the report was in breach of its publication guidelines, which restrict scientists from speaking out on public policy. But it provoked accusations the CSIRO is censoring research harmful to the government. Under intense pressure, Dr Clark publicly released the report on November 26 but warned Dr Spash would be punished for his behaviour and his refusal to amend it.

"I believe that internationally peer-reviewed science should be published or, if Dr Clark wishes to have her own opinion, then she should publish her own opinion," Dr Spash said, who has been on sick leave. "I've been to the doctor under extreme stress. "I was surprised at senior management and how I was treated."

He had been ordered not to speak to the media while working for the CSIRO, which originally headhunted him for the job. Dr Spash, who is heading to Europe where he plans to stay indefinitely, was reluctant to openly criticise the government but noted that Science Minister Kim Carr had been abreast of the situation.

Journal New Political Economy had written to Senator Carr, detailing the changes the CSIRO had demanded and refusing to publish the censored version of the paper. "They cut the conclusion by half, 11 per cent of the text, changed the thrust of the meaning from being an index criticism of an ETS to being an argument that it stands to be redesigned," Dr Spash said. "I was clearly censored."

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Deranged health bureaucracy

Political correctness trumps medical knowledge

NURSES trying to re-enter the workforce are being quizzed on unrelated health topics. Disgruntled nurse Janette Morton, 47, from Bargara, northwest of Bundaberg, contacted The Courier-Mail to voice her disgust at some of the questions on a test paper which she believes are "irrelevant" to nursing. Nurses trying to return to the workforce are required to sit a Competence Assessment Service Challenge Test as part of their assessment to regain their qualifications.

Ms Morton said one question related to the percentage of non-speaking English people in Australia in 1997. Ms Morton said the nature of some of the questions contained in the test was "utterly ridiculous". "It's a lot harder than anyone would have thought," she said. "What is knowing the exact percentage of non-English speaking people going to do when I want to go work in ahospital or a nursing home? What is the relevance?"

She sat the assessment test last month in a bid to restart her nursing career after quitting the workforce in 2000 to care for her sick father. Ms Morton said she was "shocked" there was a multiple-choice question on the exam paper asking where the majority of Aborigines lived in Australia.

"The whole thing has been an absolute circus," she said. "Finding the material that we need to study is absolutely up to us. We are given a broad outline of what will possibly be in the exam but I didn't know I would need to know these sorts of things."

Ms Morton failed part A of the test which requires an 80 per cent pass grade. The test is set up by the Central Queensland University and Central Queensland Institute of TAFE on behalf of the Queensland Nursing Council. All questions on the competence test are computer generated and it has two components – part A is a written examination and part B is a clinical competence assessment. Nurses must get an 80 per cent pass in all four sections of the exam to proceed to part B.

Queensland Nurses Union secretary Gay Hawksworth defended the questions contained in the test. "It's cultural awareness and sensitivity, it's working with people from other cultures but it's also about nursing people from other cultures," she said.

QNC defended the testing process and said all questions were based on the "enrolled nurse TAFE curriculum and the registered nurse undergraduate degree curriculum".

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Australian Immigration Intake at Record High

New statistics show that over 500,000 long-term or permanent migrants arrive in Australia each year. Figures released from the Bureau of Statistics Australia have confirmed that 510,564 migrants, students, and long-term workers have arrived in Australia in the year to June. This is an increase of 15% on the previous year.

According to the preliminary statistics, Australia has grown by 443,139 or 2.07%. The growth comes due to a number of factors including a significant increase in births, with more than 300,000 new babies born, bringing Australia's fertility rate back to 1.98. Though fertility rates have improved, two thirds of Australia's population growth still comes from immigration.

Within Australia, Western Australia grew the most at 3.03%, and Perth is forecast to house 2 million people in the near future. Victoria's population grew by a record 2.14% for the state, and is expected to reach a population of 5.5 million by February 2010. It is estimated that Melbourne reached 4 million people in September 2009, and is now growing at approximately 2000 a week.

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