A fine example of Leftist hate-speech

Written by John Birmingham below under the restrained and balanced heading "Why are we subsidising ignorance, stupidity and hatred?"

The fact that private schools actually cost the taxpayer LESS per pupil than government schools is just one of those silly little facts that must not be allowed to interrupt the flow of bile. The Australian Federal government does subsidize some of the costs of private schools but not all.

And the fact that the church is upholding standards that embody the wisdom of the ages cuts no ice with Mr Birmingham, of course. He knows better!

A small pic of the happy Mr Birmingham below. One pities any partner he might have




It’s heartening, but not entirely surprising that the Catholic Church overturned the decision of the Sacred Heart Primary School in Broken Hill to reject the enrolment of a young girl whose at-home parents, two women, are in a lesbian relationship.

Heartening for the little girl, even though the mums have wisely decided to spare her the inevitable unpleasantness of attending a school where she’s not wanted. But not entirely surprising, because if the Church had allowed this story to spin out of control it risked having to answer some very awkward questions about just how much money it sucks off the public tit, when it’s unwilling to comply with public standards as expressed in legislation such as the Anti-Discrimination Act.

The Catholic Church and its fellow travelers in the other denominations are pretty much out on their own when it comes to punishing kids for the sexuality of their parents. And be assured, that’s what was at stake here, and what Bishop Kevin Manning has avoided airing in public with his order to Sacred Heart to enrol the child.

All religious schools in this country, not just Catholic ones, enjoy the benefits of a grotesque double standard, where they put their hands out for a hand out, and a massive one at that, draining off billions of dollars from the education budget, while not having to measure up to the same standards demanded of public schools, most of which are woefully underfunded because of subsidies to the private sector.

Surely if the private religious schools are to trouser billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, at the expense of taxpayers who can’t afford to send their own children to those privileged institutions, more might be demanded of them when it comes to, say, not behaving like ignorant, medieval bigots. There's no reason they can't hang onto their vile opinions, but there's no reason the rest of us should have to pay for them.

As long as they enjoy a free pass from the Act, however, we will continue to subsidise their ignorance, stupidity and hatred.

They know it too. Or at least the smart ones do. That’s why they moved so quickly to shut down debate on this most recent outrage.

SOURCE





South Australia's solution to a bloated health bureaucracy: Create another bureaucracy

A NEW Health Department unit has been ordered to rein in the out-of-control spending that leads to multimillion-dollar annual bail-outs.

Treasurer Jack Snelling and Health Minister John Hill want the Resources Unit to keep spending growth under control, and to ensure the department meets the saving targets set in previous Budgets.

The creation of the unit - headed by senior public servant Steve Archer - is a key element in the Mid-year Budget Review, which Mr Snelling will hand down on Friday. He is also expected to announce more savings measures and changes to projected deficits and surpluses.

It was revealed in August that Health Department spending was $88 million over budget last financial year, with a final figure still to be worked out. Consultants were called in to put a cap on staff numbers - the department employs around 30,000 people - and devise management strategies.

Mr Snelling said the unit was being set up as a result of that departmental review. "While we have been very good at containing the demand on health services, we also need to get some controls over the growth in expenditure," he said.

SOURCE






Strange standards in Queensland Health's Ethical Standards Unit

QUEENSLAND Health's Ethical Standards Unit is under investigation for failing to uncover an alleged multi-million-dollar swindle while rigorously pursuing staff for fraud during the payroll debacle.

A probe has been launched into an investigation last year by ESU staff, which cleared accused embezzler, Joel Morehu-Barlow following a complaint.

Queensland Nurses' Union secretary Beth Mohle said she was astounded with how vigorously the ESU had pursued "80-odd health workers" for suspected payroll fraud while dismissing a complaint about Mr Morehu-Barlow. "How can an alleged fraud of such significance not be picked up by the Ethical Standards Unit?" Ms Mohle said.

Queensland Health Director-General Tony O'Connell said the Crime and Misconduct Commission would conduct inquiries into the "appropriateness" of the ESU investigation into Mr Morehu-Barlow.

The original complaint against him, made by an informant outside Queensland Health, was received by the CMC in August last year and subsequently referred to the ESU for investigation. "The CMC will determine what actions were undertaken as part of the investigation," Dr O'Connell said.

Figures provided by Queensland Health show the ESU has 12 permanent staff, including five investigators. Two Queensland police officers are also stationed within the unit.

SOURCE




Climate change linked to cat breeding explosion, according to Australia's RSPCA

Since even Warmist scientists admit that there has been no warming for over a decade, the article below exhibits the most inspissated ignorance. To put it in terms even a 4-year-old would understand: If global warming hasn't happened, it can't have influenced anything!

Cat breeding cycles are lengthening and could prove hairy for the RSPCA this summer as they coincide with the already busy festive season. Animal refuge centres have reported a spike in kitten numbers in recent years with centres inundated statewide.

RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty told AAP that cat breeding cycles now stretch from October through to May. "Particularly around January we can get up to 300 to 400 kittens a week," Mr Beatty said.

The lengthened breeding cycles have been blamed on the effects of climate change creating ideal breeding conditions for longer. As cats favour a warm spring or summer climate, the shorter winters have seen numbers soar.

A study by the British Ecological Society recently found that cows were also giving birth far earlier than traditional summer periods.

Mr Beatty said that although climate change may be a factor, irresponsible pet owners were also to blame for surplus cats. He urged people not to rush into buying a pet and encouraged desexing animals. "People need to realise a pet is a responsibility not a right," Mr Beatty said.

The RSPCA usually receives thousands of animals abandoned over the summer holidays as their families go on holidays without arranging a carer. Laura Finigan, a worker at the RSPCA's new refuge at Wacol, west of Brisbane, says kittens are regularly dumped at the centre.

"Owners need to understand a pet can live for 12 to 20 years," she told AAP. "You need to think about an animal that will fit in with your lifestyle."

SOURCE






Gay marriage the least of Labor woes

"Any government honest with its people would take this matter to a referendum after a couple of years of open debate" ... Loree Rudd. Photo: AFP
A sense of why Labor came out of its annual conference last week with an immediate and sharp decrease in support in the polls was provided by Loree Rudd, the elder sister of Labor's former and discarded saviour, Kevin Rudd, after she resigned from the Labor Party on principle.

"Any government honest with its people would take this matter to a referendum after a couple of years of open debate," she told her local newspaper in Queensland, the Sunshine Coast Daily.

She was referring to gay marriage. "It is not an easy issue and shouldn't be swept through in a night sitting. It shouldn't be swept through at a Labor conference when the party has committed to the electorate it will support marriage as it is."

This is the issue that dominated the ALP national conference. It generates passionate support within sections of the party and the electorate. It is a defining issue for the Greens. It is a debate where personal denigration is routine - "bigot" is a default term for many - by people claiming to espouse the cause of tolerance.

All this has created a false sense of urgency, as this week's Herald/Nielsen poll indicated.

An overwhelming majority of Australians oppose discrimination against homosexuals and support giving parliamentarians the freedom of a conscience vote on gay marriage. This consensus is not, however, the same as support for gay marriage.

In the marriage and mortgage belts of the cities, where elections are won and lost, gay marriage is generally a low-order priority if supported, or is quietly opposed.

Labor's primary vote fell to 29 per cent in the Herald/Nielsen poll published shortly after the ALP national conference.

The Coalition's lead over Labor on a two-party preferred basis jumped from 10 per cent to a yawning 14 per cent, 57-43, the sharpest change in a year, an ominous result for Julia Gillard almost 18 months into her prime ministership.

Support for the Coalition leader, Tony Abbott, as preferred prime minister shot back up to 46 per cent, compared to Gillard's 42 per cent after they had been even in the previous poll.

Support for the Greens eroded sharply, the primary vote dropping from 14 to 11 per cent, down by more than one-fifth, and lower than its vote in last year's election.

Abbott now offers the electorate a stark point of difference on gay marriage. He is maintaining Coalition policy against legalising same-sex marriage, and will not allow his party a conscience vote on the issue. The Prime Minister was obliged to cave in on a conscience vote.

Support for Abbott as preferred prime minister jumped sharply in the poll after drifting down for months. The Coalition remains solid in opposition to gay marriage despite the lobbying of several prominent Liberals. The former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull, whose electorate has a large gay population, is advocating a conscience vote for the Liberals.

Turnbull is to Liberal solidity what Kevin Rudd is to Labor unity. Both their leaders would like to be rid of their ambitions.

"Rudd" has become a four-letter word for many Labor MPs as their government bounces along an unstable road of low poll numbers.

Loree Rudd indirectly helped undermine her brother's executioners with her emphatic departure from the party. Her position reflects that of the large segment of the population whose religious views preclude support for gay marriage. As she told her local paper: "The whole concept of equality comes from the Bible, from the sacred scriptures. All people are equal before God, but not all relationships."

That is a hardline argument in a country where religion is not a defining element in politics. Biblical references are the stuff of ridicule for most secular voters and journalists.

But Loree Rudd is right when she says that only a referendum would give the true picture of where Australia stands on this issue.

In the marriage and mortgage belts, there are more immediate concerns and some of them are trending badly for Labor.

Energy bills are rising much faster than inflation. The housing market is softening and people grow cautious about debt. The surge in industrial disputation since the introduction of the Fair Work Act underlines the Gillard government's reinvigoration of union power.

On another matter of principle, people smuggling, government policy has become an admission of defeat.

All the noise and moral outrage on the subject of gay marriage generated by sections of the media, the academy, the human rights industry and the gay rights lobby, has created the impression of a wider ferment that just does not exist in much of the marriage and mortgage belts where the next federal election will be decided.

SOURCE