Sydney public hospital patients pay up to beat chronic health queues

PATIENTS are paying up to $600 for private treatment to avoid queues at crowded public hospital emergency departments as the state's casualty crisis deepens. Baulkham Hills Private Hospital and Sydney Adventist Hospital, two of three Sydney private hospitals with emergency facilities, reported a 30per cent rise in the number of admissions this year. On Thursday it was reported that most patients were forced to wait an average of eight hours in public hospital emergency rooms.

The nurse unit manager at Baulkham Hills Private, Lea Mitchell, said the number of patients visiting its emergency department had risen by nearly one-third compared with the same period last year. "There are patients who come here because they're not prepared to wait," she said. "We get that all the time. Patients are seen very quickly by the nurse and then they may have to wait a short while for the doctor. The longest anyone has had to wait is three hours." Ms Mitchell said that at the busiest periods, there would be between four and six people waiting. "That's when we're really, really, really busy."

State Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said the numbers flocking to private hospitals were a reflection of the lack of community trust in the public sector. "It's a degree of the frustration of the community," she said. "They know that sometimes you are stuck in an ambulance or a waiting room for hours."

At Sydney Adventist Hospital, which has the state's largest private emergency section, doctors see 21,000 patients a year. Its director of emergency care, Greg McDonald, said most patients pay between $300 and $350 for treatment, with Medicare giving a rebate of about $100. Fees can reach $600 in cases such as heart attacks, which require specialist care and invasive procedures. "People ring us up from the public hospitals and they go, 'I've been waiting here five or six hours and it doesn't look like I've got a chance', and we say, 'Come here. You'll be able to see a doctor sooner'," Dr McDonald said. "We are more generous, more liberal in the way we deal with patients, in the way we try to find them beds."

But in winter, the emergency department is 10 per cent busier, mostly with patients aged older than 75 or younger than 16. Dr McDonald said the hospital treated the same extensive range of emergencies as a public hospital, and often saw trauma cases even though they were officially not meant to. "Sometimes the ambulance brings them to us because they think they need more urgent attention," he said. Dr McDonald is lobbying the Federal Government for funding of the private emergency sector so that they could better supplement the public health system.

However, a spokeswoman for Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott ruled it out, saying hospitals should talk with the State Government instead. Meanwhile, elective surgeries have been postponed at public hospitals in northern Sydney and the Central Coast due to staff shortages caused by a flu and viral outbreaks. The acting chief executive at the region's area health service, Terry Clout, said surgery would be rescheduled as soon as possible.

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Right to tribal law scrapped

Multiculti loses out

ABORIGINAL offenders in the Northern Territory will no longer be able to use customary law to get softer sentences for serious crimes, under the Howard Government's radical intervention into Aboriginal communities. And federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough revealed yesterday that the "just terms" compensation to be offered to Aboriginal traditional owners who have their land taken from them for five years could be provided in many forms, not only in cash. Mr Brough said "rent and improvements", including infrastructure programs, could count as compensation. And he conceded some traditional owners might have to wait a long time until they received any compensation. "What I'm saying is that traditional owners will discuss with the Government, and if ... a particular group ... can't come up with a decision, then there is recourse to the courts," he said.

Mr Brough said the Government would introduce the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill into parliament today, with plans to have the legislation passed by the end of the week.

Labor held a special briefing last night with Kevin Rudd and a caucus sub-committee that included the two Labor MPs from the Territory who have opposed elements of the Howard Government's intervention. The issue has been sensitive in Labor ranks, with the Left opposing crucial elements of the Howard package. The Australian understands that Labor is likely to support the legislation while still articulating the view that the abolition of the permit system for entry to communities is unnecessary. Labor will decide at this morning's caucus meeting how it will respond to thebill.

Mr Brough said the Government's intervention would cost $587 million in the first 12 months, as revealed in The Australian yesterday. Of this, $64.7 million will be spent on policing alcohol bans and pornography, $83.1 million on health checks for indigenous children, $205.8 million on welfare changes and employment initiatives, and $32.8 million on enhanced child protection services and more safe houses, an expansion of alcohol diversionary services for youth and additional childcare.

Mr Brough said the customary law changes were included because the Territory Government had failed to change its laws. "COAG agreed in 2006 that no customary law or cultural practice excuses violence or sexual abuse," he said. "Jurisdictions agreed to amend their laws to reflect this decision. The Australian Government has amended commonwealth law. The NT has so far failed to do so."

The Howard Government's plan contains legislation authorising alcohol bans, the takeover of remote community land under five-year leases and audits of public computers for pornography. Other bills will provide for welfare changes, both in the Territory and nationwide, and the removal of the permit system for Aboriginal land, which restricts access to communities.

The Territory Government said it opposed some of the measures, including the land acquisitions and the removal of the permit system. Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin said her Government only supported measures that would directly result in the protection of children. "Providing unrestricted access to communities by removing permit requirements, leasing land for five years and compulsorily acquiring town camps does not meet these criteria and does not have the support of the (NT) Government," Ms Martin said.

The Howard Government also announced that for the duration of the five-year intervention, all native title land claims would be suspended.

Indigenous people who have their welfare money quarantined by at least 50per cent for wasting their payments on alcohol, drugs or gambling, or failing to send their children to school, will not have the right to appeal against the decision. If they fail to send their children to school, all their welfare payments could be quarantined. Other Australians who face welfare controls will be able to appeal.

Mr Brough yesterday admitted that not all Aboriginal children were turning up to health checks. His office said they had offered a visiting delegation of Territory Aboriginal leaders opposed to the intervention a meeting yesterday afternoon but they had refused the time offered to them.

In other changes to the law, people who try to smuggle alcohol into remote Territory indigenous communities will risk up to 18 months' imprisonment and a $75,000 fine. Those caught with alcohol for personal use will face a fine of $110 for first offences and double that for any subsequent offences. Anyone caught in prescribed areas with more than the equivalent of 1350ml of alcohol will be presumed to have an intent to supply and the maximum penalty will be up to 18 months' jail and $74,800 in fines.

Mr Brough defended the initial $587 million cost of the plan, saying anyone who criticised the expenditure was "either not a parent or doesn't have a soul". "What price do you put on ... a baby of six months of age with gonorrhoea?" Mr Brough said. "Let's say it as it is: that is the price that we're willing to pay to try and prevent that from occurring, to ensure that children actually do have a future."

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Doubt cast over "carbon offset" tree planting

TREE-PLANTING schemes promoted by businesses and rock bands alike to offset carbon emissions do little to combat climate change, according to a think tank. A paper by The Australia Institute released yesterday accuses governments and businesses of exploiting such "fads" to avoid the need for real cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. "By diverting people's funds and attention to projects that are unlikely to reduce emissions significantly in the long term, some offset schemes could ultimately do more harm than good," Christian Downie, the author of the report, said. "Tree-planting is the most popular type of carbon offset promoted in Australia but it is, in fact, the least effective for dealing with climate change. "The evidence indicates that offsets from renewable energy are the most effective, followed by those from energy efficiency projects, with forestry projects ranked last."

The comments are a blow to companies that have supported tree-planting to offset their carbon footprints, including BP, Sainsbury's, British Telecom, Orange, Avis and MTV. British rock band Coldplay bought 10,000 mango trees for villagers in Karnataka, in India, to offset the greenhouse gases released as a result of the production of their album A Rush of Blood to the Head. Dido, Atomic Kitten, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kylie Minogue, Kevin Keegan and the Rolling Stones have also promoted tree-planting schemes.

Mr Downie said Australia needed a compulsory accreditation scheme for carbon offset projects. He said there were strong grounds for excluding forestry-based offsets from an emissions trading system in Australia, or at least restricting their use. "Tree-planting, or forestry, cannot secure real, measurable and permanent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions because sooner or later the forest will be felled, burned or destroyed," Mr Downie said. "When (people) buy offsets from a forestry project with their airline ticket, for example, they are actually buying a promise that the immediate emissions from their flight will be gradually offset over the next 100 years. "There can be very little, if any, guarantee that this will actually happen."

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Navy forced to ring triple-0

Armies and navies are bureaucracies and anyone with experience of them will not be surprised by this

An Australian warship was forced to call triple-0 to airlift an injured diver to hospital after it failed to reach anyone at a nearby naval training base, a military board of inquiry has been told. Leading Seaman Timothy Wildin, 24, was airlifted to safety after a near drowning accident on March 27 while stationed on HMAS Parramatta. The board of inquiry also heard it took three attempts and a delay of up to 18 minutes to raise the dive boat where Seaman Wildin was being revived.

He and another diver were attempting to free entangled fishing buoys from one of the ship's propellers about 22km east of Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast when he encountered difficulty. Seaman Wildin was pulled to the surface where he was "vomiting and limp", the ship's on-duty watch commander Lieutenant Megan Fowler told the inquiry.

About 5.40am (AEST), the watch crew observed a flashing light attached to a water buoy about 275m off the right side of the ship, prompting an order to change course. But the attached fishing lines and buoys caught the ship's hull, forcing the crew to stop the engines and commence the dive operation around 6.20am.

The inquiry has yet to hear the details of what happened to Seaman Wildin while under water, but Lt Fowler witnessed the attempts to winch the dive boat onboard the ship. She told the inquiry that conditions were favourable on the day with clear skies, slight seas and 18km/h winds. Giving evidence from her officer-of-the-watch notebook, Lt Fowler said it took multiple attempts to raise the dive boat. The dive boat crew had difficulty connecting the hook from the crane and the boat was initially overloaded with crew and equipment, requiring a number of people to climb aboard via the ship's ladder. "It had been taking a while to raise the boat," Lt Fowler said.

The ship's captain, Commander Lee Goddard, the second witness to appear at the inquiry, agreed the sea and weather conditions did not pose enough risk to postpone the dive operation. But statements he provided prior to the commencement of today's inquiry reveal HMAS Parramatta had offloaded most of its dive equipment in Newcastle during a six-month re-fit operation of the ship that concluded last December. Cmdr Goddard was assigned captain of the ship immediately following the re-fit and was informed about the missing dive equipment in January. He was also told the ship did not have the required dive supervisor. "To be frank, we didn't have a dive capability in January 2007," he told the inquiry. It was not until late February that the problems were rectified and the dive team commenced so much dive training that some was done during off-duty periods. But Cmdr Goddard said an assessment in mid-March determined the dive team was qualified and capable of carrying out operations.

When asked why his crew rang triple-O for civilian rescue assistance, he said they attempted to raise someone at HMAS Creswell naval training base at Jervis Bay but were unsuccessful. "I wasn't surprised triple-0 had been called," Cmdr Goddard said. He said his crew made the logical decision as he ordered the ship towards land in a "sprint to Jervis Bay". Seaman Wildin was eventually airlifted from the ship by NRMA CareFlight to intensive care at the Prince of Wales of Hospital and has since returned to duty. Up to 40 witnesses are expected to appear over the next three weeks of the inquiry.

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Soldiers' alcohol binge OK, says Howard

Good to see that Australia has a level-headed PM who does not buy in to Leftist hysteria. Drinking is part of life in Australia and overdoing it from time to time is normal too

JOHN Howard and Brendan Nelson have defended the conduct of drunken soldiers in a video posted on internet site YouTube, saying the young men were just letting off steam. The 3-minute video, titled My Experience in the Australian Army, posted by an ex-soldier but now removed from YouTube, shows a group of young men getting extremely drunk during a drinking game. The soldiers, from Robertson Barracks in Darwin, are shown sculling alcohol through a long tube and then vomiting.

The brief appearance of someone in a Ku Klux Klan outfit has caused widespread comment but the Prime Minister said the soldiers were letting off "a bit of steam" and urged the public not to overreact. "I have some understanding of the disposition of people in these situations to let off a bit of steam," Mr Howard said. "I just think people can overreact with these things. People get into a lather and sweat and so on ... Let's be sensible about this."

Mr Howard said any discipline was a matter for the army. "Let the military deal with those things in their own way," he said. The Defence Minister said he would wait for the army's report into the incident. "Let's just wait until the Chief of Army and the military investigate the matter before we start jumping to conclusions and start to criticise the men who appear to have been involved," Dr Nelson said. "I suspect a lot of it is ... a bit of larrikin irreverence and I also suspect some of it has crossed the line and is quite inappropriate."

Brigadier Craig Orme, commander of Darwin's 1st Brigade, said the video was shot by a now former member of the Australian Defence Force about three years ago. He said the conduct was "abhorrent and inappropriate" and "not in the least" common, and the army would launch an inquiry to determine what action if any should be taken.

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Klan footage a 'bucks prank'



A FORMER soldier who appears in a video of Australian troops binge drinking, with one apparently dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman, says the footage was a bucks party prank, not a racial slur. Identified only as Rico, the former soldier said he could understand why people were upset about the footage but it wasn't meant to be offensive. "I can see why people find it offensive but the reason why it was done was a mate's bucks party that we were having," he told the Seven Network. "We had a surprise made up for him so we went and pretty much kidnapped him and we needed a costume so he couldn't find out who it was. "The cheapest way to do it was to put a bedsheet over our heads, it wasn't in any racial terms."

The military is conducting an inquiry into the "abhorrent" video, shot three years ago and recently posted on the YouTube internet site. Rico said alcohol was a big part of army life while he was there and a way of letting off steam. "Every weekend pretty much that kind of drinking went on, most of the footage in that video was pretty tame compared to a lot of things that used to go on," Rico said. "We did our duty to the best of our abilities, we didn't drink while we were on duty."

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That wonderful government "planning" again

Delay in autopsy reports on SIDS

DISTRAUGHT parents of children who have died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome are waiting up to a year for final autopsy reports due to a chronic shortage of forensic pathologists. The shortage is also causing increasing delays for relatives waiting for adult autopsy results through the coroner's court system.

Doctors specialising in SIDS say the situation is causing anguish for parents who desperately need emotional closure after a child's death. But they would speak only anonymously because their area of highly specialised work depends entirely on state and federal funding.

The latest figures from the Royal College of Pathologists Australasia show there is one pathologist for every 15,500 Australians. The situation for child forensic pathologists is much worse: 10-12 pathologists for the entire population. About 30 per cent of these pathologists are aged 60 and over. To train a pathologist takes five years on top of a regular medical degree and one year's hospital experience.

Professor Roger Byard of the University of Adelaide told The Sunday Mail: "There just aren't enough pathologists, full stop. It's a workforce issue that's only going to get worse." Dr Debra Graves, CEO of the Royal College of Pathologists, describes the situation as "woeful". She said a 2003 Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee report, signed off by both state and federal health ministers at the time, recommended an extra 500 training positions over five years. But to date only 80 positions have been created, well short of the 400 traineeships that should have been in place by the beginning of 2007. According to College data, the Commonwealth has committed to funding an extra 30 positions in the private sector.

But it is the states that are dragging the chain. To date Queensland has committed to 21 positions, the ACT two, Western Australia 11, South Australia two, Tasmania one, and Victoria and New South Wales six each. The number of SIDS deaths in Australia has fallen from 500 a year to around 100 annually since the "safe sleeping" campaign began in 1991.

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Qld. hospitals stretched to limit

A moronic government was not prepared for an upsurge of winter flu -- more of that wonderful government "planning"



With a burning forehead from a raging fever and his tiny chest heaving with every cough, Tyson Penrose slumped into his dad's lap. As exhausted Matthew Penrose, of Petrie, tried to make himself comfortable on the cold steel seat, he wrapped his arms around his sickly 11-month-old son and waited . . . and waited. "We were told there would be a two-hour wait when we got here," Mr Penrose said as he took his late-night place among the scores of other anxious parents who cradled their sick babies in the emergency room of Royal Brisbane Children's Hospital. By midnight, the wait time was nearly three hours. By then the children were drained by their illness and exhaustion, their desperate parents willing to do anything to get their kids better again.

The hospital staff are understanding of each parent's plight, those in the wait room said, but they are chronically undermanned and the flood of patients sickened by the current flu outbreak appears overwhelming. And this is a scene repeated in emergency rooms and hospital wards across the state as Queensland plunges into its worst flu crisis in six years.

Influenza A killed a four-year-old boy at Mater Children's Hospital last week and nurses yesterday flew home yesterday with 48 children stricken with the influenza A virus during a school trip to Canberra. The Year 7 students from Marymount College on the Gold Coast were required to wear face masks as they boarded a bus in Canberra which left for Sydney airport early yesterday morning. Two of their classmates remained in hospital in Canberra, but are reported to be satisfactory.

At the Gold Coast Hospital 23 children have been diagnosed with suspected Influenza A virus in the past two weeks, 10 of them requiring admission. That's five times the number of flu cases among children in the same period last year, a trend doctors say is occurring across the state. "It's strikingly unusual. I assume it has something to do with a change in the strain (of the virus)," said Professor John Gerrard, the Gold Coast Hospital's director of medicine.

Dr Steve Hambleton, a GP spokesman for the Australian Medical Association, agrees the current strain of influenza is unusually virulent. "It also spreads very easily. The virus can actually be transmitted within two hours of shaking hands with an infected person," he said.

The flu crisis is taking a staggering toll across the state. A Queensland Health source told The Sunday Mail that on Monday the state had run out of intensive care beds, coronary care beds and higher dependency beds - although a spokeswoman for Queensland Health disputed that. Queensland Nurses Union secretary Gay Hawksworth said critically ill patients were being dumped on trolleys in hospital corridors because there were no beds.

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Smart kids wise up to useless education

Record numbers of Queensland high school graduates are snubbing university to chase "instant cash in the strong labour market. The rush to work comes as new research shows the number of Year 12 students who have decided to defer tertiary study has risen sharply in the past two years. Students admit they are weighing up the costs of taking out loans from the Government for tertiary courses when some high school graduates are earning up to $1200 a day in parts of north Queensland as bricklayers.

Universities face the long-term challenge of competing for a "relatively static pool of potential students", experts say. Professor Kerri-Lee Krause, director of the Griffith Institute for Higher Education, told The Sunday Mail: "It's no longer just a given that Year 12 students see university as the obvious pathway. "Universities need to be mindful of how they market themselves and we're seeing evidence of that even now with more flexible options with courses."

Education researcher David Phillips, from KPA Consulting, analysed tertiary admission applications and found that there had been no increase in Queensland Admissions Centre applicants fot the last 15 years despite Queensland school leavers growing more than 20 per cent in that time. There were 9000 more applicants for universities in 1993 than there were in 2006," Mr Phillips said.

University campuses are continuing to grow only because mature-age and overseas students make up the shortfall. Also concerning for universities is the trend of deferring study, with about 600 Year 12 students taking a break in 1993-94 compared with 2700 in 2005-06. "This number has risen very sharply, especially in the last two years," Mr Phillips said.

Mandy Coles,l7, of Varsity Lakes, was accepted by Bond University for a Bachelor of Business, but has opted to pursue a management career with fashion store Supre. Ms Coles estimates her two-year, full- time course at the private university would have cost $74,000, less about $300 per week in study assistance. "As soon as I turn 19, I'm on more than $12 an hour (at Supre). It's a lot better than the cost of going to university," she said.

The above article by Paul Weston appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on August 5, 2007





Patient dies in hospital hallway



A 43-YEAR-OLD woman has died on a stretcher at Brisbane's Logan Hospital because no beds were available. The Woodridge woman was brought in by paramedics suffering shortness of breath. She waited more than four hours but died before being admitted.

Queensland Ambulance sources said the woman's life could have been saved but a shortage of beds at the hospital, in Brisbane's south, meant she had to wait in a hallway for treatment that never came in time. "Logan Hospital is always at capacity - we take patients there and wait and wait, sometimes four, five, six or seven hours," one paramedic told The Sunday Mail yesterday. "This woman was taken in and she died on the stretcher waiting for help. It's wrong."

Queensland Health refused to comment. The Queensland Ambulance Service yesterday issued an unprecedented public statement yesterday about the death, saying it had referred the case to the Coroner for investigation. Ambulance Commissioner Jim Higgins said the woman was taken to Logan Hospital on July 18. While waiting at the hospital, she became unresponsive and resuscitation attempts failed. "This is a sad incident and I extend my condolences to the family of the patient," said Mr Higgins. "Such cases are always fully investigated. "The cause of the death is unknown and that's why this matter has been referred to the Coroner. "Until the Coroner makes a determination in this matter it would be inappropriate to comment further. "However, I can say that the patient was under the care of paramedics at all times." Mr Higgins said he had also referred the death to the independent watchdog, the Health Quality and Complaints Commission.

The ambulance source said Logan Hospital had been at capacity almost every night for the past fortnight. Gold Coast and Tweed Heads hospitals were on bypass - which meant no beds were available and ambulances were directed to take patients to the already over-stretched Logan Hospital.

The woman's death was similar to that of father-of-four Greg Hayes, 47, who died in June after being turned away from Tweed Heads Hospital and paramedics were forced to transport him another 22km to the Gold Coast Hospital. Health and ambulance officials tried to absolve themselves of blame over the death of the heart attack victim, saying a radio fault caused the tragedy.

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Heart discovery to save millions of lives

AUSTRALIA'S top heart specialists believe they have found a treatment to stop heart disease in its tracks, potentially saving millions of lives worldwide. Experts from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital will today unveil the groundbreaking discovery which involves using adult stem cells from patients to repair their own hearts. The world-first treatment has been shown to generate new blood vessels and repair dead tissue in the heart. Importantly, the changes appear to be permanent.

Heart disease is the world's biggest killer, claiming 17 million lives a year. In Australia, there are 3.5 million sufferers and 50,000 die annually, 35 per cent of all deaths.

The new treatment involves injecting patients with a hormone to release beneficial stem cells from their bone marrow into their bloodstream. Then the patients are put on a treadmill to encourage the cells to travel to the heart, where they create new blood vessels to restore circulation and boost heart function. Evidence has also shown the hormone -- Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor -- can also actively rescue and protect struggling heart muscles from dying. It has passed safety tests and entered the second phase of human trials last week.

Professor David Ma, head of blood and stem-cell research at St Vincent's, said the development of the treatment was amazing. "It's amazing because a few years back when we started this study our whole hypothesis was different," he said. "It's quite exciting -- it's given us a new direction to attack the situation. "Because of the study results and more evidence coming out in the past couple of years, we have changed our emphasis." He explained how the hormone could stimulate blood vessels to grow in the heart as well as protecting and rescuing heart muscles from dying.

Prof Ma said the findings were significant because heart disease was already a huge problem in developed nations, like the US and Britain, but was also rapidly growing in developing countries, like India and China.

Professor Bob Graham, head of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, said the early findings were "very promising". Speaking from the US, where he was meeting international specialists last week, Prof Graham said: "At the moment we are restricting it to the most severe patients but if it works and is safe for those patients, hopefully we can broaden it. "The nice thing about this trial is that the drug is already on the market -- although it hasn't been used for this application." The hormone is commonly used to help cancer patients recover after chemotherapy.

Dr Sharon Chih, cardiology research fellow at St Vincent's, is co-ordinating the trial. Forty patients with severe angina -- or chest pain from a lack of blood and oxygen supply to the heart -- are being tested with the treatment against a placebo in a double-blind, crossover trial. They will be treated for three weeks and checked with MRI scans to assess the treatment's effectiveness. Poor diet and lack of exercise, as well as smoking, are major contributors to heart disease in Western countries. But the incidence is spreading to developing nations.

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Muslims upgrade one Australian industry: Car theft

AT 8am the wait was over. The detectives were standing ready to strike and when the signal came they moved quickly, swarming through the residential streets in a series of simultaneous raids on homes in the Perth suburbs of East Cannington, Bedford and West Perth. They found what had the neighbours worried, front yards full of twisted car wrecks. The perpetrators had done little to disguise their operations. "There were vehicles parked everywhere. In the garden, up the driveways, in the street out the front," says Detective Senior Sergeant Neville Dockery, officer in charge of the West Australian police motor squad.

Seven people were charged as a result of the raids on Wednesday last week and police seized about 40 cars. Most of the cars were family sedans allegedly either damaged or stolen in NSW. They'd been trucked to Perth and repaired with stolen parts ready for sale to unsuspecting buyers. The operation was the result of other raids in Sydney a week earlier, in which riot police and detectives from the NSW Middle Eastern organised crime squad arrested six men for allegedly stealing cars from the city's affluent eastern suburbs.

These arrests, almost 4000km apart, demonstrate the national scale of what investigators call the criminal car rebirthing industry, where cars are stolen to order. The cars' identities are then disguised or they are stripped of parts to repair legitimate wrecks. While the number of car and light-commercial vehicle thefts nationwide has fallen dramatically since 2000, rebirthing is on the rise and proving fiercely resistant to police efforts to stamp it out. According to police, traditionally most were stolen for joyriding. But improved security, including the mandatory installation of engine immobilisers on all new cars since 2001, has cut joyriding and thefts overall.

According to industry and government figures, there were more than 127,000 thefts across Australia in 2000. Since then, that number has almost halved, to a 30-year low of about 64,000 last year. But dig deeper into these figures and you find this collapse is disguising a worrying trend. In 2000, there were 15,000 unrecovered stolen cars: those that were stolen and disappeared. Six years later, this number is down only slightly, to 13,200. As a proportion of total thefts, the rate of unrecovered vehicles has increased during this time. In 2000, one in eight stolen vehicles disappeared. Last year it was one in five.

According to Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham, commander of the NSW police property crime squad, the number of unrecovered thefts indicates the grand scale of car rebirthing. "It's a constant problem," he says. "Whenever police act to circumvent it, the criminals come up with innovative ways to get around us."

Analysis by the University of Western Sydney, presented at an international conference on vehicle crime in Melbourne last month, suggests that of the 13,200 unrecovered vehicles last year, 50 per cent were dumped in bushland, most likely after joyriding; about 20 per cent were rebirthed; and almost 30 per cent were stripped for parts. A small percentage of the total were illegally exported to the Middle East, the data showed.

In WA, police believe the rebirthing syndicate nabbed last week had sold about 40 cars to unsuspecting buyers through weekend newspaper advertisements. For the criminals, rebirthing is a lucrative source of funding. The most popular cars are also those that dominate the legitimate market - Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons - but rebirthing gangs also specifically target luxury models, which provide greater financial return. "It is organised crime," Bingham says. "The syndicates or individuals prepared to do the rebirthing are the same people who do drug supply, who do prostitution, armed robberies, fraud."

Police say that during the past five years the car rebirthing business has changed. Once criminals would buy a wrecked car, typically the result of a road accident, then find and steal a matching make and model from the street. By transferring a few details, crucially the 17-digit vehicle identification number located on the chassis, they could disguise the identity of the stolen car by re-registering it with the identity of the wreck. Even if the result was recovered by police, it was almost impossible to trace the vehicle's true owner.

Since the introduction of the Written-off Vehicle Register in 2002, however, statutory write-offs - those vehicles that are physically beyond repair as opposed to those written off by an insurance company but which can be repaired - cannot be re-registered in Australia. Police say this has effectively killed the traditional rebirthing racket.

But the criminals changed tactics and kept going. Ray Carroll, executive director of the industry and government-funded National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council, says criminals now buy up insurance write-offs at auctions, steal matching vehicles and strip them of the parts they need to repair the original. Under the law nothing exists to stop these being re-registered. "They will have a workshop somewhere in the industrial suburbs, where there will be a panel beater's shop. They will take the wrecked car there, then take in the stolen car and put it alongside, then strip it down and build the original," Carroll says. "They are experts, they can strip it down to the bare bones. A team of good guys can easily do that in half an hour. Remember, they are not doing it like a mechanic, who wants to put it back together, they go in with metal saws and hack out what they need." The resulting carcass is often either dumped on the street or sold as scrap, which effectively destroys the evidence of the crime.

Carroll says according to Roads and Traffic Authority figures, about 100,000 vehicles were written off last year nationally, 70 per cent of which were written off by insurance companies, providing the raw commodity for the rebirthing syndicates. Intelligence gathered by police suggests NSW is the national hub of the industry. National intelligence agencies have investigated possible funding links between the export of stolen cars and car parts and terrorist groups in the Middle East. Last year, a Victorian court was told that 13 men accused of planning a terrorist act in Australia had planned to finance the job partly through car rebirthing.

While NSW may be its hub, car rebirthing is a national - and indeed international - problem aided by the fact that cars are moveable assets. Car rebirthing was only made a crime in NSW last September. It is still not a crime in WA, although draft legislation is being considered. Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, suggests the solution may lie not in the courts but in the private sector, with the insurance companies. "You still have so-called repairable write-offs and I think we would call on the insurance industry as a whole to reconsider these because there is still rebirthing as a result," he says. NSW police want legislation making it impossible to re-register insurance write-offs, effectively closing the loophole that allows these vehicles back into the market, although detectives do not believe responsibility lies entirely with insurers.

Investigators say the wider problem remains that it is impossible to trace cars or car parts that have been rebirthed. Last November, the Australasian Police Ministers' Council endorsed a proposal from the police services to develop a system of "whole of vehicle marking", with a car's components each being marked with an identification number allowing them to be traced individually. The proposal has stalled, however, because of opposition from the motor industry and concerns that the technology does not yet exist to implement the system commercially. "It's been looked at, it's been evaluated and in a logistical sense it's difficult to apply in a manufacturing point of view," McKellar says. "I don't think there are grounds to contemplate mandatory whole-of-vehicle marking."

The New Zealand Government has announced that microdot marking - the application of indelible identifying dots on most car parts - will become mandatory on all new cars from 2008, however, a move the country's Ministry of Transport estimates will cut car theft by up to 50 per cent. The cost of this - about $NZ88 ($78) per car, according to ministry figures - will be passed on to the consumer. In Australia, a number of car companies are running trials using microdot technology developed by the Sydney-based firm DataDot Technology. Since 2003, car manufacturer Subaru has used DataDot machinery to spray 1mm microdots containing the vehicle identification number on to the component parts of every new car brought into Australia. As a result the company has experienced an 86 per cent drop in thefts, according to figures from the NMVTRC.

DataDot chief executive Ian Allen says the company, which employs former WA police officer Jim King, will next month launch a new robot that is able to spray the microdots in less than a minute, which he hopes will help overcome industry objections that the process will hold up production lines. Yesterday, Allen met the WA Police Minister John Kobelke and commissioner Karl O'Callaghan to discuss breaking the stalemate and introducing the technology in that state. "We're out there on a world stage by ourselves," Allen says. "It's really an Australian-led technology which will give police all over the world a weapon they have never had before."

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Coral bleaching on Great Barrier Reef in record cold snap

Hey! Wasn't coral bleaching supposed to be caused by global WARMING?? And what's this about record cold? Another case of heads I win, tails you lose, it seems



A RECORD cold snap across southern Queensland has triggered coral bleaching normally associated with the extremes of hot weather linked to climate change. Scientists say the bleaching has been caused by a combination of cold waters, winds and air temperatures hitting exposed reefs around the Capricorn-Bunker group of islands at the southern end of the reef.

While other sections of the reef appear to have been spared by being fully submerged or far enough north to avoid the worst of the cold snaps in June and July, bleaching has been recorded by University of Queensland researchers on Heron Island, near Rockhampton. The area is regarded as having some of the most pristine sections of accessible reef. Coral expert Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, from the University of Queensland's Centre for Marine Studies, warned researchers along the reef to look for bleaching after Townsville experienced one of its coldest days on record, on June 20.

Strong and sustained southerly winds that brought heavy rain to much of southeast Queensland in June and July exacerbated the chilly conditions for coral exposed at low tide and weakened the algae on the coral needed to keep it healthy. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said the comfort zone for coral was between 19C and 27C but temperatures had fallen to 8C. While bleaching from extreme heat affects entire reefs, the cold bleaching appears to be isolated to the tips of wide areas of coral exposed to the chill. Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said the extreme variation in temperature might be more common as climate change caused hotter summers and colder winters. [Really? Funny warming then. Sounds like no warming at all on average]

CSIRO oceanographer David Griffin said the only noticeably cold currents were further south, around Fraser Island, suggesting water was being cooled at the surface by the air temperature.

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The Australian far-Left still preoccupied with their old obsessions while blacks suffer

Kevin Rudd's support for the Howard intervention to combat child abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities faces a major challenge from growing opposition within Labor's Left faction. The rumbling in Labor ranks came as Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said yesterday that the health checks conducted on Aboriginal children in the past month had led to a small number of referrals to child-protection authorities.

Numerous Labor Left MPs told The Weekend Australian yesterday they could not back all elements of the legislative package and would press Mr Rudd for change when parliament resumed next week after the winter break. While Mr Rudd has backed John Howard since he launched the intervention in June, Labor critics raised concerns about two of its tenets: the temporary acquisition of title and the abolition of the permit system controlling entry to indigenous land.

Territory Labor senator Trish Crossin could not vote for the changes to the Land Rights Act. "I may not cross the floor but I won't be in the Senate chamber voting for it," she said. "I could not face my indigenous constituents again if they knew that I had voted for something I knew they were so passionate about." She said nobody was convinced that "taking the title of the land off people and compulsorily removing the permit system will actually stop the child abuse".

A Labor MP, who did not want to be named, urged the ALP to take a stand on title. "We know it's not right and we know it has nothing to do with child abuse. I'll be raising it in caucus and I know others will," he said. Another MP said Mr Rudd's caution on the issue had been initially respected. "We can support the health checks and extra police but the changes to land rights don't stack up," she said.

Their concerns follow those expressed earlier this week by shadow parliamentary secretary Warren Snowdon, who holds the Territory seat of Lingiari. Mr Snowdon had been swamped by concerns about the five-year acquisition of title and the abolition of permit, which he will raise in caucus.

Mr Rudd said on Thursday he was concerned at the time the Government was taking to draft the legislation. With the Government yet to reveal the legislative underpinning of the intervention, Mr Brough offered the Labor leadership a briefing on Monday.

The Weekend Australian understands the intervention will be dealt with in three bills with welfare reform -- the sequestration of payments for food and rent -- being dealt with separately from the land issues.

Opposition indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said Labor would not declare its hand until it had seen the legislation. Pressure was exerted on Mr Rudd from the other side of the argument by Northern Territory Emergency Response Taskforce chairwoman Sue Gordon, who challenged Labor to commit to the intervention. "The federal Opposition has said they've given bipartisan support but ... here in the Territory Warren Snowdon said he is not overly keen," she said.

In response to Dr Gordon's call, Ms Macklin said federal Labor was absolutely determined to fight rampant child abuse in the communities. "We are in this for the long haul because children deserve an innocent childhood."

Labor vice-president Linda Burney, the first Aboriginal minister in the NSW parliament, was concerned child abuse was being used to "mask" a "land grab". "I personally don't see the connection between the scrapping of the permit system and changes to what is the most iconic piece of land rights legislation in the country. I don't see the connection between that and addressing child sex assault," she said.

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An unusual Leftist politician -- a food realist

LABOR'S push to banish cartoon characters from promotions of food to children have given one of the party's candidates a mild bout of indigestion. George Colbran, who is standing for the ALP in the Queensland electorate of Herbert, operates nine McDonald's restaurants, making him one of the fast food chain's biggest Australian franchisees. He argues that childhood obesity has been over-simplified by those who blame "junk" food. "Junk food: I get upset about that," Mr Colbran told the Herald. "How can a piece of meat put into bread with lettuce and cheese, eggs and muffins and so forth, be considered junk?"

Mr Colbran says voters in the Townsville electorate are far more concerned about the parlous state of local roads and poor access to broadband. He reckons plans by the Opposition health spokeswoman, Nicola Roxon, for restrictions on advertising food to children will never become Labor policy. This week Ms Roxon expressed concern that the character of Shrek was being used to sell everything from yoghurt to chocolate eggs as a marketing tool to get children to pester their parents into buying the products.

Mr Colbran said obesity was a complex issue. "There is a propensity for kids to be bigger now than they were when I was growing up, and there are a lot more reasons for that than McDonald's. "It's to do with lifestyles, kids in front of television and computer screens, kids being driven to school and picked up rather than riding their bicycles."

Herbert is important for Kevin Rudd's chances of winning the federal election, which hinge on whether the ALP can make electoral gains in Queensland. Labor has sought to improve its chances by selecting more candidates with business backgrounds like Mr Colbran. Labor believes a crackdown on food advertising will be popular among parents. But Mr Colbran's remarks suggest the plans may alienate another demographic, owners and employees of the estimated 11,000 food retailing franchises around the country.

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Your medical regulators will protect you -- again

The regulators are a useless lot in South Australia, too

The Health Department will investigate how a privately run public hospital employed an overseas-trained forensic pathologist as a specialist. The inquiry was launched yesterday after State Coroner Mark Johns found the Iraqi-trained doctor failed to order tests on a patient who died from a brain aneurism despite a written request for a CT scan from the man's doctor.

An inquest into the death of Peter Roy Gillam, 44, of Tea Tree Gully, heard Dr Al-Khalfa had not practised medicine for almost 20 years before he was employed by Modbury Hospital in December, 2004. His curriculum vitae revealed he graduated with a medical degree from Baghdad University in 1984 but only served as a medical intern before studying to become a full-time forensic pathologist. Mr Johns said it was "therefore open" to find he had not practised medicine "in a clinical sense between 1984 when he worked in a Baghdad teaching hospital and 2004 when he commenced working in Modbury Hospital in South Australia". "If that is correct, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that he was a relatively inexperienced clinician when he saw Mr Gillam," he said.

Mr Johns said that, while forensic medicine "is, of course, a most highly skilled discipline, it involves a quite different set of medical skills from those required in dealing with patients in an ordinary clinical setting". "I have considerable reservations about the adequacy of Dr Al-Khalfa's experience as a clinician to perform the role assigned to him at Modbury Hospital," Mr Johns said. He said coronial police officers had been unable to find Dr Al-Khalfa to question him about Mr Gillam's death.

Modbury Hospital did not keep records on doctors' movements after they resigned. "It has been assumed by Modbury Hospital that Dr Al-Khalfa is no longer in Australia," he said. "I believe that is a reasonable assumption. "It is most unfortunate that Dr Al-Khalfa was no longer in Australia and could not be called upon to explain why he acted as he did on 17 December, 2004."

The inquest heard Mr Gillam first was taken to Modbury Hospital by his father, Thomas, after 5pm on December 16, 2004, after he had been to his GP, who wrote a note requesting a brain scan. A male nurse, however, told the pair the X-ray department was closed and they would have to pay for it to be reopened or return the next morning.

Mr Gillam returned to the hospital and was seen by Dr Al-Khalfa who, rather than ordering a brain scan, told him he was suffering from depression and said he should see a psychiatrist. Mr Gillam saw his GP again on Monday, December 20, before collapsing the following day in his bedroom. He was again taken to Modbury Hospital before being rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He died there following emergency surgery for internal brain damage.

Mr Gillam's father last night said the recruitment procedures for overseas-trained doctors needed to be overhauled. "This bloke had many qualifications but, unfortunately, they weren't the right ones to be working where he was," he said. "All doctors have certain basic training and it doesn't matter which field they follow, they are still doctors. "But 20 years as a forensic pathologist isn't the type of person who should be working in the emergency department of a public hospital. "He just shouldn't have been in that job."

Mr Gillam said he had received a letter from Modbury Hospital detailing changes it had implemented following his son's death. A Health Department spokeswoman said Dr Al-Khalfa had been employed at Modbury Hospital when it was operated by a private contractor, Healthscope. "Given that the employment of this doctor occurred when the hospital was run by the private operator Healthscope, the SA Health Department will need to investigate the reasons behind Healthscope employing the doctor, as recommended by the Coroner," she said.

The adverse findings against Dr Al-Khalfa come amid intense national scrutiny of the recruitment of overseas-trained doctors following last month's detention of alleged terrorism suspect Dr Mohamed Haneef in Queensland.

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Ban on same-sex adoptions

The Federal Government says its bid to stop same-sex couples adopting from overseas is designed to give heterosexual couples in "typical family arrangements" priority over the limited number of children available. But gay rights campaigners have slammed the move, saying it shows the Government believes a child is better off in an Asian orphanage than with a loving same-sex couple. The Government plans to introduce a bill into parliament in the spring session, which begins next week, that will mean overseas adoptions by same-sex couples will not be recognised in Australia. If it becomes law, the child would not be granted a visa to enter Australia.

Rodney Croome, from the Australian Coalition for Equality, said the legislation was disappointing but not unexpected as the Government had unsuccessfully tried to introduce similar laws just before the 2004 election. "For a government to deliberately set out to stigmatise same-sex couples and their children to win a few votes in the lead up to an election is beneath contempt," he said. "The Government clearly believes children are better off in a Chinese orphanage or on the streets of Manila than in the care of a loving same-sex couple in Australia." The legislation could also harm children already in the care of same-sex couples "who are effectively being told by our government that their family is second rate and potentially dangerous".

The Family Law (Same Sex Adoption) Bill is listed for introduction in the 2007 spring sitting period. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's office yesterday said there was no guarantee it would be debated before Parliament finishes for the year in December or before an election is called. The timing of debate would depend on the urgency of other legislation. "It does apply to overseas adoptions where there is competition for a very small number of available children," Mr Ruddock said through a spokeswoman. "The measures will ensure that priority is given to those in typical family arrangements." The change would override the states and territories, which currently have responsibility for overseeing international adoptions.

The move follows the landmark adoption in June of a boy by two Western Australian gay men who did not know the mother. WA moved in 2002 to allow same-sex couples to adopt, the ACT passed similar legislation in 2004, and Tasmanian law allows gay couples to adopt where one of the partners is a parent of the child.

Mr Howard has previously said he is against gay adoptions because children should be given the opportunity of growing up with a mother and a father. A spokesman for Labor's legal affairs spokesman, Joe Ludwig, said the Opposition would examine the bill before deciding whether or not to support it.

Mr Croome said the Government was clearly attempting to wedge the Opposition on gay rights in the lead up to the election. "We can call it orphans overboard," he said, but added that if Labor wanted to claim it was the party of equality and human rights it should oppose the bill, as it did in 2004. Greens senator Kerry Nettle said the legislation was another blow to equality by the "deeply homophobic" Federal Government. "This is a disgraceful move by the Howard Government to pander to homophobic and fundamentally religious interests in the lead up to an election," Senator Nettle said. A Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report released in June also condemned the Government's previous moves to change the law.

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Lazy NSW teachers

They already have the shortest working hours of any employee group but they want to work even less

The state's 50,000 public school teachers are demanding to spend less time with students in class because they are "overwhelmed" by their workload. Teachers have launched a campaign seeking extra "release time" from classes in 2240 primary and secondary schools. They will ask the Iemma Government to increase staff numbers in schools, at a cost of millions of dollars, to cover for teachers who are out of class doing other work.

The Teachers' Federation claims too much work is impairing teachers' ability to operate effectively. "Unreasonable teacher workload is debilitating for the profession and quality public education," senior vice president Bob Lipscombe said. "For some it is also impacting adversely on their health. "Teachers have difficulty in accessing such basic entitlements as lunch and morning tea breaks." Among the demands teachers have made are:

* AN extra two hours' release time per week in primary schools;

* AN additional two 40-minute periods release time per week in high schools;

* AN extra hour of release time a week for TAFE teachers;

* EXTRA clerical and support staffing; and

* THE reduction or phasing out of playground duty.

A spokesman for Education Minister John Della Bosca said yesterday most primary school teachers already received two hours of release time every week. "High school teachers receive six hours of release from face-to-face teaching each week," he said. "These arrangements have been in place for years and provide teachers with time away from the classroom to undertake a range of activities, including time to review teaching programs, prepare assessments and work on other planning activities. "Schools also have three pupil-free days a year to enable teachers to undertake planning and professional development. "We support these arrangements and there is no plan to change them."

Mr Lipscombe said teachers were demanding the restoration of minimum lunchbreaks uninterrupted by playground duties or meetings. Teachers earn up to $75,000 a year on an incremental scale based on years of service but increasingly are being required to meet performance standards. Technology, increased professional development and the imposition of new curricula are among the issues teachers say are putting them under pressure.

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Now it's the Ambulance service of South Australia in a mess

We have recently heard of the dire state of the Queensland and NSW services

AMBULANCE officers claim crews are not reaching life-threatening emergencies on time because of chronic staff shortages. In another potential industrial relations headache for the Rann Government, the union is planning to refuse non-urgent patient pick-ups and implement overtime bans. Free rides for patients are also being considered.

The Ambulance Employees' Association says crews reached life-threatening emergencies within seven minutes in only 20 per cent of cases during the past three months - a breach of national guidelines. "I'd say the ambulance service staffing was in crisis," Ambulance Employees' Association secretary Phil Palmer said yesterday. It's a mess - a huge mess."

The SA Ambulance Service maintains the response times are similar to the equivalent period last year but concedes several strategies are being examined to increase staffing levels.

The ambulance officers' threat of industrial action comes just weeks after its paramedics unanimously accepted a 25 per cent pay rise over three years, starting with a 16.7 per cent "catch-up". Also last month, teachers, nurses, dentists and psychiatrists were locked in industrial disputes with the State Government. The ambulance union now warns:

THE AMBULANCE service is short by one crew every day, and as many as three crews on some occasions.

SINGLE-OFFICER crews in station wagons are improving response times but potentially increasing risks for officers and patients.

A GROWING reliance on inexperienced student interns is adding to the workforce strain.

OVERTIME is now about 40 shifts per week - it blew out to 120 shifts per week in late June.

PROFESSIONAL development workshops for paramedics have been cancelled to free up staff to work on road shifts.

Mr Palmer blamed the ambulance service's inability to maintain minimum crewing numbers comes on years of poor planning, which had resulted in a dangerous blow-out in response times. "Patients with life threatening conditions - cardiac arrest, unconscious collapse, vehicle trauma - are having to wait longer," he said. "This is not only distressing, it is potentially life threatening."

Industrial action will be discussed at a union shop stewards meeting next week, amid new management plans to double the number of student interns placed with single instructors. There are 54 student interns in the system - about 10 per cent of the on-road workforce - and another 32 are due to begin next January. Instructors are expected to reject the doubling-up plan at a meeting on Thursday, because of concerns their ability to supervise, mentor and teach will be restricted.

Ambulance service director of state operations Ray Creen said response times had improved during the past two years, with arrivals at half of all emergency cases within 9.4 minutes and 90 per cent within 15.6 minutes. In the past three months, response times had remained constant compared with previous years, despite a 16 per cent increase in emergency calls to 000. "We are currently looking at a number of strategies to increase our staffing levels . . . to ensure effective and appropriate measures are introduced," Mr Creen said. "One measure we have recently introduced is the establishment of two extra crews to cover peak periods in the middle of the day in the metropolitan area." Mr Creen said the Ambulance service, "among multiple measures", was looking at increasing the number of student interns taken into the organisation each year.

Health Minister John Hill was unavailable for comment but his spokeswoman said the Government had employed an extra 118 ambulance officers since 2002. "Ambulance officers are a critical part of our health system and they are responding to increasing demand for their services," she said. "And recruitment is being stepped up again with a target of recruiting a further 56 paramedics to be deployed on emergency crews over the next 12 months. "The State Government is also recruiting students to ensure we are building a workforce for the future, but they will be appropriately supervised in their roles."

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Breastfeeding mothers protected under new laws

The NSW State Government has announced new laws making it illegal to disciminate against breastfeeding mums. Attorney-General John Hatzistergos unveil the Anti-Discrimination Act changes - aimed primarily at cafe and restaurant owners - this morning. The measures mean it will be illegal for mums to be refused service or asked to move on while they breastfeed.

The issue of breastfeeding in public has long been controversial. Modern mothers have often told how they are discriminated against over what is a basic motherly duty. Skier turned politician Kirstie Marshall created a stir in Victorian Parliament four years ago when she breastfed daughter Charlotte in legislative assembly. TV comedian Kate Langbroek also famously breastfed her baby while live on The Panel.

But many women are embarrassed to breastfeed in public - and a federal inquiry was told in May that mothers are being forced to wean their babies off breast milk too early because workplaces are not "breastfeeding-friendly".

Guidelines recommend infants be fed only breast milk until they are six months - but only about 32 per cent are. Besides work, social pressure, body image and concerns about feeding in public were among other reasons women switched to bottles. Inquiry chair Alex Somlyay said the hearings were trying to establish what could be done to increase breastfeeding.

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Torres Strait islands "at risk from global warming"

Groan! Islands -- including Pacific islands -- are rising and falling all the time. It is nothing to do with sea levels. Regard for the facts is a very low priority for the Green/Left. Reality does creep through, however. That the islands are sinking rather than the sea rising is mentioned a couple of times below

Authorities have ordered evacuation and relocation plans for more than 2000 people who face losing their land and livelihood from the invading sea. "These islands are sinking," Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen said yesterday. "People are looking at options of building on stilts or even floating pontoons because of the rising sea levels. "And this is the heartbreaking thing, this generation or the next may have to leave behind all they have ever known, all because of global warming."

Scientists predict warmer sea temperatures (thermal expansion) and the meting of the ice caps will contribute to a sea-level rise of between 9cm and 88cm in the next 50 years. Some parts of the most vulnerable islands - Masig (Yorke), Poruma (Coconut), Warraber, Yam, Saibai and Boigu - are today less than 1m above sea level.

Mother-of-two Helen Mosby, 21, of Yorke Island, yesterday showed Brisbane's The Courier-Mail newspaper the dramatic impact of global warming on her island home. "You can see where the ocean has eaten up the road," said Ms Mosby walking with son Josiah, 5. "It is a big change, and it seems to be getting worse in the past two years or so." [During which time there has been NO global warming. There has been no rise in terrestrial temperature since 1998]

James Cook University's Dr Kevin Parnell, a coastal geomorphologist studying the sinking islands, said they would probably not disappear within a generation, but the threat was "not trivial". "There is the possibility of more frequent extreme events, like storm surge and high tides, causing the water to come up higher on to the land," he said.

The Yorke Island church - more than 50m inland from the high-tide mark -was last year inundated while more than 60m of land on Coconut Island has been consumed since 2000.

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Government may appeal "stolen generation" ruling

Nonsensical verdict but VERY interesting evidence. Fostering the black guy out probably saved his life. There was no "generation" stolen but this case highlights very well the circumstances in which some black kids were fostered to white parents. White kids treated as badly would be fostered out too, one hopes

THE South Australian Government will consider whether to lodge an appeal after an Aboriginal man was awarded more than $500,000 compensation for being taken away from his family. The State Government yesterday was ordered to pay Bruce Trevorrow $525,000 for injuries, losses and false imprisonment, a first for a member of the stolen generation.

Mr Trevorrow was 13 months old in 1957 when a neighbour drove him from his Coorong family home, south-east of Adelaide, to the Children's Hospital on Christmas Day, with stomach pains. Hospital notes tended to the South Australian Supreme Court show staff recorded that the child had no parents, was neglected and malnourished.

Two weeks later, he was given under the authority of Aborigines Protection Board to a woman, who later became his foster parent, without the permission of his natural parents. He did not see his family again for 10 years.

In June 1998, Mr Trevorrow sued the SA Government for pain and suffering, claiming he had lost his cultural identity, suffered depression, became an alcoholic and had an erratic employment history after being taken as a child from his family. The court heard the 50-year-old was depressed due to a chronic insecurity and had been treated with antidepressants and tranquillisers since he was 10.

Justice Thomas Gray yesterday ruled in favour of Mr Trevorrow, saying the state falsely imprisoned him as a child and owed him a duty of care for his pain and suffering. Rick Morris, a spokesman for SA Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said the government would read the lengthy judgment and seek legal advice before making a decision on whether to appeal.

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The Leftist hatred of people doing well for themselves rolls on

"We have to do something about wealth," Melbourne broadcaster Jon Faine implored Kevin Rudd on ABC radio last week. "What do you do about people making too much money?" For starters, let's give them a round of applause, said Rudd. They must be doing something right. And then thank them for contributing to society by paying taxes that fund our buses, trains, hospitals and schools. Not to mention the many new jobs they create when their business thrives.

Actually, I'm teasing you. That was not Rudd's response. Instead, he fuelled the rich-hating myth that, just as a spot of dancing leads to sex, a booming economy leads to that eighth deadly sin: inequality. The rich get richer and the rest miss out on the spoils. In other words, this economic prosperity thing is not all it's cracked up to be. Unfortunately, those in the media, in politics and academe who feed the populist myth that prosperity is bad and inequality is a dirty word do so by ignoring reality.

As it turns out, in Australia the Howard years have brought a major redistribution of income from the rich to the rest. The average Australian household receives more in cash benefits and government services than it pays in tax. According to figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 40 per cent of households pay any net tax. The average family pays $360 a week in tax but claws back $375 in cash benefits and government services.

So when people agonise about the wealthy and ask what is to be done about people making too much money, it turns out much is already being done. The taxes paid by the wealthy are used to fund transfers to middle and lower-income groups. Indeed, middle-income earners - those dubbed the forgotten people by Robert Menzies - have been the biggest beneficiaries under the Howard Government.

Late last year, a study by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling revealed that during the Howard decade those in the middle income bracket had benefited more than those at the top. Families earning between $55,000 and $80,000 a year and with children have seen their real incomes rise by 32 per cent, largely through family tax benefits. In other words, the rich may be getting richer, but the rest are also reaping the rewards of the nation's wealth boom. The only group not getting tax breaks and government handouts at the same rate are couples without children and single taxpayers on lower incomes.

So what explains the mythology that says your average family is being dudded? Why the complaints after 16 years of uninterrupted growth and wages rising by 25 per cent compared to a 14 per cent rise in consumer prices over the past five years? Sure, petrol prices are biting and interest rate hikes hurt. But I suspect there is more to the present malaise than the price of groceries and mortgage payments. The problem is human nature. According to studies, if you ask a worker whether they would like to earn $33,000 while their colleagues collect $30,000, or earn $35,000 while their colleagues pick up $38,000, most will opt for the lower wage, so long as they are earning more than their colleagues. In other words, affluence is relative. Arthur C. Brooks points out in the latest edition of City Journal that 56per cent of participants in another study said they would rather earn $50,000 a year when their colleagues get $25,000 than earn $100,000 where their colleagues are paid $200,000.

These surveys explain why in Australia's booming economy, where everyone is reaping the rewards, there is still a sense of being left behind. The problem is that there is always someone doing better than you. Jealously is a more powerful human trait than reason. That's why socialism and its promise of central control of society's wealth continue to have such a powerful hold on the public imagination even though it has failed everywhere it's been tried. And failed to the point of making everyone worse off.

Jealously explains why people such as Clive Hamilton still get traction. The director of the Australia Institute, who rails against capitalism, taps into our sense of unease that others are doing better than us. Working hard and earning more money than we did a decade ago will not make us happier because there will always be a Joe in the next office earning more than us. Inequality is bad, he says. So bad that he wants to convince us that it is spreading a disease called affluenza. And every disease needs a cure. Hamilton's cure, as he wrote in The Age last week, is for the rich to pay more tax and do so with a smile in order to relieve the ache in their philistine souls.

British economist Richard Layard has another solution that would please Hamilton. Slug the rich with high taxes until inequality is cured. Layard thinks the rich are making others so unhappy by earning so much more money that they need to be hit with taxes so high that they will work less and earn less and therefore apparently make everyone else feel much happier. We must all be brought down to the same level lest we earn too much and make those earning less feel unhappy. But there's a hitch. When people start to work less, earn less and pay less tax, where will governments get the money to pay for the services that we all expect and need? And where will the jobs come from as people work less and downsize their business?

Those trying to convince us that inequality is bad secretly dislike progress. Progress is born of competition and inevitably leads to inequality. People with bright ideas, or who work harder to get ahead, are more successful more quickly. Bang, there is inequality. You can just imagine the guys from the Hamilton/Layard school of economics standing around in the Stone Age muttering that no good will come of this new-fangled wheel business, it will just create a two-tiered society: those with wheels and those without.

Attacking the rich is easy politics but lousy policy. Lashing the wealthy might make envious old socialists feel nostalgic about the halcyon days of Soviet Russia and East Germany. But others, such as Rudd, ought to know better. Writing in The Spectator, Ross Clark pointed out that when Tony Blair was asked about inequality during a Newsnight interview in 2001, he responded: "It's not a burning ambition for me to make sure that David Beckham earns less money." Rudd has some way to go before he fills Blair's sensible shoes.

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Nutty Steiner schools in the Victorian State system

For more superstitious Steiner thinking, see here

Ray Pereira could not believe what he was hearing. His son's teacher had just said his child had to repeat prep because the boy's soul had not fully incarnated. "She said his soul was hovering above the earth," Mr Pereira said. "And she then produced a couple of my son's drawings as evidence that his depiction of the world was from a perspective looking down on the earth from above. "I just looked at my wife and we both thought, 'We are out of here'." And so ended the Pereira family's flirtation with the alternative schooling method known as Steiner education. After this extraordinary parent-teacher interview, the Pereiras withdrew their son and his brother from the inner-city Melbourne government school that ran the Steiner stream.

They are one of a number of families who have relayed strange Steiner experiences to The Weekend Australian, including claims that AFL football was banned because the "unpredictability of the bounce" would cause frustration among children; immunisations were discouraged; and students recited verses to save their souls in class.

The allegations come as more and more children attend Steiner schools, with the education movement celebrating 50 years since the first school was set up in Australia. There are now more than 44 private Steiner schools across the country, 10 programs in government-run schools and it is one of the fastest-growing education movements in the world. But as Steiner moves into the state education system in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, questions are being raised about the alternative approach. Critics say that its philosophical basis is too religious -- even comparing it to Scientology -- to be in the secular public system. But supporters deny Steiner education is religious and argue it is a holistic approach to learning.

The alternative curriculum is based on the teachings of 19th century Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who believed a spiritual world existed alongside our physical one. Steiner founded anthroposophy, which believed that by deepening the power of thinking, people could become capable of experiencing "spiritual truths". Supporters of Steiner are adamant anthroposophy is not taught to children, and that Steiner himself said the spiritual science was only for adults who chose to do it. But parents and religious experts are concerned that Steiner teachers learn about anthroposophy in their training and these beliefs seep into the classroom. "What a lot of people don't get is that Steiner is based on a spiritual system not an educational one," says cult expert Raphael Aron. "The majority of people who enrol their kids don't have a clue who Rudolf Steiner really is."

Dr Aron, who is the director of Cult Counselling Australia, said schools varied greatly in their adherence to Steiner's anthroposophy beliefs because of the decentralised nature of the system in Australia. He said there was a lack of transparency in the schools and often parents were not told about what Steiner believed, making it not dissimilar to Scientology. "We have been contacted by a few people who have come out of the Steiner system and say they are damaged and are seeking help," Dr Aron said.

Mr Pereira said he believed parents at Footscray City Primary School were deliberately misled about the role that Steiner's beliefs played in the classroom. "It is implicit in everything they do," he said. Mr Pereira, who is from Sri Lanka, said his concerns about Steiner's racist beliefs were realised when his children were not allowed to use black or brown crayons because they were "not pure". He said Steiner teachers at the state-run school recommended they not immunise their children because it would lead to the "bestialisation of humans".

But Rudolf Steiner Schools of Australia executive officer Rosemary Gentle said anthroposophy was not taught to children, although teachers were introduced to the subject during their training. "It has nothing to do with what is taught. It is just the approach to teaching," she said. "The teachers are given an anthroposophy background ... and it allows them to look into a child more deeply. You look at children as you would in a family. You strive to understand the child and recognise their emerging personality."

Ms Gentle said the spotlight was on Steiner education because of a "smear and fear" campaign being waged by a small group of people. "Steiner education has been a small, but respected part of the Australian educational landscape for 50 years," she said. Under the system, students have the same "main lesson" teacher for the first six years and textbooks are not used in primary school. Computers are banned in the primary years and television is discouraged to allow children to develop their "senses in the physical world". Reading and writing is delayed until children have developed adult teeth -- at age seven -- to focus on developing the child's healthy body.

Anthroposophy lecturer Robert Martin, who trains Steiner teachers, said being aware of the spiritual side of life enriched the education experience. He said people had many different names for the spiritual world -- arch angels, angels, intelligent beings and presence -- and they existed long before humans. "I want to co-work with the angels," Mr Martin said. "These individuals are very advanced ... Our job is to co-work with the spiritual beings."

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Early concern about Steiner method

SERIOUS concerns about Steiner education were raised in a government report seven years before a policy change by the Bracks administration cleared the way for its use in Victorian state schools. The report, completed by the Victorian Department of Education, says Steiner's approach -- in which children learn to read and write after their adult teeth come through at age seven -- was the "antithesis" of the Government's program. The report was completed by two curriculum officers in 2000 for then acting regional director Greg Gibbs after Footscray City Primary School indicated it wanted a Steiner stream.

Mr Gibbs told the school he was unable to "support such a proposal" but the principal introduced Steiner in 2001. The program has caused deep division among parents, and the state Government has been forced to intervene, dissolving the school council last year and establishing an inquiry. Despite this, the state Government last year changed departmental policy, allowing programs such as Steiner and Montessori to be run in state schools.

The report examined Steiner curriculum proposals provided by Footscray City Primary School and information available online about Steiner education. Authors Pat Hincks and Janette Cook say Steiner's ban on computers and multimedia in primary school is in "direct contradiction" to department policies. "Steiner education is based on a philosophy of cocooning children from the world to develop their imagination," the report says. "This is in direct contrast to, for example, the studies of society and environment ... where the emphasis is on study of family as a 'starting point to help them understand the world in which they live'."

A Victorian Department of Education spokeswoman said specialised curriculums had rigorous guidelines.

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Refugees face tough new test to get into Australia

Should cut down the problematical inflow from Africa. Refugees already in Australia will apparently be tested too and be denied permanent residence if they fail

REFUGEES and some migrants will have to pass an "integration test" before being allowed to live in Australia, under tough new rules to be introduced by the Howard Government. The new gateway test will assess their ability to adapt to the Australian way of life and factors such as their resourcefulness and ability to cope with the challenges of resettlement. It will examine whether prospective migrant families are cohesive, supportive, and united in their desire to settle in Australia.

Immigration officials will conduct face-to-face tests with up to 13,000 refugees and humanitarian program migrants, as well as some skilled migrant applicants, to assess whether they have what it takes to fit in to the Australian way of life. Applicants will also be tested on their English and their preparedness to learn English once they arrive in Australia.

The new test was forshadowed in a speech by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews last night. The test will operate in addition to the Government's new citizenship and language tests, and a values statement for long-term visa holders. Outlining the plan in a speech to the Sydney Institute, Mr Andrews said migrants and refugees had to be willing and able to integrate. "We cannot assume that the capacity of all of our potential migrants to integrate successfully is the same as their predecessors'," Mr Andrews said. "The Government has decided to put greater emphasis on the capacity of potential migrants to integrate into our community," he said.

Specific questions to be put to prospective migrants will be devised over coming weeks. Training of immigration officials will start shortly, and the Government hopes the new test will be in place by February.

The hard-line immigration plan has the potential to affect refugees from countries such as war-torn Sudan, many of whom have experienced major adjustment problems. Under the plan, Immigration Department officials will have the final say on whether applicants have the capacity to integrate into Australian society. "Because of the importance of migration to Australia, the Government believes it is important that migration continues to be the success story it has been until now," Mr Andrews said. "The migration regulations already make provision for assessing the capacity of visa applicants to settle in Australia. "I have decided that greater emphasis should be placed on this criterion in assessing applications for permanent visas or (for) provisional visas which lead to permanent residence."

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Major government hospital turns elderly away

STAFF at one of Queensland's biggest hospitals are being told to reject sick, elderly people transferring from nursing homes, and hastily discharge all other patients. In a further sign the health system is getting worse rather than improving, Princess Alexandra Hospital's emergency department has been likened to a M*A*S*H scene and its chief said the bed situation was "critical". PA senior clinical chief executive officer David Theile warned staff last week the emergency department backlog was putting lives at high risk. "Along with patient risk there is inordinate pressure on staff in some areas," Dr Theile told staff in an email. "Please maximise and expedite discharges, exercise heightened discernment about accepting transfers or admissions from nursing homes and seek to shift elective admissions to day-only where possible."

A day earlier, a report found almost 144,000 Queenslanders were waiting to see a specialist. Some patients' files were marked "never" to see a specialist. Other recent health problems have included a dire shortage of radiographers, with cancer victims forced to wait long times for treatment; and diagnostic equipment being shut down.

One PA source yesterday said the hospital's situation was so dire that the radiography unit was last week converted into a makeshift emergency room; describing the situation as "like a scene from M*A*S*H". While Dr Theile could not be contacted yesterday, a PA spokeswoman said his emails were to ensure staff were aware of the situation and worked together to resolve the issues.

Coalition health spokesman John-Paul Langbroek said the situation in Queensland hospital emergency departments was now desperate. Some patients might not be getting optimal care if doctors and nurses were being forced to discharge them faster than normal. The Coalition yesterday sought a federal investigation into "never to be seen" patients, claiming the practice might be in breach of the Australian Health Care Agreement.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said Mr Langbroek should be asking about the shortfall in federal funding. "Had the Commonwealth kept pace with the states' funding we would have had another $2.6 billion over five years to spend on health," he said.

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Crackdown on politics in NSW schools

EDUCATION chiefs fear thousands of school children are in danger of having their minds poisoned by "political" activity in the classroom. The Daily Telegraph has learned that principals have received a strong warning not to allow their schools to be infiltrated by controversial political issues. A written memorandum issued by a senior education officer tells primary and secondary school heads: "Schools are not places for recruiting into partisan groups."

The memo sent by Hunter/Central Coast regional director John Mather says "issues" for schools had arisen during the state election in March. Referring to the federal poll due later this year, Mr Mather warned principals: "Schools are neutral grounds for rational discourse and objective study. They are not arenas for opposing political views or ideologies. "Discussion of controversial issues is acceptable only when it clearly serves the educative purpose and is consistent with curriculum objectives. "Such discussion is not intended to advance the interest of any group, political or otherwise."

The reminder to principals follows accusations in November last year that schools allowed children as young as five to distribute "political propaganda" against the Howard Government's controversial WorkChoices laws. Parents were outraged and one school principal was "counselled" by the Department of Education for breaching guidelines on political material.

As the latest warning was sent out to principals, bemused parents yesterday criticised a bizarre turf war between the state and federal governments over access to schools. Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop was refused permission by NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca to meet up to 71 principals on the Central Coast. Ms Bishop said yesterday it was the first time anywhere in Australia she had not been allowed to see public school heads. "This was a petty attitude . . . we (the Commonwealth) provide $1 billion a year to NSW public schools," she said. "I think the state Education Minister was frightened of what I might learn (from the principals)."

Opposition education spokesman Andrew Stoner claimed the Iemma Government had been caught "peddling politics in the playground". But Mr Della Bosca's office said Ms Bishop had given just 24 hours' notice of the meeting planned for the first day of the new school term. A request to visit Berkeley Vale Public School to make an announcement about chaplains had been approved, a spokesman said. "Neither Ms Bishop, nor any other Federal Minister for that matter, has been banned from visiting public schools or meeting principals. "Ms Bishop should know better than organising a forum for 71 principals on the first day back at school during school hours. Principals should be looking after their schools and supporting their teachers and students during school hours," the spokesman said.

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Lying Queensland cops

One of three Brisbane police officers charged with lying to conceal an attack on a woman in a watchhouse cell faces 14 years in jail after pleading guilty to perjury. Constable Justin Anthony Burkett, 34, pleaded guilty attacking an alleged shoplifter and later lying in testimony during a magistrate's court hearing and a Crime and Misconduct Commission hearing over the incident in April 2004. Fellow officer Constable Nicole Helen Castley, 29, who lives with Burkett at Mt Cotton, had charges against her dropped by prosecutors.

While colleague Senior Constable Craig Stuart Ablitt, 50, of Munruben, pleaded not guilty for allegedly turning off a video camera as Burkett assaulted alleged shoplifter Dulcie Elizabeth Birt.

Yesterday was expected to be the first day of a five day committal hearing, until prosecutor Mark Whitbread revealed no witnesses would be required after discussions with lawyers for each of the three accused offenders. Barrister Paul Brown, for Ablitt, was said his client consented to having the matter committed for trial in the Beenleigh District Court When asked by magistrate Basil Gribbin if he wanted to enter a plea to charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and perjury, Ablitt replied: ``Not guilty.''

Mr Burkett was the next of the trio called by Mr Gribbin if he wished to enter a plea to Barrister Steve Zillman, for Burkett, said his client was prepared to four counts of perjury, two of perverting the course of justice and one of assault causing bodily harm. ``Guilty, your honour,'' Burkett replied in a loud, clear voice.

Under existing Queensland laws perjury carries a maximum penalty of 14 years' jail. In reading out the charges, Mr Gribbin revealed Burkett allegedly assaulted Ms Birt at Loganholme on April 5, 2004, and that the attack was recorded on videotape. Burkett also gave false evidence at Ms Birt's subsequent summary trail in the Beenleigh Magistrate's Court on December 3, 2004, that she kicked him in the shin, that he never assaulted her or tape recorded the attack. He also sent emails to two fellow police officers, including Ablitt, asking them to falsify their evidence at the hearing.

Despite his guilty plea, Burkett was granted bail and remanded for sentence in the Beenleigh District Court on a date to be fixed. When Mr Gribbin asked what was to be done with Constable Castley's charges, Mr Whitbread rose and said the Crown was offering no evidence and that the charges should be dismissed. Castley had been charged with two counts of perjury for allegedly giving false testimony during Ms Birt's court case and then to CMC hearings in 2005. Castley wept as both she and Burkett were escorted from the courthouse by family and friends and bundled into a waiting car. Ablitt showed little emotion as he left separate to his colleagues

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Another crooked Muslim doctor

A Gold Coast doctor interrogated over his relationship with freed terror suspect Mohamed Haneef has been suspended for allegedly lying about his employment history. Queensland Health privately suspended Mohammed Asif Ali on full pay on Friday as the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions dropped charges against his former flatmate and colleague, Dr Haneef. The shock suspension of Dr Ali again raises questions about the vetting process implemented by the Beattie Government after the Jayant Patel scandal in 2005.

It is alleged that Dr Ali's resume included up to 12 months of hospital work in India that he never performed. The Courier-Mail has learned that at the time of his supposed employment, Dr Ali was attending to family problems and had taken time off. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, who revoked Dr Haneef's visa earlier this month on "bad character" grounds, was last night seeking advice about Dr Ali.

Queensland Police told Queensland Health last week that it had discovered discrepancies in Dr Ali's resume. His medical qualifications are not in doubt and he is still described as being a competent doctor. Dr Ali, who graduated from India's Mysore University in 2001, applied directly to the Gold Coast Hospital after meeting a doctor from the hospital in the United Kingdom last year. It is understood the Medical Board of Queensland checked Dr Ali's certificates from all his previous employers and focused on his qualifications and work history in the UK, which are not in dispute.

Dr Ali has received a show-cause notice from the Medical Board of Queensland and has 21 days to explain. His punishment could range from a warning to deregistration or prosecution, but it is highly unlikely Dr Ali will lose his job.

The State Government vowed vigorous checks on overseas-trained doctors after the Patel scandal. Patel, the former Bundaberg Base Hospital surgeon, was found to have operated outside his scope. An Indian-trained doctor, Patel is facing manslaughter charges in Queensland after performing complex oesophagectomies on patients who later died. Premier Peter Beattie told Parliament in 2005 that he would broaden "the grounds upon which the Queensland Medical Board can cancel a doctor's registration to cover the sorts of fraud that the Patel situation has brought to light". It included up to three years' jail for giving the Queensland Medical Board false information when applying for registration.

The Government also introduced the Medical Board (Administration) Bill in 2006 to deliver an election commitment to create a separate authority to focus solely on doctor registration issues. The Office of the Medical Board will come on line later this year.

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No time to lose our nerve

Janet Albrechtsen comments on the Dr Haneef detention

For all the bungling in the prosecution of Mohamed Haneef, one thing is clear. We had better get used to the detention of people with alleged links to terrorism. Our anti-terrorism laws are essential and they are working. The detention of the Indian doctor was right. His links with alleged terror suspects in Britain needed to be thoroughly investigated. That involved a serious, but necessary, incursion on Mr Haneef's civil liberties as the Australian Federal Police undertook the difficult task of checking the equivalent of 30,000 pages of material on his laptop.

We will have to accept further incursions in the future. More people will be detained. Some will be freed without charge. Some will be charged, then acquitted. While the AFP and prosecuting authorities have to lift their game, the mistakes made in Mr Haneef's case are irrelevant to the wider debate about terrorism laws. Nobody thought the laws on murder needed to be changed when Lindy Chamberlain was a charged but ultimately acquitted.

Nor do we want politicians, the police or prosecutors to lose their nerve about taking action for fear of getting it wrong or out of fear of criticism. Mistakes, and criticism of those mistakes will be made and will lead to improvements in practice. Indeed, we may have to accept longer detentions in the future if we are serious about confronting and beating the scourge of terrorism. That is the lesson from Britain where there have been 15 attempted terrorist attacks since 11 September 2001. As reported in The Guardian last week, six suspects have been detained for 28 days under UK laws. Two were charged in connection with the alleged plot to blow up planes across the Atlantic. Another was charged with attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. The other three were released without charge.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is considering the need to strengthen British terrorism laws by increasing detention to 58 days so that authorities have sufficient time to sift through evidence. That will lead to more hysteria from civil libertarians that democracy is doomed, that we have allowed terrorists to destroy our system of justice. But when jihadists are willing to blow up trains and buses and planes filled with scores of innocent people, such claims ring hollow. Protecting our right to catch a bus or a train or a plane without being blown up means impinging on the rights of those suspected of having links with terrorism. Some of those suspects will be innocent. But isn't it better that we detain them and investigate the evidence instead of sifting through the twisted metal of blown up trains and human remains after a terrorist attack if they turn out to be guilty?

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Selective schools improve learning

SELECTIVE schools are helping students score an extra 10 marks in the Higher School Certificate. The NSW Department of Education has for the first time released official data which shows that students at selective schools have been achieving on average an additional two marks for each subject, based on their relative performance in year 10.

The department has a database that allows it to compare students' results as they progress from year 3 to year 12. Their marks in the basic skills test in years 3 and 5 are compared. The same is done for the literacy and numeracy tests in years 7 and 8. The department also tracks improvement in students' results between years 10 and 12. This measure is called value-added, and shows that students in selective schools are lifting their performance in year 12 beyond expectations. The value-added index can often be higher in comprehensive schools, which help poor-performing students reach their full potential. But selective school students often perform to their potential in year 10, which leaves little room for improvement.

A spokeswoman for the department said there was "truth to the idea that students in selective schools are close to the ceiling of performance and that it is more difficult for them to demonstrate consistent growth compared with average- or lower-achieving students". "The fact that students in selective schools demonstrate above-expected levels of achievement so consistently is a truly stunning outcome of the selective stream," she said.

Last year the average "value-added per student" for selective schools across the five School Certificate external tests ranged from 2.5 marks in science to 5.8 marks in mathematics. The School Certificate value-added is the number of marks a student obtains above or below what might be expected, based on relative performance in the year 5 basic skills test.

But the Greens MP and education spokesman, John Kaye, challenged the department's value-added data. "Most comparisons between schools are meaningless because of the wide variations in student performance and the spread of improvements within schools," he said.

The Minister for Education, John Della Bosca, said he would establish a working group to help determine which schools would receive the extra 600 selective school places announced before the election in March. He said the composition of the working group was expected to include representatives from parents' and citizens' associations, primary and secondary principals, the Department of Education, and teachers. "Some of the issues it will take into account will include the fair allocation of places in rural, regional and metropolitan areas and the impacts on surrounding school communities," he said. "Our overall objective is to ensure the places are allocated in an equitable and sensible way."

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Church says Australians are a mad lot -- so crazies should be trusted (??)

I rather suspect that the trendy Methodists who claim that are not too hot themselves. See the rubric below

Mental illness touches the lives of almost every Australian, according to a report that reveals the condition affects 85 per cent of the population either directly or through the suffering of a friend or relative. The major new report by Christian charity the Wesley Mission also suggests more people than previously thought - up to 36 per cent of the community - may also have direct experience of a mental health problem. Previous estimates had put the figure at 20 per cent.

Despite the higher prevalence, significant stigma continues to dog people with more serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. The report released yesterday made 21 recommendations for improving understanding of mental illness and the lot of people experiencing mental problems. "Mental illness remains a taboo subject for many people, although it touches the lives of most Australians," said Wesley Mission superintendent Keith Garner. "Despite much public discussion and the advocacy of high-profile figures sharing their personal experiences ... there is still a clear reluctance in the community to trust individuals with a mental illness in decision-making roles or in roles where reliability is paramount." [That's a BAD thing??]

For the report, the result of a six-month research project, the authors surveyed 600 people in Sydney and Newcastle to find out more about public attitudes to mental illness. They found that only 46 per cent of people questioned would trust work done by someone with schizophrenia. Only 55 per cent would feel comfortable working alongside someone with the condition and only 23 per cent said they would feel comfortable if their child was sharing a flat with a schizophrenic patient. This is despite 77 per cent agreeing patients with schizophrenia would improve if treated. Attitudes towards people with anxiety disorders were far more benign: 81 per cent were happy to work alongside them and 67 per cent had confidence in the work they produced.

The report's recommendations included the introduction of tax and other incentives to encourage employers to take on people with mental problems, better integration of treatment services and more support for carers.

Ian Hickie, executive director of the Brain and Mind Research Centre in Sydney, who wrote a foreword to the report and attended yesterday's launch, said it was significant that there was continued public fear of people with conditions such as schizophrenia, which reflected the difficulty such patients had in getting adequate treatment.

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