Retailers may be doing it tough, but you can’t blame consumers for shopping online

Both in England and Australia I have at times found it difficult to get served in shops.  I once had some shoes picked out to buy that cost $200+ but the only shop assistant there just sat on the phone.  Nothing I said or did would dislodge her.  I walked out of BFS Pedorthics with my money still in my pocket. 

I do however have a way of getting served that usually works.  I stand in the middle of the store  and say in a VERY loud voice: "Why am I invisible?".  That gets a pretty quick response usually.  Even in my old age, I do have a Stentorian voice when I choose -- and enough extraversion to use it

Stentorian speech is not aggressive speech. It is not a shout or a scream or a screech.  Stentor was simply LOUD.  Australia actually has a modern Stentor in the person of Michael Darby. Michael rarely uses public address systems. He uses his built-in one. It is a wonder to hear.

Bosses with underperforming shops should mount a close investigation of how their staff are treating their customers.  If they found out, a lot would be horrified, I think.  There are a lot of snooty servers who give the customers the feeling that they are doing the customers a favour by serving them


If you’ve recently been into a Myer outlet and tried to buy something, then you would not have been surprised to read some of its stores are closing.

Australian retailers are having a terrible time, apparently. Conditions are tough and the outlook is grim. In fact, things are so bad that it sounds to me as if the average retailer is almost in as much despair as the average retail consumer.

If you’ve recently been into a Myer outlet and tried to buy something, then you would not have been surprised to read some of its stores are closing. Perhaps you too have played the catch-a-shop-assistant game with Myer’s staff. You search for ages before finally spotting one, whom you approach tentatively, clutching your item.

You ask politely if you can buy it, but your hopes are dashed. This person doesn’t work for the brand that owns your item, someone else does; she is over there somewhere, but she may not be here today, she may work only on other days; whatever, good luck and toodle-oo. With that she disappears and you are left clutching your item, which you put down before going home to buy it online for 30 per cent less, with free delivery.

Myer is only one of the most recent retail casualties and the government’s silly new tax on retail consumers isn’t going to help anyone. Consumers are fed up with poor service, rubbish retail experiences and high prices, and increasingly prefer to buy goods online, especially from overseas.

In the past financial year, Australians spent about $40 million on low-value items (less than $1000) online, offshore. We pay no GST on low-value items, and we pay no other taxes, duties or charges to bring them into the country. However, this is all about to change.

From July 1, retailers will have one of their long-held wishes realised, with GST applied to items under $1000. This will “level the playing field”, apparently, but you and I know it will do nothing except make things more expensive.

Any overseas retailer who is sending goods worth more than $75,000 a year into Australia must collect the GST and pay it to our government, but it is not clear how enforceable this rule may be.

For example, I regularly buy household items from a small vintage boutique in Rodeo Drive, Los Angeles. It is difficult to imagine that the lovely shop owner with the pout and monster eyelashes might sit down at the end of each quarter, dirty martini in hand, and dutifully fill out her Aus­tralian business activity statement.

In addition to the GST expansion, the Department of Home Affairs is considering whether to slug us all with a new import levy of up to $7. They say this is to cover the cost of screening our items at the border. However, this is just poor management and government gouging, just because they can. Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm describes the moves succinctly: “Collection of GST on low-value imports will be expensive. It’s stupid policy. The levy idea is even worse.”

Russell Zimmerman of the Australian Retailers Association is a great advocate for the retail sector. He empathises with consumers, but adds: “The cost of doing business is very high in Australia, and this is not just about the high cost of wages. Rent and other costs are very high.”

Indeed, rent is a real issue. Landlords seem unreasonable, even greedy. Prices are exorbitant; a retailer may expect to pay $130,000 a year for a 120sq m shop in an outer suburban shopping centre. Further, the standard retail lease mandates the store has to provide its landlord with its gross sales figures on a reasonably detailed basis every month. These figures must be kept by the retailer for two years in case the landlord wishes to inspect them.

If the landlord suspects the retailer is fudging, they have the right to audit the figures, and if there is a variance of more than a particular percentage, the landlord has the right to impose fines and the retailer must pay the cost of the audit. The average lease for a retail outlet is between five and seven years, as a general rule. Rent increases each year by the consumer price index plus 2 per cent or 2.5 per cent, or 5 per cent compounded year on year. This means that across a five-year period rent rises by about 27 per cent.

Red tape costs a lot of money, too. For example, in Melbourne a large retail outlet opened its flagship store a few years back. For its opening night it wanted to serve refreshments including alcohol. It was required by the local authorities to have a person with a “responsible service of alcohol” ticket. This in itself wasn’t a huge cost but it is indicative of the reach of government, and how almost anything that anyone wants to do is subject to annoying, time-consuming regulation.

In terms of presentation, the Australian retail sector leaves a lot to be desired and this has become more apparent in the past five years. Australians watch many TV shows about renovating, decorating and design. Many of us have beautifully decorated homes now, and we are disinclined to leave our lovely houses to visit cruddy facilities that are visually unappealing. Yet, as Zimmerman points out, when a retailer wants to complete a fit-out, the work must be done after-hours. The cost of paying tradespeople to work nights adds enormously to the cost.

SOURCE 






Mathematics teachers disapointed by new education report

The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) says today's Government response to this week’s Gonski 2.0 report, Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Education Excellence in Australian Schools, must consider the time and resources needed to tackle deepening issues surrounding mathematics education.

A ‘system view’ is needed to understand the maths education ecosystem, including the extent of the damage caused by Australia’s absence of university mathematics prerequisites and out-of-field teaching.

Only 14 per cent of universities require intermediate mathematics for entry into science and students are able to enter almost half Australia’s engineering degrees without a requirement for intermediate or higher mathematics.

“The current lack of university maths prerequisites is sending a worrying value message about the impact and need for mathematics to students, schools and parents,” says AMSI Director, Professor Geoff Prince.

Professor Prince said the report undersold this issue, as well as the difficulty in graduating qualified secondary maths teachers and the extent of out-of-field teaching. The Institute believes that it would take a considerable amount of time to turn around the current lack of interest in teaching amongst mathematics graduates.

At least 26 per cent of Years 7-10 maths classes are taught by an out-of-field teacher, a figure that almost doubles for remote regions. An issue, Professor Prince, warns will not be solved through graduate recruitment alone.

“Insufficient attention has been paid to the professional development of out-of-field teachers, an explicit recommendation put forward by the Institute in its submission to the review panel. It is critical to support student learning with adequate teacher content knowledge, an issue only partially addressed by the report,” he said.

AMSI supports greater transparency around relevant teacher qualifications to provide this much overdue professional development and enhance workforce planning as recommended by the report.

“It is critical we understand the true extent and trends of out-of-field teaching; as the report identifies this is acute and endemic in regional and remote areas with mathematics teaching positions hardest to fill,” said Professor Prince.

Not just about what happens in the classroom, AMSI also continues to call for a national campaign to tackle behavioural and cultural attitudes towards mathematics to strengthen student engagement. The Institute’s Schools program is already a leader in this area through its national Choose Maths project.

“If we want students to stick with mathematics, particularly girls, we need to tackle engagement barriers beyond the classroom. As well as deeper understanding of career pathways, this is essential to challenge community attitudes to mathematics and its value and impact,” says Professor Prince.

Media release from AMSI. Media Contact: Laura Watson, media@amsi.org.au






Government workers who have saved dozens of criminals from deportation will enjoy three-day junket at a luxury beachside resort – and taxpayers will foot the $500,000 bill

Government workers will enjoy a three-day junket on the taxpayers dime. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has invited 304 members to the Novotel Twin Waters Resort on the Sunshine Coast, according to the Herald Sun.

Between flights, food and beverages and accommodation over May 28, 29 and 30 the expected cost of the weekend is $500,000.

An AAT spokeswoman told the publication: 'following a tender process to meet mandatory requirements and to ensure that the booking represented the best value for money due to the ability to offer a competitive rate compared with metropolitan venues.'

The hotel describes itself as a 'four star beachfront resort property'. It can fit 1,400 people in its 361 suites and sits amongst 36 hectares of bushland.

The AAT has made headlines recently after Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton admitted to being 'incredibly frustrated' with the government body.

Speaking to Ben Fordham on 2GB earlier this weeky, Mr Dutton said regular Australians were being 'taken for a ride'. 'I think taxpayers, the Australian public, and most importantly the victims and their families, are being taken for a ride,' he said.

'We're working as hard as we can to kick people out of our country who've done the wrong thing.'

According to The Australian, the ATT overturned the decision of 164 cases of foreign-born criminals that were made by Peter Dutton's delegates.

This includes 17 rapists, eight murderes and 33 drug dealers.

SOURCE 






Senate inquiry misunderstands company tax

Company tax is one of the most economically harmful taxes and in global terms Australia is more dependent on company tax than many other comparable countries. Countries around the world, and in our region, have either cut rates or already have substantially lower rates than Australia does

Yet the Senate is inquiring into a commitment by the BCA to increase investment, employment or wages prior to passing a company tax cut.

Both the concept of the commitment, and the resulting system to monitor performance, suggest a misunderstanding of how company tax cuts will affect the economy.

Making tax cuts conditional on these commitments is another form of regulation, based on the notion that it is only government control that can ensure businesses will do ‘the right thing’ and invest more.

Yet the benefits of the company tax do not flow to wage earners on the basis of a commitment by companies to ‘use’ the proceeds to boost wages or hire new staff. It does not require charity or a social contract with business. In no sense are the benefits reliant on a ‘trickle-down’ effect.

It is the self-interested market that will drive increased investment, particularly by foreigners who receive a higher rate of return than they have done previously.

However this is not the only reason a system of measurement for compliance with any such commitment is not a good idea.

Another important reason is that the corporate tax rate is only one factor of many that determine where a company chooses to invest. In observing movements in investment, wages, productivity and employment in the years following a company tax cut, it will be impossible to separate out the effects of the cut. This is especially the case as the cut is phased in over a number of years.

Evidence of wage growth at companies making the commitment would not necessarily be associated with company tax cuts, nor would any increases in investment necessarily be caused by that commitment. Both could be the result of external effects in the economy.

Nor would the counterfactual in any analysis be current levels of investment, wages or employment. By standing still, Australia risks losing investment to other countries. Investment may have declined in Australia in the absence of a cut.

So not only is such a commitment unnecessary, there is no way to know whether the companies involved met their commitment or not. The Senate should instead look at company tax on its merits.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

'They all support the bullies': Primary teacher says there's no way school could have saved suicide girl Dolly because education officials rarely step in to help tormented children

A primary school teacher claims he experienced first hand the Queensland Education Department favouring bullies over teachers trying to help their victims. 

Grant Elmsly, 56, said he was filling in at Bribie Island State School last year when he allegedly saw a student stab another in the lower back with a pencil.

After several attempts to report the incident through the correct channels, he identified what he believed to be a massive flaw in the system.

He said he ended up reporting what he saw to police and the Department of Education's ethical standards unit, but the department ultimately sided with the bullies.

Mr Elmsly claimed the children made stories up about him, which resulted in him being suspended from work.

His claims followed backlash from parents in the wake of Amy 'Dolly' Everett's death, with many pushing for more to be done to put an end to bullying in schools.

The 14-year-old took her own life in January after enduring years of relentless bullying at her Queensland boarding school.

'I read with amazement the story about Dolly,' Mr Elmsly said. 'But I don't know that teachers could have done anymore to help because we're not supported by the system to do so which makes us helpless to an extent.'

He said after witnessing the alleged incident involving the pencil while teaching a class in August last year, he couldn't file the incident in the school's OnePortal system because he was employed as a casual.

When he asked other staff to file it on his behalf, Mr Elmsly said they told him the victim had likely deserved it.   

'They all seemed to support the bullies in saying the kid who was stabbed deserved it. I couldn't believe it was normal to them. There was just no excuse for that sort of behaviour,' he said.

Mr Elmsly claimed his suspension, pending the outcome of an internal investigation, was an example of the department penalising teachers for standing up for bully victims.

'It's common for QLD principals to tell their staff not to write mandatory reports on OnePortal as it's available on request to parents and the regional education QLD office will think they are wonderful principals,' he said.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, QLD Department of Education said it could not comment on specific incidents but encouraged all cases of bullying to be reported.

'Bribie Island State School, like all Queensland state schools, does not tolerate bullying. 'Any situation that threatens the safety and wellbeing of any student is treated extremely seriously, and dealt with as a matter of urgent priority

'Students who engage in bullying behaviours at Bribie Island SS are dealt with under the school’s Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students. It outlines the standard of behaviour expected from students and the consequences when those standards are not met.'

SOURCE 






Budget 2018: Morrison to deliver relief for low-income earners

Scott Morrison has confirmed that low to middle-income workers on less than $87,000 a year will be targeted for immediate “maximum” tax relief this year.

Tuesday’s budget will also map out a plan to reduce both the thresholds and tax rates paid by the “aspirational class’’ on higher incomes, including those on the top marginal tax rate.

These fundamental changes to the higher tax brackets are slated to kick in as early as 2024.

In an appeal to the Liberal Party base ahead of a budget that will define the stark contrast on tax policy between the Coalition and Labor, the Treasurer has conceded that salary earners on the highest tax bracket have had to bear the greatest share of the tax burden.

Treasury analysis of unpublished Australian Taxation Office data, released to The Weekend Australian, reveals the median personal tax bill for the 400,000 people earning more than $180,000 a year was almost $85,000 a year — an effective average tax rate of 36 per cent.

This compared with a tax rate of only 7 per cent for those earning less than $37,000 and a 19 per cent rate for those earning up to $87,000 a year.

The Weekend Australian understands that the $180,000 threshold for the top marginal tax rate of 45c is expected to be raised over the medium term.

Mr Morrison told The Weekend Australian that the figures showed that the greatest tax burden was levied against higher-income families and exposed Bill Shorten’s claim that the wealthy paid little to no tax. “I can say that our first ­priority is to maximise and target tax relief to low and middle-­income earners … it’s good for them and it is also good for the economy,” he said. “But the notion that somehow that comes at the expense of slugging others on the false pretext that they don’t pay enough tax is pure envy politics … it is nonsense.”

Mr Morrison would not be drawn on whether the budget would reveal an earlier return to surplus on the back of the revenue rebound and spending restraint, despite a senior cabinet minister telling The Weekend Australian that it was expected to be brought forward a year.

While not revealing the changes to tax thresholds to ­deliver what economists expect to be a maximum of $8 billion a year in personal income tax cuts, Mr Morrison said Labor’s plan to raise the effective top tax rate to 49 per cent would punish those who already paid the most tax.

The Treasury analysis of ­median taxable income revealed someone who had a taxable ­income of $190,000 in 2015-16 would ordinarily have faced a marginal tax rate of 49 per cent, comprising a 45 per cent headline rate, plus 2 per cent Medicare levy, plus the 2 per cent temporary budget repair levy. This resulted in a tax bill of $63,047, amounting to the equivalent of twice the wages of a low-income earner.

By contrast, the median personal income tax rate of the 5.2 million people earning ­between $37,000 and $87,000 in 2015-16 was just 19 per cent — or a little over $10,000.

The Coalition has already dropped a plan to increase the Medicare levy by 0.5 per cent for all taxpayers to help pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is also axing the 2 per cent temporary deficit levy, meaning the top tax rate will revert to 45 per cent, plus the existing 2 per cent Medicare levy, offering relief to higher taxpayers. Labor plans to keep the deficit levy, meaning the top rate would be an effective 49 per cent.

Mr Morrison said there were strong economic and political reasons for targeting tax cuts at the low to middle-income earners, who had been suffering from low wage growth.

“Tax relief of middle to low-­income earners underpins the economic policies that support stronger consumption from an economic view and from an em­pathy point of view,” he said.

Mr Morrison said many lower to middle-income earners could see from employment numbers that the economy was doing well but were saying “we haven’t felt that yet”.

National accounts measures of household consumption have been volatile but the overall trend has been only modest growth. Tax relief could help lift consumption, which represents almost 60 per cent of the economy.

Mr Morrison said low to middle-income earners, with wages of less than the $87,000 threshold where the second top rate of 37c in the dollar kicks in, were the government’s target in next week’s budget. They had the greatest propensity to lift spending in response to tax cuts.

Deloitte Access Economics has calculated that tax cuts delivering greatest benefit to these groups could be achieved by raising the tax-free threshold from $18,200 to $20,000 and the threshold at which people start losing 32.5c in the dollar from $37,000 to $40,000.

This would cost the budget about $8bn a year, and would represent a gain of almost 2 per cent for people earning $40,000, dropping to about 0.6 per cent for those earning more than $150,000.

Mr Morrison sought to allay concerns that the improved budget position was a flash in the pan, saying it reflected the strength of the economy and a structural ­improvement in company tax payments. “A lot of what we’ve seen in the last six or nine months has been what has physically come into the coffers of Treasury — it’s real money that’s turned up,” he said. “It is a structural improvement, even taking account of the enterprise tax plan which is in all of our numbers.”

Mr Morrison said the budget forecasts on commodity prices had been conservative and this would continue. Iron ore prices have ­averaged about $US65 a tonne this year (allowing for freight) or about $US10 a tonne above Treasury’s previous forecast.

He said the main reason for growth in company tax receipts this year was that companies had used up tax losses incurred in the years following the end of the mining investment boom.

SOURCE 






New education plan skims over key indicators such as discipline in schools

“Not good enough.” That’s what Malcolm Turnbull said this week about Australia’s declining results in international school tests.

As noted in the Gonski 2.0 report, Australia has fallen in absolute performance and relative to other countries in the three Program for International Student Assessment tests run by the OECD. These assess the science, maths and reading abilities of 15-year-old students.

The factors linked to good outcomes are well known: they have to do with the quality of teaching, including classroom management. Yet they barely rate a mention in Gonski 2.0.

The OECD notes the five strongest factors associated with student performance, for good or for ill. Those associated with higher achievement are teacher-­directed instruction, adaptive instruction and school disciplinary climate. Those associated with lower achievement are inquiry-based instruction and perceived feedback.

What comes through loud and clear is that four of the top five factors influencing student achievement are about instruction: that is, methods of teaching.

The fifth factor is the level of disruption in the classroom, which indirectly is also associated with instruction. Gonski 2.0 has little to say about this well-established body of evidence.

The OECD factors in play need some explanation. Teacher-direc­ted instruction is defined as the teacher explaining and demonstrating ideas, leading whole-class discussions and responding to student questions. Consistent with decades of research, the OECD findings indicate that teacher-­directed instruction is highly bene­ficial for student learning.

Inquiry-based teaching, which in some ways is the opposite of teacher-directed instruction, is characterised by class-led learning activities and encouragement of discovery through group collaboration. This style of teaching is ­associated with less student achievement.

On the surface, adaptive instruction sounds similar to one of the main recommendations of the Gonski 2.0 report, adaptive learning. This refers to teachers adjusting their teaching to cater for the needs of their class and individual students.

Most teachers try to do this as much as they can, with varying degrees of success. For teachers to know the levels and range of ability in their classes, and to calibrate their teaching accordingly, is an important skill.

However, Gonski 2.0 went much further. It recommended students be assessed based on their growth in learning rather than according to age-based or year-based curriculums. The idea is to give teachers an online assessment tool to continuously measure learning growth, with the expectation they would provide “tailored teaching” for individual stu­dents depending on their ability.

Adaptive learning as described by the OECD is much simpler. It means teachers adapt lessons, provide individual help to struggling students and change the structure of lessons when covering difficult topics. It does not mean going to the great lengths of using a continuous online assessment tool or coming up with an individual learning plan for every student.

Taking the OECD data as a guide, the task of teachers adapting to the needs of students is much simpler than the Gonski panel’s proposal and Australian students think teachers are already doing this reasonably well.

This is where Gonski 2.0 could have made a valuable practical contribution — an objective and detailed investigation of the factors that have the biggest impact on student learning, and an analysis of how to deploy them in Australian classrooms.

Discipline is the other key issue that Gonski could have tackled. School disciplinary climate is the factor that most clearly differentiates Australia from the top 10 performing countries, and not in a good way. According to students themselves, Australian classrooms are unsettled and disruptive to learning. The data is clear.

The “disciplinary climate index” is based on how often these things happen in class: students don’t listen to what the teacher says; there is noise and disorder; the teacher has to wait a long time for students to quiet down; students cannot work well; and students don’t start working for a long time after the lesson begins.

This PISA data on student behaviour and school discipline in Australia is corroborated by the most recent results from two other international education datasets — the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Teaching and Learning International Survey — which both indicate Australia has relatively high levels of student misbehaviour relative to other countries.

These results are not surprising, given a series of recent studies showing Australian university teacher education degrees in the main do not adequately equip new teachers with classroom management techniques based on evidence.

And recent research from Macquarie University researchers found school discipline is far more important than school funding in determining a country’s educa­tional performance.

The OECD has found that for developed, high-income countries such as Australia there is no clear relationship between school funding and student outcomes. This should give us pause for thought as the federal government puts an extra $23.5 billion of taxpayer money into schools across the next 10 years.

But on the factors that do make a difference — teaching method and school discipline — the Gonski 2.0 report stayed almost silent.

As a coda, some qualifications of our argument are necessary.

The PISA 2015 analysis of the factors in student achievement deals specifically with science classes — so we need to be cautious about generalisation — but the results correspond with similar analyses in previous years and with other educational research.

Also, the data is based on self-reporting, thereby limiting the conclusions that can be made.

However, the PISA result involves a large sample size and there are no obvious biases in the survey and assessment instruments.

It’s true that Australia performs above the international average on adaptive and teacher-directed instruction, which are both associated with high student achievement. But there are question marks over the categories and descriptions of instruction at issue.

Notwithstanding these caveats, instruction — or teaching method — is clearly the big-ticket item for student achievement and should have been a major focus of the Gonski 2.0 report.

SOURCE 





Australia tipped to soon produce more than half of the world's lithium

Western Australia is tipped to produce more than half of the world’s lithium supply by the end of this year, as new mines come online and the world’s appetite for the materials used to make batteries for electric vehicles grows.

That forecast, made by Citi analyst Clarke Wilkins last week, came on the same day that the managing director of lithium miner Pilbara Minerals, Ken Brinsden, said Australia was in "pole position in lithium raw materials", and described one part of WA as "lithium valley".

But with Australia’s emerging lithium industry growing so fast, investors have also been reminded that there will be “bumps and curves” and twists along the way.

Most of the world’s lithium now comes from hard rock mining of spodumene deposits, or via the extraction of lithium from brine deposits in Argentina and Chile.

But given the handful of hard rock mines now operating in Western Australia or soon to start, Australia is well placed to capitalise on the rapid growth in the use of electric vehicles over coming years in major car markets such as Europe and China.

“If you look at all the hard rock (lithium) mines, WA is going to dominate. West Australia will be over half of the (world’s) lithium supply, effectively, by the end of this year. Because all of the world’s hard rock mines are basically in WA,” Mr Wilkins said.

“There are projects outside of Australia, but it’s unlikely that any of those will be really of material scale production until a number of years away. Because you’ve got infrastructure, you’ve got a mining culture, the biggest projects tend to be in Australia, so Australia does lead the world in terms of development of these hard rock mines."

Lithium is a key ingredient in the manufacture of lithium ion batteries used in electric vehicles, large battery storage units, and electronic devices like mobile phones and laptop computers.

In an address to the Melbourne Mining Club on Friday, Mr Brinsden said Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora mine would be “one of the world’s largest lithium mines”, and that the company was only a week or two away from turning on its processing plant. The plant will crush and process rocks from the mine to produce spodumene concentrate containing lithium.

“We expect to make our first shipment of spodumene concentrate sometime in late June,” Mr Brinsden said.

Mr Brinsden said Australia was the world’s largest producer of spodumene concentrate with mines already in production, and with several more to come.

“Australia commands pole position in lithium raw materials, and will likely hold that mantel for many years to come as a result of the incredible mineral endowment we have in hard-rock lithia sources,” he said.

Despite this “pole position” for lithium held by Australia, ASX-listed lithium companies have experienced their fair share of ups and downs on the market, with some volatile stock price movements in recent months.

The share price of Pilbara Minerals itself hit an all-time closing price high in early January this year, of $1.22, but then retreated as concerns rose that the lithium market could in future years be in over-supply for a period. Pilbara closed up one cent on Friday, at 89 cents.

“I think the industry is going through a rapid growth phase, that is clearly with risk. And the risk here is around obviously project definition, project funding, customer off-take relationships, and critically - project execution. And then, ramp-up to steady state. All these things are not without risk,” said Lachlan Shaw, commodity strategist with UBS.

“I think that’s the first thing, the industry is going through very rapid growth, and there will be bumps and curves along the way,” he said.

Also, on the demand side, peoples understanding of the “battery chain” was still developing. “There’s a pretty wide range of views out there about demand growth, and about how the industry works. And because the range of views is so diverse, there’s added volatility,” he said.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

School's deputy principal is rushed to hospital after 'being attacked by a [?] student before other teachers dragged them away'

There is a word left out above and below: Aboriginal.  There have been a series of violent incidents at the school involving Aborigines.  Relations between West Australia's large Aboriginal population and the rest of the community are notoriously poor

The deputy principal of a Western Australian high school was taken to hospital after allegedly being attacked by a student on Wednesday.

Police say the student, 14, was told to leave Busselton High School grounds at about 1.40pm on Wednesday at which point he allegedly punched the 50-year-old deputy principal.

A second staff member was also allegedly targeted on the same day by another student however this attack was prevented from taking place.

A spokesman for the Education Department told The West Australian that staff stepped in to help the deputy principal, and moved the alleged attacker along with other students away while police were called at about 2pm.

'A short time later, there was a second incident involving a different student who tried to physically hurt another staff member,' she said.

'The staff member who was assaulted has had medical treatment ... and is being offered the school's full support.'

The deputy principal was later released from hospital and police have charged the 14-year-old boy from Geographe has been charged with Assualt Public Officer and Trespass.

He is due to appear in Bunbury Children's Court Thursday on Thursday.

The incidents occurred at Busselton High School, about an hour south of Bunbury, the same school where just over a month ago video was captured of a student punching another student before stomping on his head.

That incident was described as shocking by the Education Minister and police later charged that teenager with assault occasioning bodily harm.

The Minister Sue Ellery has now ordered an urgent review of school violence policies following the string of incidents.

SOURCE 






Labor announces it would phase out live sheep exports

Political correctness to destroy a thriving Australian business.  Australia is good at growing sheep but many countries want to slaughter their own  -- on both religious and health grounds

Labor's agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon says the party sees no future for the trade.

A Labor government would phase out the the live export of sheep, opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has announced.
Labor had previously called for a suspension of the trade but promised to wait for a government review into the trade before making a final decision.

"From day one in government, we will develop and implement a strategic red meat industry plan which will focus on more processing and more jobs in Australia and begin that transition away from live exports," Mr Fitzgibbon told Fairfax Media.

"I don't believe the live export of sheep has a future in Australia. By the industry's own admission this week, mortality rates can't be controlled."

The future of the live export industry has faced an increasingly uncertain future after the emergence of shocking footage showing the cruel and deadly conditions faced by sheep on voyages to the Middle East.

Liberal MPs Sussan Ley and Jason Wood have also pushed for the trade to be gradually abolished but the Turnbull government has resisted a "knee jerk" reaction.

Ms Ley, a former Turnbull government cabinet minister, has plans to introduce a private member's bill to phase out the exports.

The Greens have also proposed a five-point plan that, in shutting down the trade, would offer financial assistance to farmers and encourage the growth of boxed meats.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud last month announced a snap review that will consider whether the trade should continue during the northern summer months when animals are put at risk by high temperatures.

In April, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor would "honour our commitment to await [the review's] findings" and called for the creation of an independent inspector general of animal welfare.

Mr Fitzgibbon said he had since become concerned about the pace of the reviews into the sector and was now "convinced the government is not serious about real and meaningful action".

He said the "final blow" was remarks this week from Emanuel Exports managing director Graham Daws about extreme weather being unpredictable. "The incidents in 2016 and 2017 we mitigated as much as we could, but unfortunately no one can predict that weather event," Mr Daws told the ABC.

Mr Fitzgibbon said, "What he is saying is, 'No matter what we do, we are always going to have events like those depicted on 60 Minutes.'"

Responding to Labor's announcement, Ms Ley urged the party to back her bill and said she would be discussing it with MPs from all parties when Parliament returns.

"Either you believe the trade needs to be phased out or you don't. If you do believe it, then you should support my private member's bill, which is all about a sensible transition to a future where we don't continue to export live sheep to the Middle East," she told Sky News.

Mr Fitzgibbon said he had not yet seen the bill and noted the government would have to allow it to be voted on. "I'm absolutely convinced that farmers can benefit from this transition," he said, outlining that Labor would push for growth in the export of chilled and boxed meats, especially to Asia.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Mr Littleproud savaged Labor's announcement, dismissing it as a "political stunt" and a reckless position.

"What the Labor Party has done today has just shown how reckless they are in protecting the jobs of Australians ," Mr Turnbull said. "What you're seeing from Labor is a repeat of that emotional decision made when Julia GIllard was prime minister to ban live cattle exports."

Mr Littleproud said, “The McCarthy review into the Middle Eastern summer sheep trade is due in two weeks. With the science just two weeks away, Labor has rushed to a knee-jerk ban, punishing farmers who have done no wrong."

SOURCE 





Mark Latham: Trump started it, now it’s time to drain the Australian political swamp

Former Labor leader Mark Latham is calling for Australia to take a leaf out of US President Donald Trump’s book and drain the political swamp.

He’s hated by the mainstream media and the left-wing, but continues to resonate with the common masses in America and around the world.

Latham says he’s thrown all the political rules out the window and believes it’s time to do the same in Australia.

“Everyone knows the system is failing, we see that in Australia.

“The two major parties are limping along with record levels of public distrust and disenchantment with politics.

“Trump calls it draining the swamp and it should be drained.

“That’s such a refreshing break with the political orthodoxy. Around the world, he’s become quite a hero to people.

“You wouldn’t agree with 100% of what he says and sometimes you think ‘oh that’s a bit jarring’ and ‘where did that come from’, but the fact that he’s brave enough to say it.

“He’s totally fearless of the modern media.”

SOURCE 






Warmists joining Liberal Party branches in an attempt to unseat climate realist Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott’s political future could be under threat from a group of activists who have been organising environmentally conscious voters to join Liberal party branches on Sydney’s north shore – a move that could unseat the former prime minister.

Billing themselves as “the counterweight” to the pro-coal power Monash Forum, the North Shore Environmental Stewards have held at least two recruitment functions at which attendees were urged to tap into their networks of environmentally conscious people to join the Liberal party branches in Abbott’s seat of Warringah and on the lower north shore.

The NSES has a Facebook page that says the group “supports clean energy and a healthy environment, and believes in traditional Liberal party values of environmental stewardship”.

But some participants believe its objectives appeared to be aimed at candidate change.

“I was asked to participate in an initiative to have a representative in Canberra who acknowledges climate change,” said one person who attended the meeting in Seaforth on 25 March.

Exactly who is involved in the group remains a matter of conjecture.

Certainly, Liberals have attended. Several high-profile figures in the moderate faction of the Liberal party, including the powerbroker Michael Photios and his wife, Kristina, attended the lunchtime gathering of the NSES at Seaforth in March.

Also attending were the New South Wales MP for North Shore, Felicity Wilson, and David Begg, a longtime Liberal party member who ran against Abbott for preselection in the 1990s.

Photios addressed the meeting and, according to one attendee, put the case that the Liberals were the party that would tackle climate change – and that they should join. He highlighted his own record of defending the environment when in state parliament. .

“At the meeting I soon realised that the NSES was ... seeking to recruit people concerned about the lack of action on climate change to join the Liberal party in order to block the preselection of Tony Abbott to stand in Warringah at the next federal election,” the attendee claimed.

One invitation for the Mosman meeting said: “We have a real opportunity be a force for good in the party, a voice for the environment right here in the electorate of the Monash Forum’s figurehead – Tony Abbott. Come and learn about how we can shift the politics here in Warringah at our info session this Sunday!”

Photios told Guardian Australia he had attended the Seaforth meeting because his wife, a passionate environmentalist, had been asked to speak. She ultimately didn’t speak but Photios did and was the main speaker at the event. He said there was “zero involvement” of the Liberal party or the moderate faction in the formation of the NSES.

A year ago, the Photios couple formed a spinoff from Photios’s lobbying firm, Premier State, to represent clean energy companies. The firm, Clean Energy Strategies, describes itself as “a boutique corporate advisory firm specialising in energy”.

Until a few years ago Photios held several senior positions in the state executive of the NSW Liberal party and was head of the moderate faction, known as the Group, which has been locked in a long-running power struggle with the right. Abbott is one of the leading members of the right faction.

As prime minister, Abbott pushed through rule changes in the Liberal party to ban registered lobbyists from holding party positions.

Several members of NSES are also members of the activist group GetUp. A GetUp spokeswoman said the NSES “was definitely not a GetUp project but the environmental justice team knows of it ... and think they’re great”.

The official organiser of NSES, Rob Grant, told Guardian Australia the group was no more than “a group of like-minded people on the north shore who want to see action on climate change, and who believe in driving change from inside the tent”.

Senior figures in the moderates scoffed at the idea that Abbott was in any danger of losing his northern beaches seat in a preselection. They said he had a firm grip on the numbers and that to take part in a preselection members must have joined at least six months earlier.

There is no firm date for federal preselections but they are likely to take place by the end of the year or earlier, if an early election is called.

But figures closer to the machinations in Warringah warned the seat could be vulnerable to an attack by Young Liberals, whom they described as marauding across NSW.

This is because the geographic rules that require members to join their local federal branch do not apply for members under the age of 30. Young Liberals can therefore vote in preselections outside where they live.

SOURCE 






Bill Shorten’s ‘$26m BCA war chest’ claim fails to add up

Bill Shorten has peddled an unverified estimate to attack the Business Council of Australia, claiming it is using a corporate war chest of $26 million to “buy” the next federal election for the Liberal Party.

Turnbull government ministers yesterday attacked the Opposition Leader over the claim, accusing Labor of free-riding on the political campaigning efforts of unions and left-wing activist group GetUp! while condemning business for attempting to engage with the community.

The $26m figure cited by Mr Shorten is inaccurate. The BCA funding drive, aimed at promoting two television advertisements for its Australia at Work campaign that are yet to air, is expected to fall short of the total.

Each of the BCA’s 130 members has been asked to contribute to the campaign, which is not related to the government’s proposed corporate tax cuts. The Australian can reveal that — contrary to an ABC report this week that each member had been asked to contribute $200,000, making a total of $26m — there are different amounts for different companies based on their capacity to pay.

It is understood that some companies, including ANZ, are not making a contribution to the Australia at Work campaign, which is aimed at trying to counter anti-business sentiment in the community.

Mr Shorten yesterday escalated his assault on the fundraising efforts of the BCA, saying it was using its “big scary warchest” of $26m to secure a reduction in the corporate tax rate. His office declined to respond to questions about how he arrived at the $26m figure.

Mr Shorten used the same number GetUp! had earlier referenced to try to raise revenue from supporters to “help take on the business lobby” as it warned against the BCA’s “destructive neoliberal agenda”. “If we can raise just a portion of the BCA’s $26m, we can turbocharge our people-powered ­organising efforts for the next election … and start winning the fight against destructive corporate power,” GetUp! said in a statement.

Mr Shorten’s depiction of the BCA funding drive as an attempt to “influence” democracy and “buy the Australian election” was savaged by Workplace Minister Craig Laundy, who provided government figures showing that Labor received more than $6m from unions in 2016-17 and $21m since 2014. Mr Shorten’s ­office did not dispute the figures last night.

The Australian can also reveal the annual reports of left-wing ­activist group GetUp! showed it spent more than $25m on political campaigns over the past three years, including on its targeted campaigns against conservative MPs at the last federal election.

The union push to overhaul workplace laws through its Change the Rules push, spearheaded by ACTU secretary Sally McManus, has also been touted as the labour movement’s most expensive advertising campaign since the Your Rights at Work campaign, which helped to unseat John Howard in 2007.

An ACTU spokesman refused to reveal the cost of the campaign. “The union movement will ­devote whatever resources are necessary to deliver more secure jobs and fair pay rises for working people,” the spokesman said.

Mr Laundy argued that the amount of funds that the BCA proposed to raise was small compared with the levels of funding coming to Labor from the trifecta of “big business, unions and GetUp!”.

“Bill Shorten claims to stand up for workers, but the record shows during his time as a union leader he was only too happy to do deals with big business and sign away workers’ rights to weekend penalty rates,” Mr Laundy said.

Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar told The Australian that Mr Shorten’s comments exposed him as “nothing more than old-­fashioned union bully”.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

French President Emmanuel Macron Called Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Wife 'Delicious'

An odd word for an old lady -- but he does like old ladies -- being married to one. Lucy Turnbull (age 60 years) will be on cloud nine however -- to be called that by none less than the President of France

Was it a Freudian slip by French President Emmanuel Macron? A joke linked to French gastronomy? Or even, a week after his visit to Washington, a parody of President Donald Trump’s infamous comments about Macron’s wife?

Whatever the case, Macron raised eyebrows in Sydney on Wednesday by calling Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s wife “delicious.”

Wrapping up a joint news conference during his brief Australian visit, Macron moved to thank the Turnbulls for their hospitality.

“I want to thank you for your welcome, thank you and your delicious wife for your warm welcome,” he said.

The comment quickly sparked some lighthearted reaction on social media and in the Australian press amid lively conjecture about the French leader’s intent.

“Macron just said he wanted to thank Malcolm Turnbull and his ‘delicious wife’. You can take the man out of France but …,” tweeted Alice Workman, a journalist.

SOURCE





Assault, resisting arrest and 'riotous behaviour': African teens, 18, face serious criminal charges after wild Melbourne shopping centre brawl

Two of three teenagers arrested after a wild brawl between African youths and police in Melbourne's western suburbs have faced court charged with offences including assault and resisting arrest.

Deng Diing, 18, appeared in Werribee Magistrates' Court on Tuesday when it was revealed an application would be made to have his matters dealt with by way of 'diversion'.

Such an application, if successful, could result in all reference to the charges ever having been laid against Diing removed from his record.

Diversions can involve the offender making an apology to a victim, undergoing counselling and education courses or even donating money to a charity.

Diing was one of three teenagers arrested on January 3 after a disturbance at the Tarneit Central shopping centre, about 25km west of Melbourne, which was photographed exclusively by Daily Mail Australia.

Up to 20 officers rushed to the shopping centre after a dispute began near a mobile police van about 2.45pm.

The van had been placed at Tarneit Central as part of a high visibility operation in the suburb, where police had been trying to calm community fears about African youths.

Stunned shoppers watched as a 17-year-old allegedly spat at officers, one of whom threatened him with pepper spray. 'Walk away or you're going to get sprayed,' the officer told the teen.

But as the confrontation escalated more youths quickly arrived, followed by about eight police cars. Two 18-year-olds and one 17-year-old were arrested.

'What did I do wrong?' one of those arrested screamed at the scene.

Several of the young people at the shopping centre alleged the Sudanese community had been unfairly blamed for trouble in the area.

Officers stationed at a nearby community centre were among those to attend the scene.

Diing, from Tarneit, was charged with assaulting police, resisting police, behaving in a riotous manner and failing to move on. Those charges could be reduced.

A Point Cook teenager who was 17 at the time but has since turned 18 was charged with the same offences as Diing, as well as shop theft. He is on bail and also faced court on Tuesday.

Another 18-year-old from Tarneit was charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest, behaving in a riotous manner and failing to move on. He was due in court on Tuesday but did not attend as he was recently arrested, police said.

There has been a regular police presence at Tarneit since it was revealed in December that the Ecoville Community Park had been trashed.

Before the incident at Tarneit Central there had also been a near-riot involving African youths at a party being held at an Airbnb in nearby Werribee.

In an effort to allay the local community's fears, a number of Victorian politicians and top-ranking police publicly said the city had no problem with African gang violence.

DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA STANDS BY ITS REPORTING OF THE TARNEIT SHOPPING CENTRE BRAWL

Two days after the Tarneit Central incident, Victoria Police claimed the situation had been provoked by a Daily Mail Australia photographer's decision to 'move to take close-up photos of a group of African teenagers socialising.'

The Mail strongly denies that claim.

Victoria Police executive director of media and corporate communications, Merita Tabain, sent an email to the editors of several Melbourne media outlets who were not present at Tarneit Central expressing concern that aggressive behaviour by journalists might 'exacerbate the current tensions'.

'The teenagers had been doing nothing of public interest prior to the photographer's decision to move in and take the photos and [the group] reacted to the photographer and what he was doing,' Ms Tabain wrote of the incident.

'This led to police being called in and a scuffle ensued in which police were spat on and arrests were made. After the event, the photographer acknowledged that his actions had provoked the incident and apologised.'

Daily Mail Australia flatly denied inciting the youths or acknowledging the publication's actions provoked the incident.

The Mail's reporting team was legitimately taking photos because a large marked mobile police van had moved to the Tarneit shopping centre, where a group of African teenagers was nearby.

The photos were taken from 20 metres, certainly not 'close up'.

No apology was issued by the journalist, or the photographer, as was claimed.

SOURCE 





Political correctness is butchering Australian comedy

The PC brigade is killing comedy for Australian audiences.

Aussie comedian Vince Sorrenti says “comedy is part of the solution” and “not the problem”. “There’s a place for political correctness. I think it serves a purpose,” he tells Ben Fordham.

“But I do think the pendulum has swung a little bit too far.  “People will get offended about anything.”

Vince says comedians shouldn’t edit their humour to suit everyone. “If you go through your life just trying to avoid offending anyone, you’re pretty much going to say nothing for the rest of your life.

“You need to chill out… and think someone’s just trying to make you laugh.

“Sweeping it all under the carpet, to me, just highlights the problem.”

SOURCE 






EDUCATION ROUNDUP

Four current articles below

Half of all university degrees will be useless in ten years - as majority of employers admit business degrees are a waste of time

Almost half of Australian university degrees are at serious risk of becoming obsolete in the next 10 years unless they're overhauled, a new research paper has revealed.

Ernest & Young has called on universities to future-proof or risk major disruption following the release of its latest report, titled The university of the future.  

The dominant Australian university model is under threat of becoming unviable, and will leave graduates with more debt and poor job prospects, according to the report released on Tuesday.

More than 50 university leaders and policymakers were interviewed and more than 3000 students and employers were surveyed.

The dominant Australian university model is under threat of becoming unviable, and will leave graduates with more debt and poor job prospects, according to a new research paper    +5
The dominant Australian university model is under threat of becoming unviable, and will leave graduates with more debt and poor job prospects, according to a new research paper

Large numbers of academics, teachers and employers consider that many of the degree courses offered will soon be obsolete unless they are overhauled to reflect the rapidly-changing nature of industry and employment, the report found

Around 42 per cent of current and past graduates felt their degree needed to be overhauled. 

Only 36 per cent of those studying humanities, culture and social sciences and just 41 per cent of science and mathematics students thought their degree was relevant to their job.

The report follows a recent Grattan Institute prediction that more than 50,000 of the 250,000 students who started a bachelor degree in Australia this year will drop out.

'Australian universities are under threat from changing learner preferences, new competitive models and international competition,' Ernest & Young Oceania Education Leader Catherine Friday said.

'They need to move now to ensure they meet the needs of a changing society and changing economy. To succeed, they will need to deconstruct the higher-education value chain, offering new formats such as unbundled degree programs, continuous subscription-based learning and just-in-time learning options.'

The report urges universities to collaborate more closely with industry in creating course content to produce more work-ready graduates after 50 per cent of employers claimed that management and commerce degrees are not worthwhile.

'Australian universities are ranked last in the OECD ranking for the ability to collaborate with business on innovation,' Ms Friday said.

'Fixing that has become an urgent priority - 51 percent of international students believe their degree needs to be transformed and the university leaders we spoke to estimate that 40 per cent of existing degrees will soon be obsolete. Those institutions that can crack the new, flexible teaching learning models required will reap the benefits, as they outpace competitors that persist in delivering three to four-year degree programs that employers simply do not value.'

Just 41 per cent of science and mathematics students interviewed thought their degree was relevant to their job    +5
Just 41 per cent of science and mathematics students interviewed thought their degree was relevant to their job

Ms Friday believes there's a role for governments to define what they want out of the sector and needs to motivate the development of future offerings in collaboration with industry.

'For better or worse the policy choices of the past 40 years have given us today's education sector,' Ms Friday said.

'The policy choices we make now will define the education sector of 2030. Policy makers need to step above the fray and start making decisions that encourages a more effective and efficient model that builds on existing strengths.'

Marketing executive Michael Nguyen said little of what he learnt from his commerce degree had been relevant in the workplace.

'When you get out there, you have to know how to use platforms and create campaigns on social media,' Mr Nguyen told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'You don't learn that at university, you only learn textbook theory on things like what consumers do.'

University of Technology Sydney vice-chancellor for education Peter Scott is already planning for the future.

'One of the things UTS is now doing is developing our strategy for 2027 and looking at unbundling the degree, redesigning the physical campus and working with industry,' Professor Scott told the Sydney Morning Herald.

SOURCE 

Outraged parents slam 'fun police' schools that force kids to sit in supervised areas instead of playing before class

Parents have slammed Queensland schools for forcing their children to sit down instead of running around the playground before class.

The move is to keep kids from being too energetic before lessons.

Mother Tiff Lawrance sends three of her children to Scarborough State School, north of Brisbane.

'I think it's crazy. Why should our children have to miss out on playtime before school. My nine and seven-year-old hate having to sit down and wait until the bell rings,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'I believe there are way too many restrictions placed on children these days and it's unfair. They are the ones that school is supposed to be about and at the end of the day they are the ones it's affecting.'

Ms Lawrence took to social media to express her frustration and quickly found out Scarborough State School wasn't the only one with the policy.

'My kids primary school, kids aren't allowed morning play time before school. They have to sit under the undercover areas until the bell goes to go into school. Just interested to see if any other schools enforce this as I don't agree with it,' she wrote in Facebook group The Redcliffe Peninsula Community.

In response Sarah Bell wrote: 'Our school has just introduced this, it's not a supervision issue, it was kids playing sport and getting hurt… that's what kids do! I think they need to be able to run around and burn of some energy ready to sit in the class and learn, crazy society we seem to be creating!'

Patricia Truscott said: 'At our school they have said strictly no playing on the equipment even if parents are supervising.'

Many parents said the rules were in place for the safety of children, particularly if they arrive at school early and are unsupervised.

A spokesperson from the Department of Education said principals at each school made decisions regarding the safety of students.

They said classes at Scarborough started at 8.40am and students who arrived early were supervised in covered areas to make sure they were safe.

'The principal has not received any complaints about before-school supervision,' the spokesperson said.

SOURCE  
         
The Catholic school funding shambles 12 months on

One year after the unveiling of the Gonski 2.0 package, it’s a good time to take a step back and reflect on the shambolic and tortuous process the Turnbull Government is bumbling through as it tries to devise a new school funding policy, Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Executive Director Stephen Elder says.

‘The warning bells started ringing when Senator Birmingham decided he knew how to develop what he called a fair, consistent and equitable funding model without consulting anyone other than the independent school sector,’ Mr Elder said.

‘In taking that approach he ignored detailed research from Catholic education that showed the key parameter in his model – school SES scores – was deeply flawed and biased in favour of elite independent schools.

‘Unsurprisingly, the Minister went on to announce a new funding approach that has been rightly labelled the best special deal independent schools have ever had.

‘But that approach was riddled with policy mistakes, and the Minister has been playing catch-up ever since, much to the concern of his marginal seat colleagues in the Reps who don’t share the luxury of his six-year Senate term.

‘We’re now in the bizarre situation whereby the Minister promised he would deliver schools “absolute certainty” over their funding, but most Catholic and independent schools don’t know what they will receive in a matter of months when school SES scores are replaced for the 2019 school year.

‘In fact, looking back at all the claims made by the Minister when he announced his new funding policy, one wonders whether he actually knew what he was talking about.

‘Most of these claims are deeply misleading, and bear no resemblance to what has actually transpired – or to the funding model that the Turnbull Government legislated in June 2017, as the attached CECV Research Brief outlines.

‘The one-year anniversary is also a good time to reflect on the worst policy development process in recent times. Senator Birmingham:

·     Increased the importance of SES scores in school funding by removing the option of system-average SES scores for non-government school systems thereby:

o  Ignoring recommendations from the original Gonski review to replace SES scores.

o  Ignoring detailed research from Catholic education that demonstrated school SES scores were flawed and biased against Catholic schools.

·     Announced a new school funding policy that would fundamentally reshape Catholic education in Australia by making Catholic primary schools in many parts of Australia fundamentally unviable – without consulting with Catholic education.

·     Legislated new funding requirements for state and territory governments which have the potential to dictate how much funding these governments provide to schooling – again without actually consulting with states and territories.

·     Decided to use dodgy new data to fund students with disability in schools, even though he had said himself it failed a basic credibility test – leading to a situation in Victoria where independent schools now claim more than 25 per cent of their students have disabilities.

·     Published figures on the funding that Catholic schools would receive under his policy proposal that were deliberately based on an incorrect starting point to disguise funding cuts for over 600 Catholic schools.

·     Informed all principals and school communities in schools that are part of systems of the funding they would receive from the Australian Government, while simultaneously insisting that system authorities – not the Government – would determine the funding that these actually received.

·     Claimed to be implementing the ‘full vision’ of the Gonski Review panel, even though some of the changes he announced contradicted aspects of the Gonski Review final report.

‘It is entirely predictable that this appalling process has delivered a flawed funding model. Ignorance and arrogance have never led to good policy.

‘One can only hope that Senator Birmingham learns from this experience as he now scrambles to fix his school funding shambles.’

 Media release. Further information: Christian Kerr, 0402 977 352

Australian schools have 'failed' a generation of students

It’s taxpayers’ money and real solutions that are Gonski

IF the new Gonski report on education is a “blueprint” for building student achievement, as described by the Prime Minister yesterday, we should all grab our kids and pets and evacuate.

The report is so lacking in substance and rigour that the roof is very likely to cave in.

Worse, it is a clear example of taxpayers’ money being soaked up by another review that not only did not deliver on its brief, but actually suggested spending more money to establish yet another review.

The committee’s task was to “examine evidence and make recommendations on the most effective teaching and learning strategies and initiatives to be deployed” in order to improve student achievement in school and maximise their opportunities post-school.

The review was commissioned in the wake of an announcement last year of significantly increased Commonwealth funding for schools. It was supposed to mitigate the risk that this extra funding would fail to improve results over the next 10 years — just as previous funding increases have failed over past years.

What the committee provided instead was a series of proposals that largely have no evidence basis and which would probably take up to a decade just to develop and implement.

The headline proposal is for a ‘continuous assessment tool’ — for which there is no evidence to support the grandiose claims of its impact — but there is also a wideranging set of 22 other recommendations. Some will increase administration burdens and bureaucracy, and some simply endorse things that are already happening, such as the reforms started by the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) in 2014.

What should actually be happening classrooms in terms of effective teaching for high standards of learning barely gets a look-in. The report doesn’t investigate the evidence on curriculum design and teaching strategies that lead to the most growth in learning, or advise on how to ensure that teachers use them.

Instead, there is a strange preoccupation with the idea of ‘growth mindset’ as being a key factor in student performance. According to this concept, students who believe they can do well are more likely to, so schools and parents should facilitate this attitude.

‘Growth mindset’ has the ring of a Pentecostal preacher about it — the idea that a dyslexic child who cannot read or write can be helped by simply being told to have a positive mental attitude is like a faith healer telling a blind person he can see if he believes he can. It follows that according to recent meta-analyses of mindset research, the relationship between mindset and achievement is weak at best.

And what about the idea to “deliver at least one year’s growth in learning for every student every year”? Again, it sounds obvious that this should be a goal for every student but there is a lot of missing detail in the report, and the complexities of Professor John Hattie’s research have been lost in translation.

How do we determine what is a year’s growth in learning in every single subject? Will it change as children move through school? Is it the same for typically-developing children and those with learning disabilities? Not so straightforward, after all.

It is easy to see the appeal for federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham of the recommendations about individual student growth and low-stakes assessment tools. They appear to tick both the student-centred progressivist box and the data-driven, instrumentalist box. There is enough ambiguity in the recommendations to bring states and territories to the table and hopefully come up with something useful and workable.

Unfortunately, the cupboard is bare. Rather than giving concrete advice, the report glides over the crucial ‘who’ and ‘how’, with recommendations like “ensure all students have the opportunity to be partners in their own learning” and “create the conditions necessary to enable teachers to effectively engage and benefit from professional learning.” What conditions are those, whose responsibility is it to create them, and what should happen if they don’t?

The Gonski 2.0 report got one thing right: Australia’s performance in international assessment has been sliding for a decade and action must be taken. Too many children are leaving school unable to read, let alone be the idealised ‘creative, connected and engaged learner’.

But the solutions posed in this report will take us further in the wrong direction. If implemented, the Gonski 2.0 report will just be another chapter in the story of Australia’s sad educational decline.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Australian comedian is banned from Facebook for 'hate speech' and 'racism' - for bagging New Zealanders' ACCENTS

The Kiwi accent is certainly unusual.  They have lost an entire vowel.  They say "fush n chups" instead of "fish n chips".  Losing a consonant is not uncommon.  Outside Scotland all English speakers have lost the guttural "ach laut", as in the Scottish "loch".  We still have it in our spelling -- as in "night" but we no longer pronounce the "gh".  And Cockneys have lost Theta.  They say "wif" instead of "with".  The Kiwis however seem to be the only group to have lost a vowel.

But the big issue is that the comments were just jocular.  There is no hate involved. Australians and Kiwis are of the same stock so hate would be absurd. There are small cultural differences but they evoke only humour.  Though Kiwis are undoubtedly tired of Australian jokes about sheep.  And Australians in New Zealand must never mention underarm bowling in cricket


An Australian comedian has taken to social media to share his thoughts on the age old rivalry between Australia and New Zealand.

It's one of those classic questions - like Ali or Frazier, Lennon or McCartney, and Ford or Holden - that anyone who has set foot in this corner of the globe will be more than happy to share their opinion on.

In the video, which has more than 324,000 views on YouTube, Mr Butterfield takes aim at what he sees as the many differences between the countries.

In the video titled 'The Actual Difference Between Australia and New Zealand,' posted in response to video by YouTuber 'How to DAD,' Mr Butterfield says the NZ national icon, the kiwi, is 'small, hairy and boring,' and that at least the koala 'has a little bit of personality'.

He says the country is known for 'some small budget movie ten years ago' and is also not a fan of the Haka, saying that Australia has its own version - quality players, but did concede that the All Blacks were 'very, very good at rugby.' 

Referring to the many adventure activities available across the ditch, Mr Butterfield said if he had a choice between jumping off a bridge with a rope or trying to understand NZ locals at the pub, he would choose the bridge minus the rope.

The video has incurred the wrath of not just New Zealanders but also of Facebook's powers-that-be.

Mr Butterfield said in a Twitter post the video was 'removed by Facebook for Hate Speech and 'Racism which is the most ridiculous response that I could ever imagine.'

The touring stand-up comedian in his early twenties also revealed that he was suspended from Facebook for seven days following the video removal.

'I understand Facebook is a private company and they can do whatever they want but… this is a humungous public forum and they are censoring it,' he said in a follow up YouTube video.

Youtube comments to the original video appeared to be free of any seriously offended remarks with one commenter stating, 'I'm from New Zealand but I found this video hilarious.'

Another commenter to Mr Butterfield's Twitter post revealing the ban said that, 'the video was comedy not hate speech… FB just doesn't understand kiwis and strayans.'

During Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before the US Congress on April 10, the Facebook CEO said that he could see artificial intelligence taking a front line role in automatically detecting hate speech on Facebook in five to 10 years.

'Until we get it automated, there's a higher error rate than I'm happy with,' he said.

SOURCE 





'I'll set that church on fire': 'Australian Army veteran' leaves deadly threat online after Anglican minister posted Yassmin Abdel-Magied's controversial Anzac Day post on his church sign

Muslims get pretty irate at disrespect for their religion so why should not an Australian army veteran get irate at disrespect for our war-dead?

An Anglican minister who supported Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied by putting her controversial Anzac Day message on his church's billboard has revealed the terrifying threat an Army veteran sent him.

Father Rod Bower of the Gosford Anglican Church, north of Sydney, knew he would cop a lot of abuse after putting up the controversial message.

However, Father Bower did not expect to have his church threatened to be burnt down by a man dressed in a Australian Defence Force uniform.

The controversial minister reposted the man's threat, which read: 'I'll set that church on fire'. 

'This is the first time a member of the Australian Defence Force has threatened to burn our church down,' Father Bower wrote on Facebook. 

'We have had other occasional threats of arson, always from the extreme right of our nationals political spectrum.

'Ironically, the threats come from the very same people who warn that Muslims will 'burn your churches down'.

'A Muslim has in reality, never threatened me in any way.'

Father Bower acknowledged the negative and destructive behaviour by nationalists who caused a woman to flee her own country.

'The kind of nationalism that drives a woman from her own country with threats of rape and violence is truly frightening.

'Also when members of our own defense force threaten to turn on Australian Citizens simply for questioning the direction in which our culture is heading.

Father Bower concluded his post by saying he has the greatest respect and admiration for the courageous men and women who serve the nation. 

In the Facebook post before revealing he was threatened, Father Bower honoured the war veterans who served and protected, including some of his own relatives, before acknowledging the refugees and asylum seekers. 

'We must remember what we are doing to Refugees and Asylum Seekers on Manus and Nauru along with the harm we continue to cause the First Nation people.'

Father Bower's billboard stunt came a year after Yassmin Abdel-Magied tweeted then apologised for her controversial post.

'Lest. We. Forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine),' Ms Abdel-Magied wrote in 2017.

A few days before Anzac Day, the Sudanese-born former ABC presenter, 27, called on her supporters to tweet '#lestweforgetManus'.

The threat was investigated by the Australian Federal Defence and it's been confirmed the person who threatened the church is not a current member, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Father Bower said the issue has been passed on to the state police to investigate.  

SOURCE 






Australian steel and aluminium remains exempt from US tariffs

The US is continuing tariff exemptions for Australian steel and aluminium producers.

A White House statement says President Donald Trump's administration has reached an in-principle deal on the tariffs with Australia, Argentina and Brazil.

It says the details of that arrangement will be finalised shortly.

Mr Trump announced in March that the US would impose a 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and a 10 per cent tax on aluminium.

Shortly after that, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia would be exempt. But uncertainty remained because Mr Trump set a May 1 deadline for deciding whether that exemption would be permanent.

Today the President announced that he had struck a deal with Australia, Argentina and Brazil, but also warned that under certain circumstances he could reimpose the tariffs.

He has announced South Korea would be exempt from the tariffs because it had struck a deal to reduce the amount of steel it sends to the US.

Mr Trump has given himself another month to decide on whether the EU, Canada and Mexico would be exempt from the tariffs. The EU has threatened to retaliate if it is not exempt, which has raised fears of a trade war.

SOURCE 





Governments at work: Australia’s billion dollar infrastructure boondoggles

AUSTRALIA is being buttered up for a multi-billion dollar infrastructure bonanza in next week’s budget. Road and rail projects are expected to be showered with taxpayer funds courtesy of Canberra.

But economists have warned that grand infrastructure projects can become billion-dollar wastes of money.

One highway upgrade in Victoria has returned just 8c for every dollar of public money invested in it. A proposed rail link could cost a motza and still be slower than the bus.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the Federal Government would chip in half of the $10 billion cost of a rail link to Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport.

“The time for talk is over … Melbourne is still waiting for a service almost all of the world’s great cities take for granted,” he said on April 12.

But for Grattan Institute transport expert Hugh Batrouney, it is still not certain that a Melbourne airport rail link is really worth it.

“My first reaction (when the announcement was made) was to look at whether the project was included on any of the infrastructure bodies’ priority lists and then to have a look to see if a detailed business case had been prepared,” Mr Batrouney told news.com.au.

“The answer to both of those questions was ‘no’.”

On the most recent priority list drawn up by Infrastructure Australia, a government body that assesses big projects, the rail link barely rates a mention. Infrastructure Victoria said the link wasn’t needed for 30 years.

Amazingly, the billions spent could actually make travel to the airport worse.

Infrastructure Victoria has said an alternative plan, of spending up to $100 million on traffic priority measures, could speed up trips on the existing SkyBus to just 20 to 25 minutes. In contrast, the expensive new train would take 30 minutes to go between Southern Cross and Tullamarine.

But the urge to build is hard to resist.

“The issue, particularly in Melbourne where there is such strong population growth, is there’s a perception the city is under developed in infrastructure. There’s a feeling we need to make up for that perceived infrastructure deficit,” he said.

It’s not that Melbourne doesn’t need an airport rail link; it just doesn’t need a train right now. And money spent on this train, can’t be spent on a train somewhere else.

Backers of big projects, with close-to-the-bone budgets, say the benefits aren’t just economic. They can enhance safety and revitalise neighbourhoods.

But what other questionable infrastructure projects are being — or have been — built?

Economists have long questioned the financial sense of expensive infrastructure that is not within Australian cities, or provides a link between them.

The A1 Princes Highway duplication in Victoria, which is still being built, does neither. Rather, it connects a regional city, Geelong, to a regional town, Colac.

The upgrade costing $500 million, is not included on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list, and has a return of just 8c on every dollar invested, according to the Grattan Institute. By some measure, over the period of a decade, taxpayers have subsidised every vehicle on the road to the tune of 13.7c per kilometre travelled.

Only the Forrest Highway, between Perth and Bunbury — which went five times over budget — has a higher cost per vehicle kilometre.

“A project can have merits beyond the economic case, there is no doubt about that,” Mr Batrouney said. In the A1’s case, that included easier access for tourists to the Great Ocean Road, the elimination of accident black spots and the opening up of southwestern Victoria. But it’s been a high price to pay for those benefits.

The M7 Tunnel is one of a number of expensive road tunnels, including Sydney’s Lane Cove Tunnel, that never fulfilled its promise.

The $3 billion tunnel under Brisbane’s CBD saw three times less traffic than was expected and ended up sending its private owner bankrupt.

ACT: The 12km tram project to link the CBD to Gungahlin is well under way with a price tag of about $700m. The Grattan Institute has previously found it will provide no more benefits than an alternative bus rapid transit project but will cost twice as much.

But the ACT Government has said a bus can’t compete with the urban development and property price hikes that a tram line brings.

In Newcastle, where a light rail line is also on the way, the justification is even more dubious. The less-than-3km tram line will cost about $300m and will replace a curtailed commuter train line.

A leaked NSW Government report found its return is expected to be less than one dollar to the dollar. But if the train line had remained in place and development had occurred alongside it, the return would have been $2.40 per dollar invested, Fairfax reported.

According to Mr Batrouney, the proposed western Sydney airport rail link falls squarely into the Melbourne rail link category of building too much way too soon.

The new airport at Badgerys Creek is right at the top of Infrastructure Australia’s to-do list. But a rail link, speeding people from the surrounding areas to the terminal costing as much as $7b, is not. Yet both the federal and NSW governments have signed up for it.

“The airport is due to open in 2026 but the Western Sydney Rail Needs Study found rail wasn’t needed for at least the first 10 years of operation so that puts it out to at least 2036,” he said.

INLAND RAIL: It’s the $9b railway the vast majority of us will never see. Snaking its way 1700km from Melbourne to Brisbane, its backers say it will take masses of freight from congested highways, create 16,00 jobs and pump $16 billion into the economy. But the Grattan Institute said it would “never add up”, that traffic projections were hazy and a cost overrun — likely on a mammoth project — could wipe out any benefits.

EAST WEST LINK MOTORWAY, MELBOURNE: The crowning glory of uneconomical infrastructure, however, is Melbourne’s inner-city East West link, which cost $1.2 billion NOT to build.

The road was controversially signed off by the then Victorian Coalition government weeks before the 2014 state election, after criticism the project did not have a rigorous cost-benefit analysis in place.

Labor, which had campaigned against the project, won the election and cancelled it. But, said Labor, to build would have cost at least $6b.

In a piece for The Conversation, Mr Batrouney said governments shouldn’t splash out on big projects until they had looked in detail at the economic impacts and opened the results up to public scrutiny.

“We shouldn’t be fooled into thinking any spending is good spending. There are many examples where the opposite is more likely true: where poorly targeted infrastructure wastes resources and weakens economic growth,” he said.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Malcolm Turnbull backs Gonski report call to move from mass learning to tailored education

Gonski is a lawyer and a notable networker. He has no experience as a teacher or educationist.  His report is an expression of conventional pious hopes and nothing more.  It's all old hat to real educationists.  The devil is in the detail.  How do you make it happen?  Nobody knows.  Most British private schools achieve something like it but they cost a bundle.  They need to charge like that to get the low staff-student ratios required.

So even to attempt to carry out its recommendations in government schools would take at least a doubling of teacher time.  Where do we get the extra teachers?  How do we pay them? 

Turnbull is safe in endorsing it as he won't have the job of implementing it.  The States will. The State governments will regard this as just a Chinese puzzle and do very little in response to it. It's just a pipe dream

David Flint comments: "Gonski- more of the same. More reviews, more money, poor discipline and a national disaster- constantly falling standards in education. As usual, Canberra  succeeds in only making the problem worse"


The Prime Minister has thrown his support behind what he's described as a blueprint to lift Australia's lagging educational performance, laid out in a report by businessman David Gonski.

Malcolm Turnbull has urged state governments, teachers and parents to back the recommendations in Mr Gonski's report on achieving excellence in Australian schools.

Mr Gonski's second major review into Australian education said the country must urgently modernise its industrial-era model of school education and move towards individualised learning for all students.

Too many Australian children are failing to reach their potential at school because of the restrictive nature of year-level progression, the report said.

It calls for the implementation across states of a new online assessment tool that teachers would use to diagnose the exact level of literacy and numeracy a child has achieved.

Teachers could then create individual learning plans for students that would not be tied to what year group they are in.

If formative online assessments were established and reported nationally, it would downgrade the intense focus on the yearly NAPLAN tests in favour of continuous, real-time measurement of student progress.

The Federal Government has agreed to implement all of the report's recommendations, and it hopes to use it to develop a new national schooling agreement.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said he would enter into talks with the states and territories about how to implement Mr Gonski's recommendations.

"We want to see a system out of this report where each student is stretched to the maximum of their capabilities each and every year over the 12 or 13 years of their schooling," Senator Birmingham said.

"It really is essential that teachers know and are able to chart where their students are up to in terms of what they're learning, how they're progressing and that parents are fully engaged as part of that process as well."

Mass education model holding back students

The report was commissioned by the Federal Government last year after the passage of its amended schools funding legislation.

Mr Gonski said in his report that the structure of Australian schools reflected "a 20th century aspiration to deliver mass education to all children".

The report recommended shifting from that industrial education model to one where schools focused on achieving each individual student's "maximum potential growth in learning each year".

It found current assessment tools in schools did not provide teachers with "real-time or detailed data on a student's growth".

"In our report we're suggesting: let's take some time to allow teachers to have more time to improve their art — and not to improve it because it's not good, but to keep up-to-date with all that's happening around the world and in their profession."

While tests like NAPLAN and the international sample test PISA provided "a useful big picture view of student learning trends across Australia and the world", they provided limited assistance to teachers at the classroom level, the report said.

It also said the current "rigidity of curriculum delivery, and assessment and reporting models" were holding Australia back.

Several state governments lodged submissions to the Gonski review, pointing out that current assessment tools used by teachers were not uniform across all schools.

The Victorian Education Department described current assessment tools in its state as "idiosyncratic".

Mixed-ability classes preferable

Many schools rely on gifted and talented programs to extend bright students but the report said evidence showed that mixed-ability classes were preferable.

It said streaming children by ability "has little effect in improving student outcomes and [has] profoundly negative equity effects".

It recommended overhauling the curriculum to focus on "learning progressions" that extended all students, regardless of ability.

Other key recommendations included:

    Setting up a national inquiry to review curriculum and assessment in years 11 and 12

    Establishing a national educational research institute

    Implementing greater principal autonomy

    Providing more rewards for high-performing teachers

    Overhauling the current A-E grading scale to instead measure progression gains

    Introducing a "unique student identifier" for all students that allows progress to be tracked across time, even if a student changes schools or moves interstate

A special meeting of the Education Council will be held on Friday to discuss the recommendations in the report, titled Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools.

Mr Gonski was commissioned by the Gillard government in 2011 to compile a major report on school funding.

The review formed the basis for what is known as the Gonski legislation that created a baseline resourcing standard across all schooling sectors.

Findings 'not supported by research', 'lack detail'

But the report has not been welcomed by all in the sector, with the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) describing it as a failure.

Senior research fellow at the CIS, Jennifer Buckingham, said the report offered no clear guidance to schools and did not meet the review's terms of reference.

"Many of the findings are not supported by research, and lack detail about implementation," Ms Buckingham said.

    "For example, the disproportionate attention to policies that facilitate 'growth mindset' have no evidence-basis in terms of impact on student achievement.

"Likewise, the pre-occupation with increasing the focus on general capabilities has no support in rigorous research about curriculum design and how children learn."

The Australian Education Union said it was concerned the report was coming at a time when the Federal Government was cutting funds to public schools over the next two years.

Union president Correna Haythorpe said it was about properly resourcing disadvantaged schools and students.

"We do have outstanding teachers across Australia who are delivering a very high-quality curriculum, but the reality is that they are missing out on the resources needed to close the student achievement gap," she said.

SOURCE 





More African vibrancy in Melbourne

Rental property trashed and police cars smashed as wild party involving dozens of African youths descends into violence. Police cars and property were smashed and damaged at wild Melbourne party

A rental property has sustained thousands of dollars in damage and four police vehicles have been smashed after officers arrived to shut down an out-of-control party in Melbourne in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The party, held at a property in North Melbourne, was an online rental booked under a false name and bears striking similarities to a spate of recent wild parties throughout the city.

Police arrived at the 17 Shands Lane address at about 2am in response to noise complaints and were pelted with rubbish and other objects, including damage to four police cars at the scene. 

'It's outrageous. It's criminal behaviour and we won't tolerate it,' Senior Sergeant Adam Tanner told the media on Sunday.

The partygoers allegedly shouted 'you can't come in ... get a warrant' when police knocked on the door, a witness told 7 News.

The party guests have been described as being of African appearance, Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia.

Around 50 youths were found at the party and were asked to leave but police discovered 'significant damage' had been made to the property.

Numerous items were recorded as stolen such as a TV and microwave and walls that had been 'punched or kicked in', Sergeant Tanner explained.

'The group dispersed but then began throwing objects at police from a nearby laneway,' leading Senior Constable Lee Thomson said.

Police took cover for safety and later found their patrol cars had been significantly damaged with smashed windscreens, some side mirrors kicked off and panels dented.

Neighbours described waking to the sounds of banging and shouting, abusive language and youths jumping and running across police cars. 

'They were running down the street and jumping on the cars,' a father of two and resident of the area told the Herald Sun.

Another resident Meg Moorhouse said the party-goers became violent quickly, loitering in the alleyway and using 'abusive language' toward police.

'It was aggressive,' she told the Herald Sun.

'They were drinking in the alley. They left broken bottles and were yelling.'

'I think they [party attendees] need to party in normal places ... whether it's in pubs or in public areas that are enforceable by law, or in their own homes,' another neighbour told 7 News. 

The youths reportedly did not leave the street until about 8am, and it's the second out-of-control party to have been hosted at the property over the past fortnight, according to neighbours. 

The $460 per night four-star North Melbourne rental home was listed on multiple rental sites but the 'strict house rules' include 'no parties' and noise levels needing to 'be kept at an appropriate level at all times'.   

No arrests have been made and witnesses are continuing to be questioned by police.

Police are speaking to the owners of the property and investigating the details of the person who made the rental booking.

The police vehicles are also being processed by crime scene services and distinctive footprints have been recorded from the scene.

Piles of rubbish and broken glass can still be seen outside the property and a locksmith was seen changing the locks.

SOURCE 






Cutback to funding for Catholic schools

Members of Victoria’s 500 Catholic school communities will be watching next month’s federal budget to see if the Turnbull Government is serious about tackling their concerns over the Gonski 2.0 debacle, Catholic Education Commission of Victoria Executive Director Stephen Elder says.

‘It’s been less than  12 months since Malcolm Turnbull and Education Minister Simon Birmingham stood up to announce a new era of fair funding had arrived, yet in that time over 600 Catholic schools across the nation have already lost an average of nearly $600,000 each, or just under $2,000 per student,’ Mr Elder said.[PB1]

‘The fine print of the Gonski 2.0 legislation – discovered only after the bill had passed the Senate – showed that over-funded independent schools will transition down to their new funding levels over 10 years, while their Catholic equivalents will have just six years to accommodate the changes, leaving them over $1 billion out of pocket.[PB2]

‘This not only makes a mockery of Mr Turnbull and Senator’s Birmingham “no more special deals” rhetoric. It can’t be called “needs-based funding” either.

‘About one hundred thousand families have students in a Catholic school across the state. We are the biggest school system after the government sector by far.

‘Spread those families across Victoria’s 38 federal electorates and they have real punch at the ballot box.

‘That’s why, with the whiff of an election in the air, we expect to see signs on 8 May the Turnbull Government has recognised the need to rebuild bridges with the Catholic education community.’

Mr Elder said Catholic school communities expect action on three key priorities.

‘We expect to see signs in the forward estimates that no special deals means no special deals; that the transition measures for non-government schools don’t see the smaller, more exclusive independent sector given a four year free ride that leaves Catholic schools over $1 billion behind.

‘We expect to see signs to show the government is serious when it talks about needs-based funding and is prepared to finally act on the recommendations of the Final Report of the Gonski Review Panel from more than five years ago and replace the fatally-flawed school socio-economic status, or SES, score system.

‘We expect to find clear indications that the government is looking at fair and accurate measures of need for non-government schools – measures that won’t slash funding for Catholic parish schools while lining the pockets of wealthy independent schools.

‘With Gonski 2.0, Mr Turnbull and Senator Birmingham put the horse before the cart. With the Budget, they can begin to put things right.’

Media release received via email. Further information: Christian Kerr, 0402 977 352






The sexual, racist and homophobic remarks that got a police officer booted from the force

A Victorian police officer has been dismissed from his post in the transit safety division after a decade of derogatory and racist remarks were revealed during a disciplinary hearing.

The man, whose identity isn't revealed, allegedly told a constable she had a 'cracking a***', offered to slap another's 'just once' and made comments about public service officers not being Australian or greeted them as 'homos'.

When she replied that she had, he continued with: 'Don't worry if I want you, you will know about it,' the Herald Sun reported.

While the officer contested his dismissal upon reviewing the comments Police Registration and Services Board Victoria upheld the decision.

While the police officer was later diagnosed with mental health issues, he made a point of saying his actions were only an effort to promote camaraderie.

The board said his unprofessional and repeatedly disrespectful conduct was made worse by the fact he didn't appear willing or able to alter his behaviour.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here