Australian Politics
The Australian gets it wrong
More precisely, John Lyons, their Middle East Correspondent did. Below is what he wrote this morning:
The Vatican has issued one of its strongest condemnations yet of Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank. It has rejected the use of biblical texts by Jewish settlers to justify "injustices".
Releasing a strongly worded document by the synod of bishops for the Middle East, a senior Archbishop also challenged the notion of Jews as "the chosen people", saying such a concept no longer existed.
After a two-week conference, which ended with a meeting with the Pope, the bishops called on the international community to pressure Israel to end the occupation. "Recourse to theological and biblical positions, which use the word of God to wrongly justify injustices, is not acceptable," the statement said.
More HERE
One has to wonder if the opening words are the work of Lyons or the work of a sub-editor. Lyons has been prominent in Australian journalism for some time so I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and blame a sub-editor for the clanger.
The problem is, you see, that the Vatican issued NO statement about Israel whatsoever. The statement was issued by a clutch of Middle-Eastern bishops with a vested interest in protecting their people from Muslim attacks. Being pro-Israel would be fatal to them. Their only connection to the Vatican is that they held their conference there. Israel's reply is here
Monday, October 25, 2010
WHAAAT?? This is disgraceful!
New law means arrests for 'minor' crimes not worth the effort, say Qld. police. Another case of do-gooder legislation doing more harm than good
Hundreds of offenders could soon escape prosecution by police who say new laws will make arrests for minor crimes not worth the effort. From November 1, police will be required to present more material at an offender's first court appearance, including witness and complainant statements, pictures, CCTV footage and a list of exhibits.
Under reforms adopted by the State Government, officers who fail to fulfil the requirements face the prospect of being charged with contempt of court, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 months' jail.
Queensland Police Union official Tony Collins said many minor offences would be detected but not acted upon because of the threat of police themselves being charged. "How many arrests are you going to make knowing that this sword of Damocles is hanging over your head?" Senior-Sergeant Collins said.
The sort of offences likely to be ignored by police included shoplifting and break and entering where a small amount of property was involved, as well as some domestic violence incidents and minor assaults.
A senior officer, who did not want to be named, said that in the case of assaults, police would be less inclined to encourage victims to make a complaint because it would not be worth the effort. "It's not worth our while to gather all this material then put it before the courts where you get nothing," the senior officer said. "Arrests will dry up and police will start ignoring stuff, but not serious stuff."
The reforms flow from a 2008 review of Queensland's criminal justice system by former judge Martin Moynihan, now the head of the CMC. They are intended to improve disclosure by police to give the accused a better understanding of the case against them from the outset. In his report, Mr Moynihan found there was an attitude among police that it was "not their job to help the defence".
The Queensland Police Service never responded to the report and as a result Sen-Sgt Collins said they were left with laws that would see officers spending more time desk-bound.
"If Moynihan truly wanted to improve the justice system, he would've required full disclosure from both sides of the table. Instead what we've got is a card game where you have to show your opponent all your cards, and they don't have to show you anything."
The QPS would not respond to questions about the changes yesterday but Brisbane criminal defence lawyer Ken Mackenzie said they would foster an efficient justice system. "It's about disclosing (evidence) to the defence early so informed decisions can be made, and the lawyer can advise the client of the case against them and an appropriate plea," he said.
QPU president Ian Leavers said police were concerned about the implications of the reforms.
SOURCE
Greenie superstition masquerading as agricultural science
The angst in Murray-Darling Basin communities about proposed water regime changes belies Australian farmers' record in adopting research.
Both rain-fed and irrigation farmers have a proud record of steadily increasing sustainable productivity. The adoption of practices such as zero-till and hugely improved output per unit of winter rainfall by rain-fed farmers have resulted in grain yields doubling in the past 30 years. Irrigators have maintained the value of outputs despite using only half as much water during the drought. Both efficiencies were achieved by committed farmers backed by strong research performance from supporting agencies. There is no place for the amateur.
Michael Jeffery and Julian Cribb ("Water is the key to sustainability", The Australian, October 15) give us an interesting drop-by-drop analysis of our water resources.
They very crisply identify the challenge: minimise evaporation, recycle city waste water, don't "over-engineer" streams, preserve prime land from urban sprawls, encourage give-it-a-go farmers, maintain supporting scientific research and ensure supply of skilled personnel.
A useful definition of sustainable agriculture is that to which society has committed enough resources to identify problems, to have solutions adequately researched and to ensure adoption of the solutions: never arrive, but eternally strive! It takes time and solid support for adoption of technology: time to consider the whole impact, to change equipment, arrange finance, and make arrangements with input suppliers and product buyers. In the Murray-Darling Basin it is a whole-of-community adaptation process.
A scientific base for this development is essential but beware of false prophets! Unfortunately, Jeffrey and Cribb have been taken in by one such, Peter Andrews, of ABC TV's Australian Story fame, who scorns agricultural science in his book, Back from the Brink. He insults the rural agencies and scientists with such absurd assertions as: "In my experience most scientists are hamstrung by a fear of change", and "I know several who had an opportunity to initiate change . . . but shied away". He alleges total failure by agricultural scientists to work together on land and water management, gives no credit to the effective efforts of Landcare, state departments of agriculture-primary industries, soil conservation agencies and catchment management authorities.
Andrew's work, described as (undefined) natural sequence farming, is disconnected from the past 50 years of science which gave this country substantial increased food and fibre production and better land management. On pastures he states: "Ten per cent coverage of thistles . . . enough to maintain the fertility". Then, "grass will accumulate fertility . . . a lot slower than weeds do" and, "there isn't a pasture anywhere in Australia today . . . more productive if it had weeds growing in the grass. So it isn't just a case of weeds not being harmful; it's a case of weeds being essential."
Then again, he posits that fertilisers are not needed: "Chemical fertilisers do not really fertilise the soil; a feedback loop tells the plants to stop growing when there is not enough fertility . . . This correlation disappears as soon as you apply a chemical fertiliser. Then the plant will keep growing willy-nilly, exhausting and weakening the soil, which is then less able to cope with erosion, extremes of climate and other stressful conditions. Chemical fertilisers stimulate grass to keep growing regardless."
Surely, few readers can take such nonsense seriously? Nearly a century of scientific research and farming experience have clearly demonstrated that fertilised leguminous plants in balance with others will produce nutritious feed at the same time raising the organic matter level of the soil and protecting it from erosion.
The water conservation and food production scenario identified by Jeffrey and Cribb, and the underlying the plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, need the best trained scientific brains, well-funded for their research, capable of passing on evidence-based advice to well-trained, intelligent, adaptive farmers, who respect sound science and analysis and are capable of carrying further the successful agricultural research and development of recent decades.
SOURCE
Pupils once had access to life's poetry
Not all education needs to be utilitarian. An introduction to the beautiful and the inspiring is important too
Christopher Pearson
One of the cornerstones of Western civilisation is the proposition that the growth of human understanding is an intrinsic good. This stands regardless of whether it's of practical use or economic benefit and even when -- for example, in the case of research into lethal variants of viruses -- the new knowledge has potentially catastrophic consequences.
Some kinds of new knowledge are obviously far more important than others; some that at first seemed so trivial as to be barely worth recording lead to wonderful drugs such as penicillin. Many of the rankings on what's worth knowing are far more provisional than is commonly supposed and most are subject to revision over time.
For many revisionist educational theorists, truth and beauty are corny abstractions with resonances of the poetry of Keats and Matthew Arnold's late Victorian text Culture and Anarchy.
Others, not least of them Pope Benedict XVI, insist that the experience of the beautiful and developing the ability to discern the true are the foundation of any education worthy of the name. They further argue that it is the intrinsic value of the arts, the social and the natural sciences -- rather than preparing job-ready pupils -- that should shape the content of any curriculum and its priorities.
The philistines in charge of state education, and many of their colleagues in the private schools, have triumphed to the point where concrete examples of the kind of policy I'm talking about may be scarcely imaginable for readers in their 30s and 40s. Let me sketch it out, with reassurances that 40 years ago it was the norm for most Year 10 kids.
At school, in Year 8 and above, students would at least be expected to have mastered arithmetic and be able to read, more or less under their own steam, two novels suitable to their age. They were still taught the rudiments of grammar and spelling, and expected to commit to memory 40 or 50 lines of verse, or perhaps some of Shakespeare's speeches, in any given year. In independent and Catholic schools the emphasis on memorising was stronger, leaving kids an enduring legacy of "the best that's been thought and said" in their mother tongue.
From Year 8 there was a general introduction to maths, physics and chemistry for all but the slowest, and most had at least one year, often three, of French, German or Latin, the great literary languages. Most studied history and/or geography, and had at least one lesson a week of art, music and physical education.
By that time sport was an optional extra, along with participating in the choir or school band and putting on a play each year.
By the end of Year 10 the average pupil would have been no less job-ready than his contemporary counterparts, but would have had a broader and deeper general education.
The class of 1970 would have had a fair range of options and been able to compensate with extracurricular activities if the core wasn't very appealing. They'd have been able to read a newspaper and, when necessary, most would have known how to use a library. Even if their English teachers had been remiss on the subject of grammar, studying another language would have helped many to grasp the fundamentals of their own.
The general assumption was that everybody, including the plodders in the technical schools, was entitled to experience music and poetry and fiction that spoke to "the higher things". The task was to give them a preliminary introduction to the riches of the culture or, in F.R. Leavis's phrase, "a greater sense of life's possibilities". The Left and the Right of the teachers' unions in those days tended to agree that their responsibility was to help prepare kids for life, not just ready them to acquire a meal ticket or turn them into factory fodder.
None of this is to disparage vocational education per se; merely to put it in proper perspective.
The broader and better the education, the less likely that kids will specialise too soon, foreclosing other options, and the more adaptable to the increasing vagaries of the jobs market. Let me end with a proposition that in 1970 would have been a commonplace and now seems almost scandalous.
Suppose you had taught a pupil to sing and follow a score, or play a musical instrument. Whether anyone else got to hear the person sing or play, or whether performing became a source of income, was entirely up to the individual. You had given that person a great gift: a measure of access to the canon and a grounding in technique. That was all that mattered.
From an educational perspective, the fact that it might never be shared, let alone monetised, as accountants say these days, or that it might never be captured in measured productivity or the gross domestic product, was of no consequence whatsoever. I trust that, for the best of the rising generation of teachers, it still doesn't matter.
SOURCE
Australia's Leftist policy on illegals will both encourage more to come and stoke opposition to them
IT has taken less than a week for political reality to get in the way of Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's policy response to the ever-increasing numbers of asylum-seekers.
On Monday, Mr Bowen announced a major modification to the policy of mandatory detention, perhaps the biggest change since it was introduced by the Keating government in 1992. Children and at least one parent will now be allowed to live in community housing, run by churches and charities, while their refugee claims are considered. The decision will be welcomed not just by the government's Green allies in the parliament but also by everybody in the community uncomfortable with locking children up. It is hard to imagine anything more unsettling for Australians than the sight of children playing behind razor wire.
But Mr Bowen's compassion comes at a price, and the minister should not underestimate the pitfalls. Too many Labor policies have come to grief at the intersection with the point of delivery.
The minister must start by listening to community concerns in Northam in Western Australia, where single male asylum-seekers will be housed, and Woodside in the Adelaide Hills, where 400 refugees will be housed. While it is easy for politically correct commentators to brush off opposition as unenlightened bigotry, the truth is residents have legitimate questions about what the impact of asylum-seekers' children will be on the local schools and how their health needs, and those of their parents, will be met.
The heavy-handed announcement of the Woodside decision without discussing it with anybody in South Australia, including Premier Mike Rann, will not create confidence. Mr Bowen owes a duty of care to the asylum-seekers he will send into these communities to ensure they stay safe and healthy and that their claims are processed as quickly as possible. But he must also start talking to Mr Rann and Western Australia's Premier, Colin Barnett, to ensure the communities of Woodside and Northam know they will not be overwhelmed.
Before the election, the Gillard government went out of its way to assure the electorate it would not encourage more asylum-seekers, and on ABC TV's Q&A, Mr Bowen acknowledged that detention centres existed for legitimate reasons when he took over the portfolio last month. He also told the network's Lateline he wanted to destroy the "people-smugglers business model".
While a regional processing centre in East Timor was one of the government's original schemes to destroy their industry, his new plan could easily have the opposite outcome. People-smugglers will work hard to argue that it is only a short step from being housed by a church or community group, with children free to attend school, to being accepted as a permanent resident. And if the smugglers make a convincing case, the boats will keep coming.
That Mr Bowen wants to be as kind as he can to the passengers of those that have already arrived is understandable. But releasing children and their parents into Australian communities is not a policy that can easily accommodate the right of asylum-seekers to fair process while respecting community concerns and tempting more people to take their chances on the cruel seas.
SOURCE
Lack of good roads shafts farmers
It should be a time for celebration in southwestem Queens- land, Seven months after drought-breaking floods devastated the region, farmers are finally being rewarded for their grit and hard graft with a bumper wheat crop. But while Mother Nature is at last showing some generosity, bureaucrats and politicians threaten to give growers yet another brutal kick -- with infrastructure delays and water restrictions.
Above-average rainfall this year has meant under-resourced local councils have struggled to perform crucial repairs to many rural stock routes heavily damaged during the March floods. The mostly gravel roads are the lifeblood of the region and used to transport millions of tonnes of grain and more than 500,000 head of cattle.
Balonne Sire chief exceutive Scott Norman said the condition of some stock routes and rural roads was so bad-that individual grain crops may be abandoned if farmers have no on-site storage facilities. ""We just haven’t been able to put a grader through any of these roads because it's just too wet", he said. "We have been seeing more road trains getting bogged, which means we have to damage the roads even more to get them out. It's going to add huge costs to farmers trying to get their grain to the two grain depots in the area.... some crops may be dumped"
St George Cotton Association president and wheat and cattle farmer Ed Willis said he may be unable to transport his wheat crop the l0km to the state’s biggest grain depot at Thallon. "With everything going on with the (Murray-Darling Basin Authority report) we need every single dollar that we can get out of this crop," he said.
Constant rain in the southwest has reduced the quality of many wheat crops. Degraded stock routes could increase freight costs by up to 40 per cent, making profits marginal.
Some locals have also queried the quality of State Government repairs to sections of the Carnarvon and Castlereagh highways. A section of the Castlereagh Highway about 25km south of St George has been filled with gravel and not resealed with bitumen; while a section of the Carnarvon Highway, about l0krn south of Thallon, has not been restored to its previous condition.
A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesman said both were repaired to a safe standard. Thallon farmer Andrew Earle disagrees, saying the frequency of road lrains using the Camarvon Highway will increase over the coming weeks and seriously damage the road surface. "You can see where the bitumen is bubbling up because they didn’t patch the road properly," he said.
The condition of the two regional highways is more crucial than ever since Queensland Rail decided to permanently close the Thallon to Dirranbandi line in July this year, after it had not been in operation since the middle of 2009.
Cattle and wheat farmer Kerry O’Sullivan has lived off the land west of Thallon for more than four decades and believes the rain and poor quality of roads could increase his freight bill by between 20 and 30 per cent "I don’t like to whinge. After all the years of drought, it is fantastic to finally get rain, but we just need a couple of dry weeks," he said.
The damage to the stock routes and rural roads has forced many in the Murweh Shire to get their cattle to bitumen roads before they are taken to the ahattoir. Mayor Mark O’Brien said some graziers in the area were doing it tough because of the condition of the roads since the flooding. "Because of the poor quality of these rural roads, graziers have had to battle to get their stock out of their property," he said. "It means having to get the cattle out to the bitumen, which could be miles away from where the road trains would normally pick them up."
Mr O’Brien said constant rain since the floods had made it impossible to seal a 7km secuon of Adavale Rd. He said about half the shire’s 2000km of gravel road should be sealed but at nearly $50,000 a kilometre, the expense was beyond the scope of the council’s ability to pay.
The article above appeared (print only) in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on 24 October, 2010
Petty bureaucratic nastiness in Australia too: Man fined $300 after saving a life
Britain is the world HQ for this sort of thing but there is always some nasty little bureaucratic prick everywhere who needs to use his powers to hurt rather than help people
A MAN who saved his mate's life after a jetski accident at Caloundra is outraged that he has now been hit with a $300 fine by authorities. Brisbane man Dave Burke suffered the hit to the hip pocket by Maritime Safety Queensland for "failing to report an incident".
The "incident" happened near the Caloundra Bar on Easter Sunday when a large wave knocked the 30-year-old and his 29-year-old friend off Mr Burke's jetski. The jetski sank and Mr Burke was picked up by an onlooker and taken back to the beach.
"I've then borrowed a jetski and gone out to get my mate," he said. "He was wearing a vest but he was pretty frightened. "He kept getting hit with some pretty heavy waves and because he had the vest on he wasn't able to get away from them."
Both men made it safely on to the sand of Bribie Island, where a female sunbather alerted the nearest life guard. Mr Burke said his friend was uninjured and had walked about 200 metres by the time the life guard and Coastguard arrived on the scene. "He told them he didn't need any transport but the Coastguard have insisted. "Now, because they've insisted on a transport that we didn't want, I've had to pay a $300 fine."
Mr Burke said the life guard advised him he would take care of any required paperwork and he retrieved his jetski with the help of another jetski rider.
Several weeks after the incident he was contacted by Maritime Queensland, who requested he make an incident report. He claims he did that but officials say it never arrived and he received his $300 fine in the mail last Monday.
Mr Burke said Maritime Safety Queensland viewed the incident as a "man overboard" that required reporting. "It's a jetski. If that is a man overboard, then Maritime should be chasing up the other 200 of these that happen every day," he said.
But Caloundra Coastguard Commander Bill Rowland said he did not recall the incident but the law was very clear. "He has to understand that as the skipper of a vessel... he has responsibility under the Marine Act to report an incident to a shipping inspector within 24 hours," he said. "The law is very clear on that. There is no ambiguity. "He obviously didn't do that and he got fined.
"I imagine there will be more to the situation than he is saying. "He would not be fined for falling off a jetski, he would be fined for not reporting an incident which the MSQ determined was a reportable marine incident."
Mr Burke said he had paid the $300 and while he would save his friend again if he had to, the fine had left a sour taste in his mouth. "When you've busted your arse to get to someone and also risked your own life – this is the thanks you get," Mr Burke said.
SOURCE
New law means arrests for 'minor' crimes not worth the effort, say Qld. police. Another case of do-gooder legislation doing more harm than good
Hundreds of offenders could soon escape prosecution by police who say new laws will make arrests for minor crimes not worth the effort. From November 1, police will be required to present more material at an offender's first court appearance, including witness and complainant statements, pictures, CCTV footage and a list of exhibits.
Under reforms adopted by the State Government, officers who fail to fulfil the requirements face the prospect of being charged with contempt of court, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 months' jail.
Queensland Police Union official Tony Collins said many minor offences would be detected but not acted upon because of the threat of police themselves being charged. "How many arrests are you going to make knowing that this sword of Damocles is hanging over your head?" Senior-Sergeant Collins said.
The sort of offences likely to be ignored by police included shoplifting and break and entering where a small amount of property was involved, as well as some domestic violence incidents and minor assaults.
A senior officer, who did not want to be named, said that in the case of assaults, police would be less inclined to encourage victims to make a complaint because it would not be worth the effort. "It's not worth our while to gather all this material then put it before the courts where you get nothing," the senior officer said. "Arrests will dry up and police will start ignoring stuff, but not serious stuff."
The reforms flow from a 2008 review of Queensland's criminal justice system by former judge Martin Moynihan, now the head of the CMC. They are intended to improve disclosure by police to give the accused a better understanding of the case against them from the outset. In his report, Mr Moynihan found there was an attitude among police that it was "not their job to help the defence".
The Queensland Police Service never responded to the report and as a result Sen-Sgt Collins said they were left with laws that would see officers spending more time desk-bound.
"If Moynihan truly wanted to improve the justice system, he would've required full disclosure from both sides of the table. Instead what we've got is a card game where you have to show your opponent all your cards, and they don't have to show you anything."
The QPS would not respond to questions about the changes yesterday but Brisbane criminal defence lawyer Ken Mackenzie said they would foster an efficient justice system. "It's about disclosing (evidence) to the defence early so informed decisions can be made, and the lawyer can advise the client of the case against them and an appropriate plea," he said.
QPU president Ian Leavers said police were concerned about the implications of the reforms.
SOURCE
Greenie superstition masquerading as agricultural science
The angst in Murray-Darling Basin communities about proposed water regime changes belies Australian farmers' record in adopting research.
Both rain-fed and irrigation farmers have a proud record of steadily increasing sustainable productivity. The adoption of practices such as zero-till and hugely improved output per unit of winter rainfall by rain-fed farmers have resulted in grain yields doubling in the past 30 years. Irrigators have maintained the value of outputs despite using only half as much water during the drought. Both efficiencies were achieved by committed farmers backed by strong research performance from supporting agencies. There is no place for the amateur.
Michael Jeffery and Julian Cribb ("Water is the key to sustainability", The Australian, October 15) give us an interesting drop-by-drop analysis of our water resources.
They very crisply identify the challenge: minimise evaporation, recycle city waste water, don't "over-engineer" streams, preserve prime land from urban sprawls, encourage give-it-a-go farmers, maintain supporting scientific research and ensure supply of skilled personnel.
A useful definition of sustainable agriculture is that to which society has committed enough resources to identify problems, to have solutions adequately researched and to ensure adoption of the solutions: never arrive, but eternally strive! It takes time and solid support for adoption of technology: time to consider the whole impact, to change equipment, arrange finance, and make arrangements with input suppliers and product buyers. In the Murray-Darling Basin it is a whole-of-community adaptation process.
A scientific base for this development is essential but beware of false prophets! Unfortunately, Jeffrey and Cribb have been taken in by one such, Peter Andrews, of ABC TV's Australian Story fame, who scorns agricultural science in his book, Back from the Brink. He insults the rural agencies and scientists with such absurd assertions as: "In my experience most scientists are hamstrung by a fear of change", and "I know several who had an opportunity to initiate change . . . but shied away". He alleges total failure by agricultural scientists to work together on land and water management, gives no credit to the effective efforts of Landcare, state departments of agriculture-primary industries, soil conservation agencies and catchment management authorities.
Andrew's work, described as (undefined) natural sequence farming, is disconnected from the past 50 years of science which gave this country substantial increased food and fibre production and better land management. On pastures he states: "Ten per cent coverage of thistles . . . enough to maintain the fertility". Then, "grass will accumulate fertility . . . a lot slower than weeds do" and, "there isn't a pasture anywhere in Australia today . . . more productive if it had weeds growing in the grass. So it isn't just a case of weeds not being harmful; it's a case of weeds being essential."
Then again, he posits that fertilisers are not needed: "Chemical fertilisers do not really fertilise the soil; a feedback loop tells the plants to stop growing when there is not enough fertility . . . This correlation disappears as soon as you apply a chemical fertiliser. Then the plant will keep growing willy-nilly, exhausting and weakening the soil, which is then less able to cope with erosion, extremes of climate and other stressful conditions. Chemical fertilisers stimulate grass to keep growing regardless."
Surely, few readers can take such nonsense seriously? Nearly a century of scientific research and farming experience have clearly demonstrated that fertilised leguminous plants in balance with others will produce nutritious feed at the same time raising the organic matter level of the soil and protecting it from erosion.
The water conservation and food production scenario identified by Jeffrey and Cribb, and the underlying the plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, need the best trained scientific brains, well-funded for their research, capable of passing on evidence-based advice to well-trained, intelligent, adaptive farmers, who respect sound science and analysis and are capable of carrying further the successful agricultural research and development of recent decades.
SOURCE
Pupils once had access to life's poetry
Not all education needs to be utilitarian. An introduction to the beautiful and the inspiring is important too
Christopher Pearson
One of the cornerstones of Western civilisation is the proposition that the growth of human understanding is an intrinsic good. This stands regardless of whether it's of practical use or economic benefit and even when -- for example, in the case of research into lethal variants of viruses -- the new knowledge has potentially catastrophic consequences.
Some kinds of new knowledge are obviously far more important than others; some that at first seemed so trivial as to be barely worth recording lead to wonderful drugs such as penicillin. Many of the rankings on what's worth knowing are far more provisional than is commonly supposed and most are subject to revision over time.
For many revisionist educational theorists, truth and beauty are corny abstractions with resonances of the poetry of Keats and Matthew Arnold's late Victorian text Culture and Anarchy.
Others, not least of them Pope Benedict XVI, insist that the experience of the beautiful and developing the ability to discern the true are the foundation of any education worthy of the name. They further argue that it is the intrinsic value of the arts, the social and the natural sciences -- rather than preparing job-ready pupils -- that should shape the content of any curriculum and its priorities.
The philistines in charge of state education, and many of their colleagues in the private schools, have triumphed to the point where concrete examples of the kind of policy I'm talking about may be scarcely imaginable for readers in their 30s and 40s. Let me sketch it out, with reassurances that 40 years ago it was the norm for most Year 10 kids.
At school, in Year 8 and above, students would at least be expected to have mastered arithmetic and be able to read, more or less under their own steam, two novels suitable to their age. They were still taught the rudiments of grammar and spelling, and expected to commit to memory 40 or 50 lines of verse, or perhaps some of Shakespeare's speeches, in any given year. In independent and Catholic schools the emphasis on memorising was stronger, leaving kids an enduring legacy of "the best that's been thought and said" in their mother tongue.
From Year 8 there was a general introduction to maths, physics and chemistry for all but the slowest, and most had at least one year, often three, of French, German or Latin, the great literary languages. Most studied history and/or geography, and had at least one lesson a week of art, music and physical education.
By that time sport was an optional extra, along with participating in the choir or school band and putting on a play each year.
By the end of Year 10 the average pupil would have been no less job-ready than his contemporary counterparts, but would have had a broader and deeper general education.
The class of 1970 would have had a fair range of options and been able to compensate with extracurricular activities if the core wasn't very appealing. They'd have been able to read a newspaper and, when necessary, most would have known how to use a library. Even if their English teachers had been remiss on the subject of grammar, studying another language would have helped many to grasp the fundamentals of their own.
The general assumption was that everybody, including the plodders in the technical schools, was entitled to experience music and poetry and fiction that spoke to "the higher things". The task was to give them a preliminary introduction to the riches of the culture or, in F.R. Leavis's phrase, "a greater sense of life's possibilities". The Left and the Right of the teachers' unions in those days tended to agree that their responsibility was to help prepare kids for life, not just ready them to acquire a meal ticket or turn them into factory fodder.
None of this is to disparage vocational education per se; merely to put it in proper perspective.
The broader and better the education, the less likely that kids will specialise too soon, foreclosing other options, and the more adaptable to the increasing vagaries of the jobs market. Let me end with a proposition that in 1970 would have been a commonplace and now seems almost scandalous.
Suppose you had taught a pupil to sing and follow a score, or play a musical instrument. Whether anyone else got to hear the person sing or play, or whether performing became a source of income, was entirely up to the individual. You had given that person a great gift: a measure of access to the canon and a grounding in technique. That was all that mattered.
From an educational perspective, the fact that it might never be shared, let alone monetised, as accountants say these days, or that it might never be captured in measured productivity or the gross domestic product, was of no consequence whatsoever. I trust that, for the best of the rising generation of teachers, it still doesn't matter.
SOURCE
Australia's Leftist policy on illegals will both encourage more to come and stoke opposition to them
IT has taken less than a week for political reality to get in the way of Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's policy response to the ever-increasing numbers of asylum-seekers.
On Monday, Mr Bowen announced a major modification to the policy of mandatory detention, perhaps the biggest change since it was introduced by the Keating government in 1992. Children and at least one parent will now be allowed to live in community housing, run by churches and charities, while their refugee claims are considered. The decision will be welcomed not just by the government's Green allies in the parliament but also by everybody in the community uncomfortable with locking children up. It is hard to imagine anything more unsettling for Australians than the sight of children playing behind razor wire.
But Mr Bowen's compassion comes at a price, and the minister should not underestimate the pitfalls. Too many Labor policies have come to grief at the intersection with the point of delivery.
The minister must start by listening to community concerns in Northam in Western Australia, where single male asylum-seekers will be housed, and Woodside in the Adelaide Hills, where 400 refugees will be housed. While it is easy for politically correct commentators to brush off opposition as unenlightened bigotry, the truth is residents have legitimate questions about what the impact of asylum-seekers' children will be on the local schools and how their health needs, and those of their parents, will be met.
The heavy-handed announcement of the Woodside decision without discussing it with anybody in South Australia, including Premier Mike Rann, will not create confidence. Mr Bowen owes a duty of care to the asylum-seekers he will send into these communities to ensure they stay safe and healthy and that their claims are processed as quickly as possible. But he must also start talking to Mr Rann and Western Australia's Premier, Colin Barnett, to ensure the communities of Woodside and Northam know they will not be overwhelmed.
Before the election, the Gillard government went out of its way to assure the electorate it would not encourage more asylum-seekers, and on ABC TV's Q&A, Mr Bowen acknowledged that detention centres existed for legitimate reasons when he took over the portfolio last month. He also told the network's Lateline he wanted to destroy the "people-smugglers business model".
While a regional processing centre in East Timor was one of the government's original schemes to destroy their industry, his new plan could easily have the opposite outcome. People-smugglers will work hard to argue that it is only a short step from being housed by a church or community group, with children free to attend school, to being accepted as a permanent resident. And if the smugglers make a convincing case, the boats will keep coming.
That Mr Bowen wants to be as kind as he can to the passengers of those that have already arrived is understandable. But releasing children and their parents into Australian communities is not a policy that can easily accommodate the right of asylum-seekers to fair process while respecting community concerns and tempting more people to take their chances on the cruel seas.
SOURCE
Lack of good roads shafts farmers
It should be a time for celebration in southwestem Queens- land, Seven months after drought-breaking floods devastated the region, farmers are finally being rewarded for their grit and hard graft with a bumper wheat crop. But while Mother Nature is at last showing some generosity, bureaucrats and politicians threaten to give growers yet another brutal kick -- with infrastructure delays and water restrictions.
Above-average rainfall this year has meant under-resourced local councils have struggled to perform crucial repairs to many rural stock routes heavily damaged during the March floods. The mostly gravel roads are the lifeblood of the region and used to transport millions of tonnes of grain and more than 500,000 head of cattle.
Balonne Sire chief exceutive Scott Norman said the condition of some stock routes and rural roads was so bad-that individual grain crops may be abandoned if farmers have no on-site storage facilities. ""We just haven’t been able to put a grader through any of these roads because it's just too wet", he said. "We have been seeing more road trains getting bogged, which means we have to damage the roads even more to get them out. It's going to add huge costs to farmers trying to get their grain to the two grain depots in the area.... some crops may be dumped"
St George Cotton Association president and wheat and cattle farmer Ed Willis said he may be unable to transport his wheat crop the l0km to the state’s biggest grain depot at Thallon. "With everything going on with the (Murray-Darling Basin Authority report) we need every single dollar that we can get out of this crop," he said.
Constant rain in the southwest has reduced the quality of many wheat crops. Degraded stock routes could increase freight costs by up to 40 per cent, making profits marginal.
Some locals have also queried the quality of State Government repairs to sections of the Carnarvon and Castlereagh highways. A section of the Castlereagh Highway about 25km south of St George has been filled with gravel and not resealed with bitumen; while a section of the Carnarvon Highway, about l0krn south of Thallon, has not been restored to its previous condition.
A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesman said both were repaired to a safe standard. Thallon farmer Andrew Earle disagrees, saying the frequency of road lrains using the Camarvon Highway will increase over the coming weeks and seriously damage the road surface. "You can see where the bitumen is bubbling up because they didn’t patch the road properly," he said.
The condition of the two regional highways is more crucial than ever since Queensland Rail decided to permanently close the Thallon to Dirranbandi line in July this year, after it had not been in operation since the middle of 2009.
Cattle and wheat farmer Kerry O’Sullivan has lived off the land west of Thallon for more than four decades and believes the rain and poor quality of roads could increase his freight bill by between 20 and 30 per cent "I don’t like to whinge. After all the years of drought, it is fantastic to finally get rain, but we just need a couple of dry weeks," he said.
The damage to the stock routes and rural roads has forced many in the Murweh Shire to get their cattle to bitumen roads before they are taken to the ahattoir. Mayor Mark O’Brien said some graziers in the area were doing it tough because of the condition of the roads since the flooding. "Because of the poor quality of these rural roads, graziers have had to battle to get their stock out of their property," he said. "It means having to get the cattle out to the bitumen, which could be miles away from where the road trains would normally pick them up."
Mr O’Brien said constant rain since the floods had made it impossible to seal a 7km secuon of Adavale Rd. He said about half the shire’s 2000km of gravel road should be sealed but at nearly $50,000 a kilometre, the expense was beyond the scope of the council’s ability to pay.
The article above appeared (print only) in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on 24 October, 2010
Petty bureaucratic nastiness in Australia too: Man fined $300 after saving a life
Britain is the world HQ for this sort of thing but there is always some nasty little bureaucratic prick everywhere who needs to use his powers to hurt rather than help people
A MAN who saved his mate's life after a jetski accident at Caloundra is outraged that he has now been hit with a $300 fine by authorities. Brisbane man Dave Burke suffered the hit to the hip pocket by Maritime Safety Queensland for "failing to report an incident".
The "incident" happened near the Caloundra Bar on Easter Sunday when a large wave knocked the 30-year-old and his 29-year-old friend off Mr Burke's jetski. The jetski sank and Mr Burke was picked up by an onlooker and taken back to the beach.
"I've then borrowed a jetski and gone out to get my mate," he said. "He was wearing a vest but he was pretty frightened. "He kept getting hit with some pretty heavy waves and because he had the vest on he wasn't able to get away from them."
Both men made it safely on to the sand of Bribie Island, where a female sunbather alerted the nearest life guard. Mr Burke said his friend was uninjured and had walked about 200 metres by the time the life guard and Coastguard arrived on the scene. "He told them he didn't need any transport but the Coastguard have insisted. "Now, because they've insisted on a transport that we didn't want, I've had to pay a $300 fine."
Mr Burke said the life guard advised him he would take care of any required paperwork and he retrieved his jetski with the help of another jetski rider.
Several weeks after the incident he was contacted by Maritime Queensland, who requested he make an incident report. He claims he did that but officials say it never arrived and he received his $300 fine in the mail last Monday.
Mr Burke said Maritime Safety Queensland viewed the incident as a "man overboard" that required reporting. "It's a jetski. If that is a man overboard, then Maritime should be chasing up the other 200 of these that happen every day," he said.
But Caloundra Coastguard Commander Bill Rowland said he did not recall the incident but the law was very clear. "He has to understand that as the skipper of a vessel... he has responsibility under the Marine Act to report an incident to a shipping inspector within 24 hours," he said. "The law is very clear on that. There is no ambiguity. "He obviously didn't do that and he got fined.
"I imagine there will be more to the situation than he is saying. "He would not be fined for falling off a jetski, he would be fined for not reporting an incident which the MSQ determined was a reportable marine incident."
Mr Burke said he had paid the $300 and while he would save his friend again if he had to, the fine had left a sour taste in his mouth. "When you've busted your arse to get to someone and also risked your own life – this is the thanks you get," Mr Burke said.
SOURCE
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Bloated and useless water bureaucracy in Qld.
Typical Leftist plundering of the good old taxpayer
WATER bosses are pocketing $100,000 salary increases as Queenslanders are hit with soaring utility bills. Bosses at the state water bodies have been criticised over their "excessive" pay rises while consumers are being gouged every time they turn on a tap.
The best rain in a decade has ended the drought and filled the state's dams, but critics say the State Government reforms aimed at securing future water supplies have created a bureaucratic monster with a financial appetite to match. Now households are paying the price, with water bill increases of up to $300 a year to pay for the army of new water administrators.
Four separate State Government agencies, three council-owned retailers and a Government department are now involved in water delivery. Annual reports reveal the vast cost of the agencies, with executive salaries one of the biggest expenses.
"They were supposed to build a water grid, but instead Labor has built its very own millionaire's row by paying these excessive salaries and perks," Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said. "Southeast Queenslanders are paying for it through massive increases in their water bills."
SEQ Water Grid Manager chief executive Barry Dennien, who oversees water flows and projects, has been a big winner, with a pay increase of about $120,000 to a whopping $460,000 a year. A Government spokesman said the rise came when Mr Dennien was promoted from "acting CEO" to "CEO".
Seqwater chief executive Peter Borrows, responsible for providing bulk water from dams and weirs, received a rise of about $80,000 - including a performance bonus to a total of almost $500,000 a year.
LinkWater, responsible for the pipe network that transports water, has concealed the salary of chief executive Peter McManamon in consecutive annual reports by using a broad salary range. But a Government spokesman said the package was close to $400,000, a rise of up to $100,000.
WaterSecure chief executive Keith Davies, responsible for recycling and desalination, earns a massive $540,000. Mr Davies' generous salary comes despite WaterSecure struggling to find industries to take up expensive recycled water, and ongoing problems with the Gold Coast desalination plant. Premier Anna Bligh retreated on a plan to add recycled water to the region's drinking supply, and millions of litres are being flushed down the Brisbane River.
The Water Commission, set up in the worst days of drought, appointed new chief executive Karen Waldman in May. A Government spokesman said Ms Waldman was on $230,000 a year. The commission, which critics want disbanded now that dams are overflowing, has reduced costs but has an annual $1.1 million executive salaries bill.
Taxpayers are also funding hefty pay rises for numerous other executives in the various bodies, and generous remuneration for board members.
The Government's spokesman said: "Salaries paid to executives are competitive with those paid in similar roles interstate and overseas".
However the Local Government Association blasted the new water grid network for forcing up costs. "The architecture is not ideal and certainly costs a lot of money," said executive director Greg Hallam.
The bosses of southeast Queensland's three new council-owned water retailers responsible for water billing - Unitywater's Jon Black, Allconnex Water boss Kim Wood and Queensland Urban Utilities chief executive Noel Faulkner - are also on lucrative salaries.
Gold Coast-based Allconnex's annual report indicates Mr Wood, who took up his post in January, is paid about $350,000. Other retailers are yet to release their annual reports, but are certain to be on a similar scale and sources say the real figure could be closer to $400,000. Allconnex managers were treating salary details with such secrecy that when The Sunday Mail found their annual report on their website it was immediately pulled down.
In a worrying sign about the accountability of the new retailers, all declined to comment on salaries and have refused to provide any details about the number of households struggling to pay bills.
SOURCE
Plenty of money for bureaucracy but too bad about public safety
Typical Leftist priorities
Just one cyclone shelter has been built since the State Government promised four years ago to provide safe havens in every community from Cooktown to Bundaberg.
With Queensland facing the worst cyclone season in 40 years, The Sunday Mail can reveal that only Innisfail will have a shelter to house evacuees during a Category 5 storm.
Opposition emergency services spokesman Ted Malone said the cyclone shelters were proving to be another "hollow promise" by the Government.
"It seems nothing has been done since (former premier) Peter Beattie stood amongst the devastation at Innisfail in 2006 and promised to deliver a major facility in every community between Cooktown and Bundaberg that could withstand a Category 5 cyclone," Mr Malone said.
The finished shelter at Innisfail State College, which doubles as a performing arts centre, was opened by Premier Anna Bligh in February, almost four years after Category 4 Cyclone Larry hit north Queensland. It is built to withstand Category 5 wind gusts over 280km/h.
The Queensland Home Building Code mandates that houses and buildings built after 1982 meet cyclonic wind standards up to Category 4.
A list provided by the Department of Public Works shows a further three locations earmarked as public cyclone shelters are still being completed or stuck in the planning stages:
* Kowanyama Multi-purpose Sport and Recreation Centre nearing completion.
* The new Community Events Centre in Cooktown still in the planning stages.
* Redlynch State College near Cairns work under way to reinforce the hall.
The revelation comes as Queensland prepares for the start of cyclone season on November 1.
Bureau of Meteorology regional director Jim Davidson last week warned Cabinet that six cyclones and monsoonal rain were likely to lash the Queensland coast during the cyclone season - a prediction not seen since the 1970s.
After Cyclone Larry, the most severe cyclone to strike the state in a century, former premier Peter Beattie promised to build cyclone shelters in every major community along the Queensland coast.
On August 22, 2006, Mr Beattie said Labor would equip communities from Bundaberg to the Torres Strait, and on western Cape York Peninsula, with shelters able to withstand winds of up to 306km/h.
SOURCE
Druggie abortionist infects 41 women with the druggies' disease
Why was a known druggie allowed to continue in practice?
STATE Health Minister Daniel Andrews has backed his chief health officer over waiting six months to screen more than 1000 patients exposed to a doctor suspected of spreading hepatitis C.
Dr John Carnie revealed on Saturday that the health department had expanded screening to three more clinics as police raided five Melbourne properties, including the Hawthorn home of anaesthetist James Latham Peters.
The broadened screening comes more than six months after a hepatitis C cluster was discovered among patients at Croydon Day Surgery - now called Marie Stopes Maroondah. Forty-one patients at the abortion clinic are suspected of contracting the same strain of hepatitis C as Dr Peters. The affected women were exposed to Dr Peters between January 2008 and December 2009.
Mr Andrews said Dr Carnie was appropriately exercising an "abundance of caution" in moving to screen patients at Dr Peters' former workplaces. He said there were no known cases of hepatitis C at any of the three clinics but could not rule out the possibility other patients had been infected.
"There's no suggestion that anybody that's been treated at those three clinics is hep C positive but in order to be absolutely certain ... he is extending that look back into those three clinics. I think that's an entirely appropriate thing for him to do," Mr Andrews told reporters today.
He said it was appropriate that early investigation focused on known, high risk cases before moving to precautionary screening. "I fully support the approach that the chief health officer has taken. He has dealt appropriately where he has known there is a high risk. "He is now appropriately moving to provide support and reassurance where there is a much, much lower risk ... in order to be safe rather than sorry."
The department has tested more than 3000 patients treated between 2006 and 2009 at the Croydon Day Surgery and is still tracing a further 300 women. Staff are now trying to contact another 1066 female and male patients at three other clinics.
They include 900 patients who attended Fertility Control in East Melbourne between January 2008 and November 2009, 150 from St Albans Endoscopy who were treated between February and September 2008, and 16 who attended the Western Day Surgery in Sunshine in March 2008. No charges have been laid over the infections.
The case is unprecedented in Victoria, presenting challenges for police working out if and how to lay charges related to spreading a disease and for the Department of Health in working out how many patients are affected. Detective Sen-Sgt Paul Robotham said the police were looking for evidence on how the outbreak occurred.
It remains unclear why police waited until yesterday to raid the Croydon clinic. "It's just the nature of the investigation and the appropriate time to conduct those searches," Det Sen-Sgt Robotham said. "I'm not going to make any comment either way as to why it's done now. It's just a tactical decision that it was done today."
Articles including a computer were seized from the Hawthorn home of Dr Peters. Dr Peters reportedly had a history of illicitly injecting himself with painkillers, a conviction for forging prescriptions for pethidine and a charge of possessing child pornography.
"This whole thing has been extremely distressing for the patients concerned, the other doctors concerned, the clinics and the department," Dr Carnie said.
SOURCE
Another slack NSW hospital
Baby was given to the wrong mother. Careful attention to baby ID is routine -- but not in NSW, apparently
A HOSPITAL has apologised to a mother after giving her baby to the wrong woman for breastfeeding.
Newborn Hunter-Joe Harris has undergone emergency tests for HIV, hepatitis and other infections after being handed to the wrong woman for a 4am feed.
Last night Hawkesbury Hospital admitted the mistake, saying the baby was feeding from the wrong mother for about 20 seconds before midwives realised. The hospital has conducted health tests on the woman and has assured Hunter-Joe's mother, Danielle, that they came back clear. The Harris family will have to wait five months for tests on Hunter-Joe to come back. In the meantime, the month-old baby is at home and seemingly in good health.
Ms Harris wants a written apology, saying she felt "sick and angry" when she found out about the mix-up.
"The nurses said: 'Oh it's funny how there's two Hunters in the hospital.' And she [the other mother] turned around and said: 'My baby's name's not Hunter,"' Ms Harris told Channel Nine. "If she didn't say that, he could have fed for the whole half an hour and [gone] to sleep next to her."
David Maher, the general manager of Hawkesbury District Health Service, said "human error" was to blame and that staff had been counselled on proper procedures. He said no one would be sacked as a result of the incident but that identification systems would be reviewed. "This is something that is not designed to occur, it was an error. There are systems in place for checking identifications of babies … but something has gone wrong in this case," Mr Maher said. He spoke to the Harris family last week and offered the hospital's apologies.
The Harris family is not alone. Babies were handed to the wrong mother for feeding on at least 26 occasions between 2006 and 2009, government figures show. In most cases, overworked staff failing to check identification tags were to blame.
In one case a newborn had to have its stomach pumped after being given month-old breast milk from a woman who was not the child's mother. At Blacktown Hospital a baby was given unnecessary medication because of incorrect identification tags.
After a spate of mix-ups, midwifery expert Robyn Thompson said the psychological trauma to women could be devastating.
SOURCE
Pressures forcing teachers to quit Queensland schools
"Behaviour-management issues" is code for lack of discipline
CLASSROOM sizes and behaviour-management issues are driving teachers out of the workforce. Almost three quarters of Queensland teachers say it is difficult to retain staff because morale is so low.
Teachers and parents are compensating for a lack of government funds by working longer hours and fundraising for school essentials, the State of our Schools survey by the Australian Education Union released exclusively to The Sunday Mail reveals.
Last year, parents and teachers dug deep raising $15 million through fetes, uniform sales and voluntary contributions, with funds going towards classroom essentials and new facilities. More than 60 per cent of Queensland respondents said this fundraising was "very important" in keeping the school running, with most of the money going to fund classroom equipment, library resources and sporting goods.
Other results include 44 per cent of Queensland teachers saying student outcomes would improve with smaller class sizes, 18 per cent calling for more support for students with disabilities and behaviour-management issues and 68 per cent saying reduced workloads and help with troubled kids would ease the pressure.
AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said while teachers and principals were "the glue that held schools together", the public deserved better. "Ultimately our public schools are great schools and doing a great job by international comparisons," Mr Gavrielatos said. "But what we need to do is put in place resources to ensure the needs of every child can be met."
The survey was released to coincide with the union's national campaign launch around the Review of Funding for Schooling. The union is calling for more equity between the amount of funding given to government and private schools, saying two thirds of federal government funding goes to private schools, which educate just one third of students.
But Independent Schools Queensland executive director David Robertson said while this claim was strictly correct, it was misleading because government schools received 96 per cent of their funding from the states. He said he welcomed the review which was the first analysis of funding in 35 years.
Currently funding for non-government schools is calculated using the SES model (socio-economic status). This measures the income profile of students' parents through cross-matching postcode and census data. "It's a transparent funding model . . . the Government says these non-government schools whose parents can afford it, should receive less," Mr Robertson said.
SOURCE
Protests in Australian towns over plans to hold illegals there
Many of the illegals are fundamentalist Muslims from Afghanistan and fundamentalist Muslims deliberately killed a lot of Australians in Bali. Certainly not ideal neighbours
SENIOR government ministers have warned against public hysteria following an angry backlash against plans to move asylum-seekers.
Immigration officials were jeered as they tried to reassure residents at a public meeting in the Adelaide Hills that having the asylum-seekers in their communities would be a positive and rewarding experience.
Trade Minister Craig Emerson warned against public hysteria over the government's plan to build centres in the two states to handle rising numbers of boat arrivals. "Let's not start this sort of hysteria that they're somehow horrible, dangerous people," he said. "These are people who will be assessed using the normal checks that were put in place many, many years ago."
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen assured residents that resources would not be stripped from local communities, and extra resources for the centres would be provided by the government.
Residents of Woodside in the Adelaide Hills reacted angrily to plans to house up to 400 asylum-seekers on the nearby Inverbrackie defence estate.
At a meeting on Thursday night, many said they were concerned schools could be overwhelmed and crime could rise.
The Coalition leapt on the issue, vowing to push for a parliamentary inquiry to examine the plans for the centres.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the government had created a "rolling detention crisis".
"There are just so many people now that they're trying to accommodate, that the community of Inverbrackie, without any consultation, without any forewarning, has had this forced upon them.
"I'm just amazed that the government is surprised that there would be some reaction from the community when they haven't even been talked to." Mr Bowen "should front up to the community and answer the questions", Mr Morrison said. "He shouldn't be shielding himself behind Immigration officials who too often have to do the dirty work of this government."
Mr Morrison's comments drew criticism from Liberal Bruce Baird, an outspoken critic of John Howard's hard line on immigration, who held the seat of Cook before him. "They're creating myths and scaremongering, and I think that's unfortunate," Mr Baird said. "They're very vulnerable people."
Mr Baird, who is chairman of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council, said there was no reason for residents to be concerned. "When we released children and their families in 2005 there was concern that they would abscond and cause problems in the community, and neither of that happened. . . . They would probably be model citizens."
Mr Bowen said health services for asylum-seekers would be provided on-site. "Any additional teaching resources required will be paid for by the commonwealth, as they always are."
Mr Bowen said the residents' concerns about pressure on health facilities and schools were understandable and it was appropriate that the government respond to them. "We are working closely with the Department of Education and schools to ensure that families are accommodated at this centre with no adverse impact on local communities."
The Department of Immigration and service provider Serco would bring in medical experts to the Inverbrackie facility to care for detainees, he said. "There will be no impact on local facilities."
Federal Liberal MP Jamie Briggs wants to introduce a private member's bill establishing a parliamentary inquiry to hear the residents' views.
Mr Morrison said people were rightly upset. "These are not refugees who have been settled into the community, who have had their asylum claims proved. They are people who are maybe there for six months, three months."
SOURCE
Typical Leftist plundering of the good old taxpayer
WATER bosses are pocketing $100,000 salary increases as Queenslanders are hit with soaring utility bills. Bosses at the state water bodies have been criticised over their "excessive" pay rises while consumers are being gouged every time they turn on a tap.
The best rain in a decade has ended the drought and filled the state's dams, but critics say the State Government reforms aimed at securing future water supplies have created a bureaucratic monster with a financial appetite to match. Now households are paying the price, with water bill increases of up to $300 a year to pay for the army of new water administrators.
Four separate State Government agencies, three council-owned retailers and a Government department are now involved in water delivery. Annual reports reveal the vast cost of the agencies, with executive salaries one of the biggest expenses.
"They were supposed to build a water grid, but instead Labor has built its very own millionaire's row by paying these excessive salaries and perks," Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek said. "Southeast Queenslanders are paying for it through massive increases in their water bills."
SEQ Water Grid Manager chief executive Barry Dennien, who oversees water flows and projects, has been a big winner, with a pay increase of about $120,000 to a whopping $460,000 a year. A Government spokesman said the rise came when Mr Dennien was promoted from "acting CEO" to "CEO".
Seqwater chief executive Peter Borrows, responsible for providing bulk water from dams and weirs, received a rise of about $80,000 - including a performance bonus to a total of almost $500,000 a year.
LinkWater, responsible for the pipe network that transports water, has concealed the salary of chief executive Peter McManamon in consecutive annual reports by using a broad salary range. But a Government spokesman said the package was close to $400,000, a rise of up to $100,000.
WaterSecure chief executive Keith Davies, responsible for recycling and desalination, earns a massive $540,000. Mr Davies' generous salary comes despite WaterSecure struggling to find industries to take up expensive recycled water, and ongoing problems with the Gold Coast desalination plant. Premier Anna Bligh retreated on a plan to add recycled water to the region's drinking supply, and millions of litres are being flushed down the Brisbane River.
The Water Commission, set up in the worst days of drought, appointed new chief executive Karen Waldman in May. A Government spokesman said Ms Waldman was on $230,000 a year. The commission, which critics want disbanded now that dams are overflowing, has reduced costs but has an annual $1.1 million executive salaries bill.
Taxpayers are also funding hefty pay rises for numerous other executives in the various bodies, and generous remuneration for board members.
The Government's spokesman said: "Salaries paid to executives are competitive with those paid in similar roles interstate and overseas".
However the Local Government Association blasted the new water grid network for forcing up costs. "The architecture is not ideal and certainly costs a lot of money," said executive director Greg Hallam.
The bosses of southeast Queensland's three new council-owned water retailers responsible for water billing - Unitywater's Jon Black, Allconnex Water boss Kim Wood and Queensland Urban Utilities chief executive Noel Faulkner - are also on lucrative salaries.
Gold Coast-based Allconnex's annual report indicates Mr Wood, who took up his post in January, is paid about $350,000. Other retailers are yet to release their annual reports, but are certain to be on a similar scale and sources say the real figure could be closer to $400,000. Allconnex managers were treating salary details with such secrecy that when The Sunday Mail found their annual report on their website it was immediately pulled down.
In a worrying sign about the accountability of the new retailers, all declined to comment on salaries and have refused to provide any details about the number of households struggling to pay bills.
SOURCE
Plenty of money for bureaucracy but too bad about public safety
Typical Leftist priorities
Just one cyclone shelter has been built since the State Government promised four years ago to provide safe havens in every community from Cooktown to Bundaberg.
With Queensland facing the worst cyclone season in 40 years, The Sunday Mail can reveal that only Innisfail will have a shelter to house evacuees during a Category 5 storm.
Opposition emergency services spokesman Ted Malone said the cyclone shelters were proving to be another "hollow promise" by the Government.
"It seems nothing has been done since (former premier) Peter Beattie stood amongst the devastation at Innisfail in 2006 and promised to deliver a major facility in every community between Cooktown and Bundaberg that could withstand a Category 5 cyclone," Mr Malone said.
The finished shelter at Innisfail State College, which doubles as a performing arts centre, was opened by Premier Anna Bligh in February, almost four years after Category 4 Cyclone Larry hit north Queensland. It is built to withstand Category 5 wind gusts over 280km/h.
The Queensland Home Building Code mandates that houses and buildings built after 1982 meet cyclonic wind standards up to Category 4.
A list provided by the Department of Public Works shows a further three locations earmarked as public cyclone shelters are still being completed or stuck in the planning stages:
* Kowanyama Multi-purpose Sport and Recreation Centre nearing completion.
* The new Community Events Centre in Cooktown still in the planning stages.
* Redlynch State College near Cairns work under way to reinforce the hall.
The revelation comes as Queensland prepares for the start of cyclone season on November 1.
Bureau of Meteorology regional director Jim Davidson last week warned Cabinet that six cyclones and monsoonal rain were likely to lash the Queensland coast during the cyclone season - a prediction not seen since the 1970s.
After Cyclone Larry, the most severe cyclone to strike the state in a century, former premier Peter Beattie promised to build cyclone shelters in every major community along the Queensland coast.
On August 22, 2006, Mr Beattie said Labor would equip communities from Bundaberg to the Torres Strait, and on western Cape York Peninsula, with shelters able to withstand winds of up to 306km/h.
SOURCE
Druggie abortionist infects 41 women with the druggies' disease
Why was a known druggie allowed to continue in practice?
STATE Health Minister Daniel Andrews has backed his chief health officer over waiting six months to screen more than 1000 patients exposed to a doctor suspected of spreading hepatitis C.
Dr John Carnie revealed on Saturday that the health department had expanded screening to three more clinics as police raided five Melbourne properties, including the Hawthorn home of anaesthetist James Latham Peters.
The broadened screening comes more than six months after a hepatitis C cluster was discovered among patients at Croydon Day Surgery - now called Marie Stopes Maroondah. Forty-one patients at the abortion clinic are suspected of contracting the same strain of hepatitis C as Dr Peters. The affected women were exposed to Dr Peters between January 2008 and December 2009.
Mr Andrews said Dr Carnie was appropriately exercising an "abundance of caution" in moving to screen patients at Dr Peters' former workplaces. He said there were no known cases of hepatitis C at any of the three clinics but could not rule out the possibility other patients had been infected.
"There's no suggestion that anybody that's been treated at those three clinics is hep C positive but in order to be absolutely certain ... he is extending that look back into those three clinics. I think that's an entirely appropriate thing for him to do," Mr Andrews told reporters today.
He said it was appropriate that early investigation focused on known, high risk cases before moving to precautionary screening. "I fully support the approach that the chief health officer has taken. He has dealt appropriately where he has known there is a high risk. "He is now appropriately moving to provide support and reassurance where there is a much, much lower risk ... in order to be safe rather than sorry."
The department has tested more than 3000 patients treated between 2006 and 2009 at the Croydon Day Surgery and is still tracing a further 300 women. Staff are now trying to contact another 1066 female and male patients at three other clinics.
They include 900 patients who attended Fertility Control in East Melbourne between January 2008 and November 2009, 150 from St Albans Endoscopy who were treated between February and September 2008, and 16 who attended the Western Day Surgery in Sunshine in March 2008. No charges have been laid over the infections.
The case is unprecedented in Victoria, presenting challenges for police working out if and how to lay charges related to spreading a disease and for the Department of Health in working out how many patients are affected. Detective Sen-Sgt Paul Robotham said the police were looking for evidence on how the outbreak occurred.
It remains unclear why police waited until yesterday to raid the Croydon clinic. "It's just the nature of the investigation and the appropriate time to conduct those searches," Det Sen-Sgt Robotham said. "I'm not going to make any comment either way as to why it's done now. It's just a tactical decision that it was done today."
Articles including a computer were seized from the Hawthorn home of Dr Peters. Dr Peters reportedly had a history of illicitly injecting himself with painkillers, a conviction for forging prescriptions for pethidine and a charge of possessing child pornography.
"This whole thing has been extremely distressing for the patients concerned, the other doctors concerned, the clinics and the department," Dr Carnie said.
SOURCE
Another slack NSW hospital
Baby was given to the wrong mother. Careful attention to baby ID is routine -- but not in NSW, apparently
A HOSPITAL has apologised to a mother after giving her baby to the wrong woman for breastfeeding.
Newborn Hunter-Joe Harris has undergone emergency tests for HIV, hepatitis and other infections after being handed to the wrong woman for a 4am feed.
Last night Hawkesbury Hospital admitted the mistake, saying the baby was feeding from the wrong mother for about 20 seconds before midwives realised. The hospital has conducted health tests on the woman and has assured Hunter-Joe's mother, Danielle, that they came back clear. The Harris family will have to wait five months for tests on Hunter-Joe to come back. In the meantime, the month-old baby is at home and seemingly in good health.
Ms Harris wants a written apology, saying she felt "sick and angry" when she found out about the mix-up.
"The nurses said: 'Oh it's funny how there's two Hunters in the hospital.' And she [the other mother] turned around and said: 'My baby's name's not Hunter,"' Ms Harris told Channel Nine. "If she didn't say that, he could have fed for the whole half an hour and [gone] to sleep next to her."
David Maher, the general manager of Hawkesbury District Health Service, said "human error" was to blame and that staff had been counselled on proper procedures. He said no one would be sacked as a result of the incident but that identification systems would be reviewed. "This is something that is not designed to occur, it was an error. There are systems in place for checking identifications of babies … but something has gone wrong in this case," Mr Maher said. He spoke to the Harris family last week and offered the hospital's apologies.
The Harris family is not alone. Babies were handed to the wrong mother for feeding on at least 26 occasions between 2006 and 2009, government figures show. In most cases, overworked staff failing to check identification tags were to blame.
In one case a newborn had to have its stomach pumped after being given month-old breast milk from a woman who was not the child's mother. At Blacktown Hospital a baby was given unnecessary medication because of incorrect identification tags.
After a spate of mix-ups, midwifery expert Robyn Thompson said the psychological trauma to women could be devastating.
SOURCE
Pressures forcing teachers to quit Queensland schools
"Behaviour-management issues" is code for lack of discipline
CLASSROOM sizes and behaviour-management issues are driving teachers out of the workforce. Almost three quarters of Queensland teachers say it is difficult to retain staff because morale is so low.
Teachers and parents are compensating for a lack of government funds by working longer hours and fundraising for school essentials, the State of our Schools survey by the Australian Education Union released exclusively to The Sunday Mail reveals.
Last year, parents and teachers dug deep raising $15 million through fetes, uniform sales and voluntary contributions, with funds going towards classroom essentials and new facilities. More than 60 per cent of Queensland respondents said this fundraising was "very important" in keeping the school running, with most of the money going to fund classroom equipment, library resources and sporting goods.
Other results include 44 per cent of Queensland teachers saying student outcomes would improve with smaller class sizes, 18 per cent calling for more support for students with disabilities and behaviour-management issues and 68 per cent saying reduced workloads and help with troubled kids would ease the pressure.
AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said while teachers and principals were "the glue that held schools together", the public deserved better. "Ultimately our public schools are great schools and doing a great job by international comparisons," Mr Gavrielatos said. "But what we need to do is put in place resources to ensure the needs of every child can be met."
The survey was released to coincide with the union's national campaign launch around the Review of Funding for Schooling. The union is calling for more equity between the amount of funding given to government and private schools, saying two thirds of federal government funding goes to private schools, which educate just one third of students.
But Independent Schools Queensland executive director David Robertson said while this claim was strictly correct, it was misleading because government schools received 96 per cent of their funding from the states. He said he welcomed the review which was the first analysis of funding in 35 years.
Currently funding for non-government schools is calculated using the SES model (socio-economic status). This measures the income profile of students' parents through cross-matching postcode and census data. "It's a transparent funding model . . . the Government says these non-government schools whose parents can afford it, should receive less," Mr Robertson said.
SOURCE
Protests in Australian towns over plans to hold illegals there
Many of the illegals are fundamentalist Muslims from Afghanistan and fundamentalist Muslims deliberately killed a lot of Australians in Bali. Certainly not ideal neighbours
SENIOR government ministers have warned against public hysteria following an angry backlash against plans to move asylum-seekers.
Immigration officials were jeered as they tried to reassure residents at a public meeting in the Adelaide Hills that having the asylum-seekers in their communities would be a positive and rewarding experience.
Trade Minister Craig Emerson warned against public hysteria over the government's plan to build centres in the two states to handle rising numbers of boat arrivals. "Let's not start this sort of hysteria that they're somehow horrible, dangerous people," he said. "These are people who will be assessed using the normal checks that were put in place many, many years ago."
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen assured residents that resources would not be stripped from local communities, and extra resources for the centres would be provided by the government.
Residents of Woodside in the Adelaide Hills reacted angrily to plans to house up to 400 asylum-seekers on the nearby Inverbrackie defence estate.
At a meeting on Thursday night, many said they were concerned schools could be overwhelmed and crime could rise.
The Coalition leapt on the issue, vowing to push for a parliamentary inquiry to examine the plans for the centres.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the government had created a "rolling detention crisis".
"There are just so many people now that they're trying to accommodate, that the community of Inverbrackie, without any consultation, without any forewarning, has had this forced upon them.
"I'm just amazed that the government is surprised that there would be some reaction from the community when they haven't even been talked to." Mr Bowen "should front up to the community and answer the questions", Mr Morrison said. "He shouldn't be shielding himself behind Immigration officials who too often have to do the dirty work of this government."
Mr Morrison's comments drew criticism from Liberal Bruce Baird, an outspoken critic of John Howard's hard line on immigration, who held the seat of Cook before him. "They're creating myths and scaremongering, and I think that's unfortunate," Mr Baird said. "They're very vulnerable people."
Mr Baird, who is chairman of the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council, said there was no reason for residents to be concerned. "When we released children and their families in 2005 there was concern that they would abscond and cause problems in the community, and neither of that happened. . . . They would probably be model citizens."
Mr Bowen said health services for asylum-seekers would be provided on-site. "Any additional teaching resources required will be paid for by the commonwealth, as they always are."
Mr Bowen said the residents' concerns about pressure on health facilities and schools were understandable and it was appropriate that the government respond to them. "We are working closely with the Department of Education and schools to ensure that families are accommodated at this centre with no adverse impact on local communities."
The Department of Immigration and service provider Serco would bring in medical experts to the Inverbrackie facility to care for detainees, he said. "There will be no impact on local facilities."
Federal Liberal MP Jamie Briggs wants to introduce a private member's bill establishing a parliamentary inquiry to hear the residents' views.
Mr Morrison said people were rightly upset. "These are not refugees who have been settled into the community, who have had their asylum claims proved. They are people who are maybe there for six months, three months."
SOURCE
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Bureaucratic strangulation of Australian public hospitals set to get worse
Dr Jeremy Sammut
The key insight into the hospital crisis is that the public hospital system exhibits all the systemic failures typically experienced by stultifying Soviet-style monopolistic, central plan bureaucracies.
So-called reforms that tinker with the scale of the bureaucracy will never fix the fundamental problem, which is the faulty way state governments have chosen to run public hospitals.
The federal government’s National Health and Hospitals Networks Plan will not devolve operational management to the local level as promised because the state bureaucracies are still in control of the overall management and funding of the system.
Creating ‘local hospital networks’ staffed by seconded state bureaucrats will only impose an additional layer of bureaucracy. Bribing the states with billions of extra taxpayers’ dollars to sign up to a national agreement that does not significantly alter the existing administrative arrangements, other than making them more complex and confused, is a betrayal of hospital staff, patients and voters, who deserve and expect better.
The only way forward is to unshackle public hospitals from the bureaucracies that otherwise will continue to restrict the hospital system’s ability to meet the health needs of the community.
Abolition of the bureaucracy can only be accomplished if administrative responsibility for each public hospital is devolved to autonomous boards of directors.
But hospital boards are only the first step. It is not a quick fix.
Genuine hospital reform requires genuinely responsible federalism and genuine local autonomy and accountability. Judicious use of financial levers and competitive pressures, combined with managerial flexibility, must drive improved performance and the return on each health dollar spent on public hospitals.
Administrative reform must therefore occur in tandem with comprehensive structural and funding reform to transform public hospitals into what they are not: independent, competing, consumer-oriented, and financially accountable.
Rather than be mired in the usual political wrangling about the problems in the health system, policymakers must focus on policy details that all credible reform plans must contain.
The above is a press release from the Centre for Independent Studies, dated 22 October. Enquiries to cis@cis.org.au. Snail mail: PO Box 92, St Leonards, NSW, Australia 1590.
Bible ban 'political correctness gone mad'
AN unholy row has erupted over the hand-out of Bibles at citizenship ceremonies. Hobart and Clarence councils this year stopped handing out Bibles after they were told by immigration officials they were no longer needed, The Mercury reports.
Liberal senator Guy Barnett said the move was "political correctness gone mad".
Clarence mayor Jock Campbell said his council had been told by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that if citizenship candidates wanted to swear an oath on a holy book, they needed to bring their own.
Hobart Lord Mayor Rob Valentine said his council began advising candidates this year they needed to bring their own. "We were told by immigration, quite some time ago, not to give Bibles out anymore," Ald Valentine said.
Ald Campbell said until this year Bibles supplied by the Bible Society of Australia had been handed out to participants who opted for the Christian oath. "I'd see it as an unnecessary change," he said.
Ald Campbell said the council had contacted the Bible Society for advice on what to do with 72 spare Bibles.
A Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman said last night it was not appropriate for organisations hosting citizenship ceremonies to give holy books as gifts and this had been the position of the department since 2003.
SOURCE
More computer mayhem in Queensland
This comes on top of Queensland Health still not being able to get its payroll software working properly -- after MONTHS of trying
QUEENSLAND police are spending almost $6 million on a new computer package to process gun licences after a report found their own $100 million system was too slow and a similar program used by Queensland Transport was not secure.
The confidential report, obtained under Right to Information laws, investigated several options to replace the current licensing system that requires gun owners to go into a police station and fill out paperwork.
The options included the extension of the police computer program QPRIME and the system Queensland Transport uses for driver licensing, known as TRAILS.
But project manager Trevor Holmstrom found QPRIME had increased data entry times for police by 115 per cent since its introduction in 2006 as a replacement for a number of other systems.
If the same system were used for weapons licensing, another 61 staff would be needed and applications would take 85 per cent longer to process, the report said.
Queensland Transport fared no better with Mr Holmstrom finding the department had "no pre-existing good record of looking after customers" and no experience dealing with security-sensitive information. A lack of a 24/7 culture at QT was also an issue, he said.
Instead, his 67-page report recommended police adopt a new computer program known as Sword Ciboodle at a cost of $5.8 million – despite it having no Queensland support office.
Opposition leader John-Paul Langbroek said the fact two existing systems were ruled out was further evidence the Government "could not get the basics right". "The problems with QPRIME and the length of time it takes police now to fill in crime reports and process warrants have been concerns the Opposition and police have been raising for years, but Labor has been in denial," he said. "This review further confirms the rollout of QPRIME has been a debacle."
Mr Langbroek said the review's finding that Queensland Transport was dogged by "poor customer service and responsiveness" was a further wake-up call to the agency.
But a spokesman for Transport and Main Roads said the department had maintained a score of 7.7 out of 10 in customer satisfaction over the past two years in surveys conducted by ACNielsen.
The new computerised system for gun licensing is expected to be up and running by December, coinciding with an increase in the cost of a firearms' licence. The State Government hopes the switch to an online service will save about $7.5 million over five years in staff "efficiencies" and processing improvements. [Joke! Joke!]
SOURCE
Striking a balance in Australia's immigration future
By Pallavi Jain (Ms Jain is of Indian origin)
German chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken the unspeakable. In a brutally honest statement she has said that multiculturalism has failed in Germany. This statement comes close on the heels of the recently held elections in Sweden where the far right party, Sweden Democrats, won as many as 20 parliamentary seats, making a significant dent for the first time in mainstream Swedish politics. These developments reiterate the fact that immigration remains a hot button topic in most western democracies. But for all the rhetoric, how does Australia fare when it comes to immigration?
According to the Australian Bureau of statistics in the past year net immigration contributed 64 per cent to population growth while natural growth accounted for 36 per cent. Over the past five years there has been a substantial increase in immigration owing to government policy. It is not surprising then that in the recently held elections, immigration was often discussed in conjunction with increasing population. However, one wonders whether population growth itself would be an issue if it was not associated with a high rate of immigration and was just a result of natural increase.
Over recent decades Australia's per capita income has risen even as its population has increased including a huge influx of immigrants. Moreover given that Australia is ranked second on the UN's Human Development Index which assesses education, health and life expectancy as well as economic factors it is not hard to believe that by global standards Australia is doing well on almost all counts. But is there more here than meets the eye? Are the old and new members of this remarkable country really at ease with each other?
It is perhaps as unwise to criticise immigration altogether and paint all immigrants with the same brush as it would be imprudent not to express apprehension about increased immigration out of political correctness. While a gradual influx of immigrants of all hues and cultures may be tolerated at the worst and welcomed at the best, substantial increases in immigrant population, coming in sudden spurts, may lead to social tensions. Such is human nature.
Every country has a right to decide who should enter their country. In fact extra care should be taken when deciding who can come in, to ensure that a few bad apples don't give all immigrants a bad name. And while it might be difficult, the government must make a thorough assessment of aspiring immigrants. In addition to skills, it is important to establish what they think and feel about the value system that prevails in Australia.
If there is a conflict of interest cultural or otherwise that cannot be resolved, then it may even be better for the person not to immigrate, since there is a high probability of disappointment and alienation. At a macro-level such feelings of discontent could be a recipe for social friction. Last but not the least, there is one important reason why immigrants from all over the world often want to come here. It is not just about the money (immigrants to countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya or Kenya can also make money). It is at least for some about the life choices that Australia offers. It is about fundamental human rights like dignity of life, freedom or a certain level of security.
I have personally been at the receiving end of tough immigration policies when I could not gain full time employment in the UK due to visa restrictions. But even after being denied that opportunity, I did not change my views on immigration into the developed world.
I firmly believe that every nation has a right to decide who can and should stay in their country. In some cases countries may miss out on an outstanding talent because of an error in judgement, or they may sometimes allow in people who perhaps should not have been given entry. But even though one can doubt the wisdom of a specific immigration policy, a nation cannot be denied the right to make that choice.
Yes Australia is not perfect, but by many standards it is one of the best places to live on the planet. You can eat or wear anything, practise your religion, speak your mind without fear — choices that are a luxury in many parts of the world. Moreover in my opinion the task of assimilating into Australian society rests with the immigrant who has made a choice to come here. Assimilation here does not require compromising your identity in any way but rather offers a chance to expand it, making you part of the global narrative. On the other side though, it is important that Australia lives up to the immigrant's expectations of being a fair, egalitarian and free society.
Australia is one of the most developed countries in the world but to maintain that in an increasingly globalised world, it is imperative that it manages its immigration policy well. Very low immigration will deny Australia the benefits of the best minds in the world. Too much immigration may give rise to unforseen social unrest, apart from being a huge burden on the infrastructure and the environment. Striking this balance will be a key to Australia's future.
SOURCE
Dr Jeremy Sammut
The key insight into the hospital crisis is that the public hospital system exhibits all the systemic failures typically experienced by stultifying Soviet-style monopolistic, central plan bureaucracies.
So-called reforms that tinker with the scale of the bureaucracy will never fix the fundamental problem, which is the faulty way state governments have chosen to run public hospitals.
The federal government’s National Health and Hospitals Networks Plan will not devolve operational management to the local level as promised because the state bureaucracies are still in control of the overall management and funding of the system.
Creating ‘local hospital networks’ staffed by seconded state bureaucrats will only impose an additional layer of bureaucracy. Bribing the states with billions of extra taxpayers’ dollars to sign up to a national agreement that does not significantly alter the existing administrative arrangements, other than making them more complex and confused, is a betrayal of hospital staff, patients and voters, who deserve and expect better.
The only way forward is to unshackle public hospitals from the bureaucracies that otherwise will continue to restrict the hospital system’s ability to meet the health needs of the community.
Abolition of the bureaucracy can only be accomplished if administrative responsibility for each public hospital is devolved to autonomous boards of directors.
But hospital boards are only the first step. It is not a quick fix.
Genuine hospital reform requires genuinely responsible federalism and genuine local autonomy and accountability. Judicious use of financial levers and competitive pressures, combined with managerial flexibility, must drive improved performance and the return on each health dollar spent on public hospitals.
Administrative reform must therefore occur in tandem with comprehensive structural and funding reform to transform public hospitals into what they are not: independent, competing, consumer-oriented, and financially accountable.
Rather than be mired in the usual political wrangling about the problems in the health system, policymakers must focus on policy details that all credible reform plans must contain.
The above is a press release from the Centre for Independent Studies, dated 22 October. Enquiries to cis@cis.org.au. Snail mail: PO Box 92, St Leonards, NSW, Australia 1590.
Bible ban 'political correctness gone mad'
AN unholy row has erupted over the hand-out of Bibles at citizenship ceremonies. Hobart and Clarence councils this year stopped handing out Bibles after they were told by immigration officials they were no longer needed, The Mercury reports.
Liberal senator Guy Barnett said the move was "political correctness gone mad".
Clarence mayor Jock Campbell said his council had been told by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that if citizenship candidates wanted to swear an oath on a holy book, they needed to bring their own.
Hobart Lord Mayor Rob Valentine said his council began advising candidates this year they needed to bring their own. "We were told by immigration, quite some time ago, not to give Bibles out anymore," Ald Valentine said.
Ald Campbell said until this year Bibles supplied by the Bible Society of Australia had been handed out to participants who opted for the Christian oath. "I'd see it as an unnecessary change," he said.
Ald Campbell said the council had contacted the Bible Society for advice on what to do with 72 spare Bibles.
A Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman said last night it was not appropriate for organisations hosting citizenship ceremonies to give holy books as gifts and this had been the position of the department since 2003.
SOURCE
More computer mayhem in Queensland
This comes on top of Queensland Health still not being able to get its payroll software working properly -- after MONTHS of trying
QUEENSLAND police are spending almost $6 million on a new computer package to process gun licences after a report found their own $100 million system was too slow and a similar program used by Queensland Transport was not secure.
The confidential report, obtained under Right to Information laws, investigated several options to replace the current licensing system that requires gun owners to go into a police station and fill out paperwork.
The options included the extension of the police computer program QPRIME and the system Queensland Transport uses for driver licensing, known as TRAILS.
But project manager Trevor Holmstrom found QPRIME had increased data entry times for police by 115 per cent since its introduction in 2006 as a replacement for a number of other systems.
If the same system were used for weapons licensing, another 61 staff would be needed and applications would take 85 per cent longer to process, the report said.
Queensland Transport fared no better with Mr Holmstrom finding the department had "no pre-existing good record of looking after customers" and no experience dealing with security-sensitive information. A lack of a 24/7 culture at QT was also an issue, he said.
Instead, his 67-page report recommended police adopt a new computer program known as Sword Ciboodle at a cost of $5.8 million – despite it having no Queensland support office.
Opposition leader John-Paul Langbroek said the fact two existing systems were ruled out was further evidence the Government "could not get the basics right". "The problems with QPRIME and the length of time it takes police now to fill in crime reports and process warrants have been concerns the Opposition and police have been raising for years, but Labor has been in denial," he said. "This review further confirms the rollout of QPRIME has been a debacle."
Mr Langbroek said the review's finding that Queensland Transport was dogged by "poor customer service and responsiveness" was a further wake-up call to the agency.
But a spokesman for Transport and Main Roads said the department had maintained a score of 7.7 out of 10 in customer satisfaction over the past two years in surveys conducted by ACNielsen.
The new computerised system for gun licensing is expected to be up and running by December, coinciding with an increase in the cost of a firearms' licence. The State Government hopes the switch to an online service will save about $7.5 million over five years in staff "efficiencies" and processing improvements. [Joke! Joke!]
SOURCE
Striking a balance in Australia's immigration future
By Pallavi Jain (Ms Jain is of Indian origin)
German chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken the unspeakable. In a brutally honest statement she has said that multiculturalism has failed in Germany. This statement comes close on the heels of the recently held elections in Sweden where the far right party, Sweden Democrats, won as many as 20 parliamentary seats, making a significant dent for the first time in mainstream Swedish politics. These developments reiterate the fact that immigration remains a hot button topic in most western democracies. But for all the rhetoric, how does Australia fare when it comes to immigration?
According to the Australian Bureau of statistics in the past year net immigration contributed 64 per cent to population growth while natural growth accounted for 36 per cent. Over the past five years there has been a substantial increase in immigration owing to government policy. It is not surprising then that in the recently held elections, immigration was often discussed in conjunction with increasing population. However, one wonders whether population growth itself would be an issue if it was not associated with a high rate of immigration and was just a result of natural increase.
Over recent decades Australia's per capita income has risen even as its population has increased including a huge influx of immigrants. Moreover given that Australia is ranked second on the UN's Human Development Index which assesses education, health and life expectancy as well as economic factors it is not hard to believe that by global standards Australia is doing well on almost all counts. But is there more here than meets the eye? Are the old and new members of this remarkable country really at ease with each other?
It is perhaps as unwise to criticise immigration altogether and paint all immigrants with the same brush as it would be imprudent not to express apprehension about increased immigration out of political correctness. While a gradual influx of immigrants of all hues and cultures may be tolerated at the worst and welcomed at the best, substantial increases in immigrant population, coming in sudden spurts, may lead to social tensions. Such is human nature.
Every country has a right to decide who should enter their country. In fact extra care should be taken when deciding who can come in, to ensure that a few bad apples don't give all immigrants a bad name. And while it might be difficult, the government must make a thorough assessment of aspiring immigrants. In addition to skills, it is important to establish what they think and feel about the value system that prevails in Australia.
If there is a conflict of interest cultural or otherwise that cannot be resolved, then it may even be better for the person not to immigrate, since there is a high probability of disappointment and alienation. At a macro-level such feelings of discontent could be a recipe for social friction. Last but not the least, there is one important reason why immigrants from all over the world often want to come here. It is not just about the money (immigrants to countries like Saudi Arabia, Libya or Kenya can also make money). It is at least for some about the life choices that Australia offers. It is about fundamental human rights like dignity of life, freedom or a certain level of security.
I have personally been at the receiving end of tough immigration policies when I could not gain full time employment in the UK due to visa restrictions. But even after being denied that opportunity, I did not change my views on immigration into the developed world.
I firmly believe that every nation has a right to decide who can and should stay in their country. In some cases countries may miss out on an outstanding talent because of an error in judgement, or they may sometimes allow in people who perhaps should not have been given entry. But even though one can doubt the wisdom of a specific immigration policy, a nation cannot be denied the right to make that choice.
Yes Australia is not perfect, but by many standards it is one of the best places to live on the planet. You can eat or wear anything, practise your religion, speak your mind without fear — choices that are a luxury in many parts of the world. Moreover in my opinion the task of assimilating into Australian society rests with the immigrant who has made a choice to come here. Assimilation here does not require compromising your identity in any way but rather offers a chance to expand it, making you part of the global narrative. On the other side though, it is important that Australia lives up to the immigrant's expectations of being a fair, egalitarian and free society.
Australia is one of the most developed countries in the world but to maintain that in an increasingly globalised world, it is imperative that it manages its immigration policy well. Very low immigration will deny Australia the benefits of the best minds in the world. Too much immigration may give rise to unforseen social unrest, apart from being a huge burden on the infrastructure and the environment. Striking this balance will be a key to Australia's future.
SOURCE
Friday, October 22, 2010
The "all males are potential rapists" scare now hits swimming pool changerooms
Feminist man-hatred has largely chased men out of primary school teaching -- as men rightly fear being exposed to suspicion and false accusations. Now that fear has spread
SCHOOLBOYS have been banned from a pool changeroom because adult male swimmers are afraid they'll be falsely labelled paedophiles.
Angry parents described the decision as political correctness gone mad after boys were forced to sit in wet swimmers on the bus back to school from the Hornsby Aquatic Centre in north Sydney. The rule, imposed this week, initially forced male students from six schools to huddle behind a stack of plastic chairs to get changed. They were later provided with access to an unused clubhouse.
When The Daily Telegraph visited the pool yesterday, two female Berowra Public School teachers guarded the door as a group of boys changed clothes.
A Hornsby Shire Council spokesman said the ban protected members of the public from facing false accusations and to protect the boys from any undesirables who could be in the change rooms.
"Hornsby pool received several complaints last week from members of the public with regards to schoolboys in the male change rooms," the council spokesman said. "The boys were unsupervised and the members of the public felt very uncomfortable changing in front of the boys. "One stated that he had an untrue allegation made against him several years ago in a similar environment."
Schools teaching students to swim have been ordered to have at least two male chaperones to look after children while they change.
Some of the school students are ignoring the new rules and using the male changeroom without an adult.
"The measures were put in place to protect the male students, members of the public and staff," the council spokesman said.
Alistair Hookway said he had no problem with his son Oliver, 7, using the pool facilities, calling the new rule an over-reaction. "I can't see any problem with a young boy using the change room like any adult can under proper supervision," Mr Hookway said.
Michael Rees, who has swum at the pool since 2006, said it was a smart move. "I have no problem with the decision. The kids make a lot of noise," Mr Rees said.
Local Government Association of NSW president Cr Genia McCaffrey described the case as "unique". "It is up to the individual council to resolve this issue based on their own unique community needs and circumstances," Cr McCaffrey said.
SOURCE
Farmers to get a reprieve from Greenie wreckers
The Water Minister, Tony Burke, has enraged environmentalists by saying he could amend the Howard government's Water Act if it prevents him from protecting rural economies in the Murray-Darling Basin.
"I am determined to get … a healthy river, protect our food production and keep strong rural communities," Mr Burke told the Herald. "I am seeking legal advice as to whether or not I can deliver that under the current act and I am not ruling in or out what action I then take when I get the advice."
Irrigators have argued the 2007 act should be amended because it draws its constitutional power from an international environmental treaty and requires the government to give environmental concerns precedence.
The chief executive of NSW Irrigators, Andrew Gregson, said he was "very happy Mr Burke has taken this positive step". "It would never have happened under the previous minister [Penny Wong] but this minister is making all the right noises," said Mr Gregson, who attended a crisis meeting with Mr Burke last night.
Environmentalists said the government was panicking because of the fierce demonstrations in rural towns against water cuts of between 27 and 37 per cent suggested in a preliminary plan released by the independent Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
"The whole point of having an independent authority was to take the politics and the state parochialism out of the water reform process … The unfortunate outcome of the shenanigans in Griffith and the other towns seems to be that the politicians are pulling the process back in-house and that raises the real risk that politics will hijack it again," said Arlene Buchan, the healthy rivers campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Mr Burke told Parliament the government's election promise to buy back however much environmental water was recommended by the authority applied only to the final plan - after it had been amended at the direction of the minister.
"What the Prime Minister said was that we would … implement the Murray-Darling Basin Authority plan. That … is the final document that comes out at the end of next year after there has been an opportunity for ministerial intervention, to either ask them to reconsider aspects of it or specifically to demand that they change aspects of it. That is the document the Prime Minister quite rightly committed to implementing," Mr Burke said.
The opposition spokesman on the Murray-Darling Basin, Simon Birmingham, accused Mr Burke of "rewriting history", citing Senator Wong's comment during the election campaign that "this government is prepared to back the independent authority in its determination on what the rivers need".
At a Canberra water forum yesterday a leading water economist said farm groups were "grossly exaggerating" and making "false claims" about job losses and the death of rural towns.
The Australian National University economics professor Quentin Grafton said the proposed water buybacks were far less than communities had endured during the drought. They were taking place when the value of production and total employment in the basin had risen. He also said the water reform process had $9 billion to spend on infrastructure and buybacks.
The chief executive of the National Farmers' Federation, Ben Fargher, said the authority was losing the trust of communities in the basin.
SOURCE
Ambulance managers finally do something useful
AMBULANCE Service managers have been forced to return to the front line as the service struggles with record emergency callouts and chronic staff shortages.
An internal South Australian Ambulance Service memo obtained by The Advertiser reveals unbearable workloads are forcing staff to skip scheduled rest breaks. The memo also reveals management staff, including training and strategic planning officers, are being indefinitely returned to ambulances to attend emergency jobs.
The memo, from executive director metropolitan patient services Keith Driscoll, states a group of managers will be required to cover a total of 200 hours per week on the frontline. "We have experienced an increase in crew utilisation and some poor crib break performance in many crews late or no crib break at all on some occasions," it states. "Given the severity of some late-crib episodes, sometimes across an entire region, the decision was taken to assist with peak workload with temporary increased crewing.
"A group of metro managers have committed their time to provide approximately 200 hours of crewing per week in total." The stop-gap measure will be reviewed in January.
The SAAS annual report, tabled recently in Parliament, showed there were an extra 20,000 calls for help in the 12 months to July compared to the previous year. The report also noted an increase in non-emergency calls despite a public campaign to deter people from calling 000 unless they need immediate help.
Health Minister John Hill's office yesterday said the State Government was involved in a pay dispute with the ambulance union and deflected a request for comment to Mr Driscoll. "These managers are highly trained paramedics and intensive-care paramedics who are normally required to perform on road shifts in an ambulance to maintain their accreditation," Mr Driscoll said.
Ambulance Employees Association secretary Phil Palmer said officers could "only do one job" and diverting staff from administration to the frontline would cause a decline in the quality of performance management and long-term planning. "Clearly it needs more resources and there's a major problem going on." he said.
Doctors and ambulance officers are discussing strike action over conditions and cuts to entitlements.
SOURCE
How many politicians does it take to fix a lightbulb? None, they're not allowed to
POLITICIANS reckon they and their staff are quite capable of climbing a ladder to replace a blown lightbulb. But occupational health and safety requirements say that should be left to a qualified electrician.
The issue surfaced during a Senate estimates hearing when Liberal Eric Abetz told upper house colleagues he was prevented recently from changing a lightbulb in his electorate office. He was told that the rules meant an electrician had to be called.
"It is just impractical, it's stupid," Senator Abetz told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "Most Australians would say if a person is not capable of changing a light globe, chances are they are not capable of running an electorate office."
Senator Abetz said he had been told changing a bulb could require climbing a ladder which was a safety risk.
Australians managed to change bulbs in their own homes every day of the week without getting electrocuted. "It's bureaucracy gone mad, it's a waste of money and the minister should intervene to stop it," he said.
Nationals senator Fiona Nash said she was quite capable of changing a lightbulb. "I would certainly be able to get up a ladder as a farm girl and change a light globe," she said.
But Labor senator Doug Cameron [a union diehard of Scottish origin] was more cautious. "I have never even thought about changing a lightbulb in my office," he said. "If someone ended up being electrocuted with a faulty wire, then you wouldn't be asking these questions."
Independent MP Bob Katter said it was a story for the times. "PJ O'Rourke said `the safety Nazis are going to get us' and they really have," he told.
Opposition frontbencher Ian Macfarlane suggested changing a lightbulb was something for which he did not necessarily seek bureaucratic confirmation. "As the old saying goes, don't seek permission, seek forgiveness," he said.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham said he may have changed lightbulbs in his office in contravention of the rules. "I didn't realise were an enormous breach of any type of laws," he said, adding a bit of common sense had to apply.
SOURCE
Feminist man-hatred has largely chased men out of primary school teaching -- as men rightly fear being exposed to suspicion and false accusations. Now that fear has spread
SCHOOLBOYS have been banned from a pool changeroom because adult male swimmers are afraid they'll be falsely labelled paedophiles.
Angry parents described the decision as political correctness gone mad after boys were forced to sit in wet swimmers on the bus back to school from the Hornsby Aquatic Centre in north Sydney. The rule, imposed this week, initially forced male students from six schools to huddle behind a stack of plastic chairs to get changed. They were later provided with access to an unused clubhouse.
When The Daily Telegraph visited the pool yesterday, two female Berowra Public School teachers guarded the door as a group of boys changed clothes.
A Hornsby Shire Council spokesman said the ban protected members of the public from facing false accusations and to protect the boys from any undesirables who could be in the change rooms.
"Hornsby pool received several complaints last week from members of the public with regards to schoolboys in the male change rooms," the council spokesman said. "The boys were unsupervised and the members of the public felt very uncomfortable changing in front of the boys. "One stated that he had an untrue allegation made against him several years ago in a similar environment."
Schools teaching students to swim have been ordered to have at least two male chaperones to look after children while they change.
Some of the school students are ignoring the new rules and using the male changeroom without an adult.
"The measures were put in place to protect the male students, members of the public and staff," the council spokesman said.
Alistair Hookway said he had no problem with his son Oliver, 7, using the pool facilities, calling the new rule an over-reaction. "I can't see any problem with a young boy using the change room like any adult can under proper supervision," Mr Hookway said.
Michael Rees, who has swum at the pool since 2006, said it was a smart move. "I have no problem with the decision. The kids make a lot of noise," Mr Rees said.
Local Government Association of NSW president Cr Genia McCaffrey described the case as "unique". "It is up to the individual council to resolve this issue based on their own unique community needs and circumstances," Cr McCaffrey said.
SOURCE
Farmers to get a reprieve from Greenie wreckers
The Water Minister, Tony Burke, has enraged environmentalists by saying he could amend the Howard government's Water Act if it prevents him from protecting rural economies in the Murray-Darling Basin.
"I am determined to get … a healthy river, protect our food production and keep strong rural communities," Mr Burke told the Herald. "I am seeking legal advice as to whether or not I can deliver that under the current act and I am not ruling in or out what action I then take when I get the advice."
Irrigators have argued the 2007 act should be amended because it draws its constitutional power from an international environmental treaty and requires the government to give environmental concerns precedence.
The chief executive of NSW Irrigators, Andrew Gregson, said he was "very happy Mr Burke has taken this positive step". "It would never have happened under the previous minister [Penny Wong] but this minister is making all the right noises," said Mr Gregson, who attended a crisis meeting with Mr Burke last night.
Environmentalists said the government was panicking because of the fierce demonstrations in rural towns against water cuts of between 27 and 37 per cent suggested in a preliminary plan released by the independent Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
"The whole point of having an independent authority was to take the politics and the state parochialism out of the water reform process … The unfortunate outcome of the shenanigans in Griffith and the other towns seems to be that the politicians are pulling the process back in-house and that raises the real risk that politics will hijack it again," said Arlene Buchan, the healthy rivers campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Mr Burke told Parliament the government's election promise to buy back however much environmental water was recommended by the authority applied only to the final plan - after it had been amended at the direction of the minister.
"What the Prime Minister said was that we would … implement the Murray-Darling Basin Authority plan. That … is the final document that comes out at the end of next year after there has been an opportunity for ministerial intervention, to either ask them to reconsider aspects of it or specifically to demand that they change aspects of it. That is the document the Prime Minister quite rightly committed to implementing," Mr Burke said.
The opposition spokesman on the Murray-Darling Basin, Simon Birmingham, accused Mr Burke of "rewriting history", citing Senator Wong's comment during the election campaign that "this government is prepared to back the independent authority in its determination on what the rivers need".
At a Canberra water forum yesterday a leading water economist said farm groups were "grossly exaggerating" and making "false claims" about job losses and the death of rural towns.
The Australian National University economics professor Quentin Grafton said the proposed water buybacks were far less than communities had endured during the drought. They were taking place when the value of production and total employment in the basin had risen. He also said the water reform process had $9 billion to spend on infrastructure and buybacks.
The chief executive of the National Farmers' Federation, Ben Fargher, said the authority was losing the trust of communities in the basin.
SOURCE
Ambulance managers finally do something useful
AMBULANCE Service managers have been forced to return to the front line as the service struggles with record emergency callouts and chronic staff shortages.
An internal South Australian Ambulance Service memo obtained by The Advertiser reveals unbearable workloads are forcing staff to skip scheduled rest breaks. The memo also reveals management staff, including training and strategic planning officers, are being indefinitely returned to ambulances to attend emergency jobs.
The memo, from executive director metropolitan patient services Keith Driscoll, states a group of managers will be required to cover a total of 200 hours per week on the frontline. "We have experienced an increase in crew utilisation and some poor crib break performance in many crews late or no crib break at all on some occasions," it states. "Given the severity of some late-crib episodes, sometimes across an entire region, the decision was taken to assist with peak workload with temporary increased crewing.
"A group of metro managers have committed their time to provide approximately 200 hours of crewing per week in total." The stop-gap measure will be reviewed in January.
The SAAS annual report, tabled recently in Parliament, showed there were an extra 20,000 calls for help in the 12 months to July compared to the previous year. The report also noted an increase in non-emergency calls despite a public campaign to deter people from calling 000 unless they need immediate help.
Health Minister John Hill's office yesterday said the State Government was involved in a pay dispute with the ambulance union and deflected a request for comment to Mr Driscoll. "These managers are highly trained paramedics and intensive-care paramedics who are normally required to perform on road shifts in an ambulance to maintain their accreditation," Mr Driscoll said.
Ambulance Employees Association secretary Phil Palmer said officers could "only do one job" and diverting staff from administration to the frontline would cause a decline in the quality of performance management and long-term planning. "Clearly it needs more resources and there's a major problem going on." he said.
Doctors and ambulance officers are discussing strike action over conditions and cuts to entitlements.
SOURCE
How many politicians does it take to fix a lightbulb? None, they're not allowed to
POLITICIANS reckon they and their staff are quite capable of climbing a ladder to replace a blown lightbulb. But occupational health and safety requirements say that should be left to a qualified electrician.
The issue surfaced during a Senate estimates hearing when Liberal Eric Abetz told upper house colleagues he was prevented recently from changing a lightbulb in his electorate office. He was told that the rules meant an electrician had to be called.
"It is just impractical, it's stupid," Senator Abetz told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "Most Australians would say if a person is not capable of changing a light globe, chances are they are not capable of running an electorate office."
Senator Abetz said he had been told changing a bulb could require climbing a ladder which was a safety risk.
Australians managed to change bulbs in their own homes every day of the week without getting electrocuted. "It's bureaucracy gone mad, it's a waste of money and the minister should intervene to stop it," he said.
Nationals senator Fiona Nash said she was quite capable of changing a lightbulb. "I would certainly be able to get up a ladder as a farm girl and change a light globe," she said.
But Labor senator Doug Cameron [a union diehard of Scottish origin] was more cautious. "I have never even thought about changing a lightbulb in my office," he said. "If someone ended up being electrocuted with a faulty wire, then you wouldn't be asking these questions."
Independent MP Bob Katter said it was a story for the times. "PJ O'Rourke said `the safety Nazis are going to get us' and they really have," he told.
Opposition frontbencher Ian Macfarlane suggested changing a lightbulb was something for which he did not necessarily seek bureaucratic confirmation. "As the old saying goes, don't seek permission, seek forgiveness," he said.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham said he may have changed lightbulbs in his office in contravention of the rules. "I didn't realise were an enormous breach of any type of laws," he said, adding a bit of common sense had to apply.
SOURCE
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Public hospital poisons tot with an overdose of morphine -- but not even an apology forthcoming
Lies and coverups instead. Ain't government medicine grand?
Luckily for Owen, he will never remember his near-death experience at Brisbane's Royal Children's Hospital. But for his mother Rebecca Hughes it was a harrowing time she can never forget, one which has only been compounded by the reaction and inaction of health authorities.
Recovering from an operation late last year, two-year-old Owen was given an overdose of morphine so toxic that it would have been lethal for almost any other child his age. Only his well-worn experience with such drugs from repeated hospital procedures probably saved him.
However, Ms Hughes's horror at her son's treatment was made worse when a senior hospital official compared the overdose to a worker leaving their mobile phone at home. Since then she has battled hospital administrators and investigating authorities in an attempt to get answers and an apology.
"Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how they have handled it," Ms Hughes told The Courier-Mail yesterday. "There are no other words for it but disgusting."
The incident occurred in November when Owen, 18 months old at the time, was recovering in the RCH's intensive care unit from another operation. He was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, a condition that effectively allows the contents of his abdomen to move into the chest cavity.
A nurse, believed to have been a recent graduate, administered a morphine drip but it wasn't until almost eight hours later that it was discovered the dose pumping through Owen's small frame was four times that required.
Owen turned blue and stopped breathing before the potentially lethal dose of the drug was discovered. He spent a week on life support. "The only reason Owen survived is because he has a high tolerance for narcotics because of all his previous surgery," Ms Hughes said.
"If that was any other kid he wouldn't have survived, and they have admitted to that in writing." However, further admissions from the hospital have been hard to come by, or non-existent.
In a meeting with senior hospital staff shortly after the incident, RCH's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit head Tony Slater attempted to dismiss Owen's brush with death. "He said: 'It is like this Rebecca, when I leave for work in the morning I have to remember to bring my mobile phone but sometimes I forget because I am human'," Ms Hughes said. "At that stage I got up and walked out, I was disgusted."
A report on Owen's treatment was subsequently undertaken but in another meeting with hospital authorities, Ms Hughes said they admitted it was flawed. The report claimed Owen was given extra morphine because he was at risk of waking and attempting to remove his intubation tube. He did not have a tube in at the time.
Only this month Dr Slater wrote to Ms Hughes apologising for his mobile phone gaffe. But attempts to get investigating authorities, including Queensland's Health Quality Complaints Commission and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, to seek answers to her son's overdose have failed. But after going public with her case on ABC Radio yesterday, Ms Hughes received an email from AHPRA promising to investigate.
Health Minister Paul Lucas has also committed to look into Owen's treatment and apologised on behalf of Queensland Health and clinical staff. "I have indicated that I am happy to meet with her to hear her story in person and the CEO of the Children's Health Service is also available to discuss clinical issues with her."
SOURCE
Note that it was a graduate nurse involved. They have only a fraction of the experience and on-job training that nurses had under the old in-house system. Credentialism very nearly killed this time
Nurse tells of threats, cover-ups in Queensland public hospital emergency department
A LOGAN Hospital emergency department nurse has spoken out about the lack of patient care and staff treatment at the hospital.
In an article in The Albert & Logan News the nurse, who did not wish to be named, was working the same day Springwood mother Renee Jack was left in the Emergency Department waiting room for more than nine hours without pain medication or treatment while suffering a miscarriage.
She said the department conditions that day (Tuesday, September 28) were horrendous. "It was one of the busiest shifts I had ever worked in ED," she said. "The waiting room was absolutely horrendous. I think the reason people were standing is because a lot of them should have been in ED beds, but all the beds were taken up."
She said she could not understand why Mrs Jack had not been administered pain relief or at least given a heat pack as all nurses are authorised to do. "It's just diabolical what happens with patient care and the way staff are treated. If you speak out, you are known as a trouble maker," she said.
"We have so many stories it would curl your hair," she said. "Problems like losing patient information and making mistakes all get swept under the carpet. It's totally awful. "If you talk about it, you get threats made, so you keep your mouth shut because you have families to feed and just get on with it," she said.
Dr Michael Daly, the Acting Executive Director of Logan-Beaudesert Hospitals said in a statement that communication problems had led to complaints and patient harm, but denied any cover-up about patient care or staff conditions. "The Logan Hospital Emergency Department (ED) is the third busiest ED in the state and all staff perform their duties to a very high standard while working in an extremely demanding environment," he said. "At no stage are mistakes or errors relating to patient care or staff conditions covered up, that we are aware of.
"We acknowledge there will always be staffing issues in a workforce the size of Logan Hospital and the Logan-Beaudesert Executive's doors are always open to staff." [But what happens when they walk through that door?]
SOURCE
Red faces all round as Australian airports ask visitors to declare pornography
A policy which means visitors to Australia have to declare any porn at the airport gates is causing embarrassment. The policy, thought to have been implemented to keep the Christian population happy, features landing cards which demand to know if tourists or travelers are carrying any porn on their computer, camera or phone. Any undeclared images or film could result in on-the-spot fines or even deportation, TechEye.net reported.
According to Robbie Swan of the Australian Sex Party, one case involved a couple on their honeymoon, who declared nude pictures of themselves on their iPhone. The pair were left embarrassed after they were asked to display the photos in an immigration queue.
Now Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor has asked Customs and Border Protection to change the wording of the declaration cards.
He told the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘The previous card stated that travelers needed to disclose any “pornography” they were carrying.’ It is believed the cards will now ask if anyone is carrying any ‘illegal’ pornography.
According to Australian law, illegal pornography includes images of children and material depicting bestiality, explicit sexual violence, degradation and non-consensual sex.
SOURCE
Another "child protection" failure
Ward of the State prostituted
A plea for donations to help a 12-year-old girl who was prostituted while a ward of the state has received worldwide attention. Hobart lawyer Roland Browne launched the appeal yesterday so the now 13-year-old can sue the Tasmanian government.
The girl's mother and mother's partner, Gary John Devine, sold her for sex in Hobart to more than 100 men last year when she was subject to a care and protection order, making the state her guardian. Mr Browne said the girl intended to sue the state and others, including the Human Services Department secretary, for failure of care.
Tasmanian education minister Lin Thorp has already admitted the state's protection system had failed the girl.
But the case has stalled because the girl cannot afford the psychiatric and medical reports needed to prove the extent of her suffering.
Mr Browne said it could cost up to $10,000 for the expert examinations. After just one day, Mr Browne said the public appeal had received a "fantastic and wonderful response". "We've had a large number of phone calls and emails from around Australia and there's potentially one donation from overseas," Mr Browne said. "There's a couple of people who have made very big donations and one person is going to donate a percentage of all tickets sold at their musical performance over the weekend." Any excess would be secured in a trust fund for the girl, Mr Browne said.
In his report into the case - which outlined the government had systematically failed the child - outgoing Children's Commissioner Paul Mason suggested the girl wait until she was 18 before launching legal action. Yesterday, Mr Browne, who is working pro-bono, said it was an absurd idea.
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Another "Green jobs" bungle hurts those who took a Green/Left government at its word
A BRISBANE war veteran has been forced to sell his service medals after almost losing his livelihood in the Federal Government's bungled Green Loans Program.
Robert Rice, who served in Afghanistan and Bougainville, received his Green Loans assessors' accreditation two days before the scheme was radically altered before finally being axed.
"The Government was crapping on about how we've got to get it sorted out, so I basically waited like all the other assessors and later on they came back and said all the Green Loans (were) gone," he told The Courier-Mail.
Mr Rice, 44, said the debacle cost him the $3000 training fee and an estimated $45,000 in lost wages because he rejected other work in anticipation of the scheme taking off. He sold his service medals to help recover some of his losses. "It was really tough," Mr Rice said.
The troubled $174.4 million rollout was shut down in July but no compensation has been provided for the thousands of assessors left out of pocket. "The way the Government handled it was absolutely disgraceful," Mr Rice said.
Opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt has written to Climate Change Minister Greg Combet seeking "justice" for Mr Rice, saying he was a "casualty of Labor's incompetence".
"He's been forced into a fire-sale of his service medals after the Government's bungling of the Green Loans scheme," he said. "In the very week Parliament is debating the importance of the work of our soldiers in Afghanistan, the treatment of Mr Rice is just inexcusable."
The Auditor-General last month found "significant failings" in the scheme, set up to provide free energy assessments, and loans to encourage homeowners to install energy-efficient products. A Senate inquiry into the scheme is due to report next week.
SOURCE
FIBRE BROADBAND ROUNDUP
Three articles below
The Gillard administration is rolling back the reforms of previous Labor governments in pursuit of its obsession with fibre
Henry Ergas
YESTERDAY, the Gillard government became the first government in decades to seek to exempt a significant industry from the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act.
The industry is telecommunications; the exemption is for the agreements between NBN Co, Telstra and potentially other industry players. The National Broadband Network, we were told, was needed to save competition; clearly, so as to save competition, the government has decided it must be destroyed.
That it has come to this is readily understood. The NBN was never viable without Telstra's agreement. But the agreement that was struck is profoundly anti-competitive. Under that agreement, Telstra would not only sell its customers to NBN Co: it would also scrap its hybrid fibre coax network, which would otherwise have many years life ahead of it.
As the chief executive of NBN Co, Mike Quigley, recognised in giving evidence to a Senate committee, HFC networks are fully capable of competing with the fibre-optic network NBN Co proposes to deploy. Indeed, in countries as diverse as the US, Canada, Britain, France and Switzerland, it is HFC networks that have set the pace in ensuring consumers benefit from ever higher speeds at ever lower prices.
To scrap so valuable an asset, Telstra obviously requires compensation. And that compensation will be provided with taxpayers picking up the tab. Taxpayers, in other words, are being forced to pay to destroy existing, perfectly serviceable, capital and drastically limit the choices consumers are free to make. This is unprecedented in Australian economic history.
But it gets worse. For it has now been disclosed (not by NBN Co or the government, which are refusing to disclose information, but by Telstra) that the agreement also hobbles wireless competition, including by prohibiting Telstra from encouraging customers who might move to NBN Co to choose high-speed wireless services instead.
Yet both Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy and Quigley have claimed time and again that wireless is not a serious rival to the NBN. If so, why prevent it from competing as best it can? And how can it possibly be justified for the government to deprive consumers of options that are available to them, on an unimpeded basis, in virtually every country worldwide?
Those questions have not been answered. But without the exemption the government is proposing, they would have to be. This is because the act does not prohibit agreements (such as this one) that are likely to substantially reduce competition. Rather, it requires that they be authorised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
That authorisation can be obtained only if the parties demonstrate that the public benefits from the agreement outweigh its competitive harm. Moreover, the parties need to make their case in a public, transparent process, where their claims are subject to rebuttal and, crucially, where the outcome can be appealed to an independent tribunal. In contrast, under the government's legislation, the minister can effectively direct the ACCC to approve the agreement.
It follows that the exemption the government is seeking is not needed for the agreement to proceed. Rather, it is needed for the government to escape the process that would test, openly and subject to tribunal review, the public benefits the NBN is claimed to bring. The exemption has, in other words, one aim and one aim only: to avoid public scrutiny.
Ensuring that scrutiny applies every bit as much to proposals coming from governments as to those coming from the private sector was at the heart of the 1993 Hilmer report. The subsequent reforms, initiated by the Keating government under the rubric of national competition policy, set a crucial precedent: that the commonwealth government would scrupulously respect the disciplines it wanted the states and territories to accept. Plainly, if the commonwealth exempted itself, it would be only a matter of time before other jurisdictions followed; equally plainly, the result would be a return to the pervasive inefficiencies that for decades plagued our economy.
That is the precedent the government is trashing. There is no parallel to this internationally. Rather, broadband programs in the US, Canada and Europe are required to meet the full requirements of competition laws no less stringent than those in force here.
But it doesn't end there. The government has also moved to ensure the NBN will not be subject to scrutiny by the parliamentary standing committee on public works, which would otherwise review the project's progress.
So much for full disclosure. And so much, too, for the parallels to the Snowy scheme, which the Chifley government ensured was subject to extensive and effective parliamentary scrutiny, including by that very standing committee, both before it proceeded and throughout its implementation. Plainly, this is one area on which Julia Gillard does not want the light on the hill to shine.
Here, too, the government is destroying an important precedent. The requirement that significant government projects be subject to ongoing control by a parliamentary standing committee on public works goes back to the great reforms Henry Parkes introduced into the governance of NSW in 1888. In the previous decade, easy access to foreign loans had led to the abandonment of the longstanding criterion that public works be of "manifest utility". The result was pervasive waste and pork-barrelling. Parkes sought to bring a return to effective fiscal disciplines, not least through the glare of publicity.
These are precedents that are easily discarded but only painfully retrieved. That the government places great importance on the NBN is obvious. But that cannot justify undermining the immense effort successive governments have had to put into improving public decision-making. That the independents and Greens care little for rigour in public expenditure is disappointing but not surprising. That Labor, which did so much to put that framework in place, should be willing to squander years of hard work is tragic.
"Transparency and competitive neutrality, ensured by a regime of competition and consumer-protection law, are essential", Kevin Rudd wrote last year in his essay in The Monthly. Delivering on these, in his words, was integral to "social democracy's continuing philosophical claim to political legitimacy". That claim is now being tested. So far, it doesn't stack up.
SOURCE
Minister threatens to use law to force people onto fibre if states revolt
There is a very high likelihood that such an attempt would fail under Section 92 of the constitution
Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy says he will wield federal law as a weapon to force people on to the national broadband network (NBN) if the states and territories don't make connections mandatory.
Some consumers are opposed to the NBN because they fear the costs of their phone lines and broadband will increase.
Because of misreporting in the media, some also fear they will lose their fixed-line phone services, according to Conroy. Others are opposed to the $43 billion cost of building the network, of which up to $27 billion will be footed by taxpayers.
Conroy has said that the current copper service will be turned off as each home and business is connected to the NBN. He has reassured consumers that they will not be worse off by connecting to the NBN. But he said that, if they do not switch, then they will not have a phone line or access to ADSL broadband.
The NBN is being rolled out in Tasmania first. Connecting to the network there is optional and free initially. It is expected that there will be no cost to connect to the NBN initially when it is rolled out nationally.
But Senator Conroy has reiterated the government's intention to make it compulsory to connect to the NBN as it is being rolled out. "We are working our way through the issues with the states and ... we ultimately would consider, if we can't reach settlement, mandating it through the Federal Parliament. But we prefer to be engaged with the states," Senator Conroy said, speaking to this website at Parliament House yesterday.
He added that the federal government had not "exhausted those conversations yet". He also said that the matter of a connection being mandated was "not a new issue".
"[We've been] having a conversation with the states for over 12 months on this very issue," he said. "This is not a new issue. Malcolm Turnbull might have discovered it recently but it has actually been on the agenda. And we've actually been saying for quite some considerable time: as we disconnect the copper we'll be connecting the fibre."
Last Friday, this website reported that it would cost up to $300 to connect to the NBN if a house or business did not consent to connecting to it as it was rolled out initially. Connecting to the NBN is optional and free while it is being rolled out now in Tasmania. It is unclear if a cost will be involved in the initial roll-out in other states and territories.
Conroy confirmed yesterday that a cost would be involved later if one did not consent to connect to the network initially. "If it remains optional and people ... sell the house and someone else moves in, then it's like any other business where they say 'Hey, come and connect me to this' - then there's a connection fee to get it connected," he said.
But if the network were to be mandatory to connect to then there would be no charge at a later date. "The question of what happens if someone decides not to take it up now and then we come back to do them and it becomes mandated then I don't believe there would be a charge," he said. "But the key is to get it attached to the side of the house so the costs are reduced for everybody involved."
Speaking to the ABC's Lateline program last night Conroy said: "There's this furphy that Malcolm Turnbull and others have been spreading recently that [when the NBN is rolled out] people are going lose their fixed line, [that] they're ... not [going to] be able to make a phone call. "[But] it's as complicated as you take the little jack at the end of the cord out of one hole and you plug it in to a different hole and you keep making your phone calls."
He believed that if consumers only wanted a phone line, the costs on the NBN would be the same as they were on the current copper network, although he could not give a guarantee.
"Well the final retail prices that are being offered are ultimately the retail service providers'. But the wholesale prices that are being negotiated with Telstra and are going to become part of the business case ... will be available in a few short weeks."
He said there should be no increase in price to a person "who's sitting there, they don't have broadband, all they want to do is pick up the phone and make a phone call. So there should be no change in their circumstances."
Asked by Lateline presenter Tony Jones if he could guarantee that, Conroy said: "Well I believe that the pricing which we'll see in a few weeks will demonstrate that that is absolutely going to be the case."
Jones also raised this website's report that it would cost up to $300 to connect if one did not connect initially. Jones said to Conroy: "You might think your old fixed-line telephone is good enough and you don't think you want an NBN computer access." Senator Conroy said "some" had suggested that it could be $300, "but that has not been a final decision made".
"Now, in the case of where it becomes mandatory to make your phone call on the fibre because the copper's been disconnected, I can't imagine there's a case where you could say you should have to pay now to come and make the connection. The purpose of the roll-out is to ensure that people, if they have to make a phone call and it's only got the fibre available, I can't imagine there is any case to be made for there being that charge."
State governments will have to change trespass or property laws to ensure households are not left without fixed telephone connections, following the Tasmanian government's move to introduce legislation for property owners to opt out of the government's fibre network.
NSW and Victoria have said they have no plans to introduce opt-out laws. "NSW currently has no plans to legislate an opt-out model for the NBN and will determine a final position following discussions with other jurisdictions," said a spokesman for the NSW Commerce Minister, Paul Lynch.
SOURCE
Fibre laws may not pass the Senate
The government has launched its second attempt to pass legislation crucial to the construction of the national broadband network, through a bill it says will lead to lower prices and better service for consumers.
But while the opposition has revealed it is edging towards a policy that could see it support some aspects of the plan, the bill is expected to face delays in a Senate controlled by minor parties.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, yesterday reintroduced legislation designed to separate Telstra into wholesale and retail arms, paving the way for the creation of the broadband network.
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Breaking up the telco giant would lead to better service and more competitive prices, especially in country areas where customers have limited choice, the government says.
The government could face an uphill battle in securing support for the bill, after the opposition's communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, said the Coalition was opposed to the manner in which the government had pressured Telstra to agree to ''structural separation''.
Despite this, Mr Turnbull said there were good reasons for separating Telstra's retail and wholesale businesses, a move likely to indicate a looming change of Coalition policy on the national broadband network.
''We believe that there are strong arguments for separating the network business from the retail business but it should not be achieved by holding a gun to Telstra's head,'' Mr Turnbull said.
The bill, first introduced in September last year, is necessary for the broadband network because it allows NBN Co, owned by the government, access to Telstra's pits and ducts, saving construction costs.
The Broadband Minister, Stephen Conroy, has said the deal with Telstra could cut the network's cost by between $4 billion and $6 billion. Telstra - which this year agreed to help the government build the network in exchange for $11 billion - yesterday also called for speedy passage of the bill.
Uncertainty over the government's plans briefly dragged its share price to a record low of $2.58. If the opposition does not back the legislation, the government will need to rely on support from the Family First senator, Steve Fielding.
Senator Fielding was previously undecided on the bill, and a spokesman said the senator would meet the government and opposition next week before making up his mind.
In arguing its case for the changes, the government claims the bill will also strengthen industry competition by breaking Telstra's dominance in the wholesale market.
Instead of the current arrangement under which Telstra charges its competitors for access to its national network, the government-owned NBN Co would act as a monopoly telecommunications provider, charging all retailers the same rate.
SOURCE
Lies and coverups instead. Ain't government medicine grand?
Luckily for Owen, he will never remember his near-death experience at Brisbane's Royal Children's Hospital. But for his mother Rebecca Hughes it was a harrowing time she can never forget, one which has only been compounded by the reaction and inaction of health authorities.
Recovering from an operation late last year, two-year-old Owen was given an overdose of morphine so toxic that it would have been lethal for almost any other child his age. Only his well-worn experience with such drugs from repeated hospital procedures probably saved him.
However, Ms Hughes's horror at her son's treatment was made worse when a senior hospital official compared the overdose to a worker leaving their mobile phone at home. Since then she has battled hospital administrators and investigating authorities in an attempt to get answers and an apology.
"Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how they have handled it," Ms Hughes told The Courier-Mail yesterday. "There are no other words for it but disgusting."
The incident occurred in November when Owen, 18 months old at the time, was recovering in the RCH's intensive care unit from another operation. He was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, a condition that effectively allows the contents of his abdomen to move into the chest cavity.
A nurse, believed to have been a recent graduate, administered a morphine drip but it wasn't until almost eight hours later that it was discovered the dose pumping through Owen's small frame was four times that required.
Owen turned blue and stopped breathing before the potentially lethal dose of the drug was discovered. He spent a week on life support. "The only reason Owen survived is because he has a high tolerance for narcotics because of all his previous surgery," Ms Hughes said.
"If that was any other kid he wouldn't have survived, and they have admitted to that in writing." However, further admissions from the hospital have been hard to come by, or non-existent.
In a meeting with senior hospital staff shortly after the incident, RCH's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit head Tony Slater attempted to dismiss Owen's brush with death. "He said: 'It is like this Rebecca, when I leave for work in the morning I have to remember to bring my mobile phone but sometimes I forget because I am human'," Ms Hughes said. "At that stage I got up and walked out, I was disgusted."
A report on Owen's treatment was subsequently undertaken but in another meeting with hospital authorities, Ms Hughes said they admitted it was flawed. The report claimed Owen was given extra morphine because he was at risk of waking and attempting to remove his intubation tube. He did not have a tube in at the time.
Only this month Dr Slater wrote to Ms Hughes apologising for his mobile phone gaffe. But attempts to get investigating authorities, including Queensland's Health Quality Complaints Commission and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, to seek answers to her son's overdose have failed. But after going public with her case on ABC Radio yesterday, Ms Hughes received an email from AHPRA promising to investigate.
Health Minister Paul Lucas has also committed to look into Owen's treatment and apologised on behalf of Queensland Health and clinical staff. "I have indicated that I am happy to meet with her to hear her story in person and the CEO of the Children's Health Service is also available to discuss clinical issues with her."
SOURCE
Note that it was a graduate nurse involved. They have only a fraction of the experience and on-job training that nurses had under the old in-house system. Credentialism very nearly killed this time
Nurse tells of threats, cover-ups in Queensland public hospital emergency department
A LOGAN Hospital emergency department nurse has spoken out about the lack of patient care and staff treatment at the hospital.
In an article in The Albert & Logan News the nurse, who did not wish to be named, was working the same day Springwood mother Renee Jack was left in the Emergency Department waiting room for more than nine hours without pain medication or treatment while suffering a miscarriage.
She said the department conditions that day (Tuesday, September 28) were horrendous. "It was one of the busiest shifts I had ever worked in ED," she said. "The waiting room was absolutely horrendous. I think the reason people were standing is because a lot of them should have been in ED beds, but all the beds were taken up."
She said she could not understand why Mrs Jack had not been administered pain relief or at least given a heat pack as all nurses are authorised to do. "It's just diabolical what happens with patient care and the way staff are treated. If you speak out, you are known as a trouble maker," she said.
"We have so many stories it would curl your hair," she said. "Problems like losing patient information and making mistakes all get swept under the carpet. It's totally awful. "If you talk about it, you get threats made, so you keep your mouth shut because you have families to feed and just get on with it," she said.
Dr Michael Daly, the Acting Executive Director of Logan-Beaudesert Hospitals said in a statement that communication problems had led to complaints and patient harm, but denied any cover-up about patient care or staff conditions. "The Logan Hospital Emergency Department (ED) is the third busiest ED in the state and all staff perform their duties to a very high standard while working in an extremely demanding environment," he said. "At no stage are mistakes or errors relating to patient care or staff conditions covered up, that we are aware of.
"We acknowledge there will always be staffing issues in a workforce the size of Logan Hospital and the Logan-Beaudesert Executive's doors are always open to staff." [But what happens when they walk through that door?]
SOURCE
Red faces all round as Australian airports ask visitors to declare pornography
A policy which means visitors to Australia have to declare any porn at the airport gates is causing embarrassment. The policy, thought to have been implemented to keep the Christian population happy, features landing cards which demand to know if tourists or travelers are carrying any porn on their computer, camera or phone. Any undeclared images or film could result in on-the-spot fines or even deportation, TechEye.net reported.
According to Robbie Swan of the Australian Sex Party, one case involved a couple on their honeymoon, who declared nude pictures of themselves on their iPhone. The pair were left embarrassed after they were asked to display the photos in an immigration queue.
Now Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor has asked Customs and Border Protection to change the wording of the declaration cards.
He told the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘The previous card stated that travelers needed to disclose any “pornography” they were carrying.’ It is believed the cards will now ask if anyone is carrying any ‘illegal’ pornography.
According to Australian law, illegal pornography includes images of children and material depicting bestiality, explicit sexual violence, degradation and non-consensual sex.
SOURCE
Another "child protection" failure
Ward of the State prostituted
A plea for donations to help a 12-year-old girl who was prostituted while a ward of the state has received worldwide attention. Hobart lawyer Roland Browne launched the appeal yesterday so the now 13-year-old can sue the Tasmanian government.
The girl's mother and mother's partner, Gary John Devine, sold her for sex in Hobart to more than 100 men last year when she was subject to a care and protection order, making the state her guardian. Mr Browne said the girl intended to sue the state and others, including the Human Services Department secretary, for failure of care.
Tasmanian education minister Lin Thorp has already admitted the state's protection system had failed the girl.
But the case has stalled because the girl cannot afford the psychiatric and medical reports needed to prove the extent of her suffering.
Mr Browne said it could cost up to $10,000 for the expert examinations. After just one day, Mr Browne said the public appeal had received a "fantastic and wonderful response". "We've had a large number of phone calls and emails from around Australia and there's potentially one donation from overseas," Mr Browne said. "There's a couple of people who have made very big donations and one person is going to donate a percentage of all tickets sold at their musical performance over the weekend." Any excess would be secured in a trust fund for the girl, Mr Browne said.
In his report into the case - which outlined the government had systematically failed the child - outgoing Children's Commissioner Paul Mason suggested the girl wait until she was 18 before launching legal action. Yesterday, Mr Browne, who is working pro-bono, said it was an absurd idea.
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Another "Green jobs" bungle hurts those who took a Green/Left government at its word
A BRISBANE war veteran has been forced to sell his service medals after almost losing his livelihood in the Federal Government's bungled Green Loans Program.
Robert Rice, who served in Afghanistan and Bougainville, received his Green Loans assessors' accreditation two days before the scheme was radically altered before finally being axed.
"The Government was crapping on about how we've got to get it sorted out, so I basically waited like all the other assessors and later on they came back and said all the Green Loans (were) gone," he told The Courier-Mail.
Mr Rice, 44, said the debacle cost him the $3000 training fee and an estimated $45,000 in lost wages because he rejected other work in anticipation of the scheme taking off. He sold his service medals to help recover some of his losses. "It was really tough," Mr Rice said.
The troubled $174.4 million rollout was shut down in July but no compensation has been provided for the thousands of assessors left out of pocket. "The way the Government handled it was absolutely disgraceful," Mr Rice said.
Opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt has written to Climate Change Minister Greg Combet seeking "justice" for Mr Rice, saying he was a "casualty of Labor's incompetence".
"He's been forced into a fire-sale of his service medals after the Government's bungling of the Green Loans scheme," he said. "In the very week Parliament is debating the importance of the work of our soldiers in Afghanistan, the treatment of Mr Rice is just inexcusable."
The Auditor-General last month found "significant failings" in the scheme, set up to provide free energy assessments, and loans to encourage homeowners to install energy-efficient products. A Senate inquiry into the scheme is due to report next week.
SOURCE
FIBRE BROADBAND ROUNDUP
Three articles below
The Gillard administration is rolling back the reforms of previous Labor governments in pursuit of its obsession with fibre
Henry Ergas
YESTERDAY, the Gillard government became the first government in decades to seek to exempt a significant industry from the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act.
The industry is telecommunications; the exemption is for the agreements between NBN Co, Telstra and potentially other industry players. The National Broadband Network, we were told, was needed to save competition; clearly, so as to save competition, the government has decided it must be destroyed.
That it has come to this is readily understood. The NBN was never viable without Telstra's agreement. But the agreement that was struck is profoundly anti-competitive. Under that agreement, Telstra would not only sell its customers to NBN Co: it would also scrap its hybrid fibre coax network, which would otherwise have many years life ahead of it.
As the chief executive of NBN Co, Mike Quigley, recognised in giving evidence to a Senate committee, HFC networks are fully capable of competing with the fibre-optic network NBN Co proposes to deploy. Indeed, in countries as diverse as the US, Canada, Britain, France and Switzerland, it is HFC networks that have set the pace in ensuring consumers benefit from ever higher speeds at ever lower prices.
To scrap so valuable an asset, Telstra obviously requires compensation. And that compensation will be provided with taxpayers picking up the tab. Taxpayers, in other words, are being forced to pay to destroy existing, perfectly serviceable, capital and drastically limit the choices consumers are free to make. This is unprecedented in Australian economic history.
But it gets worse. For it has now been disclosed (not by NBN Co or the government, which are refusing to disclose information, but by Telstra) that the agreement also hobbles wireless competition, including by prohibiting Telstra from encouraging customers who might move to NBN Co to choose high-speed wireless services instead.
Yet both Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy and Quigley have claimed time and again that wireless is not a serious rival to the NBN. If so, why prevent it from competing as best it can? And how can it possibly be justified for the government to deprive consumers of options that are available to them, on an unimpeded basis, in virtually every country worldwide?
Those questions have not been answered. But without the exemption the government is proposing, they would have to be. This is because the act does not prohibit agreements (such as this one) that are likely to substantially reduce competition. Rather, it requires that they be authorised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
That authorisation can be obtained only if the parties demonstrate that the public benefits from the agreement outweigh its competitive harm. Moreover, the parties need to make their case in a public, transparent process, where their claims are subject to rebuttal and, crucially, where the outcome can be appealed to an independent tribunal. In contrast, under the government's legislation, the minister can effectively direct the ACCC to approve the agreement.
It follows that the exemption the government is seeking is not needed for the agreement to proceed. Rather, it is needed for the government to escape the process that would test, openly and subject to tribunal review, the public benefits the NBN is claimed to bring. The exemption has, in other words, one aim and one aim only: to avoid public scrutiny.
Ensuring that scrutiny applies every bit as much to proposals coming from governments as to those coming from the private sector was at the heart of the 1993 Hilmer report. The subsequent reforms, initiated by the Keating government under the rubric of national competition policy, set a crucial precedent: that the commonwealth government would scrupulously respect the disciplines it wanted the states and territories to accept. Plainly, if the commonwealth exempted itself, it would be only a matter of time before other jurisdictions followed; equally plainly, the result would be a return to the pervasive inefficiencies that for decades plagued our economy.
That is the precedent the government is trashing. There is no parallel to this internationally. Rather, broadband programs in the US, Canada and Europe are required to meet the full requirements of competition laws no less stringent than those in force here.
But it doesn't end there. The government has also moved to ensure the NBN will not be subject to scrutiny by the parliamentary standing committee on public works, which would otherwise review the project's progress.
So much for full disclosure. And so much, too, for the parallels to the Snowy scheme, which the Chifley government ensured was subject to extensive and effective parliamentary scrutiny, including by that very standing committee, both before it proceeded and throughout its implementation. Plainly, this is one area on which Julia Gillard does not want the light on the hill to shine.
Here, too, the government is destroying an important precedent. The requirement that significant government projects be subject to ongoing control by a parliamentary standing committee on public works goes back to the great reforms Henry Parkes introduced into the governance of NSW in 1888. In the previous decade, easy access to foreign loans had led to the abandonment of the longstanding criterion that public works be of "manifest utility". The result was pervasive waste and pork-barrelling. Parkes sought to bring a return to effective fiscal disciplines, not least through the glare of publicity.
These are precedents that are easily discarded but only painfully retrieved. That the government places great importance on the NBN is obvious. But that cannot justify undermining the immense effort successive governments have had to put into improving public decision-making. That the independents and Greens care little for rigour in public expenditure is disappointing but not surprising. That Labor, which did so much to put that framework in place, should be willing to squander years of hard work is tragic.
"Transparency and competitive neutrality, ensured by a regime of competition and consumer-protection law, are essential", Kevin Rudd wrote last year in his essay in The Monthly. Delivering on these, in his words, was integral to "social democracy's continuing philosophical claim to political legitimacy". That claim is now being tested. So far, it doesn't stack up.
SOURCE
Minister threatens to use law to force people onto fibre if states revolt
There is a very high likelihood that such an attempt would fail under Section 92 of the constitution
Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy says he will wield federal law as a weapon to force people on to the national broadband network (NBN) if the states and territories don't make connections mandatory.
Some consumers are opposed to the NBN because they fear the costs of their phone lines and broadband will increase.
Because of misreporting in the media, some also fear they will lose their fixed-line phone services, according to Conroy. Others are opposed to the $43 billion cost of building the network, of which up to $27 billion will be footed by taxpayers.
Conroy has said that the current copper service will be turned off as each home and business is connected to the NBN. He has reassured consumers that they will not be worse off by connecting to the NBN. But he said that, if they do not switch, then they will not have a phone line or access to ADSL broadband.
The NBN is being rolled out in Tasmania first. Connecting to the network there is optional and free initially. It is expected that there will be no cost to connect to the NBN initially when it is rolled out nationally.
But Senator Conroy has reiterated the government's intention to make it compulsory to connect to the NBN as it is being rolled out. "We are working our way through the issues with the states and ... we ultimately would consider, if we can't reach settlement, mandating it through the Federal Parliament. But we prefer to be engaged with the states," Senator Conroy said, speaking to this website at Parliament House yesterday.
He added that the federal government had not "exhausted those conversations yet". He also said that the matter of a connection being mandated was "not a new issue".
"[We've been] having a conversation with the states for over 12 months on this very issue," he said. "This is not a new issue. Malcolm Turnbull might have discovered it recently but it has actually been on the agenda. And we've actually been saying for quite some considerable time: as we disconnect the copper we'll be connecting the fibre."
Last Friday, this website reported that it would cost up to $300 to connect to the NBN if a house or business did not consent to connecting to it as it was rolled out initially. Connecting to the NBN is optional and free while it is being rolled out now in Tasmania. It is unclear if a cost will be involved in the initial roll-out in other states and territories.
Conroy confirmed yesterday that a cost would be involved later if one did not consent to connect to the network initially. "If it remains optional and people ... sell the house and someone else moves in, then it's like any other business where they say 'Hey, come and connect me to this' - then there's a connection fee to get it connected," he said.
But if the network were to be mandatory to connect to then there would be no charge at a later date. "The question of what happens if someone decides not to take it up now and then we come back to do them and it becomes mandated then I don't believe there would be a charge," he said. "But the key is to get it attached to the side of the house so the costs are reduced for everybody involved."
Speaking to the ABC's Lateline program last night Conroy said: "There's this furphy that Malcolm Turnbull and others have been spreading recently that [when the NBN is rolled out] people are going lose their fixed line, [that] they're ... not [going to] be able to make a phone call. "[But] it's as complicated as you take the little jack at the end of the cord out of one hole and you plug it in to a different hole and you keep making your phone calls."
He believed that if consumers only wanted a phone line, the costs on the NBN would be the same as they were on the current copper network, although he could not give a guarantee.
"Well the final retail prices that are being offered are ultimately the retail service providers'. But the wholesale prices that are being negotiated with Telstra and are going to become part of the business case ... will be available in a few short weeks."
He said there should be no increase in price to a person "who's sitting there, they don't have broadband, all they want to do is pick up the phone and make a phone call. So there should be no change in their circumstances."
Asked by Lateline presenter Tony Jones if he could guarantee that, Conroy said: "Well I believe that the pricing which we'll see in a few weeks will demonstrate that that is absolutely going to be the case."
Jones also raised this website's report that it would cost up to $300 to connect if one did not connect initially. Jones said to Conroy: "You might think your old fixed-line telephone is good enough and you don't think you want an NBN computer access." Senator Conroy said "some" had suggested that it could be $300, "but that has not been a final decision made".
"Now, in the case of where it becomes mandatory to make your phone call on the fibre because the copper's been disconnected, I can't imagine there's a case where you could say you should have to pay now to come and make the connection. The purpose of the roll-out is to ensure that people, if they have to make a phone call and it's only got the fibre available, I can't imagine there is any case to be made for there being that charge."
State governments will have to change trespass or property laws to ensure households are not left without fixed telephone connections, following the Tasmanian government's move to introduce legislation for property owners to opt out of the government's fibre network.
NSW and Victoria have said they have no plans to introduce opt-out laws. "NSW currently has no plans to legislate an opt-out model for the NBN and will determine a final position following discussions with other jurisdictions," said a spokesman for the NSW Commerce Minister, Paul Lynch.
SOURCE
Fibre laws may not pass the Senate
The government has launched its second attempt to pass legislation crucial to the construction of the national broadband network, through a bill it says will lead to lower prices and better service for consumers.
But while the opposition has revealed it is edging towards a policy that could see it support some aspects of the plan, the bill is expected to face delays in a Senate controlled by minor parties.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, yesterday reintroduced legislation designed to separate Telstra into wholesale and retail arms, paving the way for the creation of the broadband network.
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Breaking up the telco giant would lead to better service and more competitive prices, especially in country areas where customers have limited choice, the government says.
The government could face an uphill battle in securing support for the bill, after the opposition's communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, said the Coalition was opposed to the manner in which the government had pressured Telstra to agree to ''structural separation''.
Despite this, Mr Turnbull said there were good reasons for separating Telstra's retail and wholesale businesses, a move likely to indicate a looming change of Coalition policy on the national broadband network.
''We believe that there are strong arguments for separating the network business from the retail business but it should not be achieved by holding a gun to Telstra's head,'' Mr Turnbull said.
The bill, first introduced in September last year, is necessary for the broadband network because it allows NBN Co, owned by the government, access to Telstra's pits and ducts, saving construction costs.
The Broadband Minister, Stephen Conroy, has said the deal with Telstra could cut the network's cost by between $4 billion and $6 billion. Telstra - which this year agreed to help the government build the network in exchange for $11 billion - yesterday also called for speedy passage of the bill.
Uncertainty over the government's plans briefly dragged its share price to a record low of $2.58. If the opposition does not back the legislation, the government will need to rely on support from the Family First senator, Steve Fielding.
Senator Fielding was previously undecided on the bill, and a spokesman said the senator would meet the government and opposition next week before making up his mind.
In arguing its case for the changes, the government claims the bill will also strengthen industry competition by breaking Telstra's dominance in the wholesale market.
Instead of the current arrangement under which Telstra charges its competitors for access to its national network, the government-owned NBN Co would act as a monopoly telecommunications provider, charging all retailers the same rate.
SOURCE
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
