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21 May, 2007

Granny suffers 82 hours of agony in public hospital



AN 81-year-old great-grandmother endured 82 hours of agony in a Perth hospital. She lay immobilised on trolleys and in "holding pens'' before finally getting urgently-needed hip surgery in Royal Perth Hospital yesterday. Rita Robins' son Peter wants WA's besieged Health Minister Jim McGinty to explain why his fragile, elderly mum experienced days of fasting and constant surgery cancellations before she could get the operation for her seriously fractured left hip. "These are the people that public hospitals should be helping,'' an angry Mr Robins told The Sunday Times, while his mum was getting the surgery. "What do these old people do? "There are more than her going through this at the moment -- this would be just a drop in the ocean. "(Mr McGinty) says there's no health crisis, but what about this?''

Mr Robins' wife Dianne said it broke her heart to see the suffering of her kind-hearted mother-in-law -- who is a great-grandmother of five, grandmother of nine and a mother of four. "I don't think you would do this to an animal,'' Mrs Robins said. She said the elderly woman fell about 7pm on Tuesday at her Northam home and had been taken to Royal Perth Hospital by 11.45pm. Her mother-in-law then spent the next 39 hours on her back -- to stop her moving her hip -- on a trolley, being wheeled to ``empty spots'', while promises of surgery on Wednesday morning fell through.

"About 1.30pm on Wednesday, they took her to what they called a `holding pen','' Mrs Robins said. "This was just stretchers again with curtains between them in just one big open room. "And because she's on her back, they had to put a catheter in for her because she can't get up to go to the toilet or anything. "I requested that if the operation wasn't going to happen, could they feed her because she had been fasting from the night before, and could they give her some of the medication she usually takes. "But the nurse just straight out said to me, `I can't find anybody to come and do what we need to do'.''

Her mother-in-law, already suffering dementia, started to stress. "She was really tired, she didn't sleep all night, she was scared and with all this stress, it made her mind wander because she also hadn't eaten,'' Mrs Robins said. But she was left in the "holding pen'' until 2.30pm on Thursday, before getting a bed. She was made to fast again for hours on Thursday and Friday only to have the surgery again cancelled. Finally, at 9.30am yesterday, she was wheeled into surgery at RPH.

"She's not got private cover because she's a pensioner. She lives in a housing commission home,'' Mrs Robins said. "She's been a widow for seven years and she's had a real tough life. So what do these people do when they need health care?''

Mrs Robins said up to a 24-hour wait might have been acceptable. "But from the time she got to the hospital, until the operation, that's about 82 hours of her lying on her back, not being able to move,'' Mrs Robins said. "So when Mr McGinty says `There's no health crisis', I'd love to phone him up and say `Come visit now', but he's too far away from what the people are doing. "She's a wonderful lady, she's done so much for so many people _ even though she never had much. "And because she's had such a tough life she's always got out of things with a smile. So when I see her like this it just breaks my heart.''

Opposition health spokesman Kim Hames said: "If Jim McGinty cannot ensure timely medical help for people like Mrs Robins and the hundreds of others who are subjected to the same lack of treatment because of his mismanagement, perhaps it is time he does the decent thing and stands down as health minister.'' Mr McGinty refused to comment. An RPH spokeswoman said the Mrs Robins had had surgery postponed on Thursday because of pre-existing conditions, which the family denied.

Source




'Exhausted' driver in ambulance crash

FATIGUE has been blamed for a crash involving two Queensland ambulances. The vehicles were involved in a minor nose-to-tail accident attending the same job at Kilcoy, northwest of Brisbane, about 2am on Wednesday - with no injuries to paramedics or patients. But sources said the accident investigation report revealed both ambulance crews were exhausted from over-working and this had contributed to the crash. "The paramedics had been without sleep for some 20 hours," a Queensland Ambulance Service insider told The Sunday Mail.

An exclusive Sunday Mail report this month revealed how the service was in crisis, with paramedics pleading for more staff and vehicles before it was too late. Ambulance officers expressed their anger at the new roster system, which had resulted in them working more shifts every week. Many said they were physically and mentally spent.

The accident happened only hours after the ambulance employees union threatened the State Government with industrial action if it did not address rostering and recruitment. "Fatigue was a huge part of the incident . . . the crews were extremely tired . . . although I am sure the QAS will say it is something else," the insider said. The Emergency Medical Service Protection Association, a group representing paramedics unhappy with their union, said there must be further investigation into the crash. "This raises serious concerns. It is a workplace health and safety issue which needs to be looked into," association president Prebs Sathiaseelan said. Mr Sathiaseelan said management used "emotional blackmail" on employees about to go off duty, asking them to respond to an emergency case.

State Opposition emergency services spokesman Ted Malone said the incident highlighted how the Government was prepared to risk the lives of ambulance officers and the public. "Peter Beattie has had his hands in our pockets grabbing his ambulance tax, which he promised would give us the world's best service," Mr Malone said. "All he's done is waste our money and run the service down to the point where ambos are forced to work 20 hours without sleep. How dangerous is that? "Bullying, harassing, running staff into the ground to the point where they're exhausted."

Source




IMPERSONAL PUBLIC HOSPITALS CAN KILL

And a substandard solution is being tried

On Christmas day a few years back, Mary Webber was the doctor on duty in a short-staffed Sydney emergency department. The elderly man in the bed before her was clearly unwell: high fever, racing pulse, heavy breathing, confused and complaining of persistent pain all over his body. Webber and her colleagues checked for the usual causes, but ruled them all out. No one could figure out why the man was so ill. He'd been in a minor car accident a week earlier, but X-rays following the incident had shown no signs of fractures.

Webber tried to transfer him to a bigger tertiary hospital better equipped to handle his case, but three declined before a district hospital finally admitted him. Doctors then had to play "catch up'' trying to access various test results and information being held by at least three different hospitals. One registrar noted in the man's file that it wasn't clear who was even in charge of his case. The delays added up, probably to about four days, Webber says. Eventually the man was diagnosed with a rare infection concealed in his spine - but by then it was too late. He died shortly afterwards.

Whether or not that outcome could have been avoided is impossible to say, but Webber says if things had been handled differently he certainly would have stood a better chance. "The doctors were following the normal processes, but if there had been a doctor whose job it was to check up on the tricky patients, someone who was senior enough to crash through some of the barriers and push some of the walls down, then this might not have happened,'' she says. "Or at least it might have been picked up earlier. Everyone was working very hard, but the system itself had inherent flaws when it came to patients like him - the system works very well for `in-the-box' patients who come down established pathways, but not so well for the out-of-the-box patients.''

Now a new brand of doctor designed to help manage and co-ordinate the care of those "out of the box'' patients is being piloted by NSW Health at five public hospitals, in an effort to improve safety and quality of care, and reduce errors and adverse events in a hospital system plagued by doctor shortages. Webber, along with two of her colleagues at Ryde Hospital, doctors Michael Boyd and Ross White, have been among the first to take on this new role of "hospitalist'' - a doctor who will work in hospitals in a generalist role that crosses the divisions between medical departments and specialties. NSW Health has allocated $1.4 million over two years for the Hospitalist Pilot Project, and plans to recruit about 20 more doctors to the position in July.

Exactly what such doctors will do has some degree of flexibility. They will liaise between specialists and junior doctors, as well as with GPs in the wider community. Some will create mentoring programs for junior doctors that review difficult cases and discuss what could be improved; some will develop new systems to deal with longstanding problems, such as a database to improve the lines of communication with GPs. The goal is to provide better continuity of care in a system that has become increasingly fragmented - ideally improving quality of care for patients who are chronically ill or have complex needs, such as the elderly or people with multiple health problems that don't fit neatly into one area.

But not everyone is enthused with the idea. In January the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand released a position statement calling the plan a "short-sighted and inappropriate response to the workforce crisis'', that may ultimately result in substandard care as lesser-trained doctors are given the responsibility traditionally charged to general physicians who have to pass the same boards and standards as sub-specialists. "We're very much in favour of someone taking a holistic view, but we think the ideal hospitalist already exists in the form of general physicians,'' says society vice-president Alasdair MacDonald, who wrote the group's position statement. "Rather than creating a whole new class of doctors who don't have the same qualifications, we should be putting our money into recruiting and training general physicians, and improving remuneration for them to restore the balance of generalists compared to sub-specialists.''

Hospitalists first emerged in the US in the 1990s, and there are now more than 10,000 there. The NSW project marks the first time the role has been formally trialled in metropolitan areas in Australia. Victoria, Queensland and WA have all informally expressed interest in the program, says Professor Katherine McGrath, the deputy director-general of health system performance, who sponsored the program at NSW Health. In rural and regional areas - where doctor shortages are more acute - hospitalist-type roles are more common, though they often happen by default. In Queensland, however, the "rural generalist program'' has taken the idea to next level, developing a specific training module for rural doctors working in hospitals, and last year had that qualification recognised.

Such formalisation is not on the cards in NSW. NSW based the new position partly on the American model, which has had some promising results. A review of hospitalist programs published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that patients' average length of hospital stay was decreased by almost 17 per cent, hospital costs dropped by more than 13 per cent and most patients were satisfied with the care they received (2002;287:487-494).

But there are inherent differences in the way the US and Australian models are set up. Under the US model, hospitalists have considerably more power than those being piloted in NSW. For example, in the US hospitalists can admit their own patients, while here the specialist is ultimately in charge of the patient and just delegates responsibility to the hospitalist. There are also differences in training and qualifications. In the US hospitalists are internal medicine specialists; about half are general physicians and the rest tend to be specialists in intensive care. Several academic centres have now developed hospitalist-focused postgraduate training.

By contrast, NSW Health is targeting doctors who have experience working in hospitals but have chosen not to undergo further specialty training - such as a senior career medical officer, or a GP who would like to work part-time in hospital. There is no separate qualification required to become a hospitalist, and it's being seen as a pathway for career medical officers to progress in their careers rather than a specialty in its own right. Training will be in short bursts in the form of one-day workshops, much like the way continuing professional development works, as opposed to any formal course, McGrath says.

The hospitalists will be working on contracts that range from two to five years - eons compared to most junior medical officers, who rotate as frequently as every 10 weeks and registrars who rotate every six months to a year. "They know how the hospital system works and they can build a long-term relationship with the specialists," McGrath says. "The whole point is to ensure there is no slippage in standards of care - the patient remains under the care of the specialist, and the hospitalist works under the delegation of the specialist - that's where we differ from America. We've made it deliberately different to protect against any risks."

But MacDonald says that itself may be part of the problem. He claims that if anything, hospitalists should be under the supervision of general physicians because hospitalists recruited here are unlikely to have the expertise and training to take responsibility for complex patients. If that's the case specialists may not trust them to hand over responsibility to begin with. Instead they'll seek assistance from another specialist, increasing cross-referrals and further complicating matters. "The optimum hospitalists already exists and what effectively we're doing is saying, well we can't train enough of them, so let's create somebody that's not trained to the same extent, hasn't had to stand up to the same scrutiny and hasn't had to do the same exams - and employ them to do that work," he says. "And let's supervise them by people who don't necessarily have the breadth of specialist's knowledge across lots of disciplines, and by administrators who are often not from a clinical background."

Even among proponents of hospitalists, there is some concern that the goals of the NSW pilot project may not reflect the achievements hospitalists have made overseas. Bill Lancashire is a senior lecturer at the University of NSW Rural Clinical School and a critical care doctor at Port Macquarie Base Hospital. He is actively pushing to have hospitalists introduced there, and says they can help reduce demands on overburdened specialists by taking over management of some of the less complicated patients, as has occurred in the Canadian system. But as to whether it can actually diminish hospital errors, he is not so sure. "I think we need to think more about why we're doing it and what we hope to achieve. Across Australia there is a real concern about adverse events in hospitals, but this shouldn't just be a reflex response to that," Lancashire says. "We need the evidence to show that adverse events will be reduced, because overseas that hasn't been the impetus; it's been specialists being overwhelmed by patient numbers."

The review published in JAMA in 2002 found that while several studies showed hospitalists improved measures such as inpatient mortality and readmission rates, the results were inconsistent. Whether they will make a difference to safety and efficiency in Australia remains to be seen. The NSW pilot project ends in December next year.

Source




Water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

The editorial from "The Australian" below says that competition, not rationing, is the water-shortage solution. Given the parlous state of education these days, I guess I should point out that the heading above is a reference to "The rime of the ancient mariner" by Coleridge

AS urban Australians go about their daily lives they seem to be burdened by the plight of the ancient mariner. It continues to rain in capital cities around Australia's coastline but benighted residents are subjected to ever-tighter restrictions. Yet the parlous water shortages around Australia are less a failure of the climate than they are a failure of the market. And as National Water Commission chief executive Ken Matthews pointed out, restrictions have no place in long-term water management.

Water is undeniably a scarce commodity in the driest continent on earth, and while the amount of water on earth is fixed, the population keeps increasing. But rationing of necessities is a primitive mechanism, and in a sophisticated economy price signals are a preferable means of allocating resources. Yet from the collection of water through to its distribution and consumption, the market is not being allowed to operate.

During the 1980s, in line with the prevailing zeitgeist, state governments created corporations to manage vital utilities. This, it was argued, would deliver the efficiencies of the private sector without depriving state governments of a revenue stream. Predictably, state governments have been unable to resist milking the cash cows they have created. They received nearly $1billion in dividends from utility companies in 2005-06, up 12 per cent on the year before, while spending on water infrastructure has dropped in most capital cities. Only Melbourne and Perth have increased their spending.

At the same time, good-hearted Australians have been persuaded to make water savings that are nothing more than feel-good gestures. Urban dwellers may catch the water from their showers and develop "bucket back" as they carry it to their gardens, but that is about as useful as babushkas standing in queues in the former Soviet Union to buy potatoes and vodka, or Chinese peasants smelting iron in their back yards to meet industrial shortfalls in the Great Leap Forward.

The first step to delivering a market solution is introducing price signals. Irrigated agriculture uses about 75 per cent of water in Australia, and industry a further 20 per cent, while domestic water use accounts for not much more than 5 per cent. Until pricing signals are directed at agricultural and industrial users, they will have no incentive to seek greater efficiencies in their usage and shortages will continue. Meanwhile, domestic users refraining from washing their cars, filling their swimming pools or watering their lawns save just a drop in the bucket. Misguided state government water policies have only further exacerbated the problem. Objections to waste-water recycling have been allowed toprevail and desalination plants have been favoured, regardless of relative cost.

The real solution is for state governments to introduce competition into the business of providing water. Private companies have a bottom-line incentive to plough profits back into infrastructure and invest in the most cost-effective means of sourcing water. As with telecommunications, it might prove necessary to separate the distribution network, or piping, from water collection -- dams or recovery plants such as recycling or desalination. It is extraordinary that companies such as Macquarie Bank have been able to invest in water infrastructure in Britain but are barred from doing so in Australia.

As with other environmental issues, the backyard initiatives of well-meaning do-gooders are not the solution. Carrying buckets of water is notarational response to the water needs of a sophisticated society in the 21st century.

Source





20 May, 2007

Muslim outrage at citizen test

MUSLIMS are outraged that prospective citizens will have to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian tradition as the basis of Australia's values system. Australia's peak Muslim body said the proposed citizenship question - revealed in the Herald Sun - was disturbing and potentially divisive. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Dr Ameer Ali said the "Abrahamic tradition" or "universal values" would be less divisive ways of describing the nation's moral base. Dr Ali said use of the term Judeo-Christian was the result of "WWII guilt", and before 1945 Australia would have been called only Christian. "That question must be rephrased," he said.

Dr Ali was backed by Democrats senator Lyn Allison, who said the answer to the question was highly debatable. But Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews stood firm on the merit of the question. Mr Andrews said Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage was indisputable historical fact. "We are not asking people to subscribe to the Judeo-Christian ethic," he said. "We are simply stating a fact that this is part of the heritage of Australia in terms of its foundation. "This is not an exercise in political correctness. It is trying to state what has been the case and still is the case."

But Health Minister Tony Abbott confused the issue, saying the modern Australian values system was secular, or of no particular religion. The Herald Sun yesterday revealed 20 key questions, developed in consultation with Mr Andrews, that are likely to be asked of would-be citizens. Mr Andrews said the test, to begin by September, would help immigrants integrate into society better. "We celebrate diversity and people are free to continue their own traditions, but we are also very insistent that we have to build and maintain social cohesion," he said.

Dr Ali said he would request a meeting with Mr Andrews to discuss the question. "It is the wrong message we are sending," he said. Senator Allison said the test was pointless. "I don't see what it's going to achieve," she said. "It doesn't say anything about people's character, whether they are going to be good citizens." Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said Labor agreed in principle with the test, but wanted details.

Source




QLD: A LEGAL SAFEGUARD AGAINST HOSPITAL NEGLIGENCE TO BE REMOVED

As part of the "solution" to public hospital capacity shortfalls

PUBLIC patients whose operations are botched will lose their right to sue the State Government under a plan to reduce hospital elective surgery waiting lists. Thousands of people who will have their operations outsourced to private hospitals will also be unable to access their case notes under the Freedom of Information Act if things go wrong. Under the plan, called Surgery Connect, a broker will be paid a one-off, $8.5 million fee to find private hospitals to treat the state's long-wait public patients.

Many of the operations will be complex, including shoulder surgery, hip and knee-replacements, prostatectomies and treatment of aortic aneurisms (swelling and weakness in the wall of the aorta). But, under the Surgery Connect model, the broker will be liable if an operation goes wrong. The tender closed on May 9.

The Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association said it did not tender because the cost of insurance was too high. Queensland Health last night rejected claims it had washed its hands of public patients, saying they could sue the broker if problems arose. A department spokeswoman said patient notes would remain the property of private providers, but patients could access records under the Federal Privacy Act. However, legal advice obtained by The Courier-Mail said that, in regard to some matters, it could be harder to obtain information under the Federal Act.

AMAQ spokeswoman president Zelle Hodge said she was unsure who would be willing to take on the inherent risk associated with the model. "I think patients should be extremely worried not only as an individual but the bigger picture is this is just another way to run down the public hospital system," Dr Hodge said.

In a statement, Queensland Health said the rights of public patients would not be eroded: "The broker is required to indemnify Queensland Health and to maintain appropriate levels of insurance in respect of medical negligence claims," the statement said. "The broker is then responsible for ensuring the health providers it engages are appropriately credentialled and insured for such claims. "These measures are designed to provide a safety net for patients who may have suffered adverse consequences of medical treatment they have received from the private provider. "It would be remiss of Queensland Health if it did not ensure that such contractual requirements were imposed on private providers. It is also important to keep in mind that the broker and private providers are providing health services to these patients so it is expected that, legally, they would bear the risk."

The AMAQ last year held talks with the Government about outsourcing some public elective surgery but, under its plan, patients would be treated in public hospitals and, where possible, public doctors would operate in private hospitals. President-elect Dr Ross Cartmill said the arrangement included Queensland Health providing indemnity insurance.

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said contracts entered into by the Queensland Government and Queensland Health were issues for those bodies. "The outsourcing of elective surgery is an admission of defeat and an admission by Labor that the private health sector is an essential part of our health system."

Source




School geography has lost its way, say teachers

GEOGRAPHY is taught in schools as a series of issues pushing a particular opinion rather than giving students a grounding in basic facts about natural processes and human interaction with the environment. The Australian Geography Teachers Association and the Institute of Australian Geographers told a Senate inquiry into the academic standards of school education that geography, under the umbrella of Studies of Society and the Environment, had lost its disciplinary rigour.

AGTA director Grant Kleeman told the hearing in Sydney that students studied global warming but not the atmospheric processes required to understand climate change and its impact. "The traditional discipline encouraged students to look at issues from a variety of perspectives with the expectation students then formulate their own opinions rather than inculcate them with a particular perspective," Mr Kleeman said.

IAG president Jim Walmsley said the teaching of SOSE into schools resulted in geography students being "issue-led rather than being rigorous in their understanding of these issues".

Mr Kleeman said the notion of issue-based learning was introduced in the 1970s and 80s when everything taught in schools had to be immediately relevant to the lives of students. "We're advocating a return to a more systematic study of geography and history, where you look at processes as the entry point of study rather than the issue," he said.

AGTA chairman Nick Hutchinson said the perspectives pushed in school geography included radical green opinions and neo-liberal views school, when it should have a robust core as the base. "In geography, we've taken on board everything from extreme environmental perspectives through to peace perspectives," Mr Hutchinson said. "But all the time we come back to this core of the discipline, so we can deal with an issue like deep ecology, which might be as controversial as black-armband history, but we can do it within the discipline because we have tools of dissection," he said. Deep ecology is a philosophy that says animals and plants have the right to as much ethical consideration as humans. "The automatic reaction of most kids is they want to protect nature, the environment, animals and cuddly things," he said. "The job of the teacher is to show them other sides, to facilitate class discussion so they can work out their values towards issues." Understanding the processes at work in areas such as the Great Barrier Reef or cyclones destroying rainforests showed students that destruction was part of the natural growth cycle, he said.

The AGTA says geography should be compulsory for all students in years 7 to 10 as a stand-alone subject.

Source




Navy to protect whales: Rudd

Since I share the usual human feelings of affinity for the marine mammals, I applaud this



GUNBOATS will be sent out to protect whales in Southern Ocean sanctuaries under a Kevin Rudd federal government. The navy would be deployed to enforce laws banning whale slaughter in Australian sanctuary areas. It would be the most aggressive attempt to save the sea giants in the 200-year history of whaling in Australian waters. Under a Labor Government, whalers found operating illegally could be intercepted and boarded at sea.

Australia's whale sanctuaries were established in 1999 but since then an estimated 400 of the giant mammals have been processed by Japanese factory ships. There have been no prosecutions. The ocean monitoring would be backed up by legal action. Bids to halt whale catching would be made in the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. And direct appeals would be made to the biggest predator Japan, which would be told it was damaging a prime Australian tourism resource.

Labor will release its policy as Japanese whalers prepare to again enter southern waters for so-called "scientific" kills. Its fleet is expected to haul in 850 Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales, and, for the first time, 50 humpback whales.

The Labor policy also comes on the eve of the 59th International Whaling Commission meeting in Alaska from May 28 to 31. Australia's anti-whaling measures were strongly sponsored by former Environment Minister Ian Campbell, but his successor Malcolm Turnbull has been tied up with climate change and water policies.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd believes the Government has taken no real action over 11 years to oppose whaling. Since 2005, Mr Rudd and Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese have been pressing the Government to get the International Court of Justice to intervene. Monitoring of whalers in Antarctica has been left to New Zealand and non-government organisations. Mr Rudd would argue it was up to Australia to enforce its own laws, and that the option of boarding whaling ships would be available. And Labor would also expand the network of whale sanctuaries in conjunction with state governments.

Source





19 May, 2007

Astronaut and friends

Australia's Federal Treaurer, Peter Costello, once wanted to be an astronaut. Hence the cartoon below. The hard looking female on the right is undoubtedly the thuggish Julia Gillard, who wants to deliver Australia back into the hands of the unions.



For more Australian cartoons, see ZEG.




The State of Corruption has Learned Nothing

Yesterday, the government of Western Australia was trying to get a newspaper editor fired who has been critical of them. Now they are trying to nobble the local anti-corruption body

A PARLIAMENTARY committee wants a watchdog put on the state body that exposed corruption at the Carpenter Government, to "protect" the public interest. In a move certain to spark debate, the committee of two Labor and two Liberal MPs - who report to parliament on the activities of the powerful Corruption and Crime Commission - yesterday recommended that an independent officer be appointed to monitor the use of surveillance devices and covert search warrants by the CCC and police. The committee said the role of the monitor would be to ensure the public interest was always considered in applications to use the devices.

But as a string of politicians have been caught acting improperly as a direct result of CCC phone taps and video surveillance, there was little overt support yesterday from either side of politics. Attorney-General Jim McGinty said he had no concerns about the use of phone taps and surveillance by the CCC although he was prepared to listen to arguments on the issue.

Opposition Leader Paul Omodei went further, saying another layer of bureaucracy was the last thing that was needed, although he added the Government would appreciate any attempt to limit the CCC's powers after so many of its members were caught out. "The CCC should be allowed to get on with their job," he said. "We passed legislation in the parliament that allows them to do these things (but) I think the Government's smarting because it's uncovered a whole lot of corruption in Government in Western Australia."

Sacked ministers Norm Marlborough, John Bowler and Tony McRae were all brought down by evidence obtained from phone taps and video surveillance. Labor MP Shelley Archer and Liberal MP Anthony Fels were also exposed for questionable conduct, while in a separate CCC investigation, former minister John D'Orazio was forced out of the ALP after video surveillance showed him meeting a CCC corruption target.

Committee chairman and Labor MP John Hyde said the committee's position was not an indictment on the professional conduct of the judiciary (which approves applications), the CCC or the police. The CCC yesterday refused to comment, but it has previously rejected the idea. In March, former CCC commissioner Kevin Hammond told the committee there was already enough oversight and monitoring of the CCC and there was no pressing need for a public interest monitor.

In its report to parliament, the committee said the recent spate of hearings by the CCC and its use of telephone intercepts and surveillance had resulted in greater public focus on procedural accountability. The nature of covert devices being used in accordance with the public interest was a significant consideration, it said.

Source




Students resent 'guilt' in Leftist history teaching

HIGH school students resent being made to feel guilty during their study of Australia's indigenous past and dislike studying national history in general. The History Teachers Association called yesterday for a rethink of the type of Australian history being taught in schools and the way in which it is taught.

History Teachers Association of NSW executive officer Louise Zarmati said her experience teaching in western Sydney was that students were resistant to learning about Australian politics and, in particular, indigenous history. "This is a somewhat delicate subject but they don't like the indigenous part of Australian history," she told a hearing of the Senate inquiry into the academic standards of school education in Sydney yesterday. "The feedback I get is they're not prepared to wear the guilt. They find it's something that's too personal, too much of a personal confrontation for them. "I think it sparks a lot of racism; it certainly did in my classroom. It makes it an unpleasant learning experience."

Australia's indigenous history has been a contentious issue in the ongoing "history wars" over the interpretation of European colonisation. Historian Geoffrey Blainey brought the phrase "black armband view of history" to prominence in 1993 to describe the portrayal of European colonisation as shameful. The description was picked up in 1996 by John Howard, who later launched an offensive on the teaching of Australian history in schools. The Government is now in the process of developing a national curriculum for Australian history.

Until this year, NSW was the only state in which Australian history was a compulsory stand-alone subject for students in years 7 to 10. In years 9 and 10, students study 20th century Australian history focusing on the workings of government and the history of politics, and the subject is examined in the Higher School Certificate.

Ms Zarmati said more than 20,000 students studied history for the HSC last year, of whom more than 11,000 studied ancient history, making it the most popular history course in the English-speaking world.

Ms Zarmati said history teachers constantly struggled with the unpopularity of Australian history in years 9 and 10. "They don't really enjoy it and feel forced to do it; they don't like the politics all that much," she said. "My personal opinion is that it's the nature of the beast. "Teenagers at that stage aren't mature enough to understand the concepts but when they get to years 11 and 12, they really enjoy Australian history because they're looking at problems and issues and debates."

In other evidence to the Senate inquiry, literacy expert Max Coltheart said the federal Government's budget initiatives to improve literacy and numeracy standards with programs costing more than $500million over four years was a "waste of money". The budget included a scheme granting up to $50,000 to schools that showed a significant rise in literacy and numeracy standards, and vouchers worth $700 to provide one-on-one tuition for students failing to meet minimum national literacy and numeracy standards. Professor Coltheart, professor of psychology and head of the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science at Macquarie University, said the commonwealth should stipulate the type of reading tests schools had to use to qualify for the grants. He said children who struggled to learn to read were labelled as having a learning difficulty but they actually suffered a teaching difficulty. The budget funding would be better spent on training primary school teachers how to teach reading properly.

Source




School science courses 'pre-Newtonian'

SCIENCE in years 8 to 10 in Queensland is essentially descriptive, with courses failing to recognise the scientific revolution triggered by Isaac Newton in 1687, leaving students woefully unprepared for senior study. Submissions to the Senate inquiry into the academic standards of school education argue the calibre of maths and science taught is low by international standards, the quality of teaching is poor and the courses fail to stretch bright students.

A submission from a maths teacher of 40 years' standing, who co-authored a series of textbooks and worked with the Queensland Board of Senior Secondary School Studies, said that maths to the end of Year 10 "fails abjectly" to provide students with the skills to progress to more rigorous maths or the physical sciences. "That this has been allowed to go on for decades is a scandal," John Ridd said. Dr Ridd said the standard of algebra taught in Queensland schools was poor and there was "now no numerical science in years 8/9/10". "It is a sad fact that science in the years up to the end of Year 10 in Queensland is essentially all descriptive. It is non-numerical, pre-Newtonian," he said.

Dr Ridd said the "awful gap" between the standard of maths at the end of Year 10 and the start of Year 11 had required a lowering in the standard of maths taught. "Maths has had to be softened, weakened, by a large amount," Dr Ridd said. "Work that used to be done in years 8/9/10 now appears in the first sections of the Year 11 maths B texts. "Naturally the longer-term effect of that is that the standards reached by the end of Year 12 have declined -- with implications for the next stage -- university maths, physical science and engineering. There is a gap there too."

Dr Ridd's concerns are echoed in a submission by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and the International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics, which says the long tail among Australian students "of under-achievement and failure is apparent well before the end of secondary education". The AMSI and ICE-EM submission argues that the OECD maths skills test often quoted as showing Australian 15-year-olds perform highly "is not a valid assessment" of maths knowledge, with some of the questions "effectively general aptitude tests rather than mathematical ones".

The submission says that a better guide to the standard of students is the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study of Year 8 students, which tests curriculum content. Its results show that by the early years of high school, a large proportion of students already lack the background skills necessary for intermediate and advanced level maths courses in years 11 and 12.

The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers agrees that students are failing to reach their full potential in maths, and attributes this to poor teaching, modelled on methods used in the 1960s that "foster memorisation as opposed to deep learning". But the association says Australian students compare favourably with their international counterparts and the achievement standards in courses compared well to those expected of overseas students. "We believe there is a disproportionate focus on comparisons between the states and territories, particularly through the media, which is not helpful to improving standards," it says.

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Migrants' diseases not followed up

MIGRANTS with serious illnesses - including lepers and more than 100,000 people with tuberculosis - have been allowed into Australia despite authorities' inability to carry out proper medical supervision. An audit of the Immigration Department has found that it knowingly allows migrants to enter Australia with serious contagious diseases but frequently fails to check up on whether they have sought medical attention.

The Australian National Audit Office revealed yesterday that since 2000-01 more than 100,000 immigrants with tuberculosis had entered Australia on the condition that they submit to medical supervision. The damning report said that, despite imposing the conditions, the department was unable to follow up and check whether the medical advice had been sought. The report comes just a month after John Howard questioned whether migrants with HIV-AIDS should be allowed to come to Australia. It said the department admitted its errors and had agreed to overhaul its systems. The audit said the current health screening procedures had "limitations and gaps", which weakened the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's ability to protect Australians from public health threats. The system relied largely on the honesty of visa applicants to disclose whether or not they had a disease that could be a public health risk, the audit said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said he was shocked by the audit and urged the Government to implement the recommendations quickly. Australian Medical Association vice-president Choong-Siew Yong said it was "quite concerning" that visa-holders were not complying with their undertaking and urged the Government to do more to address the situation.

Under the Migration Act, visa applicants must meet health requirements that protect the community from public health risks and safeguard Australians' access to health services. Applicants for permanent visas undergo a medical examination, while short-stay visa applicants - including temporary skilled migrants and holidaymakers - answer a series of questions about their health history and status. "As a result, DIAC cannot be certain of detecting all people who pose health risks," the audit found.

It was also highly critical of the way the department administered and monitored exemptions from the health requirements which have allowed foreigners with diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C and leprosy to enter Australia. Visa applicants who fail to meet the health requirements can secure an exemption if they sign a "health undertaking" to report to a designated health authority in the relevant state or territory for a follow-up health assessment. Up to 20,000 undertakings are issued each year - about 90 per cent for people with tuberculosis. The audit revealed that a quarter of the 5535 health undertakings issued in 2002-03 were non-compliant. There are no formal arrangements between DIAC and state and territory authorities to check whether people have honoured their commitment to undergo further health checks.

The audit also found that, even when visa-holders were caught breaching their health undertaking, they were still allowed to stay in the country. The audit was also critical of the federal health department for failing to provide DIAC with "timely advice" on potential health risks. DIAC figures contained in the audit show that since 2002-03 nine people with leprosy had signed health waivers and secured visas to Australia. Since 2000-01, 101,468 health undertakings had been given to people with tuberculosis.

The Government agreed to adopt all eight recommendations made by the ANAO including a memorandum of understanding between DIAC and the Health Department. A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said the Government would also ensure that co-operation across government agencies improved.

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18 May, 2007

Arrogant Leftist "planner" wants smaller houses "to limit their impact on the environment"



VICTORIA'S Planning Minister has said McMansion-style homes are water wasters suffering from "housing obesity". Justin Madden, an architect who lives in a two-storey heritage-protected home, has said he wants more small homes on new housing estates. He has said big houses found in suburbs such as Caroline Springs and Tarneit often suffer from "housing obesity". "Melbourne's household growth - and by that I mean dwellings - is twice the population growth," Mr Madden has said. "Our increasing affluence has led to bigger houses, and I'm sure you're familiar with the description McMansions, and one of my favourites, 'housing obesity'."

But residents in Caroline Springs, Mr Madden's electorate, have said he is attacking their Australian dreams. Peter Attard, who lives in the suburb with his wife and three children, has said the chance to have a big home is "what makes Australia the best country in the world".

While the state Government delays ordering stage 4 water restrictions, Mr Madden has branded bigger houses water wasters. "When we need to minimise our consumption of things like energy and water, many of us are living in houses that consume more water and more energy than we need," he has said.

But Mr Attard has said home-owners take environmental responsibilities seriously. "I've got a whole grey water system hooked up through my house. It was designed with energy-saving measures," he has said. "The size of our house is none of the minister's business - we've worked hard, we can afford a big place, and we've got a family that fills it!"

Speaking at a planning summit yesterday, Mr Madden has flagged a competition to design smaller, more energy efficient new housing. He has said large designs and extravagant lifestyles were undermining Victoria's environmental requirements for new homes. "We've put in place five-star energy rating into new housing and that's making housing more efficient," Mr Madden said. "(But) to counter that, what people are doing is building bigger housing . . . four bedrooms, a study, the entertainment room, and as well as that they're filling it with electronic equipment."

But Caroline Springs residents Mick and Jasmina Fazlic have said Mr Madden has got it wrong. With daughter Melissa, 12, the couple say all the space in the house is used, and Mr Fazlic runs his business from home. "If you work hard, you make money. You want to enjoy that," he said.

Neville Rodger, a six-year Caroline Springs resident, has agreed size does not govern the efficiency of the house. "We've got 5000-litre water tanks that take in all the water off the roof," Mr Rodger has said. "We're not wasting water at all."

Mr Madden has since softened his stance, assuring residents the state did not dictate house size. "We do not want to tell Victorians how big their houses should be. That is up to them," he has said. Mr Madden, who recently applied to Heritage Victoria to add a family room and two bedrooms to the back of his own home, has said housing obesity is defined by the size of the household relative to the house size. "We want to ensure these houses are built as sustainably as possible, both to limit their impact on the environment, and to keep down the costs of running a household."

The size of an average new detached home in Victoria has risen by 50 per cent in the two decades to 2005, reaching 255 square metres.

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It's the ABC who are the real Bastards

ACCORDING to the ABC, its drama Bastard Boys is not a documentary and it's not a docu-drama. It is a drama. And a very average one at that. It purports to tell the true story of the 1998 waterfront dispute, but it does not. It presents a fictionalised account of the Maritime Union of Australia's struggle to maintain its stranglehold on the docks when confronted with the reality that the historically corrupt trade union's practices were actually crippling shippers and exporters and making Australia an uncompetitive laughing stock on the world stage.

Originally planned to be presented in four one-hour episodes over four weeks, the ABC adjusted its programming to present two two-hour episodes in what looked like an attempt to draw attention away from the Federal Government's 12th Budget. The show rated well, for an ABC program, but ABC management should be asking its staff how such an unbalanced polemic found its way on to its airwaves at such a politically sensitive time.

Writer Sue Smith came to the project with relish. As she told ABC radio's Richard Glover on May 10: "I love wharfies." Glover, attempting a modicum of caution about the possibility that such a declaration might smack of bias, quickly chimed in: "I think (Patrick's boss Chris) Corrigan is probably very proud of what was achieved. He believes there were big efficiencies." Hmm. He probably does believe that, Richard. After all, Smith's beloved wharfies were, as they say in maritime circles, swinging the lead. They were moving Patricks containers at 18 lifts per hour, well short of the international best practice standard, and they were doing it with a nationwide workforce of about 1400.

Forget the rorts, which received a peripheral nod in Smith's fiction. The real driving force behind the dispute was the need for real reforms beyond the fiddling at the margins attempted by the Hawke Labor government, which splashed almost $420 million around the waterfront to win 4000 expensive redundancies in the 1980s.

Smith's farce ignored the history of the MUA and the old WWF in its attempts to present a chunky piece of agitprop that might have embarrassed the most ardent supporters of the dead communist system (even though there was a touching reference to one of the MUA's organisers spending romantic Moscow moments with his girlfriend).

Those interested in the true flavour of the MUA, and not merely the Bastard Boys' anodyne references to its stand on apartheid and other middle-class issues of the '70s and '80s, the late Henry (Jo) Gullett's modest memoir Not as a Duty Only - an Infantryman's War (MUP) could shed some light. Gullett, who fought as an infantry sergeant at Bardia, Libya (and was wounded) in 1941, was commissioned in the field in time for the ill-fated Greek campaign, went on to fight in New Guinea and was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership and disregard of danger. He was one of the few Australian soldiers to take part in the D-Day operations, as second in command of an infantry battalion. He was later made a company commander with The Royal Scots, and served with them until again wounded.

This straight shooter wrote of the looting of military supplies by the wharfies as his unit transhipped to New Guinea, noting: "We came to Cairns and our ships were loaded. The watersiders stole our stores in the lading, not only little things, but items like compasses, sights and arms, on which our capacity to fight depended. "This surprised us because these men were no less Australian than we were. Yet they seemed not to be on our side. Anyhow, we put guards on them and they went out on strike. So we loaded the ships ourselves. Our rate of loading was exactly twice theirs. "All of which confirmed two views which we held strongly already ... that the 2/6th infantry could do anything and that there were some very curious types among the civilian population."

Gullett, who went on to a life in politics before being appointed Australian ambassador to Greece, would not have found favour with the politically correct scriptwriters at the ABC. He would have been too straight-shooting for their lop-sided political agenda, but his views should have informed the Bastard Boys polemic.

The program appeared to be no more than a four-hour advertisement to introduce Greg Combet, the Robespierre of the trade union movement, to a wider audience. Those who weren't aware of Combet's role as ACTU boss would be now - and the ABC has glowingly presented him as a sex symbol.

Sex should not perhaps be mentioned in the NSW Central Coast electorate where he is running, not after the smear campaign Combet's supporters mounted against the unfortunate incumbent, Kelly Hoare. After being portrayed so glowingly as a caring, sharing, finch-loving ideologue by the ABC, it is something of a let-down to discover that Combet is a person prepared to campaign against a woman obviously in need of help, not a kick when she is down.

Nor did the ABC, usually so anxious to present the case for affirmative action note that the MUA was a misogynistic pack of old fogeys, and that the work force trained to replace them comprised young women who mastered the skills in a fraction of the time the unionists demanded. But then, perhaps it is not so surprising. After all, Bastard Boys was not a documentary, nor a docu-drama. It was no more than a wet and slippery dream disguised as entertainment.

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Attack on Freedom of the press in Western Australia

THE State Government has refused to introduce laws to protect journalists' sources unless The West Australian newspaper, sacks editor Paul Armstrong. Attorney-General Jim McGinty said The West Australian was the nation's most inaccurate and dishonest newspaper and until it lifted its standards it did not deserve shield laws. "The board of West Australian Newspapers needs to sack the editor. It is personally driven by a particular individual,'' he said.

Mr McGinty said standards were so bad at The West Australian that if a competitor emerged that could break the paper's monopoly, the Government would consider redirecting its advertising to foster competition. "I think it is in the interests of a healthy democracy that we have competition. The public would then have a choice not to buy a crap newspaper,'' he said. Until standards improved at The West Australian, he said there would be no shield laws in his state to protect journalists' sources. "With the shield go responsibilities. And when you get a newspaper that is bigoted, lies, cheats and deceives, my view is that you don't get the shield,'' MrMcGinty said.

Mr Armstrong said yesterday he "could not give a fat rat's arse'' about what Mr McGinty said about him. "Do I care? Not in the slightest. If he hates us it tells me we are probably doing our job and doing it very well, as I know we are,'' he said. "But I would care if McGinty turned around and said that (the) newspaper and editor are excellent. That would tell me, as it would tell Chris Mitchell (editor-in-chief of The Australian), that we are a long way short of the mark,'' Mr Armstrong said.

He said Mr McGinty's remarks on shield laws amounted to blackmail. "He is saying, 'You will sack the editor and comply with government policy or I will not introduce laws that will defend the ability of the media to do its job','' he said.

The row threatens to undermine one of the key goals of the national Right to Know campaign, through which the media industry is calling for effective shield laws and the removal of restrictions on free speech. The campaign is backed by News Limited (publisher of The Sunday Times and The Australian), Fairfax Media, the ABC, the commercial radio and television industries, SBS, Australian Associated Press and Sky News. These organisations have already signalled that effective shield laws are one of their main goals. But WA's rejection of shield laws adds to concerns that the Federal Government's promised shield law might result in an ineffective legislative mishmash.

Chris Warren, federal secretary of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, has warned that Canberra's planned law needs to be accompanied by equivalent state laws and federal whistleblower protection laws. Without these additions, journalists could still be threatened with prison for refusing to reveal confidential sources, Mr Warren has warned.

Mr McGinty said the combination of "personally vicious reporting and dishonest reporting'' at The West Australian meant he was "not interested in doing anything to help them''. He said newspapers had a critical role in Australian democracy "and I think a case can be made out that The West Australian is betraying that duty at the moment''. "That has not always been the case. It is directly related to the current editor, Paul Armstrong,'' Mr McGinty said. The problems had become so acute that he believed they could only be resolved through Armstrong's dismissal. He said he had taken his concerns about the paper to West Australian Newspapers managing director Ken Steinke and the company's chairman Peter Mansell. Those discussions had been amiable but "I walked out the door and they were up to their old tricks the next day'', Mr McGinty said. "They were not genuine.''

He said the most famous incident involving The West Australian occurred on January 24 and is the subject of a complaint to the Press Council by Mr McGinty in his capacity as Health Minister. The paper had published a front-page photograph of a woman waiting for treatment at a Perth hospital. When MrMcGinty learned that the photograph had been inaccurately described, he contacted Mr Steinke and Mr Mansell. "I rang them and said, 'I know your paper is loose with the truth but this is just beyond the pale. It is just so untrue and prejudicial to public health or the public perception of the hospital system'. "The retaliation was thick and fast: a page one headline the following day condemning me not about ringing them up, but about something else.''

Mr Armstrong sees the incident very differently. He said the paper had acknowledged that it had made a mistake about the woman's age and had corrected it: "But in the context of the story, so what?'' The woman had been "extremely unwell'' with eczema and had spent several days in hospital. "The real story is that this woman could not get a bed in hospital despite the state experiencing the biggest economic boom ever seen,'' he said. "McGinty has peddled this thing around town. The facts don't support him and because his case has fallen over he is now trying to blackmail the company by using his powers as Attorney-General.''

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Bureaucratic hatred of private education

An accreditation body is accused of hounding the colleges it's meant to be monitoring, writes Elisabeth Wynhausen

THESE days Jo Coffey sleeps in a caravan she has borrowed from her son or stays with friends in Newcastle, in regional NSW. Her house is gone and Coffey, the former owner of a vocational training college in the Newcastle suburb of Broadmeadow, says she has lost everything. By January this year, when she declared bankruptcy and closed down her college, Coffey, 59, had spent two years under siege from the Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board, the agency that accredits vocational training colleges and courses in NSW.

Its critics suggest that instead of merely monitoring their standards, VETAB is hounding these training organisations until some close down. "VETAB dangles its authority over the industry like the sword of Damocles," says a consultant who helps vocational colleges deal with the regulator.

There are legitimate concerns about the burgeoning industry. Most vocational training colleges cater to international students. There are students who abuse the system as a way to get permanent residency, and so-called visa factories that aid and abet them: teaching "cooking" without ovens, for instance, or faking attendance records. This is precisely the sort of abuse VETAB is supposed to stampout.

Critics claim that the regulator goes about its business in a heavy-handed and obstructionist manner. "They make it as difficult as possible for colleges to open up at all, it's easier than closing them down," says Chris Stephens of Phoenix Compliance Management, one of many people to suggest that VETAB's operations are provoking a crisis in the industry in NSW.

According to National Centre for Vocational Education Research figures for 2005, the most recent available, the operating revenues of the vocational education sector were a fraction under $5 billion that year, when there were 1.64 million students enrolled in the publicly funded VET system, 562,100 of them in NSW.

The growing clamour about the operations of the regulator led the VETAB board to commission a review in NSW, which was announced late last year by the then education minister, Carmel Tebbutt. The operations of any regulator create tensions, but its critics emphasise that the essence of their problem with VETAB results from its culture. "I feel they treat us like criminals," says Darryl Gauld, the principal of Macquarie Institute, a Sydney college for international students.

College administrators met most recently at workshops held in Sydney last month as part of the review into VETAB. Many used the occasion to accuse VETAB of paralysing the industry. Gauld says most seemed to feel the regulator was exceeding its rightful role. "At these meetings, TAFE directors responsible for thousands of students expressed grave concerns about VETAB's (use) of power," he says.

Few were willing to talk to the HES on the record. "They're frightened to speak to the media," Gauld says. He says he isn't scared, because he's doing the right thing. Other educators, acutely aware of how long it can take for VETAB to grant approval for courses, are reluctant to speak out. "People wait for eight or nine months for courses to be approved. One person at the workshop spoke of waiting for 11 months," says the chief executive of a string of training colleges catering to international students. "If they take many months to approve a modification to the course, you can't recruit students, you can't print the brochures that have the courses in them. You're just stuck."

Tim Smith is the chief executive of the Australian Council of Private Education and Training, the organisation that represents private education providers. "It's fair to say there's a strong provider concern about VETAB's delays and strange decision-making processes," he says.

At a breakfast meeting with ACPET members last October, NSW MP Brad Hazzard, then state Opposition spokesman on education, vowed that if elected the Coalition would overhaul VETAB. While education is the nation's fourth-largest export earner, Hazzard said, "private training organisations report extraordinary delays in getting their organisations registered and new courses scoped".

VETAB is part of the NSW Department of Education. A departmental spokesman says such criticism of the body is inconsistent with the fact that "the number of VETAB-registered training organisations has risen 7.1 per cent annually since 2000". Industry insiders disagree, suggesting that VETAB regularly fails to meet the standards it imposes on the industry. VETAB auditors demand that colleges meet standards above and beyond those that have been published, Stephens says. "There's a standard that says you have to have a plan for the business. One of my clients was told he had to have a full business plan, a marketing plan and a strategic plan if he wanted to be accredited. "But the standard is very clear: it says you have to have a plan for your business. "And you know how many (employees) he has in the company? Two: himself and a director."

Vocational colleges are regularly forced to spend thousands of dollars in complying with Australian Quality Training Framework standards that may be inconsistently applied. "The problem is that each of the VETAB auditors has their own interpretation of many of the 133 standards," Stephens says. "Things that are acceptable in one situation aren't in another. The power is with the auditor and there is no one else to go to." The departmental spokesman says colleges wishing to challenge VETAB decisions can go to the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal, or approach the Ombudsman or the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Despite official talk of "procedural fairness and natural justice", providers who attended the workshops complained that VETAB auditors seemed intent on lumbering them with the largest possible number of non-compliances. "Here at this college we're trying to do the right thing," Gauld says. "Yet we are constantly challenged. This is a typical instance. Even though I sent VETAB a letter advising them of the appointment of a compliance manager, they claimed not to have been advised. "They make a mistake like that, then they blame you, then it becomes a compliance issue."

Meanwhile, the so-called visa factories running Clayton's courses somehow continue tooperate. "There's a college ready to graduate 40 students for hairdressing: teachers from that college told me they've never set eyes on those students," says the owner of another hairdressing college.

In contrast, Coffey was driven to the wall while trying to play by the rules. She set up her college in 1999, building up the courses in beauty therapy until there were about 80 students. When she was audited in 2003, she had just five non-compliances. With things going well, Coffey took a second mortgage on her home, invested thousands of dollars in the equipment required to teach hairdressing, and tried setting up a second training school in another town in NSW, with a person she knew. There were some problems and Coffey ended the association.

Later a student from the other town complained that Coffey was supposed to help her get a diploma. Coffey received a phone call from a VETAB auditor. Let's call him Flock. She insists he told her, "You are in so much trouble." "He said, 'You know what's going to happen to you ... you're going to have a complete audit."' Coffey's solicitor showed the auditor documents proving that at the time of the supposed promise to the student there was no longer any connection between the two colleges. "My solicitor said to (the auditor), you can now see Jo Coffey Training is clear on this ... and he agreed," she recalls. Even so, the audit lasted for two days, with the auditors going over everything with a fine-tooth comb while making disparaging comments. At one point, she recalls, Flock "walked in and said there's nothing wrong with the hairdressing department, it's incredibly well stocked, but she could have got that stuff in yesterday, just for the audit". "They got me into a state of complete stress. I was shaking like a leaf," Coffey says. Their report said there were 109 non-compliances. Flock phoned her about it; according to Coffey he suggested she get herself a good compliance officer, and recommended a fellow VETAB auditor.

Some might see a conflict of interest. He identified a bunch of supposed problems ,then recommended a colleague as a consultant. The department says: "Conflicts of interest among VETAB auditors are inappropriate." In the event, Coffey hired someone else. The process of fixing the non-compliances took six months and ate up another $16,000, but months after VETAB had been supplied with the evidence, Flock phoned her again. Coffey recalls him saying that the compliance officer she had hired had sent them so much material, they hadn't looked at it. Instead they proposed to audit her once again. This time they found 56 non-compliances.

Between the two audits, Coffey suffered a breakdown. She went on as long as she could, to ensure her students completed their courses, then declared bankruptcy. "I couldn't go on another day," she says. The HES sent a detailed list of questions to the department, asking that these be sent also to Flock.

A departmental spokesman said: "Complaints about the operation of VETAB are taken seriously. VETAB auditors are required to behave consistently and fairly when dealing with RTOs (registered training organisations), and a claim that this has not occurred would be of concern to the board."

Since the HES asked about Coffey's case, the spokesman says, the board has referred the allegations about its auditors to the employee performance and conduct unit, the internal body that investigates the behaviour of departmental employees. Coffey says: "It's a relief to know they're doing something about it, and I'm not alone."

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17 May, 2007

Leftist hypocrisy over Dalai Lama

Five years ago Kevin Rudd met the Dalai Lama and said Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer should do likewise, but now, as opposition leader, he is refusing to meet the Buddhist leader. "I think it's pretty weak of Foreign Minister Downer to have somehow have fabricated this excuse that he is somehow too busy to have met the Dalai," Mr Rudd told ABC radio five years ago.

Mr Rudd now says he will not meet the Dalai Lama when he visits Australia to hold several public speaking events from June 6 to 16. Mr Rudd's refusal comes after the Senate President Paul Calvert refused a request from Australian Greens leader Bob Brown to offer the exiled Tibetan leader a parliamentary reception, saying he had "to be mindful of international sensitivities on such matters".

China has long opposed the representatives of foreign nations meeting with the Dalai Lama and recognising the struggle for Tibet.

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More police corruption?

Nobody in Queensland would be surprised



Police had received complaints over a period of several weeks about a nude car washing business on Brisbane's inner north despite saying publicly they had not, council heard yesterday. Hamilton ward councillor David McLachlan said a senior officer at Hendra station told him in an email that police had received numerous complaints about the Albion business, run by strip club entrepreneur Warren Armstrong. A police spokesperson told the media earlier this month that police had not had any complaints from residents.

However, Cr McLachlan said a March 7 email from Inspector David Morganti said the station had received complaints over "several weeks". Speaking for the first time on the issue, Cr McLachlan said the contradiction was troubling. "I find it disturbing that police will privately acknowledge the receipt of complaints but publicly say that no complaints have been received," he said. "I really hope this is an oversight and an innocent error."

The Bubbles 'n' Babes car wash offers topless and nude services and an x-rated show for an extra fee.

Cr McLachlan said council planning approval had originally been given for a motor vehicle repair shop to operate on the site. He said he had asked council officers how the business was allowed to operate in its current form after taking complaints from locals in the area. "To date I've not been provided with an answer to the questions I've asked," he said. "It does disturb me, as I am still the last councillor elected to (council), how long it takes to get answers to questions raised about matters that are within our areas of responsibility." Cr McLachlan said he wanted to know if a planning loophole had been exploited and what, if anything, could be done about it. "It's bewildering that we can approve ... a motor vehicle repair shop and find it weeks later offering x-rated adult entertainment," he said. "And I'd like answers to those questions I asked on behalf of the people I represent."

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Your government will protect you (Some day)

AN AUTOMATIC train control system that could have prevented the Waterfall disaster and that has been operating in Perth for 15 years will be tried out in NSW this year, seven years after rail experts recommended its use. A train protection system that uses computers to monitor trains' speeds and position on the network, versions of which are being installed on several European networks, was a key recommendation of the McInerney inquiry into the Waterfall crash, which killed seven people in 2003.

But rail experts believe that the particular system Peter McInerney, QC, recommended, which is being installed on the high-speed sections of the Swiss rail network, would not be suitable for Sydney's rail network. Instead the Government has awarded contracts worth $13 million to three companies to find the train protection system that is most compatible with CityRail. It is not the first time the Government has planned a trial of an automatic protection system. One was due to begin on the Illawarra line in 2000 after the Glenbrook crash, which also killed seven people.

In the recommendations of his inquiry into that accident, Mr McInerney said no system had been developed anywhere in the world that could reliably be used on the complex Sydney rail network. "The cost of somewhere between $1 billion and $1.5 billion for technology which cannot be demonstrated to be reliable would not be justified," he wrote. "In the last decade there has been a vast amount of public money wasted on less than satisfactory communications systems (Countrynet and Metronet) and train control systems (the Queen Street project)."

The automatic systems that will be tried out from September will override cabin controls to apply the brakes if a driver does not slow down when approaching a red signal or a lower speed limit area. If the trial was successful the system would be extended across the CityRail network, a project expected to cost the Government "hundreds of millions of dollars", said the Premier, Morris Iemma. He said RailCorp had reviewed 65 automatic protection systems from around the world and decided that the European train control system was best suited to the CityRail network.

"We already have in place safety systems to bring trains that have passed red 'danger' signals to a stop," Mr Iemma said. "The CityRail network is fitted with a trackside trip mechanism that applies the brakes of a passenger train automatically if it passes a red signal. This is a significant step towards further improving the safety of CityRail services, and puts us another step closer to implementing the Government's commitments in response to [Mr] McInerney's Waterfall inquiry."

Three companies would each fit out a section of the Blue Mountains Line track and a train to see how their version of the system performs on the CityRail network, Mr Carr said. "The Blue Mountains line was the most appropriate section of track to road test [automatic train protection] due to the hills, curves and number of train movements on that line each day." The Minister for Transport, John Watkins, said the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator recently reported that 89 per cent of the recommendations that came out of the Waterfall inquiry had been acted upon or considered. Four recommendations that RailCorp said were completed were being assessed by the regulator.

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Science study falling behind

SCHOOL science courses have failed to keep pace with changes in science and society over the past 50 years, leading students to consistently bypass the subject. In a paper released by the Australian Council for Educational Research today, the nation's chief scientist, Jim Peacock, and dean of science education at Deakin University Russell Tytler argue the way the subject is taught in schools is doing a disservice to science education and say a radical "reimagining" of the curriculum is required. It warns fewer students are studying science at a time when Australia and other industrialised nations most need them.

Professor Tytler says science education in Australia is in a state of crisis, as students turn away from a subject they view as irrelevant and unconnected to their lives. "This flight from science is occurring in societies that are in increasing need of science and technology-based professionals to carry the nation into a technologically driven future," he says. "It is the pipeline into this pool of expertise that seems in danger of drying up." A shortage of qualified scientists and science teachers is exacerbating the problem.

The paper argues for science education to be refocused to spark interest and excitement in the field, rather than train future generations of scientists. Dr Peacock says it is time for a paradigm shift in science education and that traditional courses are "not fruitful" in a modern world where students send instant messages around the globe.

Professor Tytler says there is a mismatch between science as taught in schools and as it exists in the "real world". Research scientists say school science does not reflect the way they work and that "the focus should be on engaging young people, not on developing future scientists". "Science education has not kept up with either the changing nature of youth and their expectations or the changing nature of science," Professor Tytler said. "It's still dealing with knowledge as a fixed and delivered thing rather than a practical way of thinking and problem solving."

Dr Peacock said the science he learned at school did not meet the needs of today's students, and scientific research was no longer an individual pursuit but a collective, collaborative effort. "Traditional science education is not fruitful in such an environment," he said.

Professor Tytler said scientific knowledge changed so quickly the focus of schools should be on teaching students to think scientifically, learning to investigate, find information and assess it based on examples from their own lives and communities. The paper argues that one of the reasons for the failure of school curriculums to change with the times was "the silent choice of teachers for the status quo; one which supports and reflects their identities as knowledgeable experts". "The knowledge explosion significantly challenges the traditional model of the teacher as expert who delivers significant and stable science concepts to dependent students," the paper says.

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A sucker born every minute

How do you save someone from themselves? More than three-quarters of the Queenslanders who were told by police they were caught up in the infamous Nigerian scam continued sending money overseas. According to fraud investigators, the victims simply refused to believe that their get rich quick schemes were nothing more than a con. And we are not talking about people lacking in education or experience. Victims identified as part of Queensland Police’s Operation Echo Track, set up last year to monitor funds being transferred to Nigeria, included doctors, lawyers engineers and professors. Greed, it seems, is the great equaliser.

Operation Echo Track identified 134 victims of investment scams, the vast majority of them caught up in some variation of the Nigerian scam. Total losses were at least $18million, with an average of $500,000 continuing to be lost every month. 

The Queensland fraud and corporate crime group’s Acting Superintendent Brian Hay said only 24 per cent of the people contacted by police and told they were participating in this scam believed it. “So, 76 per cent continued to send millions of dollars after we told them they were participating in a scam,” he said.

The Queensland figures were estimated to be one-fifth of the national loss to such scams. None of the victims had received any money in return. You can read in detail about how the Nigerian scam works on the Queensland police website at www.police.qld.gov.au/nigerianscams

Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes inteviewed one of the Queensland victims, businessman Graham Schoenfisch, who claims he has been financially wiped out after chasing instant riches through a Nigerian scam. At one point he received a Chase Manhattan Bank cheque for $31.5 million after paying the required “advanced fees”. It was counterfeit.

In the United States the treasurer for a county in the state of Michigan was arrested earlier this year and charged with embezzling US$1.2 million to plough into the Nigerian scam.

According to Holland’s Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, which monitors Nigerian scams - or “419” scams as they are known because the section of the Nigerian criminal code they breach is numbered 419 - around the world, the scams are on the increase.

The scamming networks, which employ up to 250,000 Nigerians, are now using Internet chat rooms, mobile text messages, Internet gaming sites and online dating sites as well as the more traditional spam emails, faxes and snail mail to trawl for new victims.

Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations estimates that a total of US$28 billion has been lost around the world to Nigerian scams since the first emerged in the 1970s, with losses growing at 3 per cent a year. As showman P. T. Barnum said: “There’s a sucker born every minute”.

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16 May, 2007

Howard shows the way on Zimbabwe

It's time somebody did, says Melanie Phillips:

JUST what was that ghostly and unfamiliar noise we heard over the weekend? Good heavens - it was the sound of a country's political leader actually exercising leadership. The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, ordered his nation's cricket team to pull out of a scheduled tour of Zimbabwe in September and even threatened to suspend the players' passports if the sport's governing body did not abide by his decision. His reason was that the proposed tour would be an "enormous propaganda boost" to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, a "grubby dictator" who was behaving "like the Gestapo towards his political opponents". Despite the fact that for more than two decades the population of Zimbabwe has been starved and brutalised by Mugabe's tyranny, this is the first time a government has actually stopped its sportsmen playing there.

At a stroke, Mr Howard has thus exposed the supine hypocrisy of the rest of the world's leaders who, faced with Zimbabwe's escalating agony, have done nothing except wring their hands. What a difference, for example, from the behaviour back in 2004 of the British Government, whose supposedly "ethical" foreign policy did not stretch to stopping the England cricket team touring Zimbabwe.

Britain's cravenness is particularly shameful given that Mugabe is President of Zimbabwe only because the British put him there. A government that was intended to liberate people from repressive minority white rule has instead enslaved them through corruption, violence and tyranny.

In recent months, hundreds of Zimbabwe's opposition members, supporters and activists have been arrested, abducted or tortured. Earlier this month, a group of lawyers was beaten up by police in Harare outside the Ministry of Justice, where they were trying to present a petition against the unlawful arrest and detention of two of their colleagues. In March, the Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and beaten. In the same month opposition activist Nelson Chamisa was brutally attacked on his way to attend an EU-African, Caribbean and Pacific meeting in Brussels - while three regime members were allowed to attend despite an EU ban against Zimbabwe's Government travelling to Europe.

Moreover, Tony Blair recently told senior Labour colleagues that Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party should be permitted to attend an EU-Africa summit in Portugal next autumn, again in flagrant breach of the EU ban - on the grounds it was better to "confront" Mugabe than exclude him.

The rest of the world has been similarly spineless. Despite South Africa's enormous influence over Zimbabwe, its President Thabo Mbeki has refused to exert pressure on Mugabe to relinquish power. Elsewhere in the sporting world, according to Zimbabwe's own state-run newspaper, football's governing body FIFA has given South Africa permission to allow visiting teams to base themselves in Zimbabwe during the 2010 World Cup. And to cap it all, Zimbabwe has recently been chosen - grotesquely - to head a key United Nations committee on the environment, while it so foully desecrates its own.

In such a morally degraded world, John Howard's initiative is so rare as to be utterly startling. Yet it is very much in line with his general political approach, in which he stands up for what he thinks is right without fear of any hostile reaction and simply calls a spade a spade. This confident outspokenness derives from a quality that is very rare in Western leaders -- being entirely comfortable in his own cultural skin.

So much of our political class is paralysed by guilt for what it perceives to be the West's original sin of colonialism. Indeed, the reason Mr Blair gave for suggesting Zimbabwe should attend this autumn's summit was that Britain's colonial past made it hard for the UK to criticise Mugabe's regime. Mr Howard, in sharp contrast, is entirely free of such absurd and crippling cultural cringe. He believes in Australia and its Western values. He thinks these values are superior to any alternatives. And it is this total absence of equivocation in upholding the national interest which explains his robust defence of both Australian identity and Western civilisation against attack.

He is an unwavering ally of America in Iraq and Afghanistan - while others are withdrawing troops from Iraq, he has sent more. He has introduced tough anti-terrorism laws, and has no truck with attempts to use human rights laws to weaken Australia's national security. And he and his senior ministers have spoken out against Islamic extremism in Australia, stating there will be no acceptance of sharia law, turning down a proposal to build a mosque with Saudi Arabian money and declaring that anyone who does not want to live by Australian values should go elsewhere. With the US presidential elections coming up next year, there is a vacancy for the leadership of the Western world. What a pity John Howard can't apply.

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Take note Victoria

The editorial below does not name Victoria because Victoria does have some safeguards -- but only the Victorian government and police think that they are sufficient. The recent revelation that a policeman put in charge of "cleaning up" part of the Victoria force was himself corrupt adds point to the matter

THIS week marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Fitzgerald corruption inquiry in Queensland, an event which should be commemorated as much for the continuing relevance of its work as for the way it catalysed a clean-up of Queensland politics and policing. The Fitzgerald inquiry led to the imprisonment of four state ministers. It unmasked the state's police commissioner as a crook and it kick-started the process which ultimately disgraced premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

But as well as its work to cleanse Queensland, the benefits from the Fitzgerald inquiry that continue today are the presence of standing anti-corruption agencies that oversee police and public services around the country. And their work is as important as ever. Perhaps the way favours are done and influence is peddled has become more sophisticated, but the culture of the brown paper bag has not disappeared. In Western Australia, three ministers have resigned over their connections with disgraced former premier Brian Burke. And the record of police corruption revealed by inquiries into Melbourne's recent gangland wars demonstrates that there will always be officers whose services are for sale.

Independent anti-corruption agencies can be a pain for even honest politicians, sometimes overzealous in their pursuit of allegations that are half-baked. But every time a minister or minder, a police officer or public servant, is caught lying under oath or accepting payment in cash or kind for not doing their duty, the agencies justify their existence. The question for the states that do not have organisations like NSW's Independent Commission Against Corruption, Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission and Western Australia's Crime and Corruption Commission is why not? The lesson of the Fitzgerald inquiry is that the price of honest government, with the social cohesion it brings, is independent oversight of police and public servants. It is a lesson that applies all around Australia now as strongly as it did in Queensland 20 years ago.

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Too many secrets: Australia's public service must protect the public, not politicians

IT is a perverse fact of modern life that as technology dissolves the barriers to instant and limitless communication, the response of governments in Australia has been to increase the limits on what information can be made public. This ranges from a clampdown on simple public service information, such as which restaurants have failed council health checks, to the more sinister pursuit and prosecution of genuine whistleblowers who speak out for community good. It is a sobering statistic that Australia ranks 35th on a global index of media freedom by Reporters Without Borders, behind Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Korea and Ghana, among others. The clampdown on the media's ability to report, and the community's right to know, reflects both a cynical manipulation of freedom of information regimes by successive state and federal governments and a power grab by law enforcement agencies under the guise of the war on terror. The combined result has been a trend that, allowed to continue unchallenged, threatens to undermine the foundations on which Australian democracy is based.

Concern has been raised formally by Australia's major news publishers and broadcasters, including News Limited. In an address to the Australian Press Council last week, Fairfax Media chief executive David Kirk outlined the pernicious way in which the anti-terror laws operate against press freedom. Federal police have been given the right to require any person, including journalists, to produce documents, based on the suspicion that they might assist the investigation of a terrorist offence, without having to produce a warrant.

It is a criminal offence to report that such a request has been made, punishable by up to two years in prison. Just as it is a criminal offence, punishable by up to five years in prison, to report that a preventive detention order has been made in relation to a detainee or any information conveyed by the detained person. While there will always be competition between public disclosure and secrecy when it comes to issues of national security, the increasing trend towards lessening the role of the judiciary in making that decision, such as the need for a warrant to be issued, is to be deplored. It is equally clear that neither national security nor public interest is always the prime concern of governments when it comes to keeping secrets. While Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has made public concessions to press freedom, promising shield laws to protect journalists from having to reveal their sources, the commonwealth's approach is flawed.

As the case of former Customs officer Allan Kessing demonstrates, giving protection to journalists from having to reveal sources is of little use to whistleblowers, who remain at risk of being rooted out and prosecuted within the public service. Mr Kessing is facing up to two years in prison after being found guilty of making public a classified report that the prosecution argued formed the basis of a series of reports in The Australian which led to a $212 million upgrade of national airport security. The report detailed near anarchy at Sydney airport. Mr Kessing was a contributor to the report, which was apparently shelved for two years after going through the appropriate chain of command for action. The newspaper has never revealed if Mr Kessing was its source. Under NSW legislation, a whistleblower would be protected for acting in the public interest in making such a report public if his or her superiors had failed to act.

Meanwhile, two Herald Sun journalists, Michael Harvey and Gerard McManus, are awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to contempt of court for refusing to reveal a source. Harvey and McManus have refused to reveal who provided information that the Government had accepted only one-sixth of the recommendations of a wide-ranging review into veterans' entitlements and had planned to short-change veterans of $500 million. A man convicted by a Victorian County Court jury of leaking the information was given a suspended sentence but was later acquitted of the charge by the state's Court of Appeal.

There is no obvious reason why the Government could not have come clean in the first instance. The guiding principle for good governance should always be that material be made publicly available unless there is a pressing national interest reason for it to be kept private. Any decision to keep information secret or restrict publication should be subject to judicial overview. The public service must be just that, not a law unto itself.

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Teachers rewarded for incompetence

EDUCATION Queensland will spend $2.5 million to jettison 500 under-performing primary school teachers. Under the voluntary program, dubbed the "burnt out bonus", eligible classroom teachers can apply for a grant of up to $50,000 by May 25 to help them make the transition to study, business or another career.

Education Minister Rod Welford said the move would open the way for new, enthusiastic teachers to take their places. "We are aware there are some primary teachers who would like to leave the profession and do something different," he said. "This program recognises the service provided to Queensland by these teachers and supports their goal of moving to a new career. "It's a positive for the teachers seeking change - and for the new primary-trained graduates waiting in the wings."

About 1200 teachers have already left Education Queensland since the Government first offered the controversial Career Change Program in 2002. Mr Welford said the program was self-funding through the savings made from the salary difference between senior teachers and new graduates. He said principals and regional officers would decide who was eligible for the bonus and he had made it clear the department was to be proactive in ensuring top performing teachers were not lost as part of the scheme.

While the teachers are not encouraged to seek work in non-government schools, Education Queensland cannot prevent them doing so. However, to obtain the $50,000, they must show details of how the $50,000 will help them establish a new career.

Queensland Teachers Union president Steve Ryan said the payout scheme would allow teachers "to change careers with dignity" and open opportunities for unemployed primary teaching graduates. Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations executive officer Greg Donaldson also welcomed the move. "If Education Queensland is going to look at rejuvenating the teaching workforce with all the new initiatives that have been talked about lately, then we would certainly support this scheme as it is all about getting the best for our kids," Mr Donaldson said.

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15 May, 2007

THE LABOR PARTY'S UNION ALBATROSS

Three current articles below

Labor leader in the grip of reactionary unionists

As far back as December, we’ve been giving Rudd some gentle advice that he needs to pick the Labor Party up by the scruff of the neck and shake off the union ticks and fleas. In short, Kevin Rudd needs to do a Tony Blair. Since then Rudd has failed to heed the advice, outsourcing IR policy to the ACTU and union luvvie and IR spokeswoman, Julia Gillard.

Maybe Rudd will listen to Cameron, a Labor Party strategist responsible for counting voter preferences, who pointed out that: “The majority of voters are anti-union and they don’t want the unions back in their lives.” D’oh. Even better, Rudd may listen to Blair, the British Prime Minister who long ago recognised what Cameron is only now telling us. Blair’s first speech as PM to the British Trades Union Congress in 1997 is one of the finest modern day political speeches you’ll find, the sort of speech that inspires regardless of your politics.

Rudd might draw inspiration from: “"Let us build unions that people join not just out of fear of change or exploitation but because they are committed to success, unions that look forwards, not backwards...” Or this: “We will keep the flexibility of the present labour market, and it may make some shiver but, in the end, it is warmer in the real world.” Or this: “I say to the trades union movement..........You have a responsibility to people who are unemployed as well as employed.”

When Blair, Britain’s most impressive and successful Labour PM, announced his intention to step down last week, he apologised for the times he had fallen short as leader and gave his thanks to the British people for the times he succeeded. In fact, Blair deserves thanks from the British people for modernising a decrepit trade union movement and making no apologies for retaining Margaret Thatcher’s free market reforms.

It’s hard to imagine Rudd rising to a similar challenge in Australia. It requires a rare leader who can recognise imperfections on his own side of politics and the positives on the other side.

Source

Mining chiefs put Rudd on notice

KEVIN Rudd has been delivered a strong personal message from mining chiefs to rethink his industrial relations policy so their companies can operate under a Labor government without union interference, or else put the nation's mining boom at risk. The Labor leader will consult his deputy, Julia Gillard, after being told during a weekend tour of West Australian mines that retaining "direct employee relationships" with Australian Workplace Agreements was critical to the industry's success.

But Ms Gillard, Labor's industrial relations spokeswoman, flatly refused yesterday to retreat from Labor's pledge to abolish AWAs if the ALP were elected later this year. She said Labor would not accept AWAs or any other form of legislated individual contracts but insisted that the party would accept flexible awards or enterprise agreements, and individual contracts under common law would also be available. "We are continuing to discuss these issues with the mining industry and the business community generally," she said. "One clear way of achieving flexibility is to have individual common law contracts that have as a foundation modern, simplified awards."

Ms Gillard also conceded that more than half a million workers could remain on AWAs for some years if Labor won office, under party acceptance that the terms of such contracts should be served out until they expired. "If someone is content on their AWA ... they would be free to serve out its term," she told The Australian. And she confirmed that thousands more workers would be able to continue to sign AWAs if the ALP won the election, before new laws were passed by parliament. "It's not possible for a government that isn't sworn in to ... change people's legal rights and entitlements," she said.

Ms Gillard denied that she had been sidelined by Mr Rudd over his West Australian trip to hold talks with mining groups over the weekend. "It's completely routine for Kevin and I to do meetings with business together and do them separately," she said.

Mr Rudd travelled by charter jet to West Australian mines on Saturday with Rio Tinto chief executive of iron ore Sam Walsh, BHP Billiton iron ore president Ian Ashby and Woodside managing director Don Volte. "I'm stunned by the magnitude of what I've seen here," Mr Rudd said after experiencing mining operations with AWAs and no union involvement.

Mr Walsh said the mining chiefs wanted to impress on Labor's leader the importance of maintaining a direct relationship with employees so companies could meet their business goals. He said business did not expect a "magic wand" from Mr Rudd but looked forward to further talks. Australian Mines and Metals Association chief executive Steve Knott said companies had suggested a compromise to Labor of leaving AWAs in place but re-applying a no-disadvantage test that existed before the Work Choices laws came into force. Mr Knott said companies opposed collective bargaining and awards, despite flexibility measures advocated by Labor. They did not want a return to ritual negotiations potentially involving unions every three years.

Mr Howard yesterday urged employers to pay either full award rates or full monetary compensation until legislation for the planned fairness test was in place. Asked about correspondence with BHP Billiton executives yesterday, Ms Gillard confirmed that union "right of entry" into workplaces had been raised.

Source

Rudd ready to backflip on individual labour contracts

KEVIN RUDD is canvassing a reverse on individual work contracts despite the hard-line public stance of his industrial relations spokeswoman, Julia Gillard. The Labor leader's office is consulting with industrial relations and economics "hard heads" in the party, including the former industrial relations spokesmen Stephen Smith and Simon Crean.

There is a strong core of frontbench support for replacing the Howard Government's controversial Australian workplace agreements with another form of statutory individual contract that includes a safety net for those earning less than $100,000. The safety net would ensure new contracts meet minimum standards and improve upon the contracts they replace - and would probably be acceptable to business. "There's a few who have been pulled into this," said one source.

A number of insiders expect Labor will announce a new individual contract regime towards the end of June. But the internal and broader electoral politics are fraught, given the former leader Kim Beazley's pledge to tear up AWAs and any form of statutory individual contract. One frontbench Gillard supporter said Mr Rudd committed to honour the Beazley pledge in seeking her support in his leadership challenge. "He made commitments as part of him becoming leader that there wouldn't be a reneging on Beazley's position."

While Labor maintains a healthy lead in opinion polls, it has faced a torrid fortnight since presenting its industrial relations platform at its national conference. Yesterday the Prime Minister, John Howard, stepped up his attack. "If Labor wins, the union movement will be back in charge of industrial relations and that will be overturning one of the five fundamental economic reforms of the last generation," he said.

While Mr Rudd avoided the media, Ms Gillard mounted a strong defence of Labor's platform, but she did leave open the possibility of creating a statutory individual contract to replace AWAs as part of "fine-tuning" or "transitional" arrangements. Repeatedly asked if she ruled out such contracts, Ms Gillard told the Herald: "We will be abolishing Mr Howard's individual work agreements; we don't believe you need individual statutory agreements to get flexibility."

Mr Rudd's advisers yesterday strongly denied he had sidelined his deputy when he travelled without her to consult mining leaders in Karratha at the weekend. He met leaders of BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Woodside Petroleum in six hours of one-on-one talks, but failed to allay their concerns. "He's trying to sell us a Skoda [a budget Czech car] when we're in a BMW world now," one senior mining source said. The managing director of Rio Tinto Australia, Charlie Lenegan, said he remained "very disappointed" with Mr Rudd's workplace policy and said they had not been discussing any compromise. "What we've been doing is outlining our concerns. There have been no negotiations," he said.

Mr Rudd, Ms Gillard and their advisers insist the leadership duo enjoy a close working relationship and have been united on workplace policy since before the party's national conference. "Kevin understands there's a problem, and Julia understands there's a problem, and they're discussing what to do [about replacing AWAs]" one frontbencher said. One adviser said their differences were presentational - Mr Rudd using the language of consensus, Ms Gillard opting to "draw a line in the sand and defend it". A source close to the leadership said the backlash from business had improved their bargaining position with the ACTU. Others warned negotiations would be more difficult as its secretary, Greg Combet, seeks to enter politics.

Source




Gasp! Hard-Left public broadcaster funds anti-Moore doco

What a blunder for them. No way would they have funded it they had known how it would turn out!



A controversial documentary about Oscar winner Michael Moore, which is creating hot debate in North America, was partly funded by Australian money. The film, Manufacturing Dissent, explores Moore's life and questions some of his ethical practices during the making of documentaries including Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 911. Although the filmmakers were initially supporters of Moore who simply wanted to explore his remarkable career, the documentary eventually turns nasty, claiming Moore has fudged some facts in his famous docos to drive home his agenda. Moore, who is considered the most powerful documentary maker in the world, is said to be outraged by the film's emerging profile on the documentary circuit.

Although it was made by Canadian filmmakers Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine, the movie was completed only because of early funding from SBS in Australia. While Manufacturing Dissent takes a few easy pot shots at Moore's phenomenal wealth, it also raises questions about ethical documentary making. The documentary had its premiere in North America nearly three weeks ago, with film fans queuing for hours in the hope of gaining entry to the screening.

The film is expected to be one of the biggest drawcards on the global film festival circuit this year, with every likelihood it may screen at one of Australia's key film festivals before being aired on SBS this year. A spokeswoman from SBS confirmed the Australian link to the project, saying early funding had helped the filmmakers finish the Moore project. SBS executives pre-bought the licence to the film. "The money for that is given at an early stage in the filmmaking, which guarantees some funding to the filmmaker so they can finish the program," the spokeswoman said.

Moore is yet to comment publicly on the documentary, but in at least one segment of it, his minders are seen forcing the crew to stop filming.

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Howard to reshape schools

JOHN Howard will today outline a new push to "reshape the nation's education and training landscape" and force public schools to provide more information for parents on bullying and violence in the classroom. In a major speech outlining the Government's agenda if it wins the next election, the Prime Minister will sharpen his attack on Kevin Rudd's "education revolution" with a pledge to deliver a new era of accountability for parents. He will warn that principals need more support to enforce discipline in the nation's schools and parents must be given report cards on violence and disruptive behaviour.

In his speech to the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, he will also touch on the Government's proposals to place new compliance requirements on the next four-year $40 billion schools funding deal for the states. It is the second in a series of speeches titled Australia Rising, the first of which was delivered last month in Brisbane when Mr Howard warned that only the Coalition could be trusted to deliver targets to cut Australia's greenhouse gas emissions without wrecking the economy.

The new schools funding deal that is being prepared by federal officials will include demands for greater autonomy for principals to hire and fire teachers and requirements to publish more information for parents on academic performance and attendance rates. The outcome is expected to deliver defacto league tables for parents, ensuring school performance is transparent on a range of measures.

"While the states and territories have primary responsibility for government schools, my Government is determined to lay a platform for high academic standards, good teachers, principals with real power and proper accountability," Mr Howard said. "Like all Australians, I am very concerned at reports of school violence and disorder. Parents would be well- served by more information about school discipline, bullying and disruptive behaviour in the classroom. "Parents are entitled to expect that their child is safe at school and that teachers and principals have the authority to ensure a strong learning environment. We want to provide teachers and principals with the necessary support for their essential work."

Mr Howard ignited a schools values debate before the 2004 election when he blamed "politically correct" teachers for an exodus to private schools. In the latest salvo, he will warn that the rise of violence in schools must be tackled.

Australian Secondary Principals Association president Andrew Blair last night said teachers needed more protection against violent students and parents. "We've got examples of kids bringing knives and weapons to school," he said. "I know of one case where very authentic-looking replica pistols have been brought in. I know of cases when students have got up in class and pointed these replica pistols at teachers. "Teachers are dealing with more young people with serious social and emotional problems who are in some cases arriving at school without any food. It varies from cases of parents coming in and physically attacking teachers and principals. "Unquestionably, there needs to be much greater support given to schools via legislation to give schools more power to remove trespassers and when we have violent parents and violent students."

However, Mr Blair also warned there was a continuing problem with private schools dumping difficult-to-manage students on the public sector. "All schools in this country receive government funding, so in my view there's got to be mutual responsibility for taking students who are troubled," he said.

The reforms Mr Howard will outline today are also expected to require the states to offer teachers performance-based pay and to lift literacy and numeracy standards. "School teachers are an important but undervalued profession. Teachers work hard in the interests of their students and my Government's role is to provide further support in their crucial work shaping the lives of future generations," Mr Howard said. "My Government is dedicated to promoting choice, quality and strong values in Australia's education and training system. "Education is crucial to Australia's future. Quality education will lift workforce participation and productivity, helping to maintain today's prosperity," he said.

In separate reforms, the Howard Government is also planning to unleash the same market reforms embraced by universities to shake up the TAFE sector and ensure training is more responsive to the needs of business. Mr Howard will highlight a range of measures in the budget, including summer schools for teachers, a bonus pool of up to $50,000 for principals to award to teachers and reforms to increase philanthropy and business donations to the nation's universities. "The $5 billion Higher Education Endowment Fund deservedly attracted many of the headlines, but new programs to improve literacy and numeracy, more Australian Technical Colleges, summer schools for teachers and reforms to fast-track apprentices will also enhance the quality and diversity of our education and training," Mr Howard said. "For some years now, my Government has aimed to restore prestige to vocational education. The broad community support for Australian Technical Colleges, dedicated centres of trade excellence with incentive structures, including flexible workplace agreements and links to local industry, indicates we are on the right track."

Source



14 May, 2007

The grand dame



Dame Edna Everage has just flown in from London. Not one to slum it, Australia's beloved housewife gigastar is resting up at a Byron resort and spa, recuperating before she leaps on stage at the Capitol Theatre for what she dubs the "climax of [her] jubilee celebrations": the Sydney season of her new show, Back with a Vengeance. "Sorry I sound a bit husky," she purrs. "I've got a cold. It's the old jetlag. I hope you're recording this, darling? Don't sell it on eBay 'cause I'm too husky."

It's now more than 50 years since the shy Moonee Ponds housewife turned theatrical star. Her purple coiffure and elongated spectacles may be her calling card but it's her sharp tongue that has allowed her to bear the title of the longest running theatrical institution in history, with a career that includes award-winning seasons on Broadway, films and television chat shows.

She's taken time out after a massage and before a dinner catch-up with her friend Di Morrissey to reconnect with her possums via the media. Fresh from completing a seven-show British TV series, The Dame Edna Treatment, Dame Edna's theatrical return features Barry Humphries and friends and follows a successful Melbourne season during which she was celebrated with a city-wide Ednafest.

"While I was in London doing this TV show, a street in Melbourne was named after me," she says. "I thought they'd probably rename Collins Street but in fact it was just a little lane, in the better part of town of course. It had formerly been called Brown Alley, isn't that horrible? Luckily it wasn't an underpass! It is now called Dame Edna Place."

In the past few weeks she's sung duets with kd lang, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Shirley Bassey and Deborah Harry for the series, but says TV shows are just a sideline: it is the public across the footlights she lives to serve. "I still pinch myself, darling, to think it was a little over 50 years since I stepped onto the boards in Melbourne, a painfully shy woman," she says, adding that it is now the audience who are shy. "And I'm still so humble, though I don't think humility is one of the great virtues. Like chastity, it's one of the ... well, it's not even a virtue any more. It's almost a drawback."

Her first theatrical foray was as Mary Magdalene in the local Moonee Ponds nativity ("I had to put ointment on our Lord's feet and then dry them with my hair and, of course, having mauve hair was a bit special"), but the dame attributes Humphries with setting the course for fame. "He wanted some advice about what the average Australian housewife thought, did, believed," she says. "I gave him some tips, he invited me to do a little segment of his stage show, the rest is history. Of course, he did sign me up to a contract that has proved to be unbreakable and I cannot wriggle out of it. He and I have a somewhat strange relationship."

Dame Edna says she's embraced modernity but laments the lack of style that has permeated the theatre scene and she longs for the old days when women would frock-up for a soiree. "I always like to dress better than any other woman in the audience," she says. "It used to be quite difficult. In the old days women used to dress up when they went to the theatre; it was an event. Now you're lucky to see someone with shoes on."

She's not a political animal ("If anything I'm far to the left; I like to say I'm to the left of Genghis Khan") and she won't allow pollies anywhere near her shows. But Dame Edna is quick to berate Labor and Kevin Rudd in particular: "Do we want a prime minister who looks like a dentist?"

Not one to hold her tongue, the dame has offended her fair share of people. As a guest columnist for Vanity Fair in the US, she infamously dismissed Spanish as a language of the hired help and Salma Hayek spearheaded a campaign demanding an apology to the Hispanic community. But the dame is unapologetic. "Oh that Salma," she sighs. "She was looking for some publicity ... She didn't get the point at all."

Most of her memories are sweet. She has hosted too many legends to remember - although Charlton Heston was a stand-out ("he's a bit ga-ga now but he was a lovely guest and surprisingly sporty"). She says it is her soft spot for Aussie audiences that keeps her coming home. "It's very personal," she says of Back with