From the ABC Online, September 1, 2010
Premier Kristina Keneally has announced ports and waterways minister Paul McLeay has resigned after he admitted using his parliamentary computer to visit gambling and adult websites. Read more…
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Filed under: N.S.W
Arrivals top 4000 as 89th boat stopped
THE 89th asylum boat for the year was intercepted by the navy yesterday, 450km north of Broome.
Border Protection Command said the boat, carrying 36 passengers and two crew, was found off Scott Reef in the Timor Sea.
All on board have been taken to Christmas Island for routine processing and health checks.
It brings to 4168 the number of asylum-seekers apprehended so far this year, compared to 2726 last year and 161 in 2008.
The boat, thought to be of Indonesian origin, was intercepted by patrol boat HMAS Pirie at 1.30am (AEST).
The Australian territory of Scott Reef lies about 320km southwest of the Indonesian island of Roti.
The boat arrivals were a prominent theme during the federal election campaign, with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott saying a Coalition government would “stop the boats” and would introduce Howard-era temporary protection visas.
Mr Abbott also vowed to negotiate with Nauru to re-open the offshore processing centre on the Micronesian island state.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s solution also involved an offshore processing centre, although plans to establish a facility in East Timor quickly ran into trouble.
The opposition spokesman on immigration, Scott Morrison, said the latest boat arrival highlighted the need for a strong, stable and effective government that would stop the boats and end the people-smuggling trade to Australia. Read more…
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Filed under: Federal
From the ABC Online, August 26, 2010
Victoria’s Department of Human Services (DHS) is reviewing hundreds of cases of children being exposed to registered sex offenders.
Victoria Police says an audit has revealed that 667 children have been exposed to 376 offenders since 2005.
DHS has formed a taskforce to investigate the claims.
The Opposition’s Community Services spokeswoman Mary Wooldrige says the Government must overhaul the child protection system.
“The Ombudsman’s already revealed children have been placed with sex offenders by John Brumby’s government,” she said.
“Now we find hundreds more children have been placed in harm’s way by the most basic failures in the government’s responsibilities.
“We believe these situations need to be exposed in a comprehensive review of the system.”
Earlier this year, the Ombudsman warned of a disturbing level of abuse of children in state care.
Victoria Police has apologised for its failure to report the whereabouts of registered sex offenders to DHS.
Assistant Commissioner Geoff Pope says Victoria Police did not property meet it obligations.
He says a better system is now in place.
“I think we’re well and truly on top of it,” he said.
“It wont happen again and its a very unfortunate oversight and we’re very sorry that it occurred.”
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Filed under: Victoria
From the ABC Online, August 18, 2010
The president of the Bowen Turf Club in north Queensland has given a formal statement to police about a fight with the ALP candidate for the seat of Dawson.
Turf club president Cyril Vains and ALP candidate Mike Brunker exchanged punches on Saturday over election signage at the local racetrack.
Mr Brunker says he was defending himself, while Mr Vains alleges he was the victim of an attack.
Mr Vains has been a member of the Labor Party for 37 years and also alleges party officials attempted to stop him from making a complaint
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Filed under: Queensland
Labor staff got top deals on payouts, tax
NSW Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat has revealed that two ministerial advisers – understood to be senior staff with former NSW premier Nathan Rees – received severance payouts that were $177,800 in total above what was stipulated in the guidelines.
The auditor’s report recommends that all future payments comply with the guidelines, but in his official response to the findings, Premier’s Department chief Brendan O’Reilly said he reserved the right to negotiate similar deals in future.
Mr Achterstraat finds sacked ministerial staff are routinely classified as “redundant” to reduce the federal income tax they pay on their golden handshakes. Read more…
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Filed under: N.S.W
From ABC Online, by Bronwyn Herbert. August 12, 2010
Social workers are warning that the Federal Government’s decision to cut costs in a mental health initiative will damage vulnerable Australians.
From April next year, social workers will no longer be able to bulk bill their clients under the Better Access to Mental Health counselling program.
The Government says the savings made from these cuts will be directed to helping people with severe mental illness.
Social worker Lynne Harrold says it leaves those most vulnerable in need.
“I hear of a case probably every week, where an elderly person has taken their own life in an aged care facility. And this could be prevented,” she said. Read more…
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Filed under: Federal
From The Australian. By Mark Aarons. August 10, 2010
THE spectre of Kevin Rudd is haunting Labor’s re-election campaign.
This election will be remembered for the incompetent advice provided to Rudd by the ALP’s once mighty NSW Right, destroying the prime minister’s standing and prompting his political assassination by those who gave the advice.
This undermined Labor’s achievements, greatly increasing the risk of a first-term government’s defeat for the first time in 80 years.
Rudd’s destruction was unprecedented. Never before had the party treated a successful leader with such disloyalty, but now he has been recalled to help save his successor.
The NSW Right faction leader Mark Arbib both secured and destroyed Rudd’s leadership. Win, lose or draw, Arbib will go down in history for his catastrophic political role. His part in the anti-Rudd manoeuvre was all the more extraordinary because he was the architect of the disastrous policy backflip that caused Rudd’s spectacular collapse. Having built his political persona firmly on the foundation of fighting climate change, Rudd recklessly threw away his credibility by postponing the emissions trading scheme.
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Filed under: Federal
From The Herald Sun Online, August 6, 2010
GOVERNMENT primary schools in Victoria yesterday learned the extent of their BER rip-off.
Previously confidential figures showed state schools paid more than double the price of their Catholic counterparts for new halls and exorbitant fees to managing contractors.
The Brumby government, which had refused to release costing data since the inception of Julia Gillard’s Building the Education Revolution program, has released figures revealing the extent of cost blowouts, fee duplications and poor value for money spent on state primary schools.
According to the figures, provided as part of a government submission to a state parliamentary inquiry into the $16.2 billion scheme, the government expects to pay an average of $4842 per square metre for 390sq m halls delivered under the scheme, and $5575/sq m for 160sq m buildings.
By contrast, the Catholic Church is delivering school halls to its schools for an average of $2221/sq m. Read more…
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Filed under: Federal
From the ABC Online. Posted Wed Aug 4, 2010
The Federal Government is defending the amount of money it has spent on consultants as part of a review into its school stimulus program.
There are reports the taskforce set up to investigate waste in the Building the Education Revolution initiative has spent more than $1 million on consultants.
The taskforce is being led by businessman Brad Orgill and has a budget of $14 million.
Education Minister Simon Crean says he is not surprised at the amount spent on attaining expert advice.
“Of course you have to draw on specialist consultancies otherwise you’d have to employ a lot more people in the taskforce,” he said.
“Brad Orgill is a very competent person but he’s entitled to expert advice. This is what the consultancies are for and that’s what his budget is for.”
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Filed under: Uncategorized
From The ABC Online 29, July 2010
A review committee has expressed concern about chronic staff shortages in Victoria’s child protection system, after 26 children died in care last year.
The committee’s report, tabled in State Parliament today, found four of the deaths were caused by “non accidental trauma”.
Seven of the deaths still can not be explained.
The report says under-staffing and workload pressures are having a “corrosive” effect on the child protection system.
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Filed under: Victoria
