Kids doing time: Crowding, cuts and crisis -

Many believe the juvenile justice system in New South Wales has been placed in crisis by overcrowding and a budget cut that will see it lose 100 front-line staff.

Statistics obtained by ABC1′s Four Corners reveal why: since 2007, assaults and incidents of self-harm inside the state’s juvenile detention centres have more than doubled and the centres are bursting at the seams.

In 2007 there were 187 assaults by detainees on each other. In 2008 this figure jumped to 242. So far this year the number has gone to 258.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/24/2664591.htm

It’s as bad here in the west and Indigenous youth make up the majority of those in detention. Jail is no substitute for Mental Health services.

from @perthtones’ iPhone

Australian Telco watchdog upbeat despite the ongoing mayhem in customer service – do they have an ISP themselves?

Monday 24 August, 2009

Telcos take first steps to improve customer service: Ombudsman

The Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has called on service providers to continue putting customers’ interests first in a bid to improve the consumer experience.

The Ombudsman Deirdre O’Donnell made the comments today at the launch of the TIO’s connect.resolve report, which shines the spotlight on the telecommunications industry’s customer service performance in the first six months of this year. The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy launched the report in Melbourne today.

The report shows the number of complaints about customer service matters to the TIO increased by 1.8 per cent during the campaign, compared with a 46 per cent rise in 2007-08.

Ms O’Donnell said although the overall number of complaints stabilised during the campaign, further action was needed.

"The stabilisation shows that our collaborative approach with service providers has been effective, but they need to continue their efforts to prioritise customer service," she said.

"The proportion of complaints about customer service-related matters has remained unacceptably high and, in the TIO’s view, the industry still has much work to do in this area."

The connect.resolve campaign was created to encourage the 10 largest telecommunications companies to refocus on their customers’ experiences and the need to improve their customer service practices.

Throughout the campaign, service providers received monthly data about their customers’ complaints to the TIO, as well as examples of consumer ‘voices’ so they could have a better understanding of which areas needed improvement, and further develop their customer service processes.

Some companies acknowledged they needed to make substantial changes to the way they approached customer service and some had already begun to do so.

"All the changes that the telecommunications industry is making will greatly benefit its customers and the community overall," Ms O’Donnell said.

However, she emphasised the industry must continue to give priority to improving customer service.

"To achieve a sustainable improvement, the collaborative effort that has been initiated through connect.resolve, involving telecommunications companies, regulators, policy makers and key consumer and industry groups, needs to continue," Ms O’Donnell said.

The TIO will continue to report publicly on the industry’s performance through its quarterly consumer newsletter TIO Talks.

Download release in PDF (2 pg/69 KB)

Media contact: John DuBois, Communications Manager, (03) 8600 8378 or 0417 559 287

POSTED BY tony serve who’s still waiting to resolve costly and maddening disputes with #optus after they supplied the TIO with false info and failed to send compensation forms as directed, they sent the debt collectors instead.

Skype: perthtones Google Talk: serve.tony@gmail.com
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tony serve blogs Australian Bassist loses fight against cancer – ABC link

Australian Bassist loses fight against cancer – ABC link

Tributes flow for Magic Dirt bassist

Monday, August 24, 2009

Magic Dirt’s MySpace page has been inundated with tributes to bassist Dean Turner, who has lost his fight against cancer aged 37.

Turner co-founded the Geelong-based band with singer Adalita Srsen in 1992 and is survived by a wife and two young daughters.
To view on a PC/Mac please use this link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/24/2664870.htm

To view on a mobile please use this link

http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=2664870&cat=Justin

from @perthtones’ iPhone

ABC News Article link.

WA oil spill ‘one of Australia’s worst’

Monday, August 24, 2009

An oil spill in the Timor Sea off Western Australia’s northern coast is shaping as one of the nation’s worst.

The incident occurred at the West Atlas mobile offshore drilling unit, 250 kilometres north of Truscott, and 690 kilometres west of Darwin, last Friday morning.

To view on a PC/Mac please use this link http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/24/2664927.htm

To view on a mobile please use this link http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=2664927&cat=Justin
from @perthtones’ iPhone

Mental Health Forum in Perth Tuesday September 29 on plans for the coming decade – be part of the change in Western Australia September

Thank you to all the West Australians who took part in recent workshops hosted by Price Waterhouse Cooper to inform the powers that be about the urgent need for change in practice and process.

Join those steering the information process on Tuesday September 29 to hear about what happens from here. Please see the brochure below this post for details of the forum and share with your contacts.

The recent confirmation of Australia‘s suicide rate as not falling in ten years clearly shows that Governments and Service Providers have failed tragically.

No group has been failed more miserably than the First Australians, city or regional, who are suffering and dying at rates that higher than many third world countries ( don’t get me started on how little impact the Government and resource industry’s meagre efforts have had on their welfare despite making Billions from sacred land )

The deadly toll of stigma, misdiagnosis, over-drugging, ignorance,vested interests and plain inertia can’t even be measured because of the failed unwritten media rule of not reporting on suicide ( except if it’s a ratings boosting celebrity suicide )

The silence is deadly, and even offensive, as the media still gives oxygen to suicide kits and tragically wrong advice from the man known as Dr Death – under the guise of “covering” the Euthenasia debate.

A Perth woman with mental illness died horribly in Mexico after following his advice on “dignified death”, leaving her young children orphaned and a hole in the hearts of her family and community, including her since departed sister who was a dear friend of mine and the 6PR Perth radio talkback family.

Click Pic for Perthnow.com.au story