Perth ends 2009 on a rainless note : PRESS RELEASE

Perth ends 2009 on a rainless note

31/12/2009: Perth failed to receive any rainfall during December, only the third time this has happened during December on record, according to weatherzone.com.au.

The city only averages six millimetres during December, but the lack of any rain this month made it the driest December since 1997, the last time that no rain was recorded.

“Summer is the driest time of year in southwest Western Australia, so it is not unprecedented to have a rainless month at this time of year. However, it is quite unusual for the city to not even pick up a passing shower or storm, especially given how wet northern and inland parts of the state were as a result of Severe Tropical Cyclone Laurence,” weatherzone.com.au meteorologist Matt Pearce said.

2009, as a whole, was a dry year for Perth. The city came in at 608mm, below the long term annual average of 753mm. This made it the driest year since 2006.

It was also a warm month. Perth had an average maximum of 31 degrees, above the long term normal of 29. This made it the hottest December in terms of daytime temperatures since 1999. In fact, on the 28th, the city peaked at 40 degrees, the hottest December day in two years.

The nights were also warm. Perth’s average minimum of 17 degrees was slightly above the long term normal of 16. This made it the warmest December in terms of overnight temperatures since 2002. In fact, on the morning of the 29th, the city did not fall below 24 degrees, making it the warmest December night in six years.

When both daytime and overnight temperatures were combined, Perth’s average temperature came in at 24 degrees, above the long term normal of 22. This made it the warmest December since 2002.

Looking at 2009 as a whole, Perth had a warm year. The average maximum of 25 degrees was slightly above the long term normal of 24.5, but this was sufficient to make it the warmest year in terms of daytime temperatures since at least 1994. The average minimum of 12.7 degrees was also slightly above the long term normal of 12.6, but this made it the warmest year in terms of overnight temperatures since 2003. The mean temperature of 18.9 degrees was the highest since 1999.

“The high average temperatures can mainly be put down to a warm January, April, May, August, October and December. March and September actually came in quite a bit cooler than average, so without these months, it would have been even warmer overall,” Pearce said.

“At this stage, we are expecting 2010 to be fairly close to average rainfall-wise, although tending more on the wetter than normal side.”

Media Inquiries:

Matt Pearce
media
02 9965 9236

About Weatherzone:

Weatherzone is Australia’s most popular commercial meteorological resource, supplying weather information to most of Australia’s major television broadcasters and websites. www.weatherzone.com.au has been developed by a team of world class meteorologists and features user friendly, up-to-the minute access to weather across the country.

West Australian Surfing brings Film, Fun and Social activism together at the Yallingup Surfilm Festival January 22-24

YSF10 Explores Eclectic Surf Culture

with Films from Around the Globe

YSF10 is a diverse and classic collection dedicated to oceanic philosophy. Each evening holds a different program of films, music, fundraising auctions and talks. All films screened will be in competition for the Best Feature Film Award, Best Short Film Award and People’s Choice Award.

Exploring 8 Feature Films, Live Music, Auctions, Q & A sessions with eccentric anecdotes on the making of the films from the film directors and surf legends, the inaugural YSF is an event truly in the spirit of surf culture. To be held under the stars, at renowned Madfish winery, Margaret River, from 22 – 24th January 2010, YSF10 is not to be missed.

We are thrilled to announce that films have arrived from all corners of the earth. Many are world premieres or making it to Australia for the first time. The YSF10 Program has just been released and is filled with films from honored filmmakers and enlightening subjects. Beginning Friday evening and running through the weekend, YSF10 plans to screen The Life and Films of Albe Falzon; Tom’s Creation Plantation; Searching for Michael Peterson; Hanging 5; Jesse’s Story; Somewhere Near Tapachula; Musica Surfica; Sofia and The Drifter.

YSF10 is a Non Profit Event and in honor of SurfAid International’s 10 year anniversary, auctions will be held to contribute to the astounding work they have contributed to the wider community of surf culture and the exotic locales it reaches. Highlighting these fundraising activities will be free surfer and artist Karlee Mackie. Karlee will be creating various pieces, live at the festival, to be auctioned each evening of the event.

We are extremely privileged to have such a classic and honored list of attendees joining us for this exploration into Surf Culture. Some of our special guests are:

Dr Dave Jenkins, founder of SurfAid International
Albe Falzon, legendary film maker of Morning of the Earth as well as contributed to surf culture.
Tom Wegener, Alaia Surfboard shaper
Tim Baker, author of best selling surfing books, former editor of Tracks and Surfing Life magazines.
Fil Baker, Director of The Life and Films of Alby Falzon
Stefan Hunt, Director of Somewhere near Tapachula

The below still from one of the films to be screened; ‘Somewhere Near Tapachula’.

Please be in touch with any enquiries:

PR & Media Consultant

Tatianna Alpert

+61449565059

Tatianna

Media Release YSF.doc

YSF10Banner.pdf

Easier ways emerging to accept payment on iPhone and other mobiles -

Twitter co-founder takes aim at mobile payments http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_15850/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=9hARmoT6

from @perthtones’ iPhone

ABC News: Activists fall victim to Gaza blockade

Activists fall victim to Gaza blockade
More than 1,300 international peace activists from 40 countries, including Australia, are in Egypt this week.The self-styled "freedom marchers" include prominent authors, lawyers and journalists, many of them Jewish.They had hoped to cross the border to Gaza for a planned protest today against Is…

To read the full story on your mobile please use this link
http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=2783377&cat=Justin

To read the full story on a PC or Mac please use this link
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/31/2783377.htm

Kevin Rudd in hiding over Japanese whaling

Kevin Rudd in hiding over Japanese whaling: Greens

The Australian Greens have welcomed the arrival of the Sea Shepherd vessel ‘Steve Irwin’ on a brief stopover in Hobart this morning.

“The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has again shown up the timidity of the Government, seeking to enforce international law while the Australian Government stands on the sidelines,” said Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

“These campaigners have inspired Australians with their courage and willingness to act while notionally anti-whaling states like Australia stand by and do nothing.

“The Australian Government has a range of options, starting with official condemnation of Japanese deployment of military personnel to protect illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean and deployment of vessels to at least monitor the situation.

“We should make any future Japanese free trade agreement conditional on an end to the slaughter, and we should commence immediate legal action to enforce the law of the sea.

“Instead, the Australian Government has gone silent and left it to the Sea Shepherd to uphold international law,” he concluded.

Media Contact – Fernando de Freitas 0417 174 302

Fernando de Freitas
Media Advisor

Office of Scott Ludlam & Rachel Siewert

Australian Greens Senators for Western Australia

Suite S1.36 Parliament House, Canberra ACT
P: 02 6277 3467 | M: 0417 174 302

Fernando.defreitas
www.GreensMPs.org.au

Newsletter December 2009

Hi Everyone
In January, we have 4 courses booked for Teacher Pd in Perth, Collie and Bunbury.
For parents, our first course for 2010 will be held at Leederville starting 11th Jan.
We wish you all a safe and enjoyable festive season. Thanks to all who have supported Behaviour Tonics throughout the year.
All the best
Brad, Lisa, Linda and Julie

WHAT’S ON FOR SCHOOLS

1-2-3 Magic and Emotion Coaching in the Classroom – Professional Development in a simple and effective discipline approach.

MELVILLE – Friday 22nd January, Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre, 8.30 – 4.00pm.
Teacher PD Flyer and Registration Form
BUNBURY – Thursday 28th January, Adam Road Primary School, 8.30am – 3.30pm.
Bunbury Flyer and Registration Form
COLLIE – Friday 29th January, Margaretta Wilson Centre, 8.30am – 3.30pm
Collie Flyer and Registration Form
MELVILLE – Friday 26th February, Melville, Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre, 8.30 – 4.00pm.
Teacher PD Flyer and Registration Form

In House PD – If you’re thinking of ‘In House’ PD for your school, see the rate card below. Saturdays available.

In House Teacher Pd Rate Card

WHAT’S ON FOR PARENTS

Courses – 1-2-3 Magic and Emotion Coaching Parent Course
These courses for parents and carers are run over 2 or 3 sessions and teaches parents to manage difficult behaviour while helping the child develop emotional intelligence. All this can be done without the arguing and yelling, which often leads to everybody feeling bad. Check out one of the flyers below for more information and if you are unconvinced take a look at the testimonials of some of the hundreds of happy clients.

Leederville
11th, 18th & 25th January, 7pm to 9.30pm, Loftus Community Centre, 99 Loftus St, Leederville. Leederville Flyer and Registration Form
Melville
6th, 13th & 20th February, 9am to 11.30am, Melville Recreation Centre, Cnr Stock Rd & Canning Hwy, Melville. Melville Flyer and Registation Form
Creche available 2 months to 5 years. If registering online, please mention that you are interested in using the creche facilities in the comments section, and we will send you the relevant information.
Duncraig
10th, 17th & 24th February, 7pm to 9.30pm, Sorrento Tennis Club, 40 Warwick Rd, Duncraig. Duncraig Flyer and Registration Form

In House Parenting Courses - Like to organise your own course? This popular and convenient option involves our staff presenting the course at your own home or chosen venue. From 1-40 participants. The 1-2-3 Magic and Emotion Coaching course can be tailored to your needs. Please see the services and price list pdf. Services and Price LIst
For larger groups (up to 40 particpants) In House Parent Flyer

WHAT’S ON FOR HEALTH AND ALLIED PROFESSIONALS?

1-2-3 Magic and Emotion Coaching Practitioner Training Course
Monday 22nd March, Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre, Leach Highway, Melville, 8.30am to 4.30pm.
Flyer available on our website soon.

HOW DO I REGISTER AND PAY FOR A COURSE?

Payment for courses can be made by filling out the payment slip on the bottom of the course flyer and returning to us by fax or mail, or you can pay online by going to our website at www.behaviourtonics.com.au, selecting the course you wish to attend and following the steps. Please call 9201 1250 with any queries.
For professionals who are having the course paid for on their behalf, just send through your registration form and the details of who we should invoice.

WHAT ARE OUR CLIENTS SAYING?

Parents Parent Course Feedback
Teachers Teacher Pd Feedback
Practitioners Practitioner Course Feedback

CONTACT US

By phone: 08 9201 1250
By mail: PO Box 139, Mount Hawthorn WA 6915
By fax: 08 9444 8498
By email: btonics
Web: www.behaviourtonics.com.au

1-2-3 MAGIC BOOKS AND DVD’S

For 1-2-3 Magic books and DVD’s, go to www.parentshop.com.au or phone 1300 738 278, to get the cheapest prices and prompt service

HELP SAVE THE LIVES OF AUSTRALIAN WOMEN -February is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

HELP SAVE THE LIVES OF AUSTRALIAN WOMEN

~ A VITAL COMMUNITY HEALTH INITIATIVE ~

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is February 2010

“Every woman needs to know the symptoms of ovarian cancer. Make sure THEY do!”

Please find attached a media alert and kit which provides detailed information on Ovarian Cancer Australia’s national awareness month and how the media can help inform women about a disease which kills one Australian woman every 11 hours.

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is the initiative of Ovarian Cancer Australia. Awareness of ovarian cancer and its symptoms is vital for every Australian woman of any age because every day ovarian cancer affects someone’s partner, someone’s sister, someone’s daughter or someone’s mother.

On February 1, Ovarian Cancer Australia is launching Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month 2010 to help save lives by raising awareness about the symptoms of ovarian cancer and provide support for those touched by ovarian cancer.

In 2010, more than 1500 Australia women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer

More than 850 will die from the disease – that’s 1 woman every 11 hours

75% of women are diagnosed in the advanced stages and will not live beyond 5 years

Ovarian cancer is the 6th most common cause of death in Australian women

Ovarian cancer can affect women of all ages – girls as young as 7 have been diagnosed. But the risk of getting ovarian cancer increases with age. The average age for an ovarian cancer diagnosis is 64.

There is no detection test – a Pap smear does NOT detect ovarian cancer

The majority of Australian women DON’T know the symptoms of ovarian cancer but almost all women with ovarian cancer suffer symptoms

To ensure a good chance of survival it is essential that ovarian cancer is caught in the early stages

If found in the early stages, the majority of women will be alive and well after five years

Awareness of symptoms is the principle means of early diagnosis to save lives!

With the help of the media, we aim to save lives by educating women about the symptoms of ovarian cancer. We aim to inform them about what to do if they have symptoms, empowering them to manage their health

In the lead up to Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, we invite you to help save lives. You can support this community health initiative by letting every woman know the risks and symptoms of ovarian cancer.

A detailed description of symptoms is included in the journalist notes.

However, the most common four symptoms which women with ovarian cancer experience frequently and persistently are: pelvic and abdominal pain, increased abdominal size/persistent bloating, increased urinary frequency, and difficulty eating and/or feeling full quickly.

We Are Able To Offer You A Number Of Interview And Photo Opportunities Including:

Survivors of ovarian cancer in every state

Medical experts on ovarian cancer, current treatments and research

Jean Kittson – Voice/Face of the 2010 Campaign

Nicole Livingstone OAM – Patron – Ovarian Cancer Australia

Paula Benson – Director – Ovarian Cancer Australia and ovarian cancer survivor

Mrs World Australia – Carin Hillman-Varma

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact

Insight Communications

02 9319 3844 www.insightcommunications.net.au

Clare Collins – 0414 821 957 clare

Alice Collins – 0414 686 091 alice

THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT. INSIGHT COMMUNICATIONS PRACTICES ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION.

Your details were obtained through Medianet’s Media Atlas. If you do not want to recieve media releases from Insight Communications please email alice

Media Alert – Health Writers.pdf

Greens concerned Japan using military personnel to protect illegal whaling

MEDIA RELEASE

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Greens concerned Japan using military personnel to protect illegal whaling

The Australian Greens are deeply concerned by reports that Japan has deployed military personnel on vessels to protect its Antarctic whaling fleet.

“This is unconscionable behaviour which must be immediately condemned by the Australian government to prevent possible escalation of violence in our southern seas,” Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens Marine Spokesperson said today.

“News that the Japanese security escort Shonan Maru 2 is employing ‘military-style tactics’ is very worrying and a sign things might turn violent.

“Our Commonwealth should send a strong message to the Japanese Government that these tactics are unacceptable, and commence international legal action against the illegal whale slaughter.

The Antarctic Treaty specifically forbids military activity within the Antarctic zone.

“If the Japanese government are using military personnel, military equipment or military tactics – at what point does this effectively become a military exercise?

“Serious questions need to be asked by the Australian Government to establish if military personnel are in fact involved and whether this is yet another potential treaty violation by the Japanese whaling fleet.

“All we’ve seen so far is empty rhetoric from this government – all words and no action. The Japanese clearly know this and have stepped up their activities.

“The Australian Greens reiterate our call for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to make any deal on a free trade agreement with Japan contingent on an end to Antarctic whaling.

“How much worse does the situation have to get before we see this government act? How many more whales will be killed in our southern oceans? How many more seasons will this Government allow?

“Taking legal action now would send a strong signal to the world that Australia is serious about saving the environment,” Senator Siewert concluded.

Media Contact: Fernando de Freitas 0417 174 302

Fernando de Freitas
Media Advisor

Office of Scott Ludlam & Rachel Siewert

Australian Greens Senators for Western Australia

Suite S1.36 Parliament House, Canberra ACT
P: 02 6277 3467 | M: 0417 174 302

Fernando.defreitas
www.GreensMPs.org.au

Media – ROBIN CHAPPLE – GREENS WELCOME INDIGENOUS ANTI-NUCLEAR STATEMENT AT COPENHAGEN

MEDIA 16 December 2009

GREENS WELCOME INDIGENOUS ANTI-NUCLEAR STATEMENT AT COPENHAGEN

The Greens today welcomed a statement from US Indigenous communities condemning the nuclear industry as neither ‘clean’ nor ‘green’ and outlining the horrific impacts of uranium mining on indigenous peoples in the US.

Robin Chapple, Greens MLC for the Mining and Pastoral Region, said that the statement could not be more timely for his electorate and Western Australia at large.

“This authoritative and heartbreaking document sets out in stark terms the legacy of the nuclear cycle – radioactive hotspots, cancer clusters, failing nuclear waste facilities and an unaccountable industry – on already vulnerable communities across the United States.”

“This is the legacy the Barnett Government and the uranium miners want to leave the Western Australian community, most of all to the Indigenous communities upon whose land the uranium lies.”

“Moreover, this document sets out in no uncertain terms why embracing the dying nuclear industry as a climate change fix is the stuff of fantasy.”

The statement entitled ‘Ruling out the Nuclear Option – Not Clean or Green: The Legacy of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear and Chemical Weapons Upon US Indigenous & Communities of Color’ was released by BASE (Building Action for Sustainable Environments Initiative) at Copenhagen yesterday.

2009 Copenhagen Position_Paper_complete.doc

Related articles by Zemanta

• Reporter’s Notebook: In Copenhagen, ‘To Be Elaborated’ Means a Stalemate (nytimes.com)
• You: Nuclear strategy threatens Kalahari (guardian.co.uk)

Australian Parents and Carers – An invitation from Anne Manne

National federation of Parents, Families and Carers

infather130

infamily

Australia, news, video, research, jobs, children’s issues, environment,. Last for the year – APO Weekly Briefing – 15 December 2009

.

Dear APO Subscribers, this will the last full Weekly Briefing for 2009. Next week’s Briefing will feature the most popular reports for 2009 in all the major topic areas plus a selection of some of the best Australian non-fiction books published in 2009. If you have any suggestions for books to be included in the list we’d love to hear from you. Please email admin by Friday with Book suggestion as the subject.

Amanda Lawrence, Penelope Aitken and Peter Browne
APO editors

NARPACA Ticketing Professionals Conference & Tradeshow

New commentary

Is the Carnival Over?

14 December, 2009 | What is it that makes festivals such a compelling proposition for audiences asks Ben Eltham in Meanjin

Housing stress undermining super

11 December, 2009 | Allowing borrowers to draw on their super to pay the mortgage is bad policy, write Anitra Nelson, Tony Dalton and Mike Berry

The Howard impact

11 December, 2009 | Viewed comparatively, the achievements and failings of the Howard government look a little different, write Rodney Tiffen and Ross Gittins in Inside Story

New research

Creative Economy

Whither culture? Australian horror films and the limitations of cultural policy

Mark David Ryan | Media International Australia
15 December, 2009 | Cultural policy that attempts to foster the Australian film industry’s growth and development in an era of globalisation is coming under increasing pressure.

The digital deadlock: how clearance and copyright issues are keeping Australian content offline

Jennifer Wilson | Australian Film Television and Radio School
10 December, 2009 | This paper details the core issues that stand in the way of film producers taking full advantage of new technologies and distribution channels, and goes on to detail three controversial solutions designed to break this digital deadlock.

Network developments in support of innovation and user needs

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
15 December, 2009 | High-speed broadband networks are a platform supporting innovation throughout the economy today in much the same way electricity and transportation networks spurred innovation in the past.

Digital television in developing countries?

International Journal of Digital Television
11 December, 2009 | There can be few more exotic locations to gather for a broadcasting conference than the South Pacific Island Kingdom of Tonga, where the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) held its Asia-Pacific regional conference in February 2009.

Economics

Locked-in casual employment

Riccardo Welters, William Mitchell | Centre of Full Employment and Equity
14 December, 2009 | This paper provides an up-to-date examination of the hypothesis that under certain circumstances casual workers can become trapped into a work history of repetitive casual jobs with little chance of escape.

A 21st century solution to skill shortages in Australia

Victor Quirk | Centre of Full Employment and Equity
14 December, 2009 | This paper argues for specific, major, institutional reforms capable of building a high-skilled internationally competitive labour force in Australia.

Education

Web 2.0 site blocking in schools

Geoff Hendrick | Education.au
11 December, 2009 | This report focuses on identifying and overcoming the barriers associated with current site blocking practices in schools with regards to Web 2.0 services.

Towards a 21st century national software infrastructure for education

Geoff Hendrick, Andrew Williams | Education.au
14 December, 2009 | This investigation develops the case for acceleration of Australia’s progress towards a 21st century education software infrastructure.

A snapshot of early childhood development in Australia

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
11 December, 2009 | In 2009, the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) was completed nationwide for the first time. Between 1 May and 31 July, information was collected on 261,203 five year old children and is revealed in this report.

Environment & Planning

Yeelirrie uranium deposit in Western Australia

Stewart Needham | Parliamentary Library
14 December, 2009 | This brief looks at the location, environment, geology and mineral resource of the Yeelirrie deposit and summarises its political history since discovery in 1972.

Counting the costs: planning requirements, infrastructure contributions, and residential development in Australia

Bill Randolph, Kristian Ruming, Nicole Gurran | Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
14 December, 2009 | This study represents a first step in establishing a qualitative understanding of the ways in which planning regulation has impacted on housing developments across 15 local jurisdictions in three Australian states.

Health

Prevention of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease

Lynelle Moon | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
11 December, 2009 | This report discusses the national prevalence of these three common diseases as well as population initiatives and individual services that aim to prevent or control their risk factors.

The content and structure of Australian television reportage on health and medicine, 2005–2009: parameters to guide health workers

Medical Journal of Australia
14 December, 2009 | Health news is a “background” issue that deserves to be moved into the research foreground of explanations of changes in personal behaviour and health policy.

Content analysis of disease awareness advertisements in popular Australian women’s magazines

Medical Journal of Australia
14 December, 2009 | The educational value of industry-sponsored disease awareness advertising could be improved if regulations and guidelines stipulated disease information requirements, such as inclusion of risk-factor and symptom information.

Health at a glance 2009: OECD indicators

OECD Health Division
10 December, 2009 | This fifth edition provides the latest comparable data on the performance of health systems in OECD countries, revealing striking evidence of large variations in costs, activities and results of health systems.

Indigenous

Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services – six monthly report

Brian Gleeson | Office of the Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services
11 December, 2009 | This report considers the progress of services in 29 Indigenous communities and compares the delivery of housing, education, health, safety, welfare, governance and more.

International

A delicate issue: Asia’s nuclear future

Rod Lyon | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
14 December, 2009 | This paper argues that Australia’s own policy options will be profoundly shaped by how Asia’s nuclear future unfolds.

Nuclear power, risk management and democratic accountability in Indonesia

David Von Hippel, Arabella Imhoff, Richard Tanter | Nautilus Institute
11 December, 2009 | Indonesia’s handling of its proposal for a large nuclear power plant on the Muria peninsula in Central Java is a test of the power of public opinion in a new democracy according to this paper.

Japan: Recasting politics, and opening up strategic ‘space’

Rod Lyon | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
14 December, 2009 | This paper looks at Japanese domestic politics and the implications for Australia, focusing on the two major stategic issues: the US-Japan alliance, and Australia’s bilateral strategic relationship with Japan.

Justice

Cyber security strategy

Attorney-General’s Department
08 December, 2009 | Australia’s national security, economic prosperity and social wellbeing are critically dependent upon the availability, integrity and confidentiality of a range of information and communications technologies (ICT).

Improving crime prevention knowledge and practice

Australian Institute of Criminology
14 December, 2009 | Research consistently demonstrates that the effectiveness of many crime prevention initiatives is reduced by a continual lack of access to adequate crime prevention knowledge and technical skills.

Australian Crime Commission: Review of collection, storage and dissemination of information

John McMillan | Commonwealth Ombudsman
14 December, 2009 | Conflicting and out–of–date internal information policies, multiple databases with varying degrees of security and low staff morale increased the risk of confidential Australian Crime Commission (ACC) intelligence falling into the wrong hands, according to Commonwealth Ombudsman Professor John McMillan.

Connecting the docs: towards an integrated national security

Carl Ungerer | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
14 December, 2009 | This paper sets out the challenges of building a more integrated national security strategy.

Politics

Failed state NSW

John Birmingham | The Monthly
11 December, 2009 | This essay explores the endemic problems that plague New South Wales, to its economic, commercial and political detriment.

Engage: getting on with Government 2.0

Government 2.0
10 December, 2009 | The draft Government 2.0 Taskforce report is available for public comment until 16 December.

Managerial Federalism – COAG and the States

Gareth Griffith | NSW Parliamentary Library
14 December, 2009 | This briefing paper looks at the intergovernmental mechanisms by which federalism operates in Australia, notably the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).

Administration of the Economic Security Strategy Payment: An examination of the implementation, monitoring and review of the scheme

John McMillan | Commonwealth Ombudsman
14 December, 2009 | Report by the Commonwealth Ombudsman on the administration of the Economic Security Strategy Payment – an examination of the implementation, monitoring and review of the scheme.

Social Policy

Evaluation of the Severe Domestic Squalor Project

Shannon McDermott, Ryan Gleeson | Social Policy Research Centre
11 December, 2009 | This report assesses the Severe Domestic Squalor Project, which aims to facilitate holistic assessment and support for people who are living in squalor; foster sustainable solutions for clients; and educate service providers.

Australia’s mothers and babies 2007

Paula Laws, Elizabeth A. Sullivan | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
14 December, 2009 | The 17th report providing information on births in Australia from perinatal data collections for each state and territory.

Australian social trends, Dec 2009

Australian Bureau of Statistics
11 December, 2009 | This issue presents statistical analysis and commentary on a wide range of current social issues including preschool attendance; health, patterns in work and households.

Problem gambling amongst those seeking homelessness services

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
11 December, 2009 | In 2007-08, there were 2,462 Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) support periods where the client was identified as having gambling-related issues.

Workforce issues across the family relationship services sector

Natasha Cortis, Sharni Chan, Fiona Hilferty | Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse
14 December, 2009 | This paper reviews and analyses workforce issues and challenges across the family relationship services sector, and identifies key models, responses and strategies through which the workforce can be supported and sustained.

New audio

National cultural policy

14 December, 2009 |

Panelists discuss the need for and potential content of a national cultural policy for Australia.

New video

Governing the economy: Fiscal policy

14 December, 2009 | At this symposium, Treasury Secretary Ken Henry discusses the role and direction of fiscal policy in a changing economic landscape.

New jobs

Senior Policy Officer

Department of Planning and Community Development 14 December, 2009 | Do you have demonstrated knowledge and experience of the public policy process? Do you have a relevant tertiary qualification in social sciences, planning or economics? Do you have strong conceptual, analytical and written communication skills? If so, this may be the role for you…

New events

Governance in the Public Sector

LOCATION:	National Convention Centre
ORGANISED BY:	Criterion Conferences

09 February, 2010 | The role of governance in the public sector is a crucial and complex one. Among the key challenges facing the Australian public sector today is the need to balance compliance with performance, while driving efficiency, ethical behaviour and a whole-of-government approach.

2010 NARPACA Ticketing Professionals Conference

LOCATION:	Sydney Marriott Hotel
ORGANISED BY:	NARPACA (Northern Australia’s Regional Performing Arts Centres Association)

10 February, 2010 | In 2010 Ticketing Professionals are meeting in Sydney 10-12 February to share ideas, compare thoughts and discuss initiatives to ensure that technology does not distract us from the importance of PEOPLE: The Human Face of the Box Office.

Delivering Policy Masterclass: Led by Prof Scott Prasser

LOCATION:	To be advised
ORGANISED BY:	Criterion Conferences

18 March, 2010 | Implementation is the name of the game

Indigenous Land Management with Economic Development

LOCATION:	Holiday Inn, Darwin
ORGANISED BY:	Criterion Conferences

24 March, 2010 | Effective land management for enhanced economic outcomesNative title has allowed Indigenous people to reclaim traditional lands, but how much control do Traditional Owners have over the land once claims are settled

New websites

Victorian Government School Performance Summary

10 December, 2009 | The Victorian Government School Performance Summary has been introduced to give parents a clear overview of how government schools are performing in Victoria.

www.edu.org.au

10 December, 2009 | This site was created by the Victorian Council of School Organisations (VICCSO) to provide resources and information sharing for parents and teachers on education issues.

Perth – Walk against Warming tomorrow Sat Dec 12 – feet on the street to beat the heat

MEDIA RELEASE

Walk against Warming

Walk Against Warming, Perth

11am Saturday 12 December

Perth Cultural Centre and march along James St to Russell Square

"Walk Against Warming is especially poignant this year because of the Copenhagen negotiations and disarray in Australian politics over the CPRS scheme.

"This is no time for baby steps. We must take a giant leap forward towards a carbon neutral future – that’s the message of the nationwide Walk Against Warming rallies.

"The CPRS scheme sets ineffective targets, rewards polluters and locks us into a coal and heavy polluting industry future.

“The CPRS does nothing for a truly sustainable future.

"We have asked the Prime Minister to consider the Greens’ Safe Climate Bills which provide a roadmap for a job-rich economy where Australians are climate leaders.

"Wherever I go people talk passionately to me about the need for governments to take effective action on climate change.

"Walk Against Warming provides a great vehicle to get this message across.

"I look forward to joining Perth residents wanting to pressure the government to take courageous and progressive action towards a safe climate future

All the best

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

PO Box 94, West Perth WA 6872

41 Havelock Street, West Perth. WA 6005

Phone: (08) 9486 8255 | Email: Robin.Chapple | Freecall: 1800 138 610

Updates from Copenhagen and beyond…Conservation Council of Western Australia’s Piers Verstegen

Friends and Colleagues

We are all frustrated at times with the limited media coverage we receive in WA on environmental issues and especially climate change.

To help overcome this, CCWA is developing a much more sophisticated web platform where we will be able to host interactive discussions and various forms of online media content.

This will take a while, so in the mean time, I have set up a blog, where I will be posting updates from the Copenhagen climate negotiations over the next 2 weeks, and regular entries on WA environmental issues and politics thereafter. The blog can be accessed at www.nevillenumbat.wordpress.com You can also post your own comments for others to read.

I have also set up a Facebook page where I am regularly posting bite-sized updates, links and other interesting bits and pieces.

All of this is in the spirit of enhancing debate in WA on environmental issues so I hope you can join me online.

Please also consider forwarding this email to your friends and colleagues who might be interested.

I look forward to your company online, and don’t forget the Walk Against Warming next Saturday (December 12) at 11 AM Perth Cultural Centre!

Regards,

Piers Verstegen
Director
Conservation Council of Western Australia
P: (08) 9420 7266 F: (08) 9420 7273

E: piers.verstegen
A: City West Lotteries House, 2 Delhi St, WEST PERTH, WA 6005

Join me on Facebook and check out my Blog

Click here to sign the petition Click here to become a sponsored walker

Australian Senate Report calls for immediate action on access to justice, especially for indigenous people: Greens

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Report calls for immediate action on access to justice: Greens

The Australian Greens are calling on the Commonwealth Government to act immediately to address the chronic funding shortage in Australia’s community legal sector.

It follows the release of a damning Senate committee report into Access to Justice today, initiated early in 2009 by the Greens.

"The report identifies serious long-standing gaps in our legal system, with increasing numbers of people falling through the cracks," said Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Greens Legal Affairs Spokesperson.

"The report highlights how any Australian could find themselves suddenly in a legal quagmire through no fault of their own. But it is most damning on the question of how badly our justice system lets down Aboriginal people.

"The ‘Freddo Frog’ case of a fortnight ago showed one example of why Aboriginal imprisonment is 13 times higher than non-Aboriginal imprisonment.

"It shows massive under-resourcing of legal services in rural and regional areas, and a rapid increase in the number of self represented litigants.

"Much of this has been known for a decade. This unanimous report demands action. The federal government must commit to implementing all 31 recommendations as a matter of urgency.

"The Australian Greens have proposed further changes to ensure we begin the long task of rebalancing the justice system. These include:

- Abolishing the current purchaser/provider funding arrangement

- The enactment of a right to legal representation

- The establishment of a permanent, independent justice research centre

"The Australia Greens also take issue with the report’s finding that Community Legal Centres (CLCs) must be politically neutral to receive funding.

"We don’t believe funding should be used to neuter the important advocacy role of CLCs. Applying this rule systematically would endanger efforts to reform this broken-down system," he concluded.

Media Contact: Fernando de Freitas 0417 174 302

Fernando de Freitas
Media Advisor

Office of Scott Ludlam & Rachel Siewert

Australian Greens Senators for Western Australia

Suite S1.36 Parliament House, Canberra ACT
P: 02 6277 3467 | M: 0417 174 302

Fernando.defreitas
www.GreensMPs.org.au

Those Self Help Courses can be fatal – ABC News Article link.

Course caused psychosis in window jump victim: coroner

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The New South Wales Coroner has found that a woman who jumped to her death from an office window had a mental condition caused by a self-help course.

To view on a PC/Mac please use this link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/08/2765056.htm

To view on a mobile please use this link

http://m.abc.net.au/browse?page=11144&articleid=2765056&cat=Justin

from @perthtones’ iPhone

Australian research, policy, news, comment, audio video, resources – APO Weekly Briefing – 08 December 2009

New commentary

Can creativity be taught? And should it be?

07 December, 2009 | The concept of creativity needs to be simplified argues Stuart Cunningham.

Tax burdens and the role of government

03 December, 2009 | As the financial crisis has made clear, globalisation does not mean the end for the state, writes Tom Conley

A miracle of politics and science

01 December, 2009 | As the world talks about climate change, the Antarctic Treaty shows how politics and science can work together, writes Tom Griffiths in Inside Story

Doing the thinking

03 December, 2009 | Stephen Keim reviews Tony Kevin’s Crunch Time for APO

Reviewing Indigenous history in Luhrmann’s Australia

04 December, 2009 | Shino Konishi and Maria Nugent survey responses to the film’s engagement with Indigenous history in Inside Story

The making of Julia Gillard

07 December, 2009 | Could it be that there is less to Julia Gillard than meets the eye? Peter Mares reviews a new biography of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Australia’s expanding borders

02 December, 2009 | Our border cooperation with regional neighbours has entered questionable territory, writes Savitri Taylor in Inside Story

New research

Creative Economy

Social media volume 2 – user engagement strategies

Axel Bruns | Smart Services CRC
07 December, 2009 | These reports provide a toolkit for organisations as they come to terms with social media spaces and develop their strategies for engagement with their communities of users and followers.

Would the real Freeview please stand up?

Paul Norris, Jock Given | International Journal of Digital Television
03 December, 2009 | This article explores the origins and development of these three ‘Freeviews’ in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

Not the apocalypse: television futures in the digital age

Jinna Tay, Graeme Turner | International Journal of Digital Television
03 December, 2009 | This article begins by challenging what we describe as a developing analytical orthodoxy around the development of digital television, an orthodoxy which produces a story about the end of television.

Economics

Dynamic tracking of the Employment Vulnerability Index against Centrelink labour market payments data

Bill Mitchell, Michael Flanagan | Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE)
04 December, 2009 | This paper explains and demonstrates the new tools that CofFEE has developed to map the EVI assessments against the claims for unemployment benefits from Centrelink.

Between luck and vulnerability? Australia in the global economy

Tom Conley | Department of International Business & Asian Studies
, Griffith University
03 December, 2009 | As Australians contemplate the lessons of boom and gloom and consider vulnerabilities it is worth thinking about why policy-makers thought we were doomed in the 1980s, according to this paper, because many of the problems of the 1980s remain.

Education

Emerging technologies in Australia: horizon report

Greg Black | Education.au
03 December, 2009 | Greg Black shares an Australian perspective on the four emerging technologies identified by the Horizon Report as likely to be entering mainstream use by educators within the next few years.

Teacher professional learning: planning for change

Andrew Williams, Helen Galatis | Education.au
03 December, 2009 | This investigation focuses on the development of Australia’s school teachers to enable them to make best use of the infrastructure currently being rolled out in the Digital Education Revolution (DER).

Review of the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000: interim report

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
03 December, 2009 | This report highlights that two essential and complementary elements are needed to strengthen international education: more effective consumer protection and stronger, simpler regulation.

e-Portfolios beyond education and training

Andrew Williams, Jerry Leeson | Education.au
03 December, 2009 | This investigation examines implementations of e-portfolios in environments other than educational institutions.

Environment & Planning

Life in the aftermath: A summary of the literature on individual and family functioning following natural disasters

Catherine Caruana | Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse
04 December, 2009 | While there has been relatively little research on the impact of natural disasters on families, there exists a vast body of literature on the psychosocial impact at an individual level, allowing us to extrapolate to the family context.

The impacts of mining in the Murray Darling Basin

Senate Environment, Communications and the Arts Legislation Committee
07 December, 2009 | This report focuses on the potential impacts of mining upon surficial and groundwater flows and quality in the alluvial flood plains at its headwaters in the Namoi valley and the Darling Downs catchments.

How to ease women’s fear of transportation environments

Mineta Transportl Institute (US)
07 December, 2009 | The relationship between women’s fear and the built environment has been the subject of research with clear findings that women feel unsafe in many public spaces including transportation environments.

Health

HIV seroconversion study – newly diagnosed men in Australia 2007-9

Garrett Prestage | Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society
03 December, 2009 | The Seroconversion Study collects both quantitative and qualitative data from mainly homosexual men who have recently been diagnosed with HIV.

General practice activity in Australia 2008-09

Helena Britt | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
04 December, 2009 | This report presents results from the eleventh year of the BEACH program, a national study of general practice activity.

Natural disasters: Psychological influences on preparedness

Elly Robinson | Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse
04 December, 2009 | This article is a brief exploration of the role of psychology-related factors that shape individual responses to potential natural disasters.

Indigenous

The new "Indigenous health" incentive payment: issues and challenges

The Medical Journal of Australia
07 December, 2009 | The proposed “Indigenous health” incentive payment to reduce Aboriginal health disadvantage, which is largely aimed at increasing the responsiveness of mainstream general practices, provides an opportunity to examine the assumptions behind this and other recent health reform bids.

The community phone project: an overview

Andrew Crouch | Centre for Appropriate Technology
01 December, 2009 | This paper outlines the development and implementation of the Community Phone as an alternative public telephone for remote settlements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in the broader context of telecommunications services in remote Australia.

Early vocational education and training programs for young Aboriginal learners

Regan Harding | National Centre for Vocational Education Research
03 December, 2009 | The perceptions of students, school and TAFE staff involved in V Tracks, an early intervention program for Aboriginal school students are explored in this paper.

Setting and meeting priorities in Indigenous health research in Australia and its application in the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health

Ian P.S. Anderson, Kevin Rowley, Johanna Monk | Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health
04 December, 2009 | The paper reviews the literature and history around priority setting in research, particularly in Aboriginal health research.

Closing the accountability gap: the first step towards better Indigenous health

Sara Hudson | Centre for Independent Studies
07 December, 2009 | Closing the Indigenous health gap requires not just extra funding but more accountability. Better reporting is needed for improved patient outcomes and services.

International

Victim of success: China’s growth and environmental consequences

Roger Irvine | Lowy Institute for International Policy
04 December, 2009 | As the world focuses on climate change talks in Copenhagen, it is crucial that we have a better understanding of China’s position on global responses to climate change and their roots in China’s own development.

Australia’s proposal for an ‘Asia Pacific Community’: issues and prospects

Frank Frost | Parliamentary Library
07 December, 2009 | Although there is little enthusiasm in the region for creating distinctly new institutions, there is a high degree of interest in discussing further how cooperation processes may be enhanced.

Climate change and public health in Indonesia: impacts and adaptation

Budi Haryanto | Nautilus Institute
04 December, 2009 | Budi Haryanto of the University of Indonesia reviews expected global health impacts of climate change, and then outlines both direct and indirect health impacts specific to Indonesia.

The Mekong: river under threat

Milton Osborne | Lowy Institute for International Policy
04 December, 2009 | This paper evaluates the potentially huge social and environmental risks for the Mekong River and the millions who depend on it for their livelihood of planned dam projects in Laos and Cambodia.

Justice

Vulnerable people policing: inclusion or exclusion of target groups?

Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron | Australian Institute of Criminology
03 December, 2009 | Vulnerable People Policing is a new emerging pattern in community policing but are we entering into dialogue and actively engaging with these people regarding how best to police them?

Foucault goes to law school: using Foucault to examine Australian legal education

Matthew Ball | Hawke Institute – Foucault conference papers
03 December, 2009 | This paper will consider the way that Foucault’s work has been utilised to examine Australian legal education, particularly in the context of understanding the construction of the legal identity.

Cyber security: Threats and responses in the information

Alastair MacGibbon | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
04 December, 2009 | This paper argues that there is a widening gap between the cyber security problem and our national ability to deal with it and offers a range of policy suggestions targeting various opportunities for government and the private sector.

Cyber security strategy

Attorney-General’s Department
08 December, 2009 | Australia’s national security, economic prosperity and social wellbeing are critically dependent upon the availability, integrity and confidentiality of a range of information and communications technologies (ICT).

Rape mythology and the criminal justice system

S. Caroline Taylor, Patricia Easteal, Jessica Kennedy | Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault
03 December, 2009 | By examining sexual assault sentencing and judicial comments from a sample of mostly 2008 judgments in Victoria, this article explores differences in sentencing, focusing on the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim.

Politics

Cities, cultures and developments

United Cities and Local Governments
01 December, 2009 | This document includes essays and reports from many of the cities that have been active in the promotion of a worldwide mission for cultural development by local governments.

A survey of codes of conduct in Australian and selected overseas parliaments

Deirdre McKeown | Parliamentary Library
07 December, 2009 | This background note details the approach taken in various parliaments to codes of conduct for ministers and MPs, registers of interests, the post-separation employment of ministers and the use of ethics commissioners in providing advice on and/or conducting investigations into breaches of codes.

Social Policy

Amplifying the voices of young refugees

Louise Olliff | Refugee Council of Australia
03 December, 2009 | Drawing on a series of youth consultations in Victoria, WA, NSW and ACT, this project aims to develop a strategy for engaging refugee young people in advocating to have their needs and concerns addressed and ideas recognised at a national level.

Growing up in Australia 2008-09

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
04 December, 2009 | This longitudinal study collects a range of information about children and their families including children’s academic ability, their health and emotional wellbeing, parenting, family functioning, early childhood care, and education and schooling.

How expensive is the welfare state?

OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
01 December, 2009 | This paper presents information on trends and composition of social expenditure across the OECD, and accounts for the effects of the tax system and private social expenditure.

Parental time with children: Do job characteristics make a difference?

Jennifer Baxter | Australian Institute of Family Studies
04 December, 2009 | To contribute to our understanding of how paid work and family time interact, this paper examines how characteristics of parental paid employment are associated with differences in parent-child time.

Children and parents living with a family member with mental illness

Matt Lamont, Vicki Cowling | Australian Family Relationships Clearinghouse
04 December, 2009 | This article describes a partnership between practitioners and researchers in the delivery of effective services.

How good is trust? Measuring trust and its role for the progress of societies

OECD Statistics Directorate
01 December, 2009 | This paper investigates the notion and role of trust in modern societies as a first step towards the construction of indicators that could better inform our understanding of societal progress.

Parental intellectual disability and child protection: key issues

Leah Bromfield, Alister Lamont | National Child Protection Clearinghouse
04 December, 2009 | Parents with intellectual disabilities represent a modest number of all parents in Australia however, they are over-represented in child protection and legal proceedings.

New audio

2009 in review

04 December, 2009 | On 2 December members of the Lowy Institute research team gave their perspectives on politics, economics and other international events in 2009.

Political parties through the crystal ball

07 December, 2009 | Future Tense looks into the crystal ball to see how our party system is likely to change over the next decade or so – a series of perspectives on the future of our political system.

New video

Modern monetary theory interviews

04 December, 2009 | In this 4-part series of interviews leading modern monetary theory developers Professors Bill Mitchell and Randy Wray talk about their work and how it applies to the operation of fiscal policy.

Emerging technologies in Australia – Horizon report

03 December, 2009 | Education.au CEO Greg Black shares an Australian perspective on the four emerging technologies identified by the Horizon Report as likely to be entering mainstream use by educators within the next few years.

New jobs

Executive director, policy and intergovernmental relations

Department of Health 01 December, 2009 |

Policy Officer

reception Further information George Giuliani DCEO george

New submissions

Research tender – e-learning innovations

22 January, 2010 | The national training system’s e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework), has opened tenders for up to $50,000 for a service provider to undertake research to investigate how past Framework-funded and supported innovations in e-learning have been sustained and mainstreamed The Framework conducts an extensive research program to assist the vocational education and training (VET) community in the uptake and embedding of e-learning

New course

Master of Public Policy and Management

07 December, 2009 | The Master of Public Policy and Management is the premier public policy program in Australia. For more than thirty years it has prepared students for leadership roles in Australia and many other countries. It is designed for current public, private and community sector leaders and managers, as well as those wishing to begin a career in this field.

New notices

Journal of Economic and Social Policy goes Online

03 December, 2009 | For the past thirteen years the Journal of Economic and Social Policy (JESP) has produced a biannual hard copy publication

Greens to support the BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto production joint venture project in relation to Western Australian iron ore assets

MEDIA RELEASE

7 December 2009

Greens to support the BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto production joint venture project in relation to Western Australian iron ore assets

“Such an amalgamation of assets and liabilities in the Pilbara will have many sustainable benefits that the Greens endorse”, Greens (WA) MLC Robin Chapple said today in relation to the announcement of the joint venture project.

“It will lead to lower production costs and place Australia at an advantage in the international market place” Mr Chapple said.

“Combining adjacent mines into single operations will have two environmental benefits; first, cumulative impacts should now be more readily assessed and dealt with; and second, end of life mine planning and pit infill can be approached in a more regionally strategic manner”, said Mr Chapple.

Joint use of rail infrastructure will mean more energy efficient line use and curtail the development of standalone rail systems that were required in the previous competitive environment.

“With JV planning, the future rail footprint will be smaller than would otherwise have been necessary”, said Mr Chapple.

As far back as 1964, the National Bulk carriers mining company had called for an integrated plan for the railing and shipment of iron ore out of the Pilbara (referred to as the Ludwig Plan). In June 1992, the then Government endorsed the Pilbara 21 Final Strategy Report in which the need for an integrated rail network was again highlighted.

However the Greens’ support for the infrastructure JV proposed by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto is conditional on the fact that there will be no job losses caused by the joint venture.

“Mr Barnett’s push for a more equitable return on royalties derived from the now commercial iron ore fines market is to be supported, but not by way of a threat of blocking this amalgamation”, said Mr Chapple.

All the best

Robin Chapple MLC

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region

PO Box 94, West Perth WA 6872

41 Havelock Street, West Perth. WA 6005

Phone: (08) 9486 8255 | Email: Robin.Chapple | Freecall: 1800 138 610

This message and its attachments may contain legally privileged or confidential information. It is intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to the addressee), you may not copy or deliver this message or its attachments to anyone. Rather, you should permanently delete this message and its attachments and kindly notify the sender by reply email. Any content of this message and its attachments which does not relate to the official business of the above mentioned organisations or person must be taken not to have been sent or endorsed by any of them. No warranty is made that the e-mail or attachment(s) are free from computer virus or other defect.

from @perthtones’ iPhone

Related articles by Zemanta

• Rio and BHP Sign Deal on Ore Venture (nytimes.com)

West Australia – social justice, news, video, audio, jobs,courses, media, info WACOSS eNews 224

Friday 4th December 2009 – Edition 224
Welcome to WACOSS eNews Please feel free to circulate and distribute this newsletter to your networks. There is no cost for subscribing to this newsletter. CLICK HERE to subscribe online. WACOSS eNews is distributed to over 5,200 email addresses and then wider from these networks. The list continues to grow on a daily basis. Advertise your events, jobs, etc. through this newsletter. WACOSS eNews is published every second Thursday – email your items to WACOSS by 5pm on the Tuesday of that week. Next deadline for issue 223 of eNews is Tuesday 17th November, 5pm. Fees may apply for some advertisements. Please contact WACOSS on 08 9420 7222 for more details or email info@wacoss.org.au
General WACOSS News
	WACOSS 2010 Conference – Call for Abstracts
	ACOSS Community Sector Survey Now Open
	Community Services Staff to Make a Statement with CEWA Petition to Increase Salaries …SIGN NOW
Social Policy News
	WACOSS Media Release: Government should not race ahead with Income Management expansion
	WACOSS Media Release: Households and community services to feel the pinch at Christmas with third successive rate rise
	WACOSS Media Release: WACOSS welcomes revoking of new childcare licensing fees
	ACOSS IMPACT Magazine Spring 09 edition – Read Free Online!
	ACOSS Media Release: Time to Maximise Momentum to Improve Support for People with Disability
	Consultation Information – Strategic Energy Initiative
	Opportunity to Comment: National Water Initiative (NWI) pricing principles and the consultation regulation impact statement for the NWI pricing principles
Sector Services and Development News
	New Help for the Community Services Sector
	Climate Change Readniness for Community Services
	Not-for-Profit Day, Thursday 10th December
Corporate Services News
	WACOSS Members – Take advantage of free Not For Profit Network Membership now!
	Make a difference and become a WACOSS Member now!
Sector News
	Pension Reforms: Information from the Australian Government
	Alinta Gas Announce Christmas Moratorium on Disconnection
	Centrelink Payment arrangements for Christmas, New Year and Australia Day 2009-10
	Commissioner for Children and Young People Issues Paper Released: Child and Youth Mental Health
	New Gambling Help Online Service Operational – find out more
	Wangka Waltja Aboriginal Interpreting Service Pty Ltd
	Community Midwifery WA Seeks a presence in the Central/Eastern Suburbs
	Samaritans Crisis Line Training/Function Room for Hire
	Change of Name – Swan TAFE to Polytechnic West
	Nominate Now for the WA Association for Mental Health Caring Employer Award 2010
	Nominate now for the 2010 Consumer Protection Awards
	2010 Disability Support Worker Awards – nominate your stars!
Community Sector Positions Vacant
	Outcare seeks Policy Officer
	Midland Women’s Healthcare Place seeks Client Liason – Receptionist
	Ruah-Anawim Aboriginal Women’s Services seeks Manager
	Communicare seeks Therapeutic Program Officer
Upcoming Sector Events
	Join in Mission Australia’s Christmas Lunch in the Park on Christmas day!
	Samaritans Crisis Line – Effective Listening Skills Training
	Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence and Amnesty International present: 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence
	Not-for-Profit Seminar Series: ‘What financial information do donors and members really want? A view of charities and clubs’, 2nd December
	Aboriginal Women’s Health Forum Wednesday 2nd December
	Supporting Women with Complex Needs Launch Invitation 4th December
	Free Workshop Connect Groups "How Groups are Run" 15th December
	16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, 25th November – 10th December
	Better Boards Conference 23-25th July 2010
	Self-Abuse Finally Ends Workshop: An Introduction To Working With Individuals Who Self Abuse, Perth and Bunbury February 2010

Biodiversity management must be given higher priority: Greens

Senator Rachel Siewert

Australian Greens Senator for WA

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 4th December 2009

Biodiversity management must be given higher priority: Greens

The Australian Greens today put their support behind an environmental declaration on biodiversity management in Australia, calling for immediate Government action.

“As the Boobook Declaration outlines, we need a significant increase in research capacity to enable our best scientific minds to tackle the significantly high level of ongoing biodiversity loss together with the serious threats posed to biodiversity by climate change, weeds and feral animals in a fragmented landscape,” said Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

The Boobook Declaration was released today as a joint statement from forty environment groups across Australia.

“We need a much larger investment in biodiversity, increasing funding up to $9 billion over the next 3 years.

“The Government has clearly dropped the ball with biodiversity management in Australia. The Caring for our Country program has devastated regional capacity and seriously undermined community engagement by slashing regional NRM funding and junking long-term plans.”

“Next year is the International Year of Biodiversity and as yet the Federal Government has not made any announcements and does not appear to have any plans. This is strange, given that we are the only so-called developed nation that is one of the mega-biodiverse countries in the world,” said Senator Siewert.

“I understand that the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) is considering the appalling draft biodiversity strategy early next week. I urge them to put in place a robust and comprehensive strategy”.

“We need to properly fund programs that address threatening processes and help species to recover. We need to stop threatening habitats and species with land-clearing, inappropriate development, disease and feral plants and animals.”

“The Australian Greens support the urgent call to action in the Boobook Declaration, and call on the Government to act upon the recommendations in this statement,” she concluded.

The Boobook Declaration can be found at www.boobook.org.au and has the following recommendations:

1. Acknowledge the critical importance of safeguarding biodiversity as part of Australia’s climate change response and commit to correspondingly urgent action to address the systemic drivers of biodiversity loss. In so doing, due recognition should be given both to the threat that global warming poses to biodiversity and ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef, and to the vital role these have in mitigating dangerous climate change including by permanently storing carbon;

2. Substantially increase investment in biodiversity and ecosystem protection, restoration and management to at least $9 billion over the three years to 2012 and establish an independent widely consultative process into future funding and stewardship of Australia’s, terrestrial, aquatic and marine biodiversity;

3. Restore and increase the capacity for publicly funded biodiversity research, auditing, monitoring, accounting and communication, including through an expanded independent Land, Water and Biodiversity authority; and

4. Develop our biodiversity education and training programs so that all sectors of the Australian community and business have the knowledge to understand the magnitude of current threats to our biodiversity and the skills to take action to conserve our biodiversity and ecosystems. This is essential to transforming our nation to a healthy, sustainable society and economy.

For more information or media inquiries, please call Tim Norton on 0418 401 180

Tim Norton
Communications and Campaigns
Office of Rachel Siewert | Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia
Suite SG-113 Parliament House, Canberra ACT | P: 02 6277 3741 | F: 02 6277 5762

Tim.Norton |
www.RachelSiewert.org.au | www.GreensMPs.org.au

NITV EXLORES INDIGENOUS SPIRITUALITY ACROSS AUSTRALIA IN “Searching For God” – Australian premiere on NITV – SUNDAYS @ 9.30PM EST FROM 6 DECEMBER

NITV EXLORES INDIGENOUS SPIRITUALITY

ACROSS AUSTRALIA IN

SEARCHING FOR GOD

AN EXCLUSIVE NITV PREMIERE

SUNDAYS @ 9.30PM EST FROM 6 DECEMBER

Searching For God is a brand new, eight part documentary series that explores the role of God and religion in this country with a global focus. Join popular pastor Ray Minniecon on his search for what God is and was to Indigenous Australians. Searching For God brings together young and old from remote, rural and urban communities, to share in the goal of finding spirituality and purpose in our busy everyday lives.

Searching For Godis the personal journey of well-known and respected Indigenous Pastor Ray Minniecon. Ray Minniecon is a descendant of the Kabi Kabi nation and the Gurang Gurang nation of South-East Queensland. Ray is also a descendant of the South Sea Islander people with connections to the people of Ambrym Island.

Currently, Ray is the Director of Bunji Consultancies, a production company that supports the development of Aboriginal film and documentaries. He is also the Community Chaplain in the Redfern Community, Sydney.

Ray’s has devoted his life to working for his people and especially relates to the underprivileged of the community. His experience has seen him work for a number of organisations that take an active role in inspiring and improving the lives of those in need and those in remote areas, including Red Dust Role Models, World Christian Gathering of Indigenous Peoples and the Michah Challenge Australia.

Ray has worked for World Vision Australia’s Indigenous programs for twelve years and was its national Director for six of those years. He established health prevention programs, leadership development programs and micro-enterprise initiatives through Aboriginal art programs. He was Editor-in-Chief of the National Indigenous Leadership Journal and is a strong advocate for issues relating to poverty and injustice, especially for Indigenous people. He has spoken about Indigenous issues at local, national and international forums. In 1995 he made an intervention at the UN in Geneva, on behalf of Indigenous Peoples at the first hearing of the Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2001 he spoke in Italy at a Global Forum on Ethics and Economics, where he also had a private audience with Pope John Paul II.

NITV is broadcast nationally to various metropolitan and regional areas, as well as via Foxtel, Austar and Optus. Please refer to the website for further details – www.nitv.org.au.

For further media enquiries, review dvds and interviews with Pastor Ray Minniecon, please contact:

Julieanne McCormack, Publicist at NITV

T: (02) 8423 5125, M: 0417 414 680, E: julieanne.mccormack

Rolling Stone reviews reports: Video: The Dead Weather Backstage, Black Eyed Peas Hit the Road and more

	Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Spotlight Lady Gaga The Fame Monster Gaga is including locks of hair from her wigs in the deluxe reissue of 2008′s The Fame. It’s the Warhol-y thing to do. But she covers her conceptual bets by rolling out sturdy club-thumpers, and this eight-song EP (included in the reissue and sold separately) is largely on point. "Bad Romance" makes her name a Teutonic chant; "Alejandro" is a loving Abba spoof. Half the disc is Madonna… Read More	Editors’ Pick R. Kelly Untitled At this late date in history, listening to R. Kelly document his busy sex life is like… Read More Up and Coming Real Estate Real Estate With titles like "Atlantic City" and "Let’s Rock the Beach," it’s not hard to tell… Read More Top Reissue Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers The Live Anthology Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ only previous live album, 1986′s Pack Up… Read More
The xx Britain’s coolest new band, fronted by singer-bassist Oliver Sim and singer-guitarist Romy Madley Croft, uniquely blends sultry boy-girl indie pop with austere, icy post-punk and dub grooves. Watch Video The Dead Weather Muse on the Future of Music, Supergroup Wars In our backstage chat with Jack White and Co., the band reveals info about their next record and bets on who would win a suprgroup brawl: The Dead Weather or Them Crooked Vultures. Watch Video Subscribe to Rolling Stone Renew Back issues Gifts Customer Service Current Issue	Artist Track Listen R. Kelly Go Low Tom Waits Metropolitan Glide (Knoxville – 06/29/08) Allison Iraheta Robot Love Justin Bieber First Dance Feat. Usher Kid Sister Pro Nails Feat. Kanye West Get More of This Week’s Top Tracks Artist Dates Black Eyed Peas Jeff Beck & Eric Clapton Guns n’ Roses Norah Jones Nick Jonas and the Administration Henry Rollins Willie Nelson The Avett Brothers Alice in Chains Michael Buble All Tours
© 2009 RollingStone.com All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Australian Governments fail to provide basic Renal services as they argue over responsibility – Tri-state meeting must deliver dialysis solutions for Central Australia: Greens

Senator Rachel Siewert Australian Greens Senator for WA

Thursday 3rd December 2009

Tri-state meeting must deliver dialysis solutions for Central Australia: Greens

In the lead up to a tri-state meeting of state and territory health departments to discuss the crisis in dialysis services in Central Australia, the Australian Greens have called on all parties to ‘pick up the pace’ and ensure the meeting delivers an agreement.

"The growing demand for renal services from Aboriginal people suffering chronic kidney disease is something these governments have known about for some time – they cannot claim it has caught them by surprise," said Greens health spokesperson Senator Rachel Siewert today.

“Yet despite this foreknowledge state and territory governments have failed to plan properly for this growth and have been slow to act to put in place solutions.”

The projected growth in demand means the new Gap road facility in Alice Springs will be full by the time it is built.

"Friday’s meeting gives every indication of being yet another exercise in considering the options without delivering a signed and ratified tri-state agreement to resolve this problem," said Senator Siewert.

"In the meantime Aboriginal elders remain caught in the middle of a dispute over resources and the NT Government ban on new interstate patients receiving life-giving support in Alice remains in place."

"We are calling on state and territory governments to come out of this meeting with a signed agreement on a long-term plan, a commitment from WA and SA governments to provide their fair share of the resources, and an immediate end to the interstate ban.”

"With thirteen WA patients already on dialysis in Alice Springs and another 5 refused service together with the alarmingly high rates of end stage kidney disease in the border communities – the WA government should be announcing its plan to provide dialysis facilities in a number of centres in the central desert region such as Warburton in the next few years," concluded Senator Siewert.

For more information or media inquiries, please call Tim Norton on 0418 401 180

Tim Norton
Communications and Campaigns
Office of Rachel Siewert | Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia
Suite SG-113 Parliament House, Canberra ACT | P: 02 6277 3741 | F: 02 6277 5762

Tim.Norton | M: 0418 401 180
www.RachelSiewert.org.au | www.GreensMPs.org.au

Fremantle Network End of year event- TFN 5.30pm this Friday @ X-Wray Cafe

Hello Fremantle Networkers,

We hope to see you this Friday for a social drink and some engaging discussion about what is possible in Fremantle for 2010.

As well as hearing from three of Fremantle’s new councillors, we want to hear from you.

What would you like to see in Fremantle in the new year?
Have you got an idea, event or project that you’d like the Fremantle Network to be a part of next year?

So bring your ideas and enthusiasm this Friday, 4 December from 5.30pm at X-Wray cafe.

Everyone is very welcome – please feel free to forward this invitation.
(full details below)

Regards,
Rachel

THE FREMANTLE NETWORK

End of year event

5.30pm – 7pm Friday, 4th December

X-Wray Café

Essex Street, Fremantle

(opposite Luna on SX Cinemas)

After an eventful year in Fremantle that saw major changes in our local representation and history made, the Fremantle Network invites you to an evening of reflection and discussion that looks forward to what 2010 may have in store for Fremantle.

Future Faces of Fremantle:

Featuring presentations from three of Fremantle’s new councillors; Dave Coggin (East Ward), Tim Grey-Smith (City Ward) and Sam Wainwright (Hilton), who will talk about what they hope to achieve for Fremantle in the year ahead, now that they have had some time to settle into their new roles.

(Unfortunately Andrew Sullivan and Josh Wilson are unavailable at this time, but we hope to have them at a TFN event in the new year.)

About THE FREMANTLE NETWORK (TFN)

The Fremantle Network is a community based forum for discussion on Fremantle issues, which provides a much needed opportunity for "inclusive networking". Rather than bringing together special interest groups, the goal of TFN is to create a friendly and creative meeting place for the wide variety of people – residents and businesses – who have chosen to make Fremantle their home. Through open discussion of issues and constructive engagement with the community, we believe that creative solutions can be found to improve our lives here in Fremantle.

The Fremantle Network’s objectives are to:

· bring together those who are interested and engaged in the future of Fremantle;

· to create an interesting, diverse and unconventional mix of individuals from the business sector, the arts, community organisations and everyone in between;

· to connect with Freo’s younger and more recently established residents.

For more information, email thefremantlenetwork

Phone Rachel 0408 988 977

Perth Nuclear Debate hots up: Libs & Greens go head-to-head tomorrow

Perth Nuclear Debate hots up: Libs & Greens go head-to-head

WHEN: 6pm from a 6.30pm start, TOMORROW, Thursday 3 December 2009

WHERE: Perth Town hall, corner Barrack and Hay streets, Perth

A public debate in Perth tomorrow (Thurs) night between the Greens and Liberals on the topic of nuclear power could not be more timely, the Australian Greens say.

“Today, we saw newly dominant far-right Federal Liberal MPs emerge from their Party’s disarray with a push for Tony Abbott to support the establishment of nuclear power plants in Australia,” said Greens Senator for WA Scott Ludlam said.

“Among these are WA Senator Matthias Cormann, whom I greatly look forward to debating at Perth Town Hall tomorrow night.

“The debate, allowing seven minutes from each speaker, as well as questions from the floor, will be an opportunity to present facts rather than spin – and I certainly plan to do so.

“Climate sceptics insist nuclear power is the only solution to a problem they don’t believe exists. It defies logic or credibility, but let’s have the debate anyway.

“Despite investors fleeing this industry since its heyday in the 1970s and skyrocketing costs to build nuclear plants, die-hard nuclear proponents continue to lobby hard.

“Among the many reasons why nuclear power is not viable are:

· the fact that the world’s nuclear power fleet is shrinking not growing, primarily due to cost;

· the shunning of nuclear power projects by insurance companies and since the 70s, investors;

· the technology’s inability to help us address climate change, especially in the necessary timeframe; and

· the risks it posed by an increasing number of ageing nuclear power plants globally; terrorism; and the industry’s unresolved toxic waste problem.

“I look forward to a fair and informed debate on this issue with my team members Dr Irene Kirczenow and Mr Dave Sweeney,” Senator Ludlam concluded.

WHEN: 6pm from a 6.30pm start, TOMORROW, Thursday 3 December 2009

WHERE: Perth Town hall, corner Barrack and Hay streets, Perth

For more information or media inquiries, please call Eloise Dortch 0415 507 763

“Great Waste Robbery”: Faragher raids homes for Buswell – statement from ROBIN CHAPPLE MLC – GREAT WASTE ROB BERY

MEDIA RELEASE 1 December 2009

“Great Waste Robbery”: Faragher raids homes for Buswell

The Greens have said they now have full and complete proof that the proposed increases to the landfill levy were a blatant tax grab, after Environment Minister Faragher refused to accept key Greens amendments in the Legislative Council today. The amendments were defeated after they attracted ALP support but were opposed by both Liberal and National members.

“Our amendments came at the urging of local governments, and were designed to create true incentives for key waste reduction infrastructure assets like resource recovery facilities and material recovery facilities,” said Greens waste management spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC.

“The Minister ducked and weaved our amendments, initially arguing that the amendments were not sufficiently well defined, before we proved that point wrong during debate.”

“She then settled back on the notion that our amendments did not incentivize landfill diversion, which is patently wrong, and during protracted debate she simply stuck to that rhetoric.”

The Greens said that the Minister’s continual assertions were deceitful, and the lack of support for the Greens amendments amounted to conceding that her intentions were always to raise money rather than reduce waste going to landfill.

“The Government’s legislation, and the increases in the landfill levies that will follow its passage, are nothing more than taxation measures.”

“The new levies will prop up the DEC by charging the community 300% more for landfill use.”

“That amounts to a ‘great waste robbery’ where Minister Faragher is putting her hands into the pockets of ordinary West Australians to help beleaguered Treasurer Buswell balance his budget,” Mr Chapple concluded.

With Climate change denyers and Nuclear Power lovers now on the Opposition front benches it’s time to join our Nuclear-Free block at the Walk Against Warming!

Hi Nuke-Free People !

I want to draw your attention to the international campaign, « Don’t Nuke the Climate » which is having an International Day of Action on the 12th of Decemeber. As you are probably already aware that is also the day of the Walk Against Warming (WAW). We would like to have a strong precence at WAW to bring home the importance of nuclear not being part of the solution to climate change.

Come and join our Nuclear-Free block at the WAW. We will meet at 10am opposite the art gallery (just over the bridge next to the Perth train station) in the little garden area to get ready and take some photos. We will have radiation suits, banners, drums and anti-nuclear umbrellas. Please email kate or call 0403 765 177 to let me know if you will be joining us. Please invite your friends on facebook – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=354179935563#/event.php?eid=354179935563

See below for more information on « Don’t Nuke the Climate » and the International Day of Action ! Please check out the « Don’t Nuke the Climate » website to register your support and sign the petition.

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Take part in the international "Don’t nuke the climate!" action day!

> Register your own action

> List of all actions

Nuclear energy will not prevent climate change!

Climate change and its impacts are now undeniable. Leaders from the whole world will have to reach a new climate agreement during the December 2009 Copenhagen Summit. Urgent measures must be taken to achieve a massive reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions: our future depends on it!

Under the current Kyoto Protocol, nuclear energy is rightly excluded from the possible solutions available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the nuclear industry, in collaboration with certain countries, is pushing for this dangerous and polluting technology to be included in the next climate agreement as a "clean" technology.

The nuclear industry would then be able to take advantage of significant public investments… at the expense of real solutions! Such disingenuous strategy would mean losing the fight against climate change and promoting the global expansion of the nuclear industry, with its associated risks.

Mobilize for the climate and against nuclear power, Take part in the international "Don’t nuke the climate !" action day !

On Saturday, December 12th, in your town or community, organize an original action, crafted to reach out to the media ! On this very day, in Copenhagen, a huge unitary demonstration will take place to challenge the political leaders gathered for the Climate Summit.

Let’s unleash our creativity and multiply grassroots actions to denounce the nuclear aberration, a dangerous, expensive and counterproductive industrial option. Let’s demand that the investments be massively dedicated to the true solutions to climate change : energy efficiency, energy saving, renewable energies, fighting deforestation, sustainable farming, economic relocalisation…

CITIZENS AND ASSOCIATIONS, IT IS UP TO YOU NOW : organise an action on Saturday, December 12th, to join the international "Don’t nuke the climate !" action day. We suggest a common flagship action, "Block the path to nuclear power!". We also propose other ideas.

ASSOCIATIONS AND ORGANISATIONS : You have not registered as a partner in our campaign ? Don’t wait anymore, register now !

Take part in the international "Don’t nuke the climate!" action day by registering your action on this website. For further information, please contact Jocelyn Peyret : jocelyn.peyret@sortirdunucleaire.fr

Kate Vallentine

ANAWA Campaigner

5 King William Street, Bayswater WA 6053

Ph/Fax: (08) 9271 8786

Email: kate

Website: www.anawa.org.au

Join the BUMP cause on Facebook

Twitter:ANAWA l Facebook: ANAWA page l Myspace: ANAWA l Youtube: AntiNuclearWA

Australian Policy Online – audio, video, links jobs and discussion of issues downunder – APO Weekly Briefing – 01 December 2009

New commentary

Why academia is no longer a smart choice

26 November, 2009 | With up to half of all teaching now done by casually employed staff with little institutional support, Australian universities are facing an unprecedented crisis, writes Melissa Gregg in New Matilda

Niches, public space and "broadcasting"

30 November, 2009 | Why have public broadcasters? On the grounds of equity, innovation and dealing with market failure, writes Margaret Simons in The Content Makers

Prisoners of the suburbs

29 November, 2009 | Planning initiatives need to better address how people work and how they want to live, reports Stephen Lunn in The Australian

Making prison work

24 November, 2009 | Why are prisons less a portal to a new life than a revolving door? Corrective services need to correct, not just punish, writes Andrew Leigh in On Line Opinion

Reaping the whirlwind

28 November, 2009 | Opponents of the emissions trading scheme within the Coalition have embarked on a high-risk strategy, writes Norman Abjorensen in Inside Story

NSW moves to automatic electoral enrolment

25 November, 2009 | … and the Commonwealth should follow suit, writes Antony Green

Who’s afraid of Margaret Thatcher?

25 November, 2009 | The Iron Lady casts a long shadow, as David Cameron is finding in the lead-up to the next British election, writes Frank Bongiorno in Inside Story

The split

27 November, 2009 | This could be the end of the Liberal Party as we know it, argues Geoffrey Barker in Inside Story

Rudd is unlikely to be trigger happy

01 December, 2009 | Don’t expect the government to rush to a double dissolution, says George Williams in the National Times

Meeting lifetime care costs

26 November, 2009 | Are current models sustainable, asks Rosamund Harrington for APO

New research

Creative Economy

National cultural canons as a cultural policy response to globalisation?

Compendium: Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe
26 November, 2009 | Discussions on identity, the nation-state and cultural policy as well as questions addressing globalisation and nationalism are often presented as closely interrelated.

Communications Policy and Research Forum 2009

Network Insight Institute
26 November, 2009 | The 2009 Forum was held at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) on 19-20 November. Interest areas included ICT, digital media, telecommunications, broadcasting, communications culture, Internet and e-commerce.

Charter for innovation, creativity and access to knowledge

Barcelona Cultural Forum
27 November, 2009 | This charter promotes the notion of Free culture (as in “freedom”, not as “for free”) for it’s potential to dramatically enlarge the space for civic engagement.

Australian cultural funding, by artform category

Ben Eltham | A Cultural Policy Blog
27 November, 2009 | This analysis of arts funding by artform category shows that the big dollars go to the public sector cultural organisations: parks and wildlife departments, public broadcasters, libraries, museums and art galleries.

Access to electronic media for the hearing and vision impaired: approaches for consideration

Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
26 November, 2009 | Submissions are invited on potential improvements to audio description and captioning levels in Australia for free-to-air and subscription television, DVDs, films in cinemas and audio-visual content on the internet.

A new deal for cultural employment

Compendium: Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe
27 November, 2009 | Is the decline in public expenditure for culture having a negative impact on the dynamics of the cultural labour market and on the level of supply and demand for cultural goods and services?

Report to the Secretary of State (Culture, Media and Sport) on the media ownership rules

Ofcom
26 November, 2009 | This UK study considers the impact of the current local media ownership rules on the sustainability of local media.

Multidisciplinary arts: approaches to funding

Maria De Rosa, Marilyn Burgess | International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies
27 November, 2009 | Multidisciplinary arts are broad and inclusive, with an emphasis on the presence of more than one discipline, which may extend beyond the arts, thereby offering both problems and opportunities for their funding.

Economics

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow

Simon Kelly | National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling
30 November, 2009 | New research shows that Australians are not saving enough to afford a comfortable retirement yet they are working less and spending more years in retirement than ever before.

OECD economic outlook

OECD Economics Department
25 November, 2009 | The economic recovery spreading across OECD countries is still too timid to halt the continuing rise in unemployment, according to this report.

Australia at work: in a changing world

John Buchanan | Workplace Research Centre
27 November, 2009 | During the global financial crisis workers who stayed in their jobs did not reduce their working hours, despite widespread government and commentator claims that cuts in hours had helped stem job losses during the downturn.

Making it fair

House Standing Committee on Employment and Workplace Relations
27 November, 2009 | This report makes 63 recommendations to federal government following an extensive parliamentary inquiry into pay equity and associated issues related to increasing female participation in the workforce.

Education

A Foucauldian strategy for vocational education and training research

Steven Hodge | Hawke Institute
30 November, 2009 | This paper reflects on a quandary encountered by researchers examining the history of competency-based education at a TAFE institution in South Australia.

The song room

Ralph Saubern | Curriculum Leadership
25 November, 2009 | The Song Room is a national not-for-profit organisation that provides learning opportunities to disadvantaged children through music and the creative arts.

The bilingual schools program in New South Wales

Curriculum Leader
27 November, 2009 | From next year, four New South Wales primary schools will take part in the State’s new Bilingual Schools Program.

Environment & Planning

Low carbon computing: a view to 2050 and beyond

Joint Information Systems Committee
30 November, 2009 | This UK report explains that it is likely that data-intensive sectors such as tertiary education will find themselves facing even harsher carbon emission targets than other sectors.

Seasonal forecasting in Australia

House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation
27 November, 2009 | This report makes a series of recommendations to boost Australia’s capacity to provide suitable and meaningful seasonal forecasting products for weather sensitive industries.

Health

Like the curate’s egg: a market-based response and alternative to the Bennett Report

Jeremy Sammut | Centre for Independent Studies
26 November, 2009 | Instead of centrally planning the future of Australian health care as recommended by the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission, the federal government should establish a national health voucher system and let choice, competition, and patient need determine the right supply of health services required in an ageing Australia.

State of ageing in South Australia

Ed Carson | Hawke Institute
30 November, 2009 | This report provides a detailed snapshot of South Australia’s older population and identifies implications and opportunities that will influence policy and service directions as the population ages.

Headspace evaluation report

Kristy Muir | Social Policy Research Centre
30 November, 2009 | This evaluation is a longitudinal, mixed methods research project, established to examine the achievements, limitations and future directions of headspace: the National Youth Mental Health Foundation program.

What you should know about nano

Fern Wickson | The Australia Institute
25 November, 2009 | We are constantly told that ‘nano’ science and technology are going to revolutionise our lives – but what does this really mean?

Indigenous

Everybody’s business: remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait community stores

House Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs
25 November, 2009 | The remote community store has the potential to play a pivotal role in improving the social, economic and health outcomes of remote Indigenous communities, according to this report.

The community phone project: an overview

Andrew Crouch | Centre for Appropriate Technology
27 November, 2009 | This paper outlines the development and implementation of the Community Phone as an alternative public telephone for remote settlements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in the broader context of telecommunications services in remote Australia.

Report on the Northern Territory Emergency Response redesign consultations

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
30 November, 2009 |

From June to late August 2009, the Australian Government consulted with Indigenous people in the Northern Territory about future directions for the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER).

Indigenous home-ownership on communal title lands

Paul Memmott | Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
30 November, 2009 | This study investigates the applicability of home ownership to Indigenous people living on communal title lands.

Can home ownership work for Indigenous Australians living on communal title land?

Paul Memmott | Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
26 November, 2009 | If governments are interested in pursuing more demand driven approaches to housing in indigenous communities, policy-makers need better information about indigenous people’s perceptions of home ownership.

8 priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care
26 November, 2009 | SNAICC is committed to pursuing the following eight priorities, each of equal importance, on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

International

Information sharing in Australia’s national security community

Anthony Bergin, Kelly O’Hara | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
30 November, 2009 | This paper examines the information sharing vision of the new National Security CIO in light of reforms made towards a more joined-up national security community.

We’ll have six of them and four of those: Off-the-shelf procurement and its strategic implications

Andrew Davies, Peter Layton | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
27 November, 2009 | Defence procurement decisions must balance cost, risk and capability. One way to minimise risk is to acquire equipment that is already proven.

Towards an Asia Pacific Community

Richard Woolcott | Asialink
26 November, 2009 | In the latest Asialink Essay, distinguished Australian diplomat and special envoy, Richard Woolcott AC, outlines the aims of Prime Minister Rudd’s Asia Pacific community concept.

Justice

Foucault and everyday security: lessons from the panopticon

Gilbert Caluya | Hawke Institute
30 November, 2009 | Foucault’s concepts and ideas (surveillance, discipline, governmentality, bio-power and discourse) have gained renewed interest in the post-9/11 environment.

New technologies, unauthorised visual images and sexual assault

Anastasia Powell | Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault
30 November, 2009 | This article argues that there is a direct link between existing debates about unauthorised visual images and the issue of sexual assault.

National community attitudes towards violence against women survey 2009

Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
26 November, 2009 | Since 1995, when the last survey was conducted, understanding of domestic and sexual violence and its impacts has broadened amongst the Australian community. Fewer Australians condone violence, but there is still work to be done.

Conceptualising the prevention of sexual assault and the role of education

Moira Carmody | Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault
30 November, 2009 | Over the last 30 years it has become clear that the prevention of sexual assault is a complex task that challenges policy makers, victim and perpetrator services, educators, researchers and the communities in which we live.

Politics

Cities, cultures and developments

United Cities and Local Governments
27 November, 2009 | This document includes essays and reports from many of the cities that have been active in the promotion of a worldwide mission for cultural development by local governments.

Children in the parliamentary chambers

Mark Rodrigues | Parliamentary Library
01 December, 2009 | The issue of allowing senators and members to take their children onto the floor of the parliamentary chambers cuts across a number of conflicting values.

Social Policy

Adolescent overload?


House Standing Committee on Education and Training
26 November, 2009 | This report looks at the impact of the potentially competing demands of study and part‐time or casual employment on youth.

State of world population 2009

United Nations Population Fund
01 December, 2009 | How do population dynamics affect greenhouse gases and climate change?

Provision of childcare

Senate Education, Employment Workplace Relations Committee
24 November, 2009 | This report discusses a range of issues salient to the provision, funding, planning and oversight of childcare services.

New audio

Housing for millions

27 November, 2009 | Planning for happy cities, when you’re also jamming in millions more people, is politically tricky.

The protection of human rights in Australia – a way forward

27 November, 2009 | In this lecture Ms Kostakidis discusses the themes that emerged from the 40,000 responses that were received during the consultation into the adequacy of the protection of human rights in Australia.

Soft-core East Asia: differentiated cooperation in an amorphous region

27 November, 2009 | Scholars of East Asian international relations diverge over how politically integrated the region is.

New video

Charter for innovation, creativity and access to knowledge

27 November, 2009 | Citizens, artists and consumers are no longer powerless and isolated in the face of the content-providing industries: now individuals across many different spheres collaborate, participate and decide.

Social media – death or salvation of professional journalism?

26 November, 2009 | At this Media140 Sydney forum, Fran Kelly (ABC RN) hosts a panel of eminent journalists and newsmakers on the impact of social media and the internet on professional journalism.

New media and world politics

26 November, 2009 | At this Lowy Institute talk held in Melbourne, Sam Roggeveen, editor of the Lowy Institute’s influential political commentary site, The Interpreter, offers his perspectives on how new media is changing the world.

John Pilger attacks the Australian Government

26 November, 2009 | As conflicts rage around the globe, Pilger argues that in Australia we have largely remained silent on injustices in the Middle East, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Aboriginal communities and refugees.

New jobs

Associate: Economist / Mathematician / Database Analyst

Grattan Institute – Shaping the Debate 24 November, 2009 | Based in Melbourne, we now have an exciting opportunity available to join Grattan Institute to work with our Program Directors, who are some of Australia’s leading thinkers and influencers in public policy.With the support of a strong team, they will contribute and shape the debate on many of the important challenges and opportunities facing Australia today. Our Programs include: Water; Energy Choices; Cities; School Education; and Productivity Growth.

Executive Officer

National Ethnic Disability Alliance 24 November, 2009 |

Senior Lawyer, Policy – Executive Level 2

Australian Securities and Investments Commission 01 December, 2009 | Market participants and stockbrokers: enhance the integrity of the Australian market.

New submissions

Australian Research Integrity Committee

14 January, 2010 | The ARC, the NHMRC, and the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research have developed a proposal to establish an Australian Research Integrity Committee (ARIC) The proposed ARIC will investigate and advise on concerns that institutions have not followed Part B of the Australian Code of the Responsible Conduct of Research (2007) when investigating allegations of research misconduct

Media access discussion report

29 January, 2010 | Submissions are invited on potential improvements to audio description and captioning levels in Australia for free-to-air and subscription television, DVDs, films in cinemas and audio-visual content on the internet This discussion report is intended to summarise approaches under consideration by the Australian Government and present them to the public for comment

New events

Conflict and identity in a Timorese urban village

LOCATION:	Room SPW226, Swinburne University, Hawthorn Campus
ORGANISED BY:	Institute for Social Research

03 December, 2009 | This presentation by James Scambar examines the social dynamics of an urban migrant village in Dili, the capital of East Timor, and the groups within this village.

New notices

Australian Fabians young writers competition

24 November, 2009 | The Young Writers Competition is open to 18-28 year old Australians who have progressive and practical solutions to the big issues facing Australia today and can communicate that idea in a 700–1000 word opinion piece.

New websites

Compendium: Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe

27 November, 2009 | This site provides quick facts and figures, cultural policy profiles and updates, key documents, profiles of the national experts, partner resources on 41 countries within Europe.

Creative Business Benchmarker

26 November, 2009 | Creative Business Benchmarker is a unique business tool that allows you to compare your performance to similar firms in Queensland.

Bindarri

26 November, 2009 | Bindarri aims to support and promote Australian creatives who are working for positive change and to inspire others who are yet to begin.

equity101

30 November, 2009 | equity101 is a repository of social inclusion policies, programs and research in education as well as a forum for social inclusion discussion and debate, for education researchers, practitioners, teachers, senior managers and policy makers.