Cost cuts put staff in danger
Kirsty Needham Workplace Reporter
smh, July 17, 2009
EMPLOYERS who cut corners to cut costs are compromising workplace safety, WorkCover NSW has warned.
A bulletin issued to NSW businesses urges them to "keep the workload realistic" for staff, and says company restructures and cost cutting are causing anxiety and leading to more mistakes.
The warning coincides with the release of WorkCover data showing an increase in workplace injuries and occupational disease in NSW in 2007-08, reversing the trend of improved safety.
"People say safety is the first thing to go … it is a very real issue that needs to be considered upfront as businesses take action to save money by doing things a bit quickly," said John Watson, WorkCover NSW's general manager of occupational health and safety.
WorkCover has told employers that unsafe workplaces cost more in the long run if they lead to higher compensation payouts or falling morale.
Workplace fatalities in NSW fell in 2007-08, but the number of injuries, weeks lost due to injury and level of compensation payouts rose. Total injuries rose by 2339 (2 per cent) to 142,542.
Major workplace injuries, involving a week or more off work, rose by 3 per cent to 30,077.
An error-reduction specialist said more mistakes are made as companies shed staff.
"People taking on more work increases the cognitive load. People being stressed by financial pressures decreases cognitive capacity. So we have a double whammy effect," said Filomena Sousa, chief executive of Talsico International.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
SWINE FLU DEATHS INCREASE
Red News Readers,
I note that several Sydney Hospitals have had to cancel elective surgery to cope with the swine flu. This pandemic will be a real test of the health system’s ability to cope with a crisis, like widespread flu, or a terrorist event, or whatever. I heard through the grapevine about 2 weeks ago that RPA and other hospitals were struggling because of the number of staff off sick with the flu, so I am not surprised that they have had to cut elective surgery. Their HR practices of getting rid of experienced staff because they were too expensive will be coming back to bite them at a time like this. I wonder how well the critical care units are coping with that many patients on Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation when they have so many young and inexperienced staff? And I wonder if that is why there has been a service reduction as well to allow for the inexperienced staff ?
Jenny Haines
Swine flu warning as deaths increase
Kate Benson and Andrew Clennell
smh, July 14, 2009
HEALTH experts fear the state's swine flu death toll could soar with six young, healthy people in Sydney fighting for their lives on last-resort cardiac bypass machines because their lungs are too damaged or diseased for regular mechanical ventilation.
The surge in the number of people with swine flu needing life-saving treatment has forced NSW Health to consider closing elective surgery at some big hospitals to allow staff to redirect resources.
What is your experience? How is your company being affected? Text 0424 SMS SMH (+61 424 767 764), email us with information and pictures or direct message us on Twitter @smh_news
Four people have now died in NSW since the pandemic hit on May 9, a woman, 61, being the latest victim. Her death on Saturday at Lismore Base Hospital was followed by two more suspected swine flu deaths, of men aged between 30 and 50, at Royal North Shore Hospital. Their deaths have been referred to the coroner.
Almost 350 people have been admitted to hospital with swine flu since the pandemic began. Fifty have been treated in intensive care, but doctors say the surge in patients needing cardiac bypass treatment is putting a huge strain on intensive care units and on staff and resources across the state.
All six of the victims on cardiac bypass are at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where staff have been forced to borrow three machines to treat 10 patients in the past two weeks. The hospital usually treated about five patients a year using the machines, the head of intensive care services, Robert Herkes, said yesterday.
"This is not an ordinary winter. Swine flu is hitting young, otherwise healthy people … they start with a sore throat, develop shortness of breath and within 12 to 24 hours have rapidly developed respiratory failure and are being ventilated."
Dr Herkes said extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, was considered a last-resort treatment, but staff were "throwing everything" at the patients because they were young and relatively healthy.
Patients in respiratory distress are given anticoagulants by machine, and their blood is drained through tubing in their femoral or jugular veins. It is oxygenated outside the body, allowing the lungs to recover.
Three patients with swine flu had been taken off the treatment at Royal Prince Alfred in the past few days. One was "sitting up talking, on a ward", but two were still critical and were being mechanically ventilated, Dr Herkes said.
Brad Frankum, a general physician and immunologist at Campbelltown Hospital, said he had heard anecdotal reports that "more people than ever before" were being treated with ECMO this winter. "This is of great concern because it would suggest that the number of serious cases [of acute respiratory distress] are threatening the capacity of the system," he said.
The deputy director-general of NSW Health, Tim Smyth, said yesterday five big hospitals in Sydney had now been designated to treat swine flu victims with ECMO, up from two a fortnight ago. He said about a third of swine flu patients in intensive care were needing this treatment, but there was still capacity to deal with the pandemic.
He said the department had stockpiled 130 new standard ventilators two years ago as part of the state's disaster plan and would open more intensive care beds on high dependency units if the number of patients continued to surge.
But Peter Collignon, a professor in infectious diseases at the Australian National University, played down the use of the machines, saying "this happens every winter - it just doesn't get publicity".
A spokesman for the State Government said elective surgery could be cancelled at Royal North Shore, Royal Prince Alfred and St Vincent's hospitals, and patients due for surgery would be moved to less affected hospitals.
"There's no move at this stage to move to a different [status] in our pandemic plan," a spokesman for the Health Minister, John Della Bosca, said.
There are many hundreds of flu deaths every year, but a senior health source said swine flu was likely to hit harder as there was no vaccine and no immunity.
THE STORY SO FAR
- 2029 people have tested positive in NSW.
- 346 have been admitted to hospital (255 in Sydney's west and south-west).
- Four have died, with two more deaths awaiting coroner's confirmation.
- Five major Sydney hospitals now treating victims with cardiac bypass machines.
- One-third of the population expected to get swine flu.
I note that several Sydney Hospitals have had to cancel elective surgery to cope with the swine flu. This pandemic will be a real test of the health system’s ability to cope with a crisis, like widespread flu, or a terrorist event, or whatever. I heard through the grapevine about 2 weeks ago that RPA and other hospitals were struggling because of the number of staff off sick with the flu, so I am not surprised that they have had to cut elective surgery. Their HR practices of getting rid of experienced staff because they were too expensive will be coming back to bite them at a time like this. I wonder how well the critical care units are coping with that many patients on Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation when they have so many young and inexperienced staff? And I wonder if that is why there has been a service reduction as well to allow for the inexperienced staff ?
Jenny Haines
Swine flu warning as deaths increase
Kate Benson and Andrew Clennell
smh, July 14, 2009
HEALTH experts fear the state's swine flu death toll could soar with six young, healthy people in Sydney fighting for their lives on last-resort cardiac bypass machines because their lungs are too damaged or diseased for regular mechanical ventilation.
The surge in the number of people with swine flu needing life-saving treatment has forced NSW Health to consider closing elective surgery at some big hospitals to allow staff to redirect resources.
What is your experience? How is your company being affected? Text 0424 SMS SMH (+61 424 767 764), email us with information and pictures or direct message us on Twitter @smh_news
Four people have now died in NSW since the pandemic hit on May 9, a woman, 61, being the latest victim. Her death on Saturday at Lismore Base Hospital was followed by two more suspected swine flu deaths, of men aged between 30 and 50, at Royal North Shore Hospital. Their deaths have been referred to the coroner.
Almost 350 people have been admitted to hospital with swine flu since the pandemic began. Fifty have been treated in intensive care, but doctors say the surge in patients needing cardiac bypass treatment is putting a huge strain on intensive care units and on staff and resources across the state.
All six of the victims on cardiac bypass are at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where staff have been forced to borrow three machines to treat 10 patients in the past two weeks. The hospital usually treated about five patients a year using the machines, the head of intensive care services, Robert Herkes, said yesterday.
"This is not an ordinary winter. Swine flu is hitting young, otherwise healthy people … they start with a sore throat, develop shortness of breath and within 12 to 24 hours have rapidly developed respiratory failure and are being ventilated."
Dr Herkes said extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, was considered a last-resort treatment, but staff were "throwing everything" at the patients because they were young and relatively healthy.
Patients in respiratory distress are given anticoagulants by machine, and their blood is drained through tubing in their femoral or jugular veins. It is oxygenated outside the body, allowing the lungs to recover.
Three patients with swine flu had been taken off the treatment at Royal Prince Alfred in the past few days. One was "sitting up talking, on a ward", but two were still critical and were being mechanically ventilated, Dr Herkes said.
Brad Frankum, a general physician and immunologist at Campbelltown Hospital, said he had heard anecdotal reports that "more people than ever before" were being treated with ECMO this winter. "This is of great concern because it would suggest that the number of serious cases [of acute respiratory distress] are threatening the capacity of the system," he said.
The deputy director-general of NSW Health, Tim Smyth, said yesterday five big hospitals in Sydney had now been designated to treat swine flu victims with ECMO, up from two a fortnight ago. He said about a third of swine flu patients in intensive care were needing this treatment, but there was still capacity to deal with the pandemic.
He said the department had stockpiled 130 new standard ventilators two years ago as part of the state's disaster plan and would open more intensive care beds on high dependency units if the number of patients continued to surge.
But Peter Collignon, a professor in infectious diseases at the Australian National University, played down the use of the machines, saying "this happens every winter - it just doesn't get publicity".
A spokesman for the State Government said elective surgery could be cancelled at Royal North Shore, Royal Prince Alfred and St Vincent's hospitals, and patients due for surgery would be moved to less affected hospitals.
"There's no move at this stage to move to a different [status] in our pandemic plan," a spokesman for the Health Minister, John Della Bosca, said.
There are many hundreds of flu deaths every year, but a senior health source said swine flu was likely to hit harder as there was no vaccine and no immunity.
THE STORY SO FAR
- 2029 people have tested positive in NSW.
- 346 have been admitted to hospital (255 in Sydney's west and south-west).
- Four have died, with two more deaths awaiting coroner's confirmation.
- Five major Sydney hospitals now treating victims with cardiac bypass machines.
- One-third of the population expected to get swine flu.
Friday, July 10, 2009
THE FATE OF ASYLUM SEEKERS
Red News Readers,
Ian Rintoul wins the prize for humanity. Meanwhile the BNP recommends sinking asylum seeker boats at sea (see below)
Jenny Haines
Mystery surrounds asylum seekers' boat
July 10, 2009
The fate of 74 Afghans is uncertain, write Tom Allard in Jakarta and Yuko Narushima.
IT WAS the curious incident of a boat in the night time, triggered by an asylum seeker's dying mobile phone and a concerned Australian supporter.
But confused messages between Australia and Indonesia leave mystery surrounding the fate of an estimated 74 people.
On Wednesday night, the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, said on television that a boat of asylum seekers missing off Indonesia had been found after an alert from the federal police.
"Indonesian maritime agencies have located the boat. All on board - which I understand to be some 70 people - are, on our advice, safe," he said.
But in Indonesia yesterday authorities could not confirm the boat's existence, let alone evidence of a rescue of the Afghan passengers.
Authorities had mistakenly briefed officials that the passengers were safe, Mr Smith said in a clarifying statement last night. In the meantime, police dodged questions on why Australia was monitoring waters so far away. A federal police spokesman said the minister's comments had been speculative.
"As the incident has occurred in Indonesian waters, it is a matter for Indonesian authorities," he said.
According to Customs and Border Protection, Australian police were contacted by Indonesian authorities on learning the boat was in trouble. "Our role was only to offer assistance," a spokesman said.
As Australian agencies flicked responsibility for information on the boat from one area to another, a refugee advocate, Ian Rintoul, tried to end the confusion.
He said he tipped off Australian border protection agencies after receiving text messages from Pakistan on Wednesday morning. He contacted a passenger's mobile and learnt the boat was taking on water, he said. The last text from the boat read: "My mobile has no power now. I can't contact you any more. May God help us."
There was little doubt from the messages the boat was headed for Australia. Mr Rintoul said the second last message was explicit. "I need help from Aus. Police not indonesian police. W will die but w won't go with indo. Police. I humbly request aus. Govt to help us. Plz plz plz," it said.
Yesterday, Indonesian authorities said they had not yet found the boat or anyone who had seen it. Family members of those on board contacted Mr Rintoul yesterday, telling him they had made their way to an unnamed island in Indonesia.
"My contacts in Pakistan definitely got the information they were on an island but there was no information that they had been rescued," he said.
Lieutenant-Colonel Toni Sjaiful, spokesman for the Indonesian Navy's eastern fleet, said navy and police boats had been searching since Wednesday morning around the Komodo Islands and south off the coast of West Timor.
"We have found nothing. No dead bodies floating, for instance, or anything that may indicate their whereabouts," Colonel Sjaiful said.
Mr Rintoul said it was highly unlikely the missing boat was a hoax. "If it was a hoax, it was an amazingly elaborate one. When I rang the people on the boat, you could hear the water lapping in the background," he said.
He had not been in contact with those on board since they reportedly found landfall.
Ian Rintoul wins the prize for humanity. Meanwhile the BNP recommends sinking asylum seeker boats at sea (see below)
Jenny Haines
Mystery surrounds asylum seekers' boat
July 10, 2009
The fate of 74 Afghans is uncertain, write Tom Allard in Jakarta and Yuko Narushima.
IT WAS the curious incident of a boat in the night time, triggered by an asylum seeker's dying mobile phone and a concerned Australian supporter.
But confused messages between Australia and Indonesia leave mystery surrounding the fate of an estimated 74 people.
On Wednesday night, the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, said on television that a boat of asylum seekers missing off Indonesia had been found after an alert from the federal police.
"Indonesian maritime agencies have located the boat. All on board - which I understand to be some 70 people - are, on our advice, safe," he said.
But in Indonesia yesterday authorities could not confirm the boat's existence, let alone evidence of a rescue of the Afghan passengers.
Authorities had mistakenly briefed officials that the passengers were safe, Mr Smith said in a clarifying statement last night. In the meantime, police dodged questions on why Australia was monitoring waters so far away. A federal police spokesman said the minister's comments had been speculative.
"As the incident has occurred in Indonesian waters, it is a matter for Indonesian authorities," he said.
According to Customs and Border Protection, Australian police were contacted by Indonesian authorities on learning the boat was in trouble. "Our role was only to offer assistance," a spokesman said.
As Australian agencies flicked responsibility for information on the boat from one area to another, a refugee advocate, Ian Rintoul, tried to end the confusion.
He said he tipped off Australian border protection agencies after receiving text messages from Pakistan on Wednesday morning. He contacted a passenger's mobile and learnt the boat was taking on water, he said. The last text from the boat read: "My mobile has no power now. I can't contact you any more. May God help us."
There was little doubt from the messages the boat was headed for Australia. Mr Rintoul said the second last message was explicit. "I need help from Aus. Police not indonesian police. W will die but w won't go with indo. Police. I humbly request aus. Govt to help us. Plz plz plz," it said.
Yesterday, Indonesian authorities said they had not yet found the boat or anyone who had seen it. Family members of those on board contacted Mr Rintoul yesterday, telling him they had made their way to an unnamed island in Indonesia.
"My contacts in Pakistan definitely got the information they were on an island but there was no information that they had been rescued," he said.
Lieutenant-Colonel Toni Sjaiful, spokesman for the Indonesian Navy's eastern fleet, said navy and police boats had been searching since Wednesday morning around the Komodo Islands and south off the coast of West Timor.
"We have found nothing. No dead bodies floating, for instance, or anything that may indicate their whereabouts," Colonel Sjaiful said.
Mr Rintoul said it was highly unlikely the missing boat was a hoax. "If it was a hoax, it was an amazingly elaborate one. When I rang the people on the boat, you could hear the water lapping in the background," he said.
He had not been in contact with those on board since they reportedly found landfall.
BNP 'SINK BOATS AT SEA'
EU 'should sink immigrant boats'
Article from: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in London
July 09, 2009 08:00am
THE leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), recently elected to the European Parliament, says the European Union should sink boats carrying African immigrants trying to reach the continent.
Nick Griffin, one of two BNP members elected to the Brussels parliament in May, told the BBC that those on board would be thrown a life raft, but insisted only drastic action could stop Europe being "swamped by the Third World".
"The only measure, sooner or later, which is going to stop immigration and stop large numbers of sub-Saharan Africans dying on the way to get over here is to get very tough with those coming over," he said today. "Frankly, they need to sink several of those boats.
"Anyone coming up with measures like that (in the EU) we'll support, but anything which is there as a 'Oh, we need to do something about it' but in the end doing something about it means bringing them into Europe, we will oppose."
He denied advocating that anyone should be "murdered at sea", saying: "They can throw them a life raft and they can go back to Libya.
"But Europe has sooner or later to close its borders or it's simply going to be swamped by the Third World."
More than 67,000 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea to seek asylum in Europe in 2008, half of them arriving in Italy and Malta, according to figures released in January by the United Nations' refugee agency.
The BNP calls for an immediate halt to immigration to Britain, and the "voluntary resettlement" of those who are already here to their countries of ethnic origin.
Article from: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in London
July 09, 2009 08:00am
THE leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), recently elected to the European Parliament, says the European Union should sink boats carrying African immigrants trying to reach the continent.
Nick Griffin, one of two BNP members elected to the Brussels parliament in May, told the BBC that those on board would be thrown a life raft, but insisted only drastic action could stop Europe being "swamped by the Third World".
"The only measure, sooner or later, which is going to stop immigration and stop large numbers of sub-Saharan Africans dying on the way to get over here is to get very tough with those coming over," he said today. "Frankly, they need to sink several of those boats.
"Anyone coming up with measures like that (in the EU) we'll support, but anything which is there as a 'Oh, we need to do something about it' but in the end doing something about it means bringing them into Europe, we will oppose."
He denied advocating that anyone should be "murdered at sea", saying: "They can throw them a life raft and they can go back to Libya.
"But Europe has sooner or later to close its borders or it's simply going to be swamped by the Third World."
More than 67,000 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea to seek asylum in Europe in 2008, half of them arriving in Italy and Malta, according to figures released in January by the United Nations' refugee agency.
The BNP calls for an immediate halt to immigration to Britain, and the "voluntary resettlement" of those who are already here to their countries of ethnic origin.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
ANATOL KAGAN 1913-2009
Australia has lost one of the last survivors of Tsarist Russia who actually witnessed the Russian Revolution first hand. Anatol Kagan, 1913-2009. died in a nursing home last week a couple of days after admission.
Anatol was born in St Petersburg in 1913, of Jewish parents. He grew up in Tsarist Russia and witnessed the horrors of war, revolution, starvation, and deprivation. Speakers at his funeral today told of a young Anatol witnessing a horse drop dead outside his front door, then watching as starving people came out with their knives to cut the flesh off the horse to eat. The events of his early years turned Anatol into a lifelong sympathiser and campaigner for the underdog. His family left Russia on the Intellectuals Ship, a shipful of those who even in 1921, were irritating Stalin. They were not necessarily friends of Lenin and Trotsky, but Lenin, with a remarkable growing concern about the future, encouraged them to leave Russia. So they avoided what was coming, the mass extermination of intellectuals by Stalin.
Anatol’s parents set up a book and publishing business in Germany, publishing such writers as Nabakov and Trotsky. Anatol was fortunate to read the drafts of Trotsky’s “History of the Russian Revolution” which converted him to Trotsky’s view of these events. But the Nazis were on the rise, and Anatol became a member of the German Underground. His family left Germany and arrived in Australia in 1939. When asked why he came to Australia, he said that it was as far away from Europe as he could get.
Anatol became an active member of the Balmain Trotskyists, led by Nick Origlass and Izzy Wyner. He had trained as an architect in Germany. In Australia he obtained work in the Government Architect’s Office in NSW, later setting up his own firm of Anatol Kagan and Associates in Melbourne. He met and married his current wife in 1949 . They had a long, happy and successful marriage, with children of their marriage, and Anatole’s earlier marriages, up until his death.
In 1957, Anatol submitted an entry to the competition for the design of the Sydney Opera House. History records that Joern Utzon won that competition. Anatol had his own views about Utzon’s design and Utzon the man, but in true comradeliness, when Utzon was sacked by the NSW Government, Anatol was the first to lead a walkout from the Government Architect’s Office. His designs were overlooked for many years, until 2007, when there was an exhibition to remember the 50th Anniversary of the Competition, and Anatol was contacted and asked to send his drawings in for exhibition. He and his wife Dawn extracted the plans from under their mattress where they had been placed to save space in their smallish Mosman flat, and sent them in for showing.
Anatol was a lifelong member of the Australian Labor Party. He took the view that he didn’t agree with the leadership of the party on many things, but it was better to stay in the only mass working class party in Australia, and fight the bastards, than leave. He joined the Balwyn Branch in 1946 and since then has been a member of the Box Hill/Taronga Branch, the Prahan Branch in Victoria and the Mosman, Ben Boyd, Hornsby and Harbord Branches in NSW. He was awarded Life Membership of the Australian Labor Party in 1994. At his funeral today messages were received from Mark Arbib on behalf of the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, all thanking Anatole for his contribution to the party. The tribute from Bob Hawke read:
As the longest serving Australian Labor Prime Minister, I pay tribute to Anatol Kagan for his devotion and dedication to our great Party. A member of the Party for the last sixty three years, of which the last fifteen have been as a Life Member, Anatol will be remembered as someone who was totally committed to his ideas and ideals for a peaceful, free and just world. Through this philosophy, he lived a rich and rewarding life, fulfilled in the hope and knowledge that his efforts were directed to fairness and equality of opportunity for all. I thank him for his efforts and send my condolences to his family. Vale a True Believer. (Signed RJL Hawke AC).
I knew Anatol in passing through friends, but I feel honoured to have been able to attend the funeral of this most interesting man. It may seem like a hackneyed phrase, but they don’t make them like Anatole any more. Farewell Anatole and thank you for your contribution to life,
(Thank you to Damien Stapleton for sending a copy of his speech to the Funeral Today which included the tribute from Bob Hawke).
Jenny Haines
Anatol was born in St Petersburg in 1913, of Jewish parents. He grew up in Tsarist Russia and witnessed the horrors of war, revolution, starvation, and deprivation. Speakers at his funeral today told of a young Anatol witnessing a horse drop dead outside his front door, then watching as starving people came out with their knives to cut the flesh off the horse to eat. The events of his early years turned Anatol into a lifelong sympathiser and campaigner for the underdog. His family left Russia on the Intellectuals Ship, a shipful of those who even in 1921, were irritating Stalin. They were not necessarily friends of Lenin and Trotsky, but Lenin, with a remarkable growing concern about the future, encouraged them to leave Russia. So they avoided what was coming, the mass extermination of intellectuals by Stalin.
Anatol’s parents set up a book and publishing business in Germany, publishing such writers as Nabakov and Trotsky. Anatol was fortunate to read the drafts of Trotsky’s “History of the Russian Revolution” which converted him to Trotsky’s view of these events. But the Nazis were on the rise, and Anatol became a member of the German Underground. His family left Germany and arrived in Australia in 1939. When asked why he came to Australia, he said that it was as far away from Europe as he could get.
Anatol became an active member of the Balmain Trotskyists, led by Nick Origlass and Izzy Wyner. He had trained as an architect in Germany. In Australia he obtained work in the Government Architect’s Office in NSW, later setting up his own firm of Anatol Kagan and Associates in Melbourne. He met and married his current wife in 1949 . They had a long, happy and successful marriage, with children of their marriage, and Anatole’s earlier marriages, up until his death.
In 1957, Anatol submitted an entry to the competition for the design of the Sydney Opera House. History records that Joern Utzon won that competition. Anatol had his own views about Utzon’s design and Utzon the man, but in true comradeliness, when Utzon was sacked by the NSW Government, Anatol was the first to lead a walkout from the Government Architect’s Office. His designs were overlooked for many years, until 2007, when there was an exhibition to remember the 50th Anniversary of the Competition, and Anatol was contacted and asked to send his drawings in for exhibition. He and his wife Dawn extracted the plans from under their mattress where they had been placed to save space in their smallish Mosman flat, and sent them in for showing.
Anatol was a lifelong member of the Australian Labor Party. He took the view that he didn’t agree with the leadership of the party on many things, but it was better to stay in the only mass working class party in Australia, and fight the bastards, than leave. He joined the Balwyn Branch in 1946 and since then has been a member of the Box Hill/Taronga Branch, the Prahan Branch in Victoria and the Mosman, Ben Boyd, Hornsby and Harbord Branches in NSW. He was awarded Life Membership of the Australian Labor Party in 1994. At his funeral today messages were received from Mark Arbib on behalf of the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, all thanking Anatole for his contribution to the party. The tribute from Bob Hawke read:
As the longest serving Australian Labor Prime Minister, I pay tribute to Anatol Kagan for his devotion and dedication to our great Party. A member of the Party for the last sixty three years, of which the last fifteen have been as a Life Member, Anatol will be remembered as someone who was totally committed to his ideas and ideals for a peaceful, free and just world. Through this philosophy, he lived a rich and rewarding life, fulfilled in the hope and knowledge that his efforts were directed to fairness and equality of opportunity for all. I thank him for his efforts and send my condolences to his family. Vale a True Believer. (Signed RJL Hawke AC).
I knew Anatol in passing through friends, but I feel honoured to have been able to attend the funeral of this most interesting man. It may seem like a hackneyed phrase, but they don’t make them like Anatole any more. Farewell Anatole and thank you for your contribution to life,
(Thank you to Damien Stapleton for sending a copy of his speech to the Funeral Today which included the tribute from Bob Hawke).
Jenny Haines
Sunday, July 05, 2009
SYDNEY WEST HEALTH JOBS UNDER THREAT
Red News Readers,
Don't hold your breath waiting for the HSU to run an anti contracting out campaign. They have had 5 -8 years to run this campaign and where is it?
Jenny Haines
Hundreds of health jobs to go
Louise Hall Health Reporter,Sun Herald.
July 5, 2009
THE cash-strapped Sydney West Area Health Service has issued a call to all staff to apply for voluntary redundancy, saying the move will "streamline services" for patients.
The Health Services Union is urging hospital officials to reverse the decision to cut jobs and end the freeze on filling vacant positions.
"To cut more staff from the already strained health system will have a devastating impact," union secretary Michael Williamson said.
"You cannot expect measures like these not to have a direct effect on patient care."
The union believes the area health service - which runs Westmead and Nepean hospitals, and smaller hospitals from Auburn to Lithgow - has said 600 full-time-equivalent positions must go to meet this financial year's budget.
In May The Sydney Morning Herald revealed the hospitals frequently ran out of medical supplies because they owed suppliers millions of dollars in unpaid bills.
PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed to "provide financial management support", in a sign that administrators were struggling to control their budgets.
Last week a spokeswoman for the area health service said front-line clinical and support positions would not be affected, and no one had been or would be sacked.
A very small proportion of the 20,000 SWAHS staff would be eligible for redundancy, she said.
"SWAHS has a responsibility to ensure that public funds are used effectively to provide care for the greatest number of patients," she said.
"The voluntary redundancies will have the potential of unlocking health-care dollars to increase patient treatment services."
At the Health Services Union annual convention last week delegates voted to campaign for adequate staff at all NSW public health facilities.
The union, which represents ambulance officers, clerical staff and radiographers, also opposes contracting out food production, linen services, cleaning, security and pathology.
Don't hold your breath waiting for the HSU to run an anti contracting out campaign. They have had 5 -8 years to run this campaign and where is it?
Jenny Haines
Hundreds of health jobs to go
Louise Hall Health Reporter,Sun Herald.
July 5, 2009
THE cash-strapped Sydney West Area Health Service has issued a call to all staff to apply for voluntary redundancy, saying the move will "streamline services" for patients.
The Health Services Union is urging hospital officials to reverse the decision to cut jobs and end the freeze on filling vacant positions.
"To cut more staff from the already strained health system will have a devastating impact," union secretary Michael Williamson said.
"You cannot expect measures like these not to have a direct effect on patient care."
The union believes the area health service - which runs Westmead and Nepean hospitals, and smaller hospitals from Auburn to Lithgow - has said 600 full-time-equivalent positions must go to meet this financial year's budget.
In May The Sydney Morning Herald revealed the hospitals frequently ran out of medical supplies because they owed suppliers millions of dollars in unpaid bills.
PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed to "provide financial management support", in a sign that administrators were struggling to control their budgets.
Last week a spokeswoman for the area health service said front-line clinical and support positions would not be affected, and no one had been or would be sacked.
A very small proportion of the 20,000 SWAHS staff would be eligible for redundancy, she said.
"SWAHS has a responsibility to ensure that public funds are used effectively to provide care for the greatest number of patients," she said.
"The voluntary redundancies will have the potential of unlocking health-care dollars to increase patient treatment services."
At the Health Services Union annual convention last week delegates voted to campaign for adequate staff at all NSW public health facilities.
The union, which represents ambulance officers, clerical staff and radiographers, also opposes contracting out food production, linen services, cleaning, security and pathology.
Friday, July 03, 2009
DUBBO PRISON OFFICERS WALK OFF THE JOB
Dubbo prison officers to walk off the job
02 July 2009 Content provided to you by AAP.
SYDNEY, July 2 AAP - Prison officers at Wellington prison near Dubbo will walk off the job on Thursday to protest against the NSW government's plans to privatise Parklea prison.
Officers at a rally outside Wellington prison from 11.30am (AEST) will call on NSW MPs to oppose the privatisation of the state's jails.Parklea officers say their jobs are at risk from moves to privatise the western Sydney prison's management and operation.
The NSW Public Service Association (PSA) spokesman Matt Bindley said more prisons could be sold off if private operators enter the market.
"At today's rally we want to send a clear message to the government that prison officers and local communities all over NSW will be affected by the decision to privatise Parklea," Mr Bindley said in a statement.
"We had a win recently with the plans to privatise Cessnock Correctional Centre being overturned, however we are not going to stop here and want to ensure no more NSW prisons are privatised."
© 2009 AAP Disclaimer
02 July 2009 Content provided to you by AAP.
SYDNEY, July 2 AAP - Prison officers at Wellington prison near Dubbo will walk off the job on Thursday to protest against the NSW government's plans to privatise Parklea prison.
Officers at a rally outside Wellington prison from 11.30am (AEST) will call on NSW MPs to oppose the privatisation of the state's jails.Parklea officers say their jobs are at risk from moves to privatise the western Sydney prison's management and operation.
The NSW Public Service Association (PSA) spokesman Matt Bindley said more prisons could be sold off if private operators enter the market.
"At today's rally we want to send a clear message to the government that prison officers and local communities all over NSW will be affected by the decision to privatise Parklea," Mr Bindley said in a statement.
"We had a win recently with the plans to privatise Cessnock Correctional Centre being overturned, however we are not going to stop here and want to ensure no more NSW prisons are privatised."
© 2009 AAP Disclaimer
Saturday, June 27, 2009
MORE ASYLUM SEEKERS ON THE WAY
190 asylum-seekers headed for Australia
Boat being tracked by border protection
"Government failing to deter boat arrivals"
Ben Packham, Daily Telegraph, 27.6.09
THE biggest boatload of asylum-seekers since the Tampa crisis is heading towards Australia.
The vessel, believed to be carrying up to 190 people, is being tracked by border protection authorities. It recently passed between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra and is believed to be southeast of Bali, the Herald Sun reports.Authorities are waiting to see if it heads east towards Darwin or southwest towards Ashmore Reef.
The boat is one of several being monitored by Border Protection Command, which tracks suspect vessels as soon as they leave port. If the numbers aboard are as high as authorities believe, the vessel could mark a turning point in the tactics of people smugglers.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor's office declined to comment, saying it did not discuss operational matters.
Most boats in recent times have carried about 20 unauthorised arrivals. But there are bigger profits to be made by smugglers who are willing to load more people aboard old fishing boats and ferries.
The Norwegian freighter MV Tampa rescued 433 asylum seekers from a leaky boat in 2001, prompting the Howard Government's so-called "Pacific Solution". The policy was dismantled by the Rudd Government, which axed mandatory detention and closed processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island. It has also stopped billing immigration detainees for the cost of their stay.
The number of unauthorised boats heading to Australia has been steadily climbing, with 15 arriving already this year. The latest came this week, carrying 49 asylum seekers and four crew.
The asylum seeker surge will test refugee processing facilities on Christmas Island, which are reportedly close to capacity.
Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said the Government was failing to deter boat arrivals. "It's on for young and old again," she said. "The people smugglers clearly have a well established pipeline to Australia and they are using the Rudd Government's soft policies to recruit more clients."
Boat being tracked by border protection
"Government failing to deter boat arrivals"
Ben Packham, Daily Telegraph, 27.6.09
THE biggest boatload of asylum-seekers since the Tampa crisis is heading towards Australia.
The vessel, believed to be carrying up to 190 people, is being tracked by border protection authorities. It recently passed between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra and is believed to be southeast of Bali, the Herald Sun reports.Authorities are waiting to see if it heads east towards Darwin or southwest towards Ashmore Reef.
The boat is one of several being monitored by Border Protection Command, which tracks suspect vessels as soon as they leave port. If the numbers aboard are as high as authorities believe, the vessel could mark a turning point in the tactics of people smugglers.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor's office declined to comment, saying it did not discuss operational matters.
Most boats in recent times have carried about 20 unauthorised arrivals. But there are bigger profits to be made by smugglers who are willing to load more people aboard old fishing boats and ferries.
The Norwegian freighter MV Tampa rescued 433 asylum seekers from a leaky boat in 2001, prompting the Howard Government's so-called "Pacific Solution". The policy was dismantled by the Rudd Government, which axed mandatory detention and closed processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island. It has also stopped billing immigration detainees for the cost of their stay.
The number of unauthorised boats heading to Australia has been steadily climbing, with 15 arriving already this year. The latest came this week, carrying 49 asylum seekers and four crew.
The asylum seeker surge will test refugee processing facilities on Christmas Island, which are reportedly close to capacity.
Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone said the Government was failing to deter boat arrivals. "It's on for young and old again," she said. "The people smugglers clearly have a well established pipeline to Australia and they are using the Rudd Government's soft policies to recruit more clients."
MABO INSPIRES BEDOUIN CLAIMS
Mabo native title laws inspire Bedouin claims
Joel Gibson, smh
June 27, 2009
AUSTRALIA'S native title laws are providing inspiration for indigenous claims in one of the most contested places on earth.
Israel's Bedouin people are preparing a landmark test case on behalf of a traditional landowner and have engaged an Australian expert on native title compensation to advise how the success of the late Eddie Mabo can be replicated in the Negev Desert.
John Sheehan, an adjunct professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, and former president of the NSW division of the Australian Property Institute, travelled to Israel this month to assist in the formulation of the claim, which will be the first of its kind in Israel.
He said the plight of the Bedouins, a semi-nomadic people who have travelled the desert regions of southern Israel since before Ottoman and British rule, was "virtually identical" to that of indigenous people before the High Court's historic Mabo decision found native title persisted in Australia.
Like failed claims in Australia before Mabo, previous Bedouin claims have challenged the sovereignty of the Israeli state and failed to get off the ground, he said. "Eddie Mabo was a smart man who realised that you have to put the rights in a manner that could be translated into British common law notions of property. Otherwise it's too easy for them to be knocked over."
With some input based on the Australian experience, Professor Sheehan said he hopes to see "the settlement of the first land claim of a Bedouin indigene in Israel".
Bedouin officials are still deciding upon their ideal test claimant, but the man most likely is a Bedouin named Muri, the son of a sheikh whose family has lived in the same area of the Negev for centuries.
While the Bedouin are a nomadic people, Muri's father's status meant he lived in a stone house, making his claim more palatable to a legal system based on the British common law of property.
Muri is one of tens of thousands of Bedouin inhabitants of unrecognised villages without connection to the water and sewerage systems and threatened with demolition because they are not among the seven villages recognised by the Israeli Government.
Their unrecognised status means are not counted in the census, and cannot vote in local government elections.
The dispossession of Israel's Bedouin tribes has been largely swept aside in the debates about Jewish settlements.
The Bedouin lawyer Morad Elsana, who is involved in the land claim on behalf of the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the problem of the Bedouin was that they were "invisible".
The Israeli Government created a commission headed by Judge Eliezer Goldberg to investigate the issue in late 2007. It recommended last year that most of the villages be recognised and a committee be established to settle land claims.
Groups such as Habitat International have called for reparations, a moratorium on all demolitions and a new framework for settling land claims.
Meanwhile, lawyers and Bedouin officials behind the test claim hope it could one day be used as a pilot for solving the more vexed issue of Palestinian land rights.
Joel Gibson, smh
June 27, 2009
AUSTRALIA'S native title laws are providing inspiration for indigenous claims in one of the most contested places on earth.
Israel's Bedouin people are preparing a landmark test case on behalf of a traditional landowner and have engaged an Australian expert on native title compensation to advise how the success of the late Eddie Mabo can be replicated in the Negev Desert.
John Sheehan, an adjunct professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, and former president of the NSW division of the Australian Property Institute, travelled to Israel this month to assist in the formulation of the claim, which will be the first of its kind in Israel.
He said the plight of the Bedouins, a semi-nomadic people who have travelled the desert regions of southern Israel since before Ottoman and British rule, was "virtually identical" to that of indigenous people before the High Court's historic Mabo decision found native title persisted in Australia.
Like failed claims in Australia before Mabo, previous Bedouin claims have challenged the sovereignty of the Israeli state and failed to get off the ground, he said. "Eddie Mabo was a smart man who realised that you have to put the rights in a manner that could be translated into British common law notions of property. Otherwise it's too easy for them to be knocked over."
With some input based on the Australian experience, Professor Sheehan said he hopes to see "the settlement of the first land claim of a Bedouin indigene in Israel".
Bedouin officials are still deciding upon their ideal test claimant, but the man most likely is a Bedouin named Muri, the son of a sheikh whose family has lived in the same area of the Negev for centuries.
While the Bedouin are a nomadic people, Muri's father's status meant he lived in a stone house, making his claim more palatable to a legal system based on the British common law of property.
Muri is one of tens of thousands of Bedouin inhabitants of unrecognised villages without connection to the water and sewerage systems and threatened with demolition because they are not among the seven villages recognised by the Israeli Government.
Their unrecognised status means are not counted in the census, and cannot vote in local government elections.
The dispossession of Israel's Bedouin tribes has been largely swept aside in the debates about Jewish settlements.
The Bedouin lawyer Morad Elsana, who is involved in the land claim on behalf of the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the problem of the Bedouin was that they were "invisible".
The Israeli Government created a commission headed by Judge Eliezer Goldberg to investigate the issue in late 2007. It recommended last year that most of the villages be recognised and a committee be established to settle land claims.
Groups such as Habitat International have called for reparations, a moratorium on all demolitions and a new framework for settling land claims.
Meanwhile, lawyers and Bedouin officials behind the test claim hope it could one day be used as a pilot for solving the more vexed issue of Palestinian land rights.
GRUMPY OLD SHEILAS AT THE TOXTETH
Margot Saville writes in Crikey 26.6.09:
It was a stellar panel of Grumpy Old Sheilas at Glebe’s Toxteth Hotel last night, with a full complement of curmudgeons, including Wendy Bacon, Elizabeth Farrelly and Meredith
Burgmann lining up to talk about what gets their goat.
The hardest part of the talk -- which raised money for Tranby Aboriginal College -- was deciding the order of speakers, as MC Kate Barton had decreed that they would talk in order of age, from oldest to youngest.
The first speaker, molecular biologist Marion Manton, said she thought one of the worst parts of aging was “sagging jowls and disappearing eyelashes, I used to be able to bat my eyelashes and now I can’t find them.”
She also said that as a member of the infamous Sydney “Push”, she was naturally an atheist “but I don’t want to go into an atheist retirement home, I don’t think atheists would be able to manage them properly.”
Meredith Burgmann had the longest list of “grumps”, saying that the last time she had spoken on this topic, “I attacked Buddhists, large white square plates, bromeliads and something else which I’ve forgotten because I am a senior.”
This time, however, she was grumpy about Buddhists (still), Chaser-haters proteas and Pilates.
"And of course, young people." Burgmann, Former President of the NSW Upper House, said that at a recent demo she had told a young journalist that she wanted to get the CMFEU to institute a green ban on a proposed development. "And he said, ‘what’s a green ban?’ That’s why the young can never be trusted."
Buddhism is irritating because it is the only acceptable religion for the inner-city leftist intelligentsia, she said. “Why is Buddhism acceptable when other wacky religions are not?” And as for Pilates: “If another middle-aged woman tells me to do Pilates I will strangle them, except I won’t succeed because of their very strong neck muscles."
Journalist and academic Wendy Bacon said that she was also an atheist, but was returning to her Presbyterian roots because she was angrier about lies than she used to be, and had a feeling that people in public life were lying more easily. "Weapons of Mass Destruction was an astounding lie and we have never made anyone pay for that."
Wendy also weighed into the infamous SWF/UTS imbroglio. In a nutshell, last year the UTS Journalism students, under the steely eye of Bacon, their journalism professor, were asked to write a daily newspaper for the Sydney Writers’ Festival. The problem was a cultural one -- the students thought that they were Woodward and Bernstein and the SWF thought the paper was part of its marketing arm. The inevitable stand-off occurred, culminating in a huge fight between the festival and the university which ended in a flurry of legal letters.
Personally, I would not take on a woman who had paraded in a nun’s habit bearing the slogan "I have been f-cked by God’s steel prick", but UTS saw it differently, and Bacon is still fuming.
"I’m very grumpy about the SWF. Last year the students from UTS wrote the SWF newspaper and it did not do the PR that SWF expected. This year they banned the newspaper, and I’m very grumpy with UTS because they said it did not happen when about 300 people knew that it did."
Bacon was also grumpy about the fact that she didn’t seem to be able to get a grip on time. She said she remembered living in Glebe in about 1980 and Malcolm Turnbull and (now Justice) Virginia Bell were there, "and we would spend hours and hours playing poker". There was a pause and we leaned in expectantly -- did Malcolm slip in a home-made Ace of Spades, was he fond of Virginia's cat? Sadly, this was a precursor to some Proustian points about the experience of time; not a lead-in to a juicy anecdote about young Malcolm.
The final speaker was SMH columnist and academic Elizabeth Farrelly, who looked too young to qualify, but did round off the evening with a long list of complaints written in the form of a poem. It included property developers, the NSW state government and Peter Garrett, the "singer without a song" who has been "tied up and brutalised by Penny Wong". She also said she was grumpy about having curly hair.
Just before the end, MC Kate Barton asked Bacon if she had to leave; she said she had time to have "one more for the gutter".
On July 30, it’s the turn of the Grumpy Old Men, featuring Bob Ellis and actors Tony Llewellyn-Jones and John Derum. Grumpy old people unite, you have nothing to lose but your temper ...
It was a stellar panel of Grumpy Old Sheilas at Glebe’s Toxteth Hotel last night, with a full complement of curmudgeons, including Wendy Bacon, Elizabeth Farrelly and Meredith
Burgmann lining up to talk about what gets their goat.
The hardest part of the talk -- which raised money for Tranby Aboriginal College -- was deciding the order of speakers, as MC Kate Barton had decreed that they would talk in order of age, from oldest to youngest.
The first speaker, molecular biologist Marion Manton, said she thought one of the worst parts of aging was “sagging jowls and disappearing eyelashes, I used to be able to bat my eyelashes and now I can’t find them.”
She also said that as a member of the infamous Sydney “Push”, she was naturally an atheist “but I don’t want to go into an atheist retirement home, I don’t think atheists would be able to manage them properly.”
Meredith Burgmann had the longest list of “grumps”, saying that the last time she had spoken on this topic, “I attacked Buddhists, large white square plates, bromeliads and something else which I’ve forgotten because I am a senior.”
This time, however, she was grumpy about Buddhists (still), Chaser-haters proteas and Pilates.
"And of course, young people." Burgmann, Former President of the NSW Upper House, said that at a recent demo she had told a young journalist that she wanted to get the CMFEU to institute a green ban on a proposed development. "And he said, ‘what’s a green ban?’ That’s why the young can never be trusted."
Buddhism is irritating because it is the only acceptable religion for the inner-city leftist intelligentsia, she said. “Why is Buddhism acceptable when other wacky religions are not?” And as for Pilates: “If another middle-aged woman tells me to do Pilates I will strangle them, except I won’t succeed because of their very strong neck muscles."
Journalist and academic Wendy Bacon said that she was also an atheist, but was returning to her Presbyterian roots because she was angrier about lies than she used to be, and had a feeling that people in public life were lying more easily. "Weapons of Mass Destruction was an astounding lie and we have never made anyone pay for that."
Wendy also weighed into the infamous SWF/UTS imbroglio. In a nutshell, last year the UTS Journalism students, under the steely eye of Bacon, their journalism professor, were asked to write a daily newspaper for the Sydney Writers’ Festival. The problem was a cultural one -- the students thought that they were Woodward and Bernstein and the SWF thought the paper was part of its marketing arm. The inevitable stand-off occurred, culminating in a huge fight between the festival and the university which ended in a flurry of legal letters.
Personally, I would not take on a woman who had paraded in a nun’s habit bearing the slogan "I have been f-cked by God’s steel prick", but UTS saw it differently, and Bacon is still fuming.
"I’m very grumpy about the SWF. Last year the students from UTS wrote the SWF newspaper and it did not do the PR that SWF expected. This year they banned the newspaper, and I’m very grumpy with UTS because they said it did not happen when about 300 people knew that it did."
Bacon was also grumpy about the fact that she didn’t seem to be able to get a grip on time. She said she remembered living in Glebe in about 1980 and Malcolm Turnbull and (now Justice) Virginia Bell were there, "and we would spend hours and hours playing poker". There was a pause and we leaned in expectantly -- did Malcolm slip in a home-made Ace of Spades, was he fond of Virginia's cat? Sadly, this was a precursor to some Proustian points about the experience of time; not a lead-in to a juicy anecdote about young Malcolm.
The final speaker was SMH columnist and academic Elizabeth Farrelly, who looked too young to qualify, but did round off the evening with a long list of complaints written in the form of a poem. It included property developers, the NSW state government and Peter Garrett, the "singer without a song" who has been "tied up and brutalised by Penny Wong". She also said she was grumpy about having curly hair.
Just before the end, MC Kate Barton asked Bacon if she had to leave; she said she had time to have "one more for the gutter".
On July 30, it’s the turn of the Grumpy Old Men, featuring Bob Ellis and actors Tony Llewellyn-Jones and John Derum. Grumpy old people unite, you have nothing to lose but your temper ...
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