Running dogs blow out the eternal flame
Chris Henning, smh
April 11, 2008
Scene: A sewer beneath Canberra. In the dim light we see a trickle of nasty water meandering down the centre of the huge pipe. Rats scuttle about and the occasional alligator wanders past. In the distance we hear a tinny noise that grows louder and louder. It is a group of men singing China's national anthem. We see them approach: 20 men in two lines, wearing identical blue jumpsuits, running in step and surrounding the Olympic torchbearer.Men (singing): Arise! All who refuse to be slaves!/ Let our flesh and blood become our new Great Wall!/ As the Chinese nation faces its greatest peril,/ All forcefully expend their last cries./ Arise! Arise! Arise!
They stop at a crossroads in the sewer. The anthem peters out.
Man 2: Where the hell are we?
Man 1: I thought you had the map.
Man 2: I have, but I think I've been reading it upside down. Where do we go here?
Man 1: Is this Manuka?
Man 3: No, Manuka was back there. I think this is Kingston. Unless it's Fyshwick.
Man 1: Wait - we've been here before. I recognise that alligator.
Man 2: All the alligators look the same to me.
Man 3: All the sewers look the same to me.
Man 4: That's because all Canberra sewers go in circles.
Man 3: Ohhhh. I'm sick of this. Couldn't we just climb out a manhole and run down the street?
Man 1: Silence, weakling. We would be playing into the enemy's hands. They are trying to ambush the holy Olympic flame. We would put the honour of China at risk from reactionary and criminal Tibetan elements.
Man 4: What's the point of carrying the Olympic torch down a sewer? I mean, some propaganda coup that is.
Man 1: (Steely, pitiless gaze, menacing): Do you doubt the wisdom of the Central Committee, No. 4?
Man 4: No, no, no. But we would have given them the slip by now, surely? I haven't heard any protesters for a while.
Man 1: They may be bluffing.
Torchbearer (A famous Australian athlete who shall remain nameless for fear of Tibetan reprisals): Can we get on with it? This place pongs.
Man 1: This is wise counsel. I have made my decision. We shall take the left fork.
All (Running and singing): All forcefully expend their last cries./ Arise! Arise! Arise!/ Our million hearts beat as one,/ Brave the enemy's fire, March on! (There is distant roar of water.)
All: Brave the enemy's fire, March on!/ March on! March on! On!
As the roar of water gets louder, Man 1 turns and looks behind him, reacting with terror to what he sees.
Man 1: The revisionist Tibetan criminals and their running dogs have flushed in unison. Run!
All are swept away.
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Friday, April 11, 2008
FAMILY FORCED TO ABANDON CHILD IN HOSPITAL
Adele Horin, smh
April 11, 2008
IT WAS a desperate cry for help when Sharon Guest and Stuart Neal refused to collect their five-year-old daughter, Jessie, from Sydney Children's Hospital at the end of a two-day stay for tests.
To abandon her in hospital was the only way, experts had advised them, to secure the help they needed to cope with her profound intellectual disabilities, which were tearing their home life apart.
"It was horrific leaving her," said Ms Guest, 51.
Jessie had been diagnosed eight months earlier with a devastating genetic condition known as Sanfilippo syndrome, which causes progressive, irreversible brain damage. She could not hear properly or speak, her mental development was delayed, she was incontinent and was constantly on the move.
But it was the sleep problems, a symptom of the condition, which had proved the family's undoing over two years. Jessie would wake for the day at 2.30am.
"The hospital social worker asked me how much sleep I'd had. I told her five hours in five days," said Mr Neal, 51.
After two weeks in hospital, Jessie was reported to the Department of Community Services as a child at risk whose parents could not care for her.
To get help, Ms Guest and Mr Neal had to relinquish temporary care of Jessie to DOCS.
But the couple, who live in Randwick, were distraught when DOCS moved her to Newcastle to live in a house with round-the-clock carers provided by an agency at a cost to the state of about $9000 a week.
They are permitted to see Jessie two weekends in three, and say their daughter is hysterical when they part, and has been shifted to three different houses since December.
Ms Guest broke down continually when describing the family saga that will be a focal point of a public forum being held today by the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services appointed by the NSW Government. As part of its brief, the inquiry under Justice James Wood will examine the adequacy of services, especially respite, and their role in preventing disabled children from loving families entering the child protection system.
Jessie was adopted from China when she was 20 months old, and Ms Guest soon suspected she was not developing appropriately.
It was the failure of the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care to provide the support the family had long sought that forced their hand, the couple said.
They had wanted the department to arrange for Jessie to live in a group house in Sydney for half the week, so that they could care for her the other half. But its policy prevents out-of-home residential care for children under 12, a reaction against the bad old days when "retarded" children were put into big institutions.
"It is ironically absurd that the Department of Disability's ethics policy prevents it offering any residential care for young children," Ms Guest said, "and that has led us to relinquish care of Jessie to another department, DOCS, that totally removed her from the family and placed her in residential care in Newcastle."
The couple, who last year adopted another child from China, Bi Bi, 3, said they wanted Jessie in Sydney where they could see her and take her to school.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care said that, regardless of their disabilities, children younger than 12 should be given every chance to grow up in a family group, be it a biological family, adopted family or foster situation.
A spokeswoman for DOCS said departmental caseworkers had spent a long time looking for an appropriate foster carer or home in Sydney for Jessie. When nothing suitable could be found, the department chose the small, caring group home in Newcastle.
She said DOCS understood the travelling time made it difficult for the parents but the department was required to base its decisions on the child's best interests. Jessie had developed a friendship with another young resident, attended kindergarten and received speech and occupational therapy .
According to DOCS, she is doing well. Her mother said: "My daughter is a dear little thing but so frightened. For a child who took so long to attach and experience being loved and wanted, this is a tragedy. It is beyond my endurance."
April 11, 2008
IT WAS a desperate cry for help when Sharon Guest and Stuart Neal refused to collect their five-year-old daughter, Jessie, from Sydney Children's Hospital at the end of a two-day stay for tests.
To abandon her in hospital was the only way, experts had advised them, to secure the help they needed to cope with her profound intellectual disabilities, which were tearing their home life apart.
"It was horrific leaving her," said Ms Guest, 51.
Jessie had been diagnosed eight months earlier with a devastating genetic condition known as Sanfilippo syndrome, which causes progressive, irreversible brain damage. She could not hear properly or speak, her mental development was delayed, she was incontinent and was constantly on the move.
But it was the sleep problems, a symptom of the condition, which had proved the family's undoing over two years. Jessie would wake for the day at 2.30am.
"The hospital social worker asked me how much sleep I'd had. I told her five hours in five days," said Mr Neal, 51.
After two weeks in hospital, Jessie was reported to the Department of Community Services as a child at risk whose parents could not care for her.
To get help, Ms Guest and Mr Neal had to relinquish temporary care of Jessie to DOCS.
But the couple, who live in Randwick, were distraught when DOCS moved her to Newcastle to live in a house with round-the-clock carers provided by an agency at a cost to the state of about $9000 a week.
They are permitted to see Jessie two weekends in three, and say their daughter is hysterical when they part, and has been shifted to three different houses since December.
Ms Guest broke down continually when describing the family saga that will be a focal point of a public forum being held today by the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services appointed by the NSW Government. As part of its brief, the inquiry under Justice James Wood will examine the adequacy of services, especially respite, and their role in preventing disabled children from loving families entering the child protection system.
Jessie was adopted from China when she was 20 months old, and Ms Guest soon suspected she was not developing appropriately.
It was the failure of the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care to provide the support the family had long sought that forced their hand, the couple said.
They had wanted the department to arrange for Jessie to live in a group house in Sydney for half the week, so that they could care for her the other half. But its policy prevents out-of-home residential care for children under 12, a reaction against the bad old days when "retarded" children were put into big institutions.
"It is ironically absurd that the Department of Disability's ethics policy prevents it offering any residential care for young children," Ms Guest said, "and that has led us to relinquish care of Jessie to another department, DOCS, that totally removed her from the family and placed her in residential care in Newcastle."
The couple, who last year adopted another child from China, Bi Bi, 3, said they wanted Jessie in Sydney where they could see her and take her to school.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care said that, regardless of their disabilities, children younger than 12 should be given every chance to grow up in a family group, be it a biological family, adopted family or foster situation.
A spokeswoman for DOCS said departmental caseworkers had spent a long time looking for an appropriate foster carer or home in Sydney for Jessie. When nothing suitable could be found, the department chose the small, caring group home in Newcastle.
She said DOCS understood the travelling time made it difficult for the parents but the department was required to base its decisions on the child's best interests. Jessie had developed a friendship with another young resident, attended kindergarten and received speech and occupational therapy .
According to DOCS, she is doing well. Her mother said: "My daughter is a dear little thing but so frightened. For a child who took so long to attach and experience being loved and wanted, this is a tragedy. It is beyond my endurance."
IEMMA TRIES TO SELL POWER SALE
$272m aid to help power sale
Brian Robins, smh
April 11, 2008
Latest related coverage
Privatisation turns Iemma green
COMPENSATION of $272 million for the poor and elderly will be part of electricity privatisation in NSW, the Iemma Government has announced, in an attempt to neutralise objections by welfare and environment groups to the sale.
Measures to boost the use of renewable energy will also go to cabinet in the next few weeks.
Pressure on the issue within the parliamentary Labor Party is growing before next month's state conference. Members of the Right caucus are seeking to force members of the Left not to speak against or vote against privatisation at the conference.
Opposition to privatisation at branch level is intensifying. The state electoral council in the Marrickville electorate of Carmel Tebbutt voted this week to expel from the party any MP who votes for privatisation.
The measures announced by the Government yesterday were in response to the concerns of the Reverend Harry Herbert, from UnitingCare, and Jeff Angel, from the Total Environment Centre.
They were members of the Unsworth committee, formed by the Government to consider electricity privatisation, which with their support backed the sale.
The Government's $272 million "electricity safety net" outlined yesterday raises the pensioner rebate to $130 from $112 and indexes it to the consumer price index. Rebates will be extended at a cost of $27.5 million over five years to include those receiving carers' and sickness allowances and special benefits.
Also included is $125 million over five years for a "no disconnections" policy for domestic customers and $55 million, also over five years, to increase funding under the energy accounts payments assistance scheme.
"It's interesting, when people want your vote, what they will do," Mr Herbert said. "Electricity prices are going to go up. Greenhouse gas changes will involve higher prices. More will have to come."
He said NSW had been lagging other states in consumer protection, so the undertakings helped to close that gap. To address the concerns of environmentalists, the Government is developing policies to boost renewable energy use. The policies will be released in the next few weeks.
"It takes energy efficiency and greenhouse emission measures a major step forward, and makes us the leader in policies in this area," Mr Angel said.
The Government said it will not indemnify Government-owned power generators for the cost of their carbon liabilities. The NSW Treasurer, Michael Costa, has indicated that informal talks with the Federal Government on compensation are at an impasse. He says he opposes giving generators free permits. "No one is arguing for free permits, but [for] a system that recognises existing ownership" and the need for compensation, he said yesterday.
Mr Costa said the next power station in NSW is likely to be coal-fired, following a surge in international gas prices that had prompted many domestic gas producers to turn their focus to exports. "It makes more sense to sell it on the international market," he said.
A business lobby group, the Energy Users Group, wants the three generators to be split into five to increase competition.
-->
Brian Robins, smh
April 11, 2008
Latest related coverage
Privatisation turns Iemma green
COMPENSATION of $272 million for the poor and elderly will be part of electricity privatisation in NSW, the Iemma Government has announced, in an attempt to neutralise objections by welfare and environment groups to the sale.
Measures to boost the use of renewable energy will also go to cabinet in the next few weeks.
Pressure on the issue within the parliamentary Labor Party is growing before next month's state conference. Members of the Right caucus are seeking to force members of the Left not to speak against or vote against privatisation at the conference.
Opposition to privatisation at branch level is intensifying. The state electoral council in the Marrickville electorate of Carmel Tebbutt voted this week to expel from the party any MP who votes for privatisation.
The measures announced by the Government yesterday were in response to the concerns of the Reverend Harry Herbert, from UnitingCare, and Jeff Angel, from the Total Environment Centre.
They were members of the Unsworth committee, formed by the Government to consider electricity privatisation, which with their support backed the sale.
The Government's $272 million "electricity safety net" outlined yesterday raises the pensioner rebate to $130 from $112 and indexes it to the consumer price index. Rebates will be extended at a cost of $27.5 million over five years to include those receiving carers' and sickness allowances and special benefits.
Also included is $125 million over five years for a "no disconnections" policy for domestic customers and $55 million, also over five years, to increase funding under the energy accounts payments assistance scheme.
"It's interesting, when people want your vote, what they will do," Mr Herbert said. "Electricity prices are going to go up. Greenhouse gas changes will involve higher prices. More will have to come."
He said NSW had been lagging other states in consumer protection, so the undertakings helped to close that gap. To address the concerns of environmentalists, the Government is developing policies to boost renewable energy use. The policies will be released in the next few weeks.
"It takes energy efficiency and greenhouse emission measures a major step forward, and makes us the leader in policies in this area," Mr Angel said.
The Government said it will not indemnify Government-owned power generators for the cost of their carbon liabilities. The NSW Treasurer, Michael Costa, has indicated that informal talks with the Federal Government on compensation are at an impasse. He says he opposes giving generators free permits. "No one is arguing for free permits, but [for] a system that recognises existing ownership" and the need for compensation, he said yesterday.
Mr Costa said the next power station in NSW is likely to be coal-fired, following a surge in international gas prices that had prompted many domestic gas producers to turn their focus to exports. "It makes more sense to sell it on the international market," he said.
A business lobby group, the Energy Users Group, wants the three generators to be split into five to increase competition.
-->
ONE CRITICAL CARE BED AVAILABLE
Just one critical care bed
By Edith Bevin, dtm
April 11, 2008 12:00am
ONE critical care unit bed is often all that is available at any one time in the whole state, the inquiry into NSW's hospitals heard yesterday.
And country patients are missing out on the critical care they need because of the shortage of available beds.
Westmead Hospital's intensive care specialist and senior staff specialist Dr Peter Clark told the Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals that the bed shortage was "a major problem".
He said the hospital system regularly declared only one or two ventilator intensive care beds were available.
He said Westmead, like other major Sydney hospitals, tended to accept critical patients only from their own area.
Dr Clark said that meant that rural patients found it almost impossible to get a bed.
He said that even within Westmead it was a matter of waiting until a bed was available in the general hospital so a patient could be transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit to make way for a critical care patient.
Many of the critical care bed shortages stemmed from inefficient discharging practices.
Speaking outside the inquiry, he told The Daily Telegraph that of the 20 beds in ICU at Westmead, 10 had patients waiting to be discharged.
Patients who had been in a critical condition in intensive care were not well enough to go home.
The delay in"discharging" them came through the inability for ICU staff to find free beds in other wards of the hospital, the inquiry heard.
The inquiry was also told that the hospital was largely staffed like a business hours operation - with a lack of specialist support available after hours.
The inquiry heard of delays in getting samples and results to and from pathology. Also, it was not unusual to get radiology reports on X-rays taken on patients long after the patient had been discharged.
Professor Jerry Koutt said evidence of the "inertia" within the system was the fact that he had been acting as director of pathology services for almost four years.
"I have people within my organisation who have been acting for seven years and I think that's unacceptable."
By Edith Bevin, dtm
April 11, 2008 12:00am
ONE critical care unit bed is often all that is available at any one time in the whole state, the inquiry into NSW's hospitals heard yesterday.
And country patients are missing out on the critical care they need because of the shortage of available beds.
Westmead Hospital's intensive care specialist and senior staff specialist Dr Peter Clark told the Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals that the bed shortage was "a major problem".
He said the hospital system regularly declared only one or two ventilator intensive care beds were available.
He said Westmead, like other major Sydney hospitals, tended to accept critical patients only from their own area.
Dr Clark said that meant that rural patients found it almost impossible to get a bed.
He said that even within Westmead it was a matter of waiting until a bed was available in the general hospital so a patient could be transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit to make way for a critical care patient.
Many of the critical care bed shortages stemmed from inefficient discharging practices.
Speaking outside the inquiry, he told The Daily Telegraph that of the 20 beds in ICU at Westmead, 10 had patients waiting to be discharged.
Patients who had been in a critical condition in intensive care were not well enough to go home.
The delay in"discharging" them came through the inability for ICU staff to find free beds in other wards of the hospital, the inquiry heard.
The inquiry was also told that the hospital was largely staffed like a business hours operation - with a lack of specialist support available after hours.
The inquiry heard of delays in getting samples and results to and from pathology. Also, it was not unusual to get radiology reports on X-rays taken on patients long after the patient had been discharged.
Professor Jerry Koutt said evidence of the "inertia" within the system was the fact that he had been acting as director of pathology services for almost four years.
"I have people within my organisation who have been acting for seven years and I think that's unacceptable."
MOTHER SENT HOME WITH DEAD BABY IN UTERO
Horrendous hospital treatment
By Edith Bevin, dtm
April 11, 2008 12:00am
A MOTHER yesterday told of her harrowing ordeal of having been sent home from a major Sydney hospital with her dead unborn baby still inside her because of a lack of beds.
Zareen Nisha gave evidence at the Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals yesterday, telling of the derelict treatment she received at Westmead Hospital.
Ms Nisha, who was seven months pregnant at the time, said despite her GP phoning ahead to the hospital to alert them that the baby had developed serious problems, staff had told her to take a number in the queue and made her wait almost 30 minutes before seeing her.
Tests performed at the Westmead-based University Clinic on April 17, last year showed the the unborn baby boy was dead - the umbilical cord had twice wrapped around its neck.
However, hospital staff sent her home because "there were no beds" to deliver the stillborn child.
The Merrylands resident returned to the hospital at 2am the following day - finally giving birth to the dead baby she named Aahil - about 8pm that night.
"The midwife told me he was a perfect angel," Ms Nisha said.
"There was no disability or anything - he died because the cord had coiled around his neck.
"Ultrasounds would have picked up that he was becoming tangled in the cord. But they only gave me one ultrasound."
Ms Nisha said she believed a lack of clinical care throughout her pregnancy had caused the death of her son.
The 36-year-old said her pregnancy should have been considered high risk from the start due to a history of pregnancy-induced diabetes and other well-documented reproductive complications.
She said when her GP told her she was pregnant in November 2006 it took 12 weeks to get an appointment at Westmead because the clinic had closed over Christmas.
Ms Nisha said because of her age she had wanted the baby tested for Down syndrome, however the clinic never carried out the tests. She finally paid to have tests done privately.
At 20 weeks, the hospital carried out its first - and only - ultrasound on her unborn baby. At 29 weeks the clinic told her it was dead.
"If they had seen it (the cord) was tangling they would have saved him - I believe if they had done more ultra sounds they would have seen that," Ms Nisha said. "I don't blame (the hospital) for my baby's death but I would like them to be more accountable."
Ms Nisha, whose first child Zoya, 9, was born in Fiji, said she had wrongly believed the health system would be better in Australia.
"The standard of care is higher in Fiji then it is here," she said.
By Edith Bevin, dtm
April 11, 2008 12:00am
A MOTHER yesterday told of her harrowing ordeal of having been sent home from a major Sydney hospital with her dead unborn baby still inside her because of a lack of beds.
Zareen Nisha gave evidence at the Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals yesterday, telling of the derelict treatment she received at Westmead Hospital.
Ms Nisha, who was seven months pregnant at the time, said despite her GP phoning ahead to the hospital to alert them that the baby had developed serious problems, staff had told her to take a number in the queue and made her wait almost 30 minutes before seeing her.
Tests performed at the Westmead-based University Clinic on April 17, last year showed the the unborn baby boy was dead - the umbilical cord had twice wrapped around its neck.
However, hospital staff sent her home because "there were no beds" to deliver the stillborn child.
The Merrylands resident returned to the hospital at 2am the following day - finally giving birth to the dead baby she named Aahil - about 8pm that night.
"The midwife told me he was a perfect angel," Ms Nisha said.
"There was no disability or anything - he died because the cord had coiled around his neck.
"Ultrasounds would have picked up that he was becoming tangled in the cord. But they only gave me one ultrasound."
Ms Nisha said she believed a lack of clinical care throughout her pregnancy had caused the death of her son.
The 36-year-old said her pregnancy should have been considered high risk from the start due to a history of pregnancy-induced diabetes and other well-documented reproductive complications.
She said when her GP told her she was pregnant in November 2006 it took 12 weeks to get an appointment at Westmead because the clinic had closed over Christmas.
Ms Nisha said because of her age she had wanted the baby tested for Down syndrome, however the clinic never carried out the tests. She finally paid to have tests done privately.
At 20 weeks, the hospital carried out its first - and only - ultrasound on her unborn baby. At 29 weeks the clinic told her it was dead.
"If they had seen it (the cord) was tangling they would have saved him - I believe if they had done more ultra sounds they would have seen that," Ms Nisha said. "I don't blame (the hospital) for my baby's death but I would like them to be more accountable."
Ms Nisha, whose first child Zoya, 9, was born in Fiji, said she had wrongly believed the health system would be better in Australia.
"The standard of care is higher in Fiji then it is here," she said.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
PM'S BLUNT ADVICE ON TIBET
PM blunt in advice on Tibet
By Mark Kenny in Beijing, smh
April 10, 2008 12:00am
KEVIN Rudd has risked damaging Australia's trading relationship with China, issuing an undiplomatically blunt message for it to resolve the situation in Tibet without resorting to further violence.
In a world-first for a Western leader, Mr Rudd sent his message in the most direct way - in China and in Chinese.
"Australia, like most other countries, recognises China's sovereignty over Tibet," he told a packed lecture theatre of more than 500 students at Peking University.
"But we also believe it is necessary to recognise there are significant human rights problems in Tibet . . . the current situation in Tibet is of concern to Australians," he told them."
Those comments brought a swift reaction, with one student pointing out to Mr Rudd that most people in the hall spoke some level of English whereas very few Western people spoke Chinese.
This, he said, showed China was making efforts to understand the world but the world was not making an effort to understand China.
Mr Rudd's unusually frank criticisms also brought an immediate rebuke from a senior official.
The chairman of the Tibetan Autonomous Region said Mr Rudd's claims of violence and oppression in the mountainous former kingdom were "totally unfounded and that the people of Tibet "enjoyed wonderful human rights protections".
Mr Rudd's speech in Mandarin to Peking University, China's oldest and most venerable university, appeared to go over extremely well with students and lecturers.
He began with an apology of sorts telling them that his Mandarin had deteriorated.
"Never fear heaven and earth but be afraid of foreigners speaking Chinese," he joked.
Students emerging after the speech praised Mr Rudd's Mandarin which was said to be quite formal and even refined.
By Mark Kenny in Beijing, smh
April 10, 2008 12:00am
KEVIN Rudd has risked damaging Australia's trading relationship with China, issuing an undiplomatically blunt message for it to resolve the situation in Tibet without resorting to further violence.
In a world-first for a Western leader, Mr Rudd sent his message in the most direct way - in China and in Chinese.
"Australia, like most other countries, recognises China's sovereignty over Tibet," he told a packed lecture theatre of more than 500 students at Peking University.
"But we also believe it is necessary to recognise there are significant human rights problems in Tibet . . . the current situation in Tibet is of concern to Australians," he told them."
Those comments brought a swift reaction, with one student pointing out to Mr Rudd that most people in the hall spoke some level of English whereas very few Western people spoke Chinese.
This, he said, showed China was making efforts to understand the world but the world was not making an effort to understand China.
Mr Rudd's unusually frank criticisms also brought an immediate rebuke from a senior official.
The chairman of the Tibetan Autonomous Region said Mr Rudd's claims of violence and oppression in the mountainous former kingdom were "totally unfounded and that the people of Tibet "enjoyed wonderful human rights protections".
Mr Rudd's speech in Mandarin to Peking University, China's oldest and most venerable university, appeared to go over extremely well with students and lecturers.
He began with an apology of sorts telling them that his Mandarin had deteriorated.
"Never fear heaven and earth but be afraid of foreigners speaking Chinese," he joked.
Students emerging after the speech praised Mr Rudd's Mandarin which was said to be quite formal and even refined.
PUSH FOR LIMITS ON CONTRACTS
Push for limits on contracts
Mark Davis Political Correspondent, smh
April 10, 2008
UNIONS are pushing for stringent safeguards for employees under the Federal Government's plans to allow employers to negotiate new flexibility agreements with individual workers.
Senior officials from large unions have told the Herald they will insist that unions be notified when employers use the new provisions to make agreements with individual workers. And they want the scope of these agreements to be limited to ensure they do not become "worse than an Australian Workplace Agreement".
The Minister for Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, has asked the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to prepare a model flexibility clause to be included in federal awards.
In last month's request, Ms Gillard told the commission the clause should enable employers and employees to reach agreements to meet genuine individual needs. She said the commission should ensure these agreements cannot disadvantage workers.
Labor promised the agreements last year to address employer concerns that abolishing AWAs would stifle flexibility.
The national president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Julius Roe, said individual flexibility must be implemented in a way that protected employees and the integrity of the award system.
Mr Roe said the union would pursue its concerns with the commission. But if the commission's clause was unsatisfactory the union would ask the Government to entrench safeguards in legislation. The union wanted the clause to exclude some award provisions, such as those dealing with working hours, from being modified by such agreements.
"It would be ludicrous to have a flexibility clause that says you can agree to change anything in the award full stop. That would be even worse than an AWA in that there are clearly some things you should not be able to change by individual agreement," Mr Roe said.
"A good example of that is overtime and working hours where an employer might find a vulnerable worker to reach agreement to work, say, on a Saturday where the majority of workers do not want the factory opening on a Saturday. Where it is the sort of flexibility that has the potential to undermine the collective there should be consultation with and approval by the collective."
The manufacturing union also wants unions to have access to the agreements.
The national secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, Joe de Bruyn, said employers should not be allowed to offer flexibility agreements to new employees as a condition of employment. Workers should be free to withdraw from the agreements at any time and there should be commission scrutiny to ensure employees were not disadvantaged.
"If it is going to be subject to a no-disadvantage test then somebody has to make an assessment of whether that test has been passed," Mr de Bruyn said. "It is not something that should be left to the employer's judgment."
He said employers should notify unions of their intention to negotiate flexibility agreements so the union could offer advice to affected employees.
The national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union construction division, Dave Noonan, said there was a potential for flexibility agreements to be abused.
"For construction workers flexibility has been a one-way street where employers have traditionally imposed all sorts of arrangements on them," Mr Noonan said.
Mark Davis Political Correspondent, smh
April 10, 2008
UNIONS are pushing for stringent safeguards for employees under the Federal Government's plans to allow employers to negotiate new flexibility agreements with individual workers.
Senior officials from large unions have told the Herald they will insist that unions be notified when employers use the new provisions to make agreements with individual workers. And they want the scope of these agreements to be limited to ensure they do not become "worse than an Australian Workplace Agreement".
The Minister for Workplace Relations, Julia Gillard, has asked the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to prepare a model flexibility clause to be included in federal awards.
In last month's request, Ms Gillard told the commission the clause should enable employers and employees to reach agreements to meet genuine individual needs. She said the commission should ensure these agreements cannot disadvantage workers.
Labor promised the agreements last year to address employer concerns that abolishing AWAs would stifle flexibility.
The national president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Julius Roe, said individual flexibility must be implemented in a way that protected employees and the integrity of the award system.
Mr Roe said the union would pursue its concerns with the commission. But if the commission's clause was unsatisfactory the union would ask the Government to entrench safeguards in legislation. The union wanted the clause to exclude some award provisions, such as those dealing with working hours, from being modified by such agreements.
"It would be ludicrous to have a flexibility clause that says you can agree to change anything in the award full stop. That would be even worse than an AWA in that there are clearly some things you should not be able to change by individual agreement," Mr Roe said.
"A good example of that is overtime and working hours where an employer might find a vulnerable worker to reach agreement to work, say, on a Saturday where the majority of workers do not want the factory opening on a Saturday. Where it is the sort of flexibility that has the potential to undermine the collective there should be consultation with and approval by the collective."
The manufacturing union also wants unions to have access to the agreements.
The national secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, Joe de Bruyn, said employers should not be allowed to offer flexibility agreements to new employees as a condition of employment. Workers should be free to withdraw from the agreements at any time and there should be commission scrutiny to ensure employees were not disadvantaged.
"If it is going to be subject to a no-disadvantage test then somebody has to make an assessment of whether that test has been passed," Mr de Bruyn said. "It is not something that should be left to the employer's judgment."
He said employers should notify unions of their intention to negotiate flexibility agreements so the union could offer advice to affected employees.
The national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union construction division, Dave Noonan, said there was a potential for flexibility agreements to be abused.
"For construction workers flexibility has been a one-way street where employers have traditionally imposed all sorts of arrangements on them," Mr Noonan said.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
COSATU-ZCTU STATEMENT ON ELECTIONS
COSATU-ZCTU meeting - 8 April 2008
Distributed by the Search Foundation.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions held a meeting this morning, Tuesday 8 April 2008, to receive a report from the ZCTU on the current political crisis in Zimbabwe.
The ZCTU salutes the people of Zimbabwe, especially in the rural areas, for overcoming all the obstacles to prevent them exercising their vote. These included the chaotic state of the voters' roll, restrictions on the media, the cancellation of some political meetings, the denial of access to opposition parties into certain rural areas, village headmen calling people to the polling stations brandishing the voters' roll in order to intimidate them, statements by Generals that they would not salute any opposition party leader, and by President Mugabe that he would not accept defeat. The arrest of the South African pilot had nothing to do with the trumped up charges but was a blatant attempt to stop the MDC from campaigning in the rural areas.
All these factors combined to make many people not to participate in the elections - the turnout was low. It was not a free and fair election, yet despite that the people defied all the odds and have spoken. The urban areas voted overwhelmingly for opposition parties and the rural votes swung dramatically against the ZANU-PF.
The ZCTU had hoped that all the results would have been announced by now. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is not obliged to announce the council, parliamentary and senate elections as they are counted at polling stations, with results posted at each of the polling stations and announced at constituency command centres. The ZEC is however compelled by law to announce the Presidential results.
It appears that when ZANU (PF) saw the results of the presidential vote, they leaned on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to only release the parliamentary and senate results first, in order to give them time to find a way to prove that Morgan Tsvangirai received less that 50%, so that a run-off would be necessary. The independent NGO, the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network has calculated that his vote was between 47% and 49%, with Robert Mugabe receiving 41%-43%. The MDC through the party agents that were observing at all polling stations put the poll at 50.3%.
The ZANU (PF) claim that no candidate has a majority and that they have been cheated of 4900 votes, through ZEC officials 'under-counting' their vote, though they have not revealed how they know that.
It should be noted that all political parties including the ZANU (PF) and the MDC had party agents in all polling stations. These party agents signed for the results before these were posted in the polling stations. In addition to this ZCTU and other NGOs had monitors who witnessed the counting and the signing in most polling stations.
In the face of the above fact it is very clear that the arrest of ZEC officials is an attempt to force some ZEC officials to change tune. The suspicion is that they will be tortured into "confessing" that they, and other agents, under-counted President Mugabe's votes as claimed by the ZANU (PF) Politburo, which has issued a statement that some of its party agents were bribed by the MDC. This is the reason behind the arrest of the ZEC officials. Yet no party agent and police officers who all signed the V11 and V23 forms which contained the results posted outside the stations were arrested.
The ZANU-PF is also challenging the results in 16 parliamentary wards, just enough, if they succeed, to reverse the results in their favour and give them a majority of seats. It is speculated that the reason why ZANU PF is so desperate to undermine the will of the majority is that Mugabe intended to resign in six months and make way for Emmerson Mnangagwa, which will be impossible if the ZANU-PF does not have a parliamentary majority
ZANU - PF clearly knows it lost the vote, yet it is still illegal for anyone to say this in public. Even if Mugabe came second, for an incumbent president, that amounts to a defeat.
The ZCTU and many other civil society formations are coming under intense pressure from their constituencies to initiate protest action in the face of the refusal of ZEC to announce the Presidential elections results.
The leadership is aware that such protest may be what President Mugabe is praying for, in that it would give him the excuse to declare a state of emergency and rule by decree. With the history of violence including, the massacre of 20 000 people in Matebeland between 1983 and 1987, this fear is not far fetched.
For that reason the ZCTU is urging all its members to remain calm, as the situation is a cliff-hanger and the popular mood is explosive. The ZCTU is however extremely concerned that in the context of divisions in the uniformed forces and even amongst the war veterans a possibility looms that people may lose patience. No one predicted the Rwanda and Kenya scenarios until they happened.
The ZCTU and COSATU demand that the results be announced. If there is a clear winner that winner must form a government. If there is no winner the election must be rerun, with an increased number of international and local observers.
The federations are preparing themselves for three scenarios. First is that a winner is declared and he forms a new government and begin a process of national unity. The second scenario is that there will be a run-off election. The third, more negative one, is that President Mugabe will rule by decree and in effect stage a coup.
The ZCTU, speaking for all progressive Zimbabweans who want a change to their plight, thanks COSATU and South African civil society for their constant support for the struggle for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe.
Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets
Braamfontein, 2017
P.O. Box 1019
Johannesburg, 2000
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24
Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667
Cell: 0828217456
E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za
Distributed by the Search Foundation.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions held a meeting this morning, Tuesday 8 April 2008, to receive a report from the ZCTU on the current political crisis in Zimbabwe.
The ZCTU salutes the people of Zimbabwe, especially in the rural areas, for overcoming all the obstacles to prevent them exercising their vote. These included the chaotic state of the voters' roll, restrictions on the media, the cancellation of some political meetings, the denial of access to opposition parties into certain rural areas, village headmen calling people to the polling stations brandishing the voters' roll in order to intimidate them, statements by Generals that they would not salute any opposition party leader, and by President Mugabe that he would not accept defeat. The arrest of the South African pilot had nothing to do with the trumped up charges but was a blatant attempt to stop the MDC from campaigning in the rural areas.
All these factors combined to make many people not to participate in the elections - the turnout was low. It was not a free and fair election, yet despite that the people defied all the odds and have spoken. The urban areas voted overwhelmingly for opposition parties and the rural votes swung dramatically against the ZANU-PF.
The ZCTU had hoped that all the results would have been announced by now. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is not obliged to announce the council, parliamentary and senate elections as they are counted at polling stations, with results posted at each of the polling stations and announced at constituency command centres. The ZEC is however compelled by law to announce the Presidential results.
It appears that when ZANU (PF) saw the results of the presidential vote, they leaned on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to only release the parliamentary and senate results first, in order to give them time to find a way to prove that Morgan Tsvangirai received less that 50%, so that a run-off would be necessary. The independent NGO, the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network has calculated that his vote was between 47% and 49%, with Robert Mugabe receiving 41%-43%. The MDC through the party agents that were observing at all polling stations put the poll at 50.3%.
The ZANU (PF) claim that no candidate has a majority and that they have been cheated of 4900 votes, through ZEC officials 'under-counting' their vote, though they have not revealed how they know that.
It should be noted that all political parties including the ZANU (PF) and the MDC had party agents in all polling stations. These party agents signed for the results before these were posted in the polling stations. In addition to this ZCTU and other NGOs had monitors who witnessed the counting and the signing in most polling stations.
In the face of the above fact it is very clear that the arrest of ZEC officials is an attempt to force some ZEC officials to change tune. The suspicion is that they will be tortured into "confessing" that they, and other agents, under-counted President Mugabe's votes as claimed by the ZANU (PF) Politburo, which has issued a statement that some of its party agents were bribed by the MDC. This is the reason behind the arrest of the ZEC officials. Yet no party agent and police officers who all signed the V11 and V23 forms which contained the results posted outside the stations were arrested.
The ZANU-PF is also challenging the results in 16 parliamentary wards, just enough, if they succeed, to reverse the results in their favour and give them a majority of seats. It is speculated that the reason why ZANU PF is so desperate to undermine the will of the majority is that Mugabe intended to resign in six months and make way for Emmerson Mnangagwa, which will be impossible if the ZANU-PF does not have a parliamentary majority
ZANU - PF clearly knows it lost the vote, yet it is still illegal for anyone to say this in public. Even if Mugabe came second, for an incumbent president, that amounts to a defeat.
The ZCTU and many other civil society formations are coming under intense pressure from their constituencies to initiate protest action in the face of the refusal of ZEC to announce the Presidential elections results.
The leadership is aware that such protest may be what President Mugabe is praying for, in that it would give him the excuse to declare a state of emergency and rule by decree. With the history of violence including, the massacre of 20 000 people in Matebeland between 1983 and 1987, this fear is not far fetched.
For that reason the ZCTU is urging all its members to remain calm, as the situation is a cliff-hanger and the popular mood is explosive. The ZCTU is however extremely concerned that in the context of divisions in the uniformed forces and even amongst the war veterans a possibility looms that people may lose patience. No one predicted the Rwanda and Kenya scenarios until they happened.
The ZCTU and COSATU demand that the results be announced. If there is a clear winner that winner must form a government. If there is no winner the election must be rerun, with an increased number of international and local observers.
The federations are preparing themselves for three scenarios. First is that a winner is declared and he forms a new government and begin a process of national unity. The second scenario is that there will be a run-off election. The third, more negative one, is that President Mugabe will rule by decree and in effect stage a coup.
The ZCTU, speaking for all progressive Zimbabweans who want a change to their plight, thanks COSATU and South African civil society for their constant support for the struggle for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe.
Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets
Braamfontein, 2017
P.O. Box 1019
Johannesburg, 2000
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24
Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667
Cell: 0828217456
E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za
Sunday, April 06, 2008
TSVANGIRAI CLAIMS PRESIDENCY
Tsvangirai claims Zimbabwe presidency
Article from: AAP
By Fanuel Jongwe in Harare
April 06, 2008 01:34am
ZIMBABWE'S opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai has claimed outright victory in presidential elections and warned that Robert Mugabe's ruling party will resort to violence to cling to power.
"ZANU-PF is preparing a war against the people of Zimbabwe," Mr Tsvangaria, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told a press conference, giving his first personal declaration of victory.
"We won the election without a need for a run-off."
There has still been no official announcement of the result a week after last Saturday's polls but the ruling ZANU-PF declared yesterday there will be a run-off and that Mugabe will stand and defeat Tsvangirai.
"In the run-off, violence will be a new weapon to reverse the people's victory," Mr Tsvangirai warned.
He said the violence could rival that seen in 2000, when Mugabe failed to win backing in a referendum for a broadening of his powers. Shortly after that result, Mugabe loyalists embarked on a series of invasions of white-owned farms after accusing the farmers of persuading their workers to vote against the president's proposals.Several dozen people were killed in the ensuing violence while thousands of farmers and their workers were forced to flee.
Mr Tsvangirai, who suffered head injuries in an attack by Mr Mugabe's security forces last year, also extended an olive branch to his old rival by saying he will guarantee his future safety and calling for dialogue.
"I am calling on President Mugabe to begin a dialogue with me, to begin the process of a peaceful, orderly and democratic transition," Mr Tsvangirai said.
"In making this call, I believe it is in the interests of the people and the future of this country not to create conditions of anxiety and instability."
"I want to say to President Robert Mugabe: 'Please rest your mind, the new Zimbabwe guarantees your safety'."
Mr Tsvangirai, whose party has already claimed he cleared the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a run-off, poured scorn on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for its failure to declare the outcome.
"This is a totally unacceptable situation in delaying the release of the results," said Mr Tsvangirai.Mr Mugabe, who has overseen his country's economic ruin since he took power at independence 28 years ago, suffered the worst setback of his long rule at last Saturday's elections when his party lost control of parliament.
But he is in no mood for retirement and won backing from his ZANU-PF party yesterday to fight a run-off against his MDC rival if neither is found to have won over 50 per cent in the first round of a simultaneous presidential election.
In a politburo meeting yesterday, ZANU-PF not only endorsed Mugabe to stand in a run-off but also demanded a recount be held in at least 16 parliamentary constituencies, potentially enough to overturn its initial defeat.
Zimbabwe's opposition and the ruling party each won 30 of the 60 seats in elections to the largely ceremonial senate upper house of parliament, according to final electoral commission results today.
With tensions rising between the government and opposition, long-time mediator Thabo Mbeki, the president of neighbouring South Africa, called for patience from all sides.
"I think there is time to wait, let's see the outcome of the election results," Mr Mbeki said in London after meeting Gordon Brown, the prime minister of former colonial power Britain.
"If there is a re-run of the presidential election, let's see what comes out of that. I think that is the correct way to go."
While ZANU-PF is weighing its legal options over the parliamentary vote, the MDC tried today to persuade the high court to hear its application for the immediate release of the presidential results.
However MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama said the court has put the matter off until tomorrow.
"I am concerned with the postponement but we will wait for tomorrow," he said.
Meanwhile, lawyers for a British and an American journalist who were detained for reporting without accreditation said police are refusing to release them despite a ruling by the attorney general that there is no case to answer.
"The police have refused to comply with the attorney-general's directive so we are doing an urgent application today to compel the police to release them," lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said.
Article from: AAP
By Fanuel Jongwe in Harare
April 06, 2008 01:34am
ZIMBABWE'S opposition chief Morgan Tsvangirai has claimed outright victory in presidential elections and warned that Robert Mugabe's ruling party will resort to violence to cling to power.
"ZANU-PF is preparing a war against the people of Zimbabwe," Mr Tsvangaria, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told a press conference, giving his first personal declaration of victory.
"We won the election without a need for a run-off."
There has still been no official announcement of the result a week after last Saturday's polls but the ruling ZANU-PF declared yesterday there will be a run-off and that Mugabe will stand and defeat Tsvangirai.
"In the run-off, violence will be a new weapon to reverse the people's victory," Mr Tsvangirai warned.
He said the violence could rival that seen in 2000, when Mugabe failed to win backing in a referendum for a broadening of his powers. Shortly after that result, Mugabe loyalists embarked on a series of invasions of white-owned farms after accusing the farmers of persuading their workers to vote against the president's proposals.Several dozen people were killed in the ensuing violence while thousands of farmers and their workers were forced to flee.
Mr Tsvangirai, who suffered head injuries in an attack by Mr Mugabe's security forces last year, also extended an olive branch to his old rival by saying he will guarantee his future safety and calling for dialogue.
"I am calling on President Mugabe to begin a dialogue with me, to begin the process of a peaceful, orderly and democratic transition," Mr Tsvangirai said.
"In making this call, I believe it is in the interests of the people and the future of this country not to create conditions of anxiety and instability."
"I want to say to President Robert Mugabe: 'Please rest your mind, the new Zimbabwe guarantees your safety'."
Mr Tsvangirai, whose party has already claimed he cleared the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a run-off, poured scorn on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for its failure to declare the outcome.
"This is a totally unacceptable situation in delaying the release of the results," said Mr Tsvangirai.Mr Mugabe, who has overseen his country's economic ruin since he took power at independence 28 years ago, suffered the worst setback of his long rule at last Saturday's elections when his party lost control of parliament.
But he is in no mood for retirement and won backing from his ZANU-PF party yesterday to fight a run-off against his MDC rival if neither is found to have won over 50 per cent in the first round of a simultaneous presidential election.
In a politburo meeting yesterday, ZANU-PF not only endorsed Mugabe to stand in a run-off but also demanded a recount be held in at least 16 parliamentary constituencies, potentially enough to overturn its initial defeat.
Zimbabwe's opposition and the ruling party each won 30 of the 60 seats in elections to the largely ceremonial senate upper house of parliament, according to final electoral commission results today.
With tensions rising between the government and opposition, long-time mediator Thabo Mbeki, the president of neighbouring South Africa, called for patience from all sides.
"I think there is time to wait, let's see the outcome of the election results," Mr Mbeki said in London after meeting Gordon Brown, the prime minister of former colonial power Britain.
"If there is a re-run of the presidential election, let's see what comes out of that. I think that is the correct way to go."
While ZANU-PF is weighing its legal options over the parliamentary vote, the MDC tried today to persuade the high court to hear its application for the immediate release of the presidential results.
However MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama said the court has put the matter off until tomorrow.
"I am concerned with the postponement but we will wait for tomorrow," he said.
Meanwhile, lawyers for a British and an American journalist who were detained for reporting without accreditation said police are refusing to release them despite a ruling by the attorney general that there is no case to answer.
"The police have refused to comply with the attorney-general's directive so we are doing an urgent application today to compel the police to release them," lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
US RENEWS BLACKWATER CONTRACT
US renews Blackwater Iraq contract
April 5, 2008 - 11:33AM, Source: ABC
The US State Department says it is extending its contract for private security firm Blackwater, despite the incident last September in which Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians.
The company's contract was set to expire on May 7, but it was renewed because the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not yet concluded its inquiry into the September shooting.
Blackwater is the most controversial of several private security firms tasked with protecting high-profile US officials and foreign dignitaries visiting Iraq.
April 5, 2008 - 11:33AM, Source: ABC
The US State Department says it is extending its contract for private security firm Blackwater, despite the incident last September in which Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians.
The company's contract was set to expire on May 7, but it was renewed because the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not yet concluded its inquiry into the September shooting.
Blackwater is the most controversial of several private security firms tasked with protecting high-profile US officials and foreign dignitaries visiting Iraq.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
PATIENTS ARE STARVING
Red News Readers,
We knew that one day the Cook Kill (Chill) airline food and the regionalisation of food services would come back to haunt NSW Health. They are planning to privatise these services!! What happens then?
Jenny Haines
The food is so bad that patients are starving
Latest related coverage:
Boy languished with fever for eight days, says mother
Natasha Wallace Health Reporter, smh
April 3, 2008
PUBLIC hospital food was so "atrocious" and menus so inflexible that half of all patients were "starving" and ended up staying twice as long as a result, an inquiry heard yesterday.
A survey of 777 patients across the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service last year found 51 per cent were malnourished - and many had not entered hospital in that state.
Joanne Prendergast, the manager of the department of nutrition at Royal North Shore Hospital, told the special commission of inquiry into acute care services that it was "incredible" that NSW Health had no set nutritional standards for meals.
"Malnutrition is rife in our public hospitals and we need to do something about it," Ms Prendergast told the inquiry. "We have patients starving."
She said it put patients at risk and stemmed from the menu being designed by administration staff, with no involvement by dietitians or nutritionists.
A lack of consultation with clinicians at many NSW hospitals has featured prominently during the inquiry. Yesterday, 17 senior clinicians and academics put their names to a damning submission made to the inquiry.
The submission, obtained by the Herald, called the NSW Health Department "a dysfunctional but powerful, centralised, hierarchical autocracy with little or no external accountability".
The list included doctors from seven hospitals, including Royal North Shore, Tweed Heads, Westmead, Wyong and John Hunter, Newcastle.
The submission said the three fundamental issues affecting patient care were the lack of an effective system of "checks and balances" within the health department, the "lack of any clear linkage between clinical activity and resource allocation" and the need to reintegrate private and public health care.
It demanded clinicians be involved in decision-making at every level.
Outside the inquiry, the Opposition health spokeswoman, Jillian Skinner, said it was a false economy for the health department not to involve nutritionists in menus. The average length of stay for malnourished patients was 30 days, almost double that of well-nourished patients at 17 days, the survey said.
"They're so hell-bent on saving money … but they're not looking at the impact on the patients and therefore the cost of them staying in hospital longer. It demonstrates the dysfunction of how the hospital system is arranged," Ms Skinner said.
The investigation into nutritional care was prompted by a 78-year-old woman who took a year to regain lost weight and nutritional status after her feeding tube was prematurely removed against the advice of a dietitian and she was then unable to eat properly because of a sore throat, could not open packets and found the food unappealing.
Ms Prendergast told the inquiry that while the menu included such meals as meat and three vegetables, fruit and cereals, there was little choice, it was poorly presented and so heavily packaged that frail and elderly people often could not access it.
Rhonda Matthews, a dietitian at Royal North Shore, told the inquiry the standard of food was frequently described as "atrocious" and "absolutely appalling" in the survey.
Ms Matthews said it was very difficult to get meals outside the normal serving times. She said nurses were lucky if they found "a few pieces of bread".
"Because it's been divorced from clinical care and it's being seen very much as a business unit … we can lose sight of the fact that it's patients we're dealing with. It's not an airline," she said.
The State Government announced the inquiry after the deputy state coroner, Carl Milovanovich, blamed systemic errors for the death at Royal North Shore in November 2005 of Vanessa Anderson, 16, who was given a high dose of painkillers after she was hit by a golf ball.
Yesterday Vanessa's father, Warren Anderson, read out the September 2005 resignation letter from the hospital's former senior neurosurgeon, Lali Sekhon, who wrote that he quit because of a refocusing "on saving money and away from patient care".
"I believe the public has the right to know the truth about the sad state of affairs at Royal North Shore Hospital," he wrote. Dr Sekhon, who now works in the US, said that over the past five years he had seen an "inexorable decline in the medical care given to patients, primarily because of administrative indifference".
Mr Anderson criticised former health minister John Hatzistergos for not responding to the letter until two weeks after Vanessa died, but was cut off by the commissioner, Peter Garling, SC.
We knew that one day the Cook Kill (Chill) airline food and the regionalisation of food services would come back to haunt NSW Health. They are planning to privatise these services!! What happens then?
Jenny Haines
The food is so bad that patients are starving
Latest related coverage:
Boy languished with fever for eight days, says mother
Natasha Wallace Health Reporter, smh
April 3, 2008
PUBLIC hospital food was so "atrocious" and menus so inflexible that half of all patients were "starving" and ended up staying twice as long as a result, an inquiry heard yesterday.
A survey of 777 patients across the Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service last year found 51 per cent were malnourished - and many had not entered hospital in that state.
Joanne Prendergast, the manager of the department of nutrition at Royal North Shore Hospital, told the special commission of inquiry into acute care services that it was "incredible" that NSW Health had no set nutritional standards for meals.
"Malnutrition is rife in our public hospitals and we need to do something about it," Ms Prendergast told the inquiry. "We have patients starving."
She said it put patients at risk and stemmed from the menu being designed by administration staff, with no involvement by dietitians or nutritionists.
A lack of consultation with clinicians at many NSW hospitals has featured prominently during the inquiry. Yesterday, 17 senior clinicians and academics put their names to a damning submission made to the inquiry.
The submission, obtained by the Herald, called the NSW Health Department "a dysfunctional but powerful, centralised, hierarchical autocracy with little or no external accountability".
The list included doctors from seven hospitals, including Royal North Shore, Tweed Heads, Westmead, Wyong and John Hunter, Newcastle.
The submission said the three fundamental issues affecting patient care were the lack of an effective system of "checks and balances" within the health department, the "lack of any clear linkage between clinical activity and resource allocation" and the need to reintegrate private and public health care.
It demanded clinicians be involved in decision-making at every level.
Outside the inquiry, the Opposition health spokeswoman, Jillian Skinner, said it was a false economy for the health department not to involve nutritionists in menus. The average length of stay for malnourished patients was 30 days, almost double that of well-nourished patients at 17 days, the survey said.
"They're so hell-bent on saving money … but they're not looking at the impact on the patients and therefore the cost of them staying in hospital longer. It demonstrates the dysfunction of how the hospital system is arranged," Ms Skinner said.
The investigation into nutritional care was prompted by a 78-year-old woman who took a year to regain lost weight and nutritional status after her feeding tube was prematurely removed against the advice of a dietitian and she was then unable to eat properly because of a sore throat, could not open packets and found the food unappealing.
Ms Prendergast told the inquiry that while the menu included such meals as meat and three vegetables, fruit and cereals, there was little choice, it was poorly presented and so heavily packaged that frail and elderly people often could not access it.
Rhonda Matthews, a dietitian at Royal North Shore, told the inquiry the standard of food was frequently described as "atrocious" and "absolutely appalling" in the survey.
Ms Matthews said it was very difficult to get meals outside the normal serving times. She said nurses were lucky if they found "a few pieces of bread".
"Because it's been divorced from clinical care and it's being seen very much as a business unit … we can lose sight of the fact that it's patients we're dealing with. It's not an airline," she said.
The State Government announced the inquiry after the deputy state coroner, Carl Milovanovich, blamed systemic errors for the death at Royal North Shore in November 2005 of Vanessa Anderson, 16, who was given a high dose of painkillers after she was hit by a golf ball.
Yesterday Vanessa's father, Warren Anderson, read out the September 2005 resignation letter from the hospital's former senior neurosurgeon, Lali Sekhon, who wrote that he quit because of a refocusing "on saving money and away from patient care".
"I believe the public has the right to know the truth about the sad state of affairs at Royal North Shore Hospital," he wrote. Dr Sekhon, who now works in the US, said that over the past five years he had seen an "inexorable decline in the medical care given to patients, primarily because of administrative indifference".
Mr Anderson criticised former health minister John Hatzistergos for not responding to the letter until two weeks after Vanessa died, but was cut off by the commissioner, Peter Garling, SC.
MUGABE'S DISASTROUS LEGACY
Mugabe will leave disastrous legacy
David Blair, smh
April 3, 2008
BY FAR the most impressive building in central Harare is the headquarters of the organisation most responsible for eviscerating Zimbabwe's economy. Inside its spotless tower of plate glass, the Reserve Bank's sole function is to cause hyperinflation by printing the money that keeps Robert Mugabe's bankrupt regime afloat.
If, however, the weekend's election does cause Mugabe's departure, the world will be left to pick up the pieces of a ruined state. For a moment, set aside all scepticism and assume that today is the morning after Mugabe's resignation.
What must be done to revive Zimbabwe? First, bear in mind the monumental scale of the task.
In the past eight years, the economy has endured the devastation normally inflicted only by war or natural disaster. Today, the country's gross national product is about 40 per cent smaller than it was in 2000. To place this in context, America during the Depression lost 30 per cent of its GNP.
Moreover, Mugabe has inflicted a depression on a country that was pretty poor to begin with. If they are to reduce poverty, African states must achieve annual GNP growth of at least 7 per cent and sustain it for decades. Zimbabwe has been going in reverse for most of the past 10 years.
Grasping why this happened is crucial to identifying the steps needed for recovery.
Zimbabwe's economy rests on three pillars: commercial agriculture, tourism and mining. By seizing white-owned farms and handing them out to his cronies, without troubling to provide them with finance, farming equipment, training or even title deeds, Mugabe wrecked commercial agriculture.
By unleashing violence against his political opponents, he frightened away tourists.
And by passing a law that allowed the seizure of 51 per cent of their shares, he forced mining companies to abandon all exploration and investment.
So Zimbabwe's economic collapse was a result of government policy. Consequently, Mugabe's tax revenues have been wiped out and he cannot pay his bills. The response? The Reserve Bank simply prints money to keep him afloat. The entirely predictable consequence of churning out trillions of Zimbabwean dollars is that inflation has soared to 100,580 per cent and the currency's value has plunged.
The first step that must be taken is to stabilise the economy and curb hyperinflation. The African department of the International Monetary Fund will take charge of this effort.
Reducing inflation means the Government must stop printing money. This can happen only if someone else pays its bills. So the IMF will probably agree an immediate injection of funds to keep Zimbabwe going while the Reserve Bank turns off its printing presses.
This should curb inflation in a matter of months. But a full stabilisation package will have to go much further. Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe's government grew ever larger and made no effort to curb its spending. His successor will have to reduce the size of the civil service and privatise the publicly owned companies, which are little more than shells.
And he will have to slash military spending, which presently exceeds the health budget.
With inflation under control and a new currency introduced, Zimbabwe's new government can look to longer-term recovery. Commercial agriculture will be the key. Some white farmers must be allowed to return and Mr Mugabe's disastrous land ownership laws, which make all agricultural land the property of the state, must be repealed. With private title deeds restored, farmers will be able to raise finance and resume production.
If Zimbabwe can shake off its reputation for violence, tourists might return to a country that boasts teeming wildlife and the Victoria Falls.
With inflation under control and predatory ownership laws repealed, the mines might revive.
Outside donors, notably the British Government and the World Bank, will have to provide the cash to restore Zimbabwe's tattered infrastructure. The inexpressible tragedy is that even if all this takes place - over years - Zimbabwe will only return to the position it enjoyed a decade ago.
Telegraph, London
David Blair, smh
April 3, 2008
BY FAR the most impressive building in central Harare is the headquarters of the organisation most responsible for eviscerating Zimbabwe's economy. Inside its spotless tower of plate glass, the Reserve Bank's sole function is to cause hyperinflation by printing the money that keeps Robert Mugabe's bankrupt regime afloat.
If, however, the weekend's election does cause Mugabe's departure, the world will be left to pick up the pieces of a ruined state. For a moment, set aside all scepticism and assume that today is the morning after Mugabe's resignation.
What must be done to revive Zimbabwe? First, bear in mind the monumental scale of the task.
In the past eight years, the economy has endured the devastation normally inflicted only by war or natural disaster. Today, the country's gross national product is about 40 per cent smaller than it was in 2000. To place this in context, America during the Depression lost 30 per cent of its GNP.
Moreover, Mugabe has inflicted a depression on a country that was pretty poor to begin with. If they are to reduce poverty, African states must achieve annual GNP growth of at least 7 per cent and sustain it for decades. Zimbabwe has been going in reverse for most of the past 10 years.
Grasping why this happened is crucial to identifying the steps needed for recovery.
Zimbabwe's economy rests on three pillars: commercial agriculture, tourism and mining. By seizing white-owned farms and handing them out to his cronies, without troubling to provide them with finance, farming equipment, training or even title deeds, Mugabe wrecked commercial agriculture.
By unleashing violence against his political opponents, he frightened away tourists.
And by passing a law that allowed the seizure of 51 per cent of their shares, he forced mining companies to abandon all exploration and investment.
So Zimbabwe's economic collapse was a result of government policy. Consequently, Mugabe's tax revenues have been wiped out and he cannot pay his bills. The response? The Reserve Bank simply prints money to keep him afloat. The entirely predictable consequence of churning out trillions of Zimbabwean dollars is that inflation has soared to 100,580 per cent and the currency's value has plunged.
The first step that must be taken is to stabilise the economy and curb hyperinflation. The African department of the International Monetary Fund will take charge of this effort.
Reducing inflation means the Government must stop printing money. This can happen only if someone else pays its bills. So the IMF will probably agree an immediate injection of funds to keep Zimbabwe going while the Reserve Bank turns off its printing presses.
This should curb inflation in a matter of months. But a full stabilisation package will have to go much further. Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe's government grew ever larger and made no effort to curb its spending. His successor will have to reduce the size of the civil service and privatise the publicly owned companies, which are little more than shells.
And he will have to slash military spending, which presently exceeds the health budget.
With inflation under control and a new currency introduced, Zimbabwe's new government can look to longer-term recovery. Commercial agriculture will be the key. Some white farmers must be allowed to return and Mr Mugabe's disastrous land ownership laws, which make all agricultural land the property of the state, must be repealed. With private title deeds restored, farmers will be able to raise finance and resume production.
If Zimbabwe can shake off its reputation for violence, tourists might return to a country that boasts teeming wildlife and the Victoria Falls.
With inflation under control and predatory ownership laws repealed, the mines might revive.
Outside donors, notably the British Government and the World Bank, will have to provide the cash to restore Zimbabwe's tattered infrastructure. The inexpressible tragedy is that even if all this takes place - over years - Zimbabwe will only return to the position it enjoyed a decade ago.
Telegraph, London
Monday, March 31, 2008
OPPOSITION CLAIMS VICTORY IN ZIMBABWE
Opposition claims victory in Zimbabwe vote
March 30, 2008,smh
Other related coverage
Mugabe threatens reprisals over vote
I don't need to cheat, I will win says Mugabe
Too many ballots point to fraud: Zimbabwean opposition
The immovable object and irresistible force
Zimbabwe's opposition claimed victory today in the country's general elections even before the first results had been announced, saying it would not accept any other outcome.
Despite warnings from the authorities against any attempt to pre-empt the result, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said President Robert Mugabe had been roundly beaten and warned it would not accept an alternative verdict from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Mugabe's camp meanwhile said it would treat any announcement by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he was now the rightful president as tantamount to a coup which would be dealt with accordingly.
"This far, short of a miracle, we have won this election beyond any reasonable doubt. We have won this election," MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti told a news conference.
Biti said the party's assessment was based on unofficial returns posted at polling stations where counting had been completed and cast doubt on the electoral commission, a supposedly independent body whose executives are appointed by Mugabe.
Asked why he was not waiting for the ZEC, Biti said: "We are protecting our vote. We don't trust the ZEC, which is not independent.
"We made a mistake in 2002 by not claiming our victory. We made a mistake in 2005 by not claiming our victory."
Tsvangirai has always insisted he was the rightful winner of the last presidential election in 2002 while the party also says it was robbed of victory in 2005's parliamentary elections.
Both claims have been vehemently denied by Mugabe who said yesterday he would not be able to sleep at night if he had cheated.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba meanwhile fired a warning to Tsvangirai, who has twice been charged with treason, against an early victory claim.
"How will it play?" Charamba told the state-run Sunday Mail.
"He announces results, declares himself and the MDC winner and then what? Declare himself president of Zimbabwe? It is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled."
The electoral commission meanwhile said counting could take a while and patience was needed.
"I have not received anything yet. They are still verifying and counter-verifying," commission chairman George Chiweshe told AFP.
"I would rather wait than push so I can get proper and accurate figures. I am a very patient man."
With this year's elections involving simultaneous votes for president, parliament and councils, first results were not expected until later in the day and final results may not be known until later in the week.
No Western observers were allowed to oversee the ballot but African observers have already raised concerns.
One pan-African team complained that 8,450 voters were registered on a patch of deserted land in Harare.
As he cast his ballot, Tsvangirai claimed his party had uncovered evidence of widespread vote-rigging, including the names of a million "ghost" voters registered in a northern region.
As well as Tsvangirai, Mugabe is being challenged by former finance minister Simba Makoni whose candidacy highlighted splits in the ruling ZANU-PF party.
While Makoni is not given a realistic prospect of victory, analysts say he may peel away votes from Mugabe who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980.
The election comes at a time when Zimbabwe is grappling with the impact of the world's highest rate of inflation - officially put at 100,580.2 percent - and an unemployment level which has breached the 80 percent mark.
Once seen as the region's breadbasket, the country is now suffering from shortages of even the most basic foodstuffs such as bread.
The president has blamed the country's economic woes on the European Union and the United States, which imposed sanctions on his inner circle after he was accused of rigging his 2002 re-election. He has portrayed the election as a chance to stand up against the West and in particular Britain.
Voting passed off largely without incident, although the security forces have been placed on high alert for fear of a repeat of the bloodshed which followed Kenya's disputed elections in December.
AFP
March 30, 2008,smh
Other related coverage
Mugabe threatens reprisals over vote
I don't need to cheat, I will win says Mugabe
Too many ballots point to fraud: Zimbabwean opposition
The immovable object and irresistible force
Zimbabwe's opposition claimed victory today in the country's general elections even before the first results had been announced, saying it would not accept any other outcome.
Despite warnings from the authorities against any attempt to pre-empt the result, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said President Robert Mugabe had been roundly beaten and warned it would not accept an alternative verdict from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Mugabe's camp meanwhile said it would treat any announcement by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai that he was now the rightful president as tantamount to a coup which would be dealt with accordingly.
"This far, short of a miracle, we have won this election beyond any reasonable doubt. We have won this election," MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti told a news conference.
Biti said the party's assessment was based on unofficial returns posted at polling stations where counting had been completed and cast doubt on the electoral commission, a supposedly independent body whose executives are appointed by Mugabe.
Asked why he was not waiting for the ZEC, Biti said: "We are protecting our vote. We don't trust the ZEC, which is not independent.
"We made a mistake in 2002 by not claiming our victory. We made a mistake in 2005 by not claiming our victory."
Tsvangirai has always insisted he was the rightful winner of the last presidential election in 2002 while the party also says it was robbed of victory in 2005's parliamentary elections.
Both claims have been vehemently denied by Mugabe who said yesterday he would not be able to sleep at night if he had cheated.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba meanwhile fired a warning to Tsvangirai, who has twice been charged with treason, against an early victory claim.
"How will it play?" Charamba told the state-run Sunday Mail.
"He announces results, declares himself and the MDC winner and then what? Declare himself president of Zimbabwe? It is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled."
The electoral commission meanwhile said counting could take a while and patience was needed.
"I have not received anything yet. They are still verifying and counter-verifying," commission chairman George Chiweshe told AFP.
"I would rather wait than push so I can get proper and accurate figures. I am a very patient man."
With this year's elections involving simultaneous votes for president, parliament and councils, first results were not expected until later in the day and final results may not be known until later in the week.
No Western observers were allowed to oversee the ballot but African observers have already raised concerns.
One pan-African team complained that 8,450 voters were registered on a patch of deserted land in Harare.
As he cast his ballot, Tsvangirai claimed his party had uncovered evidence of widespread vote-rigging, including the names of a million "ghost" voters registered in a northern region.
As well as Tsvangirai, Mugabe is being challenged by former finance minister Simba Makoni whose candidacy highlighted splits in the ruling ZANU-PF party.
While Makoni is not given a realistic prospect of victory, analysts say he may peel away votes from Mugabe who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980.
The election comes at a time when Zimbabwe is grappling with the impact of the world's highest rate of inflation - officially put at 100,580.2 percent - and an unemployment level which has breached the 80 percent mark.
Once seen as the region's breadbasket, the country is now suffering from shortages of even the most basic foodstuffs such as bread.
The president has blamed the country's economic woes on the European Union and the United States, which imposed sanctions on his inner circle after he was accused of rigging his 2002 re-election. He has portrayed the election as a chance to stand up against the West and in particular Britain.
Voting passed off largely without incident, although the security forces have been placed on high alert for fear of a repeat of the bloodshed which followed Kenya's disputed elections in December.
AFP
REFUGEE GETS UNAFFORDABLE LOAN
Refugee gets unaffordable loan
March 31, 2008, smh
ONE of Australia's biggest banks has admitted giving unaffordable personal loans to Sudanese refugees, including some with no job, no English and no concept of finance.
The Commonwealth Bank told the ABC's Four Corners it had introduced a new affordability policy after an internal inquiry into the 18 loans to families in south-eastern Melbourne.
The bank gave Deng Gatluak a $20,000 car loan, even though he did not speak the language, was unemployed and had no idea of how such a loan worked.
His wife, Nyatut, who still speaks virtually no English and has no assets, was made the guarantor on the loan. The repayments left the family of nine with next to nothing to live on.
A lawyer with the Consumer Action Law Centre, Lauren Walker, said the loan put Mr Gatluak in a position of severe financial hardship. "He has a family of eight people on his application form, which he didn't actually complete, his living expenses were estimated to be $800 per month, which calculates down to $25 per week per person, which is roughly $3.60 per day," Ms Walker said.
In another case, she said, a girl of nine acted as an interpreter for a family and the bank. Under pressure from consumer advocates, the bank has now waived most of the outstanding debts.
A former NAB employee, Kim White, told Four Corners he was pressured to talk people into taking bigger loans than they wanted. "I up-sold someone to $80,000 on more than one occasion when they only came in for a $20,000 or $30,000 loan," Mr White said.
"The pressure was sell them, sell them, if the system will let them do it sell them as much as you can possibly sell them." The bank said it had "strict credit polices, processes and controls".
AAP
March 31, 2008, smh
ONE of Australia's biggest banks has admitted giving unaffordable personal loans to Sudanese refugees, including some with no job, no English and no concept of finance.
The Commonwealth Bank told the ABC's Four Corners it had introduced a new affordability policy after an internal inquiry into the 18 loans to families in south-eastern Melbourne.
The bank gave Deng Gatluak a $20,000 car loan, even though he did not speak the language, was unemployed and had no idea of how such a loan worked.
His wife, Nyatut, who still speaks virtually no English and has no assets, was made the guarantor on the loan. The repayments left the family of nine with next to nothing to live on.
A lawyer with the Consumer Action Law Centre, Lauren Walker, said the loan put Mr Gatluak in a position of severe financial hardship. "He has a family of eight people on his application form, which he didn't actually complete, his living expenses were estimated to be $800 per month, which calculates down to $25 per week per person, which is roughly $3.60 per day," Ms Walker said.
In another case, she said, a girl of nine acted as an interpreter for a family and the bank. Under pressure from consumer advocates, the bank has now waived most of the outstanding debts.
A former NAB employee, Kim White, told Four Corners he was pressured to talk people into taking bigger loans than they wanted. "I up-sold someone to $80,000 on more than one occasion when they only came in for a $20,000 or $30,000 loan," Mr White said.
"The pressure was sell them, sell them, if the system will let them do it sell them as much as you can possibly sell them." The bank said it had "strict credit polices, processes and controls".
AAP
Sunday, March 30, 2008
CLOT DEATH: MUM SEEKS TRUTH
Cot death: mum seeks truth
Louise Hall, Sun Herald
March 30, 2008
A MAJOR hospital has admitted that it failed to properly treat a disabled woman who died while in its care.
Karen Stone, 41, was admitted to Sydney's St George Hospital in October 2004, with acute leg pain.
She died a few days later from pulmonary thromboembolism after an undiagnosed clot in her leg travelled to her lung, the State Coroner found the following year.
Now her mother wants to know why doctors at the hospital failed to give her routine preventative treatment.
Lynette Stone said both she and her daughter repeatedly asked hospital staff to investigate if the pain was caused by deep vein thrombosis. Their concerns were dismissed, even though Ms Stone was a high-risk patient.
Mrs Stone questions if her daughter's disability meant she received less care and attention from staff.
Ms Stone had a rare medical condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome that causes an obsession with food and eating, poor muscle tone and learning difficulties.
Debora Picone, who was in charge of the hospital at the time and is now the Director-General of NSW Health, said in a letter to the Health Care Complaints Commission soon after the autopsy that there was no excuse for the failure.
"A satisfactory explanation was not documented in the clinical record nor was the caring medical team able to provide one when questioned," she wrote. She admitted the hospital should have provided anticoagulant therapy.
The simple, but life-saving, injection was finally ordered by a professor who was taking a group of medical students on tour of the ward two days later, but the treatment was still not administered for another 24 hours. Ms Stone died the next day.
"It cannot be ascertained why the omission of treatment occurred," Professor Picone wrote.
The Health Care Complaints Commission did not investigate the death, instead offering conciliation - an informal discussion with no power to make any decisions. Lorraine Long from Medical Error Action Group said government departments set up to deal with complaints had proved to be "ineffective" and a "waste of time" for bereaved families.
"I have not encountered a person to be satisfied with a health-care complaints commission anywhere in the country," she said. "They want you to conciliate a death - it's obscene."
Mrs Stone said her daughter was a "wonderful soul" who brought endless joy to her family and friends.
"In my heart I feel she should still be with us. If only they had taken more care, questioned more about why the pain wouldn't go away, she would not have died," she said.
"If she'd been 'normal' would they have taken more notice of her?"
Venous thromboembolism, which refers to deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, causes 10,000 deaths each year in hospitals - more than lung and breast cancer combined.
Professor Beng Chong, a hematologist at St George Hospital and head of the Department of Medicine at the University of NSW, said many hospitals did not assign the task of venous thromboembolism risk assessment to particular doctors or nurses, while many simply forgot.
lhall@sunherald.com.au
Source: The Sun-Herald
Louise Hall, Sun Herald
March 30, 2008
A MAJOR hospital has admitted that it failed to properly treat a disabled woman who died while in its care.
Karen Stone, 41, was admitted to Sydney's St George Hospital in October 2004, with acute leg pain.
She died a few days later from pulmonary thromboembolism after an undiagnosed clot in her leg travelled to her lung, the State Coroner found the following year.
Now her mother wants to know why doctors at the hospital failed to give her routine preventative treatment.
Lynette Stone said both she and her daughter repeatedly asked hospital staff to investigate if the pain was caused by deep vein thrombosis. Their concerns were dismissed, even though Ms Stone was a high-risk patient.
Mrs Stone questions if her daughter's disability meant she received less care and attention from staff.
Ms Stone had a rare medical condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome that causes an obsession with food and eating, poor muscle tone and learning difficulties.
Debora Picone, who was in charge of the hospital at the time and is now the Director-General of NSW Health, said in a letter to the Health Care Complaints Commission soon after the autopsy that there was no excuse for the failure.
"A satisfactory explanation was not documented in the clinical record nor was the caring medical team able to provide one when questioned," she wrote. She admitted the hospital should have provided anticoagulant therapy.
The simple, but life-saving, injection was finally ordered by a professor who was taking a group of medical students on tour of the ward two days later, but the treatment was still not administered for another 24 hours. Ms Stone died the next day.
"It cannot be ascertained why the omission of treatment occurred," Professor Picone wrote.
The Health Care Complaints Commission did not investigate the death, instead offering conciliation - an informal discussion with no power to make any decisions. Lorraine Long from Medical Error Action Group said government departments set up to deal with complaints had proved to be "ineffective" and a "waste of time" for bereaved families.
"I have not encountered a person to be satisfied with a health-care complaints commission anywhere in the country," she said. "They want you to conciliate a death - it's obscene."
Mrs Stone said her daughter was a "wonderful soul" who brought endless joy to her family and friends.
"In my heart I feel she should still be with us. If only they had taken more care, questioned more about why the pain wouldn't go away, she would not have died," she said.
"If she'd been 'normal' would they have taken more notice of her?"
Venous thromboembolism, which refers to deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, causes 10,000 deaths each year in hospitals - more than lung and breast cancer combined.
Professor Beng Chong, a hematologist at St George Hospital and head of the Department of Medicine at the University of NSW, said many hospitals did not assign the task of venous thromboembolism risk assessment to particular doctors or nurses, while many simply forgot.
lhall@sunherald.com.au
Source: The Sun-Herald
Saturday, March 29, 2008
OZ HEALTHCARE STILL IN THE 80s
Australian healthcare 'still in the 8Os
March 29, 2008 - 8:22AM, smh
Australia has a 1980s healthcare system attempting to deal with 21st century problems - and it could get worse, a Melbourne conference has heard.
According to Professor Anthony Scott of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, healthcare in Australia is on a downward spiral.
"We are heading toward the situation that exists in the United States, which has the most ineffective health system in the world," Professor Scott said.
Speaking just days after the Federal Government announced a further $1 billion injection into hospitals, Professor Scott painted a picture of a lopsided, over-governed system that would greatly benefit from centralised funding.
In a presentation to the New Agenda For Prosperity Conference entitled Making Hospitals Work, he said Australia had a hospital system that benefited the rich ahead of the poor and one in which public hospitals provided significantly poorer outcomes than those run privately.
"The rich have greater access to health care, but at the same time it is the poor who tend to need it more," he said.
While Professor Scott advocated schemes that rewarded performance in healthcare he warned of the difficulties of assessing complex medical environments.
"Some degree of performance management is necessary," he said.
"But there can be difficulty defining good performance.
"It can be difficult to use incentives in complex environments.
"They can be good in a factory making widgets, but healthcare can be more complex."
Leading health economist Dr Stephen Duckett told the conference the health system laboured under gross funding inequities.
Dr Duckett, the man given the task of restoring credibility to the Queensland health system after the Dr Death scandal, said the hospital system could not work as it should while public hospitals treat many more patients than private hospitals, but get much less money from the Commonwealth.
Using cataract surgery as an example, Dr Duckett said a procedure that cost $3,800 in a private hospital cost $1,200 less in a public hospital.
"A public hospital pays the surgeon $10 a minute, but (in a private hospital) he charges the patient $100 a minute," Dr Duckett said.
As a result, doctors understandably spent less time treating public patients.
He said commonwealth support was 78 per cent higher in the private than the public system.
"What is needed is more money and more equity and balance in the system," he said.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon told the conference the latest funding represented the largest injection of money into the health system in a decade.
© 2008 AAPBrought to you by
March 29, 2008 - 8:22AM, smh
Australia has a 1980s healthcare system attempting to deal with 21st century problems - and it could get worse, a Melbourne conference has heard.
According to Professor Anthony Scott of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, healthcare in Australia is on a downward spiral.
"We are heading toward the situation that exists in the United States, which has the most ineffective health system in the world," Professor Scott said.
Speaking just days after the Federal Government announced a further $1 billion injection into hospitals, Professor Scott painted a picture of a lopsided, over-governed system that would greatly benefit from centralised funding.
In a presentation to the New Agenda For Prosperity Conference entitled Making Hospitals Work, he said Australia had a hospital system that benefited the rich ahead of the poor and one in which public hospitals provided significantly poorer outcomes than those run privately.
"The rich have greater access to health care, but at the same time it is the poor who tend to need it more," he said.
While Professor Scott advocated schemes that rewarded performance in healthcare he warned of the difficulties of assessing complex medical environments.
"Some degree of performance management is necessary," he said.
"But there can be difficulty defining good performance.
"It can be difficult to use incentives in complex environments.
"They can be good in a factory making widgets, but healthcare can be more complex."
Leading health economist Dr Stephen Duckett told the conference the health system laboured under gross funding inequities.
Dr Duckett, the man given the task of restoring credibility to the Queensland health system after the Dr Death scandal, said the hospital system could not work as it should while public hospitals treat many more patients than private hospitals, but get much less money from the Commonwealth.
Using cataract surgery as an example, Dr Duckett said a procedure that cost $3,800 in a private hospital cost $1,200 less in a public hospital.
"A public hospital pays the surgeon $10 a minute, but (in a private hospital) he charges the patient $100 a minute," Dr Duckett said.
As a result, doctors understandably spent less time treating public patients.
He said commonwealth support was 78 per cent higher in the private than the public system.
"What is needed is more money and more equity and balance in the system," he said.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon told the conference the latest funding represented the largest injection of money into the health system in a decade.
© 2008 AAPBrought to you by
TREAT ALCOHOLICS TOO: MACKLIN
Treat alcoholics too: Macklin
Russell Skelton, smh
March 29, 2008
THE Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, believes violent Aboriginal men - many in the grip of alcoholism - have been largely ignored by the the emergency intervention, which has correctly focused on the victims of abuse.
Speaking after a visit to Aurukun and Weipa on Cape York Ms Macklin said: "We cannot treat these men as a lost cause. We need to deal with why these men turn to alcohol and violence.
There are programs, but there needs to be more."
Ms Macklin also flagged that the new bipartisan commission to deal with indigenous issues would initially focus on housing, because it was such a complex area involving co-operation across three levels of government - local, state, federal and territory.
Asked if there was any longer a need for an indigenous affairs minister, Ms Macklin, who also has responsibility for families, housing and community services, said: "Goodness no, the commission is concentrating on housing and that is a significant issue."
The shape and future direction of the commission has been tightly controlled by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who has been consulting the Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson.
Ms Macklin strongly backs the Prime Minister's approach to closing the life expectancy gap and quarantining welfare payments for food and other necessities.
Ms Macklin said reforms being undertaken in Queensland to prevent councils from managing alcohol outlets was also a step in the right direction because it would clear the way for bans on the sale and consumption of booze in communities like Aurukun.
The Government would also extend hostel accommodation for secondary students in the Northern Territory so children could complete their education outside the chaos of remote communities battling dysfunction.
with Tim Colebatch
Russell Skelton, smh
March 29, 2008
THE Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, believes violent Aboriginal men - many in the grip of alcoholism - have been largely ignored by the the emergency intervention, which has correctly focused on the victims of abuse.
Speaking after a visit to Aurukun and Weipa on Cape York Ms Macklin said: "We cannot treat these men as a lost cause. We need to deal with why these men turn to alcohol and violence.
There are programs, but there needs to be more."
Ms Macklin also flagged that the new bipartisan commission to deal with indigenous issues would initially focus on housing, because it was such a complex area involving co-operation across three levels of government - local, state, federal and territory.
Asked if there was any longer a need for an indigenous affairs minister, Ms Macklin, who also has responsibility for families, housing and community services, said: "Goodness no, the commission is concentrating on housing and that is a significant issue."
The shape and future direction of the commission has been tightly controlled by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, who has been consulting the Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson.
Ms Macklin strongly backs the Prime Minister's approach to closing the life expectancy gap and quarantining welfare payments for food and other necessities.
Ms Macklin said reforms being undertaken in Queensland to prevent councils from managing alcohol outlets was also a step in the right direction because it would clear the way for bans on the sale and consumption of booze in communities like Aurukun.
The Government would also extend hostel accommodation for secondary students in the Northern Territory so children could complete their education outside the chaos of remote communities battling dysfunction.
with Tim Colebatch
Friday, March 28, 2008
FACING OFF A BUTCHER
Dear All,
A tribute to a brave nurse!! No wonder the San never liked the union snooping around!! But sadly, the manager behaviour here would not be limited to the San these days!!
Jenny Haines
Facing off a Butcher
By Kate Sikora,dtm
March 28, 2008 12:00am
RALLIES are being held around Australia today by women fighting for justice against former doctor Graeme Reeves, dubbed the Butcher of Bega.
Women, including victims, will protest outside Parliament House over the health system's inaction on Reeves, who allegedly mutilated and sexually abused hundreds.
And more nurses who worked with the doctor are breaking their silence.
Robin Moon, a midwife with 30 years' experience, told The Daily Telegraph of the burden she has carried for a decade.
Mrs Moon, 47, of Epping, said she made several complaints to management at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Wahroonga, where Reeves worked between 1989 and 1998, but was told: "Don't take this any further."
"I feel like I have been a voice lost in the wilderness and finally I can now speak," she said yesterday.
"I am appalled. I was told by management my complaints would be taken care of. As far as I know they did nothing."
While assisting Reeves to deliver a baby in October 1996, Mrs Moon said she was horrified when he used forceps on the baby, which was in danger of dying.
She said the boy was born with severe disabilities. Reeves was taken to the Health Care Complaints Commission and later sued over the incident.
"He was screaming at me. He screamed at the husband to stop crying," she said.
"I used to see him walk up to female patients and just grab their breasts without even asking and then make a remark.
"We made several complaints for two years to our managers. I want his victims to know that we were complaining."
Mrs Moon thought she would not be able to return to work as a midwife after being blacklisted as a troublemaker.
She suffered a breakdown and left the system for two years. The mother of three has since returned to midwifery.
"He scarred me, as I feel I can't trust doctors now, or be part of a team. Being a midwife is about teamwork and he was terrible to everyone he worked with," she said.
Women have taken their rage to Facebook, setting up a club site called "Hang the Butcher of Bega".
The site has spread the message about today's rallies, organised by the Joyous Birth Network. It has 86 members.
Reeves was banned from obstetrics - but not gynaecology - in 1997.
The Medical Board deregistered him in 2004 - 15 years after first receiving the complaints against him.
A tribute to a brave nurse!! No wonder the San never liked the union snooping around!! But sadly, the manager behaviour here would not be limited to the San these days!!
Jenny Haines
Facing off a Butcher
By Kate Sikora,dtm
March 28, 2008 12:00am
RALLIES are being held around Australia today by women fighting for justice against former doctor Graeme Reeves, dubbed the Butcher of Bega.
Women, including victims, will protest outside Parliament House over the health system's inaction on Reeves, who allegedly mutilated and sexually abused hundreds.
And more nurses who worked with the doctor are breaking their silence.
Robin Moon, a midwife with 30 years' experience, told The Daily Telegraph of the burden she has carried for a decade.
Mrs Moon, 47, of Epping, said she made several complaints to management at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Wahroonga, where Reeves worked between 1989 and 1998, but was told: "Don't take this any further."
"I feel like I have been a voice lost in the wilderness and finally I can now speak," she said yesterday.
"I am appalled. I was told by management my complaints would be taken care of. As far as I know they did nothing."
While assisting Reeves to deliver a baby in October 1996, Mrs Moon said she was horrified when he used forceps on the baby, which was in danger of dying.
She said the boy was born with severe disabilities. Reeves was taken to the Health Care Complaints Commission and later sued over the incident.
"He was screaming at me. He screamed at the husband to stop crying," she said.
"I used to see him walk up to female patients and just grab their breasts without even asking and then make a remark.
"We made several complaints for two years to our managers. I want his victims to know that we were complaining."
Mrs Moon thought she would not be able to return to work as a midwife after being blacklisted as a troublemaker.
She suffered a breakdown and left the system for two years. The mother of three has since returned to midwifery.
"He scarred me, as I feel I can't trust doctors now, or be part of a team. Being a midwife is about teamwork and he was terrible to everyone he worked with," she said.
Women have taken their rage to Facebook, setting up a club site called "Hang the Butcher of Bega".
The site has spread the message about today's rallies, organised by the Joyous Birth Network. It has 86 members.
Reeves was banned from obstetrics - but not gynaecology - in 1997.
The Medical Board deregistered him in 2004 - 15 years after first receiving the complaints against him.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
CRASH OR CRASH THROUGH IEMMA
Iemma vows to crash through
By Linda Silmalis, Sunday Telegraph
March 23, 2008 12:00am
NSW Premier Morris Iemma is set to go down in history as the first Labor leader in NSW to defy the wishes of the party.
While union and senior party officials remain hopeful the premier will back down on his plan to privatise energy ahead of the ALP state conference, Mr Iemma has stated in no uncertain terms that he plans to ignore the views of party delegates.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph to mark his first anniversary as elected premier, Mr Iemma said work had already begun on the legislative framework to allow for the privatisation.
"It's the right decision for the state,'' he said.
"The Cabinet and the Caucus have endorsed the Government's package.
The package will be implemented.''
The view is set to further tear apart the party, which has endured one of its rockiest rides since Mr Iemma led Labor to victory on March 24, including controversies involving some of his ministers and the still unfolding health crisis.
However, the greatest challenge for Mr Iemma will be at the March 3-4 ALP state conference, where a vote on energy privatisation will take place.
Mr Iemma maintains the plan is about securing the state's future energy supplies. He argues that MPs voted for the move at Cabinet and in Caucus.
However, many NSW MPs claim they were not aware the policy would not result in additional energy.
The policy entails the sale of the retail arms of EnergyAustralia, Integral Energy, Country Energy and the long-term lease of generators.
Mr Iemma believes removing the Government from the state's electricity industry will create the right market conditions for the private sector to become involved and invest in a new _ necessary _ base load generator.
However, some NSW MPs fear the Government could be left with egg on its face if the private sector does not come on board within two years. It is understood there has also been discussions within the State Government of funding a generator of last resort if this scenario eventuates.
"The reason Caucus endorsed it was that Morris made an argument that we were going to run out of energy supplies if we didn't do something about it,'' one MP said.
"What he didn't say was that this policy does not deliver one extra kilowatt of energy.
"All it does is set up the right conditions so that the private sector will be enticed to get involved and invest in new base load generation.
"But just because we bail out of the market, it does not mean the private sector will necessarily come on board and we could be left with the embarrassing situation of being forced to fund it ourselves on the eve of the next election.''
It is understood ALP general secretary Karl Bitar is desperate to resolve the issue to avoid a showdown at the conference.
However, negotiations between the unions and Treasurer Michael Costa, who has driven the policy, have all but stalled.
More than 900 delegates will attend the conference where a vote will be taken on the sale.
NSW MPs are under pressure from their branches to cross the floor in State Parliament if Mr Iemma proceeds with the contentious legislation.
At least 15 MPs have publicly come forward opposing the sale.
One MP told The Sunday Telegraph that MPs are angry at Mr Iemma for making them choose between him and the party.
"The backbenchers are pretty s****y that Morris is making them choose between their loyalties to him and their loyalties to the party,' the MP said.
By Linda Silmalis, Sunday Telegraph
March 23, 2008 12:00am
NSW Premier Morris Iemma is set to go down in history as the first Labor leader in NSW to defy the wishes of the party.
While union and senior party officials remain hopeful the premier will back down on his plan to privatise energy ahead of the ALP state conference, Mr Iemma has stated in no uncertain terms that he plans to ignore the views of party delegates.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph to mark his first anniversary as elected premier, Mr Iemma said work had already begun on the legislative framework to allow for the privatisation.
"It's the right decision for the state,'' he said.
"The Cabinet and the Caucus have endorsed the Government's package.
The package will be implemented.''
The view is set to further tear apart the party, which has endured one of its rockiest rides since Mr Iemma led Labor to victory on March 24, including controversies involving some of his ministers and the still unfolding health crisis.
However, the greatest challenge for Mr Iemma will be at the March 3-4 ALP state conference, where a vote on energy privatisation will take place.
Mr Iemma maintains the plan is about securing the state's future energy supplies. He argues that MPs voted for the move at Cabinet and in Caucus.
However, many NSW MPs claim they were not aware the policy would not result in additional energy.
The policy entails the sale of the retail arms of EnergyAustralia, Integral Energy, Country Energy and the long-term lease of generators.
Mr Iemma believes removing the Government from the state's electricity industry will create the right market conditions for the private sector to become involved and invest in a new _ necessary _ base load generator.
However, some NSW MPs fear the Government could be left with egg on its face if the private sector does not come on board within two years. It is understood there has also been discussions within the State Government of funding a generator of last resort if this scenario eventuates.
"The reason Caucus endorsed it was that Morris made an argument that we were going to run out of energy supplies if we didn't do something about it,'' one MP said.
"What he didn't say was that this policy does not deliver one extra kilowatt of energy.
"All it does is set up the right conditions so that the private sector will be enticed to get involved and invest in new base load generation.
"But just because we bail out of the market, it does not mean the private sector will necessarily come on board and we could be left with the embarrassing situation of being forced to fund it ourselves on the eve of the next election.''
It is understood ALP general secretary Karl Bitar is desperate to resolve the issue to avoid a showdown at the conference.
However, negotiations between the unions and Treasurer Michael Costa, who has driven the policy, have all but stalled.
More than 900 delegates will attend the conference where a vote will be taken on the sale.
NSW MPs are under pressure from their branches to cross the floor in State Parliament if Mr Iemma proceeds with the contentious legislation.
At least 15 MPs have publicly come forward opposing the sale.
One MP told The Sunday Telegraph that MPs are angry at Mr Iemma for making them choose between him and the party.
"The backbenchers are pretty s****y that Morris is making them choose between their loyalties to him and their loyalties to the party,' the MP said.
MUA STARTS NEGOTIATIONS
Unions go for wages grab
By Glenn Milne, Sunday Telegraph
March 23, 2008 12:00am
THE powerful Maritime Union of Australia is beginning to flex its industrial muscle after a successful meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at The Lodge in Canberra on Australia Day.
A leaked union strategy document marked "confidential'' reveals the MUA believes it has "strong support'' from Mr Rudd and plans to push for new industrial relations arrangements that will drive up inflation.
The union wants a return to "pattern bargaining'', a technique to negotiate increased wages and conditions.
However, opponents of pattern bargaining say it would also increase inflation and interest rates.
The document also reveals plans to pressure employers into watering down tests that "penalise'' workers with a recreational cannabis habit.
MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin met Mr Rudd in Canberra where, according to the document, the Prime Minister agreed to give the union access to personal security information collected by the Government on so-called "scabs'' crewing non-union ships.
"The National Secretary was invited to The Lodge by the Prime Minister on Australia Day, which in itself was an extraordinary turn-around since the last one,'' the document says.
"It also took the opportunity to inform him of the situation, and he undertook to look into the matter with relevant Ministers as a matter of urgency.''
In another sign of increased militancy under the Labor Government, the union is also demanding that its heavy machinery drivers be exempted from strict, on-the-job drug testing.
The question of wages is addressed under the heading``Enterprise Agreement''.
It advocates "common terms and conditions'' for all workers in key parts of the industry. The document, prepared in January, argues against a long negotiating period with individual employers.
Instead, it suggests using ``the terms and conditions in the offshore oil and gas industry Agreement as our log of claim''.
The document says: "This will greatly assist in proceeding much quicker to negotiations.
"Those conditions would also need to include an appropriate living away from home allowance (LAHA) that applies in remote and expensive living areas _ that is, north-west Australia.''
The effect of such a campaign would be to impose the boom wages and conditions in Western Australia to the rest of Australia, regardless of productivity.
On the question of what the document calls "scabs and parasites'' crewing non-union ships, the MUA says it has received co-operation from Mr Rudd and a range of senior ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Attorney-General Robert McClelland to access the personal securityinformation of such crews.
"The National Secretary has contacted the ACTU who are working the matter through with the Minister for Industrial Relations, Julia Gillard.
"The Union has also contacted the Minister for Immigration, Chris Evans, and the Minister for National Security, Bob McClelland, to complain and secure understanding on what visa arrangements have been made for the scabby crew and what MSIC (Maritime Security Identification Cards) backgrounding has been done on the parasites.
"There is no doubt there is strong support from the Rudd Government.''
Another sign the union is preparing to flex its muscle is its demand that workplace drug testing of heavy machinery drivers be severely watered down.
By Glenn Milne, Sunday Telegraph
March 23, 2008 12:00am
THE powerful Maritime Union of Australia is beginning to flex its industrial muscle after a successful meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at The Lodge in Canberra on Australia Day.
A leaked union strategy document marked "confidential'' reveals the MUA believes it has "strong support'' from Mr Rudd and plans to push for new industrial relations arrangements that will drive up inflation.
The union wants a return to "pattern bargaining'', a technique to negotiate increased wages and conditions.
However, opponents of pattern bargaining say it would also increase inflation and interest rates.
The document also reveals plans to pressure employers into watering down tests that "penalise'' workers with a recreational cannabis habit.
MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin met Mr Rudd in Canberra where, according to the document, the Prime Minister agreed to give the union access to personal security information collected by the Government on so-called "scabs'' crewing non-union ships.
"The National Secretary was invited to The Lodge by the Prime Minister on Australia Day, which in itself was an extraordinary turn-around since the last one,'' the document says.
"It also took the opportunity to inform him of the situation, and he undertook to look into the matter with relevant Ministers as a matter of urgency.''
In another sign of increased militancy under the Labor Government, the union is also demanding that its heavy machinery drivers be exempted from strict, on-the-job drug testing.
The question of wages is addressed under the heading``Enterprise Agreement''.
It advocates "common terms and conditions'' for all workers in key parts of the industry. The document, prepared in January, argues against a long negotiating period with individual employers.
Instead, it suggests using ``the terms and conditions in the offshore oil and gas industry Agreement as our log of claim''.
The document says: "This will greatly assist in proceeding much quicker to negotiations.
"Those conditions would also need to include an appropriate living away from home allowance (LAHA) that applies in remote and expensive living areas _ that is, north-west Australia.''
The effect of such a campaign would be to impose the boom wages and conditions in Western Australia to the rest of Australia, regardless of productivity.
On the question of what the document calls "scabs and parasites'' crewing non-union ships, the MUA says it has received co-operation from Mr Rudd and a range of senior ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Attorney-General Robert McClelland to access the personal securityinformation of such crews.
"The National Secretary has contacted the ACTU who are working the matter through with the Minister for Industrial Relations, Julia Gillard.
"The Union has also contacted the Minister for Immigration, Chris Evans, and the Minister for National Security, Bob McClelland, to complain and secure understanding on what visa arrangements have been made for the scabby crew and what MSIC (Maritime Security Identification Cards) backgrounding has been done on the parasites.
"There is no doubt there is strong support from the Rudd Government.''
Another sign the union is preparing to flex its muscle is its demand that workplace drug testing of heavy machinery drivers be severely watered down.
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