Tuesday, 31 July 2007

Welfare, Debt, Credit, Bureaucracy and Betrayal: the Howard Years, Dads On The Air, 31 July, 2007.

Welfare, Debt, Credit, Bureaucracy and Betrayal: the Howard Years

Julie Owens MP
With special guests:
This was a particularly good show, so don’t miss it. The New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Men is the only such organisation in the world and a pointer to how the Australian Government could address its chronically institutionalised anti-male bias.

As well Julie Owens, the Labor MP for Parramatta, talks knowledgeably about why the so-called Howard battlers have turned so viciously against the government. Just like separated dads, the battlers feel utterly betrayed by the Howard government. They were encouraged by the government’s rhetoric and the $7,000 first home buyers grant to get into a mortgage and now find themselves drowning in debt and living on credit. The claim that interest rates would be kept low has turned out to be as hollow as much of the government’s other rhetoric.

As well we have a brief call from Tony Miller from Dads in Distress, a self-help organisation with meetings around the country which continues to do a marvellous job saving the lives of distraught men and mopping up the mess of our family law and child support systems. Tony is pleased to announce that at the last minute his organisation has been given funding sufficient for it to survive over the next four years through the actions of the Minister for Families Mal Brough.

Monday, 30 July 2007

And the loser is: Sydney's APEC pull, The Australian, 30 July, 2007.

And the loser is: Sydney's APEC pull: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, JohnThe Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 30 July 2007: 7.
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Meanwhile, an argument has erupted over comments by Australia's ambassador to APEC, senior DFAT bureaucrat David Spencer, who claimed Sydney's hotel rates had risen "100-fold" and a "shitfight" had broken out between various countries and their delegations over which hotels to stay in.
The APEC taskforce distributed an email to hotel operators over the weekend distancing itself from the comments, saying they had been "thrilled with the level of support and professionalism of all hotel operators we have dealt with".

Tuesday, 24 July 2007

Jessica's happy, but it's not all good news for Seven, The Australian, 24 July, 2007.

Jessica's happy, but it's not all good news for Seven: [2 All-round First Edition]

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"The fact is, she's not pushing anyone aside," Mr [Peter Meakin] said of [Jessica Rowe]. "If there are any complaints, I haven't heard them, and there's no cause for complaint because she's not taking anyone's job. She's only going to be doing it part-time, she wants to ease back into it."
Mr Meakin admitted [Ian Ross]'s contract had yet to be renewed. "Ian is under contract until the end of the year, and we want him to stay with the network and we'll be negotiating with him really soon," he said. "Jessica hasn't been slated for that 6pm role. We are well aware of the fact other people on our staff will have ambitions when Ian retires. There's no need to think Jessica jumped the queue."

Muslims, Jews allied over burial plot plight, The Australian, 24 July, 2007.

Muslims, Jews allied over burial plot plight: [1 All-round Country Edition]

John Stapleton, Sanna TradThe Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 24 July 2007: 7.
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"It is scary for old ladies and young kids to go out there, it is not a nice atmosphere," Mr [Wasim Raza] said. "For a lot of families, thehusband is buried at Rookwood, the wife is buried 40km away. The families are being split in death. It is very distressing."
"I am only dealing with the Lebanese community," he said. "I estimate there are between 20 and 30 bodies a month being flown out of Australia, including the Egyptians, the Turks, and all the other Muslim communities.
"Rather than burying their loved ones in an isolated place like Riverstone, Muslim families prefer to send their loved ones back to their home countries."

Monday, 23 July 2007

Harry's broom sweeps all before it, The Australian, 23 July, 2007. Additional Reporting.

Harry's broom sweeps all before it: [6 NSW Country Edition]

Steven Swinford, Additional reporting: John StapletonThe Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 23 July 2007: 5.
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Even as tired youngsters leafed through pages to discover the outcome of the showdown between the boy wizard and his nemesis, bookmaker Ladbrokes was cutting the odds on there being an eighth [Harry Potter] novel from 16-1 to 10-1 after a flurry of stake money. And [JK Rowling] is 1-4 to become a dame in the New Year honours list.
For one special night, normal bedtime was cancelled as children were permitted to plough through torture, seven deaths and the final, fatal confrontation between Harry and the wicked Voldemort. The ending should remain a prize for readers who have read all 608 pages.
"This is our single most successful book ever. Kids were dropping to the floor the minute they got it, just to read it; they didn't want to wait. It is an astonishing phenomenon."

The long and winding road to citizenship, The Australian, 23 July, 2007.

John Stapleton.
THEY may have been born overseas to Australian mothers, but for tens of thousands of people scattered around the world and born before 1949, that wasn't enough for them to become Australian citizens.
Now, the remaining historical sexual discrimination has been swept away and those who have been denied for decades are eligible to become citizens.
Clive Pillinger, born to an Australian, Kathleen Pillinger, in Bristol, 170km west of London, spent a lifetime falling between the gaps in Australia's citizenship laws.
The 62-year-old has just picked up his papers granting him Australian citizenship by descent.
For him, the commencement this month of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 -- which evolved out of several government inquiries into expatriates -- marks the end of a long and emotional journey.
From an early age, Mr Pillinger dreamed of going to Australia to live and migrated to Australia in his early 20s as a "pound stg. 10 Pom". He arrived in Sydney by boat in 1968 and quickly found work as a signwriter.
But he went back to Britain in 1970 to visit his parents. By the time he got to New Zealand, he realised he had made a mistake in not getting a return visa to Australia before he left.
Mr Pillinger never lost his desire to become an Australian citizen. "There were many times over the years when I felt very down about this and thought it would never happen," he said.
Some of the now-elderly people who were denied access to citizenship were born to Australian brides who were serving overseas during World War II. Others were born while their mothers were travelling or working overseas.
Today, children born abroad to an Australian-born, Australian- citizen parent, either mother or father, may be registered as Australian citizens by descent.
But, until 1970, historical sex discrimination in Australian law meant that Australian-born women could not pass on their Australian citizenship to their overseas-born children. Such children had to have an Australianfather.
Legal changes introduced in 1970 to redress this allowed only a brief opportunity for people to take out citizenship. Age restrictions also stopped many from taking out Australian citizenship.
Several thousand US-born children of World War II Australian brides born before 1949 will now be entitled to apply for Australian citizenship by descent.
Expatriate support group Southern Cross has campaigned long and hard for the changes and is now advertising widely to alert potential citizens to the changes.
Co-founder Anne MacGregor said the changes were "significant and long overdue". She estimated that about 50,000 people who had lost their Australian status in various ways, the vast majority of whom had been born in Australia, would now be eligible to resume their citizenship.
A further 30,000 born abroad of an Australian mother before 1949 would also now be eligible; as would another 15,000 born to parents who had forfeited their citizenship before their child's birth by becoming foreign citizens.
Southern Cross volunteer Jacqui Mowbray said many of the affected people felt Australian but had never been able to get their feelings acknowledged by government.