Monday 28 April 2008

Star fights drug charge: 'My drink was spiked', The Australian, 28 April, 2008.




Star fights drug charge: `My drink was spiked'

Stapleton, JohnThe Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 Apr 2008: 3.
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"I will strongly, strongly fight these charges to the end," he told Seven News last night. "I have never used it and I don't use it."
"The predicament he is currently facing is totally out of character for him," Mr [Anthony Fitzgerald] said. "[Todd McKenney] has the network's full support at this difficult time and we will not make any judgment until all the facts have been presented."
"I've never met anyone as giving or generous with his time as Todd," she said. "He is affiliated with so many charities. This is not what he does. He stays away from bad behaviour. He is just a great guy. He is squeaky clean."

Bone writes her final column, The Australian, 28 April, 2008.





Bone writes her final column

Stapleton, JohnRintoul, StuartThe Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 Apr 2008: 6.
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Former Age editor Michael Gawenda, who worked with [Pamela Bone] for 20 years, said she was "one of the bravest and most thoughtful columnists I have ever met".
After leaving The Age in 2005, Bone wrote for The Australian, knowing her time was limited, "and they were terrific columns", Gawenda said.
"She showed a moral insightfulness around the big issues of global poverty, the plight of women in the developing world and theplight of the poor," he said. "She was incredibly important for the humanitarian heart of Australia."

Friday 18 April 2008

Emergency failure exposes fatal flaw, Weekend Australian, 18 April, 2008.

Emergency failure exposes fatal flaw

Overington, Caroline. John Stapleton. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 18 Apr 2009: 9.
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"He said, `Have you got any of the mango ice-cream that you made?"' Mrs Iredale's statement says. "I said, `Yes, I'll leave you some'. He said, `I could do with some right now'."
The biggest question, really, is: why, in 21st century Australia, where 90 per cent of adults have a mobile telephone, and 60 per cent of calls made to 000 come from mobile telephones, was it not possible for operators to pinpoint [David Iredale]'s location? Such tracking technology has been available since 1995. Australia doesn't use it. A person who calls 000 from a mobile phone might be at the scene of an accident, lost at sea, or disoriented, but operators depend upon them to give a street name, or else the computer won't let the call proceed. The ramifications of such outmoded technology are obvious: during the Victorian bushfires in February, people called on their mobiles from cars on smoky roads, driving blind, and the operators heard them dying, and couldn't do anything because they didn't know where the calls were coming from.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority's Wayne Debemarkdi said of the mobile phone tracking technology: "We don't have it, and it's a problem. You can use your mobile anywhere, and people do tend to use a mobile when there is a serious emergency, but the operator doesn't know where they are.
MARY Anne Iredale spoke to her son David on the morning before he died during a bushwalk in the Blue Mountains. The Sydney Grammar student had called her from his mobile to say he had no water.
In a statement tendered to the Coroner, Mrs Iredale said she asked her son: `Are you OK?' He replied, `yes, we're fine'."
David said he was heading for a river to get water for himself and his friends.
"He said, `Have you got any of the mango ice-cream that you made?"' Mrs Iredale's statement says. "I said, `Yes, I'll leave you some'. He said, `I could do with some right now'."
They didn't speak again. David, 17, was soon lost, dehydrated and becoming confused in the pounding December heat.
He did exactly as he had long ago been taught to do. He called 000 from his mobile, in the hope -- and, probably, in the belief -- that somebody would help him. They didn't. In fact, as the Coroner's Court has heard this week, David got a mouthful of sarcasm. "You just wandered off into the middle of nowhere did you?" one operator said, when the disoriented boy tried to explain that he didn't know exactly where he was.
As he was staggering about in the heat and the dust, trying hard to make the perilousness of his situation understood, to get his voice heard over a line that kept breaking up, another said: "There's no need to yell."
On that day, December 11, 2006, David died, having been unable to convince operators that he was in desperate need of help.
It was as shocking a case as Australia has seen of the futility of calling 000, if you don't know where you are. If you call from a mobile, they don't know where you are, not if you can't tell them.
Serious questions about David's bushwalk are being raised at the inquest into his death: was the bushwalk sanctioned by Sydney Grammar and, if so, was it properly supervised, as part of the Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Did they discuss the trek with the program's co-ordinator at Sydney Grammar, Jim Forbes?
One of David's two companions, Phillip Chan, told the inquest yesterday he had asked a teacher to recommend equipment for the trip. He also said David had arranged with the teacher to borrow a GPS device "just in case we got lost".
But the biggest question, really, is: why, in 21st century Australia, where 90 per cent of adults have a mobile telephone, and 60 per cent of calls made to 000 come from mobile telephones, was it not possible for operators to pinpoint David's location? Such tracking technology has been available since 1995. Australia doesn't use it. A person who calls 000 from a mobile phone might be at the scene of an accident, lost at sea, or disoriented, but operators depend upon them to give a street name, or else the computer won't let the call proceed. The ramifications of such outmoded technology are obvious: during the Victorian bushfires in February, people called on their mobiles from cars on smoky roads, driving blind, and the operators heard them dying, and couldn't do anything because they didn't know where the calls were coming from.
Something similar happened in NSW five years ago, when a 19-year-old called 000 to report the Waterfall train disaster and was dismissed as a hoax caller.
Last April, a man had to cling to a bucket in rough seas near Forster, on the NSW north coast because he couldn't get the 000 operator to understand that he was offshore, and therefore, he couldn't give her a street address.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority's Wayne Debemarkdi said of the mobile phone tracking technology: "We don't have it, and it's a problem. You can use your mobile anywhere, and people do tend to use a mobile when there is a serious emergency, but the operator doesn't know where they are.
"With the old system, the landlines, we could see straight away."
NSW ambulance spokesman John Wilson said: "Sometimes they can tell us roughly which area the mobile telephone tower is in, and that could be miles away from where the person is. The technology is there, but we don't have access to it.
"The federal Government would have to bring in legislation, to say, yes, we need this, because it would make it a lot easier for everyone if we had it."
ACMA said there were "various technologies" that would allow 000 to identify a location but there were "advantages and disadvantages to each of these". There were problems with "performance, reliability, costs, accuracy and complexity".
The other question that needs to be answered is why the operators didn't move heaven and earth to save the boy, even if they couldn't be entirely sure exactly where he was. In part, it may be because of a culture that has been allowed to develop among operators, where many calls are a hoax, a hang-up, or a prank. Data from Telstra shows that 11 million calls -- or more than 30,000 a day -- are made to 000 every year. Of these, fewer than half actually need police, ambulance or the fire brigade. Sometimes, it's people wanting to know how to turn off the oven. The calls peak during school holidays, when kids think it's hilarious to ring up and make mischief.
The last words of David Iredale to triple-0 operators
David: "I'm stuck. I can't walk far at all. I don't have a map."
Operator: "Where's the nearest street?"
David: "I'm in the bush, I am lost, I don't know."
Operator: "Well I have to know the street so I know where to send the ambulance."
David: "I'm about to faint."
Finally
David: "I'm on a rock ... can you send a helicopter?"
Credit: Caroline Overington, John Stapleton

Monday 14 April 2008

Auction sales dive as interest rate fears deter home buyers, The Australian, 14 April, 2008.

Auction sales dive as interest rate fears deter home buyers

Stapleton, JohnThe Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 14 Apr 2008: 3.
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"Any time you divert taxpayer funds to encourage people to buy, it is counter-productive to improving affordability," he said. "Essentially what was intended to improve affordability did the exact opposite. And now we're all paying the price."
"A lot of first-home buyers were encouraged into the market and took out loans whose repayment schedules were far larger than they could reasonably pay," he said. "Rising mortgage rates are bound to force many to sell. Buyer confidence is low, and there's much more stock on the market. Real estate agents find themselves with all this stock, but nowhere near the buyer inquiry they need to sell them."

Friday 11 April 2008

Mail pilot missing in crash off airport, The Australian, 11 April, 2008.

Mail pilot missing in crash off airport

Stapleton, JohnThe Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 11 Apr 2008: 8.
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"They got no reply," he said. "Shortly after that he disappeared off the radar screens."
"I would sincerely like to pay tribute to one of the nicest guys I've met," he said. "I had complete faith in his abilities as a pilot. He was well respected."

Thursday 10 April 2008

Working from Home, IBM, The Australian, 10 April, 2008.

10 APRIL 2008:
John Stapleton
TECHNOLOGY experts IBM have become the first major company in Australia to encourage their employees to work from home at least one day a week.
The move has been applauded by academic experts and welcomed by staff.
This week Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick called for workplace flexibility to underpin all work arrangements. Her call came in the wake of the release of a study by Beaton Consultancy of 12,000 officer workers, the largest study ever conducted in Australia on the work-life balance.
The report found only half of Australia's knowledge workers were unhappy with their jobs, many were facing serious difficulties reconciling work and family commitments and less flexible work arrangements were directly linked to high levels of absenteeism.
IBM's Chief Executive Glen Boreham, who himself works from home one day a week, said almost everyone in the company now took advantage of the program. He said over the next decade the traditional workplace would disappear. With an ageing workforce and unemployment at a 33 year low workplace practices needed to change radically in order to keep and recruit gifted employees.
He said parents were working compressed weeks or job sharing, while older employees often wanted to stay but did not want to work five-day weeks.
``We are finding at IBM our most talented people aren't necessarily asking for pay rises, they're asking for time and flexibility,'' said Mr Boreham. ``Our managers negotiate with employees to come up with hours that suit both the company and the employee.''
Author of No Workplace Like Home, Dr Jane Shelton, applauded IBM's move. She said 2.6 million Australians now worked from home part or full time and employers were finding technology meant there was no reason to chain their staff to a single office desk.
``More and more employers are moving towards flexibility for retention of staff,'' she said.
Dr Shelton said there was a certain level of trust and commitment required between the employer and employee to make working from home at least part of the time successful. While some employees missed the social aspects of work, including gossiping aroudn the water cooler, others appreciated the flexibility.
``It is almost like a reward in the value of the relationship between employer and employee,'' she said. ``If they are looking after family, young kids or older parents, which is quite common. then these arrangements really suit them. And it helps in terms of the skill shortage. Major employers are finding it difficult to recruit and retain people. If working arrangements are flexible for the employee in terms of being able to care for family that really helps keep people in their business.''
Director of corporate consultancy firm Parent Wellbeing also applauded IBM's move. Director Jodie Benveniste said workplace flexibility did not just benefit women, but there was a problem with workplace culture where bosses had to see their employees working. ``But if you focus more on outcomes, then you enable people to get the work done,'' she said. ``From my experience there are a lot of fathers who want to spend more time with their kids but don't get the opportunity. Unless men start putting their hand up at work and demand more flexible ways of working it is going to take longer for workplaces to change.
Ms Benveniste said this week's Beaton report showed people have too much to do and too little time. ``Because of that workers are feeling less committed, less satisfied with their job, they are more likely to want to quit and more likely to be off on sick leave.''
Professor Barbara Pocock, director of the Centre for Work and Life at the University of South Australia, also welcomed the moves by IBM. ``It's very good to see companies giving employees real capacity to engotiate what suits them,'' she said. ``IBM are amongst the global leaders on working from home. they have found it assocaited with much better work life outcomes. Because a lot of their bosses and managers work from home they have worked out it is good for productivity and have embraced it fully. It has a good effect both on the bottom line and on the well being of the staff and their families.''
Head of recruiting at IBM Helen Thompson, who works from home at least one day a week, was keen to emphasise that not just parents welcomed flexibility. Older workers particularly appreciated flexibility, as did the younger generation Y. She said the company's programs helped in both recruitment and retention. ``I am not a mother and I utilise it just as well as everybody else,'' she said. ``It is just as strong a reason for me to say with IBM. Work-life programs are much more than just mothers or parents returning to work, so many people have diverse requirements.''