Thursday, 30 April 2009

A minute's silence for Pratt bit production must go on, The Australian, 30 April, 2009. Additional Reporting. Page One.

A minute's silence for Pratt but production must go on

Stewart, Cameron. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 30 Apr 2009: 1.
The billionaire's son then drove to the company's city headquarters and sat in his dad's chair.
Today at 11am, [Visy]'s 5600 employees around the country will observe a minute's silence to mark the passing of their founder, although their machines will stay on because, as Mr Pratt would have said, the business must go on.
"I think it's an appropriate thing to do for someone whose public profile, whose contribution, has been as significant as [Richard Pratt]'s," he said.

Full Text

AT dawn yesterday, barely 12 hours after his father's death, Anthony Pratt drove to Visy's packaging plants in Melbourne and prowled the factory floors alone. It was the same daily routine his father had followed for 40 years.
The billionaire's son then drove to the company's city headquarters and sat in his dad's chair.
The message was clear: Richard Pratt was dead, but the new generation of Pratts were now walking in his shoes, ready to safeguard his legacy and his $5billion paper and packaging empire.
Today at 11am, Visy's 5600 employees around the country will observe a minute's silence to mark the passing of their founder, although their machines will stay on because, as Mr Pratt would have said, the business must go on.
"In keeping with what Richard would most surely want, please ensure production continues unabated during this time -- we could do him no greater honour than to achieve record production tomorrow," Visy employees were told.
At the same time across town, more than 700 people are expected to attend the Kew Synagogue to farewell the businessman and philanthropist who died on Tuesday night.
The traditional Jewish service will be modest compared with the colourful life of the 74-year-old. Mr Pratt will have a simple casket and there will not be any flowers.
The funeral is expected to be attended by leading figures in business, politics, the arts, environment, sport and charity and by many Visy employees.
Kevin Rudd and former NSW premier Bob Carr are expected to attend, as are most of the Carlton football team. Long-time family friend Sam Lipski will deliver the eulogy and two of Mr Pratt's four children, Anthony and Heloise, will also speak.
Plans for the service were made quietly by the family after Mr Pratt was told two weeks ago that his prostate cancer had spread and his death was imminent.
Victorian Premier John Brumby has offered the family a public memorial service in several weeks to recognise Mr Pratt's contribution to the community.
"I think it's an appropriate thing to do for someone whose public profile, whose contribution, has been as significant as Richard Pratt's," he said.
The family was last night considering the Premier's offer.
Mr Pratt died at his Raheen mansion, surrounded by his family, only a day after criminal charges against him for giving false and misleading evidence to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission were withdrawn.
His widow, Jeanne, was believed to have spent yesterday at Raheen with her family, taking condolence calls and making preparations for the funeral of her husband of 47 years.
It was unclear last night whether Mr Pratt's 11-year-old daughter, Paula, whom he fathered with former mistress Shari-lea Hitchcock, would attend the funeral. Paula was with her mother in Sydney yesterday, and Ms Hitchcock declined to make any comment.
The Australian yesterday revealed that Mr Pratt had been re-nominated for an Order of Australia only hours before he died by family friend and lawyer Mark Leibler. Mr Pratt handed back his AO back early last year, fearing he would be stripped of it because of his involvement in a price-fixing scandal with rival Amcor.
No one has been awarded an AO after handing one back, but Mr Pratt's supporters yesterday backed the bid as a way to further restore his reputation.
"Richard Pratt deserves to be recognised for what he's achieved," Mr Lipski said.
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>> More reports -- Page 6
Credit: Cameron Stewart, Additional reporting: John Stapleton
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Monday, 27 April 2009

Young buyers wary as panic sets in, The Australian, 27 April, 2009.

Young buyers wary as panic sets in

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 27 Apr 2009: 1.
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"A lot of young people are panic buying, that is what we have found, particularly in the last couple of months," said Mr Brown, 26, an environmental consultant. "We feel a lot of pressure to buy now or lose out on the $21,000."
SQM research managing director Louis Christopher said there was a panicked rush of first-home buyers due to speculation the boost was unlikely to be extended. He said couples such as [Jessica Tompkins] and Lee should wait. "Now is not the time for first-home buyers to rush in. If they wait, demand will dry up and prices will fall," he said. "The first-home buyers grant doesn't help housing affordability at all."
Property analyst Michael Matusik said there were no more first-home buyers in the market than a decade ago and the boost had simply exaggerated prices. "It should be called the vendor's grant," he said. "In the outer suburbs of major capital cities the prices went up between $7000 and $14,000 in a 24-hour period immediately after the announcement. There's anecdotal evidence that it has boosted housing construction, but over the longer term all it has done is bring forward construction."
FIRST-HOME buyers Lee Brown and Jessica Tompkins are desperately saving for their first home. So, at first glance, it seems odd that they are hoping Kevin Rudd does not extend the boost to the first-home owners grant in the coming budget.
But the Sydney couple say that rather than give young investors a much-needed leg-up in the property market, the grants -- which are worth up to $21,000 for those wanting to build a new home -- have driven up prices and created panic among those trying to beat the June 30 cut-off.
Prompted, perhaps, by speculation last week that the boost will not be extended beyond June 30, there was a marked increase in the numbers of people at auctions and home inspections in all capital cities over the weekend, despite the Anzac Day holiday.
Auction clearance rates were significantly higher than last weekend in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.
But while there appears to be a last-minute rush among home buyers, the recently engaged Mr Brown and Ms Tompkins are determined not to get in over their heads.
Since they began house hunting last October -- when Mr Rudd announced the doubling of the $7000 first-home owners grant for established homes, and a tripling for new homes -- the asking price of the house and land package they are interested in has risen by $44,000.
Now they hope prices will fall back to more reasonable levels once the boost ends, as property analysts predict.
"A lot of young people are panic buying, that is what we have found, particularly in the last couple of months," said Mr Brown, 26, an environmental consultant. "We feel a lot of pressure to buy now or lose out on the $21,000."
Ms Tompkins, who works in marketing, said the couple had expected prices to fall as the global financial crisis took its toll.
"We would be better off if they cut the grant because there won't be so many people out there trying to snap up houses," she said.
In Port Melbourne, Ana Laskova, 24, and Dean Pavlickovski, 31, attended an auction for a two-bedroom apartment yesterday, only to watch the property sell for a significantly higher price than they were prepared to pay.
Continued -- Page 4
From Page 1
"We would like to buy given the extra stimulus, but the grant is not going to make the difference in our decision," Mr Pavlickovski said.
The home buyers have joined a queue of experts condemning the scheme as counterproductive and a waste of public funds.
SQM research managing director Louis Christopher said there was a panicked rush of first-home buyers due to speculation the boost was unlikely to be extended. He said couples such as Jessica and Lee should wait. "Now is not the time for first-home buyers to rush in. If they wait, demand will dry up and prices will fall," he said. "The first-home buyers grant doesn't help housing affordability at all."
Critics argue the grant has artificially raised prices for homes under $500,000, pitted investors against first-home buyers and disrupted the rental market. "Thefirst-home buyers grant has been counterproductive, it is yet another public policy gone wrong," said Kevin Lee, head of Smartline Mortgages.
Property analyst Michael Matusik said there were no more first-home buyers in the market than a decade ago and the boost had simply exaggerated prices. "It should be called the vendor's grant," he said. "In the outer suburbs of major capital cities the prices went up between $7000 and $14,000 in a 24-hour period immediately after the announcement. There's anecdotal evidence that it has boosted housing construction, but over the longer term all it has done is bring forward construction."
However, Housing Industry Association senior economist Harley Dale said the tripling of the grant for new dwellings had been highly effective in boosting theproperty market.
"It has done a lot to stimulate the property market and has been especially successful in driving first home buyers to build their own homes," he said.
"In the case of first home buyers who are building new homes it isn't just a situation where demand has been brought forward, demand has actually increased."
Open houses across the country have been inundated with potential first-home buyers eager to jump into the market before the boost is shut down or decreased.
In Melbourne, real estate agents were surprised by the strong turnout over the weekend, as a higher than anticipated numbers of house-hunters braved heavy downpours and blistering winds to attend inspections.
Melbourne real estate agent Craig Stephens said the Prime Minister's hints that the grant would expire had prompted a "massive spike" in numbers attending open-house inspections over the weekend.
Credit: John Stapleton, Sanna Trad
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Friday, 24 April 2009

000 workers 'need medical training', The Australian, 24 April, 2009.




000 workers `need medical training'

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 24 Apr 2009: 3.
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David Iredale's family, including his mother, Mary Anne, excused themselves from the courtroom as a doctor gave horrific details of the 17-year-old's final minutes of life in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
Paul Luckin, one of Australia's leading experts in search and rescue and survivability in extreme conditions, told the inquest if the emergency operators had had medical training, they would have recognised the symptoms of severe dehydration David displayed. He said the lack of medical training among call takers was a regrettable fact, "driven I'm sure by the cost".
Dr Luckin said he estimated David had a deficit of 7.5 litres of water when he died. He said that as David's blood pressure dropped to critical levels, oxygen to thebrain had dropped and he had a cardiac arrest.

SEVERELY dehydrated and dying, a boy lost in the bush could have survived had emergency call operators been medically trained and sprung into action immediately, an inquest has been told.
David Iredale's family, including his mother, Mary Anne, excused themselves from the courtroom as a doctor gave horrific details of the 17-year-old's final minutes of life in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
Paul Luckin, one of Australia's leading experts in search and rescue and survivability in extreme conditions, told the inquest if the emergency operators had had medical training, they would have recognised the symptoms of severe dehydration David displayed. He said the lack of medical training among call takers was a regrettable fact, "driven I'm sure by the cost".
David could have been advised to lie with his head downwards to maintain blood flow to the brain as his body shut down, and could have been told to display brightly coloured clothing or equipment visible from a helicopter.
Dr Luckin said search and rescue teams should have sprung into action immediately after he made his first call to operator Laura Meade at 11.57am on December 11, 2006, if there was to have been any chance of him surviving.
He had provided precise details of how he had been on the Mount Solitary walking track and was heading towards the Kedumba River, but much of this detail was not recorded or passed on to police.
Dr Luckin said David would have lapsed into unconsciousness minutes after his final call to the triple-0 ambulance service and would have been dead within thehour at the outside.
During that final call, Stacey Dickens, the last person to speak to David alive, put him on hold twice. She admitted to the inquiry she did not have her mind on the job when taking the call, was abrupt and uncompassionate and, until the inquiry, had no memory of taking his calls.
Dr Luckin said he estimated David had a deficit of 7.5 litres of water when he died. He said that as David's blood pressure dropped to critical levels, oxygen to thebrain had dropped and he had a cardiac arrest.
Dr Luckin also said that if the three teenage boys on the bushwalk, friends from Sydney Grammar School, had stayed at their overnight campsite and told someone they had run out of water, David would have survived until rescued.
The senior ambulance supervisor on the day David called triple-0, Trevor Hinton, who also gave evidence yesterday, became emotional and apologised for not taking notes, properly logging the job or passing on detailed information to police.
The three women who took David's five desperate calls made similar apologies on Wednesday. The inquest resumes on Monday.
Credit: John Stapleton
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Thursday, 23 April 2009

Operators' minds blank on lost calls, The Australian, 23 April, 2009.


 

Operators' minds blank on lost calls

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 23 Apr 2009: 3.
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Ms [Stacey Dickens] asked him for his address several times, despite his insistence that he was "lost in the bush".
The only one to remember taking a call from [David Iredale], and the only one to become tearful in the witness box yesterday, was Renee Waters. She said she did not log the call herself or alert a supervisor because she assumed the call had already been logged. "I am sorry for any part I played in the situation," she said.
The first operator to be cross-examined, Laura Meade, took two calls from David. She denied her comments to him about "wandering off into the middle of nowhere" were meant to be sarcastic.

TWO of the three emergency call operators who took calls from a desperate and dying teenage boy lost in the NSW Blue Mountains had no memory of taking his calls.
Nor did they contact their supervisor over the difficulties they were having.
The three operators, all of whom still work for the NSW Ambulance Service, yesterday told an inquest into the death of David Iredale, 17, that they regretted their conduct.
The three women said the case was not discussed at their place of work, despite them having taken his last calls and despite the story being major news in December 2006 when the incident occurred.
It took several days for vital information David provided to the operators about his whereabouts to be passed on to police.
Stacey Dickens, who has been with the NSW Ambulance Service since 1980, was the last person to speak to the Sydney Grammar schoolboy.
She admitted the transcripts showed she did not appear to have her "mind on the job".
She said in her statement, prepared earlier this month: "I do not have an independent recollection of the calls I received."
Ms Dickens, who took two calls from David, placed him on hold twice during the last call.
"I am sorry that this has happened, and I hope that it doesn't happen again," she said.
"I'm really sorry for the actions that I took."
David repeatedly told all three operators on December 11, 2006, that he was on the well-known Mt Solitary walking track heading towards the Kedumba River.
He had become separated from his two schoolfriends.
Ms Dickens asked him for his address several times, despite his insistence that he was "lost in the bush".
Just before the call dropped out, she repeated: "I need to know exactly where you are."
Ms Dickens said she did not recall making any notes after taking the calls.
The other two operators had only been with the ambulance service as emergency call operators for a matter of months at the time of David's calls.
The only one to remember taking a call from David, and the only one to become tearful in the witness box yesterday, was Renee Waters. She said she did not log the call herself or alert a supervisor because she assumed the call had already been logged. "I am sorry for any part I played in the situation," she said.
The first operator to be cross-examined, Laura Meade, took two calls from David. She denied her comments to him about "wandering off into the middle of nowhere" were meant to be sarcastic.
Credit: John Stapleton
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Tuesday, 21 April 2009

Family Heartbreak System Down, Dads On The Air, 21 April, 2009.

Family Heartbreak System Down

DateTUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009 AT 10:30AM
A Family's Heartbreak
With special guests:
  • Michael Jeffries
  • Angelo Lobo and
  • Chris Amos.
Before getting down to the serious business, this week Dads on the Air starts off with an interview with Chris Amos, the figure behind taking DOTA into the 21st century by setting up a special Facebook group. For those older parents unfamiliar with the technology of social networking sites, so popular amongst many of our listeners’ teenage children, he explains how it all works and how to get involved.
This week we are honoured to have two American activists on our show. First up we have Michael Jeffries, author of the new book A Family’s Heartbreak: a Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation. The book arose from the author’s personal experience and details all the tricks and sick behaviour that separating parents use against each other, poisoning the minds of their children against the other parent. That such behaviour is enormously damaging to the children involved and ultimately destructive to both the perpetrator and the targeted parent should be obvious to anyone. Yet there are no public messages out there discouraging parents from this sick and abusive behaviour. While women most often attempt to poison their kids minds against their fathers during custody disputes, men can be equally guilty.
We close the show talking with Angelo Lobo, Director and Producer of a new documentary on the shocking US Family Law and Child Support System called SUPPORT? System Down. The documentary is nearing completion after four years of work. SUPPORT? System Down explores the fundamental flaws in America’s Family Courts regarding the Divorce and Child Support System. The film explores the problems through over 38 interviews with both custodial and non-custodial parents and the attorneys, judges and county employees on both sides of the paradigm. SUPPORT? System Down was made to be educational and provocative in order to spark a call to action to bring about much-needed reform in the family courts. Children should not have to suffer due to an ineffectual and corrupt legal system!
Click Here (MP3)
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Monday, 20 April 2009

Veils 'limit vitamin D', The Australian, 20 April, 2009.

Veils `limit vitamin D'

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 20 Apr 2009: 5.
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Researchers found that 147 out of 149 adult and child North African refugees living in southwestern Sydney who took part in a health-screening program were vitamin D deficient.
AFRICAN refugees and Muslim Australians who wear veils should be screened every year for vitamin D deficiency, according to a study to be published in TheMedical Journal of Australia today.
Researchers found that 147 out of 149 adult and child North African refugees living in southwestern Sydney who took part in a health-screening program were vitamin D deficient. Study co-author Craig Munns, a specialist at Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney, has urged people in at risk groups to take daily vitamin D supplements.
He said the darker people's skin, the more sunlight they required to synthesise the amount of vitamin D they required.
Credit: John Stapleton
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