Thursday, 19 July 2007

Labor paints a brighter childcare picture, The Australian, 19 July, 2007.

Labor paints a brighter childcare picture: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 19 July 2007: 4.
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"Over the last year, 11 per cent less people are now engaged in household savings. In other words, people are having to dip into their savings or go into debt in order to make their ends meet."
He said not only were one in four families now experiencing mortgage stress, defined as spending more than a third of their income on housing, but this was being compounded by a 50 per cent increase in the price of petrol over the past five years. "That is driving many family budgets into a state of stress," he said.
"When you look at the number of working families now using childcare, because one parent or the other needs to join the other parent in the workplace in order to pay off the mortgage and meet all the other bills when it comes to the household, there is a real challenge."
IT'S a name Kevin Rudd just can't escape.
Even among a bunch of children, his rival's name just keeps popping up on his radar.
The Opposition Leader visited the Rainbow Street childcare centre in Randwick in Sydney yesterday and mixed with the kids, writing out their names on a card.
Top of the list was "Johnny", followed by a nice smiley face.
After meeting the children Mr Rudd announced that a federal Labor government would fund the construction of 260 childcare centres across Australia and pay the TAFE fees of people studying childcare.
He said the measures would help families struggling with the cost of living, by increasing competition between childcare centres to drive down fees.
The new centres would be built, where possible, next to schools to make it easier for parents to drop off their children, he said.
During his visit, Mr Rudd was armed with research that the ALP claims shows a rising cost of living is putting pressure on Australian families.
He said statistics released this week by the Melbourne Institute made sobering reading, showing many Australian families drowning in debt and living on credit.
"The data is pretty graphic when you look at it," he said.
"Over the last year, 11 per cent less people are now engaged in household savings. In other words, people are having to dip into their savings or go into debt in order to make their ends meet."
He said not only were one in four families now experiencing mortgage stress, defined as spending more than a third of their income on housing, but this was being compounded by a 50 per cent increase in the price of petrol over the past five years. "That is driving many family budgets into a state of stress," he said.
"Add to that the rising price of groceries and you have real problems when it comes to balancing the family budget."
Mr Rudd said one of the greatest costs for families with young children was childcare, which was increasing by 12 per cent a year.
He said many working families were spending $250 a week per child for community centres, and $400 a week or more per child in private centres.
He called for a national debate on how to reduce the cost.
"My challenge to Mr Howard is this: when it comes to cost-of- living pressures for working families, is he really saying there is not a struggle?
"When you look at the number of working families now using childcare, because one parent or the other needs to join the other parent in the workplace in order to pay off the mortgage and meet all the other bills when it comes to the household, there is a real challenge."
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Tuesday, 17 July 2007

No bail for $6m tank man, The Australian, 17 July, 2007.

No bail for $6m tank man: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 17 July 2007: 3.
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Police allege he used the privately owned Trojan armoured personnel carrier to destroy seven mobile phone towers and fences in Sydney's western suburbs.
THE accused tank enthusiast who took an armoured personnel carrier on a rampage through the streets of Sydney caused at least $6million worth of damage.
John Robert Patterson, 35, of the western Sydney suburb of Dharruk, was refused bail for a second time yesterday at Penrith Local Court.
Police allege he used the privately owned Trojan armoured personnel carrier to destroy seven mobile phone towers and fences in Sydney's western suburbs.
An insurance industry source said the estimated cost of the damage was at least $6million.
Police said Mr Patterson stole the $1 million ex-British army vehicle from a former employer.
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Multiple inquiries into rail deaths, The Australian, 17 July, 2007.





Multiple inquiries into rail deaths: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 17 July 2007: 6.
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Investigations by several government bodies were launched, including by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which manages the lines, and Comcare, the federal safety watchdog. NSW Police are also investigating.
Transport Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile extended the federal Government's condolences to the men's families.

AT least four separate inquiries have been launched into the deaths of two railway workers, who were struck and killed by a coal train in the NSW Hunter Valley yesterday.
The men were wearing brightly coloured safety vests at the time of the accident and there has been no official explanation for thedeaths.
The two men, whose names have not been released, were walking along rail tracks when they were struck by a northbound train shortly before 6am. They died at the scene.
An ambulance spokesman said that although they arrived at the scene shortly after the accident, the men were already dead.
Investigations by several government bodies were launched, including by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which manages the lines, and Comcare, the federal safety watchdog. NSW Police are also investigating.
Transport Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile extended the federal Government's condolences to the men's families.
A police spokeswoman said the men were wearing brightly coloured work vests at the time they were killed. A crime scene was established around the site and the railway lines were sealed off.
The lines are expected to remain closed for at least 12 hours as investigators gather evidence.
The signal technicians, whose ages are unknown, worked for the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which owns the interstate rail network.
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Monday, 16 July 2007

Mortgage stress swings the vote, The Australian, 16 July, 2007. Page One. Picture Amos Aikman.




Mortgage stress swings the vote: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T]16 July 2007: 1.

Abstract

"This is a swinging electorate, I am a swinging voter and I am swinging against [John Howard]," Mr [Matthew Pepar] told The Australian.
"My friends aren't buying houses; they're continuing to rent, because they can't afford it."
"We could sell and lose money -- we've sunk stamp duty, our deposit, our hard-earned payments, and we're not building any future," Ms Pepar said. "Any renovations could be a waste of money and effort, given the whole suburb is going down."

Full Text


THE Pepar family, with two kids, two dogs and a charming little house in the heart of the Parramatta electorate, are exactly the sort of aspirational voters John Howard needs to keep onside if he is to win the next election.
Anna and Matthew Pepar, both 30, are professional people on above- average incomes and would generally be considered natural Howard voters.
But the couple -- parents to Millie, 2, and Elijah, 3 -- are under financial stress. Although they earn a combined income of more than $110,000 a year, they are struggling to pay their mortgage charges of $800 a fortnight and childcare costs of $650 a week.
Both said they believed housing affordability was a significant election issue that was running strongly against Mr Howard.
"This is a swinging electorate, I am a swinging voter and I am swinging against Howard," Mr Pepar told The Australian.
"I'm worried about being able to do the things our parents did. They spent a lot of time with us as children when we were growing up, but we can't afford to do that with our own children.
"We worry about being able to afford good schools and provide a good education for our kids. We worry about never being able to afford to retire.
Continued -- Page 6
From Page 1
"My friends aren't buying houses; they're continuing to rent, because they can't afford it."
The Pepars were renting on Sydney's affluent north shore when in 2004, with a baby on the way, they decided to bite the bullet and buy a house.
They settled in the Parramatta electorate because prices were lower and they did not have a large deposit. They paid $419,000 for their freestanding timber house with an average-sized garden. Three years later, its value has not increased.
"We could sell and lose money -- we've sunk stamp duty, our deposit, our hard-earned payments, and we're not building any future," Ms Pepar said. "Any renovations could be a waste of money and effort, given the whole suburb is going down."
Ms Pepar, a human resources manager, said she had been forced to return to work because of high mortgage costs, although she was concerned about leaving the children while they were so young.
"All our generation are going through it -- a lot of our friends have kids under three, and it's a big question whether the women can afford to stay at home with their kids."
Federal MP for Parramatta Julie Owens said housing affordability was a huge issue in the electorate. "People end up in my office talking about losing their houses -- it's very distressing."

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House Worries Swing the Vote, The Australian, 16 July, 2007. Page 1.

John Stapleton
THE Pepar family, with two kids, two dogs and a charming little house in the heart of the Parramatta electorate, are exactly the sort of aspirational voters John Howard needs to keep onside if he is to win thenext election.
Anna and Matthew Pepar, both 30, are professional people on above- average incomes and would generally be considered natural Howard voters.
But the couple -- parents to Millie, 2, and Elijah, 3 -- are under financial stress. Although they earn a combined income of more than $110,000 a year, they are struggling to pay their mortgage charges of $800 a fortnight and childcare costs of $650 a week.
Both said they believed housing affordability was a significant election issue that was running strongly against Mr Howard.
"This is a swinging electorate, I am a swinging voter and I am swinging against Howard," Mr Pepar told TheAustralian.
"I'm worried about being able to do the things our parents did. They spent a lot of time with us as children when we were growing up, but we can't afford to do that with our own children.
"We worry about being able to afford good schools and provide a good education for our kids. We worry about never being able to afford to retire.
Continued -- Page 6
From Page 1
"My friends aren't buying houses; they're continuing to rent, because they can't afford it."
The Pepars were renting on Sydney's affluent north shore when in 2004, with a baby on the way, they decided to bite the bullet and buy a house.
They settled in the Parramatta electorate because prices were lower and they did not have a large deposit. They paid $419,000 for their freestanding timber house with an average-sized garden. Three years later, its value has not increased.
"We could sell and lose money -- we've sunk stamp duty, our deposit, our hard-earned payments, and we're not building any future," Ms Pepar said. "Any renovations could be a waste of money and effort, given the whole suburb is going down."
Ms Pepar, a human resources manager, said she had been forced to return to work because of high mortgage costs, although she was concerned about leaving the children while they were so young.
"All our generation are going through it -- a lot of our friends have kids under three, and it's a big question whether the women can afford to stay at home with their kids."
Federal MP for Parramatta Julie Owens said housing affordability was a huge issue in the electorate. "People end up in my office talking about losing their houses -- it's very distressing."
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Tuesday, 3 July 2007

UK Special - Fathers Direct, Dads On The Air, 3 July, 2007.

UK Special - Fathers Direct

DateTUESDAY, JULY 3, 2007 AT 10:30AM
Adrienne Burgess
With special guest:
  • Adrienne Burgess, author of Fatherhood Reclaimed, and Policy and Research advisor to Fathers Direct - the UK National Information Centre on Fatherhood.
This week Dads on the Air interviews Adrienne Burgess from the UK. In 1992, Random House commissioned Adrienne to write Fatherhood Reclaimed: the making of the modern father. Her groundbreaking policy document Men and their Children: proposals for public policy was published by IPPR in 1996. Fatherhood Reclaimed appeared a year later to great acclaim, and is now a mass-market paperback in the UK, Australia and South Africa and, in translation, all over Europe.

Her influential A Complete Parent: towards a new vision for child support was published by IPPR in 1998, and during 1999 she supervised an IPPR project ‘mapping’ fathers groups in the UK, which was published in 2001 under the title Fathers Figure. She was the consultant on Carlton TV’s First Edition: Fathers which was nominated for a BAFTA in 1998.

Adrienne is currently Policy Advisor to Fathers Direct, the UK information centre for fathers set up with initial funding from the Department of Health and the Home Office. She also contributes to family policy in the Lord Chancellor’s Department, the Cabinet Office and Number 10 Downing Street, and has given presentations and workshops on fatherhood in the US, Australia, Europe, the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Adrienne is a strong supporter of fatherhood. Some quotes from her writing give an idea of some of the positions she takes: “In most countries we’ve still got a long way to go working on our institutional practices. For example, in the UK there’s a 6-month paid ‘mummy leave’ none of which a woman can transfer to her partner: he just gets two weeks, paid at a very low level, round the time of the birth. This paradigm confirms fathers as breadwinners and mothers as carers in an almost unbelievably total way.”

“What’s powerful for men is not just telling them that they matter, but being quite specific about the ways in which they matter. Providing them with evidence That’s a very powerful thing for fathers to hear, given that a lot of the discourse around fathers is that they don’t have much of an impact on their children whether they’re present or not - that as long as mum is there, everything’s OK”

“There is incontrovertible evidence that men are just as innately sensitive to babies and young children are mothers are, that they learn childcare skills at the same rate given the same degree or practice. And even that there are no innate sex-differences in multi-tasking, and so on. Where motivation is concerned, it’s really important for men - and for women too - to hear that there are no physiological reasons why fathers shouldn’t be really good carers.”

“If the way institutions are run means they don’t hold appointments or classes at times working fathers can attend… if they don’t take the father’s perspective or needs into account in their curriculum… If they don’t record his name on the hospital records… If they don’t refer to him as the ‘father’ but instead tell him he’s the ‘birth partner’… If they only want to show the mother how to bathe the baby… all this acts as a disincentive to father involvement.”

“Every time a writer or an artist or TV commercial pokes fun at a father who makes mistakes when he looks after his children, or praises involved fathers in a patronising way, or hints that ‘real men’ don’t do that kind of thing. The effect of all this is to tell men very clearly that childcare is not their business.”

“Anthropologist Margaret Mead developed a theory as to why so many cultures set out to prove to men that childcare was not to be their business. Mead noted that no developing society ever allows fathers in to touch and handle their newborns. No developing society: Mead believed the fear was not that men wouldn’t like looking after their babies. The fear was, rather, that they might like it too much - that if they became as close to their children as women routinely were, they would not be willing to go out and do their duty. Kill and be killed, conquer new lands, work long hours away from home. Mead is clear that economic development has been built on maintaining distance between men and their children. What she was pointing out was, that we don’t start from a kind of neutral position where men and childcare are concerned. Those of us who live in developing, go-getting cultures, start with centuries of active hostility to the idea of men taking care of children.”

“We’re talking about fathers being empowered to have their own opinions, make their own demands, develop their own relationships with their children - relationships not primarily mediated through us, their children’s mothers. And it will mean talking publicly about how much fathers matter… And also it means we have to stop talking about a mother’s right to choose whether or not she works when her children are young. If men are to be equal partners in parenting, it has to be the couple, not the mother, who make the choices. Two people, not one. Two informed and competent people.”

You can find out more about Adrienne Burgess here and at her website adrienneburgess.com.
Listen Now (MP3)
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Saturday, 30 June 2007

Help, not jail, credited for drug victories, Weekend Australian, 30 June, 2007.

Help, not jail, credited for drug victories: [5 Travel Edition]

Stapleton, John. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 30 June 2007: 25.
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"If you are standing in the dock, what you want is options," he says. "Addiction is a sickness of the mind. I am pleading for greater recognition that addiction is an illness."
He says Australia's success in tackling its high levels of drug use now need to be consolidated. "One of the lessons I hope can be learnt from Australia's experience is that other countries don't have to get into such a severe situation before they act," he says.
"You lose the ability to even wash yourself, to do all the normal things," he says. "There are people dying because they can't get into rehabilitation, there are waiting lists or they just don't know there are ways out. There needs to be more effort to get people into recovery."
THE dramatic drop in illegal drug use by Australians over the past decade -- more marked than in any other country in the world -- has been praised by a top international expert as a lesson from which other countries could learn.
United Nations drug authority Antonio Costa, executive director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime based in Vienna, ended a visit to Australia last week during which he attempted to understand the reasons behind the drop, talking to everyone from recovering addicts to the Prime Minister.
At the end of his trip he visited a rehabilitation centre, We Help Ourselves, in central Sydney.
Australia's use of marijuana, heroin and amphetamines reached epidemic proportions in 1998, with 20 per cent of the population using illegal drugs and surveys showing some of the worst addiction rates in the world.
Since then there has been a 5 per cent drop, with rates continuing to trend sharply downwards. The level of heroin use in the community has dropped from 0.8 to 0.2 per cent of the adult population, and heroin overdoses have dropped from a peak of more than 1100 in 1999 to fewer than 400 today.
Costa, the world's leading guru on drug prevention programs, says a report on Australia's success story, Heading In The Right Direction, will be available within the month.
"What we are asking is why drug use in Australia has seen such an impressive drop," he says.
He says court diversion programs, which offer addicts the choice of being treated like criminals or sent to rehabilitation centres, have taken many drug users out of the criminal justice system.
"If you are standing in the dock, what you want is options," he says. "Addiction is a sickness of the mind. I am pleading for greater recognition that addiction is an illness."
Costa says countries that have successfully battled high addiction rates have one thing in common -- they pour large sums of money into rehabiliation services and treat addiction as a medical rather than law and order problem.
He says Australia's success in tackling its high levels of drug use now need to be consolidated. "One of the lessons I hope can be learnt from Australia's experience is that other countries don't have to get into such a severe situation before they act," he says.
At the We Help Ourselves centre many recovering addicts are insistent that the country needs more detoxification and rehabilitation services, and that waiting lists are still way too long.
A 31-year-old Adelaide man says his use of heroin and ice had spiralled out of control, leaving him depressed to the point of suicide and living on the streets. He became so frightened of what he felt sure was his impending death that he sought help.
"You lose the ability to even wash yourself, to do all the normal things," he says. "There are people dying because they can't get into rehabilitation, there are waiting lists or they just don't know there are ways out. There needs to be more effort to get people into recovery."
Executive director of We Help Ourselves, Garth Popple, says a significant factor in turning Australian drug use around has been the unprecedented $1.5 billion in funding provided through the National Drug Strategy over the last decade. "Access to detoxification and rehabilitation services has been the key," he says.
Doctor John Herron, Chairman of the Australian National Council on Drugs, says thousands of lives have been saved. "The visit to Australia by the world's leading drug expert shows we can be proud of our record," he says.
"Tackling major traffickers has dried up street supplies of drugs, at the same time as a substantial increasing in treatment availability has led to many people seeking help and returning to productive lives."
TABLE: DRUG USE
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