Thursday, 21 August 2008

People 'can't be forced to take jobs', The Australian, 21 August, 2008





People `can't be forced to take jobs'

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 21 Aug 2008: 2.
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"They would keep me on, but they can't," he said. "There is not much work out here. I would travel anywhere. I go for three months, four months doesn't matter."
Aboriginal Employment Strategy chief executive Danny Lester said his personal goal was to lower the Aboriginal unemployment rate so it was equivalent to Australia's unemployment rate. Last year 1486 Aborigines found jobs through the efforts of AES, founded by Moree cotton grower Dick Estens.
"Generally what I have found, you have only got 10 to 15 per cent of those Aboriginal people still in a job a year later," Mr Estens said.

REPEATED attempts over the past 20 years to involve indigenous people in fruit picking and other seasonal farm work have completely failed, according to senior figures in the horticultural industry.
Tracey Leo, former head of the Northern Territory Horticulture Association, applauded the Rudd Government for acknowledged industry pleas by launching a pilot program to bring in Pacific Island workers to work on farms.
"In the NT our indigenous people, through their peak bodies, have made it very clear to us that short-term seasonal work that is not on Aboriginal land does not meet the aspirations of indigenous people.
"The bottom line from our end is you cannot force people to work. All the attempts we have made in getting indigenous workers involved have failed."
She said an attempt to get Aboriginal workers onto farms involving Charles Darwin University and addressing all their needs for training, including the provision of certificates, and long-term job security, could not attract the eight people needed for the pilot.
Australia Horticulture Council chief executive Kris Newton said unfortunately the experience in the Territory was reflected around thecountry with unemployed people, indigenous or not.
"In the end the aims and aspirations of the potential workers was not a good fit with the needs of employers," she said.
"If we could get willing Australian workers we would take them. There has been a desperate seasonal labour shortage in our industry for more than a decade."
One place where indigenous people are working successfully in agriculture is at Moree, 630km north-west of Sydney. Norman Carr, 39, is working on big machinery on a cotton farm in the district, but with the dry conditions he will be out of work in several weeks' time. He worries that Pacific Islanders could take work from Aboriginal people.
"They would keep me on, but they can't," he said. "There is not much work out here. I would travel anywhere. I go for three months, four months doesn't matter."
His colleague, Will Duncan, 19, has been working on cotton machinery for the past month. "I'd like to stick to this type of work. I am doing a welding course in town."
Aboriginal Employment Strategy chief executive Danny Lester said his personal goal was to lower the Aboriginal unemployment rate so it was equivalent to Australia's unemployment rate. Last year 1486 Aborigines found jobs through the efforts of AES, founded by Moree cotton grower Dick Estens.
Mr Lester and Mr Estens yesterday flew to Perth to talk to Australia's richest man Andrew Forrest, who plans to find jobs for 50,000 Aborigines in two years through his Australian Employment Covenant.
"Generally what I have found, you have only got 10 to 15 per cent of those Aboriginal people still in a job a year later," Mr Estens said.
Opinion -- Page 10
Bernard Salt -- Page 26
Credit: John Stapleton, Asa Wahlquist
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Legal threat to Brough as feud erupts, The Australian, 21 August, 2008. Picture Lyndon Mchielsen.


Legal threat to Brough as feud erupts

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 21 Aug 2008: 4.
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Former Queensland Liberal Party state director Geoffrey Greene yesterday alleged the bad blood between him and Mr [Brough] stemmed from incidents surrounding Mr Brough's loss of his federal seat of Longman in Queensland last November.
According to Mr Greene, $107,000 was left over in the Longman campaign account after the federal poll, which was transferred to theLiberal Party secretariat's main account. In a statement provided to his lawyers, obtained by The Australian, Mr Greene claims that when Mr Brough discovered the account had been cleaned out, he rang him in February and demanded "his" funds be returned.
In May, a letter from Mr Greene's lawyers to Mr Brough claimed that at Liberal meetings in the state: "You have made allegations intended to convey ... that Mr Greene is corrupt and that there is financial mismanagement in his administration".

MAL Brough is embroiled in a bitter dispute over campaign finance, with another senior Liberal figure threatening to sue him amid claims the former indigenous affairs minister provided a false invoice for $43,000 in election expenses.
Former Queensland Liberal Party state director Geoffrey Greene yesterday alleged the bad blood between him and Mr Brough stemmed from incidents surrounding Mr Brough's loss of his federal seat of Longman in Queensland last November.
According to Mr Greene, $107,000 was left over in the Longman campaign account after the federal poll, which was transferred to theLiberal Party secretariat's main account. In a statement provided to his lawyers, obtained by The Australian, Mr Greene claims that when Mr Brough discovered the account had been cleaned out, he rang him in February and demanded "his" funds be returned.
Mr Brough reportedly said: "I don't give a f..k what you think, those funds were raised by me and not for the Liberal Party. If you do not return those funds immediately, I will take over the party and see you are sacked, your future with the party is over and your reputation will be destroyed.
"You have stolen money and you have absolutely no right to do that ... the people who donated that money would never have done so if they knew it could go to the Liberal Party. You are a f..king disgrace and I will see to it that you are finished."
Asked about the alleged exchange, Mr Brough said last night: "I have no comment about private conversations."
Mr Greene said that in mid-February the party received an invoice from Mr Brough, dated January 31, for $43,758 for the use of cars he claimed were used over a 153-day period from July to November last year.
Mr Brough's father-in-law, Stan Bishop, who was treasurer of the Longman campaign account, presented the invoice to the Liberal Party again on March 2.
Mr Greene said the party refused to pay the $43,758 claim, which he described as false; the original invoice of $872 for the loan cars, provided by Mr Brough on January 16, was paid, however.
Mr Brough said last night the invoice for $43,758 was for eight cars used over that period for the purposes of his campaign, and thatthe $872 was a separate claim for car repairs.
The feud between Mr Brough, who became the Queensland president of the Liberal Party in May, and Mr Greene has simmered behind the scenes throughout this year. It came amid wrangling within the Liberals and Nationals over a merger, which was approved last month.
In May, a letter from Mr Greene's lawyers to Mr Brough claimed that at Liberal meetings in the state: "You have made allegations intended to convey ... that Mr Greene is corrupt and that there is financial mismanagement in his administration".
As reported in The Australian this month, Mr Greene sent an email addressed to Queensland National Party president Bruce McIver that was allegedly misdirected to Mr Brough.
The message detailed Mr Greene's generous payout after leaving his job as state director on August 7, including $115,000 in annual consultancy fees. Mr Greene claimed Mr Brough leaked the message to the media.
A letter to Mr Brough from Mr Greene's lawyers states: "As you were the only person who received the email ... the contents of which were obviously confidential ... Mr Greene reserves his (legal) rights against you."
Mr Brough denies leaking any information about Mr Greene.
Credit: John Stapleton
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Monday, 18 August 2008

Farm labour's slim pickings are over, The Australian, 18 August, 2008. Page One. Picture David Crosling.






Farm labour's slim pickings are over

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 18 Aug 2008: 15.
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"Everyone in this district has been caught where they've had to leave fruit on the trees. You spend 12 months to get to the picking stage, and all of a sudden you've lost it. Financially it is a huge blow."
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the pilot program was not a move to cheap labour but a solution to chronic shortages in the bush. "For too long ... farmers have become sick to death of watching their own fruit rotting on the vine because they couldn't get a worker there to pick the fruit," he said.
Many in the farming constituency are critical of the Liberals for not acting sooner on the rural labor shortage. "The Liberals had their chance, this has been in the pipeline for years," said Gay Tripodi, who runs Murrawee Farms in Swan Hill and has been helping to co-ordinate the trial.
ONLY last January, Frank Maiuto had to let 30,000kg of white nectarines rot in his orchard, all because he couldn't find half a dozen pickers.
"It was perfectly good fruit," the 51-year-old stonefruit farmer from Swan Hill in northwestern Victoria said yesterday.
"Everyone in this district has been caught where they've had to leave fruit on the trees. You spend 12 months to get to the picking stage, and all of a sudden you've lost it. Financially it is a huge blow."
In many rural communities, labour has become a scarce commodity. But yesterday a new and potentially plentiful source of workers became available, with the Rudd Government announcing a three-year trial to bring in 2500 Pacific Islanders, with hopes of rapidly increasing the number to 25,000.
Mr Maiuto -- who will employ 20 workers from Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea -- joined other farmers and their representatives in expressing approval for the move.
Like many farmers, who tend to vote conservative, Mr Maiuto has found himself surprised to beapplauding a Labor government for making a move he regards as long overdue for rural Australia.
Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the pilot program was not a move to cheap labour but a solution to chronic shortages in the bush. "For too long ... farmers have become sick to death of watching their own fruit rotting on the vine because they couldn't get a worker there to pick the fruit," he said.
"The scheme does not allow for there to be any reduction in wages. In fact, for employers it will be marginally more expensive to access this scheme than it would have been had Australian workers been available." The first group will arrive later this year, with the program to be reviewed in 18 months.
Regions being considered for the scheme include Swan Hill, and Griffith in southern NSW with labour market surveys being conducted in other regions.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb warned the scheme was fraught with risk coming at a time of rising unemployment and could cost Australians jobs.
He blasted Kevin Rudd for not consulting with Australians before announcing the scheme, details of which will be formally unveiled this week at the Pacific Leaders Forum in Niue. The Horticulture Australia Council and Growcom from Queensland were shocked to find the announcement being made without their presence.
However, many in the farming constituency are critical of the Liberals for not acting sooner on the rural labor shortage. "The Liberals had their chance, this has been in the pipeline for years," said Gay Tripodi, who runs Murrawee Farms in Swan Hill and has been helping to co-ordinate the trial.
"There has been a desperate, blaring need for seasonal staff in the horticultural industry.
In Swan Hill, if every unemployed person was employed in horticulture, we would still be 300 jobs short."
Other attempts to address the shortage have been unsuccessful. The Howard government's solution of using backpackers on the harvest trail largely failed, with farmers complaining bitterly that they were unreliable and never stayed for long.
The National Farmers Federation welcomed the Pacific Island worker scheme, with vice-president Charles Burke saying there were benefits for all concerned.
"As a labour-intensive sector, horticulture's future depends on a reliable seasonal workforce, and unprecedented growth is in the offing," he said.
Manjula Luthria, senior economist for the Pacific region with the World Bank, said the scheme was the best possible way of instilling economic and social stability into struggling island nations.
Under the scheme, participating employers will pay half of the return airfares and cover establishment and pastoral care costs involved in bringing Pacific Islanders to Australia.
Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes said while he acknowledged the Australian agricultural sector was suffering a labour shortage, the Government must ensure the scheme was regulated to protect workers from unscrupulous employers.
Credit: John Stapleton, Mark Dodd
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Friday, 15 August 2008

David Iredale Inquest, The Australian, 15 August, 2008.

Not sure if this one got a run. Not sure of date.
I wrote a number of stories on this very sad incident.


John Stapleton
AT least one of the three boys from the elite private school Sydney Grammar involved in an ill-fated trek in the Blue Mountains for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards was never shown the handbook explaining how the scheme works.
The Award's official handbook, which provides detailed information for participants in the scheme, designed to build character amongst young people, states there should be a minimum of four boys on any trek in order to qualify for the scheme's awards and recommends a minimum group of five to seven for remote area treks.
The story of the staggering indifference of the 000 operators, who took five calls from 17-year-old David Iredale as he was dying from heat exhaustion but never even took his name or phone number and failed to pass on vital information to police for several days, has outraged the nation but also overshadowed the culpability or otherwise of the school.
Sydney Grammar, which took months to respond to police inquiries for information, is expected to come under intense pressure this week as chemistry teacher Mr Jim Forbes, the school's Duke of Edinburgh Award co-ordinator, faces the inquest.
While the NSW Ambulance Service has unreservedly apologised to the grieving Iredale family, the school has denied any knowledge of their trek.
But evidence tendered to the inquest records the boys frustration that Mr Forbes forgot to bring them a promised and potentially life-saving GPS.on the school's annual speech night just prior to the trek. 
An email from David Ireland written two days prior to them leaving for the Blue Mountains assures the other boys that everything will be alright because the maps have been provided by Mr Forbes.
Clearly written on their map at the location of their campsite near the base of Mount Solitary, where they spent the first night of their planned three day trek, is written the words: ``Lots H2O here''.
Whether or not the maps were provided directly by Sydney Grammar to the boys and where that information came from is an issue before the inquiry.
An email from David Iredale, written to his friends on December 8, two days before the boys began their trek, states: ``I have all the maps and navigation sheets which were given to me by Mr Forbes, so they are reliable... They are all correct and I have been assured by Mr Forbes that this is a fairly easy trail to follow so we won't have any problems on that front.''
A friend of David Ireland's from his earliest school years, fellow class member Phillip Chan, now 19 and studying law at the University of NSW, spent all of Friday being cross examined at the inquest. With frequent silences, during which he often appeared close to tears, Phillip Chan told of how they had ran out of water during the blistering heat of the afternoon of the first day of their trek. He recorded their shock when arriving at the campsite to find no water at all.
Under cross examination from barrister Penny Sibtain, representing the administrators of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards the NSW Department of Sport and Recreation, Chan denied ever having ever seen or been provided by the school with the scheme's handbook detailing requirements for journeys in remote locations. He also said recommendations on minimum numbers needed for treks had never been discussed with them by the school.
Already dehydrated and their spirits down, on the night before David Iredale's death the three boys spent a restless night before setting off from the campsite early for the Kedumba River, where they knew there would be water.
He recalled agreeing with his friend David Iredale sentiments about their map's misleading statements on water supply: ``Plenty of water my arse''.
Only two of them arrived.
The inquest resumes today. 
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Thursday, 14 August 2008

Warning that dam built on fault lines will blow out local water bills, The Australian, 14 August, 2008.




Warning that dam built on fault lines will blow out local water bills

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 14 Aug 2008: 12.
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"The ridges which will be acting to hold the water in could very easily collapse," he said. "The area is full of landslips already."
"They just say Tillegra will be built. It's an absolute insanity."
"Hunter Water have not openly told their customers what the cost of this dam will be to ratepayers, and it's about time they did," she said.

CONTROVERSY over the proposed Tillegra Dam in the NSW Hunter Valley is growing, with a new analysis showing the dam could cost up to $1billion to build and increase water bills for some residents by up to 84per cent.
The massive 450 billion litre dam, one of the only new large dams to be built in Australia for decades, has been roundly condemned by environmentalists and locals since it was announced by the Iemma Government in 2006.
New modelling -- done by the Greens and based on Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal data and other government documents -- calculated the annual repayments of the cost of building the dam at different cost levels and then averaged it over the number of households on the central coast and the lower Hunter region.
Tribunal chief executive James Cox has called for public submissions on the cost of water in the region, and said the Government's construction of the Tillegra Dam would have implications for prices.
The analysis, issued yesterday by Greens MP John Kaye, showed that on the lowest of the government estimates, annual household bills would increase by $79 or 25 per cent.
Geotechnical engineer Graham Holt, who opposes the project, said the cost of the dam could blow out to $1billion from the Government's $300million estimate, because the site was riddled with fault lines.
"The ridges which will be acting to hold the water in could very easily collapse," he said. "The area is full of landslips already."
At a cost of $1billion, household water bills on the central coast and in the Hunter would increase by $262 a year, or 84per cent.
Water expert Charles Essery said the dam was a folly, and a blowout in costs was probable.
He said there were examples all around the world of dams built on poor or unsound geology whose prices had blown out to several times their original estimate.
"At meetings I have had with government, they have refused to commit to a specific cost," Dr Essery said.
"They just say Tillegra will be built. It's an absolute insanity."
A spokesman for NSW Water Minister Nathan Rees said there was no justification for the claims. An environmental impact statement on the Tillegra Dam was expected shortly.
Sally Corbet, from the group No Tillegra Dam, said the Government had been secretive about costs.
"Hunter Water have not openly told their customers what the cost of this dam will be to ratepayers, and it's about time they did," she said.
Credit: John Stapleton
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Faulty dam could blow out water bills, The Australian, 14 August, 2008.

Faulty dam could blow out water bills

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 14 Aug 2008: 12.
Show highlighting
"The ridges which will be acting to hold the water in could very easily collapse," he said. "The area is full of landslips."
"They just say Tillegra will be built. It's an absolute insanity."
"The decision to push ahead with Tillegra was based on political convenience, made during last year's state election and designed to distract from theGovernment's very poor public image," he said.
CONTROVERSY over the proposed Tillegra Dam in the NSW Hunter Valley is growing, with an analysis showing the dam could cost up to $1billion to build and increase water bills for some residents by up to 84per cent.
The massive 450 billion litre dam, one of the few new large dams to be built in Australia for decades, has been roundly condemned by environmentalists and locals since it was announced by the Iemma Government in 2006.
New modelling -- done by the Greens and based on Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal data and other government documents -- calculated the annual repayments of the cost of building the dam at different cost levels and then averaged it over the number of households on the central coast and in the lower Hunter region.
Tribunal chief executive James Cox has called for public submissions on the cost of water in the region, and said the Government's construction of the Tillegra Dam would have implications for prices.
The analysis, issued yesterday by Greens MP John Kaye, showed that on the lowest of the government estimates, annual household bills would increase by $79, or 25 per cent.
Geotechnical engineer Graham Holt, who opposes the project, said the cost of the dam could blow out to $1billion from the Government's $300million estimate, because the site was riddled with fault lines.
"The ridges which will be acting to hold the water in could very easily collapse," he said. "The area is full of landslips."
At a cost of $1billion, household water bills on the central coast and in the Hunter would increase by $262 a year, or 84per cent. If costs are restricted to residents of the lower Hunter, residents could find themselves paying an extra $415 a year.
Water expert Charles Essery said the dam was a folly, and a blowout in costs was probable.
He said there were examples all around the world of dams built on poor or unsound geology whose prices had blown out to several times their original estimate.
"At meetings I have had with government, they have refused to commit to a specific cost," Dr Essery said.
"They just say Tillegra will be built. It's an absolute insanity."
A spokesman for NSW Water Minister Nathan Rees said there was no justification for the claims. An environmental impact statement on the Tillegra Dam was expected shortly.
Sally Corbet, from the group No Tillegra Dam, said the Government had been secretive about costs.
"Hunter Water have not openly told their customers what the cost of this dam will be to ratepayers, and it's about time they did," she said.
Mr Kaye said the Iemma Government was acting in a breathtakingly irrational manner by pushing ahead with a dam that was not needed and incredibly expensive.
"The decision to push ahead with Tillegra was based on political convenience, made during last year's state election and designed to distract from theGovernment's very poor public image," he said.
Credit: John Stapleton
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