News: Tony Abbott promises strength in Government

Abbott delivers press club speech, vows to show he has a heart

Opposition leader Tony Abbott addressed the National Press Club today and outlined what he termed his positive approach to building a stronger Australia. And while he vowed for lower taxes, smaller Government and greater freedom he still managed to needle the Government on some of its policies like immigration and jobs. He also vowed to spend a week every year living in Indigenous communities to show he had a good head and heart on the matter. “What Australia most needs now is a competent, trustworthy, adult government with achievable plans for a better economy and a stronger society,” he said.

“Australians can be confident that the Liberal and National parties will provide good economic management in the future because that is what we have always done in the past. We have done it before and we will do it again. After all, 16 members of the current shadow cabinet were ministers in the Howard government which now looks like a lost golden age of reform and prosperity.”

Jessica Wright wrote for Fairfax in summary of the speech:

Mr Abbott said his plan for a “stronger Australia” included scrapping the carbon and mining taxes, cutting the computers in schools program, cancelling GP super clinics, reducing bureaucracy in hospitals, reducing government consultancies and dropping 12,000 workers from the federal public service.

Mr Abbott labelled Labor’s government programs as “bywords for waste”.

“No good government would ever spend more than a billion dollars putting pink batts into roofs and a billion dollars to take them out again. It wouldn’t spend $16 billion on over-priced school halls while the standards of academic achievement actually fell,” he said.

“A good government wouldn’t spend $2 billion buying Victorian brown coal power stations only to close them down; or $11 billion buying Telstra’s copper wires only to shut them down too; or $50 billion plus on a National Broadband Network that people don’t need and don’t want to pay more for.”

Cosmo founder digs deep for future of journalism

She’s the vibrant founder of Cosmopolitan Magazine, which spawned almost 60 titles around the world, and now 89-year-old Helen Gurley Brown has donated a whopping $30 million to American’s Columbia and Stanford University to create a centre for media innovation. $24 million would be split between the two schools to fund directors, fellowships and ‘magic grants’. The remaining $6 million would build a new home for the school at Columbia, making its total donation the largest it had ever received. Ms Gurley Brown said: “David and I have long supported and encouraged bright young people to follow their passions and to create original content. Great content needs useable technology. Sharing a language is where the magic happens. It’s time for two great American institutions on the East and West Coasts to build a bridge.” David passed away two years ago.

Hair test for breast cancer? You bet.

The days of the mammogram may be numbered. An Australian company is developing a hair test which may detect breast cancer more accurately than mammograms itself. SBC Research is conducting an 80-patient trial to test its hypothesis that women with breast cancer have higher levels of phospholipids in their bloodstream that can be detected in hair.

Researcher Dharmica Mistry said: “I grind the hair, put it in a vial with an extraction solvent and shake it around to extract the lipids from the fibre,” she said. The resulting liquid is then analysed to determine its lipid content.

Mr French said a larger second study was needed to confirm the accuracy of the hair test. If it proves useful it would be an easier, more widely available test than a mammogram and help early detection of breast cancers.

Shane Warne sued by cyclist

The cyclist who says spin king Warne ran into his bike deliberately, causing $1500 damage, is suing for damages, interest and costs involved in the incident. Web designer Mathew Hollingsworth said Warne ‘lurched his car forward striking me on the right side of my right leg and my rear wheel’. Warne’s version of events was different. “He was lucky I was polite and careful after smacking my car twice,” Warne said. “I do not hate cyclists … bike riders, please obey the road laws and stop antagonising car drivers.” Shane Warne started a mini-controversy when he tweeted that cyclists should have their bikes registered and obey the road rules. Cyclists hit back, saying motorists needed to respect two wheels as well as four.

Famine in Horn of Africa is ‘woefully underfunded’

Mamamia reported on the growing crisis in Africa before the United Nations declared a famine – the first time it had done so in 30 years – in July, 2011. But things aren’t getting any better. Tens of thousands have died and a quarter million Somalis remain at an acute risk of starvation. As former Labor politican Gareth Evans wrote for Fairfax, the UN campaign is ‘woefully underfunded’. He also asked why it was the world seemed to respond to crises like these long after the warning signs presented themselves.

“Some answers to these questions are given in the Charter to End Extreme Hunger — a document initiated by Save the Children and other aid agencies, that outlines key ways to prevent future food crises. Launched last year, it calls for governments to take action on supporting local food production, protecting the poorest, making food affordable, improving the emergency aid system and reducing conflict. It has received high-profile support, including from UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, and its aims have been backed by the governments of Kenya, Norway and the UK.

“As the Charter outlines, preventing hunger crises is partly about responding better to early warnings. It is well acknowledged, including by the Australian government, that the current crisis in the Horn of Africa took no one by surprise — nor will that in Niger if the worst predictions are borne out. The international community had the information and analysis needed to respond in a timely manner, but no substantial response was launched until the crisis reached tipping point around July.”

Coles slashes prices of fruit and veg

Fresh produce looks set to be the next battle point for the major supermarkets with Coles cutting the prices of selected fruit and veg by 50 per cent. There has been an over supply this season but grower’s groups are worried about the long term impacts, especially if Woolworth follows suit and sparks a low cost campaign as has happened with bread and milk. Coles said it could make the cuts because it had worked closely with suppliers on improving efficiency and growing strategies … but that won’t help those farmers who don’t supply to Coles. AusVeg’s William Churchill said: ”We can see that the supermarket wars have well and truly arrived in the fresh produce industry and this fight will get savage.”

Brad and Angeline don’t let their kids Google them

And wouldn’t you do the same? During a recent interview, Brad Pitt said he and Angelina placed a Google block on both their names. “On all the kids’ computers we had our names blocked,” he said. “They can’t Google their mum and dad. I don’t want to make myself dependent on what other people think.” Asked whether he or Ange ever Googled themselves he said: “We don’t even notice all that noise.” When you think about it, this isn’t just a celebrity problem. If you’re even a moderate user of the net or social networking, imagine what your kids can find now, or in a decade, or two?

And if you needed a reminder of the kind of stuff the kids would be blocked from seeing, here’s Brad and Ange (and lots of other stars) at the Screen Actors Guild Awards: