Abbott and Putin discuss international enquiry into MH17.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Russian President Vladimir Putin have help a telephone conversation “to exchange their views on aspects of organising an independent and objective international enquiry” into MH17, a Kremlin statement has revealed.
The pair agreed compliance with a UN Security Council resolution that called for full access to the MH17 crash site was of the utmost importance.
Labor Party passes motion critical of Israeli settlements.
The NSW Labor Party has passed a motion critical of Israeli settlements. The draft resolution, supporting the recognition of a Palestinian state, was passed without debate during the NSW Labor Party Conference yesterday.
The draft resolution was moved by former foreign minister Bob Carr. It said:
“NSW Labor welcomes the decision of the Palestinian Authority to commit to a demilitarised Palestine with the presence of international peacekeepers, including US forces.
“If, however there is no progress to a two-state solution, and Israel continues to build and expand settlements, a future Labor government will consult like-minded nations towards recognition of the Palestinian state.”
Parents treating teachers as free child-minders during out-of-school hours.
The President of the NSW Primary Principal’s Association, Geoff Scott, has said many parents are taking advantage of teachers who continue working during out-of-school hours.
Mr Scott has revealed that often those who are unable to access formal childcare drop their children at school early, or pick them up late, expecting teachers to be around and keep a watchful eye.
“It’s a perennial problem, parents see the teachers’ cars in the playground and so drop the kids off… and we also have upper primary school kids who are latch-key kids so we have some very young kids letting themselves into their homes.”
The National Out of School Hours Services Association chairwoman Robyn Monro Miller added, “There are families that will pay to park their car in the city but are not prepared to pay for quality childcare.”
More cuts to the ABC are likely to be imminent.
Fairfax has exclusively revealed that an Abbott government efficiency study into ABC operations has found $60 million worth of potential savings. These findings will likely be used to justify further cuts to both the ABC and SBS in upcoming months.
The report identified areas of saving through outsourcing, joint purchasing, and a more efficient use of new technologies.
Though the $60million in savings equates to 7.5 percent of the ABC’s annual budget, the proposal has also outlined a one-off payment of $75 million to offset the initial expense of the cost-saving measures.
These plans indicating how the ABC and SBS should manage their money has sparked new fears that the government is trying to ‘micro-manage’ operations and thus undermine the broadcasters’ independence.
‘Work for the dole’ gets a revamp.
The Abbott government is set to announce tomorrow that from July 2015, Work For The Dole will apply to most jobseekers in Australia.
Currently, jobseekers aged up to 30 years of age, have had to work up to 15 hours a week for six months. Under new proposals, this is set to increase to up to 25 hours for young jobseekers deemed fit and able to.
Older jobseekers, aged between 50-60 years, will also be expected to undertake an approved activity for 15 hours a week for 26 weeks every 12 months to qualify for the dole.
The government expects 150,000 jobseekers or more will join the scheme each year once the new model is in place.
New government plans to tighten piracy and illegal downloads in Australia.
Crikey has exposed a leaked government proposal to tighten laws around the illegal downloading and possession of copyrighted content.
The proposal includes suggestions to block overseas websites that host pirated content, and to provide incentives for internet service providers (ISP’s) such as Optus or Telstra to better restrict the downloading of movies, music and games illegally.
The paper also suggests ISP’s should be held more accountable if users are streaming and downloading content illegally through their internet systems.
Under the proposal ISP’s who don’t take action against illegal downloads could be taken to court.
Study finds that social media is making us all ‘feel jealous’.
A survey run by Scope of 1500 social media users has found that social networking sites do have a profound effect on people’s daily emotions.
62 percent of Facebook and Twitter users surveyed felt inadequate about their achievements compared to others. The survey also found that nearly 50 per cent of 18-34 year olds said they felt ugly or unattractive after scrolling through their social media feeds. 30 per cent also admitted to increased feelings of loneliness after using sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Usain Bolt partakes in one seriously cringe-worthy press conference.
Usain Bolt’s first press conference since arriving in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, left viewers feeling sorry for the athlete. Bolt was asked questions deemed completely irrelevant to his job as a sports star.
One journalist asked him, “You’ll be aware that the Commonwealth Games are the friendly Games, with a subtext of human rights. In the past, the Israel and Palestine territories have tried to join the Commonwealth. You’re a man of the world. What is your view?”
A confused Bolt replied, “For me, I hear about it but I don’t really follow politics so I can’t really comment unless I have the full details”.
Another journalist asked Bolt what his opinion on the upcoming independence referendum in Scotland was.
Bolt laughed and said, “I didn’t even know that. Sorry.”
Top Comments
WHERE ARE ALL THE BLOODY JOBS?!
As an example of how tough the job market is in Australia at the moment: I have had to move overseas to find employment, leaving my husband at home to care for his terminally ill mother. It is likely that we will spend the next year or more apart.
This is not a sob story and I am not seeking sympathy, I merely raise the point that finding a job in Australia at the moment is very difficult. I have two tertiary qualifications and 8 years of experience and yet this is the situation I find myself in.
This is "anecdata" but I have several tertiary qualified friends with 10+ years of experience who are unemployed. We don't show up in the unemployment stats because we either had savings or spouses to support us in the short-term, meaning we don't need to claim Newstart. We are the lucky ones.
It makes me wonder how high the unemployment rate really is.
It is all good and well to screech "get a job or we'll make you starve for six months", but where are all the jobs that are supposedly so easy to get?
A University of Melbourne study has shown that people on work for the dole are no more likely to find a job than those not on work for the dole program. The reasons:
- People can only move off the dole/Newstart when jobs become available (and currently there aren't enough available).
- The work for the dole scheme does not provide sufficient skills for people to move onto other forms of employment.
http://cf.fbe.unimelb.edu.a...
So what? At least they are doing something for the community while they're on the dole.