The Australian Press Council has released preliminary data about the numbers and

outcomes of complaints considered by it during the year 2010-11.

Highlights include:

• The number of complaints considered by the Council rose by 7% to a total of 437 (excluding 129 which were outside its jurisdiction or were referred elsewhere).

• Mediation or adjudication by the Council achieved remedies for complainants in 194 cases.

• Mediated remedies included 98 apologies, retractions, corrections or similar action. In another 36 cases the newspaper agreed to publish a response by the complainant.

• Where mediation failed and the matter went for adjudication by the Council, 71% of complaints were upheld.

• This proportion of upheld complaints compares with 43% in the previous year and an average of 46% over the preceding decade.

• All adjudications by the Council were published in the newspaper or magazine to which they related, although not always with due prominence.

Further details are available on the Council’s website.

Information about types of complaint and other aspects will be provided in the Council’s Annual Report later this year.

For further information or comment by the Council's Chair, Prof Julian Disney, contact:

Derek Wilding (Director, Standards)

02-9261-1930; 0425-242-401; derek.wilding@presscouncil.org.au

A chat room lesson for the inner 3 year-old

The Power Index on 31^st August 2011:

“chat room user has managed to force mining company Voyager into a trading halt. User Ronny2011 reported a fake drilling result for one of the company's projects in Mongolia on internet forum HotCopper, forcing the company into a trading halt last Friday. On Monday this week, the company released a statement confirming the announcement was false and unauthorised……What could have been a little joke for Ronny2011 could now result in him or her being charged with fraud – their IP address has been forwarded by HotCopper to ASIC for further investigation.”

Good riddance of bad rubbish

The Port Paper is closing its doors today ... how sad! Not too many tears will be shed over that bit of information.
The paper, which paraded under a banner of so-called independence, has been nothing but a mouth piece for local National Party stooges.

North coast employer steals employees' superannuation

Warning to employees:
Check your payslips and contact your super fund

Sadly, yet another group of workers have discovered their boss hadn't been forwarding their superannuation to their super fund. The boss used the old trick of showing workers' super payments on their pay slips but then not forwarding those amounts to their super fund. Hmmmm, the ATO moves quickly to ensure taxation payments arrive promptly but (and this is speaking with first-hand experience) it doesn't give a flying fig about ensuring super payments are always sent. And the ATO does have that responsibility!

Today's Northern Star reports
Former staff of the We 'R' Kids childcare centre in Casino are furious their former employer had not paid their superannuation for up to five years.

In a further blow the workers appear to have lost all their entitlements.

Gathering in Casino yesterday to meet with employment advisers and others to consider their next move, the former staff said they were still in shock following the sudden closure of the centre on Friday. The centre was placed into liquidation with parent company, 888 Aust Investments Pty Ltd, racking up debts totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Marlene Agresta was a former assistant at the centre who said although superannuation payments were reported on her pay slips, the funds had not been transferred to her superannuation fund since the company took over the business in 2006. She also said former staff were owed two weeks pay, which was due next Tuesday.

"We could have had two weeks pay to keep us going, but we didn't even get that - it's really slack," Mrs Agresta said.

Former employee Liz Parry said she had no idea what her next move would be, but said she would consider applying for a Centrelink payment until she found another job.

"But that is something I will leave as a last resort. I want to work, I am not the kind of person to sit around doing nothing," she said.

The whereabouts of former 888 Australia Investments Pty Ltd director James Zhang was unknown. Mr Zhang returned to China last year and has been virtually out of contact since.