When NSW Government funding decisions cost lives

This article by Jessica Grewall in The Daily Examiner on 18 June 2012 deserves a gold star:

Playing with people's lives

IT WAS 7am, the platform was wet and slippery and when the doors to my first western suburbs Sydney train opened, the only free seat was covered in spilled coffee.
The two women standing nearby warned me we were in for track work delays so I opened the morning paper, took a deep breath and thought "life in the big city could take some getting used to".
It was 4pm that day, in a different part of the state, when a car travelling along a wet and slippery stretch of the Pacific Hwy north of Coffs Harbour, spun out of control and changed the lives of the family inside forever.
As I cursed the hour-long train trip home, a 10-month-old baby boy was pulled from the highway wreck and flown to hospital in a critical condition.
While I was enjoying a night out with friends the next night, that little boy died.
It would be ridiculous to compare the frustration I had felt getting to work late on that cold autumn morning with unimaginable grief those parents live with every day.
And yet, the politicians in this country who have the power to dramatically reduce the possibility of other parents facing the same horror, have decided taxpayers' money is better spent making my trip to work that little bit more comfortable.
The Coalition's cry that they did not have the funds to match the Federal Government's offer to fund half of the Pacific Highway duplication is disgraceful.
What about the $5.5billion set aside in this week's NSW Budget for Sydney's transport network?
The people using public transport in Sydney are not dying from sitting in overcrowded or slow trains.
Waiting another four years won't kill them.
It could kill Sydney votes though and the majority of people living along the most deadly road stretch in Northern NSW live in cosy National seats.
In the lead-up to last week's budget, "honour" was a word which was thrown around freely by State and Federal MP's.
Both governments called on each other to "honour" election promises and funding split agreements.
There is nothing honourable about playing with people's lives.
The only way to honour the families of those whose deaths could have been avoided is for the people who have failed them to fix the damned road.

Hey, Minister Berejiklian, heed the call for safer travel on school buses

Come on, Minister Berejiklian, get out and listen to what the community is repeatedly saying: Improve the safety of travellers on school buses.

Coffs Harbour school principal, Mr Michael Carniato, is the latest contributor to the letters columns in the Coffs Coast Advocate calling upon the Minister to lift her game and do something constructive by announcing the outcomes of the NSW School Bus Safety Committee's consultative processes.

Mr Carniato politely reminded Minister Berejiklian that the chair of the NSW School Bus Safety Committee, which was set up by the Minister, told a community meeting in Coffs Harbour in November 2011 the outcomes of this committee's process would be made public in the second quarter of 2012.

Well, Minister Berejiklian, today's Sunday 24 June so that means there are just six, yes 6, days left in the second quarter.

Get on with it, Minister, and announce the outcomes.

Here's the complete text of Mr Carniato's letter.

School bus fear

Last week's state budget failed to deliver the funding needed to complete the Pacific Highway upgrade by 2016.

While we wait for a safer road to be built, we have many old and unsafe school buses travelling at high speed on the highway. These buses were not built to withstand the 20g forces likely to be experienced in a high-speed crash.

They are up to 25 years old and were built before the legislation introduced for all Australian coaches after the horrific bus crashes near Clybucca and Cowper that killed 55 people.

Why doesn't this legislation apply to school children who travel up to 200 times a year in a bus? Many of these older school buses have hard, low-backed seats which were banned in 1977 by the US federal government.

Buses with safe seats and seatbelts are needed on the road and all children should be seated, not standing or sitting in a bus aisle.

At a community meeting in Coffs Harbour in November 2011 the chair of the NSW School Bus Safety Committee, set up by the Transport Minister, announced the outcomes of this committee's process would be made in the second quarter of 2012.

We are now waiting for Minister Berejiklian's announcement.

Mr Michael Carniato
Principal, John Paul College

Image credit: The Daily Examiner

First Crack In The (Pay) Wall?

“The New York Post introduced a paywall last year that meant iPad users accessing its website with mobile Safari would be redirected to its official iPad app, and would then have to pay a monthly subscription fee to access its content. However, it has now performed a complete u-turn and scrapped that paywall completely.

The Post’s website is now available in all its glory on the iPad, allowing readers to access all of its content completely free. Although the site does present a popup inviting users to download the official iPad app — which still requires a subscription — this can easily be dismissed by hitting “Cancel,” and users then gain full access to the site.” {Cult of Mac 20^th June 2012}

What is it about Clarence Valley Council? Seems they can't do anything right.



K-K-Keneally Kwits

Kristina Kerscher Keneally resigns as the Member for Heffron.

Well what did you expect from a show pony who had never spent time on the Opposition benches before?

Australian High Court: 1 Godbothers & Abbott: 0

Aunty ABC on 20^th June 2012:

“A Queensland man has won his High Court challenge to the Commonwealth's funding for school chaplaincy programs.

Toowoomba father Ron Williams had challenged the program on the basis Commonwealth officers are not allowed to be subject to a religious test under the Constitution.

The court dismissed that claim, but did find the Commonwealth had no power to enter the agreement which funded the program.

The national chaplaincy program was set up in 2007 by the Howard government to provide for the spiritual wellbeing of students.

It was later modified by Labor to allow schools to choose to employ either a chaplain or a non-religious student welfare worker.

Under the program, schools could choose to employ a chaplain for spiritual guidance although pushing religion was banned.

Today's decision against the program will affect around 2,500 chaplains across Australia….

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said it would be a "real pity" if the chaplaincy program was not able to continue.

"We invented the program, we support the program, we want it to continue," he said.

"Let's look at the court's decision and let's see what the Government has in mind."
To be continued............

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