The Member for La Trobe will be sent somewhere....(Quesion Time aside by the Speaker)

Parliament resumed sitting this week and right away the noise level coming from the Opposition benches was high, with enough decibels generated to stop the Speaker of the House of Reps from hearing the reply from a minister having the floor during Question Time yesterday.

Still, no matter how boorish the Coalition pollies became, there was no stopping the Deputy-Prime Minister from dropping this little gem into Hansard concerning the Howard Government attempt to address the national skills shortage by training more manicurists.

Ms GILLARD—I thank the member for her question.

This nation does face a skills crisis which is adding

to inflationary pressures. We have been warned

about it, and the former government was warned about

it by the RBA on 20 occasions. I know that in this

place there are members opposite who simply do not

understand the dimensions of this crisis. I refer them to

the words of Suncorp Chairman and Tabcorp Director,

John Story, who is also the Chairman of the Australian

Institute of Company Directors, who delivered this

damning assessment of the former government's approach

to skills shortages:

We should have been addressing infrastructure issues. We

should have been addressing skills shortages five years ago. I

mean, we talked about it. These issues were discussed

around board tables like this for the past 10 years, and the

chickens are coming home to roost and there is no short-term

fix.

That is a message from business about the dimension

of skills shortages. Whilst business is delivering this

message, members opposite live in denial. We have

had the shadow minister for training saying that skills

shortages were 'just a matter of where we are in the

business cycle'—a denial that there is even a skills

crisis. And the shadow Treasurer has been quoted as

saying:

The truth is ... Australia does not have a chronic skills

shortage ...

This is the opposition in denial about their legacy and

in denial about a contemporary problem facing the

Australian community and its economy. Today's Grant

Thornton survey shows that 58 per cent of the businesses

surveyed identified skills shortages as the biggest

constraint to their growth. Whilst the former minister

for vocational education and training may not

have done much about it, at least he was prepared to

acknowledge that there was a skills crisis when he said:

We have got a problem with skills shortage. I mean, we

knew it was coming, but it has arrived with force and, you

know, it is only going to get worse.

How were these skills shortages created? If we look at

where the former government put investment in skills

development, we see some remarkable things. We saw

$3 million invested in the provision of training and

qualifications in nail technology. Mr Speaker, you

might well think to yourself: 'That's good. Hammering

nails into wood, building things—skills shortages in

the construction industry—$3 million into skills training

for nail technology.' You might be thinking that

that is a good thing. It is not those sorts of nails that we

are talking about. We are talking about fingernails. We

are talking about $3 million being invested in skills

training so that people can have manicures—a file and

paint; a set of acrylics. That is what the former government

invested in: $3 million in nail technology.

Mr Rudd—Really?

Ms GILLARD—Really, Prime Minister. I accept

that the Leader of the Opposition is a man of the world

and he probably understands the merit of a manicure.

He probably particularly understands the merit of a

manicure in a party room that is beset by claws that are

unsheathed and out. But I would ask the Leader of the

Opposition and those that sit on the opposition front

benches: when in government, how did they come to

the conclusion that with skills shortages besetting the

Australian economy the most important thing we

needed was 1,232 more Australians qualified to provide

manicures and 700 more Australians qualified to

apply make-up and cosmetics—a total cost of $3 million

for the manicures and $1.5 million for the makeup

and cosmetics? This was their investment in training.

Whilst the mining sector and the construction sector

were calling out for skilled workers, you might not

have been able to get a house built but you could always

go down to the beauty parlour and make yourself

feel better about it. That was their contribution to training

in this nation—hardly meeting the needs of working

families, who need the real skills shortages in this

economy fixed. I am not denigrating the occupations of

providing manicures and providing make-up services

—

Opposition members interjecting—

The SPEAKER—Order! The Deputy Prime Minister

has the call.

Ahoy, Northern Rivers shire councillors!

In the face of growing evidence of the negative impacts of climate change and how these are likely to affect the NSW North Coast, both the NSW Minister for Planning and Northern Rivers shire councils continue to cave-in to pressure from developers to allow housing on vulnerable coastal and estuary land.

 

Hopefully this report will give them pause for thought.

 

"IN a portent of how climate change could transform town planning along the nation's coastlines, the South Australian Supreme Court has ruled that predicted sea level rises are a valid reason to reject beachfront housing developments.---

The South Australian Supreme Court cited local sea level rises of 30cm over the next 50 years in ruling yesterday against Northcape Properties' plans for 80 holiday homes at Marion Bay, 150km west of Adelaide.

The changes - which the court ruled was expected, not merely a probability - would encroach on the proposal's "erosion buffer and coastal reserve".

Earth Hour March 2008

On March 29 it's time to switch off the electricity at your house for one hour, to show the world that action against climate change is important to you and demonstrate how people can reduce energy consumption in their own homes.

The global warming initiative began as an environmental event in Sydney last year and has expanded to include 24 cities from around the world.

Razor gang shaves $22 million a year off MPs printing allowance

I just love it when the new broom does some overdue sweeping.

Yesterday the Rudd Government announced that it is introducing changes to Parliament to cut politicians' printing allowances from $150,000 to $100,000.

It is also proposing to stop MPs from stockpiling their funds for election campaigning.

Finally, we might see an end to those useless fridge calendars sent out during the first year of the election cycle and a reduction in those equally useless letters claiming credit for other b*ggers efforts sent out in the last two years before the next election.

Stifling a local MP's urge to print rubbish might save a tree or two as well.

A win-win for us all.

John Winston Howard, no man of steel just an embarrassing old f*rt

Former Prime Minister, John Winston Howard, continues his whistlestop tour of America in defence of those personal attitudes and government policies rejected by the Australian people on 24 November 2007.

 

It's all a bit sad really. Instead of trying for a dignified position on the world stage as a former head of government, Mr. Howard has opted to act the embarrassing old f*rt.

Refusing to believe that he could have been wrong and also refusing to accept that his public intransigence may yet have a direct impact on the political survival of the Liberal Party of Australia.

 

ABC News yesterday published this brief synopsis and video link to his 10 March speech to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, billed on the school's webpage as "A Conversation with the Honorable John Howard".

 

"Former prime minister John Howard has again defended his government's record in a speech in the United States.

Mr Howard addressed students at Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government.

He spoke about his support for nuclear power in Australia and his opposition to Australia signing the Kyoto Protocol.

He has also restated his opposition to a formal apology to the Aboriginal Stolen Generations."

 

John should have ignored Janette's desire to pursue the fleeing tatters of former glory and stayed quietly at home.

 

I wonder if Harvard Uni and his other hosts know that they are objects of ridicule for taking Howard so seriously? For paying him $50,000 a hit to spout a very unoriginal piece of sour grapes from what appears to be a single compilation of highlights from his 2007 election speeches. 

Rudd Government sinks its fangs into public dental plan

Rudd's razor gang continues to wield the knife.

 

According to The Daily Telegraph last week. 

 

"A MEDICARE dental scheme paying for 20,000 dental treatments a month will be abolished by the Rudd Government in three weeks' time.

The scheme, which provides up to $4250 in Medicare benefits for dental work, has been in operation for just three months.

The latest Medicare statistics show that 20,224 dental services were funded under the scheme in January.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon is axing the $384 million scheme and replacing it with a plan to give the states $290 million to pay for one million dental consultations at public dental clinics.--

The Association for the Promotion of Oral Health yesterday slammed the axing of the Medicare dental scheme, claiming Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was "stealing Medicare entitlements".

Association chairman Hans Zoellner said Mr Rudd, who has a heart valve replacement, relied on high quality dental services to avoid a deadly complication of his condition known as endocaritis.

Bacteria from gum disease or dental decay could have resulted in a life-threatening heart infection, Professor Zoellner said.

"He is stripping Australians less fortunate than himself from the same dental services he requires for survival," he said.

"We don't all marry millionaires."

 

Now I know that it is possible that Howard's scheme for dental care from private dentists on the recommendation of GPs may have been open to a level of overuse or abuse.

However, carving out a cool $94 million from the dental health budget is not the way to go.

 

The combined states waiting lists at public dental clinics need more than what is on offer to fix the long wait for treatment.

 

"There are 485,000 Australians waiting up to 10 years for public dental treatment and Professor Zoellner said Labor's extra funding would only treat 83,000 of them."

 

Indeed, with most of those who have been on the waiting lists for years now needing considerable work done on their mouths, this new level of funding (which will actually be prioritised and allocated by state governments) will probably only continue to spent on examinations and extractions rather than efforts to keep functioning teeth.

That way the states will make the money go further towards allowing them to avoid significant increases in their own contributions to dental health funding.

 

Ms. Roxon needs to remember that, like health, dental services are the constitutional responsibility of the Commonwealth and ensure that state governments are locked in to proper use of the limited funds she is offering.

Many on the NSW North Coast will be watching this issue with interest as they wait in the dental queue.

Personally, I would have preferred to see the proposed $31 billion in inflationary tax cuts reduced instead of budget cuts eating into public health measures.

Morrie and the Multinationals sing 'It's you and me against the world'

Well the report into the electricity privatisation plan has been presented to the Iemma Government.

Predictably, it comes down predominantly in favour of the Iemma-Costa proposal.

Also predictably, NSW unions hold a dissenting view.

Uncomfortably but not unexpectedly, Prime Minister Rudd weighed in to support his little mate and sang from the same hymn book.

What is a little surprising is the strong rumour that a number of North Coast Labor Party branches are very unhappy and at least one has made known its opposition to Morrie's little scheme to sell-off an essential service.

 

So, apart from most of his 21-strong front bench, some hardline economists and the big multinational energy companies, who is in favour of what appears to be a $25 billion Telsta-style sell out?

Anyone? No-one?

 

Not even the three reports that came before the NSW Government gave an unqualified tick of approval to this sell-off. Doesn't that give you pause for thought, Premier?

Morrie, I hope that they hang you high by your heels at the ALP state conference in May.

 

A collection of papers and the final report are at Securing the State's Electricity Supplies.

The March 2008 Impact Statement with dissenting positions by Unions NSW and the Total Environment Centre is at this link.

Shout Out youth mag revamped

Shout Out the local free youth magazine has been revamped. Its 34 page March 2008 issue is glossy and tightly packed with news and views, as well as great surfing pics.

This mag is a Clarence Valley Arts project funded by the NSW Government through the area assistance scheme.

The Shout Out team are young, bright and cluey and their mag is well worth a look to see what's on and what's up.

If you want to find out what's on for the young on the NSW North Coast, grab a copy of the mag.
Alternatively contact the team at:
cvyouthmag@yahoo.com.au or go to MySpace here.

Remember that the Youth Week 2008 festival is at Maclean Showground on 5 April 2008.
It will have live music, DJs, 4-way bungee, circus workshop, jewellery making, and great food stalls.
Sounds like a great day.

A smile for the start of the working week

Cartoon found at Club Troppo.

Is Japanese government and industry paying for this latest 'informal' whaling discussion?

One has to wonder exactly whose press releases are being relied on for stories concerning last weekend's International Whaling Commission meeting in Tokyo and the additional informal discussion concerning a repeal of the international whaling moratorium.

 

Japan already carries out "a limited hunt in waters close to its shores" in which it kills around 100 whales and in excess of 21,000 dolphins annually according to the government fisheries agency reported in The New York Times.

 

The NZ Herald on Sunday reported the following today.

 

"LONDON - Controversial plans to lift the worldwide ban on whaling were presented to a secret meeting of more than 70 governments in London last week.

The plans, which have alarmed environmentalists, have been welcomed by both pro- and anti-whaling governments and seek to lift a long stalemate over hunting, enabling Japan officially to resume commercial whaling for the first time in more than 20 years.

The plans would permit the world's main whaling nation to carry out a limited hunt in waters close to its shores.

In return, Japan would have to stop exploiting a loophole in international law, through which it kills hundreds of whales around Antarctica each year under the guise of "scientific research".

The plans - drawn up at another unpublicised meeting in Tokyo last month - were presented by the governments of Argentina and the Netherlands to a closed three-day session of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at the Renaissance Hotel near Heathrow airport, which ended yesterday."

 

There is a real danger here that Japan is angling to extend its commercial whale kill into Pacific Ocean waters and to not only include Minke whales but also to have some threatened species 

placed on the official catch list.

 

One also has to question the present motives of the Netherlands and Argentina. 

The Netherlands effectively ceased commercial whaling in 1964 when it sold its last whaling ship to Japan and now officially opposes the practice of whaling. So its support of discussions about 

allowing Japan to widen its coastal whaling is possibly in response to thinly veiled Japanese threats of legal action or diplomatic sanctions over the Netherlands registered vessel, the Steve Irwin.

In 2007 Argentina supported an extension of the Antarctic Southern Ocean whale sanctuary into the South Atlantic and has been critical of Japan for voting against this move.

Given Japan's history of using money to pave the way, a suspicion develops concerning its 'new' relationship with these two countries.

 

The international community would be foolish to believe that any concession granted to Japan would see that country cease its drive to expand both whale kill numbers and the territory in which it conducts these whale hunts.

 

For the voice of the hunted and soon to be hunted go and listen to their songs/sounds:

Blue Whale 1                   Pilot Whale   

Blue Whale 2                   Sperm Whale                   

Humpback Whale 1          Dolphin 1

Humpback Whale 2          Dolphin 2

Humpback Whale 3          Male Whale in 2003

Fin Whale                        Dwarf Minke