Rally for Equal Pay at Lismore on 15 December 2010 - Noon

The Australian Services Union rallying call:

The ASU's Equal Pay Case is the most important case for the rights of women in the last 20 years.
We need the support of all ASU members to give women the equal pay they been denied up to now.
This case is about justice and equal rights. With your help we'll win...........

The fight for Equal Pay continues. In recent years the gap between the pay of men and women has actually increased. The ASU is currently running the first case of its kind under the Fair Work Act to argue equal pay for work of equal value.

This Wednesday, 15 December at midday, there will be rallies held across Australia to send the message it is time for equal pay. These rallies will be on the same day as submissions will be made in the case by those employer groups that have fought every pay increase for our sector. We need to make a noise and show them that Australians are willing to fight for Equal Pay

The Lismore rally will be held on the corner of Magellan and Carrington Streets. We encourage everyone to come out in support of Equal Pay. Our local Member of Parliament Janelle Saffin and our Mayor Jenny Dowell will both be speaking and there will be cupcakes.

Support your community. Support equal pay.

Many Australian journalists appear to think their work is below par

The recently released LIFE IN THE CLICKSTREAM: THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM (December 2010) makes some interesting observations concerning mainstream media.

Including this chart based on an Essential Media survey question asked of the profession: How do you rate the quality of Australian journalism compared with 5 years ago?

An assessment from within the profession which is harsher than that of readers when asked a similar question about news journalism:

Asked whether the quality of news journalism had improved or deteriorated over the past five years, 30 per cent of people said they thought it was better or much better, while 33 per cent thought it was worse or much worse.

Unsurprisingly Life in the Clickstream additionally observes that readers remain unwillingly to pay for news online and notes a disparity in how journalists and readers view the same profession:

Not surprisingly, journalists overwhelmingly believe that what they are doing provides a public good and that without their work, society would be worse off. Our survey of journalists found that 93 per cent agreed with that statement, 66 per cent of them strongly.
But when we asked the same question in a survey of the general public about their attitudes to journalism and their news consumption habits, only 63 per cent agreed, only 16 per cent saying they “strongly agree”. Some 8 per cent either “disagree” or “strongly disagree”.

The report also helps explains why APN newspapers on the NSW North Coast sometimes publish shocking bloopers when reporting on local identities and well-known Northern Rivers families:

Similarly, APN formed a centralised subbing unit known as Centro in late 2008, with subbing of their 14 daily papers in NSW and Queensland being centralised on the Sunshine Coast….

Local sub-editing based on local knowledge is apparently a thing of the past for this newspaper group.

* Media Alliance commissioned Essential Media to conduct two surveys. One was a public poll of attitudes towards journalism in Australia and examined how and why people access news, their levels of trust in various platforms and their willingness to pay for news content online.
The other survey was of journalist members of the Media Alliance and asked about working conditions, pay, levels of training and morale.
[LIFE IN THE CLICKSTREAM: THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM,Introduction,p4]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall......

Google has posted Australia’s top searches in 2010. Not much on the question asking are we? And where the heck did that confusion about democracy come from?

Top questions people ask Google - ‘What is …?’
1. What is love
2. What is energy
3. What is twitter
4. What is depression
5. What is bullying
6. What is democracy
7. What is Skype
8. What is Pi
9. What is veal
10. What is probate

Memo to Gillard and Obama: So what is the precise difference?

Try and pick the “anti-American” “terrorist” ”traitor” who should be prosecuted and deserves to die from the reputable newspaper which is reporting on foreign affairs.
Yes, it’s the Australian citizen and Wikileaks editor who should be assassinated.

Where is the logic when both editors have published identical material on the same day from the same original source?

Well, there is no logic being applied by Prime Minister Gillard and President Obama as heads of their respective governments.
Nor is logic something being practiced by sections of the international media, as evidenced from the U.S. Fox News excerpt above where it is very evident that none of the speakers have actually read any of the cables they mention.

It is becoming increasingly hard to believe that current Swedish legal moves against the Wikileaks editor are not now perverted by design so as to eventually see him extradited to the United States.

Something which will eventually involve the reputation of British Prime Minister David Cameron and his government:

Informal discussions have already taken place between US and Swedish officials over the possibility of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being delivered into American custody, according to diplomatic sources.
Mr Assange is in a British jail awaiting extradition proceedings to Sweden after being refused bail at Westminster Magistrates’ Court despite a number of prominent public figures offering to stand as surety.
His arrest in north London yesterday was described by the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates as “good news”, and may pave the way for extradition to America and a possible lengthy jail sentence.

Examples of the published cables:

The New York Times published online, Executive editor W. Keller, 2 December 2010:

Date 2009-08-06 05:28:00 Source Embassy Kabul Classification SECRET S E C R E T KABUL 002246 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, SCA/A, INL, EUR/PRM, INR, OSD FOR
FLOURNOY, CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICENT KABUL FOR
COS USFOR-AE.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2019
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, MARR, AF
SUBJECT: COMPLAINTS TO GIROA ON PRE-TRIAL RELEASES AND
PARDONS OF NARCO-TRAFFICKERSREF: REFTEL KABUL 02245 Classified By: DEPUTY AMBASSADOR FRANCIS J. RICCIAR DONE FOR REASONS 1.4
(B) AND (D)1.

(S) SUMMARY: On numerous occasions we have emphasized with
Attorney General Aloko the need to end interventions by him
and President Karzai, who both authorize the release of
detainees pre-trial and allow dangerous individuals to go
free or re-enter the battlefield without ever facing an
Afghan court. On July 29th, Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh
and Deputy Ambassador Frances Ricciardone demarched Attorney
General Muhammad Ishaq Aloko about our concern over pre-trial
releases and presidential pardons of narco-traffickers
(Reftel Kabul 02245) In Spring 2008, Post had previous
demarched National Security Advisor Rassoul about our concern
over pre-trial releases. Despite our complaints and
expressions of concern to the GIRoA, pre-trial releases
continue. END SUMMARY

Wikileaks published online, Senior editor J. Assange, 2 December 2010:

VZCZCXYZ0001OO RUEHWEBDE RUEHBUL #2246 2180528ZNY SSSSS ZZHO 060528Z AUG 09 ZDKFM AM EMBASSY KABULTO SECS TATE WASH DC IMMEDIATE 0662S E C R E T KABUL 002246SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, SCA/A, INL, EUR/PRM, INR, OSD FORFLOURNOY, CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICENT KABUL FORCOS USFOR-AE.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR AF SUBJECT: COMPLAINTS TO GIROA ON PRE-TRIAL RELEASES ANDPARDONS OF NARCO-TRAFFICKERSREF: REFTEL KABUL 02245Classified By: DEPUTY AMBASSADOR FRANCIS J. RICCIAR DONE FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D)

¶1. (S) SUMMARY: On numerous occasions we have emphasized withAttorney General Aloko the need to end interventions by himand President Karzai, who both authorize the release ofdetainees pre-trial and allow dangerous individuals to gofree or re-enter the battlefield without ever facing anAfghan court. On July 29th, Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Kohand Deputy Ambassador Frances Ricciardone demarched AttorneyGeneral Muhammad Ishaq Aloko about our concern over pre-trialreleases and presidential pardons of narco-traffickers(Reftel Kabul 02245) In Spring 2008, Post had previousdemarched National Security Advisor Rassoul about our concernover pre-trial releases. Despite our complaints andexpressions of concern to the GIRoA, pre-trial releasescontinue. END SUMMARY

Looking for Mr. Good Stork

The Australian Federal Government’s My Hospitals website is up and running and I decided to see what is said about hospitals on the NSW North Coast.

With a bit of nudging the lists from the mid to far North Coast came up here and here. Then the fun began when linking to hospitals in the Clarence Valley.

According to the new website there were no births at Maclean District Hospital in the financial year 2008-09, which was to be expected as its maternity section was closed down years ago despite community protests.

Grafton Base Hospital had 478 births + <10 births in the same financial year. Again something to be expected as it is the only relatively large hospital in the area and it usually records births it the vicinity of four hundred or so.

Wondering how these figures compared with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) regional profile for the Clarence Valley local government area I went looking.

I found that birth numbers didn’t quite add up when one compares My Hospitals and ABS data, even when the former is operating on financial year dates and the latter on calendar year dates.

The ABS has 278 births recorded in Grafton Statistical Area for year ended 31 December 2008 and no births recorded for the Clarence Valley Local Government Area in the year ending 31 December 2009.

An official 2009 zero birth rate was taking things a bit too far, so who isn’t keeping accurate records? The ABS, local court houses, someone else? Or did bad weather blow The Stork off course?

Well Clarence Valley residents may actually in part be the culprits when it comes to accurate record keeping. Because it appears that Australians don’t always promptly register the births of those little bundles of joy.

Elsewhere on the ABS website it states:

Of the 295,700 births registered in Australia during 2009, 88% occurred in 2009. A further 9% occurred in 2008, and the remainder (3%) occurred in 2007 or earlier. It is expected that some births, particularly those that occur in November and December, may not be registered until the following year.

Now in New South Wales parents are responsible for registering the birth of their newborn within 60 days.
However, somewhere in Australia in 2009 (presumably including NSW) over 8,000 people probably turned up at the court house or registry office with a one and a half to three year-old child in tow and told the clerk that the toddler holding their hands actually existed. Others obviously went in after the Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties were over to inform the world that their family had grown.

How long will The Reject Shop last in Yamba?

Maud Up The Street tells me that yet another bargain store is trying its luck in Yamba Fair shopping centre. This must be at least the fourth such store which has parked itself in the same spot in the last ten or so years.
Maud reckons it’s losing customers already because it assumes that everyone coming through its door is a potential shoplifter – ‘let me look in your bag’ seems to be the mantra - and not a month into this store’s life media reports are also saying the whole chain is just not drawing a big enough crowd:
“THE worst Christmas "for a very long time" has seen The Reject Shop slash its profit forecast - and its shares savaged. Investors wiped more than 20 per cent off the low-end retailer's share price, while the shock profit warning sent shudders through the nation's retailers and weighed on the shares of other retailers.
Reject Shop chief executive Chris Bryce blamed the Reserve Bank of Australia's increase in interest rates in early November for a sudden drop in customers through its 195 shops.”