Stirring Women's anthem sung by 400 Women of Victoria Australia to mark the centenary of Suffrage - finally getting the Vote in Australia after 19 attempts in Parliament. Sung at the BMW edge in Melbourne, composed by Kavisha Mazzella (www.kavisha.com) and commissioned by the Victorian Women's Trust - for more info please visit http://www.vwt.org.au/
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Friday, January 04, 2013
US: Climate Crisis: Alarm Translates Into Action
The Obama administration has done little to address this problem—in part because of congressional resistance—but did set higher fuel emissions standards for automobiles, an important step in curtailing greenhouse gases.
The real action, though, is at the grassroots. Bill McKibben and 350.org launched a national movement in the fall of 2012 to press colleges and universities to divest their holdings in big energy companies. Texas and Nebraska landowners, Canadian tribes, and environmentalists everywhere are taking action to block the construction of a tar sands pipeline to ocean ports. Thousands turned out at hearings in Washington state to oppose the transport of millions of tons of Powder Basin coal through the region for export to China. And resistance to natural gas fracking is spreading throughout the Northeast.
Meanwhile, coal plants across the U.S. are closing, and a West Virginia coal company is giving up mountaintop removal as a result of pressure from environmental groups and falling demand in the wake of low prices for natural gas.
With widespread alarm at the extreme weather events, conditions are now ripe for a strong popular movement to take on the fossil fuel industry and its threat to human civilization.
$35 A DAY NOT ENOUGH!
People in the prime of their working lives make up the largest share of those on unemployment benefits, a trend unions and social services groups say reflects greater insecurities at work.
While older workers face a greater risk of long-term unemployment, official figures show those aged 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 are the two biggest groups to receive Newstart payments. Between them, these two groups account for nearly half of all Newstart recipients. The next largest group of Newstart recipients are aged between 45 and 54.
The chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), Cassandra Goldie, said the extent of Newstart payments to people in their 30s and 40s was affected by the growing prevalence of irregular and casual work, which was being experienced by workers of all ages.
''The idea that there's a job for life is no longer the reality in Australia,'' Dr Goldie said. ''People can lose their job and this can happen in the prime of your working life, and then it becomes really hard. Often there's a need to retrain … and if you don't have the financial resources to do that you can get really stuck.''
This week government payments to some single parents were cut by $115 a week, as part of a group of cuts affecting tens of thousands of people.
The Minister for Families, Jenny Macklin, sparked an outcry when she claimed she could live on the $35-a-day Newstart allowance. The comment was later omitted from the transcript of the press conference where she made the remarks.
The president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Ged Kearney, said there were anecdotal reports of many people who had finished studying or training struggling to find full-time work, leading to a cycle of casual or irregular employment.
''What we've seen is people are caught in short-term work or casual labour, '' she said. ''This certainly is a story we're hearing from a lot of people in their late 20s and 30s.''
Although people in their prime working years account for the highest share of Newstart benefits, those over 55 have a higher risk of long-term unemployment - being jobless for a year or more.
Newstart and other payments are indexed twice yearly with the CPI, meaning that they are linked to increases in prices, rather than wages. That means they fall behind increases in community living standards. They have not been increased since 1994. While the CPI rose by 17% between 2005 and 2011, average wages rose by 23%.
Newstart is less than half of the minimum wage in Australia. While minimum wage is $606, Newstart is $246 – 40% of minimum wage. Even taking account of income tax, a single unemployed person would double their disposable income if they got a job at the minimum wage. So there is scope to increase it without eroding work incentives.
While older workers face a greater risk of long-term unemployment, official figures show those aged 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 are the two biggest groups to receive Newstart payments. Between them, these two groups account for nearly half of all Newstart recipients. The next largest group of Newstart recipients are aged between 45 and 54.
The chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), Cassandra Goldie, said the extent of Newstart payments to people in their 30s and 40s was affected by the growing prevalence of irregular and casual work, which was being experienced by workers of all ages.
''The idea that there's a job for life is no longer the reality in Australia,'' Dr Goldie said. ''People can lose their job and this can happen in the prime of your working life, and then it becomes really hard. Often there's a need to retrain … and if you don't have the financial resources to do that you can get really stuck.''
This week government payments to some single parents were cut by $115 a week, as part of a group of cuts affecting tens of thousands of people.
The Minister for Families, Jenny Macklin, sparked an outcry when she claimed she could live on the $35-a-day Newstart allowance. The comment was later omitted from the transcript of the press conference where she made the remarks.
The president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Ged Kearney, said there were anecdotal reports of many people who had finished studying or training struggling to find full-time work, leading to a cycle of casual or irregular employment.
''What we've seen is people are caught in short-term work or casual labour, '' she said. ''This certainly is a story we're hearing from a lot of people in their late 20s and 30s.''
Although people in their prime working years account for the highest share of Newstart benefits, those over 55 have a higher risk of long-term unemployment - being jobless for a year or more.
Newstart and other payments are indexed twice yearly with the CPI, meaning that they are linked to increases in prices, rather than wages. That means they fall behind increases in community living standards. They have not been increased since 1994. While the CPI rose by 17% between 2005 and 2011, average wages rose by 23%.
Newstart is less than half of the minimum wage in Australia. While minimum wage is $606, Newstart is $246 – 40% of minimum wage. Even taking account of income tax, a single unemployed person would double their disposable income if they got a job at the minimum wage. So there is scope to increase it without eroding work incentives.
Thursday, January 03, 2013
NSW: Save Historic Windsor Bridge
Brian Pearson and Ray Wedgwood spent two decades as the state's chief bridge engineers, in which Mr Wedgwood led the design and construction of, among others, the Anzac Bridge.
So when they were asked by the ABC's Ian ''Macca'' McNamara to have a look at the controversy around one of the state government's big bridge projects - the replacement of Windsor Bridge in far north-west Sydney - they felt qualified to express an opinion.
They think it's a folly. As do thousands in the area who believe the government's proposal will ruin the rare historical appeal of a town square laid out by Governor Lachlan Macquarie more than 200 years ago. ''I think it is all political,'' Mr Wedgwood said this week. ''I think Barry O'Farrell wants to do something for the people of Windsor and this was a proposal that was ready to go and they want to make it happen.''
That Windsor needs a new or upgraded bridge is not in question. The existing one was completed in 1874 and there are few places for motorists to cross the Hawkesbury River around Windsor and nearby Richmond. But how that bridge should be built has split the community near Windsor and its historic Thompson Square.The government's preferred option was developed before Mr O'Farrell took power. Worked up in 2008, the option is to close the bridge and replace it with a higher concrete structure about 35 metres downstream.
Roads and Maritime Services lodged an environmental impact statement late last year, and approved work could start mid-year. But the campaign against the proposal has only intensified. The group Community Action for Windsor Bridge won more than 12,000 signatures to trigger a debate in Parliament.
The National Trust is against it, saying it would be better to build a bypass for Windsor to prevent the town becoming a thoroughfare and preserving the appeal of Thompson Square, a rare colonial relic.
Mr Pearson and Mr Wedgwood, who between them were in charge of development of the state's bridges from 1981 to 2000 and who sit on RMS's Heritage Committee, have joined the fray.
They say the existing proposal would ''direct an increasing volume of traffic, including heavy vehicles, through the heart of Windsor'' and would offer little relief from the regular flooding of the Hawkesbury.
They say the structure could be refurbished relatively cheaply, and a bypass built at a much higher point downstream, with much less risk of flooding.
Read more
Windsor Bridge, built 1874, is the oldest extant Hawkesbury crossing. The square from which it springs - Thompson Square, 1795 - is still older. A rare remaining Georgian space, it is the oldest public square in the country. Yet the government wants to destroy both, asap.
When Thompson Square was built, Windsor was still the village of Green Hills. The name change came in 1811, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie adopted it as one of his five Hawkesbury towns.
Windsor Bridge is individually listed in the Hawkesbury local environment plan and the state register.
Even the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) calls it "highly significant". The Government Architect describes the project's level of impact on a dozen or more heritage properties as "very high".
The square, says the Heritage Council, is "of crucial importance to the heritage of the state". The Government Architect's office says it reflects "Macquarie's visionary schemes for town planning excellence in the infant colony".
Windsor is a small 1600-person town, and heritage is definitely an outré´ issue. But in July, hundreds watched a thunder of horsemen cross the bridge under the Eureka Flag to highlight the bridge's plight, and in November the Community Action for Windsor Bridge (CAWB) group presented state Parliament with a 12,000-signature petition.
Yet the O'Farrell government proceeds apace to demolish the bridge and rebuild a high level four-lane concrete monster that will queue B-doubles and mining trucks through the town and relegate what is left of the square to a siding.
Read more
So when they were asked by the ABC's Ian ''Macca'' McNamara to have a look at the controversy around one of the state government's big bridge projects - the replacement of Windsor Bridge in far north-west Sydney - they felt qualified to express an opinion.
 |
| Windsor Bridge in 1888 |
That Windsor needs a new or upgraded bridge is not in question. The existing one was completed in 1874 and there are few places for motorists to cross the Hawkesbury River around Windsor and nearby Richmond. But how that bridge should be built has split the community near Windsor and its historic Thompson Square.The government's preferred option was developed before Mr O'Farrell took power. Worked up in 2008, the option is to close the bridge and replace it with a higher concrete structure about 35 metres downstream.
Roads and Maritime Services lodged an environmental impact statement late last year, and approved work could start mid-year. But the campaign against the proposal has only intensified. The group Community Action for Windsor Bridge won more than 12,000 signatures to trigger a debate in Parliament.
The National Trust is against it, saying it would be better to build a bypass for Windsor to prevent the town becoming a thoroughfare and preserving the appeal of Thompson Square, a rare colonial relic.
Mr Pearson and Mr Wedgwood, who between them were in charge of development of the state's bridges from 1981 to 2000 and who sit on RMS's Heritage Committee, have joined the fray.
They say the existing proposal would ''direct an increasing volume of traffic, including heavy vehicles, through the heart of Windsor'' and would offer little relief from the regular flooding of the Hawkesbury.
They say the structure could be refurbished relatively cheaply, and a bypass built at a much higher point downstream, with much less risk of flooding.
Read more
Windsor Bridge, built 1874, is the oldest extant Hawkesbury crossing. The square from which it springs - Thompson Square, 1795 - is still older. A rare remaining Georgian space, it is the oldest public square in the country. Yet the government wants to destroy both, asap.
 |
| Thompson Square in the 1880s |
Windsor Bridge is individually listed in the Hawkesbury local environment plan and the state register.
Even the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) calls it "highly significant". The Government Architect describes the project's level of impact on a dozen or more heritage properties as "very high".
The square, says the Heritage Council, is "of crucial importance to the heritage of the state". The Government Architect's office says it reflects "Macquarie's visionary schemes for town planning excellence in the infant colony".
Windsor is a small 1600-person town, and heritage is definitely an outré´ issue. But in July, hundreds watched a thunder of horsemen cross the bridge under the Eureka Flag to highlight the bridge's plight, and in November the Community Action for Windsor Bridge (CAWB) group presented state Parliament with a 12,000-signature petition.
Yet the O'Farrell government proceeds apace to demolish the bridge and rebuild a high level four-lane concrete monster that will queue B-doubles and mining trucks through the town and relegate what is left of the square to a siding.
Read more
Building Industry Sham Contracts exposed
The first national research of its type by the Gillard government's Fair Work Building and Construction inspectorate has found up to 13 per cent of the nation's building workers employed on ''sham contracts''.
This means they are working in conditions identical to being a permanent employee - but are being paid as if they are an independent contractor providing a service for a fee.
Hiring a worker who should be a permanent staff member on a sham contract is illegal, because it allows the employer to avoid paying superannuation and leave, and to avoid the risk of hiring permanent staff.
Leigh Johns, chief executive of the Fair Work Building and Construction authority that commissioned the research, estimated that 50,000 workers in construction could be on sham contracts.
"This means they are missing out on entitlements like annual and sick leave and their employer making superannuation contributions," he said.
The research finds that 9 per cent of all contractors in construction are working for one employer only. And the practice of illegally contracting instead of hiring permanent staff has become particularly prevalent among non-English speaking workers.
It follows a 2011 inquiry into unlawful contracting. Separate research in 2011 by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union found up to 168,000 people on illegal contracts in the building industry.
The union's construction division national secretary, Dave Noonan, attacked employer groups, saying that some, such as the Master Builders Association, downplayed the problem.
''Companies that employ workers legitimately are becoming increasingly frustrated that the organisation that's meant to represent them and their interests are instead representing those who break the law,'' he said.
Stop the Sham!
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