Fed welfare plan discrimitary: NT council

Going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling: NT council of gov schools

The Federal Government plan to link school attendance to welfare payments is discriminatory, according to a peak Northern Territory education group.

Legislation passed by Federal Parliament will see some parents lose Centrelink payments for 13 weeks, if their children miss too much school.

The plan will be trialed in eight regions next year, including six Aboriginal communities in the Territory.

Michael Duffy from the N-T Council of Government Schools has said punishing parents isn't the way to go.

"They haven't discussed it with anybody, they haven't gone out and talked about how do you come to grips with this attendance business, what's school about?

"We have to set in place a process of education and we've actually got to be patient.

"The fundamental difficulty is that it's going in with the big stick approach rather than actually actively trying to engage parents in the whole adventure of schooling."

Related:

Pat Dodson delivers peace prize lecture
Patrick Dodson...Important for indigenous people to play a role in determining solutions for their problems "and be resourced to do so".

Lawyer prepares UN case against intervention
An Indigenous leader from central Australia has asked a human rights lawyer to take a case against the federal intervention to the United Nations.

Aboriginal welfare quarantine 'like apartheid'
An Aboriginal health lobby group is asking the Federal Government to reconsider its decision to keep compulsory income management as a part of the Northern Territory intervention, against the advice of an independent review panel.

Damning report on Aboriginal scheme
THE radical intervention into remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory has "fractured" the relationship between governments and indigenous people and led to an even greater sense of betrayal and misery among many people, an independent panel has found.

NT intervention blamed for man's suicide
The family of a Northern Territory man who killed himself two months ago has blamed the federal intervention for his death.

Indigenous rights complaint lodged with UN
The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) has now sent a formal complaint to the United Nations about treatment of Indigenous people.

NT intervention failing to curb abuse
The head of one of Australia's peak Aboriginal child protection agencies says the federal intervention has failed to achieve one of its key goals.

NT intervention increasing murders
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is blaming the federal intervention for an increase in the number of murder cases it is defending in the Northern Territory.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention
Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.

New NT laws: 'more Aboriginal people jailed'
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties says more Aboriginal people will go to jail under proposed mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern Territory.

Intervention delivering 'empty shipping containers, no houses'
A member of the Maningrida community in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land says he cannot see any infrastructure changes as a result of the emergency intervention, and wants to know where the money has been spent.

Abandon NT intervention: Commissioner
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald says the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities should be abandoned and the legislation underpinning it should be repealed.

Budget to roll out new welfare card
Welfare plan: The new card will be initially rolled out in NT Indigenous communities. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Rudd Government's proposed welfare debit card is not the best way to help struggling families.

Police cannot cope with backlash
Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, has warned the Federal Government that many indigenous people displaced by the emergency intervention are creating unrest and straining police capacity.

Discrimination Act should apply to intervention: Calma
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner wants the Racial Discrimination Act immediately reinstated in the Northern Territory's Indigenous communities.

Porn ban in Indigenous communities 'racist'
The Australian National Adult Retail Association (Eros) says the Federal Government's ban on X-rated pornography in Aboriginal communities is pointless, racist and should be revoked.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies
EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Aboriginal delegation heads to UN
The National Aboriginal Alliance is taking its concerns about the Northern Territory intervention to the United Nations

Indigenous welfare quarantine scheme gets go ahead
Parents in four Cape York Indigenous communities could soon have their welfare payments quarantined if they do not take care of their children and homes and do not stay out of trouble with the law.

Allegations of cash for classes

A Sydney public school teacher has told a corruption inquiry the parents of a student handed her envelopes containing wads of cash in the hope it would secure their son a place in a selective high school.

The New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is hearing allegations the parents of a Year Five student at Westmead public school gave money to teacher Jodie-Lee Pearce on two separate occasions.

Ms Pearce told the Commission the boy's mother met with her after school in August and upon leaving handed her an envelope containing $2000 in $50 notes.

The envelope also had a letter asking for help with English in the lead-up to the selective school exam.

Ms Pearce says she was shocked when she saw the money and ran into another classroom to show a colleague.

She has also told the inquiry the boy's father also visited her at the school in October with another envelope containing $500 and a letter asking for favourable consideration.

It is alleged the parents were trying to get their son into Baulkham Hills Selective High School in Sydney's north-west.

In his opening address, the counsel-assisting the Commission, Don McKenzie, has told the inquiry parents are eager, sometimes even desperate to get their children into selective schools.

Bill of rights to rein in Parliament?

Australia was the only [alleged] democratic nation not to have a charter of rights.

Australia is [allegedly] a step closer to getting a bill of rights, which could [allegedly] enshrine rights to free speech and non-discrimination. The Federal Government is set to begin a consultation process into what the document should look like next week.

The charter would outline a set of rights and require the Parliament to ensure legislation complies with them. It is unlikely to be a US-style constitutional document - which allows courts to declare laws invalid - but will probably be based on those in Victoria, the ACT and Britain.

The cabinet agreed on the nationwide consultation process on Monday.

The Government will use the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, next Wednesday, to call for options on a human rights charter.

Kevin Rudd threw his support behind the principles enshrined in the declaration yesterday in a speech to Parliament marking the anniversary. "As a middle power we believe in a creative use of diplomacy to build stronger human rights protection in every part of the world," the Prime Minister said.

The Australian National University's Professor Hilary Charlesworth said the bill of rights would probably include civil and political rights such as the right to free speech and protection from discrimination. What was less clear was whether economic, social and cultural rights would be included, such as the right to education, to a high standard of health care and the right to work.

"I think [the Government] will leave it open," she said.

The move is sure to attract its critics, with the Coalition having already declared its opposition to a bill of rights. The shadow attorney-general, George Brandis, has previously said a rights charter was unnecessary and unwise, and would concentrate too much power in the judiciary.

George Williams, a constitutional expert who helped to draft the Victorian charter, said Australia was the only democratic nation not to have a charter of rights. He said the Government should consult as widely as possible and avoid including potentially contentious rights, such as a right to abortion. "A charter is not about foisting new agendas on to people," said Professor Williams, of the University of NSW.

"I would not put divisive things there. I would stick to things like freedom of speech - that we know we believe in and that have overwhelming public support … The process should be very open. It should not just involve legal and human rights groups. Any Australian who wants to should have a say."

Professor Williams said charters in Britain and Australia had led to almost no increases in litigation but could prevent the passing of laws that impinged on rights, such as the federal sedition laws.

Quote: 1. The very idea that we live in a democracy in Australia is highly controversial. 2. There have been many complaints about the Victorian bill of rights not preventing judges from denying claims lodged in the courts.

Related:

Activists target Rudd's net censorship plans
The political activists who helped free David Hicks and abolish Work Choices have now set their sights on the Government's plan to censor the internet, which is already facing a major backlash and a lack of political support. GetUp says it plans to run mainstream ads and offline action that will be as elaborate as its free Hicks campaign. In just a day, a petition on its website has attracted over 22,000 signatures; GetUp said it had received more emails urging them to act on this issue than "any other campaign in recent history".

David Hicks breaks his silence
Former Guantanamo Bay [prisoner] David Hicks has broken his silence, saying a court-imposed control order makes it hard for him to get on with his life.

ASIO officers should be prosecuted
Two ASIO officers should face prosecution for their role in the abduction of a Sydney medical student.

Disability group: review migration laws
The Down Syndrome Association of Western Australia says the Commonwealth must review legislation which makes it hard for people with children with disabilities to migrate to Australia.

Failures show need for bill of rights - Kirby
High Court Judge Michael Kirby says government failures on law reforms justify enacting a charter of rights.

Judge attacks disparity in laws
Australia has a long way to go in protecting the rights of women, Aborigines, migrants and homosexuals, High Court judge Michael Kirby said yesterday.

Some Risdon inmates in solitary confinement for years: reports
Risdon's solitary confinement unit is under investigation. The Tasmanian Ombudsman has begun an investigation into the unit after hearing inmates have not had access to enough sunlight or fresh air.

Black Australia's doing fine, says G-G
The Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson said the head of state's remarks were superficial and suggested that all that was needed was to "force these [remote] people out of their communal ways …

Women's battle for equal pay continues
ALMOST 40 years after it became unlawful to pay women less than men for equal work of equal value, women are still earning on average $196 a week less than men.

Push for federal charter of human rights
High Court Judge Justice Michael Kirby has again called for Australia to adopt a charter of human rights.

QLD judge-only trials 'not the answer'
Civil libertarian Terry O'Gorman says judge-only trials are not the answer. Laws to go to Parliament next week will allow the prosecution or the defence to apply for a trial to be heard by a judge-only in some complex or notorious cases.

Planned phone-tapping laws in Qld
Council for Civil Liberties..These new laws involve a considerable intrusion into the privacy of people's lives. Queensland Council for Civil Liberties says the public has a lot be concerned about.

Australia: Concerns of a police state
Cameron Murphy...a massive reduction in police accountability to the community. NSW police now have special emergency powers to bug or track people for up to four days without a warrant. Under the biggest shake-up to the state's surveillance laws, police will have up to four days to monitor people before needing to apply retrospectively for an emergency warrant from a Supreme Court judge. NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the new police powers flowed from an inter-governmental Australian terrorism summit in 2002.

Australia to sign up to anti-torture treaty
Australian complicity in War Crimes in the Middle East, Torture, Rendition. In Australia Draconian Laws, Indefinite Solitary Confinement of prisoners at places like the HRMU at Goulburn Correctional Centre.

UN Torture Committee Blasts Australia
In its report on Australia, the Torture Committee was critical of Australia's prisons, counter-terrorism laws, mandatory immigration detention and of the way Australian officials have ignored torture and mistreatment overseas in places like Abu Ghraib.

LINE IN SAND ON MENTAL HEALTH
“Patients under state control have had their social interaction reduced, and right to smoke removed. These vulnerable and isolated citizens, to whom the state owes a special obligation, are extremely distressed and have asked for community assistance,” said JA spokesperson Michael Poynder.

Faheem Lodhi - another non-terrorist jailed under Australia's 'anti-terror' laws? Jack Thomas, a non-terrorist, has been jailed under Australia's anti-terror laws. Now Faheem Lodhi has been convicted under the terror laws on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. It is likely he is another non-terrorist jailed for political purposes under the terror laws.

Students protest against academy closure

Students and teachers from the Australian National Academy of Music have played classical music in Parliament House to protest against the school's closure.

Two violinists entered the House of Representatives entrance and a lone cellist greeted senators on the opposite side of Parliament House.

Last month federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett announced that funding for the classical music school will be cut and instead go to a new body operating in conjunction with Melbourne University.

The academy is set to be stripped of its funding and the $2.5 million will now be given to Melbourne University's School of Music instead.

The academy's artistic director, Brett Dean, says the Government is throwing the baby out with the bath water.

"Any institution needs to have accountability," he said.

"My big difficulty with all of this is that it hasn't acknowledged the artistic credibility of the place."

Mr Garrett announced that students from the academy will be given help to find a place in the new school, which Mr Dean says is a sign Mr Garrett has been listening.

But Mr Dean says he does not want a situation where students are being moved from a place where they have flourished to a place where their future is much less certain.

"The language of the most recent announcement certainly seems to acknowledge that the academy has a fine reputation and isn't the dysfunctional baby that they thought they were getting rid of," he said.

He says current facilities at Melbourne University's music department or conservatorium and Victorian College of the Arts are already overstretched.

Greens moratorium

Greens will move a Senate motion today calling on the Government to impose a 12-month moratorium on the closure of the academy.

Greens Senator Christine Milne says the Government needs to allow the students to remain at the school while its future is discussed.

"These brilliant young students don't know where they're going next year, there are no transitional arrangements in place," she said.

"The Prime Minister would not do this to his own children nor would Minister Garrett, nor would I, and so this is a bad decision and the Parliament needs to intervene here."

Being heard

Rock musician Paul Kelly and actor Geoffrey Rush are among other high-profile Australians who have come to Parliament House in support of the Australian Academy of Music.

Mr Dean says the protest is designed to have their music be heard.

"I think actions often speak louder than words," he said.

"This decision has been made without the minister or his advisers ever setting foot in our premises in South Melbourne or ever hearing a note of music that we play.

"We've been criticised in the past for being inefficient and ineffective, now on Friday the Minister claims that we have such a strong reputation that they want to keep the name [for the new school at Melbourne University].

"They need to realise how that name has come to stand for such excellence and that is because we have a team that can deliver and provide these services."

Uni students struggling more than ever

Uni students are struggling to make ends meet

New economic modelling has found university students are struggling financially more than ever.

The average university student will earn about $240 per week from all sources, but will have to spend about $540 on essentials such as food and rent.

Over the past decade, living costs have risen by 50 per cent, while Youth Allowance has only gone up by about 30 per cent.

The average student will also graduate with a HECS debt of about $20,000 and many will never be able to pay it off.

Related:

Students' $250 fee for uni services
UNIVERSITY students face new compulsory fees of up to $250 a year to fund campus activities such as debating clubs, counselling services and student newspapers.

Wage dispute: NSW teachers continue fight

Thousands of state school and TAFE teachers across New South Wales have walked off the job for two hours to protest against the State Government's latest pay offer.

The teachers will stop work for two hours from 9:00am (AEDT).

The action is part of the NSW Teachers Federation's seven-month campaign to improve the State Government's pay offer.

The federation's acting president, Bob Lipscombe, says he understands the frustration of parents over the disruption.

"Teachers are very reluctant to take industrial action. We'd hoped to avoid industrial action around these matters," he said.

Mr Lipscombe says there may be more industrial action in future.

"We're hopeful that when the Government sees the feelings of teachers in such an obvious way, as they will this morning, that they'll commence negotiations in good faith that will lead to a settlement around these issues," he said.

"But unfortunately if the Government is not prepared to reach some accommodation around these matters, then certainly consideration will need to be given to that in the future."

The Education Department says 90 per cent of schools will remain open, but parents should check directly with their children's school if unsure.

The department's director-general, Michael Coutts-Trotter, says he is disappointed teachers are pushing ahead with the action.

Students' $250 fee for uni services

UNIVERSITY students face new compulsory fees of up to $250 a year to fund campus activities such as debating clubs, counselling services and student newspapers.

But universities will have to offer HECS-style loans to help students pay the fees, and the money will go to university administrators, not directly to elected student unions.

Youth Minister Kate Ellis announced the moves late last night, saying the Howard government had stripped at least $170million out of the universities by imposing voluntary student unionism on services.

Ms Ellis said the move had slashed services and that the new services and amenities charge would help repair the damage.

The Howard government's move to scrap compulsory unionism was one of the most ideologically charged decisions of its final term in office, with critics claiming it was an attempt to destroy student unions, which had long acted as training grounds for aspiring politicians.

Under Ms Ellis's plan, universities will be able to opt to charge a fee capped at $250 which must apply equally to all students at the institution.

The money will be handled by the universities, and membership of student unions will continue to be voluntary.

Ms Ellis said she would consult with universities about what amenities and services the fee could be used to provide.

But she produced a list including food and beverage subsidies, meeting rooms, counselling, childcare, legal and employment services, health services, libraries and reading rooms, and student newspapers.

"Driven by ideological obsession, the previous Liberal government went too far, and students have been paying the price ever since the implementation of VSU in 2006," Ms Ellis said in a statement yesterday.

She insisted the change did not represent a return to compulsory student unionism, but the National Union of Students said the money raised from fees should be passed to the unions to spend on student services.

NUS president Angus McFarland said he was delighted with the change but was concerned about the place student unions would have in the reform plan.

"Student organisations are well-placed to provide these services," Mr McFarland said.

"You can't have taxation without representation."

Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said voluntary student unionism had cost the university about $5million a year.

"The university experience is broader than just that received in the classroom," Professor Davis said yesterday.

"Today's universities provide services around housing, part-time and permanent employment, counselling, health, financial aid, childcare and academic support. But they also provide sporting facilities and access to a wide range of clubs and societies to allow students to gain a range of additional skills and competencies."

Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations president Nigel Palmer welcomed the news, saying it was recognition that services were part of university life.

"If students are paying, they need to have a direct say in how their money is being spent," Mr Palmer said.

Sector umbrella group Universities Australia said the funding boost was timely, given that university investment income was tumbling.

But UA said it was disappointed the funding was coming entirely from students instead of the Government providing some base funding.

SA teachers to strike today

Half-day strike in SA schools over pay.

Some South Australian public schools will be closed this morning as teachers rally for a pay increase from the State Government.

Teachers unanimously knocked back the Government's pay offer of a 12.5 per cent rise over three years, and are still demanding 21 per cent.

More than 400 schools and preschools will close until a 12.15pm, while nearly 360 will operate as normal.

Anne Crawford from the Education Union says teachers are insulted by the Government's offer.

"The wage rise they have offered is fundamentally less than the cost of living, less than the CPI and the Government has completely forgotten about school leaders, preschool directors, TAFE employees and non-teaching staff," she said.

The Union's state president, Correna Haythorpe, says teachers voted unanimously to strike for a bigger rise.

"We know that over 80 per cent of our members have voted in favour for the stop-work action and parents are advised to make contact with their local schools," she said.

Jan Andrews from the Education Department says parents should already know if their children will be affected by today's strike.

She says year 12 students will not be disadvantaged.

"Schools are prioritising the needs of those students and I'm told that the AEU has had some regard to that as well," she said.

"But the programs in schools that have been affected have been tailored around the year 12s so that their work won't be interrupted even if those children are working at home."

Teen pregnancy, suicide rates a 'wake-up-call'

A report that shows Australia is not the lucky country for its youth should act as a policy wake-up call, the federal government says.

The Research Alliance for Children and Youth compared health, education, employment and family relationships of Australians aged up to 24 with those in other developed nations.

Overall, non-indigenous Australian youths fared relatively well in each category but not compared with youngsters from the best performing countries. And indigenous young people compared miserably on every indicator.

"Despite our economic prosperity, Australian children do not perform as well as modern society would like to think," the report said.

Federal Families and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the report would be a "shock" to many people.

"We are falling far behind many, many comparable countries ... where we would have thought we were doing so much better," Ms Macklin said.

"We all know the shocking gap that exists between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians but ... I don't think that people are aware of the extraordinary differences between our children and children in other developed countries."

Pregnancy rates were much higher than the OECD average, and rates for indigenous Australians were the highest, the report found.

Youth road deaths are the third highest in the OECD and indigenous young people have the second highest suicide rate behind Finland.

Children of indigenous youths have the second highest infant mortality rate and recorded the lowest birth weights.

More than 15 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 years claim to experience high or very high levels of psychological distress.

Australia also performed poorly in the transition between education and employment, and family relationships.

Head of the study, Professor Fiona Stanley, said the findings suggested government policy had failed children for many years.

"If this was the Olympics, Australian's would be horrified that we've failed to bring home a single gold," she said.

Prof Stanley said Australia can do better and the indicator levels were "very policy sensitive and responsive".

Ms Macklin agreed, saying paid parental leave and a focus on early childhood education would help boost Australia's performance.

"It does need to be a wake up call ... as a nation we have to do better," she said.

Eleven-year-old Isha Menon, selected to be acting Children's Commissioner for the day, said one area of focus should be better work-life balance for families.

"Many children in my class have to go home alone and sometimes around 4.30 they are still hanging around and playing with friends," she said.

"They probably never see their parents because they work long hours.

"We must support parents to spend more time with their children."

The wellbeing of Australian youth compared to other Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations

Infant mortality: Australians 20/27

Indigenous Australians 26/28

Low birth rate: Australians 7/18

Indigenous Australians 19/19

Mental health: Australians 13/23

Indigenous Australians 23/24

Accidental injury: Australia 7/8

Education

Reading: Australians 6/29

Indigenous Australians 29/31

Maths: Australians 29/31

Indigenous Australians 29/31

Science: Australians 5/30

Indigenous Australians 29/31

Transition to employment: Australia 17/25

Peer and family relationships

Parents "just talking" with children: Australians 18/27

Indigenous Australians 17/28

Sense of belonging: Australians 11/29 Indigenous Australians 29/30

Teenage fertility: Australians 21/30 Indigenous Australians 31/31

Road deaths: Australia 20/23

Source: The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY).

Related:

Rise in deaths of children at risk
THERE has been a surge in the number of deaths of children at risk in NSW in 2007, despite a $1.2 billion funding injection into the Department of Community Services over the previous five years.

Children needing protection 'has tripled'
The biggest increase in the number of notifications was in NSW. New research shows state governments have failed to put in place appropriate child protection measures despite a sharp rise in the number of children needing protection from violent and sexual abuse in the last 10 years.

Child removal rate similar to Stolen Generations
A Queensland Government report shows Aboriginal children are being removed from their families at a rate similar to the Stolen Generations of the 1920s.

Parents lack life skills, means, time: Stanley
ONE in five Australian parents are poor caregivers because they don't have the means or life skills, child health expert Professor Fiona Stanley says.

Mental illness more prevalent among youth
A new report on children's health shows that young people's mental health may not be improving, as was previously thought.

Taking the scalpel to DOCS
Overloaded on one front, the state's child protection agency fails all. When the body of a boy was found in a suitcase last year, and a girl was later found starved to death, the State Government could no longer ignore the calls for a major inquiry into the state's child protection system.

Formal sorry to child abuse victims
The Mullighan Inquiry recently exposed hundreds of cases of abuse, some dating back to the 1960s. Commissioner Ted Mullighan called it a foul undercurrent of abuse in SA institutions.

Principals agree: cut out social subjects
"The curriculum is far too crowded and we know from our research that not all schools can do what is being asked of them," she said. "The social responsibilities being placed on primary schools are ever increasing, taking time and resources away from our core business."

Drunk diplomat's wife felt up officer

A DIPLOMAT'S wife who squeezed the bottom of a Victorian policeman while drunk and then injured a prison guard after her arrest has avoided a criminal conviction.

Muna Mawrid, 31, whose Norwegian husband is posted to Vietnam, staggered from the bar Amnesia at 5am on May 10 and grabbed the left cheek of the officer's bottom.

"I love you guys," she told him. "You look so f------ hot with your nine-millimetres."

Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday that Mawrid, whose eyes were glazed and speech was slurred, was refused re-entry to the bar by a crowd controller because she was carrying water.

Prosecutor Diana Karamicov said Mawrid then argued with and abused the crowd controller.

Ms Karamicov told the court Mawrid was arrested for being drunk and lodged in a cell at the Melbourne Custody Centre, where she requested her asthma puffer.

She lunged at a female guard and pulled her into the cell and, in the struggle, the guard suffered a lacerated finger which needed stitches.

Mawrid, a Norwegian resident in Australia on a student's visa, pleaded guilty to recklessly causing injury and to being drunk in a public place.

Defence lawyer Jim Valos said Mawrid's husband sent her $500 fortnightly and she received a grant from the Norwegian Government for her interpreter's and translator's course at Monash University.

Mr Valos told the court that while it did not excuse his Iraqi-born client's behaviour, her father's treatment under dictator Saddam Hussein had "left permanent scars" on her which surfaced on the night.

A doctor's report two days after the incident had diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress syndrome, he said.

He urged magistrate Amanda Chambers not to convict Mawrid, a submission supported by Ms Karamicov.

Mawrid was put on a non-conviction 12-month undertaking to be of good behaviour, ordered to pay $500 to the court fund and to continue counselling for her condition.

Darkroom sex-attack teacher jailed

A teacher who sexually assaulted a student in a school photography darkroom over a two-year period has been sentenced to five years' jail.

Paul Anthony Segar, 50, of Mount Waverley, went on trial for 10 sexual offences against a former student.

A jury found him guilty of eight, including indecent acts with a child under 16 and sexual penetration of a child under 16 under his care.

The victim, a student of Segar's at an eastern suburbs secondary college in the 1990s, was 14 when he grabbed her from behind and touched her thighs and groin.

County Court Judge Julian Leckie said Segar's offences involved a serious breach of trust.

"I find nothing within the evidence which indicates true remorse," he said.

Judge Leckie told the court the victim and Segar worked on developing photos in the darkroom for the school magazine.

The court heard Segar first approached the victim in the darkroom, putting his hand on her chest and running his hands up and down her pelvis when she was 14.

During the next two years he sexually assaulted her on a number of other occasions.

The woman reported the matter to police about eight years later and wore a recording device to meet him at a shopping centre in March 2006.

Segar was sentenced to five years in jail with a three year non-parole period.

NSW teachers continue transfer fight

Teachers from about 30 schools across New South Wales will stop work for two hours today as part of ongoing industrial action against the new transfer system.

A rally is also being planned outside Chifley College in Sydney's west in support of a teacher who was blocked by the Education Department from making a service transfer to fill a vacancy at a school of her choice.

Six schools in western Sydney will be closed between 9:00am and 11:00am (AEST) so teachers can attend the stop-work meeting.

The deputy president of the NSW Teachers Federation, Bob Lipscombe, says his members are angry about new staffing rules that will not allow the transfer of a Mt Druitt High School teacher.

"High schools in the Mt Druitt area will for all intents and purposes close during the stop-work," he said.

"The teachers there are very angry about what's happened. They're very upset about the staffing changes the State Government and Department of Education have put in place, and they're making their feelings known today."

The director-general of the Education Department, Michael Coutts-Trotter, says the action may affect the operation of up to 50 schools but will temporarily close only six.

"Parents have been notified that in the case of six schools in western Sydney," he said.

"The schools will be shut for two hours this morning in a completely unnecessary stop-work meeting. Those six schools will be effectively opening two hours later than normal."

Australia 'second last' on education spending

The report found Australia spends less than the OECD average in areas such as pre-primary and upper high school education.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, which looked at government funding of public education, ranked Australia second last.

The report also singles out Australia for putting more costs onto university students.

Australia is among a handful of countries where less than half the cost of tertiary education now comes from the public purse.

The OECD report shows public spending on all levels of education in Australia totalled 4.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005.

The OECD average is 5 per cent.

Apart from Australia's total education budget lagging behind, the The Australian Education Union (AEU) is concerned by the proportion of government spending that goes to the public sector.

The OECD average is 85 per cent, the report shows that figure is 75 per cent in Australia.

"Well, it is a damning report and it's a blight on Australia," AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos said.

"The report shows that Australia is now ranked second last when compared to other OECD countries when it comes to public expenditure, direct public expenditure on our public institutions, our schools and TAFE colleges."

The report finds Australian students are still performing well, compared to their counterparts in 30 OECD countries.

But Mr Gavrielatos says the report is still more evidence that public education funding should be increased by billions of dollars.

"The Government is on record as saying it will act on evidence-based policy.

"Well, there's no clearer evidence than this OECD report, that shows Australia is ranked second last when it comes to public expenditure on public institutions," he said.

However, the Government could also point to the education outcomes as evidence.

"They certainly could but I would have thought we would continually strive to improve as a nation," Mr Gavrielatos added.

The OECD uses figures from recent years, but not recent enough to reflect on the current Federal Government.

It shows Australia contributed just 68 per cent of spending on early education, well below the OECD average of 80 per cent.

Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard says the findings show just how much the education system was neglected by the Howard government.

"In early childhood education, Australia comes pretty close to the bottom of the class and this report also confirms that we've been under investing in higher education and vocational education and training," she said.

"It's no wonder with a record like this that the Howard government left us with a skills crisis, and left us with a big job to do to get early childhood education up to world standards."

The OECD report also shows that the highest wage for Australian teachers is significantly lower than in most other developed nations, despite teachers here working longer hours and having bigger classes.

Quote: Rudd foreshadows Pacific defence [military] build-up. Mr Rudd says the Government has committed to extending the real growth of the Defence budget by 3 per cent a year until 2018. What about less military and more social services? What is the OECD on military spending rate Australia? Australia ranks at 14th out of 170 OECD countries. Wikipedia

Related:

Thousands of teachers walk off the job
Teachers will stop work for two hours from 9am (AEST), in a dispute over staff transfers and the Government's 2.5 per cent pay rise ceiling.

University-style loans for Vic TAFE
The Victorian Government is introducing university-style loans for TAFE students, as part of a major shake-up of the system.

Budget worse than expected - Rees

NEW South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says the economic outlook for the state is more bleak than he expected, and difficult decisions will have to be made.

Mr Rees today received his second economic briefing since being installed as premier yesterday afternoon, during an unprecedented day in state politics.

Dumped treasurer Michael Costa yesterday painted a grim picture of the economic situation in NSW, saying the state's AAA credit rating was at risk.

Mr Rees today confirmed the health budget had blown out by more than $300 million, and said cutbacks in areas such as capital works would be necessary.

When asked if the situation was better or worse than he had expected, Mr Rees told reporters: "Worse, clearly."

"Like a household, you need a level of income sufficient to service your mortgage or your rent," he said.

"At this point in time there is a threat to our income levels and that means that if you are looking at us from the outside as a ratings agency, they are looking at us as a family that may not be able to continue paying its mortgage.

"We're going to fix that ... in the mini-Budget."

Mr Rees said there would be no silver bullet in terms of averting an economic crisis.

"There will be a number of difficult decision that have to be made across the Budget, capital works programs may have to be delayed," he said.

He would not be drawn on what measures would be included in the mini-Budget, which he said would be out in 10 weeks at the latest.

"There are difficult decision to be made, I want to make those decisions quickly and send the right signals to the investors, send the right signals to the financial market and make sure we can get cracking on the capital works program that enables us to put hospitals, rail lines and schools and so on on the ground as quick as we possibly can," he said.

He admitted it was not "the ideal start" to his time as premier.

Quote: Stop building prisons, find ways of diverting people from prison, and stop locking people up for longer. How much money would that save the state? About a billion at least. Otherwise the greatest crime will be people dying before they get to a hospital or even while they are there. Education also prevents crime the money spent on education even without specialist skils like social skills can prevent crime.

Related:

Rees confirmed as new NSW premier
Mr Rees is currently the Minister for Water and Emergency Services and was widely tipped to put his hand up as a non-factional premier. His selection has emerged from a full Caucus meeting at State Parliament in Sydney.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma resigns
Mr Iemma faced a caucus revolt this morning and Mr Rees had the numbers to overthrow Mr Iemma.

Gone: NSW Treasurer Michael Costa has been sacked
New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma has sacked his unpopular Treasurer Michael Costa in the wake of the state's failed electricity privatisation push.

Carmel Tebbutt named NSW deputy premier
Ms Tebbutt left the frontbench 18 months ago for family reasons
Labor MP Carmel Tebbutt has been chosen as the next deputy premier of New South Wales.

School attendance and welfare: Amnesty

School attendance and welfare: another blow to human rights

Last week, the Australian Government introduced legislation linking school attendance with welfare payments. Under the new legislation, if children don’t go to school regularly, their principal carer could have their welfare payments stopped for up to three months. The 3-year trial will begin at the start of the ‘09 school year in six Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

The way that the policy is being implemented specifically targets Indigenous people without seeking to adequately address the underlying causes of Indigenous disadvantage.

Successive Australian Governments have failed to meet their international human rights obligations to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and consequently, Aboriginal Australians are denied rights to the highest attainable standard of health, adequate housing, an adequate standard of living and freedom from discrimination. These failures contribute to Aboriginal children's lower levels of engagement with the education system and are not adequately acknowledged by the governments new policy.

As such, it's questionable whether the policy will actually work. This model has been tried before, notably in Cape York, in parts of WA and through the NT Intervention. The evidence shows that quarantining welfare will have little effect on whether children go to school.

An issues paper by the Australian Education Union shows that the programs that work combined sanctions with case management, supportive services and positive financial incentives. Even those programs showed limited success and this was attributed to the case management, not the welfare quarantining.

Not only that, but evaluations of the trials found that illness rather than truancy was the major cause of absence rather than truancy, and ACOSS cites other factors for absence, which include "a lack of basic education and support services in some areas, poor quality education programs, bullying, insecure housing and health problems affecting children and families."

The most appropriate policy response is one that protects all human rights. It must seek to repair the cumulative effects of the history of rights violations, poverty, exclusion and discrimination and emphasise the restoration a sense of empowerment and dignity not just in the punishment of truants but in the sense of community engendered by the school. Only then will children go to and stay in school.

Related:

No school, no cash 'hardline' benefits plan
Withholding welfare payments is unlikely to fix the causes of family dysfunction: Australian Council of Social Service. Families face losing their welfare for three months if their children continually skip school, under legislation to be introduced to Federal Parliament this week.

NT election turnout lowest in 20 yrs
The raw final figures from the Northern Territory election have revealed the lowest level of voter turnout in at least the past two decades.

Indigenous welfare quarantine scheme gets go ahead
Parents in four Cape York Indigenous communities could soon have their welfare payments quarantined if they do not take care of their children and homes and do not stay out of trouble with the law.

Union calls for $2.9b to fund education shortfall
The Education Union is calling on the Federal Government to provide an extra $2.9 billion in funding for public schools.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies
EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Abandon NT intervention: Commissioner
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald says the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities should be abandoned and the legislation underpinning it should be repealed.

Income management extended for NT
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced income management will be extended for up to a year in four Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention
Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.

Thousands of teachers walk off the job

Teachers will stop work for two hours from 9am (AEST), in a dispute over staff transfers and the Government's 2.5 per cent pay rise ceiling.

The NSW Teachers Federation has urged 2240 principals to close their schools and has refused to authorise minimal supervision for 750,000 students.

However, Education Department director-general Michael Coutts-Trotter said 88 per cent of schools would remain open during the strike period.

About 250 schools will have no supervision for students, he said.

"Parents have been advised of alternative arrangements by school newsletter or a note home and some schools have placed advice on their websites," he said.

The Government is planning to end the current transfer system, which gives priority for sought-after positions to teachers who have spent time at hard-to-staff schools.

Teachers Federation president Maree O'Halloran said the backlash from today's industrial action was worthwhile if it secured higher pay, retention of the transfer system and proper funding of public schools.

"When you take industrial action you could get the community offside," she said.

"But when you're dealing with the type of government we've got, it seems that nothing other than a crisis makes them listen.

"For these two hours they (the students) won't have lessons.

"But if the State Government doesn't start funding schools and TAFE colleges properly, doesn't start paying teachers properly and doesn't put the transfer system back in place there will be lots of schools who don't have enough teachers."

Ms O'Halloran would not comment on the possibility of future industrial action, saying the federation had successfully negotiated with the department in the past.

Primary students to sign contracts

A Northern Beaches private school is getting eight-year-old children to sign good behaviour contracts - including that they won't act in a "huffy and puffy manner".

Year 3 students at Pittwater House Junior School in Collaroy were asked to sign and date contracts agreeing to certain behaviour in the classroom, and to punishments if they misbehaved.

Local MPs said they were concerned about whether it was appropriate for young children to be asked to sign contracts.

But an education expert said the contract idea simply followed a trend to make Australian classrooms more "collaborative and democratic".

The two-page contract reportedly outlined rules preventing children from being unkind to classmates, to stay in certain areas, not share food, and not dramatise issues.

Punishments included missing recess and lunch, and having an incident reported to parents.

Manly MP Mike Baird said: "I'm all for outlining acceptable behaviour, but I don't see a contract as the right way."

Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said children under 10 were unlikely to understand what it meant to sign a contract, and to distinguish between right and wrong.

But Bruce Johnson, a professor of education at the University of South Australia, rejected that.

"I think we underestimate the ability of kids to contribute, eight-year-old kids are quite savvy," he said.

"The fact that a child is eight is asked to contribute to the definition of rules that they are part of [is a good thing]."

Asking children to sign contracts about rules of behaviour was "part of a social-contracting experience where kids and the teachers negotiate what rules apply in a classroom", he said.

"Often the origin of these rules is kids themselves. It's quite a different regime to what happened previously where teachers said: 'These are the rules, and you will follow them or these are the consequences'.

"It's a far more collaborative and, I think, fairer way ... it's not draconian at all."

For children older than 10, Dr Carr-Gregg said contracts could be effective, as long as they were involved in the drafting and the contract was not "handed down like tablets of stone from above".

However, he had concerns with contracts that outlined punishments for any breaches.

"That's a fairly young age to have a contract which has punitive components to it. You're more likely to get somewhere with that age group of you use carrots as opposed to sticks."

Professor Johnson said contracts were commonly used in South Australian schools, and had been for almost 20 years.

"I would think it's part of the broader trend across Australian schools to make them more collaborative and democratic," he said.

Children at Pittwater House Junior School were told not to discuss the contract with their parents. The school denied this.

Contracts have been used previously in other NSW schools, the paper said.

An Education Department spokesman said managing classroom behaviour was a matter for individual schools, and it was not possible for the department to know how each class did this.

The department would also not comment on the specific matter at Pittwater House Junior School because it was a private school, he said.

Pittwater House Junior School has been contacted for comment.

Related:

Juvenile justice supervision figure 4yr high
An Institute of Health and Welfare report has found that the number of young Australians being detained under juvenile justice supervision has reached a four-year-high.

Primary school bans cartwheels, handstands
A North Queensland primary school has banned cartwheels and handstands in the playground.

No school, no cash 'hardline' benefits plan
Families face losing their welfare for three months if their children continually skip school, under legislation to be introduced to Federal Parliament this week.

University-style loans for Vic TAFE

The Victorian Government is introducing university-style loans for TAFE students, as part of a major shake-up of the system.

The overhaul will guarantee a place for every worker that wants to upgrade their skills.

The program will give diploma and advanced diploma students access to university-style loans to make study more accessible

The four year, $316-million package will create 172,000 new training places.

The Victorian Premier, John Brumby said 900 extra teachers will also be funded.

"This is the largest single investment we've ever made in our VET system," he said.

The funding will go to public, private and community training providers and will make high level qualifications more expensive.

Mary Bluett, the president of the Education Union, said the loans scheme will force tens of thousands of students out of the TAFE sector.

"The bottom line is we have the lowest funded TAFE system in Australia and this is more of this Government pushing the cost on to students and the community rather than to properly fund our TAFE system," she said.

Primary school bans cartwheels, handstands

A North Queensland primary school has banned cartwheels and handstands in the playground.

Belgian Gardens State School in Townsville has banned all gymnastics activities during lunch breaks, declaring it dangerous because it has the potential to cause back and neck injuries.

Cali Buschgens, 10, has been reprimanded for cartwheeling on school grounds and her grandmother Val Bryce says the ban is a sad reflection on modern society.

"Sadly I think this is probably linked with the current society where litigation is rife and I feel that schools are probably trying to avoid a child being hurt and an irresponsible mother then trying to sue them for it," she said.

Education Queensland has defended the ban on unsupervised gymnastic activities.

Regional executive director Vicki Baylis says fear of litigation was never a factor in the decision and it was made purely for the students safety.

"The issue around the gymnastics is around the safety of the kids and it was not motivated by any concept of litigation, but certainly [by] that safety and well-being component of those kids when we're talking heads and necks and potentially backs if there were an injury."

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says she is surprised by the decision, and says the school is obviously taking student safety very seriously.

"I'd be interested to hear from this school what prompted them to take this action, because school communities by and large try to meet the standards that parents have in that community," she said.

No school, no cash 'hardline' benefits plan

Withholding welfare payments is unlikely to fix the causes of family dysfunction: Australian Council of Social Service.

Families face losing their welfare for three months if their children continually skip school, under legislation to be introduced to Federal Parliament this week.

Under the Federal Government's proposed scheme, regular school attendance will become a condition for receiving all welfare except the Family Tax Benefit.

If the legislation is passed a pilot scheme at eight schools will begin next year.

This morning Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that the Government made no apologies for the hardline approach.

Mr Rudd says his Government's priority is making sure that all children go to school.

"We think this conditionality - that if individual families are in receipt of income support payments the regular attendance at school by their kids is a necessary precondition - is the right way to go," he said.

"We need, in order to compete with the rest of the world, to boost our current school retention rate from 75 per cent to 90 per cent by 2020, [but] we have real problems of school non-attendance in Indigenous communities and also school non-attendance on the part of certain other kids as well.

"You've got to take a hardline approach."

But welfare authorities have criticised the plan.

Australian Council of Social Service president Lin Hatfield Dodds says there are various reasons why students do not go to school.

She says withholding welfare payments is unlikely to fix the causes of family dysfunction.

"[One issue] is chaos in families' lives," she said.

"Is there anybody around in the morning to help the child get to school?

"If there isn't, and if the family for whatever reason is in a high degree of chaos, then it's unlikely that turning off the income tap to a degree for 12 weeks is going to make any difference in that regard."

Ms Hatfield Dodds says there is no evidence that such a plan would help reduce truancy rates.

"As far as we're aware in the community sector there isn't really any evidence either in Australia or from overseas that involuntary income management actually works on any dimension," she said.

"It's difficult to see how it is going to address the causes of the crisis and chaos in family lives that result in this kind of experience for children."

She says the Government should instead make support programs available to more families.

"So if there's an issue with the parenting, let's wrap some parenting support programs around. If there's alcohol, other drugs, violence - if those things are an issue in the family's life in the adult's life - then let's try and go to the core of those issues.

"With all of these programs there is a strong evidence base for and we know they actually work we know they get results.

"The problem is out there in the community, particularly in areas that are locationally disadvantaged, is that those programs are simply not available to people."

Govt to trial welfare cut scheme in NT, WA

The Federal Government has Western Australia and the Northern Territory on board to trial its new program to cut welfare payments to the parents of children who do not go to school.

Parents in the trial areas who receive income support will be required to prove to Centrelink that their children are enrolled and schools will also be asked to provide attendance information.

The Greens have condemned the scheme.

Senator Rachel Siewert says the Greens do not support an approach which is punitive.

"It won't generate the outcomes they say it will," she said.

"What are they going to do about the children that aren't coming from low-income families or families on income support?

"This is about punishment, it's not about an education revolution that the Deputy Prime Minister is talking about."

Related:

NT election turnout lowest in 20 yrs
The raw final figures from the Northern Territory election have revealed the lowest level of voter turnout in at least the past two decades.

Indigenous welfare quarantine scheme gets go ahead
Parents in four Cape York Indigenous communities could soon have their welfare payments quarantined if they do not take care of their children and homes and do not stay out of trouble with the law.

Union calls for $2.9b to fund education shortfall
The Education Union is calling on the Federal Government to provide an extra $2.9 billion in funding for public schools.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies
EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Abandon NT intervention: Commissioner
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald says the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities should be abandoned and the legislation underpinning it should be repealed.

Income management extended for NT
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced income management will be extended for up to a year in four Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention
Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.