Tony Abbott's Daughter $60,000 Scholarship Exposed

THE editor of online magazine New Matilda has praised “brave sources” who provided confidential student records to him about a $60,000 scholarship granted to Tony Abbott’s daughter — despite indications the information was obtained illegally.
Chris Graham said yesterday real journalism was about weighing up privacy against public interests. His left-leaning magazine published an article in May ¬saying “testimony and documents obtained by New Matilda” contradicted assurances the Prime Minister’s daughter Frances had received a scholarship based on merit at the Whitehouse Institute of Design.
The Weekend Australian revealed NSW police were close to completing a criminal investigation, the leaked information allegedly involving computer hacking of Ms Abbott’s confidential student files. NSW police have CCTV footage and email evidence that identifies a night librarian ¬accessing Whitehouse Institute files of Ms Abbott, and more than 500 other students on May 20.
The librarian did not return to her job the next day when New Matilda published leaked material related to Ms Abbott. A part-time institute teacher who had email exchanges with the librarian about Ms Abbott’s information that she allegedly obtained from “Edupoint” software resigned a fortnight later when management quizzed him.
Graham has vigorously defended the Abbott scholarship article, arguing it was in the public -interest. Graham — who has ¬declined to confirm whether he is the “Chris” named in one email in the possession of police — went further yesterday by defending unnamed “brave sources”.
In a New Matilda comment piece, he launched a sustained criticism of The Australian and its parent company, News Corp Australia. He concluded with a quip: “Now if only I could convince the NSW police to raid my home.”
Another advocate of the story being in the public interest is Wendy Bacon, the journalism teacher and New Matilda contributing editor whose name ¬appears on the original article with Graham’s. On the day of publication, Bacon declared it was justified in the public interest when a prime minister’s daughter received a $60,000 scholarship, and made no declaration on his register of interests.
Bacon did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. Graham criticised the newspaper in his opinion piece for “false ¬assumptions, misleading statements and big, dirty, factual ¬inaccuracies”.
The Australian stands by its weekend report.

UPDATE: Smart and Skilled reforms

The NSW Government has released a draft Quality Framework for vocational education and training in NSW. The Framework is designed to improve the standard of training delivery across the State to support the implementation of Smart and Skilled reforms from July 2014.
The Framework builds on the national quality standards to deliver better outcomes for students and employers in NSW. It aims to promote a transparent and cohesive approach to quality where all stakeholders play a part, from students to employers and industry.
Consultations on the draft Framework will be held with peak provider bodies, industry and community organisations from 26 February to 22 March 2013.
The Framework can be downloaded here. It will also be published on the NSW Government’s Have Your Say website from 25 February at www.nsw.gov.au/haveyoursay.

Inclusivity Queensland Style

Inclusive Learning: A way forward has been developed by Queensland VET Development Centre, Research and Systems Support - Inclusive Learning Team.
"I present to you our plan for providing greater access to, participation in and outcomes from vocational education and training. Inclusive learning: A way forward will help enrich the VET experience and help students to build a strong skill base from which to launch successful careers."

Design Online Learning

Design Online Learning,
templates for trades online,
tips for enhancing Accessibility,
integrate Language Literacy and Numeracy,
tools for quick quiz development (LOCO)
and more.

Date: Friday 15 February 2013
Time: 13:30 - 16:00
Venue: A105, 51 Wentworth Rd, Strathfield A105

Virtual: Adobe Connect https://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/ehubshowcase/
RSVP: Gail Mercardo gail.mercado@det.nsw.edu.au by 4 February 2013

Is a job applicant's criminal history relevant to employment?

Criminal records and employment: Special Issue Employment Law Bulletin (2012) 18(8) ELBA

Contents
General Editor, 'Is a job applicant's criminal history relevant to employment? The law and employer practice in recruitment '
Bronwyn Naylor, 'Living down the past: why a criminal record should not be a barrier to successful employment'
Moira Paterson, 'Restrictions on employers' handling of criminal records information: privacy and confidentiality issues'
Marilyn Pittard, 'Discrimination law: constraints on criminal record checks in recruitment'
Georgina Heydon, 'Risk and rehabilitation in criminal records checking by employers: what employers are doing and why'

--
Dr Bronwyn Naylor
Associate Professor
Director LLB Program
Law Faculty Monash University
Victoria 3800 Australia
Tel: + 613 9905 3319

For some of my current research see
http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/projects/hrce.html
http://www.law.monash.edu.au/research/projects/crcep/index.html
You can access my papers on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at http://ssrn.com/author=344540

Public confidence in the NSW Criminal Justice System: 2012 update

The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has today released the report "Public confidence in the NSW Criminal Justice System: 2012 update"

Link to report in pdf:
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/Lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/CJB165.pdf/$file/CJB165.pdf or
http://bit.ly/X8Fyd8

Link to media release:
http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/pages/bocsar_mr_cjb165 or
http://bit.ly/UkYau9

EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY-BASED SUPERVISION OF YOUNG OFFENDERS

The Australian Institute of Criminology has just published :
Effective community-based supervision of young offenders, by Chris Trotter

Summary : An increasing body of research suggests that some interventions with offenders can reduce reoffending. When supervisors make use of a number of specific practice skills, there is a reduced rate of recidivism for those under their supervision. This report describes the effective practice skills, then asseses the extent to which these are applied to a population of young offenders, along with the resultant effect on recidivism. The study involved the direct observation of 117 worker/client interviews conducted by juvenile justice workers in New South Wales. It also found that workers who provided a counselling role made more use of the effective practice skills than workers who did not.

Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 448 is available online from the AIC website :
http://aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/441-460/tandi448.html or http://bit.ly/11jpwnf

RESPONDING TO WELFARE FRAUD: THE AUST EXPERIENCE

Summary : This study focuses on strategies adopted by Australia's Centrelink for preventing welfare fraud, in particular the impact measures of the different strategies and their antecedents. The report attempts to map the dimensions of suspected and confirmed welfare fraud in terms of numbers of offences, characteristics of offenders, financial losses, types of fraud and trends over time. It highlights that while welfare fraud remains a significant issue, there has been continuing innovation in the area of detection in the last 30 years. A review of fraud control systems also showed Centrelink to be in step with international best practice, having developed a complex array of strategies to prevent and detect fraud. The report also notes the benefits of strong primary prevention measures such as compliance reviews and education campaigns to explain payment systems to recipients and to stop frauds before they occur.

Research and Public Policy Series no.119 is available online from the AIC website :
http://aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rpp/100-120/rpp119.html or http://bit.ly/YNPUEh
by Tim Prenzler

Education at a glance 2011: OECD indicators

Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2011 offers a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators that reflect a consensus among professionals on how to measure the current state of education internationally. The indicators provide information on the human and financial resources invested in education, on how education and learning systems operate and evolve, and on the returns to educational investments. The indicators are organised thematically, .....Read more

Toward a personal learning environment framework

Over the past decade, it has been argued that technology-enhanced learning (TEL) could respond to the needs of the new knowledge society and transform learning. However, despite isolated achievements, TEL has not succeeded in revolutionizing education and learning processes. ...Read more

Petrol Pricing in the Hands of the People 4 the People

Are you tired of paying heaps for your petrol? Then read this ok!

THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' PETROL FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE AS A COLLECTIVE CAN GET PETROL BACK DOWN TO $1.00 PER Litre....

This was originated from a retired Coca Cola executive. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this winter, take time to read this, PLEASE. This is great idea and very simple to participate. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain day' campaign that was going around last April or May!

It is worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!! We are going to hit $ 2.00 a litre and it might go higher!! Want petrol prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies just laughed at last year’s action because they knew we would not continue to 'hurt' ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us!

By now, you're probably thinking petrol priced at about $1.50 is cheap. It can only get dearer ... and dearer unless WE do something about it.

Politicians pay NOTHING for petrol - you the taxpayer, pays their petrol consumption. Do not expect them to fight for you. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre of petrol is CHEAP at $1.50, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place...not sellers.

With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket book by not purchasing their petrol! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How?

Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying petrol. But we CAN have an impact on petrol prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol from BP, the biggest price-up driver company. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of BP petrol buyers. It's SO simple!

Now, don't wimp out at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions and even BILLIONS of people!! I am sending this note to 20 people.

If each of you sends it on to at least twenty more that's (20 x 20 = 400) .. And those 400 send it to at least twenty more (400 x 20 = 8000 ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the fifth group of people, we will have reached over SIXTY FOUR MILLION consumers.

20x20 = 400
400 x 20 = 8,000
8,000 x 20 = 160,000
160,000x20 = 3,200,000
3,200,000 x 20 = 64,000,000
64,000,000 x 20 = 12,800,000,000

That's 12.80 Billion people folks, who will have been contacted!!!!! unbelievable?? Do the maths and see for yourself. Again, all you have to do is send this link to 20 people. That's all...so just do it!

I'll bet you didn't think we had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.If this message makes sense to you, then please pass it on. THEY will LOWER THEIR PRICES TO BELOW THE $1.50 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK. It’s simple – send the message along to others and choose to not buy petrol from BP.

SIX BILLION people:

Now THAT's people power. LET'S JUST DO IT ! ! ! More power to you friend.

Note: IF YOU DO CHOOSE TO FORWARD THIS THEN PLEASE USE YOUR BCC FEATURE FOR EMAIL ok