Chauvinism prevails at home with ironing still seen as a female chore

MEN have been given a crisp thumbs down for their ironing skills from the women of Australia.

More than one in three women accuse Aussie guys of deliberately ironing poorly to avoid being asked to do it. And the wrinkly issue doesn't stop there - with a poll showing 52 per cent of women believe men would rather wear a creased shirt than iron it.University of Western Sydney sociology lecturer and author Kate Huppatz said the gender roles at home are very different from the roles we play in the workplace.

"There's more women in medicine than ever before, there's a female prime minister, but when it comes to what happens in the home there's a huge division in labour," Dr Huppatz said.

"Women still spend six times longer on the laundry than men.

"Even women who are earning more than their husbands are doing more housework than their husbands."
Dr Huppatz said we see our genders in the jobs we do and it may take some time to change those stereotypes.

"In Australia we have particularly strong gender roles, we're very slow to change," she said.

"Maybe that's because there's a strong history of mateship and the men in Australia appeal to this idea of rugged masculinity.

"There has been some change - men are doing more of the cooking than they have before."


Alex Osmond, 23, from Gordon, has no problem doing his own ironing.

"My dad is the one who irons in the family," he said. "I iron everything from my underwear to socks. Everything feels crisp and clean."

Newtown resident Ina Krasteva, 25, has given up on ironing but is well aware of her boyfriend's tactics to avoid the chore too.

"I used to iron all the time, I would do everything, all my boyfriend's clothes, my clothes, and I got really fed up with it, now everything goes to the dry cleaners," she said. "I've seen him iron once or twice four years ago, he can do it, he just doesn't want to and the excuse is I do a better job."

The Galaxy survey on behalf of Sunbeam found the results not only point to a gender divide in chores but also a generational gap of who does the most housework.

"We can see that men are becoming more involved in household chores but they're picky in terms of what they want to do, whereas women feel that responsibility to do all the chores," Sunbeam's product marketing manager Sarah Francis said.

"It was the Gen-X and Baby Boomers who spend the most time ironing, more than their dads."

news.com.au 27 Oct 2012

 

A nice story on an obviously 'slow news day', which is really holds very little weight.

There are many more serious issues at 'home' than the one displayed.

Just another way of keeping the masses amused.

Bark Hut and Ti-Tree Village holiday park in Ocean Grove forced to close because of old prohibition law

A PROHIBITION law dating back to 1887 has forced the closure of an award-winning Ocean Grove business and brought into question 39 liquor licences in the town.
 

Sisters Tiffany Trickey and Jodie Harvey, whose family has owned the Bark Hut and Ti-Tree Village holiday park for more than 30 years, shut their doors in April after the City of Geelong was unable to renew their land-use permits.
They could not put up the hefty fees to go to the Supreme Court to fight the covenant, which bans the sale of alcohol and could affect the 30 permanent and nine temporary liquor licence holders in the town when they come up for renewal.
Ms Trickey said it had been devastating for them.
"We've all lost our jobs," she said. "We had such a great all-girl team and we've had to say goodbye to them all."
The City of Greater Geelong discovered that 2500 homes and businesses within the original town boundary were still bound by the religious ban, which was thought to have expired when an existing restaurant sought to renew its licence.

After a four-year fight, Olive Pit cafe owner Michael Dowsley won his Supreme Court case to overturn the covenant on his property.

However, new businesses were awarded planning permits by the City of Greater Geelong, despite a covenant also existing on those sites.
Mr Dowsley said the legal costs had been up to $20,000 for something that seemingly could have been waived by council officers.
Geelong Otway Tourism head Roger Grant said the ban could have a dire impact on the town's hospitality and tourism industry.
Mr Grant questioned why some traders within the original town boundary had been refused licences, while others were allowed to trade.
In a letter to Ms Trickey and Ms Harvey, City of Greater Geelong officers indicated they would consider taking up the fight to overturn the covenant. But Geelong CEO Stephen Griffin admitted officers' hands were tied for now.
"Council is unable to issue a planning permit that would result in a breach of a restrictive covenant," Mr Griffin said.
The rule was originally enforced by Methodist Church town founders in 1887, with most people believing it had expired in 2006.
Ocean Grove Uniting Church Reverend James Douglas said some Methodists within the congregation were against the sale of alcohol in the town.
But, he said, most in the congregation supported the sale of alcohol at restaurants provided it was monitored responsibly.
"I can't speak for everyone but I don't imagine that our congregation would object to a slight loosening or a removal of the covenant and a reversion to the usual liquor licence process," Rev Douglas said.
Member for Bellarine Lisa Neville said she would follow up the matter with the City of Greater Geelong, to help local traders.

heraldsun.com.au 25 Oct 2012

Here is an example of the Nanny State.

Old laws used against the populous, for whatever benefit to the establishment.

The general populous can also draw on 'old laws' , but no one bothers.

Govt moves to strip rights of boat people

The federal government is to excise the entire continent of Australia from the migration zone, stripping rights from asylum seekers who arrive by boat.

 The Labor caucus on Tuesday approved laws to introduce the change, aborted six years ago by the Howard government.

It was a recommendation of an expert panel headed by former defence force chief Angus Houston to which the Labor caucus has given in-principle support.

During the caucus meeting in Canberra, two Labor MPs sought assurances from Immigration Minister Chris Bowen about protecting human rights.

Mr Bowen told the meeting the laws would follow international guidelines for migration and were in line with the Houston report's recommendations.

Earlier cabinet secretary Mark Dreyfus said the government was determined to discourage people from getting on boats and undertaking the dangerous journey to Australia.

"Our policy is to do whatever we need to do to stop the dreadful drowning of people trying to reach Australia," Mr Dreyfus told reporters.

Under existing migration laws, only asylum seekers intercepted at sea or at Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands or Ashmore Reef can be sent for processing at Nauru or Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

By expanding the migration excise zone to the mainland, the government will be reviving a plan dumped by the Howard government following a backbench revolt led by Liberal moderates.

The opposition says it will consider any changes to the legislation.

"We'll take it through our processes," immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said.

Australian Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young described the plan as a shameful piece of legislation that discriminated against some of the most vulnerable people in the region.

"This Labor government is now going to try to enact legislation that is so discriminatory and un-Australian that John Howard faced an internal revolt when he tried it in 2006," the senator said.

Cabinet minister Craig Emerson, when asked if he thought the plan would receive the backing of the caucus, told Sky News: "I'm not one who anticipates these things.

"What I am is one who joined with others in accepting in-principle the recommendations of the Houston panel as a cohesive whole."

The bill is expected to go to parliament this week.

smh.com.au 30 Oct 2012

The Australian populous is treated to reality shows with law enforcement themes, that focus on the lives of the authorities.

These shows feature criminal gangs' operations, highway patrol dealings with losers and border protection agencies work.

The mass media portrays that in the line of border security work, it is clearly mentioned that Australia does not tolerate the illegal entry into the country which tried to circumnavigate customs and immigration authorities.

Any people with criminal convictions or suspected to be not of a genuine nature in visiting Australia, are refused entry.

This policy therefore applies to the illegal smuggling and entry of 'boat people' into Australia.

NSW probe reveals council corruption

Nine people could face criminal charges after a major investigation uncovered a culture of corruption among NSW's local councils.

The state government will also examine legislative changes after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) published the findings of its four-year probe into bribery and kickbacks by officials.
ICAC made adverse findings against 21 council staff and one NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) employee after they accepted gifts in return for handing out public contracts.

Those gifts included vouchers, holidays and electronic goods such as iPads and mobile phones.

There were also adverse findings against 15 staff at private supply firms who offered the gifts.

Five council staff were named in the report for filing fake invoices in return for cash payments totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It appeared that these benefits were provided as a secret reward to public officials for ordering goods, ordering greater quantities of goods or continuing to order goods from these suppliers," ICAC said.
Nine of the 41 people named in the report will now have their cases referred to the public prosecutor, with a view to criminal charges being laid.

They are being referred to the prosecutor either as a direct result of the corruption, or for giving false evidence to ICAC's public hearings.

ICAC's investigation began in 2008 after a single tip-off from Bathurst Regional Council.

It rapidly expanded to take in staff at 88 local councils, 22 government agencies and the three private supply firms.

That number was whittled down to what was essentially a specimen caseload of 14 councils and the RTA (since renamed Roads and Maritime Services).

The 14 local authorities included City of Sydney, City of Botany Bay and Liverpool City Council, all of which employed staff guilty of taking bribes, according to ICAC.

It singled out two former storemen, Geoffrey Hadley of Bathurst Regional Council and Kerry Smith of Yass Valley Council, who are said to have issued false invoices to their employers in return for cash kickbacks.
"Under this scheme, Mr Hadley and Mr Smith received combined corrupt payments in excess of $323,000," ICAC said.

ICAC put the cost to Bathurst and Yass councils as a result of the rorts at about $1.5 million.
Responding to the findings, acting Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner foreshadowed changes to the law.
"The government will respond in terms of closing any loopholes in our local government legislation that has enabled this to occur in the past," he told AAP.

ICAC also made 15 recommendations to the local councils to reduce the likelihood of corruption in future.

thewest.com.au 29 Oct 2012

This so called 'find' is only the tip of the iceberg, literally.

Corruption of this sort in city councils has been going on for decades, and bribes do not stop with 'iPads'.

The so called 'loopholes' are created there for a purpose, but obviously the wrong people took advantage of them.

Australia in general is over governed, and local city councils should be removed.

Corrupt higher governance also allows for this type of fraud to continue.

Lets see if other local city councils will fall, probably not.

Greek journalist in court over bank data

A GREEK investigative journalist has appeared in court after publishing names from an alleged list of Swiss bank accounts that the Athens government has been accused of trying to cover up.

Costas Vaxevanis, a veteran television journalist who is editor of the Hot Doc magazine, published the list in its inaugural issue on Saturday.

It included more than 2000 names, allegedly from a controversial list of HSBC account holders that was originally leaked by a bank employee and passed to Greece in 2010 by France's then finance minister Christine Lagarde.

Vaxevanis says he received the information in an anonymous letter whose sender claimed to have received it from a politician.

He has been charged with breach of privacy and faces a maximum three-year jail sentence if convicted.
"Instead of arresting thieves and ministers breaking the law they want to arrest the truth," Vaxevanis commented on his Twitter account on Saturday.

heraldsun.com.au 29 Oct 2012

Not quite wikileaks, but none the less in the same category.

It's all about keeping the corruption hidden.

Julia Gillard reveals plan to 'Asianise' Australia

JULIA Gillard has outlined an ambitious plan to "Asianise" the Australian economy and education system to tap into the vast middle-class markets that will emerge in China, India and Indonesia in the next two decades. 
 
The vision, much of which is already underway, includes plans to free up tourist and business travel within the region, to lift Australia's tax-free threshold "to at least $21,000", to scrap inefficient state taxes such as stamp duty and to have Australian schools engage with at least one Asian school to promote language learning.
It would also provide Australian students with continuous training in Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese throughout their schooling.

As part of the cultural refocusing, the ABC and SBS would be asked to provide more extensive coverage of the region "in all aspects of their content and programming, with special attention to news and information coverage".

Unveiling her long-awaited Asian Century white paper in Sydney, the Prime Minister declared "history asks great nations great questions - Australia is no exception".

She said the world was moving eastward to Australia's advantage and our location and high living standards would provide a valuable edge.

"For the first time in our history, Asia is not a threat to our high-skill high-wage road. It is a reason to stay on it, " she said.

Accordingly, the paper lays down long-term targets designed to boost national income, dramatically lift productivity, propel the education system into the global top five and "deeply integrate" economic links with Asia driving Australia's intra-regional trade to constitute "at least one-third of GDP, up from one-quarter today".

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the Opposition "broadly welcomed" the paper, which constituted mainly "predictable common sense".

He said it appeared, however, that the Government was playing catch-up with the Opposition, which had always argued for a policy emphasis of "more Jakarta and less Geneva".

Among the few immediate initiatives is a commitment to provide 12,000 Australia Awards (Asian Century) Scholarships for studies here and in the region in the next five years.

There also is a goal of elevating 10 Australian universities into the world's top 100 universities by 2025.
The Government wants the white paper to lead a transformation of Australia's mostly commodity-based export approach, toward a high-wage, high-skills service-based economy.

Ms Gillard said this was needed to meet growing Asian demands for education and technical expertise driven by the region's exploding middle classes.

Employers groups including the National Farmers' Federation welcomed the white paper.
"Today, the important role for farmers in providing food, fibre, knowledge and expertise to the Asian region and, the challenges we must overcome to succeed in doing so, have been recognised," said the NFF's Jock Laurie.

But the Opposition's Julie Bishop dismissed it as disappointing and merely ''a grab-bag'' of existing government policies put together by Labor spin-doctors.

She said it appeared that the rigorous work of former Treasury head Ken Henry had been rewritten by Labor insiders to reflect government policy.

BY 2025 ...

EDUCATION: Children will graduate from high school with a working knowledge of Asia and every Australian university will be encouraged to send students to universities in Asia, to ensure the next generation's leaders are Asia-literate.

BUSINESS: Australia will be in the world's top five when it comes to ease of doing business after a National Productivity Compact with the states and territories, focused on regulatory and competition reform.

INFRASTRUCTURE: Infrastructure needs will be planned at least 20 years ahead and the National Broadband Network will reach across Australia, giving access to all corners of the Asian region.

AGRICULTURE: Producers and processors will be globally renowned as competitive, innovative and sustainable suppliers of high-quality food and agricultural products to Asia.

TRADE: Trade with Asia will increase from one-quarter to one-third of Australia's gross domestic product.

ENVIRONMENT: Australia will be a world leader in sustainable food production, energy, water use and biodiversity conservation.

TOURISM: Work and holiday agreements will be expanded and tourists will find it easier to get a visa, with a focus on attracting Chinese travellers.

DEFENCE: Trust and co-operation will be built in the region, supporting Asia's role in global order, and Australia's strong alliance with the US will be maintained for regional stability.

PUBLIC SECTOR: One third of the board members of Commonwealth bodies and one-third of senior leaders in the Australian Public Service will have deep experience in Asia
.
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA: State and local governments will be diversifying their economic bases and making their own trade links with Asian counterparts.

news.com.au  29 Oct 2012

Approximately 6 months ago the corporate media mentioned that Melbourne is a part of Asia, which is incorrect.

The corporate media prepares the herd masses for a subtle invasion of salve a labour force into Australia.

The current politics regarding the importation of unskilled, shady characters under the 'refugee' banner has already brought in criminals into the country, from Asia, the Middle East, Africa just to name a few.

The corporate media has a blanket ban or reporting crimes committed by the recently imported migrant population.

Melbourne, Victoria is the dumping ground for the new generation of criminals, where currently the crime level has reached concerning figures, which is an assault on the good citizens of Victoria.

The politics regarding the importation of 'slave labour' is to degrade the cost of the worker to the advantage of business and governments.

This is an economic assault on the general populous, which the masses are yet to awake to.

Asia expert Andrew MacIntyre saya the Asian Century white paper is a good start - but the government must follow through.

What is really meant by the above statement is that Australia will be entering a new dawn of slavery.

This is not a matter of racism, but rather economic slavery.

iMessage not working this morning?

iPhone users the world over were affected by some downtime today which resulted in them being unable to send their text messages via iMessage, Apple's instant messenger service which sends text messages for free.

Messages were, however, able to be sent via SMS — but some were unhappy with this and complained that even though they turned off sending their messages as an SMS their text was sent as one, costing them money.

Contacted for comment, an Australian Apple spokeswoman said that their iMessage had not encountered any issues this morning, despite numerous blogs saying that their users had reported issues.

Apple's own website also had users reporting issues, but now most of those users say the problem appears to have been fixed.

smh.com.au 26 Oct 2012

Technology companies work together with telecommunications companies, which is no secret  within the industry nor to the general public.

Fraud and theft can occur in many formats, from petty crime of stealing from a (retail) business, to high end banking crimes of stealing monies from customers.

If Mr. Joe Average walks into a retail premises and steals a paperclip, the proprietor has the right to charge the individual with the crime of theft.

In this case Apple 'stole' monies from their users passing on the profits to the telecommunications companies fraudulently.

An agreement was made between the customer and Apple, that a service of SMS via the GSM netowrk was not to be used, which Apple broke.

This deed can warrant a class action lawsuit against Apple.

Charity wins in NBN wrangle

IN AN extraordinary and rare display of straight talking, the NBN Co chief executive, Mike Quigley, says he donated his entire first-year pay cheque of almost $2 million to charity to wriggle out of a tight political corner.

Mr Quigley recently discussed donating his taxpayer-funded salary in 2010 to research into brain diseases and stroke rehabilitation.

The communications boss, who survived a life-threatening battle with leukaemia in the 1990s, said of the donation at the time: ''I'm in the fortunate position where I can afford to give away my first year's salary. When you have a life-threatening disease, it has an impact on how you view things and you find out what is really important in life, and it's made me realise that we are all lucky or unlucky.''

But the warm glow of charitable giving was absent when Mr Quigley took part in a ''meet the CEO'' forum hosted by the BRW and University of New South Wales.

In response to a question about the sizeable gift, Mr Quigley admitted that rather than an act of benevolence, ''that was to solve a problem with Senate estimates''.

The comment drew laughter from the crowd but the facts bear out Mr Quigley's candid statement with the opposition doggedly persistent to uncover what it claims are blowouts in costs of the NBN, which is now running a year behind schedule.

smh.com.au 28 Oct 2012

In Australia, charity donations are tax deductible, therefore any donation given by a large corporation can be recouped via tax and the so called noble gesture is thrown out the window.

The government has procured the NBN in a 'Money for Mates' deal that has ballooned out to nearly $45 billion dollars on a fraudulent scale that the corporate media will never report on.

The government's touted (propaganda) advertisements of the NBN's promised 100Mbps speeds are already offered to customers via cable.

The NBN is of of the largest smoke screens to implement hardware and technology for not only internet censorship but also gathering and storage facilities to collect data on every single Australian citizen, whether on the internet or not.

There is a reason for the secrecy and lack of disclosure of details of the NBN project.

 

In American terms it is called a "Black Budget".

Carbon tax to blame for a third of the biggest rise in inflation in 18 months

PRICES across the nation have soared, with the Labor Government's controversial carbon tax the driving force behind about one-third of the biggest rise in inflation in 18 months. 

 
The surge has cast doubt on the prospect of another interest rate cut on Melbourne Cup day.
Analysts yesterday said the carbon tax and changes to the healthcare rebate were responsible for only 30-40 per cent of the rise.

Instead, the recent run of interest rate cuts had boosted spending and seen families pay with costs on the rise across the board.

Fruit and vegetable prices jumped almost double-digits in the past three months as a result of poor weather.
The biggest price increases were electricity, gas, healthcare, travel and childcare costs.

The official data shows Australian consumer goods and services overall jumped by 2 per cent in the year to September.

But in the last quarter the consumer price index, the key measure of inflation, rose at almost three times the pace of the previous quarter.

Sydney was the hardest hit with prices jumping 2.3 per cent closely followed by Darwin at 2.1 per cent, while Melbourne was up 1.8 per cent and Adelaide and Brisbane registered 1.7 per cent jumps.

Economists said the RBA would ignore much of the rise as this is the first set of inflation data released since the introduction of the Federal Government's carbon tax on July 1.

But the central bank will be concerned that underlying inflation - the key marker for the RBA - came in at 2.5 per cent on an annual basis, sparking a sharp rise in the Australian dollar as investors scaled back their betting on a rate cut on Melbourne Cup day.

Treasurer Wayne Swan maintains inflation is still contained, despite the temporary one-off price increases.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry director of Economics Greg Evans said households and businesses are wearing the cost of the carbon tax.

Despite the sharp lift in inflation, most economists still expect another 25 point cut next month from the RBA.
But a growing band of analysts is tipping the RBA will postpone any cut until December.

heraldsun.com.au 25 Oct 2012

Another great fraud perpetuated by the Australian government, in an apparent effort 'save the planet' which Australia's effect to the total Carbon Dioxide production is negligible.

Australia is one of the highest taxed countries in the world. Products are taxed two times and even three before the consumer buys them.

Similarly the 'Carbon Tax' the consumer pay for twice over.

Amongst all the price rises that the populous is all too aware of, the government has the audacity to provide false inflation figures.

Secret deals rife in AFL

GENTLEMEN'S agreements, side deals, "understandings" and secret extra to contracts are rife within the AFL, senior figures told the Sunday Mail. 

  The key is to keep it vague and not put anything in writing.

The administrators, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was common for clubs to agree that they would endeavour to help a player move back to his home state at the end of his contract - should he so desire.

Clubs also made assertions they would help out with the players' leadership training, work outside of the game and other similar incentives that could sway them to remain with the club.

The main thing was not to put it in writing.

A senior figure at one club said another key was to promise to try, and mean it, but that it was fraught with danger to guarantee an outcome that could ultimately be out of the club's control.

 

The greatest fear was the "please explain" letters from Ken Wood, the AFL's chief investigator, which often ended with the phrase: "Please respond in writing by (a certain date)."

"When that happens, you've got nowhere to hide," the official said.

It was this scenario, well known to clubs, that had clubs baffled over the Kurt Tippett scandal.

Had the league acted sooner on the widespread speculation of an "exit clause" for Tippett with one of the "please explain" letters, the affair could have been closed before the Crows' confession brought it to a head - when there were only days left in the trade period.

heraldsun.com.au 27 Oct 2012

The AFL 'religion' is quickly approaching  a billion dollar industry, currently sitting at approximately $750 million annually.

AFL formerly known as VFL (Victorian Football League) was created to keep to low educated masses, a fair percentage of the populous, entertained on the weekends. This fact is well documented in Australian history.

This 'bogan' sport has become an Australian institution, and any diss-assembly of it will not be allowed by the ruling elite.

Not only corporate fraud is an issue, but also drug consumption is rife, and ignored by authorities.

Drug dealers 'slip' past the system as authorities turn a blind eye into the narcotics trade in sport.

The general populous when apprehended with a quantity of drugs are dealt with accordingly by the law, whereas sports 'stars' not only flaunt drug use, but have no legal consequences against them.

Another corrupt arm of politics at play.