Many young people are financially insecure after cuts to the Youth Allowance, leaving just $35 a day for students to live on. The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) is urging the government to raise the Newstart and Youth Allowances by $50 a week to provide appropriate support to young unemployed people and students. Andrew Cummings, AYAC executive…
DetailsJulia Gillard: After months of acusation, nothing of relevance appears to have surfaced. The media usually agree on big stories but The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) scandal has split opinion over the past weeks as several prominent journalists declared the story a dead end, while others ploughed on and on. New Matilda wrote, “The nation’s political…
DetailsSky News presenter Jacinta Tynan has spoken out about the media’s long-standing culture of workplace bullying, in the hope awareness will lead to change. Tynan spoke to The Newsroom after we reported, in No Place for Harassment at Work, that sexual harassment is twice as prevalent in the media as in other industries. One in…
DetailsAlgal bloom at Clovelly Beach. Several of Sydney’s beaches have been forced to close after algal bloom has caused the water to turn blood red. The patches of red algae are natural plant-like organism, rhodophyta, which grow in marine environments. They contain the pigment phycoerythrin which reflects red light and have turned Bondi, Clovelly and…
Details
Statewatch found New South Wales local councils are less open about their finances than several other countries. After the majority of councils rejected requests for information, we looked at Scotland, the UK and America who proved it was possible to be transparent. The Scottish Parliament’s system is easily accessible to the public and publishes (in…
DetailsPhoto by Mitch Duncan Journalism graduates need to get online and write about their passions to fast track their media careers, according to leading Sydney IT writer and ex-Fairfax journalist, Nate Cochrane. Mr Cochrane delivered a lecture yesterday to Macleay College journalism students, who will graduate next month. The freelancer said the traditional method of internship and cadetship…
Details
Aussies all over the country love spending their hard-earned cash on booze. As it turns out, so do our local councils. An investigation by the Statewatch team discovered one council spent $1,703 on a 15-person dinner including $505 on alcohol for 30 beers and 7 bottles of wine. The investigative team sent Freedom of Information…
DetailsButlers Gorge in the Upper Derwent, an area whose protection was at stake in the negotiations. Photo from Ta Ann’s photostream The future of Tasmania’s forests has been secured after two years of negotiations and more than 30 years of debate between forestry groups, government and environmental organisations. Immediate protection will be granted to 395,000…
Details
Alcohol, social media and public nuisance are proving to be the fuel for some schoolies this week. 20 school leavers were arrested overnight by Queensland Police on 26 charges relating to public nuisance and street offences on the Gold Coast. Nine other schoolies were served liquor infringement notices, police said. Schoolies aren’t the only public annoyance:…
DetailsBreaking into the media industry is tough, but high-profile Channel Nine journalists say graduating students will make it if they have passion, talent and “a modicum of luck”. As more than 4000 journalism students prepare to graduate across Australia from next month, The Newsroom spoke to Channel Nine reporters Peter Overton, Peter Harvey and Roz Kelly…
Details