Wednesday 19 March 2008

Phoenix prepare for season ahead after weekend meltdown

as posted on BunburyMail

SOCCER: A second half meltdown by Phoenix allowed Gosnells to come from 2-1 down at half time and triumph for a 4-2 win, and in truth, by the end of the match, it could have been uglier for Phoenix as the more experienced Gosnells side created chances almost at will in the second half. Phoenix will need to drastically improve on this performance to come away with any credibility against Mandurah in three weeks.

Gosnells started much brighter and dominated possession for the first twenty minutes. They took the lead when Phoenix turned the ball over in the middle of the park. Phoenix got back on level terms soon after though, with Murphy again playing a through ball down the right side. Suttie collected it, cut inside and laid the ball off at the top of the box for Hayes to finish sweetly with a well placed shot into the bottom right hand corner. Phoenix took the lead when Murphy’s corner was only parried by the keeper and fell straight to Suttie’s feet, and he scored from eight yards. Phoenix led 2-1 at the break.

The second half was all Gosnells though, aside from an early shot from a tight angle from Suttie. Ironically, that shot produced the save which led to Gosnells equalising goal. Phoenix became disjointed and it was no real surprise when Gosnells virtually sealed their win with a 4th goal on 70minutes.

The second half performance from Phoenix was very poor and they received a lesson from Gosnells’ hat trick man who did as he pleased for much of the match. Phoenix missed Alex Dawson, who would have added some grit and hard tackling to their defence, along with the continued absence of Mayers. Phoenix now have much to think about in the two weeks to prepare for Mandurah, before they have another match up against Gosnells in Round One.

as posted on BunburyMail

Tuesday 18 March 2008

McHale to retire from politics


as posted on ABCNews

The Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Sheila McHale, has announced that she will retire from state politics at the next election.

Ms McHale is the second Minister from the Labor Government to step down at the end of this term.

The Minister for Agriculture Kim Chance has already said he will not contest his Upper House seat.

Ms McHale was elected to Parliament in 1996 as the Member for Thornlie, and has held various Ministerial portfolios since 2001.

She is currently the Member for Kenwick.

Check out the comments on the Perth Now story on the same subject here

as posted on ABCNews

Monday 17 March 2008

NT intervention protests target Centrelink

as posted on GreenLeft

As part of a national day of action protesting against the federal government’s quarantining of the welfare payments of allegedly negligent parents within Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, 30 students and staff, mainly Aboriginal, held a protest rally outside the Centrelink office on Curtin University campus on March 12.

Representatives of NT Indigenous communities had asked Aboriginal rights groups across Australia to demonstrate outside Centrelink offices on or around March 13 — a month after Labor PM Kevin Rudd’s official apology to the Stolen Generations — to demand the repeal of the Howard government’s NT “emergency” intervention legislation.

The Curtin University protest was organised by the Western Australian Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC). Curtin academic and Nyoongar elder Ted Wilkes told the protest action: “This is a discriminatory and racist policy. I was in Alice Springs recently, and I’ve seen with my own eyes the shame that those forced to use the vouchers experience. My mother and father had to endure rations. We can’t have a repeat of the bad old days.”

ARC organiser and Socialist Alliance member Natasha Moore said: “Far from the Rudd government undoing the Howard government’s racist law, welfare quarantining is being extended to more NT communities and Labor governments in WA and Queensland are intent on enacting the same thing.”

The protesters pledged to hold monthly rallies outside Centrelink offices until the legislation is repealed and to prevent the welfare quarantine system being implemented in WA. The next protests are likely to be outside the Midland and Gosnells Centrelink offices. For details, phone ARC on 0434 303 248 (Natasha) or (08) 9299 6453 (Annolies).

Zane Alcorn reports from Newcastle that 25 people picketed the Mayfield Centrelink office on March 13 to protest the NT welfare quarantine system. “This is a protest against apartheid — the NT intervention. The quarantining of payments has already spread to Walgett in Western Australia”, Awabakal elder Peta Ridgeway told Green Left Weekly. “It is becoming a federal, not just NT-based, intervention, which is taking us back to the days of the ration system.”

Ridgeway said she viewed Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations in February as an attempt by the new Labor government to regain “stewardship” of what was becoming an increasingly independent Indigenous rights movement. “People will now have a tendency to say you’ve got your apology, what more do you want? This takes the focus off the intervention-
and frames compensation in terms of an apology rather than as reparation for an ongoing culture of theft and exploitation.”

Bronwyn Power reports from Alice Springs that members of the NT Intervention Roll-back Group surveyed Indigenous people arriving at the town’s Centrelink office from outlying areas about their experience of welfare quarantining.

Jim McIlroy reports that around 20 people gathered outside the Centrelink office in South Brisbane. “This is not just about a bad law, but about the suppression of the rights of indigenous people”, Les Malezer, chairperson of the Foundation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Action, told the picket. “The Australian government is victimising the most vulnerable people in Australia. The NT invasion has to stop completely, not just restoration of the permit system and the CDEP [Community Development Employment Program].”

as posted on GreenLeft

Day one ..

the following reply was given ...

Thankyou for your enquiry. Council meetings are conducted under the provisions of the City of Gosnells Standing Orders Local Law 2003, a co...