journoz: updates for Australian journalistsFind out about Net-based sources of Australian facts, research, background and contacts, as well as media news and training issues. ISSN 1448-2762.Tradesmen on the horizon- November 30, 2005 How Young People are Faring 2005 is the seventh report in an annual series from the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (http:www.dsf.org.au). It's at http:www.dsf.org.aupapers180.htm. What does it say Not a lot has changed ... "In May 2005, 85.1 per cent of Australian teenagers were in full-time study or fulltime work, while 14.9 per cent or 208,400 teenagers were not. These proportions have varied only slightly since the recession of the early 1990s." But kids are learning more ......http://www.journoz.com/weblog/archives/001197.html It's raining, it's pouring ...- November 30, 2005 ... but that doesn't mean the drought has broken. In Brisbane, we've had stormy weather for what seems like weeks. Blackouts are back -- remember the fun of reading by candlelight -- and the rain is greening gardens and lawns all over town. What it isn't doing is falling into dams -- so along with hail, winds and torrential downpours, we still have level 2 water restrictions. It's even worse elsewhere. The drought has lasted four years and the water crisis is real even if that's hard to believe.http://www.journoz.com/weblog/archives/001196.html Crowded house- November 30, 2005 Another day, another statistic. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (http:www.abs.gov.au) has published projections of Australia's population as a whole by age and sex from 2004 up to 2101, and projections for states, territories and capital cities up till 2051. The publication, Population Projections, Australia, can be found here. For future reference, it is ABS catalogue number 3222.0....http://www.journoz.com/weblog/archives/001195.html It figures- November 30, 2005 How well are we doing Who's on the dole And why For democracy to function, we all need information to help us make up our minds about issues. Welfare is an emotive one, so thanks to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (http:www.aihw.gov.au) for supplying the facts -- not opinion, not hot air -- about who's getting what, where, and why in their publication Australias welfare 2005. See the figures for yourself at http:www.aihw.gov.aupublicationsindex.cfmtitle10186...http://www.journoz.com/weblog/archives/001194.html Quaint, it ain't- November 30, 2005 The notion that anyone could be carted off to jail these days for sedition seems faintly preposterous -- almost in the same league as being transported as a convict to Australia for nicking someone's hanky. But we're there with the anti-terror laws. Far from taking us back to the 1950s, John Howard seems hell bent on going even further back in time -- to the 1850s, the 1750s ... back to when it was a very serious crime to rubbish the government. What has happened here, that things should have...http://www.journoz.com/weblog/archives/001193.html |