There was an incident in Sihanoukville, Cambodia on Friday or Thursday last week. HMAS Darwin (I think) was on “r and r” and a sailor did a back flip into an empty swimming pool. He suffered severe head injuries as a result… a Russian chopper, serviced by the Khmers, was ready to medivac. The official Australian policy is that no Russian/Khmer choppers are allowed so a nurse held the sailor’s head together for another four hours before suitable chopper was found. The sailor then failed a drug test!

The Department of Defence responds: On the evening of 22 September 2009, a Royal Australian Navy sailor from HMAS Darwin suffered potentially serious injuries following an accident whereby the sailor, whilst off-duty fell into an empty swimming pool in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The sailor was given medical care by the ship’s medical team. Once the sailor was stabilised an areo-medical evacuation to Bangkok, Thailand was conducted.

An outspoken Courier-Mail subeditor has been sacked for writing this post on his little-read blog:

I am soooooooooooooooo bored today. Tuesday is my least favourite day here. It goes very slowly. It’s also the day I sub a lot of the columns, and they suck…

The humourists are relentlessly unfunny and the wowsers moralise sternly while considering facts as bothersome, and as useful, as mosquitoes. I am subbing a column at the moment by Julie Novak, a rightard from the Institute of Public Affairs in Melbourne, which is generously dubbed a thinktank — although Ms Novak shows no sign of thinking in her incoherent screeching about how we’re all going to be taxed to pay for the stimulus, which has allowed Australia to avoid recession, a triumph for Prime Minister Rudd that the right resents so much it’s choking on it.

I have read the column three times and I still don’t see the “argument” she is making. Like so many rightists, all she has to say is “taxes are bad”. Yeah, we know, and the more you earn, the worse you think they are. We all think that, Julie, but some of us are glad to have schools, hospitals and roads, and we don’t even mind the occasional handout to the indolent and darkskinned.

F-ck it, we’re all in it together, hey?

After complaints apparently from those close to the IPA and the columnist concerned the journo-hating Mail obliged. No one at the Mail would ever have read the post if not pointed to it by a furious Julie Novak.

The emptiest political website going: Chainsaw hasn’t got much — indeed, anything — to say:

From the depths of the Canberra public service: the department I work in has become a very unhappy workplace with backbiting, criticisms of the SES and Minister frequent topics of conversation, amid cutbacks and staff redundancies, little progress on major policy issues, and increasing criticism over the Cabinet Minister’s chief of staff and senior staff, who have little understanding of the policy areas they are dealing with, are frequently rude to some staff while they bark orders, give little or no real direction, offer zero respect and come to the job with clearly no idea on issue or understanding as to how to guide anything towards something which resembles not so much even an outcome, but progress towards something.

McPherson LNP preselection candidates are: Karen Andrews, Wayne Black, Peter Dutton, Minna Knight.

Federal Government forces Australian Customs and Border Protection staff to pay for parking at Sydney International Airport. Whilst Federal MPs receive a PAY INCREASE it slashes Customs staff’s wages by forcing them to pay up to $80 a fortnight to park at the Airport while on duty or walk 20 minutes to a nearby oval to park for free, until Council erects Parking signs. This is not only a disgrace but also endangers all staff but especially staff on shift forced to walk to and from their car at all hours of day.

Big bonuses are back. My brother who works for an arm of Barclays confirmed he is back on seven figure bonuses.

SBS vs. CPSU:

Hi All,

As you are aware, SBS management is committed to push ahead with abolishing your ADOs. Members are telling us that they are disappointed that SBS management are going after employee conditions and entitlements and that they are ignoring the views of staff. It is important that you continue to tell SBS management how you feel.

SBS management have put out a roster pattern that they want to implement from 1 October. There are serious concerns about the impact that this particular pattern would have on the health and safety of employees as it has employees working eight days in a row, totalling more than 60 hours. There are also concerns about how you are meant to complete a day’s work in half an hour less a shift.

Your union will be writing to SBS management early next week and it is important that you contact us with your feedback and concerns, so that we can communicate your views to management.

Please send me an email by COB Monday with your thoughts on the proposed roster pattern. Feel free to also contact me with any questions that you may have.

Kind Regards,

Lena Lind
CPSU Lead Organiser Communications and Science Team