Correction:

Crikey: In yesterday’s item “Thoughts after an Association of Superannuation Funds Australia lunch” (item 11) we incorrectly attributed the author as Ava Hubble when Eva Cox was in fact the author. The error was made in production and we apologise to both Eva and Ava.

The Alice Betteridge School:

John Berryman, Chief Executive, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, writes: Re. “Tips and rumours” (Monday, item 8). There is fundamental misunderstanding in a recent claim from an anonymous tip-off to Crikey suggesting that “The RIDBC Alice Betteridge School run by the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in Sydney is apparently in the process of retrenching teachers, even while fees have been increasing.”

There has been no reduction in the ratio of teaching and therapy staff to pupils at the RIDBC Alice Betteridge School. Overall ratios remain at two staff members for every three students to support children with sensory impairment and additional needs.

The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children provides high quality, affordable education for its students, and our commitment to ensure that this continues is as strong as ever. No child has ever or will be denied an education through a genuine inability of the family experiencing difficulty to pay fees. Our schools have always been available to all families who want a quality education for their children.

Australian and NSW government contributions, while substantial, subsidise only a partial amount to cover the costs of running our education programs. Fundraising revenue helps cover the gap and pays for all equipment. School fees increase marginally each year and are less than 3 per cent of the total cost of providing this service.

The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children is grateful for the support it receives from parents, volunteers, donors and supporters.

Rudd and asylum seekers:

Andrew Brooke writes: Brian Reid (yesterday, comments) invokes the floodgates argument about asylum seekers with a predictable disregard for facts.

“Should Australian (or any country) declare that all asylum seekers arriving by boat will be accepted, the Sri Lankan Tamil communities around the world would charter cruise ships to get them here,” wrote Reid.

The spectre of a giant mass of tuned-in coloured people — just waiting for news that Australia treats humans like humans — before invading us in a million floating inner tubes, eskies and rickety boats is one which anti-refugee advocates love to conjure up.

Fact is, Tamils are already heading here. Guess what — the floodgates that you fear are already open. They have been for years, because nothing material has changed under the last two governments. And guess what else — a tiny trickle of asylum seekers is indeed making it through the wide open gates. A tiny number we can easily process, and if necessary, accept and absorb into Australia. What are you scared of?

There will be no flood of millions, mostly because getting to Australia is physically hard, expensive and dangerous.

Your suggestion that the only thing keeping refugees away is “poor treatment” is also utterly false. For a start, guess what else. They don’t sell The Australian in Tamil refugee camps. Irrespective of what Rudd (or Tuckey) reckon or the Oceanic Viking does, people-smugglers will tell their clients that all is basically rosy in Australia.

Refugees will be treated (mostly) fairly, they will be fed, they will have a new life here, just like the Italians, the Greeks, the Poles, the Irish, the Vietnamese… And personally I’m proud that this is true. I’m not scared of it.

Ben Aveling writes: Brian Reid appears to believe that Australia has only two choices: to keep out every last boat person, or allow in every last refugee. Neither is true. Further, Brian seems to believe that being inhumane to those that do arrive will prevent any more arriving. Also not true.

Compared to the conditions they are fleeing, and compared to the trials of travel as a boat person, the difference between being ‘treated poorly’ and being treated humanely is almost insignificant. However inhumane we are, it will only mean a few more or a few less. It will not push us anywhere near our “target”. Even if it did, which it will not, this is a temporary situation.

If we really want to reduce the number of asylum seekers, we should be putting pressure on the Sri Lankan government to treat with dignity those who are after all its own citizens.

John Goldbaum writes: Re. “Kevin Rudd knows nothing, even less than Alan Jones” (yesterday, item 1). Kevin Rudd hasn’t made a hard decision yet. He’s too frightened to expend political capital to change voters’ minds about refugees or anything else for that matter. And now he’s morphed into Sergeant Schultz. Tap him on the shoulder, Albo. Lindsay Tanner rules, OK?

Niall Clugston writes: Can anyone explain why the saga of the Oceanic Viking has received so much media coverage and the saga of the West Atlas oil rig so little? Both events are occurring in the sea on our north-west frontier, yet the tale of the two stories is a study in contrast.

Keane’s Milne hypocrisy:

Stefan Jackson writes: Re. “Milne’s show and Tele just a grubby offering” (Monday, item 17). Bernard Keane, your indignation at Glenn Milne’s weekend story reeked of hypocrisy. In spraying Milne, you repeated and compounded the very sin you accused him of — I didn’t know about the stories or people you were referring to and complaining about until I read your piece in Crikey.

That includes the Labor party identities you declined to name out of concern for them and some apparent high moral standard on your part; and also the Liberal frontbencher whom you did name, apparently because your ethics don’t apply to the non-Labor side of politics. Rank hypocrisy.

So far as the general issue goes, it’s very simple — these MPs are on public salaries, with very good extra lurks and perks. They seek our approval and votes, usually by depicting themselves as being of high moral standard and good judgment. Your role is not to filter what we mere readers should or shouldn’t know: your job is to tell us everything you can find out — everything — and then let us decide what is and isn’t important to us as voters.

Spare us the condescending double standards in your political reporting.

NT grog laws:

James Payten writes: Re. “Intervention lets Territory grog runners walk free” (yesterday, item 4). I’m outraged that Commonwealth law as it stands doesn’t allow NT courts the power to imprison Aborigines for bringing alcohol into their communities. Kevin Rudd should put all other pressing issues aside, do the right thing and introduce these jail penalties immediately.

The frisky cops law is an ass:

Brian Mitchell, Former editor of the Perth Voice and Fremantle Herald newspapers, writes: Re. “WA cops get frisky” (yesterday, item 15), The free Perth Voice newspaper (part of the independent Fremantle Herald stable) led with this story in its weekend edition but went further, quoting WA ethics expert Stephan Millett noting that “law- abiding” people face six months’ jail time if they take physical exception to being frisked by the cops.

Take this hypothetical example: A young male is walking with his girlfriend. A cop demands the young man stop so he can be searched. The young man, perhaps embarrassed at what is being implied, says no as he has done nothing wrong. The cop insists and moves to proceed with his search. The young man lays a hand on the cop to stop him. Oops, he’s just “assaulted” a police officer and in WA that carries a minimum six-month jail term. Job prospects stuffed. Travel overseas stuffed.

So it is now entirely possible in WA for someone to go to jail when, up until they were stopped by police, had committed absolutely no crime at all. It is an outrageous law that no normal thinking person could possibly contemplate as acceptable in any society let alone a liberal western democracy yet Quigley is the only WA Labor MP to speak against it. The rest of that weak-kneed lily-livered bunch of ALP wretches remain silent, fearful of appearing soft on crime (perhaps learning from the spineless examples of their federal counterparts on refugee policy).

Of course, Barnett et al sing from the dog-eared song sheet, “those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear” and “police will not abuse this law”. And as Andrew Mallard knows full well, the WA police have a spotless record when it comes to acting in the public interest.

Junk food junkies:

Geoff Russell writes: Re. “Reform the food industry — for the sake of the planet” (yesterday, item 16). Rosemary Stanton wins against the Australian Food and Grocery Council with a knockout in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and every other round. I’d suggest, that, based on the following research, we should treat this Council like the dangerous drug pushers they are.

The research is from the US Scripps Institute and comes to the unsurprising conclusion that junk food is addictive in rats. Not just habit forming, but addictive in much the same deep brain and behaviour altering way that heroine is addictive.

Would they find the same results in children? Watching a child throw a tantrum when a parent won’t give them their favourite fix in a supermarket certainly makes it plausible and I’d be guessing that a supermarket would be an ideal place for the researchers to find parents willing to give their children up for precisely this kind of valuable research work.

Man overboard:

Gavin Moodie writes: Re. “Tips and rumours” (yesterday, item 7). Would you please pass onto the author of yesterday’s tip that the Australian navy really would be in trouble if it sought to be fully “manned” or expected “manning” issues as the author writes.

Hopefully the navy has joined the rest of modern Australia in being “staffed” and having “staffing” issues.

By the way, how is Crikey‘s gender balance going?

NUMBYISM:

Michael James writes: Re. “CCS Institute comes clean on clean coal” (30 October, item 11). An addendum to our article on the Global CCS Institute report last week: not surprisingly the report has been widely discussed around the globe (76 media references according to Google).

In the Financial Times Kate Mackenzie cited our Crikey story but pointed out that the Guardian says the European pilot CCS plant at Schwartz Pumpe actually puts the captured CO2 back into the atmosphere because of local political opposition to pumping the stuff underground.

This adds a delightful new acronym to our lexicon: NUMBYISM, Not Under My BackYard.

It seems likely we will see this employed everywhere in the coming years as governments try to fulfil their promise of dozens of CCS pilot (or indeed full scale) plants, regardless of technical accuracy or validity.

Free plug:

Chris Main writes: Re. “Media briefs: Sexy news readers … angry locals … king Kyle returns …” (yesterday, item 20). Good plug for Marcus Padley in yesterday’s media briefs. The name is a bit familiar. Is that the same Marcus Padley who spruiks his newsletter most days in Crikey? Surely if it is you would have mentioned the connection…

7TWO:

Bob Gregg writes: Re. “Last night’s TV ratings” (yesterday, item 20). Despite all the brouhaha regarding the launch of 7TWO, Seven’s new HD channel, a large number of people have been dealt a bad hand.

With Seven moving a number of series to 7TWO, Prime viewers who have been loyal to Prime by watching shows like Ugly Betty, 24, Prison Break and Lost, which are all now on 7TWO, are now going to miss out with Prime not ready to launch 7TWO. In fact, they have no idea when they might. The standard message is; “we will make an announcement in the future.”

You can hear the management team decision process: “paper — scissors — rock,” “again.”　”Paper — scissors — rock,” “again.”

If irony was a horse race:

Sharon Hutchings writes: Shocking, Crime Scene ahead of dictator owned Mourilyan. Cruel irony or what?

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