Comments for Oh, Bother!

Comment on Aussie Workers: time to bend over by scarletc

scarletc — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 01:10:04 +0000

Since I posted this, last November, the new legislation has been passed and employers are reaping the benefits. Employees are being retrenched and then told to reapply for their own jobs at lower rates of pay, people are being sacked, with no recourse, Unions are being banned from workplaces, and the whole thing is a complete schemozzle. The reforms have left workers with nowhere to go, and have left Unions pretty powerless.

The struggle is not over, and the Rights At Work people are continuing to fight.

Comment on Food intended for starving hurricane victims… by Michael

Michael — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:44:52 +0000

The whole relief effort was a shambles, wasn’t it? When the Army finally got mobilised I read in The Age that they transported people to safe areas by helicopter simply because they didn’t have buses. Reasonably fast and effective, but hugely expensive and somewhat impractical for the aged and infirm.

Comment on Does absolutely EVERYONE have a gMail account? by scarletc

scarletc — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 08:10:24 +0000

They never enforced that rule. A lot of people were unwilling to give their email addresses to people on forums for example, even though they really wanted to have a gmail, so people were sending the invites to themselves and then just posting the links on the forums. I think if google was really piqued, they would have put something in place back then to detect duplicate addresses being sent invites.

I haven’t looked at the recent ToS.

Re Yahoo email… its not too bad but I HATE the big brash adverts. I also hate that when you do decide to use POP3 instead, it still sends the spam on, instead of storing it in your Bulk folder. I also hate the domain name for anything serious. I keep my Yahoo address just for accessing yahoo groups. It became an imperative when a number of e-groups I belonged to got moved over when egroups was taken over by Yahoo.

Comment on Does absolutely EVERYONE have a gMail account? by Michael

Michael — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 07:37:29 +0000

Shhh!! Isn’t it a term of use that you only have one account? I’ve got four as well, but don’t tell anyone.

I kept two for my kids (9 and 11), so when they want them they can have name@gmail.com instead of name765@gmail.com!

I think it’s fantastic. Much better than Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, although the latter is getting better.

Comment on More on Mental Health by scarletc

scarletc — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 10:02:50 +0000

Right on the money, Michael, with the issues of multiple agencies.

I have no problem with NGOs taking over the care of our chronically mentally unwell clients... but they need to do it all, and not expect that we will still have the same level of input as before. The way I see it is, either they manage the client, or they don't. And if they don't, the funding must return to those who do. I am talking about general care here, I certainly do not expect them to cope in times of crisis, thats what our team is for. Day to day management, though, should be done by the agency thats being funded for it.

There was a case recently where one NGO was being given $500k a year to look after one particularly unwell person. The person was so unwell that that particular agency was *not* able to care for him. They did not have properly qualified staff. So the community mental health team was still doing the work, but the funding was going to the NGO. This is one extreme case, but it highlights one of the problems. In having said this I do not want to detract from the wonderful work that these NGOs do in other areas. The 4 Corners episode on Monday illustrated that in spades.

Its just that I believe that the government is expecting (and some NGOs are claiming) that they can do the same job as qualified psych staff. I say they cannot.

However, even within the government run agencies, there are services being fragmented. We have a clear example of that in this region, and alas I cannot be too specific, but suffice to say that, in the end, there are parts of the government agencies who have become so specialised that they perform a very limited service for a limited number of people, and the ones who really need a service cannot get what they need.

Its nothing short of criminal.

Comment on More on Mental Health by Michael

Michael — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 08:44:47 +0000

My mother was a psychiatric nurse and we lived close to a “mental hospital” in a regional town.

This is a subject worthy of more mainstream discussion, so thanks for raising it.

I work for a multi-purpose health agency and one of the most common issues I come across is case management of people needing care in the community. It doesn’t matter if this is acute, mental or aged.

Too often there are many different people and agencies involved when there should be a single point of contact.

If we’re going to treat and care for people in their home environment, which is a noble objective, we need to have proper systems in place. I don’t think that’s the case in many instances.

Stupidity in mental health management! I agree. Ironic, isn’t it?

Comment on Dolphins in the Bay by scarletc

scarletc — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:03:44 +0000

Its a pretty decent place, lastnode. Unless people come in a leaky boat, then it gets really nasty for them

I was saying to my friend from the UK yesterday, we are so lucky in this country, and most of the time we just have no appreciation of it.

Comment on Poor Mark by scarletc

scarletc — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:00:59 +0000

I’m never sure about Rudd. One thing I do know is that whatever they decide they need to stick with it for more than a minute. Beazley should never have been an option after Latham… Rudd and Gillard pulling out of contention for the leadership was a mistake. I don’t know who’s pulling the strings there, but whoever it is, they haven’t a clue about the electorate.

Comment on Dolphins in the Bay by lastnode

lastnode — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 10:46:36 +0000

Beautiful! As an Island boy, I love the sea. Heck, I think I could swim before I could walk. Lovely picture – makes me want to visit Australia.

Comment on Poor Mark by Michael

Michael — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 10:35:46 +0000

I reckon there will be a push for Downer or Abbott to replace Howard from the conservative camp, so don’t bank on Costello. I don’t rule out Nelson and Turnbull from the other side either. That’s a radical thought, I know. It depends on how long Howard hangs around. The longer he stays, the less likely Costello will replace him.

As for Labor, I agree re Beazley. Macklin is a token as deputy. It’s Rudd or Gillard to succeed him and Latham has poisoned Julia’s chances for now. She needs time.