A 19-year-old girl took her own life after months of degrading treatment at the hands of work colleagues.

As a manager I have only once encountered a complaint of workplace bullying.

I took it very seriously because I immediately believed the person making the complaint.

She [...]]]> Workplace bullying can have fatal consequences, as this report from The Age, reveals.

A 19-year-old girl took her own life after months of degrading treatment at the hands of work colleagues.

As a manager I have only once encountered a complaint of workplace bullying.

I took it very seriously because I immediately believed the person making the complaint.

She was a vulnerable type, fairly quiet, but always sincere. The person she complained about was the opposite and I had her under observation for a range of reasons to do with productivity, ethics and performance.

The complainant didn’t want me to raise the bullying allegation with the bully, because she feared for her physical and mental wellbeing.

My response was to sack the bully.

I consulted higher management and they agreed with my conclusion.

The bully had already been given one warning and I had enough reason to give her another.

I really needed three warnings and a few more months to sack her legally without unfair dismissal repercussions.

The risk of industrial consequences seemed a reasonable one to take given the gravity of the situation.

Everything was ultimately concluded as well as could be expected under the circumstances. The victim was very grateful to me, grew in confidence and went on to become a valuable, skilled employee.

It wasn’t summary justice on my part. I had sufficient information to believe the allegation was true, but not enough evidence to prove it, especially without the victim’s testimony.

So I followed my instincts and used commonsense.

It bothers me that unfair dismissal laws in Australia are an ideological football between Liberal and Labor.

The Liberals went too far with “Work Choices” and Labor has gone too far the opposite way in removing an employer’s discretion to dismiss.

This wasn’t the reason for what happened to Brodie Panlock, but certainly an employer with concerns about workplace bullying has limited options, especially when the bullying is one on one, psychological, verbal and subtle.

The Advertiser revealed today that a new law came into force on January 6, requiring internet bloggers, and anyone making a comment on next month’s state election, to publish their real name and postcode when commenting on the poll.

No [...]]]>

South Australians will face online commenting restrictions when writs are issued for the March 20 State Election.

The Advertiser revealed today that a new law came into force on January 6, requiring internet bloggers, and anyone making a comment on next month’s state election, to publish their real name and postcode when commenting on the poll.

No such rules apply to commenting on federal elections.

The Right to Know Coalition, made up of major media outlets, has described the new laws as “draconian”.

Attorney General Michael Atkinson was quoted in the Adelaide Now report saying: “There is no impinging on freedom of speech, people are free to say what they wish as themselves, not as somebody else.”

As a newspaper and website editor I consider the new law to be a disturbing development.

It will inevitably lead to a proliferation of anonymously published offshore websites that have no moderation policies at all.

It will not prevent comment on South Australian politics, but it will restrict South Australian media in publishing comments.

It appears that SA newspaper websites have been deliberately singled out to verify the identity of all commenters, which will limit the number of comments and the flow of debate, also making it difficult for some people to comment at all.

Ironically, the ABC may not be covered by the same law, because Mr Atkinson concedes it does not meet the definition of an “electronic journal” and falls under federal legislation.

This creates the ridiculous situation where a handful of newspaper websites, including The Border Watch, will face more stringent regulations than other media.

Talkback radio will presumably continue to be exempt from identification requirements. Mr Atkinson, please explain the difference.

Sadly, young people will find it almost impossible to get a comment published on a newspaper website.

Most likely, we’ll have to use the electoral roll and phone book for verification.

Disappointingly, the opposition Liberal Party supported the legislation when it passed through parliament last year.

• Graphic from The Inquisitr
• Update: The Attorney General has backed down and said he will repeal the law retrospectively if Labor wins government.

Scottish athletes took matters into their own hands and voted to use Flower of Scotland as their anthem at the Commonwealth Games this year in New Delhi.

The traditional rugby song will replace Scotland the Brave, which has been used previously [...]]]> The Scottish Parliament has apparently been unable to decide on a national anthem for the country.

Scottish athletes took matters into their own hands and voted to use Flower of Scotland as their anthem at the Commonwealth Games this year in New Delhi.

The traditional rugby song will replace Scotland the Brave, which has been used previously at Commonwealth Games.

I have Scottish blood — my grandmother was a Sutherland and her grandmother was a Ferguson from Bute — so I feel entitled to enter this discussion.

Here are the two songs:

Scotland the Brave

Flower of Scotland

I like both of them, but personally I prefer Scotland the Brave. Here are the lyrics:

Scotland the Brave

Hark when the night is falling
Hear! Hear the pipes are calling,
Loudly and proudly calling,
Down thro’ the glen.
There where the hills are sleeping,
Now feel the blood a-leaping,
High as the spirits of the old Highland men.

Towering in gallant fame,
Scotland my mountain hame,
High may your proud standards gloriously wave,
Land of my high endeavour,
Land of the shining river,
Land of my heart for ever,
Scotland the brave.

Flower of Scotland

O flower of Scotland
When will we see
Your like again
That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen
And stood against him
Proud Edward’s army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again

Those days are passed now
And in the past they must remain
But we can still rise now
And be the nation again
And stood against him
Proud Edward’s army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again

I hope to see the Clint Eastwood-directed Invictus this weekend.

It’s a movie about Nelson Mandela’s support for the Springboks in the 1995 rugby World Cup. Sport was divisive in post-apartheid South Africa until Mandela defied his own supporters to back the Springbok name, jersey and team in the cause of reconciliation and national unity.

I searched [...]]]>

I hope to see the Clint Eastwood-directed Invictus this weekend.

It’s a movie about Nelson Mandela’s support for the Springboks in the 1995 rugby World Cup. Sport was divisive in post-apartheid South Africa until Mandela defied his own supporters to back the Springbok name, jersey and team in the cause of reconciliation and national unity.

I searched Google for “Oatmill Cinema, Mount Gambier” and magically was given session times (pictured above). Amazing.

The same search for “Oatmill Cinema” only gave me a link to the website.

Here are my responses to this week’s words:

If you do the procedure, post your results here:

It’s in Danish, from the 1984 movie Midt Om Natten. You must read the subtitles and watch the video to appreciate it:

According to Wikipedia, Kim Larsen has had a number of successful album releases throughout the [...]]]> I don’t post YouTube videos for the sake of it, but this one I found strangely addictive after several viewings.

It’s in Danish, from the 1984 movie Midt Om Natten. You must read the subtitles and watch the video to appreciate it:

According to Wikipedia, Kim Larsen has had a number of successful album releases throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s and is possibly the most successful artist in Danish popular music history.

The New York Times review of the movie says: “Bohemians Arnold (Erik Clausen) and Benny (Kim Larsen), unemployed plumbers who earn their livelihood moonlighting, create their own little anarchic world in an abandoned factory. This gentle satire owed its fleeting popularity to its stars, cavern-mouthed pop star Larsen and comedian Clausen, the latter especially known for his satirical comments on the Danish establishment in particular and bureaucracy in general. A throwback to the wild and woolly 1968 Summer of Love, Midt om Natten was slightly anachronistic already when it premiered.”

Here is a catchy 1986 song by Larsen called Jutlandia. The Jutlandia served as a hospital ship in the Korean War.

The My School website has been developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

The website provides detailed information about all the schools in Australia. It uses [...]]]>

The Federal Government’s controversial My School website was launched today. After an initial hiccup, when the site was down this morning, I managed to access it around 10am.

The My School website has been developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

The website provides detailed information about all the schools in Australia. It uses a new index of student and school characteristics, developed specifically for the purpose of identifying schools serving similar student populations.

ACARA chairman Barry McGaw says this enables schools’ results on national tests to be understood in a fair and meaningful way, and enables schools seeking to improve their performance to learn from other schools with statistically similar populations.

“By providing extensive information on Australian schools, the My School website introduces a new level of transparency and accountability to the Australian school system,” he said.

The Australian Education Union has opposed the introduction of what it calls “league tables”, which it fears could become a tool to “humiliate and shame” under-performing schools.

Principals also have reservations, suggesting financial data should be included to put the comparisons into proper context.

I fully support information being accessible in the public arena.

The national testing data always has been available. Parents receive information for their children and schools receive comparative data, which they normally share within their school community.

The website brings it all together on a national basis and enables comparisons to be more easily made.

This makes principals accountable, which they say they support. And why shouldn’t they?

The inclusion of a socio-educational index means that schools can be compared with similar schools.

I don’t know how the index was compiled, but I understand it takes into account the economic and academic background of parents.

If the government is serious about improving educational outcomes it will use the data to identify those schools that need extra investment.

As a parent, I can accept Jim and Maggie’s school having lower-than-average results because a remarkable 81 percent of the children come from a low socio-educational background. That’s the highest number for any school in Mount Gambier.

The proportion of indigenous students is also the highest in Mount Gambier at 8 percent.

What the figures don’t reveal, is that Gambier North also has a significant number of children from Burmese refugee families. I suspect that explains the poor result for Year 5 (see the table above).

I was relatively happy with the other results given the issue of disadvantage.

As a parent, I don’t expect the school to necessarily excel in all areas. I do want to know the staff are enthusiastic and dedicated. And I do want to see that the needs of individual children are being met.

Our impression so far is that’s occurring at Gambier North.

I will seek clarification though of the explanation for the Year 5 results.

Unfortunately, state school principals were muzzled today from talking to the media and all enquiries were referred to the Education Department district office. That was ridiculous.

Out of interest, I looked at the results for Hannans Primary in Kalgoorlie, where our children previously attended.

That school has a higher indigenous population (14 percent), but only 25 percent overall in the bottom quarter for socio-economic advantage.

All the Year 7 results were lower in the national testing for Hannans than they were at North Gambier.

Even so, as a parent I would want to hear the explanation before leaping to conclusions. During our time there, staff shortages and turnover were problems across Kalgoorlie. The raw data doesn’t tell you that.

The union is being alarmist in its opposition and should accept that disclosure and accountability are positive attributes.

Parents are smarter than they appear to be taking us for. Most of us will ask the right questions and be fair in our judgments.

The data should be seen as a tool to invest and improve.

Hundreds of historic newspapers are having their pages converted to searchable electronic copies.

I’ve already used the resource for family history research.

The text appears garbled in most cases. Hence the NLA has asked volunteers to correct digital records as they discover them.

I’ve fixed up a [...]]]> I’ve written before about the National Library of Australia’s wonderful digitisation program.

Hundreds of historic newspapers are having their pages converted to searchable electronic copies.

I’ve already used the resource for family history research.

The text appears garbled in most cases. Hence the NLA has asked volunteers to correct digital records as they discover them.

I’ve fixed up a few paragraphs; it’s rather time consuming.

Today I received this media release, which I’m reproducing in full out of admiration for the volunteers who have gone the extra mile:

MEDIA RELEASE

Six people who have helped correct millions of lines of text online in the National Library of Australia’s Newspaper Digitisation Program will be presented with special Australia Day awards tomorrow (Thursday 28 January, 2010).

The top text correctors, who have made the program’s Hall of Fame, Julie Hempenstall (Victoria), Maurie and Lyn Mulcahy (Queensland), Fay Walker (Queensland), John Hall (Victoria) and Ann Manley (NSW), will be presented with awards for their efforts during a special presentation in the National Library Theatre. They will also be treated to an exclusive viewing of some of the Library’s prized collection items and see a demonstration of the Library’s revolutionary new search engine, Trove.

The National Library’s newspaper digitisation program began two years ago, using Optical Character Recognition software to automatically convert old newspaper images into digital text. Although this is the latest technology, the small fonts and uneven printing of many of the newspaper pages made conversion difficult and not always accurate. Enter online users from all over Australia who were keen to help by correcting the text.

More than 5000 online users have corrected text – with the top correctors to be presented with the special awards. From a stay-at-home mum with a special interest in family history to a retired couple keen on shipping, the correctors have provided enormous assistance to the program, with some spending up to 45 hours a week correcting text.

Manager of the Australian Newspaper Service at the National Library, Rose Holley, said the correctors’ work was an invaluable service to the community.

“Their contribution and dedication to this project is simply remarkable,” Ms Holley said. “They have really gone the extra mile.”

The program, which is run in conjunction with state and territory libraries, digitises historic Australian newspapers from 1803 up to 1954 when copyright began. The digitised images and text are then made available to everyone via the web.

The millionth newspaper page went public on 14 December 2009, with that page, a 1901 edition of The Sydney Morning Herald, containing the 10 millionth article to be digitised. It is expected 40 million articles will be available via the program by June 2011.

The National Library received $1 million in 2008 from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation to assist with the digitisation of out-of-copyright editions of The Sydney Morning Herald.