labor party
(SMH) ONE of Australia's most powerful trade unions has set itself on a collision course with the Rudd government, backing a campaign against it over the controversial 457 visa scheme for temporary foreign workers. A report commissioned by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, to be released next week, will reveal the government has dropped the fundamental premise of the scheme, which is that employers must test the labour market before offering jobs to foreign workers. The author of the report, labour market and migration specialist Bob Kinnaird, writes that the Rudd government is no longer requiring employers to give preference to Australian workers, which he says ''goes further than even the Howard government's position'', which Labor had criticised when in opposition before 2007. read more
(SMH) A former Labor powerbroker being paid $450,000 a year as the NBN Co's government relations point man was recommended for the job by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. Mike Kaiser took up the role with the NBN Co - which will build and operate the $43 billion national broadband network - after quitting as Queensland Premier Anna Bligh's chief of staff last year. The appointment of Mr Kaiser, who will earn more than the prime minister, has raised allegations of political interference on the part of Senator Conroy. read more
The hubris from the special boys masonic, fabian, rhodes club is amazing. Mikey was found guilty of vote rigging in Queensland, and now today he's being paid more than PM Rudd with your tax money?
LEARN MORE ABOUT VOTE RIGGER KAISER
updated 09/02/10: Emperor Mikey isn't very popular today
related: "Kaiser is a Jewish name and ornamental from the German "emperor""
(NEW MATILDA) The My School website is already affecting how teachers do their jobs — and not in a good way, writes curriculum support teacher Allan Sheffield [...] Worryingly, the priority for teachers of students in years three, five, seven and nine has increasingly become how to improve or sustain the performance of their students in the NAPLAN tests. Thus many teachers, for a significant part of the academic year, are less focused on quality teaching and learning and more focused on teaching to a test. Students will practice taking tests, learn test-taking strategies and rote-learn material that has little relevance outside the context of the NAPLAN tests. Students learn how to jump through the hoops that will lead to improved test results. The consequence of all this fuss is a potential improvement in test scores, but almost certainly a decline in the quality of the learning experiences of students in our schools. read more
Decoded headline 'Teaching Children How To Fake Tests'
