A new Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) report shows that in 2009 the Australian Government provided $6.3 billion to non-government schools. Of this funding, $5.8 billion was made available as recurrent per capita grants under the SES system of funding for non-government schools, which is currently under review as part of the Government’s wider Review of Funding for Schooling. On average, this equated to $4963 per non-government school student.Breaking this funding down by non-government school sector (Catholic systemic schools and all other non-government schools), Catholic systemic schools received 60.2 per cent of Australian Government recurrent per capit... Read more...
The devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11th led to a crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that resulted in some radiation contamination of the environment and worldwide media attention and commentary. There are six older-type Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) at this site that require cooling systems in order to keep their fuel rods from overheating. While the reactors did turn off during the earthquake, their heat and loss of backup power for the cooling systems has led to some extraordinary measures being taken. These have included water-bombing, mobile water pump spraying and the use of boron-enriched seawater. Some explosions also occurred at the site, pro... Read more...
On 21 March 2011 the House of Commons agreed to the motion that means that the 650 MPs will forgo a recommended 1 per cent pay rise effective from 1 April 2011. The proposed pay rise resulted from a determination of the Senior Salaries Review Board released on 19 January 2011. The motion makes provision for MPs' salary and those of chairs of select and general committees to be frozen for two years at the salary level on 31 March 2011, that is at £65,738. The motion passed without a vote. Most Members of the House of Lords do not receive a salary but may be entitled to financial support arising out of their parliamentary duties. However it has been reported that MPs were unhappy at having to ... Read more...
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