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Dramatic fall in Student numbers
It seems foreign students don’t want to study in Australia as much as they used to.
Last year, the number of Indian students who applied to study in Australia fell over 60 per cent, from 17 000 to just under 7000.
And the reluctance to study here is spreading across Asia. The numbers of Chinese and Vietnamese students who applied for a student visa last year also fell.
2SER’s Alexandra Back with this report.
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Grief to be labelled a medical disorder
Sufferers of long-term grief may find relief as new controversial psychiatric guidelines move to label the condition as a mental disorder.
The proposed diagnosis, officially known as "adjustment disorder related to bereavement", will affect people who suffer grief for more than 12 months.
It is hoped the changes will make the ten to fifteen percent of people who suffer prolonged grief easier to identify and limit misdiagnosis.
But some experts have reservations about medicalising a nor ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
More men suffer Bulimia
An increasing awareness of body image among men is contributing to an alarming rise in male eating disorders.
More than 600 men sought treatment for the condition in Victoria last year compared with just 149 the year before.
The Chief executive of Eating Disorders Victoria, Kirsty Greenwood, says there is increasing pressure on men to correspond to a narrow idealised body image.
In particular Bulimia is on the rise and can have serious health implications.
Kirsty Greenwood spoke wit ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Australias First Age Discrimination Commissioner
Australia’s ageing population - caused by low birth rates and increasing life expectancy - is often cast as a burden.
Age discrimination has been identified as an “invisible and universal” part of modern Australian culture.
This week Susan Ryan will start her job as the country’s first Age Discrimination Commissioner.
She is a former Labor Senator and social justice activist.
2SER reporter Jacqui Le spoke to Commissioner Ryan in the lead-up to her first day in office.
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Dangerous Loopholes In Cluster Bomb Legislation
A former commander of the Australian Defence Force this week told Radio National that the US military will still be able to stockpile cluster bombs in Australia, even after the Federal Parliament bans the use of the weapons.
Australia is in the process of ratifying the convention banning the use of cluster bombs by enacting legislation to entrench it in domestic law.
But the government has ignored numerous calls to strengthen the bill.
Organisations such as Human Rights Watch and the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Did Fred & Barry do a deal?
There are claims of skulduggery in Macquarie Street as Premier O’Farrell has given the Christian democrat’s anti ethics class legislation priority in parliament this week.
It was in exchange for Fred Nile's support for the government's public sector wages bill which puts strict limits on pay rises.
The Opposition and Greens are accusing O’Farrell of making secret deals or breaking election promises.
But the Premier insists he’s not planning to go back on his word and cancel et ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Quentin Dempster on ABC cuts
The ABC has confirmed it is cutting three of its television programs: The New Inventors, Collectors and Art Nation.
Redundancy packages have been offered and a number of job losses are expected.
The head of ABC television Kim Dalton says the decision to axe the programs came because of falling audiences, tighter budgets and a strategy of focusing on prime-time shows.
But some ABC staff say the reasons behind the cuts are much more serious.
7:30 NSW presenter Quentin Dempster says ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Syrian death toll reaches 2,000
The renewed crackdown on protestors in SYRIA, which has claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people has prompted global outrage this week.
President Basher Assad is stopping at nothing to crush the protests against his regime.
But the demonstrations are continuing despite the lethal threat.
The UN Security Council has condemned the violence that began on the eve of Ramadan, five months after the Government began its campaign against the pro democracy activists.
2SERs Cassie Byrnes ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Parents who abduct their own children
In Australia each year, around 150 children are abducted by a parent and taken overseas, without the permission of the other.
Parental child abduction is not illegal in this country, but those parents left behind say there should be harsher penalties for the abductors, including jail time.
The Department of Community Services, the body that works closely with these families, says tough penalties, like jailing a parent would rarely be in the best interests of the child.
2SER’s Alexan ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Mandatory senteces for Vic teens
The Victorian government was elected on the promise of cracking down on crime and over the coming months is preparing to bring in tough new laws such as abolishing home detention and suspended sentencing.
A controversial part of the reforms is the proposed mandatory minimum two-year prison sentencing of 16 and 17 year old offenders convicted of violent crimes.
The laws will apply when a person is found guilty of 'gross violence' offences causing serious injury, which can include a brok ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Cocaine up, smoking down
We’re smoking less, but we still drink too much, and our use of illicit drugs is on the rise
That’s the finding from the latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s National Drug Strategy Report, a survey of over 26,000 people across the country.
The Report found that daily tobacco use has dropped, especially among 20 to 40 year olds.
But while teenagers are drinking less, around one in five Australians still consume more than the recommended safe level of alcohol each w ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Catholic Church apologies for forced adoption practices
Australia’s adoption practices during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s have a reputation as being a national disgrace.
A recent A-B-C investigation into claims of abuse and trauma in Newcastle, prompted the chief of Catholic Health Australia to apologise.
Martin Laverty says he’s sorry for forced adoptions that took place in Australia's Catholic hospitals.
2SER’s Jaye Smale filed the report.
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Intersex people and the Census
The Intersex community in Australia wants the national census to acknowledge their existence and have enlisted the help of Jedi Knights in their campaign.
Intersex refers to people with a-typical combinations of sexual features.
Intersex is considered a more accurate description of people commonly referred to as hermaphrodites.
With the five-yearly census to be held on August 9, the Bureau of Statistics has already said attempts to ‘write in’ a sex other than male or female will n ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
One million infants perish in kangaroo slaughter
Australia considers itself a champion of animal welfare issues when it comes to topics like whaling overseas or cattle slaughter, but what about on home soil?
A new report by the University of Technology, Sydney has uncovered the darker side of one of our own home-grown industries, kangaroo harvesting.
The report found that over one million dependent young die every year as a result of commercial kangaroo hunting practices.
Joeys are often killed or left to die from exposure, starvatio ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Tony Blair on trial
Julia Gillard might've been chuffed after Tony Blair gave her carbon tax campaign the thumbs up, but not everyone is happy to see the former British prime minister in Australia.
Mr Blair has been on a speaking tour of the country, in part to promote his new book of memoirs.
But the Stop the War Coalition accuses Mr Blair of committing war crimes in Iraq and say by selling his book he's profiting from proceeds of crime.
To voice their concerns, the group staged a mock trial down at S ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Illegal timber found on "5 Star" green building site
A property development in Sydney’s CBD hoping to achieve the highest possible environmental rating was taken over by a Greenpeace demonstration this week.
Seven protesters were arrested in their bid to expose illegally logged plywood from Malaysia that was being used at the Frasers Property development on Broadway, Central Park.
Greenpeace says the government itself estimates that 10 per cent of all timber imports, worth about 400 million dollars, come from illegal sources.
But Gree ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
No ethics for Nile
It's been backed by both the Anglican and Catholic churches, but one man continues to hold out against an option for ethics classes in schools.
Reverend Fred Nile of the Christian Democrats Party wants the government to repeal the course introduced by the former Labor government.
He says the ethics lessons will detract from scripture classes, despite the fact they are theoretically offered as an alternative for students with no religion or a religion isn't taught in their particular s ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Minister pledges to end whistleblower bullying
Doctors in NSW hospitals say they risk being vilified by hospital administration if they speak out about problems with patient care.
After visiting 61 hospitals in 2009, then-Commissioner, Peter Garling, discovered our hospitals were “rife with mistrust, poor communication and bullying.”
In 2011 not much has changed, but the new Health Minister, Jillian Skinner, says she is committed to putting a stop to bullying and harassment in NSW hospitals.
Kate Aubusson reports
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Factor 50 approval misleading
Australians suffer more from skin cancer than anyone else in the world, and are keen to slip slop slap.
But a proposed new standard, which would allow manufactures to sell factor 50 plus sunscreen in Australia, has caused concern.
Currently only SPF 30+ sunscreen is sold in our supermarkets… and the Cancer Council claims introducing the new standard has more to do with making money than protecting people from sunburn.
2SER’s Jaye Smale filed the report.
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Abolish uni exams
Every student dreads exams.
And they’re not alone.
Deans dread exams too, but for entirely different reasons.
John Simons, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University says that exams should be abolished, as they do not properly test student’s knowledge at university.
To Simons, exams are an outdated way to test students and its time universities opened themselves up to the 21st century.
He spoke with 2SER’s Cassie Byrnes.
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No more secret confessions?
Independent senator Nick Xenophon has called on the Catholic Church to remove the sanctity of confession for child abuse cases.
Xenophon raised the issue following the Irish government’s decision to impose tough new laws on the church.
The Irish legislation would require priests to report abuse revealed during confession or face up to five years' jail.
Dr Bernard Barrett, is a social research academic who works with Broken Rites Australia.
Broken Rites is a non profit group that p ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Anti gay violence in Tasmania
In the Tasmanian country town, Ulverstone, a 23 year-old named Daniel Stanley was brutally bashed recently because he was gay.
Two weeks later, Gay and Lesbian rights advocates are still waiting for the state’s policy-makers to stop their bickering long enough to bring about meaningful reform.
Kate Aubusson spoke to Rodney Croome from the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group about the changes he believes are necessary, across sentencing, policing and education to combat hate cri ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Alcohol warnings "too soft"?
With alcohol consumption at a 20-year high, industry-funded educational organisation Drinkwise Australia this week rolled out voluntary warning labels for more than 80% of beer, wine and spirit products.
However, critics say that the slogans are weak and ineffective, and unlikely to have any impact on Australian drinking habits.
While the alcohol industry is being credited for taking action, the warnings have been called a soft approach intended to head off any future government regulat ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Designer dog export boom
Australian designer dogs are being sold to the lucrative Asian market via the internet.
Figures from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service show 5,400 dog-export permits were granted last year, up from 4,800 in 2009.
Welfare groups are concerned about the conditions of the puppy farms used to breed these dogs.
The RSPCA is investigating the export market as part of its campaign against the dog trade.
2SER’s Jaye Smale spoke to RSPCA’s Scientific Officer and Vet, Dr Jade ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Gillard cuts Psychology rebates
The Gillard government is cutting more than four hundred million dollars of funding for Medicare visits to psychologists.
Since 2006 people needing mental health care have been able to get rebates on GP referrals and up to 12 visits to a psychologist, but now that’s being cut back.
The government says the cost of the scheme has blown out to a total of 1.4 billion dollars over 4 years.
While most of the medical profession opposes the planned cuts one expert has applauded them.
Pr ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Union push to cut ties with the ALP
Elements of one of Australia’s largest trade unions are looking to cut decades-long ties with the Labor Party.
In a move that could harm the ALP’s bottom line, the Secretary of the Victorian Electrical Trades Union, Dean Mighell, has called for members in other state unions to disaffiliate from the party and move towards independent representation.
The call follows the Victorian branch’s decision to end affiliation with the Labor Party last year.
At a time when Union support for c ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Worst drought in 60 years - 12 Million People affected
As East Africa faces its worst drought in 60 years, the number of people seeking refuge in neighbouring countries continues to rise.
Aid organisations running refugee camps are struggling to keep up with the influx saying they don't have enough funding.
The United Nations has labelled the drought a 'humanitarian crisis' and Oxfam estimates some 12 million people are now affected.
Oxfam has now launched an international food appeal to try to stem the onslaught of famine.
2SER's ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Scientologists Threaten Cult Victim Group
The Church of Scientology has threatened to sue a volunteer organisation that supports people harmed by cults.
The Cult Information Service criticized Scientology in a brochure which quoted Senator Nick Xenophon.
The document described the church as an “abusive and destructive group” that “psychologically manipulates persons under coercive controlling circumstances.”
2ser’s Kate Aubusson filed this report.
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This Is Not Art Festival funding in doubt
For 13 years, Newcastle’s This Is Not Art Festival - affectionately known as TINA - has drawn independent and emerging creative types from across Australia, and around the world.
But a decision by Newcastle City Council not to renew its triennial operational funding has left the festival with an $18,000 budget shortfall.
Council says they support the event, but that the latest funding submission just wasn’t competitive in the face of increased applications for grants.
Organizers b ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Too many juveniles behind bars
State Government figures released this week show that the number of youths in Juvenile Detention in NSW now exceeds 400 on any given day.
The figures, obtained by the NSW Greens, show that cases of incarceration have increased by 60% since 2003.
The NSW Attorney-General, Greg Smith, has promised an overhaul of the Juvenile Justice System, saying he is unhappy with the number of children in custody.
The Greens, however, are pressing for a movement away from criminalisation and juvenile ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Hybrid embryos ruled out in stem cell review
Stem cell laws continue to prohibit Hybrid Embryos in Australian scientific research despite their being conducted overseas.
Australian stem cell laws have come under review for the first time in 5 years by an expert committee led by Federal Court Judge Peter Heerey.
The review has found that Australian law should continue to prohibit hybrid embryos and human cloning in Australia.
Hybrid embryos are the result of fertilising an egg with the sperm of another closely related species. Fo ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
The Powerful Owl
Birds Australia is asking members of the public to help them find pairs of Australia’s largest owl, known as the Powerful Owl.
They want to get a better idea of how many of the threatened species are living and breeding in the Sydney region.
It’s all part of the Birds in the Backyards program, which looks at birds that live where people live- and how the community can create a habitat for them.
Natasha Egan brings you this report.
http://birdsinbackyards.net/surveys/powerful-owl. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Hendra virus hits NSW
An outbreak of Hendra virus in Queensland has reached the New South Wales border.
The rare virus, which kills horses, was first detected in 1994, but cases have been on the rise in recent weeks.
Hendra is believed to be carried by fruit bats and then passed on to horses. Six humans who were exposed to sick horses are now being monitored. However, the NSW Department of Primary Industries is not concerned and says the virus doesn’t spread between humans.
The CSIRO is under pressure ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Live Exports resume without humane guarantees
The decision to resume live animal exports by the Labor Government has been received with mixed feelings this week.
The cattle industry gladly welcomed the government’s decision to lift the suspension, hoping to get back to business as soon as possible.
But cries of dissent where heard from Labor’s own caucus.
Nine Labor backbenches criticized Agricultural Minister Joe Ludwig’s decision to lift the ban without mandatory stunning of all cattle.
The RSPCA applauded the labor M ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
New national scheme for Renewable Energy
The government has announced the introduction of an independent body to manage all new renewable energy projects in Australia.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency- or ‘ARENA’- will form a part of the government’s Climate Action Plan to be released tomorrow.
The new body will oversee the work of 10 existing programs and provide financial support for further innovation within the industry.
The government was quick to point out, however, that the independent board will not be fun ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
News of The World - Murdoch in deep shitScandal-plagued British tabloid shuts up shop
As details of the News of the World's hacking scandal continue to emerge, the British paper has been forced to shut-up-shop.
The tabloid, long known for its questionable undercover reporting techniques, met public indignation this week as evidence that it had hacked into the phones of murder victims and dead soldiers' families surfaced.
News International chairman James Murdoch has stood by the paper's former editor, Rebekah Brooks, saying ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Rudd announces OS Aid changes
As the world faces ever more severe natural disasters, the humanitarian cost looms.
Australia’s foreign aid program will double in size to $8 billion over the next four years.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday, announced that the government would adopt 38 out of 39 recommendations of the first independent review of Australia’s aid program in 15 years.
One of the biggest problems cited was bloated bureaucracy and management in the government agency Oz Aid.
The review also c ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Junk food ads - Is self regulation working?Kids are seeing just as many junk food ads as they were before industry self-regulation was introduced two years ago.
The Quick Service Restaurant Industry's pledge to responsibly advertise and market to children began in August 2009.
And signatories include KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonald's.
A University of Sydney study compared the number of ads just before and about nine months after the pledge and found self-regulation isn't working.
2ser's Natasha Egan spoke to dietician and lead resea ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Should phone help lines be free?
As of 1 July, calls to phone counseling service, Lifeline, are now free from all mobile networks, thanks to an $18.2 million Federal government grant.
But the change has been met with concern from consumer groups and other counseling services like Kids Helpline.
They say it’s unfair that young people have to cough up to access counseling from their mobiles, when adult services are provided for free.
Kids Helpline answers more that 240,000 calls a year, and around 70 per cent of those ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Conflicts of interest at Australian Universities
A new survey of Australian universities has found disclosure policies are failing to adequately reveal commercially sponsored research and other conflicts of interest.
Academics are not required to disclose financial ties to industry before making comment on public issues.
The susceptibility of researchers to being swayed by competing financial interests has not been appropriately managed by policy.
2ser’s Neda Vanovac spoke to the study’s co-author Professor Ian Kerridge, Direct ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Reducing the worlds 20,000 nuclear warheads
The Global campaign for the abolition of Nuclear weapons intensified recently in the lead up to a nuclear security conference in Paris.
Thousands of people took part in 140 actions in 25 countries on June 25 for Nuclear Abolition Day - coordinated by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons or ICAN.
The leaders of the United States, Russia, the UK, France and China – known as the P5 – met in Paris this week to continue nuclear non-proliferation discussions.
There are cu ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Greek parliament defies mass protests
The Greek parliament has defied days of riots by anti-austerity protesters and voted for another series of severe cuts.
Approving the tax increases, spending cuts and privatisations was a pre-condition to receiving a second bailout package from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
Despite strong public opposition in Athens, 155 deputies out of the 3-hundred seat parliament voted to set up a privatisation agency and reform the tax system-- the same number who voted for ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
The Dingo: Australian Icon or Pest?
After hundreds of years of poisoning, interbreeding with domestic dogs and general persecution, the iconic dingo is at risk of extinction.
But a host of international experts on wildlife welfare, in Sydney for a conference, are stressing the importance of the dingo to Australia’s ecosystem.
Currently, the protection of dingoes is governed separately by each state, protected in certain areas and a designated pest in others.
Now the Humane Society has made a submission to the environme ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
ACT Prison Officer reject Needle Exchange Plan
Last April, the Australian Health Minister’s Advisory Council recommended a needle and syringe program be trialed in an Australian prison.
But a proposed needle exchange program in Canberra’s jail is facing strong opposition from its staff.
Last week, more than 80 per cent of the correctional officers at the Alexander Maconochie Centre signed a petition opposing the program.
Their union, the Community and Public Sector Union, or CPSU, says the trial will put guards at an unaccep ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
India to enshrine a right to food in law
The Indian government looks ready to enshrine the right to food in law.
The move will give subsidised grain to 70 per cent of the population and cost the government more than 20 billion dollars a year.
But right to food campaigners say the proposed bill falls short in solving the country’s famine related problems.
This report from 2ser's Natasha Egan begins with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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Rich countries taking fewer refugees
The release of new UN figures reveals that Australia is ranked 46th out of 50 countries in the number of refugees that we receive.
Most refugees that flee from persecution in their homelands arrive in poorer, neighbouring countries according to the UN report.
The Australian mainstream media and political view fails to address the truth of these figures.
The head of the UNHCR has described as a “worrying unfairness” the growing resistance from wealthier nations to offer asylum ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
NT Intervention Alternative
This week marks the fourth anniversary of the Northern Territory intervention.
Initially drafted under the Howard government in response to the 2007 'Little Children are Sacred' report, the policy hoped to improve situations of chronic unemployment, alcohol and sexual abuse in remote Indigenous communities.
Two prime ministers later and little appears to have changed.
But despite widespread criticism of the intervention, which primarily surrounds the inherent paternalism of the policy ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Debate over "Controlled Crying"
The mental health of babies left to cry themselves to sleep as part of sleep training has been criticized by the Australian Association of Infant Mental Health.
The controlled crying method involves leaving babies to sleep for short but increasing periods of time to learn to sleep through the night.
The Association’s President claims that this method doesn’t work.
At the same time a university study has found that mothers with very unsettled babies are increasingly visiting hospi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
Bikies Victory in the High Court
The High Court has ruled that New South Wales laws targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs are invalid.
The laws were introduced by Nathan Rees immediately after a fatal brawl between the Comancheros and Hell's Angels at Sydney Airport in March 2009.
The Criminal Organisation Control Bill had the power to declare bikie clubs illegal organisations.
Under the law, Bikie members could be jailed for associating with each other, have their assets frozen and be restricted from certain employme ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | |