miércoles, 22 de junio de 2011

Thousands face disruption from looming Qantas strikes

A STRIKE planned by Qantas engineers for Monday could leave passengers stranded over the school holidays.
The airline was at loggerheads with its engineers union yesterday with Qantas demanding the strike be called off and the union warning they were ready to make a stand "until the cows come home".
Lyell Strambi, from Qantas' Group Executive Operations, declared the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association's decision a "reckless" and deliberate disruption of holiday makers plans.
"If the union is serious about not disrupting the travel plans of Australians then they should call off the strikes immediately," he said.
He yesterday rejected an offer from the ALAEA to provide strike breakers for their own work stoppages, claiming they were seeking to be paid four times their normal wage to do so.
The ALAEA said it was trying to protect the future of the company from Qantas staff who were part of the management team when Ansett collapsed.
Steven Purvinas, ALAEA federal secretary, denied the claim engineers would be paid four times their normal rate, insisting they would only receive double-time wages.
He said any strike-breakers that Qantas may be considering would cost the airline more than accepting the union's offer.
"The last time they used strike breakers they forgot to take the chocks out from behind the wheels of the aircraft," he said.
As air travellers prepare for the possibility of further disruptions, Mr Purvinas warned the union would not back down.
"We are concerned about the long-term future of the airline, and if we have to make a stand for this we will until the cows come home," he said.
Negotiations between Qantas and the ALAEA have been going for about nine months, but yesterday hit an impasse over the retention of existing aircraft safety checks by licensed engineers and maintenance work being done overseas.


martes, 21 de junio de 2011

WA's South-West hit by 130km/h wind gusts, 10,000 homes without power

A POWERFUL cold front has lashed Western Australia's South West with destructive wind gusts up to 130km/h and heavy rain as it crossed the south coast.
Residents of Perth and the South-West have been warned to batten down as the stormfront packing destructive winds and heavy rain approaches and passes through early this morning.
Trees have been uprooted in some South West towns and about 10,000 homes are without power.
At 6am the leading edge of the front crossed the southwest corner of the state between Bunbury and Walpole, with wind gusts of 130km/h reported at Cape Naturaliste and 109 km/h at Cape Leeuwin.

A FESA spokesman said six calls had already been made to the SES from Dunsborough residents reporting "minor damage" to homes and property and leaking roofs.
Residents are also reporting the impact of the storm
Jail Res of Margaret River said the situation was very frightening.
"From Carbunup at Wildwood Road further north along the highway, trees everywhere across road, people turning off vehicles and getting out, hard to identify that a road is actually beneath all the debris!"
Roads turn treacherous in storm
Several major traffic accidents, possibly due to the wild weather, have already occurred this morning.

A car has rolled over in Hope Valley, south of Perth. The car rolled on Anketell Road just before 7am.

It’s believed several people are inside the car.

A motorcyclist has crashed into a tree in Cowaramup in the State’s South West. The crash happened just after 6am and the rider has been injured

Meanwhile, a traffic accident in Mandurah has forced the closure of one of its busiest intersections.

The Leslie Street and Pinjarra Road intersection is completely blocked due to the crash.

Drivers are asked to take an alternate route.

Two sets of traffic lights in Bedford have also blacked out and drivers are asked to proceed with caution.

The bureau warned that as the front continued to move north and inland, possible dangerous gusts of more than 125km/h could cause significant damage or destruction to homes and property in localised areas.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain may cause flash flooding in some areas.

Higher than normal tides could also cause flooding of low-lying coastal areas between Jurien Bay and Cape Leeuwin, particularly in Geographe Bay.


martes, 14 de junio de 2011

Australia: more rain, floods and a dead cool

New rainfall caused flash floods on Monday and the death of another person, in northeastern Australia several days affected by unprecedented floods.

After heavy rain during the weekend, which increased the overflow of rivers, a torrent of water rushed through the streets of Toowoomba, 130 km west of Brisbane (Queensland, northeast). At least one person drowned

"There were at least one death. yet the exact number but there is at least one victim, and enormous damage, " said the mayor of the city of 130,000 people, Peter Taylor, the ABC radio.

The wooden houses were torn from their foundations and washed away several hundred yards through the torrents of water, which also projected vehicles against store windows and ripped the gas station pumps, said Steve Jones, Mayor of Lockyer Valley, near Brisbane.


North of Brisbane, the city of Gympie was cut in two by flood waters, while there were neighborhoods in Dalby, west of Brisbane, which were flooded for the fifth time, forcing some of its 130,000 residents to evacuate their homes.

In Brisbane, capital of Queensland, sandbags were distributed due to the projected threat of rain on the lower parts of this city of two million.


Australia divided by the measures against illegal immigration

Australia's government faces a wave of criticism for alleged unfair and inhumane treatment of immigrants and have agreed to send illegal immigrants to Malaysia in return for Burmese refugees.

Australia and Malaysia agreed on Saturday that the next 800 illegal immigrants access to Australian shores by boat will be moved to Malaysia to be procesedas their asylum applications.

In return, Australia will accept 4,000 refugees who have already been evaluated by the United Nations, mainly Burmese, who are in Malaysia as part of this controversial measure that cost the Administration Gillard about 292 million local dollars (218 million euros) over the next four years

viernes, 10 de junio de 2011

Travel agents back in demand, following trend towards personal service in bank branches

  • Agent bookings have risen to 55 per cent                                                                                            
  • Figures show it's the first rise in four years
  • Natural disasters may have prompted change
  • http://media.news.com.au/news/2011/01-jan/link-icons/i_enlarge.gif Holiday Ideas: Travel Australia                             

THE travel industry has followed in the footsteps of banking as the latest sector, with a trend towards customers wanting increased face-to-face contact instead of just a computer.
Latest research shows the percentage of Australians booking international trips with traditional travel agents has risen for the first time in four years.
Figures show New Zealand was still the most popular destination for overseas travellers in April, followed by the US, Indonesia, Thailand, the UK and Fiji.
Roy Morgan Research showed 55 per cent of Australians used a travel agent to book their last overseas holiday or leisure trip in the year to March, up from 53 per cent in December.
But the number was still well below the 71 per cent who booked trips with travel agents in June 2007.
At the same time the percentage of people booking accommodation directly dropped slightly to 24 per cent while websites such as Wotif and Webjet were steady at 12 per cent.

A third of Australians booked their holiday directly through an airline.
Flight Centre executive general manager Colin Bowman said the uncertainty of recent weather events, from last year's volcano ash cloud to the Japanese tsunami and Christchurch earthquake, could be behind the change.
"The uncertainty of it all has highlighted the importance of having someone like a travel agent back at home to call on in a time of need," he said.
"Travellers feel a sense of security knowing that their travel agent can help out, should something go wrong."
Roy Morgan director of tourism, travel and leisure Jane Ianniello said long-haul holidays to places such as Europe, the US and the Middle East usually required a more complex itinerary and people still needed an agent to help with their bookings.
Bank customers back to branches
Commonwealth Bank’s retail sales general manager Lyn McGrath said after launching a campaign to win customers, the younger generation was leading the charge back to branches.
Ms McGrath said changes such as the introduction of concierge services in main branches and designer branches with coffee machines has “no doubt increased the numbers of customers coming into branches”.
“Customers are using online for simple things like paying bills, but we’ve certainly seen a demand for face-to-face contact for the bigger transactions,” she said.
ANZ’s managing director of retail distribution Mark Hand said many customers enjoyed access to internet and mobile banking but agreed people still wanted face-to-face contact.
“We’ve certainly noticed people are using branches differently these days and they’re visiting us to have more in-depth conversations with our personal bankers,” Mr Hand said.


viernes, 3 de junio de 2011

Australia calls on the ONU to take the Syrian leader to international court

Australia has asked the UN to take the Syrian president, Basharal-Assad, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the regime's repression against civilians, today announced the AustralianForeign Minister, Kevin Rudd.
"It is time that the Security Council formally considers PresidentAssad referred to the International Criminal Court, " Rudd told theNational Press Club in Canberra, noting its doubts about thelegitimacy of the Syrian government.
The Australian foreign minister made ​​this request in writing to theSecretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and the presidency of theSecurity Council due to the violent repression of demonstrationsagainst the regime of Assad.
Organizations defending human rights estimate that between 700and 850 people have died in Syria since the start of the protests.
Since April, Australia has imposed several measures against theregime of Assad and the arms embargo and economic sanctionsagainst the Syrian government representatives.
Rudd said today that it has included other officials of the Syrian regime in the list of economic sanctions has been extended a third time.