Aussie news 2

Past year 22 per cent rise in of homeless in Sydney


The rise comes more than a year after the federal government's pledge to halve the number of homeless nationally by 2020.

In a white paper on homelessness launched in December 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged to outlay $1.2 billion over four years to build new housing and increase services for the homeless.

But the City of Sydney council says the problems are actually getting worse.

There were 416 people sleeping on the inner-city streets, or in a temporary overnight shelter, when the latest count was conducted on Tuesday between 1am (AEDT) and 3am.

The count, which takes place twice a year and has been running since 2008, was conducted by 146 volunteers, including those who were or had previously been homeless.

Those sleeping rough were found in suburbs including Woolloomooloo, Kings Cross, Paddington, Glebe, Surry Hills, Ultimo and Redfern.

The figure is 22 per cent higher than those counted in February 2009.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the situation was worrying and had to change.

"Our street counts show a concerning, consistent rise in the number of people counted sleeping in our parks, streets, trains, train stations and in overnight temporary shelters since we started conducting these counts in August 2008,'' she said today.

She says the City of Sydney is committed to ending chronic homelessness through funding and coordinating a number of services and projects.

Despite continuing problems with issues of homelessness, welfare advocates say they're not keen to throw cold water on the government's 2008 white paper on the issue.

"It's not all talk and no action,'' the Wayside Chapel's Graham Long told AAP.

"And a lot of the talk is very good talk.''

That said, Reverend Long said the problem could not be addressed by merely "flicking a switch''.

"It's a problem that, if we are going to make progress ... it will be a progressive, slow kind of thing,'' he said.

"And I think most of us believe progress can be made.''

Reverend Long named the adoption of the Common Ground concept, which began in New York in 1990, as a worthwhile outcome of the 2008 white paper into homelessness.

The aim of the concept is to build and operate a range of housing options for homeless and low-income individuals.

It has recently been taken up in most Australian states.

In August 2009, former NSW premier Nathan Rees announced a purpose-built building in Camperdown, in Sydney's inner west, to accommodate homeless people and people on low incomes.

The project will be based on the Common Ground model.

In 2008, Mr Rudd's wife, Therese Rein, was appointed patron of the Common Ground network in Australia.

"In one sense, it's a way of diverting money away from teaching homeless people how to play the guitar and giving them a roof over their head first,'' Reverend Long said.

He said people living in housing projects based on the Common Ground concept were encouraged to take an interest in their community.

"It's like (being on a) body corporate, almost,'' he said.

"I see that as coming out of the white paper and I see it as very positive.

"But it's only a start,'' he added.

My Thursday Night at INTI

Now i am in my small pretty room with my friends, 7 of them in total. We all are gathering here right now in my room. nice!! nice!! my room tonight full of laughter. They all keep shouting and screaming all the time. What they are doing now??? tick!!!tock!!! tick!! tock!!! playing cards or in more direct way, they are gambling....all got talents one...everyone seemed enjoying their times. Although i did't involve in the games i still enjoy and happy with it.. hahaha!!!! Oh one more meaningful activity i did today!! That is first economics presentation. It's about shampoo advertisement. After one week discussion and practice, every group did all their best..and of course it is really well-present. it's really funny and everyone enjoyed that moment. I am sure that every SAM students will remember this moment very well. Some groups came out with creative and crazy ideas that made everyone in class laughed non-stop.hahaha... i just realised that most of the guys in our class had tendency to become a she-male. hahaha..They looked very happy with the acting today. hohoho..i hope that it is not going to become a reality..let we all pray for it!!!

Kids' sex talk leaves teachers 'helpless'
From: The Mercury January 31, 2010 2:57PM
Teachers are "horrified" about the conversations primary school students are having about sex. Source: The Daily Telegraph
"Students boasting about oral sex"
Using explicit language
Teachers feeling "helpless"

TEACHERS are overhearing Tasmanian primary students boasting about having oral sex.

Roz Madsen from the Australian Education Union (AEU) said teachers "felt helpless" at how to deal with the problem, The Mercury reported.

"The students are talking about what they have done on the weekend, sexual experiences that they are having," she said.

"It seems to be happening at earlier ages."

She said at a recent AEU forum, teachers had described what children in grades 4 and 5 talked about.

"They are talking about oral sex and saying they are doing it. Who knows if they are or are just boasting, I hope they are not," she said.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
Related CoverageMy School: Panicking parents End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
"And the language as well, it's quite explicit, nothing is left to the imagination."

Family Planning Tasmania's chief executive Sue Williams said teachers were "horrified" at the conversations on Monday mornings when kids compared what they had done on the weekend.

"All sorts of sexual activities," she said.

"Oral sex has become the new kissing. It's easy and you don't get pregnant."

She said for some children, their first knowledge of sex was through pornography on computers or mobile phones.

Sexting was also a growing problem, where kids send explicit photographs of themselves to others on mobile phones.

Ms Williams said teen pregnancy remained an issue and the centre had heard of 12 and 13-year-old girls falling pregnant and a 14-year-old giving birth to her second child.

Relationships had evolved and school kids now had "friends with benefits" and multiple sexual partners rather than a steady mate, she said.

Ms Madsen said body image was an emerging issue and teachers were reporting kindergarten kids were worried about how they looked.

In March, Family Planning, the AEU and other groups including Parents and Friends and Relationships Australia will join forces at a forum to call for sex and relationship education to be part of the school curriculum.

The Education Department leaves it to individual schools to decide how to offer this, which Ms Williams said meant the quantity and quality varied dramatically.

"Teachers say there is no central policy so they feel quite vulnerable to take it on," she said.

Education Department spokesman Bob Phillips said parents had a role to play in teaching their children about sex and relationships.

"Schools are only partially responsible," he said.

Amazing Weekend!!!

Hi!!! long time i did't not update my blog since my first week i came back inti. Actually not much homework but i have no mood to write out anything. Everything is in a deep and bottom of my heart and mind. Last wednesday was my birthday. My friends made a surprise for me.. Fastinating birthday celebration for me this year!! thank you so much!! They sang birthday song to me and a nice cake from bakery.We had took some photos and probably my roomate had uploading it in her blog!! everyone can have a look there~~~it is very touching and i appreciated it so much.On thursday again was a public holiday so we took this opportunity to enjoy ourself. We went to Time Square. They had planned to play at the theme park but i reluctant to do so. Finally they asked me to play together with them. It would be my unforgettable birthday for me this year they said. So, i tought it agian. it's alright i can play!! so i said yes!! when we were standing in front of the entrance, i had change my mind again!!! hahaha!! i not dare enough to play all those things!! what a coward girl!!sad!! sad!!at last my friends paid the ticket for me!! my birthday present!!!hahaha!!thanks!!! i was screaming and shouting as loud as i can because iam very scared and this is one way to release our stress actually!! all sort of actions and sound seemed shining out among us hahaha!! some of them wanted to vomit out and some felt dizzy!! hahaha!! . After everyone satisfied so we went on with shopping!! We spent a day in the mall. After walking for the whole day i felt really tired and really sleepy!! i am sweating along the way to get back to our college. So tomorrow morning again i went to Johor Bharu after finishing my english class around 11 something. After grab some food i got myself ready and walking to the bus stop. I took the 3 pm bus to get to my sister there. After travelling for 4 hours finally i reached there and my sister came to picked me up with her boyfriends. Early in the morning we went to city square, shopping mall. First we did was having our lunch. my tummy crying since in the early of the morning. My sister is a kind of shopaholic!! so we walking all the day!! my legs become numb already!! hahahaha!! so today i came back to reality again!! gambateh!! fight for it!! u can do it!!

Variations!!!!

I think many of you when reading the above title, will getting yourself in many different corner of your life as we all have variatons in our daily life. Sometimes sad, sometimes got yourself in trouble and sometimes enjoy your life so much!!!! All these could happen in one day like today experiences that i am going to share with you all in this post. In previous post, i had told you all that i am going to jog with my friends this evening (if you are really my true fans, reading every of my post, hahaha!!! it is impossible rite????)but i can do it. huhuhu!!!! very disgusting!!!! i am not feeling feel today, very headache couldn't speak out any words( speechless) for couple of minutes. if i do so, all foods that i had stuffed into my stomach will come out!!! I ran out of my room to pantry area quite a lot of time. I scarced i would vomit it out in my room, then it really get myself in trouble. So i decided to call my mum. After that she asked me to drink the medicine. So i rushing to get the hot water and straightaway throw inside my stomach.*sigh* I think because of my lunch today!!! my stomach not accepting!!! indigestion!!! Everything went wrong!! i want to got myself rest on my bed but i can't do it!! but i have to force myself lied down on the bed!!!! closing my eyes for a while i felt a bit relief!!! hey!!! i hope that will be back to normal again soon. As a result, i can't go out with my friends, so i caged myself inside my freezing room!!! frustating!!!! heh!!! my friends kept asking me i am okay or not???? thank so much!!! it really got me up!! cheering me up!! yeah!!!After for a while i getting better and even better and now i am blogging again. see!!! variations happen every minute, every second!!!

Now my friends are staying in my room. So i am not going to miss this moments!!!
I have to stop it here.!!!

bye!!! happy!!! happy!!!

Headache!!!!

Ouch!!! my haed spinning!!! what's happening???? After having lunch i felt haedache. Maybe last night i had slept late and this morning had to wake up early in the morning. I started my first lesson with Mr Yee, my econamics' lecturer. He is funny like last semester but this time even more funny!!! The class ran smoothly today. OH!!! N0!! specialist maths class has cancelled today. I also don't know why????? maybe the lecturer still not ready to teach us..hahaha...have to do a lot of preparations before teaching all playful kids...hahaha..The cafeteria is under renovation, probably in 3 month times. haah!!!! so where we going to have our lunch!!! dining hall???? or bakery???? Anyway we have no choice. i finished my class at 12 noon only. So now is my free time again. This evening my friends has planed to out jogging or maybe playing basketball. depending on their interest, i am okay!!! no problem!!! jogging! basketball!! or just staying in a room!!!hahaha..Oh one more thing, i am misunderstood about the subject we going to take for this new semester. Actually, only non-muslim taking moral education while muslim have to take islamic study!!! i think we going to study on the same class but now we have to separate. This time we have to mixed with private students taking moral tooo. So we can meet new friends then. Hopefully we would not get a very strict lecturer. So we can still enjoy our lessons in the class. Nothing much to write this time and i am still haedache, wanted to rest for a while before getting worse. see you all in next post!!! i will tell more interesting story in next post okay!!! and one more before end my words!!! today no homework!!! hahaha.. this is what i dreaming for!!!!

HAPPY!!!!

HiHi!!!! say hi one more time to u all before i say good night. Actually i already wrote this post half-way just now but i accidentally pressed the button on the keyboard. I don't know which button i have touched just now but it affect my post. Everything i had written on my blog gone in just a blink of eyes. What had happened??? i have to write it again..huh!!! tiring!!! after thinking for couple of minutes i started a new post and a new contents probably..haha..this evening many interesting activities i had done and of course blogging is one of it. I having my dinner a bit far from our hostel tonight. We went to aunty jenny restaurant today. On the way there we kept on talking and it is full of jokes. I hope this will continued until the end of this year. When we reached the restaurant, the waitress there served us quite well. We sat in the air-conditioned room. Sitting for a while, the waitress passed the menu list to us. It took time for me to look at menu one by one. For couple of minutes, i searching the food i am interested in. Finally i choosed rice but till now i not really know what i had ordered just now. I merely remembered it name!!! Paprika fish Fillets rice if i am not mistaken. It is awkward for me to speak out in english as all my friends ordered in chinese. So i asked my roomate to help me!!! thank a lots ya!!! next time must use this service again. hahaha...when come to order the drinks the same thing happened to me. Looking at the menu one by one, i am the last person ordered the drinks. The waitress waiting for me order, so with smiling face i said out 100 plus!!!! hahaha...and when i looked at my friends they laughed as i always order 1oo plus. Actually i don't know what to order so just ordered it. After everyone were full, we got ourself up and check the bill. Here the problem, the same problem came again. So i am the last person to pay the bill. Actually i have know idea about the food i had ordered just now. How it looks like??? but i think nice and it really nice. Although it is quite expensive but its alright as we seldom come here. one time in one month.huh!! i still can bear it. One more thing today the first day 6 of us regathered at inti after a long holiday at our hometown. So we took this opportunity to celebrated it. We walking back to hostel happily with our full stomach!!! After that some of my friends gathered in my room and did something interesting. must keep it a secret.hahaha...We chit-chating for a while, then they went back to their own room. Full of happiness, i started to share it here!!!! Happy moments must share to everyone!!! rite???? Now a bit late already, so i think i have to stop here tonight. still got a lot of story i wanted to shared with u all actually but all idea has gone just now because of my fault just now!!! carelessly pressed something.. haiz!! okaylah, tomorrow still can continue if i have no homework. happy!!! happy!!!!