Regarding Ben Sandilands article on Airshambles Australia. The admission that the staffing crisis might be real, at lower management levels is very visible; it’s only the PR corporate spinners and the Senior Managers who say otherwise. The “free” three hours pay for agreeing to be available on a given shift, even though you might not get called, is a smoke screen. No controller has faith that they won’t be called by agreeing; thus they loose the three “free hours pay” because then they only get paid what they worked; exactly what you would have got without an agreement. Our current agreement has a minimum call out of any duration equals four hours pay. Under this new “deal” the minimum call out is three hours; thus they reduce their night shift staffing issues by an hours pay and get a controller who can’t say no to the shift when subjected to the deal. Win, win, hardly, typical.

You may wish to look at the effect the teachers strike and lack of a pay deal had an effect on the NT election. The teachers may not all be union members but they all vote.

The Australian equestrian team are probably going to win gold but I don’t think Channel Seven and SBS even know they are competing. Maybe you can be the only Australian news service to give us the latest news from Hong Kong? I had to go to Youtube for amateur footage of the first stage. Thanks.

The Victorian Government has commissioned a study into selling off their public trustee, State Trustees. Coincidentally a couple of banks interested in “growing” their trustee businesses had recently visited the ALP, before the study was commissioned. Wonder if Macquarie is looking to tap into the poor and those in state care?