Minister breaks rank on Metro

WORKPLACE Relations Minister David O'Byrne has broken ranks with his Cabinet colleagues, saying he does not support the shutdown today of the public transport system by Metro Tasmania.

Commuters around the state are bracing for a day of major disruptions as all bus services today are cancelled.

Services before 9.45am tomorrow will also be disrupted.

The industrial action by Metro will affect about 38,000 passengers on the day when Tasmanian schools return from the Easter holiday break.

How was your trip into town today?
Tell us your experience via the comments box below.

Mr O'Byrne yesterday said he was opposed to Metro's decision to lock out workers today and said his concerns were shared by other members of Cabinet, who want the row resolved.

"I don't support the actions of Metro in standing workers down on Thursday," Mr O'Bryne said.

"I think they really need to get back to the table to work constructively with the union and I would call on the union to work constructively with Metro to find a resolution.

"I think there's some concern around the cabinet table about this ongoing dispute."

Unions Tasmania secretary Kevin Harkins said he was grateful for Mr O'Byrne's support of Metro workers.

"I'm very encouraged by the support of Minister O'Byrne.

It would indicate that [Sustainable Transport Minister] Nick McKim is on a loser with this one."

Rail, Tram and Bus Union Branch state secretary Samantha Simonetis also welcomed Mr O'Byrne's support.

Despite warnings from Metro to stay away, many drivers are expected to turn up at depots today, with the largest number expected at the company's Springfield depot at Moonah.

Ms Simonetis said her members would decide today what steps to take next in the industrial campaign.

"We'll find out exactly what they want to do.

They're pretty angry.

Tempers are running high," she said.

"I didn't think it would come to this, but it has.

Metro has shown its true colours."

Bus drivers are seeking a 3 per cent pay increase, while Metro is offering 2.1 per cent.

The company has said it could not afford to increase the pay offer without savings elsewhere or productivity gains.

The rise would cost Metro about $200,000 a year.

The company's financial statements for 2011-12 reveal it has $3.8 million cash in the bank, up from $2.8 million the year before.

Liberal party MP Vanessa Goodwin yesterday laid the blame for the dispute directly at the feet of Mr McKim.

"Nick McKim has failed as a minister. He has failed to fix the prison system, he's failed to act on the bus dispute and he has failed to improve our education outcomes," she said.

"These are all major issues.

"Nick McKim is only interested in shutting down the forestry industry and implementing his radical social agenda."

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

Oysters recalled as 60 fall sick

SIXTY people have fallen ill after eating contaminated oysters.

All oysters produced by Barilla Bay Seafoods have been recalled from the market after health authorities pinpointed the outbreak yesterday.

People who ate the oysters were infected by norovirus, a common cause of gastroenteritis.

None was hospitalised over the Easter weekend but some saw doctors and went to the Royal Hobart emergency department.

It is the second incidence of contaminated oysters in southern Tasmania in a week, but health authorities say the two cases are a coincidence.

They say the contamination is not related to shellfish from Pitt Water, which was closed last week because of a sewage spill.

Oysters Tasmania spokesman Tom Lewis said the two recalls were a coincidence.

"To our knowledge there is no connection," Dr Lewis said.

Barilla Bay Oysters general manager Justin Goc said the company was working closely with the Public Health Director Dr Roscoe Taylor.

"We apologise to the public for inconvenience caused and the public will be informed on developments," Mr Goc said.

The public is asked to dispose of any Barilla Bay Oysters bought from its retail outlet on or before last Sunday or Mures Lower Deck between last Thursday and Saturday.

No products from the award-winning oyster company have been sold by Mures Lower Deck since Saturday.

Dr Taylor said the Barilla Bay oysters were harvested at lease 113 in Dunalley on the Hobart side of the Denison Canal.

He said a survey of the area would be done today in an attempt to find the source of the contamination.

"If people still have Barilla Bay produce in their fridge they should discard it," he said.

People should also not collect and eat wild shellfish.

Why shellfish can become deadly

AN adult oyster filters and cleans up to 190 litres of water a day.

They swallow algae, and remove dirt and nitrogen pollution.

Sometimes during the filtering process, bacteria can trigger norovirus which remains in the oyster.

Eating shellfish infected with a norovirus can lead to food poisoning with vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain.

Noroviruses are the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in humans.

The disease is usually self-limiting and severe illness is rare but it can lead to blood infections of people with compromised immune systems – especially those with chronic liver disease – and can cause severe and life-threatening reactions.

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

It's Police Academy II

The last round of police recruits from 2011 marching on the parade grounds during their graduation ceremony. Picture: KIM EISZELE

TASMANIA Police hopefuls will get their first chance in two years to boost the force with a new graduate program.

The scheme's announcement is expected within weeks.

The State Government has been under fire for failing to offer a police recruitment course for two years.

But government sources have confirmed the imminent announcement of a new course for this year.

Police Minister David O'Byrne was yesterday tightlipped about any intake.

But the Mercury understands the deal was signed off two weeks ago – a week before the issue became the focus of media attention when the Tasmania Police Association called on the Government to again fund a graduate intake.

State Government budget cuts stopped recruitment in 2011.

Government sources have told the Mercury, however, that money will be found to restore policing levels to 1120 officers within the next 12 months.

Any funding would allow for 20 new graduate police recruits, or possibly more, to allow for natural attrition of Tasmania Police officers.

The training course runs for about eight months.

Police Association of Tasmania president Pat Allen remained cautious last night about any possible recruitment announcement.

"We welcome anything that puts more (police officer) numbers on the frontline," he said.

"But I am very cautious that the course needs to be fully funded, including the cost to keep a constable in the job.

"I am very guarded. I want to see how well funded it is."

Mr Allen said the first he had heard about the new course intake was when the Mercury contacted him for comment last night.

He said it was important any new course for graduate police did not come at a cost to the rest of the department.

matthew.smith@news.com.au

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Thwarted' prison boss departs

THE high-profile prison boss headhunted from the United Kingdom to help turn around the operations at Risdon Prison has left the job just over a year into his five-year contract.

Tension between the old and new guard at the jail is understood to have been at the centre of the departure of prison boss, Risdon Prison Complex director Barry Greenberry.

The Department of Justice has recently signed off on a contract ending Mr Greenberry's employment.

He had been given a mandate to reform the state's prison system when he was handed the role last year.

Details of the agreement are expected to be confidential, but prison sources say Mr Greenberry, who was on an annual salary of about $180,000, would have to have been paid out at least part of his five-year contract.

Mr Greenberry has been on extended stress leave since late January after tensions between Mr Greenberry and Department of Justice management reached an untenable position in the early New Year.

And an internal investigation by the department, including a litany of complaints against Mr Greenberry, is believed to have been the final straw for the prison director.

Prison sources say the claims were primarily dominated by complaints from established prison management unhappy with the changes Mr Greenberry wanted to make at the prison, including a number of instances when he instigated changes without first informing managers below him.

The Mercury understands Mr Greenberry became increasingly frustrated at an inability to have direct contact with Corrections Minister Nick McKim and an increasing sense he was being undermined by established prison and departmental staff.

Long-time prison reform advocate, co-convener of the Prison Advisory Service and Mercury columnist Greg Barns said yesterday Mr Greenberry would be a huge loss to the system.

"Mr Greenberry has been a much-needed addition to the system who has been thwarted by forces in Tasmania who do not want to see the Risdon Prison Complex transformed," Mr Barns said.

"Mr Greenberry's commitment to the best treatment of prisoners was second to none. It is a tragic loss to prison reform."

Mr Barns said he had tried to contact Mr McKim about the challenges facing Mr Greenberry.

"What is most disappointing is the abject failure of Mr McKim to intervene. I had a number of contacts with Mr McKim's office and was stonewalled."

Mr Greenberry and inaugural change manager Brian Edwards were both employed in 2012 in a bid to turn around the culture in the prison that had been the subject of more than a decade of damning reports and inquiries looking into the management, operating procedures and infrastructure at the prison.

Mr Greenberry's resume includes the establishment of a prison on the Isle of Wight, housing 1700 prisoners with a staff of 900.

matthew.smith@news.com.au

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

Men answering the Avon call

AVON is still calling but not as you might once have known it.

Avon has been delivering cosmetics to Tasmanian homes for 50 years.

In the early days, Avon representatives were almost exclusively women or "Avon ladies" as they were affectionately known.

But today husbands are teaming up with wives to run Avon businesses and few people raise a plucked eyebrow when a man delivers the goods or catalogues.

In fact, the first "Avon lady" to knock on a door to sell cosmetics was a bloke.

It was 1886, and struggling New York door-to-door salesman David McConnell decided he would do better selling perfumes than selling books.

Avon started operating in Australia in 1963 and is still the top direct-selling company in the nation.

Hobart Avon representative Frayne Higgins teamed up with his wife Jo-Anne to sell cosmetics 11 years ago.

He enjoys the job and says he has never been ribbed by other men for selling cosmetics.

"Also, I never run out of shampoo or deodorant," he said this week before making deliveries in Hobart.

"The No.1 sales team in Australia is a husband and wife.

"There is another man selling Avon full-time in Southern Tasmania and a number of smaller operators starting out around the state."

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

Plea to drivers after deaths

Police at the site of a road fatality at Otago Bay yesterday morning. A 51-year-old Old Beach woman was killed in the single-vehicle crash. Pictures: SAM ROSEWARNE

MOTORISTS returning home from Easter holidays are being warned to take extra care after a horror 12 hours on Tasmanian roads.

A 25-year-old Huonville man and a 51-year-old Old Beach woman were dead yesterday after separate road crashes in the state's South.

The deaths took the state's road toll to eight – up from six at the same time last year.

Tasmania Police Southern District Supervision Inspector Adrian Bodnar said police were devastated by the fatalities after a fatality-free Easter last year.

The senior officer urged drivers to take a break today and tomorrow as they returned from Easter trips.

"It is really important people slow down, that they obey road rules and they drive to the conditions," Insp Bodnar said.

"Tomorrow there will be driver reviver stations around the state.

"If people on long journeys are starting to feel a bit tired, pull over and take that 15 minutes to have a break."

He said the Operation Crossroads police blitz would continue today and tomorrow.

"I would encourage people not to take the risk.

If you have had too much to drink – simply don't drive," he said.

About 6.30am yesterday the Old Beach woman lost control of her Hyundai Tucson on the East Derwent Highway in Otago Bay with police indicating the vehicle rolled at least once.

The woman, the sole occupant of the vehicle, died at the scene.

Nine hours earlier the Huonville man, riding an unregistered motorcycle without a helmet in the rain, lost control at speed and hit a concrete bridge at Lonnavale in the Huon Valley, south of Hobart.

Operation Crossroads statistics yesterday showed more than 50 people had been nabbed in the Easter blitz for alcohol-related offences including 17 on Saturday night.

Tasmania Police Inspector Darren Hopkins said younger motorists appeared to be behaving themselves more than their elders when it came to drink-driving.

Police were yesterday seeking witnesses for both fatal crashes.

Insp Bodnar said speed and alcohol appeared to be factors in the motorcycle crash on a secluded dirt road in Lonnavale, near Geeveston.

Insp Bodnar said people with the man at the time had spoken to police.

Speed did not appear to be a factor in the Otago Bay crash, he said.

"At this stage there are a number of scenarios," he said.

Police believe the woman lost control while negotiating a right-hand bend north of Murtons Rd.

State Emergency Service volunteers will run Driver Reviver stations today at Parramatta Creek north of Elizabeth Town, St Peters Pass north of Oatlands, Fossey River on the West Coast and Franklin River on the Lyell Highway.

The national Easter road toll is already well above last year's total.

By late Easter Sunday afternoon, 15 people had died on the roads.

The deaths push the road toll higher than last year's total of 11 and equal to the final 2011 Easter toll.

In Victoria there have been three Easter road deaths, four in Queensland, three in South Australia, two in NSW and one in Western Australia.

OPERATION CROSSROADS

• Total random breath tests conducted: 18,820 (14,503 last year)
• Persons charged with alcohol-related driving offences: 53 (52 last year)
• Drug tests conducted: 36 (26 last year)• Positive drug tests: 5 (6 last year)
• Infringement notices issued (speeding): 486 (534 last year)
• Vehicle confiscated/clamped: 6 (8 last year)

matthew.smith@news.com.au

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

Wildlife disaster action plan bid

THE loss of wildlife in Tasmania's summer bushfires is driving the push for a statewide emergency response unit.

Over the past 12 months, Southern Wildlife Rescue & Care has been working with emergency organisations and government departments to create a standard operating procedure in line with Victorian protocols.

Group secretary Rachel Meyers said the devastation caused by fires at Dunalley and Molesworth has proved the need for a strategy that will allow wildlife carers to work in a response, rather than recovery, category.

Rather than waiting until weeks after the event, the protocols would allow rescuers to respond much earlier, working alongside other emergency personnel.

The unit has more than 150 volunteers from a variety of backgrounds including retired nurses, wildlife carers and vets.

"With properly trained personnel and the right tools, we feel the wildlife emergency response unit will assist the emergency services to do their job," Ms Meyers said.

"It makes our effort easier by treating animals quickly and handing on to vets for specialised care."

The group is developing a mobile triage unit that it hopes will be ready before next summer. The trailer will be the first of its kind in the state and will act as a first-aid station for the rescuers.

"This trailer will help to rescue and rehabilitate injured wildlife with a safe, efficient and timely response that will ensure a higher rate of survival," Ms Meyers said.

When not in use in a disaster the trailer will be used as an educational tool.

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

Wildlife disaster action plan bid

THE loss of wildlife in Tasmania's summer bushfires is driving the push for a statewide emergency response unit.

Over the past 12 months, Southern Wildlife Rescue & Care has been working with emergency organisations and government departments to create a standard operating procedure in line with Victorian protocols.

Group secretary Rachel Meyers said the devastation caused by fires at Dunalley and Molesworth has proved the need for a strategy that will allow wildlife carers to work in a response, rather than recovery, category.

Rather than waiting until weeks after the event, the protocols would allow rescuers to respond much earlier, working alongside other emergency personnel.

The unit has more than 150 volunteers from a variety of backgrounds including retired nurses, wildlife carers and vets.

"With properly trained personnel and the right tools, we feel the wildlife emergency response unit will assist the emergency services to do their job," Ms Meyers said.

"It makes our effort easier by treating animals quickly and handing on to vets for specialised care."

The group is developing a mobile triage unit that it hopes will be ready before next summer. The trailer will be the first of its kind in the state and will act as a first-aid station for the rescuers.

"This trailer will help to rescue and rehabilitate injured wildlife with a safe, efficient and timely response that will ensure a higher rate of survival," Ms Meyers said.

When not in use in a disaster the trailer will be used as an educational tool.

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

Men answering the Avon call

AVON is still calling but not as you might once have known it.

Avon has been delivering cosmetics to Tasmanian homes for 50 years.

In the early days, Avon representatives were almost exclusively women or "Avon ladies" as they were affectionately known.

But today husbands are teaming up with wives to run Avon businesses and few people raise a plucked eyebrow when a man delivers the goods or catalogues.

In fact, the first "Avon lady" to knock on a door to sell cosmetics was a bloke.

It was 1886, and struggling New York door-to-door salesman David McConnell decided he would do better selling perfumes than selling books.

Avon started operating in Australia in 1963 and is still the top direct-selling company in the nation.

Hobart Avon representative Frayne Higgins teamed up with his wife Jo-Anne to sell cosmetics 11 years ago.

He enjoys the job and says he has never been ribbed by other men for selling cosmetics.

"Also, I never run out of shampoo or deodorant," he said this week before making deliveries in Hobart.

"The No.1 sales team in Australia is a husband and wife.

"There is another man selling Avon full-time in Southern Tasmania and a number of smaller operators starting out around the state."

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More

Men answering the Avon call

AVON is still calling but not as you might once have known it.

Avon has been delivering cosmetics to Tasmanian homes for 50 years.

In the early days, Avon representatives were almost exclusively women or "Avon ladies" as they were affectionately known.

But today husbands are teaming up with wives to run Avon businesses and few people raise a plucked eyebrow when a man delivers the goods or catalogues.

In fact, the first "Avon lady" to knock on a door to sell cosmetics was a bloke.

It was 1886, and struggling New York door-to-door salesman David McConnell decided he would do better selling perfumes than selling books.

Avon started operating in Australia in 1963 and is still the top direct-selling company in the nation.

Hobart Avon representative Frayne Higgins teamed up with his wife Jo-Anne to sell cosmetics 11 years ago.

He enjoys the job and says he has never been ribbed by other men for selling cosmetics.

"Also, I never run out of shampoo or deodorant," he said this week before making deliveries in Hobart.

"The No.1 sales team in Australia is a husband and wife.

"There is another man selling Avon full-time in Southern Tasmania and a number of smaller operators starting out around the state."

14.56 | 0 komentar | Read More