Discipline takes a positive path

JUST as state schools quickly adopted the banning of corporal punishment in the 1980s, Education Queensland’s new discipline code is guiding its schools’ ethics framework forward once again.

From July schools will need to have in place a Code of School Behaviour drafting, an agreement signed by not only principals and caregivers but also the student.

Two hundred and seventy-five teachers, principals and teachers’ aides spent two days last week learning about their new role under the code.

Rather than blankly issuing punishment, from mid-year students’ disruptive behaviour will be explored in-depth in an effort to create a more constructive learning environment.

The official shift in thinking has impressed Winton State School’s Stephanie Greenwood; a teacher’s aide for thirty years.

“Up until now we have always been looking at ways of punishing the students.
“When something goes wrong it affects everyone. It’s not just about a student’s relationship with their teacher; the code recognises this.”

Jundah State School acting teaching principal Gemma Cameron does not envisage many changes to their current disciplinary practices.

Having only 17 students means Miss Cameron has a close working relationship with parents, which helps sort problems before they escalate.

“A lot of it comes down to how you personally approach situations and the people involved.
“What has interested me is the fact we are being told not to discipline a child in the first instance.
“Now it’s more about having a conversation.
“We are focusing on the appropriateness of the decisions children make and helping them become aware that their actions affect others.”

Workers unite under Tree of Knowledge

WORKERS worried about the Federal Government’s new industrial relations laws are encouraged to show their support at Labour Day celebrations on Monday, May 1.

Marking 120 years since its conception, the Australian Workers Union will send Queensland branch secretary Bill Ludwig and president Gary Ryan to this year’s celebrations in Barcaldine, home of the Australian Labor Party.

While in town Mr Ludwig and Mr Ryan will present bronze tiles, each depicting the 13 shearers who went on strike because of their poor working conditions in 1891 and subsequently jailed for their actions.

“These tiles represent the great women and men who fought so hard for the rights of Australian workers,” Mr Ludwig said.
“This year marks 120 years since the shearers and miners unions amalgamated to form the Australian Workers Union.
“The AWU is not only the oldest union in Australia, but also the most unique.
“Most of the unions that are in Australia have their roots in the UK, however AWU was born out of the unique difficulties experienced by shearers and miners in a new country.”

Despite having its roots in rural industries, AWU now attracts members from a wide range of service providers, all of which, Mr Ludwig claim take issue with the Federal Government’s new WorkChoices industrial relations laws.

“AWU now has a much broader membership base to include local authorities, Main Roads and hospital employees, all of which are present in Central Queensland,” he said.
“Our members have revealed that the Federal Government’s new Workplace laws are a genuine concern for them.
“The laws challenge their job security.
“Everyone has some right of ownership in their job because they are the ones contributing the effort and training in their position, which the employer doesn’t always pay for.
“It has put the fear into people’s minds, and rightfully so.
“If the boss doesn’t like your attitude, irrespective of your work performance, then he can sack you.
“I can’t imagine how many shearing jobs I would have gone through in my day because the boss didn’t like me.
“The laws are unfair and are taking away any type of industrial justice.”

Labour Day celebrations will get underway at the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine at 9am, followed by a parade at 11am through the main street.

Barcaldine May Day committee president Pat Odgen said he was expecting a good turn out, in the face of new IR laws.

“I have a feeling that a number of AWU members will turn out in Barcy to protest against these new laws,” Mr Odgen said.
“The day is always well supported and the parade is generally led by a prominent politician or union member.
“This year, with Bill Ludwig in the lead it is sure to be a great day.”

Fighting for the life of Riley

MOST of us would readily admit we couldn’t cope with caring for a small child with a potentially fatal illness, yet former Longreach resident Rebecca Bierton has held strong in the face of her two-year-old son’s brain tumour diagnosis.

Riley Murphy was diagnosed with a brain stem glioma tumour late last year and he and his family have now moved to Brisbane for treatment.

Yet Ms Bierton’s spirit rarely wavers despite Riley’s condition, and the everyday pressures of caring for his three-year-old brother and five-month-old sister.

“Our life has completely changed, but we just continue on day to day,” she said.

Calm and composed, Ms Bierton talked of the problems Riley has endured, from a heart defect doctors discovered when she was 18 weeks pregnant to conjunctivitis in his left eye which persisted up until the time he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in December last year.

Riley now undergoes weekly bouts of chemotherapy and a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan every six weeks at the Mater Children’s Hospital.

“The chemotherapy is stabilising the tumour and it has slightly shrunk,” Ms Bierton explained.
“But this treatment will never completely get rid of the tumour, it will only prolong Riley’s life.
“The only way he’ll ever be completely cured is to have it cut out.”

However, Riley’s tumour is positioned in an exceptionally delicate place in the brainstem, in a spot where the spinal cord and brain connect; an area responsible for vision, balance and strength.

For this reason, Australian neurosurgeons are refusing to operate on the youngster.

“No one will touch Riley in Australia as they all think the operation is too dangerous,” Ms Bierton said.
“He could die on the table or be brain dead afterwards.”

Frustrated and determined to do everything she can for her son, Ms Bierton is now searching for overseas specialists who will consider the operation.

She is also looking at the possibility of laser surgery.

“The laser technique could get rid of the tumour without aggravating the brain cells but it would be very expensive,” she said.

Ms Bierton will make the final decision of whether to go ahead with an operation in around nine weeks.

In the meantime she is waiting in hope that the tumour will continue to stabilise and not “take off tomorrow”.

“No one can give us a real answer as to how long Riley has got,” she said.
“He could have years left or it could happen tomorrow.”

Having her sister living with her, parents travelling as often as they can from Rockhampton, and next door neighbour helping out, Ms Bierton is grateful for support, which has steered her through the tough times.

“I also want to thank the Longreach community, especially the Longreach senior rugby league club, Shaun Walliss and Hayley Steele for their fundraising efforts,” she said.

Hot rocks power new exploration

GEOTHERMAL energy could be Queensland’s next boom industry, with two preferred tenderers announced for geothermal exploration in large areas between Boulia and Winton, as well as near Thargomindah and in the State’s South West.

Six areas totalling 3,600 square kilometres were opened up for tender last October with Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Water (NRMW) Henry Palaszczuk announcing the proposed exploration expenditure to be more than $46 million.

The concept of geothermal, or hot dry rock (HDR) energy, has been powering debate with scientists and energy enthusiasts for years.

Longreach local Vince Moore is one of a swelling group of Australians who supports the idea of utilising hot rocks in the granite layer below the earth’s surface to create energy.

“It’s a future that I think can happen,” he said.
"Hot dry rocks do not emit any carbon dioxide, unlike coal and gas.
“They are 100 per cent free of all contaminants and are 100 per cent efficient.”

HDR energy utilisation requires drilling through the earth to a granite layer of rocks which are heated by radioactive decay and insulated by a thick blanket of sedimentary deposits above.

The heat from the hot rocks is extracted by water circulating through the drilled reservoir and in turn is generated into electricity.

HDR geothermal projects are underway in France, Switzerland, Germany, California, and Japan, with places in Australia, such as Innamincka in South Australia and Birdsville in Queensland already being explored for HDR energy possibilities.

Mr Moore admitted the logistics of transferring energy from some of Australia’s remotest locations to urban areas was a defining factor in the HDR energy uptake.

However, he believes climate change could be the driving factor in making HDR energy a reality.
“We have all the resources for this technology,” he said.
“We can already drill to depth, which is expensive but not difficult and can generate electricity using steam.
“I can’t understand why this hasn’t already happened.”

David Arnold from the Remote Area Planning and Development Board (RAPAD) and Barcoo Shire Mayor Bruce Scott, believe the State Government’s disregard for the concept is the reason HDR energy has not moved ahead in Queensland while burgeoning in South Australia.

“NRMW have now introduced the State’s first Geothermal Act but until recently, there was no legislation that allowed anyone to stick a hole in the ground and explore for hot rocks,” Mr Arnold said.

“On the other hand, South Australia has taken the lead in HDR exploration,” Cr Scott agreed.
“Their reserves of coal are very limited and they rely on the national grid for energy.
“But HDR energy has greater potential in Queensland than in any other Australian State, which is very exciting.”

However Mr Arnold explained that HDR still had to be proved as a resource.

“Like any new technology, it is still a high risk, speculative industry,” he said.
“But I believe it’s a technology worth further exploration, and it’s disappointing that more resources haven’t been put into it in Queensland.”

Geodynamics Limited is one of the companies whose tender for hot rocks exploration was successful and it focuses solely on developing HDR energy.

However, Geodynamics director Doctor Doone Wyborn is philosophical of the development process so far.
“The government is trying to move things forward as fast as it can,” Dr Wyborn said.
“It’s the bureaucracy that always slows things down.”

Dr Wyborn believes the temperatures of granite around Longreach would be sufficient to power the Central West.

“The area could provide a renewable source of energy for Longreach’s requirements and perhaps some of the surrounding towns.”

Dr Wyborn explained that the sedimentary layer of rock between the granite and the earth’s surface formed an insulation blanket over the granite.

“The sedimentary layer is only about one kilometre deep around Longreach, while it is about four-and-a-half kilometres thick in South Australia,” he said.
“While the right rock types are evident around Longreach, the sedimentary sequences are not quite thick enough to justify large-scale production for the national grid.”

Dr Wyborn said while there was a good chance HDR energy may succeed in Australia and the acceptance of the exploration tenders was a step in the right direction, functioning hot rocks power plants will still be some time off.

“It still has to be proven,” he emphasised.
“We are expecting to prove it fairly soon in Innamincka, but that could still be a few years away as yet.”

An NRMW spokesperson said the government recognised the benefits it would derive from supporting the exploration and development of geothermal energy in the region.

“Not only will we be able to access a potentially vast, clean energy source, we would attract significant exploration and research investment into Queensland,” the spokesperson said.
“Hot dry rock energy could place the State at the forefront of an emerging new technology.”