| Less women in Australian IT
Leading employment consultancies reported this week
that after an initial influx of women into IT positions
there has since been a gradual decline.
Talking to the Australian this week, Novell Asia-Pacific
president Rhonda O’Donnell said that although
there were no statistics on the number of women working
in the IT sector, she believes there has been a decline.
O’Donnell’s view was backed by DDS Consultancy
managing director Negba Yweiss-Dolev. “There’s
a growing gap and that’s borne out by worldwide
experience,” she said.
According to the Australian survey, female participation
grew in the past decade to an average of 25 per cent
of the IT workforce. Now, say the experts, that number
is falling.
The declining numbers have been attributed to the
changes in the industry as well as the generation of
women first attracted to IT opting out to start families.
<< top >>
Not in our backyard
Two elderly aboriginal women have won this year’s
Goldman Environmental Prize for their efforts to stop
nuclear waste being dumped on their outback land.
Eileen Kampakuta Brown and Eileen Wani Wingfield teamed
up in the town of Cooper Pedy to stop a Federal Government
plan to establish a dump for waste from a small Sydney
nuclear research reactor in the surrounding desert.
The area was first used to test nuclear weapons after
WWII and the local aboriginal communities have suffered
from the effects of radiation since then.
“When they let the bomb off nobody knew anything
about it. They are doing the same thing here,” Wingfield
says.
The two women took their protest to the world stage,
enlisting actor Val Kilmer to their cause. The prestigious
prize is worth US $125,000.
<< top >>
Aboriginal art protected by copyright
The federal minister for art will introduce a new copyright
law this year that will not only protect the ownership
of Aboriginal artists but also the communities in
which the artists draw inspiration.
Australian arts minister Richard Alston said this
week that the law, to be introduced in parliament later
this year, will protect Aboriginal artwork from being
treated in a derogatory manner.
He said the law would also address the unique position
in which an artist often inherits the story line of
his painting from the community by not only protecting
the artist’s ownership but also the community’s
ownership of the story.
<< top >>
South Australia to develop lung test
A South Australian company has secured funding
to develop a diagnostic test for lung problems such
as SARS.
Lung Health Diagnostics was awarded AUD $250,000 by
the South Australian state government to market a test
for acute respiratory distress syndrome and sever acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The company is seeking partners for the other half
of the funds needed to develop the test that will help
doctors quickly diagnose patients in emergency rooms
and intensive care wards.
The test detects lowered oxygen levels in a patient’s
blood and will help in the treatment of people with
pneumonia, septic shock and injuries such as burns.
<< top >>
Virgin Airlines employees
get island retreat
High-flying entrepreneur Richard Branson bought his
worldwide office staff an Australian island this
week as a thank you for increasing profits this year.
Branson bought the 10-hectare Makepeace Island in
Queensland for US$ 3.2 million and said it was an ideal
retreat for employees.
The island will be developed into an eco-tourism holiday
base for all of Virgin’s 50,000 employees.
Virgin’s Australian airline business, Virgin
Blue, netted a pre-tax profit of US$ 102 million in
the financial year ending in March.
The island has a traditional “Queenslander” house
and will have tree-house accommodation, camping facilities
and opportunities for nature walks, fishing, sailing
and water-skiing.
Most of Virgin Blue’s staff are based in Brisbane,
a two-hour drive away from the island in the mouth
of the Noosa River.
<< top >>
|
