Australia’s “1,000 Best and Brightest”
THEY WERE A GROUP of 1,000 educated and carefully chosen section of Australia’s ruling class, the best and brightest of them all, the Australia 2020 summiteers [...]
THE AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS in latest Census reported that Tagalog (Filipino) is the eighth non-English language spoken at Australian homes. The Census, taken in 2006, also reported that of the 18.9 million respondents, 15% or 2,853,851 reported as speaking a non-English in their homes [...]
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This year’s Sydney Writers Festival will feature a new anthology of Filipino-Australian writing, set to offer good literary feast to readers.
Edited by Jose Wendell Capili, the book contains a collection of short stories and poems which give insights into the often silenced narratives of people from the migrant communities, particularly the Filipino-Australian experience.
The book is called ‘Salu-Salo: In Conversation with Filipino Australians’ and includes masterpieces from the literary talents of Merlinda Bobis, Erwin Cabucos, Nonee Doronila, Robert Nery, Cesar Leyco Aguila, Ivy Alvarez and other emerging Filipino-Australian writers.
This year Bobis releases her newest novel ‘The Solemn Lantern’ and Cabucos releases his newest collection of short stories ‘Green Blood and Other Stories’.
‘Salu-Salo: In Conversation with Filipino-Australian Writers’ is published by the Casula Powerhouse Publishing.
Everyone is welcome to attend the launching of the book on Sunday 25 May from 3PM to 5PM at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. Entry is free but bookings are essential. Please ring +61 298241121 (Australia).
Other Filipino writers featured in the Sydney Writers Festival include Jose Dalisay, Jr, the recipient of the Asia Man Booker Prize in 2007. #
Photos courtesy of asianaustralianstudies.org and Erwin Cabucos
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The initial report of the 2020 Summit held over the last weekend, 19-20 April, is now available for download at the 2020 website.
It is a 39-page report, but it is easy reading. Written in “plain English”, the report also contains some very interesting ideas.
One part of the report we like best is that of “Shared Priorities” which in a way provides the common thread among and across the ten streams or agenda set out for the Summit.
There are four key issues that find common grounds among the ten discussion groups. These are: dealing with a climate change, the need for a consistent national approach particularly in economic policy, the push for a national strategy that will best use the skills and ingenuity of Australians, and the need to strengthen civil society ie, the urgency of redressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage.
That these issues would come out as top priorities was perhaps expected. But what we found interesting is the report’s candor.
For example, we find these paragraphs interestingly simple that nothing was really left to the imagination:
“It is striking how often through the Summit concern arose that Australia has not been sufficiently clever in using the skills and ingenuity of our people. Early childhood services and education are obvious starting points for building capacity, but many argued a broader case for investment in a healthy population with access to necessary social support.
“For a number of streams, this focus on developing our human capital led to wider issues – migration, skills shortages, participation of women, access to child care, family leave, support for disabilities. One strongly held view was the need to enhance creativity and innovation in our communities. People find meaning in their lives through expression, and our nation benefits from innovation. These can happen spontaneously, but many argue for an education system which encourages and trains for creativity, a community willing to accept risk and failure in pursuit of the new, and governments rethinking how and why they support creative Australia.”
We could be mistaken. But somehow, we thought for awhile we were reading a similar report about the Philippines circa 1970s where priorities were set out inappropriately.
The 2020 report is a “must read” especially to businesses and to community leaders. #
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Like us in the Filipino Australian community, Australia as a country has been asking the same question.
Happily, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has today obliged with a release of new information to help all of us assess how we are doing – in society, in our economy and in the environment.
The statistical information from the ABS covered the period 1996-97 and 2006-07. Reading through the ABS release, one could glean that the answer to the question is: “Yes.”
Here are highlights of the ABS release:
1. Australia is generally richer in terms of national income and wealth. Our net disposal income per person grew by 2.9% on average each year. Average net disposable income reached $39,000 in 2006-07, and Australia’s real net worth was over $254,000 per person in 2007.
2. Productivity in Australia rose 1.1% on average per year.
3. Australia’s unemployment rate fell from 8.37% in 1997 to 4.4% in 2007.
4. We are living longer. Life expectancy has increased by 3 years. A boy born two years ago could expect to live to 79 years while a girl could expect to reach 83 years.
5. In education, Australians these days are more educated than their counterparts in 1997. In 1997, the ABS found that almost 60% of 25-64 year olds had a degree or certificate, up from 46% in 1997.
6. Crime rate? There is a mixed trend in this area. A small increase in personal crime (assault, sexual assault or robbery) rate between 1998 and 2005 from 4.8% to 5.3%, but a decline in the rate of household crimes (break-ins and motor vehicle theft) was noted from 9.0% to 6.2% during the same period.
7. With regard to the environment, the ABS reported that there are now more threatened species. Between 2000 and 2007 the number of bird and mammal species which were extinct, endangered or vulnerable rose from 153 to 174 (up 14%).
One could only hope that service providers including insurance companies will take heed of this latest ABS statistics. For example, will insurance companies now reduce household insurance premiums considering that the so-called “household crimes” have declined?
It will be interesting to watch. #
Continue reading …Atty Ed Yunon of Sydney yesterday emailed us with photos of the recently opened Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
In his covering letter, Atty Yunon wrote: “Every year I get the luck of going to the Philippines, and whenever I get there I always make it a point to find something beautiful and it has never been difficult to realize my objective. True I see and experience many things less admirable and less beautiful but those that I find impressive make up for those misgivings.”
“Today without being actually in the Philippines to experience my usual high, lo and behold before my very eyes the latest highway, the SUBIC CLARK TARLAC EXPRESSWAY. Feast your eyes, my friend, as I did myself.
“No, you are not looking at sections of M7 going to Liverpool or of M5 going to Canberra or of F3 going to Queensland. It is definitely Southwest Subic, Olongapo, Zambales, passing thru Clark Pampanga, terminating in Amucao,Tarlac City, Tarlac.”
“I am always proud of the Philippines but these pictures make me prouder today,” concluded Atty Yunon.
So are we, Atty Yunon. We have posted the photos at emanila’s Photogallery for everyone to view.
Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway
The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) is a 94-kilometer highway north of Manila. The expressway starts in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales passing through the interchange with the North Luzon Expressway near the Clark Special Economic Zone in Angeles City, Pampanga and ends at the Central Techno Park in Tarlac City, Tarlac.
When the expressway is finished, it will provide shorter travel time leading to faster transportation of goods between the two economic zones.
Based on reports, SCTEX will have similar features with the recently rehabilitated North Luzon Expressway. Phase 1 of the SCTEx construction started on April 21, 2005, and completed on December 2007. Phase 2 was scheduled to be done by March 2008.
Last March, President Gloria Arroyo-Macapagal opened the expressway’s first 50 kilometers.
Philippine Government sources have reported that SCTEX was built at a cost of P27 billion, of which P23.06 billion was funded through a loan grant from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and the rest shouldered by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). #
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The Australia Philippine Services League Inc. (APSL) is fielding a contingent to march at Sydney’s ANZAC Day parade 25 April, with APSL Supreme Commander Col. Cresencio Pilao (Philippine Air Force, Ret.) leading the group. In its press release, the services league also announced that others wishing to join the parade under the APSL banner may register for membership with [...]
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Australia’s newest Filipino Language Classes now invite enrolees in their Brisbane site.
Run by the Filipino-Australian Teachers Association of Queensland, the classes will be composed of adults students ranging from age 18.
Sessions will be held once a week, Saturdays 3-5PM at the Filipino House, 69 Nathan Road, Runcorn, in the Brisbane’s Southside.
Students will learn beginning skills in speaking, reading, listening and writing the Filipino language.
Contemporary and more hands-on materials will be used to facilitate a more effective way of learning the language.
Filipino Language Teachers on Training at the LOTE Centre in Brisbane. L-R: Myrla Prianes, Lourdes Cremin and Merle Parkinson. Photo courtesy: Erwin Cabucos
The teachers are university trained and experienced from the Australian-Teachers Association of Queensland (FATAQ).
Enrolment and meeting of teachers will occur on 5 April, at 3PM, at the Filipino House, and first proper session will begin on 12 April 2008.
Classes will run per school semester. For the 12-week package, it will cost $95.00, boasting to be the best investment for anyone interested in learning the language.
Numbers are limited.
To book a place, please call Sol Dobinson on 07 38925772.
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