Australia's permanent migration levels drop to lowest level in a decade

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Fri, 06/09/2019 - 08:14

The number of permanent Australian visas granted to migrants is reaching its lowest level in a decade.

 

Just over 160,300 individuals have received a permanent visa in the 2018-19 financial year, compared to 162,417 in the year prior.

 

About 70 percent of this intake has been filled by skilled workers.

 

Migration agents and applicants are blaming long processing times rather than a lack of demand for the reduction in visas.

The Australian Government proposes mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Fri, 06/09/2019 - 08:12

The Australian Federal Government is proposing mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients.

 

Under a two-year trial, 5,000 recipients of Newstart and Youth Allowance benefits would be tested for substances including ice, marijuana and cocaine in three locations - Logan, Queensland, Canterbury-Bankstown, NSW, and Mandurah, Victoria.

 

Under the proposal, any welfare recipients who fail a drug test would be placed on income management and referred to a rehabilitation program.

 

Severe fire warnings in place for Queensland

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Fri, 06/09/2019 - 08:11

Severe fire danger warnings are in place for the central highlands and coalfields district, Wide Bay and Burnett, and the southeast coast.

 

Water-bombing aircraft are on standby with severe to extreme fire warnings issued for southern, southeast and central Queensland on Friday.

 

Authorities have warned conditions could reach the highest catastrophic rating in some inland areas in the state's south.

 

Queensland hospital comparison site planned by Government

Submitted by Zedlines Contributor on Fri, 06/09/2019 - 08:09

Queenslanders will now be able to compare  and publish comparative information about public and private health facilities online under plans by the Palaszczuk government. 

 

Health Minister Steven Miles said that the review website would publish information such as  the surgery procedures, the average time spent in hospital and patient outcomes. 

 

"It's like TripAdvisor, but for hospitals," he said.

 

Mallrat: Driving Music

Submitted by chrisc on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 22:36

<p><span><span>- Mallrat, or <strong>Grace Shaw</strong> as she is known when not behind the mic, has come a long way since releasing her first EP as a Brisbane high school student in 2016. Still yet to turn twenty-one, this year she’s been selling out headline shows around the country and is about to head to the US on another international tour; and now she’s released her third EP <em>Driving Music</em>.</span></span></p>

Bat For Lashes: Lost Girls

Submitted by chrisc on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 22:06

<p><span><span>- Ever since <strong>Natasha Khan</strong> aka Bat For Lashes first emerged in 2006 with the spectral electronic folk of <em>Fur And Gold</em>, the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has found ambitious yet subtle ways to toy with pop music. A dark yet accessible and intriguing back catalogue culminated in 2016’s <em>The Bride</em>, a baroque-pop-concept album about love and death. Clearly, Khan has never taken the easy route when it comes to creating her songs. </span></span></p>

Uniform & The Body: Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back

Submitted by chrisc on Thu, 05/09/2019 - 21:36

- There is a work by Nineteenth Century Romantic painter John Martin that is one of the most suffocating and seductive portrayals of Hell ever committed to canvas. Its imposing sense of doom emerges from a sea of black and blood red flames. A crimson flash of electricity from charred skies revels a palace of demons as the pits of hell illuminate a robed figure, presiding over the scene.

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