6 Thursday news bites (September 1)

1. Navy ‘on alert’ for more asylum seeker boats

This comes after the extraordinary High Court decision yesterday where the majority of the full bench voted the Federal Government’s ‘Malaysia Solution’ refugee swap deal ‘unlawful’. They said the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen was first and foremost and primary guardian of unaccompanied minors and that he did not have the power to make unilateral decisions about the human rights standards of another country that had not signed the United Nations refugee convention. It’s likely Australia would still receive the 4000 ‘genuine’ refugees from Malaysia over the next four years but would be unable to deport 800 asylum seekers. Watch this space as MM explores the issue in greater depth later today.

2. Should the best schools be forced to take on poorly performing students?

That’s one suggestion coming from an independent report commissioned by the Australian Government’s Review of School Funding. The top performing schools would have to take on the less than average students as a condition of maintaining Government funding. The suggestion has angered private schools but the Australian Education Union said it is a good idea. The Government said the report recommendations were not indicative of its intentions.

3. Families that go to court on custody most likely to share the kids

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has taken a look at custody cases inside and out of courts and found those that relied on a judges orders were more likely to result in shared custody. There is a suggestion, however, that those families who go down that route are the ‘least equipped’ to deal with 35:65 arrangements.

4. Aussie disposable incomes fall for the first time in 14 years

Like we needed further evidence that times were tougher than usual, the biennial Australian Bureau of Statistics income survey has shown average disposable incomes dropping across the board. The average income earned by a household in the top fifth of homes slipped from $4136 a week to $3942 after adjusting for inflation. The average mid-range household income slipped from $1356 to $1323. At the bottom, the average household income climbed from $350 a week to $360. On the plus side, things are more equal than they have been in a while.

5. Texas court bans law ultrasound-before-abortion law

An Austin court blocked a law proposed by Republican Governor and Presidential hopeful Rick Perry which would require doctors to show prospective abortion patients an ultrasound of the unborn foetus before a decision was made to abort. If there was a heartbeat, the doctor was required to make the patient listen to it. He or she was also required to read out every detail of the foetuses development up to that point before a 24-hour wait to see if they still wanted to go ahead with the abortion. The court said the bill forced doctors to disclose ‘medically irrelevant’ details and was therefore unconstitutional.

6. Actress Daryl Hannah arrested in White House protest

The star, who played a fairly ruthless character in Kill Bill, was arrested in front of the White House yesterday protesting a proposed oil pipeline which would run from Canada to the US Gulf Coast. It’s not the first time she has been arrested for her activism. On this occasion it was all very peaceful. She was asked to move, didn’t, and was handcuffed.

Oh, and for anyone who cares (anyone?) here’s the teaser for her new music video. It’s, umm, yeah, just watch:

These news bites were brought to you by Rick.