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"It is inconceivable that a country as wealthy as Australia cannot solve a health crisis affecting less than 3% of its population."

- from "Close The Gap: Solutions to the Indigenous Health Crisis facing Australia", April 2007

The NACCHO/Oxfam Australia joint report on the state of indigenous health in this country makes for heartbreaking reading. Just one small extract from the executive summary makes for a depressing introduction:

It must be the first time in these more tsunami-conscious times that the Bureau of Meteorology has issued a tsunami alert for the NSW coast.

An 8.1 earthquake off the Solomons at around 6.40 this morning is known to have caused 15cm waves in the outlying Solomon Islands.

It seems low risk at this time, but links for more information are here:

• NSW alert (BOM)

Part of John Winston Howard's vision of expanding the historical knowledge of Australian schoolchildren has reached fruition. This from the office of the minister for, among other things, Heritage (Malcolm Turnbull):

AUSTRALIAN STUDENTS KEEP OUR HISTORY ALIVE

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Malcolm Turnbull MP today announced the winners for the Howard Government’s 2006 inaugural Captain Cook Essay Competition and encouraged students to enter the 2007 competition.

Let's save the rest of the world's forests. But not our own. Oh no, we must not let Australia lose its competitive advantage blah blah blah...

In the tradition of Ronald Reagan (the Greatest American Of All Time) and Pim Fortuyn (the Greatest Dutchperson Of All Time) comes the news that none other than Antonio de Oliveira Salazar has won a poll to choose the greatest Portuguese person ever.

The dictator of Portugal from 1933 to 1968 scored 40 per cent of the vote in the poll of the ten finalists. The runner up was a communist adversary of Salazar's, Alvaro Cunhal.

Australia's Can't-Do Prime Minister on Climate Change:

Quote number one (House of Reps Question Time, 28.3.07):

"I am aware of the views expressed by Sir Nicholas Stern. Some of the views that he has expressed I agree with, some I have reservations about and some, I believe, if implemented, literally would do great damage to the Australian economy. When it comes to the decisions of the government, uppermost in our mind will be the national interest, not the views of any one individual, however eminent he may be regarded by some."

• Coach strangled at Cricket World Cup.
• Swimmer bashed up by father on worldwide television at the World Championships, before announcing that it was all her fault.
• Fan killed outside stadium as volleyball hooligans go on rampage.

Last Saturday's state election was something of a whimper in the end. Perhaps the poorest-quality NSW election in my memory has ended with the ALP, rather than being swept from office or even suffering a major swing against, has been returned to government with just a slight reduction in its majority.

Here's a report from Human Rights Watch of the opening day of the "trial" of alleged material terrorists' assistant David Hicks on Monday:

(Guantanamo Bay, March 27, 2007) – Two defense lawyers for Guantanamo detainee David Hicks were barred from representing their client yesterday, highlighting the failure of US military commissions to meet fair trial standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Hicks, the first person to be charged before the military commissions authorized by Congress in 2006, pleaded guilty to a single criminal charge.

At 8.45pm I'm calling Marrickville as a win for the ALP.