When you think about literature immediately the UK comes to mind with authors like J.K. Rowling, then America with Stephen King and more recently the Netherlands with Stieg Larrson. Not many people think of Australia as a place brimming with literary talent but they are wrong. A prime example of this is The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, first released in Australia in 2008 it has since become an international bestseller.

So it is no surprise then that this year’s Sydney Writers’ Festival is going to be a big one. It is due to be crammed full of big names such as restaurant critic AA Gill and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. 

Also in attendance will be Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham, 2010 Man Booker Prize winner Howard Jacobson as well as Australian authors Robert Manne, Sonya Hartnett, Markus Zusak, Kim Scott and Jon Bauer.

In total there are expected to be in the region of 400 participants and 300 events drawing in over 80,000 people from the 16^th to the 22^nd of May, making the Sydney Writers’ Festival one of the biggest in the world.

Artistic Director Chip Rolley said that the theme for this year’s event is Power.

“It started with the whole idea of the power that the writer has. We will only understand this world through language and through writers who explain it back to us.”

He said that there would be topics and events for everyone from terrorism to the economy to pornography.

“Once we announce this program, there are a lot of people who go out and buy the books to get ready for this event, so they’re prepared – like an exam,” he said.

The final resting place of a historic indigenous aborigine has been located

The grave of Woollarawarre Bennelong, one of Australia’s most famous historic indigenous figures has been located almost 200 years since his death by a leading academic and the local council.

Bennelong, the first indigenous Australian to live among white settlers has been resting quietly beneath a normal garden in peace in Putney, a north-western Sydney suburb beneath.

“We knew Bennelong was buried in the area but it’s always been an urban legend in terms of where,” said Dr Peter Mitchell, honorary associate professor of physical geography at Macquarie University.

The exact location will be released once the Wangal, Bennelong’s tribe have confirmed the location.

“We’ll make sure we get the elders there and make sure we do the right thing by the Aboriginal community,” local Councillor Vic Tagg said.

Bennelong adapted to European life quickly, teaching the colonizers about traditional aboriginal customs and language, working as a liaison between the two often conflicting communities and cultures.  

Bennelong Point was named after him and is now the site of the Sydney Opera House.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is expected to be used in airstrikes against Muammar Gaddafi's forces in the next few days

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has said he hopes that the UN Security Council decision to use “all necessary measures” in Libya has not come too late.  

“Let us all hope and pray that this final resolve of the international community is not too late for the people of Libya,” he said.

He said that Australia will not be providing military support in Libya in order to bring a stop to Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, to protect those affected civilians impose a no fly zone over Libyan air space.

“If the no-fly zone was imposed in this part of the world Australian assets would be considered as a possible inclusion in any such UN operation,” he said.

“This is in North Africa, it is adjacent to the NATO zone.

“It is across the Mediterranean from the NATO zone – this is primarily the responsibility of adjoining states.”

Mr Rudd said that while Australia will not be involved in any military action it will, as part of the global community; provide support for those who are more directly involved.

He said that the international community has a moral responsibility to be involved in a situation where the civilian population “run the huge risk of being butchered.”

Carbon Tax will have more benefits than just a better future

Professor Ross Garnaut, the government’s key climate advisor has said in his latest update of his 2008 report on climate change that tax payers would generally be better off if a price is put on carbon.  

Speaking to the National Press Club in Canberra he said that roughly 50 percent of the revenue from the carbon tax should be used to give tax breaks to those who need them.

“Overall, lower and middle income earners in Australia will be better off directly as a result of these arrangements and in addition future generations of their family will be protected from dangerous climate change,” he said.

Professor Garnaut has suggested that carbon be priced between $20 and $30 per tonne until an emissions trading scheme is brought into effect.

He said that some areas will be able to adapt more easily than others and that while heavy polluting areas will see job losses efforts should be made to introduce new green technologies and retrain.

“Carefully targeted and well-designed transition arrangements will help those regions use their advantages in the industries of the future,” he said.

He said that it is important for the government to offer incentives for those who reduce their power usage.

“If someone is paying more for electricity and getting more after-tax income through a tax cut or social security adjustment they still have a full incentive to economise and save electricity,” he said.

The government still has a lot to do in order to convince the public that a carbon price is necessary, perhaps once the legislation goes through there will finally be a green energies boom, something which has been possible for a long time.

Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan which has already claimed hundreds of lives and made hundreds of thousands homeless NSW is sending a 76 person specialist search and rescue team.

The team will be made of urban search and rescue specialists, two structural engineers, eight paramedics, two doctors and a police specialist. The team will be heading for Japan in the next 12 hours.    

“There are fears that the death toll could be very high, with hundreds or even thousands of people killed as a result of the earthquake and tsunami,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Owens said.

“We are shocked and saddened by this disaster, and eager to do anything we can to help the victims.”

The NSW search and rescue team have had plenty of practice lately having been involved in both the Queensland floods and the Christchurch earthquake.

“We have established a very strong working relationship with the Japanese urban search-and-rescue teams over the years through training and during other disasters,” Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Greg Mullins said.

“Some of the rescuers we are sending are veterans of earthquakes in Taiwan, Turkey, Indonesia, and the Indian Ocean tsunami, and of course the Thredbo landslide.”

Australia is just one of many countries pledging aid to Japan following one of the most violent earthquakes on record.

Leonardo DiCaprio is to play Gatsby in the 3D adaptation

Australian director Baz Luhrmann has announced that his next film, The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, will be filmed in Sydney this year.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel, published in 1922, has undergone many screen adaptations – but the world awaits to see what Luhrmann will do with it.

He famously set Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (also starring DiCaprio) in modern-day California, with guns replacing swords, so if anyone can get away with showcasing Sydney Harbour in The Great Gatsby, it’s gotta be Luhrmann.

Luhrmann is known for his quirky bohemian style, having been responsible for Moulin Rouge! (2001), an operatic vaudevillian extravaganza, which was also filmed in Sydney, as well as all-Aussie cult hit Strictly Ballroom (1991)

We can’t wait to see what sort of red-curtain theatrical twist he will give to The Great Gatsby, already big on operatics, plot-wise. Set in Long Island and New York, among the hedonistic aristocracy of the roaring 20s, it’s sure to be a heady experience – all the more so because it is being filmed in 3D!

Pre-production starts in Sydney this month, and filming commences in August. The film also stars Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire – so head to Sydney for some celebrity stalking.

Financial data released by leading Australian private schools has revealed that despite having more than twice the income of the average state school, their students do not perform proportionately better in tests.   

An analysis of private schools by The Weekend Australian has found that state schools who have far less funding than schools that charge fees manage to achieve roughly the same results for their students in the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).

One such example is the difference in spending between Malvern Primary School in Melbourne’s suburbs which spends around $8000 per student and Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) which spends around $23,000 per student.

Despite a difference of $15,000, there is no significant difference between the schools in terms of scores. This becomes even more concerning for those paying fees when you consider that Malvern spent $250,000 last year on capital works while Shore spent $40 million.

This is the story all across the country, private schools make more money, spend more money yet better results do not follow and in some instances state schools actually outperform private schools.

This is the case with Summer Hill in Sydney which spends $8000, $12,000 less than St Peter’s College in Adelaide yet its year 5 students score considerably higher.

Bill Daniels, executive director of the Independent Schools Council of Australia said that parents considered a whole host of aspects when choosing a private school.

“Independent schools offer so much more,” he said.

A draft report by the Productivity Commission into disability proposed that those with severe disabilities will be guaranteed life-long support and care, having found that the current system is underfunded and failing to meet the needs of a large number of severely disabled individuals.

The $12 billion a year proposal will lift many families from the “life-long period” of financial constraint that caring for someone with a severe disability imposes.

The report has recommended that by 2018 two no-fault insurance schemes should be brought into action to cover those born with or who acquire through accident, injury or illness a severe disability.

The first will cover those who suffer accident injury or illness and will be based on current insurance schemes which cover those injured through vehicle accidents. The second will be a government funded scheme to cover long-term care for those born with disabilities.

An estimated 360,000 people will be covered by the proposed new schemes that will cover a range of help from respite to therapy costing the government at least double the current budget and requiring an influx of skilled carers that the report says will only be met through wage increases.

“All of us are only one accident or one illness away from living with disability ourselves,” Uniting Care director Lin Hatfield Dodds said and that the proposed funding is a strong solution. Carers Australia also welcomed the report.

“There are people falling through the cracks, the status quo isn’t working and something needs to be done,” Mr Shorten, Labor frontbencher and former disabilities minister said.

The largest survey of Australian secondary school students in 25 years, across 240 schools and 12,000 teenagers between 8 and 11 found that the nation is suffering from a “chronic disease time bomb” due to poor exercise and diet habits.

Chief executive of Cancer Council Australia, Professor Ian Olver has expressed concern over the results of the survey and the potential strain on the Australian health system.

“If ever there was a wake-up call for Australians, this is it,” he said “As obese kids move into adulthood the heightened risk of chronic diseases like cancer means previous gains in life expectancy may be reversed.”

The survey found that 85 percent of students surveyed do not engage in enough physical activity for it to prove beneficial, also 14 percent do not eat enough fruit and vegetables, roughly a third drink four or more carbonated drinks in the average week, 43 percent eat fast food at least once a week.

One in four are either overweight or obese; 19.2 percent of boys have been found to be overweight and 5.4 percent obese while 17.1 percent of girls are overweight and 5.5 percent obese.

 These factors will no doubt have a long term negative effect on the population as a whole. “We may see today’s teenagers die at a younger age than their parents’ generation for the first time in history.”

There is a clear trend which indicates an increase in childhood obesity, particularly in those with a lower socio economic background.

Celebrating Australia Day Down Under

Australians all over the world are back to reality today, after celebrating Australia Day on 26 January. Sydney celebrated its hottest Australia Day on record, with temperatures in the city nearing 32°C. In Perth, 32,000 people turned out to watch the Skyworks display, while even flood-devastated Brisbane – determined to continue with the celebrations despite the usual riverside site being flooded – managed to complete its annual Flag Raising Ceremony in a new location, to cheers from resilient locals in blazing sunshine.

Australia Days of yore

T’was on 26 January in 1788 that Captain Arthur Philip landed his fleet at what is now Circular Quay in Sydney, with two French exploration ships hot on his heels. Just before the First Fleet disgorged its cargo of several hundred convicts, officers and sailors onto the virgin land, the Governor claimed the land for England. There allegedly followed a right old Aussie-style knees-up on the shores of the harbour, no doubt shaking off the long confinement at sea with some of the rum supplies – and as dawn rose the next day, some semblance of order was cobbled together and the colony of New South Wales was born.

Twenty years later, the colony was sufficiently established to merit the first annual celebration of the First Fleet’s landing, with settlers toasting the land they had come to love with ‘drinking and merriment’, kicking off the on the evening of 25 January. Australia Day has been thus celebrated ever since.

In 1818 the day was declared a public holiday, and Aussies still have the day off, which is a Godsend when one’s patriotic duty has called for heavy celebrations the evening before.

Nowadays, Australians spend their day off having barbecues and picnics in the glorious January summer sun, and spending time with friends and family. There are usually plenty of events to choose from, such as race days, cricket matches and outdoor music concerts. Most major cities have public fireworks extravaganzas over the water as the sun goes down.

Melbourne residents turn out for a vast processions for the People’s March, followed by a live concert, in Sydney the ferries and tallships jostle for space on the sparkling harbour as they line up to race each other to the Heads.

It’s also the day when new Citizens are sworn in as Australians, and the Prime Minister and Governor General both make televised addresses to the nation.

But above all, Australia Day is a joyous occasion when Australians gather to give thanks for their country and celebrate its bounty, its ‘beauties rich and rare’ and the carefree existence its people are blessed with. It’s a time to wave the national flag and sing the anthem with pride… and an excellent excuse to enjoy a few Australian-brand beers.

How to celebrate Australia Day (outside Australia)

If you’re not lucky enough to be Down Under, there are pockets of Australia Day merriment all over the world. Although the January weather in the northern hemisphere is the opposite of what a traditional Australia Day would offer, certain inns and bars in most UK cities will at least mark the occasion with Aussie beers, Aussie music and perhaps some Aussie delicacies.

The occasion will be palpable on the globetrotting circuit, too – expect to find pockets of Aussie-fever in centres from Koh Samui to Khatmandu.

But wherever you are in the world, you can enter into the spirit with a cold Aussie beer (Crown, VB, Swan, Castlemaine or Tooheys), an informal barbecue (indoors with the kitchen cooker if needs be), some Australian music, a toy koala or two, a suitable movie or sporting match, and an assortment of like-minded friends who can share in the joy of raising a glass to sunny Australia.