Residents angry over rail funds

Dianne Dejanovic (front holding photo) and Federal Labor MP for Maribyrnong Bill Shorten (front centre) with members of the local community at the train level crossing on Main Road in St Albans, Melbourne where Dianne's son Christian was struck and killed by a train. Picture: Hamish Blair Source: Herald Sun

BILL Shorten says the Victorian Government has refused $90 million from the Commonwealth to fix a deadly railway level-crossing in St Albans because it is in "the wrong part of town".

Mr Shorten, the federal Workplace Relations Minister, said the Main Rd crossing in his safe Labor electorate of Maribyrnong had claimed 16 lives in the past 10 years with countless near misses.

"The politics of the residents shouldn't dictate funding decisions by the Napthine Government," Mr Shorten said.

"What should matter is we have a killer crossing that will kill again. If you know bad things are going to happen in the future, you have an obligation to prevent them."

But the state Minister for Public Transport, Terry Mulder, said the offer from Canberra was not real money but "unrealised savings" from other projects, which might as well be Monopoly money.

Mr Shorten said it was real money and he had lobbied Transport Minister Anthony Albanese to make a special one-off grant of $90 million to fund half the cost of upgrading the dangerous crossing.

"St Albans is being punished because the Liberals think it is the wrong part of town," Mr Shorten said. "I am stunned the Napthine Government has rejected our offer."

Mr Shorten said he feared it was only a matter of time before another fatality.

He said he would write to 17,000 households in the area urging residents to contact the State Government to demand they stop neglecting the western suburbs.

Mr Mulder said the Federal Government gave South Australia money to remove four level-crossings and it was Labor taking the people of St Albans for granted.

"The Victorian Government did not reject federal funding, we simply asked the Federal Government to make sure the offer was real money, not 'unrealised savings' which may not eventuate," he said.

"Unrealised savings is a fingers-crossed approach to hoping other projects come in under budget, and if they do, using those savings. With Labor's track record, the reality is that none of the savings may eventuate, so they may as well be offering Monopoly money."

Dianne Dejanovic, whose 31-year-old son Christian was killed at the level-crossing 15 months ago, said she could not understand why the State Government would not accept the money.

"For us it's too late," Ms Dejanovic said. "But they can do something to prevent the victims of the future."

phillip.hudson@news.com.au

View the original article here

Aussies angry at UK visa backlog

Passengers queue at for the check-in desks at a busy Heathrow airport. It would take the UK 24 years to clear a backlog of visa applications, with many Aussies caught up in the mess. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

AUSTRALIANS who have experienced frustrating delays when extending their visa in Britain will feel some vindication with the publication of a damning report into the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

The Home Affairs select committee has warned that at the current rate of progress it would take 24 years to clear a backlog of asylum and immigration cases the size of the population of Iceland at the UKBA.

Between July and September last year, four new types of backlog came to light, taking the total number of cases to almost 313,000.

TNT magazine, a free weekly publication for Aussie and Kiwi expats in the UK, launched a campaign a month ago demanding the UKBA lift its game.

Group editor Carol Driver says the committee report proves the agency is inefficient and shambolic.

Driver said it shouldn't be so torturous to apply for an extension to an existing visa or for leave to remain in Britain.

"We've received a huge number of horror stories from readers who are paying for this service," Driver said. "It's something that you wouldn't stand for in the private sector."

Tourists gather in front of Buckingham Palace during snowfall in central London in January. Picture: AFP

Driver believes the UK government agency needs a "massive overhaul".

Monday's report suggests applications could be processed in 45 minutes, but many Australians have told TNT they haven't heard from UKBA for 10 months.

Unless people pay for a premium service, they have to surrender their passport to the border agency for that period.

For the first six months, the UKBA won't even accept inquiries about applications, Driver says.

TNT magazine's online petition demands a helpline be set up to provide updates at any time "not only after six months".

It also wants visas processed within three months for those eligible to work.

"It's unacceptable that people who want to work and travel in the UK and boost the economy - who have no rights to claim benefits - aren't able to due to UKBA inefficiency," Driver said.

View the original article here

Angry Birds roosting at NASA

A sliding puzzle with three levels of difficulty in thenew Angry Birds attraction at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Picture: Joe Cascio Source: AP

AT NASA's invitation, the online game characters Angry Birds are roosting at Kennedy Space Centre for the next 18 months in an effort to lure youngsters to the cosmic wonders of math and science.

A huge interactive exhibit opened March 22 and immediately packed in the kids, including this reporter's 7-year-old son who couldn't get enough of the mirrored maze and the design-your-own Angry Bird and play-the-game stations.

It's called Angry Birds Space Encounter and is the first of its kind.

Astronaut Donald Pettit, a chemical engineer and father of 12-year-old twin boys, announced the collaboration between NASA and Angry Birds creator Rovio Entertainment a year ago while living aboard the International Space Station. He squeezed in as much physics as he could in the YouTube announcement.

"Wow, this could be a great venue for getting some physics and getting some math and getting some science into something that has the connotation as just an empty brain-draining video game that sucks out the creativity from the minds of young people,'' Mr Pettit told The Associated Press at the grand opening.

"And so I thought, well, maybe I could help make a difference on this and bring the idea of a game up to a different level, where unbeknownst to the kids playing it, they're learning a little bit of math and physics at the same time.''

Enter the concepts of parabolic trajectories, hyperbolic trajectories, elliptical trajectories and even Holman transfer orbits, "which is what we do with spacecraft going from Planet A to Planet B.''

Guests take their best shot in a competition with fellow players using mini-Angry Birds launched in a slingshot to zap space pigs at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral. Picture: Joe Cascio

"There's all this stuff latent in this game, particularly if you tend to be a geek, or an uber-geek or what I'm actually calling now a super-uber-geek,'' Mr Pettit said. "All of this stuff can be mined out of this game and it can be used as an excuse to learn more. If you're not in any of those categories as a kid, you can still play the game and be entertained.''

Parent Alert: If a PhD astronaut like Pettit endorses Angry Birds Space, it must be worthwhile.

Toss in space shuttle Atlantis, making its museum debut in another few months, and the educational value goes sky-high.

The $100 million Atlantis display, just a few minutes' stroll from Angry Birds Space Encounter, opens June 29.

Angry Birds is "a nice prelude to Atlantis and it will be a nice complement as well,'' especially for children, said John Stine, Delaware North Co.'s director of sales and events at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

"They're going to learn something about Angry Birds and they're going to really be inspired when they go to Atlantis.''

The main entrance to Angry Birds Space Encounter at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The online game Angry Birds is the inspiration for the new attraction, where most of the exhibits focus on space exploration and NASA history.  Picture: Joe Cascio

The Finnish-based Rovio Entertainment has another Angry Birds Space exhibit up its sleeve at another locale in the near future, said Dan Mitchell, the company's director of location-based entertainment.

"But you can't get a much more true-to-life space theme than being here at Kennedy Space Center,'' Mitchell said as his 6-year-old daughter waited none too patiently at the exhibit entrance.

The 417-square-metre exhibit features six interactive stations, including 1.2-metre high Eggsteroids Slingshots that children can use to launch mini Angry Birds at enemy pigs, and a laser-beam obstacle course set on the Red Planet.

This reporter's son had to be dragged away after more than an hour inside the noisy, darkened chamber - noisy and dark for grown-ups, that is. The Florida sunlight beckoned, with the outdoor play area, rocket garden and shuttle launch-simulator ride.

"Want to go back to the Angry Birds?'' he pleaded a few days later. "Pleeeease.''

Angry Birds Space Encounter is included in the price of regular admission to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Kennedy is an hour's drive due east from Orlando. Unmanned rockets still soar from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, so check to see if a launch is coming up for double the fun.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER VISITOR COMPLEX: Located about an hour's drive east of Orlando, Florida; http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/ . Open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Adults, $50; children 3-11, $40 (plus tax).

Angry Birds Space Encounter is included with regular admission.

Unmanned rockets still soar from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, so check to see if a launch is coming up for double the fun.

 

View the original article here

Police angry over baby steering car

Police have appealed for information after a video was posted on YouTube showing a toddler driving a car. (Vision courtesy 3AW)

Police described the incident as "absolute stupidity". Source: Supplied

A TODDLER has been captured on camera steering a car independently through Melbourne's suburban streets.

Police have slammed the actions of the person responsible for allowing the one-year-old to steer the vehicle after footage of the event was uploaded to YouTube.

The video – captured from the passenger seat – shows the baby sitting on the lap of a male driver, who regularly removes his hands from the wheel and allows the toddler solely to direct the car.

It is understood the one-minute clip was filmed in Melbourne and has since been removed off the video-sharing site.

Police have labelled the driver's actions as "absolute stupidity" and are relieved other road users as well as the child emerged from the incident unscathed.

Brimbank Acting Insp Tim O'Conner said the male driver could be liable for a range of offences, including the serious "conduct endangering" and a number of different traffic offences.

"It is just absolute stupidity," the Insp O'Conner told 3AW radio.

"It didn't appear the child was wearing a seatbelt, you've got the possibility of an airbag going off - and we know how dangerous they can be to the people sitting in the seats - and also just the fact that it is a danger to other road users.

"It is really a matter of sitting down and going through it (the video) again and make sure we cover everything off."

View the original article here