We just arrived in Brisbane and found it to be a fine city. It was the site of Expo 88 which gave the city an international standing and an upgrade from being a town to a significant city. Sadly, some terrible stories have dominated the headlines in the last days.
A friend of Nicki's father, Nigel, is living just outside of the main city, and it's a beautiful area with "Queenslander" houses dotted all along the beach front. The style is really distinctive, and apparently houses that were built as bungalows have been lifted in one piece and had a lower floor built underneath, giving extra space, cool verandas and a great view.
As we drove around the area, we came past St Patrick's College at Shorncliffe, where a 12-year old was stabbed and killed by another 13 year old pupil. It's caused a huge round of agonising and inward review as a country with questions being asked on the news to child psychologists and the like about how such a thing could happen. It's a horrific story, and it is coupled with a growing fear of bullying on social networking platforms like Facebook, which has also been in the news.
Hearing the debate, it seemed to me that
phenomena like Facebook and YouTube have changed the way kids communicate at a much faster rate than authorities such as schools have been able to adapt - the people seemed completely out of touch with the world the kids are living in. The reality of the situation seems to be that this very real incident was an extension of an online, supposedly "virtual" bullying campaign. Tellingly, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said ''I think Australia's not the sort of place where this should be happening in a schoolyard". This is a frightening lack of connection with a shocking and real tragedy.
What's also shocking is some of the statistics that have been appearing in the news. One report suggested that more than one in six Australian boys have been involved in violence over a 12 month period. It seems there were also calls for metal detectors to be installed in schools, as a response to what is called the "growing knife culture", although this idea is being rejected as being an over-reaction.
Over the last months, we have been almost completely insulated from these kinds of incidents that are of course a part of everyday life. However, it did remind us that Nicki had seen one mad moment in Buenos Aires. She was strolling around a beautiful, Notting Hill-like area of the city, enjoying the relaxed buzz of the Palermo district, when a man seemingly running for his life burst
down the street and shouted obscenities. He was chased by a man carrying a gun. They disappeared round the corner, leaving Nicki shaken and hardly able to believe what she had just seen.
On a less tragic note, Brisbane suffered flash floods the day before we arrived. Up to 120mm of rain fell in some areas and cars were literally floating down the street. As we saw this on TV, thinking about tomorrow's drive to that area, we were a little nervous, but on arrival we found nothing more than a hazy drizzle of rain and heavy humidity. Australia has been suffering from a drought for the past couple of years and despite the difficulties for home-owners and businesses, the main story is how much the dams in certain areas of the country have increased in recent years.
A third big story here in Australia is the decision to stop 20,000 people's
applications to live in the country, setting new regulations and standards on what professions people should come from to qualify for citizenship. It seems there were desperate University PHD students taking hairdressing courses - previously in the list of needed professions - because that was the only way to get in.
A friend of Nicki's father, Nigel, is living just outside of the main city, and it's a beautiful area with "Queenslander" houses dotted all along the beach front. The style is really distinctive, and apparently houses that were built as bungalows have been lifted in one piece and had a lower floor built underneath, giving extra space, cool verandas and a great view.As we drove around the area, we came past St Patrick's College at Shorncliffe, where a 12-year old was stabbed and killed by another 13 year old pupil. It's caused a huge round of agonising and inward review as a country with questions being asked on the news to child psychologists and the like about how such a thing could happen. It's a horrific story, and it is coupled with a growing fear of bullying on social networking platforms like Facebook, which has also been in the news.
Hearing the debate, it seemed to me that
phenomena like Facebook and YouTube have changed the way kids communicate at a much faster rate than authorities such as schools have been able to adapt - the people seemed completely out of touch with the world the kids are living in. The reality of the situation seems to be that this very real incident was an extension of an online, supposedly "virtual" bullying campaign. Tellingly, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said ''I think Australia's not the sort of place where this should be happening in a schoolyard". This is a frightening lack of connection with a shocking and real tragedy.What's also shocking is some of the statistics that have been appearing in the news. One report suggested that more than one in six Australian boys have been involved in violence over a 12 month period. It seems there were also calls for metal detectors to be installed in schools, as a response to what is called the "growing knife culture", although this idea is being rejected as being an over-reaction.
Over the last months, we have been almost completely insulated from these kinds of incidents that are of course a part of everyday life. However, it did remind us that Nicki had seen one mad moment in Buenos Aires. She was strolling around a beautiful, Notting Hill-like area of the city, enjoying the relaxed buzz of the Palermo district, when a man seemingly running for his life burst
down the street and shouted obscenities. He was chased by a man carrying a gun. They disappeared round the corner, leaving Nicki shaken and hardly able to believe what she had just seen.On a less tragic note, Brisbane suffered flash floods the day before we arrived. Up to 120mm of rain fell in some areas and cars were literally floating down the street. As we saw this on TV, thinking about tomorrow's drive to that area, we were a little nervous, but on arrival we found nothing more than a hazy drizzle of rain and heavy humidity. Australia has been suffering from a drought for the past couple of years and despite the difficulties for home-owners and businesses, the main story is how much the dams in certain areas of the country have increased in recent years.
A third big story here in Australia is the decision to stop 20,000 people's
applications to live in the country, setting new regulations and standards on what professions people should come from to qualify for citizenship. It seems there were desperate University PHD students taking hairdressing courses - previously in the list of needed professions - because that was the only way to get in. This change has come at a time when a report suggests that population will explode from 20 million to as much as 36 million. That's in stark contrast to a country like Japan, where population growth is negative to the extent of -24%. Australia is a huge country - 32 times larger than the UK! - but big chunks are uninhabitable, and we have noticed that (for example) traffic is much heavier here as the infrastructure in major cities struggles to keep pace with the increases in population density.
It's a tricky subject, and India has raised claims that the new policy is targeted towards them. However, we have seen that people especially on the East Coast have a great life and plenty of space, so the desirability of moving here is huge. Managing that attractiveness is not a simple issue.
