The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 3

smh.com.au Weekend Edition, October 27-28, 2001 NCWS 3 TEhr Porning tvalh out of coaita! IS violence ML. Thank God, its only the gas bill WORST 10 CITY DISTRICTS No. of per.1000 The deputy director-general of schools, Alan Laughlin, said last night that the reports were stopped because of doubts about the credibility of the data. "There has been a lot of debate about the validity of the material and what constitutes a violent incident," Dr Laughlin said. "We do monitor the situation, however.

"It is not indicative of a crisis in the schools, though it is obviously something we would rather not have to deal with." Drug incidents had risen from 0.8 to 1.1 a day, up 36 per cent. But the snapshot, obtained by the Herald, was the last of its kind. During the second half of 1999 and all of 2000 no data was collected. "In 2000 serious incident report details were not stored on a database as the information is no longer used to generate trend data for systemic reporting," the department said. This year the department collated some data, but only for incidents involving violence.

Still, it showed the Govern Robert Wainwright Stat-e Political Correspondent Violence in NSW public schools is in danger of spinning out of control, the Department of Education believes. The situation looked so bleak two years ago, with almost 11 incidents each day, that the department stopped collecting stat istics for IS months, claiming they were unreliable and it was too difficult to define violence. A confidential five-page report compiled by the depart reports students Port Jackson 45 2.6 Bankstown 54 2.6 Granville 45 2.0 Bondi 35 2.0 Fairfield 60 1.9 Liverpool 48 1.7 Campbelltown 44 1.4 St George 25 1.1 Penrith 24 1.0 Parramatta 19 0.8 Director strides out of wilderness on path Ferocity of fires wipes out parks sensitive wildlife 3r -'1 v. 3 1 to bliss LaPaglia and Armstrong in Lantana. A scene from La Spagnola.

1 Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge. Spanish actress Lola Marceli, also from La Spagnola. "I'm a bit shellshocked," Ansara said of being nominated for her first feature. The writer-producer of La Spagnola, Anna-Maria Monti-celli, was thrilled that such a low-budget film had been recognised. After seven years' work, sne couianl find a producer so she did it herself.

"We could have failed miserably and had everybody sav what a disaster you've made with the money wre've vou. But we didn't." Notaoie at trie nominations ceremony was that the AFI appears to have ditched the name "the Lovely" for its awards, which was selected to honour the pioneering actress Louise Lovely. The AFI's chairman, Denny Lawrence, conceded the name had not caught on. "We were waiting for somebody else to use the word. Nobody has.

So I guess it might be dead." Film reviews Metropolitan ment was struggling to keep a lid on schoolyard violence, with 445 incidents in the first half of this year, a 60 per cent increase on 1998 and almost back at the levels recorded in 1997. The figures come on top of revelations this week that attacks on teachers were increasing. There have been 450 in the past two years alone. The Opposition Leader, Kerry Chikarovski, said: "These latest revelations confirm our worst fears; that violence in our government schools is a growing Critics trot out the familiar arguments. It interferes with children's sleeping patterns.

It makes the working day in the bush too long. It turns dairy cows mad and poultry peaky. And, of course, it plays havoc with the curtains. Supporters counter. It saves electricity.

It reduces road casualties. It allows people more recreation time in the evenings. And it boosts the sale of tennis racquets and cricket bats. But how does it affect how we Jon Casimir Email has displaced the letter as the first choice of people writing to friends and relations in these anxious times. Since the Sep tember 11 World Trade Cen'ie attacks, email traffic on Tclstia server network has doubled.

Stuart Gray, corporate affairs manager of Telstra Retail, about 80 per cent more email than usual was being sent, while 100 per cent more was being re ceived, a figure that suggested even bigger jump in usage over seas. The highest peaks were re corded soon after the attacks and there was some sign that ih" trend was tapering off, he but traffic was still well above-average. Hotmail, the free online email service with 4 million accoums in Australia and 118 million globally, enlisted extra servers cope with the increased deman 1 after September 11. In the pa -i couple of weeks, its network Ik reported a traffic rise of about per cent. As email booms around globe, mail is making peope twitchy.

Last week, the organ isers of the Swisscom Challenge tennis tournament in Zurich decided not to open anything; except mail with olfiei I letterheads. Suspicious powder' leaks have sent firefighters 1 embassies in Malaysia, storp the mail service in Finland evacuated buildings in Jn; an. Tom Cruise's people are opening his fan mail. As the an thrax scare rages, the actor is oe of many stars backing nervous' away from the letterbox, quarantining envelopes from lid known sources. At Warner Bros, fan mail is bf ing returned to sender.

Studi- Fan Mail Services, which malv-s its living from directing tl: clammy outpourings of th starstruck public to the i i ate boxes, is advising people send postcards or email rath: than letters. So is any of this really damaf ing the image of the postal tern? No, said Australia Post. volume of mail since the piepowder scare began had not rv ticeably declined. Neither ha 1 the sale of stamps. And, sai Australia Post's chairman, Nicholls, the letter as we romar tically knew it had already gorv anyway.

"Overwhelmingly, the letter-that we receive are what we ca i financial mail," she said this week. "They're bills, they're statements, they're invoices. sad to say social mail died a lony, time ago." Ms Nicholls said the health i the post tended to follow that i the economy. It was the genera i downturn, rather than the bio logical warfare scenario, that made her revise her growth fon cast for the next year downwar J. from 2 per cent to 1 per cent.

won't wake up on Monday moi ing and say: 'Haven't we sold a of But there's a defint: correlation. Changing the clock a signal for summer. Beer sau ramp up from now through i Christmas. It's a psychologies thing. People come home, it's sf light, they decide to have a barb-: cue, invite a few friends roiim: drink beer and enjoy the tria Australian tradition." Whether that's what Willet had in mind is another matter.

James Woodford Environment Writer Up to 100 species have disappeared from the Royal National Park since the devastating 1994 bushfires, a comprehensive wildlife survey has revealed. Some might have gone because of the slow loss of biodiversity caused by feral animals and habitat change, some were wiped out by the fires, and the remainder have possibly eluded scientists. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service co-ordinated hundreds of volunteers, including representatives from almost every university in the state, and spent thousands of hours trapping during the summers of 1996 and 1997. A report on the survey, by Debbie Andrew, has just been ROYAL NATIONAL PARK CASUALTIES 4 -4 3 KISSING Koalas Platypus Tiger quol! GONE Emus Eastern Grey Kangaroos Greater Gliders Dingoes Green and Golden Bell frogs completed and records the presence of 247 species of native vertebrates. Before the fire, 358 species were known.

The most severe effects have been felt by the park's possums, whose numbers have not returned to anywhere near those before the fire. In some areas, possum populations are thought to be a thirtieth of wrhat they were. One of the survey's most significant findings is that the nation's bigge'st marsupial problem that is being ignored by the Carr Labor Government. "How can John Aquilina say there is no problem when his own official figures show 11 serious incidents are reported every day by teachers and staff in NSW schools? "The fact that the Government refused to collect the statistics for 18 months because they were so bad is an absolute disgrace. How can John Aquilina start to even address the problem if he refuses to acknowledge it exists?" .1 the way work and play? there's no real evidence that in the city at least it has much of an impact at all.

You'd think that as soon as it gets lighter in the evening, people would go to the theatre and cinema less often. Not so, say the experts. Contact John Contact John South, $40hr. Contact Katie am ment's executive and legal services division showed an-alarming increase in serious incidents in the first half of 1999. There were more than 1,000 incidents and 522 schools, one quarter of the state's public schools, reported problems.

The number of calls to police had risen from 4.7 to 8.7 a day -up 83 per cent. Violence up from 2.6 to 4. incidents a day a 61 per cent rise. The number of intruders had risen from 1.2 to 1.9 a day up 57 per cent. glider, the greater glider, once common in the wet forests along the Royal's waterways, is thought to be locally extinct.

The platypus and the koala, once confirmed inhabitants, are thought to be absent or exceedingly rare, as is the tiger quoll. Dingoes, emus, eastern grey kangaroos, three species of reptiles and five species of frogs, including the green and golden bell frog, are missing and thought to be almost certainly locally extinct. In spite of the apparent declines and local extinctions, Ms Andrew said the survey indicated that the Royal remained one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the continent. Nearly 360 species of birds are recorded. About 270 were found during the recent surveys.

Although at least seven of these bird species are thought to be locally extinct, including the ground parrot and the eastern brisdebird, others may simply be infrequent visitors. Without more work it is difficult to know. One of the big issues facing the managers of the park is that urbanisation fragments wild areas, preventing animals from re-colonising. "If you isolate the Royal National Park through urban development and roads, we can lose the opportunity for the fauna to re-invade," Ms Andrew said. "Perhaps we are already seeing this." The main beneficiaries of the 1994 fires are thought to have been feral deer and foxes, although native species such as quail and the new holland mouse seem to have thrived.

Australian ecosystems were evolved to cope with fire but the Royal National Park was being burnt harder and more often than it could cope with, Ms Andrew said. "It may be that sensitive species that can't cope after fire, such as koalas, are falling off." though the sun was shining. Daylight saving was born. Willet was ridiculed during his lifetime, possibly because his proposal was so complicated. He wanted to move the clock forward by 80 minutes, in four instalments of 20 minutes each, between spring and summer.

But a year after his death in 1915, the British Parliament introduced daylight saving in a wartime bid to save coal. Even so, there was fierce debate. Bizarrery, and other contracting opportunities, see 'C. "Ait Garry Maddox Film Writer Director Ray Lawrence has much to live up to at the Australian Film Institute awards. His first film, Bliss, was the toast of the awards in 1985.

It won best film and best director. After spending almost as long in the wilderness as Moses, Lawrence could keep his record intact this year. His second film, Lantana, was nominated in 13 categories yesterday. The tense drama about relationships is up for best film, best director, best actor (Anthony LaPaglia) and best actress (Kerry Armstrong). It was nominated in every category except best cinematography.

Lantana's nearest rival was a surprise not Moulin Rouge (10 nominations), The Bank (nine) or even The Dish (just two) but the low-budget comedy-drama La Spagnola (11). A bilingual tale about a fiery Spanish woman shaking up an Australian town, directed by Steve Jacobs, it was nominated for just about everything except the top two categories. Lantana's rivals for best film are Moulin Rouge, The Bank and The Dish. In a best director field that surprisingly lacked Rob Sitch for TheDish, David Caesar for Mullet was nominated alongside Lawrence, Baz Luhrmann Rouge and R.obert Connolly (The Bank). Lawrence said his first AFI awards ceremony was so long ago this year's would seem like the first.

He was delighted the nominations came on top of box office success. "There's this entity called Lantana," he said. "It's like the weed. It's crawling everywhere Producer Jan Chapman, who fought for years to finance Lawrence's second film, had more good news. Lantana will get a North American release in December after being sold to Lions Gate.

In the best actress category, newcomer Alice Ansara will compete against a thoroughbred field at the awards on November 16. After making La Spagnola when she was 17, Ansara has been nominated against Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge, Kerry Armstrong for Lantana and William Take opera, which- starts earlier than most forms of evening entertainment, at 7.30 pm -yet an Opera Australia spokesman says attendances don't drop. In fact, the company runs a very successful summer season. Cinema, too, seems unaffected. Greater Union's Nicki Martin said later evenings had no impact on attendances, although temperatures did: "If it's extremely hot or cold people seek refuge." Of all sports, golf is the most Hiron Hiron Hislop International Competitive An opportunity a New Zealand Quarters relocating for further As part of the combine both your customers.

Your A proven track this position. In operation and the Fingers crossed La Spagnola's Alice Ansara, left, is competing against a thoroughbred field for a best actress AFI award and Rachael Blake is a contender for best supporting actress for her role in Lantana. Photo: Jon Reid Faded curtains and cranky kids Willet wanted it Steve Meacham If you're feeling irritable tomorrow, blame William Willet. The obscure English builder came up with one big idea that still affects millions of lives. Like Newton and Pythagoras before him, Willet's concept came through the commonplace.

In 1907 he was taking an early morning ride through Petts Wood, near London, when he realised blinds were closed even seriously affected by daylight saving. John Onions, the professional at Massey Park, one of the largest public courses in Sydney, said around 35 early risers had teed off between 5 am and 6 am each morning this week. "We'll lose them next week, but we will pick up players in the evening, particularly nine-hole players." However, one leisure industry does do well out of daylight saving. Jeremy Griffiths, of Carlton and United Breweries, said: "We Lord Balfour reasoned that if a woman gave birth to one twin a minute before the clocks changed, and the second twin a minute afterwards, "the time of birth would be reversed and might conceivably affect the property and titles in that Tomorrow we'll be arguing the benefits again, though we've been moving our clocks forward an hour on the last Sunday in October for 30 years (apart from last year, for the Olympics). CjiL Business Mail Salary Operations Technical Contact Kate Withers Mech Project Engineer Ref.

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