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THE CANBERRA TIMES Saturday, July 20, 2013 canberratimes.com.au

PS workers should be obliged to report fraud

By Noel Towell Public Service Reporter WHISTLEBLOWER: Brian Hood.

Government sector workers should be legally obliged to report any knowledge of workplace fraud or corruption, says Brian Hood. Mr Hood is the former Reserve Bank employee whose disclosures sparked one of Australias largest overseas bribery scandals. Speaking in the wake of new laws this week that will protect public

sector whistleblowers from legal and other reprisals, Mr Hood said that greater protections were welcome, but they might not encourage people to come forward with information. The former company secretary of Note Printing Australia, whose disclosures led to overseas bribery charges against nine former bank officials, said mandatory reporting laws could change the game. The new laws are about protecting the whistleblower and thats a

great first step, Mr Hood said. On certain illegal activities, maybe there should be some mandatory reporting where its not just left up to the goodwill of some whistleblowers but there would actually be a compulsory, mandatory reporting environment which would encourage a culture of reporting. Mr Hood, who endured harassment and reprisals after he spoke out against Securency paying bribes to secure overseas currency printing

contracts, said he believed more wrongdoing would be uncovered if staying silent was no longer an option. If they stayed silent and turned a blind eye, then they would be feeling very uncomfortable as they should and I think that that is something that would take the thing a step further, he said. One of the political architects of the new laws said resistance at the upper levels of the public service

was partly to blame for the lengthy delay in getting the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 onto the statute books. Outgoing independent MP Rob Oakeshott said that greater cooperation between public service bosses and the rank-and-file would be needed to make the laws a success. My read over the past three years, was that one of the blocks to this legislation actually getting up was

some within the senior public service who saw this as a threat, Mr Oakeshott said. A lot of coffee-shop conversations in Canberra are about bitching about senior management, and thats going to be the cultural change needed to use whistleblowing legislation in a trusting way to resolve whatever the issue is.

Safety at last Forum 3

ABS Year Book may be soon going online

By Noel Towell

Sciences lime-hued ice-cream a hit with Green Machine

By Dante Ceccon

The Australian Bureau of Statistics looks set to consign more than 100 years of tradition to the dustbin of history and stop printing the nations statistical bible, Year Book Australia. The bureau is considering a move to an online version of the historic publication, to be constantly updated. But the ABS insists the proposal is not about cutting costs. Year Book Australia, first published in 1908, is the bureaus principal reference work, a detailed annual snapshot of the nations economic and social conditions. It also covers geography, climate, government, international relations, defence, education, and the health and welfare systems. But the book costs $200,000 to produce and last years edition sold just 270 copies with many more given away to libraries and reference collections. Since 2008, it has been published biennially, to cut costs. But there are real doubts about whether next years edition will go ahead, with the ABSs powerful Executive Leadership Group to consider a proposal to take the Year Book completely online. The bureaus Customer Services Branch head Merry Branson, who supports a move to an electronic year book, said the publication needed to move with the times, arguing that its web page had more than 20,000 hits, compared to hard copy sales of just 270. We certainly dont sell many of them, Ms Branson said.

We give them to libraries as reference texts and when we ring libraries and ask them how much reference texts are being used these days they say not a lot so its a very expensive thing to have sitting there on the shelf. Im not looking to make budget cuts but I am looking to make better use of the money to keep it contemporary. Ms Branson said an online version would offer a better service with updates throughout the year. The trouble with the Year Book is that the data goes out of date and the best we do online is that we link people off to statistical publication to find the latest data, she said. So wed rather be doing that in a modern content management system that has a template for the data, so every time the underlying data is released, the summary is released so it would still be an online year book summary, but a really contemporary one. But, the statistician said, she did not want the Year Book to lose its capacity as a narrative publication, a mistake she said that had been made by overseas statistical agencies when they made the switch to electronic publication. The other part of the Year Book that we dont want to lose is that its a really good story-telling book, but again we want to be doing that all the time, we dont want to be doing that every two years, Ms Branson said. So rather than spend the money producing the paper-bound book, wed like to have an editor on doing the stories all the time.

COOL OUTING: Edrick Lee, Sandor Earl and Tom Learoyd-Lahrs check the scientific take on ice-cream making at Questacon on Friday. Photo: KATHERINE GRIFFITHS

A touch of liquid nitrogen, a splash of lime-flavoured milk and a bit of sugar and cream, too. They were the unusual ingredients used to make ice-cream served up to Questacon visitors when the Canberra Raiders joined the centres school holiday program on Friday. Questacon visitor program manager Jared Wilkins said whether it was making ice-cream or boats out of milk cartons, there was plenty of science-based fun for the family. There are sons working with their mums, there are granddaughters working with their grandparents, its really adults and children working together, Mr Wilkins said. It was important for children to enjoy science outside the classroom, Mr Wilkins said. Its not just the children sitting in a room with other children doing science, theyre in here with their parents or with their older siblings or with family and friends and theyre all doing it together, he said. Children who turned milk cartons into racing boats as part of the days activities learnt scientific skills in the process, he said. Theyre really learning that basic scientific inquiry method, he said. The Canberra Raiders Haydon Hodge said he was keen to beat teammate Edrick Lee in a milkcarton-boat race. Eddie reckons he wants to put three motors on there so well see how we go, he said. Hodge said it was his first time visiting the science centre, which teamed with Canberra Milk and the Raiders for the day. We were like little kids when we walked in, so I can imagine how much fun the kids are having, he said.

Canberra gave moon walk to world

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The moon landing is seen by many as the quintessential American moment. In the midst of the space race, the worlds superpower planted the star-spangled banner on the lunar surface as more than 20 per cent of the worlds population sat glued to their television screens. What is less known is that it was from Honeysuckle Creek tracking station just south-west of Canberra that the first minutes of footage from the moon walk was beamed to the world. At Questacon this weekend, the role of the capital on that historic day will be explained and celebrated at a special centenary event, Apollo 11 Canberras vital role. Chifley man John Saxon was at the station for the moon walk working as operations supervisor, and he will give a talk on Saturday about Canberras part in the Apollo 11 mission. He explains how Neil Armstrongs decision to step out onto the moons surface ahead of schedule meant the initial broadcast came from Canberra. The Goldstone Station in the US was NASAs first choice, and when that fell through Parkes in NSW was the second option. Saxon says that dish could not be moved low enough to capture the first moments of the landing. There had been a fire at Tidbinbilla not long before landing, and Houston were concerned about its

HISTORY: John Saxon tracked the first lunar landing, right, from Canberra.

reliability on the day, which left as the fourth possible contingency, Honeysuckle Creek. Saxon says in some ways, despite changes to the schedule, Apollo 11 felt a little like a simulation that went reasonably well. He was so busy he hardly watched the walk itself, although he noted the time carefully. We had a sweepstake going you see, so I really noted down to the second when he put his first foot down on the moon. I didnt want to diddle anyone out of their money by taking the wrong time, he says. Colin Mackellar of Sydney is an amateur historian with a passion for the history of space travel and

a great knowledge of Australias involvement in it. Im interested in history [and] it was something that captured the imagination of the world, he says. Mackellar explains that on the day of the moon landing, Honeysuckle Creek took over broadcasting in time to ensure the world could share one of the landmark moments of the 20th century. The Anglican minister together with a small group of other enthusiasts have worked to piece together the best recordings of the moon walk with the help of a video restorations specialist, and it will be shown at Questacon on the weekend.

Mackellar and his team have also discovered a forgotten audio recording from inside the Apollo 8 capsule, the first manned flight to the moon, as it moved behind the dark side of the moon in December 1968. Its great to be able to help preserve that history, he says. Busy in retirement, Saxon has only a little time to keep up with the goings on at NASA today. But he is proud to have been part of some of the most memorable moments of the 20th century. Undoubtedly there were people up at the station who considered it a 9 to 5 job and what they got paid for, but I never looked at it that way. I could see the firsts happening all the time. It was beautiful, great, he says. Before Neil Armstrong died, Saxon wrote him a letter and he reads a portion aloud. Very best wishes from this retired space tracker, a day doesnt go by without me thinking how incredibly lucky we were to have been involved in such a huge and wonderful enterprise.

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A Canberra artist who bashed a woman in front of shocked shoppers could become an inspiration for other indigenous people if she can control her temper, a judge has said. A jury found Julieanne Williams, 29, guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in May. Tensions between Williams and the victim erupted when the pair crossed paths at Woden Plaza in 2011. The court heard Williams called the women a dog before punching her in the face, causing her to fall backwards onto a garden retaining wall. Williams then kicked, punched, pushed and bit the victim, causing injuries which took weeks to heal. The offender fled the scene shortly before security arrived. She denied the attack but was found guilty after a three-day trial in May.

Crown prosecutor Keegan Lee said her criminal record which included numerous assaults and aggravated robberies showed she had a violent disposition. Chief Justice Terence Higgins agreed the attack had been vicious, nasty and prolonged but said Williams displayed good prospects of rehabilitation if she learnt to control her temper. The judge noted Williams had engaged with an indigenous art program in recent years, tutoring and mentoring young indigenous women, as well as exhibiting and selling a number of her paintings. He sentenced Williams to six months jail, with three months to be cumulative on an existing sentence. She will be released from custody on parole in midSeptember. The judge urged her to turn her life into an inspiration for other indigenous people. Take a more positive attitude to the future because you have a lot to offer, he said.

By Michael Lallo

As the annual ratings race hits the halfway mark, one thing is clear: local reality shows rule. Channel Nines The Voice and The Block and Sevens My Kitchen Rules and House Rules have put the two networks in a tight battle for the top spot. But Tens flagship MasterChef franchise has lost some of its lustre. Local sport, news and dramas such as Packed to the Rafters and A Place to Call Home also performed strongly. Only two foreign programs cracked the top 40: Downton Abbey at No.27 and The Big Bang Theory at No.39. Overall, Channel Seven is in front by a whisker chased by a resurgent Nine while a struggling Ten has fallen behind the ABC. Every network appeared to increase its slice of the audience at the expense of Ten, whose share slumped from 19.9 per cent to 16.9 per cent over the past year. Ratings released this week show Seven comprising its main channel and digital multi-channels

leads with a 31.1 per cent audience share, followed by Nine at 29.2 per cent. The ABC channels have leapfrogged Ten to claim third place, with a 17.4 per cent share. The SBS channels are steady on 5.4 per cent. Ten failed to crack the top 40. Its highest-rating show for the first half of the year, the winner episode of The Biggest Loser: The Next Generation, came in at No.46. But the race is only half run. Seven is yet to air The X Factor, Formal Wars, Please Marry My Boy, Young, Dumb and Living off Mum and Beauty and the Geek. Nine still has Australias Got Talent, Underbelly: Squizzy, Big Brother and some episodes of Hamish and Andys Gap Year Asia up its sleeve. Ten is also turning to local content. It has two new comedy shows This Week Live and A League of Their Own cooking show Recipe to Riches, an Australian version of The Bachelor, the T20 Big Bash League, and dramas Wonderland, Secrets & Lies and Puberty Blues.