History Repeating

It almost seems that Iraq is happening all over again. Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi has refused to step down from power, while the Libyan people have fought for their freedom and rallied against him for almost a month, with no progress. Due to his stubbornness to do what’s best for his people and the country, the local protest has turned into another (at this stage unofficial) war.

The UN called for a no-fly zone, which is a harmless phrase, but ultimately means airstrikes on known air defence sites, which is currently happening. It would then be necessary to Keep those aircraft on station for an extended period of time for a number of unknown strikes. It is uncertain where the radars and missiles are located. Defence experts saying all the technology means airstrikes will not target civilians. However when search radars, particularly targeting radars, are turned on, the response must be immediate. This means there will be no time to determine whether the sites are located in residential areas or close to public facilities such as schools or hospitals Therefore the response needs to be executed before the radar is radiating (and therefore vulnerable) and before it to can engage. Although civilians are not the target, there will be causalities as the risk is too high. These experts are also saying that Gaddafi is not a target, but with all this so called intelligence, his house has still been hit.

On the other side of the fence, Steven Harper, Canada’s Prime Minister, made a good point by saying

 “We’re dealing with an individual and with a regime that will not be satisfied with the mere re-imposition of authority. The nature of this leader, and the nature of his regime, is they will massacre every single individual they even remotely suspect of disloyalty. This is an intolerable situation.”

Gaddafi needs to be stopped and the people of Libya given their freedom, but there are no real goals or objectives to the plans that have already gone ahead. This will be a long and tiresome process. Let’s hope that governments have learnt from all the past wars such as Iraq in order for history to stop repeating itself.

Community Spirit

"In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it." (Marianne Williamson)

Friday the 25^th of March was a really great day to start at Leighton Contractors. The company sponsors the Not-For-Profit organisation Beacon, which helps disadvantaged young people in WA.  

Beacon’s mission is:

“To influence the attitudes and culture of Australians, so that each young person develops an independent will to achieve personal success through gainful activities, for themselves and their community. Through self help and enterprise we aim to achieve our vision at the community level.”

Their vision is to:

“An Australia in which our young people have the desire, the motivation and the opportunity to reach their full individual potential.”

One of Beacon’s programmes is to take teachers and their students who are disinterested in or falling behind at school to a hands-on tour to learn about a particular business and the industry. Leighton Contractors set up a tour/training day at their training facility in Ascot for the Balga SHS students who were being helped by Beacon. The day taught the students about Leighton Contractors and the mining industry. It was also a great opportunity for me to learn more about Leighton Contractors and see how the company was giving back to the community. Being involved with the community is one of the key values that Leighton Contractors encompass as part of their business.

The students were of low socio-economic backgrounds, mostly Indigenous Australians or are refugees who have started a new life in Australia. Many of their parents do not work and therefore these young people do not have any strong adult role models in their lives.

The day was successful and started with a video being shown to the students which was “A Day in the life of a Leighton Contractor employee.” The video showed some of the typical tasks carried out over 24hours across the different sites that Leighton Contractors have around Australia. This was followed by Jim Cornwell (Mining Manager) to talk to the students about the business, then other employees that told the students the path they took to end up working for Leighton Contractors. They all had many different journeys to the various roles they now held at Leighton Contractors from engineers and mechanics to administration staff. These speeches gave information about different job prospects and hope to the students that they can do whatever they want to do.

The day was broken up with a number of activities for the students to be involved with . One was to work as a team to get pretend toxic waste from one side of the table to the other without touching the table. Another was asking the employees different questions, such as what subjects they studied at school and what their interests were. They were then asked what they want from their future employer. This exercise was for Leighton Contractors to find out what people are looking for in an employer, so they can accommodate these requests to appeal to potential employees. A lot of the students said money, but some also wanted to feel safe at work. The students were handed showbags and certificates for attending the day, before being shown a tour of the offices. They were also provided with morning tea and lunch.

The day was an opportunity to meet other Leighton Contracting staff and also Abby Redman, who is from Beacon. She gave me her business card and I am hoping to help out with other projects that the organisation is involved with at a later date. Throughout the day, I observed, helped the students with some of the activities and also wrote down some notes about the day, which I then later discussed with Erin. I think she was impressed with some of my suggestions and has asked me to type them all up and have them ready for Friday. Erin will then take Abby’s suggestions and together we will work out how to improve the day.

The day was very successful and got students out of the classroom and gave them a chance to see future opportunities for them. However some small changes will help improve the programme for next time. The main issue which I think definitely needs to be improved on for next time, is the way, mostly the management, spoke to the students. The speeches were very boring, as they did not aim them at 15 year-olds, and the students soon became very disinterested very quickly. Simple things such as using the word “You” as they are from the iGeneration and want to know how all this will affect them. I think the message that Leighton Contracting is a potential career path for them was lost a bit because of this. One manager referred to them as “Children” which is very degrading for the young adults. I think with some help on learning the target market and what they are interested in, it will help to improve on getting the key messages across to the students.

As well as these notes, I thought I would write up a small 12-Point PR Campaign that I will discuss with Erin,  which I hope will be handed to staff to inform them of the target market, the key messages and the objectives for both the Leighton Contractor’s staff and the objectives for the students for the day. I think that by informing staff, the next training day will be even more successful.

Friend Request Denied

Bullying has been happening is schools for as long as there have been schools. Students at primary school and high school can both fall victim to bullying. While it’s been accepted in society that a little bullying can make you a stronger person. Bullying is increasing in schools and with cyber-bullying adding another dimension to this issue. The effects of bullying are becoming much more damaging mentally.

Back then bullying was done mostly by boys and it was teasing and some physical abuse. Now it is the girls that are doing most of the bullying and they are becoming far more sophisticated. Psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg explains why:

“Because girls’ brains are more developed as teens, they are capable of more subtle and sophisticated bullying techniques. They can be crueler, in terms of exclusion, taunting and spreading rumours.”

 Student Services at my old high school are seeing more girls sending text messages to attack their victims and I’m sure this will be going on in all high school and even primary schools around Australia and the world. Teachers are finding it harder and harder to see bullying and stop it, as it’s no longer in the classroom or out in the playground.

Cyber bulling is becoming the modern way of bullying. There’s no confrontation, its silent bullying and its getting harder to control and track. The bully does not need to physically see the victim, but they can control them, without feeling guilty, as they don’t see the direct effects of their actions. Creating this fear and controlling the victim, it can make them feel bigger and more powerful in their circle of friends and help create the social status that seems to dictate school life.

Social Networking sites like Facebook have also aided bullies. Instead of telling their victim something cruel, they can post it on Facebook, for everyone to see. Videos can be uploaded of the victim being bullied or something embarrassing happening to them to show everyone what happened. Even a small act like deleting friends can have a massive affect. Another example could be Groups being made up on Facebook called “The I Hate Amanda Group.” Everyone in the school year/school can be invited to join the group. There’s pressure on other students to conform to the group, they too don’t want to become an outsider if they don’t join. Then it can be shown to Amanda, the victim, and they can see all the members of that group, all their school peers have joined.  Nobody can see the real effect that this has on the person so they too then don’t feel as guilty and acts such as this can continue to go on. There is no physically abuse, but the mental abuse this attack can have on somebody can be devastating and have consequences leading into adulthood.

There is always a social status in the world and there is one in schools, especially when they reach high school, people change, as do their views, everyone wants to fit in more and will put others down to do so.Students need to understand that everyone has many different issues going on in their head, in their homes, at school and understand that everyone is different and unique and everyone needs to be accepted equally.

I think children and teenagers learn bullying from the world around them. There is so much violence, racism, religious quarrels, they see attacks at people that are overweight, disabled, mentally ill and see adults whom they may look up to attacking these people. Therefore they then take those values and project them onto classmates.

Until society stops bullying in one way or another, it’s going to get worst and will continue to get passed down into schools.

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, It's Off To Work We Go

Leighton Holdings is one of the world’s major contracting, services and project development organisations as well being the largest contract miner company. The company was founded in Australia in 1949 and was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1962. Their headquarters are in Sydney and operate in more than 30 countries from Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE.) they own six independent companies. These companies include Leighton Contractors, John Holland, Leighton Asia, Leighton International and Leighton Properties and they also have significant interests in Al Habtoor Leighton Group, Devine Limited and Sedgman Limited. The corporate governance framework and has been defined by Leighton Holdings, but each company operates independently with their own board and managing director. Not only do they have the financial strength of Leighton Holdings to back them, but they also take on the values set by Leighton Holdings to compete effectively in the global market place. These include ethical and financial performance; health, safety and rehabilitation; and community and environmental matters.

Leighton Contractors is involved with projects for governments, major corporations and a variety of different clients across Australia and New Zealand.  According to their website:

“Our specialist skills in complex infrastructure, communications infrastructure, contract mining, and operations and maintenance delivery, teamed with our traditional business of building and civil contracting means Leighton Contractors is one of the most diverse and experienced contracting companies in the country.”

Building on Leighton Holdings structure, Leighton Contractors have a number of key values that helps shape the company and its employees. These are:      

•  Safety and health above all else
• Enduring Business Relationship
• Achievement through teamwork
• Our people are the foundation of our success
• Respect for the community & environment

 I think that these are all very important values and has helped shape the company the way it is today and why it has become so successful.

Leighton Contractors in Western Areas is involved with many iron ore mines in the Pilbara. I will be starting my work experience with Leighton Contractors in their Perth office in Ascot on Friday the 25th March 2011. The interview on Friday went very well. I met Erin McGrath, the Communications Manager for the Western Australian sector of the company. She performs predominately the internal communications function around employee engagement. She studied journalism and has then moved into the communications field. I feel that her writing abilities as a journalist will help me to become better at writing. I will be involved in assisting with newsletters, writing internal communications plans for initiatives and stories for Unearthed.

I have been learning a lot about external communications, so I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn about internal communications and to be able to see firsthand the need for this within a company and be able to practice it at the same time.

                                                                                                                             

I am Woman, Hear me Roar!

This week celebrated the Centenary of International Women’s Day and the week of celebrations surrounding it. Women in Australia have overcome many obstacles, not known by men and have achieved many long lasting changes in Australia. In 1902, women of Australia were given the right to vote and stand in national elections.  In South Australia and Western Australia, women were already allowed to vote in state elections when this law was passed.

With the current Governor of Western Australia, Dr Kenneth Comninos Michael AC, due to step down from his current position on the 30^{th of} April, it’s time to look at who will fill his shoes or fill the shoes of some high heels!! That’s Right, I’m talking about a woman stepping in to the role to be the next Governor of Western Australia.

There are many different responsibilities the Governor has in helping the state parliament. The Governor has the power to preside over Executive Council, appoint Ministers, Judges, Magistrates and Justices of the Peace and also has power over the Legislative Council. The Governor must sign all bills passed by the Western Australian Parliament for them to become law. The Governor was appointed previously by the Sovereign, on the advice of the United Kingdom Government. However since 1986 the Governor is appointed on the advice of the premier. Since the Australian Acts were passed by the Commonwealth Parliament and the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1986 and the State Parliaments requested that the Governor act on the advice of the Premier, Minister’s and Executive Council.

A woman would be better suited for the role of the Governor of Western Australia as a woman shares different views and opinions and sees the world differently from a man’s perspective. Women aren’t controlled by testosterone as a lot of men can be and therefore can be better at handling situations of high intensity. Women are starting to be recognized as being better managers/executives in many different company’s for producing high-quality work, achieving company and personal goals. They are also effective at mentoring employees better, perhaps using their nurturing (motherly) nature to help talk to employees better.

Powerful women figures are a role model for women around the world. Currently we already have a female Governor General, Quentin Bryce and a female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Quentin Bryce is already pushing the need for more women to be represented on boards across Australia and across all fields. All these important decision makers represent the women of Australia, as being powerful and successful. As a country we need to pave the way for women not only in Australia, but around the world, to have equal status to those of men and to have true equality of opportunity.

Western Australia has already been forward thinking in women’s rights, so it makes sense that a woman is more than ready to be Governor of Western Australia.

There are a number of people that this can be sent to. This opinion piece can be sent to ‘letters to the editor.’ All letters must be SIGNED with the writer's full name and address (not postal) and, if applicable, telephone number. They may be edited for Legal reasons or clarity.

Letters to the Editor, WA Newspapers,

GPO Box N1027,

Perth WA, 6843

Fax: 9482 3830 (include full address and telephone number)

SMS: 0434 600 700 (include your name and suburb)

I’ve chosen to send this to Paul Murray. He writes opinion pieces in the paper and also presents the morning program on 882 6PR. In the Weekend West March 12-13 he has written an opinion piece on women being put on boards. He finishes his piece by saying the GG should stick to “Opening fetes and making sure Government House has enough flowers.” These points are small things to pick at. There are a lot of politicians/business men that have lovely gardens and fly all around the world staying in ludicrously expensive presidential suites.

 I have chosen to email him my piece, as he presents in the morning, I thought this piece may be mentioned on the radio, maybe not the newspaper. However his newspaper details are below.

Ph: 9482 3111                                                                                                                                 

Email: paul.murray@wanews.com.au