Just another plane falling out of the sky...

So all we've been hearing is that if you fly with Qantas, your plane will most likely blow an engine. Overall, 16 Qantas engines will have to be fixed because they are faulty, so here comes the damage control.

A recent West Australian article was released with the details and chief executive explanation saying:

Qantas announced that four A380's will be grounded for the rest of the year, as 16 engines in total need to be checked.

Qantas grounded its fleet of six Airbus A380s on Nov 4 after one of its Rolls-Royce engines partly disintegrated mid-flight, forcing a plane with 466 people on board to make an emergency landing in Singapore.

So what did Qantas have to say to those customers stranded in Singapore?

"This is a worldwide fleet issue so it's not just engines Qantas has, it's engines that other operators also have"

In other words, "it's not our fault we out-source everything to make things cheaper, so do others"

This article was released to change the negative view on Qantas and the safety of their aircraft's, aimed to spin the opinion of those who are looking for an airline to fly with. Qantas want their airline to be viewed as safe and that if their engines aren't working, other airline engines may not also.

Qantas are looking for a sympathetic reaction from their passengers, where they place the blame on everyone and relate the poor quality of their engines to the engines of other airlines, instead of choosing quality equipment on their aircraft's.

Cert IV Public Relations at Central

Studying Public Relations at Central has taught me more than I could have ever wanted. There is so much more to the industry itself than I expected. Studying at a TAFE campus gave myself more hands-on experiences than what uni could have. The lecturers are real people in related industries so you learn really valuable things that will definitely help you in the future.

During the course I learnt valuable things to advance me through my studies and the PR industry. Being part of a team to put together campaigns that achieve their objectives taught me how to successfully put together checklists and follow the correct criteria.

Designing a PR company taught me how much detail goes into ensuring the look of your company logo suits the company itself. So much time and effort goes into creating company stationary and website designs that look attractive and that help your company to succeed.

Over this course, I have grown so much. I am seventeen and to have been taught the things I have puts me ahead of others my age. I am happy with my choice to study at Central; it has given me more opportunities for my future choices.

During the course I have learnt that I can achieve things I never thought I would. I really is as simple as setting my mind to it and having passion in what I am doing.

The PR industry is full on; there are many aspects and industries that relate and there is so much more detail and skills to the industry that I have to learn in my next course.

Opt-out = Cop-out

"In WA, about 687,000 people are registered as organ donors. That means more than a million are not."
- Perth Now, Opt-out organ donation is vital

Australia currently is under the system where people have the decision to tick a box to become an organ donor, or leave it black if they don't.

However making the decision to tick the box or not isn't as easy as it seems. It reminds people of their own mortality, much like filling out their own will. Which is why many choose to ignore that little box.

Ignoring to tick that little box is ignoring to make the decision of whether to save a life or not.

So what happens when your sister, uncle, mother or loved one needs a new heart or lung? You sit with them while they get placed on the mile long waiting list wishing more people ticked that little box.

Automatically signing people up to be organ donors once they reach a certain age is the perfect way to increase the amount of organ donations in Australia, as people are more willing to support the donation if they don't have to think about it too much.

If a person objects so strongly as to give another person the gift of life, that is their own personal decision and they may choose to tick the box asking not to be a organ donor.

Many people and their families do not want to think about the loss of a family member and make the decision to become an organ donor, so automatically becoming an organ donor gives Australians the chance to give the gift of life.

The governments choice to consider bringing in the opt-out organ donation gets a big thumbs up from me.

Support it yourself today, you never know when your loved one may need it.

Western Australia AKA The Nanny State

So the government hates all the party animals out there. That's what the new lock out laws are all about, anyway.

The official 'Don't Lock Me Out' campaign website describes the Lock Out as:

Without public consultation the Western Australian Parliament is currently considering new laws that could further control where and how you enjoy your social life. By Christmas, the Western Australian Government could have the power to forcibly lock anyone out of and to stop entry to their favourite bar, pub, club, bottle shop or restaurant at any time, day or night, anywhere in Western Australia.

The laws are aimed at preventing alcohol fueled violence at party hot spots, however the government is locking people out of places that have no records of any violence. That's not fair for small businesses who are having their customers locked out when they have done nothing wrong.

So when a club or pub seems to get a little to loud, these rowdy, drunken, and now angry people are pushed onto the streets for the rest of the public to deal with. Good job government, you sure handled that one.

In regional areas where many people flock to the pubs after work and violence does become present, I can see how these new laws would be successful. However to have the power to lock anyone out, anytime, anywhere, will just become a huge mess.

There is one big problem with these proposed laws. They don't work.

“Lockouts are yet to be proven as an effective harm reduction strategy and it is conceivable that under some circumstances they may even increase problems.”

(National Drug Research Institute Curtin University (2007) (contributing authors: Chikritzhs, T., Gray, D., Lyons, Z. & Saggers, S.) Restrictions on the sale and supply of alcohol: Evidence and Outcomes. NDRI Monograph. Perth.)

Western Australia already has many regulations in place, or proposed to be in place for a variety of things, such as not drinking in public on Australia Day, and random stop and search laws to prevent violence and anti-social behaviour.

Now the government wants to kick people out of clubs and pubs when they're having fun.

Well isn't Western Australia the party central.

Cert IV PR: Nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

Freaking out? Unsure about your next step towards your dream career? Well chill, Central Institute of Technology’s Cert IV Public Relations course is your answer.

This course offers you the hands on learning experience that you are guaranteed to apply to the PR industry. The course allows you to create companies and practice creating communication strategies to convey the company’s ideas to the public. You create your own business design, stationary and webpage whilst learning the creative tactics you need to design a successful Public Relations company.

Into social media? This course keeps you up-to-date with all social media sites. You will set up your own account with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and Wikispaces and explore the site. You are encouraged to use the sites as a communication tool to improve your Public Relations writing skills.

Throughout the course you will develop and propose real campaigns. From the initial brainstorm to the end product you will be involved every step of the way. This isn’t just focused on the theory of campaigns. To actually get out there into the PR world and promote a campaign will supply you with more experience than any university could ever give you.

With such hands-on tasks you will become competent in a variety of software including Microsoft Publisher, become a writing genius with industry standard editing and writing styles, and open a whole new Public Relations network with real people in the industry.

Public Relations is all about communicating an organisations message or idea across to the public. With the Cert IV Public Relations course you will open up a diverse range of opportunities in any Communications field. With such a variety of opportunities the course has to offer you, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

So why not give Cert IV Public Relations a shot?

Slur of the moment

Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice recently lost her sponsorship with Jaguar when she tweeted a spur of the moment comment following the Tri-Nations game. The tweet was described 'out of character' by her team mates, however Jaguar found the comment to be inappropriate and dumped the gold medalist late afternoon on September 6.


The swimmer coped a lot of angry responses in the media and later made a brief apology saying:

"I made a comment on Twitter on Saturday night in the excitement of the moment. I did not mean to cause offence and I apologise."

Jaguar's statement in regards to the termination of Rice's sponsorship could be seen as a tad over-reaction, however I think Jaguar's decision is justified. When somebody like Stephanie Rice, an Australian Olympic hero, comes under such scrutiny by the media and Australian public the company has to ensure they aren't also given bad press.

When she was made ambassador for Jaguar Australia, the swimmer is expected to hold a good public image. Spur of the moment comments that may offend many Australians can't be accepted by such a large brand company.

As a celeb on a social media site such as twitter, speaking your mind isn't always the way to go.

'Fashion ideas from the hardware store'

Article:

Dresses accentuated with cable ties and reticulation hose, handbags and shoes made from palm fronds and a chandelier constructed from marzipan are just some of the weird and wonderful creations on display at the Beyond Garment exhibition at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle. Part of this month's Perth Fashion Festival, the exhibition gives 20 young Perth designers the chance to showcase fashion accessories as works of art in their own right. Exhibition curator Anne Farren said the pieces ranged from the wearable to the conceptual and represented a journey through fashion as seen through the eyes of jewellery designers, artists and sculptors. "It is really art for the body," she said. "These are beautiful objects that can be acknowledged as works of art in themselves." Sarah Pauley, this year's face of the Perth Fashion Festival, posed in several of jewellery designer Alister Yiap's spectacular creations, including a dress accessorised with cable ties and acrylic pieces and chunky 3-D acrylic jewellery that would not look out of place on pop star Lady Gaga. "I think people become more adventurous when you break down those boundaries," Yiap said. "I am really interested in using different materials." The exhibition runs from Friday until November 28. Entry is free.

The West Australian newspaper article, written by Lindsay McPhee, highlights one of the exhibitions that are part of this month's Perth Fashion Festival. The exhibition will be held at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle and display 'weird and wonderful' fashion created with hardware store inspiration.

The article features comments from the designers about the display, and doesn't contain any of the journalists opinions on the display, or the Perth Fashion Festival itself. The journalist has included where the exhibition is, when and the entry fee.

The statements and opinions included in the article are those of the fashion designer and the exhibition curator. The article is based on the facts of the exhibition and seems relatively unchanged by the journo from the press release.

I don't think the journo has visited the exhibition herself before writing the article, as I think this would have caused more of her opinion on the exhibition, rather than just the facts.

What I hope to achieve...

I hope to get as much out of this course as I possibly can. To learn new things and to improve skills I already had. This course will open so many doors for me and give me the potential to grow in the PR industry, or whatever comes next. That’s what I’m most looking forward to, the whatever comes next part. Knowing that there are so many opportunities next for me, there is so much that could come next.

I chose to do public relations because it seemed like the best way to go, and the most interesting. It took the skills I had previously developed at tafe, and allowed me to further develop them in a whole new industry. The public relations industry is growing fast, and with so many closely related industries it allows me to develop skills that can open more opportunities of many different careers.

I want to get the most I can out of this course, and hopefully continue through into the diploma level. Job opportunities are what I hope to look for from there, but I’m up for going though to university if that’s what it’s going to take. It doesn’t take much for me to change my mind on careers, but this time I’m going to stick with public relations. Even if it’s a career related to PR then this course will give me the appropriate skills I can apply to that job role too. To me, these are huge goals and to just complete this course would be a great achievement.

My goal for now is to do everything I can to achieve the best results in this course that I possibly can. To ace assignments, contribute to each class, to apply and learn new skills each week and to give every task my best shot. This goal is what I think it takes for me to continue in my public relations studies, and if I continue to focus and go hard, I know I am capable.

6 word story

summer. wakeboarding. skills. stack. never again.

Pub Glassings

Whoopty doo, you can't drink out of a real glass when you go to the pub. I don't think it's that much of a big deal. But I am split between two sides with this issue, cause I'm sure that if some violent drunk guy doesn't have a glass to smash, he will probably find something else. I guess banning glass in pubs will limit his options though.

Glassing is on the rise in Australian pubs, so I don't see what the big deal is if they change the glass to one that doesn't smash. Anything that could make pubs safer may as well be tried out. Victims can get permanent scars and sometime lose their sight. If drinking from a different type of glass limits the chances of this happening to me, I'll support it.

When I see the victims of glassings I can understand why they support the ban. The glass can cause some horrific injuries and if there's a way to help prevent this happening, why not?

To vote, or to donkey vote?

Sure I'm not old enough to vote, but hey, this election is almost impossible to avoid. I can't watch 10 minutes of tv or look through one newspaper without being convinced that if I make the wrong choice come election day, the whole world could end. From what I've translated so far from all the fancy, non-sense-making, political blah is that I have three main parties to choose from. Labour, Liberal and The Greens.

Labour. MOVING FORWARD. I just wanted to clear that up in case you were unsure of what labours tactics are. I guess having a female PM would be alright, but I'm not convinced. She seems to be so committed to doing no wrong that she hasn't done much at all. Her PR team has done an amazing job though, a whole new voice and a whole new look. I'm not so sure how this translates to the 'real Julia' though.

Liberal. Tony Abbott. I just can't get the image of him in his ...bathers... out of my head. So Mr Abbotts focus is on 'real action', and I think he's done well supporting this through confronting issues about the boat people. This is definitely a big issue that will either strongly win or strongly lose votes, depending on the opinions of the public.

I think both Labours and Liberals campaigns are focused on winning the votes of the swing voters. And now with 'donkey vote' ideas put into people heads I think these campaigns need to up their game.

So far, I'm no sure I would even want to vote. I keep being informed on all the wrong things each party would do without any idea of the good things. Labour attacks Liberals policies, Liberal reminds us all about K-Rudd and that little mishap, and The Greens are just out to save the world.

Phew, I'm only seventeen.

Special moment in my life...

A special moment in my life? Makes me kinda depressed at how hard it is to think of one hey...

...and after a whole lot of thinking time I've decided on my trip to England a couple years back. It was insane. Well apart from the 24 hour flight and the constant 'I LOVE YOUR ACCENT SPEAK MORE'. London definitely took all my money, and after a few real football games I had completely lost my voice and learnt some new, uhh, 'interesting' words.
Oh and over there I'm considered royalty. I own a castle...not personally but somebody far back in the family does and I've decided to claim it. It's like a castle out of a movie with the scary dungeon thingies and the lake surrounding it. Plus it has a funny name- 'Eileen Donan Castle'... 'I leaned on a castle'... well I had a good little giggle at it anyway. I guess that's not really royalty, and nobody knows my name but lets just make me feel special huh?
I did the whole tourist trip. Stonehenge really is just a bunch of rocks in the middle of nowhere. I didn't see any monster in Loch Ness, even though my sister and I had plenty of fun convincing fellow tourists we did. Oh, and the guard people that stand outside the Queens palace...yeah there not so funny and a whole lot scarier with machine guns, there was no jumping about waving my arms around like a weirdo...I stayed far away.
And that sums up my trip :)

The purpose of blogging in PR

Blogging is the freedom to say anything, however this is compromised when blogging in PR. A blog written with a distinct purpose by someone with name recognition can be productive in reaching its customers and publics. Blogging in PR is used to maintain a relationship with a companies publics. This means a PR blogger may not write whatever they like, they are writing on behalf of a company and therefore must check the accuracy of their statements.

PR blogging can assist organisations internally and externally. They may allow the publics of an organisation, or its employees, to keep up-to-date on upcoming events and happenings, as well as keep in contact and express opinions and ideas relating to the blogs.

PR blogging may be used to give customers a heads up on new products and features, and to answer questions and get feedback on an organisation in a less formal way that keeps publics in touch with an organisation. This will build a relationship between an organisation and its publics and maintain a mutual understanding.

Blogging is now a more common and widely used way for an organisation to maintain a relationship with its publics, gain information from its publics on how to better the organisation and to voice issues and ideas that the organisation has. Blogging gives an organisation the opportunity to speak out where without blogs they may not have.

“Web logs give voice to people whom just a decade ago, you never would have heard from." -Jennifer Balderama

About Me

It's kinda like the Brady Bunch, one big family of ten. There's mum, dad, six older brothers and the twin sister. I think I'm lucky being the youngest, apart from looking like a boy all my life from my brothers hand-me-downs, I managed to get away with everything being 'the innocent one'. It's not that insane anymore though, all my brothers have moved out and started their own families. That also makes me an aunt, nine times. And now about the twin thing. Yes we are identical and yes we do pretty much look exactly the same, I know, I know, we're freaks of nature right? We don't really mind, it's just the constant 'Oh my god are you twins', that gets a little old. WELL DUH.

Cert IV in PR is my second course at Central. At the beginning of the year I completed Cert 3 in Business. Because I am only seventeen this year, this course was compulsory to complete if I wanted to apply for any other business courses at Central. I went to TAFE instead of completing year 12, and I definitely have no regrets. I haven't really set my mind on any particular career I want in the future but I think this course will open doors for me and I'm looking forward to see where I go from here.