NSW teachers win pay rise, call off strike
NEW South Wales teachers have won a significant pay increase after threatening to strike on the first two days of the 2009 school year.
The NSW Teachers' Federation was planning industrial action on January 28 and January 29 as part of its campaign against the State Government's recent changes to the transfer scheme.
The changes meant priority was no longer given to teachers with years of service in remote areas or regions where it is difficult to attract staff.
Today, the Industrial Relations Commission stepped in to resolve the dispute between the teacher's union and the NSW Department of Education and Training.
As a result, teachers have won a 12.48 per cent accumulative pay rise over the next three years.
"We believe the teachers of NSW will receive significant and real increases in income as a result of this settlement," NSW Teachers' Federation president Bob Lipscombe said.
He said he was also happy with an agreement reached in relation to procedures for staffing NSW public schools.
"We believe we now have an effective transfer system," he said.
Pro surfers join protest over dying Kirra Point break
SURFING champions Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmore and Joel Parkinson are set to head a protest hoping to breathe new life into one of Australia's most threatened surfing breaks.
The Gold Coast surfers, plus former world No1 Mark Occhilupo, are part of a star line-up that will launch a symbolic paddle-out at the world famous Kirra Point break.
They'll join hundreds of other activists expected on Australia Day, forming a 100m-wide map of Australia on their surfboards, to protest against the destruction of the surf spot many top riders used to consider among the world's best.
A 2001 sand pumping operation put in place by the NSW and Queensland governments has dumped millions of cubic metres of immoveable sand at Kirra.
But the plan, originally designed to guard against erosion, has backfired. Kirra's epic waves have since dwindled and a nearby marine reef has been destroyed.
More recently, the beach itself has been dubbed the "Great Southern Desert". Sand build-up means visitors have to walk 400 metres across hot sand to get to the water, a prospect that has cut tourism and weakened local business, event organisers say.
