Friday, September 14, 2012
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A Star News Group publication
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Fishery jobs set for cuts Northern exposure: Ella Rzempowski serves up paella to visiting students Simone and Nerissa at Barwon Heads on Tuesday. Picture: John Conway 87107
Spanish flavour for NT students at Heads BY BEN SAUNDERS A GROUP of 10 indigenous secondary students from the Northern Territory have sampled Spanish food in Barwon Heads. Ella Rzempwski’s Corason cafe hosted the middle school students this week, giving many their first taste of Spanish cuisine. The students came from a small, remote community, Nganmarriy, with a popula-
tion of about 400. Ms Rzempwski said she first met the indigenous children when she participated in a charity event that sent her to the Northern Territory last year. She travelled to their remote community, about four hours from Darwin, to teach residents how to cook basic meals such as fried rice. “It was the best experience of my life.”
Ms Rzempwski said she felt compelled to invite the students for lunch when she heard they would be in town. Accompanying teacher Joe Hewett said the students were in Victoria for 11 days as part of a government school program. “The program aims to give them an experience of how the rest of Australia lives outside of their community,” Mr Hewett said.
BY MICHELLE HERBISON FISHERIES Victoria will cut Queenscliff jobs as part of a State Government move to “combine” science teams and “refocus”, according to a minister. Agriculture and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh said the reshuffle would involve cutting some jobs at Queenscliff’s Fisheries Research Branch and moving staff from Melbourne and Geelong. Department of Primary Industries would concentrate on assessing fish stocks, measuring commercial and recreational fishing catches and undertaking targeted biological research on key fish species. Labor Member for Bellarine Lisa Neville said in parliament this week that the announcement would slash 15 jobs at the research branch – half its existing staff. “The impact of these savage cuts will have a disastrous impact on our local fishing industry and marine environment,” she said. “Talk of relocating staff from Melbourne and Geelong to Queenscliff cannot hide the harsh reality that we are going to lose 15 crucial research positions from the Department of Primary Industries.” The Independent reported in May that Fisheries Victoria’s work with a
mussel hatchery at Queenscliff had boosted industry at Portarlington. The facility had helped the state’s mussel production grow 68 per cent to 951 tonnes in the 2010/2011 year. Ms Neville said job cuts would place “innovative, world-class” developments like the mussel hatchery at “serious risk”. “It was staff at the DPI Centre in Queenscliff who developed a new shellfish hatchery to produce a reliable high quality spat that was vital in saving our mussel industry. The potential for developments of this calibre in the future is at serious risk with cuts of this magnitude to the research capacity.” Ms Neville called on the Government to reinstate the positions. Mr Walsh said the Government “remained committed” to fisheries science at Queenscliff. “Some current positions at Queenscliff will be reduced but no staff member will be forced to take redundancy as a result of the changes. Affected staff will be found employment within the department or will have the option of applying for a voluntary departure package if they choose.” Mr Walsh said the job cuts would “not affect” Queenscliff Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre.
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