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Job Network is working

Murdoch-based Centre for Labour Market Research has recently released the first major study of how the Federal Government's Job Network scheme has been operating.

The 50-page report said the privatised job-search system, which took over from the Commonwealth Employment Service in 1998, has been generally well received but problems have been encountered in outback areas.

The researchers surveyed job seekers, job agencies and employers in WA.

The main findings were:

• the system was working "reasonably well";
• 75 per cent of jobseekers felt the Job Network was the same or better than the former CES;
• 92 per cent of jobseekers said the agencies were adequate to very good in helping them find work;
• two-thirds of employers said the Job Network was the same or better than the former CES.

The study also found:

• the Job Network let down indigenous jobseekers and some others in remote areas, and;
• subsidies to agencies for jobseekers who needed the most help were too low.

Australian 'first' for cancer care

Australia's first-ever specialised animal cancer treatment facility has been opened at Murdoch University's Veterinary Hospital.

The Murdoch Animal Cancer Care Unit will treat cancer-affected animals using chemotherapy and anti-cancer drugs.

Murdoch University Division of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences' Senior Lecturer Dr Peter Irwin said the facility would allow extensive research into the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in animals ranging from dogs and cats (which can be accommodated on the premises) to horses and larger animals.

Human rights lawyer wins Tip O'Neill Fellowship

International human rights law expert Dr Fernand de Varennes is off to Northern Ireland as holder of the fourth Tip O'Neill Fellowship in Peace Studies.

Inaugurated in 1995 by US President Bill Clinton in memory of Tip O'Neill, the late Irish-American speaker of the US House of Representatives, the fellowship is based at the University of Ulster in Londonderry.

Dr de Varennes will spend six months researching how various laws and practices have been direct contributors to the explosion of ethnic conflicts in countries like Indonesia (Aceh and West Kalimantan), Sri Lanka, Philippines (Mindanao), Bangladesh (Chittagong), Mexico (Chiapas), Sudan, Turkey and Yugoslavia (Kosova).

He beat a field of 70 candidates from 20 countries for the fellowship.