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Selection advisory committee guidelines
August 2014
These guidelines have been prepared by the Recruitment Section (RCS), Corporate Management Division in line with the Australian Public Service Commission (APS) publication Better, Faster: streamlining recruitment in the APS and Recruitment and selection in the Australian Public Service.
Print version
Example of a Standard Selection Process
- In line with APS redeployment policy, RCS reviews APS redeployment register to assess whether there are employees in the database suitable for DFAT's vacant position(s).
- Applications open in Gazette.
- Staffing Branch (SFB) nominates an Independent Selection Advisory Committee (ISAC)/Selection Advisory Committee (SAC).
- Committee has briefing session with RCS/SFB
- Committee receives application binders within two days of the closing date for specialist rounds and one week for bulk rounds.
- Committee shortlists applicants on the basis of their written statements against the selection criteria and in comparison with the other applicants for the position(s).
- Committee produces a shortlist for interview (scribe attends this meeting).
- Committee provides RCS with draft interview questions for approval.
- HR provider schedules interview times for candidates shortlisted and notifies those not shortlisted.
- Interviews and referee checks conducted with scribe in attendance.
- Scribe prepares draft report for review by the Committee.
- Committee submits hardcopy and soft copy of final report to RCS. Conduct and Ethics and Security checks are sought for ranked candidates. After a final check by RCS the SAC report is submitted to the Delegate for approval.
- Upon receiving approval from the Delegate, RCS notifies successful candidates. The HR provider notifies applicants who are ranked on the order of merit and those who are unsuccessful.
- RCS arranges Administrative Circular advising outcome (only for bulk rounds)
- Feedback process is coordinated by HR provider in consultation with RCS and the Committee.
General Principles
The department is guided in its employment practices by the relevant articles of the Public Service Act 1999 and accompanying regulations and directions. Foremost amongst these is one of the APS Values which states that "the APS is a public service in which employment decisions are based on merit" (see para 10(1)(b) of the Act).
Under subsection 10(2) of the Act, a decision is based on merit if:
- an assessment is made of the relative suitability of the candidates for the duties, using a competitive selection process; and
- the assessment is based on the relationship between the candidates' work-related qualities and the work-related qualities genuinely required for the duties; and
- the assessment focuses on the relative capacity of the candidates to achieve outcomes related to the duties; and
- the assessment is the primary consideration in making the decision.
Selection committees are critical to the integrity of DFAT's selection procedures. All our selection processes must be fair, consistent and transparent not least because they provide important signals to staff about the management standards of the department.
Before a selection process commences, committee members must sign a Declaration of Impartiality by which they agree not to favour or discriminate against any of the applicants. The signed declaration must be passed to RCS for inclusion in the final Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) or Independent Selection Advisory Committee (ISAC) report.
The Privacy Act requires that all information in relation to selection processes be treated as 'staff-in-confidence' and handled with appropriate discretion.
Applicants must be Australian citizens to be eligible for engagement. Applicants who have been assessed as eligible for citizenship but are awaiting a citizenship ceremony may apply; however, they would need to finalise their citizenship before being engaged by the department.
While it is a requirement that all successful applicants gain a security clearance before engagement, an applicant's current clearance level should not influence the selection process.
Committees should be aware of the department's commitment to providing equal employment opportunities, access, equity and social inclusion for the following four (4) key workforce target groups:
- Indigenous Australians;
- Women;
- Non-English speaking background; and
- People with disability.
Workplace diversity is a core management goal for the department and our selection processes are a front line opportunity for the department to express this commitment. Mutual respect, good communication and team work are essential elements of workplace diversity.
Committees are encouraged to exemplify in their own demeanour and processes the fundamental principles of workplace diversity as well as bear them in mind when assessing candidates. These principles include:
- RESPECT – recognise and value the differences in culture, experience and background of colleagues and others;
- INCLUSIVITY – always act to encourage participation and cooperation among colleagues and others;
- COURTESY – treat colleagues and others civilly and equitably; and
- EQUITY – eliminate harassment and discrimination.
- In concrete terms, the department's commitment to diversity and inclusivity means that where a selection round includes candidates with particular requirements to enable them to compete on an equal footing with other candidates, the Mentoring Performance and Diversity Section (MPS) is available to provide advice on reasonable adjustments to the process requested or necessary to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
- DFAT has agreed to pilot the APSC RecruitAbility scheme. The RecruitAbility scheme provides an opportunity for job applicants with disability to automatically progress to further recruitment assessment stages, provided certain conditions are met. Applicants must declare a disability; apply under the scheme; meet the minimum standard against the selection criteria; and meet any eligibility requirements for a role, such as a mandatory qualification. To ensure the scheme's integrity, there should be no displacement of other applicants from the shortlist who would otherwise have been shortlisted. Also, the final selection of a successful candidate/s must be made on merit.
- Committees should be aware that, in support of the Government's Closing the Gap: Indigenous Economic Participation Agreement, the department is committed to increasing recruitment of Indigenous Australians. RCS and MPS can advise on any adjustments requested or appropriate in relation to this commitment.
Selection committees
Selection committees for non-SES selection processes are appointed by Director RCS or AS SFB. RCS endeavours to assemble committees of at least three members. The committee chairperson will be at least one substantive classification level higher than that of the position(s) being filled. The other two members will be at least the same substantive classification as the position. The committee will be gender balanced and, where relevant, will include a member with the specialist knowledge being sought for the advertised position(s). A member of MPS may be consulted or called to sit in on interviews with Indigenous Australians and people with disability.
The department uses two main forms of selection committee. An Independent Selection Advisory Committee (ISAC) is a committee where the Convenor (Chair) of the process is a nominee of the Merit Protection Commissioner and a second member of the committee is a departmental officer who is nominated and trained to represent the Merit Protection Commissioner. The third member is nominated by the department. The department may use ISACs for bulk selection processes at the APS 2 to 6 levels.
If the delegate accepts the recommendation of the ISAC, any resulting promotions are not subject to the promotion review procedures detailed in Division 5.2 of the Regulations.
The majority of the department's selection processes are conducted using a standard three member Selection Advisory Committee (SAC).
Selection processes may be subject to review (appeal)
The recommendations of SACs at the APS 2-6 levels are reviewable (appellable) on the basis of merit. This means applicants in APS 2-6 selection processes may apply to have the outcome of the selection process reviewed by a Promotion Review Committee under the following circumstances:
- the person is an ongoing APS employee who has applied for promotion to the job(s);
- the job(s) is at one of the APS 2 to 6 classifications;
- the successful candidate is an ongoing employee of the APS who will be promoted to the job, or is an ongoing Parliamentary Service employee to be 'engaged' in the APS at a higher classification than their current level;
- the promotion decision was not made on the recommendation of an Independent Selection Advisory Committee;
- the promotion decision did not result from a review conducted by a Promotion Review Committee.
- Promotion Review applications are made directly to the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC).
- Selection processes at levels EL1 and above are not appellable on merit. A candidate may, however, seek a review of action on grounds of perceived flaws in the process.
- The legislation requires that an APS employee applies to his or her agency head for review in the first instance for the majority of employment-related decisions and actions. Reviews conducted within agencies are called primary reviews. Applications for primary review are made under Public Service Regulation 5.24.
- When an agency receives a valid review application it is required to:
- review the action and attempt to resolve the employee's concern;
- advise the employee in writing of the outcome; the reason for the decision; and any action the agency intends to take; and
- advise the employee of their right of review by the Merit Protection Commissioner.
- If the employee is dissatisfied with the outcome of the agency's review, or the agency has advised that the matter is not reviewable, the employee may make an application for secondary review to the Merit Protection Commissioner. Applications for secondary review are made under Public Service Regulation 5.29.
A scribe is allocated to each committee by our HR provider. The scribe's role is to record the committee's discussion of candidates' applications, candidates' responses at interview and discussions with referees. Scribes use their notes to prepare the ISAC/SAC report which details the committee's recommended order of merit list as well as an individual assessment for each candidate interviewed. The report is submitted to the delegate who makes the final decision on offers.
In addition to informing delegates' decisions, individual assessments form a very important part of the feedback to candidates and are a key resource for Staffing Branch when placing staff. The scribe, therefore, has a critical role in ensuring accurate and detailed records are made of the committee's assessment of the relative suitability of candidates.
Selection Process
Selection Criteria
Committees must use the selection criteria as the basis for assessing which candidates are the most suitable. Committees should take a broad view when interpreting candidates' claims against each criterion, especially in the case of non-departmental applicants.
Written Application
The written application is the committee's first exposure to a candidate (for the purpose of the selection process) and the first source of information to draw on in compiling a shortlist for interview. Strong applications will use concrete, contextualised examples to support claims, identify clearly the applicant's personal contribution to outcomes, and project the applicant's ability to work at the advertised level.
When assessing applications it is useful to take written notes, particularly in a large round. More detailed notes should be compiled against each candidate at the interview stage. This will assist in fine-tuning rankings later in the process and will be useful in providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates.
The number of candidates on the shortlist should not be more than twice the number of positions being filled. Interviews should never be used as consolation prizes for applicants who are not highly competitive.
While there is no legal requirement to conduct interviews, in the vast majority of cases, interviews are seen as a useful means to rank shortlisted applicants. The department considers interviews should be used to confirm assessments made by the committee during the shortlisting process.
Applicants should be given at least 48 hours' notice of their interview. Interviews will generally take from 20 to 45 minutes. If the applicant is interstate or overseas, the common practice is to interview by phone. However, some applicants may wish to make their own arrangements to attend an interview in person.
A standard list of questions, cleared by RCS, should be used, but committees may ask follow-up questions as appropriate. The aim of all questions should be to enable the committee to assess applicants' claims against the selection criteria.
Some committees allow candidates to review the interview questions for 5-15 minutes before their interview. This allows candidates to collect their thoughts, plan their answers and manage their interview time more efficiently. Alternatively, some committees provide a written copy of the questions for the applicant to refer to during the interview. In either case, the committee must ensure the candidates leave the question sheet behind. Attaching them to a clipboard can help prevent candidates inadvertently returning home with the question sheet.
Placements policy
Committees should clearly explain to interviewed candidates the placement policy relevant to the advertised position(s). The three categories of placement policy are as follows:
- all external recruits through the bulk selection processes must work in a division or state office for two years prior to being eligible to apply for transfer elsewhere in the department or overseas;
Applicants' attention should be drawn to the department's policy on recruitment or promotion to specialist positions. Staff recruited to these positions will be required to remain in their area of specialisation, i.e. passports roles, for the duration of their employment with the department, unless they are successful in a subsequent merit-based selection process. Specialists are expected to serve three years in the position to which they were recruited before transferring to another position within their area of specialisation. - all recruits to professional specialist positions (medical officers, staff counsellors etc.) must remain in their position for the duration of their tenure with the department (unless the applicant is successful in a subsequent merit-based selection process).
- all external recruits through the bulk selection processes must work in a division or state office for two years prior to being eligible to apply for transfer elsewhere in the department or overseas;
Referee Reports
While referee checks are not mandatory in APS selection processes, the department considers at least one referee check is important to assess the individual's suitability for employment with the department. The applicants' current or recent supervisor should be contacted.
Where a current supervisor is not a nominated referee or where the candidate's relationship with the referee is unclear, committees should have the HR provider contact the applicant to seek clarification. For internal candidates, the HR provider should inform them that their current supervisor will be contacted, and for external candidates permission will be sought to do so.
The HR provider will provide referees with the selection criteria and assessment table. Committees should ask questions and engage in less structured discussion with the referee to obtain the best possible appreciation of each applicant's skills, experience and personal qualities. This may be particularly important for external referees who are not familiar with DFAT processes and standards.
Committees are encouraged throughout the process to seek the views of any others well positioned to comment on or corroborate an applicant's abilities or make comparative rankings. For internal candidates this would include relevant branch and division heads. The HR service provider will provide the committee with a list of referees nominated by more than one applicant in the selection process. It can be useful to ask referees for more than one applicant to make a comparative assessment of those applicants.
For applicants serving at an overseas post, as a locally engaged staff member or with another agency, comments should be sought from the Head of Mission about the candidate's personal attributes, abilities and performance.
If an adverse comment is made in a referee report, and if that comment has a significant bearing on the outcome of the selection process, a Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) must give the applicant concerned an opportunity to respond to the criticisms made by the referee. In the case of Independent Selection Advisory Committees (ISACs), the committee is required to inform the candidate of any adverse information, whether it is significant or not.
Orders of Merit
At the end of the process, committees must produce an order of merit list. The list should be based on the committee's assessment of the quality of the field of candidates and not the number of vacancies. It is important that the committee's report gives a true indication of the quality of the field. Committees may choose not to rank candidates at the bottom of the field even though they have been assessed as 'suitable' or even 'very suitable'.
For non-ISAC rounds, the order of merit should be structured according to the Assessment Table descriptors Highly Suitable, Very Suitable and Suitable with candidates grouped in the relevant category based on their overall score. If a single vacancy is to be filled, the Committee may elect to use a numerical order of merit to separate the candidates or use a hybrid form whereby the preferred candidate is ranked against one descriptor and the remaining field is grouped against one or more lower order descriptors.
Where fields are strong, committees are asked to prepare an order of merit which will be used to fill initial vacancies as well as any additional vacancies that might arise within the life of the order of merit (12 months from the date of the original gazettal of the vacancy/ies).
Selection Report Format
All selection reports must be cleared through RCS before being passed to the delegate.
The report explains how the committee reached its conclusions about the relative suitability of the ranked candidates and seeks the delegate's agreement to the recommended order of merit. Attached to the report should be a table listing those candidates not short-listed for interview and the reasons why. Also attached are individual assessments for each candidate interviewed.
In the rare circumstance that the committee is unable to agree on the most suitable applicant or any other matter of substance, the dissenting committee member(s) may submit a minority report. This should set out clearly the reasons for disagreement and should be forwarded with the SAC report to the Director RCS. This will then be a matter for the delegate to resolve.
RCS will check that the draft report complies with legal requirements and consult with Conduct and Ethics Unit and Security Policy and Clearance Section on whether there are any records which would impinge upon the suitability of any of the ranked candidates.
The report is then compiled in hard copy and submitted to the delegate.
Employment Offers
Following approval from the delegate, RCS will inform successful candidates by telephone. RCS also arranges for candidates on the order of merit and unsuccessful candidates to be notified. The committee's decision must be held in confidence until an Administrative Circular is issued (A/C will be issued only for bulk rounds).
A letter is subsequently sent to the successful candidate(s) formally advising them that they have been successful in the selection process. Following successful security and medical clearances, non-APS employees will be made an offer of 'engagement'. APS employees are offered either a 'permanent movement' or 'promotion' to the position. Promotions may be subject to review (appeal), engagements and permanent movements (transfers at level) are not.
The granting of a security clearance must occur before a formal offer of employment can be made. While the department endeavours to complete the security clearance process quickly, depending on the background of the candidate, the process can take several months. Once Staffing Operations Section receives advice of the candidate's clearance, the person is notified and details of their selection are published in the Public Service Gazette. The selection of an ongoing APS employee takes effect in accordance with Public Service Regulation 3.8.
- Feedback to applicants is an important part of the selection process. Effective feedback is constructive and provides specific information and guidance for candidates. Feedback should indicate, in relation to the selection criteria, where unsuccessful applicants did well and where they fell short of the standards achieved by those who were successful.
Internal Candidates
Internal candidates who received an interview will receive a written individual assessment. Individual assessments form a substantial part of the feedback process for interviewed candidates. Well written, sufficiently detailed assessments assist applicants to prepare for future selection processes. They are also important resources for Staffing Branch, for example, for placement purposes.
All committee members have an obligation to make themselves available for feedback to unsuccessful departmental candidates. For large processes at the APS1 - EL1 levels, RCS will schedule a general feedback session for interested departmental candidates. The session should cover the committee's approach to the selection process, what their expectations were in respect of each element of the process and their observations about where candidates tended to fall short. These feedback sessions should be attended by all committee members and a representative from Staffing Branch.
Where individual feedback is provided, sessions are usually 10 – 15 minutes, either in person or by phone with one, two or all committee members. If the committee anticipates that an applicant may have questions regarding the procedures followed in the process, RCS is available to attend the session.
External Candidates
For unsuccessful non-DFAT candidates in a bulk round selection process, a general feedback sheet will be prepared by the committee and will be available upon request through the HR provider. As with internal candidates, external candidates who received an interview will also receive a written individual assessment.
Report on the process
After feedback has been completed, all bulk round selection committees are asked to provide RCS with a short written report on the selection process. While not mandatory for specialist selection processes, all committees are encouraged to submit a report. The report should give an overview of the process, the strength of the field of candidates and any perceived skill gaps in the field, for example, and the key general messages to be given to candidates in the feedback process. Committees should also include their views on how the process might be streamlined or improved.
Selection Advisory Committee Report Guidelines
The committee's report to the Delegate will be prepared by the scribe. It should include details of the position, a table showing the number of candidates who have applied and the number short-listed for interview, and membership of the committee.
The report makes recommendations to the Delegate arising out of the merit selection process and includes any additional comments the committee may wish to make (e.g. if there was no one suitable from the process and the committee recommends that the position be re-advertised).
The report must be signed by all committee members.
The attachments indicated below should also be included:Declaration of Impartiality | Attachment A |
Position profile (duty statement & selection criteria) | Attachment B |
Assessment Table | Attachment C |
Schedule of Applicants & Reasons for Non-interview | Attachment D |
Comparative assessment of applicants interviewed | Attachment E |
Individual assessment of applicants interviewed, plus applications & referee reports | Attachment F |
Questions asked at interview (or details of alternative assessment process where relevant) | Attachment G |
Applications for applicants not interviewed | Attachment H |
The HR provider will prepare a hardcopy of the selection report for the Committee's signature and ensure it is passed to the Manager, RCS.
Selection advisory committee report
In line with APS redeployment policy, RCS has reviewed the APS redeployment register and found no employees in the database suitable for DFAT's vacant position(s).
The Selection Advisory Committee report for the following vacancy is forwarded for action.
Position Details:
Job Reference Number | |
Classification/Level | |
Section | |
Branch | |
Duration of vacancy | |
When advertised | |
Where advertised |
The duties of the position require the successful applicant to possess the aptitude, skills and abilities specified in the attached position profile (i.e. job description, duty statement and selection criteria). The position profile accurately reflects the duties of the position.
Details of Applicants:
Number of applicants | |
Number of applicants short-listed 'in' for interview | |
Number of applicants short-listed 'out' | |
Number of applicants who withdrew prior to interview | |
Interview date(s) |
Membership of Selection Advisory Committee:
Name | Classification | Section/Branch/Division | |
Chairperson | |||
Member | |||
Member |
Attached are the following documents:
Declaration of Impartiality | Attachment A |
Position profile (duty statement & selection criteria) | Attachment B |
Assessment Table | Attachment C |
Schedule of Applicants & Reasons for Non-interview | Attachment D |
Comparative assessment of applicants interviewed | Attachment E |
Individual assessment of applicants interviewed, plus applications & referee reports | Attachment F |
Questions asked at interview (or details of alternative assessment process where relevant) | Attachment G |
Applications for applicants not interviewed | Attachment H |
The Selection Advisory Committee recommends that the following order of merit be used to fill (…details of position including level and/or position number …) position(s).
Highly Suitable
(name of applicant) recommended level (e.g. EL1 or APS6)
(name of applicant) recommended level (e.g. EL1 or APS6)
Very Suitable
(name of applicant) recommended level (e.g. EL1 or APS6)
(Committee's can also use Highly Suitable (+), Highly Suitable and Highly Suitable (-) etc, to separate candidates on the order of merit).
For ISACs a numerical order of merit is required.
Additional comments (as appropriate):
Approved/Not Approved
Attachment A
Public Service Act 1999
Selection Advisory Committee - Declaration of Impartiality
I, ............................................................................ (full name)
of ...........................................................................(work or other address)
being the Chair / a Member of the Selection Advisory Committee (SAC) for
(position being advertised) in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, declare that:
(a) I do not have and have not had a relationship with a person whose application is to be considered by the SAC of a kind that may cause a reasonable person to suspect that I may be biased, such as:
- a family relationship;
- a close personal friendship; or
- a relationship involving personal hostility.
(b) I do not have and have not had a personal involvement in the matter to be considered by the SAC, including a pecuniary, non pecuniary, interest in that matter - such as advising an applicant in relation to his/her application.
Signature: .................................................. Date: ................................
- The purpose of this document is to facilitate proper and efficient operation of the SAC established under the Public Service Act 1999. If a person feels, for any reason, unable to comply with this requirement, he/she should discuss the matter with other members of the SAC or the Manager of the Recruitment and Promotion Unit, with a view to determining whether in all the circumstances of the case, they should decline to serve on the SAC.
- 2. Similarly, if a member of the SAC should develop - after making this declaration – arelationship, involvement or interest of a kind described in the declaration, he/she should discuss the matter with other members of the SAC or the Manager of the Recruitment and Promotion Unit, with a view to determining whether in all the circumstances of the case, they should stand down from the SAC.
- Failure to act in a manner described above may lead to a person whose application is to be, or was, considered by the SAC, applying under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977, for an injunction against or review of the SAC's decision.
Attachment B
Position Profile
Duty Statement and Selection Criteria
Attachment C
Assesssment table
The rating scale shown on the following page is a fundamental part of the report and must be used. This table is made available to candidates on the website, in Corporate Templates for internal candidates, and provided to referees.
The table includes:
- the rating scale used for the individual assessment, and
- the descriptive ranking categories (ranging from 'Highly Suitable' to 'Not Suitable') for use in some forms of the order of merit
- indicators of performance at each level.
The category of N/A (not assessed) can be used by committees when there is insufficient information in an application to enable reasonable assessment. It is unlikely this rating would apply to interviews because committees can control the amount of information provided in that forum. If, after considerable prompting at interview, an applicant is unable to answer a question to the committee's satisfaction, a Marginal or Unsatisfactory rating would be appropriate.
Assessment table
Scale | Description | Indicators of Performance |
13 - 15 | Highly Suitable The applicant possesses exceptionally well developed and relevant skills and abilities, and the appropriate personal qualities in relation to this criterion and their performance is outstanding. (To be used only in cases where exceptional skills have been demonstrated against this criterion). |
Is able to perform at high level without direct guidance for one or more of the following reasons: - excellent job knowledge; - exceptionally reliable; - considerable demonstrated ability in problem solving and the application of change; - appears to instinctively and effectively deal with all matters relating to the position. |
10 - 12 | Very Suitable The applicant possesses highly developed and relevant skills and abilities, and would perform consistently well against this criterion. |
Would require little guidance to achieve good results, for one or more of the following reasons: - would be reliable and responsible; - well developed (sound) job knowledge; - would be able to suggest and initiate improvements; - would be well able to deal with all of the routine and most of the complex matters relating to the position. |
7 - 9 | Suitable The applicant possesses relevant skills, abilities and personal qualities and would be generally effective against this criterion. |
Would require routine guidance to perform at an acceptable level for one or more of the following reasons: - reasonable/good job knowledge; - makes few errors; - generally reliable; - would require guidance for more complex situations; - could carry responsibility but would not seek it; - could deal with all routine matters involving the position. |
4 - 6 | Marginal The applicant possesses some skills, abilities and personal qualities relevant to the criterion, but is limited on others. S/he would be able to temporarily perform the duties of the position with close guidance, but would require further training and development to meet the standard required against this criterion. |
Would require close guidance to perform at an acceptable level for one or more of the following reasons: - only basic/general job knowledge; - could follow directions but would require frequent checking/follow‑up; - could deal with most routine matters involving the position; - inconsistent work performance. |
1 - 3 | Unsuitable The applicant is unable to demonstrate that s/he possesses the adequate skills, abilities and personal qualities in relation to the criterion. S/he would not be suitable to perform the duties of the position relevant to this criterion even on a temporary basis. |
Would be unable to perform the duties and would require constant guidance for one or more of the following reasons: - limited job knowledge; - makes frequent errors; - poor work output; - would have difficulty carrying responsibility or solving problems; - would have difficulty dealing with routine matters involving the position. |
0 | Not assessed |
Attachment D
Schedule of Applicants and Reasons for Non-interview
Broadband ? (APS Level ?), insert job number e.g. SP0150 Insert position title
No. | Name of Applicant | Interview Yes/No |
Criteria against which assessed as not competitive | Reasons why not competitive against the criteria |
1. | Adam Smith | YES | ||
2. | NO | C, D | Applicant was not competitive with those on the interview list against criteria C and D. | |
3. | NO | ALL | Applicant was not competitive against all criteria. | |
The scribe will prepare the above schedule based on information received from the committee.
The following points should be noted when assessing applications:
- Failure to demonstrate claims against one or more criteria may be sufficient to exclude an applicant from further consideration. This must be justified based on the information supplied in the application.
- Candidates cannot be short-listed out only on the basis that they do not have qualifications listed as 'highly desirable' in the selection criteria. However, failure to meet those qualifications, along with less competitive claims against one or more other criteria, can be used as a reason for not interviewing a particular applicant. Candidates can be short-listed out if they fail to meet selection criteria listed as 'essential'.
- 'Ability' to undertake a task does not mean having prior experience.
Attachment E
Comparative assessment
Applicant | Written Application | Interview | Overall Score | Overall Assessment/ Ranking |
The comparative assessment is used to collate all interviewees and their assessments.
To complete the Comparative Assessment grid:
- Transfer application, interview and overall rating scores from the Individual Assessment for each applicant interviewed.
- Using the scale provided at Attachment C, add the corresponding Assessment Table ranking descriptor (ranging from 'Highly Suitable' to 'Not Suitable') for each applicant in the Overall Assessment/Ranking column. If the committee does not wish to make a judgment on the overall suitability of non-preferred candidates you can insert 'Not Preferred' (NP) in the column.
- Candidates should be ranked from highest to lowest according to their relative suitability in the Overall Ranking column. The committee does not need to rank all candidates if it does not wish to. However, unless candidates are ranked they do not form part of the order of merit from which subsequent positions may be filled. If you do not wish to rank a particular applicant you can insert 'Not Ranked' (NR) in the column.
- Where candidates are ranked equally, the department must either offer positions to all in this group, or justify why one person from within the group is more suitable for the particular role on offer than the others. This can be very useful for bulk rounds where vacancies can be for diverse roles. It can; however, be problematic for specialist roles, particularly if all roles are identical.
Against each selection criteria: | Overall Assessment | Overall Ranking: |
13 - 15: Highly Suitable (Refer to Attachment C for detailed explanation of Assessment Table) |
HS: Highly Suitable NB: Selection Advisory Committees need not make a judgment as to the overall suitability of non-preferred applicants if they do not wish to, but should indicate 'Not Preferred' (NP). |
1 to 10 (highest ranked applicant to lowest ranked applicant) NB: Selection Advisory Committees do not need to rank all applicants if they do not wish to, but should indicate 'Not Ranked' (NR). |
Additional comments (as appropriate):
Committees can provide comments on an applicant's claims and suitability for the position in this box, drawing out the applicant's strengths and weaknesses against the selection criteria and substantiating their assessment.
Committees may wish to make detailed comments against each of the selection criteria here, although this is not required. One to two paragraphs is sufficient, as long as the delegate receives sufficient information to substantiate the committee's overall assessment of the applicant.
It is useful for shortlisted candidates (who receive a copy of their Individual Assessment) to be provided comments in this box regarding areas they might work on for future selection processes.
Attachment F
Individual assessment
Name of Applicant:
Selection Criteria | Application | Interview | Committee's Overall Assessment |
Overall |
Scale | Description | Scale | Description |
13-15 | Highly Suitable | 4-6 | Marginally Suitable |
10-12 | Very Suitable | 1-3 | Unsuitable |
7-9 | Suitable |
Additional comments to substantiate the Selection Advisory Committee's overall rating of the applicant against the selection criteria:
Career Summary:
Scribe to complete from the application.
Comments on Application:
When assessing an application committee members are reviewing the candidate's skills, abilities, experience and personal qualities against the selection criteria. They are not assessing how well the application is written, although this may form part of the assessment of any criteria addressing written communication skills. A brief statement on the application is required in this section.
Comments on Interview:
With the questions framed around the selection criteria, committee members should be able to assess the applicant's claims against the selection criteria by drawing from the answers provided, and record a brief statement on the individual's interview performance.
Summary of Referee Comments:
Committees need to record a summary of the referee comments.
Overall Comments:
The Committee needs to recommend the level and overall assessment e.g. The Committee assessed xxx as Highly Suitable to fill the advertised role at the EL1 level or The Committee assessed xxx as Marginally Suitable but Not Ranked to fill the advertised role at the APS6 or EL1 level.
The Individual Assessment provides an assessment of individual candidates against the selection criteria, not against other candidates. Therefore, committees do not make comparative comments in an individual assessment.
Overall Assessment: Once all the columns are completed, the committee can then make an assessment of the applicant's claims against the selection criteria taking into consideration all parts of the process. In some cases, the Overall Assessment will clearly reflect a standard level of performance across all parts of the process. In others, the committee may feel that although an applicant may have been assessed as having strong claims from his/her application and have strong referee support; their interview performance may not support these assessments. If this were the case, the committee should feel free to reflect their considered overall assessment in the Overall Assessment column. However, you will need to substantiate your assessment in the Additional Comments box.
Attachment G
Questions asked at interview (or details of alternative assessment process where relevant)
Please attach a copy of the questions asked at interview and, where applicable, details of alternative additional assessment processes that were used (e.g. written tests).
Attachment H
Applications for applicants not interviewed
Copies of non-interviewed candidate's applications should be attached to the SAC report at Attachment H.


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FYR Macedonia is a lower middle-income country, whose landlocked position, small size, multiethnic population, and relatively high degree of economic openness make it especially vulnerable to internal and external shocks.
Despite its success in weathering the shocks and transitioning from a conflict-affected country to a candidate country for the European Union (EU) membership, FYR Macedonia is still facing formidable political, economic, and social challenges. On the political side, the resolution of the long-standing dispute with Greece over its name is blocking the EU negotiations and NATO membership.
The biggest economic challenge is to create more jobs to reduce the very high unemployment rate (currently at 32%), especially among the country's youth. Linked to this challenge is the need to maintain macroeconomic stability and increase the country's competitiveness, which is dependent on further improving the business environment and the quality of education. By seeking to transform itself into a "green economy," FYR Macedonia is pursuing an opportunistic and pragmatic path, given that it is expected to be severely affected by climate change, and also because the current energy intensity of its economy is very high. Finally, the country faces the challenges of ensuring financial sustainability of the pension system, and improving the effectiveness of the social safety net and the delivery of health services.
Since 1995, the World Bank has played a critical financial and advisory role in five key areas: (i) strengthening competitiveness for sustained economic growth; (ii) improving the business environment; (iii) investing in human capital; (iv) improving road, rail, and energy infrastructure; and (v) investing in environment.
The World Bank's approach has included a combination of investment and development policy lending, underpinned by substantive analytical and advisory work. Through more than 20 country-tailored reports delivered over the past five years, the World Bank Group's strong analytical and knowledge services have helped the country choose the appropriate mix of policies and interventions to promote economic growth and improve service delivery. Given its EU candidacy and middle-income country status, the country's demand for World Bank support focuses on complex policy reforms, institutional capacity building, multifaceted implementation issues, and critical analytical work.
The Bank support to the agriculture sector has enabled the Ministry of Agriculture to receive the EU accreditation for utilization of the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance in the area of rural development.
FYR Macedonia has improved its business climate:
- YR Macedonia has improved its ranking in the Doing Business 2012 (DB12) survey to 22 out of 185 in 2011. It ranked 83 out of 125 in 2006.
- The World Bank program has helped cut the time to register a company to four days from 48 days in 2006; business registration does not require a minimum capital and consists of three procedures that can be completed in one day. The country ranked 6th on the DB12 ranking for starting a business; their ranking on dealing with construction licenses improved significantly (61st in 2011 compared to 147th a year earlier).
- The World Bank-financed reforms in the real estate cadastre resulted in covering 99 percent of territory; tripled the number of registered transactions (120,742 in 2011, compared to 42,116 in 2005); more than tripled the number of mortgages (9,803 in 2011, compared to 2,920 in 2005); and shortened the period for transaction registration (70 percent of all transactions are registered in one day, and 30% are registered between 3-8 days, as compared to 90 days in 2005.
Judicial and legal framework was improved, including more effective organization of the court system, which resulted in:
- Reducing backlogged cases in 22 of the 27 basic courts by the end of 2011.
- Improvement of judicial infrastructure through the refurbishment of 11 courthouses.
- Improved enforcement of court judgments in 43 percent of cases in 2011 from 18 percent in 2005, due to legislation that placed the function in the hands of private bailiffs.
- As of 2011, the duration of bankruptcy procedures decreased from 43 months on average (2005 data) to 26 months, due to improved regulatory and implementation framework for bankruptcy cases through the adoption of a new bankruptcy law.
Investments in education helped:
- Poor families get cash transfers so their children receive secondary education.
- Increase secondary school transition to 95 percent in 2011 from 85 percent, and decrease dropout rates to 1.9 percent from 2.1 percent, as compared to 2010.
- World Bank support also contributed to the introduction of the State Matura (final examination at the end of secondary school) in 2011 as part of the overall Quality Assurance System, and the introduction of strategic medium- and long-term planning at both the Ministry of Education and school levels.
FYR Macedonia's competitiveness is boosted through infrastructure development:
- Since 1995, more than 500 kilometers of roads have been rehabilitated and the average border entry and exit time has decreased threefold (from 60 to 20 minutes and from 20 to 7 minutes respectively, compared to 2005).
- Railway legislation to conform with that of the EU was adopted at the end of 2010.
- As of end-2011, MEPSO (the public electric power transmission company) has increased the capacity of the transmission network through the completion of the power transmission line to Greece, and restored 38 transformer stations throughout the country.
Bank Contribution
Since the start of FYR Macedonia's membership in 1995, the World Bank invested US$ 1.4 billion through 23 IDA credits and 34 IBRD loans. The World Bank also leveraged around US$ 181 million in grant funding.
All World Bank interventions have been designed and implemented in close collaboration with other development partners, such as the European Commission (EC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UN agencies. The World Bank leveraged more than US$ 180 million in grant funds from different donors through 44 separate trust funds. The main co-financing partners included the governments of the Netherlands (education sector, public policy reforms, accounting and auditing, agriculture) and Japan (preparation funds for projects in the human development, energy and business environment sectors), as well as the Global Environmental Facility. The World Bank also maintained a close partnership with the International Monetary Fund in the area of economic advice and policy-based lending.
Moving Forward
The World Bank's Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for 2011-2014 provides selective and targeted financing and knowledge advisory services in support of faster, more inclusive, and greener economic growth. Because FYR Macedonia's future growth and development will depend fundamentally on the pace of the EU accession, virtually every intervention in the strategy has been identified and will be designed to help prepare for EU membership.
The Bank's assistance to FYR Macedonia is designed to help the country achieve: faster growth by improving competitiveness, more inclusive growth by strengthening employability and social protection, and greener growth through increased use of sustainable resources.
"As any other citizen, I have had dealings with the cadastre agency, both privately and as a private entrepreneur for a long time. The difference is obvious, and it can be seen from the shorter time and processes for property registration to the attitude and professionalism of the employees. I am now able to turn my real estate quickly into a capital asset to finance my business, which greatly helps in a dynamic market that we work in." —Maja Dimitrievska, Businesswoman, Skopje
Valentina Pavlovic's company works with electrical equipment, installing and maintaining wiring in companies and apartment buildings, and making sure streets in a number of municipalities are never dark. "The last few years have been difficult for the private sector because we had to cope with the consequences of the global financial crisis," said Pavlovic. "But, at the same time, doing business has become much easier. A large part of the paperwork is gone, and I can do most of it from my office."

subset: commoncrawl


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Gary man gets time served for drug possession
BY RUTH ANN KRAUSE Post-Tribune correspondent November 1, 2013 11:30PM
Updated: November 2, 2013 11:43PM
A Gary man was sentenced Friday to three years for possession of a controlled substance.
Daryl Satterfield admitted he had two plastic bags with crack cocaine in his possession on May 22 while he was in the 1600 block of Carolina Street, which is within 1,000 feet of Dunbar-Pulaski Middle School.
Deputy prosecutor Michelle Jatkiewicz argued for a five-year sentence, noting Satterfield has four misdemeanor convictions. Defense attorney Marc Laterzo said his client has no prior felony convictions and is remorseful for his actions.
Satterfield was given credit for the 156 days he spent in Lake County Jail and ordered released, with the remainder of his sentence served on probation.


text:
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Beyonce's not done, y'all. In addition to blessing the world with the best Christmas gift ever just a week ago, Bey — or should we call her Yonce now? — is releasing her third fragrance, called Rise, inspired by her favorite Maya Angelou poem. Perhaps that poem is "Still I Rise," which includes the line:
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?


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Who knew rainbows were so fast? Must be all that sugar.
Perfect for Thanksgiving. Now if I can just keep Grandpa from trying to lick them.
Sure Valentine's Day isn't for a few more months. That doesn't mean you can't put a little love into your food all year round.
I've been trying to cut back on the salt, but my doctor said I can add as much magic as I want.
Rice under the fingernails is a small price to pay for giving your food tummy skritches.
"Me not always monstrous. Me have whole entire range of emotion. Can be pretty sweet guy."


text:
You're leaving Wedding Paper Divas to see the Deal of the Day at our parent site, Tiny Prints.
You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"We were looking for something with a rustic feel for our rehearsal dinner and this card is perfect! The paper quality is fantastic, and the colors are bright and vivid. The type is easy to read. We are excited to mail these out!!"
"I was extremely satisfied with the quality of the card I ordered. I liked the sample card so I didn't change anything except for the personal information, e.g. party location, date and time etc. Friends and family loved the card. The order was shipped to me very quickly. It arrived earlier than the expected delivery date so that was an added bonus. I am very pleased with the service provided by Wedding Paper Divas and I will definitely order from them again!"
"I changed the color of the paper to go with the overall themeof the wedding. I changed the shape of the card whichI thought made it look different. I spoke withsomeone on the phone throughout my entire order process since I had some trouble with my internet browser. she stayed on the phone withme until my entire order was complete. I can't say enough about this personalized service. I ordered at the last minute and was able to get my order in 3 days."
"We wanted a different look to our rehearsal dinner invitations. Our wedding invites conveyed a vintage fall theme so we went with something more classic/elegant for our rehearsal dinner. The design and paper quality was what we have come to expect from Wedding Paper Divas. Seamless process!"
"At first I was a bit confused because our wording did not fit correctly on the invitation. I called customer service and a design specialist spoke with me and walked me through some of the process. Once I submitted our information online, the design specialist made it all work! The result was great and for a very reasonable price. This particular style of invitation was perfect for us since our rehearsal dinner was a very casual event. I would add that the paper stock was substantial and not cheap looking at all. It was also easy to choose colors to match those of the bridal party. I did opt for the printing of the return address on the envelope and that was a huge time saver at a nominal cost. I highly recommend this product."


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Keyboard Tour – all Jordan Rudess' keyboards in the studio with Dream Theater
Jordan takes us on a quick tour of his studio showing of his keyboards
You can view Jordan's PledgeMusic campaign at:
Roland VR-09 Combo Keyboard First Hands-On
Keyboard magazines first hands-on time with Roland's surprisingly affordable (under $999 street) new combo keyboard, which puts organ sounds first but also does great piano, EP, Clav, and synth sounds. It also offers lots of controls for realtime parameter tweaking (with the drawbars doubling as filter and envelope controls on synth sounds–cool!), and super-easy splitting and layering on the fly. Read the full review in our July 2013 issue.
Korg microSTATION Demo
Dan "Polymoog" Stesco demos the new Korg microSTATION keyboard, showcasing some of the sounds he engineered for it.
Keio organ – Korg
MicroStation offers unprecedented portability, the stunning sound of Korg's EDS-i synth engine (M3, M50), dual arpeggiators, and phenomenal effects; all the tools you would expect in a keyboard/workstation housed in a smaller – and extremely affordable – package.
Whether performing or composing, the on-board sequencer can be anything from an extra set of hands or a powerful drum machine up to a full-blown MIDI production suite. Loop Recording, Grid Sequencing, Song Templates, and One-Step recording features make it easy for anyone to achieve professional results.
Roland presents the BK-9 Backing Keyboard
Roland says:
A World of Music at Your Command
The BK-9 Backing Keyboard is the new flagship instrument in the acclaimed BK series, bringing together sensational sounds, top-class rhythms, and an incredible selection of premium features.
For more details: http://www.rolandconnect.com/product….
Yamaha SK-15 Demo
Yamaha's SK-series are combo-keyboards with synthesizer, organ, brass and string sections. The SK-10 was the first of the SK-series, released in 1979 – the SK-20, 30 and 50D followed in 1980, and the SK-15 in 1981, possibly as a replacement for the SK-10. The SK-10 is the only one in the series that does not incorporate a synth section, but has organ, brass and string sections that can all be played together for more interesting combinations. Very sturdy casing, 4-octave and fully polyphonic the features also include a leslie simulator, vibrato, attack and sustain rocker switches, a slider for 'brilliance' and a one-octave transpose switch. Not exactly feature-laden, but a lovely string synth sound. Interestingly, they are often referred to as 'analog', but in fact do have a digital section. Its organ has one of the early implementations of Yamaha's FM technology in a very limited form, concurrent with the GS-1/2 development platforms which eventually led to the DX series.
"Just a quick-and-dirty demo of the Yamaha SK-15 Synthesizer. Please excuse my poor playing skills, I was just making stuff up to show off the various sounds the machine is capable of making. This particular machine I stripped down and nearly completely rebuilt, making more than a few changes in the audio pathway."
Dave Smith Instruments Mono Evolver Keyboard drone
The DSI Evolver in action, details below:
Single patch drone on the DSI Mono Evolver keyboard, one shot recording, no editing.
VCA is held open with max VCA level with tweaking and editing of various parameters during recording. More details below..
Making extensive use of the modulation routings of all 4 LFOs, FM and RM of the digital oscillators and one of the sequencers switching the wave shape of one of the digital oscillators. Strange pitching effects courtesy of S&H modulation of the delay time on 2 of the delay lines built into the MEK. Nastiness courtesy of the tuned feedback circuit.
All running through Sonnox Oxford reverb for a bit of atmosphere, shame I didn't have a Roland Space Echo.
Film is edited segments of Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women courtesy of http://archive.org/details/Voyagetoth…
This one goes out to Atomic Shadow. – http://www.atomicshadow.com/
Jordan Rudess tries out the new Seaboard keyboard
Jordan: "About to leave for SXSW and practice a little Seaboard!"
Evolved from the piano keyboard, the Seaboard is a new musical instrument which bridges the gap between acoustic and digital music by putting the control of pitch, volume and timbre right at your fingertips.
Introducing the Seaboard keyboard
The piano keyboard meets the future in a revolutionary new approach to music
The Seaboard is a radically new musical instrument based on the design of a piano keyboard. Its patent-pending approach brings together a traditional approach to making music with cutting edge digital technology in a way that is so intuitively tactile that you can play it with your eyes closed.
This approach enables performers, composers and producers to exert unprecedented real-time control of all the major characteristics of sound: volume, pitch and timbre. If you can play the piano you already know how to play the Seaboard, and it literally puts a new world of expressive possibilities right at your fingertips.
The core team brings together a wide range of skills – product, industrial and interaction design, software engineering, business management, and of course music production, administration, management, teaching, networking and strategy and a passion for creating more intuitive ways of making music.
In early 2011, Seaboard successfully entered the Incubator.
More information on the Seeboard website"
"Evolved from the piano keyboard, the Seaboard is a new musical instrument which bridges the gap between acoustic and digital music by putting the control of pitch, volume and timbre right at your fingertips.
A limited edition of 88 GRANDs will be available for pre-order worldwide starting in April 2013. In recognition of its provenance, each will be named after a particular note on the piano keyboard, from A0 to C8.
Our cutting-edge SoundDial software gives you complete control of the Seaboard's sound and unprecedented integration between software and hardware.
Novation SUPERNOVA 2 – Ambient / chillout electronic space music drone soundscape
Demo of Novation Supernova 2 synthesizer / keyboard.
Playing a dreamy, relaxing spacey ambient electronic music soundscape. Utilizing 3 oscillators, portamento, reverb, panning, tremolo, envelope and filter adjustments.
Live improvisation, no external processing. Excerpt from a longer session.
Turn your iPad into the ultimate electric piano instrument
A new electric piano app for iPad, details below:
Turn your iPad into the ultimate electric piano instrument with an extraordinary collection of authentic electric pianos and vintage keyboards along with built-in recording! Use the iRig KEYS portable keyboard (www.irigkeys.com) or the iRig MIDI interface (www.irigmidi.com) to connect your external keyboard to your iPad, and you're ready to compose, rehearse, perform and record with the very best instruments for iPad.
The sequel to IK's acclaimed iGrand Piano app, iLectric Piano now puts a collector's dream gallery of history's best electric pianos, electric grands and clavinets right at your fingertips with studio-grade quality never before heard in app that stands up to the most powerful virtual instruments available on on a computer.
With high-definition samples across multiple velocities, iLectric Piano brings you the most playable, expressive and authentic sounding electric piano, electric grand and clavinet instruments available on a mobile device that you can play anytime and everywhere.
iLectric Piano gives you a collection of 20 world-class electric pianos, electric grands and clavs (including one by registering) along with a capable recorder and metronome. Add the Electric Piano Expansion Pack to add another 20 high-quality instruments.
Record your rehearsals or performances as MIDI with both overdubbing and punch-in capability, then export your track as audio via E-mail of File Sharing or Audio Copy to other iOS apps. With the built-in MIDI Recorder, you can change the tempo of your piece or even choose to use a different piano AFTER you've completed your performance! For composers of any level, the MIDI Recorder lets you capture and develop ideas anywhere your mobile life takes you. iLectric Piano also includes some professional MIDI performances to help you audition the various electric piano instruments or just ignite your own creative muse!
The easy-to-use instrument editor puts real-time controls on the panel just above the keys to let you adjust the EQ, the amount of reverb, the overdrive and your choice of 5 modulation effects (chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo and auto pan). You can also adjust the tuning and transposition of the instrument. All edit knobs can be assigned to your choice of MIDI controllers for external fine-crafting of your instrument's sonic details. Virtual MIDI and MIDI Program Change are also supported.
iLectric Piano features:
- 20 world-class, multi-velocity electric piano, electric grand and clavinet instruments (including one by registering)
- Expandable library of 20 additional studio-grade instruments instantly available via in-app purchase
- Intuitive instrument and effect edit controls including 3-band EQ with sweepable mid, overdrive, reverb and choice of 5 modulation effects (chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo and autopan) along with tuning and transpose
- Export performances as audio via E-mail, File Sharing and Audio Copy
- Large visual metronome with variable click volume and adjustable tempo
- Virtual MIDI and MIDI Controller and MIDI Program Change support
- Low-latency for real-time playing
- Up to 48-voice polyphony on the latest devices
- Designed to use with with iRig KEYS portable keyboard and iRig MIDI interface
The app is priced at $19.99


text:
found a new home!
Plenty of my friends are looking
for one too. Find a pet to adopt.
Find a pet to adopt |
My name is Annie!
Facts about Annie
- Breed: Russian Blue
- Color: Gray Or Blue
- Age: Kitten
- Sex: Female
- Hair: Short
Annie's Info...
I am up to date with shots, good with kids, good with dogs, and good with cats.
A very spunky kitty. . Annie is a very active kitten who loves to play and explore every inch of the house. She is a fluffy 7 week old girl (Russian Blue mix) with a great appetite!(a chubby little monkey!) She is very fond of her sister(Jane) and the two of them play and hang out with each other all day.
All cats have been tested for the Feline Leukemia and FIV virus, vaccinated, microchipped and spayed or neutered. (If you adopt kittens that are too young, we will arrange the spay/neuter at a later date). In addition, you are offered 30 days free pet insurance if you want it. The kitten or cat will then be personally delivered to their new home! We require a donation of $125 for one cat or $225 for two. This donation helps cover our veterinary costs. For more info about Anjellicle Cats Rescue pls go to http://anjelliclecatsrescue.com/
Thank you for your interest in a rescue kitty :)
Other Pets at Anjellicle Rescue
Why Adoption is a Great Option
Annie, a Brooklyn Russian Blue kitten was adopted! Here's how you can benefit by looking at adoption as an option to buying a Russian Blue for sale in Brooklyn, or seeking a Russian Blue kitten from a breeder in Brooklyn.
- Rescues and shelter volunteers in Brooklyn already know the personality and tendencies of their pets. This means they can match you with the right pet. That will makes it much easier transition to owning a pet for yourself and your new pet.
- On average adoption fees are much less than you'd pay a Brooklyn breeder, or pet store. Plus most often rescue pets have already been to the veterinarian for a check-up, had a round of vaccinations, and are spayed or neutered. That is a lot of savings!
- You will become a hero, and give a needy dog or cat a loving home. In fact, there are even Russian Blue breeders who help with Russian Blue rescue. One puppy or kitten adopted in Brooklyn paves the way for another one to be saved.


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Supreme Court Argues Letting Cops Track Cars With GPS Will Send Us All Into 1984
The Supreme Court's attempts to reconcile the principles of the Constitution with modern-day technology the founding fathers would likely have found unfathomable has led to some laughable arguments in the past. But this one took a turn for the paranoiac—perhaps rightfully so.
The court has yet to decide on the case of Antoine Jones, a nightclub owner in Washington who was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to sell cocaine. The evidence for his conviction was a GPS device police placed in his Jeep Grand Cherokee without the proper warrant to track his movements for a month. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit overturned the conviction claiming the amount of information collected violated Fourth Amendment rights protecting unlawful search and seizure. Read More


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With The Skriker, playwright Caryl Churchill has written a fairy tale, but its characters are not the poetic jokesters of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream or the diaphanous-winged homunculi loved by the Victorians. They are kelpies, bogels, bogeymen, black dogs and spiteful spriggans, remnants of ancient legend, decayed versions of Celtic gods and goddesses, spirits of plants, stones and animals, haunters of England's bogs and woods, and they rise from the deepest recesses of the human psyche.
The Skriker is pursuing two young women. When the play opens, one of them, Josie, is in an institution: Suffering from postpartum depression, she killed her baby. Her friend Lily, who is visiting her, is pregnant.
I wasn't able to distinguish every word of the script: Churchill's Skriker speaks in puns, allusions, feverish exclamations, non sequiturs, approximations of common phrases, bits of fairy tale and nursery rhyme, sound associations and nonsense; her words melt into each other like the people and places of a dream. And I'm not sure I took in every visual image, either. But even if it lacks ordinary structure and logic, the play has emotional consistency and a clear through line. The Skriker needs something from the women, and it's connected to their fertility. She's not an all-powerful fairy; she can be thwarted, ignored or foiled. How the situation turns out will depend on how cleverly Josie and Lily handle her and on how they relate to each other. Their relationship is sometimes treacherous and sometimes supportive. Josie tries to protect Lily; Lily cares for Josie. But Lily makes the mistake -- again and again -- of pitying the Skriker.
Churchill's play has been interpreted as an indictment of our devastation of the earth, as suggesting that the destruction of the environment has stirred up a horde of muttering and malevolent avengers. I saw the play's focus differently, although I don't know whether my interpretation came more from the script itself or from Ian Tresselt's direction. For me, the play was all about motherhood.
When a woman gives birth, she makes herself vulnerable in previously unimagined ways. On the most literal level, she has no idea how this new little creature will affect her life or who she will become because of it. (Margaret Atwood has a wonderful short story in which a woman enters a hospital to give birth and leaves it a different person entirely.) Nor does the mother know what impact the child will have in the world, whether she's produced an accountant or a drunk, a Georgia O'Keeffe or a Hitler. Birth is so commonplace a miracle that we forget how huge it is. Add to this the fact that after childbirth, women tend to float in a sea of hormones, a fluxy, heightened state that's blissful for some, nightmarish for others, and certainly conducive to all kinds of illusion. If ever the veil between the real and the supernatural worlds is likely to be lifted, this is the time.
In his director's note, Tresselt reiterates the story of poor, Christ-driven Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children because they weren't "developing correctly." (It says something about cultural differences that women like Josie receive treatment and eventual release in England, while Yates -- who must already be suffering the torments of the damned -- was given life in prison by a Texas court and could have been executed.)
Many murderous mothers claim their dead children were possessed or in some sense satanic. A peculiar variation on the theme arose in the United States some years ago when therapists began arguing that babies from the spartan orphanages of Russia, China and Romania could be so profoundly damaged as to be unreachable or even dangerous. They called this "reactive attachment disorder." In Colorado, an adoptive mother by the name of Renee Polreis beat her two-year-old Russian son to death and tried to claim that he himself had caused his injuries. To complicate matters, occasionally -- though this is very rare -- a child is born so violent and rage-filled (presumably because his chemistry's out of whack) that he does indeed seem satanic.
In Churchill's play, it may have been the Skriker who caused Josie's infanticide. It's possible, in fact, that all of the play's supernatural grotesqueries are manifestations of Josie's madness. The Skriker herself is oddly empty, a vessel picking up whatever's in the air around her and endlessly adapting to the needs of the moment. She becomes whatever she's required to be to seduce whichever of the two women she has in her sights at the moment: an old crone; a nosy, technology-obsessed American tourist; a seducer; a lonely child. She plays each role with conviction for a few moments, goofs like a tourist trying to imitate a native, tosses the persona aside when it's no longer useful.


text: | Dáil Éireann - Volume 433 - 01 July, 1993 Road Traffic Bill, 1993: Second Stage (Resumed). Question again proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time". Mr. Bradford Mr. Bradford Mr. Bradford: In relation to driving licences—admittedly this is extraneous —I was making the point that the driving test regulations must be reviewed. I am unhappy with our present hit and miss system. From the statistics one will see that 50 per cent fail the test on the first occasion but pass it second time around. I would like to see a system introduced under which applicants for a driving test would have to demonstrate that they had taken a certain number of lessons from a registered driving instructor. It would be a step in the right direction if applicants received a licence only after they had completed a certain number of driving lessons. This would lead to an improvement in standards. 913 I welcome the provision in the Bill under which local authorities will be able to alter speed limits. Those of us who are [913] members of local authorities, in particular county councils, have always found it difficult to accept and explain to our constituents the reasons local councillors do not have sufficient powers to alter a speed limit. I have been a member of Cork County Council since 1985 and we have had only one opportunity since then to alter a speed limit in the county. The Minister's decision, therefore, to give us the authority to carry out that simple but important task will be welcomed by councillors all over the country. They know that they will have discretion within their own communities. This is welcome. The Bill also appears to give discretion to local authorities in relation to road signs, another welcome provision. I would like those who design our road traffic signs to show more imagination. Most of the signs used today have not been changed for a long time and familiarity breeds contempt. As people ignore most of our signs there is a need to make them more dramatic and eye catching. I hope local authorities will use their discretion and introduce new signs and have them approved by the Department. Signs can be an effective extra road safety feature if they catch the eye. I welcome the Bill, which will improve road safety and hopefully reduce the number of accidents on our roads, thereby ensuring that fewer people are killed. Mr. B. O'Keeffe Mr. B. O'Keeffe 914 Mr. B. O'Keeffe: This legislation is very wide ranging. In many ways it calls for a social revolution in terms of the attitude of Irish people to drink driving. The reduction in the permissible alcohol level from 100 milligrammes to 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, with a corresponding reduction in the level for urine, is significant in view of the startling statistics in relation to road accidents, 35 per cent of which occurred between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., an average of 400 deaths per year. We have to be concerned about the trauma caused to the families of those who were killed. It is incumbent [914] on the Minister and the Government to take these figures seriously. When one considers that an additional 100,000 people have been maimed and badly injured in accidents, it is timely that the Minister has introduced this Bill. The Minister's proposals are laudable. Driving while under the influence of alcohol is a very serious crime which people in Ireland have tended to brush under the carpet—we seem to think that it is part of our culture and way of life. In saying that, we tend to forget our responsibilities in this area. For example, we tend to forget that a car driven by a person who is drunk is a lethal weapon. Anyone who has lost a loved one or had a member of family injured as a result of drunk driving will commend the Minister on the introduction of this Bill. This is not to say that the Bill will not have other consequences. People who come from rural areas are very much aware that those who live in very remote areas visit the local bar, which could be two, three or four miles away, in order to socialise and meet other people. This Bill will require those people to think twice before taking their car to the pub if they are going to drink. It will be a culture shock for them. Why has the Minister not decided to go a step further and ban drink driving altogether? Those people may well surmise that under the law they can have either one pint or one and a half pints and at that stage they will have to use their discretion about whether to drink any more, but it gives them no discretion about whether they should drive. While I welcome the reduction in the permissible alcohol level, I believe the Minister should have gone the whole hog and banned drink driving altogether. I know this Bill is a major step forward, but I am of the view that drink and driving should be totally separated. 915 The owners of rural pubs will look at this Bill with a jaundiced eye. They may think that things were tight enough without this restructured legislation, which will add to their difficulties rather than help them. However, people have [915] to look at this Bill in an objective way and consider the high number of deaths which have been caused by people driving under the influence of drink. This Bill is only one of a series of measures which will have to be introduced by the Minister and his colleagues to tackle the drink driving problem. Does the Minister have figures on the percentage of accidents between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. which are directly related to drink driving? There are people who will say that there is a greater possibility of an accident occurring at night-time than in the day time. For example, a person who gets up at 6 a.m. and drives a long distance will be tired returning home late at night and may nod off, thus causing an accident. I welcome the provision which will require drivers to carry their driving licences at all times when driving a vehicle. This requirement is not any different to the requirement that a person must have a ticket before getting on a train. I ask the Minister to look at the laws governing the mandatory closing of pubs at certain hours during the day. If there are regulations in place which provide that a person may consume only a certain amount of alcohol before driving, what is the point in putting extra pressure on Garda resources in ensuring that pubs are closed at certain hours during the day? 916 The Bill addressed to some extent the question of insurance. It is fair to say that the cost of insurance for young drivers is a national disgrace. I can think back to the time when we were told by the insurance federation that insurance premiums would be reduced if the jury system was done away with. Having done that, premiums, instead of being reduced, continued to rise and the amount of awards increased by, I think, 25 per cent. I am glad the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Brennan, has decided to look seriously at the cost of insurance. I ask him to look in particular at the contentious interaction between insurance companies, the legal profession and the engineering profession. [916] There is a perception abroad that the administrative costs in the insurance industry are exceptionally high. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the cost of medical witnesses—and as many as five or six medical personnel may be involved—as well as legal representation and engineering witnesses adds up and is a major factor in the cost of insurance. It is not before time that we took a serious look at the industry to see how we can cut out unnecessary costs. It is necessary also to examine the conduct of solicitors who approach individuals in hospital who have been involved in accidents of one type or another and say that they will handle the case and it will not cost anything; but they will take anything from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of an insurance award and the individual keeps the balance. Obviously that is unprofessional conduct, but it is going on. We are all concerned about it and it is time we faced up to it and ensured that something is done about it. I welcome the devolution of functions to local authority members. In fact I advocated this for a number of years. I always thought it extraordinary that when we wanted to set speed limits it often took five years before it was implemented, but when the function is devolved to local level at least the local authority in conjunction with the Garda Síochána will have the power to decide where the speed limits should be. I suspect the danger is that we could have a proliferation of speed limits and the effect of that is that they could be honoured more in the breach than in fact. However, that is a matter for the local authorities. 917 Deputy Gilmore raised the question of different parking discs all over the country. I certainly agree that there is a case to be made to standardise the parking discs throughout all local authority areas. It is particularly galling for tourists who tend to travel throughout the country to find that they need a different parking disc for each area. Surely the local authorities can come together to work out the unit cost of the parking discs and provide that they are interchangable in [917] any area throughout the country. For example, there seems to be no reason that someone from Dublin cannot use his parking disc in Cork. There is a quid pro quo and the other counties will benefit. Towards the end of his speech the Minister says: The impounding provisions are designed to give the Garda Síochána the powers they need to tackle both motor tax and motor insurance evaders ... The power to impound vehicles being driven by under-age drivers is specifically designed to help tackle the problem commonly known as joyriding and I have no doubt this will be particularly welcomed by the House. Members certainly will welcome anything that can be done to reduce the number of people involved in joyriding. However, how will this provision help in this case, given that the joyrider, generally speaking, will steal someone else's car? Will the Minister clarify the benefit, if any, of impounding a stolen vehicle? This is an extremely important Bill and I give it my full support. This Bill, in conjunction with other legislation to follow from other Ministers, will help to make us more conscious of our behaviour on the road and make us more aware of the need to be courteous and caring on the road. Ms O'Donnell Ms O'Donnell Ms O'Donnell: I very much welcome this wide-ranging, comprehensive and integrated Bill, which strengthens our laws relating to drink-driving. It introduces welcome measures for the enforcement of the Road Traffic Acts. There has been a large measure of criticism and dissatisfaction with the enforcement of the Road Traffic Acts. It is very welcome that this Bill strengthens the enforcement procedures. I very much welcome the devolution of powers to the local authorities. 918 The genesis of this legislation was the setting up of a task force by the Progressive Democrats Party Leader, Deputy O'Malley, a long time ago to look into the whole matter of the cost of motor insurance. Many of the recommendations [918] of that task force have been taken on board in this legislation. This Bill was driven by economics, given the huge cost of road accidents, estimated at £600 million per annum. It is important also that we as legislators are motivated by the overwhelming public policy need to concentrate on road safety and the prevention of death and serious injury on our roads. The number of deaths on our roads has decreased over the past couple of years. The decrease, though small, is welcome. A number of factors have contributed to this decrease, not least the intensive road safety campaigns mounted by the National Safety Council. These campaigns have brought about an increased awareness of road safety as evidenced by the change in public attitude to drink driving, which is no longer seen as socially acceptable at any level in society. However, it is still acceptable to speed, and perhaps the thrust of our campaigns should concentrate equally on speeding. I think speed is just as much a killer and I do not think the social awareness of the consequences of speed is as well developed as it is for drink driving. The number of road deaths is still too high, with an average of eight people dying on Irish roads every week. We need to do much more work both in preventive engineering, that is, intervening in the planning of our roads and in the education field. Half of those who die in the age group seven-24 die as a result of road accidents. Those are startling figures and everybody needs to be very concerned that so many of our young people end up dying on our roads. 919 It is important to appreciate that the Irish Insurance Federation has been sponsoring the National Safety Council's campaigns and they very generously have given £650,000 to the 1993 campaign in addition to the £248,000 given towards the promotional work of the National Safety Council. I am a member of the Dublin Road Safety Council, an excellent committee comprised of elected members of Dublin Corporation and representative of the motor industry, the Insurance Federation and others. We [919] have a common interest in preventing road accidents and devising safety campaigns for the Dublin Corporation area. I believe three other local authorities have such councils which specifically target their own local areas with a view to preventing road accidents. I think it would be a good idea to establish such a council in each local authority area. for example, we initiate campaigns on safe cycling and pedestrian safety and we run a traffic school in Clontarf for children. It is right to teach children of primary school level how to get about and weave their way through traffic. Our committee has been substantially improved by the very valuable contribution of Dr. Ray Fuller, Head of the Department of Psychology in Trinity College. He is making an excellent psychological input and educating us on the need for an evaluation of safety campaigns and methods which could be used to change attitudes. Road safety in the context of child safety is an important political issue, particularly in urban centres. Many people in Dublin South East—where I am a local authority member—and in my constituency of Dublin South have been politicised by the growing dissatisfaction at the level of commuter and freight traffic going through residential estates. The most frequent reason people contact me as their political representative is in relation to traffic management. The quality of people's lives is diminished because traffic management in Dublin city is at crisis point. Because of that the Dublin Transportation Initiative was set up by the local authority committee of which I am a member. This is an excellent initiative and we have just completed our final report of phase I. 920 The Dublin Transportation Initiative seeks to establish a vision of the city and to study the area of transportation and land use policy. In the past our planning and transportation policies were not synchronised which meant that the roads policy was not integrated with planning. That is why there is a chaotic traffic problem, particularly in Dublin city. The neglect of public transport services down through the years has given [920] rise to the need for the Dublin Transportation Initiative which comes down very firmly in favour of moving priority from the use of the private motor car and enhancing public transport by way of quality bus corridors and light rail. Planners and road engineers need to be integrated with a view to the final report of the DTI becoming part of our national development plan. I see light at the end of the tunnel in terms of transportation and planning in the greater Dublin area. Port access in Dublin is vital, many proposals for which—including a tunnel under the Liffey—are being put forward. That is preferable to the now discredited eastern by-pass. Of course, the completion of the C ring is vital. These matters have considerably diminished the quality of people's lives in Dublin city and county. There has been a positive chorus of requests in my constituency for traffic "calming"—which is now the buzz word. Basically, people are crying out for ramps or anything that will relieve the sense of frustration because their residential roads are no longer safe for their children. As politicians we should take an interest in the quality of people's lives. If people are happy they are better parents and better citizens. This is particularly so in areas of high social deprivation. If we had good, cheap public transport for areas of high density population, the quality of life would be substantially improved with a resultant decrease in crime and family stress. All these issues are related and, therefore, we need to have a broad approach to matters such as public transport. The fact that local authorities have so little money to spend on pedestrian crossings is a constant source of annoyance. The annual budget allocated to Dublin Corporation for the provision of pedestrian crossings is scandalous, enabling us to complete only a couple of schemes each year. In the context of DTI and traffic management proposals, I hope some mechanism will be found for funding local authorities to provide better pedestrian facilities. 921 I congratulate the Environmental [921] Research Unit who have carried out excellent surveys on driver attitudes, speeding, drink driving, etc. Their 1992 survey showed up interesting attitudinal facts. For example, 54 per cent of drivers correctly stated that the general speed limit was 55 miles per hour; 30 per cent believed the limit was higher than 55 miles per hour and 12 per cent believed it was less. This is an area of confusion as many people do not know the speed limit. In regard to drink driving, over half the drivers interviewed said that having consumed up to two alcoholic drinks they would drive, indeed, almost a quarter said they always did. Since this Bill reduces the level of alcohol permitted we will have to make it clear just how many drinks people can take. That will have to be part of the public awareness campaign. As the number of drinks consumed increased the proportion of people who were willing to drive decreased, although one fifth of motorists surveyed would drive after consuming more than two drinks. Even in the most extreme scenario 4 per cent of motorists said they would drive after consuming over six alcoholic drinks; 4 per cent is still enough to do a lot of damage on the roads. Further analysis of the research findings showed that males and those with the longest driving experience were most likely to risk driving after consuming large quantities of alcohol. By comparison the survey showed that those least likely to risk drink driving were young drivers in the 17 to 20 age group and female drivers. 922 In respect of the largest number of drinks consumed before driving, 6 per cent admitted to six pints or more; 5 per cent admitted to five pints; 6 per cent admitted to consuming four pints and 59 per cent admitted to consuming three pints. This suggests that approximately 30 per cent of drivers admit to driving on some occasions with blood alcohol levels which are probably in excess of the legal limit. Three-quarters of the drivers interviewed believed that someone convicted of driving with a blood alcohol level over [922] the legal limit would face disqualification. This ties in with their perception that the most effective deterrent for drink driving would be the risk of losing their driving licence. The research showed that the threat of disqualification was a greater deterrent than the risk of being involved in an accident. For that reason I welcome the mandatory disqualification of one year for first offences. The following startling statistic was brought to my attention by the Dublin Road Safety Council; in 1991 males accounted for 96 per cent of drink driving convictions while females accounted for 4 per cent. At that time I asked the commissioner if he could account for the difference. With a high percentage of female drivers in the State it is extraordinary that 96 per cent of the drink driving convictions should be males. Could it be that women are more responsible or is the Garda more lenient towards women in not asking them to be breathalysed? I should like to see the development and implementation of rehabilitation courses for drink driving offenders. That provision should be stitched into the present legislation which requires the taking of a driving test before a driving licence is restored. Development and evaluation of a driver training component, which includes risk assessment skills, would be useful. We will be tabling amendments to the Bill but, in general, we welcome it and look forward to Committee Stage. Debate adjourned. Dáil Éireann 433 Road Traffic Bill, 1993: Second Stage (Resumed). General Debate 19930701 | ||||||||||||||||||||||


text: | Dáil Éireann - Volume 664 - 16 October, 2008 Written Answers. - Hospital Services. Deputy Edward O'Keeffe Deputy Edward OKeeffe Deputy Edward O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will arrange for a person (details supplied) in County Cork to be admitted to hospital for a procedure or if she will refer them to the National Treatment Purchase Fund. [35287/08] Deputy Mary Harney Deputy Mary Harney Deputy Mary Harney: Operational responsibility for the management and delivery of health and personal social services is a matter for the Health Service Executive and funding for all health services has been provided as part of its overall Vote. Therefore, the Executive is the appropriate body to consider the particular case raised by the Deputy. My Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have the matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy. Patients waiting more than three months on a surgical waiting list may qualify for treatment under the National Treatment Purchase Fund. It is open to the person in question or anyone acting on their behalf to contact the Fund directly in relation to their case. Dáil Éireann 664 Written Answers. Hospital Services. Questions 20081016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||


text:
Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 18:52
just purchased some land and want to plant some fig trees. would like to plant some that will ripen at different times. i live in south Louisiana ,what kind should i plant? i have lots of room |
Follow-Up Postings:
I recommend you check the posts of contributors from Louisiana since everyone else's opinion will be based on experience in a different geographic area. With that said, if I were you I would look hard at the LSU varieties since they were developed in your area. |
The LSU Purple would be a good choice since it bears 3 crops through the year. I would plant some Celeste trees also. If you go to the LSU ag center website they have good fig growing guide with recommended varieties for La. I like Celeste because it is what I ate growing up in La. |
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