Privacy breached by uni cards? While Sydney University is warning student cards supplied by ANZ/Visa may have been compromised, there’s anger at cross-town university Macquarie over the introduction of new Commonwealth Bank-banked cards there. Staff are “incensed”, we’re told, that the university has supplied their details (at a minimum, name and date of birth) to a third party without consent. The National Tertiary Education Union has now raised the matter with the Privacy Commissioner. It states in its letter:
“NTEU … seeks advice (and action if appropriate) in relation to whether the University has breached any of the National Privacy Principles as covered under The Privacy Act 1988 in the establishment of this staff card facility. We understand that Privacy Principle 2, concerning Use and Disclosure may be particularly pertinent in this instance.”
No consultants in Newman’s office. New Premier Campbell Newman is sticking to his promised freeze on hiring consultants for the Queensland bureaucracy. A media rep from the Department of Premier and Cabinet gave us a slap for our tip yesterday that hired guns was propping up Newman’s public servants: “No consultants have been hired by the Dept of Premier & Cabinet since the election. No droves. None. Nil.” So that’s none then …?
NAB online trading goes down. Traders using NAB’s online platform had the plug pulled on them this morning. The bank said:
“NAB OnLine Trading is currently unavailable. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Our priority is to resolve these technical difficulties as quickly as possible. Please contact our service centre if you need to complete any urgent transactions 13 13 80 Monday – Friday 8:00 – 19:00 AEST.”
TV creates a new millionaire? From the 3AW Rumour File: “Caller Wayne says someone will be playing for the $1 million on Hot Seat next week, probably on Monday night.” Lock it in, Eddie.
The need for writing skills in government. After the mis-spelt invitation to electorate officers to attend a grammar and punctuation course yesterday, a Crikey reader suggests they should perhaps instead attend the graduate program offered by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service …
Talk about pots calling kettles black or people living in glass houses throwing stones!
The number of spelling mistakes or vocab confusion in Crikey is pretty horrific. Today’s? Someone, I can’t be bothered going back to check the article’s author but it’s pretty easy to find, is the substitution of ‘discrete,’ meaning ‘individually distinct,’ for ‘discreet’ meaning ‘capable of observing prudent silence’ (Webster’s). Last week’s egregious error was ‘prophesise’, no such word exists! for ‘ prophesy’ (verb).
Perhaps you should employ an experienced English teacher to proof-read your articles, my fingers itch for a red pen!