Showing posts with label Kelmeny Fraser. Show all posts

See what is in the Sunday Mail

Published Sunday, July 08, 2012

Published on 7 Jul 2012 by McCarthyWood

Associated News Stories Online:

Abbey Medieval Festival picture gallery - http://s.mwurl.com/L0Fy81

IT WAS as if Lord Shiva - the Hindu god Shirley and Vijay Singh worship - had led police to the weapon used to murder their three children -http://s.mwurl.com/L0FF3q

The Sunday Mail has found a plane up to 5000kg costs $33.60 to park for a day compared to $42 for a car. Parking a plane is free for the first two hours, while it costs $17 to park a car - http://s.mwurl.com/L0FHZl

DOCTORS are accused of risking patients' lives by refusing to have flu jabs and could be forced to reveal their immunisation history -http://s.mwurl.com/L0FNjI

Box Man comes for public servants as Campbell Newman cleans out Queensland Government bureaucracy - http://s.mwurl.com/L0FQMg

Charlene the 3m saltwater crocodile to be left to canegrower John Casey's children in will - http://s.mwurl.com/L0FTry

QUEENSLAND Health is still over-paying employees $1.7 million every fortnight - and there's nothing the LNP Government can do to stop it -http://s.mwurl.com/L0FYvj

THE alleged "buxom bandit" has been busted, her sexy low-cut top replaced by dowdy prison browns - http://s.mwurl.com/L0G7ij

HUNDREDS of ships have been caught breaking laws intended to prevent an environmental disaster in the Great Barrier Reef - http://s.mwurl.com/L0G9qh

Church of Scientology in Brisbane recruitment drive amid Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes split, falling membership - http://s.mwurl.com/L0Gdq2

See What's in the Sunday Mail Today

Published Sunday, July 01, 2012

Published on 30 Jun 2012 by McCarthyWood

Newman ends $27m worth of Origin Energy contracts in campaign against electricity retailer's shock price rises - http://s.mwurl.com/N10lfp

Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce calls Senator Bridget McKenzie a 'flash bit of kit' in parliament - http://s.mwurl.com/N10sHS

Gerard Baden-Clay's parents refused to give interviews during effort to death of Allison Baden-Clay, court documents claim - http://s.mwurl.com/N10vU7

Olympic champion Grant Hackett relied on controversial sleeping pill Stilnox towards end of swimming career - http://s.mwurl.com/N10CPs

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott cashes in on carbon tax controversy that has divided voters - http://s.mwurl.com/N10HT3

Sunday Mail Investigation: Would you move overseas to retire?

Published Monday, May 28, 2012

Posted by: 4bc.com.au | 28 May, 2012 - 3:56 PM

Would you move overseas to retire? Well some couples are and they love it (they also still get the pension)! Sunday mail journalist Kelmeny Fraser joined Moyd and Loretta to talk more about this latest craze for retirees and how she first discovered the story.

Struggling seniors seek better deals

by:Kathleen Donaghey and Kelmeny Fraser

From:The Sunday Mail (Qld)

May 27, 2012 12:00AM

STRUGGLING pensioners are escaping skyrocketing living costs at home to "live like kings" in holiday hot spots overseas.

Triple the number of pensioners are now packing their bags to live out their final years in Asia compared with eight years ago.

Thailand, the Philippines and China are among the destinations of choice for retirees, government figures reveal, with the number of Australian pensioners in Asia leaping from 372 in 2002 to 1298 in 2010 - a rise of 249 per cent.

Full-time maids, beachfront units, dining out and cheap medical care are just some of the attractions.

"I would be working until I was 90 if I stayed in Australia - the prices are crazy," said one former Gold Coaster, found at Bangkok's airport with a suitcase and golf bag.

But it's not just retirees. Families and businesspeople are also swapping expensive bills and bureaucracy for a lavish Asian-based lifestyle.

For only $1, pensioners in Thailand can dine on delicious takeaway, while their Queensland counterparts eat baked beans.

A specialist doctor's fee sets them back $3.50 compared with hundreds here. Even costly dental fillings will only take $35 from their budget. Housing can be as low as $45 for a new serviced hotel, or from $97,000 to buy a three-bedroom house.

Ken and Helen Prince will retire to Thailand in August after selling their home at Kippa-Ring, north of Brisbane. The couple have been travelling to and from Thailand since 1997 after making friends through a cultural exchange home-stay program.

They will retire to a village in Thailand's far north on a part-pension, surrounded by young friends who will take care of them.

Mr Prince said living overseas would not affect his part-pension, but they would lose concessions.

"Whenever we go to Thailand for a month or three months there is more money in the bank when we come back than when we left," he said. "The pad thai we can buy around the corner here at the restaurant will cost you $15. Up there it will cost you $1.

"Any medical stuff we need, you just pay cash and (you are) a long way in front.

"The hospitals we are likely to go to compared with the Australian hospital, on a scale of 10, would be one or two points higher.

"As we get into our senior years, we can have salaried help. We can have three nurses on a rotation to take care of us in our home."

He said cultural differences also meant young Thais were more willing to care for elderly friends.

Pensioner groups have expressed outrage that so many are forced to leave their home country in their twilight years.

Australian Pensioners and Superannuants League of Queensland secretary Ray Ferguson said he knew pensioners who had moved to Asia purely for economic reasons.

"I don't think it's good from a political and moral perspective that seniors are forced to look overseas to live their senior years because of economic factors," Mr Ferguson said.

The full-age pension including the "supplementary payment" equates to $755.50 a fortnight.

The Federal Government has ordered a crackdown on overseas payments and will reduce the pension from January for people living outside Australia for more than six weeks. The number of overseas age pensioners soared 344 per cent between 1990 and 2010 from 13,996 to 62,148. The most popular destinations remain the former homelands of Italy and Greece.

National Seniors chief executive Michael O'Neill warned that moving to a developing nation did have its disadvantages.

"My best advice is do it for three months without selling up and get a taste for it rather than making a big change," he said.

AIR rifle owners could tear up their shooting licences and duck hunting season would be re-introduced in Queensland under a new policy by Bob Katter's Australian Party.

See full Sunday Mail story:http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/katter-calls-for-changes-to-gun...

Jim the Gem

Published Sunday, February 05, 2012

Related published Sunday Mail story:http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/sunday-mail/theres-gold-in-them-thar-hills...

Interview by Kelmeny Fraser: http://www.kelmeny.mwurl.com

I don't want a medal - Flood hero's snub

Published Monday, August 29, 2011

A HERO of the Queensland floods has rejected a state medal for his efforts, demanding the Bligh Government help victims before handing out awards.

*Click Here To Read More

Ant staffers 'indifferent'

Published Monday, August 29, 2011

A PROGRAM to eradicate fire ants was doomed to fail because it relied on field staff with no motivation to unearth new infestations, a former team leader claims.

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Stretched funds lost on seminar

Published Monday, August 29, 2011

DOMESTIC violence workers who paid hundreds of dollars to attend a Queensland conference have lodged an official complaint amid claims they were ripped off.

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Pay up or fire ants will spread to you - State calls for more cash as program stalls

Published Thursday, May 26, 2011

THE war against deadly fire ants could be lost amid claims the $250 million program to eradicate the pest has been badly mismanaged.

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Cameras take eradication to the skies

Published Thursday, May 26, 2011

THEIR bodies measure just a few millimetres long, but Queensland's best hope of discovering fire ants could be from more than 100m above.

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Qantas faces more worker turbulence.

Published Wednesday, May 18, 2011

DOZENS of Qantas flights are cancelled, engineers down their tools and the plans of thousands of travellers are thrown into disarray.

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Electricians warn Gillard Government that digital television accreditation scheme can be easily rorted

Published Monday, May 16, 2011

By Kelmeny Fraser - Sunday Mail

A TWO-STEP online process is all it takes to become a Federal Government-endorsed television set-top box installer.

The Federal Government has attempted to bar shonks from entering the industry by requiring that online applicants provide a series of documents.

But electricians warn the measures will not stop rorting of the online accreditation system under its digital television switch-over program.

*Click Here To Read More

Sneaky Credit Card Surcharges Anger Shoppers

Published Sunday, May 08, 2011

By Kelmeny Fraser - Sunday Mail

TWO out of every three Queensland traders will soon be slugging customers with a credit card surcharge as high as triple the actual payment fee it is meant to recoup.

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Queensland Office Of Fair Trading Blasted For Inaction In Rain Tank Rip-off

Published Sunday, April 17, 2011

By Kelmeny Fraser - Sunday Mail

QUEENSLAND'S fair trading regulator is under fire after failing to act on a tip-off about a rainwater tank venture that left a $1 million trail of debt.

More than 600 people paid deposits or in full for tanks advertised by companies Aqua Conscious and Columbus Sales Group.

*Click Here To Read More

Costly Flop

Published Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Savings tough to measure

By Kelmeny Fraser

NEW Local Government Minister Paul Lucas has admitted it will be ``difficult'' to pin down the cost savings of the state's controversial council mergers three years after redrawing the boundaries.

*Click Here To Read More