Australians broadly agree that families are the backbone of our society. Yet due to housing prices, young families are relying on higher density dwellings that were normally not designed for young children in mind. Family support services are also being challenged due to rising costs especially from real estate related expenses. And what about making child care more affordable? And could there be more employer-based child care?

It is so flattering when the Lord Mayor and the other Councillors want to join in on the action. I had previously reported of the very successful 12 month campaign which I initiated to combat car hoons in our CBD.

Parramatta has one of the most enjoyable outdoor dining experiences in Australia. But nothing spoils an evening than hotted up cars and inconsiderate drivers drive past only centimetres away from excessive and obnoxious noise blasted onto diners, not to mention tyre smoke from revved wheels.

“When America sneezes, Australia catches a cold.” Well, with the American financial crisis the way it is, Australia’s “drug addicted like” credit system is experiencing its own withdrawal symptoms! What’s worse, the Labor NSW State Government is of no help, and the Federal Labor Government can’t even deliver all of its own stratospheric promises because of their careless and haphazard decisions.

The Chinese are everywhere! But relative to Australia, the Chinese population in Chicago is actually small (even though that’s not the opinion of Chicago citizens).

Hardworking, industrious, and certainly with its own experiences of past racial discriminations and anti-Chinese laws, Chinese Americans in Chicago today are an extremely proud race and an important Chicago community.

The May 2009 Budget proves to be the most challenging in two decades as the Federal Government juggles the conflicting aims of economic stimulus and preventing the deficit blowing out of control. Last May, the big problems for Wayne Swan and the Australian economy were a shortage of labour and growing inflation. This time, it’s rising unemployment and a global recession. Already Canberra has floated several balloons to test the weather for cuts to “middle class” social welfare, while also contemplating what further fiscal stimulus it might be able to apply.