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This Week’s News in Review – Parks, Baths, Bullies and the Twittersphere

An international Parks Management Conference held in Adelaide this week explored the role of parks in maintaining a healthy quality of life for an urban population. Parks Beyond Boundaries presented by Parks Forum (Fenton Client) brought speakers from around the world together to discuss and present innovative initiatives to lead the way to a sustainable future. Guest speaker Enrique Penalosa, former Mayor of Bogota says that we must build cities for people rather than cars in order to create successful and sustainable cities.

More infants have drowned in baths than swimming pools in Victoria and Queensland over the past year, according to coronial statistics published in The Australian today. Queensland’s commissioner for children, Elizabeth Fraser has urged parents to always stay within arms reach of young children in the bath, even if they are with an older sibling. Lifesaving Victoria research manager Bernadette Matthew says infants can drown silently in as little as 20 seconds in only a few centimetres of water.

School bullies could face bleaker futures under a new scheme being introduced in New South Wales today. The BullyCheck scheme launched by ClubsNSW will see jobseekers aged 17 to 22 undergo character checks prior to employment and could see them refused if they are found to have been bullies at school. It has been touted as the first program focusing on consequences for bullies themselves rather than their victims.

In a world first Queensland University of Technology’s Institute for Creative Innovation has defined the ‘Twittersphere’ for the first time by establishing the connections and interests of more than 950,000 local twitter accounts and mapping the links of the 120,000 most connected. The map published in The Australian shows that evangelicals, ‘Beleibers’ (that’s Justin Beiber fans to those of you who aren’t teenage girls) and Adelaide foodies are among the most isolated groups. Have a look and see where you fit in.

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