THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 6 Number 1 | OCTOBER 2015
NEWS
03
55%
IN THE NEWS...
A tale of survival …
preference
rating as PM
FAITH and a lot of
courage made her
a real survivor.
Last month, the community was
rocked with the news on FilipinoAustralian teenager Kathleen Bautista of Canberra who had gone missing. Bracing for the worst, the Canberra police, her family, friends
joined hands to search for the 19year old university student.
After a week, she was found
alive though injured and dehydrated.
She had actually crashed her car and
fell 15 metres down a steep embankment in the Cotter reserve area, west
of Canberra.
According to the Canberra times,
despite leg and abdominal injuries
from the crash, Kathleen climbed at
least 100 metres uphill after escaping
her upturned car.
Search and rescue units narrowed their search for Kathleen tracing the last time her mobile phone
was activated which was within the
Black Mountain and Isaacs Ridge
area. Eventually search teams found
the teenager's car off the road and a
constable noticed Kathleen’s hand
high up on the embankment.
Fear turned to joy for the Bautista family.
“I want to sincerely thank ACT
Policing, ACT Emergency Services, ACT Ambulance and Parks and
Conservation for their absolute dedication in their search and rescue efforts. Your commitment and professionalism saved my life and for that
In this recent Herald Sun photo, Malcolm Turnbull poses for a selfie with a group of teenagers (Picture: Alex Coppel)
Recovering. She lives to tell her story.
The happy survivor with her father.
[Photo from the ACT Police FB.]
I will be forever grateful,” Kathleen
said in a post shared by the ACT Police on Facebook.
“To the community and my close
friends who gave out fliers and who
offered support to my family, I say
thank you. You wrapped your arms
around my family at a time of need.
Thank you all so very much for your
enormous love, support and prayers.
You guys rock!”
Amidst huge interest in her story,
the family had requested for privacy
and Kathleen’s only priority now is
her recovery and well-being.
“I’ve been under a lot of stress
lately and this experience has enabled me to take time to centre myself, be with family and loved ones,
and focus on getting well and receiving the care that I need at the moment.”
Malcolm takes over
29th Prime Minister of Australia
HE promises a new
“style of leadership
that respects the
people’s intelligence”.
One day last month, it just happened. Malcolm Turnbull became the
29th Prime Minister of Australia after defeating Tony Abbott in a leadership spill (54 to 44) of the Liberal-National Coalition. That may not be too
surprising anyway as the biggest political parties have the habit of changing
leaders (or catching up with the polls).
Mr. Turnbull hit the ground running while enjoying a high 55 per
cent rating as PM bringing the people’s confidence back in the government, no good news to Labor leader Bill Shorten who’s down at just
21 per cent.
So what’s interesting about Malcolm? Since entering public life, Mr
Turnbull has held a number of parliamentary positions including Shadow
Treasurer, Parliamentary Secretary to
the Prime Minister with responsibility for national water policy and Minister for Environment and Water Resources.
He was Leader of the Opposition
from 2008 to 2009 and was later Shadow Minister for Communications and
Broadband. Most recently, Mr Turnbull was Minister for Communications from September 2013 until a day
before he challenged the leadership.
His first major policy announcement as Prime Minister, together with
the Minister for Women, Michaelia Cash, is a $100 million package of
measures designed to provide a safety net for women and children at high
risk of experiencing violence.
He has appointed more female
cabinet members than any other PM.
Some other facts about him: he
was once listed as among the richest
parliamentarians in Australia making it to the BRW Rich List (estimated net worth A$186million); he’s very
friendly and down-to-earth, sometimes spotted riding public transport;
he’s a Roman Catholic after converting from Presbytarianism. His wife
Lucy was once Lord Mayor of Sydney
and he once served as chairman of the
Australian Republican Movement.
Born in Wentworth (MP for Wentworth since 2004), Mr. Turnbull had
worked as a lawyer, investment banker and a journalist.