Petition Tag - assessments

Children across Australia, from as young as six years old are bringing home school work.

Some schools are giving students over two hours of homework each week night and more on weekends.

Children and youth are attending school for six hours a day. When you calculate their homework load on top of that they are working the equivalent of an average adult working day, somtimes more. This is stopping many of them from pursuing childhood activities like playing while it is still light outside, social activities, sports and participating in quality family time.

Then there is the addition of performance anxiety when doing assessment and assignment tasks and exam stress throughout high school.

The unrealistic workload for children and high expectations to perform academically for youth is having an emotional and psychologic effect on them and their families.

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The UK Disabled Community needs to send a clear and unequivocal message in one unified voice to call on the Coalition Government to see us all as equal members of society and not treat us as a tool to steal our disability benefits and services to bail out the Country in this time of Financial Crisis.

Can we set a precedence to get 1 million signatures so that the Coalition Government will have no option but to take note of us and not just ignore or deflect our arguments & comments and to stop building this climate of hate against disabled people.

Please leave a question for your Local MP to pose to the Coalition Government, which we will add to the Petition when we deliver it to No.10.

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As a result of poor foresight and very significant maladministration, the Australian Federal Government's 'Green Loans Program' is set to end before mid-2010. That is less than one year from its inception.

Initial estimates given to assessors, who are at the core of the program, gave 31 December 2012 as a date for when assessments may no longer be required.

The aim of the program is to assist householders in making their homes more sustainable with the environment. An often quoted definition of sustainability appears in the 1987 United Nations Report 'Our Common Future'. It is also known as the 'Brundtland Report'. The definition is: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

Green Loans is an excellent movement towards sustainability. It allows for a trained professional to visit homes in his/her area and engage householders on how their homes can be made more energy efficient. The householder then receives a report of recommendations from the government for implementation. If a recommendation is expensive, they may apply for a green loan of up to $10,000. This is fee free and interest free for four years.

Poor monitoring of the program has resulted in a massive influx of people being registered as assessors. It has been suggested that training organisations over-enrolled students to their classes. A huge rush to complete assessments is occuring to recover training and other costs before the funding for the program is exhausted.

In many cases, householders have had to wait for many months to receive the report of recommendations from the government. This is issued after an assessment has been lodged with the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. Until such report is issued, householders are unable to apply for the green loan. Nor can they know what any of the recommendations are.

It has also been revealed in Senate Estimates Hearings that since 14 December 2009 one company, Field Force, has received preferential treatment in being able bypass the call centre in order to book assessments. With under 10% of the assessor workforce, they are booking over 6,000 assessments per week (roughly 30%). In addition, they are passing on only half of the fees receive to their employees. This is to the detriment of thousands of self-employed individuals who made a conscious, life-changing, decision to join the program. They are not able to get through to the central call centre to book assessments, or have to wait inordinate amounts of time to speak to a call centre operator when they do get through. Even then, only five bookings per call can be made.

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Update: Minister Garrett has today, 19 February 2010, announced that an additional 600,000 assessments will be rolled out. Funding will come by scrapping the less popular loans component of the program (this may have been less popular due to extensive delays householders faced in receiving the recommendations report). The number of assessors able to sign a contract with DEWHA will be capped at 5,000. The number of assessments per assessor will be capped at five per week and three per day and the number of total assessments per week will be capped at 15,000. From today, only individual assessors will be able to book jobs. The Green Loans Program will end on December 31, 2010 and Green Start will commence on 1 January 2011. Details on Green Start are promised in coming months.

Reaction has yet to filter through. As author of this petition, I am contactable on this page. The petition wording remains as it was since structural issues associated with the program continue to remain. These include:

* Uniformity in assessor knowledge, training and currency of knowledge;
* A need to investigate processes within DEWHA so that program changes (both present and future) can be incorporated smoothly;
* The establishment of a monitoring system (perhaps random), for both newer and older assessors.
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The quality of the program (and the extent to which it may have thus far been compromised) remains, as always, an important consideration.

The government has promised an upgrade to assessor qualifications (to Certificate IV level). This is to be at no additional financial cost to assessors, although additional time will need to be invested. This upgrade provides a significant opportunity to bring the program back on track.

Author's note (19 February 2010): online petitions carry the advantages of amendability (to a point) and accessibility from diverse physical locations. This is a spirited attempt to connect people to elected representatives. Any other communication activities which occur, in addition to this petition, so that we may sustainably manage resources of the planet is encouraged. They may be individual or group based.

Having said that I will, with the collection of a sufficient number of signatures, print off the petition and personally deliver it to the Prime Minister and perhaps all elected representatives. Feedback on who the most appropriate addressee/s is/are is welcome. Thank you.

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Homeowner Associations are currently not regulated but have Restrictions that protect them.

With the current market we are seeing a large amount of HOA fraud, fee gouging, misrepresentation, misdisclosure and raising and charging fees that are astronomical and in other businesses would be viewed as extortion.

It has been seen that HOA's are charging fees to some owners and not to others for the same offense, they are charging sellers fees, buyers fees and assessing amounts against properties not in compliance with the CC&R's or state statutues. Owners, buyers and sellers have little recourse other than litigation which is time intensive and costly. Also, if an HOA is in litigation lender requirements will not allow loan approval which ultimately ties up the entire HOA from seller properties.

In all the cases, the HOA has the advantage and ultimately they have all of the control. The management companies are assisting in the non compliance on behalf of the HOA's and act in any manner that is to their benefit.

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March 28, 2006

We the people of Sutter Creek HOA sign this petition in support to lower our monthly association Dues.

Petition Community Association (CA) is a generic term used to describe residential developments in which each owner is bound to a real estate organization by a set of governing documents that require adherence to a set of rules and the payment of assessments.

The money collected in assessments is used for the operation of the Association. Membership is automatic when a unit is purchased. CAs are not voluntary organizations.

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Petition for Referendum of Resolution No. 2003-12-04
Resolution No. 2003-12-04 is the adoption of special assessments levied against property owners in the city of Ada, totaling $860,089.74,
for Street Improvement District 2003-1.

To Shelly Kappes, Ada City Clerk:
We the undersigned, citizens and qualified voters of the city of Ada, respectfully order that Resolution No. 2003-12-04, adopted by the city council on December 2, 2003, at the regular city council meeting, be repealed in its entirety by the city council. If this resolution is not thereafter entirely repealed, it shall be placed on the ballot at the next election, or at a special election called for that purpose, as the council determines. If a majority of the voters voting thereon votes against the resolution, it shall be considered repealed upon certification of the election results.

Signers Oath: I affirm that I know the contents and purpose of this petition and that I signed this petition only once and of my own free will.
All information must be filled in by person (s) signing the petition unless disability prevents the person (s) from doing so.
All information on this petition is subject to public inspection.
As required by city charter, Chapter 5, sec. 5.02., this petition for referendum is sponsored by the five following voters:
Timothy E. Wagner 104 4th Street East Rolland Carpenter - 204 7th Street East Sue Merkens - 607 Lily Lane
Joyce Schlagel- 701 East 3rd Avenue Shirley Riley



A resolution, passed by the city of Ada, MN has imposed an unfair and unneeded assessment against most of the property owners of the city, for street maintance, totaling $860,000.00.

It is the intention of this petition to rescind this resolution, and force the council to take the funds necessary to pay for this project from the designated budget.

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