The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance is mourning the loss of two of its colleagues, missing believed killed, in the Garuda Indonesia crash at Yogyakarta airport yesterday. It is believed that 21 people lost their lives in the crash and dozens were injured.

Morgan Mellish, the Jakarta correspondent for the Australian Financial Review and Liz O’Neill, the spokeswoman for the Australian Embassy in Jakarta are two Alliance colleagues missing believed killed. Mellish won the 2006 Walkley Award for Excellence in Journalism in the business journalism category for his story: “The Robert Gerard Tax Scandal”.

The Alliance has called on all parties with knowledge relating to the death of five journalists in the East Timor town of Balibo during the 1975 Indonesian invasion to fully cooperate with an upcoming inquiry. A recent newspaper report says that the journalists were executed by order of senior officers in the Indonesian military. A new coroner’s inquest will be held in Sydney in February.

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has received funding from WorkCover to conduct research on the extent to which excessive hours are worked in the film, television and theatre industries and the impact working excessive hours has on individuals. We are hoping to use this research to develop an appropriate policy response and to inform the negotiation of future enterprise agreements and occupational, health and safety codes of practice. We have contracted the Workplace Research Centre from the University of Sydney to conduct this research. The Alliance seeks the participation of all film, television and theatre workers in the research and ask that you take the time to complete this important survey. All views are welcome. Click through to the online survey here...

The Alliance is appalled at the decision of the ABC to axe the satirical comedy TV program The Glass House in what looks to be a case of political interference. The announcement of the program’s axing happened just a day after Liberal NSW senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells accused co-host and Alliance member Corrine Grant of a conflict of interest, saying she is the public face of the ACTU’s campaign against the Government WorkChoices industrial relations regime. Full Press Release here...