Tuesday, June 26, 2012 NEWCASTLE HERALD 7

HERALD NEWS

Region’s teachers tostrike

FREDDUMBRELL

ADRIANPICCOLI

By JACQUI JONESand AAP

HUNTER teachers will jointheir state colleagues to defyan order from the NSW Indus-trial Relations Commissionand go on strike tomorrow.

The NSW Teachers Federa-tion said yesterday the strikewould go ahead because thestate government had notchanged its position on givingprincipals more power.

A spokeswoman said thefederation did not know ifdefying the order would resultin a penalty.

Federation Hunter organ-iser Fred Dumbrell said theregion’s teachers were joiningthe 24-hour strike and wouldhold a meeting at 11am.

Education Minister Adrian

Piccoli asked yesterday that allteachers across NSW abide bythe commission’s order to go towork tomorrow.

‘‘Should the union execut-ive continue to defy the orderof the commission, the depart-ment will pursue penalties inthe IRC,’’ he said.

“If the union truly has stu-dents’ best interests at heartthey will not strike on Wednes-

day and they will cease ped-dling misinformation andundermining public educa-tion.”

Justice Michael Walton inthe commission yesterday or-dered teachers not to strike,saying it wasn’t in the publicinterest.

Teachers are upset at thegovernment’s Local SchoolsLocal Decisions policy, whichproposes to give principalsthe power to control 70 percent of a school’s budget andhire up to half of its staff.

‘‘We’re confident that themajority of parents willunderstand that we cannotstand by and allow our stu-dents’ education to be cut bythis government,’’ federationdeputy president Gary Zad-kovich said.

All eyesonnewaidtocataract surgery

MAPPED: Patient Bernard Kane uses the new cataract mapping machine. Pictures: Anita Jones

GUESS WORK GONE: DrDavid Manning.

By JACQUI JONESHealth Reporter

THE Hunter is embra-cing new technology toimprove the accuracy ofcataract surgery, one ofthe world’s most per-formed procedures.

Hunter Valley PrivateHospital is the first inNSW and the second inAustralia to use the$65,000 German-madeSMI surgical guidancesystem.

The device is designedto enable more accuratepositioning of lenses dur-ing eye surgery.

The machine takes aphoto of the eye, which issaved on a USB datastorage device.

This image is trans-ferred to the operatingtheatre and used withreal-time eye tracking toprovide extremely accur-ate alignment of a lens.

Ophthalmologist DavidM a n n i n g s a i d t h emachine took the guesswork out of a critical partof a cataract operation,which had relied on mak-ing a manual pen markon the eye.

After anaesthetic andonce a patient lies down,the eye can rotate, caus-ing misalignment of thelens.

Dr Manning said ascataract surgery was themost common operationin the world, people hadexpectations of perfectvision after the operation.

‘‘What this operation isfor is toric lenses, that’s tocorrect astigmatism,which is one of the mostcommon focus areas inthe eye,’’ he said.

Results of the proced-ure were already good,but eye surgeons wereconstantly striving forimprovement.

Dr Manning said then e w t e c h n o l o g yincreased accuracy andenhanced outcomes.

Bernard Kane, 83, isamong patients havingsurgery with the newtechnology.

The Waratah resident’svision had deterioratedsince he found out fiveyears ago that he hadcataracts.

He said the operationwas quick and painlessand made his sight muchclearer.

The new technologyassisted the surgeon’saccuracy, Mr Kane said.

HOWITWORKS■ Device takes a photo ofpatient’s eye, lookingstraight ahead■ Image saved to USBdata storage device■ Photo loaded on compu-ter in operating theatre■ A second camera underthe microscope takes aphoto of the patient’s eyewhile they are lying down■ The system lines up the

two photos and thecomputer registers theposition of the eye■ During the operation, thesystem tells the surgeonwhat axis the eye is sittingat or moving at■ Surgeon looks at the eyein real-time through themicroscope■ The computer projectsan image for the surgeon toline up the toric lens■ Surgeon implants lens

Pairheldoverdeath

STABBED: Michelle Smith.

TWO suspects have beenarrested for the murder ofAustralian travel agent Mi-chelle Smith, Thai police say.

Ms Smith, 60, of Perth, wasstabbed in the chest as shewas returning to her hotel onWednesday.

Police spokesman ColonelPhirayuth Karajadee said twomale suspects were in custodyin the southern province ofChumphon.

They were to be brought toPhuket yesterday afternoon.

Thai authorities had giventhe case top priority andoffered a reward for informa-tion leading to the arrest ofthe killers.

Ms Smith was stabbed dur-ing a botched purse-snatchingattempt by two men on amotorcycle. They fled withouttaking anything. DPA

Cheap fuelon itswayPETROL prices are forecastto drop by up to 5¢ a litre overthe next 10 days after hitting a17-month low last week, aneconomist says.

The average price ofunleaded petrol fell 3¢ to a17-month low of 138.6¢ in theweek ending June 24, datafrom the Australian Institute ofPetroleum showed.

As well, the national weeklymetropolitan retail price wasdown 3.2¢ to 135.2¢ a litre,while the rural average petrolprice dropped by 2.2¢ a litreto 145.7¢ a litre.

Commsec economistSavanth Sebastian said thedrop in petrol prices has been‘‘nothing short of dramatic’’and even ‘‘more astounding’’falls were ahead.

‘‘Motorists are certainly in ahappy place and will havefurther reason to celebrate incoming weeks,’’ he saidyesterday.

Melbourne had thecheapest unleaded petrol lastweek, at 128.¢ a litre, whileDarwin remained the dearest,at 157.1¢ a litre. AAP