AAP Internet Bulletin 0001 Saturday Feb 20, 1999

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-1999
AAP Internet Bulletin 0001 Saturday Feb 20, 1999





[A][NATION STATUS][QLD]

Hanson woes in Queensland, South Aust

One Nation has been stripped of its official party status in Queensland, with leader Bill
Feldman losing his bonus $20,000 leader's salary, state parliamentary speaker Ray Hollis has
confirmed.

The move followed the decision of three disgruntled One Nation MPs to leave the party and
sit as independents, leaving just five committed members and two who have yet to make a final
decision on their long term future in state parliament.

Mr Hollis said he had written to Mr Feldman informing him that under the Parliamentary
Members' Salaries Act any party whose parliamentary numbers drop below 10 is not officially
recognised.

He said under the legislation, Mr Feldman's salary now dropped to around $80,000 and he
lost a raft of other entitlements.

State cabinet can still opt to recognise One Nation as an official party, but a spokesman
for Premier Peter Beattie said yesterday no decision would be made until wavering One Nation
MPs Jeff Knuth and Dr John Kingston declared their political intentions.

Meanwhile, disgruntled One Nation members in South Australia are planning a breakaway party
after quitting in protest at what they term One Nation's lack of democracy.

About 25 members, including a former state vice-president and several branch presidents and
delegates, met yesterday to discuss how they could leave the party but maintain their branch
structures.

The dissidents' move was welcomed by national director David Ettridge, who said the loss of
the group was wonderful news because the members were of no use to One Nation.

Some of the members have already resigned from One Nation after a month of turmoil in the
South Australian branch, while others plan to quit after the party's annual general meeting in
Sydney on February 28.

They say the party is being run as a dictatorship, with too much power vested in the
national executive - Pauline Hanson, David Oldfield and Mr Ettridge - and they question the
management of the party's finances.





[A][WORKERS RUDDOCK][VIC]

Farmer appalled by workers' detention

A Victorian tomato producer who hired more than 40 overseas visitors arrested by Department
of Immigration officials said he was unaware they were prohibited from working in Australia.

Murchison farmer Joe Vraca called on the government to supply all Australians with a photo
identification card to confirm their work status to avoid future problems.

"We had no idea whatsoever (that these people were prohibited from working in Australia)"
Mr Vraca told A Current Affair.

"Over the course of the year, we probably get 700-800 people coming here looking for
work."

Mr Vraca said he did not check the visa status or identification credentials of the
workers.

"Just because somebody is of Asian appearance, doesn't mean they are illegal, does it?" he
asked.

"If someone's Caucasian and walks in off the street and says I want a job, am I expected to
ask him if he's an Australian citizen or not?"

Mr Vraca said 19 of the workers were tied up with rope and treated like animals.

Mr Vraca said the workers (33 men and 11 women from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Israel,
China, Korea and Samoa) were tied up for about four hours on Thursday and he was appalled by
it.

"They reminded me of cattle being taken to the slaughter yard."

A further seven illegal workers were arrested in the region later yesterday, while 19
illegal workers were arrested in Queensland after immigration officials raided a stone fruit
farm near Brisbane.





[I][UN BUTLER][FED]

Saddam could face down UN -- Butler

As United Nations arms inspectors prepare for a new approach to Iraq, their Australian boss
has warned Saddam Hussein could succeed in facing down the UN on disarmament.

The beleaguered head of the stalled UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) Richard Butler said in
Melbourne the atmosphere was "pretty negative", and warned that a new move to long-term arms
monitoring must remain intensive.

"They (the Iraqis) are making very bellicose noises at the moment. There is an attitude of
real, I think, defiance of the security council," Mr Butler told reporters.

Mr Butler met Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Thursday night and told him Iraq could
succeed in "facing down the laws passed by the security council."

He left open the possibility of heading up a revamped inspection program after first
declaring it was not his "present intention" to extend his contract when it ended on June 30.

On Tuesday, a Security Council panel will begin reviewing the future of the program, with
or without Mr Butler, in the face of continued defiance by Baghdad.

Mr Butler said he would walk away from UNSCOM if the panel decided "UNSCOM II" had better
prospects of success under new management.

But he added: "If it turns out that that's not the case then I'll think about it."

It was hoped inspections would resume in Baghdad in April with the council considering
moving from a focus on disarmament to long-term monitoring, Mr Butler said.

This should include intrusive inspections with no notice, he said.

Mr Butler is in Australia to address a Melbourne conference commemorating the 1899 Hague
Peace Conference and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.





[X][Y2K BUSINESSES][FED]

Businesses ignoring Y2K bug: survey

Nearly half of Australian businesses plan to ignore the Year 2000 computer bug. And of the
businesses which do plan to take action against Y2K, half had not even begun to do so by
October last year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.

The ABS said 93 per cent of businesses were aware of Y2K but only 58 per cent had taken
action or would act before January 2000 to avoid problems caused by the computer bug.

In total, 42 per cent of all businesses - mainly small businesses or farmers - did not plan
to take action against Y2K.

Sixteen per cent of businesses had begun work to combat the problem, 13 per cent were
either testing or had completed their Year 2000 preparation and 30 per cent were yet to
begin.

The electricity, gas and water supply industry was most likely to have already taken action
against Y2K, while the construction industry was least likely, the survey found.

A quarter of businesses said they did not believe they would be affected and 16 per cent
were either unsure what action to take or unaware of the problem.

The survey found nearly all (99 per cent) of large businesses employing 200 people or more
were aware of the problem, compared to only 54 per cent of small businesses with only one to
four employees.

The cost of preparation for 2000 rose in proportion with the size of the company, with half
of all large businesses spending more than $100,000.

"Those businesses which intend to take action on the Year 2000 problem make a significant
contribution to the Australian economy," the survey said.





[A][HEROIN WOOLDRIDGE][VIC]

Wooldridge rejects heroin trial calls

Federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge, once one of the few advocates of a legalised
heroin trial, has rejected calls by some former opponents for its revival.

Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett and chief police commissioner Neil Comrie, who had favoured
the hard line prohibitionist approach, yesterday said the trial should be considered.

Even New South Wales Premier Bob Carr - a hardline opponent of a trial - said it should at
least be discussed again.

At least 60 people have died of heroin overdoses in Victoria since the beginning of the
year, outstripping the road toll.

Mr Kennett said he felt helpless in the face of the growing drugs problem and welcomed Mr
Comrie's new support for heroin trials.

"I think it is another expression of how we are all frustrated to find a way in which we
can try to put a lid on this scourge," Mr Kennett said about Mr Comrie's changed position.

But Dr Wooldridge was unimpressed.

"That's very nice. I just wish he'd been around 18 months ago when there was actually the
chance to do something about it," he told reporters.

"With the exception of (ACT chief minister) Kate Carnell, every one of them, including him,
18 months ago ran a mile.

"The notion of a heroin trial actually had extraordinarily little support and I haven't
actually seen an awful lot of change in that support."





[A][TAVERN SENTENCE][NSW]

Brothers jailed for policeman's death

A 33-year-old man has been jailed for at least 21 years for murdering policeman David
Carty, who was fatally stabbed and savagely bashed by a group of men in a Sydney hotel
carpark.

In setting a maximum of 28 years, Justice James Wood said yesterday Gilbert Adam's
culpability was aggravated by him carrying a knife, by the target of the attack being a
policeman, and by the involvement of a group.

"This was a cowardly, brutal group attack on an unknown man who offered no provocation or
reason for the confrontation," the judge said in the New South Wales Supreme Court.

He jailed Adam's 31-year-old brother, Richard, for a minimum of two years and a maximum of
two years eight months, for maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on the 25-year-old
policeman.

"A decent and dedicated young police officer lost his life for no good reason whatsoever in
the few moments that were both inexcusably and wholly unnecessary," the judge said.

Because others have yet to face trial over the death, Justice Wood restricted his findings
to the brothers, who maintained their innocence despite jury guilty verdicts.

The Adam family, from Fairfield in western Sydney, fled from Iraq between 1987 and 1995,
escaping the "oppressive and brutal regime of Saddam Hussein" which executed the eldest
brother, he said.

In the early hours of April 18, 1997, they were at the Cambridge Tavern at Fairfield where
a number of Assyrians had gathered and where Constable Carty was having a few drinks with two
colleagues after work.

"The involvement of the two prisoners in the fight that led to the wounding and death was
impulsive and not premediated," the judge found.

"I am satisfied that each person involved at the early stage shared the intention to kill
David Carty," he said.





[A][STRUCK][SA]

Youth dies after struck by police car

A 16 year-old boy has died after he was run over by a police car in a scrubland search that
went tragically wrong.

Police have launched a top-level Commissioner's Inquiry into the boy's death, which
followed a series of events in the South Australian mid-north town of Whyalla early
yesterday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Neil McKenzie said the boy was arrested for alleged property
damage after police were called to a disturbance shortly after 3am.

"He subsequently escaped from the police officer and whilst being pursued through an area
of bushland which has scrub and saltbush in it, the police vehicle ran over this man and
mid-morning the person died," Mr McKenzie told reporters.

"On my understanding, the headlights were being used in an effort to locate the person
rather than a full-blown chase being in place.

"The advice that I have is that the police officer was unaware of where the person was and
indeed was searching for him at that time however ... I'm not aware of the full facts and that
is for the investigation to really determine."

Mr McKenzie said it was not known how the boy escaped but the Commissioner's Inquiry would
fully investigate the matter and report within weeks, with the results to be made public.

There were two police officers at the scene when the boy was arrested but one left to
attend another disturbance and only one officer was involved in the search for the boy.

"It was an extremely busy night at Whyalla. There was a disturbance going on at one of the
hotels in Whyalla and one of the officers left to go there," Mr McKenzie said.

Mr McKenzie said the officer involved in the incident was well respected and was upset by
the incident.





[A][KRAKOUER][WA]

Former footballer jailed for 16 years

Former AFL star Jimmy Krakouer has been sentenced to 16 years' jail for trafficking 5.3kg
of amphetamines from Melbourne to Perth in 1994.

Perth District Court Judge Robert Viol imposed the same sentence Krakouer received at his
original trial.

Krakouer, 40, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring to possess and attempting to possess the
drug with intent to sell or supply.

Judge Viol gave Krakouer 16 years for the conspiracy charge and eight years for attempted
possession, to be served concurrently.

The former North Melbourne rover was convicted of the same charges in October 1995.

The conviction was quashed by the High Court in June last year because the judge was found
to have misdirected the jury on a fundamental legal point.

The new trial heard that the 5.3kg of amphetamines was one of the largest quantities of the
drug ever seized in Western Australia.

The amphetamines had been packed into 12 plastic freezer bags which were then put into two
garbage bags and stuffed behind the inside door panels of a Datsun Bluebird that Krakouer had
arranged to be transported to Perth from Melbourne.

Inside the court, Krakouer's lawyer Mark Dean submitted that Krakouer had "run the full
gamut of legal processes" during his original trial and subsequent appeal, followed by the
quashing of the original conviction and his release on bail.

"It is easy to lose sight of the strain a process such as this would have on an
individual," he said.





[A][MUIR][FED]

'Millions siphoned' in government fraud

Hundreds of thousands of dollars were siphoned off within days of its transfer from the
federal Department of Finance in an $8.7 million fraud, a court in Canberra has heard.

The commonwealth yesterday succeeded in adding another nine companies and individuals to a
list of defendants whose assets it is seeking to freeze.

The matter has been stood over until Tuesday.

Earlier this morning, David John Muir, 30, of the inner Canberra suburb of Griffith,
appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on two charges of fraud and two of imposing on the
commonwealth.

Muir, a consultant, allegedly defrauded the department of $8.725 million by transferring
funds to outside accounts, with the money allegedly used to buy shares in mining companies.

He was remanded on bail to appear again on March 19.

An hour later, the ACT Supreme Court was told a total of 18 companies and individuals could
be traced to "a cascade of funds" from the two Finance Department transactions - $6 million
last April and $2.725 million last September.

"What happens is the money is siphoned out within days," prosecutor Michael Slattery told
the court.

Mr Slattery presented a series of diagrams to the court, showing a variety of companies and
unit trusts among which the funds were disbursed.

"There is in effect a complete intermingling of funds from each transaction," he said.





[I][UK SURFIE][UK]

Aussie surfer shows too much for Brits

An advertising campaign featuring an Australian surf lifesaver has fallen foul of British
censorship because it revealed too much flesh.

Queensland tourist bosses planned to use a London cab to promote the Gold Coast to British
holidaymakers after Britain's Olympic and Paralympic teams chose the region as the venue for
their pre-Sydney 2000 training camp.

But the symbol they chose - an Aussie surf lifesaver shown from the Speedos up - was vetoed
by the Metropolitan Police as far too risque.

A compromise was reached and the offending lifesaver will now only be shown from the
shoulders upwards.

Queensland Tourism Commission manager Andrew Sinclair said all proposals for taxi
advertising had to be submitted to the Metropolitan Police and they had been advised their
design would not be passed.

Police have previously stepped in to restrict provocative street advertising campaigns such
as Wonderbra, for fear that drivers might be distracted.

But Sinclair denied there was anything obscene about the Queensland advert and blamed the
British aversion to naked flesh.

"We had a nice Aussie lifesaver on the side of a taxi and we have had to lower him because
of the conservative nature of the UK," he said.

"It was just his chest, his upper torso from his belly button to his head."

The taxi will be unveiled today by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who promoters have
promised will be accompanied by a Queensland surf lifesaver 'in the flesh'.





[I][INCEST ABORTION]

Teenager jailed for impregnating sister

An immigrant teenager who pleaded guilty to having sex with his 12-year-old sister has been
sentenced to six months in jail in Mount Clemens, Michigan and faces deportation to his native
India.

Family members went to court last year to win the right to take the girl to Kansas for a
late-term abortion, which is illegal in Michigan.

Her 18-year-old brother, who was 17 when the girl got pregnant, pleaded guilty in December
to criminal sexual conduct. He could have gotten two years in prison.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service said it will deport him when he finishes his
jail term. The parents, factory workers who came to the United States 18 months ago, said they
will leave the country if he is deported.

Judge Roland Olzark and prosecutor Steven Kaplan said the parents bear significant
responsibility for putting their son and daughter in the same small bedroom.

"I see a young man with an excellent future, absent this offence," the judge said.

The girl and parents had opposed prosecution and asked that he not be jailed. All three
were in court today but did not speak.

The teenager, who must report to jail within a week of his graduation from high school in
June, was also given three years of probation.

Immigration law requires the deportation of non-citizens who commit what the government
considers "aggravated felonies," said INS District Director Carol Jenifer in Detroit.

"He is not eligible to remain in this country," Ms. Jenifer said.

But defence lawyer Arthur Garton said kicking his client out of the country would punish
his entire family.





[A][TWINS INQUIRY][FED]

ALP calls for AIS eating disorder inquiry

The federal government has been accused of negligence for failing to look into athletes'
claims that they suffered abuse and developed eating disorders at the Australian Institute of
Sport (AIS).

According to a report in the Courier Mail yesterday, the two former world junior squash
champions were planning to launch a $20 million legal action for compensation.

The revelation followed complaints against the AIS made by more than two dozen leading
tennis players, accusing the institute of verbal abuse, standover tactics and causing some
eating disorders.

The federal opposition's sport spokeswoman Kate Lundy called on Sports Minister Jackie
Kelly to set up an independent inquiry into the allegations.

"(They) need to be dealt with in an open, transparent and accountable way without athletes
fearing discrimination or retribution," Senator Lundy said in a statement.

"(Miss Kelly) has known about these allegations for some time.

"She is negligent in not providing for an appropriate forum to investigate these
allegations in a manner that ensures due process is followed."

Senator Lundy said the minister must provide the additional funds for an independent
inquiry, and that it would be unreasonable to expect the AIS to use up its limited resources.

"It is essential that the minister act immediately to ensure that the reputation of the AIS
is not harmed because the government is not forthcoming with funds needed for an independent
investigation," she said.

According to the newspaper report, identical twins Kate and Emma Major claimed they
suffered discrimination and harassment at the AIS and as a result developed eating disorders.





[T][LEAGUE DRUGS][RL]

MacDougall 'must keep taking steroids'

Newcastle winger Adam MacDougall's rugby league career could be in doubt unless a second
suspension for a drug offence is overturned.

The 23-year-old was suspended for 22 matches on Thursday night after being found guilty of
taking Sustanon 250, a prescription drug containing a performance enhancing steroid.

But according to his manager George Liolio, MacDougall must continue to take the drug in
order to produce the male hormone testosterone -- despite it being on the National Rugby
League's banned list.

Liolio said MacDougall and his lawyers were reviewing options for an appeal to the
suspension, of which 11 games have already been served concurrent with last year's sentence
for taking a banned performance-enhancing stimulant.

While the NRL Drug Tribunal accepted in its judgment that MacDougall took the drug to
correct a natural testosterone deficiency resulting from a head injury which impaired the
function of his pituitary gland, it concluded it was also a deliberate use of a banned
substance for performance enhancing.

"In our view the only conclusion open is that it was taken for performance enhancing," the
judgment said.

Liolio said the tribunal had accepted MacDougall took the steroid for medical purposes and
"they acknowledged it was a world apart from any other cases of steroids".

"It should be observed that at neither tribunal hearing has the tribunal indicated an
unpreparedness to accept Adam's explanations," Liolio said.

"The tribunal accepted his explanation in its entirety.

"The tribunal however is required to work within a strict legal framework."





[T][UK SHEEPDOG][UK]

Murdoch sheepdog trials to go global

First it was Test cricket and Premiership football. Now sheepdog trials have been snapped
up by the Murdoch broadcasting empire which plans to make the sport global with a contest to
find the world's top sheepdog.

Britain's Sky TV has stepped in and snapped up the rights to cult TV show One Man and His
Dog after the BBC decided to axe the program after 23 years on air.

And the company revealed it was holding talks with the International Sheepdog Society with
plans to set up global sheepdog contests when British quarantine laws are relaxed.

Although the show attracted only one million viewers, a small amount for terrestrial TV in
Britain, news that it was to be dropped prompted an outcry from farmers, MPs, and the
countryside lobby.

The show is a national institution and has recently been adopted by nightclub promoters,
who use it to chill out clubbers.

Explaining Sky's decision to resuscitate the program, head of broadcasting James Baker said
the series had an "unbelievably loyal following' and fantastic potential for future growth.

"The backlash following the demise of One Man and His Dog (OMAHD) has been immense," he
said, adding that Sky planned to present a regular series of sheepdog competitions and to beam
the show into Europe where it had many devotees.

"We envisage eventually staging a fantastic contest to find the world's top sheepdog,"
Baker said.

"Once we have passports for pets the sky will be the limit for OMAHD.

"We have done a lot of research already and discovered that there are numerous sheepdog
societies in Australia and New Zealand, America, Japan and Europe and even the Falklands."





[I][KOSOVO TALKS]

Kosovo mediator makes last-ditch trip

With peace prospects slipping and NATO bombers ready, the chief mediator at the Kosovo
peace talks flew to Belgrade Friday in a last-ditch effort to persuade Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic to accept a peace accord with ethnic Albanians.

Christopher Hill, the American mediator leading the talks in Rambouillet, France had a
mission to "reiterate with no ambiguity the position we are in 24 hours before the deadline
expires," said American spokesman Philip Reeker.

Hill left France as US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright prepared to fly to France for
a last attempt to get the Serbs to sign a peace deal with Kosovo Albanians.

Even as mediators spoke of progress, however, Washington buzzed with talk of missiles,
planes and bombs, matched by harsh words from top officials like Albright and Defense
Secretary William Cohen.

In Europe, French and British foreign ministers sent dire last warnings to Belgrade.

With a noon Saturday deadline looming over negotiators trying to forge a Kosovo peace deal,
Russian President Boris Yeltsin cautioned the United States over military action against
Yugoslavia.

At the same time, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic pleaded with the United States and
the five other members of the Contact Group - Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Italy - to
stop pressuring Yugoslavia over the issue of NATO troops in Kosovo and focus the talks in
Rambouillet on politics.

Hill, the American mediator leading the peace talks at a Rambouillet chateau, said earlier
that comments on the Contact Group's proposed peace plan had been reviewed and integrated into
a "final version."

That document, he said, has been presented to Serb and Kosovo Albanian sides with "a kind
invitation to consider it as a final version."

The major problem has been a military annex to the proposed agreement which calls for
28,000-30,000 NATO troops to deploy to Kosovo and ensure the deal is implemented. The Serbs
refuse to accept NATO troops on Yugoslav soil.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 0001

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.