AAP Internet Bulletin 1100 Friday Feb 19, 1999

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-1999
AAP Internet Bulletin 1100 Friday Feb 19, 1999





[A][AIRLINES][FED]

Qantas: open skies will close routes

Qantas Airways chief executive James Strong warned today of a "rationalisation" of regional
air services if the federal government backs a plan to open domestic routes to foreign
carriers.

Federal cabinet will next month decide on a recommendation from the Productivity Commission
for Australia to negotiate an "open skies" agreement with other countries.

But Mr Strong said such a move would force rationalisation in the aviation industry and his
warning was supported by Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer.

Mr Strong said no other country allows foreign countries to pick off routes in the domestic
system.

"There's very uneven distribution of profitability around Australia in airline operations
as there is in many other industries," he told ABC radio's AM program.

"If you force severe rationalisation then obviously that means that companies that have to
get a return on the funds invested have to take steps to adjust their operations."

Mr Fischer said he took note of the concerns of Qantas and Ansett Airways, which yesterday
both announced big profits.

"We're not about gutting their operations by giving away the prize of open skies without
something in return," Mr Fischer said.

Transport Minister John Anderson and the cabinet would be giving the matter careful
consideration and would take particular note of the comments from Qantas, he said.

"We have to find a way forward which does not jeopardise unfairly, unjustly," Mr Fischer
said.





[A][OCALAN AUST][FED]

Govt concedes Oly security in doubt

Federal Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone conceded today that security for the Sydney
Olympics needed to be looked at in the wake of the lapses which allowed a violent attack this
week on the Greek consulate in central Sydney.

Sixty-five Kurdish protesters were arrested for storming the city office block early on
Wednesday, some dousing themselves with petrol and threatening to set themselves alight.

The New South Wales government said police did not receive any specific warning from
federal authorities that the Sydney consulate might be targeted by Kurdish demonstrators
following the capture by Turkish authorities of Kurd rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

As the federal and NSW police continued to point the blame at one another, Senator Vanstone
said the incident raised questions about Olympic security.

"I'd like to hear from NSW as to what local police were in fact deployed and what
understanding they did have of the situation," she said when asked on Channel Nine's Today
show about implications for the Olympics.

"But I think the question of security arrangements needs to be discussed."

Senator Vanstone insisted that federal authorities gave NSW police specific warnings on the
night before the consulate raid that Greek and Turkish missions might be attacked.

"With three phone calls between 7pm and midnight, what does anyone think these people were
talking about?" she said.

"Do they think they were having a chat about the weather? These are specialist security
people who are ringing the NSW Police security group. They're not ringing for the purpose of
having a chat."

Senator Vanstone denied that the large number of federal agencies involved in security at
diplomatic missions caused confusion.





[T][OLY BRIBES BAIRD][FED]

Media bosses deny Olympics deal

Media tycoon Kerry Packer and other newspaper publishing entities today firmly denied
claims of secret deals by the Sydney press to not report on the fawning and spending during
the city's 1993 Olympic bid.

Former Olympics Minister and bid member Bruce Baird, now a Liberal backbencher, told
federal parliament there was an agreement with News Ltd's then Australian chief Ken Cowley,
the Sydney Morning Herald's John Alexander and Channel Nine owner Mr Packer.

Mr Baird, one of 15 members of the board charged with winning the 1993 bid, also defended
the lavish spending of the team, saying that sponsors would have been unhappy if the committee
had not done all it could to secure the games.

"At the time we did the bid, we had an agreement from Ken Cowley of News Ltd, from Kerry
Packer, and from John Alexander of The Sydney Morning Herald that they knew we would be going
into a high level of duchessing and they were satisfied that that would be okay and they would
not run the normal stories about it," Mr Baird said.

But the three media figures named all denied Mr Baird's claim.

Mr Packer was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald that the claims were "absolute
bull."

"And if you want a rude reply, I will give you one of those," he said.

Mr Alexander, the former Sydney Morning Herald editor-in-chief, said he was bemused by the
suggestion.

"I cannot recall anybody from either Bruce Baird's office or anybody else involved in the
initial SOCOG committee suggesting to me directly we should only run favourable pieces," he
told ABC radio.

Mr Cowley confirmed a meeting with Mr Baird but denied coming to any such agreement.

"Well, I'm astounded and shocked by his statement," Mr Cowley told ABC radio's AM program.

"To think that I would sit there thinking I could make an agreement with him about all my
editors at my newspapers is even more outrageous.

"I have never nor has News Ltd ever made an agreement with a politician."

Mr Cowley said the only time newspapers might agree to suppress news was during a war.

The Sydney Morning Herald's editor at the time, Max Prisk, backed Mr Alexander's assertion
that the paper was never approached by Mr Baird.

"I'm quite puzzled. Baird obviously thinks that something happened at the time but whatever
deal he thought he had in place it certainly didn't have any reality as far as the Herald is
concerned," Mr Prisk told ABC radio.

"I wish I knew then what I know now about the way they operate. I would have put a team on
it permanently."

Although the Herald was excited about the Olympics coming to Sydney, Mr Prisk said the
story was covered like any other.

"It is a huge thing for the city but that doesn't extend to saying okay, let's be nice guys
and let them do whatever they want," he said.

Sydney Lord Mayor Frank Sartor said major media companies were approached during the bid to
secure their support.

But Mr Sartor said no agreement was reached with three media companies to run stories on
aspects of the bid's lobbying campaign.

He said Olympic organisers tried to secure support during the bidding process from Rupert
Murdoch's News Ltd and Mr Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.

"I don't think there was any agreement by them that they wouldn't run unfavourable stories,
but we certainly approached them to support the bid and they all did support the bid, they all
said that they would," he told ABC radio.

"But that's different to suppressing news stories.

"Whether their reporting was coloured by their support for the bid is another matter."





[A][TAX EDUCATION][FED]

GST would raise school costs -- union

The proposed GST would increase school costs by $200 for every school pupil, a major
education union said today.

In a written submission to the senate GST inquiry the Australian Education Union (AEU) said
it was wrong for the government to say education would be GST free.

The AEU said food, books and other learning materials and all professional development and
training should be exempt if GST legislation was to go ahead.

It said lower income families, already struggling to pay for schooling, would be hardest
hit by a GST.

The AEU said independent research showed that the GST would add $200 a year to the cost of
schooling for all boys and $206 for girls.

"This could easily rise to $300 if some extras such as music, ballet or sports are
undertaken outside the school," the submission said.

The AEU said in many cases extra education costs caused by the proposed GST would
substantially cut into planned GST compensation.

One of the government's proposals, a family tax initiative, to compensate parents for child
related GST costs, was far from adequate.

"It is clear that the family tax initiative nowhere near covers the costs of schooling, let
alone any other child related GST costs! In many cases the GST cost of schooling exceeds the
amount of the family package," it said.

The AEU said the planned GST was regressive, and would push up inflation but would not
boost employment.





[A][MIGRANT SCIACCA][FED]

ALP yet to back migrant plans -- Sciacca

Labor's immigration spokesman Con Sciacca said today he had yet to win federal party
approval for his plan to support a sharp rise in migrant intake.

Mr Sciacca said he backed the business lobby's call for an annual intake of 123,000 in the
1999 financial year - 43,000 more than this year's migrant intake.

But he said he was still to raise the matter with other federal Labor members or the
opposition frontbench.

"I haven't discussed it at caucus level or shadow ministry level," he told ABC radio.

Mr Sciacca said it was a good time to look at an immigration program to enhance Australia's
long term economic viability.

The emphasis should be on skilled and economic migration that also enabled more family
reunions, he said.

Mr Sciacca called for a bipartisan approach to make his proposal workable.

"There's no political mileage in it for Labor, quite the contrary, but we will try and
convince the public it's right for our nation," Mr Sciacca told the Australian newspaper.

"I want to shout it out and open up the debate a bit more."





[A][HEROIN KENNETT][VIC]

Drugs scourge frustrating -- Kennett

Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett said today he felt helpless in the face of the growing drugs
problem.

He also welcomed Police Commissioner Neil 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.

Mr Kennett said he would call for a coordinated national approach to the drugs issue at the
next premiers conference.

The conference should not just address the question of heroin trials but also improve the
scanning of Australia's coastline, better surveillance of airports and ports, more monitoring
of likely drug peddlers, and the treatment of addicts.

More than one person a day has died in Victoria from a heroin overdose so far this year.

"It is hopelessly frustrating," Mr Kennett told a Liberal Party breakfast.

"I can manage the economy better; I can manage relationships with the union; I feel in one
sense helpless in terms of this issue of drugs."

Mr Kennett said the heroin problem presented an "appalling dilemma".

He said he was prepared to support a national heroin trial, allowing addicts to use the
drug under supervision. However, there were equally legitimate arguments that such safe houses
could result in more people using drugs.

"I don't know the answer. I don't think anyone knows the answer and that's why we are all
struggling."

Heroin overdosing was not occurring in Victoria to the same extent as in other developed
countries around the world, he said.

Another issue of concern to Mr Kennett - depression - will also be raised at the premiers'
conference.

Mr Kennett said depression was the second biggest killer in the world after heart disease
and the problem had to be handled on a national basis.

He had put his suicide taskforce on hold while he considered how to address the issue.

Mr Kennett said he would contact Australia's best experts on depression and ask them to
meet him to discuss what could be done.





[A][WORKERS][VIC]

Call to legalise tourist fruit pickers

Australian governments should consider offering legal employment to backpackers and other
visitors to overcome the shortage of fruit and vegetable pickers, Victorian Agriculture
Minister Pat McNamara said today.

Mr McNamara said the problem was highlighted by the detention yesterday by Immigration
Department officials of 44 alleged illegal workers at two tomato farms in northern Victoria.

Mr McNamara said fruit and vegetable growers should be able to employ visitors such as
backpackers on visas if they could not get local labour quickly enough to pick a ripe crop.

"I'm not excusing people behaving illegally. But we do have a major problem in trying to
find employment, particularly in that horticultural area - it's not just in the Goulburn
Valley - it's right across Australia .

Mr McNamara, himself a farmer in the Goulburn Valley in Victoria's north, said it was an
issue that concerned agricultural ministers across Australia - finding enough people who were
prepared to do "that hard physical, manual work".

Mr McNamara said consideration should be given by Australian governments to making legal
what presently was illegal - people harvesting fruit and vegetables in breach of their visas.

"I think we actually have to consider that, if we're going to see a lot of our
horticultural industries continuing to grow.

"I know in Israel they bring manual labour in on a contract basis."

He said the main thing would be to ensure that the workers were rewarded appropriately,
that they were covered for WorkCare and such basic requirements, and the tax was paid.





[I][KOSOVO TALKS]

Serbs reject NATO, peace deal in jeopardy

Ignoring a fast-approaching deadline and NATO preparations for airstrikes, the Serbs
remained firm today in their rejection of foreign peacekeeping troops, threatening to wreck a
Kosovo peace agreement with ethnic Albanians.

The Western demand that any deal for Kosovo be policed by NATO-led troops, the key element
of the draft peace agreement, also has exposed deep differences between the United States and
Russia, Serbia's political ally.

NATO has threatened airstrikes against Serbia if an agreement is not reached by the noon
Saturday, a deadline imposed by the United States and five other European countries.

The United States which Wednesday ordered additional 51 warplanes to Europe has warned
those strikes will be both "swift and severe."

Defence Secretary William Cohen told reporters the additional planes would begin arriving
in Europe this weekend, backing up hundreds of aircraft already in place, and would be ready
for a possible attack by the middle of next week.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking in Washington on Thursday, said she
had told Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in a telephone call he would be "hit hard" if
NATO attacks.

"Either he will see the Kosovo agreement as a way to deal with the Kosovo situation or he
can decide he will take his country into a desperate, chaotic situation," Albright said.

Albright was preparing to fly to Paris Friday to rejoin the negotiations.





[T][LEAGUE DRUGS][RL]

MacDougall banned for 22 matches

The National Rugby League's black start to the season continues with Newcastle winger Adam
MacDougall outed for 22 matches after being found guilty of his second drug offence.

However, MacDougall - due to complete an 11 match ban for stimulants use in this weekend's
country carnival match against Parramatta - will be available for the Knights round 12 clash
with South Sydney after the NRL's drugs tribunal last night ordered the sentences to be served
concurrently.

Newcastle chief executive Ian Bonnette said MacDougall would be called before the club's
board next Wednesday in the wake of the dual ban, sparking speculation he could be sacked.

MacDougall left without making any comment but it is understood he is considering a legal
challenge to the finding based on the case of AFL footballer Alistair Lynch after claiming to
have taken Sustanon 250, containing an anabolic agent, for medical purposes.

ln a lengthy five hour hearing, MacDougall's legal counsel Paul Rosser, QC, argued the New
South Wales Origin representative needed the product to combat hyperpituitism and
hypothyroidism arising from a life threatening blood clot in 1996.

But the three-man panel comprising Sir Laurence Street, Dr George Peponis and Michael
Cleary used the precedent set in last year's Rodney Howe case to reject MacDougall's defence.

Although Howe used steroids to treat a leg injury, the tribunal found that knowingly using
a banned substance even to return performance to a normal level was illegal and handed out the
maximum penalty available under the code's 1998 drug laws.

"Testing applied to performance enhancement is an objective test and the tribunal indicated
they adhered to what was said in the Howe case, which is that it was irrelevant whether a
banned drug was used to bring a level of performance back to what can be described as the norm
for a particular individual or whether it was used to improve the level of performance," a
spokesperson said.

However, the tribunal agreed to backdate the penalty to July 12 when MacDougall stood
himself down after testing positive for the stimulants ephedrine and amfepromone, as well as
returning elevated testosterone levels indicative of steroid use.





[A][JOBS][FED]

Attacks mount on Reith job plan

Unions and welfare groups have joined the federal opposition in attacking Employment
Minister Peter Reith's radical jobs blueprint.

Under Mr Reith's plan, all adults unemployed for six months would be forced to take part in
work for the dole or have their benefits cut.

Other proposals were lower wages for the newly employed, a single benchmark award for the
no disadvantage test, exempting companies hiring unemployed people from unfair dismissal laws
and changes to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission's role in deciding minimum
wages.

ACTU president Jennie George denounced the plan as an attack on workers that did nothing to
address unemployment.

"It is a strategic plan for war on the unemployed and the low paid," she said in a
statement.

"It is particularly notable that the document concentrates on the job of selling these
ideas and putting pressure on the Senate - Mr Reith exposes himself once again as the
government's chief manipulator."

The Brotherhood of St Laurence also rejected the plan out of hand.

"An unemployment strategy based on making life harder for those most disadvantaged in the
labour market is not an option that should be given any further consideration," Brotherhood
executive director Bishop Michael Challen said in a statement.

The plan has been bitterly denounced by the federal opposition and also prompted criticism
from key independent Brian Harradine.

However Australian Democrats industrial relations spokesman Andrew Murray said he was
prepared to look at the proposals.





[A][MIGRANT][NSW]

Labor takes a chance on immigration

The Federal Labor opposition had embraced a sharp rise in immigration in a high-risk policy
switch, it was reported today.

The Australian newspaper said the policy shift was aimed at revitalising regional Australia
and funding the nation's ageing population.

The opposition also had decided to re-weight the intake in favour of skilled migration,
matching government policy, and overturning a quarter century of Labor support for family
reunion immigration.

Opposition immigration spokesman Con Sciacca told the newspaper he supported the business
lobby's call for an annual intake of 123,000 in the 1999 financial year - 43,000 more than
this year's intake.

"There's no political mileage in it for Labor, quite the contrary, but we will try and
convince the public it's right for our nation," Mr Sciacca said.

"I want to shout it out and open up the debate a bit more".





[I][OCALAN TURKEY][EUR]

18 wounded in shootout at Ocalan protest

Demonstrators protesting against the capture of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan opened fire
on police in the Turkish town of Ceyhaan today, beginning a shootout which left three
policemen and 15 demonstrators wounded, Anatolia news agency said.

Two of the policemen were reported in critical condition. There was no word on the
condition of the injured demonstrators.

The agency said the bloodshed occurred when the demonstrators resisted police calls to
disperse.

It was the most violent protest in the country since Ocalan was captured by Turkish forces
and brought to Turkey on Tuesday.

Earlier clashes around Turkey resulted in arrests but no injuries.

In a move that could further enrage Ocalan supporters, the military general staff today
released video of the Kurdish rebel leader standing in front of two Turkish flags after being
taken to the prison-island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara.

The caption to the television footage read: "This is the image Turkey has been waiting for
the past 15 years".

Turkey blames Ocalan for about 37,000 deaths during the fight between his rebels and the
Turkish military since 1984.

"My eyes are bothered," Ocalan answers an army officer at one point while wincing under the
camera lights.

The footage showed that he had been blindfolded during most of his trip from Kenya, where
he was captured by Turkish commandos, to the tiny Turkish prison-island.

Meanwhile, thousands of Turkish troops struck at Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq in an
incursion that began on Monday.

And Greece's foreign minister and two other Cabinet members resigned today amid the
political fallout following Greece's failure to protect Ocalan.

The foreign minister, Theodoros Pangalos, and Interior Minister Alekos Papadopoulos and
Public Order Minister Philipos Petsalnikos handed in their resignations following a request by
Premier Costas Simitis.

Kurdish protesters occupied more than 20 Greek and Kenyan missions around the world after
Turkish special forces on Monday spirited Ocalan to Turkey from Nairobi, where he had been
given Greek diplomatic protection for 12 days.

Most of the occupations ended last night, although Kurdish fury spilled over into a second
night of firebombings against Turkish targets across Germany and the storming of the regional
United Nations headquarters in Vienna today.

In London, more than 70 Kurds ended a three-day sit-in at the Greek mission peacefully.
They stormed the Greek mission in west London on Tuesday, taking a clerk hostage and
threatening to set themselves on fire if police intervened.





[X][SCI LIGHT][US]

Scientists slow light to a crawl

Scientists have managed to slow down light so much that if it were a car on a highway, it
could get a ticket for not moving over into the slow lane.

The speed of light is normally about 300,000 kilometres per second, fast enough to go
around the world seven times in the wink of eye.

Scientists succeeded in slowing it down to 61 kilometres per hour.

They did this by shooting a laser through extremely cold sodium atoms, which worked like
"optical molasses" to slow the light down.

While slow-speed light now is just a laboratory plaything for top physicists, Lene
Vesergaard Hau, the Danish scientist who led the project, said practical applications could be
a few years away. She envisions improved communications technology, switches, even
night-vision devices.

The atoms were contained in what is called a Bose-Einstein condensate, a condition created
when matter is cooled almost to absolute zero, the lowest temperature theoretically possible.

"We have really created an optical medium with crazy, bizarre properties," Hau said.
"Everybody knows that light is something that goes incredibly fast. If you could possibly slow
it down to a real human dimension, that was really fantastic."

The research, conducted at the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge and Harvard
University, was described in today's issue of the journal Nature.





[A][SEAPLANE][FED]

CASA in trouble, not corrupt: Kernot

The release of two reports into last year's Aquatic Airways seaplane disaster showed the
Civil Aviation Safety Authority was an organisation under pressure, but not corrupt,
opposition transport spokesman Cheryl Kernot said in a statement.

But Ms Kernot said the reports found no evidence of the corruption alleged by CASA chairman
Dick Smith.

The reports found pilot error was to blame for the July 26 crash north of Sydney that
claimed five lives.

It also criticised CASA for allowing the airline to continue to fly despite significant
safety deficiencies.

The executive summary of one of the reports, by lawyer Stephen Skehill, had already forced
one dismissal and one resignation from CASA.

Ms Kernot welcomed the reports, saying they showed CASA was a troubled organisation but not
a corrupt one.

"What is revealed here is a picture of a CASA office struggling to cope with high workloads
and falling into errors of judgment, poor record keeping, defective processes and a lack of
vigour in pursuing the operator concerned," she said in a statement.

"But what is not in these reports is evidence of the cronyism, corruption or impropriety
alleged by CASA's chairman Mr Dick Smith - and it would be nice if Mr Smith now stopped
pillorying his own organisation."





[A][BUSHFIRES NSW][NSW]

Easing winds help control bushfire

Favourable wind conditions overnight allowed firefighters to bring under control a large
bushfire in the New South Wales southern tablelands, the Rural Fire Service said today.

The massive fire which began late Wednesday has killed more than 6,000 sheep and destroyed
16,000 ha of land, spreading into the rugged Oberon and Evans shires.

A Rural Fire Service spokeswoman said fire crews had begun backburning near Oberon with
officials hopeful the blaze may be contained later today.

"If conditions continue to ease, if conditions stay calm, hopefully we will be able to
contain the fire today," she told AAP.

"It has burnt 16,000 ha and it's a fair way into Evans shire and into Oberon shire but it
will depend on the weather today as to what happens."

The spokeswoman said the RFS was awaiting a forecast to be issued by the Bureau of
Meteorology.

She said volunteer firefighters from 11 shires as far away as Nowra, Batemans Bay, Yass and
Boorowa raced to Crookwell, north-west of Goulburn, had taken part in the firefighting
effort.

Apart from livestock and pasture losses, the bushfire also has destroyed a derelict house,
fences and forest areas.

One tanker was lost in rugged terrain on Wednesday night and three volunteers suffered
minor burns to their hands as they attempted to douse the flames.

The state government last night said it would pay natural disaster relief to eligible
landholders in the Crookwell area.

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