AAP Internet Bulletin 1530 Wednesday Feb 10, 1999

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-1999
AAP Internet Bulletin 1530 Wednesday Feb 10, 1999





[S][OLY BRIBES COLES][OLY]

Coles in new bribes report

Australian International Olympic Committee member Phil Coles has been named in a report on
the Salt Lake City bribes scandal.

Coles was one of 10 IOC members mentioned in the report not previously implicated in the
scandal.

The report said Coles and IOC member Willi Kaltschmitt of Guatemala together made four
visits with their families to the United States, in one instance attending the Super Bowl in
Miami, at a cost of $US19,991 ($A31,080).

"The bid committee on several occasions paid for IOC members to stay in New York City,
Paris and London for extended periods of time both before and after trips to Salt Lake City,"
the report said, while others received expense-paid trips to Las Vegas, Niagara Falls and
Disneyland.

Free trips to the Super Bowl, stays in ritzy Paris hotels, ski vacations and fistfuls of
cash were among the extreme and unethical means Salt Lake City used to land votes for the
Olympic Winter Games, according to the report into the votes for bribes scandal.

Nine IOC members have already been expelled or have resigned over the scandal.

The independent ethics panel for the Salt Lake Organising Committee blamed two men for the
scandal - Tom Welch, bid committee president, and David Johnson, his vice president.

Welch and Johnson were the two universally credited for bringing the 2002 Games to Salt
Lake.





[A][FLOODS QLD BOY][QLD]

Qld flood death toll rises

Six people have been confirmed dead in south east Queensland's floods with the discovery
today of the body of a missing motorist in the Conondale River, police said.

The city of Gympie, 150 km north of Brisbane, was inundated by the worst floods this
century after the flood-prone Mary River rose at three times its normal flood rate, catching
many locals by surprise.

The Mary River peaked at 3am, reaching 22 metres above normal, its highest level this
century. With almost 150 local businesses swamped, staff worked throughout yesterday to move
stock.

Police said floodwaters had reached the awnings of some shops.

A number of house were also affected with rescue parties evacuating several elderly people
overnight.

A Gympie City Council spokesman said early estimates of damage had been put at more than $2
million.

A police spokeswoman today said Peter Muller, 41, of Kenilworth in the Sunshine Coast
hinterland, had been missing since Monday night but torrential rain yesterday prevented
searchers reaching the area.

A search was launched when his car was found beside the river.

"The body was found today by locals and it appears the man had tried to swim across the
flooded river," the spokeswoman said.

Since Saturday, floodwaters have swept a young boy, a young girl and two men to their
deaths in separate incidents in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

A 75-year-old man drowned on the Gold Coast after falling into a swollen dam.

The mayor of Gympie, Mick Venardos, said it was city's highest flood since 1898 and the
third worst on record.

But he said it was the rate of rise in the Mary River system that was the worst aspect of
the flood.

"It rose (at the) unprecedented speed of half a metre an hour from yesterday morning until
three o'clock yesterday afternoon," he said.

"The people in Mary Street (the main street) are only used to a 120 mm (per hour) rise and
that gives them plenty of time to shift their stock and plant and equipment out of their
premises.

"But half a metre ... that's a very rapid rise," he told ABC radio.

Councillor Venardos said dairy farmers and irrigators along the river had also been caught
out by the rapid rise.

The Brisbane Weather Bureau said the heavy rain had gone but showers would persist
throughout today and tomorrow.





[T][TRI AUST TOSS][CRIK]

Aussies bat in first final

Australian captain Shane Warne won the toss and chose to bat in the first tri series
one-day cricket final against England at the SCG today.

The match was starting on time despite two days of heavy rain and conditions were warm and
cloudy.

Fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz was made 12th man for Australia.

England included all-rounder Vince Wells making Ben Hollioake 12th man.

The second final is in Melbourne on Friday.

Teams are:

AUSTRALIA: Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn,
Michael Bevan, Brendon Julian, Shane Lee, Shane Warne (capt), Glenn McGrath, Adam Dale.
Michael Kasprowicz (12th man).

ENGLAND: Alec Stewart (capt), Nick Knight, Graeme Hick, Nasser Hussain, Neil Fairbrother,
Vince Wells, Adam Hollioake, Mark Ealham, Robert Croft, Darren Gough, Alan Mullally. Ben
Hollioake (12th man).





[X][AUSSIE FLU]

Flu cure now a sneeze away

Pharmaceutical researcher Biota Holdings Ltd said its flu treatment zanamivir will be on
pharmacy shelves this winter following approval by federal government health authorities.

Chief executive officer Dr Hugh Niall said it was appropriate that Australia was the first
country to approve the inhaled drug, to be sold as Relenza, because it was developed by
Australian researchers.

The Australian Drug Evaluation Committee gave the go-ahead yesterday, Dr Niall said, and
today word has come through from Sweden that it will be the first country in the European
Union to market it.

CSIRO chief executive Dr Malcolm McIntosh said bringing zanamivir to market was a major
achievement for Australian researchers and their commercial partners.

Zanamivir was developed by Biota and Glaxo Wellcome, building on award-winning research by
Dr Graeme Laver of the John Curtin School of Medical Research and a CSIRO team led by Dr Peter
Colman.

The drug directly targets the site of infection, the respiratory tract, and is particularly
effective for patients at high risk of complications, such as the elderly, Dr Niall said.

It is the first in a new generation of flu treatments known as neuraminidase inhibitors.

These pharmaceuticals work by blocking the enzyme that releases new virus particles from
infected cells in the respiratory tract, preventing further sickness in an individual who is
medicated soon after getting symptoms.

"The flu virus has long been a problem because it mutates rapidly," Dr McIntosh said.

"This means that humans are not able to develop an immunity to the virus and existing
vaccines quickly become ineffective."

In trials of patients in Europe, zanamivir was shown to reduce the time it takes to recover
by one-third, and to reduce symptoms such as headache, cough, sore throat, aches and fever.

Australian trials showed that among the elderly, zanamivir reduced complications such as
bronchitis, pneumonia and ear infections by 70 per cent.

In a typical Australian winter, around 1,500 deaths are attributed to the flu.





[A][OSCARS AUST][FED]

Five Aussie Oscar nominees

Five Australians picked up nominations today for the 71st annual Academy Awards.

Actress Cate Blanchett was nominated for best actress for her role in Elizabeth. She is up
against Hollywood heavyweights Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love and previous Oscar
winner Meryl Streep.

Blanchett, from Sydney, recently won a Golden Globe award for the same role.

"I think by tonight I will be on the floor of my living room, passed out," an excited
Blanchett told Channel Nine from London.

Geoffrey Rush is in the running for best supporting actor for his role in Shakespeare in
Love while Rachel Griffiths received a nomination in the best supporting actress category for
Hilary and Jackie.

Director Peter Weir earned a nomination for best director for the Truman Show.

But he has a formidable rival in Steven Spielberg who stormed the list of Oscar nominees
for his epic World War II drama, Saving Private Ryan.

Finally, Melbourne composer David Hirschfelder was nominated for original dramatic score
for his work on Elizabeth.

Hirschfelder composed music for Australian movies Shine, Strictly Ballroom and The
Interview, as well as for the Hollywood hits The Truman Show and Sliding Doors.

The nominations were announced early today in Beverly Hills, California.





[A][TRADE][FED]

Export crisis ahead: Fischer

Growth in Australian exports has slumped under the weight of the Asian economic crisis,
with 1999 set to be an even more difficult trading year, Trade Minister Tim Fischer said
today.

And Mr Fischer said exporters could be further harmed if the Australian dollar continued to
climb, after rising six per cent since January.

"Longer term, that would be a matter of concern," he told reporters at today's launch of
the 1999 Trade Outcomes and Objectives Statement.

The statement revealed that in the 1997-98 financial year, exports grew 8.4 per cent,
including growth of 5.7 per cent to Australia's key markets in East Asia.

However, in his speech to parliament tabling the report, Mr Fischer said more up to date
information showed export growth had been cut sharply in the last six months of 1998.

"Consistent with government predictions, the difficult global economic climate cut in more
noticeably to Australia's export performance in 1998," Mr Fischer told parliament.

"Using calendar year figures our exports have grown at a more sobering two per cent."

Mr Fischer argued this was still a strong performance, given the region's economic crisis,
but the report warns even tougher times are ahead.

"1999 will be a difficult trading year," the report says.





[A][DOLE][FED]

Child carers work for dole

Young people in work for the dole schemes are being placed in child care centres, despite
having no child care experience.

But Employment Services Minister Tony Abbott said there was no risk to children at the
centres.

Mr Abbott defended the decision to approve Southside Childcare in Canberra as a work for
the dole project, saying the participants would be closely supervised.

There were no parallels with the recent case of Australian nanny Louise Sullivan, who was
convicted of the manslaughter of six-month-old Caroline Jongen, he said.

"Any parallels between what is happening here at this centre in Canberra and what sadly
seems to have happened in the UK with the nanny are just quite out of place," he told local
ABC radio.

Work for the dole participants would not be left for lengthy periods with children, he
said.

"My understanding is that they are going to be operating under close supervision at all
times, and there would be no reason for kids to be left alone and unsupervised with the work
for the dole participants for any length of time at all," he said.

"These work for the dole participants are not going to be in positions like that of
nannies."

The centre had been carefully considered before being approved for a project.

"These work for the dole projects aren't just picked like rabbits out of a hat. They have
got to satisfy fairly strict criteria before they are approved and this project satisfied all
those criteria, it was put up by a very reputable organisation," Mr Abbott said.





[A][NATION NELSON][QLD]

Ex-One Nation MP lashes out

One Nation quitter Shaun Nelson today described his former party as "a party of lies",
prepared to push its agenda by pandering to the unstable and conspiracy theorists.

Mr Nelson, Queensland MP for the north Queensland seat of Tablelands, was one of three One
Nation MPs who last week plunged the party into turmoil when they resigned over concerns that
it was undemocratic.

He said today he had no intention of returning to a party that was "imploding" and was
prepared to stand or fall on his principles.

"One Nation is a party of lies, 100 per cent," Mr Nelson said.

"I've watched them play the old media conspiracy card. I've sat back and thought: 'There's
no media conspiracy. You're wrong'.

"I've never had a problem with the media. This is the only way they (One Nation) know how
to defend themselves. It's the way they fight their battles.

"What they do, they go out there and say: 'There's a media conspiracy against them' to
cover up their own errors.

"They know it appeals to the ... people out there that believe in conspiracy theories.

"They appeal to those people and they think it works."

Mr Nelson said he could no longer be involved with a party based on lies.





[I][TELETUBBIES]

Teletubby Tinky Winky outed

The Reverend Jerry Falwell is trying to out Tinky Winky, suggesting that the purple,
purse-toting character on television's popular "Teletubbies" children's show is gay.

A spokesman for Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Co, which licenses the Teletubbies in the United
States, said the purse is actually Tinky Winky's magic bag.

"The fact that he carries a magic bag doesn't make him gay," Steve Rice said. "It's a
children's show, folks. To think we would be putting sexual innuendo in a children's show is
kind of outlandish."

The February edition of the National Liberty Journal, edited and published by Falwell,
contains an article warning parents that the rotund Teletubby with the triangular antenna may
be a gay role model.

To support its claim, the publication says Tinky Winky has the voice of a boy but carries a
purse. "He is purple - the gay-pride colour; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle - the
gay-pride symbol."

Falwell contends the "subtle depictions" are intentional and issued a statement Tuesday
that said, "As a Christian I feel that role modeling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the
moral lives of children."

The British show aimed at toddlers began airing on U.S. Public television stations last
spring. The Teletubbies are portrayed by actors in oversized, brightly coloured costumes. They
all have television screens on their tummies.

Rice said Falwell was attacking "something sweet and innocent" to further his conservative
political agenda.

Falwell's spokeswoman, Laura Swickard, said the founder of the now-defunct Moral Majority
agreed with everything that was in the NLJ article and would not comment beyond his
one-paragraph statement.





[S][VAN ROOYEN][WGT]

Weightlifter banned for drugs

Australian weightlifter Duncan Van Rooyen has been banned for two years after testing
positive to anabolic agent Clenbuterol last August.

Van Rooyen, the fourth Australian weightlifter to test positive in the past nine months,
had claimed the drug, which has medicinal use for asthma sufferers, must have been taken in a
recreational drug he took at a party.

The test was taken after the national championships in early August and the ban was
backdated to Aug. 4, the Australian Olympic Committee said.

The positive test was made public during last year's Commonwealth Games.

Van Rooyen missed out on the Games at the selection trials in July and returned a negative
result to a test at that time before the positive test less than a month later.

"While at a gathering during this period I was offered some recreational drugs which I
foolishly accepted, this is the only possible explanation for my positive test result," Van
Rooyen said in September.

His excuse was disputed by leading Australian sports doctor Brian Sando.

"I don't think that's right," Sando said last year. "There wouldn't be any reason,
advantage or effect for anyone to put Clenbuterol in recreational drugs."

Under the Australian Weightlifting Federation's Van Rooyen will be required to repay all
funding grants from the AWF and have all awards, placings and records won from Aug. 4
withdrawn.





[A][GAS PRIVILEGE][VIC]

Esso challenges court

Esso today began Federal Court action to overturn a new Victorian law that abolished the
legal professional privilege of the company's lawyers in the Longford royal commission.

Amendments to the Victorian Evidence Act last year abolished the right of confidentiality
between lawyers and their clients in royal commissions.

It was enacted specifically to ensure Esso fully disclosed all it knew about the operations
of its Longford gas plant over the explosion and fire at the plant on September 25 last year.

Two workers were killed in the blast, eight others were injured and Victorians lost gas
supply for almost two weeks.

The new law was challenged in the royal commission into the tragedy when Esso refused to
disclose which experts it had engaged as part of its internal investigation into the disaster.

The company began its challenge in the Federal Court in Melbourne today arguing the new law
interfered with a basic right that was fundamental to the proper administration of justice.

The company's lawyers said the amendments were inconsistent with the Commonwealth Evidence
Act and therefore constitutionally invalid.

Esso counsel Mark Derham said the state of Victoria's interference with Esso's right of
confidentiality with its lawyers compromised procedural fairness and the proper administration
of justice.

It interfered with the company's rights to a fair hearing in a forthcoming billion dollar
civil litigation against it and in any criminal proceedings that may flow from the royal
commission, he said.

The hearing before Chief Justice Michael Black, Justice Ross Sundberg and Justice Ray
Finkelstein continues.





[A][CONDUCT][FED]

Beazley slams conduct code

The lower code of conduct would make it possible for ministers to profit from their
decisions and formed part of a pattern of arrogance, secrecy and lack of accountability in
government, the federal opposition said today.

Under the new rules tabled yesterday in parliament, ministers and parliamentary secretaries
will be allowed to use blind trusts or outside nominees as a way of keeping investments in
companies associated with their portfolio areas.

Prime Minister John Howard has described the changes as minor but Opposition Leader Kim
Beazley said the code of conduct had been lowered.

"There is a pattern now in this government of arrogance, secrecy and no accountability," Mr
Beazley told reporters.

"The government ministers could not meet the code of conduct, the code of conduct has been
lowered to meet them."

He said it beggared belief that a person could pass shares over to their children and not
have knowledge of them.

"It's a reasonable thing to say that a fully independent child is going to be conducting
business activities and their financial affairs are not going to be known to you," he said.

"But if you actually hand across a proportion of their financial affairs obviously it is
known to you."

He said the changes meant it would be possible for ministers to profit from their
decisions.

"Well of course it will be. If you do not divest yourselves of an interest in the affairs
of your portfolios the opportunity is there to profit from it," Mr Beazley said.

Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer today said the requirements for disclosure were still
quite demanding.

"This is an improvement in those standards. It is a practical improvement to reflect the
reality of the situation," he said on Channel Nine.

"More so it is a whole lot better that what existed under (Labor prime ministers) Hawke and
Keating when these guidelines were never really dealt with or produced.

"It is very demanding, let me tell you. As a minister, as a senior minister, you have to
cough up a lot of information to be in accord with these guidelines."

Mr Howard foreshadowed the changes last year during his defence of then resources minister
Warwick Parer, under attack for his family trust's continued $2 million interest in a
Queensland coal mine.

Under the new rules tabled in federal parliament yesterday, ministers and parliamentary
secretaries will be allowed to use blind trusts or outside nominees as a way of keeping their
investments in companies associated with their portfolio areas.

However, they must ensure they retain no control on the operation of the trust.

But in a further significant change, ministers will be allowed to pass on their shares and
investments to their adult children.

Mr Howard took great pride in his initial code, which he personally tabled in federal
parliament shortly after he won power in 1996. But the revised code was quietly tabled along
with other documents by government House leader Peter Reith.





[F][CBA BUYBACK]

Comm Bank offers buy-back

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd announced an 18.4 per cent profit surge in the six
months to December 31, then offered to buy back another $650 million-worth of its shares.

Net profit for the bank, after abnormals, was $713 million, up from $602 million in the
first half of 1988.

CBA managing director David Murray said that in addition to some one off asset sales the
bank's customers responded well to the range of services resulting in favourable business
volumes.

Mr. Murray said the bank must continue to find growth areas outside its traditional
business.

"Although we have made a very good start, better than most, the ageing of the population
and changed regulation of the system both mean that demand for financial services will be
stronger than that for traditional banking services," Mr Murray told reporters.

However he said that the bank is making progress in non traditional areas, particularly at
its Internet site.

"The bank estimates that Internet activity on its web site is the highest for any finance
category in Australia," Mr Murray said.

"As at 31 December 1998, Commonwealth Securities is the most popular finance related web
site in the country.

The bank will also undertake an off market $650 million share buy back to be completed by
the end of March. The Bank undertook two major and successful buy-backs of ordinary share
capital in 1996 and 1997, totalling $1.65 billion.

The directors have since reviewed the CBA's capital structure "on an ongoing basis as part
of the overriding objective of adding to shareholder wealth".

The CBA said it has continued to generate capital in excess of that required for prudential
purposes to support its activities and therefore the directors had decided to undertake a
further off market buy back to reduce the Bank's capital.

"The directors believe that the buy-back is in the best interests of all shareholders,
whether they participate in the buy-back or not, because the buy-back is expected to increase
earnings per share and improve return on equity," the CBA said in a statement.

This buy-back is similar to the previous one. The CBA will offer to buy-back up to 15 per
cent of each shareholder's holdings as at February 22, 1999, subject to a limit on the total
buy-back of $650 million.





[I][NZ NUKES]

Kiwis thwart nuclear threat

New Zealand's intelligence agency stopped a nuclear nation buying material to make nuclear
bombs through New Zealand companies, a parliamentary committee had been told.

Security Intelligence Service director Don McIvor did not name the country which tried to
bypass international arms embargoes by attempting to buy the material in New Zealand.

But he told the committee on Tuesday that at least two attempts to purchase the "support
equipment" to build nuclear weapons had been made.

The companies had pulled out of the deals independently after they had been visited by
security service agents.

"Before the first Gulf War it was apparent that Iraq spent a lot of time to approach
(nuclear) capability by buying through agents in the northern hemisphere," McIvor said.

"Most of that has closed down now (and) there is a sense that people might look towards the
southern hemisphere for gaining access. We have seen a couple of cases in New Zealand."

The committee is hearing submissions on a bill to extend the service's powers to allow it
to break and enter private homes on security business. A recent court ruling found it had no
power to carry out such activities.

McIvor defended the powers, saying they were needed for an effective security service.

He said there was a widespread view that New Zealand was geographically isolated and that
security issues that applied elsewhere, especially in the northern hemisphere, did apply not
locally.





[S][SOC HIDGSON][SOC]

Bosnich backs Hodgson

Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has urged soccer officials to snap up Roy Hodgson as
replacement coach for Terry Venables, if they are determined to appoint an overseas contender.

Hodgson led Switzerland to the 1994 World Cup finals and has also coached Swedish club
Malmo, Italy's Inter Milan and England's Blackburn Rovers.

He was axed by Blackburn earlier this season and has admitted he would be keen to replace
dumped England coach Glenn Hoddle.

Hodgson will to travel to Australia for coaching clinics within the next fortnight and is
expected to meet with Soccer Australia officials.

"Soccer Australia should have no hesitation snapping up his services," Bosnich said in his
column in The Australian newspaper on Wednesday.

"Hodgson is a top class, highly respected coach who has made his mark on the international
stage.

"Don't be fooled by the situation at Blackburn. He was unfortunate to lose his job because
luck went against him in terms of injuries ... and there were a few players who undermined him
in the dressing room."

Aston Villa's Bosnich said he preferred the job went to Australian coach Raul Blanco, who
has taken over in a caretaker role since the failed 1998 World Cup bid.

Venables had an unbeaten run through World Cup qualifying, but missed out on taking the
Socceroos to the finals for the first time since 1974 when Iran won a two-match series on the
away goals rule.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 1530

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