AAP Internet Bulletin 2245 Tuesday Feb 2, 1999

AAP General News (Australia)
02-02-1999
AAP Internet Bulletin 2245 Tuesday Feb 2, 1999





[I][UK NANNY]

Manslaughter nanny coming home

A British court has ruled an Australian nanny who pleaded guilty to killing a six-month-old
girl will be allowed to return to Australia for psychiatric treatment.

At the Old Bailey in London, Justice Stephen Mitchell sentenced 27-year-old Louise Sullivan
of Sydney to 15 months' jail suspended for two years for the manslaughter of Caroline Jongen.

Justice Mitchell said a custodial sentence was justified for the offence of manslaughter
and he had given a suspended sentence reluctantly because of exceptional circumstances.

"In your case it is the deficiency in your mental capacity and late diagnosis of
hyperthyroidism," the judge told Sullivan.

"I'm also sure that your mental state at the moment is fragile and in need of treatment
urgently."

Sullivan pleaded guilty last month to the involuntary manslaughter of baby Caroline.





[T][CRICKET TAYLOR]

Taylor fears cricket's future

Mark Taylor feared for the future of international cricket as he bade it farewell today,
urging for a more powerful controlling body.

Taylor's call followed in the wake of Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga's controversial
outburst last week.

He said Ranatunga's actions and his legally-powered code of conduct hearing may have
changed the face of cricket forever and the game needed a ruling body with more strength.

Taylor said he was disappointed in Ranatunga's suspended six-match ban after he threatened
to take his team from the field and engaged in an aggressive, finger pointing clash with
umpire Ross Emerson who had no-balled off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in the one
day match against England in Adelaide.

"It was an unfortunate moment in the game, the game may change forever because of that
moment," Taylor said today when he announced his retirement.

"I've always been a great believer that the umpire makes the decision and you accept the
umpire's decision.

"That's unfortunately not what happened last week in Adelaide.

"The fact that lawyers are now coming into referees' meetings is a disappointing part of
the game because it means that the game may now change forever and I don't want to see that."

Taylor said cricket needed a much tougher and more effective ruling body, criticising the
International Cricket Council's lack of authority.

Cricket has been weighed down with controversy in the last six months, with the ICC unable
to resolve the furore surrounding Muralitharan's bowling action and the Pakistan bribery and
match fixing scandal also involving Australians Shane Warne and Mark Waugh.

"I still think the only way we're going to get full control of the game is by the governing
body having full control and full disciplinary action and no longer making recommendations,
because recommendations don't work," he said.

"Someone has to put their hand up and say 'we make the final decision on a person or an
incident. We're unbiased, we're global and whatever we say, goes'.

"I'm not so sure that's going to be possible with what's happened last week in terms of
lawyers and so on.

"It's up to every country to give that power over. Unless it happens we're always going to
have controversy in the game."

Ranatunga brought a team of lawyers into his ICC code of conduct hearing in Perth last week
and forced triangular one day series referee Peter Van der Merwe to back down and issue a
hefty fine and suspended sentence when much of the cricketing world called for a lengthy ban.

Taylor supported the concept of an international players' association but said it needed a
coordinated worldwide approach with every player willing to join for it to be feasible and
called for crowded schedules to be regularly and carefully monitored to avoid burnout.

Apart from the controversy, Taylor said world cricket was in good shape on the field.





[T][OLY BRIBES HOLDEN][OLY]

Holden Olympic bribes worry

A major corporate sponsor of the Sydney Olympics today expressed serious concern at the
ongoing controversy surrounding the bidding process for the 2000 Games.

Car manufacturer Holden said today it was a shame that what should have been such a great
event for Sydney and Australia had been marred by the issue.

And while executive director of external affairs, Peter Thomas, stopped short of suggesting
Holden might withdraw its backing, he said contracts were always renegotiable.

"We'll reserve the right to react appropriately depending on the situation," Thomas said.

"We're on a bit of drip feed at the moment. Every day we seem to learn something more.

"It is a real concern to us.

"That is why we're taking such an active role in monitoring the situation."

However, Thomas said Holden still had a good relationship with the organisers of the Sydney
games and was pleased with the development of the necessary infrastructure, including the
venues and support services like transport.

"We'd just like to concentrate on the main game and the main game is a successful event,"
he said.

Holden officials would not disclose the cost of the company's support for the Olympics but
it was believed to include cash as well as a commitment to provide vehicles.

The International Olympic Committee is holding an investigation into the cash for votes
scandal involving Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

But investigation head and IOC vice-president Dick Pound said overnight in Lausanne that
that it would not be widened to include Sydney.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates revealed last month that he had offered
$52,500 to two African IOC delegates to be spent on athletes on the eve of the vote to decide
the 2000 Games host.

Coates denies any wrongdoing.





[A][KOREA BEEF][FED]

New Aussie beef trade scare

Twenty tonnes of Australian beef has been rejected by South Korea after harmful levels of
agricultural chemicals were detected by quarantine officials, South Korea revealed today.

However, Australian officials quickly played down suggestions the incident could spark a
repeat of the contamination crisis that almost wrecked Australia's beef export industry.

South Korean quarantine official Park Jong-Myong said importers were ordered to send back
20 tonnes of beef after the chemical was detected.

"Our tests showed that Australian beef imported on January 22 from Queensland carried 0.16
ppm (parts per million) of endosulfan," Mr Park said.

"Residues of endosulfan beyond 0.1 ppm are considered detrimental to human health," he
said.

However, officials in Seoul said they had conducted the tests after the chemicals were
detected by Australia, which immediately informed Seoul the beef could have been contaminated.

Japan's detection of chemicals in Australian beef five years led to the suspension of beef
exports, and a complete overhaul of methods used to raise cattle and screen meat sent
overseas.

Cattle Council executive director Justin Toohey said tonight the latest incident posed no
threat to the beef export trade.

"It's not an issue," Mr Toohey told AAP.

"The Koreans are not concerned. They are not threatening our trade, it's not an issue."

Mr Toohey said there was surprise that the contaminated shipment had been allowed to leave
Australia after being tested here.

"At least we alerted them to the problem," he said.

A spokesman for Agriculture Minister Mark Vaile said the contaminated beef would be tracked
back to its source to determine the cause of the problem.





[A][TAX ACOSS][FED]

Poor 'to suffer under GST'

The federal government's controversial tax reforms, which include a GST, would force the
poor to rely heavily on compensation which would soon run out, Australia's most influential
welfare group warned today.

At the same time, the Senate select committee looking into the GST heard a typical council
would be forced to pay $1 million to establish the GST administration and regional employment
would be hit.

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) questioned Treasury's assumptions that a
10 per cent GST would only push up prices by 1.9 per cent.

"What we've set out to do is to question or to look at or to examine in fact the modelling
that Treasury has used to come up with its 1.9 per cent figure and say is that accurate, is it
right?" ACOSS president Michael Raper said.

"Is the compensation going to be right? Does the government's package in fact rely on
compensation too much?

"And we say probably it does, because it's got food built into it."

Mr Raper said Treasury's GST modelling was designed to illustrate that every family,
including low-income earners, would be better off under a GST.

"The government has put forward a new tax package; it has put forward cameos that argue
that every single family is going to be better off," he said.

"But it has done that through modelling used by the Treasury which is based on very
questionable assumptions.

"The whole of the modelling in fact exaggerates the effect on high-income earners and it
underestimates the effect on low-income earners and that still stands."

Mr Raper said people would be too reliant on compensation included in the tax reform
package because the GST would be imposed on food.

"What sort of a mug would accept that kind of a package that says we're going to give you
compensation in an environment in which the government is questioning people on the dole every
other week, coming up with new mutual obligation requirements?" he said.

However, Treasurer Peter Costello said ACOSS's findings that the modelling suggested all
families would be better off under a GST backed up the government's own research.

"Just about everybody that's looked at it has come to the same conclusion," he said.





[A][HEROIN COWDERY][FED]

DPP calls for drugs action

Prime Minister John Howard must take the lead on drug reform as state politicians were
ducking for cover on the issue, New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions Nick Cowdery
said today.

Mr Cowdery said NSW Health Minister Andrew Refshauge's decision to suspend an inner-city
needle exchange because a newspaper published photos of a teenager shooting up was dangerous
and inappropriate.

He said Prime Minister John Howard should introduce measures to reduce the death, disease
and crime associated with illicit drug use, including safe injecting rooms, a heroin trial,
decriminalisation of marijuana and the continuation of the needle exchange program.

"The prime minister and his government have an obligation to the entire country to do what
they can to implement policies and to put in place public administration that is going to
benefit the entire community as a whole," Mr Cowdery said.

"Present policies don't do that, and leadership should really come from the top."

Mr Cowdery accused state politicians of ducking for cover on the controversial issue of
drug reform "because it's too hard".

"They deal with it by categorising it as a criminal justice issue, and making harsh
statements about how they would propose to deal with the unpleasantness of it all," Mr Cowdery
said.

"Unfortunately, that doesn't have any effect on reducing or eliminating the real problems."

Mr Howard should rethink his opposition to a heroin trial, he said.

"I think Mr Howard should listen to his health minister very closely and take his advice on
a matter of this kind which is a health issue," Mr Cowdery said.

Last year, Mr Howard overturned a decision by federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge to
back a heroin trial in the ACT.

Mr Cowdery said a heroin trial should be set up "without delay".





[A][INSURANCE][FED]

Labor queries funds claims

Private health fund claims about the success of the 30 per cent tax rebate were highly
questionable and full figures should be released, the federal opposition said today.

Medibank Private, which has the largest single share of the private health insurance
market, reported 8,000 members signed up in January when the non-means tested rebate took
effect.

Other funds say membership levels are up substantially on the same period last year.

But opposition health spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said the comparisons were based on periods
when people were leaving funds, not joining them.

The government's target was to encourage an extra 500,000 people into private cover to lift
the participation rate to 33 per cent, while the industry last year claimed it would attract
another 2.5 million customers.

"Australia's largest private health insurer Medibank Private admits that it has actually
only enrolled 8,000 extra people in January and a quarter of these took out extras-only
insurance," Ms Macklin said in a statement.

If the figures were extrapolated to the other funds, the interest generated at a time of
heavy advertising was insufficient to meet the government's target.

Ms Macklin said other funds were using "creative statistics" to highlight the number of
phone calls from existing members claiming the rebate, without disclosing the actual number of
new members.

"I call on the funds to release the actual nett increase in membership for January," Ms
Macklin said.

AHIA executive director Russell Schneider said funds had released information on the impact
of the rebate in response to media inquiries, and the full audited figures for private funds
membership would be released in March.





[A][WOOD ARREST][NSW]

Gay nightclub owner charged

The one-time owner of an inner-Sydney gay nightclub identified as a "boy brothel" at the
Wood royal commission into paedophilia was charged today with 19 child sex offences.

Referred to only as W-17 during two commission appearances in 1996, the 57-year-old was
taken into custody early today after consenting to be interviewed by police, sources said.

Following a year-long investigation, the man was questioned by detectives from the Child
Protection Enforcement Agency (CPEA) at the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills.

He was released on bail shortly before noon and is to appear at the Downing Centre Local
Court on February 23, a police spokesman said.

Now a south coast resident, he is charged with eight counts of homosexual intercourse and
eleven counts of indecent assault.

He is accused of molesting four boys between the ages of 13 and 17 over a 20-year period.

The offences are alleged to have taken place in Sydney's Kings Cross and in the Wollongong
area between 1968 and 1988, police said.

During emotional scenes before royal commissioner James Wood two years ago, W-17 denied
owning the nightclub when it was known as a place where men payed for sex with runaway boys.

He said it had always retained "a high moral tone" when he ran it but was later fitted out
with sex cubicles and saunas and began screening pornographic videos.

After leaving the witness box clearly distressed, the then 55-year-old was accosted by an
elderly man outside the hearing room who told him if he had a gun he'd shoot him.





[A][BODIES][QLD]

Golf Coast couple killed

Two people were stabbed to death last night in a "vicious attack" at their home in the Gold
Coast hinterland, police said today.

Acting detective Inspector Graeme Millard said a 24-year-old woman was found dead in the
hallway of their Springbrook home while her 27-year-old male partner was found in the front
yard.

He said both had suffered multiple stab wounds and their bodies were found by a friend at
6.45pm.

"It was a vicious attack ... there were indications that the victims fought back," Insp
Millard told journalists.

"We don't know whether it's random or the killer had knowledge of them.

"At this point we are looking at as many avenues as we can."

He said a major incident room had been established and police were doorknocking in the
Springbrook area.

No weapon had been found at this stage.

A post mortem examination was being completed on the victims, who were both unemployed.

Their names have not been released.

Five people have died violently on the Gold Coast in the past 10 days.

On January 24, a man died after being shot at his home in Molendinar and a day later
another man was stabbed to death near Jupiters Casino.

On January 29, a 64-year-old man was killed in his Molendinar home.





[A][STRIP][WA]

Girl strip searched in raid

A Perth mother has complained to the state ombudsman after police strip searched her
11-year-old daughter during a drug raid on the family home earlier this month.

Sue Thornton said her daughter was traumatised by the experience two weeks ago when she was
told to take-off her underpants in the presence of a policewoman.

"My little girl's lost all dignity and respect for police, she's traumatised," Ms Thornton
told radio 6PR.

"There's a destruction of trust and security there, she's innocent".

But Superintendent Fred Zamagi of Mirrabooka district defended police procedures during the
raid, saying that they were entitled to search anyone they reasonably suspected was in
possession of drugs.

Six police officers raided the home in Bayswater with a drug search warrant about 3pm on
January 19 acting on a tip-off about Ms Thornton's 20-year-old son who was caring for his
sister at the time.

No drugs were found but the 20-year-old was charged with possession of implements for
smoking drugs, fraud and possession of stolen property.

"There was a reasonable suspicion that the particular female may have had some possession
of drugs," Supt Zamagi said.

"...that is why an examination was carried out of this female, because she wanted to go to
the toilet and prior to going to the toilet we had a policewoman attend and search her.

"No doubt it seems a bit unusual. But it's not unusual in our eyes because we have found
young people as young as 10 years of age in possession of drugs."





[F][SOLUTION 6]

Solution 6 merger proposal

Shares in Richard Pratt's Solution 6 Holdings Ltd surged to record highs today after the
technology company announced a proposal for a major overseas takeover.

In a move that would create the world's largest document management business, Solution Six
is in talks about a possible merger with Canadian software company PC DOCS Groups
International.

A formal offer has yet to be made, but the news sent shares in business accounting systems
supplier Solution 6 shares skyrocketing to an all time high of $2.40 before closing more than
nine per cent, or 18 cents, stronger at $2.21.

Solution 6 shares had surged more than 77 per cent since the begining of the year when they
were worth $1.25 each.

Among shareholders to benefit is billionare Mr Pratt, who's Melbourne based investment
vehicle Thorney Holdings invested $12.7 million in Solution Six in December in return for
shares in the company.

Although PC DOCS is yet to respond to the proposal, the Sydney based Solution Six said it
would offer 4.35 of its shares for each PC DOCS share on the $1.67 closing price of Solution 6
on January 29, 1999.

Richard McLean, general manager of Global Solution sales said that while it was only a
proposal to takeover the Nasdaq and Tornonto listed company, an announcement was expected
within 48 hours.

"We're cautiously optimistic about the outcome," Mr McLean said.

The combined market capitalisation of the merged company was estimated at $251 million,
with estimated revenues of more than $250 million this financial year.

"It's really good for shareholders of both businesses so it's hard to describe it as
hostile (takeover)," Mr McLean said.

A successful merger between the two companies would create the world's largest player in
document management, knowledge management and practise management for the accounting and legal
industries with 1,800 staff in 14 countries.





[I][INDON RIOTS]

Warning shots fired in riot

Police fired warning shots today to break up a brawl in an eastern Indonesian town that was
devastated by religious rioting last month.

"One man was stabbed and wounded and the police are still looking for the man responsible
for the stabbing," said national police chief General Roesmanhadi.

The man, identified as Diyan Ali, 18, was rushed to a hospital after being stabbed on his
right side.

One motorcycle was burned as tensions escalated following a brawl at a market place in the
city of Ambon, the epicentre of fighting between Muslims and Christians that left at least 65
people dead in nearly a week of upheaval.

The shooting in a marketplace that was badly hit by the rioting showed that tensions remain
high in Ambon, which is located in what was known in Dutch colonial times as the Spice
Islands.

The area is 2,300km north-east of Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.

Police fired shots because they feared that a personal dispute between two bus drivers
could escalate into a riot. The deadly unrest broke out January 19 after a fight between
groups of Muslim and Christian bus drivers.

After the scuffle today many people fled to military installations to seek shelter, the
official Antara news agency reported. Civil servants rushed home and schoolchildren took
refuge in the police headquarters.

"People panicked because of the trauma from the deadly riots," an officer at the local
military headquarters said by telephone. He requested anonymity.

Thousands of people fled their homes during the rioting last month on several islands in
Maluku province. At least 550 buildings and more than a dozen mosques and churches were
burned.





[I][ANGOLA PLANE]

Angola plane crash kills 19

An Antonov cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Luanda international airport
today, smashing into a shantytown in the suburbs of the Angolan capital and killing at least
19 people.

The aircraft, owned by the Angolan private company SavanAir, went down in Casenga, about
10km north-west of the airport.

SavanAir said it was carrying seven passengers and between three and five crew members. The
nationalities were not available.

"It crashed on some houses and the first reports we have are that 19 people were killed,"
Branco Ferreira, the national director for civil aviation, told reporters. He did not know
whether the dead were passengers or people on the ground.

Eyewitnesses said the Russian-built Antonov-12 was on fire in the air before it crashed.
The wreckage was still burning on the ground an hour after the crash.

Ferreira said the plane was flying to Lukapa in north-east Angola, about 600km from Luanda.

A rescue team was at the crash site, he said.





[T][GOLF NORMAN][GOLF]

Norman golf venture fails

Greg Norman hopes something can be salvaged from the "unfortunate" collapse of the World
Golf Club venture, which he lent his name to as captain.

"The liquidators will work it out and we'll go on from there.

"I think there's a chance of the thing continuing on," Norman said of the Australian-based
club which offered members access to exclusive international courses and luxury hotel
discounts for a $450 annual fee.

Norman described the concept as a "great idea" but added: "Maybe it wasn't implemented
right in the first place."

The Australian star, favourite to retain his title in his own Greg Norman Holden
International tournament in Sydney this week, refused to say how much money he had lost in the
venture.

But he told reporters: "It's not to the degree you guys think it is.

"Of course you put a value on your name. What is that value? I've got an idea, but from a
purely financial outlay, that's something I know and you don't need to know."

Such problems apart, Norman says he is enjoying his golf, his family, his business and his
life more than ever.

His lay-off last year for shoulder surgery had given him the philosophy of trying to enjoy
himself more.

"I don't have to prove as much to myself, but my passion for the game is stronger," he
said.

Norman, whose Holden International starts at The Lakes course on Thursday, has not played a
competitive round since the President's Cup.

He suffered a 20 per cent loss of power in his shoulder after playing for five straight
weeks at the end of last year -- something he has no plans to repeat.





[T][TENNIS RANKINGS AUST][TEN]

Hewitt into Top 100 players

Australia's Lleyton Hewitt has rocketed into the world's top 100 men's tennis players
following a sensational start to the season which included a finals berth and his first Grand
Slam match victory.

But it's a case of the new replacing the old as Australian stalwart Todd Woodbridge drops
out of the top 100 to be ranked 101 in the new men's ATP Tour rankings released today.

Hewitt, now ranked No.92 in the world, made it to the second round of the Australian Open
after whipping France's Cedric Pioline 6-3 6-1 6-1 to claim his first victory at Grand Slam
level.

That followed the 17-year-old's place in the final of the AAPT Championships in Adelaide,
which he lost to Australian Open runner-up Thomas Enqvist, and a quarter-finals berth at the
adidas International in Sydney.

A total of eight Australians are ranked amongst the world's best 100 players.

Dual US Open champion Pat Rafter, from Queensland, has retained his place at No.4 despite
Australian Open winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov's rapid move from tenth to No.3.

Rafter also stole Australia's No.1 doubles ranking today from longtime Davis Cup teammates
Mark Woodforde and Woodbridge following his Australian Open victory with Swede Jonas Bjorkman
at the weekend.

Melbourne's Mark Philippoussis remains at No.15 in the world while Newcastle's Jason
Stoltenberg has dropped on place to be ranked 28th.

Victorian Andrew Ilie jumps five places to No.54 after making it to the fourth round of the
Australian Open while Richard Fromberg tumbles from 40th place at the end of last year to
77th.

Mark Draper is No.171, followed by Michael Tebbutt at 172, Wayne Arthurs at 185 and Sandon
Stolle, ranked 220th.

There is no change at the top of the women's WTA top ten list where Lindsay Davenport of
the United States remains No.1 and Australian Open champion Martina Hingis of Switzerland
No.2.

Amelie Mauresmo of France, the beaten finalist at the Australian Open, leaps to 17th from
29th.





[X][MEMORY][FED]

Pregnant memory all in mind

Pregnant women do not go "soft in the head", some of them merely think they do, new
research shows.

Charles Sturt University studies comparing pregnant women and women who have never had
children found that the two groups perform equally well in objective memory tests.

The reasons why new and expectant mothers are much more likely to say they suffer
absent-mindedness needs further research, senior psychology lecturer Dr Paul Casey said.

He stressed that women's perception that pregnancy affects their mind were not necessarily
invalid: it may be that the tests fail to capture critical aspects of everyday memory.

The Wagga Wagga researchers found that two-thirds of pregnant women cite memory lapses such
as going shopping and returning without the item they went to buy, failure to remember names,
and going into a room and forgetting why they are there.

Dr Casey believes sleep deprivation may be an important factor: new mothers are more likely
to report a change in sleep patterns, and this may impact on their perceptions.

But the research, to be presented to the Australian Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and
Gynaecology conference in Adelaide next month, shows that that not all pregnant woman become
absent-minded -- and many non-pregnant women do.

"The popular stereotype that pregnant women are a bit fuzzy in the head implies that this
absent-mindedness happens to everyone, but our experience shows that it doesn't," he said.

Pregnancy may heighten sensitivity to lapses, women who have an anxious personality may
feel their memory is worse than it is.

When subjected to a battery of seven tests of memory ability, pregnant women showed they
could perform complex tasks just as well as non-pregnant women.

This has implications for management of everyday living as well as the ability to continue
in work, Dr Casey said.

"The complex interaction of physiological, psychological, social and cultural perspectives
of pregnancy need to be taken into account in order to obtain a more complete understanding of
why such a large proportion of pregnant women report changes in everyday memory," he said.

The telling factor is that the women report they are forgetful: because someone who is
truly forgetful -- such as a brain damaged person -- will not "remember" that they have
forgotten.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 2245

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