PRESS DIGEST-Australian General News - Feb 13 06:49, Monday, 13 February 2006
(Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors)
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, warned yesterday the Government could not afford to risk higher interest rates by fuelling the economy with big spending measures and tax cuts in the May 9 budget. Mr Costello said Australia had to avoid its long history of economic decline after a terms of trade boom ended in a bust. 'The country believes it can relax economic policy and spend up the proceeds, inflation gets away and the letdown is a hard adjustment; we need to break the mould...[and] be careful about economic management,' he said. Page 1.
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Telstra is considering a legal challenge in the High Court of Australia to Federal Government regulations that it claims curb growth opportunities. The company is arguing that recent decisions by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have forced it to sell access to its fixed-line network to rival phone companies at below cost and that as a result, the Government is required to pay billions of dollars in compensation. Page 1.
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The United States is resisting an Australian push for company prospectuses to be recognised in both countries under the first annual review of the US-Australia free-trade agreement. Ahead of the March 7 review, to be held in Washington between Federal Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, and US counterpart, Robert Portman, the financial services sector has expressed frustration over the US's failure to address the duplication of approval processes and regulation of the two countries' stock exchanges. Page 3.
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Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, is advocating a review of AWB Ltd's monopoly over wheat exports, despite claims yesterday by Prime Minister, John Howard, that the 'single desk' policy was supported by 'everybody in the Government.' Australia's peak farming group, the National Farmers Federation, has called for a suspension of any decisions on wheat marketing policy until the conclusion of the Cole inquiry into AWB's role in the corrupt United Nations oil-food-food program in Iraq. Page 3.
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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
Australia's biggest employment agency, the Job Network, has been forced to repay A$9 million in taxpayer-funded grants designed to assist the unemployed. It follows an investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement and claims that agencies were inflating the number of clients with special needs who required extra Federal Government assistance. The Job Network system, which receives more than A$1 billion a year in funding, is a national network of private and community organisations. Page 1.
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Federal Government intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments (ONA), had no knowledge that the former Australian wheat board was paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, Prime Minister, John Howard, said yesterday. ONA, which provides the Government with analyses of international developments, did not make available any reports about AWB Ltd's dealings with Iraq, said Mr Howard. 'It's pretty clear that AWB went to great lengths to conceal things from people,' he added. Page 1.
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Australian troops are likely to remain in Iraq after the Japanese engineers they are protecting leave, Prime Minister, John Howard, confirmed yesterday. The 460 Australian soldiers in the al-Muthanna region of southern Iraq were expected to return home in May, but Mr Howard said that departure date was being reviewed. Defence experts said part of the reason for keeping the troops in Iraq was that British troops were already stretched and United States forces operationally exhausted. Page 2.
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The Defence Department has come under criticism over plans to decommission its fleet of F-111 fighter jets as part of a multibillion-dollar replacement program. Amid ongoing uncertainty over the timing and cost of replacement F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, a former Royal Australian Air Force commander warned the demise of the F-111s would increase the threat posed by Australia's neighbours. 'Some belligerent may well be tempted to become aggressive,' said retired group captain, Milton Cottee. Page 2.
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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
Federal Treasury officials working in the United States-led occupation government in Baghdad warned Canberra more than two years ago of corruption in the United Nations oil-for-food program that required contractors to pay 10 per cent kickbacks to the Iraqi regime. Treasury spokesman, Peta Furnell, said that while Treasury officers did not report to Canberra 'specifically on irregularities' in AWB Ltd contracts, they reported kickbacks were 'maintaining and developing' Iraq's military capacity and warranted 'further investigation.' Page 1.
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The Australian Defence Force has had to significantly reduce the number of hours flown by helicopters across the Navy and Army because of a shortage of pilots and maintenance issues, an inquiry has been told. Following last year's Sea King helicopter crash on the Indonesian island of Nias, in which nine Defence personnel were killed, a board of inquiry into the disaster will today begin hearing coronial evidence. Part of the hearing is expected to be closed because of the sensitivities of family members. Page 3.
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Demolishing old apartment blocks in inner Sydney to make way for new housing could be made easier if New South Wales' decades-old strata title system were changed, says the Property Council. The council is calling for an end to regulations that require owners in strata-title buildings to agree unanimously on redevelopment proposals. It wants a majority vote agreement, where 75 per cent of owners would need to vote in favour of a sale, redevelopment or demolition proposal for it to be accepted. Page 3.
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Taxi drivers have demanded an urgent upgrade of security for their cars after the fifth assault on a driver in two weeks. New South Wales Taxi Drivers Association president, Michael Jools, said every taxi should have cameras installed immediately and the Transport Department should spend A$1 million of its A$7.5 million taxi fund to improve driver safety. Five assaults in two weeks were not unusual, Mr Jools said. 'This is not a sudden spate; this is normal...the difference is for the first time we're getting a bit of media attention,' he said. Page 3.
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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
A former Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) senior scientist and internationally recognised expert on climate change claims he was reprimanded and encouraged to resign after he spoke out on global warming. Graeme Pearman said yesterday there was increasing pressure in Australia on researchers whose opinions were not in line with Federal Government ideology. Dr Pearman said he fell out with CSIRO superiors after joining the Australian Climate Change group, a lobby convened in 2003. Page 1.
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After nearly three weeks in Melbourne, the leading yacht in the Volvo Ocean Race, ABN Amro I, led five other competitors out of Melbourne yesterday as they set off on the third leg of the round-the-world race, a 1450-nautical mile sprint to Wellington, New Zealand. Brunel, the Dutch entry skippered by Victorian, Grant Wharington, was the only entry not to leave, and will undergo modifications before she rejoins the fleet in Baltimore, in the United States, in May. Page 2.
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Opponents of the private members bill to remove ministerial control over abortion drug, RU-486, will propose a Parliamentary check instead of Therapeutic Goods Administration control over the pill, in an effort to head off defeat. This comes as Prime Minister, John Howard, yesterday declared that control over the drug should remain with politicians. However, the bill is expected to be approved by the House of Representatives this Thursday. Page 3. --
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