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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
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.
--
Looking for more information from local sources? Factiva.com
has 112 Australian sources including The Australian, Sydney
Morning Herald and The Age.
((Reuters Sydney Newsroom, 61-2 9373 1800,
[email protected]))
(c) Reuters Limited 2006
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