PRESS DIGEST: Australian General News: Oct 12 07:17, Thursday, 12 October 2006
(Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors)
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Queensland insurer, Suncorp-Metway, has made a A$7.7 billion buyout proposal to rival, Promina Group, with the target expected to confirm the offer this morning. A Suncorp takeover would create Australia's largest general insurer and second-largest home insurer behind Insurance Australia Group. It is understood Suncorp prefers to approach the takeover on a 'friendly basis,' with a formal offer to emerge soon. For the past 12 months, observers have predicted significant consolidation in the insurance industry. Page 1.
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Macquarie Bank's movie investment vehicle is liquidating its portfolio of shares in eight films, with investors expected to make a profit of just 15 cents in the dollar. In 2000, Macquarie Film Corporation promised returns of 25 per cent over five years from a diverse portfolio of films. However, comedies such as Bad Eggs, Take Away, Danny Deckchair and The Wannabes failed at the box office on their release in 2002 and 2003. 'Macquarie nearly killed the film industry,' one filmmaker said yesterday. Page 1.
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The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last night foreshadowed a third interest rate rise this year, saying a strong global economy and rising materials costs had place upward pressure on inflation. In his first speech as RBA governor, Glenn Stevens said the consumer price index for the September quarter would be a key indicator. A higher figure would prompt the central bank to lift rates, thereby keeping the inflation rate within a target of two to three per cent, Mr Stevens said. Page 1.
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State and territory leaders will hold their first Council for the Australian Federation tomorrow, a body where national policy can be determined independently from the Federal Government. According to a draft communiqué, the council will call for a new approach to Australia's water management, including an increase in drought assistance. It will also express 'dissatisfaction' with the Council of Australian Governments, the forum in which state, territory and federal leaders discuss key national issues. Page 4.
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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
It has been revealed Queensland Government rejected a deal that would have seen Indian-trained surgeon, Jayant Patel, return to Australia to face criminal charges before last month's state election. The deal involved Dr Patel, a United States citizen, voluntarily flying to Brisbane last month to be charged with manslaughter offences relating to his tenure at Bundaberg Hospital. The Patients Support Group last night claimed the government had blocked the deal for political reasons, demanding a full investigation. Page 1.
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The Federal Government will fund literacy, numeracy and vocational training for workers over 25 who do not have a higher school certificate, under an A$837 million program to ease the skills crisis. Skills vouchers worth A$407 million will be handed out over five years for certificate courses at technical colleges. 'We need a more flexible and responsive education system where the users are the drivers of the system,' said Prime Minister, John Howard. National job vacancies are at a record 155,000 amid an unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent. Page 1.
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Macquarie Regional Radio (MRR) will have to close at least 10 radio stations in country towns to meet the Federal Government's proposed local content rules, which require regional stations to broadcast four-and-a-half hours of local and live content a day, and 12.5 minutes of news five days a week. The cost of extra staff and infrastructure would make another six stations 'marginal,' the broadcaster said. 'We would have to hand the licences back to the Government,' said MRR chairman, Tim Hughes. Page 1.
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The Australian Council of Trade Unions is pushing the Australian Labor Party to adopt a new policy on minimum standards for employees, ahead of next year's federal election. The union wants a new award guaranteeing public holidays and part-time work for parents, as well as higher pay for childcare workers and aged-care staff. Under the Federal Government's Work Choices regime, introduced earlier this year, the number of minimum conditions for workers was cut from 20 to five. Page 1.
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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The eight-year-old daughter of Steve Irwin, Bindi, appeared at the Nickelodean Kids' Choice Awards at Sydney Entertainment Centre last night, where she presented a music award in her father's place. 'It's kind of sad that he couldn't be here but it's nice that I can be here to do it,' she said. Steve Irwin, known to television audiences as the 'Crocodile Hunter,' died from a stingray attack while filming an underwater documentary last month. He was 44. Page 1.
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Fijian police are hunting for convicted Australian conman, Peter Foster, over an Internet promotion which marketed a Fijian resort as a 'heavenly haven for homosexu@ls.' In email and online messages, leaked to newspapers last month, the developers of the Yasawa islands resort also claimed: 'For a hundred dollars a Fijian boy will do anything and tell nobody.' Police say the promotion was an attempt to sabotage a rival New Zealand developer. Foster has been jailed five times on three continents for similar offences. Page 1.
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Solomon Island's Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, won a parliamentary no-confidence vote last night after delivering a speech attacking the Australian Government and its 400-strong law-and-order force. Mr Sogavare claimed the no-confidence motion had been 'engineered and devised' in Canberra, labelling it 'an invasion of the sovereignty of this nation.' The Australian security force is in the Solomons as part of a deployment that began in mid-2003 after years of ethnic violence and political corruption. Page 1.
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A nationwide survey estimates that 20 to 25 per cent of hip and knee replacements have to be redone, due to faulty artificial joints. According to the Australian Centre for Health Research, in the case of one new range of artificial hips costing up to A$10,000 each, half of patients had to undergo a second replacement within weeks because of prosthesis failure. The Federal Health Department is now considering tougher regulations for the A$1 billion joint replacement industry. Page 3.
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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au)
New water restrictions, including a ban on watering lawns, are likely to apply to Melbourne homeowners next month amid a sustained water shortage. 'This winter was the driest...since 1982,' a spokesman for Melbourne Water said yesterday. The nine dams that provide the city's water supply are holding just over 800,000 megalitres, or 45.3 per cent of their capacity. If the dams have not recovered to 810,000 megalitres by November 1, 'stage two' restrictions can be enforced by Victorian Water Minister, John Thwaites. Page 1.
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The Federal Government has proposed a fraud detection squad with the power to raid the homes of Australians on welfare and family payments. The Senate is considering legislation enabling Centrelink staff to obtain search warrants. However, Democrats senator, Andrew Murray, is concerned the scheme could lead to unwarranted intrusions. 'Vulnerable citizens will end up distressed and subject to invasive processes,' Senator Murray warned. Page 1.
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Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, says Australia will honour an agreement to provide A$4 million in aid to North Korea this year, despite the push for sanctions against the Stalinist regime over Monday's underground nuclear test. Mr Downer said yesterday it was a disgrace that donor countries were keeping people in North Korea alive while its government spent millions of dollars on the military. He said any international sanctions should aim to do damage to the regime, rather than its citizens. Page 1.
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Up to 500 Melbourne workers formerly employed by New Zealand carpet maker, Feltex, may be stood down next week as finance negotiations stall with United States yarn supplier, Honeywell International. Godfrey Hirst, which acquired Feltex last week, was forced to walk away from a meeting with lawyers from Honeywell yesterday, after they insisted an A$8.8 million debt owed by Feltex was repaid. Godfrey Hirst finance director, Jim Walsh, said 'stand-downs are inevitable' unless the supply of yarn was resumed. Page 2. --
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