NSW:Ex-top NSW cop found guilty at drugs trial

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2011
NSW:Ex-top NSW cop found guilty at drugs trial

SYDNEY, Aug 11 AAP - Former NSW crime fighter Mark Standen has been found guilty of
plotting to import at least 300kg of pseudroephedrine into Australia.

MORE mss/wjf/ht

KEYWORD: STANDEN

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Prisoner seen running from jail

AAP General News (Australia)
02-18-2006
NSW: Prisoner seen running from jail

SYDNEY, Feb 18 AAP - Staff at Sydney's Long Bay jail didn't know a prisoner had escaped
today until a motorist called police about seeing a man in green running near the prison.

Andrew Tyrrell, 54, escaped from the prison in Sydney's south-east this afternoon.

He had been serving time for driving and theft offences.

Corrective Services were alerted to the break-out about 3.20pm (AEDT) when a motorist
contacted police after seeing a man in green running along a road near the jail.

Staff discovered Tyrrell was missing when a muster was done 10 minutes later.

A Corrective Services spokeswoman said Tyrrell was a minimum security prisoner and
not considered dangerous.

It was not yet clear how he escaped.

Tyrrell's was the fourth escape from a NSW prison this year.

In mid-January, Silverwater jail inmates Todd Ellis and Todd Carr scaled a fence and
broke out of the minimum security prison.

Both have been recaptured.

Two weeks later, dangerous prisoner Robert Cole slipped through the bars of his Long
Bay cell after going on a crash diet. He was recaptured three days later.

Tyrrell is described as having brown hair, blue eyes, 180cm tall and weighing 85kg.

He has a tattoo of a woman and a snake on his right arm and a peacock and a swallow on his right.

AAP tr/lb/de

KEYWORD: TYRRELL

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD:Qld acts to protect best farmlands

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2011
QLD:Qld acts to protect best farmlands

By Tracey Ferrier and Kym Agius

BRISBANE, April 14 AAP - The Queensland government has released draft criteria it will
use to identify and protect the state's most important farmlands from mining and other
threats.

The criteria will be used to draft strategic cropping land (SCL) legislation, to be
introduced to parliament later this year.

The intention is to boost food security by protecting Queensland's food-bowl areas.

Environment and Resource Management Minister Kate Jones says the criteria has been
developed by government scientists, agronomists and soil experts using 128 samples from
five strategic cropping land zones.

"The scientists have undertaken on-ground assessments to ensure we could clearly define
what strategic cropping land is under this framework," she said in a statement on Thursday.

The eight key criteria that define strategic cropping land are slope, rockiness, soil
depth, drainage, soil pH, salinity, soil water storage and gilgai microrelief (small depressions
in the land caused by wet weather).

An independent reviewer, Queensland soil science expert Dr Roger Shaw, has signed off
on the process used to develop the criteria, Ms Jones said.

The Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation is finalising guidelines
to help landholders and developers identify whether their land is strategic cropping land
under the criteria.

Those guidelines will be released in May and will be the "how to" guide for the actual
assessment process.

The release of a regulatory assessment statement and draft state planning policy would
be the next step.

That would be released for public consultation as soon as possible, followed by the
introduction of the new legislation.

The government has already said some mining operations will be banned on the most fertile
agricultural land.

Draft government maps have shown about four per cent of Queensland's land mass has
the potential for strategic cropping, that is, it has the soil, rainfall and topography
to support more than one quality commercial crop.

The Queensland Resources Council said the criteria is flawed and would set aside too
much land unfairly, for example, the soil water storage level that has been used wouldn't
even sustain a sorghum or wheat crop.

Council chief executive Michael Roche said it was too important to Queensland's future
to risk cutting corners on the science.

"A number of major resource projects, which have already cost companies tens of millions
of dollars, will live or die on the basis of whether these criteria do their job properly,"

he said in a statement.

"As they stand, the criteria put $22 billion of resources projects at risk."

Farm lobby group AgForce said the release of the criteria did nothing to deliver confidence
to the farming sector, and more detail was urgently needed.

"Without the knowledge of how the proposed state planning policy and the strategic
cropping land framework will tie together to preserve food production in the face of competition
from the resource industry and urban development, it is difficult to understand how the
SCL will provide certainty," policy director Drew Wagner said.

"A lot more work is needed and AgForce urges the state government to clearly articulate
the level of protection strategic cropping land will receive, what areas will be specifically
protected, and the size of the area which will be afforded this SCL protection."

Peak horticulture organisation Growcom said the eight criteria are focused on soil
quality and they would not necessarily protect fruit- and vegetable-growing areas.

Chief executive Alex Livingstone said what is good quality soil for one crop may not
suit another crop and other factors such as appropriate climates, microclimates, reliable
access to water, labour supplies and transport infrastructure should also be taken into
account.

"If a narrowly focused policy based only on identification of high quality soils is
pursued, highly productive horticultural regions such as the Granite Belt and growing
districts for major crops such as pineapples, citrus and grapes may be afforded no protection
at all."

AAP ka/crh/sn

KEYWORD: LAND WRAP

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA:Smoke making drivers slow down

AAP General News (Australia)
12-27-2010
SA:Smoke making drivers slow down

Smoke is causing a traffic hazard .. northeast of Adelaide .. after a haystack fire.

Country Fire Service crews contained the fire yesterday afternoon at Bagot Well ..

eight kilometres northeast of Kapunda .. but a large quantity of smoke remains in the
area.

People travelling in the area should be wary .. as smoke might reduce visibility in
the next 24 hours.

AAP RTV njl/ajw/

KEYWORD: SMOKE (ADELAIDE)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

FED:Tax breaks promised for building bonds

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2010
FED:Tax breaks promised for building bonds

By Stephen Johnson

CANBERRA, Aug 17 AAP - The coalition has promised to give investors a tax break for
buying infrastructure bonds, taking inspiration from a Keating government policy of the
early 1990s.

Under the opposition's proposal, companies wishing to build a major project approved
by Infrastructure Australia would issue corporate bonds to fund their borrowing.

Investors who lent money to these firms by buying an infrastructure bond would be able
to claim a tax break on any interest earned.

An investor who received a 10 per cent return on a 10-year $1,000 bond would receive
a $100 tax rebate every year for the next decade.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said the tax rebate for investors would be
capped at $150 million a year.

"It's not the government borrowing money, it's the private sector borrowing money,"

he told Sky News.

"It gives, particularly, people at home, superannuants, investors, the opportunity
to get a better return on some infrastructure that they're investing in."

But Treasurer Wayne Swan dismissed the infrastructure bonds policy as an "unfunded
thought bubble" even though it borrows a Labor idea from 1992.

The Keating government sold infrastructure bonds to investors and superannuation funds,
but Mr Hockey said this approach two decades ago was heavily abused for tax purposes.

Mr Hockey said the coalition's plan would reduce the cost of capital for major infrastructure
projects.

"The infrastructure projects out there, that are on the margins of profitability, because
of the cost of capital now, all of a sudden it makes the money that they can borrow much
cheaper," he said.

"It means the projects are more likely to go ahead."

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, the peak body for major building projects, backed
the coalition's tax break proposal.

"We need to focus on a whole range of options to raise capital to deliver some of these
projects," executive director Brendan Lyon told Sky News.

AAP saj/sb/it/de

KEYWORD: POLL10 BONDS WRAP

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Gov't suspends processing of asylum claims=3

AAP General News (Australia)
04-09-2010
Fed: Gov't suspends processing of asylum claims=3

Senator EVANS says all "irregular" maritime arrivals will continue to be taken to Christmas
Island.

He says while new asylum claims from Sri Lanka and Afghan nationals won't be processed
in the suspension period .. health and security checks will continue.

Senator EVANS says the detention facility on Christmas Island is "stretched" to the
limit because of the recent influx of boat arrivals.

MORE RTV gd/sld/rl/af

KEYWORD: BOAT 3 CANBERRA

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Oppn leadership woes due to Howard legacy: Costello

AAP General News (Australia)
08-26-2009
Fed: Oppn leadership woes due to Howard legacy: Costello

By Bonny Symons-Brown

CANBERRA, Aug 26 AAP - The coalition's leadership woes are the result of former prime
minister John Howard's refusal to hand the reins to Peter Costello, the former treasurer's
brother says.

World Vision chief executive Reverend Tim Costello compared Mr Howard hanging on to
the top job to the way fictional figure Gollum, from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series
of books, refused to give up his mystical ring of power.

"What I said ... about the Lord of the Rings, that whoever wears the ring never takes
it off - they think they have the power to, but the ring controls them - sadly proved
true," he told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

"That succession in politics, if handled, would not have led to what is now this leadership
fragility and disaster within the coalition."

Peter Costello in June put an end to the speculation about whether he might take a
tilt at the Liberal leadership when he confirmed he was retiring from politics and wouldn't
renominate for his seat of Higgins.

Reverend Costello said his brother's decision was a disappointment for the party.

"His decision ... is obviously disappointing for many people who vote coalition and
have watched the latest leadership troubles," he said.

But Reverend Costello would not be drawn on what Australia's longest serving treasurer
would do next.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" he joked.

"He now deserves to choose to do whatever gives him happiness and I hope he does that."

AAP bsb/sb/jl

KEYWORD: LIBERALS COSTELLO (PIX AVAILABLE)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed:Exporters start to feel the heat from global recession

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2009
Fed:Exporters start to feel the heat from global recession

By Colin Brinsden, Economics Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 17 AAP - The economy is starting to feel the wrath of the global recession
with export prices declining at their fastest pace in six years, hurting both national
income and economic growth.

New data shows the nation's terms of trade - the ratio between export prices and import
prices - is contracting, reversing the good times from the resources boom which brought
in billions of dollars to business and the government coffers.

The terms of trade fell by nearly two per cent in the March quarter, and economists
predict that this will soon run into double figures.

"While we doubt if today's data are of much surprise to the (Reserve Bank of Australia)
which is already assuming a decline of 20 per cent in the terms of trade this year, they
provide a reminder of the impending fall in national income and its implications for spending,
investment and employment," RBC Capital Market senior economist Su-Lin Ong said.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics's export price index, released on Friday, fell
4.6 per cent in the March quarter, the fastest rate of decline since June 2003.

The bureau's import price index fell by a lesser degree, down 2.8 per cent for the
same three months, but still at the weakest pace in over two years.

The fall in the export index included a drop of up to 27.5 per cent in metal and ore
prices and a 22.7 per cent decline in prices of petrol products.

A 55.5 per cent tumble in fertiliser products prices led the decline in the import
index, followed by 32.5 per cent slump in imported petrol products prices.

ANZ economist Alex Joiner expects the terms of trade to deteriorate by as much as 15
per cent in 2009.

"As a result the trade surplus will return to deficit and the improvements in the current
account seen in recent quarters will reverse," Dr Joiner said.

The government forecast a 12.75 per cent decline in the terms of trade in 2009-10 in
its its Updated Economic and Fiscal Outlook released in February, after an estimated 9.0
per cent increase in 2008-09.

Still, Treasurer Wayne Swan on Thursday warned that both revenue and economic growth
would be "significantly worse" than previously forecast when he releases his budget on
May 12.

This, he said, is the result of the global recession hitting the resources sector and
the economies of the country's major trading partners.

In February, Australian economic growth for 2009-10 was forecast by the government
at a mere 0.75 per cent growth.

The fall in the import price index bodes well for a benign inflation reading when the
March quarter consumer price index (CPI) is released on Wednesday.

An AAP survey of 11 economists released on Friday forecast a quarterly rise in the
CPI of 0.5 per cent, dragging the annual rate down to 2.9 per cent and back within the
RBA's two to three per cent target.

This compares with an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in the December quarter and a hefty
5.0 per cent in the September quarter of 2008.

AAP cb/kms/cdh

KEYWORD: ECONOMY WRAP

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Turnbull probably wishing the silly season would hurry up

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-2008
Fed: Turnbull probably wishing the silly season would hurry up

By Kate Hannon, National Political Editor

CANBERRA, Dec 12 AAP - Malcolm Turnbull is probably wishing the silly season would
hurry up and lower the curtain on serious news for the year.

After a little more than 10 weeks in the job as opposition leader, Turnbull has experienced
his first party shambles followed by a bad opinion poll.

It has had the effect of ending his leadership honeymoon - such as it is for an opposition
leader - and of setting the hares running speculating about his future.

To say it has been a damaging week for Turnbull is an understatement as well as being
the worst possible way to finish a bad year.

To make things worse, the government is riding as high in the polls as it was fresh
from its election 12 months ago.

Labor began rolling out its $10.4 billion stimulus package putting up to $2100 into
the hands of pensioners and up to $1000 per child for families with instructions to spend
it before Christmas.

As the government grapples with the global financial crisis and ends the week announcing
its first round of major infrastructure spending, the opposition is left looking inward,
fighting amongst themselves.

It was only two weeks ago Turnbull was painting an optimistic picture for the coalition
during an end-of-year pep talk to his parliamentary colleagues.

He told them they'd had a tough year but were no longer "demoralised" following the
leadership change.

But, as if to prove the adage that a week is a long time in politics, the opposition
ended up looking like a dishevelled rabble with its MPs doing one thing in the lower house
and another in the Senate.

It was embarrassing for Turnbull and it leaves the opposition team going into the summer
break feeling out of sorts and a question mark hanging over the leadership group.

Turnbull would prefer them to return reinvigorated and full of policy ideas and with
some strategy plans for the Senate.

As Turnbull told the party room, the Senate is now the "coalface" of political activity
in the next two years.

The first test will be the Senate inquiry into Labor's Fair Work bill, the replacement
for Work Choices, which will hold seven days of public hearings starting the day after
Australia Day.

The opposition has already flagged it does not intend to oppose the bill, but Turnbull
has reserved the right to seek amendments depending on the inquiry outcome.

Both Turnbull and his leader in the Senate, Nick Minchin, will want to keep the backbench
well briefed in order to avoid another fiasco when it comes to making amendments.

The other early challenge will be carbon emissions trading where, as with the Fair
Work bill, the crossbench senators - the five Greens, Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding
- will all want to have their say.

The government will need to tread carefully in its negotiations if it wants to avoid
a legislative mess and the possibility of a double dissolution election if it can't get
the bills passed.

What made the week even worse for Turnbull was Tuesday's final Newspoll for the year,
which showed his support levels had receded to those of his predecessor Brendan Nelson
in the middle of the year.

Senior members of the opposition blamed the poor poll - showing two party preferred
support for the coalition down by four points to 41 per cent against Labor's up four to
59 per cent - on the Senate vote collapse.

Turnbull's support as preferred prime minister dropped two points to 19 per cent while
Kevin Rudd's rose by three to 66 per cent.

As for Rudd, his satisfaction rating had climbed again close to the immediate post-election
stratosphere of 70 per cent.

It has the effect of placing Turnbull's performance under the microscope with every
move, stumble, or slip-up analysed and bookended between the last poll and the next one.

While it is only one bad poll and parliament does not sit again until February, giving
Turnbull time to knock a few heads together, it did not help any to have the bickering
still going on Friday.

Former Howard government minister Tony Abbott used a column in The Australian newspaper
on Friday to add fuel to the fire with an attack on The Nationals and particularly their
Senate leader Barnaby Joyce.

Abbott chastised the junior coalition partners for defying the leadership twice last
week, saying it was not on to be part of a coalition only when it suited them.

It is unlikely to be the last salvo in that battle.

AAP keh/rl/wf/mo

KEYWORD: NEWSCOPE FEDERAL

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

ACT: Pregnant woman's death in hospital 'avoidable': coroner

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2008
ACT: Pregnant woman's death in hospital 'avoidable': coroner

By Julian Drape

CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - The death in a Canberra hospital of a 50-year-old woman heavily
pregnant with twins was avoidable, although no one person was criminally responsible,
an ACT coroner has found.

But the woman's husband is pressing ahead with plans to sue the John James Memorial
Hospital over the incident six years ago.

Nancy Aun, a radiologist, died following a sudden haemorrhage 11 days after being admitted
to the hospital in 2002.

She was 34 weeks pregnant with IVF twins.

Dr Aun was found by a kitchen maid on the floor of her room about 6.50am on July 29.

She had previously been checked at 4am.

The room was dark and there was blood on the bed, floor, curtains and wall.

An emergency specialist told the coroner there was at least one hour, and probably
two, between Dr Aun's "placental abruption" and her being found on the floor.

Experts said if Dr Aun had been discovered earlier it would have been "far less likely"

she would have died.

The coronial inquest examined why there had been a delay and why Dr Aun hadn't called
for help with her bedside buzzer.

Chief coroner Ron Cahill today said it was "impossible to determine the particular
reason why the alarm system was not activated" but "the tragic death of Nancy Aun may
have been avoidable".

However his investigations revealed no criminal offences.

One call buzzer to alert nurses was mounted on Dr Aun's bedside table while another
was connected to a flexible cord.

Both worked but it was suggested the expectant mother either couldn't see the buttons,
couldn't reach them or was "so overcome by pain to be unable to activate them".

Mr Cahill recommended all obstetric hospitals should ensure adequate lighting at all
times for patients to access the alarm system.

He said they should ensure the bedside button was within "comfortable reach" and the
cord button be within reach "at all times ... preferably fixed on the bedding or bed".

The coroner also recommended hospitals implement guidelines for the management of high-risk
obstetric patients, including regular patient observations.

Dr Aun's husband, Colin Gilmore, a consultant anaesthetist, is suing the hospital over
his wife's death.

A civil claim was filed in the ACT Supreme Court earlier this year.

An emotional Dr Gilmore said today's recommendations would go a long way to improving
standards of care.

"I feel very confident if and when these recommendations are instituted it will significantly
improve the standards offered to expectant mums and their babies at all obstetric hospitals,"

Dr Gilmore told reporters outside the ACT Coroners Court.

Tomorrow will be the sixth anniversary of his wife and twins' funeral, he said.

AAP jcd/rl/cjh/mn

KEYWORD: AUN

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Water levels should seen desalination plant scrapped: Oppn

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2008
NSW: Water levels should seen desalination plant scrapped: Oppn

The New South Wales opposition has called for the scrapping of the two billion dollar
desalination plant at Kurnell because of recent good rainfalls .. and the promise of more
to come.

Opposition water spokesman CHRIS HARTCHER says Premier MORRIS IEMMA should scrap the
desalination plant.

In a statement .. Mr HARTCHER says dam levels are now more than double Mr IEMMA'S trigger
point .. but he continues to build the one-point-eight billion dollar white elephant.

He says instead .. the government should pursue the environmentally responsible and
economically sensible options of stormwater harvesting and recycling.

AAP RTV pc/it/de/psm/

KEYWORD: WATER NSW HARTCHER

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

New Ltd sells Cowboys for undisclosed sum

AAP General News (Australia)
08-28-2007
New Ltd sells Cowboys for undisclosed sum

SYDNEY, Aug 28 AAP - After months of speculation, News Ltd announced today that it
had sold the North Queensland Cowboys Rugby League Club to the Cowboys Leagues Club for
an undisclosed sum.

News Ltd company secretary and Cowboys board member Peter Jourdain said News Ltd had
taken over the Cowboys in 2001 to ensure it survived through a turbulent and difficult
era.

"From the outset, News Limited's intention was to help the club grow until it was in
a position to stand on its own two feet," he said.

"That day has arrived."

Mr Jourdain said the Cowboys Leagues Club is well placed to take the club forward and
realise its potential.

North Queensland Cowboys chief executive officer Peter Parr said with the sale now
complete, the Cowboys had an exciting future as a community-based club under the ownership
of the Cowboys Leagues Club.

"We look forward to continuing the positive results of recent years and ensuring that
the Cowboys remain in a strong position, both on and off the field for many years to come,"

he said.

The Cowboys Leagues Club was formed in 1994 but ceased to operate between 1999 and
2001, when it reopened in a new, state-of-the-art premises in Townsville. It has traded
successfully since then.

The Cowboys football club has been been largely successful in the past few years reaching
the finals in three of the past four seasons.

Peter Jourdain now has resigned his position on the Cowboys board of directors.

New Ltd retains its interest in both the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm.

AAP clf/pe/jlw

KEYWORD: NEWS COWBOYS

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

TAS: Pulp Mill wood supply deal to become public information

AAP General News (Australia)
04-13-2007
TAS: Pulp Mill wood supply deal to become public information

Forestry Tasmania says it's willing to give the Greens information about its wood supply
agreement .. with the company planning a two billion pulp mill.

The move follows a decision by the ombudsman .. declaring the deal between Gunns and
Forestry Tasmania .. falls within the Freedom of Information Act and can't be withheld.

Forestry Tasmania's KEN JEFFREYS says it's the companies intention to comply with the
ombudsman .. and managing director BOB GORDON had been checking the report overnight.

Tasmania Greens spokesman TIM MORRIS says the release of the information coincides
with the state government's mill assessment process and timeline.







Premier PAUL LENNON introduced legislation to fast-track the mill's assessment through
parliament .. when Gunns withdrew from the Resource Planning and Development Commission
process .. saying delays were costing it millions of dollars.

The Pulp Mill Assessment Bill will become law when it returns to the lower house next
Tuesday .. if amendments made in the upper house are rubber-stamped.

AAP RTV grc/imc/rt

KEYWORD: PULP FORESTRY (HOBART)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Gov't ignoring parliamentary committees

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-2006
Fed: Gov't ignoring parliamentary committees

By Peter Veness

CANBERRA, Dec 12 AAP - The government has failed to respond to a three-year-old parliamentary
report recommending a major reorganisation of regional aviation policy.

Transport Minister Mark Vaile admitted this week the government had still not responded
to the 28 recommendations of Regional Aviation and Island Services: Making Ends Meet,
more than three years after the report was handed down

Independent MP Peter Andren exposed the delay.

He said the failure of Mr Vaile to answer the recommendations pointed to a wider problem
with the parliamentary process.

"It's a real insult to those individuals and organisations who take the time and trouble
to travel from all points on the Australian compass to attend hearings when their input
is disregarded and ignored," Mr Andren told AAP.

In responding to the delay, Mr Vaile said the recommendations were wide ranging.

"The recommendations ... cover a wide range of issues requiring a whole of government response.

"The government is currently considering the 28 recommendations contained in the report
and is working towards tabling its response as soon as possible," Mr Vaile said.

But Mr Andren said the committee process had become little more than a place for government
backbenchers to lobby for promotion.

"The committees have become nothing more than a holding paddock for would-be parliamentary
secretaries."

The report recommended a string of economic incentives for regional communities and
the airlines that served them.

"The recommendations are aimed at providing greater financial support to improvements
to aviation and alternative sea services to certain communities," the committee said in
its report of November 2003.

"Other recommendations are aimed at improving the business environment for regional
airlines and building on the capacity of operators.

"This will enable regional aviation services to be a more attractive transport option
for business and private citizens needing to use regional aviation services."

AAP pv/sb/jm/de

KEYWORD: AVIATION

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Nats urge fed govt to oppose wind farm

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2006
Vic: Nats urge fed govt to oppose wind farm

MELBOURNE, Aug 5 AAP - Victoria's Nationals are pushing the federal government to maintain
its opposition to the $220 million Bald Hills wind farm project in the state's east.

Victorian Nationals (VicNats) leader Peter Ryan said the party was not against wind
farms but did not believe the Bald Hills site was appropriate.

The project opened up agricultural land for industrial purposes and would be a blight
on the landscape in a tourist area, Mr Ryan said.

"I'm not against wind farms when the local community supports them but placing these
giant turbines on prime coastal land and alongside an important wetland defies common
sense," he said.

"Bald Hills is the wrong place for a wind farm and the proponents should withdraw their
application.

"If they persist with the application I believe (Federal Environment Minister) Senator
Ian Campbell should reject the proposal."

Senator Campbell yesterday agreed to reconsider his controversial decision to block the project.

The move ends a Federal Court battle by the developer to challenge Senator Campbell's
rejection of the Bald Hills wind farm.

In April, Senator Campbell overturned state government approval for the 52-turbine
project, citing a report he had commissioned which identified a potential threat to the
endangered orange-bellied parrot.

AAP jmw/jt

KEYWORD: PARROT

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Coroner "satisfied" missing Sydney girl dead= 2

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2006
NSW: Coroner "satisfied" missing Sydney girl dead= 2

Ms Lane, now 30, kept Tegan's birth and those of two other children secret from her
family and friends.

The two other children were legally adopted out but when Tegan's birth was discovered
by authorities in 1999 she initially denied the baby's existence then offered inconsistent
versions of events.

In her latest account, she gave the newborn to Tegan's natural father, a man named
Andrew Norris, with whom she had had an affair.

Mr Norris, his de facto girlfriend Mel, and his mother collected the newborn from Auburn
Hospital, Ms Lane told police.

But nationwide searches have failed to find any trace of him or the child.

Mr Abernethy today said without the untruths and half truths Ms Lane had told police,
adoption agencies and social workers, her version of what happened to Tegan was "possible,
though unlikely".

"With those untruths ... I am completely unable to accept the final version given by
Keli Lane," he said.

Mr Abernethy said he found it "inherently unlikely that a man with whom (Ms Lane) was
having an affair, who already had a partner, who initially at least was incredibly angry
on learning she was pregnant, nevertheless was happy to take the child".

"This is all the more unlikely because that man's cuckolded partner also agreed."

Earlier this week, Ms Lane exercised her legal right to silence when called to give
evidence at the inquest.

While Mr Abernethy acknowledged her right not to incriminate herself, he said "the
position is that without Keli Lane's evidence this court is unable to ... make a final
meaningful assessment as to whether this inherently unlikely version of events may be
true".

AAP ka/dmc/tam/cdh/sd

KEYWORD: LANE 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Joyce says he's happy with IR amendments =2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-2005
Fed: Joyce says he's happy with IR amendments =2

Under the government changes .. staff have no guarantee of penalty rates for working
holidays like Christmas.

But Senator JOYCE says .. given that workers will get full pay for the holiday even
if they choose not to work .. they'll have to be paid more to work on the day.

AAP so/sb/ibw/jv

KEYWORD: WORKPLACE JOYCE 2 CANBERRA (REOPENS)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Beazley admits tough fight to hold Werriwa

AAP General News (Australia)
02-01-2005
Fed: Beazley admits tough fight to hold Werriwa

MELBOURNE, Feb 1 AAP - Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley today admitted Labor would
have a struggle to retain Mark Latham's Sydney seat of Werriwa.

Mr Beazley was responding to private Labor Party polling, conducted last week before
he took over the party's leadership, showing that the ALP would have lost a byelection
in Werriwa, which it has held since 1934.

Mr Latham won the seat, considered Labor heartland, by a margin of 9.3 per cent in
last year's federal election.

"In case you haven't noticed we've had a pretty rough time over the course of the last
little while from the last election onwards, actually from before then," Mr Beazley told
reporters in Melbourne today.

He said if it was his choice he would have preferred to have a by-election later in
the government's term.

"I think and I hope that the people of Werriwa comprehend that it's a product of a
very genuine reason and that is the illness of the sitting member.

"I was out in Werriwa over the weekend and people were friendly in their response but
they also had issues."

Asked if he feared Labor would lose the seat, Mr Beazley said: "You always fight to
win but it's going to be hard circumstances."

No date has been set for the byelection.

Details of the private poll were reported in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

AAP nl/szp/gfr/sp

KEYWORD: POLL NSW WERRIWA BEAZLEY

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

vanadium pentoxide

vanadium pentoxide See vanadium(V) oxide.

wetland

wetland Any land which is intermittently or periodically waterlogged. This includes salt marshes, tidal estuaries, marshes, and bogs. Wetlands are rapidly disappearing habitats; the Everglades National Park, Florida, is a complex of coastal mangroves, tropical saw‐grass marshes, and forest on the slightly raised areas, but flood‐control measures to the north, and the ever‐increasing number of visitors cause intense pressure on the ecosystem. Other wetlands are increasingly being reclaimed for agriculture, industry, or housing.

In the United States a constructed wetland can involve engineering of hydrology and soils, and is intentionally created from non‐wetland sites for the sole purpose of wastewater or storm water treatment, but literature from elsewhere may not distinguish between these terms. The concept of a designer wetland emphasizes the life history strategy of species as the major factor in developing vegetation on a restoration site. It favours engineering and replanting strategies directed at producing a wetland type, with no fixed endpoint. Wetland mitigation is the replacing of wetland areas destroyed or impacted by proposed land disturbances with artificially created wetland areas.

Corporal on child porn charge.

A CORPORAL at RAF Stafford appeared before the town's crown court accused of downloading child pornography from the internet.

John Owens (39), of Dickson Road, Stafford, pleaded guilty to five charges of making indecent photographs of children under 16 in September and October last year.

The hearing was adjourned for reports and Owens was remanded on bail.

Judge Simon Tonking told him: 'The fact that I am granting you bail is not the slightest indication of what the sentence will be.'

Jive Records and amplified.com Join for Exclusive Britney Spears Online Promotion.

- Remix of New Single, Snippets of Album Tracks and Behind-the-Scenes

Footage & Interviews Available -

ATLANTA, May 9 /PRNewswire/ --

amplified.com, the world's leading online business-to-business fulfillment service for music and video products, in conjunction with Jive Records, announced today that amplified.com is offering online retailers an exclusive full-length remix stream of Britney Spears' hot new single "Oops! ... I Did It Again," from her highly anticipated sophomore album of the same name. This song, along with snippets of three other tracks from Britney's new album, is available immediately in both the Windows Media and Real Audio formats prior to the album's release date on May 16th.

In addition to the snippets of "Stronger", "What U See (Is What U Get)" and "Lucky", four episodes of BRITV will be available for streaming as well. Each episode includes behind-the-scenes and interview footage with Britney at photo/video shoots and in the studio, with a new 2-1/2 minute episode to premiere every few days between May 1st and May 22nd. amplified.com is making the promotion available through participating leading online retail sites and participating affiliates of both amplified.com and Jive Records.

"We are excited to continue working with Jive Records to provide retailers with these great tracks promoting the release of Britney's new album Oops! ... I Did It Again," said Jim Swindel, President of amplified.com Entertainment. "Britney Spears is one the hottest artists in the world and amplified.com is confident that this exclusive promotion will be a key ingredient in a successful launch of the new album.

"We are delighted to be working with amplified.com for this exciting event," said Jeff Dodes of Jive Records New Media department. "amplified.com has helped make these types of online events both highly efficient and effective for us, our artists and the participating on-line retailers. The feedback from our on-line retail partners on the *NSYNC campaign was very positive and we expect similar results with this Britney promotion."

About amplified.com

amplified.com is a leading business-to-business technology and service provider, offering a full suite of services for entertainment companies and retailers selling entertainment products on the Internet. amplified.com specializes in digital media technology, database and DRM services, offering a robust list of services for labels, studios and for destination sites. amplified.com also provides fulfillment of CDs, DVDs, Digital Downloads and Custom CDs to most of the Internet's leading retail sites. The Company is privately held, and its owners include Valley Media, Inc. (NASDAQ: VMIX), Bear Stern's Constellation Ventures, Psilos Group, Chase Capital, Noro-Moseley Partners and its employees. Additional information is available at http://www.amplified.com.

About Jive Records

Jive Records' roster includes such artists as *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, R. Kelly, and Joe among other highly successful artists. Jive is a subsidiary of Zomba Recording Corporation, the largest independent recording company in the world. The Zomba Label Group encompasses eight record labels: flagship label Jive Records, Jive Electro, Silvertone, Verity, Brentwood, Benson, Reunion and Volcano. Additional information is available at http://www.jiverecords.com.

Contact: Alan Miller, alan@middleberg.com, or Karen Bierman, karenb@middleberg.com, both of Middleberg + Associates, 212-888-6610, for amplified.com.