AAP Internet Bulletin 2000 Tuesday, Dec 1, 1998

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-1998
AAP Internet Bulletin 2000 Tuesday, Dec 1, 1998



[A][TAX][fed]

Tax reform package to be unveiled in parliament

CANBERRA - The federal government will unveil the final shape of the GST tomorrow with
a package of bills which
Prime Minister John Howard said represented the greatest shakeup of the tax system since
federation.

The 16 bills will be introduced in the House of
Representatives by Treasurer Peter Costello as the first item
of business when parliament starts.

Mr Howard told coalition MPs and Senators the reforms have
been 25 years in the making.

"It represents the biggest reshaping of the taxation system
in Australia since federation," Mr Howard told the coalition
party room in a pre-tax debate pep talk.

"Its taken the coalition government to do it.

"Its something which has been known for 25 years that has
needed to be done and we are now in the process of making this
change."

Treasurer Peter Costello said the legislation would sweep
away an antiquated wholesale sales tax system.

He said the government would challenge the ALP to support
the abolition of the wholesale sales tax and prove it was a
modern party rather than one supporting a 1930s tax system
introduced by Jim Scullin at the height of the great
depression.

Mr Costello stepped up his attack on the wholesale sales
tax system today, using question time to ridicule the
complicated rules applied by the Australian Tax Office.

He said the tax office has issued a 36-page ruling on sales
tax exemptions for cars, which said farmers could claim an
exemption if they used a vehicle to cross a road, but not to
drive down a road from one property to another.




[A][JABILUKA][UN][jabiluka.jpg]

Australia defiant on Jabiluka

CANBERRA - Environment Minister Robert Hill today said the federal government would be
taking no action to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine despite a UN recommendation for construction
work there to be suspended.

A World Heritage committee today called for construction work at the Northern Territory
mine to cease until Australias assessment on whether the mine was a threat to Kakadu National
Park was considered by UN body UNESCO next April.

But Senator Hill said any decision on Jabiluka was up to mining company ERA, not the
government.

"Were not constructing the mine, the company is," he told reporters.

"If youre asking me if well try and take some action to stop the mine, the answer is no.

"It would be quite inappropriate for us to interfere in that regard. All commonwealth
approvals have been given."

GreensSenator Bob Brown said it was a fantastic day for Australian environmentalists, but
not for the country's international profile.

"This is another piece of dirt piled on to Australias
reputation as an environmental pirate," Senator Brown told
reporters.

"John Howard should hang his head in shame. Robert Hill
should resign, he has been not only a disaster in the
environmental portfolio, he has mismanaged it beyond any
degree of mismanagement that could have been seen when this
government came to office."

Senator Brown said Australia was now internationally isolated and the government faced a
moral dilemma over the mine and whether to defy the World Heritage convention.





[A][ACTU HORTA][FED]

Horta offers forgiveness for Timor betrayal

LORNE, Vic - Australia has the chance to end 23 years of betrayal by urging Indonesia to
surrender East Timor, Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta said today.

In a bitter attack on every prime minister from Gough Whitlam to John Howard, Dr Ramos
Horta accused a succession of prime ministers and governments of covering up for Indonesia.

Speaking to reporters at the ACTU council meeting at Lorne, he said Foreign Affairs
Minister Alexander Downer had a chance to make up for the betrayals of former governments.

"If Australia is now prepared to work with us in supporting a process of gradual
step-by-step towards independence, we are prepared to put all 23 years of treason behind us,"
he said.

However, one politician has already been forgiven - Labors foreign affairs minister and
now opposition backbencher Gareth Evans.

"In spite of my past criticism of ... Gareth Evans the fact is I found out that even though
he was very much criticised by many of us ... it was during his time as foreign minister that
the Australian embassy in Jakarta made more representations to the Indonesians than any other
embassy in Jakarta," he said.

"I want to be fair ... although there has been some criticism of him, in terms of cover-up
of massacres and so on ... the reality is that during his time in office the Australian
government made numerous representations not only to Indonesia but to the United Nations
secretary-general.

"Unfortunately this is not the case now ... I have not heard too much about Australian
activities in Jakarta ... and in the United Nations Commission of Human Rights in Geneva ...
Australian governments have been totally absent from any discussion on East Timor," he said.

Australian prime ministers since Gough Whitlam had successively ignored East Timor's plight
and, in the case of Malcolm Fraser, had let international trade advantages determine its human
rights policy, he said.

Gough Whitlam ignored the deaths of five Australian journalists on East Timor, Bob Hawke
went to the Persian Gulf to protect Kuwait rather than act on the local invasion, and Paul
Keating called President Suharto "my papa", Dr Ramos Horta said.





[A][RUSSIA TRAPPED RESCUE][NAT]

Helicopter arrives to rescue Siberian film-makers

MELBOURNE, Australia A helicopter rescue team on Tuesday reached a three-man television
crew that had been stranded on a remote Arctic island for more than six weeks, rescuers said.

The helicopter, sent by international medical emergency company
AEA International SOS, landed on frozen Wrangel Island, about 0200
GMT, said Mark Crawford, the company's spokesman in Australia.

"They're in fair spirits," Crawford said of the crew, which
includes a Russian, a Japanese and an Australian.

"They're surviving of course, but they were down to their last
three days of food."

The crew Australian cameraman Rory McGuinness, Tatsuhko
Kobayashi, a producer with NHK, Japan's largest state television
network, and Russian scientist Nikita Ovsyanikov arrived on
Wrangel Island on Sept. 2 to make a documentary on polar bears.

The trio intended to leave Oct. 15, but was delayed by bad
weather which had also prevented a helicopter rescue by Russia's
Emergency Situations Ministry.

The three had been holed up in a cabin on the island's northeast coast, about 550 kilometres
(350 miles) west of Alaska.

As the crew's food supplies had dwindled, residents of a Russian village about 130
kilometres (80 miles) from the hut tried to drive a snow tractor carrying emergency supplies to
the crew. The effort was also frustrated by the weather.

The temperature has been around minus 30 Celsius (minus 22
Fahrenheit), with a strong wind. The crew has a diesel generator, a
computer, a cellular phone and access to e-mail, but was running
low on fuel, news reports said.

Crawford said the trio would be flown to the Russian mainland at
Pevek. The helicopter was due there by about 0700 GMT.

The rescue was extremely difficult given the remoteness of the
area, he said.

Crawford said his company had been contracted to conduct the
rescue by the filmmakers' employer Natural History Pty. Ltd. in New
Zealand.



[A][RECONCILIATION][QLD]

Howard doesnt get reconciliation: Mandela spokesman

TOOWOOMBA, Qld - Prime Minister John Howard did not understand what reconciliation
was, and his personal inability
to come to terms with Australias past offered little optimism for the process, a South African
political leader said today.

Makhenkesi Stofile, a delegate for South African president Nelson Mandela, told a
conference that reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples was a spiritual,
not political concept.

Reverend Stofile, the premier of Eastern Cape Province, said the process was an elusive one
which took place over a long period, and one which Mr Howard did not fully comprehend.

The prime minister has announced the government and the Council for Aboriginal
Reconciliation will work together to produce a document of reconciliation by the centenary of
federation on January 1, 2001.

"Its a very serious moral issue about a person trying to find another person," Rev Stofile
told the World Indigenous Pathways conference.

"I dont know if he (Mr Howard) understands what hes talking about.

"2000 is two years away.

"I dont think he understands the meaning of the term, with great respect."

Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson told delegates reconciliation had to be "a true act and a
true achievement" of looking to the future without forgetting Australias past.

He said the message currently being put to indigenous Australians was that non-indigenous
Australians did not entirely concede past truths "but you indigenous people should
nevertheless look forward to a better future".





[I][Clinton-Impeachment]

GOP moves to expand inquiry to Clinton fund raising

WASHINGTON The House Judiciary Committee is opening a carefully-scripted hearing into the
consequences of perjury. But behind the scenes, political fireworks are exploding over
Republican efforts to expand the impeachment inquiry from President Clinton's private life to
his campaign fund raising.

Committee Republicans sought on Monday to subpoena secret
Clinton administration memos urging Attorney General Janet Reno to
appoint an independent counsel to investigate the president's 1996
campaign.

Chairman Henry Hyde has "worked totally unilaterally, so it's
very clear that this is a partisan witch hunt that he's determined
to ram through as quickly as he can," Rep. John Conyers, the
committee's ranking Democrat, said late Monday.

Conyers, D-Mich., Spoke just after Republicans, who control the
Judiciary Committee, 21-16, moved to subpoena FBI Director Louis
Freeh and federal prosecutor Charles LaBella and gain access to
their secret memos laying out Clinton's alleged fund-raising
irregularities.

"The committee has received information which suggests that the
campaign finance abuse memos may contain allegations of criminal
wrongdoing by the president," said Paul McNulty, a spokesman for
Republicans on the panel. "The committee is duty-bound to
investigate that information."

The decision opens up a new avenue of investigation for the
impeachment panel, just as Hyde, R-Ill., Is pressing to wrap up
work in time for a vote by Christmas on possible articles of
impeachment against the president.

Hyde and other Republicans will seek subpoenas in closed session
after the perjury hearing Tuesday. The subpoenas would compel Freeh
and LaBella to answer questions about their recommendation that an
independent counsel be named to investigate Clinton fund raising,
committee officials said.

They will seek separate subpoenas demanding that Reno turn over
memos that Freeh and LaBella wrote laying out their arguments, and
demanding that Clinton order Reno to comply, according to committee
officials. No request is being contemplated to force Clinton to
answer questions.

Neither McNulty nor other committee officials would say what
specific allegations against the president they believed the memos
contained.





[A][ADOPT][FED]

More Australians able to adopt overseas

CANBERRA - Adopting a child from overseas will be made easier for many Australians
from today with new international laws
coming into force which will help break down traditional barriers.

The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption establishes internationally agreed standards
for processing intercountry adoptions.

It will also provide laws to prevent the abduction, sale and trafficking of children.

Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams said that until now, Australian states and
territories had negotiated only a limited number of bilateral arrangements for seeking
overseas adoptions.

"With 24 countries party to the Hague Convention, the way is open for more Australians to
adopt children born overseas," Mr Williams said in a statement.

"Intercountry adoption has become a worldwide phenomenon, which often moves children over
long distances and from one society to another.

"This can raise complex social difficulties and legal issues."

Mr Williams said Australian authorities would be required to observe certain procedures and
standards when assessing and reporting on the suitability of prospective adoptive parents.

"The Convention also establishes decisionmaking standards relating to the best interests of
the child, including the childs upbringing and the childs ethnic, religious and cultural
background."

State and territory governments had supported Australias ratification of the Convention
and would continue to have responsibility for day-to-day processing of adoptions in Australia,
he said.





[A][TRADE AGRICULTURE][FED]

Fischer appoints agriculture 'market facilitator'

CANBERRA - Australia today stepped up the fight to break down trade barriers hurting
local farmers by creating a
new position of market access facilitator for the agriculture sector.

Trade minister Tim Fischer said the appointment of senior diplomat Allan McKinnon to the
new position fulfilled one of the coalitions key election promises for the trade portfolio
and recognised the critical role of agricultural exports to Australia.

"More and more Australian jobs depend on trade," Mr Fischer said in a statement.

"For agriculture, with over seventy-five per cent of our products exported, the importance
of opening new markets and breaking down unfair international trade barriers will be a key
factor to continued strong export growth.

"The role of the agriculture market access facilitator will be to liaise with industry on
market development priorities as well as the removal of the many overseas trade barriers that
continue to hinder our export efforts."

Mr McKinnon will pursue Australias attempt to break down trade barriers at the next round
of world trade talks due to start late next year.





[I][Indonesia][Earthquake]

Indonesian earthquake death toll rises

JAKARTA, Indonesia The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit a remote island in
Indonesia rose to 25 on Tuesday as rescue teams searched for more victims and survivors,
officials said.

The magnitude-6.5 quake hit Mangole island on Sunday night,
destroying buildings and houses and triggering landslides.

Strong aftershocks continued to rock the island Tuesday,
hampering rescue efforts and frightening villagers.

Initially six people were reported killed on the island, about 1,900 kilometres northeast of
Indonesia's capital, Jakarta.

However, the toll rose after reports were received from isolated
villages, said Budi Waluyo, an official from Indonesia's
Meteorological and Geophysics Agency in Jakarta.

Local government official Wahab Konoras said at least eight
villagers were still missing Tuesday.

"Rescue teams are looking for more possible victims in remote
areas. The toll could rise further," he said in a telephone
interview from Ternate, the capital of North Maluku regency.

Afraid that aftershocks might bring down their damaged homes,
about 7,000 people slept in tents or in the open.

Widespread damage was also reported on neighbouring Taliabu
island, but there were no reports of deaths there.





[A][FRASER][QLD]

Aboriginal group seeks to inherit Fraser Island

BRISBANE - A Queensland Aboriginal group is attempting to bypass native title procedures
and use inheritance laws to claim ownership of the World Heritage-listed Fraser Island region.

John Lee Jones, of the Fraser Island Dalungaalee Aboriginal Corporation, today called on
the Queensland government to immediately hand over Fraser Island, off the states south-east
coast.

He said under Aboriginal protection laws, the government had only been acting as the
trustee of his forebears "estates".

"Under the common law of Australia, there are in place clearly defined procedures for
claiming inheritance rights to properties held by trustees," Mr Jones said in a letter
delivered to the Department of Family Services this morning.

"As the chief executive, defined in the current Community Services (Aborigines) Act 1984,
acting as trustee for our property and interests, I call upon you (the director) to expedite
the conveyance of our property to us," the letter said.

Mr Jones said the government should also hand over the proceeds of any sales of traditional
Aboriginal land over the years.

"As this matter has been under consideration for the past six years, and Crown law has
already defined all the property titles of our lands, there should be no unnecessary holdup in
identifying these properties that have been sold and the values," he said.

Mr Jones said his groups right to the land was set out in The Succession Act 1981 and the
the handover of Fraser Island, a popular tourist destination, would be the first act of
reconciliation by governments.

He said the Management Plan of the Great Sandy Region World Heritage Park, which contains
Fraser Island, stated the land should be handed over to Aborigines by the year 2010.

Mr Jones has previously hit legal brick walls in his attempts to press claims on behalf of
the Dalungbara, Batchala and Ngulungbara people of the Great Sandy Region.





[A][LITERACY WA][WA]

Aboriginal students pages behind in literacy test

PERTH - More than half of Western Australias year three Aboriginal children did not
meet new national literacy
standards in the nations first comprehensive test of reading, writing and spelling.

Almost 80 per cent of WAs 24,000 eight-year-olds achieved a good standard of literacy
measured against the national benchmarks, devised by state and national authorities in March
after literacy levels became a national education priority.

WA Education Minister Colin Barnett defended the states Aboriginal education programs,
despite admitting disappointment in the finding that 61 per cent of the 1,200 Aboriginal
students tested did not meet the new standards.

"There is a huge problem amongst Aboriginal education; a problem of attendance at school,
there are cultural problems, there are problems with diet and nutrition and health, family
breakdown, all of those, alcoholism in the community," Mr Barnett said.

"But since 1990 in this state for both state and commonwealth funding $500 million has been
spent on Aboriginal education, and yes, we are disappointed we havent got the results we had
hoped for, but no-ones going to give up on those boys and girls."

Girls across the state performed better than boys, with 81 per cent clearing the benchmark,
compared with 75 per cent for boys.

And non-government schools outperformed their state counterparts by about four per cent,
with 82 per cent performing above the benchmark.

Metropolitan schools on average outperformed country schools by more than 10 per cent, with
the worst results showing in the remote Kimberley and Pilbara regions.

Similar tests have been given to year three students across the nation, but WA was the
first state to compile results and compare them with the national benchmark.





[A][NATION HILL][FED]

Two legal challenges to One Nations Hill

BRISBANE - A disgruntled former One Nation candidate today became the second person to
launch legal action seeking to bar the partys Queensland senator-elect Heather Hill from
entering parliament.

Terry Sharples lodged a writ in Brisbane today in the High Court, sitting as the Court of
Disputed Returns, challenging the validity of Mrs Hills election on the grounds she had not
renounced her British citizenship at the time she nominated and was elected.

Under section 44 (1) of the constitution, members of parliament must be Australian citizens
and not hold dual citizenship.

Earlier today, Sydney businessman Chuck Hong launched legal action in the High Court on
similar grounds.

Mr Sharples, who unsuccessfully stood as an independent for the Senate, said he understood
Mrs Hill had only recently renounced her British citizenship.

He said she failed to take out Australian citizenship for the 26 years she was living here,
only becoming naturalised this year, prior to the state election where she won the seat of
Ipswich.

"I dont think Heather Hill has got the right to be running in the senate ...," he told
journalists.

"It seems to me anyone who can enjoy this country for 26 years and the benefits it brings,
but not take out Australian citizenship until it serves her for some selfish purpose to run in
the state election, has got no right to claim to Queenslanders shes there for their
interests.

"This ladys a member of a party blatantly against immigrants, and here she is not even an
Australian citizen."

Mr Sharples wants Mrs Hills position to be declared vacant by the court and another
one-off election held to elect a new Senate representative.





[I][Canada Quebec][northam][CANADA.JPG]

Separatists win re-election in Quebec

MONTREAL - Quebec's pro-independence government was re-elected Monday, an outcome that could
move Canada closer to another traumatic showdown over secession.

Early returns showed the governing Parti Quebecois and the anti-separatist Quebec Liberal
Party relatively close in popular vote.

But in 1994, when the two parties virtually tied in popular vote, the separatists won 77 of
the legislature's 125 seats to 47 for the Liberals. Television networks and other analysts
projected that the separatists, whose support is far more evenly spread than the Liberals, were
headed for a solid victory again.

With 20 percent of the polling stations reporting, the separatists had 44 percent of the
votes, to 41.5 for the Liberals and 12.5 for a third party, Democratic Action. The separatists
were on track to win about 76 legislative seats, and the Liberals about 48.

The victory was a personal triumph for Quebec's charismatic premier, Lucien Bouchard. He
plans to call another referendum on independence whenever he feels conditions are right for a
separatist triumph.

Bouchard's main rival was Liberal party leader Jean Charest, who tried to convince voters
that the province would prosper only if the decades-old threat of secession was abandoned.

Charest, 40, became an early favourite when he quit federal politics in March to enter the
Quebec race; in English-speaking Canada he was viewed as the potential saviour of national
unity.

But despite his family roots in Quebec, he was widely perceived by the province's
French-speaking majority as more of an outsider than Bouchard, and less likely to do battle for
the province in any confrontations with the federal government.





[I][Indonesia-Suharto][Report]

Suharto corruption netted huge forest tracts: minister

AKARTA, Indonesia Ex-President Suharto, his family and cronies control huge swathes of
rain forest and other valuable timber resources in Indonesia, a newspaper Tuesday quoted
Cabinet minister as saying.

Forestry and Plantations Minister Muslimin Nasution said officials had found nine million
hectares of forest concessions linked to the former leader.

"We found strong indications that those properties were acquired by the Suharto family and
their cronies through (corruption, collusion and nepotism)," Muslimin said as reported by The
Jakarta Post.

Muslimin said the concessions were controlled by the family of
Suharto through shares held in various companies, including some
owned by timber tycoon and close Suharto associate Mohamad "Bob"
Hasan.

Suharto, 77, who had ruled the world's fourth most populous
country with an iron hand since 1966, resigned in May amid
widespread student protests and riots that claimed about 1,200
lives.

The government is currently investigating the former president's
wealth amid mounting calls for him to stand trial for corruption
allegations.

Suharto has denied any wrongdoing and has stated that he will
cooperate with any investigation into his affairs. He has also
denied that he has squirreled away a fortune in foreign banks.

Critics have since accused him of siphoning off state wealth to
benefit his family's massive business empires.

Forbes magazine this year estimated Suharto's wealth at $US4 billion. Some opponents claim
it is many times that.

Environmentalists have long criticised the cutting down of Indonesia's jungles, which are
home to many endangered species as well as indigenous tribespeople.





[F][BOPS][FED]

Howard says Australia still the strong economy of Asia

CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard today defended economic data out today, saying
Australia remained the strong economy of the Asia-Pacific.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the economy posted
its second highest quarterly current account deficit on record
in the three months to September.

The deficit blew out by $1.2 billion or 20 per cent to a
seasonally adjusted $7.3 billion in the September quarter, it
said.

In parliament, the federal opposition said the data
revealed the worst ever foreign debt figures on record. The
ABS said net foreign debt rose to $232.8 billion in the
quarter from $220.4 billion in the June quarter.

But Mr Howard said it was more relevant that the debt
servicing ratio - the capacity of the nation to service the
foreign debt - stood at 9.8 per cent.

"It is the lowest debt servicing ration in 14 and a half
years," he told question time.

"That is an indication of the capacity of the 1998
Australian economy to repay foreign debt.

"(And) the measure of our economic strength in the context
of foreign debt is the capacity of this nation to service this
foreign debt."

Mr Howard said the countrys economic credentials were
widely respected in Asia and throughout the world.

"We have turned the fortunes of the Australian economy
around," he said.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 2000

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.