Aussie News from Latrobe (38/73)
Kym Horsell
Multi-million dollar seal viewing centre
Aug 20 [ABC radio]. Victoria is to have a multi-million dollar seal
viewing centre at Phillip Island. Premier Jeff Kennett says the two
stage development, off the Nobbies, will make the Island one of
Australia's leading eco-tourist destinations. The Seal Rocks Sealife
Centre, will feature an information and dining area, and provide giant
video screens showing Australia's largest colony of fur seals. Mr
Kennett says stage two involves an underwater viewing tunnel leading
to a tower above the Seal Rocks, but he says that project is subject
to a strict environmental effects study.
---
Murdered woman found at Noosa
Aug 31 Brisbane. Police have launched a murder investigation after
the body of a woman was found at Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast, this
morning. SC Karl Yets said the body was found by 2 tourists in a car
park off Hall Rd around 8.20 am. Police scientists and technical
officers are on their way from Bris to Noosa to help with the
investigation. The dead woman, aged in her 20s, has not yet been
ID-ed.
Sep 1 Brisbane. Police have released the name of a woman who was found
murdered on Qld's Sunshine Coast yesterday. She was 29 yo Samantha
Jane Bodsworth. Police say she had been strangled and bashed about the
face. Her body was found by 2 tourists in bush at Noosa, about 8.20
am. Homicide Det's are continuing their investigations.
Sep 2 Brisbane. Police have called for public assistance to crack the
murder of a 29 yo Gympie woman, Samantha Bodsworth, whose body was
found at Noosa on the Sunshine Coast on Sat. The cream-coloured Toyota
Corolla of the mother of 2 was found abandoned behind Charlies Hotel
at Gympie, N of Noosa, yesterday. Police are asking anyone who may
have seen the MV to contact them.
---
Muslim 'Jihad' Raises Stakes in S.Africa
Aug 12 Cape Town [Reuter]. Provincial leaders of South African
President Nelson Mandela's ANC called Monday for a state of emergency
in Cape Town, where Muslim vigilantes have declared a jihad (holy war)
against drug-dealing gangsters.
An African National Congress rep said Western Cape provincial ANC
leader Chris Nissen made the call during a snap debate in the
provincial parliament.
Provincial Premier Hernus Kriel of the rival National Party did not
respond immediately but a rep said he had called for urgent meetings
with Muslim leaders to discuss the burgeoning crisis. ``It is time
for jihad (holy war),'' Farouk Jaffer, coordinator of the Muslim
vigilante movement People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad), told
Reuters Monday. ``We are looking out for the safety and the security
of the people. If the law can't do it then the people have the right
to take care of it themselves. We have offers from people around the
world who are waiting to come and assist us.''
Currency traders said the vigilante-gang violence had harmed investor
sentiment, contributing to the weakness of the rand. Cape Town, its
spectacular mountain and ocean scenery among South Africa's premier
tourist attractions, hopes to host the 2004 Olympic Games.
The conflict intensified last week when Pagad supporters publicly
killed gang leader Rashaad Staggie, whose twin brother Rashied,
co-leader of the Hard Livings gang, has vowed revenge. Jaffer said
Pagad, which Sunday won the backing of the Muslim Judicial Council
representing more than 75 Islamic organisations in Cape Town, had not
yet asked for foreign help.
But Ali Parker, another Pagad leader who calls himself ``The
Phantom,'' said at a late-night news conference Sunday it might be
time to call for help against the gangs. ``They will come by the
planeloads ... Hamas, the Hizbollah and all other departments, other
soldiers are coming here. Most of them are here already. ``I have
informed the soldiers of Allah, the mujahadin, they must defend the
mothers and fathers,'' he said after an afternoon of clashes between
police and Pagad.
A National Intelligence Service source said there was contact between
Muslims in South Africa and in the Middle East, but there was no sign
of a significant foreign involvement in the Cape Town conflict.
Nine Pagad supporters were wounded, one of them critically, and
several were arrested on firearm and attempted murder charges when
more than 5,000 people marched from a rally toward the homes of drug
dealers in the crime-ridden Hanover Park area Sunday afternoon.
After evening prayers, armed Pagad activists, most of them masked with
Palestinian-style scarves, targeted alleged drug dens across the Cape
Flats district behind the city's landmark Table Mountain, late Sunday
night.
Police and soldiers travelling in armoured personnel carriers --
sometimes with automatic rifles poking from gun ports -- rushed from
one confrontation to another.
In Heinz Park, a shanty-town about 12 miles from the city, police
fired flares shortly before midnight to light their way through the
lanes, arresting armed Pagad vigilantes.
On the opposite side of the Cape Flats, the sandy plain to which
mixed-race Coloreds were forcibly removed under apartheid, Pagad
members fired at the home of an alleged drug baron in Kensington.
---
Mutiny at sea claims 12 lives -- Korea
Aug 25 Seoul. Korean police say 12 seamen are dead after a mutiny on
board a tuna boat in the S Pacific. The ship was found drifting
without fuel by a Japanese Maritime Police vessel. Ethnic Koreans
from China had apparently staged an uprising on the ship after
complaints of overwork. Those killed include the S Korean captain, 6
other S Koreans, 4 Indon's, and a Chinese-Korean. All the bodies have
been thrown overboard, while 13 crew-members remain on board the
fishing boat, including 6 alleged mutineers.
---
MWU/MIM settlement at Mt Isa?
Aug 14 [ABC radio]. The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union says
after eleven months of negotiations ... workers at Mount Isa's MIM
site have had their rights recognised in a number of enterprise
agreements. All production workers on site are now covered by the
agreements following yesterday's decision by the majority of 400
workers from the Service Area, to accept an enterprise agreement
including annualised salaries.
---
Mystery theft of Picasso under investigation
Aug 28 [ABC radio]. Victorian police have requested American
authorities to assist in their investigation of the ten-year-old
mystery theft of Picasso's Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of
Victoria. The painting was recovered and returned to the gallery two
weeks after it was taken. Police are investigating an the anonymous
letter sent to the "Age" newspaper this month, revealing alleged
details of the theft. Detective Sergeant Tony Jay says he's put in a
request through Interpol, for U.S. officials to interview the-then
Gallery director Patrick MacCaughey. He says Mr McCaughey who is
based in Connecticut, must be informed about issues arising from the
letter.
---
N Ireland
Sep 5 Dublin. Brit and Irish Min's are to meet in Dublin tomorrow to
assess the N Ireland peace talks due to resume next wk, after a Summer
of violence and fresh sectarian conflict. Next wk's talks will go
ahead without Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing, that hasn't yet
restored a ceasefire it broke with a bombing campaign in Feb. The
talks also follow violence associated with protest parades through
Catholic areas and a recent death contract put by a loyalist group on
one of its own people.
---
N.T. senator applauds funds for suicide program
Aug 21 [ABC radio]. Northern Territory Country Liberal Party Senator
Grant Tambling says the Federal budget will help tackle rising rates
of youth suicide and marriage breakdown. The budget includes extra
funds for marriage education and youth homelessness programs, 18
million dollars will also be spent over three years on the national
Youth Suicide Strategy. Senator Tambling says Labor must be held
accountable for creating the poor economic climate which has led to
more suicides and marital problems.
---
NAB pushes a "kinder, gentler" image
Aug 28 Sydney. NAB MD Don Argus has outlined a more socially
concerned image for the global banking group [sounds like desperation
time]. Mr Argus told a Comm'ee for Economic Development of Aus
luncheon in Syd that banks are not "widely seen" as a "positive
influence on social capital". He says the banking sector needs to
become more active in the communities where their business is being
conducted, to improve comm'y relations and change attitudes. He
re-iterated the group's decision to move into the US market, saying
its investments there are performing "extremely well".
---
Nat'l Council of Homeless Persons -- Vic
Sep 4 Melbourne. The GG, Sir William Deane, told the 1st nat'l conf on
homelessness that the collective plight of Aus's disadvantaged
constituted a national problem of overwhelming dimensions. He told
the Council of Homeless Persons Conf that perhaps the greatest
disadvantage of all was being homeless. Sir Wm said there were an
estimated 60K homeless people nation-wide [other reports said the
estimate was 30K], but wondered if that estimate was accurate. He also
criticised some provisions of the govt's economic rationalisation
program and Budget, warning that a new wave of homeless people might
be generated.
Sep 3 [ABC radio "Social service cuts could add to homeless"]. The
Council to Homeless Persons says based on the European experience
there's evidence that cuts to key infrastructure will produce a new
wave of homeless people in Australia. The Council fears the
Government's drive towards economic rationalism could add to the
number of homeless, which on conservative estimates, could be as high
as 61-thousand. The comment comes just one day out before Australia's
first major national conference on homelessness, over three days in
Melbourne.
Sep 6 [ABC radio "Homeless Council disappointed with minister"]. The
Homeless Persons' Council says the absence of the Employment,
Education and Training Minister, Amanda Vanstone, from Australia's
first national conference on homelessness is disappointing. The
Minister has told her staff her attendance could possibly cause
personal harm to delegates, because of rumoured gate-crashing by
students. But the Council's Netty Horton says the Minister's absence
means more pain and suffering for the homeless. Ms Horton says the
homelessness issues have once again been hijacked for other concerns.
Sep 5 [The AGe, "Youth housing record slammed", by Tim Pegler]. Youth
homelessness in Australia represented a failure by government to
protect the rights of children, the Human Rights Commissioner said
yesterday.
The commissioner, Mr Chris Sidoti, said youth homelessness had risen
since the National Homeless Children Inquiry report was released in
1989 and standards of support services remained ``totally
inadequate''. He said there was considerable room for improvement in
Australia's record for overall provision of housing but ``youth
homelessness is perhaps the most serious shortcoming''.
The nation was obliged by the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child to provide adequate housing for young people but had
failed to do so. ``Today many homeless children lack secure, permanent
accommodation, live in conditions detrimental to their health or
prejudicial to their development, or live in an environment where they
are exposed to abuse or even have to accept abuse and exploitation in
return for accommodation.
``In this International Year for the Eradication of Poverty, youth
homelessness reflects badly on our international reputation as a
humanitarian nation,'' he said. Mr Sidoti told the Council to Homeless
Persons first national conference that the provision of housing to the
mentally ill was another black mark on Australia's record.
He said: ``At present a homeless mentally ill person seeking support
finds it a very difficult and confusing process because service
provision and methods of service delivery can vary so much.
``Continuity of relationships is one of the most important factors and
yet it is precisely what is missing from government health services.
``Homeless people with mental illnesses are clearly among the most
vulnerable and abused in our society. The cost of protecting their
rights is not therefore, an optional extra,'' he said.
The Human Rights Commissioner also highlighted the need for immediate
attention to homelessness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities. Mr Sidoti said the poor standard of housing and
infrastructure in many rural and isolated communities was a major
contributing factor to the poor health of indigenous people,
particularly children.
``The continuing extreme levels of need mean that Australia's
indigenous communities are denied the capacity to exercise and enjoy
their rights on the basis of equality with other Australians.''
--
R. Kym Horsell
KHor...@EE.Latrobe.EDU.AU k...@CS.Binghamton.EDU
http://WWW.EE.LaTrobe.EDU.AU/~khorsell http://CS.Binghamton.EDU/~kym