AAP Internet Bulletin 0001 Friday, Dec 11, 1998

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-1998
AAP Internet Bulletin 0001 Friday, Dec 11, 1998



[A][INSURANCE][FED]

Health insurance costs to fall in New Year

CANBERRA - The cost of private health cover will fall dramatically next year after
parliament endorsed a $1.5 billion handout designed to draw people back into the private
health system.

In the final hours before parliament rose for Christmas yesterday, the Senate endorsed a 30
per cent rebate on the cost of premiums from January 1.

Prime Minister John Howard said the new laws would be a boon to families.

Under the laws, the cost of health premiums would either fall by 30 per cent, or those with
health cover could claim a 30 per cent rebate on the cost of insurance.

When coupled with the governments tax cuts under the GST, the legislation would ensure
health insurance was fully tax deductible for about 80 per cent of Australians.

The new laws will also force the health funds to address gap payments, with most signalling
gap insurance would be introduced in the new year.

"The government is absolutely delighted that the parliament has passed the private health
insurance legislation," Prime Minister John Howard told reporters.

"Its a huge boon to Australian families."

Health funds and private hospitals welcomed the new laws, passed after the government
forged a deal with Tasmanian independent Senator Brian Harradine over gap payments and an
extra $25 million for aged-care services.

But opposition Senate parties condemned the deal, which they said would pour money directly
into private health industry coffers.





[T][CRICKET BRIBES][CRIK]

ACB to launch independent probe into bookie affair

ADELAIDE - Shane Warne and Mark Waugh will be back under the microscope after the
Australian Cricket Board announced it would question all players in a wide-ranging inquiry
into the bookies scandal.

While Prime Minister John Howard ruled out a government-linked inquiry into the bookies
affair, the ACB relented to public pressure and announced an independent investigation
following fresh revelations that other players had been approached by bookmakers.

ACB chairman Denis Rogers, speaking on the issue for the first time yesterday, said all
contracted players - including Waugh and Warne - would be interviewed as part of the
investigation, expected to be headed by a judge.

Rogers said the ACB wanted to know whether any other cricketers had been involved with
bookmakers, after former Australian spinner Greg Matthews and ex-New Zealand paceman Danny
Morrison revealed they had also been approached to provide information.

"I have a responsibility to instigate something that clears it once and for all," Rogers
said.

Aside from Matthews and Morrison, who both said they refused the offers, Australian Test
batsman and one-day star Dean Jones also declined a bookmaker's approach on the 1992 tour of
Sri Lanka.

In other developments yesterday:

* Waugh was jeered when he came on to bat during the third Ashes Test against England in
Adelaide following the bookmaker revelations. He made only seven runs.

* Warne was sacked as a columnist by English tabloid newspaper The Mirror for his
involvement in the affair.

* Rogers apologised to the Australian public, "especially the kids" for the scandal.

* And the Pakistan Cricket Board asked the ACB to release all information on the pairs
dealings with bookmakers.





[I][INDON SUHARTO][ASIA]

Tommy Suharto suspect in anti-corruption inquiry

JAKARTA - The legal noose thrown around Indonesia's former first family has inched tighter
with reports that favoured son Tommy Suharto has been officially declared a suspect in a shady
land-swap deal.

His father, the former president, is also likely to face his interrogators once again after
a four-hour interview with the Attorney-General's department this week over the controversial
Timor national car project, a clutch of charities he controlled and over various properties.

And troubled toll road company Pt Citra Marga Nusaphala, controlled by eldest daughter Siti
Hardiyanti Rukmana (better known as Tutut), has asked creditors for a six-month extension on a
$US175 million ($A283.87 million) debt issue.

In a move unthinkable during Suhartos 32-year iron-fisted reign, youngest son Hutomo
Mandala Putra, known as Tommy, has been officially named as a suspect in a deal that involved
his wholesale supermarket chain PT Goro and the government food distribution agency Bulog.

Former Bulog head Beddu Amang and businessman Ricardo Gelael have also become official
suspects in the case which has reportedly cost the government Rp52.5 billion (about $A10.9
million).

"Ricardo and Tommy have officially become suspects in the Bulog-Goro case," Kompas
newspaper's online service quoted deputy Attorney-General Anton Sujata.

Under the deal, Tommy Suharto's PT Goro agreed to build a new warehouse and employee
housing facility in one part of town in exchange for a Bulog warehouse at Kelapa Gading,
north-east Jakarta, where Goro has built a wholesale supermarket.

But the 63ha plot supposed to be handed over to Bulog failed to materialise and Bulog ended
up buying a tract that had been traditionally owned by local residents.

Tommy Suharto has been banned from travelling overseas pending the outcome of the
investigation.

The racing car afficionado who until recently owned 60 per cent of luxury Italian car firm
Lamborghini could be used as a lever to pry open the family coffers estimated by US magazine
Forbes to be worth some $US4 billion ($A6.5 billion).



[X][KOREA CHIPS][ASIA]

South Korean semiconductor deal set to collapse

SEOUL - The centrepiece of South Korea's corporate restructuring drive, a merger to form
the world's second biggest microchip producer, is expected to collapse, Seoul's reform chief
said.

Agence France-Press reports Lee Hun-Jai, chairman of the powerful Financial Supervisory
Commission (FSC), said a wrangle between Hyundai Electronic Industries and LG Semicon over
management control of the new entity and a belief by both firms that they can weather the
tough market alone would block the long-touted deal.

The firm found responsible for killing off the deal -- pledged by the heads of the giant
Hyundai and LG conglomerates in September -- could be punished with a crippling ban on access
to fresh credit, he warned.

"Considering the present condition of negotiations, I do not think that this merger will
work," he told a news conference. "I think it will blow up."

The comments appear to be the death-knell of the proposed merger between the firms which
was the jewel of a multi-sector pact between the heads of South Korea's top five conglomerates
and the reformist government.

The two firms were last week given until December 24 to choose a foreign consultant to help
finalise the deal after President Kim Dae-Jung personally intervened in the much-stalled
restructuring of the giant firms, or chaebol.

While LG and Hyundai have decided on a 70-30 split in the new firm, they have been unable
to agree who will take the lion's share.

Although LG's chip production business and product yield are heathier than those of Hyundai
Electronics -- which has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8:1 -- Hyundai is insisting on managerial
control of the venture, Lee said.

They appear to be unwilling to go through with the transaction -- the central plank of
Seoul's so-called "Big Deal" swaps of non-core business units among the top chaebol -- despite
mounting government pressure on them.

"Both firms think they can survive," Lee said, noting that prices of chips were rising
again after a slump earlier this year and that South Korean chip makers were now looking to
next-generation one gigabite semiconductors.





[A][THELMA][WA]

Downgraded again, Cyclone Thelma continues to weaken

PERTH - Residents in the north-west region of Western Australia are breathing easier today
after the Bureau of Meteorology announced that Cyclone Thelma had been downgraded from the top
category of five.

But a category three warning is still in place early today and residents were still being
advised to remain cautious.

Senior forecaster at the Cyclone Warning Centre, Barry Hanstrum said Cyclone Thelma was
still dangerous but was at least 36 hours away from Broome.

He forecast it would weaken further before it reached the town but advised those in the
region to keep abreast with forecasts and alerts.

"It is too early to say that the threat of danger has passed, but we can say that it has
diminished," Mr Hanstrum said.

He said the cyclone was now moving on a more southern track.

"It will hit Kuri Bay sometime this afternoon and should be in the region of Derby tomorrow
morning (EDS: Saturday)," he said.

"We then expect it to move in a westward direction out to sea from Broome early
on Sunday."

Mr Hanstrum said there was very little chance of the cyclone gaining further momentum as
the centre was positioned mainly over land.

"If it moved out to sea it could possibly pick up again but that isn't the path it is
following," he said.





[A][TAX][FED]

Howard hints at tax compromise next year

CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard has hinted at further compromise with independent
senators on the governments tax package after winning parliamentary approval for the health
insurance rebate.

The 30 per cent private insurance rebate passed the Senate with the support of independents
Brian Harradine and Mal Colston after the government agreed to amendments by Senator
Harradine.

Federal parliament is now in recess until February, after the governments health package
cleared final hurdles in the Senate and its tax reforms passed the lower house.

The GST and the rest of the 16 tax bills will not be debated until late April, after being
sent off to a series of Senate inquiries.

Mr Howard played down chances of senators Harradine and Colston supporting the tax package,
but said the government would seek to deal with their concerns after the Senate committee
process.

"I take one measure at a time," Mr Howard told reporters yesterday.

"I was very satisfied with the outcome of yesterdays discussions. I am very grateful for
the support that the two independents have given to the government, but I dont take anything
for granted.

"They are not members of the coalition parties. They are independent men and we will deal
with their concerns as they come along, against the background, of course, of sticking to
essential elements of the policy that we put forward at the last election.

"We clearly have the authority of the Australian people to legislate."

Tasmanian independent Senator Harradine and former Queensland Labor Senator Colston will
hold the balance of power until July 1 when a more hostile upper house for the government
takes effect.





[A][EMPLOYMENT][FED]

No-show, no-dole plan in Job Network shake-up

CANBERRA - Unemployed people who miss appointments with job agencies will be stripped of
the dole under a planned shake-up of the troubled Job Network.

Employment Services Minister Tony Abbott will take the plan to cabinet on Monday.

Among the recommendations are higher fees to struggling agencies who provide job-matching
services to the unemployed.

But Mr Abbott said no extra funding was needed for the network as a whole following the
$1.7 billion allocated in the first tender round.

"Its a very large amount of money and Im confident that will help the unemployed into
work," Mr Abbott told ABC radio.

"The government is obviously determined not to short-change the unemployed."

He said he was confident that the network would prove a success.

"I think its a little bit like a jet taking off. It might have slow lift-off initially but
then it starts to soar," Mr Abbott said.

"I really think this job network is going to be one of the significant success stories of
the Howard government once we get it right and I think were getting it close right now."

It is understood the government is planning to increase by up to $150 the payment to
cash-strapped job agencies for basic job-matching services.



[A][ELLIOTT][VIC]

NCA says its vindicated by decision in Elliott case

MELBOURNE - The High Court has refused businessman John Elliott and his former Elders IXL
co-executive Peter Scanlon leave to appeal against an earlier court decision they claimed
undermined their acquittal on fraud and theft charges.

The National Crime Authority said the decision vindicated the NCAs controversial
investigation of Mr Elliott and five other Elders IXL executives over an alleged $66.5 million
foreign exchange sham in the 1980s, dubbed Operation Albert.

Mr Elliott and the others were acquitted of charges including theft, giving false and
misleading evidence to the NCA and conspiracy to defraud in 1996 after Justice Frank Vincent
ruled in the Victorian Supreme Court that the NCA had based part of its case on inadmissible
evidence.

The executives were acquitted without a jury even being empanelled.

However, the situation changed when the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)
appealed to the Victorian Court of Appeal. That court ruled that Justice Vincent had erred on
12 points of law.

While the executives, including Mr Elliott, cannot be retried under Australian law,
lawyers for Mr Elliott and Mr Scanlon yesterday began a bid in the High Court to overturn the
Court of Appeals decision.

Mr Elliott was attending the Presidents Cup in Melbourne and was unavailable to comment on
the ruling.

Much of the argument retraced the lengthy legal debate at Mr Elliotts 1996 trial, which
centred on whether foreign exchange deals with New Zealand businessman Allan Hawkins fell
outside the terms of reference set for Operation Albert.

Elliotts barrister Robert Richter QC argued the Court of Appeals unanimous decision
undermined his clients acquittal.

"The benefit of the acquittal is undermined to the detriment not only of that person but
also to the law so that the law is brought into disrepute," Mr Richter told the court.

But Chief Justice Murray Gleeson and Justices William Gummow and Ian Callinan refused the
applications, along with an application for costs.

They did not give reasons.





[A][DUNSTAN][FED]

Alleged mail bomber sent to jail for mental check

CANBERRA - The man accused of waging a nationwide parcel bomb campaign last week has been
sent to Sydneys Long Bay Jail for psychiatric assessment after a magistrate warned that
failing to do so could be fatal.

Colin Dunstan, 43, is facing 28 counts of endangering life through the use of an explosive
device.

He was arrested at Canberra Hospital a week ago after being admitted with a cut wrist.

The suspended tax officers arrest followed a nationwide manhunt after 28 parcel bombs were
sent to addresses in Canberra, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland earlier this month.

Dunstan, of the north Canberra suburb of Palmerston, reappeared in the ACT Magistrates
Court yesterday for a decision on where to carry out a mental health assessment of him.

His lawyer Richard Thomas argued that Dunstan should remain at the Belconnen Remand Centre
in Canberra so he could be near his family.

But ACT Chief Magistrate Ron Cahill said it was preferred that Dunstan be assessed at Long
Bays forensic psychiatric hospital where trained staff would be able to keep him under
observation around-the-clock.

Mr Cahill said he was concerned about Dunstans welfare after initial psychiatric
assessments found that he was at risk of harming himself.

"If were wrong it could have fatal results," Mr Cahill said.

Dunstan, who has made no plea or bail application, was ordered to reappear in the ACT
Magistrates Court on December 23 following further psychiatric assessments.





[A][GEDDES][QLD]

Six years jail for man who tortured baby

BRISBANE - A man has been jailed for six years for vicious cruelty to his de factos baby
that included forcing the boy to eat faeces and wrenching his penis so hard he broke the skin.

Bevan Phillip Geddes, 26, a trades assistant of Haig Road, Loganlea, on Brisbanes southern
outskirts, pleaded guilty to torturing the 20-month-old baby between October 18 and December
28 last year.

The abuse also included holding the babys head under the water until he gagged, kicking
him so that he became airborne, and winding him with thumps to the stomach.

District Court Judge Gary Forno yesterday said Geddes had inflicted perverse and
deliberately painful discipline on a defenceless baby.

"You intentionally inflicted severe pain and suffering on this child on many occasions over
three months," he said.

This is only the second sentence in Queensland for the offence of torture, which was
introduced last year and carries a maximum jail term of 14 years.

The prosecution had requested more than 10 years and the defence asked for no more than
four.

Geddes admitted forcing the child to eat his own faeces at least five times, after he
defecated in the bath.

Also, while in the bathroom, he would frequently hold the child under the bathwater, to the
point where the child is now scared of water.

He also admitted kicking him on the bottom so hard he landed on his face, bruising both
eyes and winding him with thumps to the stomach.





[A][BUSHFIRES][VIC]

Heros funerals on bushfire danger day for Vic, Tas

MELBOURNE - Victoria and Tasmania faced dangerous bushfire weather as Victorian CFA
firefighters attended the funerals of two of the five Geelong West firefighters killed in last
weeks bushfire at Linton, south-west of Ballarat.

In both states yesterday small armies of firefighters were nervously on alert.

A priority fire weather warning from the Victorian Bureau of Meteorology at 6.29am AEDT
said the fire danger would be extreme in the Mallee, Wimmera, Western and Central districts
which includes the greater Melbourne area.

The Country Fire Authority, with about 70,000 firefighters on alert, declared a total fire
ban in Melbourne, elsewhere in the central district and in the south-western and north-western
districts.

The Tasmanian Bureau issued a fire weather warning for Tasmanias south-east and east, and
the Bass Strait Islands.

It warned high temperatures, fresh northerly winds and low humidity were expected mainly
inland and any fires could spread very quickly and be very difficult and dangerous to control.

The Tasmania Fire Service declared a total fire ban for the southern fire region with
Hobart expecting about 33 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures were likely to hit 40 degC in Melbourne, Geelong, Horsham in the west and Swan
Hill in the north-west. Mildura in the north-west corner of the state was expecting 41.

The temperatures in other areas in the north-east and south-west would be only marginally
lower with the lowest around 33 at Orbost in far eastern Victoria.

A Bureau forecaster said the dangerous factors were a dropping humidity, freshening
northerly winds likely to reach about 35kph and gusting higher, and increasing heat.





[I][MALAYSIA ANWAR][ASIA]

Police officer testifies against Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A senior police officer testifying in the corruption and sexual
misconduct trial of Anwar Ibrahim said that Anwar told police not to investigate allegations
that he committed sexual misdeeds.

"When I told Anwar that our investigations were still not completed and were only in its
initial stages, he told me that this matter shouldn't be pursued further," Musa Hassan, the
prosecution's 13th witness, told the court yesterday.

Musa, the officer charged with investigating Anwar since last year, said Anwar issued the
directive in the presence of Malaysia's top lawmaker, Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah.

"Anwar told us that the investigations should be stopped because it goes against what the
prime minister had already concluded, that the matter was slanderous," Musa said.

His testimony sparked off a storm of protest from Anwar's defence team, who accused
prosecutors of using the witness to introduce prejudicial evidence unrelated to any of the
charges leveled against the ousted deputy prime minister.

"This piece of evidence is clearly being introduced for its prejudicial value," said lawyer
Christopher Fernando. "It offends the rule of relevancy."

Trial judge Augustine Paul overruled the objections, dealing the defence team another
setback. On Thursday, Paul reversed his decision to let defence lawyers argue that a key
prosecution witness was lying about being sodomised by Anwar.

The prosecution is trying to prove that Anwar put immense pressure on the police to silence
two people - the former driver of his wife and the sister of his former secretary - and obtain
retractions from them.

Azizan Abu Bakar, the driver, has testified that Anwar repeatedly sodomised him in 1992,
while Ummi Hafilda Ali has accused Anwar of sleeping with her brother's wife.

The two were arrested briefly in August 1997 and have claimed they were forced by police to
sign statements retracting their allegations against Anwar.





[I][SCI ISS][US]

Astronauts set up shop inside new space station

SPACE CENTER, Houston - After opening doors to "a whole new era in spaceflight," six
astronauts working for the first time inside the orbiting international space station wired up
antennas, replaced a faulty battery charger and tidied up for future guests.

The crew was to finish up today before closing the hatches and returning to the shuttle
Endeavour for the final phase of their landmark assembly mission.

The outpost, 400 kms above Earth, received its first visitors yesterday when Endeavour's
crew of five Americans and one Russian climbed inside.

"It's fantastic. I can't say how much this means to all of us," radioed shuttle commander
Robert Cabana, who entered side by side with Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev.

The rest of the crew followed, holding lanterns and flashlights to see inside the darkened
Unity chamber, the first American station part. They flipped on the lights as hundreds of
flight controllers in both the United States and Russia watched and listened.

"We remember when Unity was just an aluminum shell," Cabana said, admiring the spotless
white and yellow walls. "It's just so nice inside. It's really nice to be in a new home."

"You've opened the doors to a whole new era in spaceflight," Mission Control told the crew.

The astronauts proceeded next into the Russian-built Zarya control module, Cabana and
Krikalev again leading the way.

For Krikalev, the visit provided a preview of his future home. He and two other men will be
the first full-time occupants of the space station, beginning a five-month stay in another
year or so.

"Looks like home, what do you think?" Mission Control asked Krikalev.





[X][US SLOGAN]

College society suing computer maker over slogan

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - Phi Beta Kappa has sued Compaq Computer Corp in federal court to
stop it from playing off its name with the promotional slogan "Phi Beta Compaq".

The Washington-based academic honours society, which accepts only the top students from the
nation's colleges and universities each year, is seeking $US10 million ($A16.22 million) from
Compaq.

The society also wants the company to stop marketing shirts and Frisbees with the "Phi Beta
Compaq" slogan.

No court date has been set.

Phi Beta Kappa was founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776. It has 480,000
members selected from the top liberal arts students at 255 colleges and universities. The name
was trademarked in 1962.

Houston-based Compaq argued in court papers that the society suffered no damages from the
advertising campaign.





[T][GOLF PRESIDENTS][GOLF]

Internationals establish 7-3 lead

MELBOURNE - The New Zealanders went for the legs and the Japanese for the throat at Royal
Melbourne as the International team established a 7-3 lead over the United States in the
Presidents Cup golf tournament.

It was a day for the lesser lights of the star-studded teams as the mercury rose over the
40 degrees mark and the biggest golfing event to be staged in Australia lived up to its
billing.

New Zealanders Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner set the scene yesterday for the International
side, winning the opening match of the tournament against players ranked second and third in
the world.

That slightly unlikely victory was followed in the afternoon fourball matches when the
Japanese pair Shigeki Maruyama and Joe Ozaki thumped Mark Calcavecchia and John Huston 4 and
3.

The Kiwis achieved their 1 up win over Mark O'Meara, the winner of two major championships
this year, and David Duval, the biggest money winner on the US Tour.

"The thing with Kiwis we will nip at someone's heels all day for 18 holes and eventually we
will take the leg off," Nobilo said.

But there was another inspiration for the Kiwi win and it came from the US.

An American TV broadcaster had made derogatory remarks about the New Zealanders' selection
in the International team earlier in the week.

Nobilo said it had been an offhand, dismissive remark made on the ESPN sports channel.

"I didn't take a lot of notice, but I hope the guy who said it takes some after today," he
said.

The significance of the Kiwi victory in the opening match wasnt lost on his teammates,
either.

Greg Norman, who with Steve Elkington won both his matches yesterday, said they had
provided an ideal start.

The same format of five foursomes matches in the morning followed by fourballs in the
afternoon will be repeated today with 12 singles matches tomorrow.





[T][CRICKET ENGLAND][CRIK]

Langer defies heat and England to post century

ADELAIDE - Tenacious Australian batsman Justin Langer defied oppressive heat and England
bowlers to post a century that won over a parochial Adelaide Oval crowd on the opening day of
the third Test .

Langer's second Test century on a sweltering day dispelled growing doubts over his ability
to retain the national No.3 batting berth.

The gritty West Australian's 108 not out and half centuries to Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh
guided Australia to 4-266 at stumps on a day when the temperature peaked at 40.2 degrees.

A crowd of 13,600 braved the scorching heat to witness a Langer innings that won respect
from South Australian spectators upset at having no hometown heroes in this Australian side.

The crowd, considered among the most knowledgeable in Australia, gaved a mixed reception to
tainted batsman Mark Waugh, a chorus of jeers erupting when he entered the arena.

Waugh, who apologised last Wednesday for taking money from an Indian bookmaker while on
Australia's tour of Sri Lanka in 1994, was dismissed cheaply under the burden of the bookmaker
scandal.

The jeers directed at Waugh, predominantly from England's supporter group the Barmy Army,
were matched by spatterings of sympathetic applause as he made his way to the crease.

Looking far from comfortable, Waugh was out for seven as his nightmare week continued.

Langer started under mounting pressure, banners bedecking the picturesque Adelaide Oval
questioning why South Australian runscorers Darren Lehmann and Greg Blewett were not in the
national side.

The parochial crowd's disappointment was compounded when SA speedster Jason Gillespie was
named 12th man for this match.





[A][SNAKE][VIC]

Lethal snake terror in suburban bank

MELBOURNE - A horrified Melbourne bank manager and a woman customer leapt from their chairs
and rushed from an office when the woman found a tiger snake in her handbag.

Screaming, "My God,theres a snake in my handbag!" the woman threw it across the
interviewing room of the bank.

Personal lending manager of Greensborough branch of the Commonwealth Bank, Blair Powell,
described what happened yesterday.

"When the bag hit the floor, the snake came out and slithered straight towards me - I was
on the other side of the desk.

"I was stunned and I screamed and jumped up on to the desk - then we both charged towards
the door and ran out, leaving the snake behind us."

Mr Powell said they were about 20 minutes into a discussion about a loan, when he needed to
look something up and she reached into her handbag for the papers.

Instead she found the snake.

"She screamed and said, My God, theres a snake in my handbag and threw the bag on to the
floor," Mr Powell said.

Senior Constable Glenn Ryan and his partner from Greensborough police station went to the
bank and helped a snake catcher snare it.

"They had to pull all the desks and computers aside to find it and after some time they
found it hiding in a corner behind a lot of computer cords," Mr Powell said.

The snake catcher said it was a "full-blooded tiger snake" and Mr Blair and his customer
were lucky they had not been bitten, as it could have killed them.

The snake was taken to a bush reserve and released.

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 0001

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