Monday, 30 September 2002
Saturday, 28 September 2002
Golden fleece holds a silver lining, Weekend Australian, 28 September, 2002.
Golden fleece holds a silver lining: [1 Edition]
Benjamin Haslem, John Stapleton. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 Sep 2002: 5.
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FOR the first time in more than a decade the adage that rural Australia rides on the sheep's back has a semblance of truth, with booming wool prices providing welcome income to many farmers fighting crippling drought.
It is welcome relief for wool growers who have battled to break even over the past decade as the country's massive wool stockpile was gradually sold off. Many left the industry, moving into beef and crop production.
Tony Wilson, director of Australia's largest wool buyer, Itochu, said overseas buyers were now buying the fleece from farmers with a drastically reduced supply, forcing up prices.
FOR the first time in more than a decade the adage that rural Australia rides on the sheep's back has a semblance of truth, with booming wool prices providing welcome income to many farmers fighting crippling drought.
As grain crops withered and cattle farmers hit stock routes in search of precious feed, wool prices this week rose an unprecedented 17 per cent to a 13-year high.
For wool growers, many of whom also grow crops, the record price offers protection against financial ruin.
Grain crop production is forecast to drop nearly $3.5billion this year, but the removal of the wool stockpile a year ago and cuts in production means graziers still running sheep can expect healthy incomes in coming months.
"Growers who are able to produce wool this year will be making quite a lot of money," Chris Wilcox, chief economist at Woolmark, said.
It is welcome relief for wool growers who have battled to break even over the past decade as the country's massive wool stockpile was gradually sold off. Many left the industry, moving into beef and crop production.
Australian wool production is forecast to decline 11 per cent to 495,000 tonnes this financial year -- the lowest level since 1950- 51. In NSW, where the drought is biting the hardest, production is expected to fall 16 per cent.
"While some in the wool trade expected production to fall sharply, the forecast confirmed people's fears, and so therefore traders and processors have moved to secure supplies. In particular they believe there will be a shortage after Christmas," Mr Wilcox said.
"We have a very unusual combination of fairly poor demand but also very low supply and that's a recipe for this kind of volatility in prices."
Price rises of nearly 50 per cent since Christmas have been underpinned by strong orders from Chinese buyers, who have been purchasing wool on the futures market for delivery in six months.
Wool was fetching record prices on the Sydney Futures Exchange this week. Wool of an average 21 microns, for delivery next month, rose 6.4 per cent to a record closing price of $12.31.
Tony Wilson, director of Australia's largest wool buyer, Itochu, said overseas buyers were now buying the fleece from farmers with a drastically reduced supply, forcing up prices.
Mr Wilson said unless there was a protracted war in Iraq, he was confident the high prices could be maintained for finer wools used in clothing production, until at least November.
How the big dry affects wool production:
Fewer sheep shorn as some are sold for slaughter and others die
Lower average wool cut per head
Low lamb survival rates
More shorter wool as growers shear early before selling off sheep
Increase in inferior wool caused by poor nutrition
Lower clean yields due to more dust
Source: Australian Wool Innovation Production Forecasting Committee
Friday, 27 September 2002
New blood wanted for Vizard stud, The Australian, 27 September, 2002.
New blood wanted for Vizard stud: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 27 Sep 2002: 29.
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Alongside famous [Steve Vizard] is brother Andrew Vizard, who is strategic director at Roxby Park. Andrew is an associate professor of veterinary science at the University of Melbourne and internationally recognised as an authority in wool production research.
Mr Vizard said his family is selling [Roxby] reluctantly but with a sense of achievement -- having turned it into one of Australia's most productive wool growing enterprises.
Mr Vizard said that as part of his family's commitment to rural Victoria, the Vizard Foundation would direct more financial resources to its two properties in East Melbourne, which provide accommodation for country people visiting sick relatives in nearby major hospitals.
* Rural
ONE of Victoria's finest rural properties and sheep studs, Roxby Park, is to be auctioned next month with an expected price of over $4.5 million.
It was bought by the wealthy Vizard family in 1990.
Once a well-known TV personality, Steve Vizard is now president of the Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, chairman of theVictorian Major Events Company and a patron, director or member of many charities.
His family's 1247ha property lies in the foothills of the Barrabool Hills outside Geelong. The 6km frontage to the Barwon River has been fenced to regenerate native vegetation and help protect families of platypus and the rare Peregrine Falcon. The 70- square bluestone slate-roofed homestead was built between 1850 and 1890. It has been restored and renovated and is surrounded by verandahs overlooking landscaped gardens and a lake.
The master bedroom wing includes an open fireplace, ensuite, marble bathroom and a dressing room looking over an orchard. There are four extra double bedrooms.
The original bluestone "Rabbiter's Hut" is now the pavilion on a "village green" cricket field adjoining the homestead.
Roxby Park is full of history. It was originally home to the Wathaurong tribe who are believed to have sheltered the celebrated wild man William Buckley, who escaped a nearby convict settlement in the very early 1800s.
The first sales of surveyed land in Victoria took place in 1840 and Sir Charles Nicholson became Roxby's first official owner.
Another early owner was Captain Robson Coltish, a pioneer of Victoria's sheep industry. He bought the land in 1847 and named it Roxby, after his native village in Lincolnshire.
During their 50 years at Roxby the Coltish family developed the property into a major wool-growing enterprise, building thehomestead and many of the outbuildings that remain on the property.
The Vizard family came along in 1990.
Alongside famous Steve is brother Andrew Vizard, who is strategic director at Roxby Park. Andrew is an associate professor of veterinary science at the University of Melbourne and internationally recognised as an authority in wool production research.
The purchaser will have first option to buy the elite Roxby fine wool stud flock.
Roxby has undergone a detailed 10-year management strategy which has resulted in the planting of 80,000 trees and thedevelopment of 40km of laneways covering the entire property. It has focused on advanced agricultural research including world-class genetics, and is home to the World's Finest Ram Project.
Mr Vizard said his family is selling Roxby reluctantly but with a sense of achievement -- having turned it into one of Australia's most productive wool growing enterprises.
"When we came here, we had this grand vision of developing Roxby into a really outstanding world-class fine wool sheep property. That vision is now completed. It's time to move forward and go and do it all again somewhere else. The country is in our blood, so we are on the lookout for another venture."
Mr Vizard said that as part of his family's commitment to rural Victoria, the Vizard Foundation would direct more financial resources to its two properties in East Melbourne, which provide accommodation for country people visiting sick relatives in nearby major hospitals.
Roxby Park will be auctioned on site at 2pm on Friday, October 25 by agents Wesfarmers Landmark.
Illustration
Caption: Long history:The Roxby Park homestead, main picture and inset top. Steve Vizard, inset above, takes in the view; Photo: Photo
Thursday, 26 September 2002
Scandal engulfs top spies, The Australian, 26 September, 2002.
Scandal engulfs top spies: [2 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 Sep 2002: 2.
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The document, prepared by a group of senior intelligence officers, claims the DSD is an organisation in decline because of theimproper sexual behaviour of some of its managers, incompetence among senior ranks and illegal management procedures.
Among the allegations in a six-page dossier prepared by senior DSD officers and obtained by Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper, are claims that affairs have been conducted in work hours using taxpayer-funded hotel rooms.
SCANDAL has beset Australia's top spy agency after the leak of a document alleging sexual misconduct, nepotism and corruption in the ranks of the Defence Signals Directorate.
The document, prepared by a group of senior intelligence officers, claims the DSD is an organisation in decline because of theimproper sexual behaviour of some of its managers, incompetence among senior ranks and illegal management procedures.
Among the allegations in a six-page dossier prepared by senior DSD officers and obtained by Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper, are claims that affairs have been conducted in work hours using taxpayer-funded hotel rooms.
It is claimed also that one senior officer severely embarrassed his American counterparts by insisting on sharing a room with a senior female colleague, not his wife.
As a result, the woman is reported to have been rejected as the nominated DSD liaison officer by British intelligence agency, GCHQ.
The DSD is one of the country's most sensitive intelligence organisations and has global links to spying networks throughout theWestern world.
The dossier calls for an urgent independent inquiry into the agency by three retired judges.
Morale within DSD is so low that staff are leaving in record numbers and the organisation has 80 vacancies in its operation centre.
One group of managers is referred to in the dossier as "the royal family" because of the tight-knit nature of their social circle.
A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Robert Hill failed to return calls last night.
Tuesday, 24 September 2002
No disguising zoo's hatch-22, The Australian, 24 September, 2002.
No disguising zoo's hatch-22: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 24 Sep 2002: 4.
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JUST three weeks old and only 4cm long, the latest spring arrivals represent a first for Taronga Zoo.
Reptile expert at the zoo, Dion Hobcroft, said all the staff were "really excited about the Jackson births, as it is the first time they've bred at Taronga Zoo".
Green with envy: A three-week-old Jackson's chameleon climbs off a male's horn at Sydney's Taronga Zoo yesterdayPicture: AFP; Photo: Photo
JUST three weeks old and only 4cm long, the latest spring arrivals represent a first for Taronga Zoo.
This is the first time the unusual Jackson's chameleon of East Africa has given birth -- to 22 young.
Mothers are "ovoviviparous" -- they produce eggs that are hatched within the body -- so the young are born alive but without thenormal placental attachment of mammals.
There are usually two litters, of up to 50 young, each year.
The baby Jackson chameleons are unable to change colour until they are about four months old.
Reptile expert at the zoo, Dion Hobcroft, said all the staff were "really excited about the Jackson births, as it is the first time they've bred at Taronga Zoo".
Although best known for their ability to change colour, Jackson chameleons are normally bright green, perfect camouflage for hiding in the East African mountain forests.
If cornered, they inflate their bodies and give a menacing hiss.
Jackson chameleons are insectivores, living primarily on insects such as crickets and worms. They drink water off the leaves of trees after rain.
In the wild, the chameleons live to about three years.
Illustration
Caption: Green with envy: A three-week-old Jackson's chameleon climbs off a male's horn at Sydney's Taronga Zoo yesterdayPicture: AFP; Photo: Photo
Monday, 23 September 2002
Right across the nation, the rain has stayed away - THE BIG DRY, The Australian, 23 September, 2002.
Right across the nation, the rain has stayed away - THE BIG DRY: [1 Edition]
Bruce Montgomery * Science writer, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 23 Sep 2002: 4.
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Abstract
Whether the current drought is a sign that the continent as a whole is getting drier is a matter of debate. As researchers continue to try to fathom thecombination of enhanced greenhouse warming of the planet and Australia's bete noire, El Nino, the signs appear ominous for worsening droughts here.
THE simple question "Just how bad is it?" is not so easy to answer with the prevailing drought. While some areas are showing record dries, what is most surprising about this drought is not so much its intensity but just how widespread it is.
Maps show around half the country recording serious rain deficits in the five months April to August -- that is in the bottom 10 per cent of average rainfall recorded for each area.
With the exception of small pockets in southeast Queensland, northwest Western Australia and western Tasmania, virtually the entire remainder of the country has received below average rainfall during the last six months.
Some metereologists are comparing this drought to that of 1902, the driest year on record across the nation.
Whether the current drought is a sign that the continent as a whole is getting drier is a matter of debate. As researchers continue to try to fathom thecombination of enhanced greenhouse warming of the planet and Australia's bete noire, El Nino, the signs appear ominous for worsening droughts here.
Illustration
Photo: Map
Friday, 20 September 2002
Worker crushed under tonnes of steel, The Australian, 20 September, 2002.
Worker crushed under tonnes of steel: [2 Edition 1]
Jeremy Roberts, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 20 Sep 2002: 4.
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A MAN died after 200 tonnes of steel girders crashed on to a demolition team when a building on a derelict BHP site at Newcastle collapsed yesterday.
The close-knit demolition team were working on a cherry picker at the side of the multi-storey building just before midday when it collapsed. The building was part of a salt-water treatment plant next to a blast furnace for BHP's defunct steel-making operations.
Twisted metal: Rescue workers and emergency services officials work at the site of the Newcastle BHP building collapsePicture: Jeremy Piper; Photo: Photo
A MAN died after 200 tonnes of steel girders crashed on to a demolition team when a building on a derelict BHP site at Newcastle collapsed yesterday.
Miraculously, the other four members of the team managed to crawl to safety. Last night rescuers using heavy lifting equipment retrieved the the body of the33-year-old demolition worker who had been pinned under the rubble.
Police had not released the name of the dead man. A worker at another demolition company said the dead man had been well known in the area and his death was a great shock.
A structural engineer at the scene said the quantity of rubble and steel beams made it hard to reach the body.
Waratah Police Superintendent Lee Shearer described the two- storey-high pile of equipment, rusted steel and corrugated iron as "like an old Mad Max movie".
The now desolate site had been the scene of several bad industrial accidents over the years.
The close-knit demolition team were working on a cherry picker at the side of the multi-storey building just before midday when it collapsed. The building was part of a salt-water treatment plant next to a blast furnace for BHP's defunct steel-making operations.
Two of the survivors were uninjured. The other two, a 38-year- old man from Killcare on the NSW Central Coast and a 58-year-old man from Cranebrook in Sydney's west, were treated at John Hunter Hospital for facial injuries before being released.
Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Newcastle spokesman Bob Cochrane said the method of demolition used, known as an "induced drop", was "very dangerous".
NSW police, Workcover and the Australian Workers Union are launching investigations into the collapse.
Illustration
Caption: Twisted metal: Rescue workers and emergency services officials work at the site of the Newcastle BHP building collapsePicture: Jeremy Piper; Photo: Photo
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