Monday, 31 December 2007

Aussies row in trans-Tasman glory, The Australian, 31 December, 2007.

Aussies row to trans-Tasman glory: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 31 Dec 2007: 5.
Organiser of the successful rowing trip, serial adventurer [Steven Gates], 39, who advertised for people to join him after having the boat specially designed in The Netherlands, said they were "completely exhausted" and only functioning at all thanks to "lots of painkillers". "The fact that everyone is still walking today is testimony to some of the drugs in our medical kit," he said.
"It was hard, scary and intense," Gates said. "It has been an epic. We are elated to be back on dry land."
The most positive of the four, physical education teacher and surfboat champion Macready, 25, described the experience as "absolutely brilliant". "I thought it would break me mentally, but it didn't," she said.

Full Text

BARELY able to stand up, with pressure sores, boils, pimples and blisters on their hands, feet and backsides, four Australians rowed into Sydney Harbour and history yesterday morning after leaving New Zealand a gruelling 31 days ago.
After rowing more than 2250km, Kerry Tozer and Sally Macready, became the first women ever to row across the Tasman, while Steven Gates and Andrew Johnson became the first Australian men to do so.
The team operated two hours on, two hours off, for the entire journey, apart from spells during storms when they were forced to seek shelter in the tiny cabins at either end of the specially designed boat.
While the rowers successfully completed their trip yesterday, two men who have been kayaking across the Tasman in the opposite direction remain at sea.
The two teams, who have no formal connection, kept in contact and passed within 100km of each other.
James Castrission, 25, and Justin Jones, 24, have more than 460km to paddle after adverse currents made their dream of being the first to kayak the Tasman almost impossible.
On Saturday their 9m purpose-built kayak was bumped by two sharks. Despite their difficulties the pair hope to reach New Zealand by next Monday.
Organiser of the successful rowing trip, serial adventurer Gates, 39, who advertised for people to join him after having the boat specially designed in The Netherlands, said they were "completely exhausted" and only functioning at all thanks to "lots of painkillers". "The fact that everyone is still walking today is testimony to some of the drugs in our medical kit," he said.
The only person to have rowed the Tasman was New Zealander Colin Quincy, who covered the distance in 67days in 1976. Kayaker Andrew McAuley died on a similar attempt in February, within 65km of Milford Sound in New Zealand.
The four wobbly rowers were greeted yesterday by family and well- wishers at Neutral Bay in Sydney harbour. They had cleared Customs after meeting officials at Watsons Bay.
"It was hard, scary and intense," Gates said. "It has been an epic. We are elated to be back on dry land."
The most positive of the four, physical education teacher and surfboat champion Macready, 25, described the experience as "absolutely brilliant". "I thought it would break me mentally, but it didn't," she said.
Her mother Gayle Macready was not as confident. "They were out in huge seas, like a ping-pong ball, they had no keel and were bouncing about like a sock in a clothes drier."
Tozer, 34, showed off the layers of calluses on her hands, while Johnson, 30, an airforce navigator, described the experience as "moments of brilliance interspersed with pain and suffering".
"Physically I had had enough after four days. It was a brilliant experience but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone."
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Look who's in Sydney for the fireworks, The Australian, 31 December, 2007.

Look who's in Sydney for the fireworks: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 31 Dec 2007: 5.
Show highlighting
"Hey, Ruddy" and "Good on ya, [KEVIN Rudd]", locals shouted when they realised they had unexpectedly come face-to-face with their newest neighbours.
While much of the rest of the country has adopted a "wait and see" approach to Mr Rudd's prime ministership, he and his wife easily won over the staff at Garfish. "They were really good, just normal people," one waitress said. Another described Mr Rudd as "nice and polite, just a very lovely guy".
Now ensconced beside the harbour, the Rudds may have finally discovered the ultimate truth of Sydney life, as so aptly described by David Williamson in his play Emerald City: "No-one in Sydney ever wastes time debating the meaning of life -- it's getting yourself a water frontage. People devote a lifetime to the quest."
KEVIN Rudd has made much in recent weeks of eschewing the trappings of power, choosing for his new family home the stodge of The Lodge rather than theglitz of Kirribilli.
Still, if being Prime Minister gives you access to the best seat in the house for the best show in the country, why not use it?
Just days after moving into The Lodge in Canberra, the Rudd-Rein clan yesterday descended on John Howard's preferred residence, Kirribilli House in Sydney, to take advantage of its million-dollar views of the harbour and bridge, to be lit up with fireworks tonight.
The family spent the weekend settling into Kirribilli House, the heritage-listed harbourside mansion that, for the Labor faithful, came to symbolise Mr Howard's Sydney-centric view of Australia during his 11-year reign.
The Rudds are expected to stay for at least a fortnight. And while refusing to reveal exactly who is invited for tonight's celebrations, trays of food being unloaded from catering vans at Kirribilli yesterday suggest a fine time will be had by all.
The Prime Minister began exploring his new home away from home, attending a local church yesterday before breakfasting with his wife, Therese Rein, at one of the area's most popular upmarket eateries, the award-winning Garfish.
Acting for all the world like any normal couple, Mr Rudd waited patiently while his wife pulled out the plastic to pay for breakfast. The pair then emerged on to the street looking happy and relaxed, holding hands and cuddling like a young couple inlove.
"Hey, Ruddy" and "Good on ya, Kevin", locals shouted when they realised they had unexpectedly come face-to-face with their newest neighbours.
Mr Rudd beamed at well-wishers before heading for his government limousine to be whisked back to Kirribilli House.
While much of the rest of the country has adopted a "wait and see" approach to Mr Rudd's prime ministership, he and his wife easily won over the staff at Garfish. "They were really good, just normal people," one waitress said. Another described Mr Rudd as "nice and polite, just a very lovely guy".
The Rudds have found Kirribilli House looking its best. Purple, mauve and white petunias in full bloom line the drive to the front door of the 1855 twin-gabled Gothic-style home.
How John and Janette Howard must miss it all. Particularly tonight.
Now ensconced beside the harbour, the Rudds may have finally discovered the ultimate truth of Sydney life, as so aptly described by David Williamson in his play Emerald City: "No-one in Sydney ever wastes time debating the meaning of life -- it's getting yourself a water frontage. People devote a lifetime to the quest."
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Saturday, 1 December 2007

Rudd on a mission for homeless, Weekend Australian, 1 December, 2007. Page One.

Rudd on a mission for homeless: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stephen Lunn, John Stapleton, Additional reporting: Sarah Elks. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 01 Dec 2007: 1.
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"We really have to roll up our sleeves here," he said on ABC radio yesterday. "The turn-away rate for people who are in all sorts of distress arriving at a homeless shelter, where seven out of 10 are turned away because there's simply no room at the inn, we've got to do a lot better than that."
"People in Australia still tend to see a typical homeless person as a middle-aged man with an alcohol problem, but the reality is very different," Tony Keenan, chief executive of Hanover Welfare Services tells The Weekend Australian. "The single largest group accessing our services are children. The largest group of homeless young people are women, and homeless families are a huge issue."
Mission Australia's Lincoln Hopper, in charge of Roma House, the shelter [Kevin Rudd] visited in Brisbane in June, said Rudd had "given the nation an historic opportunity to end homelessness".
A YEAR ago, Brendan Eastwood was a financial officer with AMP on a good income. The future looked bright.
Like so many others dotted through the professions, he was also a functioning addict. He drank within socially acceptable limits and his marijuana use didn't interfere with his working life. Six months later, life spun out of control.
A long-term relationship ended and he lost his job. Eastwood fell hard, and fast.
He found himself alongside 40 homeless men at the Mission Australia Centre at Surry Hills in central Sydney. It was how he came to meet Kevin Rudd.
On the Sunday night three weeks out from the election, Rudd, unaccompanied by the usual media swarm, spent two hours talking to the centre's staff and clients including Eastwood.
It served to confirm what Rudd observed during a similar covert trip to a Brisbane shelter in June. This was a problem Australia shouldn't be having after 16 years of sustained economic growth. The next day, Rudd returned to Surry Hills to announce a $150million five-year election pledge to boost the accommodation stock for the nation's homeless.
Rudd wasn't done. A week after his election pledge, the Saturday night before the make or break November 24 poll, he was in Melbourne. Again away from prying eyes, he slipped into the Hanover homeless shelter in Southbank, talking to some of the 50 men and women lucky enough to secure a spot for the night, including Aritz.
Continued -- Page 6
From Page 1
Happy snaps of his visit taken by Hanover staff were the only ones that recorded him scouting the views of the nation's neediest.
That Australians remain homeless is a blight that resonates with Mr Rudd. During the campaign he said it was unacceptable that 100,000 Australians were homeless each night, half of whom were under 24 and one in 10 under 12 years old. He has vowed to establish a Social Inclusion Board within the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet to address issues faced by those missing out on the economic boom times.
"We really have to roll up our sleeves here," he said on ABC radio yesterday. "The turn-away rate for people who are in all sorts of distress arriving at a homeless shelter, where seven out of 10 are turned away because there's simply no room at the inn, we've got to do a lot better than that."
Aritz, who consented to his photo being published but wouldn't talk to The Weekend Australian yesterday, is the face of homelessness in Australia.
"People in Australia still tend to see a typical homeless person as a middle-aged man with an alcohol problem, but the reality is very different," Tony Keenan, chief executive of Hanover Welfare Services tells The Weekend Australian. "The single largest group accessing our services are children. The largest group of homeless young people are women, and homeless families are a huge issue."
A range of issues can be the catalyst for homelessness, mostly in some complex and unpleasant cocktail. Domestic violence, family catastrophe, mental illness, drugs and alcohol, people exiting jails, the loss of employment and illness are just some. In Eastwood's case, losing his job was the "precipitating event", to use the therapeutic jargon, that propelled him to seek help. The shock of going from a healthy income and a comfortable personal life to having nothing, waking up each morning without a lover and to a chaotic scene of empty grog bottles and discarded dope packets was too much to bear.
"Getting sacked was in a very real way the best thing that could have happened," he said. It requires a major event to make you seek help. The loss of my job was that for me, going from having a decent income to nothing."
Eastwood said he was impressed that Rudd had personally made the effort to get to the coalface. "It was blokes talking to blokes," he says.
"It was everything from rambling tales to questions about exactly what Kevin was going to do in government. Contrary to popular opinion, he doesn't believe in generating the traditional Labor welfare state. He (wants) to allow people who have decided to make a change in their life to continue on the path. I felt his heart was in the right place. He is dedicated to finding solutions."
The welfare sector knows that $150 million spent over five years on housing options for the homeless won't turn the tide. Better co- ordination of services in the health, employment and housing sectors, greater co-operation between state and federal governments, more homeless-prevention programs and more available roofs are a must in the future.
But the new prime minister's interest in the area -- witness his demand that each Labor MP attend a shelter to see for themselves how grim the services situation is -- has them upbeat.
Mission Australia's Lincoln Hopper, in charge of Roma House, the shelter Rudd visited in Brisbane in June, said Rudd had "given the nation an historic opportunity to end homelessness".
"There's been a great focus placed on the issue and a huge determination to look at the problem," said Hopper, executive leader for Mission Australia's services in Queensland.
"It has been off the radar for so many years. People have given up thinking they can do something about homelessness. But this changes everything."
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Wednesday, 28 November 2007

Bernie Banton The Australian 28 November 2007

28 NOVEMBER 2007
John Stapleton
Bernie would be up in heaven, looking down at all the tributes and smiling, his widow Karen said yesterday.
The day after Bernie Banton's death his family gathered for the launch of the Bernie Banton Centre, a new Asbestos Diseases Research Institute on the campus of Concord Hospital in Sydney's north west. His four sons, Adam, 33, Brent, 30, Chris, 26 and Dean, 17, were all in attendance.
His grandson, nine-year-old Jack, formally turned the first clod on the site with a specially engraved shovel. He declared the occasion ``cool''.
Bernie would have wanted them all there, Karen Banton said. She said it would have been very difficult to leave his bedside for the launch of the centre if he had still been alive.
``God is in control, even the fact that it is Asbestos Awareness Week,'' she said. ``Having the centre named after him is very fitting. Yesterday was a very sad day. Now Bernie is up there smiling on it all. I am sure he is up there now revelling in all the tributes and having a good time.''
His tearful eldest son Adam said: ``I am so proud of dad, he was a champion, let alone the public, he was the best dad for us. He would have been proud today.''
Workers at the site formed a guard of honour for the family.
Karen Banton said the tribute from the incoming Prime Minister to Bernie on the night of the election ``was beautiful''.
``We did tell him there was a new Prime Minister,'' she said. ``He was very touched. The whole family was touched.''
She said the family wanted to thank everyone for their tributes, cards and messages; and went on to pay a special tribute to the nurses at Concord who had seen Bernie through some of his worst days.
``It has been really special,'' she said. ``It is an awful way to die. It is hard to describe how shocking it is. It is really a terrible, terrible way to die.''
His younger brother Bruce Banton said the family hoped the centre would help in the research for a cure to the disease that has killed so many people. He attacked James Hardie as being twisted in their approach. ``Not one of these people have stood by the bedside of someone who is suffering,'' he said.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the Bernie Banton Centre was a major advance in the battle to alleviate suffering and discover solutions for victims of asbestos related disease. ``With 350 people diagnosed in NSW each year, there are thousands of others who do not yet know that asbestos related disease will claim their lives,'' he said.
Internationally renowned asbestos diseases researcher Professor Nico van Zandwijk from the Netherlands has been appointed the Institute's inaugural director. He said the centre would allow research that was closely linked to patient care. ``We hope to pave the way for a better future, there is so much unmet need, it is my honour to be pushing this whole area of science forward,'' he said.
Professor van Zandwijk said at this point only a tiny minority of sufferers were ever cured. ``I would like to avoid false hope, but it is possible,'' he said.

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Monday, 26 November 2007

Libs lose points with fake flyers - ELECTION 2007, The Australian, 26 November, 2007.

Libs lose points with fake flyers - ELECTION 2007: STATE OF THE NATION: [2 All-round First Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 Nov 2007: 8.
Show highlighting
Treasurer Peter Costello said today the leaflets scandal was an "isolated, stupid thing in one seat" but added: "The blanket coverage just squeezed the oxygen out of any other message."
Asked if the Lindsay scandal was partly responsible for the Liberals' poor showing in NSW, and across the country, state Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said it "might have contributed to the defeat".
Despite a spirited local campaign, Liberal member Kerry Bartlett, one of the "Class of 96", lost the historic seat of Macquarie to former NSW attorney-general Bob Debus after a redistribution fundamentally altered the nature of the seat.
NSW
BENNELONG and Wentworth provided most of the political drama among the NSW electorates, but many will see the unfolding domestic dispute in Lindsay as a fitting end to one of the low points of the campaign.
Liberal candidate Karen Chijoff has announced that her husband, Greg -- one of the engineers of last week's fake leaflet scandal -- had moved out of the family home. It was also reported she had stopped wearing her wedding ring.
Ms Chijoff, who was seeking to replace retiring MP Jackie Kelly, but suffered a 9.8 per cent swing against her to lose the outer- western Sydney seat to Labor's David Bradbury, is furious at the antics of her husband, who has also been forced to resign from the Liberal Party.
The fake race-hate election flyers from a bogus Islamic group claimed Labor had forgiven the Bali bombers. They were also distributed by Ms Kelly's husband, Gary Clark.
Treasurer Peter Costello said today the leaflets scandal was an "isolated, stupid thing in one seat" but added: "The blanket coverage just squeezed the oxygen out of any other message."
On election night, Ms Kelly said: "I really feel for Karen, just the effort that she's put in, she must be devastated."
Asked if the Lindsay scandal was partly responsible for the Liberals' poor showing in NSW, and across the country, state Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said it "might have contributed to the defeat".
"I was disgusted and appalled at the tactic, it let down the Liberal Party, it let down Liberal supporters."
Overall, Labor gained at least eight seats in NSW. Twenty-eight seats are now held by the Labor Party, double the 14 now held by the Liberals. The Nationals hold five seats.
While postal votes could give departing prime minister John Howard a much-needed boost, an ecstatic Maxine McKew was ahead in Bennelong last night and is expected to take the seat.
The western Sydney seat of Macarthur, held by Pat Farmer but facing an almost 11 per cent swing, remained in doubt.
As well as Lindsay and Bennelong, the seats that fell to Labor were: Eden-Monaro, Parramatta (notionally Liberal), Robertson, Dobell, Macquarie and Page.
Many Labor members also improved their margins to levels they could only have dreamed of.
Beyond the Prime Minister's seat of Bennelong, there were other high-profile government losses, including Roads Minister Jim Lloyd, who suffered a swing of 7.3 per cent against him in Robertson, with Labor candidate Belinda Neal declaring victory.
On the NSW central coast, Labor's Craig Thomson enjoyed a swing of almost 9 per cent to claim Dobell from well-known Liberal member Ken Ticehurst.
Despite a spirited local campaign, Liberal member Kerry Bartlett, one of the "Class of 96", lost the historic seat of Macquarie to former NSW attorney-general Bob Debus after a redistribution fundamentally altered the nature of the seat.
In the nation's most famous bellwether seat, Eden-Monaro, in southern NSW, which has gone with the government in power since 1972, former army officer Mike Kelly oversaw a 6.7 per cent swing to Labor. Mr Kelly took the seat from special minister of state Gary Nairn, who had held Eden-Monaro since 1996.
Countering the massacre elsewhere, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull increased his majority in Sydney's eastern suburbs seat of Wentworth.
Despite fevered pre-election speculation that industrial relations minister Joe Hockey would lose his seat, he held on to North Sydney, despite a 4.3 per cent swing to former television weatherman Mike Bailey.
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Shooting manhunt, The Australian, 26 November, 2007.

Shooting manhunt: [3 All-round Metro Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 Nov 2007: 14.
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Just before 9.30pm on Saturday, the two men allegedly became involved in an argument outside a house at Lassiter Avenue, in Woonona. The victim, a coalminer, was shot in the chest and died at the scene.
A 60-YEAR-OLD man was on the run last night after a shooting at Woonona on the NSW south coast left a 41-year-old man dead.
Police described the suspect as being of European appearance, 175cm tall, with thinning hair and tattoos on his left forearm.
The man's car, a red Nissan Pulsar, was found abandoned on the F3 freeway between Brooklyn and the Mount White turnoff, north of Sydney, yesterday afternoon.
Just before 9.30pm on Saturday, the two men allegedly became involved in an argument outside a house at Lassiter Avenue, in Woonona. The victim, a coalminer, was shot in the chest and died at the scene. A neighbour said the victim had two children aged between two and five and was also the father of two older children from a former relationship.
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