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.
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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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Saturday, 24 November 2007

Lack of big-bellied boys sparks pregnant pause, The Australian, 24 November, 2007.

Lack of big-bellied boys sparks pregnant pause: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 24 Nov 2004: 7.
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The seahorses' struggle for survival is not limited to Tasmania, with the NSW Government announcing yesterday a new project to examine the effectiveness of using a system of marine parks to protect the species. NSW Department of Primary Industries conservation manager David Harasti said they would begin by monitoring the seahorses inside the Fly Point Aquatic Reserve at Port Stephens on the NSW central coast.

THE males of Tasmania puff out their brightly coloured pouches and pump them full of water, all the better to convince the circling females that they will make good fathers. Fights break out among the potential mates desperate to lay their eggs.
This is the exotic world of the "big-bellied" seahorses in the Derwent Estuary in Tasmania, where females outnumber males at least five to one. Their conduct here is even more striking because seahorses are normally monogamous.
The shortage of males may be the key to a dramatic plunge in the Derwent population, and to wildly fluctuating populations in other parts of the country, scientists believe. Seahorses are the only animal in the world of which the male becomes "pregnant".
Keith Martin-Smith, a leading scientist with global conservation group Project Seahorse, said the Tasmanian population had steadily declined since late 2000, an overall reduction of 75 per cent.
"Sex-ratio variations are of particular concern to the future populations as the male of the species is wholly responsible for pregnancy and birth," Dr Martin-Smith said. "This is unique in the animal kingdom. It is coming up to the breeding season. The males can afford to be choosey."
Once the male selects a partner, she will lay about 1000 eggs in his pouch. Sperm then runs down a duct into the pouch and thefertilised eggs become embedded in the skin of the pouch, where they hatch four weeks later. The problem for seahorses is their use in the alternative medicine field, with millions caught each year to be used to treat everything from asthma to impotence.
The seahorses' struggle for survival is not limited to Tasmania, with the NSW Government announcing yesterday a new project to examine the effectiveness of using a system of marine parks to protect the species. NSW Department of Primary Industries conservation manager David Harasti said they would begin by monitoring the seahorses inside the Fly Point Aquatic Reserve at Port Stephens on the NSW central coast.
"The taking of seahorses for any reason was banned in NSW in July and we are keen to determine whether the new protection is helping increase the population size," he said.

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Monday, 19 November 2007

Bail for charged parents denied, The Australian, 19 November, 2007.

Bail for charged parents denied: [2 All-round First Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 19 Nov 2007: 3.
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In refusing bail, registrar Neil Langstaff noted there was a presumption against bail in murder cases and considering the history of thecase, including that the couple had been found to be using a false name at a hotel and that the mother had attempted to alter her appearance, there was a high probability of flight.
Their seven-year-old daughter, who had never been to school, weighed only 9kg when her body was found at the couple's home in Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, earlier this month.
Community Services Minister Kevin Greene has launched an inquiry into the child's death, but has been unable to explain his department's failure to act.
THE parents of a seven-year-old girl who allegedly starved to death were refused bail yesterday after being taken into custody on theweekend.
NSW police issued a warrant for their arrest on a charge of murder on Friday after the couple failed to meet detectives.
A member of the public was standing on Albion Park station south of Wollongong when he spotted the pair and rang 000.
Police surrounded the station and arrested the couple without resistance.
After several hours of questioning at Port Kembla police station by homicide detectives, they were each charged with the murder of their daughter.
The mother did not make eye contact with anyone in court yesterday and shuffled out of the dock after a brief appearance. She kept her face largely hidden behind a long mop of hair.
Ten minutes later, the heavily tattooed father was brought to the dock, where he remained silent during his brief appearance.
Neither applied for bail.
In refusing bail, registrar Neil Langstaff noted there was a presumption against bail in murder cases and considering the history of thecase, including that the couple had been found to be using a false name at a hotel and that the mother had attempted to alter her appearance, there was a high probability of flight.
The case was adjourned to Wollongong Court on Wednesday, when the couple will appear via video link.
Their seven-year-old daughter, who had never been to school, weighed only 9kg when her body was found at the couple's home in Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, earlier this month.
The death caused a political furore in NSW.
Reports suggest the girl had been repeatedly reported to the Department of Community Services but no action had been taken.
Community Services Minister Kevin Greene has launched an inquiry into the child's death, but has been unable to explain his department's failure to act.
The couple were taken separately to hospital by police on Saturday afternoon so they could be provided with "certain medications they have been prescribed".
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PM's blitz on welfare for addicts, The Australian, 19 November, 2007. Page One.

PM's blitz on welfare for addicts: [2 All-round First Edition]

Patricia Karvelas, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 19 Nov 2007: 1.
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Mr [John Howard] said Labor's preference deal with the Greens, who were "soft" on drugs, showed the ALP was not as strict on the issue.
"A re-elected Coalition government will expect the states and territories to adopt these national standards," Mr Howard said. "We are the zero-tolerance Coalition when it comes to drugs."
A former heroin user, Colin Griffith, who has worked on a number of different public health programs relating to drugs and addiction, said Mr Howard's approach was a "war on drug users" not a "war on drugs".
CRIMINALS convicted of hard-drug offences will have their welfare payments quarantined for 12 months under a Coalition plan to stop government handouts being spent on drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
As part of a dramatic expansion of John Howard's push to ensure welfare payments are not being wasted by recipients, convicted drug abusers and traffickers would only be able to spend their welfare money on necessities such as food.
The Howard Government's intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities involves quarantining half of parents' social security payments, with the money set aside by authorities for essential household expenses, such as schooling for children.
Before the election campaign, the Coalition cabinet approved a plan to extend the welfare clampdown, first proposed by Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson on Queensland's Cape York, to non-indigenous Australians.
Parents of children considered to be at risk would face the threat of Centrelink taking control of half their family assistance payments for up to 12 months.
The latest proposal, hailed by the Prime Minister as an extension of his zero-tolerance approach to drugs, would cost about $36 million over four years and could affect the welfare payments of about 6000 people a year.
Releasing the plan in Sydney yesterday, Mr Howard said people convicted of offences involving hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine and amphetamines would be able to use their welfare payments to cover bills and essential items such as food.
But a system managed by Centrelink and non-government organisations would lock up 100per cent of welfare payments to ensure the money was not spent on drugs, tobacco and alcohol. And the 12-month quarantine period could be extended if welfare recipients faced new drugs convictions.
The new quarantine rules would be introduced in December next year if the Coalition were re-elected, Mr Howard said. And the Coalition would consider extending the policy, depending on its success, to people convicted of criminal offences involving other drugs, such as cannabis.
Mr Howard said Labor's preference deal with the Greens, who were "soft" on drugs, showed the ALP was not as strict on the issue.
But he unveiled a plan to give extra support to drug addicts. Welfare recipients who are convicted of drug offences would be eligible for immediate referral to rehabilitation services to help them overcome their drug problems, and Mr Howard promised to expand assistance to help drug addicts get a job.
Addicts' eligibility for Job Capacity Account services -- money assigned to unemployed people for job training and other services -- would be extended from the current maximum of 13 weeks to up to 26 weeks, giving them access to up to $2500.
Mr Howard said that if re-elected, he would seek greater consistency in the drug laws across state jurisdictions to develop a "national standard relating to the quantities involved in the trafficking and possession of illicit drugs".
"A re-elected Coalition government will expect the states and territories to adopt these national standards," Mr Howard said. "We are the zero-tolerance Coalition when it comes to drugs."
But his proposals met with
Continued -- Page 4
From Page 1
hostility from experts and users, who say it will increase crime rates and unduly punish people struggling to get their lives back on track. Mr Howard was also heavily criticised for attempting to make political gain out of those struggling to deal with personal problems.
Tony Trimingham, head of the Family Drug Support group, described the plan as "diabolical".
"It is totally counter-productive and a stripping of citizen's rights," he said.
"It will also make the misery of the families of addicted people more severe. Emphasis should be placed on rehabilitation and making sure people live normal lives."
A former heroin user, Colin Griffith, who has worked on a number of different public health programs relating to drugs and addiction, said Mr Howard's approach was a "war on drug users" not a "war on drugs".
"Addiction is best handled by health professionals instead of politicians with no expertise in the area who are promoting fear in the community for personal political gain during an election campaign. It's easy to kick people already in the gutter," he said.
Reverend Harry Herbert, executive director of UnitingCare, which runs the medically supervised injecting room in Kings Cross, described the announcement as a sign of desperation by Mr Howard. He said the withdrawal of welfare payments was harsh and excessive and did not take into account the fact that many users who came in contact with the legal system were struggling to get off drugs and get on with their lives.
Annie Madden, from the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League, said research clearly showed punitive measures almost always failed to alter the behaviour of current drug users, and using the welfare system as a form of punishment would only make these people more desperate and more disenfranchised.
She said it would increase crime rates and the suffering of drug addicts' families.
Mr Rudd said said Mr Howard was desperately producing policies in the shadow of polling day to cling to power.
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Saturday, 17 November 2007

Quarantine chief admits ignorance, Weekend Australian, 17 November, 2007.

Quarantine chief admits ignorance: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. Weekend Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 17 Nov 2007: 4.
Show highlighting
Counsel for the Australian Racing Board Garry Rich asked Ms Sims: "How can you make sensible decisions ... if you do not know what staff are required to do on a daily basis? You don't think that it is helpful to know what the staff have to do?"
Ms Sims replied: "It is not my responsibility to know what the staff have to do."
Ms Sims disagreed with a statement put to her by Mr Rich that there was "a cultural problem with your department that the senior managerial staff are more concerned about their managerial functions, that is, proposing business plans and corporate objective statements," rather than their job of keeping animal diseases out of Australia.
A SENIOR bureaucrat in the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service yesterday denied the existence of a culture in the organisation more focused on producing corporate strategies and business plans than in actually fulfilling their responsibility to keep Australia free of disease.
Under sustained cross-examination for most of the day at the government inquiry into the equine influence outbreak, NSW assistant regional manager for AQIS Julie Sims was repeatedly forced to admit that she had little practical knowledge of on-the-ground operations.
Ms Sims, effectively second in command in NSW since 1996, is responsible for the Eastern Creek quarantine station, which has been named as a potential source of the outbreak of equine influenza.
She acknowledged she had not seen the horse stable area for several years, had not read the specific work instructions on the importation of horses and did not know whether they had been implemented in NSW. Nor did she know the exact work roles of the staff.
She also acknowledged that she had received no training in regard to risk assessment and had not read a leading author in the field.
While saying there had been a general concern within AQIS for a number of years over a lack of resources and staff, Ms Sims struggled to name the specific aspects of the operation that were being affected by the shortage and also admitted she could not find any documents to demonstrate that she had expressed any concern over a lack of resources at the station.
Counsel for the Australian Racing Board Garry Rich asked Ms Sims: "How can you make sensible decisions ... if you do not know what staff are required to do on a daily basis? You don't think that it is helpful to know what the staff have to do?"
Ms Sims replied: "It is not my responsibility to know what the staff have to do."
She said the question of what skills were required by staff would be handled by the station's manager.
Ms Sims was also forced to admit that she did not know there was a requirement to inform visitors to the quarantine station of quarantine procedures.
She also acknowledged that she was not aware of the procedures for truck drivers and grooms when horses arrived at the airport.
But Ms Sims disagreed with a statement put to her by Mr Rich that there was "a cultural problem with your department that the senior managerial staff are more concerned about their managerial functions, that is, proposing business plans and corporate objective statements," rather than their job of keeping animal diseases out of Australia.
"No, I don't agree with that," she said.
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