Monday, 1 July 2002
Friday, 28 June 2002
Lost City an outback jewel, The Australian, 28 June, 2002.
Lost City an outback jewel: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 28 June 2002: 27.
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Abstract
The property has numerous permanent waterholes and open woodlands, with black soil plains spreading to red loam soils. The station complex is on the banks of the 26m-deep Broadmere waterhole. Ms [Alison Ross] estimates that, fully developed, Broadmere Station is capable of maintaining a herd of 12,000 cattle.
Primac Elders agent Garry Martin said the strength of sales for these types of properties was illustrated by recent sales of major top-end properties such as Strathmore, for more than $15 million, Rosella Plains for $6.6 million and Minnie Downs for $6 million.
"Anyone considering marketing their properties should do so now and take advantage of the strong demand," Mr Martin said. "The main reason these properties are fetching such good prices is because of strong US inquiry for the bigger properties, which has flowed through to the Australian prices, particularly in theNorthern Territory.
* Rural
WHERE else could you buy two and a half thousand square kilometers, including picturesque escarpments and sandstone formations?
Broadmere, 520km south-east of Katherine in the Northern Territory, is one of the largest pastoral leases now on the market.
While fears of drought and low commodity prices are affecting rural sales elsewhere, large cattle properties in the north of Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory are defying the trend.
The owners of Broadmere wish to remain anonymous. There will be no auction or tenders. The asking price is $2.1 million and that is that.
The 2590sqkm property contains part of the "Lost City" rock formation.
Striking, awesome, strange, eerie, intriguing and spectacular are all words used to describe the "Lost City".
Outback Magazine compared the formations to Ayers Rock and the Bungle Bungles. Author and photographer Colin Kerr said the formations, at least half a billion years old, resemble a long- abandoned city, the remnants of an extinct civilisation.
Virtually unknown until recently and almost completely inaccessible, the mysterious formations are one of the selling points for Broadmere as a tourist attraction.
Elders selling agent Alison Ross said Broadmere's price, cheap in comparison to some of the major $10 million cattle property sales of recent times, reflected the relatively few cattle properties on the property.
But she said the advantage was that the property, featuring good grass country at a time when other areas were suffering, was affordable. "There are not other properties for sale like Broadmere right now," she said.
The property has numerous permanent waterholes and open woodlands, with black soil plains spreading to red loam soils. The station complex is on the banks of the 26m-deep Broadmere waterhole. Ms Ross estimates that, fully developed, Broadmere Station is capable of maintaining a herd of 12,000 cattle.
The latest Elders National Rural Market Report, released this week, suggests there is still a strong property market for quality grazing country.
Primac Elders agent Garry Martin said the strength of sales for these types of properties was illustrated by recent sales of major top-end properties such as Strathmore, for more than $15 million, Rosella Plains for $6.6 million and Minnie Downs for $6 million.
The 1604sqkm Oakden Hills north-west of Port Augusta in South Australia has been taken off the market after selling quickly and privately for an undisclosed price.
In Western Australia, Mia Mia Station north of Carnarvon is on the market for $3.25 million while Meka Station in the Murchison area is available for $2.3 million.
On the Barkly Tablelands south of Katherine Tanumbarini sold recently for more than $8 million.
"Anyone considering marketing their properties should do so now and take advantage of the strong demand," Mr Martin said. "The main reason these properties are fetching such good prices is because of strong US inquiry for the bigger properties, which has flowed through to the Australian prices, particularly in theNorthern Territory.
Valuer Robin Gardiner said there was a lot of confidence in the cattle market and its future, particularly in the Northern Territory where, after a string of successful property sales in Queensland, positive sentiment has spilled over.
Wednesday, 26 June 2002
Dream ends for Korean giant-killers, The Australian, 26 June, 2002. Page One.
Dream ends for Korean giant-killers: [2 Edition]
Robert Lusetich * Seoul, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 June 2002: 1.
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Abstract
For the millions of fans who watched the game on giant screens erected in Korean cities, this was anything but a defeat. And from the kick-off, no matter theresult, many justifiably felt they had won already.
In Sydney, the 2000 Koreans watching the game on giant screens at Darling Harbour applauded enthusiastically after the full-time whistle, despite the result.
Heart and Seoul: The gallant South Korean team is feted by the home crowd, and shows its gratitude in return, after last night's lossSo near, so far: Fans in Darling Harbour, Sydney, agonise with the Korean team; Photo: Photo
THE Korean fairytale is over, ended at the hands of a ruthless German team that last night qualified for its seventh World Cup final.
South Korea, the outsiders who made it to the semi-finals on a cocktail of skill, emotion and national pride -- defeating European heavyweights Portugal, Italy and Spain along the way -- were felled by a 75th-minute goal from German midfielder Michael Ballack.
But for the millions of fans who watched the game on giant screens erected in Korean cities, this was anything but a defeat. And from the kick-off, no matter the result, many justifiably felt they had won already.
"We've gone so much farther than anyone dreamed of, so no one will be sad if we lose," said student Annie Kim.
The World Cup has been a revelation for Korea, a nation haunted by the ghosts of an economic meltdown in the late 1990s, endless corruption scandals and a collective self-doubt about its place in the world.
The contrasts between this football festival and the 1988 Olympics are stark. Then, there were heavily armed soldiers at every turn, fingers on the trigger. Now, there are smiling and unarmed policemen and women who stroll more than march.
The ramifications of Korea's extraordinary run have been far- reaching, according to both government and independent analysis.
The local currency, the won, has strengthened against the dollar, and global investment banker Goldman Sachs has issued a report predicting a huge return for Korea because of the positive spin- offs generated by both the World Cup and the team's success.
"With the World Cup, a tremendous energy is gushing out of the Korean people," said President Kim Dae-jung after meeting with foreign investors.
"Korea is now making a leap into the world."
In Sydney, the 2000 Koreans watching the game on giant screens at Darling Harbour applauded enthusiastically after the full-time whistle, despite the result.
Mother of two Huyun Jooshin, 34, said it was a very special night for Koreans. "It is the first time for us to get these kind of results," she said. "We are satisfied. We had a big win for us, to get so far. Koreans all over the world have come together over this. It has made me very proud of my country and my soccer team."
Kiung Han, 19, a student, said for Korea the match was easily the most important event of the millennium. "Australian Koreans are very patriotic, they are very proud," he said.
Illustration
Caption: Heart and Seoul: The gallant South Korean team is feted by the home crowd, and shows its gratitude in return, after last night's lossSo near, so far: Fans in Darling Harbour, Sydney, agonise with the Korean team; Photo: Photo
Shopkeepers fear terminal rent rises, The Australian, 26 June, 2002. Picture Glenn Campbell.
Shopkeepers fear terminal rent rises: [1 Edition]
Cathryn Jimenez, John Stapleton. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 June 2002: 4.
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Abstract
Andrew Schaffer, of Sunglasses @ Sydney, said: "From word of mouth, I have got the feeling that it might be good."
Optimistic: Mr Schaffer, from Sunglasses @ Sydney, reflects on news of the sale of Sydney airport yesterday and what it might mean for businessPicture: Glenn Campbell; Photo: PhotoTable
RETAILERS at Sydney airport sent a warning yesterday to the new owners: any rental increase would be terminal.
"Trading conditions are very tough ... any increase would make our job very hard," said a store manager of one international retailer, who did not want to be identified.
"Retail here has been tough for the past 12 months due to September 11 and we already have three stores competing with us that are selling tax-free.
"I would hate to see where we would end up if the rents are increased.
"I would not see the point in keeping the stores open."
Other shops, however, were more optimistic.
Andrew Schaffer, of Sunglasses @ Sydney, said: "From word of mouth, I have got the feeling that it might be good."
Most of Mr Schaffer's customers are travellers, although some airport and airline staff also shop there.
"Some people say the rents might go up, but I think that is codswallop," he said.
"I can't see the rents going up. They know what the economy is like here. If you look at the effect of September 11, we are not doing as well as we imagined.
"The new owners may well come in with a whole heap of new ideas on how to make money here. Hopefully, they will. Our profits are their profits."
The airport recently started an advertising campaign that encourages Sydney residents to bring children along for a day out -- even if they are not travelling.
However, retailers are not enthusiastic about the results of the campaign.
"Management has tried to promote the airport by spending thousands of dollars on marketing, but it's not bringing people in," one store manager said.
The big price paid by the Macquarie group yesterday made some retailers nervous.
"One wonders a lot when big prices like that are paid, what the implications will be for rents," said a spokesman for an international retailer with several stores at the airport.
What the new owners bought
Aircraft charges $101m (32.4%)
Retailing $93.6m (30%)
Property $60.5m (19.4%)
Carparks, car rentals, billboard ads $53.9m (17.3%)
Other $2.8m (0.9%)
Total revenue: $312.7m
Operating profit (after tax): $42.84m
Total employees: 488
Total passengers: 23.1 million
International: 8.3 million
Domestic: 13.4 million
Regional: 1.4 million
Aircraft gates: 70
All figures 1999-00, Sydney Airports Corporation annual report
Illustration
Caption: Optimistic: Mr Schaffer, from Sunglasses @ Sydney, reflects on news of the sale of Sydney airport yesterday and what it might mean for businessPicture: Glenn Campbell; Photo: PhotoTable
Tuesday, 25 June 2002
Not Mine? Won't Pay! The Australian, 25 June 2002. Page One pointer.
The Australian, Edition 1 TUE 25 JUN 2002, Page 009 Not mine? Won't pay!
By: John Stapleton
- DNA testing is popular with men who suspect they've been wrongly lumbered with child support payments, John Stapleton reports
MEN have been cuckolded since the beginning of the human species. Many have proved, knowingly or unknowingly, to be good fathers to children not biologically their own. As many a stepfather has shown, fatherhood extends well beyond the biological.
But technology, institutions, moralities and family structures are all changing.
High-profile paternity fraud cases resulting from DNA tests are now working their way through the US, British and Australiancourts, and those who have most to gain or lose from the status quo are all speaking out.
These gateway cases could ultimately cost governments millions of dollars as aggrieved -- and sometimes deceived -- men attempt to sue child support and other government agencies.
Data from the American Association of Blood Banks suggests that 28.2 per cent of men suspicious enough to ask for the test turn out not to be the biological father. In Australia, a leading commercial laboratory, DNA Solutions, suggests the figure is more likely to be between 15 and 20 per cent.
There are about 3000 tests carried out each year in Australia, and in the US the number has risen during the 1990s to about 300,000 a year.
Fathers in the US have won a string of legislative victories this year. In May, Georgia enacted legislation allowing a man to stop paying court-ordered child support after DNA tests. A similar bill has reached the Californian Senate, and measures have been introduced in Vermont, Massachusetts and Michigan.
Even Hollywood has risen to the occasion, with elderly billionaire and MGM studios owner Kirk Kerkorian, this year facing the world's most expensive child support case. He questioned the paternity of his four-year-old child, producing dental floss containing DNA from film producer Steve Bing -- of Elizabeth Hurley fame. Bing is reportedly now suing Kerkorian for invasion of privacy. Last week, the separate paternity court case involving Bing and actor Hurley was resolved when DNA tests proved that Bing was the biological father of Hurley's baby son.
You might have thought this was all a little tasteless, but US daytime television hosts such as Ricki Lake find that whenever they feature DNA test results on air, their ratings go up. ``It's the most life-altering thing you can do on television,'' says Lake.
With DNA testing now a multimillion-dollar growth industry, the legal, moral and political furore has well and truly hit Australia.
Children and Youth Affairs Minister Larry Anthony is considering legislation on paternity fraud in consultation with the Child Support Agency, the Attorney-General and departmental lawyers, following a number of complex cases and calls for clarification of the law.
In one DNA case this month before the West Australian Family Court, a man, who cannot be named by law, had been incorrectly named as the father of a child after a one-night stand. He will be refunded child support payments following a convoluted battle with authorities. He says he intends suing the mother for emotional distress.
Parties on all sides of the DNA paternity debate -- fathers, mothers, commercial laboratories and the judiciary -- claim they are acting in the best interests of the child.
Many fathers embroiled in such a conflict say every child has the right to know who their real father is, adding that fraud is fraud; some women's groups believe men are trying to wriggle out of paying child support; and the commercial laboratories say discreet testing assists both parents and children.Family Court Chief Justice Alastair Nicholson has reportedly suggested that fathers seeking paternity tests are clinging to a 19th-century biological view of fatherhood and ignoring the impact on the child. Although he accepts there is a place for court-sanctioned DNA testing, he says criminal sanctions should apply against fathers who use ``secret'' DNA tests and that they should not be admissible in court. ``I agree with the view it should be made an offence,'' says Nicholson. ``I think it's an invasion of the rights of the child to do it.''
The Australian Law Reform Commission, in conjunction with the Australian Health Ethics Commission, is releasing a discussion paper in August. The hitherto buried issue of paternity testing is turning out to be one of the most contentious aspects of the commission's attempts to bring genetic regulations into the 21st century.
A spokeswoman for the ALRC says paternity testing has emerged as an unexpected flashpoint. The commission is urging parents' groups to make submissions.
ALRC head David Weisbrot has suggested the commission may make recommendations similar to those of a British commission on human genetics, which has recommended prosecution of fathers conducting secret tests. It proposes that removal of a child's hair or saliva without applying to the courts, or without the approval of the mother, become a criminal offence.
The British commission's chairwoman says there could be serious repercussions for women, children and siblings, who could ``suddenly find all the things that they understood about their family becoming different''.
Surprisingly, DNA tests are popular with women. The recently launched Melbourne company Gene-E says women account for nearly two-thirds of inquiries. Many of them may only be wishing to make sure that they have been right all along.
But this is not the case for the men involved in paternity cases before the Australian courts. These outraged men are a small sample of thousands of fathers who may be paying child support for children not biologically theirs. In many cases the men have not had a strong ongoing relationship with the child, or any sort of relationship, because of the unstable family unit. They argue that payments for non-biological children can imperil the financial welfare of biological children in subsequent families.
While DNA and paternity fraud is a hot issue worldwide, an Australian complexity is that single mothers are legally required to nominate the father, so that the government can seek recompense for child welfare payments.
Sue Price of the Men's Rights Agency says blocking DNA testing is morally repugnant. ``You are denying the child the right to know his or her real father,'' she says. ``Extracting payments from non-biological fathers is fraud and seriously imperils that man's future ability to provide for his own family. On the other hand, those shown to be the biological father are far more likely to provide financial and emotional support.''
Dads Australia president Rod Hardwick says government failure to properly investigate the paternity allegations of women, or making paternity impossible to disprove, leaves the system open to abuse. He says women who deliberately nominate the wrong man as the father of their child should be prosecuted.
``The Chief Justice of the Family Court wants to prosecute men for not paying child support but refuses to prosecute women who deliberately lie to the court, to the man, to the biological father and to the children,'' he says.
This is one issue where there is no common ground between fathers' groups and mothers' groups.
The Women's Electoral Lobby's former Victorian convener Lisa Solomon says fathers are seeking DNA testing simply to get out of their legal obligations to pay child support. ``They are using the hoary old argument of the rights of the child to shore up their financial security, and that is disgusting,'' she says.
``Sow the seed, reap the consequences. If there is a question about parentage, it should be determined by a court-sanctioned process. It should be regulated.
``It is a violation of the rights of the child to take a DNA test without their full knowledge.''
Solomon says there is little likelihood of women abusing the welfare system by falsely naming fathers. ``Women are moral, reasonable, rational beings. It would be a very rare instance where a woman would name someone who wasn't the father of the child.''
DNA Solutions director Vern Muir says the shock of discovering non-paternity gets worse with age and the trend is towards testing younger children. He believes the public is behind discreet, non-court-regulated testing to clear up doubts over paternity, so that court cases, which are often traumatising and expensive, can be avoided.
LINKS
www.alrc.gov.au
www.mensnewsdaily.com
CASE ONE
In one Victorian case, a former policeman is seeking to be repaid $30,000 he paid over 14 years. The man, who no longer sees the now 16-year-old boy, says he conducted the DNA paternity test partly because the boy had become concerned about who his real father might be.
He says he is suing not for the money but as a matter of principle. ``I think making DNA testing illegal is totally against all human rights," he says.
"Every person has the right to know who their biological parent is, whether it is a person who was adopted or who is conceived as a result of deception. I felt extremely betrayed."
The case has been in and out of court all year. The man says he is on antidepressants as a result of the conflict. "There are a load of fathers, thousands of fathers, in the same situation," he says. ``There is nothing in the system to help us."
CASE TWO
Many men discover children are not biologically theirs only as a result of conflict during a custody dispute. In a case working its way through the system, a Melbourne man discovered that two of the three children he had watched being born were not his. He found this out after he separated from his wife.
He is seeking $400,000 damages for pain and suffering, and will be seeking compensation for child support payments, loss of earnings and legal costs.
The case has been bouncing in and out of court for the past 18 months. The federal and state governments fund the Victorian Women's Legal Service, which is representing the mother.
The man and his new partner are angered that taxpayer funds are being used to support what they perceive as paternity fraud.
They say they have had to sell virtually everything they own to fund the case.
The man paid child support for eight years and says he lost one-third of his gross income. At one stage, after paying child support, he was living on $132 a week.
Illus: Photo
Section: FEATURES
Type: FeatureAUS-20020625-1-009-4329542V1
Section: FEATURES
Type: FeatureAUS-20020625-1-009-4329542V1
Monday, 24 June 2002
Friday, 21 June 2002
For Sale sign up as Big Dry hovers, The Australian, 21 June, 2002.
For Sale sign up as Big Dry hovers: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 21 June 2002: 24.
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Abstract
Tatyoon was acquired five years ago, in better times, to complement the Buster operations centred on Bourke in western NSW.
The Buster family, who came to Australia from the US in the 1960s, are regarded as one of the great success stories of outback Australia. The legend goes that old Jack Buster, when he first crossed the North Bourke Bridge, looked with great astonishment at the under-utilised blacksoil floodplains and the Darling River surrounding the tiny town.
Tatyoon, with a price tag of $5 million, is a four-hour drive west of Sydney. It has high-security water licences from both the Lachlan and Belubula rivers, with a 3000 megalitre allocation, as well as four bores. Extensive drip irrigation has been installed, and there is a well maintained homestead, farm cottage and machinery sheds.
* Rural
TATYOON is for sale for one reason: El Nino.
Owned by the McLaughlin and Buster families, the $5 million property near the confluence of the Lachlan and Belubula rivers in central NSW has what everybody wants: high-security water and lots of it.
With meteorologists rating the chances of an El Nino drought this year at up to 90 per cent, and with rain deficits right across the grain belt and government regulation of irrigators growing tighter, water is once more like gold.
Tatyoon was acquired five years ago, in better times, to complement the Buster operations centred on Bourke in western NSW.
The Buster family, who came to Australia from the US in the 1960s, are regarded as one of the great success stories of outback Australia. The legend goes that old Jack Buster, when he first crossed the North Bourke Bridge, looked with great astonishment at the under-utilised blacksoil floodplains and the Darling River surrounding the tiny town.
Thus was born the multi-million dollar Buster dynasty and the family company Darling Farms, which plants over 3000ha of cotton annually and has won thecoveted industry award for cotton farmers of the year.
The Buster family's Bourke properties made the international news in 2000 when a touring Prince Philip was shown a device for measuring water depth in soil, called a Piezometer. The gaffe-prone prince asked what a "pissometer" was, leading to "Outback faux pas" headlines in the British press.
Now dry conditions and tight government regulation of irrigators has forced the Tatyoon sale, and those "pissometers" aren't finding much to measure.
"We have had a drought in Bourke and I am having to consolidate," said Stephen Buster, son of founding father Jack. "We have had a shocker of a year. Want to start me on the effect of government water policy here in Bourke?"
Meares & Associates is handling the sale of Tatyoon. Tenders close on July 18.
The Busters aren't the only ones feeling the impact of El Nino. The Crop Report of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, released this week, shows that less than half of the expected 2002-03 winter crop of wheat, barley and canola was sown by early this month due to a lack of rain across the grain belt. In nearly all districts in the critical April-May period, rainfall was less than last year and below long-term averages.
In Victoria there has been insufficient rain to ensure widespread winter plantings, while in hard-hit Queensland producers may leave land fallow. In South Australia less than 10 per cent of the expected planting was sown by the end of May.
Even assuming there is sufficient planting rain over the next month, ABARE forecasts winter crop production to be down 5.2 million tonnes on last year's crop. Wheat production is forecast to fall by 3.5 million tonnes to its lowest level since the last El Nino event in 1997-98. In Queensland the area planted to wheat is expected to fall 38 per cent.
Tatyoon, with a price tag of $5 million, is a four-hour drive west of Sydney. It has high-security water licences from both the Lachlan and Belubula rivers, with a 3000 megalitre allocation, as well as four bores. Extensive drip irrigation has been installed, and there is a well maintained homestead, farm cottage and machinery sheds.
The rich alluvial soils and good water make it ideal as a kind of giant "vegie farm". As well as the more traditional crops, it produces pumpkins and watermelons. There are already Edgell contracts for sweet corn and beans.
Grant Woods of Meares & Associates describes Tatyoon as "one of the most vibrant and dynamic places I have ever been on. There is nothing you can't do with it".
But any sales pitch on Tatyoon rapidly shifts to talk of water allocations.
As Stephen Buster succinctly put it: "Now is a good time to be selling a good water property."
EL NINO GRIPS THE COUNTRY
NSW: Winter cropping area to fall by 300,000ha. Fifty per cent of state drought declared.
VICTORIA: Wheat production down nine per cent and canola 17 per cent as total crop area falls.
QUEENSLAND: Total winter crop area down 26 per cent. Very poor start to the winter cropping season.
WA: Total winter crop area down 2.4 per cent, with continuing dry conditions. Wheat down 3 per cent, barley 5 per cent, canola 11 per cent.
SA: Winter production to fall 31 per cent from last year's highs.
Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
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