From: bobm@agsm.unsw.oz.au (Robert Marks)
Subject: Oznews, December 19, 1992.
Originator: bobm@mummy.agsm.unsw.OZ.AU
Keywords: oath, Fightback, women warriors, paintings, Qantas, fish, BHP, Westpac, TV Ten, banks, fatness, farting
Organization: The Australian Graduate School of Management
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 22:51:11 GMT

In Brad's absence, an occasional column.  Today taken from the Sydney Morning
Herald of December 19, 1992.

New Australian oath.
"From this time forward (under God) I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its
people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I
respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey."  The Prime Minister, Mr Paul
Keating, announced that the oath of allegiance will no longer demand loyalty
to the Queen (of Australia).  The words above are the proposed new oath.  

Hewson's Fightback Mark II
The Coalition will speed up the delivery of tax cuts and pension increases
and will finance a new public works program as part of a $8 billion attempt
to buy back community support for its Fightback package.
     The amendments:
o GST removed from most foods but not restaurant meals or take-away meals.
  They claim prices of many food items will fall.
o No GST on child-care centres
o Income-tax cuts and family allowance increases for low- and middle-income
  earners brought forward to July 1993.  Some tax cuts on incomes above
  $40,000 deferred to second term.
o Welfare benefit increases brought forward, with first 4 per cent for 
  pensions and 3 per cent for other benefits paid from July 1993 and second 
  4 per cent and 3 per cent from October 1994.
o Sole parents income test aligned with unemployment beneficiaries.
o Extra tax on luxury cars, meaning prices the same despite lower sales tax.
o Nine-month limit on unemployment benefits removed.
     The new measures:
o $3 billion for major public works such as universities, roads, airports,
  and ports.
o Pay cut of 10 per cent for the Prime Minister, Ministers, and parliamentary
  office-holders, frozen at that level for three years.
o Tax-free threshold for self-funded retirees raised to $10,060 for singles
  and $16,980 for couples earning less than $30,000.
o Fast-tracking of development approval to cut red and green tape for major
  investment projects.
o $2 billion to business for accelerated depreciation.

Women at war.
Women in the Defence Forces will be permitted to fly fighter aircraft and
serve on submarines, the Federal Government announced yesterday, although
they would continue to be barred from certain other combat positions.

Fairfax gift.
The first of 20 Australian paintings from Mr James Fairfax's private art
collection, earmarked for the Australian National Gallery, was unveiled by Mrs
Annita Keating yesterday.  Over the next four years works by Condor, Buvelot,
Martens, McCubbin, von Guerard, Drysdale, Tuckson, Fairweather, Williams,
and Olsen will be donated.
     On Wednesday the gallery director, Mrs Betty Churcher, was appointed to
a second three-year term; she yesterday accepted a cheque for $20,000 for the
National Museum of Cambodia restoration appeal from Telecom, the only one of
130 companies approached to come good.

British Airways and Qantas.
British Airways pledged yesterday that its new link with Qantas would not end
competitive pricing on the popular Kangaroo Route to Europe.  The British
airline is buying a 25 per cent share in Qantas.

Tasmanian mercury.
Mercury has been found above maximum permitted concentrations in orange
roughy, the popular fillet fish, according to the Tasmanian Government.
Increased mercury traces were found in fish taken in four of five areas along
the south coast of Australia.

BHP profits.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd has shown that corporate Australia
is not on an irreversible slide by posting a 23.4 per cent rise in
half-yearly net profit to $501.8 million.

Kerry Packer and Westpac.
Mr Kerry Packer, whose Consolidated Press Holdings took a 10 per cent stake
in Westpac Banking Corporation last month and who will join the bank's board
later in December after its sale of the Ten television network is completed,
has apparently chosen a US banker to replace Mr Frank Conroy as managing
director.  Mr Conroy resigned on Thursday when the Westpac board announced
that it was seeking an outsider to oversee the bank's restructuring.

Television Network Ten.
Ten will be bought by the CanWest syndicate, which includes Telecasters
North Queensland, Mr Robert Whyte (Audant Ltd), Mr Jack Cowan (Hungry Jack's)
Mr John Singleton (Fairfax director), and Mr Isi Leibler (JetSet).  Venture
capital for the deal was assured by Mr Malcolm Turnbull, who underwrote a
share and note issue.

Banks better.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Bernie Fraser, said yesterday he
believed problems in the Australian banking system, such as those seen with
the State banks of South Australia and Victoria, were over.  Appearing before
the House of Representatives banking committee, he also said the Australian
economy would be testing 4.0 per cent growth in the 1993 December quarter,
against the OECD forecast of 2.9 per cent for 1993 released earlier this week.

Fatness hereditary?
A Sydney University research team is the first in the world to discover a
gene associated with obesity.

Festive farting.
A Sydney gastroenterologist, Dr Terry Bolin, spent yesterday fielding
inquiries from around the world after airing of his controversial advice:
people should avoid traditional flatulence-producing turkey and plum-pudding
Christmas feasts to help save the ozone layer.  He said that an average
Australian's litre-a-day emission of hydrogen, methane,and carbon dioxide had
an unmeasured impact on the ozone layer.