From: brad@achilles.cs.adelaide.edu.au (Brad Alexander )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.australian
Subject: Oznews, 9th of January, 1993
Date: 10 Jan 1993 06:00:03 GMT
Organization: The University of Adelaide
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: achilles.cs.adelaide.edu.au

First for '93.. 

                News from "The Weekend Australian" 9-1-93 
                -----------------------------------------

"Leaders quick with promises" - The first full day of the West Australian
election campaign brought the first election promises - one aimed squarely at
the hip pocket, the other at visonaries.
  The Premier, Dr Lawrence, announced that if her Government was re-elected,
the "family pledge" - under which State taxes and charges are guaranteed not to
rise above inflation - would continue for the four-year term.
  The promise was not matched by the Coalition, whose leader, Mr Court, said it
would be irresponisble to give any commitment on taxes and charges until the
states books had been audited.
  But Mr Court had his own initiative: a 1500 km gas pipeline linking the huge
reserves in the north-west of the State to the goldfields.
  Such a plan would reduce energy costs by 30 to 50 per cent, he said.
  He denied pork-barreling, saying Kalgoorlie was a solid Labor seat. 
  (the election is on Saturday, February 6th).
------------

"Regulate top court or elect judges - minister" - The Federal Government should
not tolerate the High Court's "highjacking" of its powers and should hold a
referendum to have High Court judges elected by popular vote, the federal
Minister for Land Transport, Mr Brown, has proposed.
  In a submission to the Prime Minister, Mr Keating, on the ALP's fifth term
agenda, Mr Brown attacks the decision last August by the High Court to overturn
the Government's ban on political advertising on the basis that the
Constitution "implied" certain freedoms.
  It was an "unconscionable grab for power" by the court he says.
  A copy of Mr Brown's submission has been obtained by "The Weekend
Australian".
  The Proposal is out of step with many of Mr Brown's ministerial collegues,
such as the Attorney-General, Mr Duffy, who recently rejected the notion that
judges should be made more polictically accountable...
-------------

"Heavy rains flush salt from Murray" - Late and record rainfalls in the
Murray-Darling basin have transformed the normally docile Murray River into a
powerful force, pouring thousands of tonnes of salt each day into the sea.
  The flushing out of the system is one positive effect of the rains, which
brought hardship and flooding to norther Victoria, cost the State millions of
dollars and left three people dead.
  Floodgates along the Murray's path have been opened and will stay that way
until the end of the month, with more than 100,000 megalitres of water a day
barreling down the lower reaches of the swollen river....
-------------

"Demand for uni places defeats solution" -  The Federal Government is expecting
a "substantial problem" in satisfying the demand for university education this
year as 285,000 students vie for only 142,000 places.
  The Minister for Higher Education, Mr Baldwin, said yesterday there was no
quick fix solution to the shortage of places, although demand had stabilised.
  "There'll still be a substantial unmet demand problem," he said. "There's no
way that will be solved quickly."
  A national survey of university admission centres by "The Weekend Australian"
shows the rapid growth in demand for university places has ended as thousands
of school leavers flock to TAFE colleges instead.
  The number of tertiary applicants this year is 285,000 - the same as last
year - but TAFE colleges are being swamped with record numbers of applications
from school leavers...
------------

"Tips reject unsorted waste in recycle bid" - NSW government-controlled rubbish
tips will reject loads of waste with more than 25 per cent paper as part of a
plan to boost recycling and to relieve Sydney's landfill problems.
  The Government's Waste Service, which controls 70 per cent of the city's
waste dumps, had been charging extra for unsorted loads but now they will be
rejected. 
  The Minister for the Environment, Mr Hartcher, said the financial penalty had
failed and it was time to get tough on businesses and organisations that failed
to sort their waste.
  "By turning away the bulk of unseperated waste, we are encouraging industry
to reduce the amount of paper it uses and to recycle that which remains
necessary," he said...
------------

"Potoroo's chances improve" - Fifteen more long-footed potoroos had been
discovered at two sites in NSW forests but the find not assure the endangered
animal's future.
  National Parks and Wildlife Service officers found the sites halfway between
Eden and Bombala in State's south-east after an intensive two-year survey. 
  "We are extremely excited by the discovery and it's increased our hope of
finding more populations in the area," NPWS researcher Mr Mike Saxon said. 
  "However I would stress that despite these finds, I have grave concerns about
the future of these animals."...
  The animal, roughly the size of a large rabbit and resembling a rat crossed
with a kangaroo, was described formally by scientists only in 1980...
-------------

"Scientists brew leathal venom cocktail for crop pests" - Scorpion and wasp
venom engineered into a wild virus is about to put the sting on beetles and
locusts that devour tens of millions of dollars worth of crops and pasture
every year.
  Molecular biologists at the CSIRO Division of Entomology have achieved a
world first with a technique for controlling beetle pests without the use of
artificial chemicals.
  The technology, which involves genetically engineering a virus that naturally
affects only the target beetles to make it more deadly, is also considered to
have potential for use against food and grass pests worldwide.
  Based on the division's success in engineering another virus to attack the
cotton bollworm, Australia's worst crop pest, researchers have developed a new
family of pathogens, the entomopox viruses (EPV's), to curb the damage caused
by beetles, locusts and grasshoppers.
-------------

            News from "The Advertiser" (Adelaide) 9-1-93
            --------------------------------------------
"Rush for discount air fares" - Melbourne: Thousands of heavily discounted air
fares have been snapped up over the past week by Australian travellers
benefiting from renewed competition in the sky.
  Domestic air fares have tumbled by up to 70 per cent as Ansett, Australian
Airlines and Compass have matched prices over the traditionally quiet
post-Christmas season.
  Fares fell early this week when Ansett cut prices in a national promotion in
News Limited newspapers, including "The Advertiser".
  The Ansett move was quickly followed by fare cuts by Australian and
Compass...
  Fares such as $198 return from Adelaide to Sydney and $138 return from
Adelaide to Melbourne, had proved extremely popular with travellers deciding to
visit friends and relatives interstate on the "spur of the moment".
--------------

"Funds for rural TV" - Brisbane: The Federal Government will help fund remote
commercial satellite television services to Australia's north-east Outback
areas for the next three years.
  Queensland's acting Premier Mr Tom Burns said yesterday the $1.3 million in
federal funding for 1992-93 would ensure the continuation of QSTS. The funding
would be matched by the Queensland Government, with $961,000 contributed by the
operators.
-------------

"Oil spill use for wool" - Canberra: Australia's massive wool stockpile could
be used to mop up oil spills, National Party Leader Mr Tim Fischer suggested
yesterday.
  He said the International Wool Secretariat had been researching the potential
absorbent qualities of wool in such situations as this weeks tanker disaster of
the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland.
----------

Brad Alexander.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.australian