AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, April 12

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-2005
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Breakfast, April 12
Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430

Resorts (SYDNEY)

Foreign Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER refused to act on a request from Justice Minister
CHRIS ELLISON to change travel advisories for Bali hotels after two Australian children
were sexually abused at exclusive island resorts.

The Australian newspaper says Senator ELLISON sent the request on behalf of two families
whose children were sexually abused while holidaying on the Indonesian island.

The newspaper says a three-year-old girl was sexually abused and contracted gonorrhoea
while at a creche at a Sheraton resort in January 2001, while in a separate incident,
a five-year-old boy was orally raped at a resort playground.

The girl's family had sought a change to advisories listing the Bali hotel resorts
whose childcare facilities did not meet Australian standards.

However, according to correspondence obtained by the ABC's Lateline program expected
to go to air tonight, Mr DOWNER advised Senator ELLISON there were too many hotels to
list in such an advisory.



Poll (SYDNEY)

A new poll says voters think Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD is a greater asset to the government
than Treasurer PETER COSTELLO.

The Sydney Morning Herald has published a poll conducted by ACNielsen finding 46 per
cent of respondents think Mr HOWARD has done a better job as prime minister than Mr COSTELLO
as treasurer.

Twenty-six per cent think the reverse while thirteen per cent say the two men contribute equally.

Meanwhile, Labor has a four point lead over the government for the second month in
a row on a two party preferred basis, with Opposition Leader KIM BEAZLEY'S approval rating
jumping six points to 55 per cent.

Approval for Mr HOWARD is down 14 points to 53 per cent.



Track (PERTH)

The bodies of two men have been found after they died up to two weeks ago in the scorching
sun of the Gibson Desert in Western Australia.

The men, aged 21 and 40, left the Pilbara town of Newman after refuelling on March
the 28th after they'd set off on their journey without telling anyone of their intentions.

Inspector GEORGE PUTLAND of police communications in Perth says the men, originally
from New South Wales, were ill-prepared for their trip.

Inspector PUTLAND says the men's bodies were found next to their Land Rover on the
Talawana Track, 51km east of the Cotton Creek turn-off on Friday.

He says the men were travelling in an old, run-down vehicle and had taken little water
on the trip during which temperatures in the area had reached into the 40s.

The pair, and their dog which died with them, were found on April the 8th by a stationhand,
but their bodies were retrieved by police only yesterday because of the time it took the
stationhand to get back to raise the alarm.



NZ Qantas (SYDNEY)

Qantas says a near miss between one of its Boeing 747's and a similar Air New Zealand
jet posed no danger to any of the passengers or crew.

Qantas representative CHRIS MANNING says the airline is working with transport authorities
on their investigations into the incident, over Auckland International Airport on Saturday.

But, he says, Qantas is satisfied that the incident did not represent danger to either plane.

New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission says the two jets were unacceptably
close and infringed the required separation between aircraft when the incident occurred.

Captain MANNING says Qantas has provided information on the incident to the Australian
Transport Safety Bureau, which is assisting the New Zealanders with their investigation.



Chopper Defence (CANBERRA)

The Defence Department has rejected claims that Sea King helicopters attached to HMAS
Kanimbla are regarded by Navy sailors as a joke.

One of the choppers crashed on Indonesia's Nias island earlier this month, killing nine people.

A Navy whistleblower has claimed the ship's two Sea King helicopters were often taken
out of service because of problems.

But a Defence spokesman says the two Sea Kings were available for missions 90 per cent
of the time during the ship's aid work in Indonesian waters in the wake of the Boxing
Day tsunami and Easter Monday earthquake.



Wage (MELBOURNE)

The ACTU has called for a guarantee that there will be no fall in real wages under
changes to the industrial relations system.

Secretary GREG COMBET says he's written to Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD seeking an assurance
that the real value of minimum wages will be maintained in any changes made by the government.

The changes are set to be pushed through parliament when the federal government takes
control of the Senate in the second half of the year.

They're expected to include the establishment of a new tribunal to set the minimum wage.

Mr COMBET's letter says a commitment that real wages won't fall would give basic security
to 1.5 million Australians whose living standards depend on wage increases.



Workplace Howard (CANBERRA)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD says almost all workers will be covered by national industrial
laws under changes proposed by the federal government.

Mr HOWARD says the government is close to finalising its latest round of industrial reforms.

He says he still holds out some hope of the states and territories, all of which have
Labor governments, cooperating to change the system.

The Prime Minister says the current system of 2,300 federal and 1,700 state awards
which overlap is too complex, costly and inefficient.

He says the ideal would be a single system.



Fiji Gay Protest (SYDNEY)

Protesters have urged the federal government to help an Australian man jailed in Fiji
for having gay sex with a local man.

A small group of demonstrators gathered outside the Fijian Consulate in Sydney today
to picket against the jailing of Australian university lecturer THOMAS MCCOSKAR.

The 55-year-old was last week sentenced to two years jail for having consensual sex
with 23-year-old DHIRENDRA NANDAN in Nadi, in Fiji.

Gay sex is illegal in Fiji, a conservative Christian nation, and carries a jail sentence
of up to 14 years.

Australian Greens Senator KERRY NETTLE joined the protesters, calling on both the Fijian
and Australian governments to work on repealing anti-gay laws in Fiji.



Bacon (HOBART)

Embattled Tasmanian Tourism Minster KEN BACON has resigned, citing ill health.

Mr BACON has been under pressure over the state government-owned ship Spirit of Tasmania
III, which recently needed a $115 million taxpayer-funded bailout.

But Premier PAUL LENNON says Mr BACON has been a successful tourism minister and thanked
him for his efforts.

He says no one should underestimate the strain of public life.

Opposition Leader RENE HIDDING says if Mr BACON is sick he wishes him well.



India Flood (BHOPAL)

A discharge of water from a dam has swept away scores of Hindu pilgrims while they
were praying on the banks of the Narmada River in central India, leaving at least 53 dead.

The chief minister of the central state of Madhya Pradesh, BABULAL GAUR, told reporters
today that the bodies of 53 people were recovered over the weekend from Dharaji, near
Dewas, some 300 kilometres from the state capital Bhopal.

He says rescue operations are still being carried out as the search for more people
continues, with 35 people still reported missing.

According to witnesses, some 25,000 people had gathered on the banks of the Narmada
at Dharaji to offer prayers during a two-day festival which started Thursday when the
river rose suddenly.



Bangladesh Factory (PALASH BARI)

Up to 200 workers are believed trapped in the rubble of an eight-storey factory building
that collapsed in Bangladesh today, killing at least 20 people.

Police spokesman NAZRUL ISLAM says the concrete building, packed with night-shift workers,
caved in soon after midnight when a boiler exploded.

Firefighters using shovels and bare hands dug frantically as survivors called for help
from beneath the debris and distraught relatives gathered at the scene.

Survivors who were working at the Spectrum Sweater and Knitting Industries factory,
30km north-west of Dhaka, says the building collapsed after a loud explosion.



AND IN SPORT:


AFL UMPIRING (Melbourne)

The AFL admits a goal umpire made a crucial mistake in yesterday's Essendon-Hawthorn
match at the MCG.

Bomber DEAN SOLOMON was awarded a goal in the last quarter when it should have been
a behind, minutes before Essendon won by just two points.

But umpiring director JEFF GIESCHEN has backed his field umpires after a series of
50m penalties were paid in Saturday night's Brisbane-Sydney game for verbal abuse.

GIESCHEN has also supported the umpires in the Collingwood-Carlton match, after Magpies
coach MICK MALTHOUSE claimed his team received a bath from free kick decisions.



AFL TRIBUNAL (Melbourne)

Carlton onballer HEATH SCOTLAND will answer a gouging charge at tonight's AFL tribunal
hearing over an incident involving former Collingwood team-mate TARKYN LOCKYER.

Blues onballer SCOTT CAMPOREALE has until this morning to decide whether to accept
a one-game striking ban or go to the tribunal.

Melbourne midfielder BRENT MOLONEY has the same decision after he was offered a two-game
suspension for rough conduct in an incident that left Geelong opponent JIMMY BARTEL with
severe concussion.



ENDS BREAKFAST ROUNDUP
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