Qld: New ambulance levy likely to be charged on power bills

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Qld: New ambulance levy likely to be charged on power bills

Queensland's proposed ambulance levy is likely to be collected through power billsafter Treasurer TERRY MACKENROTH revealed it's the most affordable option.

The state government is looking at two options to fund its new ambulance levy -- eitherthrough power bills or the Office of State Revenue, after councils rejected collectionthrough rates notices.

Collection through car registration has also been ruled out.

Premier PETER BEATTIE announced his decision to impose the levy through rates noticeslast week, but was forced to withdraw his collection preference after an outcry from localcouncils.

Mr MACKENROTH, a former minister for local government, concedes he underestimated theopposition to the proposed levy from Queensland's mayors.

Mr BEATTIE says pensioners, seniors card and gold card holders will be exempted from the levy.

AAP RTV nt/jhm/art/rp

KEYWORD: AMBULANCE (BRISBANE)

Vic: Grocon workers back on the job

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Vic: Grocon workers back on the job

MELBOURNE, Aug 15 AAP - Construction workers who today forced a brief adjournment ofthe royal commission into the building industry are back on the job at Grocon's QueenVictoria site in inner-city Melbourne.

Grocon national industrial relations manager John Van Camp was due to appear at theinquiry this morning but rushed to the site to attempt to settle the dispute, forcingthe commission to adjourn.

Grocon's industrial relations representative Bob Howard later told the commission hebelieved the walk-off, which ended this early afternoon, was sparked by the Grollo-ownedcompany's refusal to pay employees who wanted to attend today's hearing.

Counsel assisting the commission, Richard Tracey, QC, asked Mr Howard whether the wholesalewalk-off on Grocon's site today was in relation to the hearing.

Mr Howard said: "I'm not sure whether it is totally about this hearing.

"I think it may be. My understanding of it is that the union wants us to release menon pay to attend this hearing and we have refused to do that."

Asked by Mr Tracey if Grocon would give in to union demands to pay employees who strike,he said: "No."

About 200 angry unionists rallied outside the commission this morning.

The 12-month inquiry before Commissioner Terence Cole was called by the federal governmentto investigate unlawful conduct in the building and construction industry, including fraud,corruption and bullying.

The hearing continues in Melbourne.

AAP ce/jlw/las/br

KEYWORD: COLE GROCON LEAD

Diary for Sunday, April 7, 2002

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Diary for Sunday, April 7, 2002EVENTS ARE IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER AND IN LOCAL TIME UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE.

ADELAIDE1100 - Archbishop Philip Wilson to celebrate Life Sunday. St Francis Xavier Cathedral.

Contact: Joan Atkinson 0438 727 677.

BRISBANE1800 - Big Brother contestants to enter the house. 100 metres to the left of the maingates, Dreamworld Parkway, Coomera. Contact: Jo Holmes 0419 040 336 or Lyndal Dennis 0419764 589.

CANBERRANo items listed.

MELBOURNE1030 - Vichealth to announce its $25 million three year sport investment as part of WorldHealth Day celebrations. State Netball Hockey Centre, Brens Drive, Royal Park, Parkville.

Contact: Melissa Corkum 9667 1319, 0413 838 662.

1230 - Literary lunch with author Daryl Adair - The Wearing of the Green, A History ofSt Patrick's Day. Vista, 123-125 Bridport Street, Albert Park. Contact: 9699 7757.

1400 - Commemoration service for 25,000 stillborn babies buried in communal gravesiteslast century. Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton. (Melway 2B F2). Contact: Renate Krelleor Rudi Michelson 9620 8432.

PERTHNo items listed.

SYDNEY0930 - Sydney Catholic Archbishop Dr George Pell to receive the relics of Saint Thereseof Lisieux. St Mary's Cathedral. Contact: Marita Franklin 9518 9101, 0419 243 957.

1000 - NSW Fisheries Minister Eddie Obeid to appear at a special fishing clinic for peopleconfined to wheelchairs. Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Finns Road, Menangle.

Contact: Ingrid Piper 0417 662 739.

1030 - Seafood Day at Sydney's historical defence harbourside site Chowder Bay. Policecheckpoint at Chowder Bay Road, Mosman, but media must call Anna Murray on 8399 0917 or0412 244 033 before attending.

1200 - Actor/marathon swimmer Stephen Hunt to swim in Sydney Harbour in preparation forhis English Channel swim, Man O War Steps, Sydney Opera House. Contact: Dianne James 0414184 149.

1300 - Conservation groups to rally against the South Coast Charcoal Plant. Concert at1300, speaker start at 1400. Sydney Domain. Contact: Phillip Terry 9360 7124, 0425 255495.

1300 - Free concert to launch National Youth Week featuring NYW ambassadors Scandal'usand federal ministers Carmel Tebbutt and Larry Anthony, Darling Harbour Aqua Shell. Contact:Rebecca Olejnik 0410 319 140.

1430 - Protest at Lucas Heights nuclear facility by women as part of the Women and EarthConference, New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights. No contact listed.

SPORTGALLOPS -WangarattaSunshine CoastTareeMudgeeHorshamHobartTROTS -SheppartonParkesCanberraLauncestonGREYHOUNDS -SheppartonTraralgonRUGBY LEAGUE - NRL1430 - Newcastle v Canberra, Energy Australia Stadium1500 - Brisbane v Sharks, ANZ Stadium1500 - Northern Eagles v Sydney Roosters, Brookvale OvalAFL - Round 21310 - Brisbane v Hawthorn, Gabba1340 - Fremantle v St Kilda, Subiaco1410 - Melbourne v Port Adelaide, MCGRUGBY UNION -Super 12 -0105 AEST - Cats v Chiefs, BloemfonteinBASKETBALL - NBL Playoffs game 3 (if needed) -1615 - Adelaide v Victoria, Clipsal PowerhouseSOCCER - NSL -1430 - Adelaide City v Sydney United, Hindmarsh Stadium1500 - Northern Spirit v Wollongong, North Sydney Oval1500 - Parramatta v Melbourne, Parramatta Stadium1500 - Olympic v Kingz, Toyota Park1500 - Brisbane v Perth, Ballymore1500 - South Melbourne v Marconi, Bob Jane StadiumHOCKEY - Men's League -1330 - Tassie v Perth, State Hockey Centre1400 - Queensland v Adelaide, State Hockey Centre1400 - Victoria v New South Wales, State Hockey Centre

ENTERTAINMENT

1300 - Free public concert to launch National Youth Week 2002. Darling Harbour, Sydney.

Contact: Claire Kimball 6277 7240, 0413 486 926.

AAP Diary Contact: Melissa Jenkins 02 9322 8673, Fax: 02 9322 8679.

AAP RTV mj/nf/cjh/sb/wz/ge

KEYWORD: DIARY SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2002

SA: Man pleads not guilty to hit-run manslaughter

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SA: Man pleads not guilty to hit-run manslaughter

ADELAIDE, Jan 14 AAP - A man today denied killing a cyclist in a hit-run accident inwhich the victim was dragged about six kilometres behind a vehicle.

Andrew John Priestley, 31, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the South AustralianSupreme Court today.

Priestley is charged with the manslaughter of Andrew Watkins last year at Munno …

Fed: Nats to contest Macfarlane seat

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2001
Fed: Nats to contest Macfarlane seat

BRISBANE, Aug 27 AAP - The National Party would stand a candidate against Liberal Ian
Macfarlane in his federal seat of Groom but not because of the current row over the alleged
GST scam, Queensland leader Mike Horan said today.

Mr Macfarlane has been embroiled in a political row over the Groom branch's claim for
a GST tax credit it was not entitled to.

The matter has forced Prime Minister John Howard to order a full GST tax audit of the
Queensland Liberals.

Mr Horan said today: "The decision to stand a candidate in Groom was made long before
the current issue arose.

"We had strong representation from grassroots members to field a candidate."

Mr Horan said Barbara Wuersching, a Catholic secondary school teacher, was an outstanding
candidate and well-known in the Groom electorate which takes in much of the Darling Downs.

He said standing a National against Mr Macfarlane would maximise the conservative vote
in Groom in the coming federal election, and would help the Nationals' Senate chances.

The party's Senate leader Ron Boswell is under threat from Pauline Hanson, who will
stand as a One Nation Senate candidate in a bid to re-enter federal politics.

Mr Horan said news reports that the Nationals would oppose up to six sitting Liberals
in Queensland federal seats were wrong.

"We will stand a candidate in Moncrieff on the Gold Coast where the sitting Liberal
Kathy Sullivan is retiring," Mr Horan said.

AAP geb/sc/vr/br

KEYWORD: GROOM HORAN

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Air force families may need compensation, inquiry told

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2001
Fed: Air force families may need compensation, inquiry told

By Paul Osborne

BRISBANE, April 10 AAP - Spouses and children of RAAF maintenance workers with health
problems may need to be compensated, an inquiry was told today.

Giving evidence at the F-111 Deseal/Reseal Board of Inquiry in Brisbane, Regular Defence
Force Welfare Association national vice-president Kerry Mellor said compensation was wider
than the health and disability of the RAAF workers themselves.

"Specifically the health of wives may have been affected by their husbands' health
and children too may have congenital defects attributable to their fathers' health," Mr
Mellor said.

"There is a precedent in respect of Vietnam veterans where certain psychological disorders
and conditions such as cleft lip/palate and spina bifida, are recognised by government
as attributable to their father's service.

"We would like the board to take the widest possible view."

Mr Mellor said the inquiry's focus bore some similarity to a 1980s case of former Navy
Skyhawk maintainers who sought compensation for leukaemia, blood disorders and other illnesses
they attributed to paints and solvents.

Three widows of sailors who died of leukaemia were among those eventually compensated.

Mr Mellor, whose address was applauded by the inquiry's public gallery, said maintenance
workers who had given evidence to the inquiry faced a fragmented defence force compensation
system which needed a comprehensive overhaul.

The federal government should pass new military rehabilitation and compensation laws,
which have been released in draft form, and ensure RAAF personnel who quit in order to
work for companies taking on defence contracts have compensation coverage at least equal
to their entitlements as defence personnel, he said.

He said his association would be following up the cases of individual maintenance workers
who came before the inquiry to examine whether it had wider implications for other areas
of the defence force.

The inquiry, which is holding its final day of public hearings today, was called last
July to investigate health problems relating to the F-111 maintenance process known as
deseal/reseal at RAAF Amberley air base, west of Brisbane.

Early last year former maintenance crew members reported memory loss and other health
complaints after working inside and around F-111 fuel tanks.

The maintenance process has since been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry
and a major health investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

AAP pjo/sc/gmw/br

KEYWORD: F111 (CARRIED EARLIER) (PIX EXPECTED)

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Authority yet to issue brothel licence

AAP General News (Australia)
01-18-2001
Qld: Authority yet to issue brothel licence

Queensland's Prostitution Licensing Authority has yet to approve a licence since starting
operations last July.

Registrar MARGARET ISAAC says no licences have been issued because the authority wants
to be extremely thorough in its probity inquiries.

Ms ISAAC says the authority has received applications from Brisbane, as well as northern
and western Queensland, but she can't confirm how many have been received.

Brothel developers must secure both a licence and development approval from …