Vic: Sir Rod's grand plan gets mixed reception

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2008
Vic: Sir Rod's grand plan gets mixed reception

By Jeff Turnbull

MELBOURNE, April 2 AAP - Sir Rod Eddington's grand blueprint for Melbourne's congested
rail and road transport was largely welcomed by infrastructure, transport, environmental,
employer and tourism groups today.

But not everyone was happy with the $18 billion plan - especially those in the city's
eastern suburbs who will be denied a new rail network by getting an upgraded bus service
instead.

The centrepiece of Sir Rod's recommendations are a 17km rail tunnel linking the city's
west and south-east and an 18km cross-city road tunnel running from east to west under
the inner northern suburbs.

Victoria's peak motor group RACV said Sir Rod's report was "visionary" and called on
the state government to flesh out the details and "get on with implementing initiatives".

"We're calling on the government to immediately start development of a comprehensive
transport plan for Melbourne, arguably something we haven't had for many decades," RACV
public policy general manager Brian Negus said.

"Inaction by the government is simply not an option."

Premier John Brumby said he was "ruling nothing in and ruling nothing out" of the recommendations.

The premier has set aside a period of 15 weeks for public comment on the proposals
and will make a formal response later in the year.

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) says the Eddington report spells out the
need for bold investment to fix overcrowding on trains, relieve congestion on the road
network and remove heavy vehicle freight from suburban streets.

Rail operator Metlink said the two proposed train projects will greatly assist in servicing
the rapidly expanding western and north-western suburbs.

It said Sir Rod's recommendations had the potential to offer customers significantly
enhanced services "after decades of under investment in infrastructure".

But the group representing stakeholders in Melbourne's east - the Eastern Transport
Coalition - said Sir Rod's report failed to provide a long term vision for public transport
in the outer eastern suburbs.

"The report represents a real lost opportunity to help families reduce travel costs,
reduce congestion and reduce greenhouse emissions," the coalitions's chairman Councillor
Mick Va De Vreede said.

He said the coalition would now campaign for rail links to Doncaster and Rowville.

"The report seems to give up on the east, suggesting that as residents already prefer
to use cars rather than existing rail services there is no point in expanding rail," Mr
Van De Vreede said.

And Victoria's peak environment group said said the cross-city road tunnel should be rejected.

Environment Victoria campaign director Mark Wakeham said decades of freeway expansion
had proven that more roads did not solve congestion.

"A new freeway would add millions of tonnes of greenhouse pollution every year for
decades to come and would not be contemplated by any government seriously committed to
tackling climate change," he said.

The Tourism and Transport Forum said the East-West report was a recipe for less urban
congestion, fewer greenhouse gas emissions and more transport options for people in the
western suburbs.

AAP jxt/mh/imc/de

KEYWORD: TRANSPORT VIC REAX NIGHTLEAD

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Noosa anti-merger rally targets Rudd

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2007
Qld: Noosa anti-merger rally targets Rudd

By Evan Schwarten

NOOSA, Qld Aug 31 AAP - Angry Sunshine Coast residents have targeted federal Labor
leader Kevin Rudd in a colourful protest against the Queensland government's forced council
amalgamations.

Hundreds gathered on Noosa's main beach today for the "Dump Labor" rally.

The protesters wore anti-amalgamation T-shirts and waved placards attacking Mr Rudd
and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie.

From March next year, the state government plans to cut the number of councils from 157 to 73.

The protesters fear the amalgamation of Noosa Shire with nearby Maroochy and Caloundra
councils will lead to unwelcome development in the environmentally-aware community.

Protest leaders dumped human sized cutouts of Mr Beattie and Mr Rudd and Queensland
Local Government Minister Andrew Fraser into wheelie bins to cheers and applause from
the crowd.

Friends of Noosa spokesman Bob Ansett called on Mr Rudd to intervene to stop the amalgamation
or face an electoral backlash.

"He is the head of the Labor Party, he's got to tell Peter Beattie what he's doing
could cost Labor government," Mr Ansett said.

"Peter Beattie has to be responsive to the head of the Labor Party."

A passer-by briefly disrupted the protest during a speech by deputy Nationals leader
Warren Truss by attempting to shout down the speaker with questions about the political
motivations of the protest.

Mr Ansett also announced plans to join forces with other communities to form an "anti-amalgamation
army" ahead of the federal election expected by the end of the year.

He promised a statewide advertising campaign including TV and radio advertising and
mobile billboards in marginal electorates.

A "Save Noose - Dump Labor" billboard would also follow Mr Beattie around on a daily basis.

"We are becoming increasingly active with other councils to win this fight and let
me assure you we will win," Mr Ansett told the crowd.

AAP ews/ac/pjo/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: COUNCILS NOOSA LEAD (PIX AVAILABLE)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Clifford Possum work expected to set record

AAP General News (Australia)
04-17-2007
Vic: Clifford Possum work expected to set record

MELBOURNE, April 17 AAP - Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri's majestic Warlugulong is expected
to make art history as the most expensive Aboriginal painting sold when it goes to auction
later this year.

Sotheby's is hoping the epic canvas will fetch between $1.8 to $2.5 million in July.

That amount would far exceed the current record of almost $780,000 set by a Rover Thomas
painting in 2001.

The previous record for Clifford Possum work is just under $412,000.

The massive work, two metres high and more than three metres wide, is considered one
of the most significant Western Desert "dot" paintings held in a private collection.

Sotheby's director of Aboriginal Art Tim Klingender said Clifford Possum broke new
ground in the work by blending indigenous and European visual conventions.

"He basically mapped his country from an aerial perspective using traditional motifs
and concepts but also informed by western maps," Mr Klingender said.

"It allows non-indigenous people to see the way that indigenous people see the landscape."

The painting's main subject is the Fire Dreaming, an ancestral story that recurs in
Clifford Possum's work.

It tells the story of two brothers who spear a kangaroo and eat all of it themselves
instead of sharing it with their father.

Angered by their selfishness, their father, who is the ancestor of the blue-tongued
lizard, creates a massive bushfire that engulfs and destroys his sons.

But the masterpiece contains up to nine other ancestral narratives and also plots key
features in Clifford Possum's traditional country.

The work will tour New York, London and Sydney before it goes to auction on July 24.

But even if it goes to an international buyer it would need federal government approval
before it could leave Australia.

AAP nl/dk/cjh/bwl

KEYWORD: POSSUM (PIX AVAILABLE)

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Extra $800,000 to help bushfire-hit families, businesses

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2006
Fed: Extra $800,000 to help bushfire-hit families, businesses

The Victorian and federal governments have agreed to provide an extra 800 thousand
dollars .. to help those hit by the current bushfire emergency in the state.

JOHN HOWARD says the agreement establishes a 700 thousand dollar community recovery
fund .. with equal contributions from the state and commonwealth.

Mr HOWARD says both the Commonwealth and Victoria are also contributing 50 thousand
dollars each to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.

He says the community recovery fund will support grants of up to 15 thousand dollars
for charities .. small business and primary producers .. to help with costs not covered
by insurance.

AAP RTV dep/cp/wf

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES HOWARD (CANBERRA)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

WA: Perth man pleads guilty to putting toddler in dryer

AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-2006
WA: Perth man pleads guilty to putting toddler in dryer

A Perth man has pleaded guilty to putting a 14-month-old girl into a clothes dryer
and turning it on .. seriously injuring her.

SAMUEL MARC BARNES SIDDALL .. from Beldon .. was charged with causing grievous bodily
harm .. after the incident on May 25.

The child's mother was in a relationship with SIDDALL at the time .. and left her in
his care while she visited a gym.

SIDDALL put the girl in the dryer and turned it on for about two minutes .. after she
spilt some medicine on her top.

She received burns to her hands and feet .. and bruising to her face .. body and spine.

SIDDALL pleaded guilty to the charge in Joondalup Magistrates Court today.

Magistrate RICHARD BAYLY has renewed his conditional bail .. and indicated SIDDALL
is looking at a possible prison term when he's sentenced on August 30.

AAP RTV ag/bd/tm/jmt

KEYWORD: SIDDALL (PERTH)

) 2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

WA: world trial may lead to vaccine for child asthma

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2006
WA: world trial may lead to vaccine for child asthma

By Jo Prichard

PERTH, April 3 AAP - A world first trial to create a vaccine for childhood asthma has
been launched in Perth.

The trial, involving 200 children in Perth, Melbourne and New York, is based on a daily
dose of drops under the tongue, made up of house dust, grass and cat allergens.

It is the same method currently being used in "desensitization" programs for children
and adults, where small doses of an asthma-causing allergen are administered to try and
prevent further disease.

But the new trial will administer the vaccine to children who do not already have asthma,
but might have a genetic risk of developing it.

"There's a 12-month treatment period and then we're following the children through
until the age of five, so there is a four- to five-year period before we will be absolutely
certain that this works," said Professor Peter Sly from the Telethon Institute for Child
Health Research in Perth.

"If it's successful it will change the way that people look at preventing asthma in the future."

He said a similar kind of trial had already been done on animals, but not on humans.

"This is the first `in-man' trial. And ... if this trial is successful, it won't be
the last trial."

One family whose 21-month-old child Xavier will take part in the trial, is cautious
about being involved, but wants to help future asthma sufferers.

"You don't necessary want to dope your child up for the sake of doping them up," said
Perth mother Juliann Mackay.

"(But) my husband, you know, suffered with childhood asthma as did his siblings and
(it was) not pleasant for him so, you know, if we can try and minimise that for our son...."

Prof Sly said in the decade and a half the allergen had been used in desensitisation
programs, there had never been a serious systemic reaction.

"Nothing in life is absolutely safe. We can give the best reassurances we can, but
in the end we have to do this trial to show that it's both effective and safe," he said.

The institute is calling for parents whose children have not been diagnosed with asthma,
but have a family history of it, to come forward.

They need 50 children in Perth and 150 in Melbourne and New York.

The trial will later be expanded to Sweden and Germany.

AAP jp/it/nf

KEYWORD: ASTHMA

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Ahad Ha-Am

Ahad Ha-Am ‘One of the People’, penname of Asher Ginsberg (1856–1927), Hebrew essayist and Zionist thinker. For Ginsberg, Zionism was important not only because it sought to provide a physical homeland for the Jewish people but because this homeland had the potential of becoming a spiritual centre for world Jewry.