Saturday 1st March 1997
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Issues - The banking system under the spotlight. A few minutes later Burke himself broke down and wept after the three year sentance was delivered. In effect Burke will only spend one year behind bars - this follows his earlier sentance of two years for which he spent seven months behind bars.
In passing sentance Judge Sadlier said that Burke had breached the trust of the ALP, the public and donors of the ALP at a time when he held the highest political office in the State.
"The consequence of your conduct was to inflict tremendous adverse effect on the public confidence," the judge said.
Earlier the judge had criticised Burke for being dishonest in his evidence saying, "It is my conclusion that false statements and concealments were made by the accused out of a realisation of guilt and a concern to avoid the truth."
The money was used by Burke to build a collection of rare Australian stamps.
It is not known whether the ALP will seek to recover the money stolen by Burke.
Some lawyers are now suggesting that Australia faced international condemnation and internal protest that could disrupt the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games if moves were made against the High Court's Wik decision on Native Title.
Native Title Tribunal member Mr Sean Flood warned that if Australia wanted to maintain its reputation as a place where everyone was given a "fair go" then the Wik ruling was the way to do it.
At the same time the legal advisor to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Noel Pearson, warned that he would ensure that any breach of the Racial Discrimination Act became a "major focus" of the international community before Sydney's Olympic Games.
Pearson said, "Native Title can only be extinguished if the Racial Discrimination Act is ignored. We are going to win this debate... there is no getting rid of Wik, there is only grave danger if the Government undermines racial equality."
This statement was made soon after Kerry Stoke's remarks about Kerry Packer's influence in both the media and in Australian casinos
During the interview Howard:
The drop in the share price is so severe that it has seriously effected Packer's chances of making a takeover attempt of Fairfax. Yesterday PBL fell to just Au$6.45 well off earlier highs approaching the Au$7 mark.
PBL strategists believe that the share price will have to be over Au$7 while Fairfax (currently at Au$3.05) will have to be below Au$3 for Packer to be able to make a takeover attempt.
They believe that if PBL was to make a poitch for Fairfax at this stage it would bring the share price under further selling pressure with major institutional holders like JP Morgan and AMP looking at off-loading their stock.
Not often that you see the wheels fall off the best laid plans of Australia's richest man - Kerry Packer!
It took me some time to find any reference to the test match.
South Africa, sent into bat, are on the ropes at 5 for 137 runs with Hanse Cronje saving the day at 55 not out. Glenn McGrath has been the star for the Australians taking 4 wickets for just 39 runs in 16 overs at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
Have a great day...
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