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Thursday 9th May 1996

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International:

A booming Australian dollar has reached its highest peak in four and a half years slicing hundreds of millions of dollars in export revenues from tourism, beef, coal and wool.

Economists warned that the dollar's rise to over 80 US cents mada Australia an attractive target for imports. They also said that it showed the dollar was in demand because of an expected increase in global growth during 1997. The rise would help Australia by making it easier to repay the massive foreign debt of Au$200 billion, largely accumulated during the 13 years that Labor was in power.

Some economists are tipping the dollar reaching 85 US cents - it was only 73 US cents in January this year!

Political:

It appears that the gun lobby is now fighting back with Victoria now reviewing their acceptance of the Federal Government's proposed new controls on automatic and semi-automatic guns in that state. West Australia and Northern Territory have already rejected the proposal and Federal Ministers have supported the action by these states saying that it removes the ability for families to defend themselves.

The Federal Government's proposals would see the end to private ownership of military style rifles in Australia.

Business:

Australia's second largest company, News Limited, has seen dramatic falls in profits during the three months to March 1996. The group's net profit slipped from Au$251 million for the previous quarter to only Au$77 million after it booked an abnormal loss of Au$204 million from the sale of its US Education publishing division.

Total operating profits for the quarter were Au$370 million compared to Au$373 million a year ago.

Wonder when they are going to start factoring in the losses incurred from the Super League fiasco?

In other news Malcolm Turbull's merchant bank, Turnbull and Partners has rejected Australis Media's threat of legal action and plans to stand by its report showing that the Pay TV company would accumulate negative cash flow of between Au$750 million and Au$1.15 billion over the next seven years.

Sport:

The public truce between the Brisbane Broncos and the Crushers (also of Queensland) has ended with two of the Broncos most senior administrators calling into question the performance and the future of the Crushers.

The flare up appears to have been prompted by an alleged secret deal between the Crushers, who remained loyal to the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the ARL to give them exclusivity to the city of Brisbane in the new proposed 10 team first league when loyalty agreements expire in 1999. Rugby League has had a torrid season with very one-sided matches and poor attendances.

Social:

The indigenous population of Australia could jump by 27% between 1991 and 2001 a new Australian Bureau of Statistics study has found. In the same period it is expected that the general Australian population will increase by 12%. These rates represent annual growth of between 2 and 2.5%.

International comparisons show that the growth in the Australian indigenous population to be one of the highest in the world outpacing New Zealand at 1.7%; Canada 1.8%; and the US 1.4%.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Fabulous day in the global office today, a big change from a week ago when the floods were about to break.

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