Today's Headlines
Saturday 25th May 1996
International:
The chief of the Australian Defence Force, General John Baker, has predicted that regional conflicts mainly between China and
Taiwan or on the Korean Peninsula will require a political commitment from Australia but he refused to rule out a direct
military contribution.
General Baker said that any participation by Australian military forces in regional conflicts would continue to be essentially a
"demonstration" of support for leading military powers despite plans by the Federal Government to increase military engagement
with the region.
Political:
Prime Minister John Howard has indicated that he might have to drop some of his pre-election promises as the goverment battled
with the deteriorating Budget position.
This is a major shift in the persona of "honest" John as he is known in politics as can be seen from these statements:
- February 19th, 1996: "I have made it clear - I'm not going to break any promises."
- May 13th, 1996: "I am desperate to be an honest man."
- Yesterday: "The Australian people are very pragmatic, they can understand that changed circumstances can sometimes make the delivery of some commitments difficult no matter how genuinely made."
Looking back at the election feedback under the search engine option at the top of this page you will find it interesting to see how
evasive Paul Keating was in the lead up to the March election in revealing the true state of what the Labor Party then called a
"balanced Budget". It was only after the election that the Au$8 billion hole became public knowledge.
Business:
There has been a bit of scandal brewing over the share dealings and lack of exposure to them given by the Premier of Victoria, Geoff Kennett.
Now the master of some of those deals, Richard Li, an ex-pat Chinese has questioned Australia's motivation. Mr Li has spent years
working on "guanxi" (good vibes) betwen Chinese investors and the Australian sharemarket. The involvement by a Chinese company
Guangdong Corp in the controversy and the media exposure is creating "bad vibes" and, according to Mr Li, will badly effect the
ongoing support of Chinese investors in Australia in the future.
Sport:
Today's the big day in Super 12 rugby union. Last Sunday I predicted a Natal win in the final against Auckland. The match takes place at
12 noon our time.
In Australian Football League news North Melbourne are set to merge with one of the oldest clubs, Fitzroy, which has been
facing financial disaster and poor form over the last ten years. The AFL Commission has made the merger very attractive saying that
they will pay Au$6 million to the clubs if they are able to put a deal together.
Port Adelaide, the South Australian club, are waiting in the wings to join as the AFL's 16th team once the merger is finalised.
Social:
Australian are now smoking less and had fallen from fourth to tenth on the world smoking league during the past 20 years according
to a World Health Organisation report released yesterday.
The top ten countries based on the average number of cigarettes smoked per annum per head of population over the age of 15 are:
1. Poland: 3,620; 2. Greece: 3,590; 3. Hungary: 3,260; 4. Japan: 3,240; 5. South Korea: 6. Switzerland: 2,910; 7. Iceland: 2,860;
8. Netherlands: 2,820; 9. Yugoslavia: 2,800; 10. Australia: 2,710.
This was a substantial drop in the Australian figure which was 3,410 in 1970.
Another beautiful Queensland day with sun and cool but warming temperatures. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the
Brisbane River is starting to clear after the floods a few weeks back.
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