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Monday 1st July 1996

International:

CRA had the go-ahead to develop its Au$1 billion Century Zinc mine, a key Aboriginal advisor said yesterday.

United Gulf Region Aboriginal Corporation's (UGRAC) Terry O'Shane said a 12-11 vote at the group's meeting on Friday had approved the stalled mining project, 250km north-west of Mt Isa. He rejected claims by Carpentaria Land Council co-ordinator Murrandoo Yanner that the meeting had rescinded a motion to support the mine because people did not understand the original vote.

Century Zinc spokesman Jim Singer said the company had not been officially notified of Aboriginal support but Mr O'Shane's information "changed the equation considerably".

In other comments made today it has been suggested that a green light for Century Zinc will not just mean the development of the world's biggest zinc mine but it will also stop the flood of money overseas to explore potential mining projects where there are not so many hurdles and delays to face.

Information that has recently come to light is that Murrandoo Yanner has been charged by the Police for allegedly leading a group of Aborigines who stormed a remote Police Station and threatened staff who were then forced to release a relation of his. The relation had been charged and was under guard pending a courtcase.

Political:

Millions of dollars in travel bills accumulated by federal MPs were never accounted for under the Keating Government, the Coalition revealed yesterday. Official figures show that the cost of some Labor MPs totalled Au$175,000 a day - or the price of an average suburban home!

Former "big picture (should that be spender?)" Prime Minister Paul Keating had the biggest travel expense with more than Au$1.7 million for the eight month period. This included a two day trip to Israel in November which cost the Australian tax payer Au$370,587. I wonder how many Italian suits he bought on that trip....

Seems like the Keating family did alright too with Paul's wife, "big teeth" Annita, knocking up over Au$30,000 in tax payer paid expenses while accompanying her husband on a 20 day trip in Europe.

Next in line was Gareth Evans with expenses of Au$471,000 over the eight month period.

Business:

The three components of Queensland's proposed superbank will be independently valued following reports that the merger will not be as lucrative for the state as originally thought.

Reports suggest that the State Government faced a potential Au$1 billion shortfall in anticipated income from the planned merger of Suncorp, Metway Bank and the Queensland Investment Development Corporation.

The reports, originating from the state Labor opposition brought this response from the treasurer, Ms Joan Sheldon, "I thought Labor was the Queensland opposition not in opposition to Queensland."

Sport:

Pat Rafter has continued to perform well at Wimbledon beating 14th seed Marc Rosset 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in a gruelling 5 set match. In his next match Rafter meets another big server, Goran Ivanisevic. Ivanisevic, the 4th seed, knocked 25 aces past Russian Alexander Volkov winning 7-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Another beautiful day outside the new Global Office - the view is very similar to that shown in the link above. Much of the day will be spent in the "big smoke".

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