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Sunday 7th July 1996

International:

The State Government will move to compulsorily acquire land needed for the Century Zinc mine in a radical move to guarantee the future of the Au$1.1 billion project. More than 23,000 hectares of land in north-west Queensland will be acquired in a move expected to cost several million dollars.

It will quash opposition by opponents to the mine like Murrandoo Yanner and the Carpentaria Land Council.

It is tthe first time since the passage of the historic Native Title legislation in 1993 that an Australian government has moved to circumvent the "right to negotiate process".

Political:

A shake-up is under way in Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's office after the debacle which forced him to apologise to Parliament.

While Downer was at fault because he misled Parliament, it would appear that there was an absence of control over correspondence in his department.

A circular from the executive branch of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Department has been sent to consular posts and heads of Australian diplomatic missions, departmental divisions, branches and sections, as well as to Austrade and AusAID, setting out details of the revised roles of Mr Downer's staff.

The move comes with Mr Downer effectively on notice that if he makes one more mistake he will be sacked. Mr Downer is currently on a 10 day Asia visit which has gone without incident.

Sport:

What a humiliation! The Wallabies were slaughtered by the All Blacks yesterday in a one-sided match played in appalling weather. In fact the weather was so cold you could have frozen the balls off a brass monkey. There was driving rain, and, well, it was played in Wellington after all. How can anyone live there?

Getting back to the game, the Wallablies were just never in it losing by 43 points to 6. The All Blacks never made a mistake while the Wallabies looked like old-timers fumbling around the place.

And, by God, I wish that David Campese could tackle! I am sure that he has cost Australia more points than he has scored...

Well, bye, bye Bledisloe cup for another year.

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Absolutely perfect day. It was quite warm over night, just a light blanket did the trick... not bad for the middle of winter! The river is so peaceful. Since the floods in May it has behaved itself extremely well and now the old transparent look and feel is coming back to the body of the river.

Yes, another day in the Global Office.. loading up more restaurants into the Definitive Guide to Wining and Dining.

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