Today's Headlines

an Aussie's viewpoint on Australia's first daily Internet newspaper.

Search news archive - remember to select NEWS INDEX

Saturday 7th September 1996

International:

Talking about Bill, got to agree with US Senator, Newt Gingrich... which has got to be a first... when the Republican House speaker said, "The contrast between Desert Storm (in 1991) and the current level of international support for US military action (against Iraq) is a concern."

Closer to home the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games committee is again in trouble with the second president, John Iliffe, resigning in a period of just six months... Iliffe said his resignation would result in better co-operation with the government.

The move is an effort to overcome the problems faced in Atlanta by securing the closest possible links between the privately run SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) and the government. Mr Iliffe is to be replaced by the Minister for the Olympics in New South Wales, Mr Knight.

Mr Knight praised Mr Iliffe's brief tenure as president of SOCOG saying that the Olympic Games would be above politics... now that's a "porky pie" if I've ever heard one.

Most of the original crew who made the Olympics come to Sydney have long gone and the thing is already so politicised I reckon it would be easier to throw a cricket ball through mud than to get a decision passed...

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed against the three-year jail sentence against Alan Bond saying that it is not long enough.

Bond has been categorised as a minimum security prisoner but is still in Perth's maximum security Casuarina Prison while he waits for a vacancy at Wooroloo Prison Farm! Boy how times change....

Political:

Measures to be opposed include Au$425 million in cuts this year, Au$2.5 billion over the next two and over Au$7 billion over the next four years. They compare with total Budget cuts of Au$23.4 billion proposed in the Budget over the next four years.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Tim Fischer, (yeah the same fellow who has been floating around Asia with a bunch of bureaucrats blowing tax payer's money) accused Mr Beazley of compounding the Au$8 billion black hole legacy left by Labor...

An overview of the Budget cuts shows what a massive hole the proposed changes would make in meeting the country's financial commitments.

Business:

Coles Myer shares jumped 6 cents to Au$4.47. The most dramatic transactions came during late morning trading when three bundles of shares totalling 4.5 million passed hands at Au$4.48.

The market activity comes amidst heightened speculation about the immediate future of the company in the lead up to its AGM on the 16th November. Most of the attention is focused on the future of the dumped Chairman, and 14% shareholder, Solomon Lew who was forced into the lower position of vice-chairman. after the Yannon debacle.

Both Brierley Investments and the Myer family (with a shareholding of 7.2%) are understood to have pitched for representation on the board...

Sport:

Social:

The Golden Ernie, this year's pre-eminent prize, went to West Australian magistrate, Mr Ron Gething, who said, after finding a man accused of stalking a woman for seven years not guilty, "I don't think he was intimidating her, he was just being persistent."

The sell-out ceremony held at the New South Wales Parliament House, confirmed that a close contender for the Judicial Ernie (also won by Gething) was magistrate Peter Caldwell who said to a female defendant, "Come back when your IQ is as high as your skirt."

The Political Ernie went to National Party MP Mr Bob Katter for his attack on "enviro-nazis, femonazis" and "slanty-eyed ideologues who persecute ordinary, average Australians".

The Media Ernie went to Sydney Morning sports writer Jeff Wells who wrote about "why we should strive to keep women's tennis at the (Australian) Open down to the bare minimum".

The Elaine (named after morals crusader Elaine Nile) for remarks least helpful to the sisterhood went to Sydney Councillor Ms Kathryn Greiner for attacking a female colleague who opposed holding a meeting at 7.30am because she had to care for her children at that hour.

The Ernie's (the feminists answer to the Logies) are named after Ernie Ecob a retired unionist who once said women wanted to be shearers so that they could have sex in the shearing sheds. "Of course, that is what we thought the sheep were for..."

Mrs Burgmann, the New South Wales MLC who organised the Ernies said that there was "a quality field".

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Return to Australian National News of the Day

#