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Saturday 9th November 1996

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International:

Star Fleet commander Bill Clinton saw his vision become reality yesterday with NASA launching a probe to go and investigate any signs of life forms on the planet Mars.

Reminds me somewhat of that haunting and excellent production, "The War of the Worlds", where the Martians invade earth... who can ever forget the voice of the reporter Ricahrd Burton and the song of that amazing singer from the Moody Blues...

Martin Bryant's mother called her son a monster yesterday and said that the Port Arthur murderer should have died with his victims.

In her only interview given to the media she spoke of her revulsion when she heard how her son had slaughtered 35 people at the historic settlement.

"I hated him. I never want to see my son," a tearful Mrs Bryant said.

Mrs Bryant said she had no idea what could have sparked her son's killing spree. "He was here with me the night before having dinner with his girlfriend (Petra Willmott), he was happy and cheerful," she said.

Political:

The Federal Government yesterday turned down visa applications by both British historian David Irving and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.. the refusal came on the basis that they were not of good character.

Adams was recently invited to Canada and the US for his part in working towards a peace settlement in Ireland while Irving's views on the World War II holocaust has caused controversy and outrage from Jewish survivors of the German genocide.

Business:

Queensland businessman Ross Palmer who was unceremoniously dumped from the board of ANI last month, yesterday called for an extraordinary meeting to remove two sitting directors in the company.

Palmer wants his former adversory, Peter Joseph and former ally Howard Stack removed.

The fracas stems from the losses ANI suffered when they took over a Kerry Packer company ABT.

Social:

Queensland has a worse crime rate than all but two states in the USA according to a controversial new study published in the latest Queensland Police Union of Employees Journal.

A leading criminologist yesterday queried the source of the material compiled by Gold Coast Senior Constable Gabe Jose who claims he used statistics from a Federal Bureau of Investigation report.

According to the Jose study the Queensland crime rate per 100,000 came in only after Florida and Washington both on 8351.. Queensland supposedly scored 7472 with West Virgina the lowest on 2532.

Queensland also rated third in the break and entry category with 1,519 per 100,000 people.

In the murder category Queensland was way down the list at number 25 with 7 per 100,000 compared with Washington, the US murder capital with 78 per 100,000.

Professor Paul Wilson of Bond University warned that there was a very real danger of "apples being compared to oranges" in the report.

"There are different methods of classifying and recording offenses in the United States... break and entering might mean different things the US... such as aggravated sexual assault which is defined differently," said Wilson.

"The other thing we have to be cautious about is the reportability rate. It may well be that US residents are so cynical and therefore less likely to report a crime."

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Very successful but long day in the Gold Coast area yesterday.. the Websters are bowling them over... what more can I say?


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