Fed: Import plunge produces best trade deficit in 2 years

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2000
Fed: Import plunge produces best trade deficit in 2 years

CANBERRA, Aug 29 AAP - A post-GST fall in imports helped Australia to its lowest trade
deficit in more than two years in July.

Imports fell five per cent, seasonally adjusted, and with exports rising a further
two per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said the trade deficit fell to
$537 million.

That was down $889 million on June and more than $1 billion in just two months and
is the lowest deficit since February 1998.

Exports were up $241 million in July to a new record of $11.9 billion, due entirely
to a rise in rural exports, which were up $251 million or 12 per cent seasonally adjusted
to an all-time record.

However, the major reason for the improvement was the drop off in imports which fell
five per cent - the first time imports have fallen this year.

This was due mainly to a sharp fall in imports of fuel and also the lack of any big
aircraft imports for the month.

AAP ss/mfh/cd/bwl

KEYWORD: TRADE

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Euthanasia not the only pain relief: doctors

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2000
Euthanasia not the only pain relief: doctors

By Joe Hildebrand

SYDNEY, April 14 AAP - Support for voluntary euthanasia has been partly caused by ignorance
of proper pain treatment of terminally ill patients, two leading palliative care specialists
said today.

Dr Nathan Cherny, director of the Palliative Medicine Unit in a Jerusalem hospital,
said that if the quality of patients' life was improved they would not want to die.

"I think the general motivating factor for this renewed interest in elective death
is related to the fact that people are scared they're going to suffer," Dr Cherny said.

"You can't eliminate all suffering but if you provide enough relief most people will
say: `Look, I'd really rather live'."

Dr Cherny said that over the past sixty years doctors had been too enamoured with their
ability to prolong life without taking the quality of that life into account.

"The focus became very much a focus on the disease and to some degree the patient was forgotten."

Both Dr Cherny and Dr Paul Glare, head of Palliative Care at Sydney's Royal Prince
Alfred Hospital, agreed there was a culture in Australia of "she'll be right mate", meaning
patients were often denied necessary pain treatment.

"A lot of people are putting up with pain they don't need to put up with because they're
frightened of telling the doctor," he said.

"There's also issues like they don't want to waste the doctor's time, they don't want
to be a whinger, but it seems to be mainly because they're frightened it's going to be
more bad news."

Dr Glare said that up to half of patients who needed specialist pain management were
not receiving it due to these factors.

Dr Cherny echoed these concerns, saying that palliative care was neglected both in
Australia and internationally.

"We need to run with (palliative care) in a constructive way and not in a way that
people feel that being dead is the only way they're not going to suffer," he said.

"Patients with terminal illnesses aren't in a rush to die and they will live as long
and as well as possible."

AAP jh/sb/as

KEYWORD: PAIN

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Virgin Airlines set to announce Australian base =3

AAP General News (Australia)
01-19-2000
Vic: Virgin Airlines set to announce Australian base =3

Mr Godfrey expressed concern that Melbourne Airport's planned $8 million terminal was
to be a temporary one, that it was very expensive and that it might not be ready for the
launch of Virgin's services on July 1.

He said it was a "grossly overvalued. . . piece of property for a temporary facility".

Facilities offered at other airports were expected to last significantly longer than
two years and were a fraction of the price of Melbourne Airport, Mr Godfrey said.

"We've been told that the airport will respect our wishes to design and …

FED: Aust current account deficit blows out to new = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-1999
FED: Aust current account deficit blows out to new = 2

Treasurer Peter Costello said last week he expected the current account to be "in the
sixes" as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) - which is consistent with today's
data.

Economic growth data for the June quarter is due for release on Wednesday.

The ABS said the goods and services deficit ballooned by $727 million in the June quarter
mainly due to a continued fall in exports of both rural and non-rural goods, which began in
mid 1998.

Exports of goods plunged by $809 million while goods imports were down $94 million.

Rural goods exports were down $325 million on the previous quarter, with wool and sheepskin
the only rural commodity showing a rise in sales.

The rise in the volume of wool and sheepskin sold more than offset a slight price decline,
the ABS said.

Exports of non-rural goods fell $337 million or two per cent compared to the previous
quarter.

The largest falls were in coal, coke and briquettes, down $220 million or 10 per cent, and
metal ores and minerals, down $202 million or seven per cent.

The drop reflected substantial price falls, the ABS said.

Non-monetary gold sales fell $161 million - reflecting seven per cent falls in both price
and volume.

Imports of consumption goods fell by $113 million, or two per cent, in the quarter,
reflecting a three per cent fall in price and a one per cent volume increase.

All categories of consumption goods imports were down except food and beverages, which rose
one per cent.

Capital goods imports fell $116 million or two per cent.

AAP ear/mfh/ah/br

KEYWORD: BOPS 2 CANBERRA

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Lawyer injured in NCA bombing to give evidence

AAP General News (Australia)
04-07-1999
SA: Lawyer injured in NCA bombing to give evidence

ADELAIDE, April 7 AAP - The lawyer who was seriously injured in the parcel bomb attack on
the National Crime Authority's Adelaide office in 1994 will give evidence to a coronial
inquest into the attack today.

Peter Wallis, who suffered serious burns and lost his sight in one eye, is expected to be
the first person to give evidence to the inquiry by Coroner Wayne Chivell which opened
yesterday.

Mr Wallis was in the room in the NCA office when Detective Sergeant Geoffrey Bowen opened
the parcel bomb which killed him on March 2, 1994.

Yesterday, counsel assisting the coroner Josie Atkins said the inquest should consider who
made the bomb and what it was made of, how it escaped detection in the NCA office and the
issue of general security at NCA offices.

But Detective Sergeant Bowen's widow Jane said she had reservations about the inquest being
held in South Australia because Mr Chivell does not hold the same powers as coroners in other
states.

For instance, he cannot make a finding or a suggestion about criminal or civil liability.

"I guess at the end of the day, we would like justice to be done, someone to be charged
with Geoff's murder," Mrs Bowen told reporters outside the court.

"I don't know if that's a realistic expectation but that will always be my hope."

Ms Atkins also told the court that Domenic Perre, the man who was charged with murder and
attempted murder over the NCA bombing, has provided the court with a large amount of
information previously unavailable to police.

The charges against Perre were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions in September
1994 because of a lack of evidence.

AAP sn/cfm

KEYWORD: NCA DAYLEAD

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

VIC: Police pursue link in teacher stabbing

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-1998
VIC: Police pursue link in teacher stabbing

MELBOURNE, Dec 21 AAP - Melbourne homicide squad detectives are investigating a possible
link between the stabbing death of teacher aide Peter Orr and a man who has been charged with
attempting to murder a policeman.

Mr Orr died in hospital yesterday morning after being stabbed in the forehead by a thief at
the Lynall Hall Community College in Richmond last week.

A police spokeswoman said homicide squad detectives were pursuing the possibility of a
connection between the attack and a 19-year-old man who was facing about 60 charges after a
series of events in the week leading up to the stabbing.

The man was arrested the same afternoon as Mr Orr was stabbed.

Senior Detective Simon Cusack of Richmond CIB indicated yesterday that a breakthrough in
the investigation was imminent following a call to the anonymous Crime Stoppers line after
last Tuesday's attack.

Police refused to confirm today they were interviewing the man who is currently in custody
after being charged last week with attempted murder and scores of other offences.

"Detectives will not speculate as to whom they will be interviewing," the police
spokeswoman said.

MORE ra/br

KEYWORD: TEACHER DAYLEAD

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA:PM launches new Australian car

AAP General News (Australia)
02-28-2011
SA:PM launches new Australian car

By Tim Dornin

ADELAIDE, Feb 28 AAP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard has evoked the memory of former
leader Ben Chifley as she drove the first Australian-made Holden Cruze off the production
line in Adelaide.

Ms Gillard said it was in 1948 that prime minister Chifley, who was then rebuilding
Australia after World War II, launched the first locally-built Holden.

More than 60 years later, she said the cars the company now produced were unrecognisable
from those of the past.

"But the spirit of this event is the same. A celebration of what our …