AAP Internet Bulletin 2000 Wednesday Feb 10, 1999

AAP General News (Australia)
02-11-1999
AAP Internet Bulletin 2000 Wednesday Feb 10, 1999





[S][OLY BRIBES COLES][OLY]

Coles denies bribes claims

Australian IOC delegate Phil Coles and his family accepted four free trips to the United
States as guests of the Salt Lake City bid committee, according to a report into the
corruption scandal surrounding the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The report, which came as Sydney Games officials authorised a similar inquiry into their
own bidding process, said Mr Coles was an example of IOC officials treating visits to the
Games site "more like vacations".

Mr Coles and his family, along with fellow IOC member Willi Kaltschmitt of Guatemala and
his family, made four visits together to the US at the Utah bid committee's expense, said the
report by Salt Lake City's independent ethics committee.

"The Coles and Kaltschmitt families stayed at expensive hotels and followed the same
recreational itinerary," the report said.

"Two of these trips were only four months apart in 1995, including a Super Bowl trip that
does not appear to have included a visit to Salt Lake City."

Mr Coles made no comment but his lawyer said he denied making four visits to Salt Lake
City.

"Phil categorically denies that he visited Salt Lake City four times during the Salt Lake
City candidature," Australian Olympic Committee lawyer Simon Rofe told reporters outside Mr
Coles' Sydney home.

"It's regrettable that the board of ethics made these allegations of unethical conduct
before he could set the record straight.

"Noting that the extensive report only contains one short paragraph relating to Phil and
then it is only as an example, it is difficult to respond to the allegations."

The lawyer said Mr Coles had had no opportunity to examine his own record in response to
the allegations.

"Phil Coles will not be making any public statement -- he will be preparing a report which
will be submitted as soon as possible to the IOC for its consideration," he said.

Mr Coles did not attend an extraordinary SOCOG board meeting today which agreed to release
copies of Sydney's bid contract with the IOC and sanctioned an independent audit into the bid.

Olympics Minister Michael Knight said he did not know of his whereabouts, although Sydney
Lord Mayor and SOCOG board member Frank Sartor said he believed Mr Coles was ill.

The naming of Mr Coles in the Utah report was the third embarrassment for him in a month.

Earlier this week he was forced to apologise after telling the ABC's Four Corners program
that Sydney Games officials would prefer the Labor Party to retain government at the New South
Wales election next month.

And four weeks ago he resigned as a consultant to Thakral Holdings, which owns hotels at
which Olympic officials will stay during the Sydney Games, although he denied there had been
any conflict of interest.





[A][FLOODS QLD BOY][QLD]

Six now dead in Qld floods

Six people have been confirmed dead in five days of severe flooding across south east
Queensland, but the worst is over as water levels begin to recede in hardest hit Gympie.

Attention now turns to Maryborough, downstream of Gympie, where the swollen Mary River was
expected to peak at 9.5 metres above its normal level about 3pm tomorrow.

However, flooding there was not likely to be as severe.

The discovery today of the body of a motorist missing since Monday night in the Conondale
River in the Sunshine Coast hinterland brought to six the number to have died since the
flooding rains began on Saturday.

Police said it appeared 41-year-old Peter Muller, of Kenilworth in the hinterland, had
tried to swim across the flooded river.

Floodwaters have also swept a 13-year-old girl, an eight-year-old boy and two men to their
deaths in separate incidents in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Yesterday, a 75-year-old man drowned after falling into a swollen dam on the Gold Coast.
Paramedics believe he may have suffered a heart attack.

A 24-year-old man drowned when he was swept over a weir while bodyboarding in the fast
flowing Caboolture River, north of Brisbane.

Today, two youths who ignored police warnings and went swimming in the fast flowing Albert
River south of Beenleigh had to be rescued when they were swept away.

Police rescued one youth from the water, but the other was stuck in a tree and had to be
plucked to safety by the Westpac Life Saver Rescue helicopter.

The current was so strong the boys' clothes were torn from their bodies.

At Gympie, 180km north of Brisbane, residents watched today as floodwaters from the city's
worst floods this century began slowly receding.

The Mary River rose at three times its normal flood rate yesterday and overnight, peaking
at 3am today at 22 metres above normal - its highest level this century.

Gympie mayor Mick Venardos said damage to industry, business and infrastructure in the
3,000 square kilometre shire would run into millions, with the cost to the local authority to
repair roads and bridges alone estimated at $2.1 million.





[I][SAFRICA HELICOPTER]

Chopper crash kills four

A helicopter crashed onto the roof of a building opposite a luxury hotel in the centre of
Cape Town, in South Africa today, killing four people on board.

The chopper had just lowered an air conditioner onto the roof of the office building and
was lifting off at about 6.30am when a rotor struck a billboard, said police spokesman Captain
Mark Romburgh.

The craft fell back, crashed and exploded into a fireball, killing all four aboard, he
said.

Romburgh said parts of the helicopter flew off and struck the hotel, seriously damaging an
unoccupied room and causing minor damage to another room. The occupant there suffered no
injuries.

Louis Vosloo, an amateur photographer and friend of the pilot, was in the hotel taking
pictures of the operation. He said the accident occurred as the crew was preparing to lower
the air conditioning equipment on a neighbouring building.

"The guy made a 90 degree turn to the left, whereby he was going to position himself where
he would slowly drop the unit," Vosloo said.

"At that moment, I realised the tail rotor was going to hit the advertising board. That was
a very horrific thought because I could do nothing.

"As he hit the advertising board, the tail rotor snapped," he said. "The fuselage of the
helicopter plummeted to the ground. As it hit the top of the building, there was a big
fireball," Vosloo said.

The seven-story, green and white building was across the street from the Cape Sun
Intercontinental, one of the city's major hotels.

The building was on Strand Street, one of the city's main thoroughfares in a commercial
area.

Television footage showed the blackened roof of the building with smoke rising from the
wreckage.





[T][TRI AUST TOSS][CRIK]

England chasing 233 at SCG

A typically crafty unbeaten 69 off 74 balls by Michael Bevan lifted Australia to 8-232 in a
tight first one-day cricket final against England at the SCG in Sydney today.

Bevan's knock was sorely needed after allrounders Mark Ealham (3-45) and Vince Wells (3-30)
exploited the humid conditions and a slow pitch.

The mercurial lefthander survived a very close run out attempt on six and wasn't afraid to
loft the ball in pursuit of boundaries as England captain Alec Stewart kept men inside the
circle.

Mark Waugh made a patient 42 but no one else passed 30 and the highest partnership was the
opening stand of 40.

Wells, playing his first international tournament at age 34, knocked over Waugh, Ricky
Ponting for 10 and Darren Lehmann for 19 as Australia slipped to 4-115 after 25 overs.

Damien Martyn, Shane Lee and Brendon Julian all played important short innings before
falling to Ealham, while Bevan reached his fifty off 57 balls.

The total was looking very competitive and England needed to score at 4.66 runs per over to
go 1-0 up in the best-of-three series.

The match started on time despite two days of heavy rain and attracted a crowd of about
30,000.

Waugh was struck on the right hand first ball from Darren Gough (2-43), suggesting
immediately that batting would not be easy.

Gilchrist had a life on five when he skied a pull shot off Alan Mullally and Adam Hollioake
made a mess of the towering but otherwise straightforward catch.

The swashbuckling lefthander then went into attack mode, blasting 29 off 30 balls, before
charging at Gough and getting an edge onto the stumps.

Gilchrist has made 473 runs off 471 balls in this competition to be second leading
rungetter behind Waugh (541).

Bevan has 271 runs for twice out, underlining his value in the No.6 position.





[I][OSCARS AUST][US]

Seven Aussies in Oscar race

Geoffrey Rush was thrilled, Cate Blanchett honoured, and Rachel Griffiths could not stop
screaming at the news early this morning that they had been nominated for those most
sought-after of film industry awards, the Oscars.

Three of seven Australians in the running for statuettes at the 71st annual Academy Awards,
the actors were informed of their successes just after midnight.

Queensland-born Rush, who in 1997 won the best actor award for portraying pianist David
Helfgott in Shine, was nominated for best supporting actor for his comedy role as a theatre
owner in the widely-acclaimed Shakespeare in Love.

"I suppose it means deep down you don't feel like you are a one-hit wonder," a thrilled
Rush said in Los Angeles.

"I didn't (feel I was) but I know that a lot of observers may have."

Other Australians nominated were director Peter Weir for The Truman Show, Melbourne-based
composer David Hirschfelder, "absolutely thrilled" to be named for his score for the film
Elizabeth, and producer Grant Hill and sound technician Paul Brincat as part of the teams who
worked on The Thin Red Line.

Blanchett, who recently won a best actress Golden Globe Award for Elizabeth, is up against
Hollywood heavyweights such as Gwyneth Paltrow and previous Oscar winner Meryl Streep.

Speaking from London, the excited Sydneysider told Channel Nine: "It's just extraordinary.

Melbourne-born Griffiths, nominated for the best supporting actress gong for her role as
the sister of the celebrated cellist, the late Jacqueline Du Pre, in the drama Hilary and
Jackie, "screamed the entire apartment down" when she heard the good news.

A laid-back Peter Weir said it was a pleasure to be recognised by his peers with the
nomination.

He, too, thought Australia's profile had been lifted by the awards.

"It's something of note now to say you are Australian. If somebody's a new young actor and
they say they're Australian by the way - it's like a kind of brand with a positive
connotation," Mr Weir told AAP.



[A][CHILD][VIC]

Desperate search for child

Police say the search for missing 15-month-old James Dean Sette (Sette) is now a desperate
race against time, amid fears he's been abandoned somewhere in northern Victoria.

"We desperately need the help of the public of this state," chief inspector Rod Collins of
the Homicide Squad said today.

"As every minute passes, we're losing chances of finding James alive."

The child's natural mother Julie Jane Sette allegedly took him on Sunday from near
Daylesford, in central Victoria, where she had gone for an afternoon meeting with a couple who
were about to adopt James.

On Monday, police found 31-year-old Ms Sette and her car at an hotel at Moama, near Echuca
on the Victoria-NSW border.

The boy was missing and Homicide Squad detectives were called in.

Bloodstains found in the car heightened police fears for the boy's safety.

Ms Sette faced Echuca Magistrates Court yesterday charged with false imprisonment and was
remanded in custody to Melbourne Magistrates Court on February 17.

"At this stage, we have no idea where James is," Chief Inspector Collins said today.

"We've got a race against time. It's as simple as that."

Searing summer heat was the main concern, he said.





[A][TRADE][FED]

Fischer fears export crisis

Australian exports have stalled under the weight of the Asian economic crisis, with Trade
Minister Tim Fischer today publicly warning about the threat from the rising Australian
dollar.

Mr Fischer said he was awed by exporters' performance after releasing his latest Trade
Outcomes and Objectives Statement, which showed exports grew 8.4 per cent in the 1997-98
financial year.

But Mr Fischer conceded it had been rendered out of date by a dramatic downturn in exports
in the last six months of 1998.

"Consistent with government predictions, the difficult global economic climate cut in more
noticeably to Australia's export performance in 1998," Mr Fischer told parliament.

"Using calendar year figures our exports have grown at a more sobering two per cent."

This includes a dramatic 6.8 per cent slump in exports to East Asia.

The region now takes only 50 per cent of Australia's exports, down sharply from 60 per cent
before the crisis.

The bright spot is exporters' success in switching from traditional Asian markets to
Europe, the US and elsewhere.

Exports to countries outside East Asia soared 18.3 per cent, with exports to the US up 41
per cent, and to the European Union by 25 per cent.

There was also strong growth in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Vietnam, Turkey,
Pakistan and India.

However, Mr Fischer conceded much of this was fuelled by the cheaper Australian dollar.

"The lower exchange rates, the more accurate value for the Australian dollar, has greatly
helped exporters during this period," he told reporters.

Since January 1, the dollar has risen six per cent against other currencies.





[A][NATION NELSON][QLD]

Ex-One Nation MP speaks out

One Nation quitter Shaun Nelson today described his former party as "a party of lies",
prepared to push its agenda by pandering to the unstable and conspiracy theorists.

Mr Nelson, Queensland MP for the north Queensland seat of Tablelands, was one of three One
Nation MPs who last week plunged the party into turmoil when they resigned over concerns that
it was undemocratic.

He said today he had no intention of returning to a party that was "imploding" and was
prepared to stand or fall on his principles.

"One Nation is a party of lies, 100 per cent," Mr Nelson said.

"I've watched them play the old media conspiracy card. I've sat back and thought: 'There's
no media conspiracy. You're wrong'.

"I've never had a problem with the media. This is the only way they (One Nation) know how
to defend themselves. It's the way they fight their battles.

"What they do, they go out there and say: 'There's a media conspiracy against them' to
cover up their own errors.

"They know it appeals to the ... people out there that believe in conspiracy theories.

"They appeal to those people and they think it works."

Mr Nelson said he could no longer be involved with a party based on lies.





[S][VAN ROOYEN][WGT]

Aussie weightlifter drug ban

The Australian Olympic Committee has banned Australian weightlifter Duncan Van Rooyen for
two years after he admitted taking an anabolic agent while drunk at a party.

The AOC ordered the ban after the Court of Arbitration of Sport found that the 25-year-old
Victorian had tested positive to using clenbuterol.

The Court accepted that the drug was "not taken intentionally or to enhance the athletes
sporting performance and that he in fact gained no enhancement from it".

The positive drugs test was exposed during the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in
September.

Van Rooyen, a 69kg lifter, tested positive after an out-of-competition urine test on August
4, 1998.

He said at the time he had been bitterly disappointed at only being selected as a reserve
for the Games team and had decided to drown his sorrows at a Melbourne party.

"While at a gathering during this period I was offered some recreational drugs which i
foolishly accepted, this is the only possible explanation for my positive test result," Van
Rooyen said in Melbourne in September.*

His argument raised eyebrows, with Australian team doctor Brian Sando saying there was no
reason why anybody would want to mix recreational drugs with clenbuterol.

The court noted that Van Rooyen, the 1997 Oceania champion, had an exemplary record had
been tested frequently and until the clenbuterol finding had always tested negative.

Australian Weightlifting Federation chief executive Robert Kabbas said the ban was a
warning to all athletes leading up to the 2000 Olympics.





[T][TENNIS US][TEN]

Sampras back from layoff

Precise running forehands. Aces at up to 200 kph. Untouchable overhead slams. Pete Sampras
hardly looked like a guy coming off a 10-week sabbatical.

Returning from his longest layoff since high school, Sampras had 11 aces -- at least one in
each of his service games -- in a 6-4 6-4 win over Galo Blanco that took exactly one hour
tonight in the first round of the Sybase Open in San Jose, California.

Not to be outdone, third-seeded Mark Philippoussis slammed 13 aces, including second-serve
aces at up to 187 kilometres, in a 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3 win over Armenian Sargis Sargsian.

The third set of the 2-hour, 11-minute match included anguished screams by Philippoussis
and racket throwing by Sargsian.

And another Australian Mark Woodforde beat American Steve Campbell 6-3 3-6 7-5.

Sampras, who had not played since November 28, lost just one point on his first serve in
the entire match.

"I really felt my tennis tonight was going to be up and down because I hadn't played in a
while. But it's like riding a bike, you don't forget how to do it," he said.

"I was a little surprised. I thought I might struggle a little bit tonight."

Sampras went more than a month without picking up a racket during his break. Instead, he
played golf, pumped iron and took a vacation - his first in years - to Hawaii that included
snorkelling and whale watching.

Exhausted after playing six straight weeks at the end of last year to protect his No.1
ranking, Sampras took the break to refresh himself physically and mentally. He said it worked.





[T][ATHS FREEMAN][ATHS]

Freeman suffers leg strain

Australian 400m star Cathy Freeman is only a 50 per cent chance of competing at the
Victorian titles this weekend after straining her quadricep muscle at the Canberra grand prix
last weekend.

Her manager Nick Bideau said he won't know until tomorrow whether Freeman will be able to
run in the 400m heats on Friday night in Melbourne.

"She's a 50-50 chance, we're taking it one step at a time," he said.

Freeman may not take the risk because there are two major meets coming up later in the
month -- the Optus Grand Prix in Sydney on February 20 and the Melbourne Track Classic five
days later.

Sprinter Tania Van Heer could be back for the Melbourne event after she pulled a hamstring
while running in the last event of the Canberra grand prix, the women's 4x100m relay.

Earlier she had set a blistering personal best of 22.41s to win the 200m in the race in
which Freeman pulled up injured.

Van Heer, who shot to prominence when she won two Commonwealth Games relay gold medals in
Kuala Lumpur last year, was expected to sidelined until next month but her injury is not as
severe as first thought.

Sydney speedster Matt Shirvington takes on Namibian Frankie Fredericks, world No.1 over
200m, in the two grands prix which also feature Commonwealth hurdles champion Colin Jackson.

Champion British middle distance runner Kelly Holmes will run the 1500m in Sydney and 800m
in Melbourne.

Holmes, who holds the Commonwealth record of 3m56.07s for the 1500, will provide the top
class opposition for rising Australian youngsters Tamsyn Lewis and 14 year-old Geelong
sensation Georgie Clarke.





[T][RUGBY CROSS AUCKLAND][RU]

NZ are 1999 underdogs: Jones

All Black legend Michael Jones today claimed rugby union giant New Zealand and Super 12
team Auckland would enjoy the uncharacteristic mantle of underdog this year and stressed he
was still motivated to play at the highest level.

The celebrated, but often injured, back rower arrived in Sydney today as part of the
Auckland squad which will play New South Wales and Queensland in the Southern Cross pre-season
tournament over the next 10 days.

Jones, a 55 Test veteran who played in New Zealand's 1987 World Cup winning team,
acknowledged both the All Blacks and Auckland would not enjoy their usual mantle of favourite
this season.

New Zealand heads into a World Cup year seeking to regroup after five straight losses while
Auckland's poor form in last year's National Provincial Championship has posed questions about
its chances of winning the 1999 Super 12 tournament.

"It's true, we are definitely underdogs and I think we will quite enjoy that tag. It's not
often we've had that in the past," Jones said at Sydney airport today.

"I know with the (Auckland) Blues, we've always been rated number one and this year we're
sort of middle of the pack if that, but we will use that as best as we can."

Jones made it clear he remained motivated to play at the highest level even though some New
Zealand scribes suggested his illustrious international career was over after he was dropped
during New Zealand's disastrous run of tri-nations losses.

"You have got to expect that with our media back home and I didn't take it personally,"
Jones said.

"Nothing changed with me, I just knew that if I had the desire and the passion, which I
still have, that regardless of what they say I'm just going to go out and do what I want to do
and what I know I'm capable of doing."

Because his religious convictions preclude him from playing on Sundays, 33-year-old Jones
conceded he was unlikely to be selected for the World Cup even though he had not ruled himself
out.





[A][CANALS][QLD]

Signs for Gold Coast canals

The Gold Coast's ritzy canal estates will soon be streets ahead of Venice when it comes to
navigation.

An environmentally friendly way of signposting the canals has been developed and patented
on the coast and will be introduced as soon as local authorities come up with names for the
city's previously anonymous canals.

The technology could also be sold to other canal-estate areas around the world, said
developer Rod McLaughlin.

The signage is fixed with star-finned anchors which screw into the canal floor.

"When you drill into the surface of a seabed you can break into contaminated material which
can kill marine life but we have developed signage which can be screwed in," Mr McLaughlin
said.

"More and more people are using the canal and waterway systems," said Mr McLaughlin, the
director of McLaughlin Advertising and Designs on the Gold Coast.

"It's in an emergency that the names will be most needed."

Mr McLaughlin said approval had been granted by authorities for the project to go ahead.





[A][REPUBLIC][FED]

Bizarre republic debate

The republic debate took a bizarre twist today when the monarchist prime minister sided
against the Queen and the republican opposition leader sided with the Queen's representative
in Australia.

Mr Howard sparked outrage in the British media with his plan to stand in for the Queen at
the opening of the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Cabinet has yet to decide who should open the Games but ministers broadly support Mr
Howard's plan to deputise for the Queen.

But Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, one of Australia's strongest republican advocates, said
the prime minister would not be an acceptable replacement for the Queen.

Under Olympic rules, a country's head of state usually opens the Olympics.

Mr Beazley said Governor-General Sir William Deane would be a better choice to open the
Olympics if Australia had not changed to a republic.

"I think it would be acceptable, if we did not have a president by then, for the
representative of the head of state to open it and Sir William Deane to do that job," Mr
Beazley told reporters.

"I don't think it's acceptable to bend the rules of the Olympics to allow the prime
minister to do so."

England's most popular broadsheet, the Telegraph, said Australia must invite the Queen, or
at least Princess Anne, to open the Games.

But the prime minister said the Queen was well aware of his position.

"The Palace has been well aware of my attitude on this matter for some time," Mr Howard
said through a spokeswoman.





[F][WESTPAC BUDGET]

$8b budget surplus expected

The Commonwealth would likely report a record 1998/99 underlying budget surplus of more
than $8 billion, and possibly a staggering $10 billion, according to Westpac Banking Corp Ltd.

As of December last year, the federal government was expecting an underlying surplus of
$3.3 billion - up from its original budget-time estimate of $2.7 billion, Westpac economist
Warren Hogan said.

"The Commonwealth Budget is set to record an underlying surplus of approximately $8 billion
to $10 billion in 1998/99," Mr Hogan said.

"Limited new policy spending and stronger than forecast economic growth are the key factors
driving the much larger than anticipated surplus."

Westpac also forecast year average growth of 4.0 per cent for 1998/99.

"The budget results for the first six months of the year show the underlying balance to be
$4.4 billion ahead of the equivalent 1997/98 position," Mr Hogan said.

"The forecast $2 billion improvement in the budget position has been more than doubled in
the first half of the financial year.

"If the Treasury cash flows are subject to similar seasonal variations to 1997/98 then one
should expect the Commonwealth's budget position to improve by almost $9 billion."

Such an improvement could result in an underlying surplus of about $10 billion, but timing
variations on revenues and payments could cut that back to just over $8 billion, he said.

Mr Hogan also said the government's forecast 3.25 per cent growth pace in 1998/99 appeared
conservative with data so far signalling this would be exceeded "by a large margin".

KEYWORD: NETNEWS 2000

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