MP says give 'measly' $25m to SPC

Federal cabinet will discuss a proposal to co-invest in SPC Ardmona's fruit processing operations. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has used the rejection of taxpayer support for fruit processor SPC Ardmona to set an important "marker" for how his government will deal with requests for industry assistance.

The 93-year-old Victorian company wanted a $25 million federal grant, topped up by $25 million from the Victorian government and its own $150 million investment, for new product development and technology to prop up its operation.

But after three hours of debate in federal cabinet on Thursday, Mr Abbott said the plan was rejected because it was not the government's job to restructure a particular business.

The decision, which workers and growers fear will lead to the operation's closure, comes weeks after Holden's bid for support was rejected and its parent company General Motors announced the end of car production in Australia in 2017.

"The decision that came from the cabinet today does set an important marker," Mr Abbott said.

"This is a government which will make sure that the restructuring that some Australian businesses need, that some Australian sectors need, is led by business, as it should be."

The government's role was to create the right climate for business, he said.

Mr Abbott said SPC Ardmona - owned by food giant Coca-Cola Amatil - was a strong business with the resources to allow it to restructure.

The company advised the government it was prepared to invest an extra $161 million into the business and renegotiate its enterprise bargaining agreement.

Mr Abbott said the company's present EBA had conditions "well in excess of the award", including a wet allowance and generous redundancy provisions.

However SPC Ardmona managing director Peter Kelly said the company would review its business plans.

"This is an unexpected and extremely disappointing decision by the coalition, particularly after the enormous support we have received for our business plans from the local community and beyond," Mr Kelly said.

Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said the government had failed in its fundamental role - to protect jobs and bring on new investment.

"First they forced General Motors Holden out - now they are sending SPC Ardmona to the wall," Ms Plibersek said.

Labor pledged at the 2013 federal election to provide the $25 million grant.

If the plant closes, it is estimated 1500 direct and 2700 indirect jobs could be lost in the Shepparton region.

Shepparton mayor Jenny Houlihan said workers faced an unknown future.

"The $25 million that the government refused to let go today will be eaten up in unemployment benefits," she said.

Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union national secretary Paul Bastian said workers had been improving productivity, but other factors were affecting the business, such as the dumping of cheap imports and the high dollar.

"The government directly and indirectly subsidises mining, agriculture, finance, fisheries and other important Australian industries and yet it is continually cutting investment in manufacturing," Mr Bastian said.

"Soon, when we go to the supermarket ... there will be nothing left made in Australia."

Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said if state premier Denis Napthine could not convince Mr Abbott to stump up $25 million for SPC Ardmona, he struggled to see how Dr Napthine could secure $300 million for Toyota as it considers its future.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police given bus CCTV after woman pinned

A woman has died in hospital after being pinned under a bus for two hours in Sydney's CBD. Source: AAP

AFTER the death of two pedestrians on the same day in Sydney, police are urging the public to be more careful crossing roads.

A 51-year-old Granville woman died on Wednesday night after being hit by a bus in Sydney's CBD. She was trapped in its axles for two hours before emergency services freed her and she died only hours after undergoing emergency surgery.

Earlier that day, an 83-year-old man died instantly when he was hit by a truck in Monterey in southern Sydney while crossing the road.

NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol operations commander Stuart Smith said the deaths were tragic.

"It was a dreadful day on NSW roads," he told reporters on Thursday.

Superintendent Smith said crash investigators are looking into both accidents, including CCTV footage from the State Transit bus as well as an examination of traffic and pedestrian control records.

"It's a complex calculation that can only be provided once a re-enactment is provided," he said.

Police say the bus was turning right when it struck the woman, and the 70-year-old driver was provided with counselling.

"We believe he is a very experienced driver with the State Transit Authority," Supt Smith said.

He could not comment on whether jaywalking was a factor in the accident but reminded pedestrians and drivers to look out for each other.

"It is a place where we all need to be aware and to keep a proper lookout," he said.

He warned people about the dangers of jaywalking and using electronic devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

MP says give 'measly' $25m to SPC

Federal cabinet will discuss a proposal to co-invest in SPC Ardmona's fruit processing operations. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has used the rejection of taxpayer support for fruit processor SPC Ardmona to set an important "marker" for how his government will deal with requests for industry assistance.

The 93-year-old Victorian company wanted a $25 million federal grant, topped up by $25 million from the Victorian government and its own $150 million investment, for new product development and technology to prop up its operation.

But after three hours of debate in federal cabinet on Thursday, Mr Abbott said the plan was rejected because it was not the government's job to restructure a particular business.

The decision, which workers and growers fear will lead to the operation's closure, comes weeks after Holden's bid for support was rejected and its parent company General Motors announced the end of car production in Australia in 2017.

"The decision that came from the cabinet today does set an important marker," Mr Abbott said.

"This is a government which will make sure that the restructuring that some Australian businesses need, that some Australian sectors need, is led by business, as it should be."

The government's role was to create the right climate for business, he said.

Mr Abbott said SPC Ardmona - owned by food giant Coca-Cola Amatil - was a strong business with the resources to allow it to restructure.

The company advised the government it was prepared to invest an extra $161 million into the business and renegotiate its enterprise bargaining agreement.

Mr Abbott said the company's present EBA had conditions "well in excess of the award", including a wet allowance and generous redundancy provisions.

However SPC Ardmona managing director Peter Kelly said the company would review its business plans.

"This is an unexpected and extremely disappointing decision by the coalition, particularly after the enormous support we have received for our business plans from the local community and beyond," Mr Kelly said.

Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said the government had failed in its fundamental role - to protect jobs and bring on new investment.

"First they forced General Motors Holden out - now they are sending SPC Ardmona to the wall," Ms Plibersek said.

Labor pledged at the 2013 federal election to provide the $25 million grant.

If the plant closes, it is estimated 1500 direct and 2700 indirect jobs could be lost in the Shepparton region.

Shepparton mayor Jenny Houlihan said workers faced an unknown future.

"The $25 million that the government refused to let go today will be eaten up in unemployment benefits," she said.

Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union national secretary Paul Bastian said workers had been improving productivity, but other factors were affecting the business, such as the dumping of cheap imports and the high dollar.

"The government directly and indirectly subsidises mining, agriculture, finance, fisheries and other important Australian industries and yet it is continually cutting investment in manufacturing," Mr Bastian said.

"Soon, when we go to the supermarket ... there will be nothing left made in Australia."

Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said if state premier Denis Napthine could not convince Mr Abbott to stump up $25 million for SPC Ardmona, he struggled to see how Dr Napthine could secure $300 million for Toyota as it considers its future.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police given bus CCTV after woman pinned

A woman has died in hospital after being pinned under a bus for two hours in Sydney's CBD. Source: AAP

AFTER the death of two pedestrians on the same day in Sydney, police are urging the public to be more careful crossing roads.

A 51-year-old Granville woman died on Wednesday night after being hit by a bus in Sydney's CBD. She was trapped in its axles for two hours before emergency services freed her and she died only hours after undergoing emergency surgery.

Earlier that day, an 83-year-old man died instantly when he was hit by a truck in Monterey in southern Sydney while crossing the road.

NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol operations commander Stuart Smith said the deaths were tragic.

"It was a dreadful day on NSW roads," he told reporters on Thursday.

Superintendent Smith said crash investigators are looking into both accidents, including CCTV footage from the State Transit bus as well as an examination of traffic and pedestrian control records.

"It's a complex calculation that can only be provided once a re-enactment is provided," he said.

Police say the bus was turning right when it struck the woman, and the 70-year-old driver was provided with counselling.

"We believe he is a very experienced driver with the State Transit Authority," Supt Smith said.

He could not comment on whether jaywalking was a factor in the accident but reminded pedestrians and drivers to look out for each other.

"It is a place where we all need to be aware and to keep a proper lookout," he said.

He warned people about the dangers of jaywalking and using electronic devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Abbott presses Labor to support ABCC plan

Tony Abbott is pressing Labor to support his plan to reinstall a tough building industry watchdog. Source: AAP

PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has questioned whether Labor leader Bill Shorten is on the side of law-abiding citizens or lawbreakers when it comes to union corruption.

The government is pressing for a return of the Australian Building and Construction Commission - an authority that was scrapped by the former Labor government - by using new claims of union corruption and bullying in the industry.

Mr Abbott said Opposition Leader Bill shorten must make it clear whose side he is on.

"Are they on the side of law-abiding citizens or are they on the side of people with a tendency to break the law?" he told Macquarie radio on Wednesday.

"Are they on the side of getting to the bottom of this or do they want to support a culture of cover up?"

He said everyone should be able to go about their life and work free of intimidation, and the government will use "every effort" to bring that about.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Rising use of IVF sparks call for caution

According to experts, women should ensure they have exhausted all options before resorting to IVF. Source: AAP

WOMEN should ensure they have exhausted all options before resorting to IVF, according to international experts concerned the procedure is being over-used.

They say the value of IVF (in vitro fertilisation) for women with blocked tubes or for infertile men is not in dispute.

However, the risks could outweigh the benefits in other cases such as unexplained infertility, moderately low sperm count or endometriosis.

Unexplained infertility accounts for up to 30 per cent of cases, they write in an analysis published by the British Medical Journal.

However, some of these couples might have conceived naturally if they had waited, ideally at least three years.

A concern is that national fertility registries in many countries, including Australia, do not collect data on duration of infertility.

"In Australia and New Zealand about one in 30 babies is conceived by IVF," says co-author Professor Ben Mol from the University of Adelaide.

In Denmark it is one in 20 and in the Netherlands it is one in 40.

"The issue is that we have a lack of knowledge of what the correct ratio is or who should have the procedure when," says Prof Mol.

One million babies were born in the first 25 years of IVF until 2003. The number soared to two million by 2005 and reached about five million by the end of 2013.

The authors argue that evidence for the extended use of IVF is weak and could be detrimental to the long-term health of the child, particularly as a result of multiple births from the use of two or more embryos.

However, Prof Mol points out that multiple births are not an issue in Australia, where the use of single embryos is the norm.

He says the risks are low for singleton babies.

"We are sure IVF is appropriate for couples who have been trying to get pregnant for three years or longer."

The authors question whether a profit motive is leading to a lack of will to question the use of IVF.

"In younger women with no obvious cause of infertility, IVF is not cost effective within three years of trying to conceive," they write.

"As a society we face a choice. We can continue to offer early, non-evidence based access to IVF ... or follow a more challenging path to prove interventions are effective and safe.

"We owe it to all subfertile couples and their potential children to use IVF judiciously and to ensure that we are first doing no harm."

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Aussie helps unravel plague mystery

AN Australian scientist has helped explain the mystery of two of history's most deadly plagues, the Black Death and Plague of Justinian.

The plagues were caused by distinct versions of the same bug, Yersinia pestis, say scientists from around the world who studied 1500-year-old teeth from two victims of the Justinian plague.

"We discovered that the bacterium responsible for the Plague of Justinian faded out on its own," said University of Sydney professor Edward Holmes, co-lead author of a study report in the journal Lancet Infectious Disease.

The plague jumped from rats to humans and killed millions of people in the sixth century.

The scientists found the Justinian outbreak was an evolutionary dead-end and distinct from strains involved in the Black Death and other plague pandemics.

"This study raises intriguing questions about why a pathogen that was both so successful and so deadly died out," Prof Holmes said.

"One possibility is that human populations evolved to become less susceptible."

Although the plague-causing bugs still exist in rodents in some parts of the world, there is little chance of a new pandemic, thanks largely to modern antibiotics.

However, the study could help scientists understand the dynamics of modern infectious disease.

The scientists used samples from ancient graves in the German town of Aschheim to reconstruct the oldest pathogen genome ever obtained.

They compared it with a database of Yersinia pestis genomes of more than a hundred contemporary strains.

12.22 | 0 komentar | Read More

WA man jailed over in-law hit scheme

A WEALTHY, elderly West Australian businessman has been sentenced to eight years and six months in jail for attempting to have his former daughter-in-law murdered.

Brian Vincent Attwell, 74, was in November found guilty after a five-day trial in the Albany Courthouse, charged with the rare offence of attempting to procure the commission of a crime.

The court heard the accused had asked a truck diver, who approached him desperate for work with his civil contracting company AD Contractors, to kill 50-year-old Michelle Patreena Attwell after becoming frustrated with a protracted, bitter legal dispute between her and his son following the breakdown of their marriage.

The driver informed police, who instructed him to set up a meeting between Attwell and an undercover policeman.

Attwell met the policeman twice at a beach near the woman's home and paid $10,000 in two instalments as a down payment on a $30,000 job, telling the officer to bind her in duct tape, strangle her and bury her in a 30-foot hole dug by an excavator.

On Tuesday, Justice Ralph Simmonds said a term of immediate imprisonment was appropriate for such a serious offence.

Attwell will be eligible for parole after serving six years and six months in jail.

He spent more than six months in remand.

Attwell said via video link from Albany that he intended to appeal.

12.22 | 0 komentar | Read More

Treasury given nod for $500 billion debt

TREASURER Joe Hockey has given a directive to borrow $500 billion, in line with the government's unsuccessful bid last year to set the debt limit at that level.

Mr Hockey's directive relating to government borrowing was officially gazetted on January 22.

"I direct that the maximum total face value of stock and securities that may be on issue is $500 billion," Mr Hockey states.

The directive expires on April 1, 2024.

The government tried to set the debt cap at $500 billion in 2013, but Labor would not agree to it.

Subsequently the coalition reached a deal with the Greens to abolish the debt cap altogether.

The Treasury has now borrowed $500 billion consistent with the government' initial position.

A spokesman for Mr Hockey said the decision was in line with the legislation passed in December and "satisfied funding and operation requirements".

Mr Bowen told AAP on Monday the decision followed the extraordinary deal between the Liberals and the Greens to deliver the Greens' policy of no debt limit.

"The Hockey-Milne deal on no debt limit has ensured the economic fringe dwellers are at the centre of economic policy and decision-making in this country," Mr Bowen said.

"It doesn't matter what regulation Joe Hockey signs, this deal ensures he can run up unlimited government debt."

The mid-year economic review released last year forecast debt to rise from $310 billion in 2013/14 to $460 billion by 2016/17, and $667 billion by 2023/24 if the budget is not brought under control.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

China seeks new Antarctic station

China is seeking environmental approval for an Antarctic research station examining climate change. Source: AAP

CHINESE researchers have sought environmental approval for a new climate change research station in Antarctica.

Under the Antarctic treaty regulations, Australian officials are responsible for environmental approval of such projects.

The new Chinese research station - part of an international network - would be based on Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay, in the Northern Victoria Land region.

"China believes that understanding climate change impacts on Antarctica is a matter of critical importance for the world and for the continent itself," the environmental approval submission says.

"The main purpose of the new Chinese station is to provide an international platform for regional multidisciplinary research focusing on the chain reactions caused by the changing climate."

China has conducted more than two dozen expeditions to Antarctica since 1984.

It currently operates two year-round stations - Great Wall station at King George Island and the Zhongshan station in the Larsemann Hills - as well as one summer station, Kunlun, on Dome A, the highest place in Antarctica.

The new station's researchers will study atmospheric and atmosphere-ice-ocean interaction, glacial and ice shelf-ocean interaction, ecosystem monitoring, space phenomena and geology.

Construction is planned to start in December 2015 and the station would start operating in early 2017.

The 5528-square-metre facility will be home to 80 personnel in summer and 30 in winter, when temperatures have been as low as minus 43 Celsius.

The 200-page environmental submission by the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration sets out its plans to mitigate such things as air pollution, potential fuel and oil leakage, solid waste, waste water discharge and disturbance to nearby penguins and other wildlife.

Key to the proposal is a hybrid solar-wind-diesel power supply system and wastewater recycling.

China is also looking at building an aviation network to support researchers and deal with emergencies.

The Chinese government recently bought a Basler BT-67 aircraft with modified scientific instruments, which is expected to be in use by the end of 2015.

The Australian Antarctic Division has invited public comment by March 21.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Record number of new Australians

A record 17,863 people will become citizens as part of Australia Day celebrations. Source: AAP

MORE people than ever will become Australian citizens in ceremonies across the nation on Sunday.

The federal government says a record 17,863 people will become citizens as part of Australia Day celebrations.

They will pledge their allegiance to the nation at some 400 ceremonies to be staged across Australia as it marks 65 years since the first citizenship ceremony was held.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison congratulated the nation's newest Aussies on the 65th anniversary of Australian citizenship.

"The 65th anniversary of Australian citizenship is an opportunity for all of us - whether Australian by birth or choice - to pause and reflect on the privileges and responsibilities which come with being an Australian citizen," he said in a statement.

Mr Morrison will preside over a ceremony in Sydney on Sunday to welcome 30 new citizens.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott will confer citizenship on 24 people at the national flag-raising and citizenship ceremony in Canberra.

Victoria will welcome the most new Australians of any state, with 4500 people to gain citizenship.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man shot dead in Sydney's southwest

A young man has died on a footpath in Sydney's southwest after being shot. Source: AAP

POLICE riot squad officers had to be called in after a group of young men clashed with officers at the scene of a fatal shooting in Sydney's southwest.

Police and ambulance paramedics responded to reports of a shooting at Equity Place in Canley Vale at about 2.45am (AEDT) on Sunday to find a man aged in his 20s on a footpath suffering gunshot wounds.

Despite the efforts of paramedics, the man died at the scene outside an apartment block in the suspected drive-by shooting.

Police say the man was known to them and the shooting was not believed to be random.

Riot squad officers were called before dawn after a group of young men who knew the victim clashed with police amid heated exchanges after being barred from entering the crime scene.

During the confrontation one man shouted, "I want to see my brother."

Members of the group scuffled with police who drew batons and were backed up by police dogs before the men were wrestled to the ground and restrained.

A police spokeswoman told AAP that three of the men were arrested and moved on from the scene, but no charges had been laid.

A distraught young woman was also at the scene before dawn on Sunday.

Police had cordoned off the street and later erected an awning as forensic officers examined the scene and local residents were questioned.

Jennifer Nguyen, 33, who lives at the apartment block where the man died, told AAP she heard nothing overnight but thought there might have been a party on Saturday night.

"I woke up about 4am when police knocked on my door," Ms Nguyen said.

"Oh my God, I was shocked."

Ms Nguyen said the street was normally very quiet.

Meanwhile, police are investigating an incident at Hinchinbrook, also in Sydney's southwest, after a man driving a car escaped injury when the rear passenger windows sustained suspected gunshot damage.

"A 32-year-old man, who had been driving the car at the time of the incident, was not injured," police said.

Police were called to the incident at South Liverpool Road at about 2.25am on Sunday and have seized a black Holden Barina for forensic examination.

A police spokeswoman said it was too early to say if the two shootings were linked.

12.21 | 0 komentar | Read More