Vic: Howard yet to decide whether to tour Vic drought areas

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Vic: Howard yet to decide whether to tour Vic drought areas

MELBOURNE, Dec 12 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard is yet to decide whether he willvisit farmers in Victoria's drought-stricken Wimmera and Mallee regions.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks yesterday wrote to Mr Howard inviting him to visit thestate's arid north-west, which was excluded from this week's commonwealth drought reliefpackage.

Mr Bracks said the Mallee and Wimmera farmers should have been included in the latest funding.

"I'd urge the prime minister to reconsider this matter, to come down and have a lookat the drought-affected areas, to see first hand what has happened in Victoria, what'shappened in the Mallee, what's happened in the Wimmera," Mr Bracks said.

But a spokesman for Mr Howard said he had only received the letter yesterday and wasyet to make a decision.

AAP jt/gfr/ldj

KEYWORD: DROUGHT HOWARD

Fed: Writing off union damage was company policy, inquiry told

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Fed: Writing off union damage was company policy, inquiry told

The building royal commission has heard one of Australia's biggest construction firmsdid not consider seeking compensation for a union dispute that cost it $320,000.

Thiess human resources manager IAN IRWIN's told the Cole royal commission the companynever discussed the possibility of seeking damages from a dispute in mid-2000.

Mr IRWIN says the company's aim was to get a return to work as it would have been morecostly to go through the court.

He says this is the standard approach taken by Thiess.

The inquiry, sitting in Brisbane, has heard the four-month dispute was called off afterthe company gave assurances it would make its best endeavours to sort out union concerns.

The dispute centred on the $139 million redevelopment of the Lavarack army barracksin the north Queensland city of Townsville, which began in late 1999.

Queensland Housing Minister ROBERT SCHWARTEN will tomorrow become the first cabinetminister to give evidence at the inquiry.

AAP RTV pjo/sc/rsm/rp

KEYWORD: COLE (BRISBANE)

Qld: Friar Tuck comes back to life

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Qld: Friar Tuck comes back to life

By Jordan Baker

TOWNSVILLE, Feb 25 AAP - An historic coral clump nicknamed Friar Tuck resurrected itselfafter being ravaged by bleaching, a leading scientist said today.

Friar Tuck is one of the older coral clumps on the reef and is estimated to have beenabout 500 years old when Captain Cook sailed past in 1770.

Australian Institute of Marine Science researcher Terry Done said today there werefears it was badly damaged during the worst ever bleaching event in 1998.

It turned white and patches on the surface died off.

"But it's sort of been resurrected again, where the tissues have grown …

Fed: Uni staff set new standard on maternity leave

AAP General News (Australia)
12-27-2001
Fed: Uni staff set new standard on maternity leave

SYDNEY, Dec 27 AAP - A group of university staff has won an agreement that sets a new
standard for paid maternity leave in Australia.

The agreement for 13 weeks of maternity leave on full pay for some female staff at
Wollongong University in NSW supersedes the previous best deal for working mums set earlier
this year.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported today the deal at Wollongong University covers only
those women working for the university's students' representative council.

The deal, for women with two years' service, gives female staff 13 weeks of full pay
and then 60 per cent for the remaining 39 weeks of their year off, the newspaper said.

The Community and Public Sector Union told the newspaper while the leave was only available
to a small number of staff, it had four similar agreements in the pipeline.

The deal comes as the nation's peak union body, the ACTU, is set to launch a test case
in the new year to improve benefits for working mothers.

The ACTU plans to seek a case in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission granting
women 14 weeks' paid leave with the birth of each child.

The minimum entitlement for maternity leave in Australia is a year off, unpaid.

The Australian Catholic University set a benchmark on paid maternity leave in August,
when it granted new mums with two years' service the right to 12 weeks on full pay and
then 40 weeks on 60 per cent.

AAP nd/apm

KEYWORD: MATERNITY

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: ACTU says maternity leave decision a breakthrough = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-15-2001
Fed: ACTU says maternity leave decision a breakthrough = 2

Australian Employers Federation director Garry Brack said the agreement was a magnificent
one-off unlikely to be repeated elsewhere.

"They've got ahead of just about anywhere else in the world so it's plainly magnificent
for those people involved but beyond the capacity of most other employers," he told ABC
radio.

Mr Brack said although other industrial nations stipulated between 10 and 16 weeks'
paid maternity leave, paid for by employers, government or national health, Australia
had 52 weeks' leave, which was way ahead of the international standard.

"If one says that there's a responsibility to pay people, I think there's a question
about who should pay," he said.

Mr Brack said the community needed to examine whether maternity leave should be paid
for by the nation rather than employers having to budget for it.

"If society at large comes to the conclusion that it ought to be remunerated then it's
a national or societal responsibility and ought not to be seen as a cost appropriate to
be borne by individual employers," he said.

Mr Brack said some companies, such as Westpac, paid for a portion of maternity leave
to try to encourage valuable staff to stay.

But most businesses were not in a position to pay that cost, he said.

AAP fh/vr

KEYWORD: MATERNITY D/L 2 CANBERRA

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Shoppers lost in choice

AAP General News (Australia)
02-28-2001
Fed: Shoppers lost in choice

CANBERRA, Feb 28 AAP - Australian shoppers were drowning in a sea of choice and losing
important shopping skills, a national forecasting conference was told today.

Shoppers were now cynical towards claims of freshness and quality by food producers,
the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics conference was told by Gawen
Rudder, a food strategist with the advertising agency John Bevins.

Mr Rudder said shoppers had demanded an increase in the choice of foods, particularly
fresh produce, several decades ago because of a dearth of choice.

But now …

Double shooting shatters New Year s eve celebrations

AAP General News (Australia)
01-01-2001
Double shooting shatters New Year s eve celebrations

A woman has been shot dead and her male companion critically wounded during New Year's
celebrations in Perth overnight.

The man and woman were sitting in a car in Perth's Kings Park, where thousands had
gathered to witness a light show in the CBD, when they were both shot at around 9pm local
time.

A police spokesman says the man was rushed to hospital in a very serious condition.

No-one has been arrested in relation to the killing.

Elsewhere across the nation, however, there were few violent incidents and only a handful
of …