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Saturday 17th February 1996

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International:

The fight against the importation of drugs into Australia and money laundering would be severely cut back under a Coalition government the National Crime Authority warned yesterday. The NCA said that it could not afford to have Au$6 million slashed off its budget over 3 years as is pledged by the Coalition.
In other news, the giant Japanese trading house, Itochu Corporation, has "rescued" a major Australian coal group from the banks. For years now the Japs have been mercilessly squeezing the price of Australian coal down driving the industry to ruin. Over a couple of dollars a ton they have threatened to move their orders to far more remote and unstable source, such as South Africa. Now they come in like the white knight (or is it the Trojan horse?) buying over the debt of what was once a strong Australian group of companies.

Political - Federal Election 2nd March 1996:

Queensland state politics has upstaged the Federal Election with the premier resigning yesterday rather than face a vote of no-confidence in his government on Monday. Premier Wayne Goss upset his parliamentary colleagues by advising a press conference at 10.30am that he had handed in his resignation to the governor and was also resigning as parliamentary head. Ex-state health minister, Peter Beattie, is expected to be elected as the new Labor opposition leader when the Coalition formally take over the state, thanks to the support of Gladstone independent, Liz Cunningham, next week.
In Federal Politics Keating has had another very bad week. In the middle a ray of light shot through for Paul Keating, with the racism claims, but that quickly dissipated. By last night his campaign was flailing once again with a bruising interview with ABC journalist Kerry O'Brien openly challenging his credibility on key issues such as the state of the economy and treasury's latest budget estimates. I am really getting a strong feeling that not only will Labor lose on March 2nd, but that they will lose big. The latest poll in Queensland has shown a substantial swing to the Liberal/National Coalition in key marginal seats.

Business:

The ANZ Bank has joined the fray in cutting home lending rates. The bank dropped interest rates across the board in response to the drops by Aussie Home Loans and FAI Home Mortgages earlier this month. The latest ANZ figures are: 8.69% from 8.95% for a 2 year fixed interest loan; 9.69% from 9.9% for a 4 year fixed interest loan. They have also scrapped the $600 home loan approval fee. Watch the others come to their senses over the next few days as the loss of high-profit earning business bites.

Sport:

Australia will threaten to cancel tours of Sri Lanka and India this year if a Au$4 million compensation claim for a forfeited World Cup match in Colombo is not withdrawn. Tournament organisers PILCOM have served both the Australian and West Indian cricket teams with the bill. In a situation which is becoming noted for its outrages claims, the Indian star bowler Kepil Dev has said that the ICC should chuck Australia and the West Indies out of international cricket for a year. Maybe then you will have a chance of winning a series hey Kep?

Social:

In a new survey by that sex-mad woman's magazine Cosmopolitan it has been revealed that Australian women were the most willing to have sex on their first date. Russian women were the most likely to have sex every day but were least likely to call it fabulous. Czech women enjoyed it the most. French women claim to be the most faithful. Women in Greece prefer daytime sex at twice the world average. Japanese women said that they had sex three times or less a month. A little less than half the single women surveyed admitted to having affairs with married men.

Personal trivia:

What a beautifully cool day yesterday. Temperatures in the mid 20s, warm sun and soft breezes. On the work front we started projects with Singapore Technology Park and a major Brisbane based company.

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