Saturday 22nd February 1997
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Issues - The banking system under the spotlight. More than 1400 mining and land tenure applications are now on hold in Queensland thanks to the Wik decision by the High Court to grant co-ownership over pastoral land to the Aborigines through the Native Title Act. About 200 small miners in the north of Queensland are now facing financial strife, road and bridge construction worth Au$3 million a day have stalled and quarry operations are grinding to a halt.
The Queensland State Minister for Natural Resources, Howard Hobbs, said that the state could have faced billions of dollars in compensation claims if it had continued to approve leasehold over land affected by the Wik native title decision.
"The last thing we want is for the state to come to a complete halt.... but the freeze of lease activity must remain, otherwise the law will be broken," he said.
Interesting that when I spoke to the Commonwealth Bank last week about refinancing a housing loan in which I have an 80% equity the bank said that's fine but then qualified that by saying "only if it is not a rural property".
What a turn around! Elders from the Gulf of Carpentaria will fly down to Canberra next week to pressure the Government to change the Native Title Act to allow the Century Zinc mine to proceed!
The decision was taken at a meeting of more than 250 Aborigines in Doomadgee in an attempt to override the six Aboriginal land claimants who refused to sign the compensation package after the intervention of Murrandoo Yanner.
The six Aborgines who signed the agreement and attended the meeting are now concerned that the community will lose all or part of the Au$90 million set out by Century Zinc in the compensation package.
Century Zinc managing director Ian Williams welcomed the decision by Aborigines to go to Canberra as a "symbol of frustration of Aboriginal people" over constant stalling of the project.
The chairman of the Waanyl Elders Aboriginal Corporation, Peter O'Keefe, said that most Aborigines supported the project. He said that if agreement was not reached the future of thousands of young Aborigines would be effected adversely.
O'Keefe said that in his view Murrandoo Yanner had played a pivotal role in influencing the six not to sign saying, "One person can hold this up it seems."
In a sad inditement to the passing of the newspaper broadsheet as the accepted medium for relaying news to the population, theQueensland Courier Mail today wraps itself in glory for achieving "5.5% growth in readership last year - more than 1% ahead of its nearest rival".
Papers like the Adelaide Advertiser showed a decrease of 2.4% in readership during the last twelve months and even the national The Australian newspaper fell into the red with a decrease of 0.5% in readership from Monday to Friday and an even greater fall of 3.4% in readership on the weekend.
What the Courier Mail did not reveal in their glowing report is that they are offering a special where readers can buy a week's papers for Au$2.20 home delivered - which is a discount on the listed price over that period of over Au$5. Is it any wonder when you give something away with an agressive direct mail campaign that readership will increase?
Compare that "growth" to the Internet with 186% per annum and you will see what is happening in this age old bearer of news... a sure sign that tradition, in this case, has had its day.
Spare a moment for Arnott's who dumped millions of dollars of biscuits yesterday following the threat last week by an extortionist to poison its biscuits in supermarket shelves.
Mr Howard will mark the first anniversary of his rise to power by attending a performance of The Three Tenors in Melbourne.
In a reference to the Republic, Howard said, "I hope in 2001 we overwhelmingly celebrate the Australian achievement rather than dissipate our energy arguing about... what the technicalities of our Constitution might be.
"If we all come together and agree on some change, well then that's fine. But you've got to celebrate achievement and it has been a huge achievement."
Dear Editor,
In Sydney yesterday the shark tank at the Sydney aquarium was seriously damaged when the glass in the shark tank burst. 9 people were taken to hospital suffering various injuries. Sharks were found lying in the aisles alongside the burst aquarium. Fortunately none of the sharks sustained serious injuries. This has been widely reported in the news media both last night and today.
What has not yet been reported is the "inside story". Due to my extensive contacts with the Sydney Water Police I am able to report that Police skindivers are interviewing two hammerhead sharks and a swordfish about what now appears to be an escape attempt. Police were tipped off by a Japanese tourist who commented that two stingrays, a bream and "some sort of sashimi" were seen creating a diversion on the other side of the shark pool immediately prior to the escape. An American tourist from Southern Ohio also reported that when she returned to the wharf from her swim at Darling Harbour all of her clothes had been stolen. Enquiries are continuing. In the meantime Sydneysiders have been warned to be on the lookout for an American lady who has difficulty in walking,has large teeth and who smells fishy.
You heard it first here.
Sydney Correspondent
Brierley Investments who bought out Conrad Black's share of Fairfax Limited are finding things not going all their way at the moment.
Shareholders in the company forced a formal vote on whether Brierley should be allowed to lift their shareholding from 20 to 25% of Fairfax. Since early December last year the price of Fairfax shares has risen steadily from Au$2.70 to over Au$3.10. The formal vote stopped Brierley from buying the balance of Black's shares at Au$2.82 with 149.2 million votes cast against the motion with 137.2 million going with it.
Interesting that the Packer family's Publishing and Broadcasting Limited with 14.9% of Fairfax supported the move by Brierley but the mums and dads knocked it over... just! The smaller shareholders want Brierley to pay the full share price of Au$3.10 - this would cost the company an additional Au$5 million over its current arrangements.
In a sad tale of where David did not beat Goliath - where Goliath (News Limited) literally came in and trashed the house the gloating chief of Super League said, "...any developments will be within a framework of there ultimately being one competition that competition being Super League and that (Australian Rugby League) clubs will want to join that competition. My belief is that some clubs will want to join Super League and that belief has been borne out by the nature of private discussions some clubs have had with our people at various levels within the organisation."
Speculation is rife that both Manly and Sydney City are ready to leave the ARL.
Have a great day!
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