Saturday 29th March 1997
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Issues - The banking system under the spotlight. Giheno told reporters after being sworn in on Thursday night, "You've (Singirok) broken the law, you exepct the consequences."
His comments fly in the face of the discussions that senior army force members had with Chan earlier in the week.
"I have talked to him (Chan), and as far as he is concerned we have been pardoned and as of now I have already started performing my duties and in respect of the understanding that we have reached," said Major Walter Enuma on Wednesday.
Brigadier Singirok is also being cagey about how he will react regarding the overnight diversion of a Russian cargo plane carrying a large consignment of military equipment and four helicopters which were sold to PNG as part of their Au$46 million contract with the Sandline led mercenaries. The plane was diverted to Australia while things settle down in PNG.
We have decided to nominate General Singirok as our Global Hero for March 1997 fo rhis heroic stand in getting the mercenaries removed from the country.
The Sydney 2000 Olympics is headed for a bureaucratic disaster... with the New South Wales Minister for the Olympics, Michael Knight, really stuffing things up quite beautifully.
It appears that earlier this week Knight asked the chief executive officer, Dr Mal Hemmerling, to stand down or be sacked. The reasons for his request are not known - but the reaction of the staff told the story - many cried when Hemmerling resigned... Following Hemmerling's resignation the Federal Minister for Sport, Mr Smith, sought an undertaking from Knight that "stability was the key" to the success of the Olympics.
Hemmerling is the third chief excutive officer to leave under a cloud... Gary Pemberton resigned in August 1995 and John Iliffe in September 1996 and it now appears that more top officials are about to desert the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG). Former board members have predicted that further resignations and sackings would occur because of conflicts between the numerous organisations responsible for putting the Games together.
To all intents and purposes the fellow that they have put in as Hemmerling's replacement knows squid about organising even a garden party. The new CEO is a senior bureaucrat, Sandy Holloway, who had just been appointed as a senior manager in SOCOG.
Since Christmas last year Knight's big ego has been trying to look for a way of removing Hemmerling and now Holloway seems to be the key. Well good luck fellows looks like that move could be a trump card that makes a threat by the Aborigines to disrupt the Sydney 2000 Olympics like a pimple on a ballooon ready to burst.
It appears now that the lobby group had a large impact on the report prepared by the Senate committee enquiry into euthanasia that led to the Northern Territory Bill being overturned by Kevin Andrews' Private Members Bill.
Extensive political commentary and links can be found on Palmer's Australian Politics page.
The move follows a multi-facted deal struck with Kerry Stoke's Seven Network who owned just 2% of Optus Vision.
The main points of the settlement included:
A survey published by the Medical Journal of Australia found that of 10 medical schools surveyed four do not administer any oath at all. One gives students a copy of the Hippocratic oath to read (but not swear) while another asks students to sign a statutory declaration of "good standing" following an interview. Three other medical schools administer their own generic oaths while the remaining school uses an oath devised by the World Medical Association.
Dr Harry Nespolon, director of Health Services of the Australian Medical Association said, "In Hippocrates' time, physicians needed something to be bound by and they took the oath. Today doctors are bound by legislation, by the registration process and by the profession's code of ethics. The oath is an archaic relic and was really used more for the gratification of the parents attending the graduation ceremony than for the students themselves."
Now we all know where we stand - ring up your cash registers medicos and stuff anyone who gets sick outside normal trading hours.
Have a great day.
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