The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

1 I I I I XI 111 nliOil iiniioiiite FULL REPORT, Page 43 nil FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1995 No. 49.237 FIRST PUBLISHED 1831 74 PAGES 80c MARTINA: rji- GEOFF K1THEY PAGE 19 Bomb victim lucky to be alive mi iimm AW lillMlffllit 4 1 nwnn III ill III IN iririm mmmm A iiiiiiiir low inf latioin 9 pay ibct 1 1 1 1 1 HI LJ 1 1 1 IT IS, as The Age columnist Bob Millington, calls it, a cautionary tale. Two women dining at an upmarket Melbourne restaurant told the waiter they'd like "a nice bottle of red" and that they'd leave the choice to him. The wine was so good they had another bottle. Then came the bill $157 for the food, S900 for the wine.

They'd had two bottles of Chateau Mar-gaux '83 at S450 a pop. THE FAX at Case Koeman's lodge at Thredbo rolled out this letter from a French family, with whom he'd stayed two weeks ago. Says Mr Koeman, "It brought tears to my In the name of millions of French citizens (a majority, I can assure you) I beg your pardon for the ashaming decision of resuming nuclear explosions in the South Pacific area. It a shame for us all and we feel so miserable about our new president 's international terrorist act. Tlie History has already judged him.

but please don involve the whole pacific and respectful French population in that stupid provocation. Your friend. Gilbert Bonneville, Teacher and luthier in Normandy IN AN AD yesterday for staff at Westmead Hospital, the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children revealed its plans for a musical approach to healing: rt Csssl Cs1 s1 fcslt! FsMt'l ffessl ffamt Minimum 600.000 jobs generated by March 1999 1 v' I 1, Ilk 1 fx -Jr Jr Jr '3sJ 4 h. i -v. 1 1 f.

A By MICHAEL MILLETT The union movement has committed itself to the Reserve Bank target of an underlying inflation rate of 2 to 3 per cent in a new Accord aimed at giving lower-paid workers increases of $35 to $50 over the next four years. The Accord Mark VIII, which will form the centrepiece of the Government's election platform, also sets an ambitious jobs growth target of 600,000 by March 1999. This target, on top of the 500,000 set, and surpassed, in Accord Mark VII, is required to deliver the Government's objective, set out in last year's Employment White Paper, of a 5 per cent jobless rate by the end of the decade. In exchange for the twin disciplines, the Government will support four safety net pay increases, including one $8 instalment remaining from the previous Accord, for workers unable to strike enterprise bargaining deals. The S8 is now to be paid later this year with three further annual adjustments of S9 to S12 a week.

Workers on base award rates, without the muscle to negotiate over-award payments, will receive Sll to $14. The higher increases, contingent on the endorsement of the Industrial Relations Commission, are designed to help the lower paid meet the compulsory superannuation contributions which begin in mid-1997. The new inflation commitment imposes even tighter discipline on unions. The previous Accord had required a wage outcome which would produce an inflation rate comparable with that of our major trading partners a significantly Going cheap, one airline success of its predecessor, providing "a framework for another four years of low inflation, high productivity, high growth and sustained falls in Mr Keating also used it to attack the Opposition, saying it was incapable of delivering anything similar, and anyway was unwilling to do so. "There would be no other governmentunion workforce relationship anywhere in the 27-mem-ber States of the OECD where a thing of this comprehension and detail and strength of commitment would be available," he said.

But the agreement was immediately attacked by employer groups, with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) describing it as a "money-for-noth-ing Accord" and accusing the Government of being duplicitous over its compulsory employee superannuation scheme. "It appears that the Accord proposal is that employers de facto pay for the so-called employee superannuation contributions and this is simply dishonest sleight of hand," the ACCI chief executive, Mr Ian Spicer, said. "If employers pay for them they are not employee contributions." However, the Metal Trades Industry Association, which has a much warmer relationship with the Government, said the inflation and jobs targets would impose a tight discipline on the ACTU in pursuing its wages strategy. The Opposition Leader, Mr Howard, said the pact would do Continued Page 12 PAGE 12: Matthew Russell, Michael Millett comment. PAGE 19: Geoff Kitney.

response from big investors concerned about the risks in aviation that forced the Government to go for a lower amount rather than face a poor public response ahead of a Federal election. Mr Beazley denied, however, that the Government had higher price expectations. He said the speculative price of $2 billion was "nowhere near the figure" the Government had included in its 1995-96 Budget calculations, but refused to comment on the impact on its forecasts. The public offer opens on Monday, July 3, and will close on July 21. The final pricing will be set on July 31.

PAGE 43: Full report. Under the terms of reference for the inquiry, a copy of which has been obtained by the Herald. the Government had committed itself to abolishing the body "prior to the The inquiry will examine the authority's financial performance, planning powers, management performance, asset ownership and progress in meeting its charter. In a campaign document prepared before the March 25 election, the then Opposition targeted the authority, saying its abolition could save $5 million. After the election, responsibility for Darling Harbour was transferred to the Minister for Public Works, Mr Knight, who earlier this month referred to the Public Accounts Committee a 1991 decision by the authority to build a sporting facility on the Darling Walk site, given that approval had been given in 1985 for a high-tech theme park on the site.

A report on the authority's handling of this decision is due in the next few weeks. Dame Leonie Kramer "Women talk too much." Women go limp when going gets tough: Kramer By LUIS M. GARCIA Higher Education Writer The reason so few women academics get promoted to top university jobs is not because of discrimination, but lack of confidence and insufficient qualifications, says the Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Dame Leonie Kramer. While women did not have huge egos like men, women tended to "go a bit limp when things get she said. there are women in universities and other places who, when they do not get promoted, start talking about dark, unseen forces that pull them back every time, for which there is just no evidence.

Dame Leonie, one of a very small group of women academics to have made it to professorial rank, defended Australian higher education institutions against claims of discrimination yesterday, saving universities had a strong tradition of equal opportunity. And she criticised "feminist bureaucrats'" who insisted on the introduction of female quotas for university jobs, describing such proposals as demeaning to women. Her comments contradict the widely held view among many women academics that the existing selection, promotion and tenure system actively discriminates against women. The proponents of this view include the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, Mr Crean, who only last week foreshadowed a major shake-up of the tenure system in universities because, he said, it discriminated against women. Mr Crean and others have pointed to the fact that only two of the 37 publicly funded universities have female vice-chancellors: Professor Di Yerbury of Mac-quarie University, and Professor Fay Gayle of the University of Western Australia.

Dame Leonie said that although many more women were now entering university, few stayed to undertake postgraduate courses or to upgrade their qualifications, which were essential for promotion to professorial level. Continued Page 12 Cair to Darling By PAOLA TOTARO Urban Affairs Editor The Darling Harbour Authority, the powerful planning body established 10 years ago by Labor's public works minister, Mr Laurie Brereton, is set to be scuttled by the Carr Government The Treasurer, Mr Egan, has ordered a review of the authority's financial and planning performance and a report for the Premier is expected within weeks. The authority's abolition or the transfer of its planning powers to other agencies would mean the end of its controversial reign over all construction and development in the prime precinct Legislation establishing the authority was pushed through in 1984 by Mr Brereton now Labor's Federal Minister for Industrial Relations and Transport in a bid to guarantee completion of what was Australia's biggest urban redevelopment in time for the 1988 Bicentennial celebrations. However, its wide-ranging development consent powers Home Delivery (02)2823800 ISSN 0312-6315 Jclinicalnur Operati 3 NURSE EDUCATOR Operatic Suite THE LIN TV broadcast of the State of Origin in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, (Column 8, Tuesday) reminded Alan Moore, of Brisbane, of an omission. He and another Australian, working for BHP, were about 200 km west of Ulaanbaatar in 1992 when their Russian jeep broke down (again).

"We were at the side of the track, on an empty, windswept plain, when my colleague took out his small radio, and tuned into Radio Australia." They shared the excitement of the West Coast Eagles beating Geelong in the AFL grand final, with reception as clear as if they'd been in Melbourne. But he confesses he never wrote to Radio Australia about how good its overseas service is. THEY DON'T mean that do they? The Goan Overseas Association's newsletter No 6 tells us, under "General Secretary's about young Deborah who "on July 15, will be marring Lester in ONE of the grand sights from our 26th-fioor eyrie above Darling Harbour is the replica HMAV Bounty cruising the bay. It makes several trips a day, all over the harbour, so it's no surprise that what five years ago was a deeply-in-the-red operation is now completing its first year in the black. It's all the work of the businessman Bruce Reid, who bought the Bounty at the liquidators' auction, and kept it as a top tourist attraction for Sydney.

And that's why we now congratulate him on the Bounty's NSW Tourism Award for Excellence in the Tours and Transport category. i-e Maintain underlying inflation average at 2 to 3 per cent Continued expansion of enterprise udrgdtrmig system Four safety-net pay increases: $8 instalment held over from previous accord, plus three annual adjustments of $9 to $12 baby bonus as economic and budgetary circumstances permit (Tue BATTLE'S OVER) higher figure than that now sought by the Government and the Reserve Bank. In a joint statement with ACTU president, Mr Martin Ferguson, the Prime Minister said Accord Mark VIII would build on the THE SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA with the final price depending on the level of demand. The Qantas share information phone line, promoted in a nationalistic TV campaign, has attracted 500,000 inquiries. The launch yesterday in a Qantas hangar at Mascot continued the hoopla of the advertising campaign, with Kate Ceberano delivering a stirring rendition of I Still Call Australia Home on a stage with more than 100 Qantas employees.

It was the combination of a weak share market and a suspicious earmarked for a theme park. 1993-94 report found a deficit of $7.3 million on its semi-commercial activities. While this was offset by an $8.4 million surplus on its commercial activities, community service obligations of $6.8 million meant an overall $5.7 million deficit 15- cloudy wit.h shwers By EMILIYA MYCHASUK Investment Editor The Federal Government has decided to accept a cut-price of between $1.35 billion and $1.5 billion for selling its remaining 75 per cent of the flag-carrier Qantas Airways, rather than risk the belly flop of one of Australia's largest asset sales. The price tag for the share-market float was revealed yesterday by the Minister of Finance, Mr Beazley, and is well below original estimates that the Government would get about $2 billion for Qantas as part of its calculations for a Budget surplus this year. The Qantas shares will be sold at between $1.80 and $2.10 each, A distraught Ken Elliott (top) comforts his wife, Josie, after he narrowly escaped death in the Serbian Cafe Tesla Club bombing.

Above, Mr Elliott, an accountant, in front of the wrecked building which also housed his office. Full report, Page 6. Photographs by dean sewell. break up all-powerful Breast implants get clean bill of health Harbour planning body Guaranteed to make a deep impression Omega Scamasrcr Professional automatic diver chronograph with date. In stainless steel, titanium, or with titanium and 18k gold Chronometer certificate.

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4 women hae now registered for the class action. The new study, by epidemiologists and rheumatologists at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health, all in Boston, was published today in The England Journal of Medicine. It was; financed by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers examined data on 87,501 nurses, 1,183 of whom had implants, between June 1976 and May 1990. They found that the women with implants were, if anything, slightly less likely to develop connective tissue diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, or even to complain of signs and symptoms of disease that resembled those of connective tissue diseases but fell short of meeting the standard diagnostic criteria.

However, some doctors contend that the study, like those that preceded it, is flawed. They say silicone breast implants are causing a new and ill-defined disease Continued Page 12 ByGINA KOLATA NEW YORK, Thursday: The most definitive study yet of the health effects of silicone breast implants has failed to find any association between the implants and connective tissue diseases. The study is so compelling and its results so consistent with previous studies that some leading rheumatologists contend that the issue of whether implants cause these diseases can now be considered closed. They maintain that it is time for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lift the voluntary moratorium on sales of the implants that it requested in 1992. That moratorium fuelled massive litigation and in the past few years tens of thousands of women have come forward with illnesses that they say have been caused by implants.

Implant manufacturers have entered into 'a $4 billion settlement of a class-action suit brought on behalf of women with implants, and more than 400,000 Classified Index 62 Crosswords 25 Editorials 18 Law Notices 55 $2 Lottery 5661 24 Mails, Ships 55 Sport Stay World -t. iiwm Timm The sporting site that had been sparked a public outcry, creating a long-running headache for the Wran Government The authority's financial performance has also been a long-term concern. The NSW Auditor-General, Mr Tony Harris, has raised doubts about its efficiency and his Weather today sydney 8 to OMEGA The sign of excellence. Opinion 19 PHONE Personal Notices 48 62 Editorial 2822822 In Touch 26 Classifieds. .282 1122 Television 26 General 282 2833 14 TOMORROW Sydney Early fogs, then fine, INSIDE with an expected maximum of 17.

NSW: Early frost and fog. Showers on the Agenda 17 North Coast. Fine inland. Amusements Metro Sunrise 7 am. Sunset 4.54 pm.

Arts 20 FULL DETAILS Page 25. Business ....43 tilt lit! cieanng laier. Liverpool 10 id. Kicnmona to 16. NSW: Showers or drizzle along the coast and Eastern Ranges, slowly contracting north.

Fine inland. Sunrise 7 am. Sunset 4.54 pm. 7 7 0312 11 631056.