The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 1

TIE 250 Spencer Melbourne, 60 0421 (Classified 60 061 1) 30 Pages gSfeSliR 131st Year 30c Thursday 2 May 1985 Death prompts drug inquiry in prisons -g THE A AGE WTORIAiVUJ SPORTS SIM -PAGE 28 Accountants I PAGE 17 I Hollywood meats I I the old order PAGE 11 A spokesman, Mr Jeff Lapidos, says many prisoners feel drugs provide the only means of coping. One woman transferred thousands of dollars to her son's bank account while he was in Pentridge. Mr Lapidos said last night that during the past few weeks all prisoners receiving contact visits had been subjected to full strip searches, including body cavities. "So drugs aren't coming in via visits. They can't," he said.

There was no point in conducting an inquiry unless prison officers were included. "What we need is a royal commission on the prisons, where prisoners can be given protection and prisoners and prison officers can be given indemnity, and the full facts will come out about corruption in the prison," he said. Mr Lapidos said prisoners had told the Prisoners Action Group that a lot of drugs had come into the prison last weekend. Sophisticated means were used by prisoners to smuggle drugs in, such as in pens, or even in crumpled soft drink cans thrown over the prison walls, he said. Prison officers say it is impossible to effectively search all prisoners for drugs.

Sometimes they are brought in by civilian staff, they say. Babies' nappies are one of the more bizarre hiding places that officers claim are used by visitors. A 30-year-old woman was charged at Fair-lea women's prison this week for attempting to smuggle heroin in while on a visit Up to 80 per cent of women at the prison had committed offences while using or abusing drugs, officers The Prisoners Action Group has consistently called for action on the drug problem, including rehabilitation programs, although a The Attorney-General, Mr Kennan, who is responsible for prisons, was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a spokesman for him said consideration was being given to the possibility of strip searches for visitors to prisons. The Government is also considering consolidated legislation that would bring all aspects of prison administration under one act. Mr Geschke expressed concern that a prisoner could have access to heroin and syringes in prison.

"Now, how could he have a heroin overdose in a cell?" he asked. He said the drug problem was of great concern both to himself and to the director-general of the Office of Corrections, Mr Bill Kidston. "One of the difficulties is that you could certainly stop it by closing all prisoners up in a single cell, but as soon as you allow contact visits, goods come in," he said. By JANE MUNDAY, chief police reporter The State Government will hold an inquiry into drugs in Victorian prisons after the death of a prisoner on Monday and the admission to hospital on Tuesday of two others. All three were believed to have taken heroin overdoses.

The Office of Corrections yesterday announced an inquiry by prison officers and the police prison liaison squad, which will concentrate particularly on how drugs get into the state's jails. The ombudsman, Mr Norman Geschke, last night told 'The Age that the extent of drug abuse in prisons indicated "there must be some authorities involved Prisoners often alleged prison officers brought the drugs in, he said. "But I have never actually had someone say that a certain prison officer is bringing in drugs. And I don't think the department would condone it for a minute." 0 Troops drive 60,000 out of Ethiopia aid camp By BLAINE HARDEN of the 'Washington Post' ADDIS ABABA, 1 May. Ethiopia's largest famine-relief camp, with a population of nearly 60,000 people many sick and weakened by malnutrition was evacuated by force and burned within the past three days, according to two senior Western relief officials who visited the camp yesterday.

The officials said that, beginning on Sunday and ending yesterday, Ethiopian troops herded famine victims, including several thousand children under five, out of Ibnet, a camp in Ethiopia's central highlands, and then burned the grass huts in which people had been living. The camp, which on Saturday had been a general feeding, child nutrition and medical centre run by four private relief agencies and the Ethiopian Government, was by yesterday a blackened plain where a few stray cows wandered amid mounds of ashes and shards of broken pottery, according to the officials. They said that from the air they saw thousands of people walking from Ibnet in long lines that snaked along dirt roads and dried-up river valleys. About a third of them are reported to be heading east, through some of Ethiopia's roughest mountain terrain, to Welo and Tigre, the regions hit hardest last year by drought. Those headed for Welo must walk for three to six days, and for Tigre up to 14 days.

One relief official said: "These people are fairly undernourished and a lot of them were not fit to undertake this journey. A number of them will certainly die." Local political leaders were said to have ordered the evacuation to get people back to their farms after recent rains, and to avoid disease. But relief workers said they feared many could die on the trek, and one destination of the evacuees is reported to still have almost no food. According to both officials, who said they talked with representatives of the Ethiopian Government and private relief workersalthe camp, the evacuation was ordered by leaders of the Workers Party of Ethiopia, who under Ethiopia's Marxist system govern the Gondar region, where Ibnet is located. On a clear day you can see the Rialto dhanges chools for The Education Jbate Hipp Beside about 52,500 people who were sent away from Ibnet on foot, the relief officials said another 4500 were flown west over the past four days in Soviet transport helicopters to resettlement areas in the fertile western end of Gondar near the Sudanese border.

These people had volunteered for resettlement, the officials said. "if TIGRE XK 1., Assab WELO v' I Djibouti ADDIS ABABA ETHIOPIA PAGE 6: Students should be encouraged to stay at school; Lecturers attack loss of emphasis on English; Cabinet cautious. PAGE 13: Editorial. Picture: WAYNE 1UDBEY In there somewhere is the outline of Melbourne's skyline at 2 pm yesterday, showing the effects of air pollution trapped by a high-pressure system. The EPA predicts more of the same today and has issued a smog alert because of the high levels of airborne particles.

Incinerators and open fires should not be lit. and commuters are asked to leave their cars at home. Explaining the dangers, a respiratory physician said: "In general terms it's the irritant effect of these airborne particles that really concerns us. When they arc combined with other things such as sulphur dioxide or nitrogen dioxide, you get this additive effect, and people with lung disease asthmatics, bronchitics and so on, really start to feel these effects." The deputy president of the Victorian Secondary Teachers Association, Mr Graham Marshall, said the report, if implemented would lead to "watered down Mickey Mouse courses" and compulsory exams for tertiary entrance purposes. The State Opposition supported the call for increased student retention rates but claimed that the Government's failure to give a timetable or commitment to funds would lower the morale of teachers, students and parents.

The Victorian Council of School Organisations, which represents councils at government schools, welcomed the recommendations which offered real hope of creative answers to the changing face of schooling. The Victorian Federation of State School Parent Clubs generally supported the thrust of the report but questioned the use of standardised testing for students and the retention of some external exams. The Dean of Education at the University of Melbourne, Professor Kwong Lee Dow, said the Blackburn report on the senior school years was a "significant and exciting milestone" which has placed a "more contemporary emphasis on But Professor Dow warned that there would be difficulties in implementing the report's recommendations too quickly. Among other groups to welcome the Blackburn report yesterday were the Catholic Education Office and the Victorian Federation of State Schools Parents' Clubs. For sorb far? Milk is dumped as talks fail By JILL BAKER, education reporter Substantial changes are imminent in Victoria's schools with the State Government's endorsement yesterday of big sections of the controversial Blackburn review of senior education.

The Higher School Certificate will be abolished in favor of a two-year certificate, curriculum will be far broader and the Government will aim to keep many more students in senior schooling by 1995. But the Government has passed to a new committee many of the more controversial recommendations, including a reduction by half in the time spent on English and the retention of some external exams. The Minister for Education, Mr Cathie, yesterday accepted the main recommendations of the report but has made no commitment to provide money or a timetable for adopting a further extensive program of reform. The Government announcement came as teacher unions slammed the report. Parents and some school council groups generally supported it and educationists questioned some of its more controversial provisions.

Mr Cathie said the Government's acceptance of 12 of the Blackburn review's 45 recommendations marked the beginning of a new era in secondary education. A consultative committee set up to consider the report's other recommendations is likely to report back to the Government next month. As a result of yesterday's announcement, the Higher School Certificate will be replaced by the two-year Victorian Certificate of Education to be introduced in two years and fully operational by 1990. Another key recommendation accepted by the Government is to disband the Victorian Institute of Secondary Education, which administers the HSC. A new curricu- nett, last night accused Mr Cain of deserting Victoria during a state of emergency.

He questioned whether the essential services powers, introduced on Tuesday, were still necessary. "Either Victoria is in a state of emergency, in which case it needs the Premier of the state, or it isn't," Mr Kennett said. "For the others, there was no opposition to the army. They are a very docile people," one of the relief officials said. The party's reason for clearing out the camp, the relief officials said they were told, was to allow the residents to take advantage of recent rains by returning to their homes and beginning to farm.

Party officials are reported to have said that evacuation of the camp would end overcrowding that could spread disease and that those leaving Ibnet were strong and able-bodied. They also said the evacuees had been given enough grain for their trip home and that they would find seed and farm implements in their own region. Nurses working for Concern, an Irish relief organisation that fed and cared for children in Ibnet. disputed the party's account, the officials said. The nurses reported that hundreds of "very sick children" disappeared between Sunday and yesterday.

The nurses counted 17 bodies along the road leading east from the camp, one relief official said. Specialists on the Ethiopian famine in Addis Ababa said that Welo region, the destination of many of the evacuees, remained an inhospitable area with little seed, limited supplies of farm implements and almost no food, except in feeding centres like the camp the walkers were forced to Once the evacuation began, guards were posted on the road heading east to make sure that no one came back. On Monday, the soldiers came again and the camp was emptied of all but about 10,000 people. Evacuees from the surrounding Gondar region dispersed in many directions. Those from Welo and Tigre, about 37 per cent of the camp's population, walked east up into the mountains.

Continued: PAGE 9 lum and assessment board will be set up. State Cabinet has also endorsed the report's main recommendation that by 1995 70 percent of students should complete 1 years of schooling. At present about half of the state's students complete year 12. State Government costing of this proposal is yet to be completed. There was mixed public reaction yesterday to the report, which is likely to be crucial to implementation of the Government's youth guarantee scheme.

Teacher unions refused to rule out industrial action over the report They claim that it was ill-conceived, poorly defined, provocative and superficial. The secretary of the Teachers Federation of Victoria, Mr Jim Grant, accused the authors of the report of producing a "stunningly impractical dog's breakfast" and a "blueprint for He said teachers were concerned about the report's recommendation to abolish English as a compulsory subject in year 12 for some students, the introduction of a new compulsory subject called the study of work in society, some external exams and standardised testing for all students in all levels. THE the talks because it was the first time the rebel farmers and officials of the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria had met on common ground. Mr Cain, who flew to Los Angeles at 10.30 am, said his departure was "absolutely appropriate" because milk was getting through and there was no suggestion of any new problems arising. Mr Cain said he would have delayed the start of his 26-day tour if the situation had worsened but he was "confident that there will be a resolution A spokesman for Mr Cain said later it was possible for the Premier to leave because he was not the minister in charge of the emergency legislation.

After criticism of Mr Cain, the acting Premier, Mr Fordham, said Mr Kennett was resorting to hysterical and personal attacks. He had no credibility, he said. Continued: PAGE 3 PAGE 7: Farm survival is a family affair By DAVID BROADBENT. state political reporter Hopes for an early end to Victoria's state of emergency diminished last night with the breakdown of talks between all sections of the dairy industry and the Agriculture Minister, Mr Walker. Eight hours after the Premier, Mr Cain, flew out of Australia saying he was confident the crisis would soon be resolved, Mr Walker said the state of emergency would have to stay in force until the safety of everybody in the industry could be guaranteed.

Mr Walker and the dairy industry representatives refused to give any details of last night's negotiations but rebel dairy farmer representative Mr David Everist said the blockades would stay in force. Mr Everist said rebel dairy farmers would continue to pour milk on to the ground. Earlier yesterday a meeting of dairy farmers in Sheppar-ton voted 715 to 238 in favor of tipping out their milk. The Opposition leader, Mr Ken- MILK mi CRISIS ACB to sue The Australian Cricket Board will proceed with legal action against the South African Cricket Union, Bruce Francis and players contracted to the board who have signed to tour South Africa. PAGE 28: Wessels denies 'Bok link; Test team divided: McCurdy He said he was amazed and horrified by Mr Cain's decision to leave.

The National Party leader, Mr Ross-Edwards, said Mr Cain should have stayed in Victoria on principle. Both Mr Cain and Mr Walker had placed high hopes on the outcome of Study sets out to find if battered fish feel pain you can be conf identwhen you buy from one of Melbourne's oldest and most reputable motorcar dealers. i area. His studies included rock lobsters and scallops. He knows that fish can react positively to an offer of food and very negatively to something like an electric shock.

"But whether that is pain we don't know," he said. "It's a controversial subject because pain is something that has always had human connotations and now we have to redefine pain," Mr Olsen said. "I'll tell you what, we don't have a Dr Dolittle, so we can't get a direct response from the fish. "It's hard enough to get into the brain of a human on the subject of pain because what's painful to some people isn't to others let alone the brain of a fish. By ROBYN DIXON The sensitivities of fish is a subject which, until now, has left most people pretty cold.

At last, a study is under way to establish once and for all: do fish feel pain? The South Australian Government has decided the study is necessary to deter- mine whether fish should be included in the state's proposed prevention of cruelty to animals act A former director of the state's Fisher- ies Department, Mr Mick Olsen, who will chair the investigation, said there was a tendency to assume fish did not feel pain, but he had an open mind on the subject. Although not a fisherman, Mr Olsen has had years of experience in the fisheries and if you have got them in tanks with lights on them all the time, is that good?" But, if fish did feel painful stimuli, this did not mean they would feel them emotionally, Mr Olsen said. He said responses were more likely to be instinctive. Mr Olsen's investigation has been condemned by the South Australian Opposition as a waste of money. The state's fishermen have been even less impressed.

Mr Olsen said the study would not indulge in new experiments in testing fish for pain, but would look at data already accumulated. The report would probably be completed by the end of the year. Until then animal lovers will have to wait with, well, bated breath "It's a pretty relative thing. We'll have to be very careful about interpreting the way fish have reacted. "It's a very difficult job we've been set." Mr Olsen said it was possible that one reason people had assumed fish felt no pain was because they were cold-blooded, not warm-blooded cuddly animals like koalas, which arouse a more emotional response in humans.

"I wouldn't like to cuddle a fish," he said. "A lot of people find them attractive and keep them in aquariums and this is one reason the Government may be asked this question. Do fish feel stress and pain, or other negative stimuli its got tne lot, more fantastic features, more performance OVERSEAS (160 k.p.hJ, more economy (T4.4 litres100 or 54 m.p.g3 tHighwavcvcleasAS2077 1979. Garrett resigns from NDP Houses cleared after crash Trains were stopped, the Hume Highway was blocked, and farmhouses were evacuated at Black Dog Creek, between Wangaratta and Wodonga after an LPG tanker collided with another semi-trailer early today. REAGAN'S VISIT: The controversy over President Reagan's proposed visit to a German war cemetery enhanced the ceremony as a symbol of reconciliation of World War II enemies, according to the US Secretary of State, Mr PAGE 8 The Nuclear Disarmament Party moved closer to total disintegration yesterday when its biggest I 1 INDEX I 1 Amusements 23 Arts 14 Business Age 19-22 Comics, Crossword 17 TV Guide 2 Classified index 24 Personal notices 16 'The Age' interstate prices PAGE 2 ODD SPOT The Museum of Victoria has a verbal agreement with China to share profits equally on the sale of dinosaur replicas prepared in Melbourne, the auditor-general revealed in his annual report yesterday.

The going rate for replicas is $127,131. The drivers of both trucks were 9 ANTI-UNION SUMMIT: The Queensland Government is planning a summit on united action against unions. BOTTLED UP: Workers on full pay play cricket while a Bays-water factory owner struggles for survival as a result of a building union picket. PAGE 3 LIBRARY HOURS: The State Library may start closing early because of a staff dispute. PAGE 6 TAX DOUBTS: A leader of the ALP's Centre Left yesterday called on the Federal Government to lower expectations about how extensively it can reform Australia's taxation system.

NCA COMPLAINTS: The federal ombudsman is seeking powers for his office to deal with public complaints against the National Crime Authority. PAGE 18 drawcard, rock singer Peter Garrett, resigned with a small group of other members to start a new peace organisation. In Perth, Senator-elect Jo Vallentine has PLO DEMANDS: Attempts to revive the stalled Middle East peace process may be heading for an impasse over the PLO's demands that it be involved. Jo Vallentine The brilliant new civilized hatch. 5-speed man.

Astra SIX Full range PAGE 9 of colours and options. believed to have died. Police had taken one body and an injured person out of one truck but were unable to check the the other because of leaking gas. The Brambles tanker, containing more than 18 tonnes of gas, was on its side at the accident site and was still leaking at 2 am, although the situation was under control. Another tanker left Melbourne under police escort to decant the gas still in the crashed tanker.

A CFA spokesman said 11 CFA units from Chiltern, Wodonga, and Wangaratta were on standby. BUSINESS IMCT5S12 WEATHER I not decided whether to join the new group, but threatened to leave the NDP unless it revealed its financial backers and banned members of other parties. Mr Garrett said yesterday the new group, while not a political party, would be formed "over AT A GLANCE: The all ordinaries index fell 1.2 points yesterday to 873.9. The Australian dollar is worth 64.60 US cents. In London last night, gold slipped to a morn ing fix of IUS315.60 an ounce.

CITY: Fine after early fog. Expected top 23 (yesterday 20). Details 16 LEXICON.