AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, April 26

AAP General News (Australia)
04-26-2007
AAP National News Wire Round-Up for Evening, April 26
EVENING ROUND-UP: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 1630


WORKPLACE WRAP (SYDNEY)

Punches are flying high and low .. over the future of our IR system .. after KEVIN
RUDD announced last night he wants to scrap the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

The opposition leader .. and his deputy JULIA GILLARD .. are selling their plan today
.. saying a new industrial relations umpire will also be given a judicial arm to deal
with major disputes.

The Fair Work Australia would replace the AIRC .. the Office of the Employment Advocate
.. the Office of Workplace Services .. and the Fair Pay Commission .. if Labor wins office.

But the government is scathing in its counter-attack .. with Federal Workplace Relations
Minister JOE HOCKEY dismissing it as a payback to the unions for their stance against
the PM's new IR laws.

And JOHN HOWARD says Labor's new idea won't simplify or modernise the award system.

He says it's a political device to give the impression the opposition is being modern.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the planned single agency may
even be unconstitutional.

Fire has also come from another quarter .. the Greens don't like Labor's idea .. they
say the old commission is just fine .. and in fact needs strengthening.



VANSTONE (ADELAIDE)

Former immigration minister AMANDA VANSTONE has quit politics .. resigning from her
South Australian senate seat today.

The former immigration minister .. who was dumped from cabinet by JOHN HOWARD in January
.. has ended a 22-year parliamentary career.

Government Senate leader NICK MINCHIN has hailed her achievements .. saying she's
made a significant contribution to the HOWARD government in several difficult portfolios.

But the Australian Democrats say any good work she's done in her time as immigration
minister .. is outweighed by the trauma she caused refugees.



URANIUM RANN (ADELAIDE)

South Australian Premier MIKE RANN .. says changing Labor's uranium mines policy ..

will be part of preparing to take government at a federal level.

Mr RANN says being in office is about taking the tough decisions necessary .. if it's
in the national interest.

He says it's very important .. as Labor prepares for government nationally .. hard
decisions are made .. because that's what government's all about.

Labor's future stance on uranium will be thrashed out at a national conference this weekend.



CHINA AUST (CANBERRA)

A union is warning of new threats to our jobs.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says a free trade agreement between Australia
and China will cost about 170 thousand local jobs.

A full economic analysis .. commissioned by the union .. studied Australia's three
previous bilateral free trade agreements .. with the US .. Thailand and Singapore.

It says Australia's imports have increased more quickly than exports to the new trade
partners .. and Australia's corresponding trade deficit has widened to more than 11 billion
dollars annually.

It also estimates 26 thousand Australian jobs have been lost as a result of the trade
deals .. most from the manufacturing sector.



IRAQ US (WASHINGTON)

The US House of Representatives has approved a bill providing 100 billion dollars (US)
in new war funds .. while setting a non-binding date of March 31 .. for withdrawing all
American combat troops from Iraq.

The move is in direct defiance of President GEORGE W BUSH'S veto threat .. who says
he won't sign the bill if Democrats include a timetable for withdrawal.



STOLEN (MELBOURNE)

Former Prime Minister MALCOLM FRASER says the federal government should pay compensation
to members of the Stolen Generation of indigenous Australians.

The former Liberal prime minister has compared Australia's treatment of its stolen
generations with Canada .. which recently announced compensation for indigenous people
removed from their families.



MIGRATION (MELBOURNE)

Immigration Minister KEVIN ANDREWS says changes to skilled temporary visa laws will
see migrants required to have a minimum standard of English.

And .. he says stricter penalties imposed against underpaying employers.

Mr ANDREWS also says employers with good reputations will have their applications fast-tracked
to weed out abusers of the visa program.

Mr ANDREWS has also attacked Labor's proposal to axe temporary protection visas for
refugees .. saying the plan opens Australian borders to boatpeople and people-smugglers.



GARDASIL (SYDNEY)

There were winces all round today .. as Sydney schoolgirls received their vaccinations
of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil.

And the jokes of NSW Premier MORRIS IEMMA didn't provide much in the way of light relief.

The premier was on hand today at Petersham's Fort Street High School .. as its students
became the first to take part in the commonwealth and state vaccination program.

Mr IEMMA .. is also calling for anyone with information about the over-prescribing
of the ADHD drug Ritalin to come forward.

A judge has accused doctors of creating a generation of violent children .. through
a 25-fold increase in prescriptions for Ritalin over the past 15 years.



FAIRFAX (SYDNEY)

Two of Australia's biggest newspapers .. the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne
Age .. are cutting down the size of their pages.

And .. Fairfax is also cutting down the number of its staff .. axing of up to 35 production
jobs .. mainly subeditors.



PARKINSONS (SYDNEY)

Australian specialists are developing a world-first test .. to diagnose Parkinson's
disease before the onset of debilitating symptoms.

The Melbourne researchers hope their simple blood test could soon become the first
accurate confirmation of the disease.



FRIDGE (MELBOURNE)

Five thousand old and inefficient fridges will be collected across Melbourne as part
of a scheme designed to benefit both the poor and the environment.

The Phoenix Fridge Project .. run by the Brotherhood of St Laurence .. will provide
refurbished fridges for low-income families while those that can't be fixed will be recycled.



UK TEA (LONDON)

Not your cup of tea?

May be not for 70 dollars a fill .. but some of the world's most expensive and exclusive
teas have sold at auction in London .. reaching in one case .. exactly that price .. 70
dollars A CUP.

Harrods hosted the sale .. with 20 limited editions going under the hammer for humanitarian
charity Action Against Hunger.



BRIEFLY IN OTHER NEWS ..




AFL boss ANDREW DEMETRIOU has helped launch a new court initiative to help sex crime victims.




The trial for a Melbourne man facing terrorism-related charges has been delayed ..

after his barristers pulled out of the proceedings.




A man who's accused an older AIDS-afflicted man of deliberately infecting him with
the deadly virus .. has denied in a Brisbane court that he's slept with a number of men.



IN SPORT ..



AFL (SYDNEY/MELBOURNE)

Forward NICK DAVIS will return to the Sydney Swans side for the first time in four
weeks for Saturday's AFL clash with Melbourne at the SCG.

And Kangaroos teenager LEIGH ADAMS has been promoted to the club's senior list and
will make his AFL debut against Geelong on Sunday.



LEAGUE BRONCOS (BRISBANE)

Injured Brisbane lock TONIE CARROLL has been ruled out of the Broncos' NRL grand final
re-match with Melbourne on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.

New Zealand international GREG EASTWOOD comes in at lock for CARROLL who damaged his
knee cap in the gutsy last round win at Newcastle.



SUPER FORCE (PERTH)

JOHN MITCHELL looks set to extend his tenure as coach of the Western Force .. saying
he hoped an extension to his contract would be finalised by next week.





ENDS EVENING ROUND-UP


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