NSW: Police renew appeal for information

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-2000
NSW: Police renew appeal for information

SYDNEY, Dec 6 AAP - Police today renewed their appeal for information as inquiries
continued into the death of a two-year-old boy in the back of his mother's stolen car.

Police were still hoping witnesses who were at Hill Street, in the western Sydney suburb
of Cabramatta, when thieves made off with the BMW containing Leo Nguyen, would come forward.

Leo suffered a cardiac arrest as the temperature soared in the closed car after the
thieves dumped the vehicle, leaving the little boy strapped in the back.

The boy's mother, Lan Nguyen, told today's Daily Telegraph of her agonising wait as
police searched for the car.

"I think it would have taken me less than three hours to find him," she told the paper.

"Why wouldn't they let me look?

"When I was at the police station I asked them to take me around to look for my son.

"I didn't want to sit there and wait."

Police yesterday defended their two-and-a-half-hour search for the toddler, denying
a lack of helicopters hampered the search.

Investigators also sifted through closed circuit television footage in a bid to track
down the thieves.

The car was stolen from busy Hill Street in Cabramatta about 1.30pm (AEDT) after Leo's
mother went to a supermarket 50 metres away and left the car running to keep the air conditioning
on.

Police located the car on Grace Avenue, a residential street five blocks from where
the car was stolen.

Greater Hume Regional Commander Chris Evans conceded no police helicopters were available
in the Sydney area for the search because two were already on jobs while the other was
out of action because the pilot was off duty.

But he denied that the helicopter would have cut the search short.

Commander Evans also defended the grid search of Cabramatta, involving seven cars and
30 officers, who first examined "hotspots" or known dumping grounds for stolen vehicles.

Local traders and shoppers have been interviewed by police but so far no witnesses
to the to the theft had come forward.

AAP jjs/mjm

KEYWORD: BOY DAYLEAD

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: ACCC to investigate alleged caravan park GST exploitation

AAP General News (Australia)
04-24-2000
NSW: ACCC to investigate alleged caravan park GST exploitation

By Karen Michelmore

SYDNEY, April 24 AAP - Australia's consumer watchdog is to investigate a New South
Wales caravan park over claims of GST exploitation.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will investigate allegations
the Central Coast caravan park was planning to increase rents 0.5 per cent above the nominated
five per cent GST rise.

But the operators of the Erina Gardens and Karalta Court Residential Home Villages
today rejected the claims, saying residents had misunderstood a letter foreshadowing changes
under the GST and confusion about the new tax, which comes ito effect on July 1.

Fair Trading Minister John Watkins said park residents had complained about receiving
a letter from the operator saying he planned to raise rents by 5.5 per cent from July
1, with a further GST-related increase later in the year.

"The Howard government said park residents would pay five per cent not 5.5 per cent,"

Mr Watkins said in a statement.

"The GST rise should also be a one-off rise, not one bite now and another later."

The ACCC has the power to fine corporations up to $10 million and individuals up to
$500,000 for breaching GST price exploitation laws.

Erina Gardens and Karalta Court Residential Home operator Paul Craig said the letter
was not notice of a rent increase, but had been written to explain the GST changes.

"There was probably a misinterpretation of our letter," Mr Craig said.

"There is no rent increase notice.

"Our only interest is to charge whatever the increase is. I thought 5.5 per cent was correct."

Mr Craig said he had not been contacted by the Department of Fair Trading over the
letter, nor had he received complaints from residents.

He said part of the problem was the confusion surrounding the GST.

"We are getting dribs and drabs of information from the government," Mr Craig said.

Mr Watkins said people in caravan parks should not have to pay the GST at all.

It was claimed yesterday that more than 50,000 battlers living in caravan parks would
be hit by the GST, while thousands of others living in luxury properties would avoid the
tax.

New South Wales parliamentary secretary to the premier Paul Crittenden said some of
the poorest families in NSW who lived in caravan parks would pay an extra $260 annually
on their rents, while tenants renting exclusive $1,000-a-week properties would be exempt.

More than 40 per cent of caravan park residents are over the age of 60, almost three
in four are not in paid work and more than half receive less than $300 a week.

Comment was being sought from the ACCC.

AAP km/jjs/it/bwl

KEYWORD: TAX CARAVANS (CARRIED EARLIER)

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Newspoll shows Howard s support dipping

AAP General News (Australia)
02-08-2000
Newspoll shows Howard s support dipping

SYDNEY, Feb 8 AAP - John Howard's personal popularity has dipped sharply among voters,
according to the latest Newspoll.

The poll results, reported in today's Australian newspaper, show that the prime minister's
satisfaction rating has slid from 50 per cent to …

Highlights of the AAP National Wire at 20:30 Dec 6 = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-1999
Highlights of the AAP National Wire at 20:30 Dec 6 = 2

CANBERRA - Federal MPs should support Virgin Airline's planned entry into the Australian
aviation market by boycotting the two existing carriers, maverick Labor backbencher Mark
Latham today said. (Virgin Latham)



SYDNEY - John Marsden today called Channel 7's barrister "the most disgusting human
being I've ever met" after debate over the solicitor's wish to attend the funeral of a
former lover who suicided. (Marsden)



SYDNEY - Three workers suffered life-threatening burns when an explosion ripped through
a grain silo at a margarine factory in the New South Wales Hunter Valley today. (Silo)



SYDNEY - A pilot of a skydiving plane who smelt fumes coming from the engine but continued
on the journey before the engine stalled, is being questioned by the Civil Aviation Safety
Authority (CASA). (Aircraft)



SYDNEY - So what do the guys behind one of the scariest, most talked about and profitable
movies of the year do for an encore? (Witch)



SYDNEY - The parents of an Aboriginal man who hanged himself in jail will hold last
ditch peace talks with the coroner's office tomorrow after their representative was barred
from attending their son's autopsy. (Russell)



BRISBANE - Premier Peter Beattie today promised a resolution to Queensland's tree clearing
crisis by the end of the week after remarking about the extent of burn-offs across the
state. (Trees)



AAP sp/de

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL UPDATE 2 SYDNEY

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA: Inmate sues state over prison food

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-1999
SA: Inmate sues state over prison food

By Valkerie Mangnall

ADELAIDE, April 20 AAP - A prisoner who says he bit into a syringe needle while eating a
salad roll prepared for his lunch is seeking $40,000 damages from the South Australian
government.

Darrin Barker claims he suffered a needle stick injury when he bit into the roll at the
Yatala Labour Prison, in Adelaide's north, while he was an inmate there in 1995.

Barker, who is now in Mobilong Prison, also alleges that he found some wire, a human
toenail and hair in food served to him by the kitchen at Yatala.

In a statement of claim filed in the District Court, Barker alleged that at about 11.30am
on July 26, 1995, he picked up a salad roll wrapped in plastic wrap for his lunch.

He said that when he bit into the roll, he felt two sharp jabs in the roof of his mouth.

The statement said Barker spat out the food and pulled out a needle of a syringe which was
stuck in the roof of his mouth.

Barker became anxious that he may have contracted AIDS and asked for a blood test.

"As a result of the needle stick injury, the plaintiff was unable to eat prepared meals
from the prison kitchen and embarked on a diet of cereal only," the statement said.

Barker claims he suffered and continues to suffer an eating disorder and adjustment
disorder with depressed mood and significant weight loss and that even when he was transferred
to Berrimah Prison in the Northern Territory, he remained unable to eat food prepared by the
prison kitchen.

He also claims he suffered and continues to suffer a loss of enjoyment of life.

Barker is claiming that the injury was a result of negligence, saying the state of South
Australia failed to supervise food preparation in Yatala, failed to properly investigate a
previous incident where he reported finding wire in his food and failed to implement
procedures to ensure needles were not placed in his food.

In a statement of defence, the state denies that the needle incident took place and denies
each allegation of negligence.

But the state admitted that Barker presented a needle to prison officers and that a blood
test was performed.

The state says that if Barker did sustain injury, loss and damage (which is denied) then he
has sufficiently recovered or, if he does suffer pain and suffering and/or loss of amenities,
it is minimal and does not preclude him from resuming his pre-incident activities.

The state says Barker does not require medical or other treatment and denies that he is
entitled to any damages.

AAP vm/sn/was/de

KEYWORD: NEEDLE

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Plane crash survivor out of intensive care

AAP General News (Australia)
01-12-1999
NSW: Plane crash survivor out of intensive care

SYDNEY, Jan 12 AAP - Plane crash survivor Victoria Friend was today moved out of intensive
care after a successful second skin graft operation at Concord hospital in Sydney.

Ms Friend, 30, was critically injured in the crash of a Piper Cherokee Warrior which killed
her friend Geoff Henderson, on January 2.

She survived nearly two days with burns to 30 per cent of her body and other injuries at
the crash site at Pidgeon Box Rock, near Scone, until rescued by searchers in a helicopter.

At the height of the …

WA:Woodside seeks delay to Browse project =2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-19-2011
WA:Woodside seeks delay to Browse project =2

Environs Kimberley director Martin Pritchard described the decision as "another nail
in the coffin" for the project.

"We're calling on the premier (Colin Barnett) to suspend decisions on the project and
not waste $120 million of taxpayers' money on the road that's planned to the proposed
gas hub, because it looks like it's going to the Pilbara," he said.

"We also want certainty for Broome. The longer an announcement on a decision to go
to the Pilbara is delayed, the more angst it creates for our community."

Mr Pritchard said Woodside should think about its corporate social responsibility,
as well as its share price.

AAP anr/jl/wjf

KEYWORD: BROWSE 2 PERTH (REOPENS)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.