Vic: meningococcal disease death a warning

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2000
Vic: meningococcal disease death a warning

Parents are being warned to be on the look out for signs of meningococcal diseases
following the death yesterday of a 12-year-old Victorian girl.

Health officials say it is the start of the peak season for the disease.

Dr JOHN CATFORD, the chief health officer of the human services department, says the
girl fell ill on Wednesday morning and was admitted to Geelong Hospital where she died
yesterday.

Dr CATFORD says the number of cases tends to increase in late winter and early spring,
although the disease is still very uncommon.

But he says the best way to deal with it is through early detection and intervention.

There are two kinds of meningococcal disease -- meningitis and septicaemia.

Meningitis signs include fever, stiff neck, headache, dislike of bright lights, vomiting
and drowsiness.

In septicaemia, there might be no headache and neck stiffness but there's extensive
skin rash and the patient can become comatose.

There have been 66 reported cases of meningococcal disease this year, six of them fatal.

AAP RTV nl/er/nf/slp/jx e

KEYWORD: MENINGOCOCCAL (MELBOURNE)

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

Fed: GST will give voters stark choice Crean

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2000
Fed: GST will give voters stark choice Crean

The federal opposition says the GST will give voters a stark choice at the next election,
with the coalition committed to extending it and Labor ready to roll it back.

Opposition deputy leader SIMON CREAN, who took a pair of pyjamas from Woolworths into
parliament question time yesterday to show their price was rising a full 10 per cent,
says the GST is already in a mess.

Mr CREAN has told Channel Nine that Labor is urging the government to reconsider its position.

He says that if the government can't explain how its tax applies, how does it expect
ordinary Australians to understand it?

Mr CREAN's repeated Labor's statement that the tax can't be scrapped once it's been
introduced, but the ALP would roll it back where it was most unfair.

Mr CREAN says the GST has already pushed up interest rates.

AAP RTV dep/rt

KEYWORD: TAX CREAN (CANBERRA)

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

NSW: Police seize $9.7 million cannabis, arrest 13

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-1999
NSW: Police seize $9.7 million cannabis, arrest 13

SYDNEY, Dec 16 AAP - Police have seized more than $9.7 million worth of cannabis on
the New South Wales north coast over the past six weeks.

Thirteen people were charged with cultivating prohibited plants after police found
almost 5,000 cannabis plants and 14kg of harvested cannabis during three operations, Detective
Superintendent Ken McKay, of Organised Crime, said.

Two of the 13 people were charged with cultivating commercial quantities of the plants.

Police were taking action to confiscate two rural properties on which the cannabis
was grown, he said.

Det Supt McKay said the arrests were the result of three operations in the Richmond,
mid north coast and Coffs/Clarence local area commands, under the Cannabis Eradication
program.

The operations, coordinated by Crime Agencies, involved the Police Aviation Support
Branch, Local Area Commands, the Dog Squad and the Radio Electronics Unit, he said.

AAP km/was

KEYWORD: CANNABIS

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

QLD: Powerlines may go underground

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-1999
QLD: Powerlines may go underground

BRISBANE, Aug 4 AAP - The Queensland government might investigate the use of underground
powerlines after it was revealed today some overhead powerlines were suburban deathtraps.

A report by electricity retailer Energex found maintenance programs had failed to keep pace
with safety requirements.

The safety survey found about 16 per cent of the southeast Queensland network was
dangerously overgrown by trees.

Premier Peter Beattie said today Energy Minister Tony McGrady was currently in Western
Australia investigating underground powerlines.

Mr Beattie said the government had a quote on underground powerlines and it was expensive.

"It is incredibly expensive but it is something that we are prepared to look at," Mr
Beattie said.

"I believe that we can go underground over a long period of time but it's very,very
expensive.

"We're talking about well in excess of a billion dollars to do this."

He said any plan to go underground would have to be a long-term strategy.

Mr Beattie said there was proper funding for a tree management program around powerlines.

But the opposition today demanded the government immediately guarantee funding for an
upgrade of the powerline system.

Opposition leader Rob Borbidge said the government had bled the industry dry and it was now
clear this was money needed for maintenance.

"They ripped out 95 per cent of the after-tax profits of the distributors, despite the
protestations of the then directors," Mr Borbidge said.

"When the question of maintenance was raised last month, Mr McGrady assured Queenslanders
the government would provide for emergent expenditure and maintenance.

"Well the evidence now says it is required and while Mr Beattie battles to stitch together
the state budget, he must make allowance for urgent maintenance."

AAP sls/geb/it/br

KEYWORD: POWERLINES LEAD

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

NSW: Witness has no more veracity than Athena Starwoman

AAP General News (Australia)
02-08-1999
NSW: Witness has no more veracity than Athena Starwoman

A Sydney judge has been told that an expert medical witness called on behalf of convicted
child molester PHILIP HAROLD BELL has no more credibility than Athena Starwoman.

Retired GP BARRIE EGGINS told the NSW District Court he's the only person in the
world researching the area of bio-psycho social medicine, which includes abnormal sexual
expresesion.

Judge THOMAS DAVIDSON is hearing sentencing submissions for 64-year-old BELL, who's
admitted 47 sex offences against 13 boys.

He's been found guilty of …

FED:Oppn raps govt over plant disease spread

AAP General News (Australia)
01-11-2012
FED:Oppn raps govt over plant disease spread

CANBERRA, Jan 11 AAP - The federal opposition is blaming the Labor government for the
spread of myrtle rust, which has recently been detected in Victoria.

First sighted in NSW in 2010, the disease - dubbed the cane toad of plant diseases
- attacks the leaves, stems, fruits and flowers of various trees and plants and has also
since been found across Queensland.

Last week, Victoria's primary industries department confirmed its first case at a nursery
on the Mornington Peninsula.

Coalition agriculture spokesman John Cobb said on Wednesday …

FED:Vietnam vets frustrated over Agent Orange

AAP General News (Australia)
01-01-2011
FED:Vietnam vets frustrated over Agent Orange

EDS: EMBARGOED TO 0001 JANUARY 1, 2011, AEDT



By Max Blenkin

CANBERRA, Jan 1 AAP - Australia's Vietnam veterans were getting sick, and evidence
emerging from the United States made clear the likely cause - a chemical compound called
Agent Orange.

In a new era of militancy, the veterans formed their own association to press for a
better deal from the government which had dispatched them to fight in the jungles of Vietnam.

Cabinet papers for 1980 - released by the National Archives of Australia under the
30-year rule - …