PRESS DIGEST-Australian General News - Aug 28
Compiled for Reuters by Media Monitors. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW (www.afr.com)
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum (WPL.AX) yesterday beat analysts' estimates to post a 67 percent increase in half-year profit, underpinned by surging oil prices and production expansion. Net profit climbed to A$1.02 billion in the six months ended June 30, up from A$608 million a year earlier, while sales rose from A$1.87 billion to A$2.57 billion. Chief executive Don Voelte welcomed the result, and said Woodside would pass on to customers the cost of a new A$2.5 billion tax on condensate production at its North-West Shelf gas project. Page 1.
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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday offered financial incentives for struggling schools in the latest tranche of his so-called "education revolution." Mr Rudd told the National Press Club in Canberra that he will seek agreement from the Council of Australian Governments to reveal the relative performance of schools from next year and provide individual school reports to parents within three years. The Prime Minister said "tough action is necessary and the tough action our reform demands will be rewarded." Page 1.
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Eddy Groves faces mounting pressure to step down as chief executive of ABC Learning Centres ABS.AX as the embattled child care group prepares to release annual results than many believe will be worse than forecast. Already depressed shares in the Brisbane-based company remained in a four-day trading halt yesterday ahead of tomorrow's results, and speculation increased that new asset write downs could be as high as A$200 million. Ernst & Young is checking ABC's accounts previously audited by Pitcher Partners. Page 1.
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The Federal Government said last night it was confident of concluding in the near future a free trade agreement with the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trade Minister Simon Crean said discussions were going extremely well with ASEAN, which will also trade with New Zealand under the deal. Wine, beef and dairy producers are expected to win improved access to their closest Asian markets and reap the benefits of an additional US$48 billion in economic benefits over the next 11 years, observers said. Page 1.
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THE AUSTRALIAN (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
The Master Builders Association has urged companies to bypass unions and sign non-union deals that provide more flexible arrangements for workers. Building industry workers voted yesterday at a meeting at Melbourne's Festival Hall to support a 15 percent pay rise over three years. The association's manager of industrial relations, Lawrie Cross, said "construction companies can still provide their employees with more flexible non-union arrangements." Page 2.
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The Australian Council of Trade Unions will today call on the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to let Telstra employees indicate, via secret ballot, their preference for either a union-negotiated collective bargaining agreement or the non-union alternative. In its bid to circumvent union intervention, the telecommunications group has begun offering its workers wage rises of up to 20 percent over three years. A Telstra spokesperson last night criticised the unions because "they know that this is a great offer for our employees." Page 2.
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An Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of building and construction has found the backlog of work among major engineering firms is currently A$51.3 billion -- 26 percent more than this time last year. Access Economics director Chris Richardson predicted the industry would be the last sector to display signs of an economic slowdown and thus provide a buffer for Australia's slowing economy. ABN Amro, however, said high mortgage rates would likely see the "outlook for construction…become increasingly polarised." Page 2.
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Schools will be asked to report truant children to Centrelink under a proposed new law introduced yesterday by Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard. The bill will enable parents' welfare payments to be frozen for 13 weeks if their child does not go to school, but Ms Gillard said the initiative was vital because "we cannot give every Australian child a world education if they are not going to school." Some Labor members of parliament have expressed concern over the truancy plan, which will be trialled at eight sites from January. Page 4.
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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (www.smh.com.au)
The New South Wales Opposition is expected to vote against Premier Morris Iemma's plan to privatise the state's electricity industry when it is introduced to the upper house today. Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell reportedly told fellow Liberals yesterday of his in-principle support for privatisation, but stressed it was too early to support the timing and sale process of Mr Iemma's proposal because the Federal Government was yet to finalise the details of its emissions trading scheme. Page 1.
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National construction activity fell 2.6 percent to A$30 billion in the June quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, raising concern that overall growth was flat in the period. "Flat or negative economic growth in the June quarter obviously is a serious risk," said Macquarie Group economist Rory Robertson. Statistics to be released next Wednesday are expected to reveal minimal growth during the quarter. Goldman Sachs JBWere said there was now a 40 percent chance that Australia would experience a technical recession. Page 1.
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The Federal Government's communications regulator said yesterday it would not recommend the imposition of general restrictions on food and beverage advertising during children's television programming. The Australian Communications and Media Authority said it had found little evidence of an association between the advertising of junk food on television and obesity levels in children. The finding was criticised by the Coalition on Food Advertising to Children, which represents more than a dozen medical and nutritional authorities. Page 3.
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Pharmaceutical companies are the second-most important source of information after clinical evidence, according to a survey of doctors by consumer group Choice. The survey found 73 percent referred to drug companies or their representatives for drug information. While only 24 percent trusted the information as much as an independent source, 81 percent it was often the only way to get timely information on new products. One doctor said more attention from independent drugs adviser, the National Prescribing Service, would be wonderful. Page 3.
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THE AGE (www.theage.com.au) The editor-in-chief of Melbourne's The Age, Andrew Jaspan, yesterday became the first of 550 Fairfax Media (FXJ.AX) employees expected to lose their jobs in the next 10 months. Fairfax thanked Mr Jaspan in an email to staff, but said it had decided the newspaper required fresh editorial and executive leadership. His deputy, Paul Ramadge, has been promoted to restructure editorial operations as part of the round of redundancies announced on Tuesday by Fairfax chief executive David Kirk. Mr Jaspan said he was proud to have worked on The Age. Page 2.
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The Australian division of the International Transplantation Society has vowed to report Chinese hospitals that sell the organs of executed prisoners to Australian patients. Society president Jeremy Chapman said that before recent changes banning the buying and selling of organs in China, about five Australians a year had received organs from executed prisoners. He noted that China's "determination to improve its connections with the world" had coincided with moves to improve the rights of prisoners and people in general. Page 2.
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Residents near Melbourne's Moorabbin Airport claim it is only a matter of time before someone in the vicinity is killed by a crashing plane. "Today was inevitable," Moorabbin Airport Residents Association president Tom Uren said yesterday in reference to an accident which left a trainee pilot dead after hitting a house. The number of flights at the airport made another crash unavoidable, he said. Flight numbers have grown from about 250,000 a year to more than 300,000 since the late 1990s, mainly due to an increase in pilot training programs. Page 4.
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In his first major speech as chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), General Ken Gillespie yesterday announced a restructuring of high command to make land forces more flexible and better able to fight modern wars. General Gillespie told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute the ADF had too many headquarters and a command structure that had not evolved to keep pace with modern warfare in the email and BlackBerry age. He also said decision cycles and the sharing of lessons learned had suffered as a result. Page 5.
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