NewsRoo.com.au

A compact weekly review of Aussie news for Australians abroad
By Vince Chadwick and Benjamin Hope

November 1st 2008

Covering Australian News of 25/10/2008 to 31/10/2008













Sydney University
Image: Alex U

Merit, not money for higher education

The Federal Government has pledged to fund 2500 new university places next year as it moves to fulfil a pre-election promise to end full-fee places at Australian higher education institutions. Education Minister Julia Gillard said the moves are designed to ensure Australian students are accepted to higher education based on merit, not ability to pay. Universities responded to the moves by claiming the loss of full-fee students would mean an increased reliance on foreign students to make up the income shortfall. The policy changes come as the demand for university places jumped 6% in Victoria this year with similar increased demand in other Australian states.

NineMSN
Image: Manu Contreras

Packer calls it quits

James Packer resigned from the board of PBL media this week, relinquishing any control over Channel 9, the website ninemsn and the automotive website carsales.com.au after the Packer-owned Consolidated Media Holdings pulled out from any further investment in the debt-laden joint venture. Mr Packer sold his television and magazine empire to PBL two years ago in a joint venture with CVC for $5.5 billion in order to concentrate on expanding his gambling operations. His gambling industry ambitions have now been scaled back after his $6 billion fortune halved as a result of the global financial crisis. PBL appointed Andrew Cummins and Ben Hawter to replace Mr Packer and former PBL chief John Alexander, who also resigned this week.

Baby
Image: Azoreg

Australian economy left to ride the bumps

The effects of ongoing economic uncertainty continue to be felt in all sectors of the Australian economy and beyond with experts suggesting the recent economic downturn may slow the nation’s fertility rate, currently at its highest level in over 25 years. At one point this week the Aussie dollar reached a five-year low of 60.57 cents against the US dollar, leading some analysts to label it the ‘whipping boy’ of foreign exchange markets. ‘Volatile’ continues to be a word many are using to describe the markets with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto stocks fluctuating widely with unsteady commodity prices.

UK Visa
Image: Jon Rawlinson

UK welcomes young Aussies

Anglo-Australian relations warmed this week as the British Government announced new rules making it easier for young Australians to work in the United Kingdom. Under the changes the old working visas will be done away with for 18-to-30 year olds and a new youth mobility visa introduced for half the former price. The new scheme will allow those eligible to work in their chosen profession for two years, and people to arrange work before they leave. New British Defence Minister Kevan Jones also pledged to investigate the effects on Australian servicemen of British nuclear tests carried out in Australia between 1952 and 1967. No compensation has ever been offered despite evidence of numerous medical problems including cancer and birth defects.

Victorian Supreme Court
Image: Bidgee

Sydney terror trial begins

The trial for 6 men accused of conspiring to commit acts in preparation for a terrorist act in Sydney between July 2004 and November 2005 began this week. Jury selection in the New South Wales Supreme Court saw Crown Prosecutor Richard Maidment telling 220 potential jurors that the accused were among a group of at least 9 men who conspired to carry out acts of violence, including the use of firearms and the detonation of explosives. The trial could take up to a year and hear evidence from over 700 witnesses. Melbournian Jack Thomas this week won his 5-year legal battle to clear his name of receiving funds from Al-Qaeda after receiving a ‘not guilty’ verdict in the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday.

Hand Gun
Image: Star5112

Mokbel to face trial after failed appeal

Accused underworld figure Tony Mokbel has lost his court challenge to have murder and drugs charges against him dropped by claiming the Australian government acted unconscionably when it sought to have him extradited from Greece in May this year. Justice Stephen Kaye of the Supreme Court rejected the plea stating there was ‘no judicial process against the plaintiff which could be the proper subject of an application based on the doctrine of abuse of process.’ Mokbel fled Australia in 2006 while on bail for murder charges over the deaths of gangland figures Lewis Moran and Michael Marshall. He will now appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on December 5 for preliminary hearings.

Qantas Jet

Another malfunction for Qantas

It was another bad week for Qantas with the airline agreeing to pay $20 million to settle its liability for fixing cargo fuel surcharges between 2002 and 2006. The deal with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ends Qantas’s liability in Australian courts for its involvement in the affair which has affected airlines all over the world. Also this week a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Sydney had to be guided into Auckland by another jet after the plane’s weather radar malfunctioned over the Pacific. According to a Qantas spokesman passengers were never in danger and following repairs the plane flew on to Sydney, arriving four hours late.

Barack Obama
Image: Ragesoss

Aussies back Obama

A survey by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney has found that Australians favour Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama by a margin of four to one over his Republican rival John McCain. The survey also revealed that Australians were less likely to believe conspiracy theories about Obama, with only one in twenty Australians mistakenly believing Obama is a Muslim as opposed to almost one in five Americans. The enthusiasm for the Illinois Senator came even though 34% of those asked said they believed the outcome of the November 4 election would have no effect on Australia. A Reader’s Digest poll conducted earlier this month found that while most Americans were concerned about the global economy, the biggest issue for Australians was the environment.

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