Fed: Oakeshott worried about bridge flood damage

AAP General News (Australia)
02-22-2009
Fed: Oakeshott worried about bridge flood damage

CANBERRA, Feb 22 AAP - Federal Independent MP Rob Oakeshott says he's concerned bridges
in his mid-north coast electorate of Lyne may have been placed under stress by recent
floods.

A statement from Mr Oakeshott says councils in the area are facing a damage bill in
excess of $10 million due to last week's flooding in NSW.

Estimates from Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has put an initial estimate of damages
at more than $2.5 million, while Kempsey's damage bill is likely to pass the $7 million
mark.

Many roads, bridges and other vital …

FED:PM quiet on force tactics for boat load

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2011
FED:PM quiet on force tactics for boat load

Prime Minister JULIA GILLARD won't say how much force federal police might use to get
the first boatload of asylum seekers destined for Malaysia onto planes.

She's also declined to say whether any children will be included in the transfer.

The 54 passengers on a boat stopped off the WA coast yesterday will undergo assessments
on Christmas Island before they're flown to Malaysia under the swap deal signed last week.

Ms GILLARD's refused to comment on reports that police could use tear gas and bean
bag bullets fired during protests at immigration detention centres to get people on planes.

But she's told ABC radio the government's determined to get it done.

AAP RTV lpm/rl/bwl/jmt

KEYWORD: BOAT GILLARD (CANBERRA)

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

FED:NBN head of construction Flannigan quits

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2011
FED:NBN head of construction Flannigan quits

PERTH, April 5 AAP - Patrick Flannigan has quit as NBN Co's head of construction, the
national broadband network developer has confirmed.

Dan Fleming, who was the company's general manager of construction, design and planning,
has been appointed acting head of construction, a spokeswoman told AAP on Tuesday.

"We are disappointed with (Patrick Flannigan's) decision to resign as he was a valuable
member of the leadership team," the spokeswoman said.

"We wish him all the best for the future."

According to the NBN Co website, Mr Flannigan was the founding managing director and
chief executive of Service Stream Ltd, a major provider of infrastructure, construction
and maintenance services to the telecommunications sector and broader utilities sectors.

He also founded and was non-executive chairman of Australasian Maintenance Services
Company and has held general manager and senior management positions in publicly listed
contract labour company Skilled Group Ltd.

AAP rlm/shd/bwl

KEYWORD: NBN

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

NSW:Main stories in Wednesday's newspapers=3

AAP General News (Australia)
12-15-2010
NSW:Main stories in Wednesday's newspapers=3

The Australian:

Page 1: Resources minister Martin Ferguson has accused the Australian Greens of seeking
to derail mining approval processes. The NSW government's electricity privatisation was
in disarray on Tuesday night. Julia Gillard's top infrastructure adviser has warned that
water utilities in regional towns are failing to comply with water quality standards.

Heavy rains and flooding have washed $1.2 billion off the forecast value of rural exports.

Page 2: Foreign minister Kevin Rudd visited the parents of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Page 3: Queensland police who spent five years investigating the scuba-diving death
of an Albanian woman misstated key evidence to the media in ways that made it appear more
likely her husband murdered her.

World: (Washington) Barack Obama's historic overhaul of US healthcare is in jeopardy
after a court ruling.

Finance: NSW is set to reap up to $5.3 billion from the first stage of its power privatisation.

Sport: (Rugby League) A constitution for the game has been agreed upon.

AAP bzs/jfm

KEYWORD: MONITOR FRONTERS NSW 3 SYDNEY

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

SA:Job cuts in SA budget

AAP General News (Australia)
08-07-2010
SA:Job cuts in SA budget

The South Australian government says public service jobs will be axed in the state's
budget in September .. but Treasurer KEVIN FOLEY won't say now how many.

The treasurer says tough action is needed to ensure the state's economic future and
to preserve its triple-A credit rating.

However .. that's been disputed by the unions .. with the Public Service Association
saying there's no need to slash jobs and services.

The PSA is warning the government's plan is to cut 750 million dollars from the budget
.. despite recent research revealing improvements in economic .. employment and revenue
growth.

AAP RTV tjd/jl/wz

KEYWORD: BUDGETSA (ADELAIDE)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Stolen detonators dangerous in wrong hands

AAP General News (Australia)
12-27-2009
NSW: Stolen detonators dangerous in wrong hands

SYDNEY, Dec 27 AAP - The theft of dangerous detonators on the NSW south coast has sparked
a public-safety alert from police.

Several tins of railway detonators were taken from the back of a utility parked in
Third Avenue, Port Kembla, some time on the evening of Christmas Day.

Police are concerned someone may be badly injured if the detonators, which were locked
and secured at the time, are handled by inexperienced people.

"The items contained in these tins are potentially dangerous," Inspector John Klepczarek
said in a statement.

"Police are urging anyone who has information about these items to contact police immediately
so they can be handled in a safe and professional manner.

"We are concerned these detonators may come into the hands of those not trained to
handle them or, even worse, children."

Anyone with information about the theft of the detonators, or their whereabouts, should
contact police by calling Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

AAP ad/mmr/jhp

KEYWORD: DETONATORS

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Coalition ready to fight early election on climate change: Pyne

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2009
Fed: Coalition ready to fight early election on climate change: Pyne

CANBERRA, Aug 16 AAP - The coalition is ready to go to an early election on climate
change, Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne says.

The coalition and all cross-bench senators voted against Labor's 11 climate change
bills in the Senate on Thursday, a move which could lead to a double-dissolution election
if the legislation is rejected again in three months time.

Mr Pyne said he thought the government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) should be debated
in February, after the US has passed its version and global climate change talks have
taken place in Copenhagen.

"(But) my sense is they will bring it back in November because they are looking for
a double-dissolution trigger," he told ABC TV on Sunday.

Mr Pyne said the coalition would not pass Labor's ETS because it feared an early election.

"If the government wants to have an election, we'll have one," he said.

Meanwhile, the government's renewable energy target (RET) could be passed as early as this week.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong announced the government would detach the RET from
the rest of its ETS so it could be voted on separately.

Under the RET, 20 per cent of electricity must come from renewable sources by 2020.

Mr Pyne said Opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt had already spoken with
Senator Wong over the RET draft laws.

Although the coalition is seeking to make minor amendments to them, Mr Pyne said they
would not stop the bill's passage through the Senate.

AAP bsb/ldj

KEYWORD: CLIMATE PYNE

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Pessimistic builders need another rate cut

AAP General News (Australia)
04-06-2009
Fed: Pessimistic builders need another rate cut

Builders need another interest rate cut to combat the downturn.

So says Masters Builders Australia .. as the Reserve Bank prepares to hold its monthly
board meeting tomorrow.

MBA chief economist PETER JONES says a quarterly survey has found the government's
stimulus measures are having little or no impact on business activity in the building
sector.

He says builders expect activity to drop by more than 20 per cent .. and jobs to fall
by more than 10 per cent .. as the credit crunch adds to the pessimism.

There's a glimmer of hope in the home building sector .. but the MBA wants the more
generous first home owners grant extended .. and public building projects and tax cuts
brought forward .. to give the industry a desperately needed lift.

AAP RTV cb/rl/jmt

KEYWORD: RATES BUILDERS (CANBERRA)

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Pass on rate cut in full: Opposition MPs say=2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-02-2008
Fed: Pass on rate cut in full: Opposition MPs say=2

Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne urged the banks to show some pre-Christmas spirit.

"Banks should pass on the full rate cut, whatever it is, to consumers," he told reporters.

AAP rl/imc

KEYWORD: RATES MPS 2 CANBERRA

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

High hopes for an Abu Dhabi newspaper

Heather Timmons The New York Times Media Group
International Herald Tribune
04-29-2008
High hopes for an Abu Dhabi newspaper
Byline: Heather Timmons The New York Times Media Group
Edition: 4
Section: FINANCE/BUSINESS

One of the wealthiest ruling families in the Middle East has a new asset: The National, a newspaper that started this month that promises independence from its royal owners.

The National, an English language daily in Abu Dhabi, published its first issue April 17, with close scrutiny from the Middle East and abroad. The paper, which pledges to emulate Western newspaper standards and to "help society evolve," is an anomaly in the Middle East, where most media is tightly controlled by the government.
The National has built its staff of 200 from newspapers around the world, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Telegraph in Britain.

The move is another sign that while the newspaper industry slumps in the United States and Western Europe, it is booming in much of the rest of the world. New newspapers and magazines are springing up in India, the Middle East, Africa and other emerging markets as economies grow and change, and as, in some areas, literacy increases.

These areas are also attracting investment from Western media companies, though they may not be able to publish the same type of newspaper as they do at home. On Monday, The Financial Times said it would start an edition for the Middle East.

The National, which targets local professionals and expatriates in Abu Dhabi, has run a few stories that are sometimes critical of the region, like one about severely overcrowded private schools, which limit the ability of companies to attract new people to the region.

In recent days, the paper has also printed controversial opinion pieces - one asking Arabs to welcome Jewish investors to the region, another warning that Emirate culture is disappearing. It has delved into regional news, offering a detailed account of former President Jimmy Carter's trip to Syria and a buildup of Syrian troops on the Lebanese border.

It also had its share of fluff - like a story on the wife of the British ambassador to Abu Dhabi, whose perfect day in the emirate includes Starbucks, then Pilates, a blow dry and a seafood dinner.

"We aim to produce an excellent newspaper out of the region" that will set a new standard for other publications to aspire to, said Hassan Fattah, the deputy editor of the paper. Fattah was a correspondent for The New York Times in the Middle East before joining The National. "Being government owned does not equal being government run," Fattah said. "There are no ministers sitting in my office" telling the paper what to write, he said.

Abu Dhabi, by far the largest of the seven royalty-ruled territories that make up the United Arab Emirates, has been raising its profile as an international investor, a tourist destination and financial center, and The National is seen as part of a movement to appeal to outsiders. Abu Dhabi has nearly 90 percent of the United Arab Emirate's land mass and 94 percent of its oil reserves, and controls the world's largest investment fund, with an estimated $700 billion in assets under management.

The paper has had no problem hitting a start-up goal for having advertisements on 30 percent of its pages, and has had to turn away potential advertisers who wanted space in its first few issues, Fattah said.

The National is owned by the Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi, an investment and venture capital arm of the government that is chaired by the crown price Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. The owners have given the paper's executives five years to break even.

Whether the Abu Dhabi paper, which is printing 80,000 copies, has 30,000 trial subscribers and is planning a subscription rate of about $110 a year, can succeed in being independent and not attract the ire of the ruling families is unclear. Until September, journalists who wrote critical stories in the United Arab Emirates could be jailed for defamation, and the country recently signed on to an Arab League charter that asks the media not to offend local leaders.

So far, The National is drawing guarded praise. Edward Wasserman, the Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, called The National's first edition, which he viewed on the Internet, an "impressive debut" over all, but questioned the lack of staff stories for some regional news. Wasserman praised the balanced coverage of Carter's visit to Syria, but said local coverage seemed "a bit tentative," noting that a story on Abu Dhabi's revision of its inflation statistics might not attract a sophisticated business reader's attention.

"I looked very carefully to see if I could find any evidence that they were censoring themselves, and I didn't see it," said Josh Friedman, director of international programs at the graduate school of journalism at Columbia University. For example, the paper referred to Hamas fighters as "militants," Friedman said, a type of description that was rare in the Middle East.

While the stories about Abu Dhabi government announcements were not "hard-hitting," the paper carried others that could be considered critical, Friedman said.

Attracting talented reporters to Abu Dhabi has been one of the biggest problems, Fattah said. "It was very hard to convince Americans to come here," he said, because they think of it as a scary place. "One reporter wanted to do combat training" before she came, he said, when in reality the biggest killer in Abu Dhabi is obesity.

Martin Newland, the paper's editor in chief, has fielded numerous questions about the paper's independence, particularly after a memo he wrote to staff noting that "we are not here to fight for press freedom" was leaked to outside media.

"This is good news for journalism and good news for the region, so let's get the hell off censorship," he said. He added that he was tired of having the issue "distilled down to issues of censorship."

Newland said the biggest difficulty in setting up the newspaper so far had been managing the logistics of getting 150 expatriate employees moved to an area where real estate prices were high and human resources and infrastructure were negligible.

Traditionally, Abu Dhabi's giant investment fund, known as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, has shunned high-profile deals and dumped cash into fund management companies instead. Last November, though, the fund paid $7.5 billion for a 4.9 percent stake in the beleaguered financial giant Citigroup, propelling it to center stage in the world financial arena.

Newspapers have thrived in the Arab-speaking world for decades; Al-Ahram, published in Egypt since 1876, has five million readers, for example. But freedom of the press has remained elusive in many countries.

"If it doesn't work, so what, and if it does work, it would be great," Friedman said, "because that area of the world needs a free press."

(Copyright 2008)

FED: Shoppers gear up for post-Christmas sales

AAP General News (Australia)
12-25-2007
FED: Shoppers gear up for post-Christmas sales

SYDNEY, Dec 25 AAP - Bargain hunters are gearing up for clearance sales, with shoppers
nationwide tipped to spend more than $6 billion in the post-Christmas period this year.

Hundreds of thousands of shoppers are expected to descend on department stores across
the country tomorrow when the annual sales kick off.

Recent interest rate rises, higher petrol prices and money already spent on Christmas
presents are not to likely to deter shoppers, who are expected to spend $6.2 billion from
tomorrow until mid-January - up seven per cent from last year.

David Jones will officially launch its clearance at the flagship Elizabeth St store in Sydney.

Singer Natalie Imbruglia will ring a bell for the start of the store's 102nd post-Christmas
sale at 6.50am (AEDT), before the doors open at 7am.

Purchasing will have already begun in earnest across the road, with rival Myer opening
its doors at 6am.

Most suburban stores will remain closed.

The big sellers this festive season have been electrical goods, including plasma televisions
and MP3 players, while fashion sales have been softer.

Whitegoods and electricals, manchester and clothing are traditionally red-ticket items,
prompting queues well before opening time.

Overall, figures from the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) show total retail
spending in the six weeks to Christmas rose 7.4 per cent to $36.5 billion.

But ARA executive director Richard Evans warned shoppers may just be using debt to
fund their spending.

If so, the retail sector could face a slump early next year.

"The unfortunate thing about credit cards is that if it is actual debt as opposed to
managing money they will be struggling from February, March, April, which may in fact
affect retailing at that time," he said.

Australia's credit card debt was a record $41.3 billion at the end of October, the
latest Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) figures showed.

AAP kd/ajc/goc/de

KEYWORD: SALES PREVIEW

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Mokbel 'hid in Bonnie Doon' lair, say police

AAP General News (Australia)
08-18-2007
Vic: Mokbel 'hid in Bonnie Doon' lair, say police

MELBOURNE, Aug 18 AAP - Melbourne drug lord Tony Mokbel is believed to have hid in
a small town made famous in the film, The Castle, while detectives hunted internationally
for him.

Fairfax newspapers say police now believe Mokbel was lying low in a farmhouse at Bonnie
Doon, 150 km north-east of Melbourne, after skipping bail last year.

Police executed search warrants on the property when they arrested George Elias, one
of the drug lord's closest associates, on drug charges two months ago, Fairfax says.

Since Elias's arrest, detectives from the Purana Taskforce have interviewed neighbours
in Bonnie Doon, trying to piece together Mokbel's last known movements before he was smuggled
onto a ship seven months later.

Mokbel skipped bail in the closing stages of a cocaine importation trial, for which
he was sentenced to nine years in his absence.

He is facing charges over the murders of gangland rivals in Melbourne and is in custody
in Greece, while Australian authorities seek to extradite him.

AAP sjm/rs

KEYWORD: MOKBEL

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Tas: Rudd, Howard 'climate change outcasts': Brown

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2007
Tas: Rudd, Howard 'climate change outcasts': Brown

HOBART, April 2 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd will
remain climate change outcasts until forestry burning in Tasmania is stopped, says Federal
Greens leader Bob Brown.

Speaking in Hobart today, Senator Brown said that as in Indonesia, the logging and
burning of forests in Tasmania was a major cause of greenhouse gas pollution.

The logging industry would firebomb dozens of clearfelled coupes in Tasmania while
the ALP national conference sits in Sydney later this month, he said.

Tasmania logs an average 35,000 hectares of forests annually - around half are clearfelled
and then burned to clear waste timber before replanting.

"Kevin Rudd should end this unnecessary and economically ruinous policy of clearfell
logging and burning which the prime minister endorsed through his regional forest agreements,"

he said.

Senator Brown also took a swipe at forestry union boss Michael O'Connor, saying he
was ready to torpedo Labor again on its draft forestry policy.

"The CFMEU's (Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union) forestry division, red-flag
waving backers of John Howard at the last federal election, now demands Rudd backs the
Howard line too - or else," Senator Brown said.

"This is Michael O'Connor, a logging extremist, telling both national leaders to ignore
the most irresponsible and needless component of Australia's most infamous greenhouse
gas profile-burning native forests."

"O'Connor has a proven capacity to clearfell and burn national Labor's right to protect
Australia's great carbon-absorbing forests and their rare wildlife.

Federal opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett says the ALP will maintain the
Howard government's Community Forest Agreement in Tasmania, protect jobs and also require
that forests of high conservation value are further protected.

Mr O'Connor, the national secretary of the CFMEU's forestry division, wants a guarantee
that Labor will not extend protection from logging to more old-growth forests.

The Tasmanian community forest agreement protects one million hectares of old-growth forest.

Mr O'Connor says the clause, that leaves open the prospect of locking up more forests,
contradicts the current agreement.

AAP grc/dk/it/de

KEYWORD: FORESTRY BROWN

2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

AAP Backgrounders and Analyses for the weekend of Dec 2/3

AAP General News (Australia)
12-01-2006
AAP Backgrounders and Analyses for the weekend of Dec 2/3

AAP BACKGROUNDERS AND ANALYSES FOR THE WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER 25/26

(EDS NOTE - Stories already on file will be repeated Friday morning. For further information
please contact AAP news editors on (02) 9322 8610 or 9322 8611.)

CANBERRA - Wrap-up of Labor's leadership challenge. (Newscope Federal, AAP News Analysis,
by Maria Hawthorne, about 700 words, to come later this afternoon)

CANBERRA - The Howard government must be thanking Terry Cole and cursing him in the same
breath. (AWB, AAP Backgrounder, by Robin Pash, 1,261 words, pix available, on file)

CANBERRA - Wrap-up of Cole report. (AWB, AAP Backgrounder, by Robin Pash, about 1,000
words, to come Friday)

CANBERRA - In little over a year, two helicopters flying from the landing ship HMAS Kanimbla
have crashed, contributing to the toll of defence personnel who have died in accidents
involving helicopters. (Helicopter, AAP Backgrounder, By Max Blenkin. 430 words. On file)

SYDNEY - It was the simple, ostensibly harmless act of one youth staring at another on
a Sydney beach that exploded into one of the worst riots in Australia's history. (Surf,
AAP News Feature, By Katherine Danks, 992 words, on file)

BRISBANE - For Jeff Seeney, to be labelled in parliament "lower than a dingo's droppings"

is water off a duck's back. (Seeney, AAP Newsfeature, 724 words, by Paul Osborne, pix
available, on file)

TOWNSVILLE - Feature on selling Victoria Cross medals. (VC, by Dave Donaghy, abt 800 words.

To move Friday)

ADELAIDE - He's about to enter an exclusive club as a mountaineer who has conquered the
highest peaks on all the world's seven continents. (Chessell, AAP Newsfeature, by Tim
Dornin, 871 words, with graphics, on file)

CAPE DENISON, Australian Antarctic Territory - In the windiest place on earth, you'd expect
at least some vibration, especially inside an old, creaking wooden shack. (Mawson, AAP
Feature, 702 words, By Simon Mossman, file pix available, on file)

ENTERTAINMENT
BRISBANE - The Bitch Is Back. (Elton, AAP Backgrounder, by Steve Connolly, 649 words.

Pix available. On file)

SYDNEY - The twin brother of Australian drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van has admitted he
blames himself for his brother's death. (Nguyen, AAP TV Feature, By Erin McWhirter, 708
words, on file)

SYDNEY - Australian television chef Ben "Bender" O'Donoghue has proved the formula of
sun, surf and food do mix. (Menu, AAP TV Feature, by Erin McWhirter, 812 words with pix,
on file)

SYDNEY - An international audience of three billion people will tonight watch yet another
television spectacular produced by an Australian company - the opening ceremony of the
Doha Asian Games. (Asian Aust, AAP Feature, by Johnathon Moran, 851 words, file pix available,
on file)

SPORT:
SYDNEY - The biggest quandary for Wallabies selectors between now and the World Cup is
not deciding on a suitable front row or determining the best combination of backrowers.

(Rugby Aust, AAP Sportsfeature, By Darren Walton, 802 words, on file)

SYDNEY - Since the Athens Olympics, Australia's female swimmers have walked onto pool
decks around the world as if they owned them. (Swim Aust Women, AAP Sportsfeature, By
Tom Wald. 650 words, on file)

SYDNEY - The show must go on. That will be the sentiment firmly imprinted upon the world
championship trials and national titles starting Sunday at Brisbane's Chandler Aquatic
Centre. (Swim Aust Preview, AAP Sportsfeature, by Tom Wald, 729 words, with factbox, on
file)

BRISBANE - A new romance, strong friendships and the return of her cherished medals has
enabled pole vault queen Tatiana Grigorieva to clear troubled times. (Aths Grigoreva,
AAP Sportsfeature, by Steve Connolly, 738 words, pix available, on file)

ROUTINERS TO COME:
* Quotes
* Milestones
* Oddities
* Checkup column

AAP jlw

KEYWORD: WEEKEND READS (UPDATE)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Union to conduct its own probe at mine accident site

AAP General News (Australia)
04-26-2006
Fed: Union to conduct its own probe at mine accident site

Mr Howse, who will fly from Melbourne to Launceston this morning, said the accident
highlighted the dangers of underground mining.

"Underground mining ... is a risky business, we have members from the far north of
Queensland down to the southern parts of Tasmania who work in the industry," he told Macquarie
Radio.

"Unfortunately there are a number of casualties and injuries every year that we have
the grim task of investigating.

"At the end of the day we have a responsibility and a duty of care to our members and
the AWU to make sure they are working in a safe environment."

But Mr Howse conceded some accidents could not be prevented.

Fourteen miners were in the mine at the time of the incident, but 11 managed to escape.

Mr Howse said it was not clear how the others had gotten out safely, but it appeared
they were not as far underground as the three missing miners.

"That's what we presume...," he said.

Mr Howse said it was a horrible tragedy.

"It's going to be a harrowing experience over the next 24 hours to see how we go," he said.

"Obviously the mine rescue crews are on site at the moment and doing their best but
it's just devastating for our members and the families of our members in the area."

AAP nf/jlw

KEYWORD: MINE AWU 2 CANBERRA (REOPENS)

2006 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Govt supports Tassie farmers' dinkum labelling campaign

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2005
NSW: Govt supports Tassie farmers' dinkum labelling campaign



SYDNEY, Aug 24 AAP - The NSW government is backing a campaign launched by Tasmanian
farmers for country-of-origin labelling for Australian-grown and imported meat products.

The Tasmanians recently brought a convoy of tractors to the mainland in their Fair
Dinkum Food Campaign to demand better local food labelling and corporate loyalty to Australian
farmers.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma, who today begins a two-day trip to western NSW, said he supported
better labelling for meat products.

Consumers had a right to know whether they were buying Australian or overseas meat,
Mr Iemma said.

"Under current labelling requirements, consumers have no way of knowing if unpackaged
meat products are home grown or imported," he said in a statement.

"They would often assume they were buying local product, but the fact is that more
and more meat imports are being sold."

More than $323 million worth of fresh and processed meat was imported into Australia
last year, Mr Iemma said.

He said 73 per cent of ham sold in Australia was imported, as was 67 per cent of bacon.

The Fair Dinkum Food campaign began after the McDonald's hamburger chain began acquiring
much of its potato supplies from New Zealand instead of Tasmania to cut costs.

AAP pj/tam/jt

KEYWORD: FARMERS IEMMA (REISSUING)

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

It can wait

Ann Johnson admits she is "terrible" when it comes to putting things off."But at least I know it," the Yorkville resident said. "So I just keep checking things, to make sure I get them done."According to recent studies, she not only is in good company, but that company is growing. A 10-year project by a Canadian industrial psychologist showed that procrastination in society is getting worse.

And Piers Steel, in his 30-page study published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin, says it makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier.

In 1978, only about 5 percent of the American public thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators. Now it's 26 percent, Steel said. He blames the many distractions that can kill time - TVs in every room, online video, Web-surfing, cell phones, video games, iPods and Blackberries.

At work, e-mail, the Internet and games are just a click away, making procrastination effortless, Steel said.

"That stupid game Minesweeper - that probably has cost billions of dollars for the whole society," he said.

The U.S. gross national product would probably rise by $50 billion if the icon and sound that notified people of new e-mail suddenly disappear, he added. Delay in filing taxes on average costs a person $400 a year, Steel found.

"People who procrastinate tend to be less healthy, less wealthy and less happy," Steel said.

Psychologist William Knaus, who has written several self-help books on fighting procrastination, said he believes "the majority of mental disabilities people have - anxiety, panic - they can be defined as a special case of procrastination."

While Steel says technology has made procrastination worse - in large part because temptation is a big reason for procrastinating - others say it goes back many years. And others say it's simply human nature to procrastinate, something that has to do with the way people get things done.

"When I was in college, I knew people who put things off because they worked better under pressure," said Ward Schwartz of Aurora. "That's how they got things done. How do you know if someone is putting something off because that's just how they deal with things?"

Bill Reeson of Aurora admitted he puts off unpleasant things sometimes. "But not if it's important," he said.

"I put things off, but I'm not sure it's procrastinating," said Wendy Randall of Geneva. "I'm pretty organized."

Overall, more than a quarter of Americans say they procrastinate. Men are worse than women (about 54 percent of procrastinators are men), and the young are even more likely to procrastinate than men.

Although Steel campaigns against procrastination, he also admits he does it himself. His 10-year study was supposed to be finished in five years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Banking on fat to keep you alive.

Stem cells extracted from the fat of liposuction patients in the UAE could soon be stored so that they can be used in the future to fight life-threatening diseases.

Currently, stem cells can only be taken from the blood of the umbilical cord of a newborn baby or from the bone marrow of anyone at any age.

But one company is hoping to bring the technique of extracting the cells from excess fat to the Middle East.

A new product called Cryo-Lip was launched last week in Europe by Cryo-Save, which has a base in Dubai. The company is the third largest stem cell bank in the world. And the firm says that within six months the procedure could be available here in the UAE.

Henk Snyman, the general manager of the Cryo-Lip division, said research has found that human fat is a good source of stem cells.

"Fat is the richest single source of stem cells. It has great potential and through liposuction, we can store valuable cells for the patient that are extracted from their body," he said.

"There is potential for it in the Middle East as there are excellent doctors here, and people who are willing to pay for it, and with the rise of diabetes, there are also a lot of overweight people."

Sarah Al Hajali, the executive manager of Cryo-Save, which is based in Knowledge Village, added: "After liposuction, the fat taken out of the body is usually disposed of, but now the patient will have the option to store the stem cells from that fat should they want to."

Stem cells can be used to treat more than 80 diseases, including leukaemia, thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia and Hodgkin's disease.

Cryo-Save wants the procedure to be more common, and not just for people who choose to have liposuction.

"We think in the future people will undergo small fat biopsy procedures just to be able to store their stem cells," said Snyman.

Al Hajami added: "Awareness is very low in the GCC compared with Europe.

"In Dubai, the percentage of people storing stem cells is higher among expats than the local population. It is a big investment - in the UAE, the cost of extracting and storing stem cells from a newborn's umbilical cord for 20 years is dhs13,000 but people need more education.

The only way this can happen is through doctors."

The cost of collecting, transporting and testing stem cells from fat is 960 euros (dhs4,340). This includes storage for the first year, after which additional storage will be 100 euros (dhs450) a year.

If the cost of private storage is not feasible, there is the option of public storage.

However, the patient loses ownership of their sample, which is placed in an international database. Should they need it later in life, they can try and locate it, but there is always the chance it may have been used by someone else.

Some people may question the need to store a child's stem cells.

But, for those who have done it, the insurance far outweighs the cost.

Claire O'Kearney, who lives in Dubai, said: "We decided to store our baby's stem cells so if the need ever arose we could help not only our baby but potentially our whole family one day."

There has also been some controversy over whether it is religiously ethical.

Al Hajami said: "People have asked me where stem cell research fits with Islam.

Research was carried out by the Islamic Literature Council, who decreed it is permitted if it is carried out ethically, does not harm anyone and is used to better a person's life."

Tales of success

The first successful umbilical cord blood stem cell transplant took place in 1988.

The recipient was five-year-old Matthew Farrow, who was diagnosed with Fanconi's anaemia, a rare and deadly genetic form of anaemia, which can lead to bone-marrow failure or cancer. His parents were told their son had no chance of survival without the help of his newborn sister.

Farrow was taken from America to France, and underwent a transplant using the stem cells from his baby sister's umbilical cord. Twenty two years later, Matthew is alive and well.

What are stem cells?

Stem cells are basic human cells that can form into many different types of cells, depending on what is required by the body, helping to repair damage.

The cells retain the ability to divide throughout life, and can take the place of cells that die or are lost.

Stem cells can recreate themselves as well as creating new tissues when they are divided. After fertilisation, stem cells play a crucial role in the development of the body.

However, after the body is fully developed, they do not disappear and some remain in our bodies as a 'reserve', helping in the recovery of damaged tissues.

mishaal@7days.ae

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