AAP National News Wire Round Up for Breakfast, Feb 12

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2001
AAP National News Wire Round Up for Breakfast, Feb 12
Breakfast Round-Up: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AAP RTV FILE AT 0430



PollWA Nation (PERTH)

One Nation leader PAULINE HANSON's in positive mode today after a triumph in Saturday's
West Australian state election.

She's promised to take out both Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD's government and KIM BEAZLEY's
opposition in the federal election later this year unless her party's given a fair go.

Ms HANSON says the West Australian results have shown the major parties her movement
should be taken seriously as a party with popular national appeal.

One Nation battered RICHARD COURT's Coalition government last night after directing
its preferences away from sitting members and helping to install Labor's GEOFF GALLOP
to office.

Mr HANSON now says One Nation will put all sitting members last in the federal election
unless they discuss preferences deals with her party.

Queensland premier PETER BEATTIE and opposition leader ROB BORBIDGE both maintain that
if One Nation polls as well in Queensland this Saturday as it did in Western Australia,
the result will be disaster for their parties.





Meanwhile, WA Premier-elect GEOFF GALLOP says he will have formed the state's new Labor
ministry by the end of this week.

A clear result of the poll's not expected to emerge until at least midweek, but indications
are that Labor has clinched at least 30 seats in the 57-seat lower house.



Rorts (CANBERRA)

Queensland federal MP MAL BROUGH (pron. BRUFF) takes his place in the Howard ministry
in the coming week now a police investigation into false electoral enrolments has cleared
him of any wrongdoing.

Mr BROUGH, a rising Coalition star from the Brisbane-based seat of Longman, was to
have been sworn in as Minister for Employment Services two weeks ago, replacing TONY ABBOTT.

But he stood aside until a Federal Police investigation was completed into allegations
that four of his former staff conspired to allow two bogus enrolments to be made in Longman
prior to the 1998 election.



Roads (CANBERRA)

Transport Minister JOHN ANDERSON has moved in response to last week's revelation of
the national $3-billion road-funding blunder, sacking two of his most senior staff.

Mr ANDERSON has axed principal adviser STEPHEN OXLEY and land transport adviser PETER
WALSH in response to last week's revelation by the Auditor-General that successive governments
have failed to commit sufficient petrol-excise revenue to roads.

The report found just 3.1 cents a litre of fuel excise was being spent on roads, rather
than 4.95 cents as required.



Tax (CANBERRA)

Prime Minister JOHN HOWARD will move today to soothe small business anger over Business
Activity Statements when he discusses with Cabinet the option of substituting a requirement
for annual -- instead of quarterly -- returns.

Mr HOWARD yesterday accepted annual BAS reporting could be part of a new, simplified
tax regime on Cabinet's priority agenda.

Coalition backbenchers and Opposition Leader KIM BEAZLEY last week suggested annual
reporting might be needed to simplify the BAS for struggling small businesses.


Mideast (JERUSALEM)

Palestinian President YASSER ARAFAT says he will give Israel's newly elected leader,
ARIEL SHARON, a chance to show his peacemaking credentials, as violence flared in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Hawkish SHARON has pushed ahead with efforts to forge a national unity government with
the centre-left Labour Party, a partnership seen by many as being the best chance for
peacemaking with the Palestinians.

Violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has intensified since SHARON'S crushing victory
over outgoing Prime Minister EHUD BARAK in last Tuesday's election.



US Sub (HONOLULU)

With a search-and-rescue operation continuing, top US officials have pledged that investigators
will determine why a US submarine hit and sank a Japanese trawler while practicing an
emergency surfacing procedure.

US Defence Secretary DONALD RUMSFELD has told the Fox News Sunday television program
it's a terrible tragedy.

Those missing are four 17-year-old fisheries students, two of their teachers and three
crew members - all of whom may have gone down with the ship, off the coast of Hawaii.



Algeria attack (ALGIERS)

Residents say Islamic extremists have massacred 27 people, including 12 children, south
of the Algerian capital Algiers.

The massacre yesterday evening in a shantytown called Cherata near Berrouaghia, about
120km south of Algiers, is the largest so far this year, and occurred in an area where
extremists of the hardline Armed Islamic Group are active.

The armed group entered the homes of six impoverished families, shooting dead most
of the victims while slitting the throats of some.

The victims included 12 children aged between six months and 18 years, as well as 12
women and three men.



Winsome (DARWIN)

A fisherman is reported missing after being caught in cyclonic conditions that have
battered the western area of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The 18-year-old, originally from Queensland, was last seen in a dinghy making his way
through rough seas towards Eagle Bay on the Northern Territory coastline where his fishing
boat had sheltered from Cyclone Winsome.



Tunnel (MELBOURNE)

Victoria's Environment Protection Authority is launching a blitz on smokey vehicles
travelling through Melbourne's recently-opened $500 million Burnley tunnel.

The crackdown follows complaints of poor visibility and high pollution in the tunnel.

The blitz operates from 9am today on vehicles travelling towards CityLink's Burnley
and Domain tunnels.



Habits (SYDNEY)

Holidaying Australians are creatures of habit with the majority deciding to return
to the same location for their next break.

Research by the domestic tourism marketing campaign See Australia has found around
40 per cent of Australians failed to take a holiday in 1999.

However, of the 60 per cent who did take holidays that year, 77 per cent say they're
likely to return to the same location for their next vacation.

Only 12 per cent say they won't return.



AND BRIEFLY...



Golfer GREG NORMAN has been involved in a fracas with a photographer while out celebrating
his birthday in the centre of Sydney last night.



Rescuers at a mine in eastern India say they've retrieved a total of 15 bodies 10 days
after the coal face was flooded, but that 14 miners are still missing.



A 20-year-old Blue Mountains woman has been rushed to a Sydney hospital after being bitten
by a funnel web spider and is now in a serious but stable condition in Sydney's Prince
of Wales hospital for further treatment.



Melbourne firefighters have been kept busy overnight with a spate of blazes in the city's
north-west, including a fire that engulfed a carpet factory and threatened several nearby
buildings.



IN SPORT...



GOLF AUST (SYDNEY)

AARON BADDELEY will consult The Great White Shark before deciding how his thrilling
victory in the $2 million Greg Norman Holden International golf tournament will affect
his overseas schedule this year.

BADDELEY'S triumph over SERGIO GARCIA on the first playoff hole at The Lakes yesterday
gave him a two-year exemption on the European PGA Tour.

He'll launch his assault on the US PGA Tour next month.



CRICKET FIX WINDIES (SYDNEY)

Four West Indian batsmen have been accused of throwing their wickets in exchange for
money during a one-day cricket match in Australia.

The Daily Telegraph says the fresh allegations have surfaced in a 13-page document
submitted to the International Cricket Council.

There's no indication of when the match was played.



CRICKET TESTS (MELBOURNE)

The International Cricket Council has introduced a Test match world championship beginning
in May as part of a 10-year program.

The championship will be based on a ranking system similar to tennis and will have
home and away matches beginning with Pakistan versus England in May.



HERE ENDS ROUND-UP

AAP RTV JX

KEYWORD: BREAKFAST ROUND-UP

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.