Fed: Labor to move for Senate inquiry on petrol prices

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2000
Fed: Labor to move for Senate inquiry on petrol prices

Labor will move tomorrow to establish a Senate inquiry into petrol pricing following
massive increases in the cost of fuel at the pump.

The proposed inquiry will look at whether federal taxes have played a part in petrol
prices spiralling above $1 per litre in many regions.

It will also canvass the idea of funneling tax revenue into transport initiatives.

Opposition treasury spokesman SIMON CREAN says the inquiry is needed to get to the
truth on petrol tax.

The Australian Automobile Association estimates the government will reap a windfall
of more than $1 billion in extra revenue from rising petrol prices this year.

But the proposal seems doomed after the Australian Democrats, the party which holds
the balance of power in the Senate, condemned it as a waste of time.

Democrats Leader MEG LEES says the ALP has no credibility on petrol pricing as it introduced
the automatic indexation of fuel excise.

AAP RTV daw/wz

KEYWORD: PETROL (CANBERRA)

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

NSW: Revamped HSC exams introduced to schools

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-2000
NSW: Revamped HSC exams introduced to schools

SYDNEY, April 12 AAP - The New South Wales government today unveiled new-look Higher
School Certificate exams.

Described by Education Minister John Aquilina as "new style, more challenging HSC exams",
23 specimen exam papers were posted on the Board of Studies website today.

Sample exam papers for 59 subjects are now being sent to all secondary and central
schools to provide students and teachers with a guide to the "new" HSC.

The new HSC will be sat by an estimated 70,000 students for the first time at the end
of next year.

"Reforming the HSC has been the most important and most comprehensive improvement to
education in NSW in 30 years," Mr Aquilina said.

He said the revamped exam differed from the old in that the wording of questions will
be clearer, with all courses having been "revised and brought up to date so that what
students are learning is relevant to the modern world".

Under the new system, students' performances will be measured against set standards,
rather than being ranked and compared to the performance of others undertaking the same
course.

Old ceilings limiting the number of pupils who could be ranked within a given percentile
will be scrapped.

AAP pwa/sb/cjh

KEYWORD: HSC

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

NSW: Plea for patience around new distributor

AAP General News (Australia)
01-15-2000
NSW: Plea for patience around new distributor

The NSW government says residents near Sydney's new Eastern Distributor should be patient
while teething problems are ironed out.

Acting Transport Minister MORRIS IEMMA says a local traffic improvement plan, designed
to alleviate bottlenecks around the motorway, should be complete by April.

Sydney's transport system was put to the test last night when around 50,000 people
flocked to Moore Park for various sporting and entertainment events.

Mr IEMMA says Sydney's public transport system is on target to cope with record numbers
of commuters …

VIC: Kennett not accountable, Bracks

AAP General News (Australia)
08-25-1999
VIC: Kennett not accountable, Bracks

Victorian opposition leader STEVE BRACKS says the state's 25-day election campaign, the
shortest allowable, is another sign of Premier JEFF KENNETT's failure to be accountable.

Mr BRACKS says the convention in most other states is a 33 day campaign.

Mr KENNETT ended speculation yesterday by calling a September 18 election, a week before
the AFL grand final.

Mr BRACKS said he'll be hitting hard on the KENNETT government's record on health,
education, employment and police services.

He's also distanced himself from the CAIN and KIRNER Labor governments of the late 1980s
and early 1990s and their poor financial record.

Labor needs an extra 15 seats to defeat the KENNETT government, which has been in power
since 1992.

AAP RTV jlw/rp

KEYWORD: POLLVIC BRACKS (MELBOURNE)

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

NSW: Main stories in today s Sydney newspapers = 4

AAP General News (Australia)
04-06-1999
NSW: Main stories in today s Sydney newspapers = 4

THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW:

Page 1: Stevedoring company P&O Ports close to finalising enterprise agreements with most
terminals nationally; Deutsche Bank insists Bankers Trust be sold as a whole; Former
Indonesian president Suharto accused of provoking violence.

Page 2: Hong Kong casino millionaire Stanley Ho driving at second major tranche of
development at his Palm Meadows golf course.

Page 3: Business Coalition for Tax Reform to challenge key elements of Howard government's
corporate tax package; Australia's superannuation system appears to make retirees less
dependent on government pensions - report; Bankers to Janet Holmes a Court's Heytesbury Pty
Ltd agree to roll over syndicated borrowings.

WORLD: Balkan refugee policy opens divisions in NATO; China's Premier Zhu Rongji visits the
United States; Indonesia begins registering voters for parliamentary elections; European Union
and US at loggerheads over leadership of World Trade Organisation.

COMPANIES: Ten Network Holdings Ltd tracking OK ahead of this week's interim profit
announcement; Timezone hopes to float part of its business as shift in consumer entertainment
erodes traditional revenue base; PBL appears certain to float PBL Online.

MARKETS: Japanese economy on way up after benchmark Tankan confidence survey improving
marginally in March quarter; Reserve Bank's board meeting today will greet local financial
markets returning from Easter break; Colonial sell recommendation draws fire from Smedley.

AAP knr/sco

KEYWORD: FRONTERS NSW 4 SYDNEY

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

QLD: Qld sugar production lowest for five years

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-1998
QLD: Qld sugar production lowest for five years

BRISBANE, Dec 17 AAP - Wet weather had turned Queenslands 1998 sugar crop into a disaster
with production down to 4.5 million tonnes, the lowest in five years, the Queensland Sugar
Corporation said today.

Chief Executive David Rutledge said the 800,000 tonne shortfall on initial season estimates
followed extraordinary weather patterns which seriously impacted on cane yields and sugar
content.

"The 1998 season is widely regarded by industry veterans as the worst in living memory and
to describe it as a disaster is not inappropriate," Dr Rutledge said in a statement.

"The impact of the depleted crop on regional economies will be serious and for many
individual producers the consequences will be disastrous."

Dr Rutledge said with almost five per cent of the crop still to be harvested, continuing
bad weather meant two million tonnes of cane in north Queensland would be unharvested.

Queenslands crushing season is due to finish on December 23 with only six of the 26 mills
still working.

Dr Rutledge said the lower raw sugar production had presented major marketing challenges.

"Our position has changed from having to sell what was forecast to be a record sugar
production into an over supplied world sugar market to not knowing whether or not we would
have sufficient raw sugar to meet our commitments to customers," he said.

Dr Rutledge said the 1999 crop was expected to be significantly better although bad weather
early this summer had caused widespread damage to newly planted cane crops.

Forecasts for the 1999 crop would be released in February or March, he said.

AAP geb/sd/mk

KEYWORD: SUGAR QLD

1998 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

QLD:Brisbane tunnel fails to win bank support

AAP General News (Australia)
02-25-2011
QLD:Brisbane tunnel fails to win bank support

BRISBANE, Feb 25 AAP - The operator of Brisbane's financially troubled Clem 7 tunnel
may go into administration after failing to secure a standstill agreement on interest
payments.

RiverCity Motorway directors will consider appointing an administrator at a meeting
on Friday and its shares will remain in a trading halt until the board decides on course
of action.

The directors of RiverCity Motorway had asked their bankers to agree to a suspension
of payments on their $1.6 billion debt for two years.

The requested freeze would have changed …