Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Govt money 'to produce safer cars'
THE federal government should provide financial support to the car industry to make safer vehicles, according to a road safety expert.
Former MP and road safety committee chair, Barry Cohen, says that instead of giving millions of dollars to companies to create jobs, "let's give them the money to produce safer cars".
This would still create jobs but would also advance the technology needed to help save lives, he said on Thursday before the 2013 Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) conference in Adelaide.
Asked if producing safer cars was the answer for Adelaide's beleaguered Holden, Mr Cohen said it could be but noted he was not talking about employment but about saving lives.
Mr Cohen cited American auto safety activist Ralph Nader who said: "It is faster, cheaper and more enduring to build operationally safe and crash-worthy automobiles that will prevent death and injury" than a policy build around the impossible goal of the perfect driver.
"It is easier to redesign cars than to redesign human beings," Mr Cohen said.
ACRS president Lauchlan McIntosh said their target was to reduce by 40 per cent the current death rate of about 1400 a year and the numbers of seriously injured people, which was at least 30,000 annually.
"If we did that in Afghanistan it would be outrageous, and it is outrageous that we are doing it on the roads," he said.
He too called for safer cars, saying "let's make a design that won't make people die", noting this was done in the workplace and in aircraft.
Mr McIntosh says Australia should embrace new technologies such as devices which stopped drunk people driving.
"There is a lot of simple, easy things we can do such as more lane marking in rural and regional Australia ... and better protection of places where we have had a crash.
"How many times do you see two or three sets of flowers on the one post?"
Obeid's call made me 'uncomfortable': ICAC
ICAC is investigating whether Eddie Obeid used his power over the water licence on a NSW farm. Source: AAP A BUREAUCRAT says he felt uncomfortable when Eddie Obeid asked him for information on water licences covering a NSW farm that sits on a large coal deposit before the corrupt MP bought the property.
Marwan El-Chamy told the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) he reported the conversation to his manager at the state's water authority.
The ICAC is investigating whether Mr Obeid used his political muscle to influence the granting of water licences on the Cherrydale Park farm in the Bylong Valley.
A review of the property's water licence was triggered when the Obeids bought the farm for $3.65 million from John Cherry in November 2007.
The valuable unrestricted water licences, which were kept by Mr Cherry as security, were to be assessed and "volumetric controls" imposed.
An August 2008 draft document from the water and energy department said water use at the farm, "should not exceed 150 megalitres" annually.
The inquiry heard earlier that while the Cherrydale licenses were being assessed Mr Obeid had spoken to his friend Steve Dunn, a bureaucrat in the ports ministry who was previously in charge of water licensing.
The ICAC was told Mr Obeid said he was hoping to "establish something now while (he) still had influence".
Mr El-Chamy on Thursday said in September 2007 he was phoned by Mr Dunn, who was seeking information on licenses.
"He wanted to discuss the Bylong Valley," Mr El-Chamy said.
After speaking to Mr Dunn in his office, Mr El-Chamy was handed the phone.
"(Dunn) said 'here speak to your fellow countryman' and that's how I got to speak with Mr Eddie Obeid."
In a short discussion Mr Obeid asked Mr El-Chamy for information on the conditions of water licenses.
"I was a little bit uncomfortable with the discussion ... And the fact that he was seeking information on licences," he told the ICAC.
"Talking to any politician makes me uncomfortable."
Earlier on Thursday the inquiry heard the licences eventually granted to Cherrydale Park were almost six times what authorities recommended.
Hemantha Desilva, a senior public servant from the Newcastle water office, said there were no documents supporting the property's need for the 860 mega litre annual quota.
"Based on the data I've seen I thought around 150 (mega litres) was a reasonable number," he told the inquiry on Thursday.
He added that he had never seen a licence of this size issued, and there was a 486 mega litre cap for properties in NSW.
Mr Cherry on Wednesday told the ICAC it had occurred to him the water could be used for coal mining.
The ICAC found Mr Obeid and former mining minister Ian Macdonald corruptly granted a coal exploration licence over Cherrydale in 2008.
The inquiry continues before assistant commissioner Anthony Whealy.
Discount for miners to unlock Qld fortune
Green groups say miners shouldn't get discounts for chasing coal in Queensland's Galilee Basin. Source: AAP WITH an estimated 30 billion tonnes of coal in the ground, there's a fortune to be made in Queensland's Galilee Basin, but green groups say trailblazing miners should not get discounts just for chasing it.
They say it's crazy to offer royalty reductions to rich miners like Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart, but Queensland's peak mining body says there should be more of it.
The Queensland government is considering cutting initial royalties for miners that open up the basin in the state's central west.
Premier Campbell Newman says the state cannot afford to let the potential of the Galilee to remain untapped.
"My government is unashamedly all about growing the business of Queensland and we will do all we can to facilitate the projects proposed for the Galilee Basin," Mr Newman said.
Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche says "royalty holidays" are needed and should be extended to all miners, not just trailblazers, and beyond the Galilee Basin.
But he says incentives are particularly important to stimulate mining activity in the Galilee where poor infrastructure means projects can cost $10 billion.
"There is more and more coal being found in the Galilee Basin every week so there is probably over 30 billion tonnes of coal in the ground," he told reporters.
However green groups say the coal should stay there.
Greenpeace spokeswoman Louise Matthiesson says the plan to consider royalty cuts suggests that new mega mines in the basin aren't independently viable.
"We are really concerned that ordinary mum and dad taxpayers are going to be giving a handout to the likes of Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer," she said in Brisbane.
Green Senator Larissa Waters agreed, saying discounts would make them even richer at the expense of the Great Barrier Reef, groundwater and climate.
Just days ago, federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved GVK's Kevin's Corner project in the Galilee Basin.
The Alpha Coal project - a joint venture between GVK and Gina Rinehart's Hancock coal - was approved in August last year.
Mr Palmer's Waratah Coal and Indian energy company Adani also have projects in the pipeline.
Proposed projects have a total forecast investment of $28.4 billion and will create more than 15,000 jobs during construction plus 13,000 operational jobs.
Mr Roche says approval to dredge seabed to expand Abbot Point will help unlock this potential, as it's the obvious port for Galilee mines to use. A decision is expected by December 13.
PM's very busy running the country: Hockey
Treasurer Joe Hockey has been forced to defend the 'vanishing' public profile of Tony Abbott (pic). Source: AAP TREASURER Joe Hockey has defended Prime Minister Tony Abbott's low profile since the September election, saying his boss is "flat out" running the country.
During a Melbourne radio interview on Thursday Mr Hockey was quizzed about Mr Abbott's latest public appearance, in which he farewelled two adventurers heading to Antarctica on a charity trek.
But the prime minister did not make himself available to answer questions from the media.
"Given the last few years, I don't think the success or failure of a prime minister should be based on the number of media appearances they make," the treasurer told ABC radio.
What is Mr Abbott actually doing, Mr Hockey was asked.
"Well, he's ringing up his treasurer every day. We've spent all day Monday in cabinet meetings ... I can tell you he's been flat out.
"As prime minister you've got to run the country with your cabinet and that's what we're all doing. We've got our heads down and we're going through all the challenges," Mr Hockey said.
First aid kits for SA police dog handlers
SA police dog handlers are to carry compact first aid kits after the stabbing of a patrol dog. Source: AAP SOUTH Australia's police dog handlers are to carry compact first aid kits for their canines following the recent stabbing of patrol dog Koda.
The German shepherd was rested for about five weeks after being stabbed in August as police chased and arrested a man over a spate of break-ins in Adelaide's northern suburbs.
The Animal Welfare League, In Wingfield, has now put together the kit so handlers will be able to provide initial first aid.
Each kit includes vet wrap bandage, dressings, saline solution, antiseptic, scissors, forceps and a shock blanket, all contained in a pouch small enough to fit into a handler's pocket.
Koda's handler, Senior Constable Simon Rosenhahn, praised the initiative.
"We work solo the vast majority of the time and sometimes in the middle of the scrub, a long, long way from help," he said on Wednesday.
"When Koda was stabbed, we were a long way from the police vehicle so it was hard to act quickly to ensure he didn't lose too much blood."
The stabbing prompted the SA to propose new laws and tougher penalties for attacks on police animals.
South Australian police currently use 25 dogs and 36 horses.
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