Fed: Govt to spend $4 million on Catholic medical university

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2004
Fed: Govt to spend $4 million on Catholic medical university

SYDNEY, Aug 1 AAP - The federal government will fund 200 private university places
and deliver a $4 million cash injection to the University of Notre Dame when it opens
its Sydney campuses over the next two years.

The West Australian-based Catholic university is opening a teaching, law and business
school at a church site in inner Sydney and a medical school attached to St Vincent's
hospital in Darlinghurst.

Prime Minister John Howard today said the medical school would have 60 nursing places
in 2006 and 60 medical places in 2007, funded by the government.

The government would also pay for 80 teaching places in 2006 and provide $4 million
to develop the campus.

Announcing the funding today, Mr Howard emphasised his government's commitment to private
education.

"We don't want a state or government or secular monopoly on education at any level
be it primary, secondary or tertiary," he said.

Sydney Archbishop George Pell said Australia could accommodate up to 20 Catholic universities
instead of the current two and said the federal government was helping to make this happen.

"There is plenty of room for growth in the Catholic tertiary education centre," he said.

"There is no doubt the the policy settings currently in place in higher education make
it significantly easier to open (Catholic) universities."

AAP jh/bes/jlw

KEYWORD: CAMPUS

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Asian fruit pickers apprehended by immigration

AAP General News (Australia)
02-19-2004
Vic: Asian fruit pickers apprehended by immigration

A group of Asian fruit pickers have been transferred to Melbourne's Maribyrnong Detention
Centre where they'll be questioned by immigration officials.

The Department of Immigration says 11 people were apprehended by Victorian police in
Murchison last night after a tip-off they were working illegally.

The group included five women and two men from Thailand, and four Malaysian women.

A further 13 people were questioned by police and immigration officials and later released.

The Department of Immigration says interviews to determine the immigration status of
the group will be finalised today.

But the department says it's believed seven of the group are in Australia unlawfully,
while the other four have been working in breach of visa conditions.

AAP RTV kh/gfr/swe/rcg a

KEYWORD: IMMIGRANTS (MELBOURNE)

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Electricity bosses' salaries are hush money: Opposition

AAP General News (Australia)
12-29-2003
NSW: Electricity bosses' salaries are hush money: Opposition

By Alex Wilson

SYDNEY, Dec 29 AAP - The NSW government is paying public sector electricity bosses
"hush money" to stop them exposing underfunding in the sector, the NSW Opposition said
today.

But the government dismissed the accusation as "absurd".

The chief executives of state-owned electricity companies have had pay increases of
up to $60,000 this year, making them the highest paid in the NSW public sector, it was
confirmed today.

Paul Broad of Energy Australia was the highest paid with an annual salary of more than
half a million dollars, followed closely by Integral Energy boss Richard Powis.

Deputy Opposition leader Barry O'Farrell accused the government of buying the executives'
silence on the lack of funding in the sector.

"These payments smack of hush money to these senior executives to keep quiet about
the hundreds of millions of dollars the state government is ripping out of the state energy
utilities to finance other areas of government," he told reporters.

The government's own Sustainable Energy Development Agency had warned that billions
of dollars of investment were needed to stop blackouts becoming commonplace, Mr O'Farrell
said.

"(But) we see the government pull tens of millions of dollars out of the electricity
agencies to support other areas of government and in exchange we see massive pay increases
for their chief executives - it's inappropriate," he added.

A spokesman for Energy and Utilities Minister Frank Sartor said the suggestion the
salaries were hush money was "absurd".

"The facts are that the salaries for these chief executives are set by the board, not
by the government," he said.

Chief executives had to be paid fair salaries if talented people were going to be retained
in the public sector, he said.

"These guys are operating in a competitive national market where their private sector
counterparts are on huge money," he added.

The government was committed to a large investment in the sector, the spokesman said,
and had allocated $6.5 billion to electricity infrastructure over the next five years.

AAP apw/kbw/tma/jlw

KEYWORD: ENERGY

2003 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Tribunal upholds sex assault doctor ban

00-00-0000
Vic: Tribunal upholds sex assault doctor ban

MELBOURNE, Aug 20 AAP - A Victorian doctor who indecently assaulted female patientsand a chaperone sent to supervise him today lost an appeal to continue practising.

Dr Albert Habib Joseph was banned from practising by the Medical Practitioners Boardin April after being found guilty of assaulting eight women in 2001.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal today rejected an appeal by Dr Josephagainst the board's decision.

The assaults occurred while Dr Joseph was working in the Latrobe Valley from 1997 to 1999.

After the abuse was reported by the patients, the board had allowed Dr Joseph to keepworking with women under the supervision of a chaperone - but he also assaulted her.

VCAT deputy president Sandra Davis upheld the board's decision to cancel his registration,saying there was a "significant risk" Dr Joseph would offend again if he continued topractice.

Ms Davis agreed with the board that the Iraqi-born doctor's conduct could not be whollyexplained by cultural confusion and mental illness.

Dr Joseph had blamed post-traumatic stress from his experiences in Iraq before migratingto Australia in 1997 for his behaviour.

Ms Davis said he had also shown limited remorse and had not understood the significanceof his conduct.

Dr Joseph was given a three-year suspended jail term in 2001 after pleading guiltyin the County Court to 11 counts of indecent assault.

After today's VCAT ruling, a spokesman for the Medical Practitioners Board said DrJoseph had no further avenues for appeal, but could reapply for registration in the futureif he could demonstrate he was no longer a risk to the community.

AAP svm/gfr/maur/bwl

KEYWORD: JOSEPH

Qld: Fraser admits there's multiple victims - court told

00-00-0000
Qld: Fraser admits there's multiple victims - court told

A court's heard an accused multiple murderer told a fellow prison inmate there couldbe five to six bodies and he'd be in trouble if police found them.

LEONARD JOHN FRASER has pleaded not guilty to murdering 14-year-old NATASHA ANNE RYAN,19-year-old SYLVIA MARIA BENEDETTI, 36-year-old BEVERLY LEGGO and JULIE DAWN TURNER, aged39, between August 1998 and April 1999.

ALAN QUINN, who's in a New South Wales prison for fraud, has told the Supreme Courtin Brisbane that 51-year-old FRASER talked to him while they were both in a Queenslandjail from July 1999.

FRASER was then awaiting trial for the killing of nine-year-old KEYRA STEINHARDT, whowas abducted and murdered in Rockhampton, central Queensland in April 1999.

QUINN said in their first conversation FRASER spoke of serial killers and got excitedabout the topic.

The trial is continuing.

AAP RTV smk/sc/dl/rp

KEYWORD: FRASER (BRISBANE)

NSW: Three die on NSW roads in separate collisions

00-00-0000
NSW: Three die on NSW roads in separate collisions

SYDNEY, Jan 18 AAP - Three people died on NSW roads in three separate accidents withina twelve hour period, police said today.

A 28-year-old Oakdale man died after the car he was driving left Burragorang Road,rolled then crashed into a tree at Oakdale near Camden in Sydney's south-west about 1.50am(AEDT) today, police said.

A nearby resident heard the crash and rescued the 29-year-old male passenger from thecar before it burst into flames, police said.

The passenger, also from Oakdale, was taken to Liverpool Hospital in a serious condition.

A 17-year-old Aberdare boy died when the …

NSW: Light plane makes forced landing nr Bathurst

00-00-0000
NSW: Light plane makes forced landing nr Bathurst

SYDNEY, Jan 16 AAP - A light plane with two people on board has made a forced landingin the NSW central west, rescue officials said today.

Early reports indicated both people walked away uninjured after the plane ditched ina paddock about eight kilometres east of Bathurst, Australian Search and Rescue spokesmanBen Mitchell said.

Mr Mitchell said the pilot made a distress call before bringing the plane down.

"I believe they …