hitting the - Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday March 23, 2005
First published 1831 No. 52,267 $1.20 (inc GST)
THE GREY NOMAD’S GUIDE TO
HITTING THE
ROAD
MONEY
Set them free:
PM’s first shift
on boat people
Louise Dodson
Chief Political Correspondent
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Federal cabinet has taken its first
step towards easing its harsh system for treating refugees by
deciding to free a limited number
of asylum seekers who have been
in long-term detention.
This will cover asylum seekers
who have been refused refugee
status but who cannot be sent
back to their country of origin for
various reasons.
But it will only be a reprieve
and it is not expected to cover
asylum seekers who are still involved in court appeals, while the
Government insists mandatory
detention will remain and boats
will still be turned away.
The Prime Minister, John
Howard, revealed the shift in policy after a cabinet meeting yesterday that considered a range of
changes on immigration.
‘‘What we have been looking at
is a situation where a person has
been judged not to be a refugee –
in other words all of the avenues
of examination and adjudication
have been exhausted – yet for
practical purposes that person
can’t be sent back to the country
from whence he came,’’ Mr
Howard said.
However, the Government
will seek to repatriate them if
possible at a future date.
‘‘While that situation continues,
it’s not reasonable that he or she
continues to be in detention, and
the desire is that person be let out
into the community on the understanding that when the impracticability about the person’s return
has been removed then that per-
COLUMN 8
More – Page 20
From an anonymous caller: ‘‘It
says something about the
state of history and biography
book sales in this country –
Number 9 on the Herald’s
Non-Fiction Best Seller list
this week is the Brisbane, Gold
Coast and Sunshine Coast
UBD Street Directory.’’
WEATHER
Details – Page 18
Sydney city rain 15°-20°
Tomorrow showers 17°-21°
● Liverpool rain 15°-21°
Tomorrow showers 15°-21°
● Penrith rain 15°-21°
Tomorrow showers 15°-21°
● Newcastle rain, gales 16°-21°
Tomorrow showers 16°-22°
● Wollongong rain 15°-19°
Tomorrow showers 15°-19°
● Canberra showers 10°-20°
Tomorrow windy 9°-21°
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ISSN 0312-6315
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9 770312 631032
‘We have no intention
of altering ... the
policy of mandatory
detention. That policy
has worked
extremely well.’
JOHN HOWARD
FAMILY WINS REPRIEVE
Two children whom immigration
officers removed from a primary
school have been temporarily
spared deportation. A Federal
Court last night granted an
injunction preventing their
removal. The decision also
spared their Korean mother,
who was to have been deported
from Sydney last night for
violating her visa. Page 3
son will be returned to the
country from whence he came,’’
Mr Howard said. ‘‘Of course, at no
stage has it been judged that that
person is a refugee.’’
And he stressed: ‘‘We have no
intention of altering . . . the policy
of mandatory detention. That policy has worked extremely well.’’
He could not say when the detainees would be released.
The Coalition fought the 2001
election on its tough policy of
turning away boats, including
the Norwegian MV Tampa, and
on the mandatory detention of
asylum seekers.
But since then the number of
boats smuggling in people has
dropped dramatically and the
wrongful detention of a mentally
ill Australian resident, Cornelia
Rau, focused attention on the
treatment of detainees.
The Government’s change of
heart follows intense lobbying
by three Liberal backbenchers,
Bruce Baird, Petro Georgiou
and Judi Moylan, who have
met Mr Howard separately to
press for the release of longterm detainees.
Cabinet is considering wider
changes to the immigration system, including more than doubling the intake of skilled migrants
and making it easier for skilled
workers to come to Australia if
they agree to fill shortages in certain parts of the country.
Also on the cabinet agenda
was a discussion of the free trade
agreement with China. Cabinet
approved a negotiating position
with China that Mr Howard will
take to Beijing when he visits
next month. This involves granting China market economy status
if it is willing to put all trade
items on the table.
Mr Howard also confirmed
that cabinet had been discussing
comprehensive industrial relations changes.
These involve halving the number of working conditions in
awards, having officials with
economic expertise involved in
minimum wage setting, overhauling the Industrial Relations Commission and taking over the state
industrial relations systems to
create a single national regime.
Cabinet has yet to make a final
decision on just how far the industrial relations changes will
go. Mr Howard said the issue was
‘‘part heard’’.
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John Hopoate was banished last
night. Forever.
The rugby league bad boy admitted his career was over after
suffering two humiliations in the
one night: a 17-game suspension
for an act of violence, then being
sacked by his club, Manly.
Moments after the club announced the termination of
Hopoate’s contract, his manager
said the player’s career had come
to an ‘‘unfortunate end’’.
Before that, the NRL judiciary
had punished him with a 17-game
suspension for his crushing forearm jolt to Cronulla’s Keith Galloway on Sunday.
That penalty earned Hopoate
the distinction of becoming the
most suspended player of the
modern era. Having already sat
out 28 matches for eight previous
offences, the winger would now
spend more time on the sidelines
through suspension than any
other player since the NSWRL
premiership went national in
1988. That’s about a quarter of the
past eight seasons off the field.
A public apology to the game
and three separate apologies to
Galloway were too little too late.
Hopoate last night. Photo: Craig Golding
While no direct reference was
made to the infamous fingerpoking antics that cost Hopoate a
12-match ban in 2001 and earned
him international notoriety, the
judiciary panel was reminded
several times of his poor record.
Other offences included abusing an interchange official last
season and calling a 14-year-old
Auckland ballboy a ‘‘little shit’’
last week, for which he was
forced to apologise.
Manly suspended Hopoate for
eight weeks in 1999 and fined him
$5000 for turning up to training
drunk. After a number of other
alcohol-related offences he
agreed to give up drinking and
TOMORROW
ROSS GITTINS Page 13
PLUS
What you need to plan
your Easter weekend
Metro
3 GREAT LIFTOUTS
We were playing Vatican roulette – that’s
why I thought Tony had to be the dad
Misconceptions . . . Kathy Donnelly lifts the lid on the chaotic events behind the birth of Daniel O’Connor, right, and her relationship with Tony Abbott, left. Photo: courtesy of Channel 9
Damien Murphy
‘Tony and I, we were
trying not to be sexual
because that year Tony
was thinking about
joining the priesthood ...
We were just using
withdrawal. We were
very naive kids.’
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Tony Abbott’s teenage girlfriend
says she had a one-night stand
with one of her flatmates which
resulted in the birth of the boy
whom the Health Minister had
claimed as his long-lost love child.
Kathy Donnelly says her
flatmate – who she has named
Bill – visited her at the hospital
after she gave birth in July 1977
and asked if the baby could be
his, just before she signed the
papers that enabled a Canberra
family to adopt him and name
him Daniel O’Connor.
‘‘He said ‘Kath could it be mine?’
and I have to be quite honest and
say I have no memory of that
conversation, yet I think it is
highly likely it happened.
‘‘I had five days in hospital with
Exit Hoppa – this time it’s for good
Brad Walter
Revealed: who’s
getting richer,
who’s poorer
turned to the Mormon church.
Recommending a 12-game suspension for the latest incident, the
NRL judiciary prosecutor, Paul
Conlon, SC, said: ‘‘What must be
taken into account is a record that
can only be classed as appalling.’’
The tribunal’s chairman, judge
Greg Woods, told the panel of former players, Royce Ayliffe, Scott
Tronc and Jeff Hardy: ‘‘Don’t be
overtaken by hysteria, but you
must bear in mind that when
players repeatedly infringe, it may
have an adverse effect on the public’s perception of the game.’’
Hopoate’s latest suspension
ruled the former Test winger out
of the game until round 22, but in
effect ended his career.
Manly’s board met yesterday
morning, but for legal reasons
was unable to make an announcement before the 21/2-hour
hearing concluded last night.
The New Zealand prop
Quentin Pongia, who was banned
for a total of 40 matches during
stints with Canberra, the Warriors
and Sydney Roosters, held the
previous record for suspensions,
followed by Penrith and Perth’s
Mark Geyer (34 matches).
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Sport – Page 36
Daniel, everyone that has a baby
knows your milk is coming in, all
kinds of things are happening,
and also I was desperate to spend
that time with Daniel.’’
In a poignant and at times
tearful interview on Channel
Nine’s A Current Affair last night,
Ms Donnelly said she and Mr
Abbott had practiced ‘‘Vatican
roulette’’ – coitus interruptus –
because he was contemplating
becoming a priest. She had used
contraception with Bill and that
was why she immediately thought
the baby was Mr Abbott’s.
Mr Abbott said the idea that Ms
Donnelly could have seen
someone else while they were
lovers would not have occurred to
‘Bill came in and it’s not
unusual for flatmates to
top and tail if you have
an extra staying over.
Unfortunately we didn’t
top and tail ... we were
intimate. That was it. ’
him. ‘‘We were very good friends,
we were very intimately involved
... the last thing I would do is
make critical judgements about
hot-blooded young people for
what they did 27 years ago,’’ he
said yesterday. ‘‘I mean, look you
know, we were all pretty wild
back then, so I’m not in the
business of making critical
Costello woos NSW with
$330m to reduce taxes
John Garnaut
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The Federal Treasurer, Peter
Costello, has thrown NSW a
$330 million sweetener in his
campaign to make the State
Government levy less tax.
Mr Costello’s written offer is
the first concession that GST revenue may not be enough to compensate the states for scrapping a
host of stamp duties, estimated at
a cost to their revenue of
$8.5 billion over four years.
On the eve of the annual meeting of state and federal
treasurers in Canberra, a spokesman said Mr Costello’s offer was
a genuine attempt to help the
states to help their own citizens.
But t he NSW T reasu rer,
Andrew Refshauge, said the offer from his federal counterpart
was nowhere near enough,
given that the state’s taxpayers
pay $3 billion a year more in
GST than they get back from
the Federal Government.
Dr Refshauge estimated Mr
Costello’s tax-cutting program
would ultimately cost NSW about
$1 billion a year – even before
considering the GST shortfall.
‘‘This is not good enough,’’ Dr
Refshauge said. ‘‘This doesn’t
add up at all. He’s only offering
$330 million for something
that costs almost $1 billion a
year.’’
It appeared last night that NSW
would be the only state eligible
for the one-off Commonwealth
payment, meaning NSW would
take the whole $330 million.
That is because it lagged the
other states in receiving sufficient GST revenue to compensate for excise tax cuts.
Consumers and businesses in
NSW pay $13 billion a year in
GST but the state receives only
$10 billion back.
The Commonwealth and the
states agreed five years ago to
‘‘review’’ stamp duty on unlisted
securities, leases, mortgages and
cheques this year.
Mr Costello said the states
would have to abolish these duties
by July next year if the
$330 million payment was to be
available. Stamp duty also had to
be abolished on business conveyances other than real estate by
July 2007, he said.
But the indication that all the
money would go to NSW appears
in a footnote to Mr Costello’s letter
to all the states.
Mr Costello would not say
whether some states could accept
the proposal even if other states
disagreed.
Dr Refshauge said his main
challenge at today’s ministerial
council was ‘‘the perennial concern of NSW treasurers ever
since Federation’’ – getting a better funding deal from the Commonwealth at the expense of
other states.
He would need to see a better
offer to take Mr Costello’s proposal more seriously.
‘‘We might see some more substantial offers being put forward
in a collegiate way,’’ he said.
judgements. She’s a great girl and
this doesn’t change any of that.’’
Ms Donnelly said she received
a phone call from Bill, with
whom she had shared a flat in
Sydney in 1976, after stories
appeared last month that Mr
Abbott had found his son.
‘‘He sounded a bit dry in the
Continued Page 2
INSIDE
Bush fails to save
brain-dead woman
A US federal judge has
stymied George Bush’s lastditch attempts to save a
severely brain-damaged
woman whose life support
was legally removed by her
husband. Judge James
Whittemore yesterday
refused to order doctors to
reinsert Terri Schiavo’s
feeding tube in accordance
with her parents’ wishes. The
President signed emergency
legislation allowing Ms
Schiavo’s parents to make
their case in the federal
courts after their appeal had
been knocked back by the
Supreme Court. Page 9
Beautiful
French Models
Coming Soon
In showrooms early April. www.citroen.com.au/c4
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