A victory cry on a day for our golden girls

smh.com.au SEND YOUR NEWS AND VIDEOS TO 0424 SMS SMH
HEARTBREAK KID
Wednesday August 13, 2008
First published 1831 No. 53,317 $1.30 (inc GST)
THE OPENING CEREMONY SCANDAL • NEWS PAGE 5
PLUS OLYMPIC GLORY • LIFTOUT INSIDE
A victory cry on a day
for our golden girls
John Huxley
in Beijing
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
IT WAS, said Leisel Jones with
disarming honesty, a gold medal
‘‘for the true believers’’: not so
much redemption for herself
after a wretched Olympics in
Athens four years ago, but a
reward for those who stood by
her through the good times and
bad, the highs and deep, souldestroying downs.
Mother, Rosemary. Fiance,
former Australian rules footballer
Marty Pask. Coach, Rohan Taylor.
Family and friends, Jones said,
who had been alongside her on
a ‘‘whirlwind experience’’ – a
journey through three Olympics
‘‘as a naive 14-year-old in Sydney,
an under-pressure 18-year-old in
Athens and, I guess, a relieved
23-year-old here’’.
Relieved, but not ecstatic. For
almost half a lifetime, Jones
explained, ‘‘my whole life-worth
was based on winning a gold
medal’’. Now, moments after
the old ‘‘Lethal Leisel’’ had
comfortably won the 200-metre
breaststroke final in Olympic
record time, it didn’t seem so
important. ‘‘Whether I won a
gold medal or finished last
didn’t matter.’’
It did for the Australian diver
Melissa Wu who, like Jones
before her, has had the weight of
expectation placed upon her at
an almost indecently young age.
Yesterday, though, 15-year-old
Wu delivered, teaming up with
25-year-old Briony Cole to win
Australia’s first silver medal of
the Games in the synchronised
10-metre platform event.
Wu was delighted, as she and
Cole were swamped by their
teammates. By contrast, Jones’s
reaction to victory – which with
‘‘I was shaking like a leaf’’ ... Leisel Jones loses her characteristic composure after receiving her gold medal. Photo: Vince Caligiuri
Dying wish – in time
The Family Court of
Australia has told a dying
father he may leave a
‘‘time capsule’’,
comprising a letter and
DVD, for the 11-year-old
daughter he has not
seen for nearly five years
– to exonerate her for his
death. The girl has
consistently wished ‘‘her
father was dead’’, the
court was told. The
man has terminal liver
cancer. Page 3
WEATHER Details – Page 16
●
Sydney city fine, sunny 7°-17°
Tomorrow fine, windy 8°-17°
● Liverpool fine, sunny 3°-16°
Tomorrow fine, windy 2°-17°
● Penrith fine, sunny 4°-17°
Tomorrow fine, windy 2°-17°
● Wollongong fine, sunny 8°-16°
Tomorrow fine, cloudy 7°-16°
ISSN 0312-6315
9 770312 631032
FuelWatch doomed,
Rudd runs on empty
Mark Davis
Political Correspondent
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
THE Federal Government’s
planned FuelWatch system to
regulate petrol prices appears
dead in the water after a key
balance-of-power senator decided
to vote against the legislation.
The South Australian antigambling campaigner Senator
Nick Xenophon revealed late yesterday he would not support the
scheme because it would hurt
small petrol retailers and could
actually push up petrol prices.
This will sink FuelWatch
because the Government has to
secure the votes of all minor
parties and Senator Xenophon, an
independent, to pass the legislation through the new Senate.
This is a big blow for the
Government – already under
GROCERY INQUIRY
Rudd price
check: he’s
powerless
Jessica Irvine
Economics Correspondent
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
SUPERMARKETS will be forced
to display the unit price of
groceries to help consumers get
the best value, but a six-month
inquiry into competition in the
industry has failed to uncover
any easy solution to price rises.
Despite complaints from
df
h
Retailers to display
easily comparable prices
Changes to planning laws
to prevent Coles and
Woolworths blocking rivals
opening nearby
www.grocerychoice.gov.au
starts today
Coles and Woolworths
U
Rates to fall
next month
Markets are now 100 per cent
certain that the Reserve Bank
will cut interest rates next
month – and cut them again
twice in the next year. After
lifti
t 12 ti
i i
attack over its handling of the
economy and preparing for the
return of Parliament for the crucial spring session in three weeks.
The Government won office by
promising to exert downward
pressure on the cost of living.
FuelWatch, which is not
planned to start until December,
No bank guarantee
Employers are bracing for
an economic slowdown –
and an interest rate cut by
the Reserve Bank before
Christmas. Page 6
St George Bank is set for a
record $1.3 billion profit but
will not guarantee it will
pass on the full rate cut to
customers. Page 19
has been widely criticised since it
was announced as a key element
of the Government’s response to
rising prices.
The collapse of legislative support for the scheme closely follows
criticism of the Government’s
grocery price-watch website and
the lack of concrete policies to
tackle rising supermarket prices.
The Government has also been
under fire for its inability to curb
rising interest rates, although the
Reserve Bank indicated late last
week that rate cuts were likely in
coming months as the economy
deteriorates.
Under FuelWatch all petrol
stations would have to tell the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission by 2pm their
prices for the following day.
The ACCC would publish the
prices on a website and by emails
and text messages to motorists.
Petrol stations would be required
to sell at the notified price for the
whole of the next day.
The Government says the
scheme will put downward pressure on petrol prices by giving
more power to consumers to shop
Continued Page 6
NEW
Diving medallists Briony Cole and Melissa Wu. Photo: Andrew Meares
Equestrian silver – Olympic liftout
Hayden Stoeckel’s third in the
100m backstroke boosted
Australia’s swim tally to three
golds and four bronzes – was
typically muted, restrained.
No wave in the air. No fist
through the water. No finger
raised. Just a modest, missionaccomplished smile, followed on
the podium by more smiles, hugs
and a polite bow to acknowledge
the applause. It seemed almost
un-Australian.
But then, 50 metres along the
poolside towards the marshalling
area something snapped. One
moment, Jones was strolling
along, smiling serenely, chatting
with her fellow medallists, the
American Rebecca Soni and the
Austrian Mirna Jukic.
The next, she was scaling four
rows of seats, hugging Rohan,
Rosemary and Marty, throwing
her winner’s bouquet into the
crowd, succumbing to floods
of face-crumpling tears. ‘‘I lost
it,’’ she admitted later. ‘‘I may
have looked composed on the
outside. On the inside I was
shaking like a leaf. I was tearing
up behind the dais.’’
For Australian supporters, it
was a wonderful sight, a sweet
victory after the setbacks in
Sydney, where the wonderkid
Jones won ‘‘only’’ silver medals,
and in Athens, where she won a
gold in the relay but missed out
in her specialist events. She was
not happy, and showed it.
Her allegedly sullen behaviour
at the medal ceremonies incurred
the wrath of the outspoken
swimming legend Dawn Fraser,
who famously accused her of
having a ‘‘swollen head’’ and
behaving like a ‘‘spoiled brat’’.
Many other Australians agreed.
The criticism hurt. Jones later
complained her critics had no
idea who she was. ‘‘They see me
swim for two minutes in a race
and they see my reaction. They
haven’t seen the four years of
hard work behind it . . . the blood,
sweat and tears and fighting to
stay positive most days.’’ The
criticism still hurts.
But after a long ‘‘search for
myself’’ Jones is wiser, happier,
better adjusted to handle or simply
ignore the slings and arrows of
outrageous media coverage,
which even probed her painful
relationship with her estranged
father. In the early days, ‘‘it was
very, very difficult to be thrust into
the limelight’’, she explained. ‘‘I’ve
learnt a lot of things.’’
Born in Katherine, in the
Northern Territory, Jones lives in
Moonee Ponds, home of Dame
Edna, with Pask and a bulldog
called Winston. She has qualified
as a beautician, runs a children’s
Continued Page 5
On the waterfront: Sydney’s
richest neighbours at war
Jimmy Thomson
and Sunanda Creagh
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
No comment ... Bruce Fallshaw
yesterday. Photo: Kate Geraghty
IT IS a dream apartment block in
a stunning location – right on
Sydney Harbour, with the Harbour Bridge filling the skyline.
But behind the peaceful facade
of The Pier at Walsh Bay, noise
complaints and allegations of illegal demolition work have led to
a nasty stoush starring the former
SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis,
the son of Channel Seven boss
Kerry Stokes, the millionaire
money-lender James Symond and
the celebrity real estate agent
Bruce Fallshaw.
‘‘It’s like Melrose Place, isn’t it?’’
said Mr Symond, nephew of the
Aussie Home Loans supremo,
John Symond.
At the centre of the dispute is
the constant sound of jackhammering and drilling caused
by residents knocking out walls
between existing apartments to
create ‘‘superpads’’.
The City of Sydney council is
investigating alleged breaches of
planning laws after discovering
Mary Kostakidis ... fighting for
some peace. Photo: Adam Hollingworth
that no one sought development
approval or got the necessary
sign-off from the NSW Heritage
Office before amalgamating the
apartments.
John Symond may have inadvertently planted the seeds of
today’s conflict when he knocked
two three-bedroom apartments
into a 520-square-metre superpad. When it sold for a record
$16 million in 2006, dollar signs
flashed in the eyes of some
Continued Page 4
KEEP A PROFESSIONAL
DISTANCE.
When you fly Premium Economy you’ll find there’s plenty of room to get down to business while you kick back in comfort. But, Premium
Economy offers more than just extra space to stretch out your legs in an exclusive red leather seat. Book your Premium Economy fare
at virginblue.com.au and see why business is flying our way.
Seating shown is fitted to majority of Virgin Blue’s Boeing 737 aircraft. Seating will differ on some 737 aircraft and on other aircraft types operated by Virgin Blue. Fares are subject to availability and product may
not be available on all flights and routes. For safety reasons, Premium Economy is not available to unaccompanied minors under 15 years of age. CumminsNitro © VIR 0282/SMH
GET WHAT YOU WANT
DBA 001