MPs learn how to leave with dignity and super

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Unhappy pay rise
Case may take year
Accused ‘too old’
MELBOURNE: Australia’s
1.5 million lowest-paid workers will get a modest $15.80
a week pay rise that has
pleased no one.
Business groups and
unions say the increase is a
blow to small- and mediumsized businesses and workers alike, with the ACTU
saying it amounts to $1.80 a
day or a loaf of bread.
The Fair Work Commission yesterday awarded a
BRISBANE: The teenager
accused of raping and murdering pregnant Logan woman Joan Ryther could
spend up to a year in jail
before the case goes to trial.
The young man, who cannot be named and who
turned 18 on Saturday only
hours after being charged,
was remanded in custody
in Beenleigh Magistrates
Court yesterday. He is
charged with murder, rape
ADELAIDE: After pointing
a rifle at relatives and stabbing his son-in-law, an
87-year-old man said, ‘‘Let
me sit down because I’m too
old,’’ an Adelaide jury has
been told.
Polish-born Edward Lyco,
52, said he refused his
father-in-law’s request ‘‘because I knew what was going to happen if I did that,
and I held his arm until police arrived’’.
modest increase in the minimum wage, just over half
the $30 sought by unions.
The 2.6 per cent increase
barely covers the rise in the
cost of living, ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said.
Australian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry
CEO Peter Anderson said
the increase would inflate
the wages bill for business by $1.5 billion over the
next year.
and the unlawful assault of
a pregnant woman.
Aboriginal elders have
pleaded for the community
to remain calm.
Joan’s husband, Cory
Ryther, stared down his
wife’s accused killer during
the short hearing.
Prosecutor
Sergeant
Tony Donovan told the
court it would take between
six and 12 months to complete a brief of evidence.
MPs learn how to leave
with dignity and super
PUB: NT NEWS
DATE: 4-JUN-2013 PAGE: 10 COLOR: C M Y K
SYDNEY: It wasn’t the memo
Labor MPs really wanted to
see, but late yesterday the
Government whip sent
around a letter informing
them of a seminar to be held
on life after Parliament.
With dozens of Labor MPs
in fear of losing their seats at
the September 14 poll, the
memo reassured them that
indeed there was a life.
But before that, they
should be aware of a few
things like what records they
should keep and which ones
to shred.
The weekly briefing note
devoted an entire page to promoting a seminar in two
weeks providing ‘‘essential
information’’ on how to leave
parliament with dignity, and
a pension.
The list of topics included
‘‘leaving parliament house’’,
‘‘leaving the electoral office’’,
the parliamentary contributory superannuation scheme
and a talk on paper and other
records — ‘‘what to keep and
what to dispose of’’.
The seminar is for all MPs
from both sides of the house.
But as one Labor MP quipped: ‘‘We were the only ones
that devoted an entire page to
it. It was the last thing many
of us wanted to see.’’
BRIEFLY
SYDNEY: Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has issued a gag order
on Coalition MPs and candidates talking to the Parliamentary
Budget Office over fears that new laws will expose the Coalition to greater scrutiny.
But in a bid to crack down on ill-discipline in Coalition ranks, he
has banned any candidate or MP speaking publicly about a
Coalition election policy unless first getting approval from the
leader’s office or the campaign head office.
Mr Hockey has written to all MPs and candidates warning them
about straying from official policy line.
He was giving evidence at
the South Australian Supreme Court trial of Nicolas
Tsiplakidis, 87, who has denied trying to murder his expartner, Valentina Petrenko, 87, at her Alberton home,
on July 21, 2012.
The jury has been told she
was shot in the face, but the
bullet just missed major
blood vessels. Tsiplakidis
has also pleaded not guilty
to other charges.
VITAL JOBS BOOST
GEELONG: Three hundred
jobs will be created at the
national disability care
scheme headquarters in
Geelong but there is no
quota of positions for locals.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard
says having the headquarters of DisabilityCare
Australia in Geelong will
provide a vital jobs boost for
the Victorian region.
‘‘Geelong is undergoing
some tough times. The Ford
decision has not been an
easy decision for anyone,’’
she said.
ASBESTOS CRISIS
CANBERRA: The Federal
Government, union leaders
and Telstra executives will
hold crisis talks after the
discovery of asbestos during construction work for
Labor’s national broadband
network (NBN).
The talks, which will also include representatives from
asbestos safety groups, will
take place in Canberra at
12.30pm on Monday and will
cover clean-up strategies,
exposure issues and support for people who fear
they may have been affected by the deadly material.
REPUBLIC PUSH ON
CANBERRA: Federal Liberal
frontbencher
Malcolm
Turnbull believes Australia
should again consider becoming a republic after
Queen Elizabeth’s reign
comes to an end.
But Mr Turnbull, the former
head of the Australian Republican Movement, also
says the ground needs to be
prepared to ensure a strong
consensus in favour of constitutional change.
HANSON’S BACK
SYDNEY: Pauline Hanson is
making another attempt at
a political comeback – this
time for a NSW Senate spot
and with the campaign
slogan ‘‘the redhead you
can trust’’.
Ms Hanson is rejoining the
One Nation Party she founded in 1997 in her seventh
bid to return to politics since
1998, when she lost the
Queensland seat of Oxley
after less than three years
in federal parliament.
Lea, the lamb found last week in Leabrook, South Australia, has a new home at Freedom Hill Sanctuary. RSPCA rescue officer Nalika Van Loenen hands over
Lea to Kelly Dinham and her three-year-old daughter Isabelle
Picture: TRICIA WATKINSON
Doctors free to choose vaccine stand
SYDNEY: Doctors can refuse
to sign the conscientious objection forms that parents
need to get their unvaccinated children into childcare.
NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner confirmed
there was no legal requirement for doctors to sign a
conscientious objection form
10
sought by their patients.
This means parents who
are vaccine refusers may
have a difficult time shopping around to find a doctor
who is prepared to give approval to their stand.
Under new laws introduced last week, NSW
childcare centres could be
NT NEWS. Tuesday, June 4, 2013.
fined up to $4000 if they enrol
a child who has not been vaccinated or produced an
exemption certificate from
their doctor after undergoing compulsory counselling.
NSW Australian Medical
Association president Dr
Brian Owler said while there
was no legal obligation for
doctors to sign conscientious
objection forms, there would
be only a minority who
would refuse to do so.
‘‘The most important thing
is to get people speaking to
their GP and getting the information on vaccination
and having a forthright discussion,’’ he said.
Fewer than 2 per cent of
parents were genuine conscientious objectors, and
most of those whose children
were not fully vaccinated
had simply forgotten or were
time-poor, he said.
‘‘If the GP refuses to sign
the form they will just have
to find another GP,’’ he said.
TOT HIDDEN IN POOL
SYDNEY: When police went
to a Sydney home to look for
a missing toddler, his foster
family’s swimming pool was
so filthy they couldn’t see
him at the bottom.
It was only when an officer
waded in and felt ‘‘something furry’’ in the pool he
knew he’d found the boy.
In the opening day of the inquest into the drowning
death of 21-month-old Lachlan Leslie, Constable Sean
Stockwell described how he
had grabbed brooms to drag
along the bottom of the
pool in April, 2011.
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