The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

III III IIP III III WIPNESDAY, AUGUST JB 60 PAGES 90c Thredbo inside JoSb: the white collar salvatai Why England's seeking Shane the media scrum FEATURES PAGE 15 ROSS GITTINS PAGE 19 SPORT PAGE 47 1 11 14' I i Cathy beats the blues then the world New pmsh after tax verdict $5bn States' revenue at risk Fuel, tobacco, alcohol blow COLUMN WHERE was the basic skills test when he was at school? A customer says she called into a North Coast credit union with a lump of money to invest. The teller said the best rate available was 5 per cent per annum. Then, in all seriousness, he said: "But as a favour, we would have no objection to you opening two separate accounts, splitting the deposit between them, and then you'd be getting 10 per cent" THEY'RE a little-known little animal, so why are they so popular in China? The bulletin of the North Rocks Uniting Church carried this notice: BREAK THROUGH BEHIND THE GREAT WALL Scripture-hungry people cry out for millions of Bilbies in China 's hour of change PERHAPS it's the Christmas chocolate bilbies that are in such demand, says Lynda Anton-jevic, who sent us the bulletin. RUGBY followers Ian Shiach and Patricia Tucker, of Manly, are back from Melbourne after watching the Bledisloe Cup. They left the Wellington Motel at Wodonga on the Friday morning, got to the Magnolia Court hotel in East Melbourne, and found they'd left two bags of clothing back at the motel.

They had visions of turning up at formal rugby functions in their casual gear but the hotel people got on the phone. At 7.30 pm, their two bags arrived at Spencer Street station from Wodonga the driver had been staying at the motel and offered to bring the bags along. THE POST OFFICE sent on a letter to Ted Burr, of Maroubra, from his old address at Coogee. It was a circular from a Rand-wick real estate agent, gushing, "I have a buyer for your property. Please call me urgently to discuss this." Did he really have a buyer? The letter was sent on because the property was sold in April and demolished for redevelopment a fortnight later.

STAFF at Charles Sturt University (campuses at Albury, Bath-urst and Wagga) have been congratulating themselves since Senator Vanstone announced the university was the Good Universities Guide University of the Year. The honour was put into perspective, however, when several Charles Sturt staff received mail from the University of Melbourne addressed: Charles Sturt University UNKNOWN UNKNOWN NSW 0000 WE'RE pretty sure they're joking, but Marilyn Hammer- sley, of Woonona, found in a Bali holiday brochure an offer from the Pesona Bali resort: "For over-60s a FREE Bungy Jump with Bali Bungy." -i r- nx JW' 1 -'Iji Jm-A "A-'r. i llSr iia- -r -nriiiMB mvs. Mr Costello warning. If the new Federal tax is set at the highest State rate, everyone would pay the West Australian petrol tax of 9.67 per cent (NSW is 7.88 per cent).

Tobacco rates are uniform, and NSW alcohol taxes are high at 1 3 per cent But drinkers of light beer would be hit hard it is exempt from tax in NSW but Queensland charges 10 per cent to 14 per cent Mr Costello would not reveal how State prices could be maintained, but direct rebates from the Federal Government to sellers would almost certainly be unconstitutional. An option would be for the States to pre-pay subsidies to sellers, so that prices would remain steady despite a higher Federal tax rate. The NSW Premier, Mr Carr, described yesterday's decision as a constitutional crisis. "I've got two objectives out of this: to protect State revenues and to ensure ordinary people aren't paying more for their drinks, their cigarettes and their petrol," he said. The State Opposition Leader, Mr Collins, said the States had been "dealt a body blow" by a centralist High Court and that "a total review of all taxation at all levels of government" was now essential.

Mr Costello said the ruling had not changed his view that tax reform was important and that the indirect tax base needed improvement. He said Opposition claims that he would use the ruling to implement a GST was He insisted the Coalition would not be party to "anything that puts up "We will be prepared to accommodate the States so that they're put back into a status quo position, but we will not be party to any arrangement to increase prices in relation to any of the commodities, especially petrol," he said. This means that Queensland which has no petrol tax will have to guarantee that it will return all of the collected tax to Queensland taxpayers, meaning that different' rates of tax will still apply between the States. Constitutional experts warned that this arrangement could be unconstitutional, because it breached the requirement that the Commonwealth not "discriminate between States" on taxation and not "give preference, to one The High Court held that the States had no power to "place a tax on goods within their borders" and that sham schemes to dress up taxes as licence fees were no longer acceptable. The mainland States, led by NSW, had asked the court to reinterpret the Constitution to allow them to tax goods.

A spokesman for the NSW Treasurer, Mr Egan, said: "Licence fees have been under attack for years, creating real insecurity about our revenues." PAGES 10 and 11: The tax revolution. PAGE 18: Editorial. By LOUISE EVANS in Athens Standing on the Acropolis a day after becoming the world 400 metres champion, Cathy Freeman realised she had scaled new heights after pulling through one of the toughest times of her glittering career. Dizzy from the heat of a hot summer's day and tired from a late night of celebrating over a pizza dinner, Freeman, 24, was drunk on success. Immediately after her triumph the night before, Freeman had kicked off the spikes that had carried her to victory in 49.77 seconds.

She could hardly walk, was gasping for breath and her legs were melting. But when she saw the Australian and Aboriginal flags fluttering in the warm Athens night air, she found an untapped seam of strength. It had been three years since the 1994 Commonwealth Games hen Freeman first paraded those flags for the world -drawing criticism from the sporting official Arthur Tunstall. Now on the world, rather than Commonwealth, stage she was determined to hold them aloft once more. Exhausted, she didn't do a victory lap, but a victory stagger.

"I could have no energy and still be able to carry those two flags," she said. "How could I stand by and not. I am such a proud indigenous Australian." It was Freeman's wish that becoming the first woman and only second Australian world athletics champion (after the marathon runner Robert de Castella) would help unite black and white Australia. "I am so happy and so proud of who I am an Australian Aborigine. They are two in the same.

This is nothing but positive." After all the emotion of the race, carrying the flags, receiving her medal and standing on the podium, it wasn't until she sat down and thought about how she had become world champion that Freeman started to fracture. Her voice as breaking as she fondled the gold medal hanging around her neck and explained it was her reward for surviving the toughest year of her seven-year international career. After scaling the emotional and physical heights of winning an Olympic silver medal last year, Freeman went into freefall. She took a break from training, put on weight and then her seven-year relationship with her boyfriend, Nick Bideau, ended. It wasn't until she went to Europe in June to train and compete that she found the courage to be Cathy Freeman again.

She cut off her long hair and got her nose pierced. "This year has really tested me, not only physically and mentally but emotionally," she said. "I have had to get through a few rough patches. There ere times, and I mean really serious times, hen I was pretty down on myself. If I can get through a year like this one I think I can pretty much weather anything." PAGE 48: Cathy's triumph.

access to university for people from lower socio-economic groups we need to go straight to the barriers they face," she said. "In my opinion, one of the biggest barriers is the current system of selecting school students to university which relies on TERs." Her announcement was welcomed by the president of the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens' Association, Ms Ros Brennan. "More and more universities are recognising that the TER or any system that relies on just the one numerical score is not a fair measure of a student's abilities or a student's work at school," Ms Brennan said. But the president-elect of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, Professor John Niland, said the TER remained the "best port in a storm" for the selection of students to university, at least in NSW. "Alternative entry systems can be fiendishly expensive, especially at a time when university funding is being cut back," Professor Niland said.

reform can no longer be as simply a Federal The Premiers will be a seat at the table they have just lost a chunk of their revenue WALSH, PAGE 11 By MARGO KINGSTON and DAVID HUMPHRIES The Federal Government is under intense pressure to overhaul the tax system and introduce a goods and services tax, after the High Court yesterday declared the $5 billion taxes on petrol, alcohol and tobacco levied by the States unconstitutional. The Coalition is set to impose a uniform national tax on the goods at the highest State rate and return the proceeds to the States to prevent their revenues collapsing. But the warning by the Treasurer, Mr Costello, that there be no price rises forcing each State to maintain variations in petrol taxes by paying excess Federal collections to their wholesalers could also be unconstitutional. The court ruled four to three that the States had no power to levy taxes on goods, leaving them at the mercy of the Federal Government to finance hospitals, schools and roads. The Coalition has slashed State grants, forcing greater reliance by the States on petrol, tobacco and alcohol revenue.

The decision may force the-Coalition to retreat from its refusal to guarantee the States a secure share of tax revenue. NSW has lost $1.8 billion in revenue, and will lose $34 million a day if the Coalition's rescue plan fails. NSW had planned to collect $950 million in tobacco licence fees, $579 million from petrol and $309 million from alcohol this year. Thredbo survivor takes first steps Stuart Diver, who survived last week's Thredbo landslide, has taken his first steps since he was pulled from the. rubble of two destroyed ski lodges at the weekend, doctors at Canberra Hospital said yesterday.

PAGE 2: Full report. Cabinet says no to lower wages Federal Cabinet has rejected calls for a further overhaul of the industrial relations system, including the lowering of minimum wages, as an immediate response to the unemployment problem. PAGE 4: Full report. Sri Lankan pair in 548-run stand The Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya (326 not out) and Roshan Mahanama (211 not out) have recorded the highest partnership in Test cricket history an unbeaten 548 against India in Colombo. PAGE 48: Full report.

Internet www.8mh.com.au Home delivery (02)92823800 ISSN 0312-6315 If It 4 Tax treated issue. demanding because serious MAX A proud Australian on melting legs, Cathy Freeman carries the flags. Photograph by allsport knstone launches attack on 'unfair, unreliable' TER Help on the way as famine grips Korea (i Do COLUMN 8: 9282 2207, fax 9282 2772, e-mail column8 a smh.fairfax.com.au Please leave a phone number. CT TURBO Dealer Delivery Govt Statutory Charges. for your nearest dealer.

By CRAIG SKEHAN and JOHN LARKIN As severe drought threatens to wipe out up to 70 per cent of North Korea's staple corn crop, Australia has announced a substantial boost to famine relief. Oxfam, the British aid group which has just returned from a tour of the stricken nation, said some of the hungry children it saw were so weak they could not sit up without help. For the first time, a senior Australian aid official will be sent to the secretive communist State to investigate the extent of famine. AusAID's director of humanitarian relief, Mr John Munro, with co-operation from the United Nations World Food Program, will also examine food distribution operations, especially transport networks. Australia has promised a further $3.5 million to the UN agency, doubling total cash aid for North Korea.

"It is the fastest way of putting food in people's stomachs," an Australian official said yesterday. The Oxfam relief workers said that a prolonged drought has dashed North Korea's hopes of recovery this year. The drought, the worst in a century, follows two years of flooding that devastated crops, leaving the nation of 24 million people short of food. Many have resorted to eating wild grass and tree bark. The decision to send extra Australian aid is timed to coincide with the start of talks between North and South Korea, the United States and China.

After more than a year of haggling, North Korea was scheduled to open talks in New York yesterday aimed at securing lasting peace on the Korean peninsula. US diplomats unofficially acknowledge that it is linking its level of food aid to the peace talks and sources said yesterday that the Australian Government is strategically co-ordinating its assistance with Washington. PAGE 14: Oxfam's dismal picture; Peace talks to open. By LUIS M. GARCIA Higher Education Writer Universities should stop using the tertiary entrance ranking (TER) to select students because it is grossly unreliable and unfair to school-leavers from poorer families, says the Minister for Education, Senator Vanstone.

Describing it as a "relic of an elitist Senator Vanstone announced last night the Federal Government would set aside $1 million to encourage universities to drop the existing entry system. She said the TER was not a good indicator of future success and could be partly responsible for the relatively high failure rate of university students up to 40 per cent in some courses. "The TER cut-off is not an assessment of how intellectually bright you need to be to successfully complete a course," she said in a speech to the Sydney Institute, which was initially disrupted by a group of about 30 demonstrators. "It is merely the mark of the last Weather today sydney 9 fogs inland. Cool There's plenty to say about Citroen Xantia CT Turbo but let's have John Wright in Motor Magazine, August '97, do the talking: The Xantia Turbo achieves an impressive 235Nm between 2500 and 3500rpm precisely where it's wanted." The ride is "better than that of any conventionally suspensioned car in its class.

courtesy of the Hydractive II version of Citroen's legendary system. "The steering is fantastically communicative and precious few machines can match its poise when bumps and corners combine." "In short, the CPs the best handling standard front-drive student selected for the course a reflection of supply and demand for courses." She said the TER appeared to be "seriously unfair" to students from poor backgrounds because it inevitably favoured school-leavers from private and expensive schools. The $1 million would be available to universities wishing to pilot alternative selection methods for school-leavers, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. "If we really want to increase to is- Eary shower- Eary to mild. Sunny periods.

production car I have ever driven." Citroen Xantia CT Turbo. At just $46,500, torque is cheap. CITROEN 'Recommended retail price excludes Phone 1800 629 595 TOMORROW Sydney Late rain. INSIDE Business 29 35 PHONE North-westerly winds with an Crosswords 27 Opinion 19 expected maximum of 19. Classified Index 48 Editorials 18 Personal Notices 35 Editorial ..92822822 NSW: Colder westerly change with Amusements 24 Features 15 Stay in Touch 28 Classified rain moving to the eastern parts.

Arts 16 Law Notices 44 Television 28 132535 FULL DETAILS Page 27. Bridge 44 $2 Lottery 6313. World .....12 General. ...9282 2833 Liverpool 8 to 19. Richmond 4 to 19.

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