The Sydney Morning Herald du lieu suivant : Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 1

fi mm 4 THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1998 No. 50,205 RRST PUBLISHED 1831 $1 A SPIELBERG'S VATE KHfliiaU 4 z- rift Ijj WAR the: cicvicc BIBB, i -Tj I Jjn I lljk 'She is only 12 years old. Help, please' COLUMN ydney toMo IO water I 'V fl; I rv. V--'--' to make sure we can find out what is causing the problem." Normal hot water can be used for bathing, dishwashing and cleaning cooking utensils, but a cold rinse should be avoided, Mr Judge said. Water stored in refrigerators for drinking should also be boiled.

Ideally, bottled water should be drunk. Residents were also warned not to brush their teeth in tapwater which had not been boiled and not to rely on water filters, because only some of them could remove the parasites. Giardia is a naturally occurring parasite found in human and animal intestines. It can cause gastro-intestinal illnesses such as diarrhoea, nausea and headaches when ingested. The Health Department urged anyone with diarrhoea to consult their doctor.

Residents of Penrith, Camp-belltown, Richmond, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra are not affected by the warning. Earlier last night, residents in Sydney's east had been advised to continue boiling their water for another 24 hours to safe guard against the two parasites. Results of preliminary testing on Tuesday had shown "zero to barely detectable" levels of the parasites in two water mains. The later alert emerged only after confusion and conflicting reports. A Health Department spokeswoman, Ms Shari Armistead, first called Australian Associated Press shortly before 1 1 pm with a statement on behalf of Sydney Water.

But 10 minutes later, Sydney Water called AAP to say the statement was inaccurate and that the story should not be run until a new statement was released. Then Mr Judge confirmed that much of the story was in fact true, but that the potential threat concerned giardia, not Cryptosporidium. A Health Department spokeswoman said the new test results had only come through last night The confusion follows criticism of the Health Department and Sydney Water over the two parasites affecting the east of the city because no public warning was issued for two days. ush: more cash police fear she was dragged into a car. Below: Searchers at Duck Creek, near her home.

to families TED MACK, the former Independent MP for the State seat of North Shore, has received a letter from the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly advising that with the privatisation of the Indian Pacific and the Ghan, former politicians are no longer entitled to free trips on the trains. "I never even knew I was entitled," said Mr Mack, a staunch opponent of political perks. "Maybe privatisation isn't so bad after all." THE TAXI driver who vanished with $50,000 worth of camera gear in the boot should not ruin the image of all Sydney's cabbies (Column 8, yesterday). Last year a Point Piper reader lost his mobile phone in a Legion cab. The driver found it and returned it to his home.

A few days ago the man's wife left the same phone in a cab. The next morning there was a knock at the door. It was the same driver again returning the phone. ARRIVING home last Friday, Harry Jones, of Padstow Heights, discovered a message on his answering machine from the Lottery Office, advising he had won a prize. "You beauty," he shouted.

"Bali, here I come." But Mr Jones, a registered player, had thrown out his tickets and had to wait until Monday to call back and learn, the size of his booty. "It was $10.10," he said yesterday. LINDA BERRY, of Sandring-ham, should have known life was not meant to be that easy. Driving into a Sutherland car park on Tuesday, she realised she did not have the swipe card needed to enter, but managed to slip under the boom gate by sticking behind another vehicle. Then she found the last vacant space.

On returning to her car, a smug Ms Berry discovered the birds in the nearby tree had delivered justice. "My white car was purple and brown, covered from one end to the other with what birds do. I was so embarrassed I wanted to cover my head with a bag." WHAT SORT of parents would name their child Ivor Broom-head? (Column 8, July 21). The sort who would call their daughter Constance Creamer, suggests David Rowden, of Coledale. "She was a classmate of my father at school in England in the 1920s." IT'S a small world, agrees Christina Maguire, of Kangaroo Valley.

Touring Germany in 1985, she bumped into Wolfgang Meckel, a teacher, who told her of his visit to Brisbane several years earlier. Last week in Kangaroo Valley she met Martina, a 23-year-old student visiting from Germany. "I asked how she learnt English and she said her parents were teachers," said Ms Maguire. The student's father? Wolfgang Meckel, of course. COLUMN 8: Direct line 9282 2207 Fax 9282 2772 e-mail: column83 smh.fairfax.com.au true.

st.george visit www.stgeorge.com.au on application. Minimum loan amount is S30.U00. Standard tap Baaal About half of Sydney's residents were warned last night to boil all tap water before drinking it because of a potential risk from the parasite giardia. Sydney Water issued a statement about 11.40 saying residents south of the harbour to the Georges River and east of Bankstown and Silverwater should boil their water for at least a minute. Tests around the city had found two batches of low-level contamination of giardia.

The tests followed a warning earlier this week for giardia and the potentially fatal parasite Cryptosporidium but this affected only about four streets in the east of the central business district Last night's warning did not include Cryptosporidium. A Sydney Water spokesman, Mr Colin Judge, said: "We are saying to residents we are watching this very closely and if they are in those suspected affected areas, we advise them to boil the water before drinking it for a minute, allow it to cool naturally and then it is fine to drink. "Meanwhile, we will continue to do further precautionary tests GST wou By MICHAEL MILLETT and PAUL CLEARY The Federal Government will boost direct family payments in its tax overhaul, wooing family support for a GST as polling by business confirms that wide inducements will be needed to lock voters in behind the planned 10 per cent tax. The inducements, also including changes to the tax scales to ease the burden on middle-income earners, will force the Government to raid future surpluses to pay for the reforms. A broadly based GST applied to food and excluding only health and education would raise about $23 billion, but abolition of sales tax, and scrapping financial duties to accommodate the States and compensate the poor, will leave only about S3 billion for tax and other breaks.

This would be inadequate to fund the measures necessary to make the package attractive to voters, offsetting the "pain" of the GST. Government sources said yesterday that while the package would include significant tax breaks, especially through a bigger tax-free threshold and adjustment to tax scales, families would be targeted through higher family payments. Immune from prosecution and ready to talk Ms Lewinsky. Internet www.smh.com.au Home delivery '(02)92823800 ISSN 0312-6315 Hal Schoolgirl Quanne Diec By GREG BEARUP On Monday morning, 12-year-old Quanne Diec collected her school bag and sang out to her sister, Tina: "Sis, I am going to go to school now." She walked out the front door of their Granville Home, but never made it to Strath-field Girls' High. Police believe Quanne may not even have made it the few blocks from her home in Sev enth Street to the 7.50 am train from nearby Clyde railway station to Lid-combe, but was abducted and pulled into a vehicle.

Two ehicles were seen in the area at the time and one of them a white 1985 Ford Falcon, registration number NNS 997 has been confirmed as stolen. Police are also looking for the driver of an off-w hite transit van with the letters QUIP in blue on its side and number-plates similar to PAQ. "This vehicle was also seen in the vicinity and the driver was seen speaking to a young person," the officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Inspector Stephen Mathews, said yesterday. Quanne's father, Mr Sam Diec, wept as he pleaded: "I hope someone help my daughter. She is only 12 years old.

Too young, so ery young. Anybody help, please." Twenty police have been knocking on doors in the area and 25 members of the Parra-matta State Emergency Ser- at school that would have caused Quanne to run away. Asked if there was anything she wanted to say to her sister, Tina said: "We really want you home safely. If you can contact us if there is a situation, don't risk your life, just act smartly." Police will display a mannequin, dressed similarly to Quanne, at Clyde railway station today. She was also carrying a navy-blue backpack.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly stressed the need for tax reform to be family friendly, arguing this is the best way of defusing, the political problems surrounding the introduction of a new tax. Boosting family payments a device also used in the failed Fightback package enables the Government to provide direct and more visible help to "principal Backbenchers argue that it produces better political benefits than the more broad approach of tinkering with the tax scales. The package, which still has no firm launching date, will also affect the multi-billion-dollar sporting industry, with Australia's 30,000 sporting clubs to be subjected to a GST on sponsorship deals, entry fees and memberships. Government sources have confirmed that sport will be taxed under the GST, raising about $100 million, despite Cabinet's decision to exclude charities and churches. In other areas: The tourism industry will be helped by substantial funding for overseas promotions following the decision to apply the GST to packages sold offshore.

The sale of existing homes will not be taxed, but new homes Clinton By JENNIFER HEWETT Herald Correspondent in Washington, and agencies As long as Ms Monica Lewinsky remained silent, there was little pressure on President Clinton to respond to demands that he testify about his relationship with the former White House intern. But now that she has been granted immunity from prosecution and is likely to give evidence as early as next week, Mr Clinton's response to a subpoena from the special prosecutor, Mr Kenneth Starr, has become urgent. Ms Lewinsky, 25, is expected to give evidence to a grand jury that, contrary to Mr will be fully taxed, forcing the Government to offer some relief for first-home buyers. Real estate agents' fees and legal fees for both types of purchases will be fully taxed. Local government rates and services will be fully taxed, a much tougher position than in Fightback, which only taxed services.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Fischer, confirmed that the Government would replace die-sel excise with a lower road user charge, reducing the tax burden on road transport. The excise on petrol would remain. The gaming industry will be face an indirect GST burden, while also paying more than $3 billion in tax to the States. Gaming will be which means the GST applies to inputs while not applying directly to the cost of gambling. A poll commissioned by business to assess the results of its $4 million advertising campaign supporting a GST has shown that 60 per cent of voters would consider a GST if personal income rates were lowered.

Mr Howard said last night that the package would contain a "mechanism" to reassure voters that the GST rate would not rise. crisis as Clinton's denials, they had a sexual relationship. But the more important issue will be the claims she makes about pressure from Mr Clinton to influence her sworn statement last January that there was no such relationship. Any suggestion that he tried to influence her would open the way to possible charges of suborning perjury and obstruction of justice and political ruin for the President Mr Clinton has denied under oath and in public that there was any sexual relationship. The rare blanket immunity granted to Ms Lewinsky suggests that she is willing to provide a more damaging IT'S Jf," 'Ov I i 1 't 1 1 1 Vat? i.ff loi3 i Monica gets ready to sing ices scoured Duck Creek, near Quanne's house, yesterday.

"She comes from a very good family and there have been no problems in the household and there is no reason why she should go missing. It is very out of character," Inspector Mathews said. Quanne's immigrant parents run a corner store at Casula. Her sister, Tina, said there was nothing wrong at home or gation relating to his own activities. Mr Starr "has got his little mosaic and he's putting the pieces together one by said a presidential expert, Mr Stephen Hess, of the Brookings Institution.

"Eventually we're going to see what the picture looks like. "If, when this all finishes, all he can prove is a sexual dalliance, he hasn't got anything. The American people simply don't care. That's quite clear. "He's got to find an obstruction of justice.

If he does that I do think the President is in trouble." Negotiations between the White House and Mr Starr's office are focusing on when and in what form Mr Clinton will answer questions. The President wants to delay any possible testimony until at least mid-September as he will be on holiday and then in Russia. Some legal experts and presidential advisers are urging him to tough it out and challenge the legality of the subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court. But Republicans are threatening to begin impeachment proceedings if Mr Clinton resists the subpoena. As well, Democrats have indicated they are not prepared to back their leader if he refuses to give evidence.

PAGE 8: The Lewinsky affair. PAGE 22: Markets rumble. Editorial ..92822822 Classified ...40 account of the affair than before. Her lawyer said the immunity was in exchange for her full and truthful testimony. Mr Clinton's lawyers are trying to negotiate the terms of his response to Mr Starr's subpoena, which was issued last week.

The possibility of refusing to give evidence on the ground that Mr Starr has no power to compel a President to do so has been weakened by demands from senior Democrats that he should follow the law. Nor is there any enthusiasm for allowing a constitutional crisis to develop over the matter. Mr Clinton is already the first President to be served with a subpoena in a criminal investi TOMORROW Sydney The chance INSIDE of a shower, a maximum of 14. NSW: Showers contracting to the southern ranges with isolated snowfalls, clearing. FULL DETAILS Page 19.

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