The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 4

www.smh.com.au TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1999 4 This election springs more flowers than voters I i 1 1 By TIM JAM1ES0N Urban Affairs Writer Was it a coincidence the Lord Mayor's $1 million flower displays were out in bloom as the city's polling booths opened yesterday? The springtime displays in the planter boxes, which began appearing on Saturday outside the Town Hall, were freshly watered and were only metres from the entrance some of the city's 12,000 voters have to walk past to get to the polling booth. Similar floral displays were outside another booth at Customs House, prompting Councillor Frank Sartor's rivals to question their timing. "It will take more than nice smelling flowers to buy a few votes," said the leader of the Sydney Alliance, Cr Kathryn Greiner. But nothing was going to spoil Cr Sartor's day. "What does she want me to do, cancel spring?" He said the flowers were to coincide with the new season and they had been planted at the weekend to minimise disruption to the city.

Although the Town Hall election is not until September 11, three booths were opened yesterday to allow residents and businesses owners to cast their vote. Mr Malcolm Turnbull, husband of the deputy lord mayoral candidate, Mrs Lucy Turnbull, was the first to register his vote at Customs Not that there was a rush. By 4 pm only 74 people had bothered voting at any one of the city's three booths. Meanwhile, back at Town Hall, the Independent Mrs Effy Pantechis was the first to have her election stall erected. She smiled as Cr Sartor and Cr Greiner's staff impatiently waited for theirs.

Across the square the A LP's lord mayoral candidate, Mr Robert Ho, stood proudly between the poster of the Premier, Mr Carr, and the yellow balloons flying from the stall. Cr Sartor sighed: "It's just another election," as the electoral staff in Lower Town Hall realised they had forgotten the pencils. Down at Customs House, Candidate Robert Ho gets some flower power outside Town Hall yesterday. Photographs by brendan esposito E-mailer 'stalked soap star' An Australian man has been charged with using e-mail, letters and phone calls to stalk a Canadian television star for six years from his Melbourne home. Brian Andrew Sutcliffe, 37, has been accused of stalking Sara Ballingall of the soap opera Degrassi High, screened by the ABC between 1991 and 1995.

Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard yesterday that Canadian authorities had contacted Victorian police, who last Thursday obtained an interim intervention order on behalf of Ballingall. Senior Constable Mark Higginbotham told the court there was no precedent for the charge, which related to events that allegedly occurred in Victoria but which had repercussions in Canada. He said Sutcliffe would also be charged with firearms offences after 74 weapons were seized from his home. Sutcliffe, who denied sending any e-mail messages, said he had made about 20 communications in the past three years, trying to recover a $7 ABC book on the TV series he had sent her to autograph. When the book was returned unsigned he sent it back again, this time with a toy koala as a gift.

The court heard it was destroyed by the Canadian bomb squad. Sutcliffe admitted he had been "somewhat annoyed" that the book had not been returned and that he had written to BallingalTs mother without reply. So in April "I indicated to her that there was going to be trouble if no action was This had been he said. He believed he had the right to seek the return of the items and was prepared to take civil action. The hearing was adjourned until October.

The Age however, tempers and temperatures flared among candidates and helpers who were evicted by the building's management from the shelter of the forecourt. Setting up in the square, Cr Sartor's Living Sydney team ordered chairs while Mr Ho sent sunblock and hats for his helpers who, with arm-fulls of leaflets, sweltered under the full glare of the sun. Ms Sheree Minehan, a Sydney Alliance candidate, said: "We were told to go and buy a hat, well thank goodness I didn't bring my baby. "There are three umbrellas but we're not even allowed to put those up." New works not working The state of the CBD i i ii i bojQ0 i I 1 Virf.n Plane IU At 12.30pm yesterday 1 Booth without phones 2 Bus shelter without timetables and phone 3 Footpath repairs; no workers 4 Booth without phones 5 Kiosk closed 6 Three booths without phones in CO 7 Kiosk closed 8 Two booths without phones 9 Two kiosks closed inpj WuUWi By TIM JAMIES0N Sydney's trouble-prone phone booths are still without phones and some of the tourist, flower and news kiosks remain closed, despite the $20 million roll-out of street furniture last year. Even the flower kiosk outside the Town Hall office of Lord Mayor Frank Sartor, in George Street, was shut yesterday.

And three phone booths outside his electoral campaign headquarters, near the Park and Elizabeth streets intersection, are still without phones. At the same time, a woman is threatening to sue the council after falling in Martin Place allegedly as a result of the city's street works. Yesterday, Councillor Kathryn Greiner's Sydney Alliance highlighted the plight of four people allegedly hurt after falling on footpaths. One of the four was Mrs Dorothy Roach, who injured her shoulder and knee when she allegedly fell in Martin Place. Her lawyers have threatened the council with legal action unless it pays compensation.

Continuing street works and resulting cabling delays and power issues, broken cabling boxes and public safety are reasons Telstra, the street furniture company, JCDecaux Australia, and the city council have given for the furniture shortfalls. A council spokesman said many of the kiosks were closed because they had yet to be connected to power. The problems are the latest in a string of setbacks to have dogged the council's furniture program. Vendors dumped their lollies because the kiosks were too hot and, in January, Telstra refused to fit its phones to the booths because their height breached the Disability Discrimination Act Yesterday, the Herald found 20 phone booths were without phones, most of them in Martin Place. Twelve kiosks in Martin 1 Place, Pitt, George and York streets were closed.

And, despite the city council's push to fast-track footpath works, there were no workmen in parts of Martin Place and King Street. About 90 of the phone booths have been installed since last December, and JCDecaux's managing director, Ms Angela Clark, said 75 had so far been fitted with handsets. A spokeswoman for Telstra said that until the council's street improvements in Martin Place were finished, it could not get power for the phones. As for closed kiosks, Ms Clark said the city council was responsible for leasing. 10 Two kiosks closed 11 Booth without phones 12 Footpath repairs; no workers 13 Kiosk closed 14 Two booths without phones 15 Booth without phones 16 Booth without phones 17 Booth without phone 18 Booth without phones 19 Booth without phones 20 Rower kiosk closed 21 Kiosk closed 22 Booth without phones 23 Kiosk closed 24 Bus stop without timetables NOT SHOWN ON MAP 25 Booth without phones (cnr Phillip and 26 Booth without phones (cnr Alfred and 27 Kiosk closed (Alfred Street) 28 Booth without phones (cnr Pitt and Hunterr 29 Booth without phones (cnr Castlereagh and HCtmJ SMH GRAPHIC 31.8.99 What was once a Little people and big questions By DAVID MARR To reach the room where the Abbott and Costello appeal is being heard in Canberra ydu have to walk through the foyer of the Family Court, brim ull at 1 0 am with people facing desperate troubles in which the shape of their whole lives is at stake and not many lawyers between them.

But upstairs two QCs, two extra barristers and three or four solicitors spent yesterday in front of three very senior judges, attending to the worries of Random House and the Abbotts and the Costellos. Some of the big questions raised during the day were: would ordinary Australians expect Tanya Costello to be a virgin on her wedding night? no one doubts she was despite Bob Ellis's remarks in Goodbye Jerusalem but would Australians think any less of Tanya Costello for having had sex with one other man before her marriage? Magazines on sale across Australia told us that Sophie Rhys-Jones had lived with Prince Edward for years before their marriage. Did we think less of her for that? asked Bruce McClintock, QC, for Random House. She'd even lived with another man before the prince, in Banks-town. "Yet she ended up a countess," said McClintock, who conceded yesterday the Ellis comments were vulgar, offensive and untrue, but not defamatory.

"And still nobody thinks the less of her?" asked Mr Justice Myles. This was the best joke of the day. The Countess of Wessex joined a cast that included Cleopatra, Dido and Junie Morosi. Among the men, there were the lovers and the rats. Lovers included Don Giovanni, Aeneas and Mark Antony.

The big rats were Joe Lyons and Churchill. Ratting was at issue in this appeal against the $277,500 damages awarded to the Abbotts and Costellos by Justice Higgins in March for Ellis's grubby, groundless and now famous anecdote. Higgins found young Abbott and young Costello switching from Labor to Young Liberal via Tanya Costello's bed, as the men "abandoning their Did Australians accuse Joe Lyons of "abandoning his principles" when he crossed to the UAP? Terry Tobin, QC, for the Abbotts and Costellos, answered on behalf of his clients: "An emphatic yes." But what do we think of Churchill? asked McClintock. Churchill changed his party twice. A good deal of the appeal revolves round Hig-gins's efforts to write a witty judgment Instead of being commended for this, counsel for Random House are worrying at his Half the day was spent trying to work out what he meant by his coinage The appeal will probably turn on this.

But much more interesting was the time devoted to Higgins's suggestion that Ellis's allegations of "unchastity" must be measured against the standards of "middle-class morality" as expounded by Alfred Doolittle in My Fair lady. Turning to a copy of Pygmalion (1912) which his junior had ready, McClintock demonstrated this notion appears by way of Doolittle's complaint that he couldn't get cash from Dr Henry (not Terry) Higgins for handing his daughter over for elocution lessons. "Middle-class morality means nothing for me." McClintock suggested Shaw may have meant the expression ironically, even critically. "And middle-class morality doesn't provide a touchstone of morality. The test is not middle-class morality but the hypothetical morality of ordinary members of Australian society." The foyer was empty as we left Those ordinary Australians who set the standards of morality being guessed at by the judges upstairs had dispersed after a day of losing children, losing homes, losing wives.

The appeal continues today. ban republic ana Pay jour business iinsiLiirainLce be worse' ild cot Current Account Deficit of GDP 8 tli by wMi no 1 ooco Aug 1994 SMH GRAPHIC 6.7.98 Aug 1999 SOURCE: BLOOMBERG fees or clharffes By TOM ALLARD Economics Correspondent Australia's current account deficit has crashed through the bogey figure of 6 per cent of GDP that triggered the Banana Republic currency crisis in the 1980s but financial markets didn't blink an eye yesterday. An $829 million slump in exports underpinned the blowout, which also revealed the first decline in the export of high-value-added manufactures in more than 15 years. The decline came as a survey from the Australian Industry Group showed expenditure on research and development vital for value-added goods had slumped for the third successive year, despite the booming economy. But the Australian dollar rose on the release of the June quarter balance of payments figures, as traders took the view that the $9.4 billion result could have been worse.

Also critical to the benign response was the acceptance in the global trading community that the deficit the highest nominal result on record was primarily the result of the Asian economic crisis. The Treasurer picked up on this theme, as he turned an attack from Labor into a celebration of the economy's strengths. "If we were to have pressure on our current account, I would rather do it on a 1 per cent inflation rate and I would rather do it on a 7 per cent unemployment rate," Mr Cos-tello said. "When you are running a strong domestic economy and you are in the biggest downturn of your time meaning export values are low you would expect pressure on your current account" Monthly payments guaranteed free of Talk direct to an adviser, from 8am to 6pm falling for the third successive quarter, this time by $6 billion to $228 billion. Nevertheless, Australia's poor export performance will detract 0.5 percentage points from GDP in the June quarter, ensuring that tomorrow's figures will show GDP growth of less than 1 per cent for the first quarter in two years.

Strong inventory figures, also released yesterday, offset that somewhat and will add 0.2 percentage points to the growth figures. Labor's Treasury spokesman, Mr Simon Crean, said the current account figures which came in on Government forecasts showed Mr Costello's lack of ambition. "What sort of government is it that aims for failure and claims credit when it succeeds?" he said. Labor, and the Australian Industry Group, attributed the slump in research and development spending to the cut in the research and development concession by the Coalition in 1996. Relief sends rates higher Page 21 Traders and financial economists took the same view, with some picking the June quarter as the peak for the current account deficit The Treasurer said either June or September was likely to be the apex.

After dipping below 63c for the first time in almost five months before the release of the figures, the Australian dollar climbed steadily to a close of US63.21c yesterday. "There are good reasons to suggest that the deficit has peaked," said Colonial State Bank's chief economist, Mr Craig James. At 6.2 per cent of GDP for the quarter, the current account deficit is at worrying levels but still below that experienced in the past three cyclical peaks. During the 1986 Banana Republic crisis, which saw the dollar shed almost one quarter of its value in weeks, the current account deficit ran closer to 6.5 per cent of GDP, right at a time when Asia was booming. There was better news on foreign debt yesterday, with net foreign debt interest, GIO fees or charges.

(Not available Monday to Friday, for free business insurance on Workers Compensation.) advice, including Workers Compensation. No broker commissions or fees to pay Just make one phone call for full details and you're connected to GIO Business Insurance. because you deal direct. The smell of the feet, the roar of the crowd Call direct 133 446 (DDOD swimming meeting at the Olympic pool, a special light rigged up to signal the start to a deaf swimmer failed to work, and instead he had to be patted on the behind. The Olympic organisers now consider testing crucial.

Mr Elphinston said: "What previously people may have thought as being a giant diversion, a cost, an unnecessary interruption to our planning, is now seen very, very much as an absolutely integral part of our planning and is the one chance we have of having a full dress rehearsal." SOCOG's deputy chief executive, Mr Jim Sloman, believes the cost of the rehearsals will be amply returned by a trouble-free Olympics. From Page 1 Organisers now need to make, sure that disinfectant is sprayed on the steps used by the wrestlers between the floor and the competition mat. "It's a significant health issue that we need to look after," Mr Elphin-ston said. Problems have turned up in other sports, too. At the recent Pan-Pacs The specialists in small business insurance J- it.