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

P. 4 (MP' SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1997 No. 50,016 FIRST PUBLISHED 1831 $1.30 0CE. How to automate 'ID CuEDO Eirois in book that shocked America SPECTRUM the official your Biome program i 37 ICON 16-PAGE GUIDEr the 1 I 1 I it II rni mmm 'This is the best outcome for all parties clubs, fans, players, the ARL and Super League' me warfare over -Wr By JENNIE CURTIN The three-year-old Rugby League war is over. Twenty teams will play in a united premiership competition next year, but within two seasons the number must be cut to 14.

The Australian Rugby League (ARL) and News Ltd will share equally control of the new competition. The long-awaited agreement was announced after a day of meetings of the ARL and NSW Rugby League at the Sydney Football Stadium yesterday. The ARL's chief executive, Mr Neil Whittaker, said the competition would be run by a new company the National Rugby League Championship Company to be owned jointly by the Leagues and News Ltd. It is a 50-50 partnership and each side will have three representatives on the board. "Neither side has control over the other and both will be in a position where they will have to look to the good of the game," Mr Whittaker said.

There were still some funding hurdles, but Mr Whittaker was confident these would be resolved by a deadline of 5 pm tomorrow. The chairman of News Ltd, Mr Lachlan Murdoch, welcomed the end of the game's greatest crisis. "What we have done today is ensure the survival and prosperity of rugby league," he said in a statement. "This is the best outcome for all parties clubs, fans, players, the ARL and Super League." Mr Ian Frykberg, News Ltd's director of sport who has been leading the negotiations with Mr Whittaker since June, said he believed both sides had shown commonsense in compromising. "Our clubs have taken a responsible view that some concessions have had to be made," he said.

"The fact of the matter is concessions have had to be made on both sides." The key points in the agreement are: A 20-team competition next season, to be run by the National Rugby League Championship Company. The two clubs not playing will be the Western Reds, A 1. they will have to look to the good that each club will be able to determine its own destiny. Incentives would be offered to encourage a reduction in overall numbers. But strict criteria will have to be met if a club is to continue.

These details are to be agreed on by the end of next February. Mr Whittaker rejected a suggestion that some clubs, by voting for the agreement yesterday only Balmain and South Sydney voted against had effectively signed their own death warrants. Each club will have a salary "Neither side has control and both will be in a position where Race case: retiring judge sits, new judge in doubt By MARGO KINGSTON in Canberra The retiring Chief Justice of the High Court, Sir Gerard Brennan who believes that the Government cannot pass laws that are detrimental to Aborigines has unexpectedly decided to preside over the politically sensitive "Hindmarsh Island Bridge" case. And, in another blow to the Federal Government's hopes for a favourable outcome, Government sources conceded that the newly appointed judge, the conservative barrister Mr Ian Callinan, would be unable to hear the case in February. The ruling is expected to effectively determine the validity of the Government's Wik bill.

Because the verdict must be handed down by the end of May, hen Sir Gerard retires, it will set the scene ahead of a possible "race" election. Government sources conceded yesterday that because Mr Callinan gave an opinion to the Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Senator Herron, last year that the Hindmarsh bill was valid, the "Hematite" precedent would force him to stand down. In that 1983 case, the newly appointed Justice Daryl Dawson stood aside because before his appointment he had advised the Victorian Government that its legislation was valid. Sir Gerard will retire in May, and withdrew from hearing cases this month to write outstanding judgments. But in an unusual move, he will sit on the Hindmarsh case, ensuring the decision will be handed down by "May creating potential chaos in the lead-up to a double dissolution election on Wik if the Senate stands firm as expected.

After Wik, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Fischer, pledged to appoint "capital conservatives" to the Bench, and another Wik critic, the Queensland Premier, Mr Rob Borbidge, championed Mr Callinan's nomination. The Opposition has attacked his appointment as "blatantly but Mr Howard said that "the attack made on the appointment by the Labor Party is cheap and opportunistic, does no merit to the Labor Justice Brennan's presence on the Hindmarsh case and the likely absence of Mr Callinan tips the scales in favour of a decision against the Government Senior constitutional lawyers said yesterday that Justices Mary Gaudron and Michael Kirby were expected to back the Brennan line that it was unconstitutional to pass legislation of detriment to Aboriginal people. This means that without Mr Callinan, the court was likely to decide that only laws beneficial to Aboriginal people were constitutionally valid. PAGE 22: The High and Mighty Court. PAGE 26: Editorial.

Jet crashes in Indonesia A Singapore SilkAir 737 airliner with 104 people on board crashed yesterday on a flight from Jakarta to Singapore. Singapore television said the plane went down near the Indonesian city of Palambang, but airline officials refused to comment. It is believed there were seven crew and 97 passengers aboard. "What we know for time being is that the plane ci at 1610 local time," said a rescue official in Palembang, capital of South Sumatra Province. "The plane was on its way from Jakarta to Singapore.

We have no other information so far. Our men are still there at the crash site." lulu him cs IS THERE a city traffic gridlock problem? Ask Sergeant Dave "Les" Darcy. The other day, he was called to a bank in Chinatown one of the customers had seen outside the bank a gold Nissan Pulsar SS stolen from his home. When Sergeant Darcy got there, the car had gone down Hay Street. He radioed "In pursuit on causing much mirth at his station.

HE HAD the last laugh he pounded around into Harbour Street and saw the distinctive gold car stuck in traffic. The driver has been charged with stealing the car and with a $20,000 break-in. Breathtaking stuff. Yesterday, the sergeant was dealing with the city gridlock caused by the anti-car bicycle group Critical Mass. "BAFFLED" describes Tony Melville, of Griffith, ACT, when he read a brochure from the Emperor Court Chinese Restaurant, Yarralumla.

How many whiskery, flippered customers do they think are slinking around Canberra's back streets? Catering for all Furtive Seals WHY DO WE not say "Woy" as an abbreviation for Woy Woy (Column 8, Thursday)? Ivan Kinny, of Pearl Beach, has an answer, sourced to Spike Milli-gan. Woy Woy, says the Duke of Woy Woy, is Aboriginal for "deep water. But which "Woy" means "deep" and which If we just say "Woy" do we mean "deep" or Food for thought. THE COUPLE who became engaged underwater at North Head (Column 8, Wednesday) followed in the wake of Tim Smith and Melisa Fenton, of Harbord. On Christmas Eve last year Tim took Melisa diving at Shelly Beach, Manly.

Eight metres down, Tim pointed out an oddity a ring sitting on a seashell. He then produced an underwater slate, on which was a colour photocopy on film of: "Out of all the fish in the sea, will you marry me?" Her first reaction was to gasp for air so she headed for the surface. He chased her up. She gurgled a bit, recovered, and said They marry on February 28. AN egregious error.

The toys collected from the Burwood Plaza Tree of Joy (Column 8, yesterday) were indeed taken, though mistakenly, by a Salvation Army officer. They were meant for charities other than the Salvos, and he'd gone to the wrong shopping mall. To worsen the confusion, the Bur-wood Salvos didn't know about his presence there. As many toys as possible are being retrieved for distribution to the children nominated by the donors. Europe.

the action. mi) 4 yesterday. Photo by STEVE CHRISTO WINNERS AND LOSERS iThere will be sadness among Sydney traditionalists whose families have followed a club for generations and now must witness its demise. 9 -ROY MASTERS FULL COVERAGE: Pages 38, 39 40 Korea elects new president South Korea has elected the former dissident Kim Dae-jung as its president It was the 72-year-old's fourth attempt and he vowed to tackle immediately the country's two main problems: the economy and corruption. PAGE 11: Full report.

Cunard's lose to 1 of the game." Mr Whittaker cap of $3 million. Many will already be well over this limit with contractual commitments to players and it is expected that clubs will have to provide details of how they will stay within the salary cap with allowances made for existing contracts. Rugby League will be telecast on both pay TV networks but no details have been given as to which games will be shown by Foxtel and which by Optus. The name Super League will not be used. into the Prevention of Drug Abuse, said the current recommendation that men have no more than four drinks a day, and women two, should be revised.

"As long as you don't do it every day, it's probably safe to drink up to six for men and four for women on a particular day as long as you're not driving or operating machinery," he said. The recommendation that women abstain during pregnancy should also be reconsidered, following a recent review concluding there was no evidence that an occasional one or two drinks were harmful The chairman of the NHMRCs national health advisory committee, Professor Stephen Leeder, stressed that any health benefits should be balanced against alcohol's enormous social costs. "If there is a single drug of addiction in Australia which is of public health significance, it would have to be alcohol, followed by tobacco," he said. Professor Stockwell's centre will host an international conference early next year to examine emerging evidence that drinking patterns are important in determining health benefits and risks, rather than just total consumption. He said that probably half of all alcohol consumed in Australia was done in a high-risk fashion, and noted that occasional binge drinking could increase the risk of heart disease.

Melbourne's Crown casino loses $40m Here's to old age, but in moderation maximum of eight from outside the city. Mr Whittaker said this would allow Sydney to "maintain its status as the heart of a truly national "The elite competition will be backed by impressive State Leagues, which will provide more opportunities for footballers than exist at present These Leagues will help the game grow in rural as well as metropolitan areas." No named clubs have been earmarked for amalgamation or extinction. Mr Whittaker insisted Mr Packer, who owns 7.6 per cent of Crown, has agreed to participate in the share issue. He has been an astute investor in the casino. In September last year, his Consolidated Press Holdings sold 75 million shares in Crown at $2.72, near their peak.

The funds from the rights issue will be used to cut Crown's debt, which has concerned the control authority. By comparison, Sydney Harbour Casino, owner of the recently opened Star City complex, has about $645 million in debt The casino, hotel and entertainment facilities cost $1.4 billion. Sydney Harbour Casino's chief executive, Mr Neil Gamble, said Star City had not had any major fluctuations in its win rate against gamblers. "We have not been experiencing any major gyrations along the win curve for us and it has been reasonably constant," he said. It was possible for casinos to have periods where they had losses against gamblers.

If this did not happen, there would be no attraction for the gamblers. Mr Gamble said the management was not considering any capital raisings and declined to comment further on the performance of Star City. Sources said, however, that daily revenue has been just over $1.7 million since it opened, compared with $1.1 million at the former temporary casino. PAGE 43: $146m stuns investors; Star City on ay to Hurrah's. wound up by Super League at the end of last season, and the Hunter Mariners.

The premiership will be named after a principal sponsor which has yet to be determined. By 1999, the number of clubs will be reduced to 16 and then to 14 in 2000. Details on how this will happen, and where, are still undecided. There will be a minimum of six and a maximum of eight clubs from Sydney in the final 14, and a minimum of six and -fm CASHO UIAS SUPPDSEty. To LEAP THE RECOVER U'U.

LEAP THE RECOVEfty, -KjOFTHECAWOj A slowdown in economic growth in Asia may see the number of high-fliers from the region decline, hurting the revenue of Australian casinos. Asian gamblers usually visit on organised tours where they travel in limousines and get free meals and entertainment to entice them to the casino. They tend to play baccarat and blackjack for big stakes. The Victorian Premier, Mr Kennett, has called the casino "the jewel in the Crown" and the opening of the complex in May was said to have cost $60 million. Mr Williams said that since then staff had been cut from 8,000 to 7,000, generating savings of just over $100 million.

Sharemarket investors wiped $153 million off the market value of Crown on news of its problems, the shares plunging from 84c to 63c. Crown's need for capital to satisfy the authority will see it issue another 265 million shares at 55c each through a rights issue. Business INSIDE Arts Books Far from the crowd. Surrounded in tixuvy By ANNE HYLAND Melbourne's Crown casino has lost $40 million after being hit by a flood of wealthy Asian' gamblers on a winning streak and high staff costs. The sharemarket-listed Crown Ltd, which owns the $2.2 billion Southbank complex housing the casino, revealed yesterday that the loss had occurred in the five months to November 30.

It has been forced to call on the deep pockets of its major shareholders, Mr Kerry Packer and the construction company Hudson Conway, for part of a 1 46 million bail-out to satisfy the Victorian Casino Control Authority. Crown has about $1 billion in debt The chairman of Crown, Mr Lloyd Williams, said that in the past six weeks wealthy international gamblers had won more than the casino. This means Crown has paid out more to winning gamblers than it got back from losing ones. "In the last six weeks there has been some substantial wins," said Mr Williams, who is also a major shareholder in Hudson Conway. He stressed, however, that casinos often went through periods when they lost to gamblers, but in the long term the win rate favoured the casinos.

"We remain confident in Crown in the long term; however, in the short term with what's happening in Asia we can't be confident I don't know what the horizon is like to March." By MELISSA SWEET Medical Writer Sir Richard Doll, the British researcher who first raised the alarm about tobacco, believes that having a regular tipple in middle and old age will help people live longer. Encouraging the over-45s to have a small amount of alcohol each day will prevent more deaths from vascular disease than would be caused by alcohol-related diseases, he says. Professor Doll, writing in today's British Medical Journal, said doctors had been slow to accept that alcohol had some health benefits, although it was not yet clear how these varied between men and women, or for different kinds of alcohol. Now an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, Professor Doll first demonstrated the link between tobacco and disease in the 1950s. His article does not address the social costs of alcohol, such as violence, or that alcohol-related deaths tend to cut lives short by more years than are saved by preventing vascular disease.

Meanwhile, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is to review guidelines on alcohol consumption, partly in response to evidence about potential health benefits for moderate drinkers. As well, Professor Tim Stock-welL director of the Perth-based National Centre for Research CLASSIFIED Section no in bold Full Index 3 56 Icon. Entertainment Employment Herald Cruise Europe on Royal Viking Sun, Vistafjord or QE2. Prices start from $1,144. You unpack just once in the entire luxurious adventure.

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