The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 2

2 The Sydney Morning Herald Thursday, December 2, 1993 IN BRIEF Study flags $50) billion mm a ,1 innovation bonus McClymont and Ryan more than $50 billion a year. The 455-page study, launched in Melbourne last night, reports many Australian companies are already reaping spectacular gains from innovation an activity it defines as finding new ways to please customers. The study finds "overwhelming" evidence that many company managers are fundamentally changing their behaviour to favour such innovation. These changes have allowed some companies to come "back from the it says. The two years of work by the Council's Innovation Study Commission began as an examination of whether Australian companies were taking advantage of new ideas.

But when the commission went looking for Australian innovators, it found relatively few of the sort of innovators who invented new to argue that the 1980s opening of Australian markets had produced results by putting local producers under presure to improve. The report urges governments to develop innovation within their own businesses, while freeing up labour markets further and removing obstacles to fast change within companies. And it warns governments not to become "infatuated" with raising companies' spending on research and development, saying government help should concentrate on producing outcomes rather than inputs such as research. The Industry Minister, Mr Griffiths, told an audience at the report's launch last night that the Government would take up the study as a submission to its industry statement, due next year. trade By DAVID WALKER in Melbourne A productivity bonus worth up to $50 billion is within Australia's reach if its companies can become more innovative, according to a major new Business Council study.

Among the changes which promote innovation, says the study, are closer relations with workers, and new attention to service, quality and product and service development Companies are also swinging their attention to winning sales in overseas markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. And bringing such innovation to all Australian companies could boost national productivity by around 25 per cent, it estimates. In Australia's $350-billion-a-year manufacturing and services sector, such a boost could be worth Embassy CANBERRA: One of 11 people accused of attacking the Iranian Embassy in Canberra last year told the ACT Supreme Court yesterday of his five years of torture at the hands of Iran's fundamentalist regime. Ali Agsha Donyadideh, 36, of Homebush, told the court through an interpreter that he was products from scratch such as Cochlear, with its bionic ear, and Faulding, with its cutting-edge drug delivery systems. More commonly, it found companies were improving their supply processes finding new ways to produce much more, much faster, much more accurately and with no increase in employment.

The best innovators, says its report, gained very large advantages through small improvements. Among the 120 companies studied by the commission, many had reached a crisis in recent years as tariffs fell and local markets weakened. But they had responded with improvements which made them world-competitive a response which study leader Dr Matthew Butlin described as "back from the Such results led the commission He said he was still receiving treatment for the physical and psychological effects of his years in prison, which began in 1982, three years after Islamic fundamentalists led by the Ayatollah Khomeini seized control of Iran following the overthrow of the Shah. Nine men and two women faced i Myai Derryn Hinch Hinch will host Midday Derryn Hinch has signed on with the Nine Network and next year will be presenting the Midday program. Hinch flew to Sydney late on Tuesday night at the invitation of Nine executives, with whom he held exploratory talks.

There had been no previous discussions about the Midday job, though he appeared on the program as a guest of Ray Martin last Thursday. "I guess they had a look at me then," Hinch said last night. "But up until Tuesday night, all I knew was what I had read in the gossip columns." The deal was signed yesterday before Hinch caught the noon flight back to Melbourne. He is believed to have beaten seven other candidates for the Midday job. His first show will go to air in February.

The and final edition of Hinch is on Channel 10 tomorrow night. ROBIN OLIVER attack case told of torture White best feature photograph. Leak best cartoon. Walkleys for four at Herald the court charged with attacking an internationally protected person, causing wilful damage to property and setting fires to the embassy in the Canberra suburb of Red Hill on April 6 last year. All 1 1 of the accused, who are former Iranian nationals living in Sydney, have pleaded not guilty.

The trial continues. subjected to crucifixion, sleep deprivation, electric shock treatment, constant beatings, drug addiction and amputation during his detention in Tehran's Evin prison. Donyadideh said he spent the first year of his detention in a one-metre-square cell and was flogged daily with belts and cables. i. 'ill-Jit iujiiua t.iw Toddler falls A three-year-old boy was in a critical but stable condition in Westmead Hospital yesterday after falling from a second-storey balcony -in a Campbell-town shopping centre.

Ali Elas-sad, of Macquarie Fields, was apparently watching Santa Claus with his mother and two other children when he fell. Action by deaf The Australian Association of the Deaf will lodge a class action with the Human Rights Commission today on behalf of the 50,000 deaf and hearing impaired people across Australia claiming that their lack of equal access to the telephone system is discriminatory. Beacons required Most of Australia's private air craft will have to fit emergency locator beacons by July 1 next year under new rules announced yesterday by the Civil Aviation Authority. The aim of the move, which will affect up to 10,000 privately owned aircraft, is to make it easier for searchers to find crashed planes. Teacher hurt A teacher and a student spent last night in the bush after they fell while on a school excursion in Bungonia Gorge, about 80 kilometres north-west of Goul-burn.

Officers from the NRMA CareFlight helicopter spent last night with the two, who suffered minor injuries, and they were to be airlifted out today. Part of the group left the gorge to get help and police were expected to walk the rest out last night Hit-and-run John Paul Cannuli, 20, of Lidcombe, was yesterday remanded in custody for sentencing in Liverpool District Court over the hit-and-run death of nine-year-old Danny Obeid at Yagoona on March 30. He has pleaded guilty to culpable driving, stealing a motorcycle, driving in a dangerous manner and failing to stop. Shoplifting costs A video featuring children being caught shoplifting is to be distributed to NSW schools and police patrols in the run-up to Christmas. The Minister for Police, Mr Griffiths, said the video, Not Bought You're Caught, had been used by police in Albury since 1991 and had led to a 50 per cent reduction in thefts at some shops.

Cricketer charged Cricketer Tony Lock was charged in Perth yesterday with four counts of indecent dealings with a 10-year-old girl. The former English cricketer and West Australian Sheffield Shield team captain is alleged to have committed the offences between 1980 and 1981. No further details were available. ABC scores footy The ABC will televise rugby league live on Saturdays for the next three years, bringing to an end months of negotiations with the NSW Rugby League. 4 W' 7 best coverage of current story.

for a series of articles called "Lifting the Lid on The award for best three headings went to Review subeditor Tom Phelan. The other awards in the print category went to The Australian's Eric Loebbecke for best illustration, with a highly commended mention to Karl Horvat from Adelaide's The Advertiser, while photographer Tony Ashby from The West Australian won the award for best news photograph. In the all media category, the best rural report was won by Donna Reeves of the Xews Review Messenger and the best international report was awarded to Elizabeth Jackson of ABC Radio for her piece "Somalia, Dying For Relief." The ABC's Four Corners reporter, Paul Barry, won the inaugural best business report, for his program "Rich man. Poor man" about Alan Bond. In television, the best coverage of a current story award went to Martin King of Nine's A Current Affair for "The Waco while the best investigative report was won by Francis McGuire of the ABC's Four Corners.

ABC Radio won all the awards in the radio category. The best investigative award went to Sharon Davis from the ABC's Background Briefing for her expose on mental health, "Playing with Stephen McDonnell and Matthew Brown from the same program were highly commended. The best coverage of a current story in radio award went to Robert Raschke, of ABC Radio's AM program for his reporting of the Ciskei Massacre. Sarah Armstrong from the ABC's The World Today program won the award for best application of the radio medium to journalism award for her piece "Diggers Depart" while her colleague Rebecca Gorman was highly commended for her stories on mental health broadcast on The World Today and PM. Sydney Morning Herald staff took out four of the print category awards at the 1993 Walkleys last night.

Journalists Kate McClymont and Colleen Ryan won the award for best coverage of a current story for their article "Spot of Bother Over at Aliens" described by the judges as "a newsbreaking story on one of Australia's oldest legal institutions an excellent example of the art of story The best feature photograph was awarded to Greg White, for his picture accompanying a story on the rural crisis, which the judges described as Ma photograph which captures perfectly the spirit of optimism at the breaking of the Herald cartoonist Bill Leak was awarded best cartoon for his ironic and humorous portrayal, when he was working for The Australian Financial Review, of one of the major Aboriginal concerns and a stumbling block to the resolution of the Mabo issue. The Herald's editor-in-chief, Mr David Hickie, said last night that the "award-winning investigation by Colleen Ryan and Kate McClymont was an outstanding example of the Herald's unequalled tradition in researching, writing and publishing Australia's highest quality The Gold Walkley, selected from the winners in all the other categories, was awarded to Philip Chubb and Sue Spencer of ABC television for their five-part series, Labor In Power. Helen Garner also gained special mention in the Gold Walkley category for her feature story in Time Australia entitled "Did Daniel have to about the murder of two-year-old Daniel Valerio. The Financial Review took out three other awards in the print category. Its Canberra bureau won the award for the best application to the print medium I PAY FOR THE COPIES.

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