The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 3

3 THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1997 internet Dapper rapper's first night as alien trapper 6a. threat to tax system9 5 si provide information on their electronic transactions. The Tax Office is also planning to step up its pressure on international tax agencies to take multilateral steps to stop worldwide tax evasion. One measure being considered is the right of international access to details of credit card transactions to improve their ability to track down taxpayers. Australia's tax base is especially vulnerable because of our Yy Paranoia paralyses pedophile inquiries The Queensland Government was accused yesterday of a cover-up involving secret pedophilia files, amid claims that the battle for control of child sexual abuse investigations had degenerated into "high The brawl over who should investigate the recent spate of pedophilia allegations resulted in a rowdy Question Time in State Parliament after claims the Children's Commission had on Wednesday refused to hand over sensitive files to the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC).

The files relate to claims of a high-level cover-up of child sexual abuse. Children's Commissioner Mr Norm Alford sought legal advice and posted guards outside his inner-city office, fearing a CJC raid on the premises. He also met the Premier, Mr Borbidge, and the Speaker, Mr Neil Turner, late on Wednesday, prompting the Opposition Leader, Mr Peter Beattie, to accuse Mr Borbidge yesterday of preventing the CJC from carrying out its lawful duty to investigate allegations of police misconduct Mr Borbidge defended Mr Alford in the House, saying the Children's Commissioner was right to be concerned about handing the material to the CJC after reports that a CJC officer had been named in the files. Outside Parliament, he said the files had not been handed over to the Speaker for safekeeping, as had been reported. "To my knowledge, they were not here in Parliament," Mr Borbidge said.

"I think it's been high farce. It gives the Government no pleasure that two independent commissions have been at odds with one another." Mr Borbidge said the matter was now resolved and the files had been handed over to the CJC and the Bureau of Criminal Intelligence. He called for calm, saying that much of the debate regarding pedophilia was out of hand. "I think people should take the proverbial cold shower," Mr Borbidge said. "Obviously there are matters requiring investigation and obviously there was a degree of conflict for a period between the CJC and the Children's Commissioner." By DIANE STOTT in Canberra The Internet poses a threat to the entire Australian tax system, the Tax Commissioner, Mr Michael Carmody, has warned.

The Tax Office is also worried that the "black economy" where people avoid paying taxes on transactions by buying and selling on a cash basis will become the "blacker economy" with widespread use of "smart cards" which store large amounts of cash on an electronic card. So the Tax Office is planning a crackdown. Australia's wholesale sales tax system, which is based on taxing physical goods, makes the tax base more vulnerable than in many other countries which tax goods and services. But Mr Carmody refuses to back a goods and services tax (GST) as a weapon to combat burgeoning commerce on the Internet. Many countries with a GST faced similar threats to their tax base, he says.

The Tax Office is concerned that Australians can now buy goods and services from around the world without paying Australian tax. Buying CDs, wine and computer software is already popular on the Internet, and with a large credit card limit, it is possible to buy a car. Gambling and financial services are also available from anywhere in the world. Mr Carmody said: "I don't know too many taxes that are not vulnerable." One way to tackle the problem of "smart the Tax Office suggests, is to impose $500 limits on them. In other measures outlined in a Tax Office discussion paper to be released today, companies trading on the Internet will have to register with the taxman, and Will Smith in Men in Black with Tommy Lee Jones and an alien, and in Sydney last night.

New photo by sam rutherford If Will Smith looked smug at yesterday's launch of the sci-fi comedy Men in Black at the Hoyts Centre in George Street, it was with good reason. MIB has already taken SUS230 million ($310 million) at the United States box office, eclipsing Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World as the year's highest grossing picture to date. But for the 28-year-old rapper (aka The Fresh Prince) and television sitcom actor The Fresh Prince of Bel Air), strong box office is only part of the story. Besides co-starring in MIB with Tommy Lee Jones, he performs on the film's soundtrack and his rap single Men in Black is already No 3 on the Australian charts. MIB charts the adventures of two members of an elite agency hich protects the Earth from undesirable aliens.

It's Smith's second appearance in a sci-fi blockbuster, having also starred in 1996's Independence Day. His previous films include the unexpected 1995 hit Bad Boys. But it was the youthful conman he played in Fred Schepisi's 1994 film of John Guare's stage hit Six Degrees of Separation which won him his best notices. HMIB is to repeat its US performance it will need to exceed the $20 million taken by The Lost World in Australia since it opened on May 29. MIB opens nationally on September 11.

RICHARD JINMAN tendency to embrace new technology quickly. Australia is already in the top three users of technology. The Tax Office believes it has some breathing space to develop its Internet armoury because of some Internet users' resistance to buy in cyberspace. Buyers are wary of the risk of a cyber-thief gaining access to their' credit card number. Mr Carmody said the pace of technological development meant the Tax Office must act within the next two years.

"I think what comes out of the report is the real threat about us not acting now to prepare ourselves from the impact of the Internet and electronic commerce," he said. There are dangers of the Tax Office clamping down on Internet users in Australia while the rest of the world was doing nothing, Mr Carmody said. That would lead to a flight of business out of Australia, which would further erode our tax base. He encouraged Australian companies to embrace the Internet or miss out on a growing business opportunity, but he was critical of United States authorities, which, he said, preferred to encourage greater electronic commerce, setting up the US as the major trading base, rather than taking measures to protect their tax base. "Thinking-man's drag queen" Pauline Pants-down.

proceedings for defamation. "The matters complained of, which are contained in the song, are of such a nature that I do not wish to repeat them," he said. "Every Australian has the right under law to protect their good name and reputation and Miss Hanson is no different. "While Miss Hanson accepts that as a public figure, and a democratically elected Member of Parliament, she is subject to public scrutiny and comment, the material broadcast on Triple-J is neither criticism nor satire, nor is it comment for public purpose or in the public interest it is simply unacceptable in the extreme." la. I i.

-v Streets of Sydney paved with gold for rubbish bin rights Pants-down radio humour unacceptable to Hanson f- 7' -J PM cool on sexism watchdog The Prime Minister refused yesterday to guarantee the future of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, saying the issue was "part Mr How ard told representatives of women's groups attending a meeting with the women's minister, Senator Newman, that he knew there were strong concerns from women about the prospect of the job being abolished. He said he was "a tradition-alist'1 and raised doubts over whether the job would survive a planned restructure of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Cabinet is due to resolve the issue soon, but the Attorney-General, Mr Williams, insisted yesterday that specialist commissioners for women, disability, race, privacy and social justice should be abolished. He admitted that his refusal to appoint a replacement for Ms Sue Walpole since her resignation in February was designed to give him time to abolish the position. But intense opposition from women across the Liberal Party has delayed Cabinet endorsement of the plan.

Government's anti-racism offensive The Government is to hand out 10,000 kits to Asian governments and media to fight perceptions that Australia is a racist country. The kits, explaining immigration policies, will be distributed by the Minister for Immigration, Mr Ruddock, during a trip to China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Titled Australian Immigration: the Facts, the kits aim to counter the views of Mrs Pauline Hanson. For example, the kit dispels the myth that migrants get special treatment with jobs, homes and cars from the Government when they arrive. "Migrants get none of these things from the pamphlet says.

It says unemployment and immigration are complex issues. Migrants increase the demand for goods and services which leads to job creation. Skilled migrants also help overcome bottlenecks in the job market. "The bulk of research has found that a properly balanced and well-targeted immigration program can have a positive it says. By PA0LA T0TAR0 and ANNE DAVIES The media owner Mr Kerry Packer and the advertising businessman Mr John Singleton have joined forces with the French designers JCDecaux in a bid for the contract to replace Sydney's street facilities, such as rubbish bins, bus shelters and public toilets.

The contract will deliver control of street advertising estimated to be worth $100 million over 20 years. Mr Tony O'Reilly, owner of Australian Provincial Newspapers, has teamed up with the English outdoor advertising giant More to try to win the contract. The tender, for the supply of almost 2,000 items, from litter bins to bus shelters and public toilets, has attracted interest from companies all over the world. It closes on September 17. So far, eight Sydney municipalities, including the City Council, have joined the program as part of a drive spearheaded by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Frank Sartor, to bulk-buy and recoup costs through the sale of advertising space.

The winning tenderer will own the advertising space on the facilities for 20 years. Under the street furniture By MALCOLM BROWN When "Pauline Pants-down" launched herself onto the national airways on Thursday night last week broadcasting via Radio 2JJJ a spoof on the Federal Independent MP Mrs Pauline Hanson some listeners thought it uproarious and asked to hear it again. So that is what the station did, said 2JJJ program manager Mr Stuart Matchett. And with its "cut-ups" of Mrs Hanson's statements, making her appear, in a song, to say things like, "Yes, I am and "I am a it was, according to Mr Matchett, a scream. "It is incredibly obvious that it is a cut-up and we say that," he said.

"People do that all the time. We deny it makes her look like a sexual deviant. When we played it, we thought it was fantastic." But no, said Mrs Hanson's adviser, Mr David Oldfield, yesterday: the song, which had been going on 2JJJ for several days, was distinctly unfunny. Yesterday, Brisbane lawyer Mr Craig Gough, acting for Mrs Hanson, released a statement that he had been instructed to negotiate with 2JJJ to have this "highly defamatory, hurtful, and disgusting material" withdrawn from broadcast, and to commence Pauline Pants-down told the Herald yesterday that the song was "clearly He had "cut up" tape recordings of interviews with Mrs Hanson and put them together to form sentences such as: "I am a very caring "I am very proud I am not "Someone hit me on the head one and "I am a backdoor man for the Ku Klux "I think the best line is, 'I like trees and shrubs and plants and plants and shrubs and trees but I am putting a fence up so they cannot get in'," he said. Ms Pants-down, 35, declined to give his real name.

He works in music, film, journalism and is a lecturer at the University of New South Wales, thought he might fit the description of "a politically based Vanessa Wagner (his drag-queen name) told the Herald yesterday he believed the Pauline Hanson phenomenon needed to be countered with "a little bit of satire and "I think we are just showing that the true Aussie satirical spirit is alive and kicking," he said. Describing himself as "a thinking-man's drag or "a new7 Barry he thought he might himself enter politics, and even get his own party going. the tender is as the contract requires both supply and maintenance of the facilities, while the assets return to council ownership in the long-term. The Packer-Singleton bid would be through a new company comprising representatives of the French designers and a consortium called Manboom Ply Ltd, which includes Mr Packer's Consolidated Press, Mr Singleton and Mr Robert Whyte's Trafalgar Properties. In 1995, Manboom Pty Ltd bought almost five hectares at the airport, which gave it control of the 25 advertising billboards around Mascot and a key stretch of land fronting Qantas Drive and Baxter Road.

program, all public facilities from ashtrays to news-stands and telephone booths will be replaced throughout the city in time for the 2000 Olympics. Sydney City Council estimated that the full cost spread across nine councils would be between $15 million and $20 million, with Sydney's component expected to total around $6 million. Industry sources estimate that the bulk of advertising revenue would come from high-traffic municipalities such as Sydney City and South Sydney, and that these could raise between $2.5 and $2.8 million a year. Other councils taking part include Woollahra and Parramatta. According to Mr John Welch, president of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Australia, Sw SMiffllEflSM The superbly engineered Volvo S90 is comparable to other luxury European saloons in every respect except price.

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