The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 1

THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER 1997 80 144th Year No. 44,448 The problem with child caro Jana'o $lm ABC show GREEN GUIDE Honda goes the American way MIDWEEK DRIVE Australian Open A mug's guide OPINION SPORT 3 HMMHPIMMMfMMIIIPPMMIMMWIWt HWWWWIIIWIW MWWHMWIIW'. HW Howard rules the waves ilp I cm I jfcolmJL Baby boomers hard to pin down By LISA KEARNS Just who exactly are the baby boomers? We hear about them constantly. They are meant to be society key consumer and Investor group and, according to some, have a stranglehold on power and public opinion. But about the only thing baby boomers have In common, according to a study released yesterday by Harris and advertising agency McCann Erlckson, Is their age group: 35 to SO years.

They were born after World War II, remember the same cultural icons and are bonded by virtue of growing up In a fast-changing historic period. But these are the only ties that bind. Apart from their age, they are as chalk and cheese. One of the authors of Baby Boomers Today, Mr David Chalke, says that while an abundance of recent studies have pondered the characteristics of Generation the New Woman, and the Grey Market, there has been a noticeable lack of serious research devoted to the middle-agers everyone thinks they recognise. Stereotypes speak volumes to glib marketers and myths have abounded about the typical baby boomer a highly sought-after consumer now In his or her prime wealth creation years.

But Mr Chalke says it could be perilous for marketers to lump baby boomers Into a homogenous group. And what more, most baby boomers don't view themselves as such anyway. Many are bewildered by assumptions they spent the 1960s and 1970s protesting, Indulging In drugs, 'free love" and rock'n'rolL Harris and McCann Erlckson conducted qualitative and quantitative interviews with 700 baby boomers and compared answers to 1300 non-boomers (that is, those whose defining characteristic was that they weren't aged 35-50). A further 60 boomers were selected for In-depth Interview. As a result, the authors came up with six 'species of boomer.

In the spirit of the flower power generation they are widely thought to embody, the boomer sub-types have been named after flowers or herbs that suit their defining characteristics. For example, the "Forget-Me-Not" is at odds with the Continued: PAGE A2 PAGE A2: What type of baby boomer are you? By LAURA TINGLE and CLAIRE MILLER, Canberra preehold land could be at risk from native title claims unless the Howard Government's Wik legislation is passed by the Senate, the Special Minister for State, Senator Nick Minchin, said night. In an extraordinary escalation in the native title debate, Senator Minchin suggested native title may be found to have survived the grant of freehold title the usual form of title for private homes in Australia. His warning is in direct conflict "with the High Court's Mabo decision in 1992, and prompted opposition claims of scaremon-gering. Senator Minchin's statement came as the acting Prime Minister, Tim Fischer, signalled that the Government with its legislation in doubt in the Sen-- ate was to take an even more aggressive stance on Wik, warning opponents: "We are now going to get the truth out with regard to the outcomes of this legislation which is about providing certainty to Aboriginal people and Australians as a common law.

We want people to support our bill to guarantee freehold does extinguish native tide and, therefore, that everybody can go about their business with absolute Senator Minchin denied he was scaremongering on the issue. But the Opposition spokesman on Aboriginal affairs, Mr Daryl Melham, described the comments as the Howard Government's "new McCarthyism: native title and Aborigines in your Senator Minchin's claims came as Mr Fischer walked away from a similar suggestion about the threat to freehold land made by one of his policy advisers. Mr Fischer's senior policy adviser, Mr Terry Ryan, told Ms Felicity Shy, of Castlemaine, in a letter last April: "Your title, which you purchased in good faith and with certainty, can also be thrown into doubt." Mr Fischer also had to concede last night that he had misrepresented the nature of native title claims made over land in Cape York by a group which included Aboriginal leader, Mr Noel Pearson. The Senate was due to sume debate on the Wik bill this morning. Leading the way: Eager to wave during a photo session at the jumped the cue (above) but missed out when his fellow leaders APEC conference yesterday, the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, waved (below).

PAGE A15: APEC reports. Pictures: Andrew meares I 4 Desperate signs of the times Senator Brian Harradine. The senator's opening remarks in the Senate debate late on Tuesday about "substantial amendments" and keeping the Government to its pre-election promise that its bill would not breach the Racial Discrimination Act must have scared the Government witless. This can be the only explanation for delaying the debate on Wik yesterday while continuing the attack on the Senate's handling of it. The Government thinks it needs more time to convince Harradine, and it thinks it needs some real live hysteria in the suburbs to convince the TJie more desperate the man, the more spectacular the lies, and in November 1997, it seems there are few more desperate people in Australia than Tim Fischer and Nick Minchin.

To go on national television and suggest that 'mainstream' Australia's homes were under threat unless the Wik legislation was passed is the most disgraceful act yet of a Government that has made an art form of the 'big lie' on Aboriginal affairs ever since it came to office. If there is one thing the High Court has explicitly, mously, made clear about native title, it was its declaration in the Mabo decision in 1992: freehold land grants extinguished iShaurt Carneyl i More reports But the Government yesterday refused to bring on further debate on the Wik bill in the Senate, even though the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, said in Vancouver that the Australian public would not tolerate Senate delays. Senator Minchin told the ABC's 7.30 Report last night: "We understand from the High Court that freehold extinguishes native title but there hasn't been a test case on a claim on freehold. "There are claims on freehold and you cannot say with absolute certainty that a court at some time in the future might not find that native title revives on freehold where the freehold lapses or something. "What our bill does is confirm what we understand to be the Comment LAURA TINGLE CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT native title.

The more important question is why is Nick Minchin making such claims? And why is Tim Fischer making misleading statements to Parliament about native tide claims that can only be construed as designed to frighten his constituents and discredit an Aboriginal leader like Noel Pearson? The only conclusion you can come to. is that the Government knows it has lost the public relations war about native title, and it has not yet secured the crucial vote of the man holding the balance of power in the Senate, A BE Olympic 17,253 500tf Ponsfofd 14,524 14, i ot kt ift? nuae project would be similar to that of the Great Southern Stand $145 million. Plans for its construction to begin in 2000 have been fast-tracked following the decision by Collingwood to sign a new, long-term tenancy agreement at the MCG. "One of the great advantages of Collingwood being here is that it underpins our cashflow for the future and gives us more confidence to borrow the money for the next stand," Dr Lill said. PAGE C20: Report Two raped Bega girls repeatedly, court told MCG ready to break its 100,000 barrier court on Monday.

The men have not been asked to enter a plea. The magistrate, Mr Kevin Mason, ordered Mr Camilleri to provide a blood sample after a request from prosecutors. In the affidavit, Detective Senior Sergeant Rowland Legg, of the homicide squad, alleged Mr Beckett and Mr Camilleri picked the girls up in a white Ford sedan about 10pm on 5 October outside Kalaru, near Bega. i The girls were driven to Old -Wallagoot Road, Kalaru, where Mr Beckett raped Lauren and Mr Camilleri raped Nicole, he alleged. He said both men raped both girls later at Ben Boyd National Park and again in Eden.

Later, while driving on the Cann Valley Highway, the men allegedly "discussed and agreed to killing the he said. "Camilleri then instructed Beckett to locate it secluded area off the road," Detective Se-' nlor Sergeant Legg alleged. Both girls were allegedly -V-; gagged and led 250 metres down a steep embankment in the Fiddlers Green Creek area, 450 kilometres east of Melbourne. Lauren was allegedly then with her hands bound to her feet, and Nichole tied to a tree. Mr Camilleri allegedly instructed Mr Beckett to kill the girls and returned to the car.

About 6am on 6 October eight hours after their pearance Mr Beckett held Lauren's head under the creek, then cut her throat, he alleged. Mr Beckett then allegedly cut Nichole's throat before stabbing her twice in the chest. The men allegedly drove to a lookout in Canberra, where they burnt Mr Beckett's clothing and blood-stained ropes, and later dumped two knives into Canberra's Lake Burley'Grifliri. The next day, they allegedly spent three or four hours at a Canberra car wash cleaning inside and outside the Ford. By STEPHEN LINNELL The capacity of the MCG is set to again swell beyond the magical 100,000 mark, after the MCC yesterday confirmed plans to redevelop the ageing Olympic Stand.

The MCC will next year be- gin more formal planning for uie massive prujeui, uiai wui eventually see the Great SotTthern Stand extended 'south-west to replace the. Olympic Stand, and even overhang the Members' reserve. After this year's AFL grand final, the MCC released a re- vised official capacity for the ground of 97,557 answering the question whether, the ground could break the 100,000 barrier a feat not achieved at an AFL match since the 1986 grand when 101,861 attended. MCC secretary Dr Iqhn Lill said yesterday the new stand could increase the capacity of the 'ground by up to 10 per to more than 105,000. He estimated the cost of the By VICTORIA BUTTON, court reporter Bega schoolgirls Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins were allegedly raped repeatedly by two men over eight hours before being bound, gagged and murdered in remote Victorian bush.

In the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday, police alleged Nichole, 16, and Lauren, 14, were in a car with the men while they discussed killing the girls. Police made the claims in an affidavit supporting, their request for a blood sample from one of two men charged with murdering the girls. Mr Leslie Alfred Camilleri, 28, of East Street, Bega, appeared after being extradited from New South Wales on Tuesday. Other than confirming his identity, Mr Camilleri fair-hatred and wearing a blue T-shirt and purple tracksuit pants said nothing. He is to appear again on 10 December.

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