The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 6

THE ACE THURSDAY 21 AUGUST 1997 A6 Society Foreman fined for faking death scene mates, Mr John Phillips, had second thoughts after attending the young plumber's funeral, the court was told. "Once the ambulance officers were on site, Greg Stokes pulled me aside and said to suy that we weren't stripping (the roof) and Craig was going back for his harness when he fell," Mr Phillips told investigators. "A short time later, Greg told me he had set up the harness and make sure Christian (another worker) knows what to say to make sure you didn't see anything and that the harness was set up." ACR Reconstruction was last month lined $25,000 in the Melbourne Magistrates Court for safety breaches associated with the fall on 19 March 1995. Mr )oe Gorman, for the defence, said Stokes had not encouraged the safety breaches and had instructed staff to remove the asbestos safely. Mr Gorman said that, as a sometimes leading hand, Mr Segar would have known about fall protection.

Stokes had acted out of character in an atmosphere of despair and suffered devastating emotional effects, Mr Gorman said. Character witnesses told the court Stokes was an honest man who cared about safety. Combined prosecution and defence legal costs would cost But Stokes had set up the harness only after Mr Craig Segar, 24, fell through a fragile asbestos roof at a Tire station in Thornbury which ACR Recon-structioa Company had been replacing, the court was told. Stokes also set up an asbestos decontamination unit after the incident and made a misleading statement to a WorkCover investigator. The incident was revealed when one of Mr Segar's work Stokes more than $9000, Mr Gorman said.

In a victim impact statement tendered to the court on behalf of his family, Mr lan Segar, Craig's father, said their lives had been shattered. "It is every parent's worst nightmare to lose a child. Hut having to endure the additional burden of what took place after Craig fell, that a cover-up was orchestrated caused us undue pain and anger," he said. "You don't expect to send your son oil to work and not have him return home. "It hurls deeply, it tears you apart, the things thai were never said," Mr Segar said.

"Part of us died when Craig died." Outside court, Mr Segar said he was disappointed with the line. Slokes had pleaded guilty to two charges of hindering, impeding or opposing an inspector. By VICTORIA BUTTON, court porter A site foreman who orchestrated a cover-up after a worker fell to his death was fined $14,000 in the Heidelberg Magistrates Court yesterday. Gregory Peter Stokes, 47, of Frankston, suggested other workers tell investigators they didn't see anything and that a safety harness had been available, said Mr Kevin Armstrong, for the prosecution. Hanson rules put contesting Senate position results are known next month.

Part of her seat of Oxley is being redistributed into a new seat, Blair, and she will wait until then before deciding whether to take on the former Queensland ALP Premier Mr Wayne Goss to retain Oxley. Mr Oldfield said retaining a lower house seat was crucial for the One Nation party to provide an alternative voice to the major parties. "She doesn't want to be just another obstructionist in the Senate, like the Australian Democrats," he said. Meanwhile, the Democrats visited Ipswich in the seat of Oxley yesterday to launch an information campaign for schools aimed at countering claims by the controversial MP. The Queensland Democrats Senator, Mr John Woodley, told an audience ot students and teachers from local high schools the "school education kits" dealt with issues including the race debate, the Wik decision and the "stolen children" report.

The kits contained an eight-page booklet called "Why Pauline is He said it corrected factual errors made in Ms Hanson's first speech in Parliament, using data from official sources including the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the 1990 Census. Kits had been sent to the principals of public and private high school in the state and were also on the Internet. "What we are doing is fulfilling the moral responsibility put the facts on the record," Senator Woodley said. with AAP By GERVASE GREENE, Canberra The Queensland independent MP Ms Pauline Hanson will not run for the Senate, despite claims by her supporters that she would be "a shoo-in" at the next election. Ms Hanson, campaigning through central New South Wales this week, confirmed yesterday that she would contest a House of Representatives seat in the next election, expected late next year.

Her campaign organiser, Mr David Oldfield, said she had decided to announce the move before the redrawing of Queensland electorate boundaries. "She's just decided not to take the soft option," he said. "I think it's perfectly obvious that she would have been a shoo-in at the election if she switched to the Senate, but she decided to lead by example." He said her One Nation party would field candidates it) the Senate, as well as House seats, but it was important she remained in the most visible parliamentary forum. Ms Hanson said she was not perturbed by the traditional difficulty of an independent holding a seat. "It was a very safe seat when I ran for it in the first place," she said.

Ms Hanson, who lost Liberal preselection during the 1996 campaign, secured a 23 per cent swing to win the seat from the Labor Party, which had held it for 35 years. The boundaries for Oxley are being redrawn by the Commonwealth Electoral Commission, and she has delayed nominating for a seat until the Sleeping pill use high for widows A quarter of widows who had lost their husbands in the past year were prescribed sleeping pills, while 18 percent used sedatives to calm their nerves, a Melbourne gerontologist said yesterday. Ms Susan Feldman, the director of the Alma Unit on Women and Ageing at Melbourne University, said the figure was shocking. She said medication was sometimes appropriate but also urged doctors to offer non-drug treatments such as counselling. She warned that long-term use of the drugs could lead to more falls by elderly women and other health problems.

The high rate of sleeping pill and sedative use by widows compares with a rate of less than 1 per cent in the total adult Australian population. Ms Feldman, who presented her paper on older Australian women's experiences of widowhood to the World Congress of Gerontology, said the statistics were from a study involving more than 12,000 women. AAP Protecting Hanson: The controversial MP Ms Pauline Hanson, ringed by Federal Police protective services officers, addresses a liatlmrst meeting. Picture: mike bowers turns on coalition over jobs By GERVASE GREENE, Canberra The Federal Government had hopelessly failed its constituents, reneged on election commitments and contributed to high unemployment by failing to overhaul the industrial relations system, I lie II. K.

Nicholls Society said yesterday. The society, a right-wing think-tank co-founded by the federal Treasurer. Mr Peter Cos-lello, in I9ll(i, was formerly one of the Government's strongest supporters. In a 20-page booklet. Mission-Abandoned, the society said the Government's industrial relations reforms had lost it the right to hold office.

It said debil? Hating unemployment levels were a direct result of its inaction and eagerness to compromise. I oi iisinu on the Worknhice Relations Act, the legislation thai the Industrial Relations Minister, Mr Peter Keith, pushed through Parliament late last year with the support of the Democrats, the society condemned the compromise. The primary cause of this loss of confidence is the Government's complete failure to reduce unemployment, and ils obvious intellectual confusion on how to bring Australia hack to full employment," it said. This is a Government which has lost confidence in itself, and its political enemies, particularly within the chattering class press, are beginning to savor the prospects of revenge." The society said the Government had broken its promise to undo Labor's industrial relations system, principally by leaving the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and its powers largely intact. Describing this as the "central folly" of the coalition's system, the society accused the Government of directly contributing to the increase in unemployment above 8 per rent and the failure of subsequent measures to reduce it.

It described the Government's actions since the I99B election as "meaningless molecular vibrations" and slat ed the "Kernot-Reilh Act (as it dubs the Workplace Relations Act) as a story "of moral, intellectual and political Even the scrapping of the-unfair-dismissal regime, a move: lauded by small-business groups, had left businesses arguably worse off. The society said the Govern ment should have had the nerve, to refuse Democrat demands; for compromise, taken the elec--torate into its confidence, "and thus prepare the ground for a double dissolution election in which these matters could be A spokesman for Mr Iteitli attacked the society's criticisms, saying the scrapping of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission had never been coalition policy. The HR Nicholls Society claims tfiafc Unemployment has caused the public's perception of the Federal Government to slump. The Government's principle failure was to allow the Australian -Industrial Relations Commission to remain In place. State and Federal budget problems would be eradicated by full employment The deal with the Australian Democrats resulted in the abandonment of the coalition's election commitment to overhaul inriiiotrial relations nrnviriinn Imu benefits to a few companies instead of a comprehensive overall.

Source: "Mission Abandoned" August 1997 1347 Fax: 03 0654 6214 rv Greenpeace mars Downer's big day out as benefactor X-rays revealed need for urgent surgery, court told hiri The Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, yesterday announced almost $3 million in aid to help Pacific island countries control HIV-AIDS, but a Greenpeace protest marred his visit to Fiji. Mr Downer said the package, worth $2.8 million, would support Pacific island governments and other organisations dealing with the spread of AIDS in the region. Mr Downer also announced $4 million over five years to help Fiji improve the reliability of its gathering and reporting of statistics for the Government, the private sector and international agencies. He said this would help Fiji meet World Trade Organisation obligations. Mr Downer was greeted in Fiji's capital by a Greenpeace protest banner reading: "Downer the drowner, Oz climate policy sinks During his news conference, a Greenpeace spokeswoman said Australia's position on climate change threatened to jeo The court was told immediate surgery was not carried oul on 28 luly, but delayed in favor of further tests.

Mrs Prus-Butwilowicz arrived at the hospital at 10.30am and was examined at 11.30am. She died at 5.12pm after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest during a CAT scan, the court was told. Under cross-examination, Dr Julie. Cameron the radiologist asked to perform the patient's CAT scan said she was told Mrs Prus-Butwilowicz had a small bowel obstruction. She said she did not see the earlier X-ravs taken on 27 and 28 luly.

Mrs Prus-Butwilowicz's CAT scan was scheduled for 3pm, but was delayed until 4pm so other procedures could be carried out. Dr Cameron said the request to conduct the scan was not conveyed with a sense of urgency. The inquest continues. By MANIKA NAIDOO The rapid deterioration of a patient admitted to the Alfred Hospital could have been a signal for doctors to perform urgent surgery, a court was told yesterday. Emeritus Professor William Hare, from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, told the Melbourne Coroners Court that a second set of X-rays, taken on the morning of 28 July 1995 hours before the patient died indicated a small bowel obstruction requiring immediate surgery.

my interpretation is that surgery was urgently required when the second X-ray was taken," Professor Hare said. The court had heard that Mrs Janina Prus-Biitwilowicz, 77, died from septic shock caused by a strangulated bowel the day after she was diagnosed with constipation and sent home. Doctors had allegedly laughed at her, telling her she was a hypochondriac and guarantee that we bear a heavier burden in terms of unemployment than the European Union is prepared to Mr Downer said. He was then asked about coal industry funding of Government research which produced forecasts of massive job losses under the proposed emission reduction targets. Economists have since questioned the reliability of this research.

"You know economists as well as I do," Mr Downer said. "You can take all the economists in Australia and if you can get one single view I would be extremely surprised. "You're from Greenpeace and your proposition is that we should sacrifice tens of thousands of jobs, we should sacrifice living standards and opportunities for younger Australians in the future to a greater extend than almost any other country in the world to address this issue." AAP CHMUS Mrs Prus-Butwilowicz: allegedly called a hypochondriac. needed to see a social worker. Professor Hare said X-rays taken on 27 July indicated no evidence of a developing bowel obstruction and did not exclude "a wide range of conditions, including gastroenteritis But he said X-rays taken on 28 Inly suggested a rapid onset of mechanical bowel pardise the signing of an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

She said Australia was not willing to help fight global warming and rising sea levels, now threatening its South Pacific neighbors and their environment, by backing the international push to set up an emission reduction schedule for developed countries. But Mr Downer said if Australia agreed to binding targets at the Kyoto climaie change conference in December it would cost thousands of jobs for Australians. He said the contribution Australia was being asked to make would also reduce living standards. He said Australia spent a great deal of money in the South Pacific on greenhouse gas abatement projects and in educating the region on emission reduction. "We're prepared to make an equitable contribution but we're not prepared to make a contribution which is going to jOINM Tickets of tht mm mm presents range of rewarding courses on offer by contacting the Gmrse Inquiries Centre at Monash.

There are more than 100 undergraduate and postgraduate university courses to choose from in Arts, Business and Economics, Computing and IT Education, Nursing, Medicine, Engineering and Science. for this Call Now ToH Free 1800671845 Distance Education with Monash is the most flexible way for thousands of students both undergraduates and postgraduates around the country to get the degree they've always promised themselves. A degree that allows you to continue in full-time employment while you study and is highly regarded by employers. That's because Monash delivers. Study and resource materials including audio and video tapes and computer disks will be sent to you by mail.

Plus, you can keep in touch with us via phone, fax, electronic mail and computer conferencing. Its convenient and flexible, because you can work in your own time, whether you live in the city, the suburbs or the country. A Monash University degree is a unique way of realising your full potential by furthering your career and personal development. Discover the extensive lantattic event are $12 concession and $17 for adults, Including a booking and handling fee charged by Ticketmaster Victoria. Fam (03) 9.902 6814 Email: course.inquiriesdec.monash.edu.au WWWt http:www.dcc.monash.edu.au Course Inquiries Centre: Monash University, Churchill 3842 Thr University That Comes To You Dura Melbourne Park 29-30 Group bookings: Sue O'Neill Tel: 03 9286 (j REDUNC.