The Age du lieu suivant : Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 6

A 6 THE AGE FRIDAY 25 JULY 1997 New unis top of the class in stademts9 eyes mmm by launching a national annual award for teaching excellence in universities. But the acting president of the Australian Vice Chancellor Committee, Professor Geoff Wilson, said surveying students was time-wasting and ed work already done. Students had never shied away from saying what they thought of universities, he said, but since the Government had increased fees, "students had fast turned themselves into some of the countries most articulate and demanding Deakin University, given two stars for prestige, was given Ave for teaching by its graduates, although this time their rating matched the official rating. La Trobe University, which officially won three stars for prestige and teaching quality, was given four stars by graduates for teaching. RMIT was officially rated three stars for prestige and teaching, but received two stars from students.

Swinburne got two stars for prestige and one for teaching quality. Students, too, gave it only one star for teaching. received five stars. The most prestigious universities, including Melbourne and Monash, maintained strong ratings often five star in research, demand for entry by students and ability for graduates to get jobs on relatively high starting salaries. Launching the guide, the Minister for Education, Senator Amanda Vanstone, said she would take the "heartbeat" of.

higher education through a survey of the views of Australia's 500,000 undergraduates. Senator Vanstone also moved the focus on to teaching quality it the full five stars for teaching quality in spite of the guide's official one-star quality rating. Conversely, the University of Melbourne which has set itself the goal of becoming the nation's premier centre of learning was given two stars for teaching quality by its Park-ville campus graduates. The official teacher quality rating and prestige rating was five stars for both Melbourne and Monash universities. But at Monash, students rated teaching quality between one and three stars in all campuses except Gippsland, which By ALEX MESSINA, education reporter Elite and sought-after universities are not necessarily the best places to learn, in the eyes of their students.

The latest Good Universities Guide a consumer map to institutes and courses finds Victoria's least prestigious campuses are rated highly by their students. On a five-star scale, the state's more recently established university, Victoria University of Technology, was given one star for prestige. But recent graduates awarded Archbishop condemns cuts to housing Hair salon offered sex acts, court tolct" By PATRICK DONOVAN, court reporter Girls as young as 15 who applied for jobs at a suburban hairdress-ing salon were asked to perform massages topless and mastufcT bate clients, a court was yesterday. The Melbourne Magistrates Court was told that between early 1995 and May 1996, staff aged between 15 and 32 from' The Michael From Montreal. Hairdressing Salon, on the" Princes Highway in Dandenong, provided sexual services well as haircuts to clients.

The court heard that the own- er, Mr Michael Noonan, adver-; tised for masseusses in a local newspaper and by word of. mouth. Applicants were told they would receive training and would not have to perform any sexual acts. But most clients, requested masturbation or asked staff to massage topless, former staff told the court. They said when they told.

Mr Noonan about the requests he said it was all right to do it' for extra money but said not to anyone. A girl, 15, told the court' she. applied for a hairdressing'J apprenticeship but when she' arrived at work she had to massage naked men, most of whom requested masturbation. She said Mr Noonan asked" her to dress up. When she Wore" a short skirt she was "his best The girl said when she Was massaging one client she accidentally brushed his genitals' and he gave her a $50 tip.

She'' said most clients were male and naked. When she put a towel on them they took it off. She said when the clients-requested sexual favors she told them it was illegal and she was' not allowed to. Another woman told the court that when she applied for' a job Mr Noonan said clients sometimes got erections but she' should ignore this. But she masturbated some clients' on-request for tips.

In a tendered statement, another 15-year-old girl said clients asked her to take her top oil. and to masturbate them give them oral sex. On occasions she was given $20 for masturbatine clients. She said Jri rrZL i vr Xf fj 1 -L public housing is only one part of what should be a concerted strategy," said Dr Pell. "The creation and preservation of jobs is foundational." One case study in the report describes a 52-year-old man with chronic diabetes who spent 10 years in a caravan park and eight months in a shed at the back of a house, and who now sleeps in his car.

Another case details a woman who has been on the priority waiting list for public housing for some time, and is trying to find temporary accommodation on the private market. But she is in a "no-win" situation, for if she finds a temporary private house, she is dropped from the waiting list. Ms l.iz Curran, executive officer of the Catholic Commission, said that the notion of the "deserving and undeserving poor" had begun to re-emerge, and that public housing assistance guidelines were being rigidly applied. "Having an address is critical to accessing so many services and having the right to vote," she said. A State Government spokesman said last night that Victoria's public housing slocks had been increased since the Kennelt Government had come into power.

Funding was being directed to a smaller number of larger organisations, but the overall level of funding was the same, the spokesman said. pool and diving pool of the Sports and Aquatic Centre, to play a key part in the Commonwealth Games bid. Picture: jack atley centre opens with a plunge for games V- itiz: i -1 frr-te fcatis founder theft case By THOM COOKES State Government housing policies would result in ghettoes and a "socially unbalanced housing system," the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, I)r George Pell, said yesterday. I)r Pell criticised the rundown state of Victoria's public housing stock and the move to private rental assistance while launching a report detailing 115 case studies of people with housing problems. "Unemployment is too high, and youth unemployment is a scandal and this is certainly not the time to be reducing public housing," he said.

The report, by the Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace, makes 12 recommendations to State and Federal Governments, including: The provision of and support for adequate numbers of housing advocacy workers. Uniform national rights for tenants and property owners or managers. National performance standards for acceptable minimum levels of housing assistance. A call for independent research into the capacity of the private and public housing market to provide adequate, suitable, affordable and secure housing. "We have no desire to increase a culture of depen-dancy, and our push for more Airline's in $llm By PETER GREGORY, chief court reporter A founder of the failed Southern Cross Airways, who is charged with stealing almost $11 million, was a desperate man capable of deceiving others with apparent ease, a Supreme Court jury was told yesterday.

Mr Michael Rozenes, QC, prosecuting, said the case against Douglas Edward Reid was about theft, forgery, deception, breach of duty and, at the heart of that behavior, dishonest conduct. He said it concerned the way Mr Reid falsified documents, misled investors, his fellow directors and the stock exchange, and stole money belonging to Southern Cross to prop up his precarious financial position. Mr Rozenes said Mr Reid, 59, was a successful businessman who was thought to have signif- Douglas Reid: he has pleaded not guilty to 23 charges. Diving ambition: The main Aquatic By SUSHILA DAS The Premier, Mr Jeff Kennett, yesterday invited Melbur-nians to visit and "drink in" a new sports and leisure centre billed as the largest in Australia. The $65 million Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Albert Park will form a key part of Melbourne's bid for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Officially opening the centre, Mr Kennett said the state-of-the-art complex would be shown to 25 Commonwealth Games delegates in Melbourne this weekend for the Blcdlsloe Cup and would form the cornerstone of the city's bid to host the games. About 1.4 million people a year are expected to visit the centre, which has one of the worlds few 75-metre swimming pools. It has moveable booms and floor section, allowing swimming and diving at the same time. Other features are a 2000-seat show court, eight basketball courts, 25 tabic tennis courts, 12 badminton courts, an aerobics centre, gymnasi- Former By DUNCAN GRAHAM, Perth Long-term supporters of the former Western Australian Premier Mr Brian Burke were busy on Perth radio stations yesterday, rehabilitating the profile of their Labor mate after his release from jail on Wednesday. But despite their praise for his qualities, Mr Burke's former colleagues ruled out a return to politics for the man who held WA's top job from 1983 to 1988.

During his time as Premier, Recreation Victoria. Mr Kennett said the centre had not added to the statefe debt and was finished in time. The mayor of Port Phillip, Cr Christine Haag, said the centre was open to recre-. ational users as well as elite athletes. It will replace indoor sports facilities at Albert Park, which will be demolished and the sites turned into parkland, and the State Swimming Centre, which will also be demolished.

The Sports Minister, Mr Tom Reynolds, said that although some people had great affection for the old buildings, they were a "dirty and dingy" eyesore and needed to be replaced. Staff at the centre said full membership, costing $60 a month, would allow access to the gym, aerobics, swimming pools, sauna and spa. A swim at the casual rate will cost $4 for adults, $3 for children and $9 for a family. The joining fee Is $100. The centre will be open for inspection on Saturday, and Sunday will be a free family day.

grams during his time in the Wooroloo Prison Farm in the Darling Range outside Perth. "I've never taken money from the Iabor Party," he told reporters. "I've only ever given to the Labor Party. "But I'd long ago stopped expecting to be treated fairly by the system because it's almost as though the community has had to have someone to blame. "When people look back on the '80s I'm sure they'll look back on a time when things Basketball Show court um, creche, a leisure pool with a wave machine, a 25-metre lap pool and a hydrotherapy pool.

The World Basketball Championship for men 22 and under, to be held in eight days, will be the first official event at the centre. The centre covers 36,100 square metres, making it tennis -Squash I Multi-ouroos Lap pool pool from the fund since It was established in 1993, Mr Kennett said. Other funding sources included a $5 million compensation settlement from the original engineers of the old, leaking State Swimming Centre, $4 million from the City of Port Phillip and $500,000 from Sport and in February before a single judge and dispensed with a jury. "1 was shocked and disappointed with Judge Sadleir's decision," Mr Burke said. "When I read his original judgment I could not understand how an intelligent man could come to the conclusion he came to." Mr Burke, who made his health and weight-loss programs a matter of public debate during his term as premier, is believed to have lost 30 kilo WA Premierls Mends rally after his prison release Retail entry Cafe Wave pool about 3000 square metres bigger than the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, which is one of the largest buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, according to Mr Kennett.

A $55.5 million grant from the community support fund from gambling provided the main funding for the centre. It was the largest single grant in parliamentary travel allow ances. He was jailed for two years and released after seven months. Mr Burke's latest release from jail followed a two-one decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal, which quashed his conviction, Speaking to journalists after his release, Mr Burke spoke out against District Court Judge George Sadleir who convicted and sentenced him. Mr Burke chose to stand trial Mr Noonan said she and her boyfriend could receive each if they had sex in front of man wiiiic lie iiiaaiui umeu.

She said another girl was' known to have given oral during massages, and on one occasion a man walked straight ud to the counter and said': "I need someone to pull me He was taken into a room by woman who returned minutes later with $50. "Michael doesn't care what happens at the salon, he is jusf happy to get more money," she said. "He likes the extra things that get done during massdges. because this makes more clients come and it means more cash for him." Another masseusse told the court that when Mr Noonan was instructing her how to massage a 16-year-old boy he touched the boy's genitals. She said he told her: "It's to give hand relief, it's fine." Mr Noonan, 54, of Rowviiri faces charges including two-counts of rane.

12 counts of inducing a cnua to uiKe pan in ciiuu (jiusiiiuiiuu, upeimuig un unlicensed brothel and living' off the earnings of prostitution. He has not been asked to plead-, Hi rnmmitlnl Hwirinfj rnn. tinues today. were good, not bad, and when, people did their best, not their, worst and certainly when people tried to be honest and didn't try' to deceive or to steal. "I wasn't expecting I wiii hoping.

I've spent nearly five'' montns in jail since tne origirrar case and I was always very disappointed with the original case. "But I wasn't, as a result of my experiences, expecting the right thing to be done." ay. SOPA0J2 icant wealth. "In this case, the evidence will show that he was quite a desperate man and a man who was quite capable of deceiving a significant number of people in a variety of ways with apparent ease," he said. Mr Reid, of High Street, Malvern, has pleaded not guilty to 23 charges, including false accounting, furnishing false information, theft and forgery, alleged to have taken place between December 1991 and March 1993.

Mr Rozenes said it was unfortunate Mr Reid did not understand what was his and what belonged to Southern Cross, and ironic that his financial difficulties ultimately brought about his downfall and contributed to that of Southern Cross. Mr Rozenes said Mr Reid owed a huge amount of money at one stage more than $10 million to Westpac bank. He said Mr Reid lent Southern Cross about $1.73 million by 1991, which was converted to about 3.46 million shares in the company. In December 1991, Mr Reid faced repayment of $2 million of $6.5 million he had then borrowed from the bank. Mr Rozenes said Mr Reid told Westpac that Southern Cross owed him $2.5 million, which he would pass on when he received it, but did not say he had converted the loan to Mr Reid later suggested to the bank that Southern Cross owed him $3.5 million and then $5 million.

The trial continues and is expected to last two months. Minimum riiirvlt $1500. Ctindilton apply, Mr Burke presided over the $1 billion fiscal debacle which became known as WA before being appointed Australian ambassador to Ireland. Earlier this year Mr Burke, 50, was jailed for two years after being found guilty of stealing more than $122,000 from ALP funds donated by entrepreneurs. It was Mr Burke's second spell in prison.

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