The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 1

ASIE 143rd Year No. 44,275 THURSDAY 8 MAY 1997 Pop stars staying The new Jennifer The men who built Crown feyte anve vcn I Jewels in he Crown for high rollers fey MICHAEL GAWENDA ft, Is a 20-mlnute Journey from inside the MCG to the Crystal Club lounge on the 29th floor of Crown Towers, the 500-ropm, five-star hotel that, from the distance, In the gathering darkness of a cool and damp Qpnm 4-year tennni I Hi! i "-Ri1 if 'oj(0 rsi Howard reasserts control over Wifc By NIKI SAVVA, political editor The Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, moved to assert his authority over the Government yesterday and regain control of the political agenda in the face of flagging poll support. Mr Howard demanded coalition backing for his 10-point plan to resolve the Wik crisis and, during a 40-minute press conference, stepped up his attack on the policies of the independent MP Ms Pauline Hanson. Mr Howard also repeated his growing impatience with criticism from state premiers whom he did not name but clearly identified as Mr Jeff Kennett and Mr Rob Borbidge and defended his achievements so far on tax, deficit reduction, industrial relations and privatisation. And he played down concerns among coalition backbenchers on changes to cross-media laws that might enable Mr Kerry Packer to buy Fairfax, by jokingly referring to their complaints as "diversity of opinion" within the Government.

Mr Howard rejected suggestions the Government's turbulent few weeks would make it difficult to sell next week's Budget, claiming it would be so good it would sell itself. He announced Cabinet support for his Wik plan, which rejects calls from the National Party to extinguish native title on pastoral leases, and denied he had agreed to changes in talks with the National Party leadership. While accepting there would be opposition to the plan at a back bench meeting next week, Mr Howard made clear that any changes would be at the cost of damage to his leadership. "I just want to make it very clear that I won't be backing off the 10-point plan," he said. "I am very strongly committed to it.

It is the only fair and just solution to a very difficult problem." Mr Howard said he would be going "hell for leather" to win endorsement for it and secure its passage through Parliament. "And 1 will be arguing, of course, very strongly that it receive overwhelming support in the party room but I wouldn't want there to be any doubt in anybody's mind of how strongly committed I am to the 10-point plan as a solution to this very difficult issue." Mr Howard again stopped short of a personal attack on Ms Hanson, but described her message as "bitter and sour." PAGE A9: More reports. PAGE A18: Editorial. rrri If IT HEUOVAWP would be believed. He said the power and credibility that accompanied high corporate office made it difficult for breaches of trust to be exposed.

The judge said that at the time Quinn was defrauding Coles, he issued a staff directive warning of criminal sanctions employees would face if they engaged in fraudulent or dishonest conduct. "It remains a criminal offence to plunder the assets of a company, whatever may be the opinion held by the thief as to his own worth to the company," Justice Eames said. He said Quinn entered the conspiracy to have extravagant renovations undertaken at his former Templestowe home at the expense of his employer. He said it was impossible, given Quinn's generous salary packages, which increased from $232,083 in 1983-84 to $1.41 million in 1988-89, to escape the conclusion that the offence was motivated by greed. Justice Eames said it was the height of vanity for Quinn to have believed his talents had not been sufficiently rewarded.

He said Mrs Quinn was given the day-to-day decisions about the extent of the work being done at the house but it was clear she told builders she was discussing it with her husband. "In any event, you were living in the home throughout its renovations and the degree of extravagance must have been obvious." PAGE A6: Mora report. fi'PFm Melbourne Saturday afternoon, looks like a giant cylinder of colored lights on the south bank of the Yarra. It Is a journey tinged with nostalgia and taken with some trepidation, and It Is appropriate that it should begin at the MCG. No single landmark defines a great city.

Great cities are a collection of competing visions, of dreams that are both sane and mad, of wealth spent wisely and foolishly. They are marked by political folly and political wisdom, and by the hopes and fears of those who live and have lived In them. No single landmark can encompass all this, and yet the MCG is a kind of metaphor for Melbourne heart. For all the class-based divisions that have marked its history, the people passion for it, their love of it, their memories of the great things that have happened there, means that the MCG has always been much more than Just a sum of its physical parts. Sometimes, at moments of great drama, the steel and metal and concrete and grass seems to be alive, breathing, heaving, pumping like a Human heart.

In a sense, the short trip ffom the MCG to the Crystal Club lounge is a Journey from the past and the present Into the, future. It a Journey from the' familiar to the unknown, and ultimately, It is a journey from the old Melbourne to the new, the Melbourne that for decades to come, will be the legacy left us by the Premier, Mr Jeff Kennett, and by his friends, Mr Lloyd Wlllams and Mr Ron Walker. -The Crystal Club lounge is opulently, extravagantly beautiful, with its soaring ceilings, its magnificent 180-degree views, its expanses of marble, Its multicolored crystal chandeliers. So breathtaking Is Its scale, so all-enveloping, that the effect is to dwarf ordinary human feelings. But then the Crystal Club lounge Is not for ordinary pfeople.

Few, if any, residents of Melbourne will ever sit at the elegant tables near the windows and look out north across the river to the city centre, fljtfly those almost mythical flg-Mfs, the high-rollers, will be (llowed In here. Having fagered their millions on a fntple of dozen spins of the ptfette wheel or 20 hands of Mpckjack, It will be open to Htm to gaze out upon the twinkling lights of this city which could be any' city and contemplate the randomness of, fate. T.They are a mysterious and shadowy lot, these high-rollers, and according to Lloyd Vjlllams, Crown's chairman, Qekle, too. Typically Asian, they are the prize that every rhajor casino In the world Is desperate to win. The Crown total entertainment complex, as Mr Williams calls It, covers more than eight hectares of land' spread across two city it stretches a half a kilometre along the southern hank of the Yarn, and It may be an architectural wonder or, In' the words of the Planning Minister, Mr Rob Maclellan, a place "that Mussolini would have loved.

Continued PAGE A4 PAGE A4: Mora reports. (My In By PETER GREGORY, chief court reporter The disgraced former Coles Myer chief Brian Quinn hiding his handcuffs by folding his arms was led away from the Supreme Court yesterday to start a four-year jail term for defrauding his company of $4.46 million. Quinn, 60, a former Reserve Bank board member and holder of the Order of Australia, said "Thank you" after Justice Geoffrey Eames sentenced him. Justice Eames fixed a two-and-a-half year minimum term for Quinn, who was convicted last month of conspiring with a former Coles national maintenance manager, Graham Lan-yon, between 1982 and 1988. Quinn, who wore a grey suit, striped shirt and burgundy tie, took a deep breath after the 45-minute hearing.

Justice Eames said Quinn had no previous convictions and had enjoyed an exemplary reputation before being arrested. But he said the crime was a serious breach of trust involving a large amount of money. He said a corporate philosophy of integrity and honesty depended to a considerable extent on employees' confidence that senior officers were not applying double standards. "The most lowly employee of an organisation may well consider that his or her true worth is not appreciated by the company but would none the less resist the urge to obtain additional benefits by dishonesty if it was understood that, at all levels, honesty was indeed valued by the company. An offence such as this challenges those very assumptions." lustice Eames said Quinn's position of trust meant it was unlikely anyone would suspect him of dishonesty or that an underling's word against him )r (Mil 0 Dignified exit: Brian Quinn employer of $4.46 million, an hides his handcuffs yesterday as he is offence described by Justice Geoffrey led from court to begin a four-year prison term for defrauding his Eames as motivated by greed.

Picture: MARK WILSON $13b price tag for Melbourne airport AMP set to run Tullamarine szzixrxs 3jr--iFri Shock sell-off of ICI Australia The parent company of ICI Australia is to sell its $2.3 billion share in the chemicals subsidiary. The surprise sale of the 62 per cent stake will shock Australian investors, who have long been expecting the British company would buy out minority shareholders. The London-based ICI said the shares would be sold worldwide, "subject to market PAGE B1: Report, Stephen Barthotomeuix comments. Police facing sex charges Two police officers may face criminal proceedings over allegations of sexual misconduct in Maryborough in central Victoria, the ombudsman, Dr Barry Perry, revealed yesterday. Dr Perry also disclosed that his office had offered to take over an 18-month internal police inquiry after some women indicated that they were reluctant to talk to police.

PAGE A3: Full report. on 1 May. The Transport Minister, Mr Sharp, said yesterday that there was "certainly no reason why tickets should go The Pinance Minister, Mr Faliey, said all three had gone to the highest bidders, even though price had not been the sole selection criterion, And he said the Government did not claim to have Improved the Budget through the sales. He made a detailed defence of the Melbourne sale against claims by the Premier, Mr Kennett, that Tullamarine should have gone to a group including the City of Melbourne and National Mutual. Continued: PAGE AS PAGE AS: Mora reports.

By DAVID WALKER and BEN MITCHELL A group dominated by the life insurance giant AMP and a British company, BAA, will pay the Federal Government $1307 million for Melbourne Airport. The Melbourne deal was confirmed yesterday along with details of airport sales in Brisbane and Perth. The Government will reap a total of $3337 million from the three sales. All three airports will be run by foreign operators, but with most of the money coming from Australian investors. A tight bidding race left the final sale prices more than double expectations when the Krocess began in 1994.

Bidders, owever, have said privately It is hard to calculate the value of monopoly rights to the air gateways of the three cities. Officials of the new owner, "An CntfMh butcher i pi 'y inatiihart hanar 111 HIM ii ib mumi II It II VMIVIII Mi From The Age Australian Pacific Airports, said yesterday that the group expected to earn an "internal rate of return" on the airport of 14 per cent before tax. Tulla-marine's users should see little immediate change. The APA officials yesterday declared Melbourne a well-developed airport and charted a "steady-as-she-goes" policy with no job cuts and a continued push to attract international flights. Over coming years, however, they plan more shops and cargo warehousing facilities.

Airport landing charges are legislated to fall by 18.5 per cent over the next five years, although they have risen by 10 per cent in the past year. i.V aa Ma fAWWWf j'TOS; I Jill MVtomatNMftM All fcfttfMftkieaa, 'AM aLUiUaMailMUJUa (2) vk A.