The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • 1

vvrv WEDNESDAY APRIL 9 1997 IM If OMlrtf MMl No 49797 HRST PUBLISHED 1831 56 PAGES 90c High-risk shares for thrill seekers MONEY The big stars of ROSS GITTINS PAGE SPORT Expenses row explodes: Woods and Cobb charged tells COLUMN 8 LIZ HEATH of 2BL brought it to us as a likely uiban myth She heard from one of the staff at the ABC and his wife had got it from a neighbour at Drummoyne The neighbours sty they were sailing in the harbour when they picked up an almost-drowned chihuahua swimming far its They took it home and revived it that night ttey were going out so they left it inride their home When they returned the house was trashed and the cat tom to pieces WHEN they took their chihuahua to a vet he told them: no chihuahua it's a Peruvian water rat" Boom tish Jan Harold Bronvand professor and dean of urban mythologists calls one of his bodes The Mexican Pet It tells of a woman who finds a stray dog in Tijuana and takes it hone to the US where a vet tells her (1) no dog a Mexican sewer ret ana (2 dying from some horrible disease: BOB Leonard of Mostnan got a letter from David Jones's the other day Having earned the British Empire Medal and the Medal of the Order of Australia and knowing the vagaries of computer-generated addresses he wasn't surprised to see: Mr Oam Bern 1 By MKIUEL NLLETT Political Correspondent The Prime Minister Mr Howard last night called on Senator Mai Colston to stand down as Senate Deputy President as the parliamentary rorts affair took a dramatic new twist Mr Howard also said he had referred claims that Senator Colston rated' office exp to the Australian Federal 1 The Federal Attorney-General Mr Williams said arrangements would be made today for die relevant material to be made available to die AFP The move came only hours after the Government confirmed that charges of defrauding die Commonwealth had been laid against former Liberal senator Dr- Bob Woods and National Party backbencher Mr Michael Cobo Summonses against die pur were iuued yesterday after die Director of Public Prosecutions Mr Brian Martin QQ ruled there was sufficient evidence in AFP briefs to warrant further action Mr Howard's startling about-face came at a hastily arranged press conference after a Colston staff member Mrs Christine Smith rescinded a claim that die was responsible for administrative errors which resulted in Senator Colston last month repaying almost $7000 in travelling allowances The Smith letter described by one senior source as dynamite" is also understood to indude more damaging information about die handling of entitlements by Colston Mr Howard said die developments left him no choice but to ask Senator Colston to step down He said he would be prepared to force the issue to a vote in the Houseif Senator Colston not necessary But Mr Howard insisted due legal jxncess should be allowed to run ns course and that Senator Colston remaineti-a duty elected representative from Queensland WHEN a couple of neighbours from Newport mea in town today one will have a gift far the other Nat or a favourite reape Bishop Minister for Defence Industry will give her neighbour-across-tne-street Kay Cottee the RANh 300-tonne Daring-daas destroyer Vampire: Kay solo sailor is chairman of the National Maritime Museum Council and Vampire on loan has been an attraction a Darling Harbour 1991 not sure if it's dlnlrnm but Gael Penrose of Bingara sends a nice advertisement From the local Advocate- Wanted to Buy Football boott to nut late mater Slightly worn appearance to give Human of experience would be an advantage Apply Bingara Nevaagency SYDNEY City Council is examining a proposal for a giant dock to be on the Town Hall balcony to count down cadi day to the Olympics Allan Finniecome at Noth Avoca tells us that in Tiananmen Square Beijing a clock counting down the days to tiie takeover of Hong Kong on July 1 As it will be redundant on that date maybe Sydney could buy it for less than the $100000 price tag on tiie Olympics dock AN interesting juxtaposition at books in a Chatswood New Age shop says Richard Mumane at Dee Why 203 WayS to Drive a Man Wild in Bed and Women Who Love Too Muck Ptwtaeaphty MICHAEL BOWERS Mr Cobb No choker the Prime Mnbtar The Opposition backed by the Australian Democrats responded to the revelation of the Smith letter by demanding the Senate be immediately recalled and that Senator Colston quit got to said the Leader Senator Cheryl KemoL Senator Colston could not be contacted last night The Federal Government has resolutely defended Senator Colston die face of mounting political attacks over allegations that he has systematically rotted his parliamentary entitlements accusing the Opposition of running a witch-hunt against him Its defence has been largely motivated by the value of Colston vote in a delicately balanced Upper House Without him it would be forced to negotiate with the Australian Democrats the Greens and Labor to secure the passage of legislation But die decision of Mis Smith to withdraw a statement tabled in die Senate last month claiming for wrongly filed travel allowance claims dramatically fliy ritiiatvai In her statement dated March 24 Mrs Smith said: accept full responsibility for providing the wrong dates to Senator Colston for transcription to his travel allowance claims" The new document prepared by a legal firm acting on her behalf includes the following: now wish to advise that my statement was incorrect I was not responsible for preparing the travel allowance claims nor required to keep a record of dates of travel for TA purposes senator always prepared his own claims I think he recorded his travel dates in his pocket diary and completed the TA forms from those records" PAGE IA Nat on fraud: charges The day the AFP came calling PAGE 17: Alan Ramsey Case Management Unit This followed an inquiry into the cases by the former Supreme Court judge Mr John Slattery The minister had also asked Mr Slattery to investigate 16 departmental officers who appear to have failed to notify appropriate authorities about suspected child abuse and improper conduct A former assistant general of the Canadian and Inteffigence Service Mrs Gienys Any Bbckedder has been appointed chief investigator of die Case Management Unit Mrs Blackadder who is the former manager of complaints and investigations at the NSW Community Sendees Commission said but night that any teadwrs trim had Men behaving inappropriately would be advised to be scared Mr Aquilina said the reforms were short-term measures to guarantee the safety of students until the Wood royal commission hands down its final report nH ffwnimwiHatimi Mr Sbttero is continuing to examine the files on die remaining 136 teadwrs accused of various offences but Mr Aquilina said at this stage it was unlikely these teadwrs would be removed from schools Weather TODAYSydety ciouty abort llMBod 7 to Netanyahu leaves Clinton with HEWETT Washington and agsndea Thefragfle Middle East peace The White House and that defbri-' He-fauisted brad would not dilemma as talks fail pUbcdl nafakty heavy" plained bitterly that they had also painted Israel as in the recent impasse -j the meeting whh Mr CBalon Mr nt netanyanu onereu a- nuserent assessment of the' meeting Aquilina moves to rid schools of abusive teachers dose to' collapse after talks between the United States President Mr Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahn in Washington ended without any progrets'bdag made Mr Ctintoa described the two-hour mcetimg as frank candid and This is diplomatic language lor strong disagreement and la striking contrast to the with Mr Clinton at this fornm wheh he said the talks had been The meeting with Mr CHnton was satisfactory at kart from the standpoint of security according to the Israeli dagy newspaper Mu'miv Mr CHnton had agreed In their talks on the need for the Palestinians to mala an official commitment against terrorism PAGE 11: Weight of peace hangs on Israeli PM7 accede to US requests tor a freeze on Jewish settlements In East Jerusalem to show peace talks to continue well known that the US has Its positions on this subject and we have our position" he said think It will surprise He' said he had come to Washington absolutely dean aad blamed the Palesthrians for violating the Oslo peace accords Aad Ik Now the ATM in your living room By ARDYN BERNOTH and STEPHANIE RAETHEL The State Government moved to restore public coo-in NSW schools by I to ensure i who sexually abuse or harass children are detected and forced out of the system The Minister for Education Mr Aquilina said the new measures would eradicate "long fmtwig systemic in the Department of Education and change practices But the NSW Teachers Federation rim the measures were little different from current practices and raised serious concerns about the proa-pea of a Mr Aquilina has ordered an immediate end to tiie practice of destroying records of unproved charges against teadwrs and the banning of the practice of The Government has also banned plea bargaining and the transfer of teachers facing allegations Teachers who are acquitted of serious charees will no longer be automatically reinstated and a new centralised computer database win be sa up to track esses Mr Aquilina said die 37 teachers entered from then das rooms in March for alleged sexual our he said break Mr Clinton has been placed ia a dilemma emphasised by the thunderous applause Mr Netnny-: ahu attracted from pro-hraeB groups he addressed Almost half the US Senate and a quarter of the House of Representatives attended a dinner held tor Mr Netanyahu by the influential American brad Public Affairs Committee after The idea is for banks and other institutions to provide the P-ATM for a small charge betting that the increased convenience will see consumers pay for a service that may have otherwise been considered using cash Supermarkets telephone companies and computer software firms will be encouraged to enter tiie traditional domain of the banks Verifone is in discussions with number of rum-financial institutions" interested in using tiie technology It is no coincidence that the P-ATM will be bundled in the same week as the- Federal Treasurer Mr Costello releases the final repot of the Government's Wallis Inquiry into the financial system The report to be released at norm today promises a new era of technological advance and intense competition Among the recommendations will be a lifting of restrictions on foreigners owning major banks and the opening up of the payments system to non-financial players such as supermarket chains State-Department were circumspect afterwards an indication of how paralysed the United States position has become Mr Canton said the more be thf more be mdcr-ihIdbH the of ffifTflTi were going to talk to the Palestinians and see whether something we can do to get this tiring going he sud Mr Netanyahn gave a notably aggressive news 'conference i a "smart" card a credit or debit card with a powerful computer chip instead of the fanrilbr magnetic stripe 1 cash value can be downloaded and used to make small at a small terminal Smart cards are due to be rolled out by the international card giants Visa and Master TOMORROW gydeey Fine with southwest to southeast winds and a maximum of 23 NSMfc Fine across the State Moderate southerly winds DETAISPage25 tfw Amusements Arts Business Classified Commercial Property By TOM ALLARD Banking Witter die same size as a telephone pager costs about $100 and its manufacturers believe it win replace the bank branch in tiie brave borderless future of financial services The personal ATM or to be bunched this of the historic Wallis inquiry into tiie financial system are released today will enable consumers to do all their financial transactions including withdrawals from hone -Combined with die latest in cud technology die P-ATM can do virtually anything a hole-in-the-wall ATM can do account mqinrim bill payments transfers homo-loan repayments and "cash" withdrawal In the not-too-distant future it will be able to monitor shopping habits and say reward users with discounts aa their life insurance premiums for buying healthy food It is either plugged straight into a conventional phone connection inserted into a box on top of a television set or attached to a personal computer P-ATM the ihe of a pager We specialise In every aspect of commercial property and development finance A close-knit specialised team focussed on secure tailor-made solutions adds value to every project OMmUmmOrnttimham Mpa Hill alla fhlrf Manage St Geoige Commercial Property quickly discover small enough to respond big enough to count on 1000500208 You knowwhere you stand with Card in the next year and are the one technology in the grand Irian to create a cashless society The manufacturers of the P-ATM US firm Verifone Inc are confident tiie P-ATMwill replace EFTTOSL financial and nonfinandal natations have Verifone tastnSbh managing director Mr Ken Hansen Carr questioned on casino source The Premier wss accused in State Parliament yesterday of protecting the identity of a source whose information may have been criminally obtained in the United States The Opposition praared Mr Carr on how he obtained in 1994 seven months before he became Premier a copy of a Louisiana file which he used to attack a rival to Mr Kerry Packer for the Sydney casino licence: PAGE 4: FiR report i Internet stTeoni COMMHCIAL HOPEKTT Crosswords 45 Opinion 47 PABr Edtorials 16 Personal Notices 33 22 Features 13 Sport 46 EdNsriri 92822822 1445 Lew Notices 41 StayfciTouch 46 CteeiMlid 47 $2 Lottery 6224 22 Television 26 132535 Index 46 OMuaries 33 World 10-12 Saaeral 9282 2833 llto 22 Diy cod and partly the coaa Southerly winds 23 RMnaari 6 to 22 NMfc Early frosts on Iho ranges Isolated OTOvmonTOimnuiKrmRmnm am Boast MO pm ad I i VV I delivery: (Q2S2S21 I I JJL.