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

sjdff' TUESDAY FEBRUARY 25 1997 -jtt- COLUMN 8 PNG out in the cold on rebels plan By CRAIG SKEHAN and LUCY PALMER Papua New Guinea's decision to use foreign mercenaries on the secessionist island of Bougainville follows resentment over Australia's refusal to provide electronic intelligence to back an operation to "capture or kill" rebel leaders PNG believed that Australian satellite technology could be used to pinpoint the source of Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) radio broadcasts However Australian sensitivity over any direct role in the conflict and a belief that there needed to be a politically negotiated solution stymied this plan Australia also refused a request to give additional aid in the form of equipment such as body armour The Prime Minister told Parliament yesterday that use of mercenaries would be "absolutely unacceptable" to Australia Australia's top intelligence analysis body the Office of National Assessments (ONA) has provided a confidential report to Mr Howard corifirming that an advance party of more than 30 mercenaries is in PNG Sources said the report was based partly on intercepts of PNG communications They said up to half of a $36 million fee for the mercenaries had been paid as an advance to a company called Sandline International which has South African connections Mr Howard told Parliament he had conveyed his concerns over the use of mercenaries to his PNG counterpart Sir Julius Chan "We would regard the use of mercenaries as an extremely unwelcome development in the South Pacific" he said Sir Julius said in a statement that the foreign soldiers were not "cowboys" but came from a reputable company to assist PNG with military training He said outside criticism was unfair and hypocritical However the ONA assessment said a covert operation had been planned Two Russian-built aircraft which landed in Port Moresby last week with foreign soldiers have now left the country The Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Downer said the use of mercenaries would be viewed "very badly" by other countries Mr Downer said Australia's aid program could not be suspended because it would breach a legally binding treaty but he had ordered an investigation of whether any Australian aid money is being diverted to pay the mercenaries Australia also restated an offer to "facilitate" peace talks over Bougainville The Opposition's spokesman on foreign affairs Mr Brereton said that if the mercenary plan went ahead Australia should suspend its $11 million annual defence co-operation program with PNG A Sydney-based spokesman for the pro-secessionist Bougainville Interim Government Mr Moses Havini called for a regional peace-keeping force for Bougainville The Australian Democrats' defence spokesman Senator John Woodley said that while defence co-operation and military transfer agreements with PNG continued Australia was a potential accomplice in human rights violations Intelligence sources said it was highly likely that the mercenary operation would be called off because the "element of surprise" had been lost PAGE 9: Chan warns Australia Analysis PAGE 14: Editorial Bungling doctors have cost me my life says woman By JENNIE CURTIN She is 30 years old the mother of a 3 '2-year-old girl and has just months to live For 18 months she underwent chemotherapy and other painful treatments for a disease she did not have In the meantime the melanoma that had not been diagnosed spread Mrs Nicole Smith first noticed a red itchy mole on her back in March 1991 She immediately consulted her local GP Dr Sushil Anand at Hammond-ville who removed it and sent it to be analysed by Dr Ameen Bham at a pathology laboratory in Brighton-le-Sands The word came back all clear A very relieved Mrs Smith carried on with her life her marriage and the birth of her daughter Ashleigh until April 1995 when she noticed a lump under her right arm She returned to Dr Anand who referred her to a surgeon Dr Eric Farmer at Liverpool Dr Farmer conducted some tests and sent them to Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology also at Liverpool The diagnosis came back: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Mrs Smith started intensive chemotherapy which left her nauseous and fatigued underwent a bone marrow transplant had an ovary removed and was given hormone replacement therapy for premature menopause By September 1996 one of her doctors became suspicious that the treatment did not seem to be working Investigations revealed that Mrs Smith did not have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma but had a melanoma Moreover it emerged that a pathologist who was asked to give a second opinion on the original 1991 mole had concluded that it was a melanoma "I felt extremely angry and distressed I couldn't believe this mistake had been made" Mrs Smith told the Supreme Court yesterday during the hearing of her negligence suit against Dr Anand Dr Farmer Dr Bham and two pathology laboratories She is claiming that if she had known it was a melanoma she would have received different treatment and the misdiagnosis had greatly shortened her life expectancy Mrs Smith said it had also broken her marriage and she had been forced to move back with her parents Her father had retired to help care for her and her mother did most of the home duties including helping care for her daughter as Mrs Smith cannot even lift her in and out of the bath When she first learnt of the melanoma she said she was "shocked that they had been treating me for the wrong disease'' It had also meant a delay in dealing with the cancer "My doctor said because I HOW many times since February 9 have you forgotten to put 9 in front of the Sydney phone number you were dialling and found yourself talking to The Voice? Telstra statistics show that in the first week after the 9 became compulsory 9 per cent of calls lacked the extra number When Melbourne made the change on February 4 last year the percentage of errors was also 9 per cent but dropped to 3 per cent in a couple of weeks and has levelled out at 2 per cent WARNING: Watching opera can kill Jorge Rodrigues of Stanmore was at Opera Australia's La Traviata at the Opera House on Friday night "Not only Violetta was suffering from consumption but about a third of the audience as well" he says "The coughing continued and increased to become a disturbing coughing cantata It seemed that at the end of Act 3 not only Violetta but also dozens of patrons were on their deathbed" Back in 1990-91 free Cepacol lozenges soothed SSO patrons and in the winter of 1995 free Strepsils were given out at all Opera House performances Repeat please AT the Antique and Modern Arms Fair at the Showground at the weekend were displays of pistols shotguns militaria shooting equipment and ammunition There were also videos of crime violence and war movies and noted Raj Gupta of Campsie videos of Richard Attenborough's film about the apostle of non-violence Gandhi GOVERNMENTS are always talking about simplifying laws The Federal Government could well have a go at the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 An accountant having applied late for a fund to be registered received this reply: Under modified paragraph 50(3B)(b) of the Act I a delegate of the Commissioner allow 10 April 1996 as the -date for the purposes of sub-subparagraph 50(2)(aXi)(A) and sub-sub-subpar-agraph 50(2Xa)(ii)(A)(I)oftheAct A sub-sub-subparagraph? FROM the Australian Archives Canberra the story behind those three lonely graves in a war cemetery in Natal Brazil (Column 8 Thursday) Sergeant Bill Poling of Adelaide and his British colleagues Gwylim Morris and Ronald Udent were killed at Assu about 160km from Natal when their Dakota crashed in flames during a storm As a wireless operator Sergeant Poling 22 was attached to the RAFs 113 South Atlantic Wing based in the Bahamas RICHARD Barrington-Smith of Canberra says "Billy" Poling was his uncle "I have looked for my uncle's name in the honour roil at the Australian War Memorial but I cannot find it" he says "My mother told me his name is on 'the gate' at the Bermuda War Memorial" The power of two: anger over $lbn environment fund Excruciating treatment for the wrong disease Nicole Smith yesterday photo by david hancock TREATMENT FOR DISEASES SHE NEVER HAD Apri995 -Diagnosed with non41odgWnslym0fiom8 Apr-Aug 1995 Chemotherapy including four lumbar punctures and intravenous chemicals Produced extreme-fatigue nausea 10kg weight loss vomiting diprrhoeai serious infectjorf Sep 1995 Admitted to hospital for lesions on liver Bone marrow transplant recommended Jun-Jul 1996 Rve days of chemotherapy (with platinum) Produced extreme lethargy nausea connection to drip caused had had so much treatment in the past he didn't think it good to give me treatment for melanoma for a few months at least to give my body a rest from all the chemicals "And my cancer had spread That made it even worse to accept what had happened" Mrs Smith described the 18 months of treatment for the disease she did not have including two exhausting sessions of chemotherapy various infections numerous stays in hospital and tests and procedures which produced "just the most excruciating pain" The hearing before Justice Abadee continues today To consult each other Senator Hill and below Mr Anderson Aug 1996 upset unnation Bone marrow transplant "the worst treatment I had ever constant diarrhoea fatigue anxiety reaction to medication Chest infection in chemo line Rve days in hospital Ovary removed because of fertility risk of treatment to Sep 1996 Plus be preserved for later possible artificial insemination Ill for several davs: wounds healed very slowly Later had hormone replacement therapy Man dies of hepatitis after eating bad oysters By LEONIE LAMONT An elderly man has died after contracting hepatitis A from contaminated oysters taken from Lake Wallis on the mid-North Coast the NSW Health Department said yesterday The department also released laboratory tests which it said showed the virus in oysters taken from Lake Wallis on February 18 a month after the initial suspected contamination of the oyster farms The department's director for the centre of disease prevention Dr Andrew Penman said a post-mortem examination yesterday found that the 77-year-old man had died from complications caused by the virus The man who died last Friday had eaten oysters from Lake Wallis Dr Penman warned people to avoid oysters from this source and said there would be further cases due to the incubation period However he said a death was "extremely rare" and further deaths were not anticipated Lake Wallis producers last week voluntarily withdrew their oysters from the market but have criticised the department for identifying the area as the source of the epidemic without laboratory proof The shut-down of the $13 million oyster industry at Lake Wallis will have severe ramifications for the area The Great Lakes Mayor Councillor John Chadman has expressed concern about the $35 million flow-on effect to the local economy Since January 21 300 cases of hepatitis A have been notified in the State Oysters were the key culprit in 70 per cent of these cases with a third of these positively identified as coming from Lake Wallis Dr Penman said the virus was highly infectious and would continue to be transmitted through contact with infected people "I would stress that anyone with hepatitis A symptoms such as fever feeling generally unwell nausea off food abdominal discomfort and jaundice should see their general practitioner immediately" Suspected sources of the pollution include septic tanks in Nabiac and a caravan park Official blunders let little girls' sex abuser escape By MIKE SECCOMBE Funds from the Federal Government's $1 billion Natural Heritage Fund will be spent at the direction of two Cabinet ministers without independent environmental advice The plan has been condemned -by the Opposition and minor parties as one which will potentially create a giant "slush fund" The trust to be set up with proceeds from the part-sale of Telstra would have a board of just two the Minister for the Environment (at present Senator Hill) and the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy (Mr Anderson) Legislation describes the functions of the board as providing a forum in which the two ministers would "consult with each other about all matters" relating to the trust's funds The Democrats with support form the Opposition and Greens are trying to amend the legislation to provide for an independent board of experts to ensure that the money is neither siphoned off by State governments used to subsidise primary producers nor distributed on a political basis The bill purports to simplify the process by which community groups and others could gain funding to tackle a wide variety of environmental issues from land degradation and salinity to tree planting water management endangered species and urban air pollution Proposals would first be appraised at a regional and then a State level by assessment panels But the Greens' Senator Bob Brown complained that these panels could be stacked by pro-development States with poor environmental records The Democrats' spokeswoman on the environment Senator Meg Lees said the bill had no safeguards against cost shifting by the States substituting money provided by the Federal Government for current environment spending She also said the bill had no serious mechanisms for checking the efficacy of projects Without independent environmental advice the trust money could be misspent on improving agricultural land or to bolster the Government's popularity through greater spending in electorally difficult areas The Minister for Primary Industries Mr Anderson has admitted that agricultural land will not necessarily be quarantined from conservation projects "There will be community groups who for example will want to do something in an area that's not used agriculturally now or potentially one that is used for agriculture production" he said last week when inviting groups to apply for funding "It could very well be that a community group would identify a very badly run-down property that someone is still trying to eke a living out of and say there's an area we can return to a high quality conservation area" The Opposition spokeswoman on the environment Dr Lawrence said that without the constraints of independent advice the trust could become the "biggest slush fund in Australia's history" her child in that manner and in getting her to do so the DOCS officers rendered the child's evidence "contaminated" The mother went to her doctor who also contacted DOCS They were cross with the mother because the doctor's actions meant the police had to be notified That was in May It was not until August that the police contacted her DOCS said there was nothing they could do about the safety of the other girl so in September the mother took it upon herself to tell the second mother The second child told the same story but the incompetence of police and DOCS again ruined the case and in June last year a DPP lawyer finally told the mother the truth 80 per cent of her daughter's statement was inadmissible "God forbid it ever happens again" the second mother said "but I would never ever go I'd never go to tell the ponce again if it happened" PAGE 7: No charge laid daughter Child A told her in April 1995 that the man "took down his pants and weed on her" The second child talking about a penis told her mother "she had to wobble it until the little wee came out and then you were allowed to stop" This was in September 1995 None of the investigators involved in these cases must have paid any attention to the Mr Bubbles case which collapsed spectacularly in 1989 in part because of the way the children were questioned In the case of the first child not only did it take DOCS 10 days to respond but on the officers' arrival they effectively botched the entire case by getting the mother to take her daughter into the kitchen alone to see "if shell disclose to you" Her mother told the commission her daughter confided that the man had touched her vagina and "he'd made her touch his penis and he did a little wee on her" The mother should never have been allowed to question By KATE McCLYMONT The sad story that unfolded at the NSW Police Royal Commission yesterday had all the hallmarks of the Mr Bubbles case revisited It was an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse that was botched from beginning to end This time it concerned two girls aged four and five who separately told their mothers that they were being sexually abused by the de facto partner of their after-school carer The ineptitude of both the police and the Department of Community Services officers was to blame for the matter never reaching court The two mothers told of how they had to fight both departments all the way just to get them to do their jobs The alleged perpetrator in this case was the de facto partner of Child B's grandmother The grandmother and her de facto would look after the two little girls several times a week after pre-school The first mother giving evidence yesterday told of how her ISSN 0312-6315 Internet TOMORROW Sydney Unsettled INSIDE WEATHER Business 25-31 $5 Lottery 404 20 PHONE Classified index 42 Obituaries 33 TODAY Sydney 21 to 26 Showers clearing to sunny periods Liverpool 21 to 27 Richmond 21 to 27 NSW: Showers along the coast and adjacent ranges clearing Warm to hot over the northern inland Sunrise 639 am Sunset 737 pm 9 i K3102 wrtn an expeciea maximum or NSW: A southerly change in the south with showers Unsettled in the north and south of the State FULL DETAILS Page 23 Agenda 11 Crosswords 23 Personal notices 33 Editorial 92822822 Amusements 20-22 Law notices 37 Sport 3842 Classified Arts 1213 Letters 14 Stay in Touch 24 132535 Bridge 37 $2 Lottery 6192 20 Television 24 General 9282 2833 Home delivery (02)92823800 0.