Highlights of AAP's National Wire at 19:45, Friday, Aug 5 = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2005
Highlights of AAP's National Wire at 19:45, Friday, Aug 5 = 2

CANBERRA - New Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce has dismissed a senior government MP's
threat to expel him from the party if he votes against the Telstra sale. (Telstra Causley)
BRISBANE - National party state leaders have unanimously backed conditions sought by the
Queensland branch for the full privatisation of Telstra. (Telstra Nats)

CANBERRA - The government needs to start a raft of reforms from education to cutting red
tape if Australia is to keep its place as one of the world's richest nations, a new report
has found. (Business. Embargoed)

CANBERRA - Increased risk of nuclear weapons proliferation is one of the major arguments
against moving to a new generation of nuclear reactors, a visiting nuclear physicist and
defence analyst says. (Nuclear. Embargoed)

CHRISTCHURCH - An Australian tourist is dead after after falling while skiing in the Mount
Hutt. (NZ Tourist)

PORT MORESBY - Papua New Guinea wants to resolve the impasse over Australia's stalled
policing program but changes are likely in any new agreement, says PNG's Foreign Minister
Rabbie Namaliu. (PNG ECP)

CANBERRA - Australia will provide an additional $170,000 to assist villagers affected
by volcanic eruptions at Manam Island and Langila in Papua New Guinea. (PNG Aid)

SYDNEY - An SMS and email alert system, the transformation of public areas into safety
sites and deployment of volunteer marshalls are the linchpins of a plan to evacuate central
Sydney in the event of a terrorist attack. (Terror NSW Nightlead, with pix.)

SYDNEY - Three people have appeared in court after a teenager was stabbed to death in
Sydney's south-west, but police are still searching for the killer. (Mall Nightlead)

SYDNEY - Rapist Bilal Skaf will be retried despite one of his alleged victims refusing
to give evidence, a Sydney court has been told. (Skaf)

SYDNEY - A young Seven Network journalist involved in a report to expose lax airport security
carried a box-cutter onto a domestic flight, a court was told today. (Szymanski)

SYDNEY - Five local candidates will run for Labor preselection in Maroubra, the eastern
Sydney seat previously held by former NSW premier Bob Carr. (Byelections Maroubra Nightlead)

SYDNEY - The Sydney Aquarium's failure to heed safety standards and expert opinion had
led to an accident in which a woman was engulfed in water, broken glass and reef sharks
when an exhibit tank shattered, a court was told today. (Aquarium)

MELBOURNE - Protesters today vowed to launch a marine blockade against a controversial
bay dredging trial after a judge scuttled their bid to stop it with a court injunction.

(Channel Nightlead)

MELBOURNE - Respected businessman and chairman of gloves and condoms maker Ansell Ltd,
Dr Ed Tweddell, has died, aged 64, in Adelaide. (Tweddell Nightlead)

MELBOURNE - A man whose son was shot dead during a Melbourne police raid was today refused
bail on charges of attempting to murder an associate. (Chaouk)

MELBOURNE - The planned national counter-terrorism summit is a necessary but unfortunate
initiative in today's world, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks says. (Terror Bracks)

MELBOURNE - Victorian farmers say they will be $3.5 million out of pocket if McCain Foods
goes through with plans to cut potato contracts by 10 per cent next year. (Potato)

BRISBANE - One of Australia's most powerful unions has vowed its members will stop work
on strategic Telstra network infrastructure if four of the telco's contractors refuse
to reinstate dropped wages. (Telstra Union)

BRISBANE - Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has met with Islamic leaders in a secret meeting
to work out a terrorism fighting partnership. (Terror Clerics)
BRISBANE - Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has urged the federal and state governments
to leave grandstanding and party politics out of next month's counter-terrorism summit.

(Terror Beattie)

BRISBANE - A hernia operation performed by rogue surgeon Jayant Patel was so bad it appeared
to have been done by someone looking out a window, a doctor has told an inquiry. (Doctor
Inquiry)

TOWNSVILLE - A senior police officer has admitted the investigation into the death in
custody of a Palm Island man was flawed and more could have been done to help the victim's
family. (Palm)

ADELAIDE - Hundreds of mourners remembered cyclist Amy Gillett at a memorial service at
an Adelaide cycling track today. (Cycling Gillett Nightlead)

ADELAIDE - A special summit of state and territory leaders must examine tougher anti-terrorism
laws and penalties, South Australian Premier Mike Rann says. (Terror Howard Rann)

ADELAIDE - The long service leave entitlements of South Australians will be slashed under
the federal government's proposed industrial relations reforms, the state government has
warned. (Workplace SA)

ADELAIDE - South Australian firefighters have not received sufficient training to attend
chemical, biological or radiological (CBR) incidents, the state opposition says. (Firefighters)

PERTH - Work on Western Australia's $350 million desalination plant will continue while
the federal government considers an emergency protection application lodged by a Perth
Aboriginal group, Premier Geoff Gallop says. (Cockburn)

PERTH - The federal government is concerned a plan to explode underwater bombs off Western
Australia's coast as part of a scientific experiment could affect migrating whales. (Bombs
Campbell)

PERTH - West Australian Premier Geoff Gallop has endorsed a new counter-terrorism summit
called by Prime Minister John Howard, but said the states had initiated it. (Terror Gallop)

PERTH - A network of sonar sensors able to instantly transmit data from the Indian Ocean
floor to tsunami warning centres in 27 countries could be in place within a year. (Tsunami)

PERTH - A former miner awarded compensation for his chronic fear of dying from an asbestos-related
disease has vowed to continue his legal battle after CSR Limited was granted leave to
appeal the landmark West Australian court ruling. (DellaMaddalena)

PERTH - Rescue missions were under way tonight for two whales tangled in ropes in incidents
thousands of kilometres apart in West Australian waters. (Whales)

HOUSTON - Discovery astronauts started packing up today for their departure from the International
Space Station (ISS) after NASA finally said the shuttle was safe enough to come home from
the first flight since the 2003 Columbia disaster. (US Shuttle 2nd Nightlead)

AUCKLAND - The Australian government has warned travellers considering going to Tonga
about the effects of a two-week-old strike by public servants in the South Pacific nation.

(Tonga Strike Aust)

AAP tnf

KEYWORD: HIGHLIGHTS NATIONAL UPDATED 2 SYDNEY

2005 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.