QLD:Online sales just part of problem: Swan

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2011
QLD:Online sales just part of problem: Swan

Treasurer WAYNE SWAN says online international sales are just part of the problem for
Australia's retail sector.

Feeling the bite from the rise of online shopping, retailers have called on the federal
government to apply the goods and services tax and import duties on all goods bought overseas
online.

But the Productivity Commission report out today says while there are strong grounds
for lowering the tax-free threshold on online purchases from overseas, it does not recommend
scrapping it altogether

Mr SWAN says while the issue is complex, only a small portion of expenditure is going
into international internet sales.

AAP RTV crh/wz

KEYWORD: RETAIL SWAN (BRISBANE)

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Central England Temperature

Central England Temperature (CET) A series of average temperatures for rural sites in central England, consisting of monthly figures from 1659, and daily ones from 1772 to date. Originally compiled by Professor Gordon Manley in 1973, it is the longest homogeneous meteorological record in the world and is now regularly kept up to date by the UK Meteorological Office
.

WA:Engineer awarded $85,000 compensation

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2011
WA:Engineer awarded $85,000 compensation

PERTH, April 8 AAP - An Indonesian aircraft engineer employed on a visa has been awarded
$85,000 in compensation after the Federal Court ruled his employer had breached work laws.

The case is believed to be the first of its kind where the court has found an employer
guilty of breaching the Fair Work Act and awarding $85,000 compensation for lost wages
including compensation for hurt and humiliation.

In April 2009 Djoko Puspitono was working in Perth for International Aviation Service
Assistance, which carries out aircraft maintenance for Garuda.

After complaining about not receiving overtime, the employer reviewed Mr Puspitono's
performance and sacked him.

He was reinstated after making an unfair dismissal claim but five months after, his
employer told Garuda his personality was unsatisfactory, which meant he lost his authorisation
to work on Garuda aircraft, and was sacked again.

Mr Puspitono's lawyer Giri Sivaraman said the Federal Court's decision sent a message
that workers had a right to raise concerns about their pay and entitlements without fear.

"Mr Puspitono was treated in a disgraceful way by his employer," he said.

"He lost his right to stay in Australia and has had to return to Indonesia.

"His health has suffered (and) his family suffered because they relied on his wages
for his children's education and housing costs in Indonesia."

Mr Sivaraman said the court decision had set several precedents including the fact
that the court could order employers to pay lost wages, compensation and damages for humiliation.

"It also highlights that making a negative assessment of an employee that adversely
affects the continuation of his employment is adverse action," he said.

The issue of costs, penalties and interest will be heard on April 12.

AAP anr/apm

KEYWORD: PUSPITONO

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

VIC:Teenager missing since Fri is found safe

AAP General News (Australia)
12-19-2010
VIC:Teenager missing since Fri is found safe

MELBOURNE, Dec 19 AAP - A teenager missing after being dropped at school on Friday
morning has been found safe and well.

The 14-year-old Maidstone boy named Sam was found with friends at a home in Deer Park,
in Melbourne's west, just before 3pm (AEDT) on Sunday.

Police thanked the public for their help in finding the boy.

AAP ees/cdh

KEYWORD: MISSING UPDATE

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW:$1m for person who can reduce population

AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-2010
NSW:$1m for person who can reduce population

Australian entrepreneur DICK SMITH has launched a new global award which will go to
an Australian under 30 who can impress him with an idea for reducing population growth.

The Wilberforce Award .. and its one million dollar prize .. can't be applied for ..

but will be given to someone who generates wide attention for their ideas.

Mr SMITH says if our population keeps growing by 2.1 per cent a year it will double
in 30 years time and reach one billion in 220 years .. and he says no one thinks we can
feed a billion people.

The prize money .. named after British abolitionist WILLIAM WILBERFORCE .. will be
handed out in a year's time.

AAP RTV ih/klm/crh

KEYWORD: SMITH (SYDNEY)

� 2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

NSW: Govt offers NRL $4.2m a year to retain grand final: report

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2010
NSW: Govt offers NRL $4.2m a year to retain grand final: report

The NSW government has made an offer of $50 million to the National Rugby League (NRL)
to ensure the grand final remains in Sydney for the next 10 years.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday that the offer comes after the Queensland government
attempted to snatch the state's biggest sporting event.

The NSW government is believed to have offered the NRL a minimum of $4.2 million a
year over 10 years - a far cry from Premier KRISTINA KENEALLY'S rumoured first bid of
$2.6 million a year.

AAP RTV ih/rs

KEYWORD: LEAGUE GRAND FINAL (SYDNEY)

2010 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Vic: Romance a croak too far for urban frogs - study

AAP General News (Australia)
08-20-2009
Vic: Romance a croak too far for urban frogs - study

By Mariza O'Keefe

MELBOURNE, Aug 20 AAP - Car traffic has been blamed for everything from polluting the
environment to road rage - well now it is being dubbed as a romance killer for urban frogs.

A Melbourne University study has found that the mating calls of male frogs in city
ponds are being drowned out by traffic noise and this is hindering these amphibian romeos'
chances of attracting and breeding with female frogs.

Ecologist Dr Kirsten Parris began her research with the university in 2000 and has
found frogs have disappeared from many of the 104 ponds included in the study and the
number of species in each pond has also reduced.

Its research has found that in some cases male frogs could once be heard by females
800 metres away and can now only be heard within 14 metres thanks to noise pollution.

Of particular concern is the threatened growling grass frog which has all but disappeared
from Melbourne's inner suburbs. Traffic noise is just one thing killing them off.

"The impact of noise comes on top of all these other effects, the other things that
frogs have to deal with in city environments. A lot of their habitat is lost ... (there's)
pollution, introduced predators ... so it's pretty tough for the little guys," Dr Parris
said.

She said female frogs chose their breeding partners based on their mating calls.

"Females generally like evidence of vigour and good health ... females like a guy who
is fit and healthy because he will give her better offspring," she said.

"Male frogs show they are fit and strong by calling fast and loudly and for a long time."

Dr Parris suggests that developers in the inner city should consider creating more
ponds and using barriers such as hedges or dense vegetation that would reduce noise but
still allow frogs to move from pond to pond.

And it is not just female frogs that would miss the baritones of mating male frogs
if they disappeared from the city, Dr Parris suggested.

"I think a lot of people like to hear frogs calling. It's a way to be in touch with
a little bit of nature in the city, where there is not much nature anymore."

AAP mok/gfr/dep

KEYWORD: FROG

2009 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.