Crispin Hull

Before we say thank you very much for the toy train we ought to ask some key questions. How much will it cost? Are there better ways? The answers are: Lots and Yes.

It seems extraordinary that anyone would contemplate a light-rail system in Canberra when we have a bus service that runs empty most of the time and costs about $500 a household.

A feasibility study is under way and will report next month. Now, you do not get many feasibility studies reporting back along the lines: “”This will be a hideously expensive white elephant and we recommend you should not do it.”

No, no. Consultants who do feasibility studies are engaged to say something (ital) is (end ital) feasible; not to say it is not. Anything is feasible in public transport if you pour enough money in.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_trains”

The treatment of Terry Griffiths has stirred up a lot of commentary couched in terms of McCarthyism, witch-hunt, no natural justice, convicted with out trial, untested evidence, no independent judge, feminists taking over the world, and where will it all end?

Civil libertarians, lawyers, fellow MPs and others have taken the view that Griffiths has been “”convicted” and “”punished” on “”untested” evidence.

The theory is that before you can be punished you must have a chance to know the case against you, have a chance to meet it, have a chance to test the evidence and have a chance to put your own evidence These and other requirements are referred to by lawyers as the rules of natural justice.

But there has been some muddled thinking here.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_terryg”

The Government should change its approach on foreign ownership and content to protect Australian culture, according to media owner Kerry Stokes.

In the third of six ABC Boyer lectures to be broadcast today, Mr Stokes called for less emphasis on detailed rules and more emphasis on results.

(The broadcast can be heard on Radio National at 8.30am and repeated at 9.30pm.)

Mr Stokes said that the history of Australian media showed how excessive legalism had defeated the good intentions. He cited the case of Fairfax as an example of how effective foreign control could be obtained over a major Australian media outlet, despite rules designed to prevent it.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_stokes”

They do not look like real mountains. They do not jut. They have no vertical granite walls. But they are all we have got in Australia for mountains. Oddly enough they are called the Snowy Mountains, yet they would be one of the few mountain ranges at this latitude to lose virtually all their snow each summer.

And that is what’s happening now. The melt is on in the Snowy Mountains. The downhill skiers are gone and only a few cross-country skiers carry their skis to the Main Range to find the best of the remaining snow.

As the snow melts an almost unique flora is exposed _ heaths, mosses, alpine grasses and wild-flowers. I say “”almost unique” because there is another fairly similar flora in Australia _ in the desert. Yes; that’s right. You see the desert and Australia’s alpine area have a lot in common. Bear with me.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_snowy”

There are 86 sheep dip sites in the ACT which were possibly sources of arsenic contamination, the Minister for Environment, Land and Planning, Bill Wood, confirmed yesterday (Tuesday 15/11).

Mr Wood was giving a full run-down of possible contaminated sites.

Of the 86, 13 were in urban areas _ six of those in residential areas. The other seven were in non-residential urban areas, such as under roads.

Last week the Minister’s office re-issued an earlier press release saying that “”following his call for information about former sheep-dip sites in the ACT, 13 potential sites have been identified”.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_sites”

Most of Canberra’s shopping centres were designed in the 1950s or 1960s.

Medium supermarket; smaller supermarket; takeaway; newsagent; butcher; chemist; petrol station; pharmacy; perhaps a manchester store of sorts; bank perhaps; post office.

Then women went into the workforce. Men still refuse to shop. So most of the changes we see are driven by the changes to women’s lives.

Others are driven by technology.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_shops”

Electoral roll information will be used by the ACT Government to target women over 50 with advice about breast cancer (with the Commonwealth’s permission) and personal invitations to a screening clinic will be sent out this week.

The Minister for Health, Terry Connolly, said the information from the electoral roll would provide an efficient way of contacting the women.

The move could significantly reduce the numbers of undetected cancers among women over 50 in the ACT and region.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_roll”

One of the stars of this year’s Raiders premiership, Paul Osborne, will consider running as an independent in the February 18 ACT election after turning down an offer by a group of Canberra businessmen to financially support him in a campaign to run as an independent.

“”If I decide to run it will be as a genuine independent,” he said yesterday. “”I would not want to be somebody else’s puppet.

“”Right now I’m relaxing after 10 years of football and I’ll think about it over Christmas.”

Nominations close on January 26.

Mr Osborne has been playing Rugby League for 10 years and has been with the NSW Police for seven. He laid on the critical passes for Canberra’s first to tries in the grand final.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_raider”

The doctors’ true colours are coming out over generic substitution of prescription drugs.

The loss of fringe benefits for doctors from the drug companies seem to have aroused more concern than patient welfare.

Under present law, drug companies get a 20-year patent or monopoly on new drugs, after which the patent is public property and any company can manufacture it. That is the trade-off for the government-granted monopoly.

Under present pharmaceutical-benefits rules, patients can ask their doctor to prescribe a cheaper brand or to prescribe by the generic name. Or at the pharmacy patients can ask the pharmacist to ring the doctor to see if the doctor will agree to a cheaper substitution. But otherwise it is illegal for a pharmacist to give the cheaper brand of the same drug if the doctor has prescribed the more expensive one by brand name.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_pharma”

There has been only one tender for each of the three trunk-route service stations reserved for independents _ Burmah Oil, the existing Canberra independent, according to industry and other sources.

Tenders closed on Wednesday. Apparently some late tenders also came in.

The office of the Attorney-General and Consumer Affairs, Terry Connolly, said the tenders were a planning matter. The office of the Minister for Planning, Bill Wood, said tender information could not be divulged.
Continue reading “1994_11_november_petrol”